I'm no longer a trainee, I finished at the end of August. Nevertheless, I found this blog a helpful place to process some of my thoughts, and a few people seem to follow it, so I think I might continue it.
We'll see if it goes anywehere.
25 Nov 2014
30 Sept 2014
No longer a trainee!
I have finished my time as a Church youth work trainee (I in fact finished a few weeks ago). But I've decided to continue this blog provided I have time. I have recently started as a university student, and will hopefully write some posts soon.
I can only thank God for His provision of this last year and this next stage in my journey here, He is full of blessings and sometimes works through the ways you least expect.
I can only thank God for His provision of this last year and this next stage in my journey here, He is full of blessings and sometimes works through the ways you least expect.
17 Aug 2014
"Religious Debates"
Here is some advice for Christians, atheists and people of other faiths, religions and standpoints when having chats about beliefs. I could really do with better putting these into practice myself.
1) Sort out who or what you mean when you say God - Most of the conversations about "god" that I have seen or been a part of have been about entirely different "gods". You cannot have a debate about two entirely different entities while thinking you're talking about the same thing. If you're talking about the God of the Bible then you need to establish the Trinity first and foremost, because the God of the Bible is three persons, Father, Son and Spirit, as one God and His entire identity is built around that fact. Think about it, if two people are trying to have a conversation, but one is talking about surrealist art and the other is talking about water bears (look them up, they are so cool), it's just not going to work, and both people will probably go away thinking the other is an idiot.
2) Be honest - if you don't know why you think something, say so. If you think that something's stupid, say so (but nicely and with explanation).
3) Listen, being patient and sincere - your conversation isn't going to go anywhere without patient and sincere listening.
4) Get on the same page with your definitions - when I say, "faith", I don't mean belief without evidence, when I say, "religion", I don't mean Christianity. Unless you know what each other means, you'll be having entirely different conversations (kind of like point 1).
5) Set a point to your debate and stick to it - conversations can easily devolve into meaningless and irrelevant blatherings. If you're talking about Heaven, for example, don't start talking about whether or not there can be such a thing as a perfect apple (this actually happened to me once, I was just as much to blame as the other person (if not more), and it completely ruined our conversation). Make it clear what you want to talk about at the start, and if the conversation drifts too far then pull it back, even if it leaves unanswered questions.
6) Don't just have one conversation - it's in most people's nature to resist change, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary of what they believe. Not only that, but conversations like this often say lots of things with lots of content in each thing. Basically, people need time to process. One conversation rarely achieves anything, and you'll probably need to spend most of it getting on the same page about what you each believe, so make sure you talk more than once.
7) Don't always worry about the fact that the other person might want you to change your mind/"convert you" - People usually have debates because they care about truth/the other person and they want that person to agree with them. Note that doesn't mean that they want to force you to think the way they do. In fact they almost certainly don't want to force you, because otherwise they probably wouldn't be debating with you. Actually, the fact that someone is taking the time to talk with you probably shows that they really care about you.
8) Be logical, structure your conversation and make a visible note of the points that each of you makes - these things are really helpful for getting a conversation to go somewhere, and also for making sure that you don't forget, repeat or contradict the things you have already established. Not only that, but people tend to need "more than a feeling" to entirely change their "world-view", and are not likely to be convinced by illogical, unsubstantiated arguments. Talking through the logic and evidence behind what you believe, even if that wasn't originally what brought you to think the way you do, can really help.
9) I know it's the same point again, but it really does matter... Make sure you each know what the other actually believes - otherwise you'll be having entirely different conversations, and it just won't work.
1) Sort out who or what you mean when you say God - Most of the conversations about "god" that I have seen or been a part of have been about entirely different "gods". You cannot have a debate about two entirely different entities while thinking you're talking about the same thing. If you're talking about the God of the Bible then you need to establish the Trinity first and foremost, because the God of the Bible is three persons, Father, Son and Spirit, as one God and His entire identity is built around that fact. Think about it, if two people are trying to have a conversation, but one is talking about surrealist art and the other is talking about water bears (look them up, they are so cool), it's just not going to work, and both people will probably go away thinking the other is an idiot.
2) Be honest - if you don't know why you think something, say so. If you think that something's stupid, say so (but nicely and with explanation).
3) Listen, being patient and sincere - your conversation isn't going to go anywhere without patient and sincere listening.
4) Get on the same page with your definitions - when I say, "faith", I don't mean belief without evidence, when I say, "religion", I don't mean Christianity. Unless you know what each other means, you'll be having entirely different conversations (kind of like point 1).
5) Set a point to your debate and stick to it - conversations can easily devolve into meaningless and irrelevant blatherings. If you're talking about Heaven, for example, don't start talking about whether or not there can be such a thing as a perfect apple (this actually happened to me once, I was just as much to blame as the other person (if not more), and it completely ruined our conversation). Make it clear what you want to talk about at the start, and if the conversation drifts too far then pull it back, even if it leaves unanswered questions.
6) Don't just have one conversation - it's in most people's nature to resist change, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary of what they believe. Not only that, but conversations like this often say lots of things with lots of content in each thing. Basically, people need time to process. One conversation rarely achieves anything, and you'll probably need to spend most of it getting on the same page about what you each believe, so make sure you talk more than once.
7) Don't always worry about the fact that the other person might want you to change your mind/"convert you" - People usually have debates because they care about truth/the other person and they want that person to agree with them. Note that doesn't mean that they want to force you to think the way they do. In fact they almost certainly don't want to force you, because otherwise they probably wouldn't be debating with you. Actually, the fact that someone is taking the time to talk with you probably shows that they really care about you.
8) Be logical, structure your conversation and make a visible note of the points that each of you makes - these things are really helpful for getting a conversation to go somewhere, and also for making sure that you don't forget, repeat or contradict the things you have already established. Not only that, but people tend to need "more than a feeling" to entirely change their "world-view", and are not likely to be convinced by illogical, unsubstantiated arguments. Talking through the logic and evidence behind what you believe, even if that wasn't originally what brought you to think the way you do, can really help.
9) I know it's the same point again, but it really does matter... Make sure you each know what the other actually believes - otherwise you'll be having entirely different conversations, and it just won't work.
12 Jul 2014
God's Morality and the Law
I was having a good chat with an
excellent friend of mine who is an atheist. We sadly ran out of time for
our conversation, but we left each other with some questions to think
about and answer. The first of his to me was, "If there are so many
different views from the same book (the Bible), how can we trust any of
them?" And the second, which it is my hope to answer in this post, was,
"How do you justify God based on some of the Old Testament laws which
aren't the most just or civilised?"
Both of which are excellent questions. I will attempt to answer both, but for now here is my attempt at writing an answer to the second (I find talking much easier than blogging :P).
