the blue fish project (dave bish)

Of Lovers and Whores: Jeremiah Burroughs on Hosea

2012-02-08T08:00:00.000Z

"This is the work of ministers to tell people what riches of mercythere are in God, and that all the treasures of those infinite richesof the infinite God are in Jesus Christ, and to be communicatedthrough him."

This was the aim and achievement of the puritan JeremiahBurroughs, gospel preacher. In the preaching represented by this 134 page bookhe holds out Christ, from Hosea 2:14-23, with warmth and tendernessand prophetic insight, to the hearts of his listeners.

£4.50 + p&p (20% discount codes often available online).

Of Lovers and Whores: Jeremiah Burroughs on Hosea 2:14-23

Cover design: James Watts.

FP Impact: Church History & World Mission

2012-02-07T21:04:00.000Z

For the past three years I've had the privilege and pleasure of introducing Newfrontiers FP Impact interns to 'Church History and World Mission'. It's a one day thing so it's a high altitude survey, that dips into things rather than really dwelling on them.

These are the notes:
Exercise on Celebrities & Unknowns
Extracts from key figures in church history
Powerpoint Screens

The aim is to see the battle for The Triune God through church history, to do some historical theology by reading old texts, and to see where some of the moves have been in the mission of the church from early strength in North Africa and Turkey to the seeping influence of Aristotle and the warm glow of the puritans.

Preacher: proclaim the word of God!

2012-02-03T07:59:00.000Z

Mike Reeves on Trinitarian implications for preaching:

When I am invited to preach somewhere, things go like this:

READER: (reads set Bible passage very nicely and then says) This is the word of the Lord.

PEOPLE: mumble

LEADER: Thank you, Reader. And now, I’m afraid, Reeves is going to come and try to explain that passage to us.

REEVES: (thinks to himself) Oh no, I’m not! This isn’t going to be some English Comprehension exercise. I intend to proclaim the word of God! (walks to pulpit/lectern, trying to shake off grumpiness)

I know, it’s a bit pedantic, but it comes from the fear that we’ll merely study the Scriptures as interesting texts instead of hearing them as God’s very words that hold out Christ and draw us to him. For the Spirit breathed out those words that we might fix our eyes on him, the one who reveals the Father to us. Charles Spurgeon, the twinkle-eyed master-preacher of the nineteenth century, put it like this:
The motto of all true servants of God must be, ‚We preach Christ, and him crucified.‛ A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.
Yes! For Christ is the Word of God. Without him we would be ‘blinder than moles’, never dreaming of how Fatherly God is. But the Spirit-breathed Scriptures proclaim him as the radiance of his Father, the only one who can share with us the true life of knowing and being loved by his Father.

The Good God (Mike Reeves)

2012-01-23T12:21:00.003Z

Which god do you believe in? Which god don't you believe in? Important questions that aren't always well answered.

"Reeves’ light touch & theological wisdom combine to provide a truly helpful book - both clears your mind and warms your heart." Terry Virgo

Mike Reeves gets to the heart of everything with this pop-level book on the Father, Son and Spirit. His way with words is both clear and engaging. He'll move you from wierdness you never realised you believed to the bright sunshine of the gospel in which you will know and enjoy the Triune God more fully. Whet your appetite with these quotes

"Since God is, before all things, a Father, and not primarily Creator or Ruler, all his ways are beautifully fatherly. It is not that this God ‘does’ being Father as a day- job, only to kick back in the evenings as plain old ‘God’. It is not that he has a nice blob of fatherly icing on top. He is Father. All the way down. Thus all that he does he does as Father. That is who he is. He creates as a Father and he rules as a Father; and that means the way he rules over creation is most unlike the way any other God would rule over creation. "

"many theologians have liked to compare the Father to a fountain, ever bursting out with life and love (indeed, the Lord calls himself ‘the spring of living water’ in Jeremiah 2:13, and the image crops up again and again in Scripture). And just as a fountain, to be a fountain, must pour forth water, so the Father, to be Father, must give out life. That is who he is. That is his most fundamental identity. Thus love is not something the Father has, merely one of his many moods. Rather, he is love. He could not not love. If he did not love, he would not be Father."

"the shape of the Father-Son relationship (the headship) begins a gracious cascade, like a waterfall of love: as the Father is the lover and the head of the Son, so the Son goes out to be the lover and the head of the church. ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you’, he says (John 15:9). And therein lies the very goodness of the gospel: as the Father is the lover and the Son the beloved, so Christ becomes the lover and the church the beloved. That means that Christ loves the church first and foremost: his love is not a response, given only when the church loves him; his love comes first, and we only love him because he first loved us (1John 4:19)."

Follow @enjoyingtrinity and buy the book in March.

Ex-Chief to Lead Church

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000Z

We arrived in Exeter a little over four years ago. It took us a while to find a new church family but finally we found our home at Frontiers Church Exeter. After a whole lot of soul searching we walked into a meeting at the start of the Spring term.

A highly gifted 26 year old was leading worship, a 58 year old bald man gave us the warmest of welcome's and a 23 year old was preaching from the flood in Genesis - the best young preacher I've ever heard by several miles. We met with God. We turned to each other after the meeting and smiled. We knew we were home.

And we knew that this four year old church was a place with both real depth and a phenomenal investment in raising up a new generation of leaders. Now, four years later that 23 year old is 27, his Rugby career is over, and will become our lead elder this Sunday.

He's five years younger than me and I'm thrilled to be led by him. I'd met him once before that first Sunday morning meeting - he was the church student worker then and had come round for lunch as I began to acquaint myself with the student scene in the city. Another man in a long line of church leaders converted at University! The transformation God has wrought in his life is brilliant to see. Evidently a large part of that had already happened before I first met him in late 2007, but his trajectory in maturity as a leader has continued strong. To us, it was obvious that he was the next leader of the church on that first Sunday morning, and we joined ourself to the church family knowing that we could rally behind him. He's become a friend and someone I'm very glad to have watching over me, caring for my soul and speaking Gods' word into my life and that of my family.
New Leader. New Season. from frontierschurchexeter on Vimeo.

The Seed of the UCCF: Faithfulness to the Word, germinated by a remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit

2012-01-19T08:30:00.000Z

The story of the beginnings of the UCCF may be best told by Norman Grubb, to whose God-given vision the first Conference owes its inception. He writes:

The real foundation of the IVF (now UCCF) was laid at a Committee Meeting held in Trinity College, Cambridge, early in 1919. Men had begun to pour back into the Universities after demobilisation, and all the various Varsity unions and societies were being restarted. The SCM had I think ceased to function at Cambridge during the War but had now resumed its activities and was going very strong under the guidance of a most capable secretary.

The CICCU, on the other hand, had been kept alive throughout the War by a small group of undergraduates, but did not rapidly increases its numbers afterwards. There were still only some fifteen regular attendants at the Daily Prayer Meetings in early 1919. But most of these fifteen were very keen men, whose faith had stood the test of the war experiences. Realising the keenness of these men, and the new tide of spiritual life which would flow into the SCM if the CICCU were joined to them, many and urgent representations were made to the CICCU to link up and become a kind of devotional branch of the SCM, the Dean of Pembroke being the chief spokesman.

Finally it was decided that in order to settle the matter once and for all, delegations from the two Committees should meet. The meeting took place in the SCM Secretary's room in Trinity, the CICCU's representatives being the President, D.T. Dick, and myself.

After an hour's conversation which got us nowhere, one direct and vital question was put: 'Does the SCM consider the atoning blood of Jesus Christ as the central point of their message?' And the answer given was, 'No not central, although it is given a place in our teaching.' That answer settled the matter, for we explained to them at once that the atoning blood was so much the heart of our message that we could never join with a movement which gave it any lesser place.

From that time onward, it was perfectly clear to the members of the CICCU that their decision had to be the same as their predecessors before the War. Although they gladly recognised that individual members of the SCM might be true servants of Christ, yet as a Movement it had apostasized from the truths upon which it had been founded, and the CICCU must remain absolutely separate, in order to give a clear witness to the University to God's way of salvation through Christ.

This decision was also the real foundation of the IVF for it was only a few months later that the realisation dawned on us that if a CICCU was a necessity in Cambridge, a union of the same kind was also a necessity in every University of the world, with the isolated exceptions of those where the SCM still maintained its original witness to the truth of God's word.

But vision and faith and aggressive action do not come through mere loyalty to truth. One can have all that, and yet as an individual or union be dead, powerless , stagnant. The Gospel must be preached 'with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven' (1 Peter 1:12).

The seed of the IVF was the decision to be faithful to God's Word, as just recorded; but it was a remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit which caused that seed to germinate and blossom into a worldwide movement.

Student camps and house parties had not yet been restarted at Keswick in the summer of 1919; but hearing of the way the CICCU was going ahead at Cambridge, Mrs CT Studd was led to give an open invitation to members of the CICCU and one or two from Oxford to form a party. Twenty-nine came.

It was about the third day of the Convention when conscious that things were not going too well, a memorable prayer meeting was held in the drawing room. About five of us were there. We did not separate until 2am, by which time we might have been seen in all sorts of different postures, and laughing instead of prayer, for the burden had been wholly lifted off us, in the glorious assurance that the Holy Spirit had come and was going to flood the house party. And He did.

The blessing fell the next morning, the atmosphere was so charged with His presence that men were getting alone with God having things out and coming back transformed. Frank Millard of the CSSM was one, Jack Warren another, Noel Palmer of Canada another. The spirit of prayer was so upon us that every night during a week of perfect weather, bands of us were out in the wood by the lack praying and along the Keswick streets by day, singing choruses!

The blessing was carried from there to the Eastbourne CSSM, to which a large number of us went. Then back to Cambridge, where the spirit of prayer remained upon us, and when CICCU men met for tear it was to get down to long times of prayer together afterwards. There were a number of remarkable conversions that term (*elsewhere, Grubb mentions 16 converted); one can think of three or four whose names are well-known in evangelical circles today.

Meanwhile Noel Palmer, who had been at Cambridge recovering from a wound and had been fired by contact with the CICCU had gone to Oxford to restart the OICCU. Regular communiques used to be sent to the CICCU reporting progress and asking prayer.

I cannot remember the exact day but it was sometime about the middle of the Michaelmas term, 1919, that one day in my room, God gave me the clear vision of the IVF that was to be. I saw that not only must there be this witness in every University but that God was going to do it. Probably the fact of Noel Palmer's catching the vision of starting an OICCU at Oxford and his going to do it, enabled God to open our eyes to the much bigger thing.

Anyhow, the immediate outcome was that we saw that the first step towards the realisation of the vision would be to have an Annual Inter-Varsity Conference, at which we would get as many as we could from other Universities, and enthuse them with the vision of starting a branch in their own Universities. So the first Inter-Varsity Conference was arranged mainly by Clarence Foster, Leslie Sutton and myself to take place at the Egypt General Mission Headquarters at Drayton Park, North London. About sixty came from Cambridge, Oxford, London and one man from Durham. What a wonderful thing it now is to look back over the intervening fifteen years since 1919 to see how God had brought the vision to pass.

Now it is for succeeding generations of students to maintain the twofold foundation of the IVF. Loyalty to the truths of God's word, and a soul-winning work amongst unconverted students. This can only be done successfully by much travail in prayer, resulting in fresh outpourings of the Spirit upon individuals and unions, and a bold and faithful witness.

Recorded in Donald Coggan, Christ and the Colleges, 1934.

Richard Sibbes' God's Spreading Goodness

2012-01-18T11:25:00.000Z

Get ready to think differently about the puritans. Let Ron Frost introduce you to the sweet puritans, chief among them Richard Sibbes.

"English Puritans of the Stuart era were divided by a number of questions. The greatest these asked what constitutes salvation and restoration from sin.
All agreed that it was by grace through faith. But few could agree on how to define sin, grace, and faith. Richard Sibbes consciously followed Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Calvin in defining sin as self-love and grace as God's redemptive love in Christ.
His theology centered on the love of God expressed through Christ and offered by the Spirit; and faith as a response to that love.
This produced a winsome and transforming theology of union with Christ and communion with God. In this he was a counterweight to the spread of moralistic Puritan theologies in his day."

Get Ron Frost's perfectly readable PhD on this via Lulu.comR N Frost: Richard Sibbes' God's Spreading GoodnessCheck the lulu homepage for discount codes (PRICETHAWUK 20% off til Jan 20th)If you've got a few quid to spare then I highly commend Ron's book to you.I've also published two edited volumes by Richard Sibbes, also via Lulu.com

Pastoral Refreshment Conference

2012-01-16T09:56:00.000Z

For whatever reason many church and ministry leaders seems to lack support, encouragement and refreshment in their Christian lives. This cannot be a good thing.

I've watched over recent years as my friend Marcus has been raised up to meet some of this need across a wide spectrum of churches. He's received a growing sphere of influence through his service of leaders, particularly through the Pastoral Refreshment Conference which he hosts.

It runs twice in February, the first week with Terry Virgo speaking is fully booked but there is still space at the second, where Peter Maiden of OM is preaching (8-10 Feb 2012).

There are still places available for leaders and spouses (full time or elder-level or equivalent). Come and be refreshed and encouraged. Enjoy God in an environment specifically tailored to the needs to church leaders.

Previous delegates say:
"The best ministers' conference I have been on - booked"
"A must for all Baptist ministers"
"An unmissable oasis" - an Anglican leader and wife
"The best conference for Christian workers"

Book now for yourself, or offer to book your church leader in

Nothing wrong with comfort food

2012-01-09T14:48:00.000Z

Last winter my friend Tom took me to Raymond Blanc's cafe in Oxford. The taste of the onion soup stuck with me for hours afterwards. It was wonderful. Even though my journey home from Oxford that day took a cable-theft related seven hours (should have been about two and a half hours), lunch had been sweet.

Today I finally got round to making my own, and whilst it clearly wasn't as good as the real thing it was pretty tasty. There is so much that is good to taste in this world and it's not to be despised but to be enjoyed. I have Jesus and (so) I can enjoy good food too, even if my toddler refused to touch it.

I appreciated this slight critique of Christian Hedonism not because I've got stones to throw but because it gets things the right way round on this:

"God gives himself to us. That is he gives us our righteousness. He gives us himself. We don’t have to sit around desiring him. He is ours, just as we are his. That is what the cross was about. And in my mind he did this so we could get on with life, and enjoying the things he has given us to enjoy, which according to Ecclesiastes, are for fold: the toil of our hands, wine, bread, and breasts, the ones belonging to the wife of your youth. So rather than sitting around and talking about how much one should desire God. Why don’t you just give them God. Give them Jesus. Forgive them their sins as God commands you to do, so that they can all go about the things they enjoy, the things God has given them to enjoy, like fixing my guns, and Jeep, making great whiskey and wine, preparing good food, and loving on their wives, in true hedonist fashion."

The recipe is here Soupe a l'oignon and it made enough for us to have tomorrow too, and to share if anyone drops in...

Limping over the line

2011-12-27T08:30:00.000Z

In 1992 Derek Redmond pulled up in the Olympic Semi-Finals of the 400m, eventually carried over the line by his father. It's one of the most iconic sporting moments, not of joy but of anguish. A million miles from a Usain Bolt decelerating to a 100m world record, for example. Which is more glorious?

As 2011 comes to its close I feel myself limping over the line. By the grace of God I'm alive. I'm welcome in the family of the Triune God.

I'm still doing a job I love and I've received some brilliant support and training in the last year which has increased both my knowledge of God and of myself. I've has the privilege of working as a Bible teacher and Evangelist in a wide range of contexts, opportunities I feel very thankful to have received. I'm probably playing to my strengths more than before, because I feel like I know what some of them might be now. And at home, we've received the gift of a second son and seen our first son turn into a full-blown toddler.

In many ways its been a great year, but it's also been hard.We're in the fog of sleep-deprivation. I'm not complaining. I have. I do. I've ranted. I've grumbled. Today I just identify the hardness of it and accept it. Tomorrow I might well grumble about it. Learning to repent quicker is part of maturity. I've been wrong. I am wrong. Will you forgive me?

The fog is a weakness that is a side-effect of one of the best of blessings. And becoming a Dad has done wonders for a lots of things in my life. Additionally, we went through a few months early in the year in which it seemed like everything we owned went wrong at substantial cost. It was relentless and a big portion of the money we'd put aside to pay the mortgage during maternity leave ended up being used to pay for other things.... Etc.

All of which is context to an evening at the end of June when I sat in a CU meeting and heard the word of God. The letter to the Laodiceans (Revelation 3) was preached, of those who would say: I need nothing.
And it pierced my heart, how readily I like to be self-sufficient; how much I liked to think I could handle my life. How I'd portray our circumstances as OK; how I'm reluctant to ask for help, preferring to fix things myself. This has it's advantages - driving me to achieve and accomplish things. But there are times when I'm never going to press through. My response such struggles in the past has been to bury my head in the sand rather than asking for help - when I struggled at University I didn't talk to my tutor, I stopped going to tutorials. Evidence that I'm a sinful idiot abounds when I'm prepared to admit it.

Jacob spent his years acquiring, taking, winning. Until on the edge of the land (in Genesis 32) he spent a night clinging on to the LORD and came away limping. And had to limp back into the promised land. And he was richer for it. He and I limp into our inheritance following our wounded Saviour. Ours is the God who shows his power not in displays of grandeur but in the naked vulnerability of becoming a baby.

Its easy to be confident and come across better than others. God has blessed me a lot and I take a lot of it for granted. I'm learning (I want to say 'I've learned' but that's the thing...), I'm learning that I have need and I have weakness and that the outworking of the gospel of Jesus in need and weakness is important.

Marcus posted: "I vividly recall a leader of a large ministry saying to me “you guys always criticise what I do and my Bible teaching but you never offer to come and help me improve. Wouldn’t that be the better thing to do?” He was right. I was chastened. I think my answer to Paul’s concern would be to say to a UCCF team leader whose team was clearly overbalanced one way or the other “can we work with you to help lift you up in the areas you are weak at the moment.” It is hard to see how that isn’t a win/win situation."

Going into 2012 I desire to be more ready to receive the help of people who can lift me, and I think more prepared to go and ask them for help in the first place. I need my Heavenly Father to carry me over the line. And I need his people to carry me too. I don't want to live in Laodicea in 2012. The more of Christ I have the less I can possibly say 'I need nothing'.

So, when you see me in my weakness - whether via what I write here, or more likely as you're on the end of 'gospel ministry' from me, or just in conversation and everyday situations of life in which I'm sinful, weak and stupid. Please don't criticise me - though it'd be understandable for you to do so - please instead come and help me. I should have asked for your help in the first place. Please offer your strengths to help me in my weaknesses. Come share life with me. Put yourself in the line of fire. Help me with grace and encouragement and practical assistance, so that I would see my Christ more clearly and know his loving embrace more deeply.

I like to think the glory is in winning... but with Jesus there might just be more glory in limping home, carried by the Generous Father who gives himself to me.

Praise be to Woody Allen Zombie Jesus

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000Z

Tim Minchin wrote a song for Jonathan Ross's Christmas show about Jesus. And the ITV bigwigs cut it. That's the story. The assumption being that the song is considered to be offensive, presumably to people like... who knows really. What's true can handle a little satire. You can't watch it on ITV but it's on Youtube (see below).

Minchin likens Jesus to Woody Allen, Derren Brown, a Zombie, Superman and other stories and references in our culture.The story of Jesus is very like all our stories. Stories that speak of the need for a Saviour, even a suffering Saviour, that recognise we can't save ourselves.

None of them as audacious as the story of Jesus, of a Triune God, one who is self-giving love, who comes enters into our flesh to put it death and create a whole new humanity who will be filled up with God and who will fill up God with his people.

Some will say Christianity is just a derivative story among many stories, but perhaps it is the original story - and all the other stories we love are just like the Jesus story. Tim Minchin wrote in the New Statesman:

"Our lives would be empty without stories, and the story of this Jesus character is quite a nice one. One that – in theory, and sometimes even in practise – promotes compassion and humility and wisdom and peace. Jesus is real… in the imaginary world. A five year old could tell you that."

The Jesus story persists because its the greatest of stories. The question is does the story exist in the world of imagination, or is this as JRR Tolkien argued to CS Lewis, this is the Myth that came true. The story captivates us and is echoed in all the stories we love even today... the question is is there truth in the claims about Jesus. Is Jesus just a myth or a true myth? That's a question open to study of historical evidence.
CS Lewis in Myth became Fact wrote:

"but Christians also need to be reminded . . . that what became Fact was a Myth, that it carries with it into the world of Fact all the properties of a myth. God is more than a god, not less; Christ is more than Balder, not less. We must not be ashamed of the mythical radiance resting on our theology. . . . We must not, in false spirituality, withhold our imaginative welcome. If God chooses to be mythopoeic . . . shall we refuse to be mythopathic? For this is the marriage of heaven and earth: Perfect Myth and Perfect Fact: claiming not only our love and our obedience, but also our wonder and delight..."

Watch the Tim Minchin video here.

Podcasting is not Pastoring

2011-12-23T10:30:00.000Z

There is more to pastoral leadership than a podcast.This is my own reflection on Trevin Wax's thoughts

In recent weeks my pastor has been able to observe a behaviour in my life and offer quite specific correction and instruction, he's been able to deliver me specific and detailed encouragement about my own service of the church, he's preached God's word for me to hear as I've sat with the rest of the church at our church weekend away. He's prayed and prophesied and strengthened our faith.

He has prayed for me, and my family during a difficult week - which I know because he told me. He's probably also prayed for me and not told me about that.

I've sat with him and other young men as he's shared his dreams and ideas and taken feedback. I've taken a train journey with him. We've talked and prayed and eaten around the same table.We learned together in the on-the-job training course we're doing. I've observed him with his wife and his children. I've seen the tiredness on his face because his kids haven't slept well. I've seen him laugh at himself. I've sought to learn from him as he's interacted with other Dads at the Father's Group we attend.

I recognise that as a leader in the church myself I've probably had slightly more access to my pastor than might be the case for everyone in our church - but as he pastors us in our situations we're better able to pastor the rest of the church with him.

The point is, if pastoring was *just* preaching I could just download his podcast, because in my view he's one of the best young preachers around. And preaching is a massive part of pastoring - leaders are meant to speak the word of God to their people. But there is more to being a pastor, and I'm very thankful for that. Paul and his team shared his life and gospel with the Thessalonians, and as he mentored Timothy it was both Paul's doctrine and example that had helped Timothy to grow in Christ.

The same is true more broadly - strangely to me there are lots of people who read this blog. Some of them I know, some I don't. And I appreciate the opportunity to serve the church on a broad scale through social media, along with conferences and books etc... but nothing beats the opportunities for life-on-life-on-mission with my family, my home group, others from church and my team and others. These are people who know my faults and foibles, the people I sin against and have to ask forgiveness from. People who "gospel" me and whom I can "gospel".

