Today's SEMS - Fully God, Fully Man: Contending for Christ Then & Now

Gives thanks for a stimulating Sussex Evangelical Ministry Seminar with The Revd Mark Smith. Having had a lengthy and expensive theological education it is tempting to think one has a thought through Christology, but 5 minutes thinking quickly shows that there are depths to the Scriptures, the Christian tradition and especially to the mystery of the incarnation itself which we have not yet plumbed. The talks should be available on the Sussex Gospel Partnership website in due course.   

How To Pray - according to Jesus

It may be that even those of us who wouldn’t consider ourselves committed Christians pray from time to time, perhaps when facing some difficulty or in a crisis.

According to the Gospels, Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1). The Revd Jon Hobbs helped us to consider some of that teaching of Jesus on prayer at our recent Churches Away Day. Jon argued that the Bible presents prayer as talking to God as our loving heavenly Father. Jesus encourages us to come to God as needy children, believing that our Father delights to hear our requests.

Jon went on to suggest nine lessons about how to pray from Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6:5-18:

Jesus taught his disciples to:

(1) Pray sincerely (vv5-7). Jesus warned against praying like a religious hypocrite wanting to be seen by other people so as to impress them. We need not and cannot put on an act with God.

(2) Pray privately (v6). This is an antidote to the hypocrisy just mentioned. Our unseen Father sees what we do in secret. He knows our hearts. Praying with others can be good and helpful, but praying on our own is a way of keeping it real and helping us to focus on God, rather than on what other people might think of us.  

(3) Pray regularly (v6). Jesus doesn’t say “if you pray” but “when you pray”. He assumes it will be his disciples’ regular habit, and not just reserved for times when all else has failed. We should make prayer our first resort, not our last resort. Indeed, in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus encourages us to ask for our “daily bread” (v11), presumably something which we ought to seek from God each and every day.  

(4) Pray simply (vv7-8). Jesus tells us that we should not “keep on babbling like the pagans” who “think that they will be heard because of their many words”. We shouldn’t be trying to impress God with the eloquence or length of our prayers. Our Father isn’t marking our performance.  

(5) Pray reverently (vv9-10). Remember who God is: our Father in heaven. We pray for his holy name to be honoured, that he might receive the respect that is due to him.

(6) Pray boldly (vv11-13). Jesus encourages us to pray big prayers, prayers concerned with God’s kingdom and his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. We should ask too for all that we need, including both our material and spiritual needs, knowing that God loves to give us good gifts.

(7) Pray repentantly (vv14-15). If we are unwilling to forgive others then it might be that we are not able to receive God’s forgiveness. Our prayers should include saying sorry to God and asking for his help to live in a way that pleases him.

(8) Pray earnestly (v16). Jesus seems to assume that his followers will fast. That is one sign of seriousness. We need God more than we need our next meal.

(9) Pray believingly. An attitude of trust in God’s fatherly love pervades Jesus’ teaching. We pray in Jesus’ name, depending on him and his saving death for us. Jesus has won us forgiveness and access into our Father’s presence. Indeed, Jesus lives and reigns in heaven interceding for us. We might say that our prayer depends on Jesus’ prayer for us. He is the one who is able to bring us to God and restore us to right relationship with him.  

You can listen to Jon’s 3 talks at: www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?series=18

The plot to kill Lazarus (again)

In John 12v10, the chief priests, who are already plotting to kill Jesus decide to kill Lazarus as well, because everyone knows that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and they were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.  

It’s funny really: Jesus has already shown that he is the Lord of Life and death, yet these religious leaders stubbornly refuse to believe in him.

They decided to kill Jesus and his resuscitated disciple.

What would have happened if they’d killed Lazarus before they killed Jesus?

Would Jesus have raised him to life again?

How many times might he have been killed and resuscitated?

But we know that Jesus the Resurrection and the Life lives eternally.

He has risen once and for all never to die again.

He is enthroned in heaven as the bodily-risen, glorified God-Man.

He lives the life immortal.

Death is done away with.

Lazarus of course did in the end die again.

We don’t know how.

Maybe the chief priests managed to kill him.

Maybe they didn’t.

Tradition says that Lazarus fled from the plots against him and became a Bishop.

But we don’t know.

What we do know is that Lazarus is alive in heaven now with his friend Jesus.

One day Lazarus will receive a resurrection body like Jesus’.

Both men are alive.

In their different ways, both is a foretaste of the resurrection.

