my life and my doctrine

I’ve recently been following many, generally painful and non-constructive, discussions on the SRE on trial page of Facebook. I don’t want to rehash the arguments here, but question an assumption of those who promote the ethics course. My bugbear is when people claim secular ethics as worldview-neutral and therefore isn’t a challenge to organised, for want of a better term, religion. If that were the case, how can it be considered for the SRE time slot? (However, I would like to add that this is more constructive than discussions about the appropriateness of SRE in schools at all. From what I understand, that’s not up for debate.)

This struck me as I heard about the recent French vote, in the lower house, to ban the burka.

Justice minister Michele Alliot-Marie says the approval was a success for French republican values of liberty, equality, fraternity and secularism.

I am yet to work out how it is a win for liberty. How a ban on public religious practise equals freedom. It seems to me, from a possibly ill-informed outsider looking in, that the desire for secularism is greater than the right to personal self-expression. In the end, it gives me the impression that secularism sits in judgment over religion and wants to push what it thinks is good or bad for an individual. Equality becomes less about equality, but uniformity. No longer the right the choose, but the assumption that all will choose the same.

Why did this particularly strike me this week?

I’ve been preparing sermons on 1 Timothy for later this year and have been dwelling on this very bold, very absolute, very modernist statement:

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all (1 Tim 2:5-6)

Paul doesn’t have any sense of diplomacy or tact as he states the truth. Regardless of what the prevailing view might have been in the cosmopolitan Ephesus, regardless of the culture of the day, there is one God. And there is only one God. And the only mediation between God and humanity. Jesus Christ who died, that we might know this one God.

I preached on the last part of Ephesians 6 last Sunday night and was asked a question about what and where are the heavenly places.

I’m still thinking about it and so this is my brief response. I’d love your thoughts on how to flesh this out.

The heavenly places is a description of the spiritual realm. It’s also where Jesus is now. Looking back over Ephesians and we see it mentioned in 1.3; 1.20; 2.6; 3.10 and 6.12. It describes the spiritual realm in which we’ve received spiritual blessings (1.3), where Jesus is now seated (1.20; 2.6) and where the rulers and authorities dwell (3.10; 6.12).

It’s not a place you can find on Google maps, but a real place where real activity takes place. We must make sure we don’t dismiss the spiritual aspect to reality that Paul clearly talks about.

At evening church we’ve been looking at Ephesians and last night I preached on Ephesians 3.14-21. It’s a fantastic prayer asking God to change us from the inside out to make us a more suitable dwelling place for him. I had a question on the tear off slips asking about whether we can be fit for God to live in us and thought I’d share my response to a wider audience.

I think the prayer in Eph 3.16-17 is that we continually be made a more and more suitable dwelling place for God (see also Eph 2.22). This means that though God’s Spirit now lives in us, he is continuing to change and shape us to be more like Christ. ie filled with the fullness of God (3.19).

Does it mean we can be perfect? No. I don’t think so. I do think we will be made perfect on the last day. However, in the meantime, we are to keep praying that God keep changing us.

Can we fully comprehend Christ’s love? Again, I don’t think so. However, we grow and mature as Christians, as we appreciate and know better his love for us.

It is the love of Christ that will motivate us to seek to be more like Christ. It is the love of Christ that will drive us to more prayerful dependence on God. And, it is the love of Christ that will drive us to want God to be glorified in all things.

PS I thought about blogging about the sermon after reading a Sydney Anglican article on exactly that.

I read this book in December or January and was convicted about what it is that I preach. Sure, it’s 20 years old. And sure, the font size in my copy is big, so it seemed easier to read and fast to finish.

John Piper is incredibly shaped by the Puritan Jonathan Edwards. It felt at points that he was summarising and paraphrasing Edwards on preaching. The result is a book which challenged me to reconsider what is the content of my preaching and how I think about it.

