Valiant for Truth

Fulfilling our Ministry (2 Timothy for today)

2011-10-06T20:16:00.002+01:00

Below is the Text of a sermon preached in St Peters Free Church in the summer of 2011. I offer it here on this Blog to the public for there thoughts and comments. It is an attempt on my part to summaries the different ideas in my head about the whole subject of Church Ministry and all that goes with it. I hope that it will, by Gods grace, help some of you.

What I want to do tonight is to take a look at 2 Timothy as a whole and do a kind of summary of the whole message of 2 Timothy. But I don’t want to leave it at that either, for I want to use this sermon to try and help us think through a lot of the implications of the Pastoral Epistles for the way we actually function as a Church.

All of us have grown up in various traditions both old and new. And no matter how hard you try you are always influenced by those structures and traditions that you grow up with. That is by no means a bad thing. But it becomes a bad thing when our traditions and own personal likes and dislikes become so sacred that we aren’t prepared to reform them.

Having preached through 2 Timothy and mentoring people using 2 timothy I have thought a lot about its message and its applications. Indeed over the past 5 years I have read lots of books on how we “do” church. The best ones being the trellis and the vine and total church.

The reason I mention it here is that a lot of the ideas that these books come up with are in fact simply biblical principles fleshed out into practical ideas. A lot of what I want to say tonight will come from these books. Indeed it might be better that you all just read them!

But I want us to think through these things because they are very important for the life and health of our congregation. And it’s very important that all of us not just the elders think through these things.

Now 2 Timothy, as I have said before, could be in some ways described as a hand book for ministry in the last days. One of the very remarkable things about it is the fact that it is so very general. All that Paul says could in many ways be said to any of the churches or leaders in the first century.

It’s not that it wasn’t specific to Timothy and Ephesus it’s just that Paul's method of ministry was so wonderfully gospel centred and focused that it is applicable in every age. The priorities that we have been looking at can be taken with little difficultly and applied in our own situation.

But it takes some thought as to how they actually might work themselves out. To go from theology to actual ministry. So that’s what I want us to think about. To consider again a lot of the assumptions that we have, some deliberate and others that we unconsciously hold about Church.

And this will be by no means an exhaustive study of these things. This is just something to try and get us to think through these things. So I have three general things that I want to look at.

1) Our ministry must have a real gospel vision

2) Our ministry must be about People

3) Our ministry will cost us

Now these are very general headings and I hope to speak about lots of things under each area some of which can’t really be limited to one area alone. A lot of these things actually would come under all 3 headings. But for the sake of helping us think through this I will try and hold them under the 3 headings.

All ministry must have a gospel vision. Again and again in this letter we find Paul calling Timothy to faithfulness to the message that he preached. The definitive article regarding the apostolic Gospel. A specific body of knowledge that when believed and followed results in eternal life and godliness in the present. Think of chapter 1 verse 13 and 14.

And it’s this message that occupies so much of Paul's thinking. He calls Timothy to guard it so that it will be able to be passed on unchanged or unspoiled to the next generation. It’s this gospel that Paul sees as the means to make disciples or train people in righteousness. (Chapter 3:17)

As it is heard, proclaimed and obeyed it has an impact on the people in the church and we can say those who are outside the church as well. The vision that Paul weaves into this letter is one of growth of the gospel. His own ministry was about the spreading of the gospel to the gentiles.

Now for Timothy as he passes on the baton to him that same principle applies; that the gospels influence must grow.

You can see it when he says in chapter 2 that he endures everything for the sake of the elect that they might obtain the salvation that is in Christ. And just in the verses previous he is speaking of the gospel not being chained even when he is chained in prison.

Paul sees the proclamation of the gospel as the primary responsibility of the church and from that we see the transforming of the church and an impact on society as we are prepared for good works. The growth of the gospel is the primary mission of the church.

As we preach the gospel which Paul would describe to the Romans as the “power of God for Salvation” it makes an impact on firstly the people of God and then also the wider society.

However think about it a little more. If Church is more than just a Sunday service what else is it? and how much time do we spend doing church when we are not at a service? You see it’s perfectly possible for us to say church is more than a service but by our actions still live like running the services on Sunday is what church is.

Now don’t get me wrong services will always be an important part of what we do. People gathering together on the lords day is very important. And its right we put a lot of effort into getting the services right. But the question I want us to think about is simply this. Are we putting all our efforts and energies into Sunday services and leaving none for anything else; for being the church on Monday to Saturday?

Let me give you a quote from Steve Timmis and Tim Cesters new Book everyday church which I think highlights something we really need to take on board:

One of the common assumptions when people fail to turn up to church is that we need to improve the experience of church gatherings, the “product”. We need better music, more relevant sermons, multimedia presentations, engaging dramas. Or we need to relocate to pubs, cafes, art centres. We need cool venues with cool people and cool music. The problem with this approach is the assumption that people will come to church if the product is better. But remember that 70% of the UK population have no intention of attending a church service, and these figures are even higher among young people….Sunday morning in church is the one place where evangelism cannot take place in our generation because the lost are not there - not until we go out to connect with them where they are, where they feel comfortable, on their territory. We need to do church and mission in the context of everyday life. We must think of church as a community of people who share life, ordinary life.

You see when all our efforts are simply placed in the one basket of church services we are severely limited in the impact we are having on the surrounding society at large. People no longer come to church or have any real intention to do so. Now there will always be a few exceptions to the rule.

However it remains the case if we expect people to come to our services to hear the gospel then they may never hear it, for they are not coming.

So if that is the case then we can’t expect people to come in through our doors we must “do Church” where the people are. That doesn’t mean as Chester and Timmis point out running a service in a pub. It means the church that is the people of God must bring the gospel outside the buildings.

Another thing I think it would be helpful for us to consider, and this may or may not be an issue for some people. But there has been a tendency to think that gospel ministry or gospel work is all about evangelism. Now it is, don’t get me wrong. But I think Paul’s perspective on gospel work in the letter and indeed in the New Testament is a lot more to do with discipleship.

Now I’m not trying to separate evangelism and discipleship at all. They are in many ways connected. But there is a certain school of thought that I grew up with that suggests all we need to be doing is get people converted and into the church and that's it.

But the idea of discipleship comes at the issue from a different angle. Discipleship is from contact with the gospel through conversion right through your whole life to receiving the crown of Righteousness at the last judgement. Making disciples is a very long term view of gospel ministry,

It sees Gospel ministry taking a person from point A in their life right through the whole of life. That’s the perspective of Paul when to tells Timothy to Preach the word. That word that is able to make Timothy and his hearers wise for salvation.

That word that is able to teach, equip, correct and rebuke, even train in righteousness the people in the church. It’s much more than evangelism although that will be part of it. It’s the gospel for all of life. Its training people to not only know the gospel and make a decision for Christ. But to actively live out the gospel in their lives and bring the message of God’s grace to bear on their relationships within the church and outside the church family.

And when you have this perspective then it’s not really about doing Church, as an event or thing you go to. It’s much more about being the church in an area. Being the church amongst a society and allowing that society to see the good works that the ministry of the word amongst us produces (3:17)

So if that then is the case what becomes the purpose of the Church Gathering? I ask that as an open question. For I think that the answer has a lot more to do with equipping the saints for the work of ministry to quote Paul from Ephesians 4 than anything else.

It also I think means that church must be much more than simply the gathered congregation hearing a sermon. I believe that is an integral part in deed the catalyst for everything else that church is. But we must remember that the word is sufficient for equipping the saints not the sermon.

Good expositional sermons are necessary, very necessary, but they are not sufficient. I think we must have the word central in every part of the church; our people must be getting the word everyday not just twice on a Sunday. Again please don’t mishear what I am saying here.

The gathering will always be important and necessary for us. But I think we must move away from a model which gives so much weight to the Sunday service that there is not room or energy for anything else. I think what we need to move toward is to see the church more as the place where we are equipped and trained in righteousness.

A place where the word is central to our lives and relationships so that we are able to live upright and godly lives. Not only in the church services, but as the church in our daily lives amongst the pagans in our workplaces, shops and streets.

Which brings us very nicely along to the second thing I think we need to look at. And this for me anyway was the real paradigm shift. Our Gospel ministry must be about people. Now that might sound stupidly obvious but again think about it more carefully.

Very often we consider church and discipleship in terms of events or programs we run. We set a time, get a program sorted and invite people along. But in a culture which is very time poor is this really the best way forward?

For if our church activities consist only of programs and meeting then it puts a lot of pressure on our already very busy time schedule. It’s the most common complaint I hear from people; "We don’t have the time to do these things".

Part of the problem again is that we think of church in terms of meetings and events. But what if we thought of church more in terms of relationships with other people.

You see if you take what Paul says to Timothy in Chapter 2:2 his method of discipleship was more about identifying people and training them, or discipling might be better. Now the specific application of the verse might be to leaders in particular. But I don’t think it’s wrong for us to take the principle and apply it to other relationships within the church as well.

To think of discipleship as something that happens not at meetings alone but through teaching in a relationship with others. And that to my mind anyway fits very much with the great commission. Discipleship is done within the context of community.

Paul did not plant churches on his own, he needed people. And he invested in people in order to carry on the work. It’s the people who are the key to gospel growth. As Paul trained Timothy he was not only passing on a message but much more than that, an entire method that timothy was to follow. Remember what he said in chapter 3.

For here is one of the big things we need to get. A lot of gospel work is caught and not taught. That is people need to be able to see how the gospel affects everyday life before they really get it. Before it becomes real to them.

Very often the church has been good at getting the message right, but very poor at actually being able to display that message in the relationships we have. One of the very common objections to Christianity you find is that the church is a bunch of hypocrites.

Now that may or may not be true, but it should cause us, it certainly does for me, to question ourselves and ask just how seriously we are actually living out our faith before the watching world.

The church’s gospel proclamation must be like TV and not just radio. It must be both audible in what we preach and also visual in that people can see it. And that makes our relationships so vital.

But it also means I think that we need to move away from a place where we are so heavily dependant on programs and meeting and towards a place where we are prioritising relationships with other people. There are I think two parts to this. Relationships we have within the context of the community of the church. And those we have outside the church.

So in the church itself what would it look like to make our ministry more about people? Well I think a first step is to see that God gives gifts to his church. Those gifts are for the benefit of the whole church. And those gift are not programs or meetings, they are gifts given to people.

So we need to look firstly at the gifts that people have and try and build our ministry around those gifts rather than trying to get people to fit into our existing structures.

For example. Say we as a church wanted to start and do some youth work amongst teenagers or something. What would our first step be? To make a program or set up a meeting?

Or to identify someone with gifts to communicate to teenagers? And having identified that person give them the scope to go and build a ministry around their gifts. We give them support and help as needed but we allow them to use the gifts they have to do gospel work.

Building gospel ministry around people rather than simply trying to fit people into our existing structures would be a good start.

But I think we can go further and say that gospel growth and discipleship if they happen best in the context of relationships then we should move away from formal meetings toward informal one to one or equivalent methods.

Now I’m totally sold on the 1-2-1 idea. I have seen it work very well and I have watched that approach make real differences in the lives of young men. More discipleship and gospel growth has happened through this type of ministry than all the meeting I have ever conducted.

And the beauty of such methods is that it uses both teaching and relationship to help people grow in the gospel. In these types of meetings growth happens as the gospel is clearly presented. People meet together to study the bible. To talk about how the gospel affect their lives.

But much more happens than that for this teaching happens in a modelling relationship. That is the mentee actually sees the life of the mentor and gets to see how they put the gospel into practice in the relationships they have. It means not just hearing the gospel but seeing it lived. And it’s a very powerful and effective ministry.

It’s not a program but based on a relationship between people. Now again don’t mishear me here. I’m not saying that we don’t need programs and meetings. We always will need those. We will always need structures that’s common sense.

But I believe more growth will be seen in people through relationships then just through meetings and programs. That’s why things like mentoring for teenagers and students are so very important.

But it takes a lot of effort and energy. It means you have to put your life on display not so that people can see how pious you are, but so that people can see the gospel at work and see how to apply it to their own lives.

And I think we need to take this approach a stage further and not only look at discipleship through relationships but also look at training our people in this way as well.

Usually the way we train our people has been through theological colleges, but there are a number of problems with this that I think I spoke about briefly before. Firstly theological colleges train people in theology. Not necessarily in ministry.

Now there shouldn’t be a difference between the two. But in my experience there very often is. Theological colleges give the theory without the practice.

Again don’t mishear me. Theological colleges are vital. But one of the ways in which we can multiply the growth of the gospel in our local context is to train more workers.

Theological colleges are very expensive that’s the other problem with them.

So a much more local approach is required. To take the exact model that Paul gave to Timothy we need to identify reliable men and we could include women as well. And train them to pass on the gospel to others. In this way we multiply the number of people discipling others. But these people need to be trained. Again I would refer you to the trellis and the vine book if you want to know more about this whole idea. I don’t have the time to go into it here in detail.

But again that training needs to be done locally within the church and again is best done through mentoring relationships. Identifying people with particular gifts of teaching and with godly character who will be able to be trained and then released to get on with discipling others.

If I had time I would show you that this approach is simply the great commission implemented in the local context. The multiplication of discipling relationships within the church.

But what about ministry to those outside the church. How do we reach the lost pagans outside our church buildings if they aren’t going to come into them to hear the gospel? Well I think the answer in large part lies again in thinking more in terms of discipling people than about running courses or programs in the church.

Not that they won’t have their place, think of CE for example. But if we were to take a survey of all the Christians here tonight and ask them what were the main factors in them becoming Christians how many of us would say that it was through the influence of a Christian friend?

I would hazard a guess the majority of us would say that. You see if we are really serious about reaching people then again the only way to connect with those outside is for the people in the church to have meaningful relationships with those outside the church.

How can we make the greatest impact on our society? What if every single person in St Peters was equipped and confident enough to share the gospel with the people they meet in their everyday daily routines? How much gospel growth would we see?

And taking that long term discipleship view and working on those relationships we have with people outside the church would it make a difference? Would it impact the culture? Would it allow people to hear and see the gospel being lived out before their eyes? I think it certainly would.

But here’s the big thing if we make Church more about Meetings and programs and evangelistic courses then we greatly reduce the time any of us have to use and work on our relationships with those outside the church seeking to brings them to know Christ.

Now let me say at this stage say that I’m putting these things out there so that we can think about them. In true emergent style I want us to have a conversation. These things may or may not be right for us in Dundee. I think they are biblical and could work very well.

But no doubt others will not be as sure and might be able to point out weaknesses and flaws in it all. I don’t say these things as the definite plan for us to use but only as a way to get us thinking seriously about how we put the lessons of the pastorals and the New Testament into practice.

For I’m coming increasingly to the conclusion that the current model that we have in this congregation is getting more and more unsustainable as we have grown over the last number of years. There is more and more work needing to be done.

Yet that has not being matched with more people entering the harvest field. I don’t think we can continue as we are. That’s why I think we need to think through these things.

And in many ways this has been a totally inadequate summary and there is so much more than I could talk about. But I hope it’s a start for us.

But let me very briefly speak about the last thing I think we need to consider. And it’s a very clear theme in 2 Timothy. Ministry is costly. It will cost us a lot.

And that’s not even in terms of money that I mean it. The one thing we don’t have in this society is time to do anything. The big cost to us will be giving up other things to be involved in the ministry of the church. Building relationships with others in the church and outside it.

That won’t happen overnight. And it will mean a rethink of all our priorities as husband and wives, as senior citizens and office workers etc. The easy way out for us would be hire more staff to do the work for us. That’s not a luxury we have at the moment.

So that means sacrifices in terms of time and effort on all our parts to be the church in our daily lives. To work on the relationships with gospel intentionality to coin the phrase from Timmis and Chester.

I don’t know how many of you remember L****? I was talking to him when I was writing this. And you know what he told me...that he had benefited so much from meeting up to study the bible with me. I don’t say that so as to blow my own trumpet.

I say that to highlight the benefits of taking a long term view and working on the relationships we have. I don’t know how many hours I spent with L**** talking and discussing issues. I don’t know how many hours David spent with him and Andy before that in the CU.

But you know he’s doing really well. He’s even studying the bible over the Internet with his Mum. It was worth all the effort. And wouldn’t it be great if we could help more people like L**** in Dundee.

Like we saw this morning in 2 Timothy Paul’s vision and goal where always for the gospel. To make sure it was proclaimed and lives in the church and to the ends of the earth. That remains the same for us here in this city at this time. This is where we have been called to serve.

This is the place God has put us. And it is so important that we think through how we apply the lessons and priorities that Paul has laid out in the New Testament for us. We are Christs ambassadors in this City along with all the other Christians.

It will be us that God uses to bring the gospel to this city, so I hope and pray we will take these things seriously. And may God by his grace direct and equip us for the task.

Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures (Luke 23:26-56)

2011-04-20T17:51:00.001+01:00

Here is the latest sermon from the series on Luke's Gospel looking at the crucifixion of Jesus. Hope you enjoy as we approach Good Friday:

What is the Gospel?

2011-04-12T10:36:00.000+01:00

10 propositions about Evangelism and Church | Mission thinking | Sydneyanglicans.net

2011-04-11T11:19:00.000+01:00

Here are some very helpful thoughts from Phillip Jensen about the relationship between Church and Evangelism. Its an issue that causes untold confusion for many people and with any number of answers on offer in the "modern" Church this might help to clarify some thinking on the subject.