Mary of Bethany and Jesus' feet

Stolen from a sermon preached by Christopher Ash at Emmanuel, Wimbledon, I think:

Jn 12v3 – Mary pours the perfume at Jesus’ feet and wipes it with her hair

Lk 10 – Mary sat at Jesus’ feet as his disciple, listening to him

Jn 11 – Mary fell at Jesus’ feet in worship

2 smelly men

(You may wish to look away now if you plan to listen to me preaching tomorrow).

The evangelist John is not only an eyewitness but a nose witness. In chapters 11 and 12 he contrasts two smelly men, both men who smell of death, Jesus and Lazarus. But Lazarus stinketh (or so at least his sister fears, according to the Authorised Version). Jesus on the other hand smells of a beautiful, rich, sweet perfume which prepares his body for death, and, indeed, which fills the whole house. Lazarus too takes on the pleasing aroma of Jesus as the Anointed one is anointed.

The anointing of Jesus at Bethany - John 12:1-8

God willing I will be preaching on John 12:1-8 on Sunday and in preparation I've listened to a few sermons. For those who like such things, I have jotted down some headings:

Christopher Ash at Emmanuel, Wimbledon:

4 responses to Christian resurrection:

 (1)   The adoration of the disciple (v3) – a fragrant response

 (2)   The sour hypocrisy of the unconverted (vv4-6)

 (3)   The sober sacrifice of the Saviour (vv7-8)

 (4)   The hostility of the frightened (vv9-11)

Jonathan Fletcher at Emmanuel, Wimbledon:

(1) Follow Mary’s example of extravagant devotion to Jesus in gratitude for all that he’s done

 (2) Flee from Judas’ greed

 (3) Focus on Jesus’ death for us

Hugh Palmer at St Helen’s, Bishopsgate:

(1) Judas’ question (vv4-5)

 (2) John’s warning (v6)

 (3) Jesus’ verdict (vv7-8)

Melvin Tinker at St John's, Newland:

(1)   a passionate devotion (vv2- 3)

(2)   a sickening deception (vv4- 6)

(3)   a universal division (vv9-10)

Liam Goligher at Duke Street:

(1)   The extravagance of the anointing


(2)   The offence of the anointing


(3)   The significance of the anointing

(a)   What Mary does

(b)   What Jesus says


Edmund Clowney, The Gospel Coalition Website:

(1)   The extravagance of Mary’s devotion

(2)   The folly of Mary’s devotion in the corrupt mind of Judas

(3)   The perception of Mary’s devotion as defended by Jesus

(a)   Mary perceived Jesus’ work – his coming death and burial

(b)   Mary perceived Jesus’ person – he accepts her worship

An outline for a Mothering Sunday talk from John 2:1-11

Two things we can learn from Mary in this true story from the Bible (probably not entirely original to me):

(1) Mary does the right thing: she brings the problem to Jesus, knowing that he cares and can help (v3). We would do well to bring our problems to Jesus in prayer. He cares for us and can help us.

(2) Mary gives some excellent advice: she tells the servant to do whatever Jesus tells them, even though it must have seemed strange to them (v5). We should always do what Jesus tells us to do in his Word, the Bible, even if it seems strange to us.

Another quotation that might make it into Sunday's sermon

From a friend's email signature:

“If we have not what we desire, we have more than we deserve.” Thomas Watson [puritan]

The History of Children in Church

I have recently seen this article linked to a couple of times, apparently approvingly. Mr (?) Denlinger argues that perhaps it has not always been as normal for children to be included in the whole of the Lord's Day service as some advocates of that approach suggest.

Certainly the author is right that we probably too easily assume that we can guess what the history of the church has been and, guess what, we probably assume that it agrees with us!

He may well be right that those who argue for children in church need to do more to make the case that history is on their side.

But I have to say that the specific examples he gives (from 16th Century Scotland) are not very impressive to my mind. They are from rather a particular time and place. Had the author said that children were excluded from The Lord's Day Service from the earliest days I would have been all ears. Or that this was apparently the universal practice in East or West for a thousand years. Or that all the mainstream Reformers were agreed on this matter.

Fair enough. More work is needed. Denlinger agrees.

And, I have to say, that I do not find the examples very attractive. This is beside the author's point, really, and historical evidence is there whether we like it or not. But I would be surprised if anyone found these cases very persuasive. As the author says, these days, with carpets and microphones and other practical adaptations, perhaps infants and children can be less of a barrier to adult participation in church anyway.