All that I have I share with you!

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000Z

We enjoyed witnessing the beginning of the marriage of Harri and Chris on Saturday, it was great to share their wedding day with them. Our friend Mike led the service, his rich and booming voice relishing the opportunity to have Christ proclaimed through the vows and commitments of a wedding.

It was particularly poignant to be reminded that when a couple make their vows to one another its like the commitment Christ makes with his church, it's like when someone becomes a Christian - to take all that is ours, and give us all that he is. And you can bet he makes that vow with even more joy than a couple of their wedding. Not to mention that the proclamation that no man put this union asunder is another way of saying, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

That we can be wed to our Saviour is unspeakably beautiful, to enter into such a union as to make us one with our Saviour, and to know that union leads to a very real and experiential communion with him. Vivid reminder of the gospel reminds me to be attentive to my Saviour to entrust myself to him, opening my heart to him as Jeremiah Burroughs notes: "One converted to God lets out his heart into God in a fuller manner than any creature can do to another."

When I entrust myself to my Saviour, letting out my heart to him, then I truly love him, honour and worship him. The brides submission is her entrusting of herself to her husband, and in that she knows most truly his love. She will no longer have doubt or insecurity that he will cast her aside, for she knows him. And as we entrust ourselves to him, so: "Christ rejoices, and his very heart even springs forth, to present his church to his Father. He says, “Father, behold my spouse that I have married to myself.”"

Christmas: Always Scrooge and Never Kirstie?

2011-12-18T14:32:00.000Z

I love our church. I love the opportunity to be with God's people who are our family, and when we gather (and when we're scattered) to find ways to serve one another in drawing near to Christ. It was my privilege to serve our church by preaching.
My text was Genesis 3:15 asking What's Christmas About? You can listen here:
Download mp3 - "Always Scrooge and Never Kirstie" (30mins) (low quality recording taken on my phone on the lectern behind me - hopefuly the church website will have a better version soon)

I attempted to dig into some of the common views of Christmas, where there is much to affirm and console, and also to explore how those resonate and point towards the hope of The Promised Son.

Beginning with Scrooge's misery - which is both justified and overly morbid, we see there really is war and evil in the world, and yet we long for hope of victory - why is that?
Considering the festivities offered by a Kirstie's Handmade Christmas we saw that it's good to have a holiday, but you need 'salvation' to celebrate truly... which is what's wrong in Narnia where it is Always Winter and Never Christmas, until finally it is 'Winter Passed and Guilt Forgiven' (as Lewis' poem summarises)... you need something to happen to make that possible.
And we considered the nitpicking leery vision of Santa, everything that the Triune God isn't... and so that leads us to look for the Christ... one who can overcome evil and give us cause to celebrate - truly, without it depending on whether we've been naughty or nice.

We need the promised son who will both suffer with and for us, and win for us and come to us. When God shows up he's not aloof and clean and making 3pm speeches... he's naked and weak and vulnerable and in the line of fire. He suffers with us, and for us. God is a victim. And God wins - slays the giant, puts a tentpeg through the head of the enemy, takes the sting out of death. He wins and begins a whole new human race who aren't condemned to the curse of Scrooge, Kirstie or Santa but live in his blessing with his Holy Spirit.

Christmas invites you to ask is the baby whose birth we're remembering the long promised Christ? Is this Jesus that Christ?
Download mp3 - "Always Scrooge and Never Kirstie" (30mins)

I preached without notes but I had this outline in my back pocket in case I bottled it. Many thanks to Glen Scrivener who helped my thinking a lot as I prepared. And huge thanks to my pastor for his detailed encouragement this afternoon.
More on the imagination of Lewis in Michael Ward's Planet Narnia

Everyday Church MP3s (Steve Timmis)

2011-12-15T07:17:00.000Z

As a gospel principle my desire is not to hold on tight to God's gracious gifts, but to share them as widely as I can.
I think Marcus Honeysett taught me that.
When I managed to persuade Steve Timmis to to spend 48 hours with the UCCF South West team that meant looking for ways to open our doors.

Steve spent four sessions (including Q&A) with us as a team along with a number of guests. Additionally we were able to open our doors for an evening event for the Exeter CU and other members of local churches, and a breakfast for local church leaders. We recorded the sessions and I'm posting them here for your encouragement - find yourself over 8.5 hours to listen in. I'm deeply challenged and looking forward to implementing ideas that flow from Steve's rich Ecclesiocentric gospel theology.

Monday
Session 1 (80mins)
Session 2 (84mins)
Tuesday
Session 3 (90mins)
Everyday Church Evening Talk (53mins)
Everyday Church Evening Q&A (30mins)
Wednesday
Church Leaders Breakfast - Talk and Q&A (94mins)
Session 4 (90mins)

There were great moments about forgiving because we're forgiven, welcoming because we're welcome, finding your true rest in Jesus not in your home. How to gospel one another. I love that gospel community is a phenomenon, inexplicable without the gospel of Jesus, where you find yourself doing things you don't like with people you don't like.... and the thought that The New Creation is The Church.

Steve Timmis is involved in leading The Crowded House churches in Sheffield, and is the director of Acts 29 in Western Europe, in addition to being the co-author (with Tim Chester) of Total Church and Everyday Church.

Hugo: If you ever wonder where your dreams come from

2011-12-08T21:18:00.001Z

Yesterday I took my wife to see Hugo 3D. I can't remember what the last film we saw at the cinema was, possibly Inception more than a year ago. Hugo is a wonderful fantastical story set in a Paris station in the 1930s. It's about machines and dreams, about finding purpose.

Hugo says: "I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason."

Which might all sound a little mechanisic and predestinary but really its about imagination and knowing you have a part of play in the world, however seemingly small. It's a Martin Scorsese film about film and the way the big screen unleashes the imagination. It's about adventures and about love. Dashed and recovered dreams and boys who live in the walls of stations.

Based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Think: Did Humanity fall on Day 6?

2011-12-05T21:15:00.001Z

A month ago I received some excellent training on Genesis 1-11 that helped us understand different view points and engage with different questions that people might have. Our speaker was aimed to make us agnostic about these chapters, or at least to not make any particular reading a necessary thing for someone to be a Christian.

Some approaches major on fitting the text with scientific approaches, others lean more to a literary approach to the text with less concern for fit with science. There are choices to make. Sometimes not much is at stake... sometimes a lot is at stake.

What follows is an argument I heard from a theology student last week, from the more literary approach to the text, approaching the question of when the fall of man happened.

The events of Genesis 2 occur in "the day" that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens (Gen 2:4). You could say thats some period of time, but what if a day is just a day. And if finished means completed then we can speak of what is finsihed on that day, 2v1.

When was this? Genesis 1 says the work of creation was completed on Day 6. There is evening and there is morning, man is created. Animals are named. Woman is created. As that day comes to its close, The Word of the LORD prepares to come and walk in the garden, in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8) before the beginning of the seventh day. But when he comes, man is hiding in shame... the fall has happened...

Why?Could it be that the serpent turns from God and strikes at humanity out of jealousy that man, God's image bearer, is receiving the love of God and ruling over the world.

And so it still remains for man to enter into God's seventh day, through Christ. And so to walk with God.

Its good to have been able to wrestle with the text a little further. It's a challenge to interpret a text well but far from impossible - and its useful to remember what's at stake in an interpretation. The same student also put forward something like this argument that Melchizedek is Shem. and several other tasty morsels from the Pentateuch... thoughts to ponder, what do you think?

The Old Testament is Christian Scripture

2011-11-28T16:26:00.001Z

I've found myself in a few conversations recently about how to read the Old Testament. This is a passion of mine.In 2002 I became one of the founding editors of BeginningWithMoses.org which is designed to equip people to get into the Old Testament as Christian Scripture.

Seems to me there are six common approaches to the Old Testament. Three mistaken approaches are surely...

1. The god of the OT is a primative brute.
2. The OT teaches children to be moral, or at least some of it does.
3. The OT teaches a Messiah who isn't Jesus of Nazareth. (like the Pharisees did)

Better are these three, and FWIW I don't think these are necessarily alternatives to one another.

1. The OT teaches a Messiah will come. Revealed through the story of God's people in God's place under God's rule (Graeme Goldworthy's approach), the end point of these lines is Jesus.
2. The OT gives some examples for believers to learn from.
3. The OT shows us the Triune God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit revealed personally - before the Son is incarnated. Some range of views as to how clearly the this God is revealed.

I hear the first two taught often and people seem to baulk at the third as if the OT god is something lesser than the God you know when you know Jesus... which could easily land you back at the top of the first list...

David Peterson's work 'Christ and his People' and Sidney Griedanus 'Preaching Christ from the Old Testament' are helpful for showing that there are many ways to see the gospel from the Old Testament, from allusions to quotations, from God himself seen on stage, to many types and models... some explicit, some more implicit. Peter Leithart's Deep Exegesis has been a great friend in seeing some of this - at risk of over-reading details, but perhaps we're prone to miss things that would have been obvious to a reader steeped in the Pentateuch.

The key it seems to me is like the stones in the jar - get the big stones in the jar first. Who is God? What are the big models in the Old Testament that point to Christ (Tabernacle, King, etc)... and then start to fit the rest together. Feed from Tim Keller, Graeme Goldsworthy, Don Carson and the NSBT series he edits, Ed Clowney, Glen Scrivener, Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, read old writers, read new writers. Enjoy the far fetched bits and hold onto the gold.

One of my favourite Old Testament books is Esther which isn't on the main storyline, more a spin-off series. It has no mention of God, happens in exile away from the Temple and land, which centres on a family from the tribe of Benjamin not Judah and isn't quoted in the New Testament still resounds with the gospel as its language and plotline allude to Genesis and Exodus and louder gospel themes. It takes a whole Bible to help make sense of Esther. And Esther will subsequently cast light back on the other 65 books...

I love the Old Testament for two reasons. Firstly, it's about The Christ. Secondly, it's stunning literature. It'd be a good book if it was either, but having both together is beautiful. How you handle it as having that ultimate theme expressed through such a range of literature is an art to learn, and like food to enjoy.

The story that all humans know in their bones they want to hear

2011-11-25T08:13:00.001Z

"Being a Christian means living from within a particular story,. It is the subversive story of God and the world, focussed on Israel and thence on the Messiah, and reaching its climax in the Messiah's death and resurrection.

No Christian can ever tell this story too frequently, or know it too well, because it is the story that has shaped him or her in baptism and that must continue to shape thought, life and prayer thereafter... the exodus sttory, which stands behind so much of [Romans 6] remains decisive... Just as Jewish people discovered in the exodus story the character of their rescuing God, so the covenant faithfulness of this same God has been fully unveiled in the paschal events of Golgotha and Easter.

Learning about the Christian life and learning about the God revealed in Jesus Christ are two sides of the coin... the exodus story offers itself as the true story of the human race, and the Christian retelling of this story in terms of the death and resurrection of Jesus Chirst must do so as well. This story, if true cannot siply be one little story among others, as tohugh it could take its place happily on the cultural smorgasbord, offering a certain kind of religious experience, alongside other stories that effectively enslaved humans and led them off to die.

Even the postmodern critique that insists that all large metanarratives are instruments of slavery appeals to, and gets its power from, one story that, it assumes, is not and that story is precisely is own version, filtered through many layers of cultural accretions, of the exodus narrative, the freeing of slaves from Pharaoh's yoke. The Christian gospel is, at this level, telling the story that all humans know n their bones they want to hear."

NT Wright, The Bible Interpreter's Commentary on Romans, p547-8

MP3: Noteless Preaching

2011-11-22T16:40:00.001Z

Since August I've been trying to preach without notes, although I've bottled it a couple of times and reverted to a short outline that I've reached to from my back pocket.

On Sunday morning and evening I held my nerve as I preached from Acts 2:33 on Jesus Ascended for my good friends at Reading Family Church. You can listen to the morning mp3 here: RFC Resources. I think the evening one was slightly better and a few minutes longer than the 30min first run.

The whole experience of going noteless has huge advantages - no lectern, no notes to look at, no need to break your eye-contact with people, no formality of words... and everything seems to flow better. The cost is sometimes a little lack of precision in language, though not much if you work at it and continue to love language and reading as I do, because really the cost is in much more preparation time, internalising the message and believing it... which is no bad thing! It means that what I preach isn't the transfer of my notes to the congregations notes, but rather a message that has affected my heart, held out to their hearts. The downside is it might be an excuse to prepare less and wing it, but if we take preaching seriously it'll require more preparation not less to go without notes.

Might not be the best way for everyone but I'm enjoying it.

Noteless preaching means you can't be complex (though that doesn't mean you can't have depth), you need a coherent argument - a story even - and you're going to benefit from really letting the text shape your message...

I'm still learning. How do you do it?

He Loves Us (Hosea 2:14-20)

2011-11-01T23:04:00.000Z

I had the privilege of preaching for Exeter University Evangelical Christian Union tonight from Hosea 2:14-20. Here's the recording and my notes:
Download mp3: He Loves Us: Hosea 2:14-20 (31mins)
Download pdf notes: He Loves Us: Hosea 2:14-20 (31mins)

He Loves Us.
1. He Woos.
2. He Betroths.

We watched this video before I preached to get us in the mood...

By his wounds we are healed

2011-11-01T07:54:00.000Z

Last Tuesday Anna Mason preached at Exeter University Evangelical Christian Union from Isaiah 53. She showed this video before helping us to see the new life and sonship we have because of the cross:

Why God Loves Halloween

2011-10-31T19:08:00.001Z

Pete Dray has some cracking thoughts to give a different angle on Halloween. And fwiw I think this is exactly the kind of event CUs should be putting on at this time of year. Read3 parts - Pete Dray: Why God Loves Halloween

"So why did celebration of All Hallows’ Day and All Hallows’ Eve emerge? What did they originally mean? In short, they were a celebration of the victory of those who trust in Jesus over the devil and over all evil..... What has happened for centuries on All Saints’ Eve – or Halloween – is quite simple. God’s people act out a drama – a drama in which the demonic realm tries one last time to achieve victory, but is seen for what it really is. What is the means by which the demonic realm is seen for what it is? In a word: mockery. According to the Bible, the devil’s great sin (and our great sin) is pride. And so, to remind themselves of Satan and the evil realm’s ultimate defeat because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, Christians ridicule them. In fact, this is why the Medieval custom arose of portraying Satan in a ridiculous red suit with horns and a tail. Nobody thought that the devil really looked like this; indeed, the Bible teaches that he is a fallen arch-angel. Rather, the idea of portraying him in this way is to ridicule him because he has lost the battle with Jesus and he no longer has power over us."

Thank God for The Law!

2011-10-29T15:00:00.000+01:00

My boys are the 22nd generation of Bish's in Britain according to a distant relative who did some genealogy research about 20 years ago. That this rare name has been carried onwards for that long is cool to a geek like me... developing as it has from 'de la Bysse' to 'Bysshe' to 'Bish'.

As the New Testament opens we find that Jesus is the culmination of an 1800 year genealogy from Abraham via David and the exile. It's remarkable that this has happened and is traceable.

The Bible is a relentless search for The Seed (Gen 3:15) and so genealogies are mines in which to search for the gold of the gospel.... in which to search for The Christ.

What's The Law got to do with all of this? God made a promise and then 430 years later gave The Law. Later additions don't cancel or modifying the terms of a promise so why give the law?

For 430 years Abraham's family have been a family, a small family in Canaan who grew to a large nation contained in Goshen... and then they were set free as a vast nation with an inherited sinful desire for the gods of other nations with whom they began to intermarry.

The Law locked Israel down and ensures that a distinctive and identifiable remnant is preserved despite their best efforts to vanish into the nations and the pursuit of their gods. Much of Israel disappeared into nations (the Northern tribes) - but Judah (with Benjamin and Levi) survived. Imagine what would have been left without the restraining influence of the law...?

Thanks to The Law, 1800 years after Abraham, the promised Seed could come from a people carrying the grammar of the gospel (particularly around the Temple) "so that" (Galatians 3:22) Jesus can be identified as the long expected Christ.

The Law helps us to see his life, death, resurrection, ascension and the pouring out of the Christing Spirit and know that Jesus is the Christ. Moses knew, and Jesus would preach himself from The Law to make his disciples hearts burn as they heard of The Seed, The Tabernacle... of Jesus leading his people out of slavery, of his meeting with his people, of the way that the air Israel breathed was meant to preserve her identity, and should have made her long for the Christ, and die to self-righteousness and sinning and everything (Gal 2:19). It put the nation death and in the end it put Jesus to death too...

Galatians 3 demonstrates the scope-limited, time-limited, purpose-limited but necessary role of the law for Israel, to bring the Christ - for all the nations. Not a complete theology of The Law, but a vital one, that served the gospel and has now completed it's purpose. The Law remains as Scripture from which all nations in Christ can benefit as they step into the promise made to Abraham concerning his offspring 'The Christ' in whom peoples from all the nations can become Sons of God.

Thank God for The Law given to Israel that ensured that the Christ came for the nations!

Isn't the Bible's god violent and evil?

2011-10-28T15:38:00.000+01:00

Here's the tension. Jesus shows us the phenomenal love of the Triune God, the loving face and heart of his Father, annointed with the love-bringing Holy Spirit. And that's sweet.

But, doesn't the same Bible that shows us this God also reveal and angry and nasty god who told his people to commit genocide so they could acquire the land of Canaan for themselves...?

The Bible's claim is that God is a Trinity of love, revealed by Jesus - from beginning to end. It knows no sense of disunity between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. One Bible, one God. No half-time reinvention. No plan B.

When the Bible itself evaluates what we see of God it doesn't say - the OT god is nasty and the NT god is nice. It says, the OT shows the Triune God looking excessively patient, forgiving beyond the bounds of reasonable love. And it's not til the cross of Jesus happens that we have the event that helps us see that abundance of love was truly legitimate.

The same story holds when you look at Jonah's story. Jonah wants Nineveh to burn. He runs because he knows the Triune God wants to lavish his love upon them. People are more nasty than God is. When it comes to Canaan... this is about a patch of land that has been at the centre of controversy for thousands of years. For 400 years it was occupied by the Canaanites, who are a cursed people (Gen 10) who are perpetrators of great evil and child abuse. They're given 400 years in which to turn from their evil - or be judged...

When Israel are set free from their slavery in Egypt they arrive and send out the message that the Canaanites should leave the land. They don't have to die - they just have to get out of the land they've been polluting with their evil. The Bible is more physical than we tend to be - when Israel are booted out for their evil at the end of 2 Chronicles we're told the land breathes a sign of relief. The people of Canaan are invited to join Israel and discover life in the Triune God - there's no exclusivity, all are welcome.

Rahab the prostitute is perhaps the most notable example, joining Israel's royal family and becoming an ancestor of Jesus. They've heard of what the Triune God did in setting his beloved son free from slavery in Egypt - they've heard the gospel and can respond to Christ.

Against those who remain defiant it's the commander of the LORD's army (Jesus?) who leads the army (Joshua 5:15) in against the rebels. The sameone who led his people out of Egypt, who fights for his people and gives himself up for them.

But, should a god of love judge anyone? Might be we ask this because we want to avoid the possibility of ourselves being judged. Whatever our motive, what's a God of love like? The Bible shows us God whose love isn't dispassionate and indifferent to evil. He is no unmoved apathetic deity. His love burns for his own, and against evil, especially evil done against those loved. When evil is done to people, to the LORD's adopted son Israel, to The Son, to the Holy Spirit (who his own people grieved in their grumbling) then his jealous love should rightly burn against evil. We expect justice to be done - and if not don't we then minimise evil and say it doesn't really matter...

If you want a god who is indifferent then you don't want the god of the Bible - but if you want to be cared for by a God who is passionate and warm and giving to his people (and will accept anyone into his people), who is compassionate and pleading and weeping to draw people out of darkness and into his light, and who hates evil with as much passion and he loves his Son, then you're onto someone real, with real love, burning love.

See for yourself.

2011-10-26T18:42:00.001+01:00

This year we're inviting students to invite other students to see for themselves who Jesus is, to uncover the evidence about him in Luke's gospel. Will you join us?
Evangelist Becky Pippert spoke at our national leaders conference to launch this initiative and she has written the resource and already 15,000 copies of it have been delivered to Christian students who are beginning to use it to read Luke with their friends.I hear of an Exeter student who has already seen a friend become a Christian through Uncover, has started reading with another friend and has another in mind soon too. Brilliant.

If God is good, why so much suffering?

2011-10-25T16:56:00.001+01:00

I spoke on suffering at Bristol University today. I began with Marcus Brigstocke's quest for god triggered by the death of his best friend James... considered the denial of suffering suggested by the western physical-only and eastern non-physical worldviews that are woefully inadequate... contemplated the horrifying karma approach before turning to the god we see in the face of Jesus, a god like no other god we've ever heard of... This is the subject I've been asked to speak on most often and its not going away yet - so your feedback and thoughts are very welcome.

mp3: If God is good, why so much suffering? (33mins, inc Q&A)

My powerpoint screens andMy Notes

In the Q&A the following questions arose. I don't think I gave the best answers to them when I was in the room, so here's some "after the event" responses that I wish I'd articulated....

1. Wouldn't an omnipotent god end suffering?
I don't believe in the omnipotent god. I believe in the god revealed by Jesus in person. And this god is powerful and he uses his power against all the suffering, evil and sin in the world not by wielding it but by yielding it. He takes on all that's bad in the world by Jesus dying to put the world to rights. Jesus weakness at the cross is the answer to suffering. Today we don't see the world fully put to rights but his resurrection is the evidence that one day newness is coming.

2. Why create suffering in the first place?
The world was good when it was created, and it's hard to think of suffering as a creatable thing - it's more a decreation, a corruption of things. Why allow that? Because to bring us into the life of god isn't just about us being creatures who associate with god, but means passing through death, seeing all sin and suffering put to death, so that we can be given a new flesh, a new life in god. Death is invented because Jesus had to die.

3. If Jesus suffered for us, shouldn't life now be free from suffering?
This relates to the first question. What's required has been achieved, we just await the fulfillment of it. Why wait? To give people from all over the world the opportunity to come into the life of God. When everything is set right that isn't automatically good news for the human race, because some of us push Jesus away - these days of suffering are days of patience in which we can come into God, and that's a huge price to pay - but a worthwhile price.

