King of the Church to you we pray

Posted on July 20, 2012 by pneumaandlogos

Lord Jesus we acknowledge that you are king of kings and Lord of lords, the church is yours not our own. Come Lord Jesus be exalted in this day, pour out your Spirit on us today, then we shall do what you want.

Lord Jesus we bow before you and confess our sin and yet we come to one who calls us saints. Lord I don’t feel like a saint today but because your word says I am, I confess that this is the truth about me and all my fellow believers.

Lord Jesus your word says that I am a new creation in you, help me to live in the knowledge of this truth and then and only then will you be truly glorified in my life.

Lord as I glory in your salvation,I see a world that is so lost, help me to point them to the cross and Jesus who is the way ,the truth and the life..

Lord show your love and grace to the world today, empower your servants to proclaim your name. We thank you Lord for what you are doing in many parts of the world but I come and ask you to revive your church in this land.

Lord as we look in your word,you say that the gates of hell will never overcome your church,Lord we thank you for this truth and pray that you would help us to live in the light of it.

Lord be glorified in your church today.

Amen

 

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jesus Loves His church

Posted on July 20, 2012 by pneumaandlogos

In these dark and confusing days it is easy to get depressed but the Lord is calling us to realise in a fresh way that he loves his church with an everlasting love. He speaks of this love so clearly throughout the pages of scripture but he wants to reveal that love not only to our heads but also to our hearts. We need to seek the Lord for this fresh revelation of his love so that we are able to go about his purposes. Spend some time reading Ephesians chapter 1 and pray the prayer in that chapter for your church and yourself.
On Sunday morning during Communion as I took the bread the Lord revealed his love for the Church in a fresh way to me.   As I took the bread I realised that the physical body of Jesus was broken so that the body of Christ the church could be formed. I saw in a fresh way that I was united to my fellow believers in a family that god had chosen before the foundation of the world. I looked around with tears in my eyes as I realised how much Jesus loves each one of us. I realised in a fresh way that we would spend all eternity together. It made the love of Christ so real but I knew that this was a love that incorporated all believers into the family of God. Therefore we need to look up to the God of love, who is the almighty one and give him our praise and dedicate our lives to walking in the light of his love.
So as you read the headlines or hear the news, remember this God’s church is part of his eternal purpose and he loves his church with an everlasting love. GOD LOVES HIS CHURCH AND NO ONE CAN SEPARATE US FROM THAT LOVE.                        

Posted in DIFFICULT TIMES, God's love, Jesus, the body of Christ., THE CHURCH | Leave a comment

A Call to return to the Lord

Posted on July 19, 2012 by pneumaandlogos

Great Britain is turning away from the word and ways of God at an ever increasing pace. as a direct result of this we have seen economic problems, our banking system is corrupt and this is displeasing to the Lord.
Since the 1960’s politicians of all parties have led us away from biblical morality, the Abortion Law came in 1967,now we are seeing our government propose same sex marriage. The Lord is calling us to return to him and to his ways.
The Church has lost its grasp of biblical truth and has watered down the gospel to make it pleasant to man,diluting the call to repentance and the Spirit filled life. The Lord is calling his church back to himself,he claims the church as his own. the Lord has equipped the church to meet this hour through the impartation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. he has renewed his church in many ways and he is calling his people to walk in the light of the fullness of their salvation in the power that he has supplied.
Jesus Christ must be the centre of all that the church does and every believer is called to walk closely with him. He desires to bless and empower his people, so that they may be able to live out their calling as children of God. The church needs to capture in a fresh way the glory of the grace of god and the majesty of his person. The Lord reminds us constantly in his word that he is loving,powerful and holy, he wants us to immerse ourselves in the truths and as we do so he will set our hearts on fire with love for him.

Posted in economic crisis, gifts of the Holy Spirit., Great Britain, love of God.the glory of God, moral decline, political problems, repentance | 1 Comment

The Compassion of Jesus- The Motivation for Mission and Ministry

Posted on July 18, 2012 by pneumaandlogos

I have been thinking a lot about the passage in Matthew 9 which describes Jesus ministry,

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  (Mt 9:35–38).