10 propositions about Evangelism and Church Mission thinking Sydneyanglicans.net

Jesus in Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-20:19)

2011-04-08T15:28:00.002+01:00

Below is the link to my latest sermon looking at Jesus entry into Jerusalem for the last time from Luke 19:28-20:19. Hope you enjoy.

(Hope to get this link up again soon, Sorry)

The Great Global Warming Swindle [Full Film]

2011-04-05T14:23:00.000+01:00

The Coming of the Kingdom (Luke 17:20 18:8)

2011-04-03T16:03:00.001+01:00

Here is a sermon on Jesus teaching about the end times from Luke 17:20 - 18:8. Not the easiest passage to preach from but I hope it will be helpful.

An Invitation to the Banquet (Luke 13:22-14:24)

2011-04-01T21:56:00.001+01:00

Here is a sermon from the latest series on Luke's Gospel on Jesus Parable of the Banquet. Hope you enjoy.

Do you really believe in Hell?

2011-03-24T10:46:00.000Z

Do We Really Believe What We're Saying? from The Church at Brook Hills on Vimeo.

Fleabytes 15: The End of Christian Britain?

2011-03-17T15:46:00.000Z

Life of Jesus

2011-03-16T16:59:00.000Z

The Life of Jesus book and DVD produced by John Dickson and Greg Clarke of the Centre for public Christianity in Australia is a great resource for the Church. The material looks at the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus through the eyes of a historian.

John Dickson himself being a historian specialising in the first 300 years of the Christian Church is well placed to guide us through all the sources that help us develop an accurate historical picture of the real Jesus.

The book itself shows us the historical nature of Christianity; if you can disprove history then you can disprove Christianity. But that’s just the problem you can't get away from the evidence. Not just the Christian sources such as the gospels but also Dickson takes us through other non Christian sources that help us see this is not just some propaganda from Christ’s followers. The events of Jesus life and death are also recorded in Tacitus and Josephus and a few others.

But maybe more helpful than all these is Dickson's use of mainstream historical scholarship to help people realise that historians take these sources and not just the non Christian ones very seriously. The consensus of opinion that Dickson weaves together through the book is very helpful. He writes for sceptics who are maybe suspicious of all things Christian, helping them see that is not something you can dismiss easily.

Starting in part 1 with the idea of belief in God and a little on worldviews, Dickson steers us towards Jesus as the evidence of Gods dealing with the world. Then in Part 2 he takes a detailed look at the identity of the man from Nazareth. In Part 3 He moves on to his teaching and miracles and what evidence there is from history to help us see what really took place.

Part 4 deals with how Jesus related to different types of people in his day and some of his more difficult saying on Judgment. Part 5 takes an in depth view of Jesus death including a helpful overview of crucifixion. Then finally in Part 6 we look at the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus and how most scholars take the idea of the Resurrection more seriously than most sceptics imagine.

I really enjoyed the book. It is written in an easy style and is mostly free from both theological and historical jargon so it should be accessible to most people. At times you get the impression that Dickson is almost trying too hard to be neutral on all the issues and as a Christian I found myself wanting him to take a stranger line but with his sceptical audience in view I can see why he takes this course.

There are also some sections dealing with difficult topics like miracles and the clash of worldviews in our belief or disbelief in them. These also feature in the DVD as short conversations between Dickson and Clarke on topics like suffering, pluralism etc.

I think this would be a helpful book for both Christians and non Christians. For Christians it will help confirm allot of what they already believe and help them understand more of the historical reality of Jesus. Christianity is not myths or moral rules but a historical faith in a historical person.

For non Christians this is a good introduction to the real Jesus. With so many understandings on offer today, the Dan Brown version to the life of Brian, it can be confusing to know which is the real thing. This book goes to the roots of what Christianity is all about in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

The book is part of a 6 week course that uses the DVD course and the gospel of Luke to help people through the material. Taken together these things will be a very good outreach for any Church to try. Although the questions that the book addresses are not the questions everyone will be asking. Also this is not the same as Christianity Explored. If you like it’s almost a stage before that. I think this book and DVD are more barrier breakers helping people deal with some sceptical objections that they might have. For that purpose alone it is well worth reading and using.

You might also be interested in a more academic study of the historical sources that John Dickson has produced called the Christ Files. It is also available as a book and DVD.

Below is the trailer for the Life of Jesus:

More Niall Ferguson Lectures at the LSE

2011-03-09T13:18:00.000Z

Niall Ferguson has currently been doing a series of Lectures on the Cold War at the London School of Economics. The latest one is on my previous post. Below are the links from YouTube to the other lectures in the series:

The Political economy of the Cold War

The third World's War

The grand strategy of Detente

These come highly recommended indeed! Anyone who has read his book The war of the World will be familiar with some of it.

Nuclear Arms and Human Rights

2011-03-07T19:39:00.000Z

Fleabytes - A Watershed Judgment

2011-03-03T17:43:00.006Z

This is a really important issue at the moment. Its implications for Christians in the United Kingdom will be profound, our liberty and freedom of conscience are being undermined by an aggressive judicial system who are over turning years or understanding that protect not just Christians but all people from the tyranny of the state.

If the State becomes the ultimate authority, then what is to stop them from imposing there will on society at large? How is our conscience protected in such a society? The answer is that it is not.

Jackie Smith former Labour deputy leader said a few days ago on national radio that "our Laws take precedence over the scriptures". That might sound very high minded but really that should be read as; whatever the government tell you to do that's what you must do, your conscience is irrelevant.

Comments like that would not be out of place in Stalin's Russia! And what a beautiful Paradise of "equality" and “human rights” it was. As George Orwell pointed out many years ago it seems that some people are more equal than others.

To war with Wellington: From the Peninsula to Waterloo

2011-02-23T18:33:00.004Z

'By God I don't think it would have been won if I had not been there' 'It was the most desperate business I ever was in, I was never so near being beat'

So wrote the Duke of Wellington to his Brother after the events of 18th June 1815 when "Nosey" met "Boney" just past the village of Waterloo. There is no vanity in these words although we might consider them the height of arrogance. For it was a plain and simple fact had Wellington not been there the battle would most certainly have been lost and the History of the world would have been allot different from what we understand today.

Quite simply Wellington was a genius when it comes to military tactics. He was the one who figured out how to beat a French column using a "thin red line" of British infantry, it was his masterful ability to use the terrain to his advantage and his ability to assess and make quick decisions on the battle field that made him such a great commander.

Peter Snow has written for us a wonderful account of the military career of one of Britain’s greatest soldiers. Beginning with his first battles in India and tracing his career through the Peninsula War to Waterloo, Snow takes us through most the various sieges and battles that Wellington fought.

What makes this such a great read is the use of the primary sources throughout. The Peninsula war was really the first major war where we have a host of written accounts of what it was actually like by the soldiers and officers that were with Wellington. Snow uses these to good affect showing the different problems Wellington faced with Generals and Politicians in Westminster thought out his time.

It also gives a fascinating glimpse into the life of the soldiers as they experienced the battles and retreats. The book seeks to tell the human story of the men and the Duke himself as they fought their way through Portugal and Spain. Some of the accounts are quite funny and other very moving to hear of the sacrifice involved.

The book weaves together a grand narrative of various quotes and details of the battles to produce a wonderful account of the war that is lively and exciting. This is far from being a crusty old History book. Although I think it could have been more detailed.

The story of the Duke has been told many times before in other Biographies, this one only looks at his military adventures, but I think it does a good job of introducing us to the real Wellington. From the outside he was cold and withdrawn, an aristocrat with a real sense of his own position in society.

Yet we also see him weeping after the siege of Badajoz when he saw the human cost of the battle, an event after which he himself said:

'I greatly hope that I shall never again be the instrument of putting them [British troops] to such a test as that to which they were put last night'

The Duke had many flaws, his relationship with his poor wife being one of them and his numerous affairs. He also admitted close to the end of his life that he did not give enough praise when it was due. Wellington was a Soldier, when he issued orders he expected them to be obeyed, he hated insubordination or disobedience and found it difficult to delegate any responsibility.

Yet he was a great leader who inspired confidence in his men. Indeed over 1 million people lined the streets of London for his Funeral, even when the Duke had requested a small funeral. That speaks of his popularity. Indeed his disciplined and self sacrificial nature should be an example to all of us today.

This is a good book and I enjoyed it allot, It maybe was a little slow to start but it really finished well and the accounts of Waterloo are excellent. A good History book all-round.

Jesus gets ready to Depart (Luke 9: 18-36)

2011-02-21T20:29:00.001Z

Here is my latest sermon from Luke looking at Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ and the transfiguration on the mountain. Hope you enjoy.

Niall Ferguson in top form....brilliant!

2011-02-16T12:16:00.003Z

Niall Ferguson explains the danger of the current Middle East situation to a clueless reporter.

The secrets of the Kingdom (Luke 8:1-21)

2011-02-16T10:13:00.002Z

Below is my latest attempt to preach from Luke's Gospel, looking at the Parable of the sower and the soils. Hope you enjoy...

Rich: The reality of encountering Jesus

2011-02-14T12:23:00.001Z

Every so often you come across a book that is so good it makes you excited. Well for me this was one of those occasions. Peter Dickson and David Gibson have done the church a great service in writing this little book.

Designed as an introduction to Jesus from Luke it is clear and concise and wonderfully written. It is jargon free and full of helpful illustrations and stories to hold your attention. It consists of 9 short chapters each an exposition of a section of Luke's Gospel. The over all take on Luke is highlighted in the Title.

Jesus came to make poor people rich and rich people realise they are poor. Each of us is in need. We are all poor, all suffering form a severe dept crises because of our sinfulness and all in need of a rescue package to bail us out. These illustrations are all very contemporary and helpful as these kind of thoughts are in the popular mindset at the moment.

Through the chapters we are confronted with the real Jesus, what he really said and what it means for the poor and desperate and also what it means for those who don't think they need him. It is very well done and thought through as well as being very challenging, they don't hold back from confronting people with the reality of rejecting Jesus.

I think anyone would benefit from reading this little book, even when it is primarily aimed at non Christians. It does assume some prior knowledge of Christianity but i don't think there is much anyone can really do about that or any way to avoid it. As a clear and accessible introduction to Jesus it has few rivals at the moment.

A great resource to use in your church, bible study group or to give to your office Friends. I will certainly be using it!

The War of the World

2011-02-07T12:40:00.000Z

The War of the World is the second of Niall Ferguson's books I have read and I have to say this even beats Empire. Ferguson looks at the history of the 20th Century and gives a detailed survey of how the most advanced age of human civilisation yet, turned out to also be the most violent and bloody.

Ferguson's main theme is to show that at the beginning of the 20th century the West was at the pinnacle of its power. But by the end of the century the balance of power has significantly shifted towards the East. The 20th Century he argues did not show the triumph of the west over various challenges but rather its steady decline.

He helps us see how this takes place by mapping out what can be described as a global 100 years war that spanned most of the twentieth century. From the beginning of the First World War until the end of the Cold war conflict, there has been almost continuous fighting and violence in some part of the world.

But when actually did the First World War begin? 1914 you say. But actually as Ferguson shows that is a far too European answer. Really the War of the world began in 1904 when the Russian Empire and the rising Japanese Empire clashed heads. This signalled the beginning of the rising power in the East.

But Ferguson also shows that war broke out under specific circumstances, when there was huge global economic boom and bust, this made Empires shake. And where they tended to shake most was at the fault lines between old crumbling Empires and New rising ones.

Just like the fault line that went through Sarajevo where the old Ottoman Empire was receding and the Austro Hungarian Empire was expanding its influence. This was where the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand took place and those events lead to the global war which came to be known as World War 1.

But there was another more sinister factor that Ferguson points out in the book. Dangerous views about Race also played a unique role in the conflicts of the 20th Century. As people looked on other Human beings, not as Human beings but as Aliens. It was the capacity to see other races as alien and unworthy which often caused the most bloody and hate filled events of the century.

So Ferguson shows just how awful the Nazis really were and how Hitler and his follower’s specific view of race made for a very poisonous brew indeed. Ferguson uses the Idea from H G Wells book the war of the worlds where Aliens invade and kill human beings. Ferguson explains that Wells got it prophetically correct about the major conflict and slaughter but it was not Aliens doing the slaughtering, rather it was other human beings.

But after the Second World War the conflict did not end with the stalemate between the big two. Rather the war continued in other parts of the world, where the old Empires where crumbling away new ethnic conflicts sprang up. These may have been in part to do with the conflict of Ideologies that was happening, but there was a major race element in these conflicts as well.

One only has to think of Rwanda. But it was the big two who backed and supplied allot of the factions in these ethnic conflicts around the globe. This finally brings us back to Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990's right back to where the century had begun.

Ferguson shows that far from the Cold War ushering in an age of peace for the 21st Century, rather the fault lines are already beginning to appear again with the rise of China which threatens the American Empire, and with the continued conflict in the middle east and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism the 21st Century already looks to be heading in a similar direction. Now also with the Global economic crisis the west looks in very weak condition compared to its major rivals.

Ferguson uses statistics and stock market data to make his points throughout so if you know nothing of economics you might struggle a bit to keep up with him. The book can get a little dense at times as well but on the whole this is a magnificent history book. If you want to know how we ended up where we are today in the world then you need to read this book.

But also if you want to know how we can avoid the mistakes of the past then you need to read this book. The 20th Century gives us the empirical evidence that Human beings are capable of the most depraved evil. To be able to look at other Human beings and see them as Aliens to be killed rather than human beings made in the image of God.

Humanities ability to hate is staggering and makes me convinced like never before that the only hope for us, is the hope of the Gospel. The Gospel that changes us and makes us new. So that we can be those who love one another, because God first loved us.

The Management of decline?

2011-02-02T14:18:00.000Z

I read this article today and i have to say that there isn't much in it that I don't agree with. The really sad thing is that I really feel exactly as Heffer describes. I have no interest in the management of decline, I don't want to be part of a nation that is so full of post colonial guilt that its trying to murder itself. I have no interest in welfarism, I want to be part of a great nation. A nation that is prepared to influence the world for the better and to speak up for those would can't speak for themselves. We made many mistakes in the past, things that we should rightly hang our heads in shame for. But we also did allot of good, good that is still not realised the world over.

But you can't help but feel unless something changes very soon that there will soon be nothing left to salvage of our once great nation, but maybe far more worryingly is the fact that there is so little will to change it...

Tim Keller Interview

2011-02-01T09:19:00.000Z

Below is a very helpful interview with Tim Keller on his life and Ministry.

Empire: How Britain made the modern world, Empire for sale

2011-01-31T11:39:00.000Z

Part 6

Empire: How Britain made the modern world, Maxim force

2011-01-31T11:34:00.003Z

Part 5

Empire: How Britain made the modern world, Heavens Breed

2011-01-30T21:18:00.001Z

Part 4

Empire: How Britain made the modern world, the Mission

2011-01-30T21:13:00.001Z

Part 3

Empire: How Britain made the modern world, White plague

2011-01-30T21:11:00.000Z

Part 2

Empire: How Britain made the modern world. Why Britain?

2011-01-30T16:39:00.009Z

Below is the Television documentary which went along with one of my favourite history books; Empire How Britain made the modern world by Niall Ferguson. It is quite possibly the best introduction to the age of Empire you will find anywhere. I discovered that the series of documentaries which were shown on Channel 4 are on YouTube so I thought I would share them. Below is part 1 enjoy.

Jesus and the coming Kingdom (Luke 1-5)

2011-01-29T14:01:00.006Z

Sermon Preached in St Peters Free Church 23/01/11. It can also be found here

In 480 BC an army of about seven thousand Greeks marched to a place called Thermopylae where they were to block the entry of the Persian army under King Xerxes (of Esther fame) into Greece. You know, I’m sure, the story well or you maybe have seen the Hollywood version from a few years ago called 300.

It’s a very famous story of the last stand of the 300 Spartans as they fought and died to the last man. But how do we know that this event so long ago actually took place at all? Well until the early 20th century when archaeologists investigated the sight the only primary sources we had was the histories by Herodotus and a few other accounts of other ancient historians not as detailed as Herodotus.

The interesting things about these accounts is that Herodotus was born just around the same time as the events of Thermopylae yet when he wrote his history of the Greek and Persian conflict it was still very much in living memory and his histories are in his own words “only what has be passed onto me.”

Herodotus was not an eye witness of the events at Thermopylae, be received only what was passed onto him by others who most likely were there and the stories and traditions that were handed down. Yet even with this Herodotus account is classed as accurate and true. No Historian that I am aware of doubts his writings.

When we approach Luke’s Gospel we have a very carefully researched historical document. And Luke himself is not an eye witness of any of the things in the Gospels. But he writes down for us a history of the events as they were handed down by eye witnesses.

Luke we know spent allot of time with Paul and himself says that he carefully researched these things that were passed down and committee them to writing so that Theophilius and us today can know with certainty the things that we have been taught.
Historians when they come to Luke’s gospel understand that what we read in Luke is history. It’s true in the same way that Thermopylae is true. These things took place within space and time. Whatever else we think of when we read Luke its correct and I think important for us to have confidence that what we read is real history.

Not some religious book with nice stories that teach us some good moral lessons. But actually historical events that must be taken seriously. Yet Luke as we know is more than just history for its history from a very specific perspective. For Luke the events he records here in his Gospel and in Acts hold some very significant meaning for everyone.

For his perspective if you look at Chapter 1 verse 1 is about historical events that are the fulfillment of expectations that had long been believed in Israel. What Luke writes for us are not isolated historical incidents. But the realisation of promises made centuries and millennia before the events that he describes.