To the people who have been waiting for this, I'm very sorry, life has been busy and I've been struggling to answer this in less than a 3 page essay (there are lots of laws to cover). Instead I've decided to opt for a less satisfying but hopefully more useful way of answering. Instead of detailing all of the specifics, going through each type of law, looking in detail how the New Testament picks up on the Law and so on, I'm instead going to take a more general approach, which will leave many questions remaining, but should hopefully equip my friend/whoever reads this to work out the details, should they want to (or you'd be welcome to ask me more specifically too).
Of course, knowing me, this probably won't work and I'll end up having to post the 3 page essay. God-willing it will work, though, as I think a 3 page essay is more of a slog to read than my friend was hoping for.
We'll see.
On with the post.
"God's Morality and the Law."
I think the most helpful place to start would be to ask why God gave the Law to the Israelites, and then to explore that.
So, why did God give the Law to the Israelites?
The Bible tells us in Exodus 19, just before God starts giving out the first sections of the Law.
Have a look with me at Exodus chapter 19 verses 1 to 6:
"On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.
3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”"
God's making a deal with His people, the Israelites, having just rescued them from slavery and death in Egypt. His deal with them basically goes along the lines of, "If you fully keep my laws, then you can be my people, and I will make you holy (perfect and set apart), set you apart from all the other nations, and allow you to be with me."
From this we get the first purpose of the law:
1) To make God's people stand out from the nations around them.
If we look at the law with this perspective, things start making sense that didn't before. Let's compare and contrast a few examples of how the Law that the Israelites had differs to the way the nations around them tended to do things:
The Law The Way Other People at the Time Did Stuff
Feed the poor and vulnerable Exploit the poor and vulnerable
Reset wealth every (I think) 70 years The strong are rich, the weak are poor.
to prevent long term rich/poor divides
and to rebalance wealth
Women have some rights Women have no rights
The punishment should fit the crime I'll exact vengeance however I like
2 or more testimonies to verify a crime No real judicial system
Don't do prostitution, or sell people Prostitution! Sell your daughters too!
as prostitutes Have sex shrines to worship wooden idols!
Don't murder Burn your children alive to Baal
Don't self harm Self harm when people die so that gods
might let them have a better afterlife
Why can't I trim the edges of my beard according to the Law? Because that was part of the worship of false gods who people burned their children alive to at the time, and the Law is about setting me apart from them in a positive direction. (Which would no longer be necessary today, as beard trimming has nothing to do with worshipping Baal, but at the day it was)
The Law was a massive step forward for the people of the day. If the Israelites followed it then they would be the safest, fairest nation of the time.
Compared to the nations around them (and, with some laws, compared to us today), the Law would make the Israelites remarkably just, but it was by no means the whole way there. There were still big problems. It was only a step forward, not the whole leap, and there was a long way to go.
This brings us on to the second purpose of the Law. Remember the deal before? What was the condition? If God's people obeyed His laws fully, then they could be His people. But they couldn't. Even with a sacrificial system which enabled them to get retries, there was not a single one who managed to keep the Law fully.
2) The second point of the Law was to show the ineffectiveness of religion, and the need for something better.
Yes, that's right. The Law was designed to show up religion as useless.
I had better give my definition of religion at this point, as it may differ from yours. I define religion as, "A belief system in which participants have to earn salvation/enlightenment/whatever else by what they do."
By giving the Law, which wasn't even to the standard of perfection that God required, God was showing the Israelites/us that there's no way we can earn salvation. We just mess up. The Israelites couldn't even manage to obey the Law which didn't require the perfect standards of God and was just a step forward, how then could they stand any chance of keeping the Law if it had gone the whole leap and been up to the perfect standards of God?
The Law shows up religion, by my definition, as worthless and draining, as people are just too flawed to be able to earn a place as one of God's people.
The Law points us towards Christ, who provides a better way than religion.
(These ideas are not made up, they are picked up repeatedly in both the Old and New Testament. Although they will explain it with far fewer blunders than I probably have done! I can look at some of these with you. Romans and Galatians do this especially.)
So what then is my answer to your question? I think I understand it like this:
- Far fewer of the laws given in the Old Testament are as "bad" as you would think, just the "bad" ones are quoted far more than the rest.
- I also don't think that the Law shows us an exact representation of God's morality, but rather it should point us in the direction of it. When we see the laws as a massive step forward for the day, then we can start to see the direction which points towards God's morality. Things are taken another big step forward in the New Testament, but not because God's morality has changed (it's still more perfect than we can achieve).
- The Law should show us our sinfulness, our inability to match up to God's goodness and earn eternal life, and ultimately it should show us our need for Christ, who lived a sinless life, meeting God's standard's for perfection, and died on the cross as a substitute for us, so that we can have eternal life without having to earn it, simply by accepting Jesus' offer and giving our lives to him.
Both of which are excellent questions. I will attempt to answer both, but for now here is my attempt at writing an answer to the second (I find talking much easier than blogging :P).
To the people who have been waiting for this, I'm very sorry, life has been busy and I've been struggling to answer this in less than a 3 page essay (there are lots of laws to cover). Instead I've decided to opt for a less satisfying but hopefully more useful way of answering. Instead of detailing all of the specifics, going through each type of law, looking in detail how the New Testament picks up on the Law and so on, I'm instead going to take a more general approach, which will leave many questions remaining, but should hopefully equip my friend/whoever reads this to work out the details, should they want to (or you'd be welcome to ask me more specifically too).
Of course, knowing me, this probably won't work and I'll end up having to post the 3 page essay. God-willing it will work, though, as I think a 3 page essay is more of a slog to read than my friend was hoping for.
We'll see.
On with the post.
"God's Morality and the Law."
I think the most helpful place to start would be to ask why God gave the Law to the Israelites, and then to explore that.
So, why did God give the Law to the Israelites?
The Bible tells us in Exodus 19, just before God starts giving out the first sections of the Law.
Have a look with me at Exodus chapter 19 verses 1 to 6:
"On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.
3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”"
God's making a deal with His people, the Israelites, having just rescued them from slavery and death in Egypt. His deal with them basically goes along the lines of, "If you fully keep my laws, then you can be my people, and I will make you holy (perfect and set apart), set you apart from all the other nations, and allow you to be with me."
From this we get the first purpose of the law:
1) To make God's people stand out from the nations around them.
If we look at the law with this perspective, things start making sense that didn't before. Let's compare and contrast a few examples of how the Law that the Israelites had differs to the way the nations around them tended to do things:
The Law The Way Other People at the Time Did Stuff
Feed the poor and vulnerable Exploit the poor and vulnerable
Reset wealth every (I think) 70 years The strong are rich, the weak are poor.
to prevent long term rich/poor divides
and to rebalance wealth
Women have some rights Women have no rights
The punishment should fit the crime I'll exact vengeance however I like
2 or more testimonies to verify a crime No real judicial system
Don't do prostitution, or sell people Prostitution! Sell your daughters too!
as prostitutes Have sex shrines to worship wooden idols!