The content of preaching, Piper argues, ought to be the supremacy of God. His incredible sovereignty as the creator and sustainer of this universe. This is not to be a philosophical reflection on the other-ness of God. Rather a recognition of how holy he is and how sinful we are before him. This is helpful for a number of reasons:

1. We take the focus off ourselves.
   It is all too easy for my sermons to be addressing myself and the congregation as individuals, encouraging us to godly thinking and living and yet, not reflecting the worth, the glory or honour that God deserves. The danger I see is that a person-centred ministry could easily become moralistic, legalistic or this worldly.
2. We see the grace of God in his gift of Christ on the cross.
   As we refocus on our great and supreme God, we will appreciate the depravity of our sin, our helplessness before God and our utter dependancy on Him. This will turn us once again, back to the gospel, back to the message that Christ died for sinners and that we are saved by grace through faith.
3. We thank God for His Spirit, that enlightens our hearts and minds to know him.
   Therefore, the privilege that it is to preach is not due to personal merit, but the gracious gift of God working through his Word, by his Spirit.

This book also encouraged me to think differently about preaching. It is important to work on the ‘common graces’ of communication, eg how I speak, eye contact, facial expressions (or lack of in my case) etc. But being more dynamic doesn’t make up for lack of depth in content. The challenge for me is to keep working on the content, that I may be continually plumbing the depths of God’s character and then teaching this to others. If I haven’t learned anything in the preparation, I imagine not much will be taught.

It’s my goal to keep reading books on preaching. As I do, I am more committed to preparing better and often that means less time for blogs.

There were two big questions raised after the sermon on Sunday night (Isaiah 6.1-7).

Firstly, I mentioned something about whether anxiety was a sin if we’re commanded in Philippians not to be anxious.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

This was abbreviating a book review of Jerry Bridges’ Respectable Sins which was recently reviewed in the Briefing. The book review made me think it is definitely worth reading, to be reminded again of how easily our Christianity takes on aspects of our worldview that God is against. Other areas mentioned are impatience, selfishness, favouritism …

I’m sorry if what I said was insensitive to those thinking of friends and family with medically diagnosed anxiety issues.

What I was and am keen to challenge us on is the little things we may worry about that are out of our control.

John Bartik’s reflections on Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry, Be Happy are worth a read.

Secondly, I ended with the reminder that we needn’t feel guilt about sin if we’re forgiven.

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.  7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:6-7)

I think there’s a difference between feeling guilty and feeling remorseful about sin. I understand remorse as something which also implies regret and repentance. ie a desire to not keep sinning.

I think feeling guilty about sin can lead to two problems.

1. You feel more and more guilt in which case you don’t trust God’s grace to forgive.
2. The guilt makes you want to try harder and be more godly so you don’t trust God’s grace to forgive.

The right response to recognising the sin in our lives is to repent, to say sorry to God and to ask him to forgive us. I think the danger is that all too often we want to say sorry and I won’t do it again, as though we can make ourselves more godly.

What do you think? Have I overstated my case?

Kevin de Young has written a great piece about the temptation for church to cushion us from our own sin and the need for salvation.

The temptation, subtle and strong in every preacher, is to preach to other people’s sins. And so our sermons rail on emergents or homosexuality or Richard Dawkins. … But the sin we should hear about most is our own. Just as the iniquity I should most disdain is mine.

He quotes John Miller (Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, p. 26):

Among conservatives and evangelicals, its [religious cushioning's] primary mission all too often is to function as a preaching station where Christians gather to hear the gospel preached to the unconverted, to be reassured that liberals are mistaken about God and hell, and renew one’s sense of well-being without have a serious encounter with the living God.

Pray for me, that I don’t succumb to this temptation.

Today I read Thomas Cranmer’s homily entitled, ‘A Fruitful Exhortation to the Reading and Knowledge of Holy Scripture’. It’s an incredibly inspiring read! I’ve been considering the importance of preaching in a particular pastoral context, and yet here’s a homily, a sermon to be read out in the 17th century which still inspires to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Bible.

Cranmer has such confidence in Holy Scripture as containing the Word of God, as sufficient for all knowledge to live a godly life and as scalpel to judge the human condition of those who read it.

‘In these books we may learn to know ourselves, how vile and miserable we be; and also to know God, how good he is of himself, and how he maketh us and all creatures partakers of his goodness.’