Luke sees these events surrounding the person of Jesus as the fulfillment of the expectation of the messiah. Gods anointed King who would come and undo the work of the Devil and bring harmony back to the creation and to Gods people. In short here was the one who would come to crush the serpent of Genesis 3 the one who would undo the mess left behind by the first Adam.

And as he goes through the birth narratives of Jesus he is showing us that this Baby is the son who was promised to eve in Genesis 3. That’s why you will notice that as Luke gives his version of the Genealogy of Jesus he traces it right back to Adam not just Abraham in Chapter 3.

But as Luke records for us the beginning of Jesus Public ministry in chapter 4 we also have a very important fulfillment that he records. For in the synagogue Jesus now a recognised travelling rabbi stands up and reads a few verses from the Prophet Isaiah chapter 61. And he tells the people in the synagogue that this very prophecy has been fulfilled. It has been realised in there hearing on that day.

This mysterious person whom Isaiah talked of in terms of a servant an anointed one. Someone to whom God shows favour, this person is now revealed to them. The long expected Messiah and King has come and Jesus is the man. He is anointed by the Spirit which of course had just happened at his Baptism in the Jordan by John.

And he now begins his ministry in the terms that Isaiah the prophet speaks of. In short what this passage speaks of came to be known as the Kingdom of God. A time which God had promised when the fortunes of his people would be restored when the ancient ruins of Israel would be restored and the overthrow of the enemies of God.

Jesus sees this new kingdom, this new age as beginning now with him as he would go and preach good news to the poor, to proclaim the year of the Lords favour. As he brings freedom to those held in bondage and release for those oppressed, the recovery of the sight for those who can’t see.

And it’s this agenda that we see unfolding as Jesus begins his public ministry. For him the Idea of the kingdom was the most central issue and in Luke we find it coming up again and again. As people misunderstand it there is hostility, and as people embrace it there is healing and release.

and Luke as he writes this history of Jesus Life he sees it in terms of the coming of the Kingdom and as he lays out the stories and events of Jesus Life we must keep that in mind. So as we look together at chapter 4 and 5 of Luke I want to keep this as the central theme and take look more at the big picture than at the detail as we go through this.

So Firstly we need to see the message of the kingdom
Then the miracles of the Kingdom
And finally the mission of the Kingdom

The First aspect of this new Kingdom that would come would be the announcement and the preaching of Good news to the poor. And if we look at Chapter 4:43 we find that it’s the preaching or the Kingdom that Jesus sees as his main task.

This Kingdom that has now come with him must be preached to the people. He came to announce Gods kingdom and the new messianic age. To call people to repent and believe the gospel. And this was to be preached to the poor. That in this context is not an economic term alone. But rather to the poor in Spirit.

Those who were waiting for the coming Kingdom, those who were seeking God and his grace. Jesus came to announce to them the coming of the end of the ages, and the pouring out of God’s grace and his coming Judgment. The message of the kingdom would be good news for it would bring the compassion of God to a sinful people.

Now as we continue in Luke we see this agenda being kept up and indeed it goes further than just Luke but the agenda of the Kingdom message would continue with the church itself but we will deal with that later.

So with the anointed Kings arrival he brings the message of his kingdom to the people and he preaches and teaches them the message of the messianic age. God’s decisive intervention in the world of human sinfulness had arrived. In short the world would never be the same again.

It’s a bit like when you have a new Baby, the first thing you do is announce it to other people. It’s not something you hid away and keep to yourself. It’s good news and it needs to be announced to your family and friends etc.

So as the new age appears with Jesus he comes to announce it to the world. That is Jesus agenda. And no matter who you are or where you are at in your life the good news of the kingdom is indeed good news for you. For its brings with it the offer of forgiveness to the poor in spirit.

To those who understand they are sinful and in need of mercy it is the announcement of favour, of grace to those who don’t deserve it.

But As Jesus Announces the kingdom to the people we find Luke also records for us that Jesus demonstrates the kingdom. For he performs miraculous signs. As this new age Jesus announces unfolds in 1 century Galilee Jesus performs many miracles. Healing the sick and disabled, driving out demons and so on.

Now again we must understand that Luke is writing history here. The record of the miracles is not something to be explained away but rather taken seriously. Luke writes as a doctor and he would have known what he was talking about when it came to disease and disabilities. He would have been able to know if these were fake or not.

Today there is still a very strong belief that Miracles are impossible and therefore we must disregard any reference to miracles in the bible. It’s a belief that comes very strongly from one of Scotland own sons a man called John Hume. Hume basically said that miracles were so unlikely that he would not believe in them.

And today with all our modern scientific understandings surely we can say that science tells us that miracles can’t happen. Well I agree with all that. Miracles can’t happen that’s the point. From a scientific and probability point of view miracles are totally impossible. But that’s the point. That’s why they are called miracles.

They are not something that usually takes place or can be explained scientifically. They are by definition something extra ordinary. They are supernatural. And once you accept that God can intervene in the world that isn’t actually such a surprise. After all that’s what Jesus himself has been saying is it not. That Gods kingdom has come to earth.

In chapter 5 we have the account of the man with Leprosy (verse 12) and the story of the man with paralysis. As well as the miracles about the great catch of fish and the healing of the fever and the driving out of the demon in chapter 4.

But the thing is why does Jesus actually do these miracles? Why are they necessary? What are they telling us? Well as the kingdom comes with Jesus and as it is announced by him so he also demonstrates to the people that the messianic age has come.

In the bible miracles usually come only in times of great spiritual conflict and at times when God acts in history to save his people. So the exodus story with the great miracles and plagues that God dealt out on the Egyptians. And if you read the story you find that what was talking place was God was judging or over throwing the gods of Egypt and saving his people from Slavery and oppression.

And as he does this the people are liberated and set free and Egypt is defeated. And this extended into the time of Joshua as he led the people into the Promised Land.

The next great time of miracles came with the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Again Elijah’s great contest with the Baal worship that had taken root in Israel was a spiritual battle and again it was through Elijah and Elisha that the remnant of Gods people came into being and survived as the nation turned away to idolatry and was eventually judged.

And then in the time of Jesus and the apostles there was again a time of miracles as God acted once more for the salvation of his people and to judge the forces of darkness but this time it is to be beginning of the end for all those who stand opposed to God and his kingly rule.

It’s no surprise that the first thing that Luke records Jesus doing when he is baptised and anointed with the Holy Spirit is to confront Satan. And the first miracle that he does is to drive out a demon. For the miracles themselves show us what the kingdom that Jesus brings is like.

As the kingdom comes God is driving out the forces of Darkness and brings the kingdom of Light. As Jesus brings the kingdom the forces of darkness are fleeing away. Just as when you switch on the light in a dark room that light chases away the darkness so Jesus miracles signal the victory of the kingdom of God over the dark spiritual forces that hold people in bondage and fear.

But of course these miracles signal more than a mere victory over the dark powers but give us a glimpse into the restoration of the kingdom and the harmony that it will again bring to the creation and the relationship between Gods people and the creation. The story of Peter and the great catch of fish is a good example.

At the fall God cursed the ground and from then on the work that Human beings would do would be characterised by frustration and hardship. The relationship between the creation and humans was one of strife and toil.

Now Jesus comes and as peter and his partners have struggled and had a most frustration time on the Sea of Galilee and caught nothing. Jesus appears and brings restoration. They cast out there nets and they take a huge catch of fish. An astonishing catch for it surprised these hardened fisher men. Jesus has the ability to restore the relationship between the creation and humans.

The effects of the curse are being undone before Peter’s eyes. So these miracles as they are recorded for us help us to see just what this new age that Jesus is announcing will be like. An age when the frustrations of the curse will be taken away and harmony once again restored.

And as Jesus does this, Peter begins to realise that this person that Luke is recording for us is no mere man, no mere teacher but something altogether more powerful and wonderful. But not only do we see the restoration of the creation but also the renewal of body and the effects of sin on human society.

As Jesus heals the man with leprosy with a touch and a word the effects of the fall and sin are being taken away. AS the sickness and disease hold this man in oppression and isolates him from his fellow men, now Jesus restores his body and the affects of sin and allows him to see his family and friends again. To have human contact which the leprosy had denied him.

Now I’m not saying that it was the man’s personal sin that caused his leprosy here but rather sin in general as it degrades and pollutes the world that God made free from such things. This miracle helps us to see that this new kingdom will bring renewal for people and release for those who are helpless in the face of terrible diseases and the social stigmas that go along with it.

And the same can be seen in the story of the man with paralysis. Here to, was a man that needed this renewal. And he to found that Jesus was able to heal and renew him so that he could get up and walk home. Maybe for the first time in years or even decades. This new kingdom that Jesus was bringing was one of victory, restoration and renewal.

They are showing us what is in store for those who are part of the Gods kingdom. They are glimpses of a new world. Like light piercing through a pinhole they demonstrate the reality of the promised Kingdom to those who will believe in Jesus.

But there is something even more important that these miracles help us see and Jesus highlights it in the story of the paralytic. Here was a man who needed his body renewed. That was his most pressing need. That was his issue was it not? So why does Jesus then turn to him and say “friend your sins are forgiven”

The man came to be healed for his paralysis why is Jesus talking about his sin? Well Jesus is highlighting for us something very important that the greatest need for this man is not actually the renewal of his body; it’s not the renewal of his relationships with his fellow human beings or the restoration of the relationship with the creation.

There is something far more important than any of those. What this man’s most pressing need is, is his relationship with God to be restored.

What this man needs is to be forgiven for his failure to life with God as God in his life. He needs to be forgiven for his rebellion and failure to live Gods way in Gods world. This man’s greatest need is for God to redeem him, to rescue him from sin and its consequences.

And as Jesus heals him he is showing that he came not just to restore creation, not just to heal the body but much more importantly to forgive our sin. These Miracles are redemptive in focus.

They help us to see that Jesus as he brings the kingdom came to heal us of the greatest problem that all of us have. The problem of our sin and its consequences.

Sin separates us from God and leaves us under his judgement. But through Faith in Jesus we can be forgiven. We can be healed and restored and redeemed. We can experience that favour of God as he allows us to go free from the punishment our sin deserves and come into his kingdom.

But notice also the reaction of the Pharisees to what Jesus Says. They rightly see that no man can forgive sins that alone is Gods prerogative. Yet Jesus is able to heal the man with a few words. If he couldn’t heal the man then they could have dismissed him as a liar and a blasphemer.

But as soon as they see the miracle surly they should see the obvious. That the king of this new kingdom is no mere man. No mere teacher, no mere healer and worker of miracles but God himself in the person of Jesus Christ.

God himself has come to bring his kingdom and to bring his forgiveness for sinners like peter, lepers and the sick and demon possessed held in bondage and oppression. For tax collectors and the stigmatised like Levi. Jesus has come to heal our greatest need and most pressing concern.

Ultimately that would be achieved at the cross where he himself would take our sin and allow us to be free from its consequences. This Jesus who Luke records for us came announcing a new age, he came demonstrating it to us in his miracles and finally he came on the mission of the kingdom.

Jesus as he came managed to rub people up the wrong way. The Pharisees and religious authorities hated him, the people in his home town tried to kill him. Why if he came with such great news would people act like that towards him?

Well part of the answer lies in the expectations that were present among the Jewish people about the messiah. They saw the messiah as the one who would come and conquer the Roman army and kick them out of Israel. He would come and restore the house of David and the kingdom of Israel once again.

The messiah would judge the enemies of Israel and overthrow them. Yet Jesus did not really meet those expectations. For him the kingdom was not about military might or national greatness. The kingdom was about redemption from sin and restoration of the effects of sin.

Notice how he responds to the Pharisees when he is eating with Levi in his house. The Pharisees don’t understand why he is sharing fellowship with tax collectors and sinners. Those whom they saw as outside the kingdom.

To them these people were traitors to Israel and deserving not of mercy but judgment. For them the Messiah would come and vindicate there strict religious lifestyles and bring doom for tax collectors and sinners who were part of the establishment. They were in bed with the Romans.

So if Jesus is the messiah they say, why would be he hanging around with these types of people?

Yet Jesus see things very differently for as he comes bringing the kingdom he sees it in different terms:

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

For Jesus the reason he had come into the world was not to call the religious or the self righteous who thought they were OK. But rather he came for those who desperately needed the kingdom and the forgiveness that it brought. For Jesus the Kingdom was not for the pious but for the poor

For Jesus the kingdom was to be announced to sinners like peter and outcasts like Levi. To the stigmatised like the leper. The kingdom was not about robes and royalty, but about the offer of God’s grace to those who were outside of it.

And that’s exactly what Jesus sets about doing. It’s the agenda he quoted from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue in Nazareth. The Year of Gods Favour had come; the mission of Jesus was to preach it to them and show it to them and ultimately bring them into it through his death for them.

But if we look at that passage from Isaiah 61 we find there that this new messianic age would be a mix of restoration of the people of God and Judgement on Gods enemies. No doubt that was known to the Pharisees and the people in the synagogue in Nazareth.

And when Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61 he does something very interesting. As he announces his mission of the kingdom. He cuts verse 2 of Isaiah 61 in half and only quotes the first part of it.

Let me read the complete verse to you:

to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour
and the day of vengeance of our God,

From Isaiah’s perspective some 600 years before Christ he saw this messianic age as one of both salvation and judgment all rolled into one. Yet from Jesus perspective there was a gap between the proclaiming of Gods favour and the day of vengeance.

Jesus came on a mission to announce a time for repentance and bring forgiveness for people. This messianic age would begin with the announcing of the kingdom and the opportunity for repentance before God. Then Judgment would come and bring the over throw of his enemies and the final restoration of the whole world which the miracles demonstrate.

Jesus was the messiah and he came not as Gods executioner on sinful people, but as the servant who would die in the place of sinners and allow people through faith in his death to be brought into the kingdom of God and escape the day of vengeance that was to come.

It’s like when the troops landed on the beaches on D Day 1944 that was it really the war was over, Hitler was beaten once they landed, yet it took another year before final victory arrived with VE day.

Jesus came for sinners, outcasts and idolaters to offer Gods grace, but he will come again to judge the world and bring in the new heavens and new earth. The kingdom would come in two stages. And the age we now live in is indeed the age of grace.

For Jesus mission would be shared with the world. That’s why we see Jesus calling peter James and John and Levi (or Matthew) as his disciples. For remember Luke wrote two books. His gospel and Acts. This Kingdom that Came with Christ would be announced to the world by a group of fishermen a tax collector a freedom fighter and other sinners whom Jesus called into his group of Apostles.

Jesus Perspective was bigger than the national boundaries of Israel. This new Kingdom would be announced to the very corners of the earth. His disciples would take the message of Gods favour and go out to the nations with its offer of repentance and faith in Christ.

The mission of the kingdom would continue beyond Jesus death, resurrection and ascension. And continue to this day as we his disciple still announce the good news of Gods kingdom. AS we still preach good news to the poor. As we still wait for the day of vengeance of our God and the restoration of all things.
....
Luke writes for us History, he shows us the history of Jesus Life and the story of his Death and resurrection. But he doesn’t just want us to believe these stories as historical events. Rather he records this History of Jesus and the coming of Gods Kingdom so that we can believe in the one whom it’s all about.

So that we can see and know that these stories are part of Gods Story. His plan of salvation for the world he loved so much that he was willing to send his son, his messiah to rescue it.

Luke wants us to see that this offer of Gods favour is open to us today no matter who you are or what you have done. No matter what race or religion. This Kingdom, this grace of God is offered today to those who are willing to hear and to believe.

To repent of our sin and failures to love God and others and to place our trust in the king of the kingdom, in Jesus who alone can bring us into his Kingdom, who alone can restore us and has promised to heal us when the kingdom comes in its finality at the very end of the age.
And who alone can rescue us from the wrath to come.

You know I was joking with our American brother before lunch time that it’s not too late for America to come back into the union and to be once again part of the United Kingdom. I don’t think he was to enthusiastic about that.

But friends there is a far greater Kingdom that today you can be part of. A kingdom that is open to all who will repent and turn to God, to all who will be followers of the messiah Jesus the Christ of God.

Abraham Kuyper on his life

2010-05-29T17:10:00.002+01:00

One desire has been the ruling passion of my life. One high motive has acted like a spur upon my mind and soul. And sooner than that I should seek escape from the sacred necessity that is laid upon me, let the breath of life fail me. It is this: That in spite of all worldly opposition, Gods holy ordinances shall be established again in the home, in the school and in the State for the good of the people; to carve as it were into the conscience of the nation the ordinacnes of the Lord, to which Bible and Creation bear witness, until the nation pays homage again to God.

(Abraham Kuyper 1897)

The Mission of God and the Missional Church

2010-03-16T11:56:00.008Z

Over this past month we have been looking at the idea of a renewed Church from Acts 2:42. We have looked at the way the church in the early part of acts devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles, to the fellowship of believers and to being involved in actual fellowship. Then last week we looked at Prayer and its importance for the church.

What I want to do this week is take a step back and try and fit all these activities into a broader picture of Church. I want to ask the question why do we devote ourselves to the apostles teaching? To fellowship and prayer and the breaking of Bread?

I want us to think about why the church even exists and what is the purpose of the church? And as you can see from the title we are going to be looking at the commission of the church and where it fits into Gods plans for the world.
To do this we are going to look at the first chapters of Acts and the Last chapter of Luke and many other passages throughout the whole Bible. So today might be a little bit of a paper chase at times. But I think it’s important that we understand and are able to answer the questions I spoke about.