This morning I asked some tweeters to help warm me up for the Q&A. They asked me:
However you package it, your God is still responsible for suffering. Why should I believe in the God of cancer, tsunamis & aids? Does God just sit back and watch? Do God actively ordain/will personal suffering for each person? If yes, does this make God evil? A question from Text A Toastie in Bristol last night: If God exists why did he create cancer yet give us the power to cure it? Does God suffer?
Is God sovereign in our suffering? Does that mean it is His will for us to suffer? I read re Noah & was inspired thinking re the alternative to how God does it now - what would you prefer, forgiveness or flood?
I wont answer them here now, but I think having thought about them slipped into the talk at various points. So thanks team - you helped me and shaped the talk!

JESUS: Transformission 2011 MP3s

2011-10-22T21:20:00.000+01:00

Students from across the South West and many friends met in Exeter to be transformed for mission. Mike Reeves brought the word of the Lord to us concerning Jesus. Listen here:
1.Who is Jesus - is your God Jesus-less? See why many thing that joy is found without god but why real life is found in Jesus.

2.What has Jesus done - do you really know the gospel? Challenging simplistic gospel outlines with a beautiful portrayal of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. Plus a brilliant illustration of the gospel from child-birth... plus an intruiging observation that most Gentiles who joined God's people joined royal Judah... except one in 1 Chronicles... but who was it?

3. How does Jesus really feel about you? Inspired by the tender puritan Thomas Goodwin's writing on The Heart of Christ. At our worst and weakest, Jesus is most for us.

"Men call me Probus, my real name is Christian"

I'm thankful for Mike's service, he's a humble brother who is ahead of me in Christ but thankfully he's a first class preacher who brings the Christ he knows to us. Thankful also for Suzanne from IFES, Louise from Student Alpha, Jenny from Friends International and Peter from Cor Deo who exhibited, Owen and his band, James for selling books, the UCCF team who served selflessly, and the students who made it all happen.

Previous MP3s here from Transformission 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

A Day About Jesus

2011-10-21T11:54:00.001+01:00

UPDATE: Download the MP3s from TRANSFORMISSION 2011: JESUS here

You're invited to join us in Exeter on Saturday 22nd October for Transformission. This year the conference is all about Jesus. We'll see how Jesus reveals, redeems and ask 'how does Jesus feel about you"

10.30-4.30, Belmont Chapel Exeter.
No booking required, free entry.
Catch a flavour from this video with our speaker, Mike Reeves:

A chat with Mike Reeves about Transformission 2011 from Dave Bish on Vimeo.

God hates you?

2011-10-14T10:01:00.000+01:00

A video has been going around online featuring a prominent pastor telling his people (or at least those in his church meeting that day) that God hates them. This leader is someone I've benefitted much from, though I don't see eye-to-eye with him on a number of issues.

All events have context and in recent years, even this year, some well known leaders have wanted to say God doesn't get angry and hell will be empty and such like. To which others have piped up that we must re-emphasise the holiness and wrath of God. And make no mistake God is wrathful towards some and Jesus is the clearest teacher on hell.

But...

God isn't a set of attributes to keep in balance. A bit of love, a bit of holiness and so on. God is a community of persons, and we know who he is as he comes to us in the person of Christ. Jesus loves us and gave himself for us (Gal 2:20) and he said, John 16:27, the Father himself loves us. He is all love.

Which means, however frustrating and unchanging people are, the answer isn't for a preacher to stand over and against their people. Behaviour frustrates, budgets can be pressing but harrassing people into change is not gospel ministry. As Christ makes his appeal through preachers they call people to come and be welcomed, loved, drawn, cared for. You can't microwave maturity by blow-torching people, tempting as it is. And I've tried it. It's not nice to do, and its horrid to hear.

The Triune God is all love. When he burns its passionate love in jealous protection of the Son against whom the world rages, the Spirit who is grieved by love spurned, and the Sons bride who he protects with his life. In the end justice will be done, but these are days of patience and mercy and love, as is true also when the NT summarises the OT (in Romans 3). His forgiveness is excessive. In these days of patience the preacher is to offer Christ who came out in love to find us. Such a preacher speaks the word of God and nourishes the people and offers life to the dead.

The preacher will be like their Christ, which is disturbing if your Christ is isn't full of love. The Biblically revealed Christ doesn't quench the smouldering wick or break the bruised, and preacher who sets Christ against people may have strayed from him. The Christ is no mean, spying dictator who is over and against people, he's the shining light and spreading love of his Father who came and was afflicted with and for us. His love is most seen and enacted, felt, and known in the Sons incarne life, death, resurrection, ascension and outpouring of the Spirit into our hearts.

Divine holiness is extreme personal love not scary power. Divine wrath is what happens when perfect love is refused. God was not eternally wrathful, he was always love. He always will be. So why speak otherwise? Why do anything but invite, woo, allure even hardened rebels with tender words of Christs love. People will either receive Christ and doubtless be radically transformed, or they'll refuse him to their own doom. Ours is to portray Christ and him crucified in the full technicolor of the Scriptures, in the full beauty and loveliness that is his.

Sitting under such preaching will soften hard hearts or harden them - depending on the Spirit's gracious movement upon his people. The Spirit-filled Christian will be comforted and encouraged, and warmed and helped and loved. Heavy handed exhortation wont be needed, because they'll be well nourished and strengthened. It might seem peculiar to pull back from exhortations and applications in favour of proclaiming Christ, but nothing changes someone more than meeting Christ, and nothing less than being told what to do, and nothing is more Christian than to be invited to receive Christ.

Richard Sibbes for Today

2011-10-12T10:01:00.000+01:00

Over the past year or so I've been working on some lightly edited and modernised versions of material by the sweet puritan Richard Sibbes. I've self-published two volumes which you can order online via Lulu.com.

The Sunshine of the Gospel (151 pages. £4.99 + p&p) is a foundational introduction to warm Sibbesian thinking. Catch his emphasis on Christ, and on the heart being changed with these seven sermons on Josiah, on the Matchless Love of Christ, on The Song of Songs and on Lydia's heart being opened.

A Fire Kindled from Heaven (125 pages, £4.50 + p&p) builds on the first volume by bringing you some of Sibbes loveliest material on The Song of Songs.

P&P works out at about £3 if you just buy one book reducing to £2 per book for two... and if you buy 25 books it drops to about 69p per book etc. Lulu often have discount codes available that can take 15-25% off the price. Google for them. Use code CYBERWEEKUK305 at the checkout to save 25% off book price until 28/11/11

Covers designed by James Watts. Inevitably self-published books have some glitches in them so please bear with that :)

Reviews online: Admiral Creedy's Review of The Sunshine of the Gospel
Cat Caird's review of The Sunshine of the Gospel

A Game Changing Moment: Offer them Christ!

2011-10-11T19:17:00.001+01:00

UCCF teams are made up of evangelists in the sense that they are made up of people who love to make Christ known and to equip the saints for evangelism, all for the good of the churches.

We gathered as a regional team for a couple of days this week, and were joined by two evangelists whose ministry includes working with Christian Unions. Glen Scrivener joined us with a brief for 'proclaiming Christ' and Michael Ots spoke on planning and strategy for missions among students. Between the two of them I think we're better skilled to help CUs plan for mission, and massively moved to offer Christ to people.

Proclaiming Christ 1 (90mins)
Proclaiming Christ 2 (78mins)
Proclaiming Christ 3 (81mins)
Proclaiming Christ 4 (65mins)
Proclaiming Christ 5 (81mins)

We considered Luther's categorisation of the three-fold word of the LORD (Christ, Scripture, Preaching) throughout the Bible, the life-giving way that the LORD is not needy but full of love, an overview of the LORD in Exodus in 20mins (Session 2) and the Trinity in Isaiah in 10mins (Session 3).. and then had that fleshed out from 1 Samuel (Session 4) and Luke's gospel (Session 5) which were real game changers for many in the room. The ripples from this for our word ministry and service of the church will I hope be significant - feeling as we did the burning sense that Christ must be offered to this generation, and can be!

Breath-taking reflections (opening of Session 1) on how its better to have the Scriptures today than to have been in the room with the resurrected Jesus like Thomas (as in John 20)... the way that the word of God doesn't need experts but creates heralds... a wonderful clarity on the character of the Triune God and the Father's shining, loving, giving word. It's 6.5 hours of training material but I'd highly commend it to you. A helpful voice, among many who I feel privileged to benefit from.

Next time we meet we'll be joined by Pete Lowman who will share from his book A Long Way East of Eden on engaging with culture - which I've heard characterised as being like Keller's Reason for God, but better and published earlier but less well known. I'm inclined to agree. Lowman pioneered student mission in Russia 20 years ago and now leads a church in Reading.

I'm an atheist

2011-10-05T11:32:00.000+01:00

I was asked on Sunday how I'd recommend responding to those who are 'new atheists' (followers of Dawkins/Hitchins etc). I want to listen and love them and invite some conversation. Often it goes this way:

Person A: I'm an atheist.

Person B (often): Oh.

End of conversation.

What if we could try this:

Person A: I'm an atheist.

Person B: Can you tell me about the god you don't believe in?

This is a way of opening conversation that was probably being closed down, and it doesn't require expertise, just a listening ear. If the invitation is accepted what you'll often then hear is...

Person A: god is big, nasty, accusing, condemning, unstable, against us...

Person B: Interesting, sounds horrible - I don't think I'd want to believe in that kind of god either, where does that view of god come from?

Person A: ...

Person B: Can I tell you about the god I know, would you take a look at Jesus with me...

Which presupposes that a Christian gets that their god isn't "big, nasty, accusing, condemning, unstable, against us" which he isn't. That view verges on the demonic and is very ugly, whereas if we take a look at Jesus we something very different. Turns out for many people that this issue isn't so much whether a god could exist but a passion for a certain kind of god not to exist... and again I'm keen to engage with the historical person of Jesus whom investigation of might end up with us using (redefining) words like god, but in a very different kind of way.

And when we get talking I'm not convinced Richard Dawkins has that many followers. More people are like Marcus Brigstocke who have been put off hard-core atheism by Dawkins, have taken a cursory look at the options and are left without a god they're happy to believe in, but also left with a fear of being alone and without any good answers to the problem of suffering.

Only Jesus doesn't make demands

2011-10-03T21:19:00.000+01:00

Elliot Morley was released in September after serving four months of a sixteen month sentence for fraud to the amount of £32,000.
Prior to that he was the MP for Glanford and Scunthorpe. One of those caught in the expenses scandal. And we're disappointed. Leadership is entrusted to people and they seem to fail us... sometimes they're corrupt, sometimes they're conspiratorial, sometimes they're abusive...
Morley is just an example, and the same can be seen closer to home. .

My first experience of leadership was as a Scout. I was overlooked for leadership as a 13 year old and was furious, frustrated and angry. When a year later I was finally given an opportunity to serve I seized it with a clenched fist, a bad temper and a stamping foot. Not everyone has had authority but invariably, we're all either in authority over someone or under someone elses authority. Some carry that well but many fall short. Yet we hope and dream for more. We long for someone to lead well.

And then one Saturday Jesus walked into a Synagogue in Capernaum and people's verdict was - what stunning authority. It's worth asking whether that's off-putting or something that stirs optimism?

Listen on... MP3: Dave Bish - Jesus' Authority (24mins + a reading from Mark's gospel first)
1. You need someone who will give not take. In contrast to the demanding lurking and imposing 'teachers of law'
2. You need someone who will get you into God. Someone who wont fail us like religion has - who can deal with our uncleanness.

Isn't the Bible unreliable and irrelevant?

2011-09-27T16:16:00.002+01:00

I gave one of the lunchtime talks on behalf of the Evangelical Christian Union at Exeter University today. These are public events, with food, a talk and Q&A.

The talk is a mix of Ian McEwan's melancholy stories, John Gray and Brian Cox on the story of progress, the speeding neutrino moment, a smattering of manuscript evidence, an introduction to Luke's gospel, and a bit of the parable of the sons.

Download mp3 including the Q&A (40mins)

I was basically pleased with how it went, feedback was positive and the four questions asked were good questions. I went in with a bit too much material and full-notes which I dipped in and out of - less would have been more helpful. Live and learn. Hopefully I can use a version of this again at other CUs in the South West this year.

The Sub-Atomic Particle That Was Caught Speeding (or, what could convince Philip Pullman to believe in God)

2011-09-24T09:09:00.000+01:00

BBC takes five minutes with Philip Pullman in which he speaks of his love of storytelling and plot - which I love, life is a story. We all have a story to make sense of life's big questions - about how we got here, about what (if anything) is wrong with the world, about how to fix things, about where we're going... What's your story?

Ian McEwan gives Bryony Tallis a tragic story that she wants to give a haappy ending, but can just make up a story. Facts and evidence matter. And experience.

Pullman admits that it's not a rational argument that could convince him to believe in God but rather a direct experience (which suggests its his experience of a lack of experience of God that means he doesn't believe) - experience drives so much of what we believe!... and of the stories we love.

Meanwhile, four minutes with Brian Cox on the particles that might have been caught speeding: Brian Cox on the possible rewriting of a century of physics. I'm guessing we'll find that there was an error in the experiment but it's worth checking it out. What if something happens that doesn't fit with what we know? What can we do... check the evidence thoroughly but also be prepared to see our world turned upside down. What if people met a man who had died and now appeared to be alive? What if the evidence stacked up and you had to re-write the story you previously had? Would you investigate the evidence for yourself?. What might you uncover?

Spirit Break Out and 10000 Reasons

2011-09-16T11:50:00.000+01:00

This week I've been enjoying the recent worship albums from Matt Redman and Worship Central. The roots of both albums are the youthful Spirit-filled life of Soul Survivor church and festivals, though both are now more directly connected to Holy Trinity Brompton or it's Brighton church plant St Peters. This is what comes out of the Church of England at it's best.

We've been using some of the Redman songs in church and last week at UCCF Forum, and I'm taken by them - songs like Bless the Lord O My Soul (or, 10000 reasons) are melodic worship songs that allow the heart to be lifted, and Here For You is the heart's cry to meet with God. I also love We could change the world - what if the gospel is as good as it seems...

Spirit Break Out has a slightly different feel - it's a more edgy live album, and features several different lead musicians from the Worship Central collective - and even a bit of Graham Kendrick's Shine Jesus Shine turned into a rap by Myles Dhillon - a welcome revival of his great lyrics that call for the Spirit to blaze in our hearts and our nation. Songs like Ben Cantelon's Saviour of the World are great expressions of the greatness of Jesus, and the title track gives words and music to express my desires.

Personally I'm still waiting for the next Matt Giles album but in the mean time these two offer some great new songs about the old old story. They serve the church because the people of the Triune God are a singing people.

You're Welcome

2011-09-15T10:16:00.000+01:00

Why is the church in China growing? The BBC report:

"But in church people feel warm, they feel welcome… they feel people really love them so they really want to join the community, a lot of people come for this."

Of course the church grows because the Triune God builds it, but the least you can expect if that's happening is a relaxed and warm welcome. Jesus is friendly and the church imperfectly reflects that.

The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins?

2011-09-14T07:58:00.000+01:00

I'm intruiged by Richard Dawkins new teenager-targetted 273 page book (released Sept 15th) which attempts to dispel the beautiful myths that humanity loves - aka the world's religions. Evolution he says is "more poetic than the bible" (so much for it being science then....)

Jeremy Paxman interviews him (from about 37mins onward) on Newsnight. He's persuaded that evolution tells a better story than the old stories we love... I'd have loved to have seen him debate with JRR Tolkein on Fairy Stories. He admits to being affected by Genesis, but wont believe its true... because only "stupid and ignorant people" would believe it... instead he says, believe the better story of science.

The best story should win - and will win - and shouldn't just be the best story but the truest story too - he's right about that. Now we can talk about both the quality of our explanatory stories and the evidence for them.

Further Reading: The Magic of Reality - Richard Dawkins - Amazon
On Fairy Stories - JRR Tolkein - PDF

ps: the bit when you ask in your book where did the light come from before the sun in Genesis 1.... Richard, that'll be Jesus.

Transformission 2011 - a chat with Mike Reeves

2011-09-12T09:00:00.000+01:00

Last week at Forum 2011 I had a chat with Mike Reeves about Transformission 2011, a free one day conference happening on Saturday 22nd October at Belmont Chapel, Exeter, 10.30-4.30pm. Targetted as a launch to a year of united student mission but open to the wider church. No booking required.
Shot on the campsite, hence the chatter and wind noise. Unedited.

#FORUM2011: Leaders in Mission

2011-09-05T07:00:00.000+01:00

Today 121 students, six staff and seven Relay from the South West will join with around 900 others at this year's FORUM conference. This is a leaders conference for students, to equip them for mission. A leader in that case isn't someone who has a "job" in a Christian Union but someone who is on mission, influencing others, leading the line to win students to Jesus and see the local churches built.

You'll be able to follow along at #forum2011 and UCCF on Facebook where I'd expect an outpouring of social media. I'm camping so subject to getting access to enough power I'll tweet along.

Teaching will be delivered by CU staff - I'm co-leading a track with Jo Larcombe and Cat Caird on Being Disciples of our Transforming God which will be an adventure into espousal and adoption theology applied to our lives and mission. Worship will be led by Canterbury CU Staff / City Church Canterbury worship leader Olly Knight. And we'll be joined by guest speakers Mark Meynell and Becky Pippert.I'm looking forward to catching up with Adrian Holloway who'll be a guest during the week ahead of his involvement in student mission this term.

I'm looking forward to praying for the spread of the good news about Jesus. I'm looking forward to everything about it. This will be my 12th time at Forum and I love the way it's shaped students lives, launches us into effective mission in Freshers week and beyond. I love that some CU's send 20-30 students along to catch the vision.

Plentiful: The Taste of the Gospel

2011-09-04T08:04:00.000+01:00

Something about tight-fistedness, smallness, monotony, lack of progress, lack and loss of life grates against us. It feels out of place. Not proof in themselves of how things are meant to be, but a hint engraved on our hearts that this world isn't meant for frustration.

The story validated by the historical life, death and resurrection of Jesus is different. Tracking backwards it says the Triune God created a world in which there is fruitfulness and multiplication, in which emptiness is filled by beings who will spread outwards. The love of the generous Father is like this. A fountain of life, flowed from the hills of Eden and from the heart of the Father to his Son and to the world. He gives his son, and he gives the Spirit. He gives and goes on giving.

When people curve in on themselves he comes out to them, and keeps on coming. And when he wins their hearts he turns them inside out so they cease to overflow with sewage and begin to overflow with spirit-filled life. When invitations are refused the word goes out to the highways and byways, always reaching, always drawing, always inviting, always embracing. In love he stands waiting and looking for the irreligious and climbs the hillside to plead with the religious - longing to embrace them that they might enjoy his joy. The love of God overflows and overflows.

His ways are not neat and calculated, his steadfast love is not dispassionate and measured, the gospel is not a mathematical formula to fix things. His salvation is not merely a functional rescue but relational welcome. Salvation is not a pill or a pass or pattern for living that he gives us, for he gives us himself. To know, and to know more. To fill us and fill us more. When we speak of the gospel we mean the news which needs words yet struggles to find words wonderful enough to express the heart of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Plentiful is an adjective meaning existing or yielding great quantities; abundant: as in 'the wine is plentiful'. A gospel word.

O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
Psalm 130:7

Can you help with my training?

2011-08-31T07:30:00.000+01:00

Dear Blog Reader,
I'm learning that its all too easy to say "I need nothing" (Rev3:17) and that is rarely true.
I'm writing this because I have need and, in Christ, you might help. Please feel no obligation to be the answer to my prayer.

I'm half way through a two year leadership training course which has been very helpful for my development. The course covers training on leadership and preaching, doctrine and Biblical studies. Thus far I've raised about 66% of the course fees so far but that leaves a shortfall of about £800 (or £640 + giftaid).

If you'd like to help me towards that total please drop an email to dbish@uccf.org.uk and I'll let you know how you could give via my church.
Thank you. Dave.

Normal blogging will resume shortly and sink this post into the archives.

Can you make good decisions?

2011-08-25T22:34:00.000+01:00

At the recommendation of @stualred I've just read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It's a storytelling exploration of decision making, of "thinking without thinking".

Gladwell considers that we can make good decisions based on very thin slices of information - if we know what we're looking for (finding out might take enormous amounts of research - something Stu's Rugby coaching Dad has done for his PhD).

But we don't always get those moments right...

Sometimes we have too much information - drowning out what we actually need to see. This is compellingly illustrated from the case of a hospital discovering that three questions could help them work out who needed immediate care for risk of a heart attack, for example.
Sometimes we develop an "in the moment autism" that stops us from reading the situation. So, in the moment we might get it wrong because of the heat of the moment. We choke. Whether sportsmen or policemen caught in a tense situation.
Sometimes our subconscious biases blind us. As when Orchestra's used to consistently overlook female musicians until a screen hid this at audition - then numbers rose. Are job interviews fair? Is justice really blind? For right or wrong first impressions are very significant.

For me it raised lots of questions for the work I'm doing among University students, to introduce them to Jesus.I'm faced with leadership decisions in my work.

Do I have the information to make them rightly?
Am I able to read the thin slice of information I need to do that well?
What moments throw my instincts in the air and stop me making the right calls?
Where do I have information overload that drowns out what matters?Myers-Briggs tells me I'm extreme on the Intuition side of the scale - as opposed to Sensing (INTP though almost an ENTP fwiw).
How can I grow in being me - but also avoid blindspots?
What about the context we set as a team, church or CU at the front door, at the first point of contact - are people able to make a good decision or are there things we do that distrupt that unhelpfully?
What about the way I supervise my staff - what are the key questions I need to be asking them to serve them well when I'm with them? They don't tell me everything about everything - and they don't need to - but what information do I need to get an accurate picture of the work, and more importantly how they are? What are the different questions for the different people?
To what extent does the six page monthly review my staff omplete really get to the information that matters? Does it serve them and me, or does it fail to get to the heart?
How can I equip young evangelists to not choke in the situations they face - whether conversationally or in public debate?
How can I equip young leaders to analyse situations well - to capture the right information and not to choke the opportunity they're called to whether as a member of my team or as a student missions leader?
How as friends, colleagues and partners in the gospel should we respond when 'in the moment' we make the wrong decisions? How can we lavish grace upon one another, forgive, comfort and advance together?

And what are the theological implications / theological perspectives on this issue?

I know that I'm prone to fallibility and bias and discrimination because I'm curved in on myself - how can the grace of God overcome that? How does being in Christ shape my relationships?
How can I love people better?
Am I just my decisions?

Blink is a helpful "look at self" resource, one not to live by but one which can be a helpful tool alongside ten looks to Christ.

Have you read it? Your thoughts? Questions? Answers?

Is your ministry manipulative?