Don't murder Burn your children alive to Baal
Don't self harm Self harm when people die so that gods
might let them have a better afterlife
Why can't I trim the edges of my beard according to the Law? Because that was part of the worship of false gods who people burned their children alive to at the time, and the Law is about setting me apart from them in a positive direction. (Which would no longer be necessary today, as beard trimming has nothing to do with worshipping Baal, but at the day it was)
The Law was a massive step forward for the people of the day. If the Israelites followed it then they would be the safest, fairest nation of the time.
Compared to the nations around them (and, with some laws, compared to us today), the Law would make the Israelites remarkably just, but it was by no means the whole way there. There were still big problems. It was only a step forward, not the whole leap, and there was a long way to go.
This brings us on to the second purpose of the Law. Remember the deal before? What was the condition? If God's people obeyed His laws fully, then they could be His people. But they couldn't. Even with a sacrificial system which enabled them to get retries, there was not a single one who managed to keep the Law fully.
2) The second point of the Law was to show the ineffectiveness of religion, and the need for something better.
Yes, that's right. The Law was designed to show up religion as useless.
I had better give my definition of religion at this point, as it may differ from yours. I define religion as, "A belief system in which participants have to earn salvation/enlightenment/whatever else by what they do."
By giving the Law, which wasn't even to the standard of perfection that God required, God was showing the Israelites/us that there's no way we can earn salvation. We just mess up. The Israelites couldn't even manage to obey the Law which didn't require the perfect standards of God and was just a step forward, how then could they stand any chance of keeping the Law if it had gone the whole leap and been up to the perfect standards of God?
The Law shows up religion, by my definition, as worthless and draining, as people are just too flawed to be able to earn a place as one of God's people.
The Law points us towards Christ, who provides a better way than religion.
(These ideas are not made up, they are picked up repeatedly in both the Old and New Testament. Although they will explain it with far fewer blunders than I probably have done! I can look at some of these with you. Romans and Galatians do this especially.)
So what then is my answer to your question? I think I understand it like this:
- Far fewer of the laws given in the Old Testament are as "bad" as you would think, just the "bad" ones are quoted far more than the rest.
- I also don't think that the Law shows us an exact representation of God's morality, but rather it should point us in the direction of it. When we see the laws as a massive step forward for the day, then we can start to see the direction which points towards God's morality. Things are taken another big step forward in the New Testament, but not because God's morality has changed (it's still more perfect than we can achieve).
- The Law should show us our sinfulness, our inability to match up to God's goodness and earn eternal life, and ultimately it should show us our need for Christ, who lived a sinless life, meeting God's standard's for perfection, and died on the cross as a substitute for us, so that we can have eternal life without having to earn it, simply by accepting Jesus' offer and giving our lives to him.
18 May 2014
Sorry for the delay on the "God's Morality" post... it's still coming! I've been very busy recently. One of the things I've been doing is a youth talk for a weekend away, which I did recently. Here it is (my apologies to anyone called Herbert, I really do think it's a good name actually):
Let
me introduce you to a guy called Herbert. Now, as you may have guessed by his name, Herbert is one of the unluckiest people you will ever meet. Herbert’s also afraid of
heights, which is unfortunate for him as he’s currently standing on
a balcony, on the top floor of a 10 story sky-scraper, on the edge of
a cliff, next to the sea. He’d get down if he could… but his best
friend, who’s brother he’s just killed, is standing behind him
with a gun telling him to jump. Which isn’t great for Herbert, as,
even if he could survive the fall, he can’t swim. Oh, and there’s
sharks in the water. He’s pretty stuck. In fact, he’s in a
hopeless situation, with absolutely nothing he can do to fix it. And
it’s all his fault that he’s there. Surely he’s going to die?
But
it turns out that we've pretty much been in that very situation
ourselves.
The
passage we've read starts by explaining that we are all naturally in
a similarly hopeless and deserved situation, that we can do nothing
about, when it comes to God.
It
starts off in the first 3 verses saying, “As for you, you were dead
in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you
followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of
the air (which means, Satan), the spirit who is now at work in those
who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time,
gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its
desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of
wrath.”
We
get an image of someone who is totally addicted to sin, take a look
with me at verse 3, as it says we were, “gratifying the cravings of
our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.” You know
when you know
something's wrong, but you do it anyway? Or at least you would if you
could? And how we spend so much of our time thinking about ourselves,
obsessed with how to make ourselves happy and cool and content,
instead of thinking about how we can serve and praise God? That's
addiction to sin. And it's no small matter. Have you ever seen a
picture of a smoker's lungs? Or an alcoholic's liver? They're ugly
and creepy, aren't they? Definitely not anything like what they were
meant to be. We might not see the effects of being addicted to sin in
the same way as that, but that's a bit like what we end up looking
like to God.
We
don’t deserve anything from God, and there’s nothing we can do to
fix things.
And
we know that sin is rebellion against God, so this isn't just a
picture of a helpless addict who life's just gone horribly wrong for,
but rather of someone who loves and does the sinful ways of the
world, even of Satan, who is an addict and slave to sin in much the
same way. We get a picture of a disgusting corpse of a person,
festering in their sins, have a look back in verse one, “as for
you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins”. And the worse
bit about it all, is that it's about us.
Do
you see how we just don’t deserve anything from God? And like this
there’s nothing that we can do to fix things.
Have
you ever pictured yourself as being, or having once being, just like
that?
The
passage says that that's what all people are like by default. It's
what we naturally choose. And it's awful. The end of verse 3 says
that being that way makes you in your very nature, “deserving of
wrath”. Like what we are, if we're that way, just needs to be
punished. And God's wrath, we know, leads to Hell. It's a scary and
desperate picture that these first verses paint, way worse even than
the situation Herbert
was in.
We
really don’t deserve anything from God except his anger, and there
is absolutely nothing we can do to fix things or rescue ourselves.
I
know this has been heavy, and if the passage were to finish there
then we would be left in a pretty desperate and hopeless situation.
But the passage doesn't end here! It's about to get a whole load
better. We’re about to see how amazingly beautiful God and being
with Him is, but we can't realise just how amazingly beautiful being
with God is, unless we can see how totally ugly and desperate it is
to be without Him.
So
I'm going to say it once more, as clear as I can. If you're here
today, and you've not been saved by God, then you are in danger of
God's wrath. And if, like me, you're here today and you have been
saved by God, then remember that we once were in danger of that very
same wrath, for all the same reasons.