Too often in the church we are all too capable of getting side tracked and devoting ourselves to goals and aspirations which actually distract us from our primary task in the world. And sadly in many places actively forget what the church is about and should be doing in the world.

So in order for us to try and understand all this I am going to look at these issues broadly under 2 heading

1. Firstly the mission of God (What is God doing in the world)
2. Secondly the commissioned Church (How we fit into Gods plans)

When we think of the word mission it no doubt conjures up images of the nineteenth century when missionaries as we called them went out into far parts of the empire and world to preach the gospel. Mission and missionaries where those who went from this country to other lands.

And that’s still how many people perceive the idea of mission and missionaries today. We send people out to be missionaries after all. But I want to challenge our thinking about the very idea of mission and what it means to be missionaries today.
And to do that we first need to understand the basis for all mission. That is that God himself is a missionary. All mission begins and follows the mission God has and is carrying out in the world today.

So Firstly we need to see just what is Gods mission in the world today?
Luke began his first volume his gospel telling us this:
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Luke’s stated purpose is to write an orderly account of the things that has been fulfilled among us. That is the followers of Christ. And he does this by carefully researching everything that had taken place from the beginning.
Then in his second volume he begins by saying this:

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

So we know that Luke was writing about What Jesus Began to do and teach in his first volume and this is in terms of all that was fulfilled. Now what did he mean by that? For in order to understand what Gods mission is we must firstly understand that his mission is centred on Christ.

For Jesus is the fulfilment of an expectation that existed for a long time in the nation of Israel. An expectation of a ruler and king who would sit on David the King of Israel’s throne and rule over a restored nation. In fact even before this God had made promises that this messiah figure who come.

And Luke sees Jesus as the fulfilment of the ancient promises in the Old Testament as he came to teach, heal and ultimately die on the cross and rise again.
In fact Jesus himself as recorded by Luke before his ascension into heaven told his disciples this:

He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Gods Mission then is centred on Jesus as the fulfilment of all that he had planned to do in the world. All the law of Moses the prophets and the psalm point to, and are fulfilled in this one figure who was Born in 1st century Palestine and who at the age of around 33 began his ministry in the synagogue in Nazareth where he declared himself to be the fulfilment of Isaiah 61.

Luke is showing us that Jesus is the Jewish messiah. Not some new kid on the block but the fulfilment of all the plans of God for the world. For as Gods messiah he would reign over a new kingdom and restore Israel once more.

This then is the background to what Luke is recording for us and the background to the questions that the apostles ask in verse 6 of Acts chapter 1:

Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

The disciples had been with Jesus for around 3 years they had witnesses with their own eyes the things that he had done and said and they had confessed him to be the messiah and then they had their hopes totally dashed when he was taken and under a kangaroo court sentences and executed.

All their hopes had died with Christ on the cross. All there longing for a restored Israel and For Jesus to reign as a king over them and to through of their oppressors and for Israel once more to take her place as the dominant power in the world.
Then the resurrection and the signs and many proofs as Luke says in verse 3. This Jesus was now risen from the dead not even the grave could hold him was this then the time that the Kingdom would come in its power? Was this the time for Jesus to reign again?

But of course there question betrayed a very limited understanding of the restoration they were looking for. They wanted a new Israel for the Jewish people with its own political boundaries and borders. They wanted a King like David who would fight their battles against their enemies.

They were right in the fact that Jesus had brought a restoration to Israel but not in the way they were thinking. For the Purposes of God are far wider than that.
Remember what Jesus had said to them in Luke 24:

This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

You see the Disciples here before the ascension where thinking only in terms of the restoration of the nation of Israel but Gods plan was for the restoration of the nations. Gods plan for his messiah was far broader than the disciples imagined it to be.

For the Messiah was not only going to be king of Israel but King over the whole world, the second Adam the ruler of a new people. In fact this was God purpose all along.

From the beginnings of the nation of Israel with Abram God had promised in Genesis 12:
“I will make you into a great Nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; AND ALL PEOPLES ON EARTH WILL BE BLESSED THROUGH YOU”

From Abram would come a great nation, the Nation of Israel who would be Gods people under Gods rule in a land that God would give them. They would be a redeemed people as God redeemed them out of slavery out of the land of Egypt.God would give them his Law and they would be a holy People at the very heart of the nations so that they would be a light to the nations and be able to display the glory of the LORD as he was in the midst of them in his tabernacle.

But of course that’s not the way it turned out for the fulfilment of the promises never ultimately came in Canaan or in the Kings of Israel and Judah and so there was hope of another who would come. Isaiah talked of a servant of the LORD who in Isaiah 49:6 was told:

"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

Which of course is the very same language that Jesus uses as he talks to the disciples in acts 1:8 it is salvation to the ends of the earth. Not just in Israel but for the world.

Or we could look at Daniel 7 were the son of man would rule over the all nations peoples and men of every tongue. Psalm 2 verse 8, were the Father speaks to the son and says: “Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession”

So here in we see the great and grand plan and mission of God which is centred on the person of Jesus Christ the messiah and through him to bring Gods salvation to the ends of the earth. An end which John describes for us in Revelation 7:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."

The disciples where right about the restoration but very wrong in its scope. But they were also wrong about its timing. For they were ready for the restoration right there and then. But Jesus tells them otherwise:

It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority

The Disciples were ready for the end there and then put that’s not what God had in mind for in one sense Jesus had achieved this salvation for the nations he had finished his work of atonement and was raised up but before the end comes there will be a period of time where the Gospel must go to the nations as Jesus said in Luke 24.
It’s a bit like D day and VE day in the Second World War. When the allies landed at Normandy on D day the war was essentially won. But final victory was only complete when Germany surrendered on VE day.

Christ has come and has defeated the devil and achieved this salvation but now this salvation must go to the nations before the end comes.
Notice the way Luke introduces his second volume again:

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven

The implication from this is that Jesus is still active in carrying out this mission he has not stopped. It’s still to be finally and completely finished at the end when he will return and usher in the new heavens and new earth.
For although this mission of God is centred on Christ as he fulfils all that was promised in the Old testament, this mission is also continued by Christ through the Spirit here on earth.

Notice the Command of Christ to the disciples in verses 4 and 5:

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

The disciples are commanded to wait in Jerusalem for what the father had promised. And this promise is the Holy Spirit who will continue Jesus work on earth as he ascended into Heaven.

But more than this we can also say that as Christ assents into heaven he also directs the work through the Holy Spirit as he is active in world. For remember what John tells us the work of the Spirit will be?

He will lead the disciples into all the truth; he will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgement to come. The spirit continues the mission of God in the world after Christ is taken to his rightful place as the right hand of God.
That is why Jesus makes the promise that he will be with us to the very end of the age. For he is present by the Spirit and continues to seek and save the lost and bring the message of Gods Kingdom to the ends of the earth.

So Gods mission is a Trinitarian mission where in God the Father sends the Son as a missionary to the earth to accomplish Gods salvation for the nations and God the Spirit continues this work until the end when Christ returns to judge the world.

So first and foremost we can say that it is Gods mission centred on Jesus who is the messiah and continued today through the ministry of the Spirit to bring the gospel to the nations so that all might come and bow before the risen ascended Lord of heaven and Earth

But where do we fit into all this? Which brings us to point number two the commissioned Church.

As the Disciples ask there question of Jesus as we have said they do not fully realise just what is about to happen and as Jesus answers them he gives them a command and a promise.

It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

The promise is that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them and the command is that they are to be his witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the very ends of the earth.

You see for the apostles who were seeking the restoration of Israel then and there they needed to realise that the kingdom had come as we have said and yet it had not fully come yet. And there job was to bring the news of the kingdom to the ends of the earth.

For as Christ Continues his mission to being the gospel to the nations and directs that mission through the Holy Spirit it is carried out by the People of God.
The disciples far from what they expected had not begun to reign in a new Kingdom but had been given a commission to go and preach a Kingdom. A kingdom which is spiritual in character not national and multi ethnic in nature not limited to only the Jews.

They would be witness to all they have seen and heard Jesus say and do. They would be witnesses to his death and resurrection. And they would go and preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus name to the nations.

And it’s here that we see the purpose of the church in this last age. For it is through the people of God that the mission of God is carried out and continues as they are equipped with power by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel.

So we might say that the church is commissioned and empowered to preach the gospel in all nations so that Gods mission is continued in the world. So we have again that idea, as so often in scripture, of the total sovereignty of God as he carries out his purpose.

Yet also within that sovereignty the church is called to exercise its responsibility to take the gospel message of Jesus as the promises messiah and proclaim it to the nations.

Chris Wright says this about our mission:

Fundamentally, our mission (if it is biblically informed and validated) is our committed participation, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission in the world through history.

Acts 1:8 is a sort of contents page for the book of acts for it sets out the way in which the divine mission will be carried out as the people of God move out from Jerusalem with the message of the risen Christ. Firstly they wait in Jerusalem and receive the Holy Spirit and the result is that they are equipped to be able to preach the gospel.

The apostles become the authoritative witnesses of the resurrection and proclaim Jesus Christ and through the Spirit carry out miracles and signs to accredit the message they preach. And from Jerusalem that word then spreads due to persecution into Judea and Philip goes to Samaria.

Then as Saul is converted and becomes Paul be takes that message to the gentiles in to Asia minor then into Europe finally ending in acts 28 with Paul in Rome. The capital city of the empire. Which is, in a way, the ends of the known earth at the time.

So from Jerusalem the message of the kingdom goes out to all the world as the apostles take it and as the church grows. And this is why the church is said to have devoted themselves to the apostles teaching in acts 2. For it’s as the apostles were equipped and commissioned by Jesus to preach the gospel that the church begins to be built and expanded.

The Church is built on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles as they testify to and about the gospel. And it’s the same for us today as the church in the 21st century we to are to be devoted to the apostles teaching for it’s by their authoritative witness that we continue the work of proclaiming the gospel to the nations.

For we do not make up the gospel, we have been given in through what they taught and handed down to us in the scriptures. And it’s as we preach this message of the apostles and prophets about Jesus the promised messiah that the holy Spirit works in the hearts of people to bring them to worship Jesus Christ and obey him. And it’s through that same message that the spirit builds the church and we make disciples of all nations.

But more than this we also see that the church was devoted to the fellowship. They shared together in the work of the mission. This was in terms of financial sharing and help of the poor and in the promotion of the gospel. Each person took part of the burden for the benefit of the gospel.

And as the Holy Spirit changed people’s lives through the message of the apostles so to he gave gifts to the church to allow the church to function and carry out its task of preaching the gospel. Each member participated in the mission. Each member used their gifts for the promotion of the gospel.

This again is part of the holy Spirits work in equipping and empowering the church for it to carry out its mission. And for us it’s the very same as we are each equipped with gifts for the building up of the body of believers so that we can fulfil the great mission to take the gospel out from St Peters to the world around us.

And each member carries part of the burden in terms of giving up time and effort for the sake of the gospel, each member contributes financially not so the church can pay its remittance for Edinburgh but for the cause if the gospel and so that people will be able to hear it.

Every aspect of what we do as a fellowship is focused on allowing the gospel message to go out so that the mission of God continues. We set out chairs in the hope that people come and sit on them and hear the gospel, we organise rotas so that we can function as a body for the sake of the gospel.

Everything we are about is for the gospel. And what’s more in acting like this we actually become a community of believers living the gospel together and individually, and living out the gospel for the world to see. For the community round St Peters to see. For Dundee to see.

And understanding our mission like this also helps us to see just why prayer is so vital for this mission. For as Jesus continues to direct the mission from Heaven he does so in answer to the prayers of his people. It’s one of those great mysteries, but we see it throughout the book of Acts as they pray, so God is pleased to answer and continue the spread of the gospel.

Two examples are of course before Pentecost the Believers were together in prayer and then the spirit came upon them and they talked in the languages of all the different people who were in Jerusalem at that time and they preached the gospel.
Another example is when peter was in prison the believers were in prayer together and then God intervened and peter was released by an angel and from that peter had his great vision about the gentiles being part of Gods plan as well and he went to Cornelius house and the first gentiles were converted.

Because God is totally sovereign then the only adequate response from the church is to pray and ask God to continue his work for without Him directing and continuing it by the spirit we can do nothing. We cannot continue ourselves and see any lasting fruit.

So Devotion to prayer is of great importance for the church as it continues to seek to fulfil their commission to proclaim the gospel into all the world. And it must be of great importance to us as we seek to see this great mission fulfilled that the gospel will go out into Dundee and Scotland and further afield until the end.
You see everything we are about must help spread and continue the message of the Gospel to this generation we are in and to the next who come after us. And the way we set ourselves up needs to be in accordance with the commission we have.
At the positively Presbyterian conference in September, Steve Timmis sad something there that really struck me:

Our missiology must shape our ecclesiology.

Now that basically means that this commission we have must shape and focus the way we actually do church. Our mission in the world becomes the main focus and driving force which shapes the way we do everything else. And that will mean that there will be a great cost to us.

For it will not be popular, as we follow Jesus so we will be treated as he was but it is necessary and it will cost us in terms of money and time and energy and health and prosperity. For we make sacrifices in these areas so that the gospel continues to be heard.

You see it’s not just that we send missionaries to other countries, we do that and it’s good and right, but we are all missionaries. We all take part in this mission as we are part of the church.

And as this is our last Sunday here in the chaplaincy centre and we move to the new building we need to remember and treasure this focus.

I have an awful fear that when we get into the renewed building that it will be like we can now breath again and we will revert back to a nice comfortable Christianity which likes all these ideas but really doesn’t want to be involved in them.
That would be a tragedy beyond all comparison. Rather when we get these new facilities we need to take a breath and go back to under the water again and continue the marathon we are all part of. For the mission of God continues and he desires to use us as his church to continue his Mission to the world.
Mission is not an optional extra as Chris Wright says:

The Bible renders to us the story of God’s mission through God’s people in their engagement with God’s world for the sake of the whole of God’s creation. The Bible is the drama of this God of purpose engaged in the mission of achieving that purpose universally, embracing past, present and future, Israel and the nations, ‘life, the universe and everything.’ Mission is not just one of a list of things that the Bible happens to talk about, only a bit more urgently than some. Mission is, in that much-abused phrase, ‘what it’s all about.’

The book of acts finishes with Paul in Rome with freedom to preach the gospel but really the book of acts has no end. For from Paul to generation to generation after him this message has been going out to the nations. God has been Expanding his church and continues to do so.

WE are part of that great drama; we are part of this mission? The real question we need to ask ourselves is do we really want to be part of it? Or are we content to stand staring into the sky not realising we have a commission? Are we comfortable with nice easy Christianity which has no particular purpose only to make us feel good?

I know what I want to be part of? But what about you?

The Reality of Life

2009-09-24T15:02:00.004+01:00

(A Talk given at the Aberty CU Lunch Bar)

I have just recently turned 24. I think after 21, birthdays tend to lose some of there meaning and become less of an event than they maybe once were.

But one thing I always find myself doing on my birthday is to reflect on the year that’s been and indeed on my life and all that has happened in the years previous.

It can be a pretty sobering time really when you consider all that has taken place, all that you have achieved all that you have missed out on and indeed consider all those who are no longer here.

Yet also it makes you wonder where you will be one year on and indeed even further into the future than that. I guess it’s a time for sobering reality to hit you square between the eyes and you look and contemplate life.

What do we make of this life as it stretches out with all its perplexities and sorrows, its joys and woes? How are we to understand this life, this reality we find ourselves involved in?

What is the point of life? Why do we exist at all? You’re here today starting university, you have a purpose for being here you want in the end to be educated in a particular field, be it computer design or geography or something.

But what about life itself why are we here what is the reason we walk and talk and experience?

Blaze Pascal said this:

When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity that lies before and after it, when I consider the little space I fill and I see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am ignorant, and which know me not, I rest frightened, and astonished, for there is no reason why I should be here rather than there. Why now rather than then? Who has put me here? By whose order and direction have this place and time have been ascribed to me?

Pascal like countless others throughout history have been perplexed at the seeming absurdities of this life. Why is it here at all? What’s the point of it all?

Someone over 3000 years ago wrote of life like this: “mankind stands as a mere breath!”(Psalm 39) life is like a breath, totally weightless, totally without substance. There one moment and gone the next. Like bubbles in a fizzy drink life rushes to the surface then pop and it all over.

In our world of infinite distractions with the ipod and iphone, high speed broadband and 24hour TV not many people actually have allot of time to spare to consider life at all. We tend to rush from one thing to the next without much thought.

Tomorrow you will most likely crawl out of bed at some point have breakfast, get washed, go to your lectures (if you actually have any), spend your lunch hour doing something like listening to music, shopping, surfing the net.
Then after, come home, eat again then continue being busy with other things until you turn out the light and of to the land of Nod.

And that cycle will continue day in and day out….what’s the point of it?

You see each of us will attempt to make some kind of meaning to our existence either consciously or unconsciously, we will set up some goal or some thing or some idea which we accept as the reason for our existence.

So for example for the materialist life will be about achievement and having enough money to be able to live “comfortably”. Which means having everything I want to have and everything my children want to have as well. Second home, two cars, 2 holidays a year and well if I have to work every waking moment to get it then so be it.

Or for the hedonist life is lived for the next rush or the next pleasurable experience. Forget the future and the past they cry! Live for the moment. Yet for some reason it becomes harder and harder to get these experiences, harder and harder to get the same pleasure out of life. And all these moments add up to something….But what?