2011-08-24T09:08:00.000+01:00

"I'M A COW... COME PLAY WITH ME... HUG ME." Kids toys have this strange way of sounding both patronising and terribly needy and (after a while) annoying. Though kids love them the rest of us can only live with them in short bursts....

No gospel minister would want to be so soul-destroying? When Paul is reminding the Galatians (Galatians 4:8-5:1) of the contrast between his ministry and that of the incoming Slave Teachers he follows a long theological argument with one drawn from their experience.

The slave teachers come in to "make much of you" - which is ok (genuine encouragement and affirmation are vital), but they only do it so that "you'll make much of them". I'll love you if you'll love me back. That's to say - they're manipulative ministers. At first everyone likes to be made much of but after a while this power play gets tiresome. Paul observes it has drained away the Galatians joy, it has cast aside "the blessing they felt" when they first received the gospel. It's ugly.

It's filled with false teaching but it's form is problematic too. Indeed it's form is shaped by it's theology. The Slave Teachers enslave people to rules and religion and systems and behaviour. They are their own god. And people don't make very good gods. We're too power hungry and insecure.
And so I-am-god (aka I'm-a-cow) ministry loves to micro-manage people and situations...
...trying to pull all the strings, every decision needing to be supervised and run past such a minister.
...seeking the last word in everything, whether to affirm or caveat or just to HAVE MY SAY.
...trying to keep everything looking "perfect" with all the right labels and big names and associated nonsense so that the right people will think the right things about me and my miinistry.
Looked at that way, I think you can make a case for micro-management being heretical - or at least that it's one of the fruits of effectively believing a false gospel.

In the end it turns to being mocking ministry, which is what it was all along. Paul knew persecution inside-out, he used to be a persecutor. And slaves manipulate and mock the free... and that carries on until Christ is revealed and then everything changes.

Paul's Christian ministry by contrast is motherly. He is anguished and perplexed. He doesn't seek their fan-mail. He doesn't want them to turn to him for everything, but rather to see "Christ formed in you". Not Paul's plan, not Paul's ideas - good as they might have been - but Christ in you. A Christian knows God, and is known by God. Blessed because the cursed is turned onto Christ. Joined into Christ's death and resurrection, and with the Spirit of the Son living within. Motherly ministry hurts the heart and hurts the head but it's fruit is incredibly sweet when Christ is formed in people.

Paul is free to do one thing only: free to preach Christ to them. His ministry is about Jesus and people. And it will refresh people, it will enlarge their freedom, it will renew their joy, it'll restore their sense of God's blessing upon them in the gospel . Such gospel ministry isn't about driving people or giving them every last detail and plan, it's about casting a vision, capturing their imagination and their heart, trusting the Spirit to change people. Such gospel people are refreshing company, and theirs is the kind of ministry you can never have enough of.

Preaching to Yourself (Not really a review of Note to Self)

2011-08-21T23:00:00.000+01:00

This is a cool book. It's RELIT. It's 48 tiny chapters in a pocket size book. I had this planned to be my bathroom book for 48 days. It's aim is to address the question of what it means to preach to yourself. This isn't a review of the book, it's more a thought that sparked from reading it.

PREACHING TO YOURSELF has become popular of late. Mostly I think lifted from Biblical example, mediated by Martyn Lloyd-Jones' exhortation in Spiritual Depression to spend more time talking to yourself than listening to yourself. Which is a great thing. There is a need to address our souls, to speak to our hearts. Joe Thorns book seeks to show HOW to speak to yourself.

The introduction immediately threw me off with it's call to not just preach gospel to ourselves but to preach law and gospel too. There are several evangelical approaches to law, and my disappointment is probably that mine isn't the same as Thorns. My view (Modified Lutheran) shoots for law being Scripture that shows us Christ (though it originally had other purposes for Israel).

Note to Self follows a Reformed (possibly even Lutheran) approach that says we need the law to show us we're sinful before we come to Christ. I say: I need Christ to turn me to Christ. And the books of law can do that as well as the rest of Scripture. I think that's the root of my problem with Note to Self. Thorn is a cool Classic Reformed guy which is fair enough. And from that view of law/gospel this probably an excellent book. More than that he's a brother who can teach me a lot. A lot. I'm not really picking a fight with this book.
It just got me thinking about how to preach to myself. The book is framed as law then gospel, but it felt more like law. Much like many of my encounters with more classic reformed approaches in preaching.
Thorn repeatedly assures me I'm sinful and that change is needed, and even that the hope I need is in an aspect of the gospel. What's happening? I'm being told to believe the gospel, rather than having Christ publicly portrayed to me that I might believe in him. It's one thing to tell me I'm loved, it's another to be apprehended by his love...to be stopped in my tracks as my heart is confronted with the beauty of the Christ. I think the difference is significant.

I hoped Note to Self might be a little sweet 21st Century puritan number... 48 chapters that would preach Christ to my heart, not necessarily hitting my sin head-on, but causing me to embrace Christ again instead of sin because I see Christ so wonderfully. I wanted to taste that honey was sweet rather than be told that it was. I need the Christ, I need to see how he's loved by his Father, and loves and catches me up in his love in the Spirit... Christ is my life not me.

I'm wretched in my dead old self, I know that all too well. When preaching to myself I need Christ. The key is not in learning and remembering, nor the failure in my failing to do that. One look to self with ten looks to Christ. I do not... but Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. The fault may well be in me, but for me this was a book that - to borrow from Antoine de Saint-Expury - taught me about boat building rather than making me dream of the sea.

Contemporary is not Charismatic

2011-08-20T12:16:00.000+01:00

"Guitars and drums are not the presence of God."
Terry Virgo, Together at Westpoint.

We're praying for our vicar to be saved!

2011-08-19T23:31:00.000+01:00

On Friday at Together at Westpoint Terry Virgo told an anecdote of his experience of meeting someone who had been awakened to the grace of God and the work of the Spirit at a major Christian conference. As they thanked Terry for his teaching on this they said, "now we're going home, praying that our vicar will be saved".

Terry's reply was of some bewilderment. Reminding us that "just because it's called St. Something's" doesn't mean it's a church.... and if the leader isn't a Christian then the thing is probably failing some sort of test of being a church, right?

Obviously praying for the vicar to become a Christian is good, but the observation suggests that these newly revived believers need to go and find a church they can thrive in - and from there look to win the world for Christ, even the bits that call themselves churches.

If your "church" doesn't love the gospel then it's not a church right? And a Christian has got to be rooted in a church. We, understandably, develop such strong allegiance to our communities... but there is a world to win for Christ who need to hear the gospel and see real church happening. Sometimes you have to hear the Spirit's stirring and get out of Babylon to go and build the house of God (Ezra 1) - you have to get where God is present.

A Christian leader coming into a religious institution to win it for Christ is probably also not leading a church at first - though it might yet plant a church among the religious. If you're not the leader can you really get very far - and even if you can, don't you need to be part of a church in the meantime? And wouldn't that make the mission more effective? Wouldn't that mean you could stand with others pulling in the same direction - it's fair enough to expect someone who isn't a Christian not to believe in your mission, but when we kid ourselves that the religious are the church don't we betray the gospel, don't we defame Christ?

Do good believers in dead churches just prop up bad institutions? Or might they win them for Christ?
Or, should they get out - plant a new church - and seek to win the religious and the irreligious in their community?
Got me thinking - what do you think?

If you've ever wondered what the church could be, I cannot think of a better book than Terry Virgo's The Spirit-Filled Church (£4.38 at Book Depository)

What makes a leader?

2011-08-19T12:11:00.001+01:00

At the recommendation of David Capener I got hold of a copy of HBR's 10 Must Reads: On Leadership. A collection of papers from the Harvard Business Review. The first chapter is by Daniel Goleman, you can read it online here What makes a leader?.

"Every businessperson knows a story about a highly intelligent, highly skilled executive who was promoted into a leadership position only to fail at the job. And they also know a story about someone with solid-but not extraordinary-intellectual abilities and technical skills who was promoted into a similar position and then soared.Such anecdotes support the widespread belief that identifying individuals with the "right stuff" to be leaders is more art than science. After all, the personal styles of superb leaders vary: some leaders are subdued and analytical; others shout their manifestos from the mountaintops. And just as important, different situations call for different types of leadership. Most mergers need a sensitive negotiator at the helm, whereas many turnarounds require a more forceful authority.I have found, however, that the most effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: they all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence."

What is this Emotional Intelligence?
1. Self-awareness - knowing yourself.
2. Self-regulation - self-control, restraint when things don't go well etc.
3. Motivation - drive to achieve
4. Empathy - ability to understand other people and their feelings
5. Social skill - the ability to win others over and move them.

Which is both interesting and probably quite obvious. I'm wondering how this impacts the work I do. My team's work is two-fold, firstly front-line evangelism with students, and secondly leading leaders into leadership. Encouragingly he says we can grow in these areas. I know I need to, and I want to help my team to do the same themselves, and to serve young leaders in that.My approach to leadership development is seeking to be gospel-shaped, so where does Emotional Intelligence fit into that?

Seems to me that Strong Gospel-Shapedness isn't far off strong Emotional Intelligence? Gospel-shapedness is bigger and broader bit there is certainly major overlap. Those shaped by the gospel are aware of themselves and others, they're people who, being caught up in the love of God, become other-centred. Leading for the good of others and the purposes of the gospel to see the love of God further spread.

Goleman calls it EI but it looks like the fruit of the Spirit... does that mean every Christian could lead? Perhaps! Though perhaps not in every context - motivation to succeed is costly and we all make choices - to favour family or money or power or geography etc. But those becoming like Christ surely become influencers. And that influence isn't ruthless and unpersonal, as with EI it is relational as well as robust. How does a leader with strong EI lead - for the good of others and the work they're involved in... through partnerships and trust and respect, even with love.

It may be that every leader needs emotional intelligence, but of course not everyone with strong emotional intelligence will be a leader. Or that leadership will not be in every context. Sometimes another is leading, but bringing our strengths to that situation will serve that leadership well. Much of what I'm reading in this HBR book is simply helpful wisdom for everyone - worked out and applied to leadership but useful and easily applicable to all kinds of contexts.

Fairy Tales: Eternal hope in a melancholy world

2011-08-18T08:56:00.051+01:00

We don't read fairy tales to escape reality - think CS Lewis, JRR Tolkein or JK Rowling (initals required) - but because they are able to draw us out of self love and cynicism into bigger stories, even while we remain in our small situations. By carrying us into their semi-reality they take us into underlying reality.

Erik Davies observes that Tolkein's stories offer "eternal hope in a melancholy world". Tolkein argues that "people sense that such stories point to some underlying Reality. As we read or watch them, we are being told that the world is certainly filled with danger . . . nonetheless there is a meaning to things, there is a difference between good and evil, and above all there will be a final defeat of evil . . .the gospel story of Jesus is the underlying Reality to which all the stories point. . . it is the true story; it happened".

Don't we long for such stories?
Wherever we find ourselves looking we long for better, for more... what if someone could come and console those hopes with a true story?
Wouldn't you want that?

Not everyone seems to! Some want to grow up and lose the magic. Jenny Bristow, writing with what Peter Leithart might call a contracted soul has no time for fairy tales: These books catapult the reader into a safe moral universe of Good v Evil, uncomplicated by the moral dilemmas of the real world. And it is this that, ultimately, renders them quite banal.

Tim Keller (afterword to his book King's Cross) "Steven Spielberg was refused any Oscars until he stopped making movies with only happy endings, yet his fairy tale-ending movies are his most popular. . . critics observe this and scowl that, of course, "escapist" stories will always be popular".

Personally, I want my boys to grow up with fairy tales, the fictious ones and the one that came true. I'll read Lewis and Tolkein and Potter and The Jesus Storybook Bible with them. I want them to dream and imagine - you can't suppress those things so it'd be better to enflame and encourage them.

In The Return of the King Tolkein has some of his most famous writing (The Fields of Cormallen, Book V, Chapter IV)

Sam lay back, and started with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last has gasped: “Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?”“A great shadow has departed,” said Gandalf, and then he laughed and the sound was like music, or water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days upon days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known. But he himself burst into tears. Then as sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun will shine out the clearer, his tears ceased, and his laughter welled up, and laughing he sprang from his bed.“How do I feel?” he cried. “Well I don’t know how to say it. I feel, I feel” – he waved his arms in the air – “I feel like spring after winter....

A bit like Michael Ward's observation that The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe tells the story of "winter past and guilt forgiven". For some reason, we long for the Spring and Summer... for new life, for longer days and sunnier skies... ours is an inconsolable longing. That frustrating sense of eternity in our hearts that makes us perceive more without being able to get our hands on it ourselves. Which makes us long to climb the ladder without ever reaching the top. We need someone who can satisfy us, one who can fulfill the great stories, a true hero who wins through weakness, a suffering and sacrificial servant... a true and better Frodo, a true and better Aslan, a true and better Harry Potter...

You need the rejoicing King

2011-08-17T08:38:00.007+01:00

Part 3 of 3 of my script from my sermon on Psalm 63: Finding Satisfaction. MP3: Finding Satisfaction - Psalm 63

2. YOU NEED THE REJOICING KING (11)

V11: The beloved king rejoices! This David had appointed priests to “raise sounds of joy”. The King Rejoices in God. And isn’t his joy infectious, you look at his smile and you can’t help but begin to smile… And the point?

Andrew Bonar observed: “when we read this Psalm as spoken of and by Christ, how much is every verse enhanced?"

This is David’s prayer of his desire, but truly it is the prayer of the True David, the True Beloved. Of G reat David’s greater Son: King Jesus. Here him sing this song. Here the voice of the one who has always been satisfied in God – even in the wilderness of his great suffering at the cross. King Jesus rejoices. Hear Jesus’ thirst for God, My God! Jesus’ vision of God! Hear his estimate of God’s loving kindness, for the Son always enjoyed his Father’s steadfast love, from eternity past. Hear his soul satisfied with his Father’s food! His mouth is full of praise! He follows hard after God! The King Rejoices!

In Exodus 28:29 God says the names of the people should be written on the breastplate of The Priest so that he can carry them into the Sanctuary on his heart. Remember, a mere king could not do this. David couldn’t.
But, the Lord Jesus Christ is both KING and PRIEST. And he will carry us to his Father - at whose right hand he sits - carrying us on his heart, on the basis of his blood shed for us.

Horatius Bonar’s hymn says it well:
“Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die,
Another’s life, another’s death – I stake my eternity”

This is good news if you are in the wilderness. Longing for change, this song says: Don’t look within, look to the rejoicing king. See his joy in the Father. See Jesus dancing in the presence of the angels as another person is given him by the Father. See his joy as he draws you to himself. See his delight as he reveals his Father to you. See Jesus happiness as your name is written on his heart. Share in Jesus happiness as he carries you into his relationship with his Father. We don’t have to whip up joy in ourselves, nor just watch his joy from outside the window – he invites us in. Psalm 63 is a call to be carried into the society of the Triune God. To look upon him, away from ourselves, and find our joy and our life in the King’s Life! Taste and see the love of God in Jesus. And now picture the effect of this on the church.

How does this shape us as we pursue the vision God has given us to LOVE, EXPLAIN and INVITE? Consider Marcus Brigstocke. Love. When I read his book I wept – and that’s what I’d want to do if I was sat with him, or the many like him our city – who have suffered loss – in his case his best friend died, who fear being alone, who wish there could be a god but can’t bear the gods they’ve heard of. The same could be said of many in our society, rioters and their victims. People longing for more – not to escape their situation, but to truly live in it. After much listening and weeping I’d want to explain that the god people are searching for, the one all our desires and searching point to is called Jesus.

And then I’d want to invite him into what? To formal miserable religion? No. My God quenches the thirsty as they receive the Son he loves. My God fills the hungry as they feed on him. My God meets your inconsolable longing, not saying save yourself, not saying search inside yourself. But simply: Behold Rejoicing King Jesus! Here is good news: When you don’t desire the LORD, the King does. His joy is open to all – when your heart searches for satisfaction, look to the God of love – look to Jesus who rejoices in God his Father. The story of Jesus is the fairy tale that came true in space and time. The story of Jesus says: you’re not alone. The story of Jesus says that the one we’ve been looking and longing for is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The better story of the gospel

2011-08-16T08:37:00.016+01:00

Part 2 of 3 of my script from my sermon on Psalm 63: Finding Satisfaction. MP3: Finding Satisfaction - Psalm 63

David claims to have seen God in the Sanctuary...BUT… for all that, David hasn’t been in the sanctuary.

David was a King not a Priest. And only Priests could enter. His descendent King Uzziah would try to do both and be struck down. David was thrilled to watch from a distance.
He was thrilled to read the Scriptures - as a king he wrote out his own copy.
He was thrilled to have the Teaching Priests preach the gospel to him – telling of the meaning of the blood, of the God who is with his people. Holding up the God of love before his eyes. Publicly portraying the cross of Christ for his heart to feed up.
He saw the tent from a distance. He saw the priests go in.
And, perhaps, even like Isaiah in the year King Uzziah died, he saw a vision of Jesus at the heart of the sanctuary?

What does David conclude? v3:
“because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you”.
The parched and suffering king has heard the gospel, the love of God has won his heart, and he knows that this is better than life itself. In fact Jesus said that this was the definition of eternal life is to know Jesus and his Father. To be drawn into the love of God. David knew this life.
Summarise the gospel? The love of God, the God of love.

At the cross God’s LOVE sings loudest, of the ardently cherished promise that men should eventually be delivered by an Incarnate God crushing the head of the evil serpent. Of our hero’s victory! David lifts his hands! Praise overflows from his heart. And he grasps for language to express himself. Having spoken of a parched throat, he turns to the music of love – to food.

V5: “fat and rich food”. Food speaks of gospel reality like almost nothing else. The tangible satisfaction of eating food captures what it means to know the LORD. I remember visiting Cadbury’s world in Birmingham – tasting chocolate that had been freshly made. It didn’t matter what else I ate, or how many times I brushed my teeth – for several days the taste was still in my mouth. David chews over his day, v6, meditating in the night, this David has the taste of the love of God on his tongue, salivating and savouring…

The Beloved King finds life, v7, in “the shadow of your wings” – like Ruth finding a home among God’s people under the shadow of Boaz’ wings, the wilderness wanderer knows that the Sanctuary isn’t just shelter from the midday sun, it’s where you find shelter in the ‘better-than-life’ love of God, in the God of love. The love of God is so wonderful you’d think everyone would stand with King David. But, the God of love has enemies.

Enemies of God's love?
V9, there are those who will “go down to the depths of the earth” and be v10, “given over to the sword” and v11 “the mouths of liars will be stopped”. Today they rejoice but their heads will be crushed. David, the man after God’s heart, rejoiced and danced undignified before God. Saul’s daughter watched him and hated him in her heart. She stood against the One God loved. Would you watch people rejoice in God and murmur in your heart? Surely not.

Instead aren’t you drawn into the story of This David – can you imagine what it would be like to share his relationship with the God of love? What if you could see like he sees? What if you could taste what he tastes?

Now, I wonder if you’ve ever thought about the success of Harry Potter. How has Exeter graduate J.K. Rowling attained a fortune of 1 Billion dollars by writing books? Seems to me that people love Harry Potter because Rowling has told a fairy tale. Her stories have captured the imagination. In her stories Harry spends his summers in the smallness of the Dursley’s house waiting for the next story to begin… And so it is for us – we often live small lives but we long for more. With Marcus Brigstocke and Nina Sayers and Harry Potter we long for more. The beauty of fairy tales is not that they’re escapist fantasies – it’s that they draw us out of ourselves, out of self-love, out of cynicism, out of despair and into the hero’s story. Psalm 63 is telling “The Story of The Beloved in the Wilderness”. A fairy tale that came true. A story that invites us not to settle for less but to hunger for God, for the triumph of God, to see the God of love.

You need to see the God of love

2011-08-15T08:37:00.016+01:00

Part 1 of 3 of my script from my sermon on Psalm 63: Finding Satisfaction. MP3: Finding Satisfaction - Psalm 63

“There’s probably no god. I know that because I read it on the side of a bus, and that’s one of the ways you can know things.” So writes Marcus Brigstocke in his new book, God Collar. The book is his entertaining and honest search for god. He repeatedly expresses his inconsolable longing for god to exist, but he cannot bring himself to believe in the god he finds in the bible. His search is strikingly different to the raging voices of the new atheists like Richard Dawkins who fume as they tell us that god is unattractive, unknowable and undesirable. Brigstocke wants to believe, but he hasn’t found what he’s looking for and admits he’s scared of the aloneness of life without God.

What if the beauty, the satisfaction and the passion he seeks could be found? What about you? Do you – like so many, like Marcus Brigstocke yearn for more – for peace, for hope, for a better world?

Whats your your response to the riots? As we talked about it we reflected on how we feel it shouldn’t be this way – we expect better – we want a better world – a world where such things don’t happen. Without the actions and causes and consequences. And it’s curious that this is a desire we have – why should we hope for that? And might that desire lead us to cry to God? I remember first doing that as a teenager, longing for more, for God even. And yet at the time my cries found nothing but the ceiling. That searching and desiring is good, and we can bring it with us to God’s word.

Hear him now in Psalm 63: In this Psalm, this song, we see King David, driven into the wilderness by his enemies – crying to his God – seeing something that changes everything – and then rejoicing in his God, whilst his enemies are crushed. It’s the song of an oppressed hero rising to victory. But how?

1. YOU NEED TO SEE THE GOD OF LOVE… (1-10)
If we cast ourselves quickly as the hero of this song we may find ourselves in despair – who has such deep desire and joy? Let us eavesdrop on his prayer. Don’t miss the introduction: V1: “A song of David, the King, in the wilderness.”

“Of David” –Who is David? Israel’s great king – whose name “David” means BELOVED. He is a vivid picture of the Long Expected Christ – the One who always enjoyed a Heart-to-Heart relationship with the Father, always knowing the Father’s love.

“In the wilderness.” Biblically the wilderness is land outside the vitality of Eden, the place of 40 years of trials for Israel between Slavery and the land flowing with milk and honey. The wilderness is where John the Baptist came calling people to turn back to God. And in Hosea 2:14 the LORD allured his people in the wilderness. A harsh and afflicting place, a place to seek and find redemption. In Psalm 63. David suffers. The One God Loves is in the wilderness. That helps us see that outward suffering doesn’t mean God is against us. If your life feels like the wilderness that doesn’t mean God doesn’t love you. Similarly don’t mistake outward prosperity with God’s approval of you. For David and for Jesus – those God loves do suffer. “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so – and because he is with me in my suffering”.