But
now for the good news. Take a look at verse 4, “But because of his
great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with
Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions.”
God
loves us and He’s saved us, despite our being hopeless addicts to
sin, despite our following the ways of Satan. If you’re a Christian
here today then you are no longer dead in your sins, you are no
longer in danger of God’s wrath.
And
it goes on, read verse 6, “And God raised us up with Christ and
seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order
that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his
grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
It's
saying that we've been seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.
Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, he's the author of
life, he's the Alpha and the Omega, he's the lord of all creation.
Everything
that exists is his! He sits on the throne
of heaven!
And this is saying that we get to sit with Christ on his
throne, despite all we've done wrong!
And
why? It says, verse 7, “in order that in the coming ages” God,
“might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his
kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” God does all this so that He can
spend eternity showing us just how vast and deep and wonderful his
love and for us is. What a contrast to being a festering corpse
destined for Hell.
This
is the amazing offer that the Bible makes, to get to sit with the
king of the universe for all eternity and be lavished with love and
kindness like nothing you've ever felt or seen before.
But
how do we get it? Just a moment ago I was saying that we were like
corpses, slaves to sin and to Satan. What's made a change like this
possible? How do we get in on this deal? What do we have to do?
If
the answer is that we have to earn it, that we have to be really good
or do certain things, then all this has been for nothing. We’ve
already seen how totally undeserving and helpless we are without God.
Thankfully
the plan was never for us to earn eternal life by what we do.
“For
it is by grace you have been saved”, verse 8.
We're
saved by grace! It’s an undeserved gift, not something that you
earn. Grace is Jesus dying on the cross to take away our sins, and
grace is Jesus rising again to give us life with him. We don't have
to earn it. Being a Christian isn't about what you do, it's about
receiving the gift of what Jesus has done for us for free.
And
how do we receive it? Verse 8 goes on, “For it is by grace you have
been saved, through
faith,
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by
works”.
We accept the gift, we accept grace, by trusting in what Jesus has
done for us. That's it. There's no catch, no strings attached,
nothing.
Let’s
go back to Herbert, for a second. From inside the skyscraper someone
else steps out onto the balcony and takes his place on the edge,
before making the jump that Herbert should have made and dying the
death that Herbert deserved. And before he jumped he didn’t ask for
anything in return. Herbert gets to go free, justice is done, he
doesn’t have to jump and gets to be reunited with his friend. Jesus
did the same thing for us when he died on the cross, he took the
punishment we deserved, enabling us to be reunited with God.
The
passage finishes by saying that, verse 10, “we are God's
handiwork,”, which is a massive change from rotting corpses,
“created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do.” What Jesus has done for us, doesn’t just
stop with giving us eternal life, it also frees us from our addiction
to sin, enabling us to do good things that God’s planned out for
us. And the good works are from God, they are part of his gift. So we
can’t even boast about them. It’s all part of the gift from God
in Jesus.
If
you're not a Christian here today, then this offer, this free gift,
is for you. All you have to do is accept it. You get to go from being
dead, waiting for God's wrath, to having the amazing honour of being
able to sit with Jesus forever and ever, being given kindness and joy
from God. And if you are a Christian then this is what you've been
given! Don't be the way I used to be, trying to earn the right to
keep the gift, it's yours forever, just keep trusting in Jesus and
his death and resurrection.
If
you've not accepted God's grace, if you've not become a Christian,
then do not go away from this talk without accepting it. You can
never get a better offer than this, and there's never going to be a
better time than now to accept it. And if you decide to trust in
Jesus this weekend, why not talk to one of the leaders? We'd love
to celebrate with you, answer any questions you still have, and help
you work out what next.
[Pray]
2 May 2014
Hebrews "Recital"
While I'm writing my post on "God's Morality", I thought I'd put this one up here... This person has memorised the book of Hebrews and gives it as a sermon off by heart! It's a really powerful and effective way of presenting the book, I think.
http://vimeo.com/30397355
http://vimeo.com/30397355
28 Apr 2014
Returning Soon
To the four people who actually read this blog, I will be returning soon! I've been away and then busy, but I am currently writing a post on God's view of the Old Testament Laws, so hopefully that should be up soon!
7 Apr 2014
Beware False Teachers
The danger of false teaching and how to defend/fight against it
The Bible warns us very clearly that there will be, and indeed are, false teachers (2 Peter 2:1). Wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15). They are people who try to lead us astray from God and our salvation in Him, and so we are called to be on our guard, Ephesians 6:10-18:
"10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."
What is the "full armour of God"? It is "truth", "righteousness", "readiness that comes from the gospel of peace", "faith", "salvation" and "the word of God". With these we are fully equipped to take our stand against the Devil's schemes (Romans 8). To be on guard against false teaching, we need to know the truth and we know that from the word of God, so we need to know and understand the Bible as much as possible. We also need to believe the Gospel and have salvation through it.
So when false teacher's come we can use these things, this armour, to help us identify them, not be taken in by them, and even fight what they preach (lovingly, humbly and yet also boldly, of course).
Fighting against false teaching #1: How do we identify false teaching?
The Devil hates the Gospel. By dying on the cross and rising again Jesus "having disarmed the powers and authorities [I think here it refers primarily to Spiritual ones which fight against God, e.g. the Devil], he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
Do you see what it said? "Disarmed", "made a public spectacle of", "triumphing over". What Jesus did by dying on the cross and being raised from the dead defeated sin, defeated death and defeated the Devil. Through Good Friday to Easter Sunday Jesus obliterated Satan's greatest weapons against believers. Jesus won. God won. Anyone who believes the Gospel has victory through Christ.
We should find it no surprise, therefore, to find that there are a great many false teachers and fake "gospel"s out there, all of which deny in some way, great or small, the truth about Jesus and what he's done. If people don't believe the Gospel, they don't have freedom and victory in Christ. So to identify whether a teaching is false, the following sorts of markers are perhaps best to look for:
- Does the teaching deny that Jesus is really God?
- Does the teaching deny the 3 person, 1 God, God that is the Trinity, the God of the Bible?
- Does the teaching deny that Jesus really became a human?
- Does the teaching deny that Jesus really died?
- Does the teaching deny that Jesus really physically rose from the dead?
- Does the teaching deny that Jesus really took EVERY one of our sins upon himself when he died so that if we believe in him we really are forgiven for EVERY one of our sins?
- Does the teaching deny that by rising again Jesus WILL raise us to eternal life with him in the New Creation if we believe in him?
- Does the teaching deny that by believing in God we are filled with the Holy Spirit?
- Does the teaching deny that there is NO work whatsoever that we can do that will have any influence on whether or not we are saved, or to what extent we are saved (aside from, arguably, the unforgivable sin)?