Is our life only the sum total of our experiences?

But maybe your more sophisticated than all that and you know that really, life is just the result of random chemical reactions which resulted in the evolution of our species and therefore we are all just natures accidents no better than the cows in the field or the stones in the river- there is no real meaning.

Like Mr Dawkins says we are slaves of the selfish gene and only the strong survive. So is life just about survival? Yet not may of us would be willing to kill of the weak in order for us to benefit from it? That, for some reason, doesn’t sit easily with us does it?

Indeed if Mr Dawkins is right then all our suffering and pain, our love and joy is totally meaningless a chemical delusion. Are we only prisoners to our genes?

But maybe you’re religious, a spiritual person. You know your need of a healthy spiritual life and go about in search of the latest spiritual enlightenment's. Maybe you’re convinced that the key to all this mystery about life lies within?

You spend your time trying to empty yourself, trying to get lost in the unfathomable nothingness. And yet find that no matter how hard you try there is always something you can’t get emptied of?

For some reason no matter how much you try and get out of this world into the next its seems that this world is always here and can’t be escaped.

Or perhaps you just don’t care? You have never even thought much about it at all, and as far as you’re concerned as long as you’re OK and you don’t do anyone else any harm, well everything will work itself out OK in the end.

But what possible evidence can this be based on? How can you be so sure that everything will be OK?

So what are we to make of life? Just what is it all about?

For Christians as they try and explain life they begin with God the Creator. The World we live in is a world designed and implemented by the creator. And we as human beings are his creatures.

In fact according to the bible human beings find there significance and there purpose in the fact that they are created not just like all the rest of the animals but created in the image of God.

So we are not just some random accidents in a never ending bitter sweet symphony, rather we have meaning and purpose. For the Bible tells us that we were created to be stewards of the Earth to look after it and rule over it under Gods authority.

Human’s beings are designed to be in a relationship with God and with each other as we carry our Gods work in the world. Yet is that the way it is now?

Why then if this is the case do we suffer so much frustration over our identity and do people come up with all sorts of different theories about life? so many diverse reasons for our existence?

For the Christian the answer lies in the fact that there was a break, a fracture in relationship between God and humans beings. Instead of ruling the earth under Gods authority we rebelled against Gods rule and decided to go our own way.

We chose to exercise our authority on our own without reference to God and the results are all around us. This fracture in the way the world was meant to function can be seen in the break up of the harmony that first existed.

No longer do we enjoy the relationship with God rather we run away from him, or ignore him altogether. Our relationship with him is based on fear rather than love and acceptance.

No longer are our relationships with fellow human beings based on love and respect instead we have pain and suffering, hurt and greed, fear and sorrow, divorce and prostitution, exploitation of the weak by the strong.

And indeed we can even say that the harmony between humanity and the creation is out of tune as well. For rather than being good stewards of the planet we exploit it and use it to fulfil our own rebellious desires.

So the reason for all our frustrations comes from the fact that we live life apart from God, in a way that we never really were designed to live.

We live in rebellion against God and his sovereign rule over all things. So when we cut ourselves of from him we find ourselves lost and alone.

It was the Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck who said: “Man is an enigma whose solution can be found only in God”

In order for us we find meaning to this breath, this life, we must look to the God who created it and in the fullness of time actually became one of us in the person of Jesus Christ in order to show us how we might live properly and fully as we were meant to live.

He was the one who came to undo the mess we have made of things so that we can have a restored and renewed relationship with our creator God. By his death and resurrection he has made a way for us to come back into this original relationship with God.

Jesus came to restore the universe and rescue it, and us, from brokenness and lost ness we have created. So in a way our identity is bound up with Jesus identity who he is and why he came.

The reason for our life can’t be found in looking to ourselves or to the created world. Rather we need to look to Jesus the one who was called Immanuel, God with us.

The one who the Bible calls the Word who was in the beginning, the Word who was with God and who was God. Who became a human being in order to make God known once more to his world.

So for a moment just consider what is your life? How does it measure up? Is it what you’re looking for? Does it really mean something? and if so what? Or are you starting to realise that there might be something missing?

I'm Positively Presbyterian

2009-08-31T16:29:00.004+01:00

Tonight sees the beginning of the Free Church conference now re named and re packaged as Positively Presbyterian. It promises to be an interesting conference with Steve Timmis coming to give the main talks. He is of course of "Total Church" Fame and works now with Acts 29 I think.

Also on Wed there will be an open discussion on the "future of Presbyterianism in Scotland/Europe which, if it lives up to expectations, sounds very interesting. You can find more details here from the organiser himself!

Bryan Chapell's Gospel Coalition message

2009-08-26T09:17:00.002+01:00

I Listened to this on audio last night and i have to say i will most likely be coming back again and again to this message it was one of the best messages i have heard in quite a while! enjoy

Preach the Word

23/8/09 When God comes calling, Bryan Kee's sermon now online | www.stpeters-dundee.org.uk

2009-08-24T22:02:00.004+01:00

23/8/09 when God comes calling, Bryan Kee's sermon now online | www.stpeters-dundee.org.uk

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23/8/09 Yahweh's Whisper in History, Bryan Kee's sermon now online | www.stpeters-dundee.org.uk

2009-08-24T21:59:00.001+01:00

23/8/09 Yahweh's Whisper in History, Bryan Kee's sermon now online | www.stpeters-dundee.org.uk

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Prayer letter

2009-07-01T15:10:00.001+01:00

Dear Friends,

As some of you may be aware Louise and i have moved back to Dundee just recently. I have taken up a post with St Peters Free Church as a lay assistant. The Job will involve alot of training of various groups in the church and running Christianity explored courses throughout the city as well as preaching and pastoral work. I will also be responsible for the Church Plant in Montrose 45 mins north of Dundee. To add to all that Louise is due with our first child in under a week so as you can see we are going to be very busy.

To this end can i ask you to pray for us. This morning i was reading Psalm 127 "unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain" How true this is for all the work we have to do in ministry and in family as well. We need the constant sovereign provision of the Lord in all areas of our lives. As i think on all the work that is ahead of us i find great comfort in the fact that it is the Lord who must build the house, it cannot be by our own efforts only in reliance upon him. This is what makes prayer so important for without it we truly do labour in vain. It was Bruce Milne who said "Prayer is the price of power".

Please partner with us in praying for the work of the gospel in Dundee, there are great opportunities here to reach people with the saving message of the gospel of grace and great opportunities to train others for Gospel work as well.

below are some points to pray for:

1) that we ourselves would be faithful to the Gospel in our own lives.
2) for us as we start out as a family.
3) for me as i try and get a clear vision of what i need to be doing with the Church plant in Montrose.
4) for me as i seek to train others to do the work of ministry in the church.
5) for time management (very important for me) and my preparation in the study.
6) for David Robertson my boss and the leadership of the Church in St Peters as we try and lead the church.
7) for opportunities to train others around Dundee in evangelism.
8) for the Christianity explored courses we intend to run in housing estates in the city.
9) for gospel opportunities in Montrose as the church plant seeks to reach out.
10) for the student work in the congregation particularly the mentoring of young men.
11) for the preaching of the word.
12) for protection from the evil one.
13) for our relationships in the church.
14) for boldness and courage in proclaiming the gospel.
15) that the Lord would build his church.

You might also like to look at the Church website which can be found at: www.stpeters-dundee.org.uk where you can find information on St Peters Vision for Dundee, sermons and other information on what is going on in the church.

Thank you for your partnership in the gospel and please do stay in touch with us.

Bryan Kee.

Bacon rolls and Total Church

2009-06-30T19:29:00.005+01:00

We began this morning with an early morning study for the men of St Peters (6:30am for breakfast). We are studying, over the course of the summer, the book by Tim Chester an Steve Timmis; Total Church. Having began to read the book there is so much in it that really resonates with me and i find myself agreeing whole heartily with. Then there are sometimes I'm left wondering why? why not? and totally disagreeing with the authors. From the First chapter i was really struck by this quote from Chris Wrights great Book the Mission of God:

We ask 'were does God fit into the story of my life?', When the real question is 'where does my little life fit into this great story of Gods Mission?'

We want to be driven by a purpose that has been tailored just right for our own individual lives, when we should be seeing the purpose of all life, including our own, wrapped up in the great mission of God for the whole of creation.

We talk about 'applying the Bible to our lives'. What would it mean to apply our lives to the Bible instead, assuming the Bible to be the reality- the real story- to which we are called to conform ourselves?

We wrestle with 'making the gospel relevant to the world'. But in this story, God is about the business of transforming the world to fit the shape of the gospel.

We argue about what can legitimately be included in the mission that God expects from the church, when we should ask what kind of church God wants for the whole range of his mission.

I may wonder what kind of mission God has for me, when i should ask what kind of me God wants for his mission.

From Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church sited:
Chris J H Wright, The Mission of God, Evangelicals Now (Dec 2006)

At its heart Total Church is a call to the church to go back to the priorities laid down in Scripture for the Church. The Church is a community and the church is all about the Gospel. Because it is all about the Gospel it needs to teach and preach the bible and it needs to be mission oriented so to spread the Gospel message.

Having pondered over a lot of this stuff for some time now even before beginning to read the book I can't help but think about the extent to which much of our church life has got so muddled and we seem to have got distracted in many ways from the real goal and priority of the church as laid down in Scripture.

The structures too often only hold the church together and make sure it continues to function, yet there is no real drive and move to bridge the gap between the world of the Church and the outside world to which we are called to preach the Gospel. Are we really serious about living as a community with the view of God, and what God is doing that Chris Wright talks of in the above quote?

My King

2009-06-12T21:05:00.005+01:00

Perceptive words

2009-05-27T23:20:00.002+01:00

I came across this quote, its amazingly perceptive. Makes you sit and think.......

Revival for Scotland

2009-05-26T20:25:00.003+01:00

Recently i have been reading a book on the history of the 1859 Revival in Ulster. its been fascinating to read the accounts of the event which took place beginning in Connor and spreading over most of Ulster in what became known as the "year of Grace". One thing that struck me as i read was the way in which the revival was not so much a turning of people to religion rather an awakening of the sinfulness of sin against a Holy God.

It got me thinking about the recent events in America about the so called Florida revival etc. There were not many reports coming from there of people falling down on there faces unable to bear the weight of sin which had awakened on them... not many stories of people unable to stand up or physically shaking for fear of judgement from God because of their sinfulness.

The revival in Ulster in 1859 really fits much better with the biblical evidence of a genuine movement of the Holy Spirit after all. Jesus left us in no doubt what the Comforter would do - John 16: 7ff

"he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement"

That is certainly what happened in Ulster in 1859. Yet another thing which struck me about the accounts was that the awakening took place where there were Gospel preachers and faithful Christians who were able to tell these folk who had fallen under intense conviction, the glorious good news of the Gospel of grace.

Sometimes they would spend all night with people who were under crippling conviction and then suddenly they would find peace in Christ knowing what he had done for them on the cross to take the punishment they deserved. This got me thinking if God where to bring a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit to Scotland at the moment and hundreds of people fell under conviction.... would there be the Christians with the abilities and knowledge of the gospel to offer Christ to them? Would they know any Christians who they could turn to for help so they could hear the gospel? are we prepared for it?

The other wonderful thing about the revival was the great desire for prayer. Indeed that was were it all started in a small school house in Kells with four young men. As they prayed and laboured in prayer the waters began to flow and soon the banks of the river burst forth to bring an incredible movement of the Mercy of God. How important is prayer? would the revival even have taken place if there was no prayer? How much pleading for lost sheep went on in the prayer meeting so that the ground was prepared for the movement of the Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel.

It was Bruce Milne in this commentary on John who said: "Prayer is the price of Power" Prayer is, in the sovereign purpose of God, the necessary labour for the Gospels effectiveness. If we desire the Preaching of the Gospel to be fruitful then prayer is our first port of call.

If ever Scotland needed an awakening surely it is now? If ever we needed to pray surely it is now!

A new Church for Scotland

2009-05-25T10:02:00.007+01:00

I have not posted anything to this blog in over a year now and it is a sad thing that the first new post will be about the current crisis in the Church of Scotland. I have listen with great sorrow to the unfolding disaster that has overtaken the mother Church this weekend and will no doubt continue over the next Weeks. I find myself at a loss for words almost to describe the total anguish of my heart at what has taken place and long that out of this terrible shambles something might arise from the ashes to bring new light to this dark nation.

I have said this before and i will repeat it now- the time has come for those of like mind and who share a confessional orthodox position to create a new denomination in Scotland. a denomination we can all be part of were we can work together to repair the devastation that has been caused by far to many years of division and infighting. we need to form the Presbyterian Church in Scotland.

No longer can we afford to be divided by petty differences we must work together as confessional orthodox evangelicals to proclaim the wonderful Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to this nation and rebuild the ancient ruins once more. I believe that together we have the abilities and resources, by Gods good grace, to win this nation for Christ.

Today i came across an article by John Ross which sums up totally the position I'm coming from and have been praying for for some time, it can be found here or is reproduced in full below:

A New Church for Scotland?

On Sunday morning, 24 May, a large number of Church of Scotland people awoke utterly perplexed by their Church’s decision the previous evening. The General Assembly, by a huge majority of 326 to 267, had taken an unprecedented, if not entirely unanticipated, decision to approve the Aberdeen Presbytery’s sustaining a call from the congregation of Queen’s Cross Church to Rev Scott Rennie, a 37 year old divorcee and father, who lives in an open homosexual relationship.

The following day the BBC website focused on the emotional upset suffered by Mr Rennie, running the headline “Gay minister ‘hurt’ by church row”, whilst the Scotsman reported “Gay minister humbled by Kirk’s backing.” Hurt or humbled, or both, and I would not want deny his emotions, nor minimise them, many others were also deeply wounded that night. The over 5,000 members of the Church of Scotland who had signed the online petition of the Fellowship of Confessing Churches, and were grieved to the core of the souls by what had transpired.

In its pre-assembly statement, the Fellowship of Confessing Churches made it very clear that, in its view, by inducting into its congregations those living in relationships other than heterosexual marriage, the Kirk would be crossing a Rubicon into a moral, spiritual and theological wasteland, thus positioning itself outside “the fellowship of orthodox, creedal Christianity worldwide.”

The issue now confronting all those good and godly Kirk ministers, elders and members who subscribed to the petition is simply this, how, for the glory of Christ and his cause in Scotland, can they remain where they are? Does not the logic of their own argument mean that their position within the Church has now become untenable?

Saturday’s decision is not, however, a sudden, erratic, departure from “orthodox, creedal Christianity,” to quote the Fellowship’s statement. It is but the latest staging post on a long road strewn with the debris of all that is valued by orthodox, confession Christians. For over a century confidence in the cardinal doctrines of the Faith has been eroded; denial of the Bible as itself the Word of God, attacks on the miraculous and supernatural, doubts about the Trinity, reservations over the resurrection, qualms over the twin eternal destinies of heaven and hell have all been voiced by Kirk ministers without fear of restraint. For some, the ordination of women elders and ministers was to be the final straw, but the camel’s back has proved to be remarkably strong and has not yet buckled. Now this latest Assembly decision is set to test once more the resilience of the evangelical conscience, and I fear it will prove to be a hardy old faculty, well up to the latest challenge. The reality is, time and again, evangelicals have complained about departures for orthodoxy, and have even mildly protested against them, but have concluded, in words I have heard repeated ad nauseum, that nothing but nothing would induce them to leave the Kirk. Well, we will see.

Even without this latest debacle, the moral and spiritual landscape of Scotland is as bleak as ever it has been. Does this mean all is lost? Is the spiritual decline of the Scottish church now terminal? Of what significance is it that the twentieth century was the first century since the Reformation without national religious revival? And is that a sign that the candlestick of Christian witness is being removed? Are we one of the last generations of Scottish Christians? Will it perhaps fall to our grandchildren or our great-grandchildren finally to turn out the lights, lock the doors and watch the dust settle on a derelict Church, abandoned both by God and man?

The scale of the challenge now confronting evangelical and Confessional Presbyterians calls for nothing less than the redrawing of the Christian map of Scotland. It calls for the creation of a new Presbyterian Church made up of the Free Church of Scotland and the confessional congregations of the Church of Scotland, along with all others who desire to be reunited in wholehearted commitment to Christ, Scripture and mission. Of course there will be difficulties to overcome. An obvious concern for some Presbyterian churches is worship, using as they do the metrical Psalms alone. But that is an issue they would do well to concede, rather than sacrifice the greater principles of confessional Christian unity and national mission.

I would like to think that a new confessional Presbyterian Church in Scotland is not a fantasy of imagination but a vision glimpsed with the eye of faith. There can be no doubt that the deplorably shattered and fragmented state of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland is contrary to God’s revealed will and Scripture’s unambiguous insistence on Christian unity.

We are all too prone to justify our separate denominational existence by an emotional attachment to our heritage and traditions, an attitude that leads us to disparage the Bible’s call to unity. May I remind you of something Professor John Murray once wrote?

Though the diversity which manifests itself in differentiating historical developments might appear to make ecclesiastical union inadvisable or even perilous in certain cases, yet the biblical evidence in support of union is so plain that any argument to the contrary, however plausible, must be false.

We must reject of the fractious tendencies inherent in our history and engage with other Christians in a movement towards Confessional unity, where the People of God work hand in hand to heal and reunite the fragments of a torn and disordered church.