Let’s listen in to the Beloved in his suffering: v1, he turns to God. What does he pray? He calls to “God, MY God”. This is his personal, sincere, earnest cry – his cry may become ours, but firstly it is his. V1: “my soul thirsts”. The soul is throaty. It’s about desires. This beloved in the wilderness is desperately thirsty, parched not for water but for God. This David is so different from our society. We love to say “I need nothing” but he is desirous and needy. He has an inconsolable longing for “My God”. We put on a brave face but we are needy: hungry, curious and desirous and dependent. Men and women in the past have searched for continents and begun to explore space, and today we have the internet. We search here and there. We’re Google-hearted people! We don’t always know what we’re looking for but we still search, often settling for less than really satisfies.

As CS Lewis reflected we’re like we’re children who settle for mudpies in the backgarden instead of sandcastles at the beach. Our oldest loves the beach – I pray his desire is retained, enflamed and fulfilled in a thirsting after God. What of you? Do you share this David’s longings? Are you always searching and not finding? Or are you too easily pleased? Or just one extreme to the other…

In the film Black Swan, Natalie Portman gives an Oscar winning performance as Nina Sayers – her life is a picture of innocence, she’s a ballet dancer, living with her mother surrounded by cuddly toys. But she’s pushed to achieve more – to find passion. She searches for the hero inside herself, becoming insanely introspective, destructively. This song leads us to consider our hearts but for every look at self its good to take ten elsewhere.. See where David looks. David doesn’t look inside.

He, v2 “looked upon God in the Sanctuary” At the Tabernacle – the tent where God dwelled with his people. David’s son replaced the Tent with The Temple. But no tent or temple can contain the Triune God – but God made it his meeting place with his people – at the centre of the camp: He was there. Access was limited but they were thrilled to even be near by. Israel said to people they met: “Come with us, we’ll do you good because to our amazement and astonishment Jesus is with us.” Us too! David says V2: he has looked upon the LORD in the sanctuary.

What did he see? V2 He beheld the LORD’s Power and glory. What did he see? Don’t think abstract light and absolute power. A nuclear bomb going off? No. This is the LORD who is relentlessly relational. We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and we hear of the gospel of the glory of God. The power and glory of God are seen in the death and resurrection of the Christ. It’s why the sanctuary was blood splattered. To see it was to have stirred in your heart the long cherished hope of the world.

Psalm 63: Finding Satisfaction

2011-08-14T14:21:00.009+01:00

This morning I preached Psalm 63 at our church. I decided to preach without notes so the mp3 isn't quite the same as the script I wrote out.
I missed some bits, rambled a bit, gained some bits, lost some of my crafted language, plus our 10 week old screamed over a few bits, but I think going without notes gave me much more connection with people and freedom in preaching.
It was also great to see the Spirit preach the message in our worship time, through readings, prayers and a prophetic song. Very encouraging.

~~MP3 from my iPod: Finding Satisfaction - Psalm 63 (42mins)~~UPDATE: Better recording: Finding Satisfaction - Psalm 63

I'll blog the script over the next three days.

Everyone is Welcome

2011-08-13T09:44:00.004+01:00

Have a watch of Bill Hybels wonderfully generous response to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultze' withdrawal from speaking at his Leadership Summit.Book: In dealing with his friend, Hybels is gracious - letting him out of a commitment, encouraging people to back his company and suggesting that they send some encouraging emails to drown out the vitriol. To his 'opponents' Hybels appeals for understanding, dialogue, reconciliation - or at least respect, and states that where a closed door has been perceived really it is open. His appeal for people to build relationship rather than make assumptions about others is very helpful too.And he recommends Onward by Howard Schultz. One for my wishlist.

Changing the expression of Christianity: A Charismatic History of the Church

2011-08-12T12:52:00.009+01:00

Phil Moore observes that the gospel progresses with signs and wonders in his survey of church history beginning in Acts. Phil Moore on the Demonstration of the Spirit's Power - Training Track at Together on a Mission 2011. Moore:

"church history was always meant to be like something out of Acts"

Is preaching the gospel enough? Or, should we expect the preaching of the gospel to be accompanied with power? Moore argues that the successful advance of the gospel comes through confrontation between the Triune God and demons and idols, rather than a softly softly approach. Evil definitively overthrown by the gospel. Where are these confrontations today?

He says, the church flounders when the power of God is abandoned, to political power and human activity - whether in the days of Constantine or the Reformation etc. He documents Augustine's late-in-life conversion to belief in healing (documented in City of God ch22.8). Moore asks, could it be that the reformation lacked traction because it was not accompanied with signs and wonders? even though some like Martin Luther believed in healing, it was not the norm or emphasis of the reformation...

"If the physicians are at a loss to find a remedy, you may be sure that it is not a case of ordinary melancholy. It must, rather, be an affliction that comes from the devil, and must be counteracted by the power of Christ and with the prayer of faith. This is what we do, and what we have been accustomed to do, for a cabinetmaker here was similarly afflicted with madness and we cured him by prayer in Christ’s name."

Moore: "to not believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit today is to be in the minority today" (64mins). Moore calls for us to face our Christoph Blumhart moment - a healing evangelist - who took the gospel forward with the Spirit's power but then retracted as he was asked to stop. Where might we go? Where might God want to move? What kind of prophetic vision might he have for us? Who might he heal? How might he show that idols are powerless and Christ is true.

Phil is a pastor, gifted evangelist and prolifically producing Bible commentaries. You can catch more of him here: Phil Moore: Gospel-Centred Preaching at Together on a Mission 2011. A seminar in which he shows we must always be preaching the gospel, for all people. Full of practical wisdom for how to keep the gospel at the heart of church life.

Slaying dragons: Did Christianity copy Egyptian mythology?

2011-08-05T08:32:00.006+01:00

Earlier this year I spoke at an evangelistic event at Bath Spa University. A student stood up in the Q&A and read from a piece of paper a description of something that sounded very like Christianity before asking me, what do I make of that. I bounced the question back to him before he revealed that it was a description of an Egyptian religion, lifted it transpires from the writings of retired Professor Richard Dawkins.

The other day I came across a 150 year old book: William Haslam - The Cross and the Serpent via on Acts 15:21 - Moses preached in ancient times. Haslam studies the idea of the serpent (to be crushed according to Genesis 3) and the cross in the mythologies of the ancient world. He considers the presence of these kind of stories and indeed prophecy of the cross to be entirely expected in ancient cultures - the LORD revealed and his people spread through the world carrying the story.

Of the Cross, Haslam writes: "He was consigned to the ignominous Cross; and there with the outstretched arms of ancient prophecy, He was lifted up to draw all men to Him! to complete the work of man's redemption! He was bruised in the heel, but He bruised the serpent's head; he triumphed over death, and ascended to his throne in heaven." p262

He examines the mythologies of Egypt and Scandinavia and Greece, India and China and so on. Noticing - "the mysteries of the Gospel revelation, hidden in their own mythology, and in their own gods! how enticing and convincing would be the proof of this to their heart" p177 such that "many who waited patiently for the fulfilment rejoiced greatly when it was announced to them, with conviction, that the long-cherished hope of heathendom was fulfilled, and that the cross was triumphant in fulfillment, as it had long been in prophecy" p180-1

Reflecting on Paul's preaching in Athens: "What can we imagine would be more successful in teaching the heathen the nature of God, than to lead them from their own tenets in all the warm ardour of their heart beyond them to a purer belief? What text more engaging for inculcating the doctrine of the Trinity, than the heathen's triad, consisting of a ruling father, and incarnate though ascended and triumphant son, and a pervading spirit? What process of reasoning will be more conclusive as to the fallen state, and the necessity of expiation, than the heathen's ceremonies of sacrifice? Their assertion of the necessity of human sacrifice, and their sacrifice of their deity, can easily be explained to them: the conquest of the dragon by the incarnate deity, the efficacy of water and the sign of the Cross are so many admitted truths. All these may be selected, or they are not so much overlaid with subsequent superstitions as not to be easily selected, and set before the votaries of the serpent in their proper order. Their eyes have long been holden so that they have been unable to see; but they may be opened by the power of Him who has vanquished the serpent. Will not their heart burn within them at such tidings? Will not the Holy Spirit, who ever loves to guide the humble-minded to the truth, while that truth is so near them, while the appointed messengers of truth are praying and striving for success in their ministry, will not that Holy Spirit guide to all truth those who can devote their bodies and their lives for the love of God whom they worship; who can conquer their infirm rebellious heart within them, and subdue their nature so as to make it subservient to the dictates and precepts of religion?" p270-1

We're quick to speak of the uniqueness of Christianity, unlike any other mythology/story. Yet Haslam would suggest another tack. Christianity is the story we've been waiting for. It is, in Tolkein/Lewis/Keller terms, the fairy tale that became true. So Tolkein (On Fairy Stories): "It is not difficult to imagine the peculiar excitement and joy that one would feel, if any specially beautiful fairy-story were found to be “primarily” true, its narrative to be history, without thereby necessarily losing the mythical or allegorical significance that it had possessed. It is not difficult, for one is not called upon to try and conceive anything of a quality unknown. The joy would have exactly the same quality, if not the same degree, as the joy which the “turn” in a fairy-story gives: such joy has the very taste of primary truth. (Otherwise its name would not be joy.) It looks forward (or backward: the direction in this regard is unimportant) to the Great Eucatastrophe. The Christian joy, the Gloria, is of the same kind; but it is preeminently (infinitely, if our capacity were not finite) high and joyous.But this story is supreme; and it is true. Art has been verified."

The question I was asked was not easy to respond to, but it was a great opportunity - and should it arise again I hope I'll bring more of this kind of thinking into the conversation. I got as far then as Israelites having been in Egypt so of course the Christian hope was known there. But we can say much more.

The embedding of gospel hope in cultures around the world surely means that like Tim Keller we will set out not just to challenge the culture but to console it - to identify with the world and the story it's longing for - showing that in the cross of Christ we find fulfilled, as Haslam observes: "the ardently cherished promise that men should eventually be delivered by an Incarnate God from the cruel bondage of the evil serpent" p130.

The prophetic vision for the UCCF and IFES

2011-08-03T14:26:00.008+01:00

Norman Grubb (1895-1993):

"Before I left, near the end of that term, the Spirit distinctly came on me to go and speak in no uncertain terms to all I knew personally who had not accepted Christ, or who at least showed no sign of spiritual life - men whom I never expected to see again in this life. I went and pulled no punches, and a number came out for Christ, about sixteen of them. This caused a stir like a touch of revival and the C.I.C.C.U. men asked me to come and tell them about it. As I did so, it came like a vision to me that every university and college in Britain and the world should have its evangelical and witnessing union, as we had. So I suggested to two of my friends that we take a hall in London and invite some from Oxford and London and other colleges, and hold an intervarsity conference. About sixty of us attended. Little did I then realise that this was the start of what has since grown to become the world-wide InterVarsity Fellowship, now in hundreds and probably thousands of colleges in all nations, developed under the dedicated leadership of Douglas Johnson and Oliver Barclay in Britain, Howard Guinness in Canada and Australia, and Stacey Woods in the U.S.A. and on through the world."

From Norman Grubb's book - YES I AM which is an exploration of the reality of Romans 6-8 and Galatians 2:20, of the baptism of the Spirit and the inner reality of Union with Christ which was the burden of his teaching. Very tasty stuff... and something that has been on my heart for some time - at the heart of why I love to read Galatians with my team and with the students we serve.... at the heart of equipping students with the gospel too that we would know who we are in Christ....

"So don’t try any imaginings on this level, or try to make yourself think you have it. Don’t try anything, for once again that is this old "self-effort stuff" we have died to. No, I keep doing my part, which is constantly affirming that what the Scriptures have said about my union with Christ is fact. I have been and am crucified with Him.... I did not lightly move into my part of the believing. After five night-hours of battling around with it (so little did I understand the ease of faith in those days), I did finally put my finger on Galatians 2:20, or at least on the first phrase of it, and said right out, "I am crucified with Christ." Then I added a little bit of confessing with my mouth, which Paul said confirms the inner believing: I took a post card, drew a tombstone, and wrote, "Here lies N.P.G., crucified with Christ." ...did I feel different or know anything different? No. ...But for me, perhaps because I was more a "thinker-through" of a thing, and a slower believer, it wasn’t until two years later that the inner light was turned on in my consciousness... not until I was home on furlough, and speaking with Mrs. Penn-Lewis, a woman of God whose writings had first helped me into this understanding of Romans 6-8 and Galatians 2:20, was this light inwardly turned on in me... she answered by what she called her "baptism in the Spirit" - not by some outer sign, but by an inner revelation of Him in her, so great that, as she spoke that day to a group of young women, the Holy Spirit brought them all down on their faces to the ground. But the point to me was not her story but that as she spoke, I knew. How? I don’t know. But I knew, and that was a great number of years ago. And I still know. Just as certainly and clearly as I knew by the inner witness on the day I came to Christ that I was born again. That’s how I know; and you know, or will know in God’s time. He confirms what we have affirmed. That’s all. But I do know that as He thus became inwardly real to me..."

Grubb studied at Cambridge University but dropped out to work with WEC with his father-in-law CT Studd in Africa. Wikipedia describes him as having been a missionary statesman - the kind of title also given to the late Nigel Lee of OMF/UCCF.

I'd heard the above Grubb quote before (it's a defining moment for us in UCCF!) but wasn't aware of much else about him. You can find out a lot more at NormanGrubb.com or just consider a little of his legacy: IFES' latest World Assembly just took place in Poland, gathering students and staff from 160 nations.

Thankful at the end of the year

2011-07-29T08:00:00.014+01:00

It's the end of the 2010/11 academic year for me. When I return to work in three weeks it'll be 2011/12 and the start of my eleventh season working with UCCF... how did that happen!

I'm thankful for the last year in so many ways.

Outside of 'work' I'm thankful for my Saviour who has kept me and shown me fresh depths of his love for me.
I'm thankful for the family our local church and the mission that he's called us into in our city. I'm thankful for our friends in the church, and outside of the church.
I'm thankful for my family. A year in which our first son has learned to talk and our second son has been born.
Considering the work I've been doing with UCCF, the first sphere of my work is with the South West team:

I'm thankful for Cat who (re)joined us last August after a year of student mission in Peru. Her first year has been outstanding, she's a deeply theological, gifted apologist whose work I'm thrilled with, and whose heart for the Lord is great to see.
I'm thankful for Hannah and Jim's final years on the team. They've been wonderful partners in the gospel, trusted friends who haven't been afraid to challenge me. I'm going to miss working with them, but excited for their next steps in God's work.
I'm thankful for Jo and Brian who have both had strong second years.
Jo is brilliantly relational, with a teachable heart and a great appetite for the gospel in the Scriptures.
Brian is a thoughtful and reliable minister of the word who has stepped up to the plate this year, preached Christ and seen fruitfulness in his two years in Exeter.
I love that I've had the opportunity to work with these five gospel ministers, and for the way that Christ is winning their hearts day by day. I'm thankful for our adventures together with Richard Sibbes, and in the pages of Genesis and Exodus. I love their diligence with God's word and God's people. They would probably hate that I'm writing about them here, but I want to honour them.
I'm also thankful for the eight Relay interns we were entrusted with this year. The quality of their faith impresses me, combined with the mentoring of the five staff has resulted in progress and joy.
I'm thankful that though we've had hard times to face, and still do, God is still God and the gospel is still true.
I'm thankful for the wider ministry of the UCCF family that I've been privileged to be part of - for the churches who partner with us, for the ministry of greats like John Stott who have shaped us. I'm thankful for those who have come alongside us to serve us this year.
I'm thankful for those who have given sacrificially so we can be set apart for the church to do this work.
And I'm thankful for those who pray.
I'm thankful for those who've given so I could attend Newfrontiers Leadership Training this year.

And in the work we're sent to in the South West:

I'm thankful for the students in the South West who have followed Jesus and made him known to those around them. I'm thankful for the way they've shared their lives with other students, eating and drinking with them, and opening up God's word with them.
I'm thankful for the students I've worked with outside the South West this year in Cardiff, Oxford and at the Forum conference - for their responsiveness to Christ. I'm thankful for our fourth Transformission conference, for Mike Reeves' teaching and for those who came and met with Christ.
I'm also thankful for the 30+ churches who partner with us in the South West, who are our church families and who send us and pray for us. I pray we've done a little to see those churches built up in strength and number through our mission this year. I'm thankful for the encouraging meetings I've with the men and women who lead churches in the region.
I'm thankful for Alex Banfield Hicks, John and Sue Hosier, Jim Walford, Pete Greasley, Mike Kendall, Ron Frost and Peter Mead for teaching us God's word. And in advance for the men and women who have agreed to serve us next year.

I'm thankful to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit whose relentlessly relational mission has continued among us in the last year. And I thirst for more of our God and his mission in 2011/12.

People are bruised reeds, please don't break us

2011-07-28T12:03:00.007+01:00

AN EXAMPLE: BIBLICAL MASCULINITY
I've found myself in a twitter conversation about a certain American pastor who protests he's not a legalist but would consider my application of 1 Timothy 5's exhortation that men should provide for their family to make me "worse than an unbeliever".

How so? I've pursued a call to ministry with a mission agency who for better or for worse can't fund me to the extent that I can live in my part of the UK on a single salary... at least not if I want to live somewhere convenient to the ministry and if I want to be responsible for the future by having a mortgage and if I want to follow the call to increase and multiply (i.e. be a Dad). I've watched this pastor on video say he'd subject me to church discipline for leading my family in such a way that my wife needs to work part-time (about 2.5 days a week). It seems he'd kick me out of the church...

I'm prepared to accept that I've made some bad calls along the way though I've sought to be wise and careful financially, and I could just be trying to justify my own failings and sin. I accept that.

And actually, I don't disagree with the principle - I am responsible for my family. 100% agreed. My question is, is this the only way this can look? Even in this pastors own context? Is everything primary? This pastors vision of the godly life seems to be that a man should move out of home, buy a house, marry, have kids and do it all on one income. It's a very western, middle-class, middle-income view of life. In some cultures we'd be bringing our family up in my parents home with the advantages of the care of parents and grandparents... would that be ungodly?

It's hard to disagree when it's done in the name of godliness (charismatics play the same card when they wont let prophecy be tested!)... day care becomes evil... Flee! The world will ruin us and so on... Homeschooling becomes salvation. And women stay in the kitchen, even though the much idealised Proverbs 31 woman was evidently a successful business woman.

THE ISSUE: CHURCH DISCIPLINE AND APPLICATION OF THE GOSPEL

That's all meant by way of illustration. I've taken my family where I've taken us and I make no claim to have got that 100% right at every stage. But, my thought here isn't really about that issue.

Its more about the rediscovery of church discipline and the way it seems to be brandished and threatened against people rather than pursued with gentleness for peoples good. And gentle application of the gospel seems to me to mean there isn't one law for everyone, but the transforming work of the Spirit degree by degree.

My question - how far should application of the gospel go? How far should a pastor seek to authoritatively bind the consciences of his congregation (and his own!), and to what extend should he just be holding up the worth of Christ and allowing freedom of conscience and freedom of the Holy Spirit?

At one extreme - "if you're not a home-owning single-income Dad you're worse than an unbeliever" at the other (as I heard on an mp3 from my own church family recently as they interacted with another American leader) - "It's not my business whether one of my congregation drives a Hummer or a Prius". I've had similar conversations with pastors who've objected to students leading Christian Unions... because there isn't an Elder present... neither is there when I'm witnessing to my neighbour. Leaders have many opportunities to form their people, winning hearts to Christ week by week, but that doesn't mean they micro-manage the lives of their congretations.... and boot them out if lives don't fit their plan.

Granted sometimes threats and warnings are helpful (usually for the most pious), in my experience people mostly need someone to bind up their brokenness, to comfort them, and to walk with them. There are plenty of bruised reeds in the church. I feel bad enough about some of the choices we have to make in this broken world without someone throwing guilt on to me! There are responsibilities on church leaders that weigh heavily on them, and I wouldn't want to advocate a total-hands-off approach. I want to care for Christians - my heart is that of a pastor-teacher - but I don't want to turn into a heavy-shepherding micro-manager or a biting wolf. I'm not saying that pastor is doing this, but I could imagine him being imitated unhelpfully.

I know I have a bent towards the big picture rather than the detail and I'm really not saying that rigorous application of the gospel isn't required - it is, and every detail of life matters... but does it look the same for everyone in every culture? We're not all called to the same job, same income, same location, same standard of living etc. A pure church is a great vision - but that's not done with an iron fist. No church is pure yet. And progress and joy in the faith come as everyone plays their part, not highlighting one another's failings but holding out the gospel, so that by the Spirit the eyes of our hearts might look again to Christ.

And in all this I'm thankful that I live in the presence of one who is My Provider, the true provider for my family, who is more than able to meet my every need, wretched as I am, and carry me home.

Because our dreams are destroying us

2011-07-25T10:01:00.004+01:00

I love films and novels. I love the way someone can tell a story and enable you to see things differently - to step into a semi-reality to see where dreams and desires lead. This could be a self-loving escapism (and may often be that) but its equally capable of enriching life, casting fresh light upon my questions and putting beauty into the monotony of life. Pointers to what life could be...

We watched three films recently.

The Adjustment Bureau follows the life of David Norris, a remarkable young politician faced with a Presidential future and the opportunities of true love. He is a man with a void in his heart, can he have the politics and love, or if he finds satisfaction in one will it ruin him in the other... and which would be more significant.

The DVD box says it's Bourne meets Inception. It's a bit sci-fi (based on a Philip K. Dick short) which reminded me of Vanilla Sky / Open your eyes at times and it stars Matt Damon, but really it's a story about love and the pursuit of desire.

It'd tempting with this film to ask if the Adjustment Bureau officers are a picture of a god who can adjust our lives... seems to me that the film isn't really about that, but more whether we're free people - are we driven by rational choices our bound to our hearts desires?

And what if "I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy..."?

The Lovely Bones is based on the novel of the same name. The novel is brilliant, and, for me, Peter Jackson's film didn't quite match it though the cinematography was beautiful and I can't imagine it having done any better. The descriptive power of written fiction doesn't always translate, a picture might tell a thousand words, but sometimes a thousand words are needed. Fourteen year old Susie Salmon is murdered and we see how this effects her family and friends, while the killer lurks nearby. Her opportunities to live are taken and it's not just her life that is taken.

Saoirse Ronan's portrayal of innocence is as fascinating as Stanley Tucci's creepy George Harvey (reminiscent of Robin Williams in One Hour Photo). Our stories have heroes and villains, battling against one another as we yearn for a happy ending. We have dark stories in this dark world but we long for comedy.