When Jesus saw the crowds he saw them as sheep without a shepherd and he desired to gather them into the kingdom, this we are told is because he had compassion for them. His heart is full and yet he realizes that he cannot reach all these people by himself others must go into the harvest field. The reason Jesus told the disciples to pray for other workers to be sent out is this great compassion he has for people. In the next chapter we find Jesus sending out the disciples on their first mission and his charge to them once again demonstrates how his heart is filled with compassion. Listen carefully to what he has to say,

8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.  (Mt 10:8).

The instructions show his compassion for those he is sending the disciples to minister to. Healing alone is an act of compassion, but they are also told to bring healing to the outcasts of their society, the lepers. They are also to drive out demons, again we can see that Jesus wants to see people set free. He underlines to them that they have received everything freely and therefore they are to give freely to others.

So many preachers today and in the past see people scattering and denounce them as sinful rebels but this is not the way Jesus went about it. Jesus had no time for sin but he had a lot of time for sinners. We could list so many examples of Jesus showing an outrageous love and compassion to the sinful. But we will just look at a couple of examples.

Firstly look at the way he dealt with the Samaritan woman in Johns gospel,

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”   ( John 4:1-26 )

The gracious attitude to this sinful woman amazed both her and the disciples, the result she puts her faith in Christ. There is no hint of a judgmental attitude in anything he says. he is honest with the woman and he answers her questions in a loving and gracious way. So often we lack the graciousness of the saviour and instead of drawing people closer to him, we drive them away. Notice that Jesus does deal with the sin, he does not water down the message but all he says flows from his compassionate heart. jesus always draws sinners to himself, lets look at another example,

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Lk 19:1–10). .

Zacchaeus was an agent of the Romans collecting taxes from his own people and exploiting them to his own financial advantage, this is the type of person we would naturally denounce as a traitor, whose sin is beyond the pale. but the attitude of Jesus is amazing, hge invites himself to dinner at this mans house and then draws this man to repentance and salvation. When Zacchaeus saw the grace of God in Jesus he comes to repentance and faith..

The attitude of Jesus should be our attitude, we should be willing to reach out to a lost and needy world with compassionate hearts. When we do this people will be drawn to the Saviour. we need to have our hearts filled with his love and compassion and then and only then will be successful in our mission.

We also need to look at why we urge others to engage in mission, we often say, it is our duty to reach out but duty will not win anyone, unless that duty is saturated in the love of Christ. We so often try to pressurize people into mission but this is doomed to failure. When a Christian grasps the depth of the love of God for his/herself then they will want to share the good news with others. We need to emphasize the grace of god that transforms sinners into saints, a grace that is so rich and free that it transforms our lives. With the compassion of Jesus in our hearts our whole attitude to mission will be transformed. It will no longer be a duty but a delight in sharing the love of God.

We know where we have come from and how much grace we have received from our Lord and Saviour, we know he has shown his compassion to us, will we show it to others?

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Powerful God Who Binds Up My Wounds: Psalm 147

Posted on July 13, 2012 by pneumaandlogos

Regular readers of this blog will realize that I love the Psalms because they express so many different aspects of our faith in God. Psalm 147 is a Psalm full of praise to god for  his greatness and his loving care. The Psalm starts with these words,

1 Praise the LORD.

How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

Here we find a call to praise God and the Psalmist finds praising God pleasant, he enjoys doing it and he believes it is the appropriate thing to do. when we look at the Lord surely we should join with the Psalmist in praising God and we will also enjoy praising him.

The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit.
6 The LORD sustains the humble
but casts the wicked to the ground.

Notice here that the Lord builds up his people, he brings the exiles back home. This God does not deal with just the external needs of his people but he deals also with their deepest emotional needs. I find the words “he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” to be words of comfort. To know that my God cares about my deepest emotional needs and will deal with them by his loving care is true encouragement. In all my brazenness,I can come to him and receive healing. Notice also that the God who heals is the creator of the universe who cares for the humble, this is a God who looks with compassion and deep love upon his people. It should therefore give us the courage that we need to come to him with all our needs knowing that he cares about us. The Psalmist argument is that because God is so great he sustains the humble.  So often in our weakness we feel that God will not care about little me, this Psalm contradicts that feeling with the truth about who God really is.