It seems to me particularly sad that: 'Perth legislation of 1587' ordered that infants about to be baptised "be holden in some secret place til the preaching is ended" and then brought forward for baptism, lest the crying of the baptismal candidate create "din in time of preaching, so that others incoming thereto are stopped from hearing."

Obviously the practical concern for the edification of the majority of the congregation is a good and right one but this seems to me especially painfully far removed from our Lord's own teaching: let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven, we might add, even when the little ones prove a naissance to the ever so important adult disciples.

It is also a great shame that there is 'no evidence that' the advocates of keeping children away 'spent any effort devising a wholesome alternative to corporate worship for the youngsters' or indeed for the adults who presumably had to stay away to look after them. Some progress has at least been made, even if what is offered today is frequently far from perfect.

'Glasgow's churches apparently made 8 years of age the "cut-off" for attending the sermon' which raises the interesting question of when children are to be encouraged back into the main service if there is a Sunday school. One church I knew well had a group of 17-20 somethings and a couple of adult leaders going out of the morning service at one time to flee the sermon! This is obviously absurd.

The case of paedocommunion would be a counterbalancing piece of evidence, including Tommy Lee's work on 'THE HISTORY OF PAEDOCOMMUNION: FROM THE EARLY CHURCH UNTIL 1500'

Ready to die for Christ

An extraordinary story read on Facebook:

"The pioneer missionaries traveling inland Africa did not expect a long life. They were normally young people in their twenties who knew that their ministry would last for a year or two before they succumbed to disease. Consequently they would pack all their belongings not into a suitcase, but in a coffin, and then set sail to Africa. These coffins standing on end with shelves inserted made great cupboards apparently, until required for duties!

The decision to step onto the ship with your coffin can be understood only by appreciating the depth of their conviction that death was not the end, and that such decisions were part of God’s plan to bring back the King to reign ’where the righteous dwells’ . 2Pet 3:13 "


(Discipleship Matters by Peter Maiden, IVP UK 2015,pg 44)

A classic quotation from John Newton I might use (probably again) on Sunday

‘I am not what I ought to be,

I am not what I want to be,

I am not what I hope to be in another world;

but still I am not what I once used to be,

and by the grace of God I am what I am.’

Sounding Like The Proclamation Trust

Here, amongst other things, The Revd Dr Peter Leithart makes the point that we want everyone to be able to speak Bible.

The specialised and specific categories of systematic theology have their place, but we should not lose sight of what Bible words mean: they have Bible meanings.

If we already know what 'justification' means, for example, when we come to the Bible, the Bible can never correct our understanding of righteousness and vindication and so on, which are facets of the Bible concept of justification.

This is the Proclamation Trust point that we must not impose our system on the Bible. What does this passage say and mean? It is only when we have truly heard this that we can begin to put it together with what we understand from other Bible passages already (our Systematic Theology, as we call it).

Of course, ideally there is always a complicated interaction (a virtuous spiral) between text and system: our systematic theology helps us to understand the Bible and the Bible corrects our system.

But Leithart and PT are surely right to remind us that Bible must always trump System if we are to be Evangelical Bible believers.

Good News

I have decided that The Revd Dr Joe Book is worth listening to.

He makes the interesting point here that we might say that the first good news in the Bible is that God has created a very good world. This is very important for understanding the gospel. Salvation is not an escape from creation / physicality / flesh. "Mind" or disembodied "spirit" are not the ultimate goal.

Boot's wider point is that the Gospel cannot be reduced to a headline or even to the cross, resurrection and Parousia. The whole story from creation to new creation is really needed if we are to understand and appreciated the goodness of the good news and its implications. We need to understand the nature of the Fall if we are to appreciate the Redemption. The gospel is about time, history and events. It is not merely an idea. We should expect the gospel to impact everything.