Black Swan is a weird film. Not everyone would 'enjoy' this film - you need to be able to cope with some strong content and some strangeness - but if you can it's brilliant.
Darren Aronofsky makes odd and harrowing films (his previous was The Wrestler). Nina is a pure dancer, living with her mother amongst her cuddly toys. Though an adult she's still a child. And then she's pushed to find a darkside, to achieve dancing perfection by not just being pure but being passionate. The film explores the way she pursues this - driven into herself, and pushed along by those around her.

Tony Watkins' review cites Tim Keller: "So many sacrifice everything to the god of success. In ancient times, idol deities were bloodthirsty and hard to appease. They still are." - an observation that casts light on the story of David Norris and Nina Sayers, of those left behind by Susie Salmon.

There is a numbness to life and trying to break out of it ourselves, to feel something. Our inconsolable longing has the potential to break and even destroy us, yet we dream of life beyond the life we're used to. We all make our choices. Perhaps you could be a CEO but you might favour your family over endless hours. Footballer Oliver Gill was Manchester United's reserve player of the year but he's abandoned that to study at Durham University. Sometimes our choices enlarge us and sometimes they're choices that seems to lead us to live less. Sometimes has to die for something else to live. The seed has to fall to the ground. The Book of Ecclesiastes famously says that Eternity is written on our hearts, which is great frustration - smaller hearts could be satisfied but we're left to fall.

The Beloved Son

2011-07-23T09:23:00.006+01:00

Last week I read Trevor Burke's book Sonship. I loved these quotes he cites:

"The greatest unkindness you can do to [the Father] is not to believe that he loves you" John Owen.

"It pleased [the Father] to enfold us in the eternal family... it thrilled his heart" Mark Stibbe.

My review will of Sonship will be posted at Together for Adoption on Tuesday. Burke uses a moving story to show the importance of sonship in his book, and Student Alpha have made this animation of the story:

My Beloved Son from Holy Trinity Brompton on Vimeo.

The Vengeful God of the Bible

2011-07-22T21:10:00.007+01:00

Owen Brown features in the BBC Wales Today talking sense after a vicar exhibited the Bible verses he thinks show how nasty god is and then burned the remnants of his cuttings. You can watch it on iPlayer BBC Wales News from about 1min50 into the programme, for five minutes, available until 7pm on Saturday.

The Reverend Geraint op Iorwerth is free like the rest of us to take offense at the Bible - better than apathy! Strangely the Bible's own offense at the Old Testament is the extreme extent of the LORD's love for his people....

And I don't really mind the Rev cutting up a Bible - good to engage with it, though cutting up any book feels sacrilegious! - it's great to engage with the text, I read mine with a pen in hand.

The problem is that when you play pick n mix with the Bible you become god, you stop letting god speaking and just define you own deity, dressed up in Bible language. It's the advantage of churches preaching it page by page, means they can't dodge the harder bits, or over focus on the preachers favourite bits.

As it happens, I met with Owen earlier today for a tour of his 66 exhibition that's at the Norwegian Church Arts Centre in Cardiff Bay until Saturday 23rd July. It's a great photographic exploration of the Bible to mark 400 years since the King James Bible was published. I love his vision for arts and for the Bible.

Owen's challenge is for us to read afresh - to not just take others opinion but to read it for ourselves. But doing that means you have to read the verses the Welsh vicar doesn't like as well as the other verses... to take the whole and see what is said.

How do you hold things together?

Big Towers and Big Names.

2011-07-21T22:59:00.002+01:00

God said multiply and fill the earth. Humanity multiplied, and tried to stand together. Standing together is fun because when you're big you can do a lot, you're safer and stronger and more unified. You can maintain common language and avoid trouble. You can make a name for yourself. You can build a big tower and a big reputation.

God said scatter. He came down and scattered them. He is always coming out of himself to us and sending us out of ourselves beyond ourselves to the ends of the earth. To enter into his spreading goodness and so go.

Diversity. Going brings diversity. God instigated diversity of language but this could/should have happened anyway as humanity scattered, and will seemingly be preserved/redeemed in the new creation. New societies develop new dialects and angles and approaches. Part of the glory of the new world is it's diversity. Diversity of culture, language, personality, passions, tempraments, skills, knowledge, giftings and strengths - and perhaps even some degree of theological diversity too!

Obscurity. Going spreads you out. You might eventually build megachurches by going but there's a big world to go to so the norm is likely to be smaller scale and obscurity. Big conferences don't tend to give the stage to small church pastors. Going and spreading brings obscurity. Like the son of God who came out from the Father, and turned up in the obscure villages of Palestine. There are known churches and there's not necessarily anything wrong with having a name (it's ok that people can refer to Mars Hill and John Piper and All Souls and CCK etc.), but a people on the move tend not to have a name. What would there be to name? And any name they have just becomes a label for relationships, which are ever evolving, being built together and torn apart. That kind of name can be big - because it's about widespread influence among ever spreading people - that kind of name is always raising up others and as it produces fruitfulness becomes in effect increasingly obscure, widely known but not always known.

Momentum. Like our God we're meant for going. And you can go by staying as long as you keep on going where you're staying. People have called the Triune society a dance, full of movement, toward one another and out from self, always self-giving and other-centred, not staring in the mirror but moving towards others.

I was reading Genesis 11 today.

Of raising sounds of joy

2011-07-16T20:44:00.008+01:00

Charismatics Christians love to sing. As we educate our son about church it's about Jesus and about singing to Jesus. We read The Jesus Storybook Bible and we pray - and we sing. Maybe we're a bad stereotype but Jesus makes me feel like singing. Perhaps it's not a charismatic thing... maybe it's just a Christian thing!

In 1 Chronicles 15 David appoints a group of Levites to be musicians for the people. They are appoint to "raise sounds of joy" (v16). What a great job to have - one many musicians will take up as churches gather. The worship of God's people was not sedate and stoic, sounds of joy were raised. With the richest of scriptural lyrics, let joyful melodies stir joy in people's hearts.

As David sings in chapter 16 that the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice (v10),the LORD's presence is a place of joy. I don't think we can pass off an absence of joy as 'British reserve' - the majority of the people in the 5000-strong crowd at the Thursday night prayer meeting at the Newfrontiers Leaders Conference are British, and they're not all confident or extroverted, but it's the biggest joyfilled occasion I've ever found myself in.

At the end of the chapter David himself is involved in exhuberant joyful worship before the Lord. The beloved dances before the LORD. The daughter of the king who broke faith (Saul) despises him in her heart for this (v29).

There are always two families interacting in the Bible, the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. The ungodly line are always striking at the heal of the godly, despising them... but their heads will be crushed for those who seek the LORD will find life and joy and victory. The LORD orders that his annointed overcome (16:22) - then even the trees rejoice, all creation will raise up sounds of joy. We either despise that, or find our feet starting to tap and our heart sparking to life as we see the beloved one rejoicing.

I found myself rejoicing last week to sing a new song... the LORD's annointed has overcome through his death and resurrection - rejoice in the undefeated man... combing rich theology and terrace-passion: Watch a Twitter-Video, Simon Brading leading:

"Who are ya, who are ya, O death has lost its sting, who are ya, you're not singing anymore. The enemy has been overthrown, Jesus high and lifted up on the cross... My God overcame, my God defeated Satan, My God will never be held down... My God, you are Christus Victor, the Undefeated Man"

The true Beloved rejoices in the presence of his Father, and carries us into the dancing, raising us up into his joy. Come to the banquet, come to the celebration, join the singing and dancing of Jesus in the presence of his Father in the fulness of the Holy Spirit.... As Tom Wright puts it in his excellent book Surprised by Hope: "God is God, Jesus is Lord, the powers of evil have been defeated & God's new world has begun"Why wouldn't we raise a sound of joy? The gospel calls for a joyful song from all who will receive this best of news.

Nigel Lee Archive at Living Leadership

2011-07-14T16:00:00.004+01:00

Living Leadership is building an online archive of the preaching of the late Nigel Lee (1946-2006). They say:

"he left very little by way of writing, he was a preeminent missionary statesman of the latter half of the 20th century and a prince among Bible teachers. His legacy is in the transformed lives of countless individuals around the world, and a huge number of evangelists and preachers whom he befriended, encouraged, mentored and passed the torch to."

Nigel worked with OM and with UCCF and I had the honour of working on a CU mission with him at Reading in 2000/1. I last heard him preach at our 2003 student leaders conference, in my first year on our staff team. Living Leadership have uploaded over thirty sermons uploaded thus far with more to come. In his obituary for Nigel Living Leadership director Marcus Honeysett noted:

"When Nigel Lee first discovered he had life-threatening cancer he said to a friend ‘this is when people get to see if I really believe all I’ve been preaching about all these years.’ We have. He did. And now he is with the Lord in the glory of eternity and the famous Lee smile is broader than ever."

John Risbridger says: "Nigel Lee (my former boss in UCCF) inspired me to try and preach in a way that connects with people and communicates passion for God." Go enjoy the Nigel Lee archive.

The loved are free to love

2011-07-11T10:04:00.004+01:00

There's nothing macho about Christianity. Our Head (Christ) was the humble king who gave himself up to death for us. Nothing strong about that. Nothing self-loving and self-protecting and self-advancing about that. Christianity is for losers. It's good news for losers.

When we speak of Christ as Head over all we surely exalt his love and humility rather than his brute force power and dominating sovereignty. Anyone can follow one who wields power - and look good for doing so - but it takes a different Spirit to follow one who is all love, who lays himself down, whose strengths is manifest in weakness. One who does not seize greatness but receives it as his Father raises him up above all else.

Hosea 1:11 sums up the gospel as concerning the appointment of Christ as Head, as the true husband who gives himself for a desperately unfaithful whore of a wife. The image isn't flattering - we're the whore. But the image is beautiful - in the place of abuse by others and self-inflicted abuse, she is now the subject of his great love. At cost and humiliation to himself he take her to be his own, to have and to hold, to give himself to. What is this Head like? Burroughs reflects:

"They shall 'appoint themselves one Head' not force Christ upon others by fire and sword. Heretics are to be burnt with fire, says Luther; but with what fire? the fire of charity (love)."

Nothing forceful, nothing cold and nothing abusive here. Where Christ is Head, the body loves because it is so astonishingly loved. There ought to be none as loving as one loved by Christ, for there is none so loved as one loved by Christ. Dev writes On freedom and slavery in Galatians

"The true son rests solely in the love of God shown in the cross of Christ – He needs no other affirmation, encouragement or reassurance. The Spirit of God is the one that constantly pours that love fresh into our hearts. If we are true sons, like Paul, we can become true fathers to others – to beget others through the same Spirit and not through the flesh. If we are insecure, then all our disciple-making will only bind others to ourselves, to boost out own standing with men and God – while actually making others slaves to the same insecurity. We will insist on certain practices and systems that we have invented for others to follow in as well. Once the Son sets us free, we are free indeed – people are allowed to express the one faith differently, in a way that harmonizes together – that the world may know we are a liberated people – for the flesh has no hold on how we view one another. We are a crucified people, through the cross of Christ. "

The loved are free, sons who can become fathers. Life givers to others, not manipulator and but liberators. A peculiar people, who follow Christ their Head and so learn to love like he loved and loves.

"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD." (Song 8:6)

The Prophet and The Whore and the Biblical kind of Headship

2011-07-07T19:59:00.008+01:00

Sovereignty has its appeal. If someone or something is head over us then we’re not cut adrift. How about the LORD as your head?
Christ the head of the church? Husband the head of his wife?
Longing for that?
Marcus Brigstocke, cut adrift into agnosticism by the death of a friend and destabilized by the rantings of Richard Dawkins longs to believe in god, any god but the god of the Bible – he says. Many consider the god of the Bible is like a phone-hacking, teeth-drilling, expense-fiddling, investment banker who is out to ruin your life.

Yet Bible implies headship is something good, attractive and something to hope for.
Somewhere someone has misread the script. Here's gospel hope:

"they shall appoint for themselves one head" (Hosea 1:11)

Rewind. The Prophet Hosea is give a call that makes Jonah’s call to Nineveh seem one you’d jump at. The prophet Jonah took extreme action to avoid his call to take a message of grace to a people who would receive it, wanting not to have such villains saved. What’s the call on Hosea?

Hosea Chapter 1. Hosea is to marry a whore. Many commentators (even Burroughs) baulk at this and say it’s just a vision or a picture. Too much to say a prophet marries a whore - but the Bible is full of scandal like that. You’re meant to be uneasy about the LORD sending his prophet, a member of his inner ring to such a mission.

The people have committed a great whoredom. The verdict is emphatic, the word repeated three times in the call. When God’s people are unfaithful it’s not just doctrinal deviation it’s heart-deep betrayal of the one who has made himself one with them. It’s spiritual adultery that finds lovers and pays them. In sin we play the harlot.
What sin are you struggling with? Whoredom.

The prophet and the whore have three children. There is fruitfulness in this marriage. The first is Jezreel, a prophetic child of vengeance for evil committed. The second named, No Mercy. The third, Not My People.

Mercy is over – for Israel but not for Judah. The LORD says I will save them by the LORD. A Triune plot for salvation that will not be a military victory. The old commentators (like Burroughs) are right to say this is Jesus Christ, the Saviour who comes from Judah to save them, the Saviour who is the LORD sent by the LORD.

Not My People point to salvation that will make them once more My People, even Children of God. And saved and adopted they’ll appoint their saviour as head, and celebrate the day of Jezreel. Salvation through judgement, salvation through welcome into a family, salvation that unifies those who have previously stood divided. Salvation that appoints Christ as head. Is Ephesians an exposition of Hosea?

The LORD is the head, modeled by the prophet Hosea. A head whose love is such that he’ll give himself to the whore, loving her in faithfulness though she remains unfaithful in the marriage, still whoring after other men and their gods. This is sacrificial headship, modeling saving headship that is not the headship of battlefield Generals but of a loving father and husband.

Here is love, so giving, so free. Love so amazing, so spurned and awaiting the day when it will be received, welcomed – when the whore will receive her husband as her head, believing that he loves her and give himself for her – a love stronger than death, and who gives himself to her to beautify and benefit her.

This is an altogether different kind of headship, an altogether different kind of god. And if this is who he is then maybe, just maybe some of the most apparently difficult material in the Bible isn’t quite as strange and peculiar as we might initially assume, not half as strange and peculiar as this LORD of love.

Marcus Brigstocke on God

2011-07-04T19:50:00.006+01:00

On Richard Bacon's radio programme the entertaining and ever interesting Marcus Brigstocke articulates his problems with Judaism, Islam and Christianity. He cites anti-feminism, belief in the same god (!!), the content of the bible - old and new testaments, and 'the thug' who is Jesus' father and numerous other charges. Whilst being good to listen to and attempting to be fair and generous... a million miles from Richard Dawkins - this is the witty voice of modern agnosticism.

Inevitably I think he's missed the story of the Bible, but nonetheless there are difficult passages and commands - ones that really aren't going to make much sense without some key issues in place. Consequently, Brigstocke is left with a struggle - a desire to believe in god that he thinks we all generally have, but a desire for that not to be the god of Christianity, Judaism or Islam. Meanwhile in the interview Richard Bacon embodies liberal Christianity by generally saying 'but most christians don't believe it that do they'.

"Atheists think they're cleverer than other people... there are loads of religious people who are cleverer and better read than I am. And lots of stupid atheists? Several of my friends who are atheists are so thick if they tried to hold an idea that beautiful in their heads it'd give them a nosebleed. It doesn't make you clever to be an atheist. The only thing that makes you clever and interesting is a willingness to ask questions. That's what's good. And then listen to the answer with any luck"

He slates Dawkins for being hardline, and notes that reading The God Delusion turned him from an Atheist to an Agnostic. He's aiming to be funny and get people asking good questions - which sounds helpful!

I recommend listening, and await delivery of the book soon.

A bride knows her husband. We know the Lord

2011-07-04T13:05:00.002+01:00

"AND YOU SHALL KNOW THE LORD"
(Hosea 2:20).

It is a fruit of the conjugal union betwixt Christ and the soul. When a man and his wife are but suitors they do not communicate their secrets one to another; but when they are married they open all their hearts. There is no secret but they will disclose one to another. So says God, when I am once married to you, I will even open my whole heart to you.

A man in the dark may know where he is but feeling, he may discover the length and thickness of many things in the house, but when the light of the day comes, he knows what there is in the room in another manner than he did in the dark: this is the difference between knowledge of God in a natural man, and the knowledge of one espoused to Christ.

By his natural knowledge he may understand the history of the gospel, and have some general notions of God, and of Christ; but when the Sun of righteousness arises, he sees the excellency and glory of God shining in all his attributes, he sees that in Christ which draws his heart unto him in an everlasting covenant. As we read, Song 7:5, Christ 'is held in the galleries' that is Christ, as soon as he is married to the soul takes her, as it were, by the and and walks in the galleries, and there opens his heart unto her. There is many a sweet turn that a gracious heart has with Christ in his ordinances, wherein Christ opens his whole soul unto it.

According to the capacity of the soul, so Christ makes known to it what he has heard of the Father. Certainly Christ has heard great things of the Father; he is the wisdom of the Father; he has been with the Father from all eternity; and the Father loves him, he will tell him all the glorious things he has in his heart, and Christ will hide none of those things from his saints! This is the privilege of a saint.

Yea, and Christ makes God known to the saints in another way than others know him... when God makes known himself to his people he reveals things to their ear, as we to a friend who is intimate with us. Many a secret Jesus Christ speaks in the ears of his saints, with which others are never made acquainted. 2 Cor 4:6 "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." It would require time for fully opening the gradations of this scripture; here is 'knowledge' and 'the knowledge of the glory of God' and 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of God' and 'shining' and 'shining into our hearts' and 'into our hearts in the face of Jesus Christ'.

Surely, they shall know the Lord, and they shall know him in a very spiritual way. The light of the saints is a light three stories high. First, they have the light of reason which other men have. Secondly, they have the light of common gifts which other men have too, and that is story higher than the other. Thirdly, they have the light of a sanctifying Spirit, that is a third loft, and they shall come to a fourth story, and that is the light of glory.

They know God as their God. Great is the excellency of this knowledge, the soul has blessed satisfaction in it. Show us the Father, and it suffices. The sanctification of the heart by the presence of the beams of the glory of God, transforming it into the same image, is the very beginning of eternal life.

What superior means have we to know God than the heathens had! The Roman histories describe the poor and mean ways those wise men took to know God; as thus, they would look into the entrails of beats, thereby to find out the minds of their gods; they would observe how the beats came to the slaughter, whether willingly or unwillingly; they would observe the fire of their sacrifices, whether the flame ascended right or not: thus they attempted to ascertain the mind of their gods. What poor ways are these!

We have Jesus Christ, God blessed for ever, the eternal Son of the Father, who is come from the bosom of the Father, to make known to us the mind of God, his and our Father. We know the truth as it is in Jesus, Eph 4:21, not only as it is in the works of nature. Some know much of God in the works of creation and providence and we may learn much of God in those great things which the Lord has lately done amongst us, but to know the truth as it is in Jesus, to know God in Christ, is another kind of knowledge that to know God in the way of his works. Here we see the truth really, when we see it in Christ Jesus.

Certainly, then, no one united to Christ in a conjugal union can be an ignorant sot, for Christ engages himself in his faithfulness, upon this marriage of a soul with himself, to reveal himself and the Father unto it. John 8:54, 'of whom you say he is your God' but mark the next words ' yet you have not known him'. A likely matter, that he should be your God, and you not know him! a likely matter, that Christ should be your Saviour, and you not know him, seeing he has engaged himself in his faithfulness, that if you be married to him you shall know him and his Father!

Jeremiah Burroughs, An Exposition of the Prophecy of Hosea, Chapter 2:19-20, p177-178.

You that are ministers!

2011-07-02T22:53:00.004+01:00

"Oh, if you would draw any to you, let it be by love. You that are ministers, and especially appointed to the work of drawing others to God, what should you do? Open the love of God to them, present the grace of the gospel to souls, labour to work upon their hearts by all the mercies of God; by the mercy of God to them, received by them, and bestowed upon them.

Have you to deal with stony hearts? the way is to lay them upon the soft pillow of the gospel and so you may break them... the word is compared to a hammer; yea, but we must labour to lay the hearts of people upon the pillow of love, upon the grace of God in the gospel, that is the way to subdue them. None are so bound to God as those who are bound to him by love: those that are bound to God by fear, unmixed with love, their bands will not hold... but those who are held by bands of love, are bound for ever unto God.

When men cast off the sweet of their sin by the sweet of the love of God, then they will never return to their sin again.

If the ice be but broken over-night by the husbandman, when he come the next day he finds it frozen up again; but let the sun dart on it his warm beams, and then it runs down in streams: so the breaking of the heart by the terrors of law, is but like the breaking of the ice with a pole by a husbandman to give the cattle drink; but when the love of God comes to the heart, then the corruptions of the heart dissolve, even as the ice dissolves when the warm beams of the sun rest upon it.

The way, therefore to gain the hearts of men, is by love. And we should the rather do it, because it is the great design of God in the gospel, to manifest his love to the children of men he has in it opened his heart, and the treasures of his love. What is the gospel, but the manifestation of the treasure of the love of God? those eternal loving-kindnesses of God towards mankind are all displayed in the gospel, who does not endeavour to open this heart-love of God to the children of men in Jesus Christ. Oh! it is a pleasant work to be a minister of the gospel in this respect, to be always searching into the treasures of love and to array them before souls to win them unto God."

Jeremiah Burroughs. From Observations 13-14 in An Exposition of the Prophecy of Hosea XI.4, p476-477

A Nose for Theology

2011-06-30T08:00:00.000+01:00

Peter Leithart has a thought about noses:

"Idols have noses, but can’t smell (Psalm 115). That means, for starters, they can’t breathe in the aroma of sacrifice. So what’s the point of turning animals to smoke? It also means that they are not to be feared. If their noses don’t breathe in, they can’t breathe out either. Yahweh can breathe life into Adam; idols can’t. Yahweh’s nose burns against disobedient Israel; idols noses can’t burn, nor can they breathe out smoke and fire. Therefore: Do not fear them."

See also a thought on hearing, from Jeremy Begbie on Music.

Jealousy Wins

2011-06-29T09:00:00.003+01:00

Ron Frost on Jealousy, Beauty and God:

"Beauty and jealousy are oil and water words—they aren’t a good match—but in God they come together. God’s beauty is seen in his relational devotion—in his love. Even in our humanity we see beauty in the people who love us well. The wrinkles of a caring grandmother are winsome etchings of love to the eyes of her grandchildren; and the aging body of a devoted wife will still bring a unique beauty to her husband’s heart from their many shared years of life..." READ MORE

Elsewhere: Don't miss Marcus Honeysett's review of Love Wins

The Song of Songs: Who's being allegorical eh?