7 Sing to the LORD with grateful praise;
make music to our God on the harp.

8 He covers the sky with clouds;
he supplies the earth with rain
and makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He provides food for the cattle
and for the young ravens when they call.

10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
11 the LORD delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.

12 Extol the LORD, Jerusalem;
praise your God, Zion.

13 He strengthens the bars of your gates
and blesses your people within you.
14 He grants peace to your borders
and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.

15 He sends his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
16 He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast?
18 He sends his word and melts them;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.

19 He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his laws and decrees to Israel.
20 He has done this for no other nation;
they do not know his laws.

Praise the LORD.

The rest of this Psalm demonstrates why we should give praise to the Lord. we see his power but we also learn that he delights in those who fear him, surely this is exciting, the sovereign Lord delights in those who love him. The truth of this is life transforming, we can live in the light of the fact that god delights in us.

We see that he has revealed himself to us in his word, we have come to know who he is,through his amazing grace. No wonder the Psalmist ends where he started by saying Praise the Lord. Will you join the Psalmist in giving praise to the Lord?

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Jesus: Preached the Word, Proclaimed the Kingdom and Healed the Sick

Posted on July 12, 2012 by pneumaandlogos

Matthew’s description of the ministry of the Lord Jesus is very interesting one and one that we need to listen very carefully to. Matthew repeats this description twice in his gospel, this should alert us to the fact that Matthew thought this description is very important. Look at the two passages below and you will see how similar they are to one another.

Matthew 4:23-25

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Matthew 9:35-38

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

In both of these passages Matthew shows us that Jesus taught, he proclaimed the kingdom and he healed the sick, if we are to follow Jesus we need to see that we are not those who want to do just one of these things to the exclusion of the others. I want to look at each of these parts of Jesus ministry separately.

Jesus Taught: The whole idea here is that Jesus expounded the Scriptures and we can see how he did that in the sermon of the mount. He opened up the word in such a way that he stripped away all false teaching based on tradition and replaced it with the radical demands of the Word of God. In some Christian traditions we have exalted the role of teaching in a Way that Jesus would never have done. The church has been turned into a preaching centre and as long as we are well taught we think we are fine. However, we must not react to this by despising teaching but rather seeing that it has its proper place in the church. All Christians need to feed upon the word of God but they also need to put it into practice. The teaching of Jesus was always teaching that was practical in its application. We need to absorb the truths that Jesus taught us and then impart them to others. Teaching is vital to the health and growth of the Church, the teacher will want to equip his or her hearers with the truth that will enable them to lead Godly lives.

Jesus Proclaimed the Kingdom:  The kingdom of god is not a place like the United Kingdom but rather the rule of God. When the Kingdom is proclaimed we see with it a call to repentance which is a call to submit the whole of our lives to the King of Kings. Notice even in Jesus evangelistic proclamation he asserts the authority of God. This kingdom mentality is one that we need to  regain. When we proclaim the Kingdom of God, we are saying that the good news is contained in returning to the God of grace and submitting our lives to him. When Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom he invited sinners to leave their lives of sin, find forgiveness and new life in the kingdom of God. As we look through the gospels we see how he brought salvation to the needy, the outcast from society and those who had lived lives of flagrant sin.  Jesus knew that people needed him to be the good shepherd who cares for them.

In our Church life if the proclamation of the kingdom is the central thing, we can turn our churches into centres of manic activity. Some churches so emphasise evangelism, that the believer is not taught and equipped. Other churches see the proclamation of the kingdom to be the call to social justice and there are constant calls to be active in this campaign or ministry that promotes justice. If we are not careful  we get a distorted picture of the Christian life and people feeling exhausted because of all their activity. Now I believe that social justice and evangelism are both important and vital for Christian witness but they are not all that the Christian life is about.