Three things in particular struck me as I read it.

Firstly, Cranmer uses such figurative language as he wrote this homily. It doesn’t seek to appeal purely to those academically inclined. Rather, his communication style includes painting a lot of visual images for the hearers. For example,

as drink is pleasant to them that be dry, and meat to them that be hungry; so is the reading, hearing, searching, and studying of Holy Scripture, to them that be desirous to know God, or themselves, and to do his will.

This is a challenge to me as I’m still working my way out of four years in theological college, which can often result in my sermons being considered heady or academic. It’s not that I want to lose theological rigour or depth, but rather, I want to work harder at communicating.

Secondly, Cranmer also speaks negatively against those who would choose not to read and know Holy Scriptures. At the start he refers to those who are ‘so drowned in worldly vanities’ and ‘desire such vanities, rather than the true knowledge of God.’ He concludes his first section saying,

‘nothing more darkeneth Christ and the glory of God, nor bringeth in more blindness and all kinds of vices, than doth the ignorance of God’s word.’

This is confronting as I find it easy to play down the harsh reality of judgment on those who aren’t yet Christian. Yet in big, bold, black and white, I’m reminded that, but by the grace of God, I have been brought from the kingdom of darkness into his wonderful light. This awareness of what I’ve been saved from should inspire me to boldly continue preaching the reality of life without Christ.

Thirdly, Cranmer exhorts the hearers of the homily to not just read their Bibles, but seek to understand it. I’ve made a few comments about my desire to spend more time reading my Bible than other books or listening to mp3 sermons or on Facebook etc. This homily has rebuked me to not think about it in terms of time spent, nor chapters read, nor obligation or legalism. Rather, reading the Bible ought to lead to knowledge of God. If it doesn’t, not much is going in.

Furthermore, reading the Bible ought to be part and parcel of what it means to be a Christian.

‘If we profess Christ, why be we not ashamed to be ignorant in his doctrine, seeing that every man is ashamed to be ignorant in that learning which be professeth? That man is ashamed to be called a Philosopher which readeth not the books of philosophy; and to be called a Lawyer, an Astronomer, or a Physician, that is ignorant in the books of law, astronomy, and physic. How can any man, then, say that he professeth Christ and his religion, if he will not apply himself, as far forth as he can or may conveniently, to read and hear, and so to know, the books of Christ’s Gospel and doctrine?’

I’ll let Cranmer have the last word,

‘Let us therefore apply ourselves, as far forth as we can have time and leisure, to know God’s word, by diligent hearing and reading thereof, as many as profess God, and have faith and trust in him.’

PS. A more complete set of homilies, though with ye olde style spelling can be found here.

This isn’t so much learning from Calvin’s preaching as learning from what someone else has learnt from Calvin’s  preaching. I’ve just finished reading the first essay in Engaging with Calvin: Aspects of the Reformer’s legacy for today. This essay is by Peter Adam called ‘”Preaching of a lively kind’ – Calvin’s Engaged Expository Preaching’. He notes the distinction between theological writings, like Calvin’s Institutes, commentaries and sermons. The article is clearly reliant on Calvin’s sermons which were recorded by shorthand and published, rather than the first two. So Adam learns from what Calvin preached and how he preached it.

Adam notes five main areas to his preaching; engaging with the congregation, with God, with the Bible, with theology and in training. It is no surprise that these five overlap on the edges and it is no surprise that these five are key areas to think about in any preaching. There are a few things that were particularly noteworthy for me, which I’d like to share.

Firstly, the reminder that in preaching God is present. It is an incredible privilege and joy that as God’s word is taught, so God will be there teaching and convicting the hearers. It should not be unreasonable, in fact it should be expected, that as the Scriptures are taught, that God is at work through them by his Spirit. More specifically, ‘[t]he present secret work of the Spirit is to change us, not to make the Scriptures more powerful.’ (p24) That is, God is present as his Spirit works within us, using the words of the preacher as he expounds the Bible.