- Does the teaching claim that Jesus has physically returned to Earth since he ascended into Heaven after his resurrection and before Pentecost?
I know there are a lot of points here, but they are actually pretty easy to remember, because they all focus around Jesus. The world and the devil just can't stand Jesus, and so they make every effort to take the real Jesus out of the Gospel, which stops it being the Gospel. If a teaching has any of these markers, then you should designate it as false and wrong (that is not to say you shouldn't think about it, it may not be saying what you think, but at the very least it is unhelpfully presented, and at the worst it is false teaching).
Another useful marker is this:
- Does the teaching deny a passage of Scripture (this is not to say that the teaching can't say that the passage doesn't directly apply in the same way today as it did before, but beware as some take this too far and too liberally)?
Fighting against false teaching #2: What to do when we face false teachers and false teachings
Pray. Everything we should to should start with, continue with and end with honest and sincere prayer to God. This is especially relevant here as it is His Holy Spirit that gives us life and can soften a person's heart to the truth, we are powerless without God.
Secondly we should arm ourselves with Scripture. Remember back in Ephesians 6 we saw that the sword of the Spirit was the word of God (v17)? "What part of the Gospel is this teaching denying?" We should ask ourselves, and then we should find the bit(s) of Scripture which refute this, prayerfully understand them, and then take them up against the false teaching/teacher.
Thirdly remember that we are hear to declare the Gospel and make disciples (Matthew 28), not to condemn people. And so we should lovingly approach those who believe false teachings, carefully and patiently helping them come to see the ugliness of their false Gospel, and the sheer beauty and majesty of the true Gospel of the true Christ.
The Bible warns us very clearly that there will be, and indeed are, false teachers (2 Peter 2:1). Wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15). They are people who try to lead us astray from God and our salvation in Him, and so we are called to be on our guard, Ephesians 6:10-18:
"10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."
What is the "full armour of God"? It is "truth", "righteousness", "readiness that comes from the gospel of peace", "faith", "salvation" and "the word of God". With these we are fully equipped to take our stand against the Devil's schemes (Romans 8). To be on guard against false teaching, we need to know the truth and we know that from the word of God, so we need to know and understand the Bible as much as possible. We also need to believe the Gospel and have salvation through it.
So when false teacher's come we can use these things, this armour, to help us identify them, not be taken in by them, and even fight what they preach (lovingly, humbly and yet also boldly, of course).
Fighting against false teaching #1: How do we identify false teaching?
The Devil hates the Gospel. By dying on the cross and rising again Jesus "having disarmed the powers and authorities [I think here it refers primarily to Spiritual ones which fight against God, e.g. the Devil], he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
Do you see what it said? "Disarmed", "made a public spectacle of", "triumphing over". What Jesus did by dying on the cross and being raised from the dead defeated sin, defeated death and defeated the Devil. Through Good Friday to Easter Sunday Jesus obliterated Satan's greatest weapons against believers. Jesus won. God won. Anyone who believes the Gospel has victory through Christ.
We should find it no surprise, therefore, to find that there are a great many false teachers and fake "gospel"s out there, all of which deny in some way, great or small, the truth about Jesus and what he's done. If people don't believe the Gospel, they don't have freedom and victory in Christ. So to identify whether a teaching is false, the following sorts of markers are perhaps best to look for:
- Does the teaching deny that Jesus is really God?
- Does the teaching deny the 3 person, 1 God, God that is the Trinity, the God of the Bible?
- Does the teaching deny that Jesus really became a human?
- Does the teaching deny that Jesus really died?
- Does the teaching deny that Jesus really physically rose from the dead?
- Does the teaching deny that Jesus really took EVERY one of our sins upon himself when he died so that if we believe in him we really are forgiven for EVERY one of our sins?
- Does the teaching deny that by rising again Jesus WILL raise us to eternal life with him in the New Creation if we believe in him?
- Does the teaching deny that by believing in God we are filled with the Holy Spirit?
- Does the teaching deny that there is NO work whatsoever that we can do that will have any influence on whether or not we are saved, or to what extent we are saved (aside from, arguably, the unforgivable sin)?
- Does the teaching claim that Jesus has physically returned to Earth since he ascended into Heaven after his resurrection and before Pentecost?
I know there are a lot of points here, but they are actually pretty easy to remember, because they all focus around Jesus. The world and the devil just can't stand Jesus, and so they make every effort to take the real Jesus out of the Gospel, which stops it being the Gospel. If a teaching has any of these markers, then you should designate it as false and wrong (that is not to say you shouldn't think about it, it may not be saying what you think, but at the very least it is unhelpfully presented, and at the worst it is false teaching).
Another useful marker is this:
- Does the teaching deny a passage of Scripture (this is not to say that the teaching can't say that the passage doesn't directly apply in the same way today as it did before, but beware as some take this too far and too liberally)?
Fighting against false teaching #2: What to do when we face false teachers and false teachings
Pray. Everything we should to should start with, continue with and end with honest and sincere prayer to God. This is especially relevant here as it is His Holy Spirit that gives us life and can soften a person's heart to the truth, we are powerless without God.
Secondly we should arm ourselves with Scripture. Remember back in Ephesians 6 we saw that the sword of the Spirit was the word of God (v17)? "What part of the Gospel is this teaching denying?" We should ask ourselves, and then we should find the bit(s) of Scripture which refute this, prayerfully understand them, and then take them up against the false teaching/teacher.
Thirdly remember that we are hear to declare the Gospel and make disciples (Matthew 28), not to condemn people. And so we should lovingly approach those who believe false teachings, carefully and patiently helping them come to see the ugliness of their false Gospel, and the sheer beauty and majesty of the true Gospel of the true Christ.
1 Apr 2014
Bold We Approach the Eternal Throne
Yesterday evening I was reading the Bible with someone very close to me. We've been working through the book of Ephesians together, and yesterday we read from the second half of chapter 2 through to the end of the first half of chapter 3.
I was struck by a great many things, including the overwhelming idea that seems to run throughout the book, that we are saved by grace and not by what we do. But one thing struck me in particular.
Ephesians 3:12, "In him [Christ] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence."
In many respects it's a simple truth of Christianity, but how often do we, people, forget it or, worse, contradict it, in the way we pray, act and think?
Think about it, through faith in Christ and what Christ has done with us, we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Approach God with freedom and confidence.
APPROACH GOD with FREEDOM and CONFIDENCE.
Has this blown your mind?