Jesus healed the sick: As part of his ministry Jesus healed the sick, it is interesting to note that in the gospels healing often follow the preaching of the Word. In his healing ministry Jesus demonstrates in a very practical way the love of God for the needy. This too should be our motivation when we exercise a healing ministry. We should never be seeking to show how good and powerful we are but rather showing the love and power of God for others. Particularly in Pentecostal/Charismatic circles, we can get taken up with doing the stuff, moving in the power of the Holy Spirit and his gifts, that we neglect the importance of teaching and at times it can distract from teaching. We need to be aware of these dangers. Jesus held these three aspects of ministry together in a wholesome way and by doing so he ministered to the needs of the whole man. We need to be those who are like Jesus in his love and compassion, demonstrating to a needy world that Jesus has not changed.

Being Disciples of Jesus today: As disciples of Jesus we need to follow his example, in teaching the word of God , proclaiming the kingdom and healing the sick. If we are to do this we will like Jesus depend upon our heavenly Father for guidance and upon the Holy Spirit for power. We will also acknowledge that Jesus is Lord and he has rightful authority over us. As we fix our eyes on Jesus we see the wonder of God’s grace toward us, we will rejoice in the wonder of God’s salvation and as a result we will want others to come to know him.

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Help! God knows all about me: Some thoughts from Psalm 139

Posted on July 11, 2012 by pneumaandlogos

The Psalmist is certain that God knows everything about him, and he does not find that easy to accept. It is easy to identify with the Psalmist because we too find it hard when someone knows all about us, there are those parts of us we want to keep private from everyone else. When we realise that God knows all about us, we soon realise he knows even the parts we are not aware of us. We can deceive ourselves, but we cannot deceive the Lord. As we will see he knows everything about us perfectly, at times I find this scary and other times it is a great comfort. So let us look at this powerful Psalm and let it speak to us today.

You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

The Psalmist stands with awe before God, knowing that God has searched him and knows absolutely everything about him. He finds it hard to comprehend God’s knowledge of him. The Psalmist is aware that every movement he makes God knows all about it and every thought is perceived by God.  sometimes it gets scary when a friend seems to know our thoughts before we express them. The Lord knows ALL our thoughts without exception. He knows exactly what is in our minds as we walk down the street,as we watch TV, as we sing songs of worship, in other words he knows us at our best and at our worse. This knowledge makes him realise that he cannot comprehend this type of understanding, it is too lofty for him.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

The Psalmist wants to escape from this all-knowing, all-seeing God, but there is no escape, wherever he goes in the created order he is present before God, there is no hiding place. Although he continues to talk about hiding from God, he begins to understand that there is a good side to this, wherever he is God will guide him. The thickest darkness cannot conceal him from the all-seeing eyes of his God. When we begin to grasp this we will see that if God knows all about me,he can guide me perfectly. However we feel we can know God understands the situation better than we do, this should be a comfort to us. so often we say no one understands me, this is not true because the Lord God almighty understands me better  than I understand myself.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,  God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

The psalmist stops trying to run because he realises the wonder of God’s knowledge about him. He meditates on the way he was formed in the womb and sees the intricate way he was created. He knows that God has been watching over him since the moment of conception, now he begins to grasp how wonderful God’s knowledge of him is. He cries out withwonder awe that God’s thoughts towards him are precious and vast. He finds comfort in the fact that even when he sleeps, God is thinking about him. He realises that he live before a gracious and holy god and this causes him to cry out,

19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

He understands how hateful sin is to God and wants to see righteousness triumph, obviously as Christians we are told to love our enemies, but we must see the passionate commitment of the Psalmist to God’s righteousness. We are also called to passionately pursue God’s righteous kingdom.

The Psalm starts with the Psalmist trying to escape from God, but it ends with an invitation to God to do the very thing which had initially scared him.

 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

This prayer is one that we need to pray and as we do so we will know that as God searches us, he is able to deal with anything that is wrong within us. The knowledge that God knows all about us should deliver from anxiety because we are in the almighty hands of the one who loves us with an everlasting love. As we look at the cross of Calvary we see God’s love and wisdom displayed, here is healing and forgiveness  for everyone who accepts the saviour as their Lord.

When we have been searched by the eyes of almighty God we become conscious of our dependence upon him for guidance for the rest of our days. The Psalmist ends by finding the knowledge of God’s all-seeing knowledge as a comfort to him.

.