2011-06-28T08:32:00.002+01:00

Ellen Davis, in a book review observes:

"a sexual interpretation of the Song is allowable, but scholars interested in the poet’s original intention must in honesty admit that such an interpretation is metaphorical, indeed allegorical."

Very daring for her to throw the accusation hurled against the mainstream back at these modern critics: Historical and Literary study of The Song says it's allegorical to say it's just about human love!!

These are days when many resist any interpretation of The Song as about the love of God for his people... following the footsteps of Mahaney, Driscoll and Marcia Falk etc. One has to ask why?!

The mainstream historical approach held by the church for centuries (millenia) is not dead today. See it maintained by many - such as Ellen Davis, Robert Jenson... along with the Church Fathers, Reformers and Puritans. Catch it as Tim Hughes writes "altogether lovely" into Here I am to Worship (yes: that's a quote from the Bible!), or in Prosch's 'His Banner over me is love".... charismatic worship songwriters haven't been afraid to embrace the language of this song. They're not prudes, neither were the puritans. Not embarrassed to have a god of whom we cannot speak fully without the language of eros.

In her commentary on The Song of Songs Davis echoes others who've said it is the most Biblical of books. Though you'd think it the least, for the lack of modern preaching of it...

“The Song is thick with words and images drawn from earlier books. By means of this “recycled” language, the poet places this love song firmly in the context of God’s passionate and troubled relationship with humanity (or, more particularly with Israel), which is the story the rest of the Bible tells. Far from being a secular composition, the Song is profoundly revelatory"

The examples of recycled language are almost endless, shepherds and kings, all the talk of Lebanon which evokes the temple and Solomon's curtain, love better than wine, garden language evoking Eden... the one whom my soul loves etc. And:

"The Song of Songs answers that tragic history, stretching all the way back to Eden. What we hear throughout – and only here in the Bible – is mutual love speaking at full strength."

Have the Song as part of your Christian Scriptures and you'll be able to derive an allegorical interpretation that will be useful to think about marriage (not that the Bible is short on valuing marriage!). Have it read as literature laden with the gospel and you'll have categories and language and encounter with God that can handle intimacy and jealousy and passion and love strong as death. No cold submission to a lord, no dispassionate love that lets us go, but the burning passionate heart of the God who truly loves.

Further consideration of Ellen Davis approach, interacting with Origen, in Jason Byasse's Roomy Hearts in a More Spacious World.

Christ and his Church in the Book of Psalms (Andrew Bonar)

2011-06-27T08:20:00.004+01:00

I'm enjoying reading Andrew Bonar's book on the Psalms. I came across Bonar a few years back when Tim Chester was blogging from Bonar's excellent Leviticus commentary - a book that really draws the gospel out of a book that intimidates Christians more than most! Both are freely available from Google Books which is great.

In his notes on Psalms Bonar demonstrates the importance of reading them "with your left eye on David and your right eye fully on Christ." Much like the Song of Songs this is a 'both/and' book.... though Scripture is always firstly about Christ, and only then applicable to us in Christ. Psalms are beloved for speaking to the human condition but they do more - they sing of the gospel (which of course makes them deeply applicable to all!).

As Augustine said, "the voice of Christ and his Church was well nigh the only voice to be heard in the Psalms... Everywhere diffused throught is that man whose Head is above, and whose members are below" Bonar says: "we ought to recognise his voice in all the Psalms, either waking up the psaltery or uttering the deep groand - rejoicing in hope or heaving sights over present realities." And Tertullian says we see the person of Christ in all the Psalms.
Here's a couple of examples from Bonar:

On Psalm 27 (p94 - pdf 109): "the Righteous One's confident assertion of safety when lonely amid surrounding foes"
"To see the Lord, in his temple where everything spoke of redemption, - there to see the Father's beauty, was the essence of his soul's desire. This "beauty" is the Lord's well-pleased look; such a look as the Father have, when his voice proclaimed, "this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased". It also means, all that makes God an object of affection and delight to a soul. Nothing could be more desirable to Christ than this approving look of his Father, teling, as it did, his love to the uttermost. And nothing to us sinners, can equal this look of love; it is the essence of heaven now, and heaven for ever. It is the "one thing;" for from this holy love proceed all other blessings. to catch glimpses of this "beauty" in the temple was our Lord's aim; he engaged in no other pursuit of earth. Neither did David..."

And on Psalm 63, which he calls "the righteous One finding water-springs in God":
"A Psalm for David - a Psalm for David's Son - A Psalm for the Church in every age - a Psalm for every member of the Church in the weary land! What assurance, what vehement desire, what soul-filling delight in God, in God alone - in God the only fountain of living water amid a boundless wilderness.... And when we read all this as spoken of Christ, how much does every verse become enhanced. His thirst for God! His vision of God! His estimate of God's loving-kindness! His soul satisfied! His mouth full of praise! His soul following hard after God!... And when verse 7 shews us the soul under the shadow of God's wings, rejocing, we may say, it is not only like as "the bird sheltered from the heat of the sun amid the rich foliage sings its merry note," but it is the soul reposing there as if entering the cloud of glory, like Moses and Elias"

I look forward to more reading from Bonar, and others who've gone before us, as I prepared to preach on one of the Psalms later this summer.

Wider family. Wider army. Wider help.

2011-06-26T14:40:00.002+01:00

We watched this video in our church meeting this morning

This is Newfrontiers from Newfrontiers on Vimeo.

Hebrews: Preaching Christ in the New Testament

2011-06-24T11:37:00.007+01:00

This week we gathered our Southern teams for an end of year get together - think lots of food and prayer and Bible, in a warehouse in a field in Hampshire... We were joined for a day by our friends from Cor Deo, with Peter Mead walking us through Hebrews.

I was particularly helped by the observations on Hebrews as a sermon, and the way this makes sense of the seemingly very hard warning passages which function as transitions between the three main movements in the sermon. An exposition of Christ, in the three main movements, unpacking three main Old Testament texts, leading us from Exodus to Sanctuary to City, to the hope of being in our home town with our God.

Here's a two minute taster of Peter Mead on Hebrews:

Download: Extract from Hebrews Pt 3

And here's seven minutes from my talk on 'room in God' with some interference in the background.

Download: Extract from Room in God on what it means to be inside Jesus' prayer life

Full session downloads
Session 1 - Dave Bish - Room in God
Session 2 - Peter Mead - Hebrews pt1
Session 3 - Peter Mead - Hebrews pt2
Session 4 - Peter Mead - Hebrews pt3
Session 5 - Jim Walford - Living by the cross

Peter blogs at Biblical Preaching and the Cor Deo blog.
COR DEO Event: Reading God's Heart: July 2nd, Chippenham

The Worst Messiah Ever?

2011-06-23T11:35:00.001+01:00

Chris Oldfield on Jonah 3 - Resurrection & Repentance.
A good use of 30 minutes as Chris equips a group of students with the gospel.... connecting up Luke 24, Jonah 3 and Song of Songs 8....
the story of the most rubbish preacher, and the worst Messiah ever who drowned who got thrown into the sea, who got strung upon on a cross, worst rescue plan ever, the worst idea ever... the God who loves... we know a kind God.

Knowing the Heart Melting Love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

2011-06-19T17:20:00.000+01:00

On Father's Day, on Trinity Sunday... let the gospel resound.

"Collect together all the expressions of God's love to you, and let them lie glowing at your hearts, and melt them." Jeremiah Burroughs, Hosea p182.

"How wonderful to call You Father, How merciful my Father's love. I might have hoped to be Your servant, But You delight to call me son." Matt Giles, How Wonderful

Paul prays that we'll know the full dimensions of the love of God in Christ... Sibbes calls for us to be swallowed up in the love of God. Calvin says that needs for us to be participating in the Spirit. Peter says it's about participating in the divine nature. Moses says we're just the same as everyone else if God doesn't go with us. Jesus says I will always be with you. Jesus prays Abba. The Spirit says Abba. The Father says, "Son, come in to the party".

Learning to breath Narnian air

2011-06-18T15:53:00.001+01:00

We must learn to trek across the Narnian countryside, swim in the Narnian seas, distinguish Calormenes from Archenlanders, and navigate the etiquette of centaurs (it’s a very serious thing to invite a centaur to dinner; they have two stomachs after all). Indeed, we must learn to breathe Narnian air, a metaphor that Lewis uses elsewhere to describe what it means to come to know God...
More from Joe Rigney at Desiring God

A remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit.... and an imaginative university mission

2011-06-16T17:21:00.003+01:00

As someone involved in helping to equip students to bring the good news about Jesus to students I find Michael Green's observations in Compelled by Joy helpful. (£5.84 from book depository):

...here is an account of one of the most imaginative missions held in a British university in 2010. It began with a remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit at a house party in the vacation before the mission, where students really 'fell in love with Jesus'. This was crucial, and led to fervent prayer among them before the mission, continuing into a 24-7 prayer throughout the mission itself. The chief student leader gathered around himself people with a big vision of for the university, clever networkers and students with wide circles of non-Christian friends. The outcome was highly creative. For one thing, they opted for a lot of decentralised events which really made the week come alive.
There was no single 'big name' evangelist, but the diverse gifts of the assistants were used to the full. They went into the houses of the students and spoke at dinner parties, tea parties, events where Christians were grilled by all comers, film evenings, pudding parties and so forth. At these parties the host explained that there would be a five minute talk after the meal, followed by discussion and coffee - often far into the night. The main missioner acted more as an encourager and father figure to the team than as the single oracle, in striking contrast to how things are often done... students took initiative in inviting friends, because of the trust and freedom given them.
Naturally they had the normal lunch and major evening events as well. But daily they ran a lot of street questionnaires... the assistant missioners had plenty to do during the day, and by taking students with them they developed the timid and boosted the confidence of younger Christians. They organised whitewash teams which went to clean grubby student kitchens and bathrooms, serving the community by showing the love of Christ in a practical way. The visiting team lived among students, which was very important for establishing relationships, many of which bore fruit in conversations as the week progressed.
Needless to say, after a mission of this quality they had many takers for the follow-0up course which began the next week. There is no one ideal way of running missions... the vital elements are prayer, a winsome and fearless presentation of the faith, massive student enthusiasm and involvement and, as always in student work, food! Much depends on careful preparation beforehand, and on the equally careful follow-up of the two classes of people who leave their names: those who have decided for Christ and those who are interested but not persuaded. But in today's climate, the annual mission remains a powerful tool for university outreach.

Important lessons for us from Michael Green's story here? Students to be full of the Spirit moved to pray and innovate and make Jesus known - I'm not convinced evangelism is my first gift (though I love being involved on the front line) but I really love to be used to hold Christ up to his people that they might be filled again with the Spirit, moved to prayer, to boldness, to creativity - even to administration and strategic planning... in all kinds of ways so that all kinds of people might come to know Jesus.

Abba! Can you have your Spirit coach me a bit...

2011-06-14T22:30:00.002+01:00

"The more we come to know the Father through the Son who introduces us to him and vice-versa, the more we can respond with the love that comes from having the Creator himself care for us with a fully-informed love. He, the one, who knows all about us—even the hairs on our head!—is not forcing distance on us. Instead he draws us near, embracing us as we come to him with our cares, concerns, and questions." READ MORE

The Resurrected Son. Christ, our Joseph

2011-06-14T15:02:00.003+01:00

"The dead are raised!" So Jesus described his ministry. A widow's son, a vicar's daughter, and the beloved son of the heavenly Father. Paul proclaimed Jesus and the Resurrection so strongly that men mistook him for advocating two gods, Jesus and Anastasios (Resurrection). Resurrection is astounding because we all observe that it is death to die, and yet Jesus persistently challenges this notion. Death can be a precursor to life, sorrow to gladness, judgement to blessing. This is the story Jesus tells, or at least that Moses tells of Jesus as he writes Genesis 45.

Joseph is the key figure of the final quarter of Genesis, a beloved son condemned, enslaved, accused, neglected, raised up and then encountered by his killers, though they do not recognise him. In Genesis 45 we see something of the risen Joseph with his brothers. In three parts we see the response of people to Joseph. Firstly his brothers, then the Pharaoh and then his father, Jacob/Israel.

Initially we find Joseph moved by his brothers. Calvin says: “The stoics speak foolishly when they say it is heroic not to be moved by compassion…” As with Joseph here, and Jesus in Luke 19:44, Biblical heroes are passionate not apathetic. They weep. Joseph's heart is moved and he declares to his brothers - I am Joseph, and their eyes are opened, like those of the Emmaus road disciples over broken bread. And they are dismayed. But he speaks comfort to them. Matthew Henry: "Behold Jesus manifesting himself as a Brother and a Friend to those who once were his despisers." There is grace and love for those who cast the beloved into the pit.

There comes a time when Christ, our Joseph, cannot restrain himself, our beloved comes leaping over the mountains (Gen 45:1, Song 2:8) with love for his brothers. Brothers who hated and killed him. As for Peter, this Jesus whom you crucified is risen. So too, you meant Joseph's demise for evil, but God sent Joseph ahead to preserve a remnant, to save life, to spread life. The true Beloved Son was sent by The Father. Through the trespass of Israel's sons the peoples of the world are fed - and perhaps yet there will even be hope for old man Israel.

Good news comes to their ears in private, with many tears. The dreams are being fulfilled. Joseph is ruler of the world, saviour too. Just as the dreams had said, though they'd heard and been jealous for glory and overthrown him - father Israel had treasured these things in his heart. Like Mary would he forget, and then find faith? And the good news comes to the Pharaoh. He empowers Joseph's promises - come and I will give you rest, come and I will give you the best of the land. Bring your father down here. Come and live!

The brothers go, blessed with many riches, bearing a two-fold gospel. There is bread for a cursed world, and the beloved son who had died is alive! They come to their father with the news. Jacob's heart is numb to it, he does not believe. Like Thomas. His knowledge fails. him. Yet when the words of great Joseph are told and his blessings seen things change. His spirit revives within him. Life returns to the dead man, as to the twelve year old to whom Jesus said: arise. Born again, he is not Jacob but Israel. And he will go to find sight of his beloved son. As Matthew Henry reflects: "Let my eyes be refreshed with this sight before they are closed." He comes in search of me and I long to see him. The Spirit returns the compassion he has for me with love for him.

Christ, our Joseph is risen! He has love for those who killed him. He invites them to come and take the best of his world as they find their life in him. He calls those who love him to come and see him, to find themselves risen. Look to Christ as he reads your heart with his tender words, so pray to the True Joseph, Jesus, with Spurgeon (Sermon 2516):

“Lord, You have read that book right through, and now You know all things, You know that I love you. Alas, I did sell you into Egypt! There was a day when I chose Egypt and its pleasures rather than You and there have been days since when I have sold You again into Egypt by treating You with lukewarmness, and giving myself up to other lovers. Yes, Lord, I have sold You to the Ishmaelites by doubting You and mistrusting You. And by my sins I have stripped You of Your many-colored garment. And by my own folly I have let You go away from Your Father’s house and from the chamber of her that bore You. You know all this, my Lord, but I know You, too, because You know me so well.”

I fear that many of our prayers are lost

2011-06-13T20:56:00.002+01:00

Jeremiah Burroughs writes on Hosea 3, of how the gospel means seeking King David... which Burroughs concludes means Christ, great David's greater son. From his commentary p195:

"None can seek God rightly but through Christ, they must seek God in Christ.... You know no God out of Christ, none but he that was in the lap of Mary, and sucked her breastsl he means, none out of him. We must not, we should not, dare to look upon God but through Christ, and seek him together with David. This is the evangelical way of seeking God; when we have sinned, if there be any way of help, it must be by seeking a merciful God; thus far nature goes and msot people go no farther; yea, most Christians, though they have the name of Christ in their mouths, yet their hearts go no father than natural principles carry them. But the seeking God in Christ, is the true spiritual and evangelical way, "the mystery of godliness," to present a Mediator to God every time we come into his presence. I fear that many of our prayers are lost for want of this. There is much fasting and prayer through God's mercy amongst us, and I would to God there were no abatement; but though we ask, Will God leave his people when there is such a spirit of prayer? let us know, if it be not a seeking God in his Son, it is our own spirits rather than the Spirit of God. We may be earnest in prayer and cry mightily to God, yet if we take not up his Son in the arms of faith, and present him to the Father, thousands of prayers and fasting days must be all lost for want of this. The truth is, we must not depend so much on our prayers, though we are to rejoice and bless God that there is much prayer; but God's dealings towards us seem as if he would take us off, not from the practice of prayer, but from relyying on it, to rely upon free grace in Christ alone. As this is the supernatural seeking of God, so it is the most powerful.... We seek him because he is merciful, that is one way yea, we seek him because he has promised mercy, this is a step higher, but we must go higher yet, we must look to his Son, in whom all promises are Yea and Amen; otherwise, though we seek him never so earnestly though we challenges his promises, and cry to him to remember then, yet if we do not act our faith on his Son, we may altogether fail."

In Christ alone my hope is found. If we would be Christ, if we would be Triune, if we would be evangelical... look not to self, look not to my heart and my desires, look not to some generic god, but let me look to Christ.

What kind of LOVE!

2011-06-11T08:10:00.002+01:00

Three gems on the love of God.

Spend 16 minutes listening to Toby Sumpter's bible overview on love: My Song is Love Unknown (read here)
An angle on The Song of Songs and the resurrection garden from Daniel Newman when she asks “I know not where they have laid him,” she is in effect asking, “have you seen whom my soul loves?”
And Wes English reflects at Theology Network on Deificiation "through His transcendent love he became what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself’’

Delighted by God Conference MP3s

2011-06-09T09:28:00.001+01:00

Here are the MP3's from the recent Cor Deo and Theology Network Delighted by God conference.

Mike Reeves: The Heart-Winning God
Peter Mead: Deeply Satisfied?
Ron Frost: A Description of Christ
Peter Sanlon: The Transformative Power of the Bible

Cor Deo on Facebook

VIDEO: Help! I'm scared of dying (Luke 8:40-56) (Biblefresh)

2011-06-08T14:00:00.003+01:00

My last preach at church was videoed, never seen myself preach before...

Biblefresh #1: "Help! I'm dying" from frontierschurchexeter on Vimeo.

More than a Peasant Princess

2011-06-08T08:30:00.002+01:00

"I think if The Song of Songs was about Soloman going to court,
and being let off the punishment due his treason against the King,
we'd have no problem reading it Christocentrically... READ MORE

Samuel Josiah

2011-06-06T11:57:00.000+01:00

Our second son was born yesterday morning!

The birth was really quick and we were glad to bring him home in the evening.
Very thankful for a good first night, valuing your prayers as we pursue gospel-shaped parenting and family life.

It's been great to see his older brother embracing and identifying 'Baby Sam'.

Take off your shoes

2011-06-05T16:00:00.000+01:00

If God doesn't go with us, we're the same as everyone else. Yet new atheists claim they see no evidence for god being here. And then:

“Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”

That's Exodus 3:5, Moses at the burning bush, right? Yes, but then the same thing happens to Joshua. There's no burning bush. This is Joshua 5:15 which is where my Bible read through landed me this weekend. There a man who appears to Joshua (a bit like the man who appeared to Abraham just before Sodom was destroyed). This man is then identified as "the commander of the Lord's army", whom Joshua worship and then:

And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (5:15)

Has to be Jesus doesn't it. Matthew Henry: "This Man was the Son of God, the eternal Word." The same one who Jude tells us led his people out of Egypt is now ready to lead them into the land. Out of slavery, into the land. The music strikes up again, God is with them. Ask an Israelite who is your god - "the one who brought us up out of Egypt" - now "the one who brought us into the land". Later Jesus...

"And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his EXODUS, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem"

I'd love to know why translators use the word depature and only footnote that the greek word is Exodus... surely it'd help us to make the connection rather than obscure it!?? Peter will Exodus too (2 Peter 1:15). Who is god - the one who sent Jesus to the cross and then raised him... Exodus-theme tunes are all over the story of God. And they're meant to be all over my life too... out of slavery to liberty, and at every step being carried by the Lord Jesus who fights for me... lifting the curse and bringing me into blessing.

"In fact, the primary feature of clean animals is their feet, in one sense or another. To understand this, we must bear in mind that the ground was cursed under the Old Covenant (Genesis 3:17). Men normally wore shoes, and it was ceremonially important to wash the cursed soil off one’s feet before entering a house (Genesis 18:4; 19:2; 43:24; Judges 19:21; Luke 7:44; John 13: 3-15). Holy ground, where the curse was removed, required men to go barefoot (Exodus 3:5; Joshua 5:15)." (Jim Jordan)

The Exodus story is a story I need to make sense of life. It's a story that tells me my god is one who will turn up, who will fight for me. And if he doesn't then I'm stuck between the enemy and the sea, between the wilderness and the promised land. Shoes off... like when Jesus washed his disciples feet?

Some great resources on Exodus. David Capener's preaching series on Exodus is well worth a listen: I AM THE EXODUS; EAT ME. I love David's narrative style and the connections he's making all over the place. He put me on to Tim Keller on Exodus 14 at the Gospel Coalition conference.

A Christianity that does not need the Spirit of Christ?

2011-06-04T12:00:00.000+01:00

"These men devise a Christianity that does not need the Spirit of Christ. [Paul] holds out no hope of blessed resurrection unless we feel the Spirit dwelling in us (Rom 8:11). These men invent a hope devoid of such a feeling.... they will answer that they do not deny we ought to be endowed with the Spirit; but that it is a matter of modesty and humility not to be sure of it.... it is a token of the most miserable blindness to charge with arrogance Christians who dare to glory in the presence of the Holy Spirit, without which glorying Christianity itself does not stand! But, actually, they declare by their own example, how truly Christ spoke: "My Spirit was unknown to the world; he is recognsied only by those among whom he abides (John 14:17)"

Says who? Don't google it.

Are you refreshing company?

2011-06-03T08:00:00.011+01:00

Let me tell you about a guy I know. He works for UCCF and he's a member of a Newfrontiers church - and he loves those labels (Galatian 3:28), they matter a lot to him, and he cares which labels you wear too. He's interested in what you make of him almost to the point of anxious fear (1:10, 2:12) and will make much of you (4:17) though strangely you'll feel your gospel-joy lessened for being with him.... CONTINUE READING.

The Saint wades further into Christ

2011-06-02T08:00:00.018+01:00

The Antinomian Controversy centres on a disparity between two competing versions of God's promise, one in which much is required of us, the other in which it is not. Behind the debate, two different visions of God himself. Janice Knight's exploration of this in her Orthodoxies in Massachussets studies the literature of the players in the Controversy, and those who influenced them. Study of history isn't because we aspire to the past, but to let the breeze of the centuries blow through, to lift our own cultural blinders and to humbly learn from those who knew Christ before us. The key parties in Massachussets stood on the shoulders of their teachers, Sibbes and Ames.