A reunited Scottish Church would make possible Columba’s vision of Christ’s Good News being carried to a pagan nation and souls won to God. It could secure Knox’s desire for reformation enabling our nation to hear the Good News uncomplicated by aberrant theology, both liberal and fundamentalist. Such a Church would facilitate Melville’s dream of a nation united under the supreme but kind and gracious headship of Jesus Christ. How wonderful if a Church existed able to recover the Christ-like compassion for the marginalised and excluded that led Thomas Chalmers to care for the urban poor and inspired Thomas Guthrie to provide education, nutrition and career training for destitute children.

Let us imagine that such a Church existed, that it could exist, that it were allowed to exist. What might its key attributes be? If you can bear the alliteration, I see it as confessional, compassionate and contextual.

The Authority of a Confessional Church

A fault of much modern preaching is a lack of authority. There is an increasing fashionable inclination towards tentative soliloquizing, a sharing of insights and perspectives, rather than the authoritative proclamation of God’s Word. Perhaps fear of being stigmatised as dogmatic or arrogant makes some preachers timid, unwilling to sound convincing or commanding. Someone has well said, ‘In general we preach the gospel as if we were delivery men, and we see too little that Christ did not call us to be messenger boys, but ambassadors.’

Coincidentally, the contemporary Church is suffering a crisis of confidence in the discipline of systematic and confessional theology. We prefer the less dogmatic approach of biblical theology. Without disparaging biblical theology, Bob Reymond points out in the Preface to his New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nelson, 1998), that whereas biblical theology views Holy Scripture as an unfolding revelation, systematic theology sees it as a completed revelation. Or to use a phrase from Gresham Machen, systematic theology seeks to set forth ‘the grand sum of what God has told us in his Word.’ In the prevailing anti-intellectual climate, terms like ‘completed revelation’ or ‘grand sum’ sit very uncomfortably with post-modernism’s denial of a metanarrative. If ever there was an age crying out for a confident, though humble, return to the ringing affirmations of the historic confessions of the Reformed Church, it is now.

And let us remind ourselves that separation was precisely what the Westminster Confession of Faith was designed to avoid. The Confession of Faith was devised to counter the unpopular liturgical innovations of Archbishop Laud in the 1630s which precipitated civil war in England. It was part of a programme aimed at restructuring the churches of Christ in the kingdoms of Scotland, England and Ireland Church on a Presbyterian model and although that grandiose project proved a forlorn hope, it reminds us that a raison d’etre of the Westminster Confession of Faith was as a bond of unity, not as a basis of factionalism.

Although it is rather a case of the pot calling the kettle black, Richard Dawkins never fails to remind us that religion is contentious. He is not wrong. Historically, religious tolerance has been conspicuous by its rarity. The history of Scottish Presbyterianism is particularly scandalous. Today there are seven denominations in Scotland all of which have as their subordinate standard, the Westminster Confession of Faith. Five of these adhere so strictly to the Confession that there is no point of doctrinal difference between them. Yet, we find it difficult to work together, worship together or sit at the Lord’s Table together. It is a sad fact that during the period of most intense Presbyterian disintegration, from the Disruption of 1843 to the year 2000, church attendance in Scotland fell through the floor. Perhaps it could be argued that confessional Presbyterianism, down to the present day, is possessed of a malign genius for frustrating the prayer of its Lord for the visible unity of his people.

It is also important we do not duck the allegation that confessions constrain, buckle and bend truth to force it within a straight-jacket of theological propositions and biased historical perspectives. They may indeed have such an effect. It is therefore imperative that confession makers and confession users do not forget that no confession is to be elevated to the status of a supreme standard and afforded an authority that belongs exclusively to Holy Scripture. The best confessions are derived from Scripture and to it they are subordinate. That is why in their preface to The Scots Confession of 1560 the compliers famously left themselves open to correction and revision:

if any man will note in this our confession any article or sentence repugning to God’s holy word, that it would please him of his gentleness, and for Christian charity’s sake, to admonish us of the same in writing; and we, of our honour and fidelity, do promise unto him satisfaction from the mouth of God (that is, from his holy scriptures), or else reformation of that which he shall prove to be amiss.

But confessions serve not only as bonds of unity, they are also instruments of discipline. For John Knox an authentic Church bore three distinguishing marks: the true preaching of the Word, the proper administration of the sacraments, and also the faithful exercise of Church discipline. The 1647 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, having subjected the Westminster Confession of Faith to thorough scrutiny, approved it as ‘agreeable to the word of God,’ and welcomed it as both a basis of unity and, ‘for the more effectual suppressing of the many dangerous errors and heresies of those times’ and for ‘a great strengthening of the true reformed religion against the common enemies thereof.’

Language which speaks of ‘suppression,’ ‘errors,’ ‘heresy’ and ‘common enemies’ sounds incredibly antiquated, harsh and judgmental to modern ears. Yet despite the negative resonances of its seventeenth century vocabulary, the 1647 Assembly has something important to say to us we. Whilst we rightly object to the gratuitous burdening of men’s consciences with formulations of the minutiae of doctrine and practice, and whilst we deplore heavy-handed and inept applications of discipline, there can be no denying that Christ has committed to the Churchthe task not only of teaching his Word but also of upholding definable standards of truth and righteousness. Integrity will not, therefore, allow our relationship to the Confession to degenerate into a subjective and sentimental attachment to an historical document, whose teaching can be rejected at will where it is not deemed to belong to some undefined ‘substance of the Faith.’

Confessional integrity requires that theological and moral boundaries be set and maintained. They must not be the narrowest and most restrictive, they must allow a fair degree of latitude and generosity, but they must be defined and held to. Francis Schaeffer used to illustrate this by likening truth to a table top rather than the apex a pyramid. The top of a pyramid allows room only for one interpretation to stand, from which no dissent can be tolerated. A table top allows room for a number of interpretations to coexist but, nevertheless, has clearly demarcated sides over which it is possible to fall. Much as we must love and promote the peace of the Church, we must also be jealous of the purity of the Church, for nothing robs the Church of its peace more than impurity, in doctrine and life.

Another reason why any restructured Church should be confessional is that mission lies at the very heart of a confessing Church. By calling itself confessional a church is in fact saying that it is a missionary church and accepts the commission to confess Christ and his gospel before the unbelieving world. This point was not lost on the compilers of the 1560 Scots Confession. The first substantive paragraph of the Preface opens with the words: ‘Long have we thirsted, dear brethren, to have notified unto the world the sum of that doctrine which we profess.’

In his review of the classical uses of Church confessions, Clement Graham has observed:

If we have been right in attributing confession-making in part to the joy of discovery, this is joy which the Christian wishes to become infectious. The man who has studied the Word of God and compared the Confession of Faith with it makes a happy declaration when he acknowledges it as his own, but his happiness is increased by sharing.

The Credibility of a Compassionate Church

After two thousand years of Christian values we take it for granted that compassion is a divine attribute and therefore the appropriate Christian response to suffering and need. We may fail to grasp how radical to the ancient world was the idea of a compassionate God. To a Stoic the supreme attribute of God was apetheia, the negation of feeling. By remaining unaffected by human joys or sorrows, by putting himself beyond the reach of anything outside himself, the Stoic’s god was majestically aloof, his dignity secure, his transcendence unchallenged. But, for all his majesty, such a god neither heard the prayers of his people, nor was touched by their plight. Those who bore his image banished from their mind all thought of compassion or mercy. When tragedy struck they didn’t care. How startlingly different was the Good News of Jesus Christ. It spoke of a God of love and a Saviour who was moved with compassion for the plight of ordinary people.

According to the gospels, Jesus was ‘moved with compassion’ when he saw that the crowd who had come to hear him was hungry and thirsty or appeared leaderless and lost, ‘like sheep without a shepherd.’ His concerned gaze also penetrated the throng to identify needy individuals. He saw a widow woman, two blind men, a leprosy sufferer or an epileptic, and was ‘moved with compassion’ for them. The word used by the gospel writers vividly conveys Jesus’ stomach churning, gut wrenching, emotion as he saw their pitiful need.

Our Lord was moved by the whole spectrum of human suffering, including the spiritual agonies of those tortured by sexual temptation. He was tolerant, not impatient with human superficiality, nor annoyed by thoughtlessness, nor angered by fecklessness. Rather he was moved with pity. Not only so, but Jesus also ascribes such compassion to his Father. He vividly portrays how a destitute and profligate son, wearily trudging homewards along a dusty road in the heat of the day, is seen a long way off. Moved by compassion, the waiting father abandons all his patriarchal dignity and runs to meet him, throwing his arms around his neck, he kisses him. There are no recriminations, all the mistakes of the past are forgiven and forgotten. The Father who has been waiting all this time does not want his son to live in his presence burdened with regrets for the past. In his immense compassion, he banishes all his faithlessness into the abyss of infinity: As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. How wonderful. What amazing grace! Here are the essential attributes for faithful mission; keen observation that sees human need and holistic compassion that does something about it. This is the example to follow.

A frequent accusation levelled at Confessional churches is that they are not like that. What we are, it is said, is narrow-minded, censorious and heartless. Non-doctrinaire and broad-minded liberalism is seen as much more sympathetic and kindly. Such an accusation cannot be dismissed out of hand, nor dare we deny we have gained notoriety for being stern, legalistic and overcritical. The separatist churches, such as my own, the Free Church of Scotland, are percieved to be austere, lacking in warmth and compassion. Naturally, we deeply resent such a portrayal and would want to argue that it is unfair and inaccurate and ignores a huge reservoir of love and compassion, warmth and sympathy. Yet we would be wise to heed what is said and demonstrate by our deeds rather than our words that it is a caricature.

In a stimulating essay on Motivation in Christian Behaviour, Dennis Winter argues thus:

It was precisely to encourage Christians to demonstrate the authenticity of their faith in action and reveal the inner springs of their religious life that James wrote:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Earlier James defined the true religion of which God approves, as a religion of deed, not word only:

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

I find something deeply disturbing in the way these words cut across our cherished understanding of normal Christianity. We may be ready to concede that faith that exists only in the intellect is bogus, and that Joseph Hart was true when he wrote: True religion’s more than notion, something must be known and felt. But James challenges us to go one step further, insisting that it is not the secret mystical encounter between our souls and God that is true religion, what really counts is the outward, practical, visible, tangible expression of such encounter. Religion that is little more than listening to preaching at services, communions and conferences, and then talking about it afterwards in fellowships is little more than worthless. Indeed James goes further and shocks us by telling us that the true sphere of ‘pure and undefiled religion’ is not the gathered church at all but wherever needy people are found and where we run a risk of getting our hands dirty by contact with the world.

God will hold us accountable for all we hear and read and if our output in good deeds, practical Christian service, social involvement and works of compassion does not equal the input we have received, he will want to know the reason why.

Compassion authenticates the gospel; it gives credibility to the Church’s profession of faith. Therefore, any church desiring to have its message taken seriously must make a decisive break with legalism and lack of love. Francis Schaeffer repeatedly challenged us to see the apologetic and evangelistic value of demonstrative love, such as the radical hospitality he and his wife Edith practiced at L’Abri, their home in the Swiss Alps. Schaeffer’s apologetic was never an abstract theorizing about truth. He passionately believed that ‘the final apologetic’ was love, the love that Christians show to unbelievers. Such love would be a cherished mark of a reconstructed Presbyterian Church in Scotland.

The Impact of a Contextual Church

I sometimes fear that in constructing and organising church life we often act as if the church exists for the benefit of its members. As a consequence those with strong, or at least, loudly expressed views block necessary change to the life and ministry of the Church as it seeks to serve the community in which it is placed. Outside many of our churches are notice boards which welcome visitors to our services, but little accommodation is made to them and they are expected to take us as they find us.

God, on the other hand, acts very differently. Nowhere in Scripture is this made clearer than in the doctrine of the incarnation. In his The Person of Christ Donald Macleod movingly summarises the significance of incarnation for the Son of God:

Incarnation meant a whole new set of relationships: with his father and mother; with his brothers and sisters; with his disciples; with the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees; with Roman soldiers, lepers and prostitutes. It was within these relationships that he lived his incarnate life, experiencing pain, poverty and temptation; witnessing squalor and brutality; hearing obscenities and profanities and the hopeless cry of the oppressed. He lived not in sublime detachment or in ascetic isolation, but ‘with us’, as the ‘fellow-man of all men’, crowded, harassed, stressed, molested. No large estate gave him space, no financial capital guaranteed his daily bread, no personal staff protected him from interruptions and no power or influence protected him from injustice. He saved us from alongside us.’

In other words, Christ is the archetypal Comforter, the original Paraclete, who comes alongside us to befriend us, encourage and empower us and, ultimately, to save us. So concerned was he that gospel ministry should be conducted in this gracious and accommodating spirit that he assured his disciples that after his ascension to the Father, he would send the Holy Spirit as another Comforter, another of the same kind. Philippians 2, the Scripture passage that most powerfully sets out Christ’s ministry of humility, service, sacrifice and winsomeness is prefaced by the application, ‘let this mind be in you.’ Over the last few years at Greyfriars, we have been discovering that if we desire growth we must cultivate a servant’s heart, an attitude that accommodates others and be willing to let go our traditional practices when they are unhelpful or irrelevant to those we seek to win. We have also discovered how wonderfully resilient are the old and cherished values, how readily they survive even the radical changes necessary for effective ministry.

Although some traditionalists dislike the idea of contextualisation, fearing it smacks of compromise, of altering the gospel to make it more acceptable, it is quite clear that both Christ and the Apostles adapted their words to the different audiences they addressed. Jesus’ interview with Nicodemus was very different to his conversation with the Samaritan woman. Paul’s approach to the Jewish people who had the Hebrew Scriptures was fundamentally different to the way be addressed his gentile audiences, who did not. Neither adapted their message to the prejudices and tastes of their audiences to make it more palatable. They adapted their message to make it more understandable.

Contextualisation is nothing more, though nothing less, than a call to take the people to whom we witness seriously. A quotation that has consistently challenged and inspired me throughout the 35 years of my ministry, both pastoral and missionary, is from J. H. Bavinck’s Introduction to the Science of Missions:

…it is possible to have the best intentions and ignore the cultural possessions of a people, and to preach the gospel pure and simple, without any application to their specific characteristics. History has shown that such a procedure is questionable…such a method does not take seriously enough the people to whom one speaks. God, in contrast, takes us, and those to whom we speak, very seriously, and as his ministers we ought to do the same. Abstract, disembodied and history-less sinners do not exist; only very concrete sinners exist, whose sinful life is determined and characterised by all sorts of cultural and historical factors… I must bring the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ to the whole man, in his concrete existence, in his everyday environment. It is obviously then a great error on my part if I do not take a person’s culture and history seriously.

Bavinck reminds us that God’s mission in reaching down to us was thoroughly contextual. Christ accommodated himself to us, he spoke our language, he ate our food, he wore our clothes, he assumed our nature in indissoluble union with his divine nature, he experienced our temptations, he carried our sorrows and he bore our sins. He did not require us to adapt to him. He took us as we were. We, in turn, can make no prior demands on those to whom we explain the Good News. But whatever may be the cost for us in terms of our status, identity or reputation, the investment will be worthwhile if through it men and women of Scotland are led in faith to love and serve Christ and humanity at home and overseas.

Preaching in Post Christian Scotland

2008-04-15T09:23:00.002+01:00

Below is the article that was published on Reformation21.org in March 2008.

I wonder what you think of when you picture Scotland. Ginger bearded men with patterned skirts, dancing about with bagpipes and singing Scotland the Brave? Well maybe not. Scotland today is a modern economically driven business, where life revolves around success and economic performance. Scotland’s people exist to make this economic monster work, so that it can survive and stay in the global economy, so, they tell us, we can have the luxury lifestyles we live today. Yet in the midst of all this business and hustle and bustle there is a deep famine all over the land.

Scotland today suffers from a famine of hearing the voice of God. People are so caught up listening to the many voices of modern life that they no longer have time, or the desire, to hear the words of God. The secularization of Scotland has removed the Christian heritage not only from the academy but also from the minds of the population. The God of the Bible has been replaced by the many and various idols of a pagan society.

Melvin Tinker in his insightful little book Alien Nation describes the problems in modern Britain as follows:

Materialism: the removal of the transcendent, the belief that only what can be seen and measured is real.

Individualism: The focus of life revolves around self, the “I” generation.

Hedonism via subjectivism: the pursuit of pleasure via the route of subjectivism i.e. what is real is what I feel.

Relativism: what is true is true for me. (Tinker, 2001)

Now these are simplifications and I am using broad brush strokes to describe the Scottish situation, nevertheless these are indeed the major idols of the time. They may vary from place to place over the country yet they are clearly seen in the way people think and act.

The most prolific of these idols is individualism. The idea of individual autonomy has infected most of the population, as well as a lot of Christians. This in turn leads to relativism, especially in the area of religious belief. The consumer mentality allows individuals to pick and choose what “works for me”. Surely Harry Blamires is correct when he writes:

“Current secularist humanism – a mish-mash of relativistic notions negating traditional values and absolutes – infects the intellectual air we breathe each day. There is a campaign to undermine all human acknowledgement of the transcendent, to whittle away all human respect for objective restraints on the individualistic self.” (Blamires, 2003)

In Britain Maggie Thatcher was responsible for much of the privatisation of public companies, yet there has also been, over the last decades, what could be called the privatisation of religion. Slowly religion has become a personal preference which is taken out of the public ownership and now only talked about or considered in the personal contemplation of individuals. It plays no part in public thought or has any authority outside your own home. When “Religion” is considered in the public sphere it is almost always viewed in a negative fashion, by those who don’t understand it or wish to understand it.