This is the same God who:
Genesis 1 - Created the entire universe with His voice
Genesis 3 - Is so holy He cannot possibly be with sin
Exodus 15 - Parts a sea and destroys a nation's finest soldiers with no effort
Exodus 19 - Rocks up and covers and entire mountain with fire, smoke and thunder
Job 38 - Rocks up in another storm, and proceeds to give one of the most epic speeches ever, about how He set the foundations of the world and governs all things and more
Isaiah 6 - Is so epicly glorious that angels cover their faces and feet and don't dare touch the ground He stands on
Daniel 7 - Has tens of thousands stand before Him, thousands attending Him, sits on a throne all ablaze with fire, has a river of fire coming out from His Throne, utterly ruins evil
And I could go on, I could seriously go on and on. He is glorious.
And yet, in Christ and through faith in Christ we may approach God with freedom and confidence. Let's go back to Exodus 19 for a second...
Exodus 19:16-22, "16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”"
Do you see how awesomely scary God is here? There's this mysterious trumpet blast, and smoke and thunder and lightning and the entire mountain trembles at His presence. It's intense. It's terrifying. The people were scared out of their minds. Why? Because they didn't have faith in Christ.
With faith in Christ, we can approach God with freedom and confidence. That is, no boundaries, no terror. We approach Him confident in His amazing love for us, and the fact that He's saved us and washed our sin completely away.
Ephesians 3:12, "In him [Christ] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence."
I was struck by a great many things, including the overwhelming idea that seems to run throughout the book, that we are saved by grace and not by what we do. But one thing struck me in particular.
Ephesians 3:12, "In him [Christ] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence."
In many respects it's a simple truth of Christianity, but how often do we, people, forget it or, worse, contradict it, in the way we pray, act and think?
Think about it, through faith in Christ and what Christ has done with us, we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Approach God with freedom and confidence.
APPROACH GOD with FREEDOM and CONFIDENCE.
Has this blown your mind?
This is the same God who:
Genesis 1 - Created the entire universe with His voice
Genesis 3 - Is so holy He cannot possibly be with sin
Exodus 15 - Parts a sea and destroys a nation's finest soldiers with no effort
Exodus 19 - Rocks up and covers and entire mountain with fire, smoke and thunder
Job 38 - Rocks up in another storm, and proceeds to give one of the most epic speeches ever, about how He set the foundations of the world and governs all things and more
Isaiah 6 - Is so epicly glorious that angels cover their faces and feet and don't dare touch the ground He stands on
Daniel 7 - Has tens of thousands stand before Him, thousands attending Him, sits on a throne all ablaze with fire, has a river of fire coming out from His Throne, utterly ruins evil
And I could go on, I could seriously go on and on. He is glorious.
And yet, in Christ and through faith in Christ we may approach God with freedom and confidence. Let's go back to Exodus 19 for a second...
Exodus 19:16-22, "16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”"
Do you see how awesomely scary God is here? There's this mysterious trumpet blast, and smoke and thunder and lightning and the entire mountain trembles at His presence. It's intense. It's terrifying. The people were scared out of their minds. Why? Because they didn't have faith in Christ.
With faith in Christ, we can approach God with freedom and confidence. That is, no boundaries, no terror. We approach Him confident in His amazing love for us, and the fact that He's saved us and washed our sin completely away.
Ephesians 3:12, "In him [Christ] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence."
Don't Forget Your Identity
Don't forget who you are. If you're a Christian, then you've received a new identity. That identity is found in and made complete in Christ. When God sees you, if you're a Christian, then He effectively sees Christ. You've been given Christ's goodness, wholeness, awesomeness, purity, holiness, status. You're no longer defined by your old self, but by Christ.
Isn't that amazing!?
But, if the Father sees us as the co-heirs of His beloved Son, King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Romans 8), why do we keep judging ourselves by other people's standards and opinions of us? Why are we so bothered about how people think we look? Or how skilled they think we are? Or intelligent? Or witty? Or whatever it is?
If the God of all existence has defined us as in Christ, then who are we to say otherwise? Why do we put the opinions of others above the opinion of God?
Let's do two things more:
1) Be humble, and so stop thinking so much about ourselves. There is great freedom in this. If anyone says anything you like, thank them and move on, and if they say anything you don't, turn the other cheek and proceed to number 2.
2) Remember that before God you were hopeless, lost and dead in your sins, but that now, because of God's grace and not by works (Ephesians 2), you're identity is now in Christ. You are a beloved child of God, with whom He is well pleased (Matthew 3). Give thanks to God, and move on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ-WuFAlQlY
(Yes, this is the third time I've linked to that video.)
Isn't that amazing!?
But, if the Father sees us as the co-heirs of His beloved Son, King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Romans 8), why do we keep judging ourselves by other people's standards and opinions of us? Why are we so bothered about how people think we look? Or how skilled they think we are? Or intelligent? Or witty? Or whatever it is?
If the God of all existence has defined us as in Christ, then who are we to say otherwise? Why do we put the opinions of others above the opinion of God?
Let's do two things more:
1) Be humble, and so stop thinking so much about ourselves. There is great freedom in this. If anyone says anything you like, thank them and move on, and if they say anything you don't, turn the other cheek and proceed to number 2.
2) Remember that before God you were hopeless, lost and dead in your sins, but that now, because of God's grace and not by works (Ephesians 2), you're identity is now in Christ. You are a beloved child of God, with whom He is well pleased (Matthew 3). Give thanks to God, and move on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ-WuFAlQlY
(Yes, this is the third time I've linked to that video.)
25 Mar 2014
Throw off sin and fix your eyes on Jesus
Hebrews 12:1-3 says this:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
These few verses would be well worth taking a close look at, for they contain such wisdom and encouragement. They are, after all, part of God's word. I thought I'd do a few posts going through them bit by bit.
This passage follows right on from Hebrews 11 (surprise surprise), which gives an inspiring list of people from the Old Testament who demonstrated faith, from Abel to the prophets. So as we come to read chapter 12 we should have that in mind (go read 11 now!).
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses," Since we have the whole Old Testament, with so many people who demonstrated faith and Christ-likeness at whatever point(s) in their lives, "let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles". These guys endured hardship, torture and exile for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the kingdom that they were looking ahead to. For something that's worth all that, that's so good that you're prepared to be sawn in two (check out the end of Hebrews 11), why bother with sin? It just drags us down, entangles us, and tries to stop us running to God, to our amazing Father, Saviour, Redeemer, Friend, Husband, Creator, God and King, so why have anything to do with it? And how does it say we should get rid of sin? Does it say slowly? Does it say that we should gently brush it off? No! It says throw it off! And how much of it? Everything, all of it! There's determination in that phrase. Have nothing to do with sin, or anything that hinders you running for Jesus!
Are you dabbling in sin? Are you engaging in things with blurred lines, which might be alright or you might not? Have you completely crossed the line into sin? Can these things that you run after, which drag you down, which aren't Jesus, really compare to him?? No! So...