Some Bible / Old Testament Overviews / Summaries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I400jhY2DF0 - Dan Hait – The Old Testament Told in Only 5 Minutes [and a bit] by an American

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYmvTP9kJlY – Andrew Wilson from King’s Church, Eastbourne - <12 and="" bible="" books="" characters="" covenant="" dates="" font="" how="" involved="" it="" jesus="" key="" mentioning="" minutes="" points="" to="" with="">

(1)    Eden

(2)    Election (of Abraham)

(3)    Exodus

(4)    Empire

(5)    Exile & Return

http://rosclarke.co.uk/beginningtoend/ - Dr Ros Clarke – The Bible from Beginning To End

Part one: TIME OF CREATION AND COVENANT

Part two: TIME OF CONQUEST

Part three: TIME OF CONFLICT

Part four: TIME OF CONSOLATION

Part five: TIME OF CONSUMMATION – (NT) fulfilment in Christ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkT_GqLAP7s – Desiring God – The Old Testament in Ten Minutes - Jason DeRouchie

Vaughan Roberts – God’s Big Picture (IVP) - http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/bible-study/bible-overview/gods-big-picture

• 1. The pattern of the kingdom
• 2. The perished kingdom
• 3. The promised kingdom
• 4. The partial kingdom
• 5. The prophesied kingdom
• 6. The present kingdom
• 7. The proclaimed kingdom
• 8. The perfected kingdom

Need a super-confessor?

According to the BBC News website, to mark the Vatican’s jubilee year, the Pope has ‘sent more than 1,000 priests [nicknamed ‘super-confessors’] on a global mission to forgive grave sins that normally only he, or a top Church official, may pardon.’ Such ‘grave sins include defiling consecrated bread and wine, violating confessional secrecy, and plotting to kill a pope.’

You can read more about the story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35543998

Now, I cannot claim to be an expert on contemporary Roman Catholic theology. For what it's worth, I would actually have quite a bit of time for Pope Francis, and no doubt he would give a more sophisticated account of this than a brief piece on the BBC website. But let me say something from an Anglican Evangelical point of view (which of course I would claim is faithful to the Bible) about the confession of sin and forgiveness, against the background of this story. Much more could be said but perhaps this short post will be sufficient to suggest an approach.  

In our Sunday services, we often introduce the prayer of Confession with these words from the Bible:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

            1 John 1:8-9, quoted in The Book of Common Prayer & Common Worship service books.

The confession here is surely to God himself. There is nothing in the context to suggest confession to a priest, or indeed only in a church service. It is of course God who forgives, and notice that he promises ‘to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ if we seek his pardon. It is because Jesus has taken the punishment for all those who will put their trust in him that God is just to forgive our sins.

According to The Prayer Book, ‘God… hath given power and commandment to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins’. What the minister does here is remind the congregation of God’s promise and preach the good news to them. God ‘pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent and unfeignedly [that is, genuinely] believe his holy Gospel.’ Again, it seems clear that God forgives all our sins when we turn from all that we know to be wrong, and put our trust in Jesus. There is no implication that some sins require special absolution from certain senior clerics.

The New Testament does encourage us to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another (James 5:16) but this confession could be to any other believer, not just a priest. For some, it might sometimes be helpful to discuss some of your struggles with your pastor, but other Christians might be just as helpful, and this kind of ‘confession’ is not a condition of the reassurance of forgiveness that we all receive each Sunday as the minister reminds us of God’s Word. I’d always be happy to speak with any parishioner whose conscience is troubling him or her, but I wouldn’t be assigning penances. If we feel a burden of guilt, we need only look with faith to Jesus. He would speak words of comfort to us, as he did to the penitent thief who died on a cross beside him.

The Bible teaches us that there is ‘one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men’ (1 Timothy 2:5). The clergy are essentially Bible-teachers and pastors, not go-betweens between people and God. One of the great themes of the Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament is that the Lord Jesus Christ is our all sufficient High Priest. He has offered himself once and for all for sins, and so the way to God is open through him. Because Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, we can bring our confession directly to him knowing that he understands our human condition and sympathises with our weakness. Hebrews urges us to approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, trusting in Jesus (Hebrews 4:14-16). He is, if you like, the super-confessor we all really need.  

The wrong date

I had a very short introduction to my sermon on love today to do with St Valentine's Day.

An attentive parishioner noticed that I said that Donne, who died 31 March 1631, had written a poem for a wedding in 1632. Possible, of course, but perhaps a little odd.

It seems there is a misprint in the book I used (Saints on Earth: A biographical companion to Common Worship by John H. Darch and Stuart K. Burns, Church House Publishing, 2004). They say that Princess Elizabeth and Frederick 5^th married on St Valentine’s day, 1632, but the interweb says it was 14 February 1613.

Swarm

Back in July of last year, David Cameron got into trouble for making human beings sound like insects when he spoke about a swarm of migrants coming across the Mediterranean wanting to seek a better life in Britain.

The prophet Joel does the opposite in chapters 1 and 2: he speaks about insects as if they are human beings when he describes a plague of locusts as like a great army.