Secondly, it was a great challenge to see how Calvin was deliberately keen to be expositional so that his congregation would know their Bibles better.

Thirdly, the last key area, training had lots to ponder. I’ve thought that the way preachers preach demonstrates a model of how to read the Bible and ought to include tips and advice on how to do this well. The insights that Adam draws from Calvin’s sermons are fuller and all the more challenging.

1. ‘Calvin wanted to train his people to hear God’s words in sermons’ (p35). This reminds me of a comment I recently heard that preaching ought to generate in congregations a love for hearing God’s word taught.
2. ‘Calvin’s aim was to ensure that lay people read and understood the Bible’ (p36).
3. ‘Christians are to serve others in ordinary matters of daily life, and also in bringing them the words of eternal life’ (p36). Through regular Bible teaching, congregations should be equipped and inspired to share the insights they’ve learnt with friends. This could be through teaching and encouraging other Christians or through evangelising their non-Christian friends.
4. Calvin was keen for world mission. ‘”For the knowledge of God must be known through the whole world, and every one must share in it”‘ (p37, quoting Calvin in his sermons on the pastorals). Thus a congregation should consider and plan to prepare and equip people to leave as they serve God elsewhere.

So, how do I cram all this into the next sermon I write? I don’t think I’ll be radically different in one hit. However, I hope that over time, the reminder to consider five broad aspects of preaching will sharpen my preaching. Even Adam, after reading copious sermons Calvin preached acknowledges that ‘Calvin did not always meet the high standards that he set for himself’ (p40). Please pray for me and other preachers, that we may continue to work hard at preaching to our congregations, confronting them with God himself as the text is expounded, theology taught and people are trained and equipped for godly living.

One of the books not on my reading list is Total Church, which I started this morning. (Note to self: blog about procrastination and distraction in reading.) The first two chapters are a great reminder about the importance of the gospel and of church as community. The reminder of centrality of the word in the Christian life was another shot in the arm after the recent minister’s conference I was at.

It’s been quite challenging being reminded often and in many ways recently, of the prominence of God’s word ought to have in the Christian life and ministry. I’ve been encouraged to place the word as front and centre in my life and ministry.  As Jesus teaches us in John 5.24,

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Thus the work of God to bring life to the death is achieved through the proclamation of the word, through hearing and believing God’s word. This reminds me of the key verses in Romans 10 we’ve been continually turning to in our Winter Workshop on world mission.

13 For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’

Regardless of location, for people to be saved, they need other people to send a preacher, and that preacher is to proclaim the Lord.

I was at Engage conference last weekend and surprised even myself with how strongly I reacted, both positively and negatively to various aspects of the weekend. The next few posts will give me a chance to reflect on the weekend. I hope that if you were there you’ll comment and help me think through the weekend.

By way of introduction I’ve never been to Engage before. It is aimed at Christians in the workplace, generally on the younger side of things. ie not pre-retirement, but twenty and thirty somethings. I’d just come off the back of two full on days of a ministry development training conference where William Taylor and Mark Dever emphasised for me the importance of gospel ministry as God’s word is taught well, taught deeply and taught faithfully. The speakers at this year’s Engage conference were William Taylor and Matt Chandler.

The highlight of the weekend was hearing William Taylor. Sure, I’d heard the three talks only days before, but they were great. The key verse for this three talks was John 5.24:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24 ESV)

I can now, without the aid of my notes, remember the things he was trying to teach us from John’s gospel.

Q: What on earth is God doing?
A: He’s doing what Jesus is doing?

Q: What on earth is Jesus doing?
A: He came to bring life now and judgment later.

Q: How is Jesus doing this?
A: Through his word.

It was a great reminder of the powerful message of the gospel. That without Christ all people are dead, condemned, helpless, blind, enslaved children of Satan. God, out of his love and mercy alone, acted to bring us life. And he does this powerfully through his word. That same word is what turned water into wine, fed a massive crowd, healed a paralysed man, healed  a man from a distance and raised Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus speaks, his word is powerful.

It is therefore of utmost importance that we continue to preach the gospel, the good news that Jesus offers life to those who are dead.