Let's cast away sin! "And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus". Sin looks good, it looks tempting. If we face sin rather than Jesus then we will get entangled, we will get dragged down. But if we throw off sin and focus on Jesus, refusing to be turned aside from him, we can run into his loving arms, which are open wide for all who come, and as Romans 8 says:
"I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Let's run the race of this life, prepared to face all opposition, just like the guys from chapter 11, because we're completely focused on and obsessed and in love with Jesus. Let's completely get rid of our sins and the things we let get in the way, so that we can have no obstacle, no distraction, in a race to Jesus, in our living for and glorifying him.
Have a think about what might be dragging you down, that might be so easily entangling you. What are you watching that you shouldn't be watching? What are you listening to that you shouldn't be listening to? What are you doing that you shouldn't be doing? What are you thinking about that you shouldn't be thinking about? Stop these things!
And then "grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ," (Ephesians 3) and, "know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Praise God for being so good!
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
These few verses would be well worth taking a close look at, for they contain such wisdom and encouragement. They are, after all, part of God's word. I thought I'd do a few posts going through them bit by bit.
This passage follows right on from Hebrews 11 (surprise surprise), which gives an inspiring list of people from the Old Testament who demonstrated faith, from Abel to the prophets. So as we come to read chapter 12 we should have that in mind (go read 11 now!).
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses," Since we have the whole Old Testament, with so many people who demonstrated faith and Christ-likeness at whatever point(s) in their lives, "let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles". These guys endured hardship, torture and exile for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the kingdom that they were looking ahead to. For something that's worth all that, that's so good that you're prepared to be sawn in two (check out the end of Hebrews 11), why bother with sin? It just drags us down, entangles us, and tries to stop us running to God, to our amazing Father, Saviour, Redeemer, Friend, Husband, Creator, God and King, so why have anything to do with it? And how does it say we should get rid of sin? Does it say slowly? Does it say that we should gently brush it off? No! It says throw it off! And how much of it? Everything, all of it! There's determination in that phrase. Have nothing to do with sin, or anything that hinders you running for Jesus!
Are you dabbling in sin? Are you engaging in things with blurred lines, which might be alright or you might not? Have you completely crossed the line into sin? Can these things that you run after, which drag you down, which aren't Jesus, really compare to him?? No! So...
Let's cast away sin! "And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus". Sin looks good, it looks tempting. If we face sin rather than Jesus then we will get entangled, we will get dragged down. But if we throw off sin and focus on Jesus, refusing to be turned aside from him, we can run into his loving arms, which are open wide for all who come, and as Romans 8 says:
"I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Let's run the race of this life, prepared to face all opposition, just like the guys from chapter 11, because we're completely focused on and obsessed and in love with Jesus. Let's completely get rid of our sins and the things we let get in the way, so that we can have no obstacle, no distraction, in a race to Jesus, in our living for and glorifying him.
Have a think about what might be dragging you down, that might be so easily entangling you. What are you watching that you shouldn't be watching? What are you listening to that you shouldn't be listening to? What are you doing that you shouldn't be doing? What are you thinking about that you shouldn't be thinking about? Stop these things!
And then "grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ," (Ephesians 3) and, "know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Praise God for being so good!
24 Mar 2014
Never Thirsty
Are you looking for satisfaction? For meaning? For value? For worth? The things of this life just can't provide it. Perhaps they can for a time, but in the end they run out, let us down, or don't follow us after death.
No marriage, job, holiday, friend, house, country, fame or anything else will ever lastingly satisfy you. They're good, but they're not good enough to totally fulfil what you crave.
That's because you weren't made for this world, you were made for something more. Someone more. God.
Jesus describes us as thirsting. Thirsting for meaning, fulfilment, purpose, value. The things of this world try to satisfy that first, and often they can, but only for a little time, and ultimately none of them can deal with death.
But here's the amazing good news. Jesus says he can quench that first, today, tomorrow, forever.
"Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst." (Verse 14) What he's saying here is that anyone who looks to Jesus, who puts him as their number one, will be satisfied, always.
But it's more than that, it's cooler than that, read on in verse 14, "Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Accepting Jesus is like having an unstoppable spring of water, it just keeps flooding up giving more and more and more.
Part of the amazing message of the Gospel is that we have everything we need in Christ Jesus. We don't need anything or anyone more than him, everything else is just a blessing, which is cool and good but still nowhere near as good as Jesus.
Don't run after "self-righteousness", fame, money, or any other worldly thing. Run after Jesus, fall in love with him and make him your number one.
No marriage, job, holiday, friend, house, country, fame or anything else will ever lastingly satisfy you. They're good, but they're not good enough to totally fulfil what you crave.
That's because you weren't made for this world, you were made for something more. Someone more. God.
Jesus describes us as thirsting. Thirsting for meaning, fulfilment, purpose, value. The things of this world try to satisfy that first, and often they can, but only for a little time, and ultimately none of them can deal with death.
But here's the amazing good news. Jesus says he can quench that first, today, tomorrow, forever.
"Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst." (Verse 14) What he's saying here is that anyone who looks to Jesus, who puts him as their number one, will be satisfied, always.
But it's more than that, it's cooler than that, read on in verse 14, "Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Accepting Jesus is like having an unstoppable spring of water, it just keeps flooding up giving more and more and more.
Part of the amazing message of the Gospel is that we have everything we need in Christ Jesus. We don't need anything or anyone more than him, everything else is just a blessing, which is cool and good but still nowhere near as good as Jesus.
Don't run after "self-righteousness", fame, money, or any other worldly thing. Run after Jesus, fall in love with him and make him your number one.
21 Mar 2014
Prosperity Gospel
It's a load of rubbish. Don't believe it.
What is it? The Prosperity "Gospel" teaches that God wants us to be healthy and wealthy in this life. It teaches that we should store up for ourselves treasures on this earth. It completely rejects many of the teachings of the Bible.
Jesus said, Matthew 6:19-21, "19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."" and 24, "24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."".
In fact there are a multitude of references in the Bible to not making yourself wealthy. These should really challange people like me, and perhaps you if you do too, who have a lot more than we need. We're told to sell our possessisons and give to the poor. I will add some references to relevant Bible passages later.
Don't be deceived. Joel Osteen and the other prosperity gospel people have got it wrong. God wants you to come to Him to ask to be forgiven, made new and to have a relationship with Him, and to then go out and tell other people the good news about Jesus Christ. He doesn't want you to make yourself super rich and have a massive mansion and so on.
Are you going to live for money or for God? You can't serve both, Jesus tells us. There is no "Prosperity Gospel", the very name is a contradiction! You either have to cross out the Prosperity or the Gospel. It's either ProsperityGospel or Prosperity Gospel. Which is better? Money on this earth that will fade, or an eternity in an intimate relationship with a loving, amazing and holy God? You decide.