Creation procliams

One other little thing that has so far interested me in reading a bit of Athanasius, On The Incarnation is that the great man appears to think of creation as proclaiming not merely 'God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature' (Romans 1:20) but as 'confessing Christ as Lord.' (ch 3, section 15, Fig book edition p26).

The Image of God

What exactly it means for men and women to be created 'in the image of God' (Genesis 1:27) is much discussed.

I've been reading a little bit of Athanasius, On The Incarnation, and I've been struck by the way in which he relates humanity's creation in the image of God to Christ the Image of God (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4).

For example:

'Upon them, therefore, upon men who, as animals, were essentially impermanent, He bestowed a grace which other creatures lacked—namely the impress of His own Image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so that, reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the Mind of God even as He does, though in limited degree they might continue for ever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise

ch 1, section 3, my Fig Books edition 2013, p12

Man, who was created in God's image and in his possession of reason reflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing, and the work of God was being undone.

ch 2, section 6, p15

He saw the reasonable race, the race of men that, like Himself, expressed the Father's Mind, wasting out of existence, and death reigning over all in corruption.

ch 2, section 8, p16

But, in fact, the good God has given them a share in His own Image, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, and has made even themselves after the same Image and Likeness. Why? Simply in order that through this gift of Godlikeness in themselves they may be able to perceive the Image Absolute, that is the Word Himself, and through Him to apprehend the Father; which knowledge of their Maker is for men the only really happy and blessed life.

ch 3, section 11, p21

If so, what was the use of having made them in His own Image originally? It would surely have been better for them always to have been brutes, rather than to revert to that condition when once they had shared the nature of the Word.

ch 3, section 13, p23

What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father Who could recreate man made after the Image.

In order to effect this re-creation, however, He had first to do away with death and corruption. Therefore He assumed a human body, in order that in it death might once for all be destroyed, and that men might be renewed according to the Image. The Image of the Father only was sufficient for this need.

ch 3, section 13, p24

We have seen that to change the corruptible to incorruption was proper to none other than the Savior Himself, Who in the beginning made all things out of nothing; that only the Image of the Father could re-create the likeness of the Image in men, that none save our Lord Jesus Christ could give to mortals immortality, and that only the Word Who orders all things and is alone the Father's true and sole-begotten Son could teach men about Him and abolish the worship of idols.

ch 4, section 20, p30'

Whether or not we follow Athanasius in all the details, I reckon it is worth pondering the relationship between humanity as God's image bearers and Christ as the Image of God.

Jesus Our Big Brother (Hebrews 2:10-end)

A sermon introduction & outline:

Whether or not we have an elder brother, I guess we could imagine the ideal, perfect big brother.

Someone we loved and admired, who was a role model for us – perhaps even a hero to us.

Imagine you were about to start secondary school.

It would be good to have an older brother who had gone there before you.

He’d know just what it was like to go from being one of the oldest in your little village school of about 100 pupils, to the one of the youngest in a school of nearly 2000.

He could sympathise when you got lost, or when you were bewildered by the range of subjects.

He understands that all the different teachers take a bit of getting used to.

And he can help you out:

He can alert you to the ways of Mr Smith, the geography teacher.

And he can explain to you how the canteen works – recommend to you the best puddings and tell you what meals to avoid.

Perhaps there’s a bully at the school:

A pupil in the year above who terrorises all you first years.

To you it seems like the whole school is in the bully’s power.

But your big brother can come and sort him out.

He beats him up and the bully won’t mess with you again: he’s utterly defeated, his grip is broken.

Maybe you don’t turn out to be such a good student as your big brother.

Your coursework is due and you’ve done next to nothing for it.

You’re bound to fail.

It would be a total disaster.

Leaving aside the ethics of it for a moment, wouldn’t it be amazing if your big brother handed in his assignment for you, and you got top marks?

Perhaps you get into dreadful trouble at school and you’re about to be expelled, but your big brother takes the punishment for you.

Our passage suggests that we can see these things reflected in the Lord Jesus, the perfect big brother:

(1)   Jesus became our big brother so that he could understand what it’s like to be human, sympathise with us and help us (v18).

(2)   Jesus became our big brother so that he might destroy that bully the devil who held the power of death against us (vv14-15)

(3)   Jesus became our big brother so that he might solve our big problem by making atonement for our sins (v17)

The full audio version should be available here in due course.