This then gives rise to the pluralistic society we have today where truth is superseded by individual belief; where religion is personal and any belief can be true for you if you desire it to be. This in turn leaves great problems for Christianity as it seeks to proclaim and defend the universal truth claims of the Gospel. To speak of truth, which affects everyone whether they believe or not, is branded arrogant and intolerant. For most non-Christians it is impossible for any religious belief system to be true unless they accept it to be so.

Now there are many other factors which could be taken into account and considered but generally this sums up the current mood in Scottish society. As individually sophisticated, technologically advanced pagans, people need advanced idols! Wood and stone just don’t cut it anymore, so people turn to themselves, the “I” generation. There is no more sophisticated idol than myself.

Is this new?

Now these issues can make life difficult for a preacher. Yet the first thing we must not do is despair and attempt to fix these problems with solutions made by human hands! Surely we can say with Solomon that:

What has been is what will be, what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “see, this is new?” it has been already in the ages before us. (Ecclesiastes 1: 9,10)

There is indeed nothing new under the sun. The church, as many others greater and more knowledgeable than me have pointed out, has been through times like this before. In the pagan first century there were literally many idols to which people could turn. There was little appetite for any universal truth. In fact when Paul, at the end of this ministry, wrote to Timothy describing the environment in which Timothy would have to minister, he said:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:1-7, emphasis added)

Paul describes a situation which is very similar to what we experience today: lovers of self (individualism), lovers of money (Materialism) lovers of pleasure (hedonism) without self control etc (subjectivism) and you could even argue, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth (relativism). So for Timothy things were not much different than they are for us. How then does Paul instruct Timothy to deal with these things?

Surly there is a great formula and plan that can be worked out. Maybe Timothy needed to start a new organisation or run some sort of course. Maybe going to theological college could be the answer. No, none of these were options for Timothy. Instead, Paul gave him two basic instructions for ministry in the last days:

1- Continue in what he had learned from Paul and his mother and grandmother who taught him the Scriptures (3: 15,16).
2- Preach the Word, Proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (4: 1,2)

Why preach?

So Timothy’s answer for ministering in a Pagan society was to proclaim the gospel of Christ Crucified from the Scriptures. Should our approach be any different? How else are people who are biblically illiterate and have no knowledge of God even begin to start to know God if we do not preach Jesus Christ from the Scriptures? How else will people come to knowledge of salvation if we do not preach the Gospel from the God-breathed Scriptures which are able to make them wise for salvation?

Indeed the entire Letter of 2 Timothy is a charge for Timothy ministering in Ephesus to preach the biblical gospel. As John Stott points out the Letter can be broken into four charges Paul gives to Timothy: guard the gospel; suffer for the gospel; continue in the gospel; and preach the gospel. (Stott, 2005)

In post-Christian Scotland what is needed are more preachers who will take Paul’s advice; preachers who will be Gospel driven, word based and willing to suffer and endure for the sake of the gospel. This is why I believe preaching is so important to the gospel and the Church. If the Word of God was able to make people wise for salvation and rebuke, correct and train in righteousness in the first century, then can we not have confidence that today in our pagan culture it can do the same? Peters Adams writes:

“In the Bible God has spoken and provided a sufficient explanation of Christ and his sacrifices, and has thus provided the message of the gospel of Christ for the whole world. God has acted sufficiently for our salvation; God has spoken sufficiently for our salvation. We believe in the sufficient works and words of God.” (Green and Jackman, 1997)

It follows then, that if we desire people to believe the gospel, they must hear the gospel from the scriptures so that they can be made wise for salvation and be trained to be men and women of God. Preaching the biblical gospel must be the heart of what we do. The people we preach to need to be constantly reminded and told the gospel so they do not forget or disregard it. People need the gospel everyday of their lives on this earth, for if their trust shifts to anything else, they risk neglecting our great salvation (Hebrew 2: 3).

Preaching that engages

Gospel centred, word based preaching is vital to the church. However it is possible to preach the biblical gospel and leave it as academic ideas which people do not understand; which seems to have no relevance to their situation. At all costs we need to be wise in how we engage with any culture as we seek to communicate the Gospel.

It is correct that we need to understand and assess the culture and adapt to it in a meaningful way so that we can make the gospel relevant to the people we preach to. However as Paul instructed Timothy, he was to preach THE Word, not a word. The gospel is a definitive body of knowledge which comes from Scripture about the person and work of Jesus Christ and what this means for people. Therefore the message of the gospel does not change, it is constant, it is what we continue with (2 Tim 3: 13, 14) and guard from error (2 Tim 1:14). However the way in which we communicate this knowledge via language does change and must change, because, as Don Carson points out, the people change. (Green and Jackman, 1997)

For example in Scotland today how do we communicate sin? Peoples’ understanding of sin is little more than white lies or minor things which don’t matter. So rather than us assume people understand sin we may talk of peoples’ rebellion rather than their sin. This helps people to realise just what it is. Similarly, rather than speaking of salvation, we can use terms like rescue etc.

If we desire to get across the message of the Gospel accurately we need to take the time to assess the culture and engage in a meaningful way as Don Carson writes:

“We must devote adequate time to understanding the world in which God has placed us, if we are to minister tellingly to the men and woman to whom God has sent us” (Green and Jackman, 1997)

So preaching must hold to the biblical gospel and guard it, yet engage with people using language they can understand. This is the challenge and the balance which needs to be found: The real Gospel in a relevant way.

For me the only way this is possible is through systematic exposition of the gospel from all the scriptures. This will help us guard the gospel from error and continue in it. It will help us as we seek to engage with meaningful application, bringing the gospel to the situation of our hearers. Yet it will also help with the general biblical illiteracy in much of Britain today, as this type of expository preaching helps trains people and instruct people in Gospel living. John Stott gives wise counsel when he writes:

“One of the greatest needs of the contemporary church is conscientious biblical exposition from the pulpits. Ignorance of even the rudiments of the faith is widespread. Many Christian people are immature and unstable. And the major reason for this sorry state of affairs is the paucity of responsible, thorough, balanced biblical preachers. The pulpit is not the place to ventilate our own opinions, but to unfold God’s Word.” (Stott, 2004)

Scotland’s need

Scotland’s need, as well as the Church’s need, is to follow Paul’s advice to Timothy. The gospel is what will change the world; and people need to hear it. So we need more Timothy’s who are prepared to guard, suffer, continue and preach the gospel. We need more preachers who will systematically preach the biblical gospel to build up and send out the people of God into the world to proclaim and live the gospel.

Gospel driven Churches with the systematic preaching of the Word at the centre of what they do is what is called for. If we are to re-evangelise Scotland then only the effective Word proclaimed in the power of the Spirit will transform the hearts and minds of a pagan people and stand against the philosophical and assumed beliefs of the age.

This is our challenge in Scotland; this is why preaching is so important to the Local church. The time has come when men will not put up with sound teaching, they gather round themselves only what they want to hear. The climate is hostile to our message and our understanding, yet our task remains the same and will remain the same until the end: Preach the Word!

References

All Scriptures references taken from the English Standard Version

Blamires, H, 2003. The post Christian Mind
Vancouver, British Columbia: Regent College Publishing

Green, Christopher & Jackman, David, 1997. When God’s Voice is heard, Essays on preaching presented to Dick Lucas
Leicester, England: Inter Varsity Press

Stott, J, 2005. The message of 2 Timothy, Guard the Gospel.
Leicester, England: Inter Varsity Press

Stott, J, 2004. The Contemporary Christian
Leicester, England: Inter Varsity Press

Tinker, M, 2001. Alien Nation the growing isolation of the church from today’s culture.
Ross-Shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications

The words of God

2008-04-11T15:42:00.009+01:00

"God is, in a sense, the words he speaks, or, perhaps better, that God is towards his people the same as the words he speaks to them" (Trueman and Helm: The trustworthiness of God, Perspectives on the Nature of Scripture)

If God is the same as the words he speaks, then what he says about himself is true and what he says he will do is then true and altogether perfect and will be perfectly fulfilled. At present while studying Kings and Deuteronomy it is on the one hand incredibly delightful to see that the word of the Lord always, ALWAYS is fulfilled. Indeed this is a major theme in the history of the kings of Israel. However on the Down side this also means that as Deut 28:15 puts it:

However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: .....and so it continues with curses.

If God is the Law in which he gives to his people, and carries out all he says then does this not prove the total folly of trying to keep the Law in every detail? How could this at all be possible? For to keep the Law perfectly then one must be God! who is in essence the Law he speaks? Which then explains why Jesus had to come. For only he could keep the Law and thus receive the blessings of the covenant (Deut 28:1,2) Him being in very nature God!

So then if God has spoken that "the righteous will live by Faith" Hab 2:4,Rom 1:17 is it not wonderful that we can trust a God who always does what he says and always fulfills his promises? Knowing that he has told us:

I am the resurrection and the life, He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. John 11: 25

Truly man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that precedes from the mouth of God. Gods words are life, Praise him for them!

(Anyone who reads this please feel free to comment on this as these thoughts are still developing in my mind and I'm not sure if they are as developed as they should be? any further light would be great! )

Reformation 21 article

2008-03-03T08:40:00.002Z

I recently wrote an article for the reformation 21 website you can find it here
The article is about Preaching in post christian Scotland, hope you enjoy. Many thanks to my soon to be brother in law for his editing and saving me from my own English!

Geneva

2008-01-10T13:08:00.000Z

An early Copy of Calvin's institutes

A Memorial to John Knox who studied under Calvin in Geneva

The Church of Scotland in Geneva (Not sure Knox or Calvin would like the position of the pulpit!)

Lake Geneva at sunset

St Pierre cathedral where Calvin would have preached

Monument to Calvin in the cathedral

Geneva from the Cathedral tower

University of Geneva founded by Calvin

Reformation Monument outside the University

Lake Geneva in the sunshine.

Books I have read

2008-01-09T11:56:00.000Z

Books i have read in the previous year:

Know and Tell the gospel, John Chapman
contending for our all, John Piper
City on a hill, Philip G Ryken
Look to the Rock, Alec Moyter
The New Testament Documents are they Reliable, FF Bruce
Fundamentalism and the Word of God, J I Packer
Discovering the Old Testament, Alec Moyter
Prayer and the Voice of God, Philip Jensen and Tony Payne
Good Christians good husbands? Doreen Moore
seeing and savouring Jesus Christ, John Piper
The Dawkins letters, D A Robertson
God, Sex and Marriage, John Richardson
Sex romance and the Glory of God, C J Mahaney
The Christ Files, John Dickson
Lets Study John, Mark G Johnston
Lets Study Revelation, Derek Thomas
The Life and times of Henry Cooke, J L Porter
Henry Cooke, Finley Holmes
The confessions, St Augustine
The Irish Puritans, Crawford Gribben
Passing on the baton, Col Marshall
Amazing grace in the life of william wilberforce, John Piper
Grow in Grace, Sinclair Ferguson
Preaching Christ from the Old Testament, Sinclair Ferguson

Sola Scriptura

2007-11-15T09:47:00.000Z

Another gem from Henry Cooke from his sermon preached at the meeting of the synod of Ulster in Colraine on the 28th June 1825:

"The Scriptures remain to us. In the days of our Saviour the scriptures were a book of examination, and an authority for appeal. In the course of years their authority was superseded and their light withheld. At the Reformation the Bible appeared as a prisoner unshackled from the thraldom of his dungeon. Its light issued forth from the gloom and damp of the cloister and the cell. It illumined palaces, it blazed in churches, it cheered the cottage of the labourer, and the workhouse of the artizan. It shone before the world a new sun in the heavens; and before the radiance of its beams there fled every creature of night, and everything that loveth or maketh a lie."

May it be once more that the Word of God be set ablaze in our land, that its majestic riches might be proclaimed and its truth honoured, that its light again might shine forth so that all people might repent and believe in Jesus.

Sola Scriptura

He being dead, yet speak!

2007-10-29T16:29:00.000Z

I have now read two biographies of Henry Cooke and i have some great quotes but maybe the most moving of all had to be what was said of him at his death. His Friend Dr James Morgan at his Funeral spoke thus:

"A few days ago he said , "I die in full assurance of understanding; in full assurance of Faith, and in the full assurance of hope." Let this be our last lesson from his bed of death, to understand, and appropriate, and speak the same words. Surely, we may well say as we think of him-'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace'-'let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.'" (Taken from: The life and times of Henry Cooke, By JL Porter)

A lesson for us all, How might we die like him in that assurance? surely it is only possible because of the righteousness imputed to us in our union with Christ by Faith! (Romans 3:22, 5:18, 2 Cor 5:21) Thanks Be to God for the active obedience of Christ which gives us that great assurance, may we all die the death of the righteous.

Contending for our all!

2007-09-14T16:40:00.000+01:00

I Just finished reading another great book by John Piper. This time it was a biographical sketch of three great Defenders of the Faith. Namely; Athanasius, John Owen and J. Gresham Machen. They are all people who knew what it was to stand against the storm as it were.

What i love about Piper in this book is his passion for the truth of the Gospel to he upheld, yet not in a way that disgraces the message that is defended. Piper writes with wonderful emotion, like they way he preaches, about the lives of these three great saints to show how important it is to uphold the truth of Scripture against those who seek to twist or misuse or disregard it.

Piper writes:

"Their lives are not only pleasant as refreshing breezes from distant times but are also needed as exemplary contenders for the purity and preciousness of biblical truth."

He begins with Athanasius who lived from 298AD to 373AD and became the bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius was the one man who stood against the Arians in his time and contended for the Truth that Jesus was God in the flesh, (John 1:1). In fact the Phrase 'Athanasius contra mundum' was given to him. This means Athanasius against the world.

"He stood steadfast against overwhelming defection from orthodoxy, and only at the end of his life could he see the dawn of triumph." (Page 41)

The thing that struck me most in this chapter was the fact that Athanasius had to defend the truth of the bible using non Biblical language. Athanasius could say that Jesus was the Son of God, but the Arians would say that also! Yet they would mean something very different. It struck me how important this is today to be able to define what we mean in terms of the Gospel with non biblical language so we can have a clear understanding of what biblical language means and defend it against those who would misuse it.

"At one time all bishops of the church were persuaded or coerced into pronouncing sentence against him, so that the phrase originated, "Athanasius against the world." But with all this pressure bearing on him, he changed his ground not one inch. His clear eye saw the truth once, and he did not permit his conscience to tamper with temptations to deny it. His loyalty to the truth made him a great power for good, and a great blessing to the churches of his own, and of all times." (page 75)

Next Piper goes on to look at how John Owen the great Puritan theologian and preacher sought to contend for the truth and apply that truth to his life and live it out. Owen saw that unless we actually know the truth ourselves we will not be able to fully contend for it in our society or persuade people of it if we have not been persuaded ourselves.

Owen writes:

"When the heart is cast indeed into the mould of the doctrine that the mind embraceth- when the evidence and necessity of the truth abides in us- when not the sense of the words only is in our heads, but the sense of the things abides in our hearts- when we have communion with God in the doctrine we contend for- then shall we be garrisoned by the grace of God against all the assaults of men."

Owen shows the importance of not just having head knowledge, but of having heart knowledge. As its only when we fully experience the truth in our lives that we will ever be able to love it enough to defend it with our all.

Owen lived in a century that had many "winds of doctrine" but throughout his life he defended the truth and actively sought to live it as a theologian and pastor. His own words will show the mans own character:

"A man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul. And he that doth not feed on and thrive in the digestion of the food which he provides for others will scarce make it savoury unto them; yea, he knows not but the food he hath provided may be poison, unless he have really tasted of it himself. If the word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us." (page 111)

As a preacher this surly is a call for me and us all who seek to preach sound doctrine to live our doctrine before we proclaim our doctrine, for only then, as Owen knew, will it have power as it goes from us and help us to be defenders of truth.

Lastly we come to J. Gresham Machen who was the founder of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Machen was a man who contended for the Faith against the modernist movement of his day. His most Famous work was Christianity and Liberalism.

Machen sounded the alarm against the 'indifferentism' of the age where controversy was seen as an unloving and unchristian act. Machen Contended with Liberalism to show that it was distinct and completely different from Historic Christianity. He also actively engaged with the culture of the day to defend the truth of the reformed faith which he loved so much.

Machen had the vision to see the need to preserve the Truth of the reformed faith and to challenge the modernist mindset, he was giving as answer for the hope he had!
He saw that the modernists were replacing the truth with only what was useful. They accepted Science and reason as useful yet denied the supernatural as only symbolic and not useful to the spirit of the modern mindset.

Thus Machen contended for Truth in an age of sceptics.

"As over against...[the pragmatist, modernist] attitude, we believer's in historic Christianity maintain the objectivity of truth... Theology, we hold, is not an attempt to express in merely symbolic terms an inner experience which must be expressed in different terms in subsequent generations; but it is a setting forth of those facts upon which experience is based" (page 138)

All these men like Henry Cooke in his time stood against the storm of heresy and sin, they remained steadfast, unchangeable through there love and trust in the unchanging grace of God in Christ. Piper ends with Words from Francis Schaeffer showing how in our controversy we have an opportunity to show the world in our disagreements that we can still Love our enemies even when we disagree. To love is not to sacrifice truth for a compromised gospel, but to see through our disagreements with love for each other and by this we can speak the truth in love.

Let us pray that we all, when called, may stand firm and contend for the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.