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Repentance: A Missing Dimension in Modern Christianity

Posted on July 10, 2012 by pneumaandlogos

The subject of repentance is one of vital importance for our presentation of the gospel, I believe that some of the shallowness in modern Christianity can be linked to a failure to call people to repentance.
When we read the Bible we find that repentance is a major theme and it has been during the revivals of church history. such figures as Calvin, Jonathan Edward,Wesley, Whitfield, Spurgeon and Finney made this an important part of their evangelistic preaching. It is only in recent years that we seem to want to make the Gospel more palatable to the unbeliever, we certainly would not want to portray the picture of God’s judgement against sin too vividly, in fact the emphasis has been on the love of God at the expense of his righteousness. The modern evangelist tells people that Jesus meets their needs, the ancient evangelist showed his hearers why they need Jesus. Their is a world of difference between these two statements and it is that difference that will inform what I have to say. This is not a sudden thought sent out on a whim but rather it is a subject that I have been thinking about and speaking about since 1976. I first articulated my concerns in two lectures given at L’abri Fellowship,  the first lecture looked at the theology of Jonathan Edwards, the second one was a lecture called “The relevance of Paul’s ministry in Athens”.

In the New Testament we soon meet the call to repentance in the ministry of John the baptist and then in the ministry of Jesus both of their ministries could be summed up in their call to repentance. This is Matthew’s summary of John the Baptist’s ministry,

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’ ” (Mt 3:1–3).

Matthew has a very similar description of the ministry of Jesus,

 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Mt 4:17).

If calling people to repent was a crucial part of the ministry of Jesus surely it should be a crucial part of our ministry. The theme of repentance occurs throughout the Gospels and the book of Acts and we surely need to regain this emphasis. We are too frightened of being seen as negative, we want to be seen as positive people, I would suggest however that the positive blessing of the gospel can only be grasped in the light of what sin is.  People only have a very shallow view of God’s grace if they don’t realise their own sinfulness. Even as Christan’s we don’t like at the plight of man closely, we do not become popular by stressing that a life of sin is one of rebellion against God. In a small group I recently said that the essence of sin is our rebellion against God and that unbelievers are rebels against God, this was immediately objected to,this was going to far I was told.
When Jesus sent out the disciples to preach their message was the same as that of Jesus, Mark says,

 They went out and preached that people should repent. (Mk 6:12).

Once again we see this call to repentance as a vital part of their ministry, yes they also cast out demons and brought healing to many. But we cannot understand the ministry of Jesus and his disciples unless we grasp this fact, Repentance is central to the message they proclaim. This did not change with the death and resurrection of Jesus as the book of Acts shows us.  before we look at the book of Acts we need to see what Jesus said in the Upper room,

 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”  (Lk 24:45–49).

Notice what Jesus said especially the words I have italicised, Jesus emphasised throughout his ministry and in these words to his disciples that repentance is central to the proclamation of the gospel.
In the book of Acts we soon find the call to repentance, Peter preached in such a way that people were convicted of their sins and when they wanted to know what to do Peter said,

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. (Ac 2:38–41).

Peter was very clear about the sinfulness of his hearers but his call to repentance made it clear that the new believers would receive forgiveness for their sins. We could go on to look at this pattern throughout the book of Acts but I will look at only a few examples. Notice how Peter and the Apostles defended themselves when they were before the Sanhedrin,

 9 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Ac 5:29–32).

Once again the call to repentance is seen as central to the gospel message. I want to look at one more example from the book of Acts and this passage shows that the Apostle Paul also emphasised repentance.  When Paul was in Athens he challenged the false philosophies and religion of the Athenians and then he said these words,

 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (Ac 17:30–31).

Paul is quite clear that the clear that the call to repent has the authority of God behind it, this is not a polite suggestion but the command of Almighty God.

We find that the New Testament call to repentance constantly calls man from his sinfulness  to a new life in Christ. The early church and Jesus himself demonstrated the awful consequences of sin. In contrast to this today we tend to want to bring people into the kingdom by stressing the love of God but if people don’t see their need of a Saviour they will never embrace the glories of the gospel of grace. Even from a pragmatic angle it could be argued that when sin has been shown to be the cause of our brokenness thousands have flocked into the kingdom. But that would be to demean the whole subject because the real question is, are we being faithful to the Saviour in our presentation of the Gospel if we omit the call to repentance. I believe that if we are to declare the whole counsel of God, we need to get back to the biblical call to repentance.