(I'm not trying to say that Christians can't have money, but what I am saying is that God should be our God rather than money being our god. And if God is our God then this should really change the way we view and use money. My problem with these guys is that they're saying it's all about us, rather than all about God. They're saying we should get money for ourselves to make ourselves "happy", rather than challanging and encouraging us to use our money wisely and lovingly for God and for people in need. They're making money their God.)
What is it? The Prosperity "Gospel" teaches that God wants us to be healthy and wealthy in this life. It teaches that we should store up for ourselves treasures on this earth. It completely rejects many of the teachings of the Bible.
Jesus said, Matthew 6:19-21, "19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."" and 24, "24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."".
In fact there are a multitude of references in the Bible to not making yourself wealthy. These should really challange people like me, and perhaps you if you do too, who have a lot more than we need. We're told to sell our possessisons and give to the poor. I will add some references to relevant Bible passages later.
Don't be deceived. Joel Osteen and the other prosperity gospel people have got it wrong. God wants you to come to Him to ask to be forgiven, made new and to have a relationship with Him, and to then go out and tell other people the good news about Jesus Christ. He doesn't want you to make yourself super rich and have a massive mansion and so on.
Are you going to live for money or for God? You can't serve both, Jesus tells us. There is no "Prosperity Gospel", the very name is a contradiction! You either have to cross out the Prosperity or the Gospel. It's either Prosperity
(I'm not trying to say that Christians can't have money, but what I am saying is that God should be our God rather than money being our god. And if God is our God then this should really change the way we view and use money. My problem with these guys is that they're saying it's all about us, rather than all about God. They're saying we should get money for ourselves to make ourselves "happy", rather than challanging and encouraging us to use our money wisely and lovingly for God and for people in need. They're making money their God.)
Being good
There is a massive misconception amongst many, that I once believed as well, that Christianity is all about being good.
It's not.
Christianity is not about obeying rules, being a nice person or even just having good motivations. You can't earn eternal life. You can't earn a relationship with God. For the Bible says in Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", meaning everyone has done something wrong and so no one can make themselves good enough for God.
Nor is the Bible about being forgiven and then trying harder next time in order to earn eternal life. Because we just can't do it by ourselves, we just end up sinning again, and we start an endless cycle with ever increasing frustration and guilt because no matter how many chances we get we always mess it up. That's the situation I was in just before I became a Christian.
BUT the beauty of the Bible is that it is NOT about us, it's about Jesus. The next bit of Romans 3 goes on to say, "and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." What this is saying is that God gives us forgiveness, freedom from our self-loathing and a relationship with Him, for FREE, not because of anything we could ever do but by Jesus' death on the cross in our place, which paid for all of our sins.
This means that we don't have to earn eternal life. It means that we don't have to be constantly trying to be good enough for God.
It's all about grace. It's all about Jesus.
Does that mean we can then go around living as sinfully as we like? No, Romans 6 addresses that. We're to put sin behind and live for God not so that we can be saved, but because we have been saved by God by grace through Christ. And we mess up, again and again and again and again and again, but this way we're not crushed by that, because it's not how we gain a relationship with God, we're free to try again and again, not by our strength, but by God's. I'll do a post on it at some point.
I've posted it before, and it is slightly cheesy, but I think this is a really helpful video that explains things a lot better than I have:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ-WuFAlQlY
It's not.
Christianity is not about obeying rules, being a nice person or even just having good motivations. You can't earn eternal life. You can't earn a relationship with God. For the Bible says in Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", meaning everyone has done something wrong and so no one can make themselves good enough for God.
Nor is the Bible about being forgiven and then trying harder next time in order to earn eternal life. Because we just can't do it by ourselves, we just end up sinning again, and we start an endless cycle with ever increasing frustration and guilt because no matter how many chances we get we always mess it up. That's the situation I was in just before I became a Christian.
BUT the beauty of the Bible is that it is NOT about us, it's about Jesus. The next bit of Romans 3 goes on to say, "and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." What this is saying is that God gives us forgiveness, freedom from our self-loathing and a relationship with Him, for FREE, not because of anything we could ever do but by Jesus' death on the cross in our place, which paid for all of our sins.
This means that we don't have to earn eternal life. It means that we don't have to be constantly trying to be good enough for God.
It's all about grace. It's all about Jesus.
Does that mean we can then go around living as sinfully as we like? No, Romans 6 addresses that. We're to put sin behind and live for God not so that we can be saved, but because we have been saved by God by grace through Christ. And we mess up, again and again and again and again and again, but this way we're not crushed by that, because it's not how we gain a relationship with God, we're free to try again and again, not by our strength, but by God's. I'll do a post on it at some point.
I've posted it before, and it is slightly cheesy, but I think this is a really helpful video that explains things a lot better than I have:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ-WuFAlQlY
11 Mar 2014
The Trinity VS Modalism
Chatting some more to my friend reminded my that there are many different ideas about what the Trinity is, only one of which can be right.
Modalism is probably one of the most common false-Trinities that I have come across people believing, and is the one that my everyone my friend knows think the Trinity is.
Both of us rightly disagree with Modalism. So before I explain why Modalism doesn't work, I should explain what it is.
Modalism is the belief in one God (good!) that has three persons (good!), but these three different persons never exist at the same time, they are just different forms that the one God can choose to take (bad).
In this instance, my friend's point about Acts 7 becomes very helpful:
Acts 7:55-56, "55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”"
Here we've got all three persons of God, in different places, at the same time. This doesn't fit with Modalism.
Going to Matthew 3 we see another clear example, with the baptism of Jesus:
Matthew 3:16-17, "16 As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”"
The "Modal Trinity" isn't suggested by the Bible. The Trinity suggested by the Bible is one God, made of three persons, who eternally exist at the same time.
(Why do I believe this? Loads of reasons, I listed some in the previous post, here's another:
John 10:30-33, "30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”")
Modalism is probably one of the most common false-Trinities that I have come across people believing, and is the one that my everyone my friend knows think the Trinity is.
Both of us rightly disagree with Modalism. So before I explain why Modalism doesn't work, I should explain what it is.
Modalism is the belief in one God (good!) that has three persons (good!), but these three different persons never exist at the same time, they are just different forms that the one God can choose to take (bad).
In this instance, my friend's point about Acts 7 becomes very helpful:
Acts 7:55-56, "55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”"
Here we've got all three persons of God, in different places, at the same time. This doesn't fit with Modalism.
Going to Matthew 3 we see another clear example, with the baptism of Jesus:
Matthew 3:16-17, "16 As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”"
The "Modal Trinity" isn't suggested by the Bible. The Trinity suggested by the Bible is one God, made of three persons, who eternally exist at the same time.
(Why do I believe this? Loads of reasons, I listed some in the previous post, here's another:
John 10:30-33, "30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”")
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