The Gospel Coalition

2007-09-04T19:34:00.000+01:00

I have just come across some of the best resources on Gospel ministry i have heard in a long time. Its part of a new program in the United states, headed by such men as Don Carson, Tim Keller and John Piper. Below is the link to the site

www.thegospelcoalition.org

Can i particularly recommend that you listen to the main talks given by Keller and Carson. All who seek to be actively involved in a Gospel ministry will benefit greatly from the resources on this site.

Are Evangelicals welcome in PCI?

2007-08-22T10:46:00.000+01:00

Since I'm now in Scotland it takes a little longer for me to catch up with what’s going on back home in Ulster! But having just received my copy of the Presbyterian Herald I found a very interesting article by Willy Cowan. Willy explains how legislation is being used to conform the Church to the governments mould! So that conscience and Scripture no longer govern the Christian or the Church but only what the society and the governments legislation allow.

Now considering the new "Pastoral Guidelines" the Presbyterian Church has adopted for the "homosexual and gay community" Willy is concerned that the thought police are at work within the Church to try and conform the church to the so called status quo! The really worrying thing is that these Guidelines say very little about how this Pastoral care is to be given and what this Pastoral care should consist of?

Will a minister who seeks to bring a homosexual person to repentance and faith in Christ then be accused of not providing a "loving and caring" environment for these people? Will he be then branded "homophobic" or worse?

It seems Willy is right as he suggests that the church is being shaped by the modern cultural trends and not by the Scriptures! And considering the Church has in its own beliefs stated that heterosexual marriage is the only form of sexual conduct God accepts! They seem to be trying a U turn to "keep in step with the society".

Yet the most astonishing thing in the article is the thought that ministers could soon be excluded from the ministry all together if they exercise their right of conscience and don't toe the line on issues like Joint worship with Roman Catholics or, as has been said already, calling homosexual sinners to repentance! (Heaven forbid that anyone might think a non Christian Homosexual or otherwise would need to repent…?)

There are very interesting times ahead in PCI! Only time will tell if she holds to the faith once delivered to the saints and upholds the Scriptures and the biblical reformed position on these things? But the Faithful must continue to Stand Firm with the belt of Truth buckled round our waists and the shield of Faith ready for the coming storm! For it seems that we are contending for our all and though we stand alone, let us take courage from a great Evangelical who once held his ground when he stood alone in the synod of Ulster and was fit to declare:

"Yet I am not alone. Men may draw back in fear, but God and truth are with me!" Henry Cooke, 1822 Speech before the synod of Ulster at Newry

United in Gospel Truth

2007-05-15T21:28:00.000+01:00

I came across this quote from the great man some time ago and thought i would share it. It concerns how evangelicals can work together for the good of the Gospel while differing in other secondary issues. Modern ecumenical thought seeks to compromise until unity is reached at the expense of Gospel truth. However there can be no compromise on the gospel as it is the only means by which salvation is brought to sinners. To dilute it or reduce it is to condemn souls to judgement and hell! it must be maintained and proclaimed in its true form.

Henry Cooke 6th July 1865 in response to an address written by Sir J Napier:

"A Presbyterian by birth, education, and conviction, my intercourse with my fellow-Protestants of other denominations long ago convinced me that pure and undefiled religion was not limited to forms of Church government, but that the power of Gospel truth was common to them all; and in public and in private life i uniformly stated my conviction, that, while the Gospel is legitimately compared to a lamp, it matters much less what is the shape of the lamp than what is the amount and purity of the light which it furnishes. And if i have been assailed on account of this concession, still i stand by it, and am not ashamed to avow it in the face of all the Evangelical Churches."
(Taken from: The Life and Times of Henry Cooke, By JL Porter)

Thou shall have no God as the secular state says so!

2007-04-14T20:12:00.000+01:00

Isn't it interesting how the secular agenda of the state works? This week the meeting of the union of head teachers and woman teachers met in Belfast to discuss the future of education in the country. The times newspaper reports that they were calling for the abolition of Faith schools and academy's, calling them "exclusive and discriminatory". Isn't it interesting that the secularists can call for these things and it is viewed as normal. After all who is to say that the secular agenda of education is the correct one? are they completely right? and faith based education completely wrong?
i seems to me that the secular agenda is a bit cheap! they rebuke religious groups for their beliefs and call them discriminatory, yet their own agenda to ban faith schools looks very discriminatory against anyone who wishes their Child to go to a faith school? Then as the times reports to blame faith schools for social unrest!! Yet the very attitude of the secular agenda seems to be one of complete intolerance!
Isn't it funny how the rampant secularism in British society has now become the national religion! Even Mr Dawkins in his new book "the God delusion" sets out his own "10 commandments" that everyone should live by! On the one hand he criticises religion of controlling people and telling them how to live! and on the other he does the very thing he was criticising, only in the name of secular science based thought, and its perfectly OK!
Also in the times today was a report on the Pope, about his new book. apparently in it the pope criticises the west for taking God out of society! i guess he's right! At least there is one thing the pope and i agree on! The secular agenda seeks to remove everything to do with God in our society and replaces it with its own version of what it believes to be true! so instead of reading:
"Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, mind, soul and strength and your neighbour as yourself"
its more a case of:
"Love what the state tells us is correct and do it with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and do onto others as you would have them do onto you"
The danger is that the latter definition is very agreeable and everyone seems to fall into line, resulting in the mortification of the Christian roots of Britain.
Maybe the national secular society who's (as my friend David Robertson says) members could fit into a phone box need to pay attention to what the Psalmist said all those years ago and try and learn from it!

Psalm 14v1
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God"

and also in Psalm 19 v 1-4
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
Their measuring line goes out through the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Freedom of......tolerance???

2007-04-09T21:44:00.000+01:00

I Just watched a documentary on channel 4 called the Bible Revolution. I largely enjoyed the program as it traced the history of the English Bible from John Wycliffe to William Tyndale and Thomas Cranmer to the modern day. It, i think, faithfully gave an acceptable account of the History of the time, yet True to their secular agenda channel 4 in the end reached out to that great post modern monster we know as tolerance. It seems that according to channel 4's interpretation of History the Reformers were burned at the stake in order to give us the Bible in English so that we could what??? Well that's the thing, they never really answered that Question. Apparently the Bible was given to us so that we the people could have "freedom of Choice, freedom of conscience and freedom of Speech" to interpret it as we ourselves want to! and of course Tolerate all other interpretations in the process.
I wonder will channel 4 uphold the Christians right to exercise their freedom of Conscience and object to Homosexual practice? After all we believe the Bible condemns it? and after all we can tolerate all views and all interpretations in our society can't we?
Why is it that again and again the secular society seems to miss the fact that truth is not always relative. John Wycliffe and Thomas Cranmer did not die to give us a society were we could tolerate all interpretations of Scripture! they died so people would understand the Gospel of Grace Which is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. They died no so much to give people a bible, but so people would understand how they might be saved from the wrath to come! the Judgement of God on sin. They died to give the people the word of God, that they might know God!
There is one gospel, not many gospels, there is One Lord Jesus Christ through whom we can be saved. Jesus is the only way, truth and Life for us to believe in and be reconciled to God.
I'm Glad that men like Wycliffe and Cranmer were willing to die for the truth, the one truth of Gods Word, that Gospel that brings light to the darkness of sinful men. Maybe we need to learn again from the example and Spirit of these great saints, so that we to can be people who right handle the word of truth!

True Freedom in Christ (Romans 8:1-11) Youth talk given in Moneymore Presbyterian Church 25/03/07

2007-04-09T15:26:00.000+01:00

How do you view Christianity? Are you satisfied with the way your Christian life is going? Maybe you're not a Christian at all this morning? How do you react to Christians and what they do and believe? Are you like Fr Dougal today you don’t really know what to think or believe?
One of the big problems in modern Christianity especially among young people today is that they sometimes develop misunderstanding about how the Christian life is meant to work? So like Dougal they end up a little confused.
So today I want all of us here, to look together at the bible so that we can see what God has to tell us through it. So if you could look at your sheets with Romans 8 printed on them and we shall see what Paul had to say to the Church at Rome.
The book of Romans is really one big long argument from start to finish! Paul really is setting out to instruct these Christians in Rome on what the Gospel or Good news about Jesus is actually all about. So throughout his Letter from chapter 1 through to chapter 7 Paul explains the gospel to these Christians, telling them about the sinfulness of man, the wrath of God against sin, the righteousness of God through faith and the grace of God as it comes to us through Jesus Christ.
And in light of all that Paul has said in the first 7 chapters he then tells these Christian almost in a summary fashion in chapter 8 verses 1-4:

1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.[a] 2For the law of the Spirit of life has set you[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

What Paul is telling these Roman Christians is that they are no longer under the judgement of God. They are free from the punishment their sin deserved. For those who are in Christ Jesus, (that is how New Testament describes what a Christian is, meaning those who have the Holy Spirit Dwelling within them). These Roman Christian were no longer going to be punished for their rebellion against God because they belonged to Jesus Christ.
The word condemnation used here is kind of a legal term were it implies both the sentence their rebellion deserved and the execution of that sentence as well. Like when a judge declares someone guilty for a crime and issues the punishment the crime deserves as well.
Yet Paul declares that there is NO CONDEMNATION for these Christians, Justice has been satisfied because they are free in Christ Jesus. These Christians are free from this punishment because the law of the Spirit of life has set them free.
Basically Paul is telling them that they have freedom due to the indwelling Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Life Paul refers to in the passage. And the Spirit has brought Freedom from the Law of sin and death. Meaning they are free from the punishment that is due to their sinfulness. For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), sin requires a punishment. Therefore due to their sin they should have been condemned and punished!
Yet they are Free from this law, this principal that Sin results in Death because they are in Christ Jesus. Christians no longer can be condemned for they have the indwelling Spirit who gives them freedom as it applies the work of Jesus Christ to them. Christians are Trusting in Christ alone and what he has done in taking their punishment on himself as he died on the cross.
Rather than Suffering the Punishment sin deserves, Jesus suffered it instead.
That’s what Paul tells these Christian in verses 3 and 4. God has done what the Law (that is the Moral Law, Gods holy Standard for People) could not do. Not because the Law was somehow weak! But because our own sinful nature fails to allow us to keep the Law.
We always fall short of the standard God has set. If they could keep the Law Perfectly then they could be right with God, yet because of the sinful nature of men they are unable to keep the Law.
But when God sent Jesus, He was able to fulfil what the Law demanded, He met the standard God required and lived the prefect Life! Yet he also died the perfect death taking the sins of his people upon himself and dying in their place taking the punishment himself! And through Faith in Him these Christians become right with God for they receive Jesus’ righteousness, and he suffers for their sin! It’s the great exchange. And it results in a verdict of no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus and Trust in him and what he has done.
Young people and not so young people today if you learn nothing else then know this that if you are a Christian then there is absolutely no way that you will be condemned on judgement day! You cannot be separated or somehow fall from Gods favour! IT doesn't matter how you feel! It doesn't matter what experiences you have in your life, be they good or bad! We cannot base our Christianity on our experiences; rather we must base it on the truth of Gods Word. Nothing in life can now allow you to fall out of Gods salvation. Look at what Paul says in verses 31-35:

31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be[h] against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.[i] 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Paul is so clear are relationship with God is not based on our emotions! It’s not based on how well or badly we think we are doing! It's based on what Jesus Christ has done! This is the grace of God! Even when every one of us here deserved punishment! God gives us freedom from that punishment by not sparing his only Son! This is Amazing Grace that sounds so sweet; this is amazing grace that is so FREE!
Young person do not be disillusioned, nothing you face in this life will ever be able to undo what Jesus Christ has done! Even if you stumble in your Christian life! Fall into some sin! And let's face it for young people there are lots of things out there that can hinder us? Young men face sexual temptations, young woman maybe you’re unhappy with your appearance! Or face issues of acceptance and relationships! Even these things, cannot separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus.
So when you find yourself beginning to doubt, or when you fall into sin and the devil comes to you and tells us that Gods forsaken you and fills you full of Guilt! Remember that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Or when you wake you some morning and you don’t feel like a Christian at all: Trust in the work of Jesus Christ. Trust in the Cross. Trust Gods wondrous Grace through Jesus.
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Paul ends this chapter by saying this:

38For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

All Christians experience true freedom in Jesus Christ.
But Bryan I hear you say, does that mean I can just go on and do what I want then! Can I sin all I like and it doesn't matter?
Well the short answer is no! You can't just keep doing what you want to do and it won't matter! And Paul tells us why in verse 5-9:

5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

You see Paul explains to these Christians that if you set your mind on the flesh, (that is to focus your life on the things of this world like pleasing your mates by going out and getting drunk for example) if we have our desires and our mind set on things like these, things of the world, it will result in death.
It will result in total separation from God because the person who has their mind set on the things of the world cannot please God. Nor do they have any desire to do so. They are concerned only with what pleases them! How much they can get for themselves, what they want, what matters to them, how they feel etc etc.
But in sharp contrast to that Paul tells them that those who live according to the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, focus their minds not on the Flesh but on the Spirit. They are concerned not with themselves but with God. There whole mindset, their desires and pleasures are those that the Spirit wants to! They focus there energies on living for Gods Glory and not their own.
St Augustine of Hippo the church father said this "love God and do what you want" and that’s very true because if we truly love God, the things we want to do will also be the things God wants us to do!
Where your treasure is their will your heart be also! So what is your treasure today? Is it in the things of the flesh or in the things of the Spirit?
Then notice in verse 9 where Paul says to these Roman Christians "you however, are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit" Paul makes it plain that these Christian have the Holy Spirit Living inside them they belong to Christ. Therefore they need to live according to the Spirit and not live according to the flesh.
You see we all live in the now and the not yet, we live as redeemed people through Jesus Christ, yet we also live in a sinful world. This means that there are really two forces at work within us: the Holy Spirit and the sinful nature. And we daily face all kinds of temptation and invitations to sin and disobey God yet at the same time we know that we must obey God as his adopted Children through Christ.
This is the great battle that all of us go through in this world. We fight with sin. The victory is won because we have been forgiven in Christ but we must fight the Good fight and Keep putting to death the deeds of the body as Paul says in verse 13. Young people the Christian life is not easy, it’s no bed of roses. It requires hard work on our Part.
The two natures at work in us are fighting against each other and whichever one we feed the most will ultimately win the day in our lives. This is why we need to live according to the Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us through the bible. We need to talk to God constantly and seek his forgiveness in Prayer and repentance and continue to have our minds re-newed as the Holy Spirit enlightens our minds to understand the bible and conform ourselves to it.
We have life through the Spirit
But Paul also gives us great hope as well look at verses 10 and 11:

10But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

If Christ is in us, if we have the Spirit, although we will ultimately die because everyone dies! We know that we will live because through the work of the Spirit we will be raised like Jesus was. God raised Jesus to life as Ruler of the World and judge of all, Paul tells these Christians that they to will be raised and will have life through the Spirit when the Christ comes back again at the resurrection.
We can be absolutely sure young people that if the Spirit of God dwells in us we will be raised to be with Jesus in his New Kingdom! We will be presented perfectly spotless and blameless before him on the last day. Listen to what Paul says in verses 29 and 30:

29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

God has set out a Plan from before the World was even created to present us perfectly holy and pure before him on the last day, we have been called, we are right with God and we are glorified with Christ already as far as God is concerned.
Jesus has paid the Price! There is no condemnation for us! We are free! Free to live according to the Spirit and Love God who through his only son has purchased us forever.
So if God has done all that for you! Will you live for him and serve him in this world? Will you fight the Good fight? Fixing your minds on the things of the Spirit? Knowing as Paul says in verse 18:

18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Young people we have the victory already! Death cannot hold us! We are God own Children through Jesus so lets start living for him not for ourselves! Let’s meet together as Christians in Church so we can know and understand him more! Let look with Hope to that Great Day when all of us will be part of Gods New World. Gods People, In Gods World, experiencing Gods Blessing, under Gods King: Jesus Christ

My Rights over you!!!

2007-04-09T15:09:00.000+01:00

Just had a very fustrating read of an article by the Christian institute. The article was about the sexual oriantation regulations. Why is it the "gay people" assume that Christians do not treat them as equals? surely they understand that they are just as equal as us? after all they will stand before the judgement seat of Christ on the last day to! they will be sent either to heaven or hell just like everyone else! If they reject Jesus and his word then they will be sent to hell! if they accept Jesus and his Word then heaven! is that not what Jesus said in John chapter 3 verse 36?The other thing that worries me greatly is the fact that this current government is replacing the moral foundations of our society with their version of "rights". Can i really have a "right" over someone else? what gives me that "right" and very importantly what makes the people who set these regulations correct? who sets these so called "rights". maybe in setting these "rights" the government are disregarding the "rights" of Christians or others? so do their rights not count? forgive me if im stating the obvious but i think that the very idea of a "right" makes us into a very judgemental and "intolerant" society, which of course these "rights" are designed to protect us against? seems to be just another secular push to remove the last threads of the Christian soul from Britain! what do you think? do you agree? what does the future hold for those who stand firm to Jesus and his gospel? maybe we should remind ourselves of the visions of Daniel, as even though the People of God would experience great persecution and hardship, God was in control and nothing on this earth, not governements or the Gay rights lobby will change that! God will wipe out all evil on the last day! and on that Day when we gather round the great throne and give praise to the lamb who died for us!..on that day we will be fit to rejoice!

I saw in the night visions,and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
Daniel 7 v13,14

Come Lord Jesus come!