.

Posted in Apostolic church, Church, faith, Jonathan Edwards, New Testament, reformation. salvation, Repent, repentance, Revival, sin, Spurgeon, Wesley, Whitefield | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Caring for God’s Good Creation.

Posted on July 9, 2012 by pneumaandlogos

Christianity has been blamed for causing ecological damage because of the biblical command to have dominion over all creation. The following is a response to that criticism but it is not just a defence of Christianity but rather it sets the biblical teaching in its context.

At the outset we need to see what Genesis actually says,

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:27-31)

The first thing we need to notice is that the command was given to humankind before the fall into sin. Therefore our first question of the text must be what does this imply in a perfect situation? It obviously does not imply exploitation of creation but rather caring for it. Mans dominion over creation reflects God’s image and therefore must reflect the love and care that God has for his creation. We are called to be stewards of God’s creation, as stewards of creation we are expected to release creations full potential in  a way that is natural to it. This text taken in context calls us to conserve the planet’s resources and to care for animals, birds and vegetation alike. god’s continuing care for hiss creation can be seen in Genesis 8,

15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”

Here we see that God intended that his creation would develop after the flood and it is in this context and that of god’s covenant promise that we are to se the call to Noah to rule in creation. The covenant promise shows God’s faithful care for his creation and Noah is to live in the light of that covenant (see Genesis 8 and 9).

We could look at many passages in the scripture but I want to look at how God instructed his people to live in the law given to Moses.  Even in warfare creation is cared for, read the following passage carefully,

19 “If you besiege a town for many days to make war against it in order to seize it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them, for you may eat from them, and so you must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field humans that they should come in siege ⌊against you⌋? 20 Only the trees that you know ⌊are not fruit trees⌋ you may destroy and you may cut down, and you may build siege works against that city that is making war with you ⌊until it falls⌋.” (Deuteronomy 20:19-20)

The wanton destruction that often accompanies war is expressly forbidden here, instead even in war care is to be taken for creation. If this is the case at a time of war what happens in times of peace?  Every seven years the land was to be given rest, the Lord is very clear in what he commands,

25 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses on ⌊Mount Sinai⌋, saying, 2 “Speak to the ⌊Israelites⌋, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land that I am about to give to you, then the land shall observe a Sabbath for Yahweh. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and you shall gather its yield. 4 But in the seventh year it shall be ⌊a Sabbath of complete rest⌋ for the land—a Sabbath for Yahweh; you must not sow your field, and you must not prune your vineyard. 5 You must not reap your harvest’s aftergrowth, and you must not harvest the grapes of your unpruned vines—it shall be ⌊a year of complete rest⌋ for the land. 6 And a Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you: for you and for your slave and for your slave woman and for your hired worker and for your temporary residents who are dwelling as aliens with you; 7 and all its yield shall be for your domestic animal and for the wild animal, which are in your land to eat. (Leviticus 25:1-7)

This is a radical policy of creation care which flies in the face of what we do today, so many of the fields around us testify that they need the rest that God prescribes. Walking in the countryside shows all too clearly how humankind has exploited the earth. We are reaping the consequences of our lack of care for the land. One can extend this to our lake of care for the environment, we are polluting this planet at an alarming rate and in the name of economic progress we continue to make problems for ourselves and everyone else on planet earth.

Another aspect of this as shown in the prophets and in Romans 8 is that creation is groaning under the weight of man’s sin. In the prophet Isaiah we read this terrible description of the result of the sin of humankind,

The earth is utterly broken;
the earth is torn asunder;
the earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth staggers to and fro like the drunkard,
and it sways like a hut,
and its transgression is heavy upon it,
and it falls and does not rise again.