"Ames admits that "since our love is a desire of union with God it come sin part from what is called concupiscence or appetite. We desire God for ourselves, because we hope for benefits and eternal blessedness from him" Ames's disciples rhapsodize over the beauty of the beloved, but they also appealed to more self-interested and material desires... considering the bounty of his gifts not just the beauty of Christ. The dowry characterises their presentation of spiritual marriage as often as does the ecstatic enjoyment of the bridegroom. The Amesians often convert the affective union of Canticles (The Song of Songs) into the contractual marriage bond of Protestant practice, a contract stipulating duties and rewards.... " (p104-5, Knight)

The difference isn't just linguistic, but reveals difference in convictions, and expectations.

"Unlike (Amesian) Hooker's sinner, the Sibbesian saint is taught not to look for spiritual harvest; his heart is set up on Christ, more than upon the pardon of sin, or salvation...he has Christ in his eye and heart above all blessings."

All that I have I share with you isn't about the spouses stuff but about the spouse.

Sibbesian "Cotton likens spiritual baptism to a wading in grace
"First a Christian wades in the rivers of God his grace up to the ankles, with some good frame of spirit." Still afflicted with the dryness of his soul and overpowering thirst and desire, the saint wades further - to the knees, the loins, and further still till all is drenched. As Cotton joyously predicts: "they you shall swim as fish in the water with all readiness and dexterity... such a Christian does not creep or walk, but he runs,... every way drenched in grace... he is never drawn dry."
While there is progressive baptism in grace.. rather than in measured units there is a fluid motion, which culminates in the sudden change... this is an experimental (experiential) faith known only to initiates; this is a draught of holy water recall only by those who have been so drenched." (p117)

Knight notes that Amesians do have some talk of this intimacy, but frequently emphasise other matters. Where Sibbesians save their best imagery and language and hours to speak of Christ, the Amesians best metaphors are used to speak of sin. For the Sibbesians the saint has a changed taste, a new relish, a sweetness. As he is inhabited by Christ, the saint becomes sweet: "his heart is as fine silver, everything is sweet that comes from him... grace in a Christian makes us sweet, sweeteness our person and our actions.. sweetens our persons to God.... it makes us delectable for Christ and his Holy Spirit to lodge in our souls as in a garden of spices." (p118)

What have I learned from reading Janice Knight's Orthodoxies in Massachussets?
I find these Spiritual Brothers to be good friends to urge me on, they show me a deeply rooted experiential Christianity, focussed upon Christ, with a growing taste for him. I have some questions about them but much encouragement from them.
As someone who first tasted real Christianity in a strongly charismatic context as a student, the Sibbesians sounds like forefathers who knew the intimacy we enjoy.
As a Newfrontiers guy today, it's all right up my street... solidly set on Christ, full of the Spirit and warmly relational (without claiming that Sibbes or his sphere of influence would have much appreciated belief in continuation of spiritual gifts).
As a UCCF evangelical 'things of first importance' man it's so beautifully Christocentric and attractive that it can't help but unite Christian brothers and sisters from across the church for mission, and in the same breath it frames our message in mission: Christ.

Your God will be My God!

2011-06-01T08:00:00.011+01:00

The Bible tells us that we become like what we worship, what I love shapes me and my relationships with others. So it will be that the church is shaped by her vision of God. Janice Knight highlights a divide in the 17th Century church which can help us see better today. In Orthodoxies in Massachussets she compares two kinds of puritans, two orthodoxies: The Intellectual Fathers (Ames) and The Spiritual Brethren (Sibbes).

Their Community
The Intellectuals pursed a more radical reformation of the church in England and caused them more trouble with authorities. They took a stronger lead, their "emphasis on the pedagogy of preparationism distinguished them... marking that relationship as more paternal than fraternal" (p36), whereas the Spiritual Brethren were more moderate, and relational.
Their reputations were as the learned Ames contrasted with the sweet-dropper Sibbes.
What kind of leader am I?
Am I a brother, leading as I go with people... or a guru who gathers a crowd?
The difference less about personality, and more a god-question...

Their pulpits - occupied and vacated.
"The Cambridge preachers emphasised the efficacy of the word preached, the Amesians argued that the imperative of hearing the word could be as easily achieved through circulation of printed texts" which they were often left to do when exiled from their pulpits, as they often were. The Sibbesians would often retain pulpits through their emphasis more on changing affections than changing church structures. Knight's analysis here reminded me of the most apparently vibrant wings of the Church of England today. The New Wine Anglicans and the Conservative Anglicans. So similar and yet many ways quite different, and it's always the latter who seem to be in trouble with the authorities.

Their Preaching - beleaguering or renewing?

John Cotton was "a resistant auditor" of William Perkins who had "laid seige to and beleagured his heart" (p38). Cotton was left in doubt until "the word as preached by Sibbes turned Cotton's affections... made him a thoroughly renewed Christian.. filling him with joy..." How does my preaching make people feel? Do I hunt people down or do I lead them into joy?

Later Cotton's simple and affecting words would convert John Preston. "From Richard Sibbes to John Cotton to John Preston - the converting Word was passed from mouth to mouth, heart to heart... " The Cambridge Brethren included John Owen (converted through Cotton), Thomas Goodwin and Jeremiah Burroughs. "At the centre of this apostolic family stood Richard Sibbes" (p41) Seems unlikely that Knight means that in a Newfrontiers-sense, but there's certainly something of the apostolic about Sibbes for his influence and leadership!

Who is God? A God firstly of Power or of Love?
All preachers aim to preach the whole counsel of God but it makes a difference what you think comes first, what controls everything else. Emphasis is very important. Ames' fundamental understanding of God was as "sovereign, beyond understanding and with implacable power", where Sibbes first understood God as overflowing love. (p73).

"Whether God acts primarily by power - pure or as bound by contract - or whether he acts from unconditional love determined for these Puritans not just matters of doctrine but theories of civil society and individual subjectivity. Definitions of sainthood and citizenship, relations of anxiety to confidence, and discipline to piety, were imbricated in these structures of rhetoric. And in practice the balance preacher struck between divine love and power varied to a surprising degree" (p74)

For all the categories and ideals there's always variation! Nonetheless themes emerge:

When Ames read the Bible he found on nearly every page a testimony to the lordship of God. The most compelling representation of the divine is not as brother or as bride, but the Kyrios of Paul or the Old Testament 'Jehovah, or the Lord'.
While Cotton and Sibbes celebrated the new age of the gospel in which 'the poorest believers were taught to say, Our Father' (p74) Ames prefered metaphors of relation to God "rooted in recognition of necessary human submission to godly omnipotence..." though of course "he and his disciples spoke warmly of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of Christ. Yet their primary interest was always in the application of power to the human subject, not a meditation on God's unconditional mercy." (p75)

Asks me, what do I see?

"This is not to suggest that Ames's God of power has no place in [Sibbesian] thought,. but rather that it is not the primary attribute" in their theology. "Sibbes argues that there is not one attribute set down more in Scripture than mercy" (p82) ...the sermons of the Cambridge Brethren refuse to enthrone an incomprehensible lord, but instead draw God down from heaven..... his love is a near love.
Metaphors of kingship are never the most persuasive for the circle of Sibbes. In calculating the relation between God and humanity they find a comforting equation 'there is a greater hight and depth and breadth; there are greater dimensions in love and mercy in Christ than there is in our sins and miseries' unlike the disturbing balance struck by Hooker or Shepherd, here benevolence answers human inadequacy.

Do I beleaguer hearts or comfort with love?
Come after people or welcome them warmly?
Do I think I have to show God to be more powerful than any other god - a playground preacher arguing 'my god is bigger than your god', or can I simply and persuasively show the overflowing love of God to people, to win their hearts?

"Moreover their doctrine of the trinity reflects this happy bias.... it is Father not Lord, that names Cotton's God... through Christ, the saint discovers a pledge of adoption to an indulgent father, who can no more deny his creature than he can deny himself. The soul that is too broken to pray can count on God to supply the want... desire to make known nothing but Christ... travail until Christ was formed in [them]..." (p83-4)

O to see Christ formed in me and others!
Not about controlling behaviour, but seeing the work of the Spirit in people.
See that and then we're going places...

Just as the Sibbesians have a more personal Christology than the Amesians, so too their doctrine of the Holy Spirit is more personal and immediate. Their application of redemption more closely resembles a true marriage of hearts than the contractual arrangements of the Amesian covenant.... the [Spirit] assures us of [our salvation] and knits us to Christ, and changeth and fits us to be members of so glorious a head, and so translates and transforms us more and more from glory to glory... rather than the cool logic of contract, the indwelling of the spirit is known here by the warmth of God's breath in the believer's heart... unlike the mysterious God of Ames, the 'I AM' to be tamed only by the covenant, Sibbes's deity 'comes to spread his treasures... to empty his goodness into our hearts... the transformation of thy God to my God is the central moment in the saints life." (p87)

As with Ruth, let your God become my God. Not just by cold contractual allegiance but intimate relationship bound in a marital covenant. And as your God becomes my God, then your people become my people. Who the 'God' is in that sentence is going to effect everything that follows.

They Did Not See The Same God?

2011-05-31T10:00:00.006+01:00

One of the things that is said to put people off Christianity is the way we disagree with one another. It's part of having the freedom to engage our texts, partly because Christianity is so different and good that men and women struggle to accept it as it is and so easily let a little yeast corrupt the batch, whether from Greek Philosophy, Consumerism, or whatever. There are challenges but finding Christ is by no means impossible, since he comes to us.

Some disputes are famous - such as that at Nicea and subsequently over Arianism (an early version of Jehovah's Witness theology that prefers god to be lonely rather than a community). Or, the East-West divide over aspects of the Trinity. Or that of Luther vs. The Scholastics (aka The Reformation) and so on.

Another is, The Antinomian Controversy in New England. Don't switch off. Janice Knight's book Orthodoxies in Massachussets is a study into this falling out among New England puritans in the 17th Century. The debate isn't new and in many ways is a rerun of the Reformation... it is also not an obsolete debate. Knight's study is a comparison between two camps which (she openly acknowledges) inevitably highlights differences and polarises categories rather than stressing similarities. There was much common ground, and yet real difference.

What's at stake: God and the gospel.

The first party were The Preparationists or The Intellectual Fathers, Hooker and Shepherd, leaning on the English ministry of William Ames and William Perkins. The other, The Spiritual Brethren, led by John Cotton and others, following the lead of Richard Sibbes and others back in England. In England the Spiritual Brethen 'triumphed' but in New England it was the reverse...

In the opening chapter Knight lays out the ground.

[Intellectual Father] Thomas Shepherd would say to his listeners "wonder then at God's patience that thou livest one day longer, who hast all thy lifetime, like a filthy toad spit thy venom in the face of God"... Knight comments: "for the preparationists sin was an active presence, a blot on the human heart that had to be removed before Christ could consent to enter. Conviction of sin under Law was an essential prerequisite to reception of the 'good news' of grace under the Gospel." (Knight, p20)

By contrast, [Spiritual Brother] John Cotton said to his listeners to "wait like an eager bride for the moment when Christ would 'be-sprinkle you with the blessing of his grace' to attend to the moment when this gentle Bridegroom would come to 'the bed of loves' and shed ' the seeds of his grace.. abroad in your hearts'. Cotton's listener 'resembled no lowly washerwoman scrubbing a filthy rag of a heart. Instead, like the Shulamite, Cotton's saint was the comely bride waiting for the pleasures of union.' More mundanely stated, Cotton believed there are no 'steps to the altar', that the soul was passive until the moment that grace was infused... insisting that the ignorance and scornfulness of carnal hearts does not and cannot hinder the Lord, from piercing or pricking them." (Knight, p21)

It's a dispute about how people become Christians, and then what that Christianity is like... a dispute in the church that inevitably effected society and polictics. Knight highlights (p33) the consequences:

"Though men like Cotton and Hooker read the same Bible, they did not see the same God; when they looked inward they did not see the same creature. Covenant, grace, telos, communitas, had a different taste on the tongue, a different claim on the heart of these first preparationists and pietists."

What's that going to feel like? Two churches in the same area, both 'Christian', both 'Bible-based' and yet something feels very different.
If Shepherd is your pastor what will the preaching feel like? What songs will you sing? What will be the atmosphere in the room?
How about if Cotton is your pastor - what will his preaching be like? What songs would he inspire you to sing? What will it feel like to be a part of Cotton's church? How do we get there? Could my home group have that feel? My team? My church?

We get WHO He has

2011-05-27T08:00:00.033+01:00

Galatians 3:26-4:7 was my favourite passage in the Bible. And I still love it. That and The Song of Songs. But this is stunning. Seeing it was one of those moments where I really feel the 'sweeter than honey'ness of the word as I taste and see the beauty of the LORD.

Luke shows us the intimate joy of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in which only the Father knows the Son and only the Son knows the Father. It's beautiful but seems closed.... Except that the Son reveals the Father (who will introduce us back to the Son he knows and loves!).
Don't get busy, instead listen to Jesus and he'll teach you to speak to his Heavenly Daddy (Gk: Pater, Aramaic: Abba), to say Father! (Luke 11:2)

ESV Study Bible cautions:

"It was the word used by Jewish children for their earthly fathers. However, since the term in both Aramaic and Greek was also used by adults to address their fathers, the claim that “Abba” meant “Daddy” is misleading and runs the risk of irreverence. Nevertheless, the idea of praying to God as “Our Father” conveys the authority, warmth, and intimacy of a loving father's care, while in heaven reminds believers of God's sovereign rule over all things" (On Matt 6:9)

Seems troubling to me to say let's deny intimacy for the sake of avoiding what might "run the risk of irreverence". Jesus is teaching reverent intimacy... and introducing us into the relationship he has always enjoyed with his Abba in Heaven... can't see him saying, "better keep my distance in case I get irreverent..." It may well be a term 'also used by adults' - this is patently true: the adult Jesus used the word when speaking with his Father in heaven, without any irreverence. Besides, Jesus' point here is that we're not to think of ourselves as grown-ups, all wise and understanding but as little children.

In an age when we're convinced of God's distance from us, perhaps 'Daddy' overstates it, but feel the shock that we don't have to cry 'Headmaster' or 'Your Distant Highness' or 'God' but we get to call out to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is now our Father. Slightly alarmingly the commentary 'the idea of praying to God as Our Father' is helpful. Has the ring of the ESVSB thinking that Father is a useful gloss on god to serve our prayer lives, rather than - we pray Father in the name of the Son and the fullness of the Spirit because this is who the persons of the Triune God actually are.

We have to say: introducing us to (and into) "God as Jesus (and then our) Father in Heaven" is Jesus' message (Luke 10:22). The Triune God introduces himself to us personally and intimately, not firstly powerfully and impressively.... not to say that Jesus and his Father are not powerful and impressive - they are. But the gospel is not a wham-bam message, there is power but it is power wielded in tenderness and yielded in loving sacrifice... the kind of omnipotent kindness that describes the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that you see when you look at the cross.

Jesus is introducing us to Father in Heaven...

Jesus Father is so generous that he loves to give, he is the fountain of life (Psalm 36:9), the great giver who will give us what we need for each day, more than that he given his Son, and much more loves to give the Holy Spirit. (Luke 11:13). There is no Christianity without the Spirit, no entering into the love of God without the Spirit. More!
Result? We step inside Jesus' prayer life, and like him can joyfully say 'Daddy'. (Luke 10:21)

We get what he has! We get who he has! Risky? Uncomfortable? Hard to believe? Certainly. As Calvin puts it ‎"Without participation in the Spirit no-one can taste either the fatherly favour of God or the benefice of Christ" (Calvin 3.1.2) or in the words of Sibbes, we're "swallowed up in the love of Christ". That's a better story than your wildest dreams.

How is that possible?
1. Jesus reveals his Father to us. (10:21-24)
2. Jesus is The Good Samaritan who has mercy on us. (10:25-37)
Love him as he lays himself down to have mercy on us.
3. Jesus asks us to stop doing and listen. (10:38-42)
4. Jesus teaches us to ask. (11:1-13)

"How do we receive those benefits which the Father bestowed on his only-begotten Son – not for Christ’s own private use, but that he might enrich poor and needy men?
We must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. Therefore, to share with us what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us." (Calvin 3.1.1)

By the love of Christ let it be said, that in that hour, I rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said "Father..."

Our God is Greater!

2011-05-26T17:20:00.003+01:00

Here's a helpful analysis of the problem of the god that people don't believe in, and which even Christians seem to believe sometimes... a god we might call OmniGod, or the OmniBeing on account of his bigness...

If they don’t believe in “God” we draw a deep breath and rummage around for some arguments to convince them of “God”: There’s order in the world, there must be an Orderer. Everything is caused, there must be a Cause at the top of the chain. There’s morality – there must be a Moral Lawgiver. You have a sense of something more, there must be Something more."we argue towards some kind of OmniBeing.
You know the omnis – maybe you learnt them in religious studies at school. God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, omnivorous, ambidextrous, and so on. And if our arguments are clever enough, maybe they’ll agree to our philosophy. Hallelujah, they believe in the Omnibeing! This is surely a step in the right direction, we imagine."
The unbeliever goes away and reads the Gospel. And what do they find? A laughing, crying, shouting, serving, healing, loving Human Sacrifice. And the non-Christian says – “Wow, that stuff’s interesting. But it doesn’t sound to me like the Omnibeing.”

More about The image of the invisible omnibeing (by Glen Scrivener)

More on the God we know when we look to Christ at Steve Collier's blog:
Christ: Sun of Righteousness
And Dan Hames: Is the Bible a book about 'God'?

The Charismatic Puritans: Looking to Christ whose love they experienced

2011-05-26T08:00:00.007+01:00

Charismatic Christianity takes many colours, and the word is used in many ways. It's used to describe styles of worship, and more so to speak of the continuation of Spiritual gifts. Charismatic also comes with a strong emphasis on experiential Christianity, those who expect direct experience of God today as was evident in the early church. Not as a pursuit of experience but looking out of ourselves to Christ having an effect upon us. Call it Mystic or Affectionate if you want...

Anyways, this is no new phenomenon. As Ron Frost observes, in these final excerpts from his Dissertation... Series link: The Divided House of Christianity.

For Sibbes' the main purpose of union with Christ "is to make us one with him, and thereupon to quicken us, to guide us, and to dwell in us continually, to stir up prayers and supplications in us, to make us cry familiarly to God as Father". Thus, just as the Bible regularly presented the Spirit as directing Christ in the gospels, and the apostles in the book of Acts, so believers can also expect the same work of direct guidance in their own lives. (p146-7)

The Spirit on Jesus, the Spirit on the Apostles, the Spirit on us.... perhaps the Gospels and Acts are not just descriptive but normative for us...

"Most other ministers in puritan circles were happy enough to leave any immediate or dramatic work of the Spirit to the primitive church. Sibbes was certainly aware of the dangers in opening a door to spiritual enthusiasm, but his position was a logical concomitant to his Spirit-Christicism... He warned against placing limits on the Spirit... "we must have especial heed of slighting any motion" of the Spirit."

This puritan calls for a high expectation of the Spirit's work today, not relegating his ministry to the early church, but taking high regard for him today. Frost is analysing the Puritan era, but could be speaking of the church today just as easily.

The Breath of the Spirit in us is suitable to the Spirit's breathing in the Scriptures, the same Spirit does not breathe contrary motions. Thus the Word of God and the words of God were of the same Spirit and can never be at odds with each other.
Sibbes' confidence that the Spirit's motions, working in accord with the scriptures, is an important part of normal spirituality was characteristic of his moderate mysticism.
This stood in contrast to Perkins' belief that most Christians will have little, if any, direct experience of the Spirit's motions. Perkins prefered to see the Bible as the source of God's will, epitomised in the decalogue, which is applied by the Spirit-enabled mind and will. (p148)

The Spirit acts in accord with Scripture. This is a moderated mysticism, anchored to the Scriptures, fixed upon Christ. And it argues that we can expect 'direct experience' of the Spirit today. Can we, or Perkins right to say we can't, or at least shouldn't really expect to? The division stands. The question is asked, do we come down with Sibbes or Perkins in this? Heart or Will? Experienced Spirit or Distant?
The flavour and feel will be very different.

Calvin:"Will not biblical warnings of God's wrath only cause the soul to shun the God whom it dreads?" From this, Calvin concluded, "merely to know something of God's will is not to be counted as faith. But what if we were to substitute his benevolence or his mercy in place of his will... for it is after we have learned that our salvation rests with God that we are attracted to seek him." (Institutes 3 2 7)

Frost notes that Sibbes was largely disinterested in Predestination, though he believed in it. Many think the choice we face is to be Calvinist or Arminian. I think Frost's work suggests that there is at least one other position to take in light of the Reformation... or perhaps more that you can be Sibbesian or Perkinsian (with the Arminian/Calvinist debate being held within the House of Perkins).

Frost argues "Calvin's affirmation of sin as self-love set up his belief that a solution is provided by a new and greater affection." And, "the focus of all promises, the whole gospel, is on Christ". Sibbes believed with Luther and Calvin that God fulfills his promises of salvation through Christ alone. And that "faith is nothing but the act whereby we apprehend this effectual love of God to us in Christ" (Sibbes, Matchless Love). Frost:

"But while Sibbes held, with Calvin, that the salvation comes through the Spirit's work of drawing the elect through the mind, will and affections to encounter the melting quality of Christ's love, Sibbes realised that many of his listeners lacked this experience. Thus he affirmed Perkins' position, in part, by setting our a twofold ground for assurance." First the Spirit's illumination, and then in our progress in sanctification.... "However, unlike Perkins, Sibbes made the discernment of the Spirit's active presence the primary ground for assurance rather than a secondary and largely unexpected experience." Frost argues then that Sibbes' teaching on assurance is a little inconsistent. Yet: "In a final sermon before he died Sibbes continued to cling to his Christological emphasis for assurance, "look to him for all perfections and for your title to heaven, and not to faith"

Frost concludes:

"Sibbes and Perkins offered profoundly different portrayals of God. Both men believed in God's trinitarian nature, in his absolute authority, his wisdom, and his predestinarian work by which he shows mercy to some, and judges other in their sin.
Perkins' God... is primarily transcendent, characterised as pure will and motivated by the goal of self-glorification.
Sibbes' God, by contrast, is characterised by the inherent self-love of the Godhead, who as a community of Father, Son and Spirit, offers a spreading goodness to the creation. In other words, God's eternal love overflows to his creation, a belief Sibbes drew from Jesus' prayer of John 17. Thus paradoxically, God's essential motivation is a selfless self-love which extends outward. These different views of God led to fundamentally different definitions of grace..."