21 And this shall happen on that day:

Yahweh will punish the host of heaven in heaven,
and the kings of the earth on the earth.
22 And they will be gathered in a gathering, like a prisoner ⌊in⌋ a pit.
And they will be shut ⌊in⌋ a prison and be punished ⌊after⌋ many days.
23 And the full moon will be ashamed
and the sun will be ashamed,
for Yahweh of hosts will rule on ⌊Mount Zion⌋ and in Jerusalem,
and before his elders in glory (Is 24:19–23).

The prophet vividly describes the result of sin upon God’s creation and surely we need to take such words with utter seriousness. The apostle Paul in Romans 8 says,

For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us. 19 For the eagerly expecting creation awaits eagerly the revelation of the sons of God. 20 For the creation has been subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its servility to decay, into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans together and suffers agony together until now. 23 Not only this, but we ourselves also, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves while we* await eagerly our adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we await it eagerly with patient endurance.  (Ro 8:18–25).

Paul tells us clearly that creation is groaning because of the result of sin and he also hold out the hope that one day the creation will be liberated from its bondage. This new creation is also described very vividly in Revelation chapters 21-22. We live in the light of this new creation and we indeed are already a new creation in Christ Jesus,

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 And all these things are from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as if* God were imploring you through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin on our behalf, in order that we could become the righteousness of God in him. (2 Co 5:17–21).

As we are already a new creation, we should be living as such with renewed minds (see Romans 12:1-2). Christians are called to care for the world that God created, we should be those who recycle everything that can be recycled, we should promote economic justice and the care of the finite resources that God has given us. We in the light of the above should be proclaiming the whole counsel of God, calling people to Christ, who is Lord of all. As we live our lives in the knowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord of all,  we will not compartmentalize our lives but rather live our whole lives before the face of God. Let us seek to glorify God in all that we do and to seek his glory in the whole of creation.

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Personal God of the Bible

Posted on July 8, 2012 by pneumaandlogos

Our culture tends to view God either as some remote being who presides over the universe or as a divine Santa Claus. Even a cursory glance at the Bible will reveal something very different and because I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God I believe we need to look at what it has to say.

We find that when God created humankind he made them to be his image bearers, we were created with the ability to relate to God. The account in Genesis makes it very clear that before the fall man and woman had fellowship with God. Genesis also shows us that immediately after the fall God initiated his plan of salvation. In Genesis we see so many examples of God communicating with various people, through theophanies,dreams and other personal encounters. The Bible is full of accounts of God appearing to people speaking words of truth, grace, holiness and justice. To do justice to the Bible we must see at once that God is a personal God who relates to people.

We also see in the Trinity the fact that in the one Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, here we enter the mystery of the Holy Trinity and see that the Father sends the Son into this world to save it, both the Father and the Son send the Spirit into this world to empower believers and to convince sinners of their sin. whether we look at creation,salvation or divine providence we see the way the Triune God works. We see in the Trinity an element of relationship, it is seen constantly in the Gospels. the baptism of Jesus is just one example, The Son is baptised, the Father speaks and the Spirit descends upon him. we also see that Jesus carried out the mission of the father in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The biblical view of God shows that our God is not remote and unconcerned about his creation but rather that he is involved in it, he maintains it and he redeems it from the curse that sin has brought upon it.

God is Holy: We must see that God is the holy one, he is high and lifted up and he loves righteousness and justice. this also means that as a holy god he is the judge of all that goes on, one day he will pronounce the final sentence upon all who have rebelled against him. In this hour of grace he warns of the judgement to come and calls us to walk humbly with our God. God hates all sin whether it be idolatry or social injustice, lust or jealousy, greed or immorality, the list could go.

God is gracious: He shows us that in Christ there is full salvation and that his words of warning are meant to lead us to Christ. We do not deserve anything good from the hand of God but he lavishes his grace upon us. Notice that in all of this that it is God who acts, if we had been left to ourselves we would have been hopeless. But instead of hopelessness we can have joy and peace as we believe in him.

One day God is going to complete his work and on that day creation will be delivered from the curse and all those who have put their trust in Christ will live for all eternity joyfully serving the living God. I need to ask the question do you have a living relationship with God? If you have then you have received eternal life which no one can take away from you. If you don’t know him yet he will always be ready to receive you, when you turn from your sins and put your faith in Christ.

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment