Apostlic, Bible Study, Ephesians, Preach

We are His House

We are His House (Eph 2v19-22) pdf file

On my return from sabbatical I had a word that last year was about alignment and this year was about confidence for us as a church.  We need to be a confident people stepping into what we are called to be, for the purpose we are called for.

Eph 2:19-22 - So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

It’s a family matter! (v19)

We have a need and desire to belong to something.  We are created to be in family and be a part, not as isolated people.

The kingdom of God makes people who think they are misfits ..fit in.  Outcasts become insiders… in short the kingdom of God should make us belong!

We were once second class we have been upgraded, to kingdom class, we have a new nationality, we are citizens, as the people of God we hold a new passport.

We get built into a family. Family is the best model for church, when we operate in a different model we leave ourselves open to abuses.  The OT concept of national citizenship and identity is found in the way they organised themselves nation – tribe – family.

The dwelling of God is built on the basis of a family, a people, a group who are connected in heart and mind.  He calls us his children, his family.

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Comment, Politics, Thoughts

Toleration : a social doctrine

‘Toleration’ is one of the current most prominent social doctrines, we are encouraged to be tolerant of everyone’s right to believe and do what they want to believe and do.  Toleration is the inevitable practical outworking of the other social doctrine of ‘equality’, no one can claim any superior standing we are all supposed to be equal!  We even have a government minister whose job it is to promote this doctrine of equality.

At first glance these two social doctrines seem to be very Christian, they are desirable and make for a more friendly society.  However, although they make for apparent social cohesion, they are actually dangerous words, they are just not powerful enough.  Against what do we measure equality and toleration?  Should we tolerate all behaviour, or just behaviour that the law makers find acceptable? Should all people really be equal, don’t we deny equality to offenders of the social code?

Just at the moment in secular Britain it seems that we should tolerate all views but if you want to promote a Christian view with any confidence then that will not be tolerated.  We will only tolerate Christians if they promise not to promote their outdated moral standpoint on human relationships, don’t advertise the fact that their God can heal, don’t wear any offensive jewellery, in fact would the Christians just crawl back into their buildings and keep their irrelevant beliefs to themselves.  Society will tolerate an anaemic version of Christianity, a version that will not change anyone or challenge belief structures. It will tolerate a ‘good works’ type of Christianity as long as we don’t talk about the reason for the good works.

I don’t think that I am advocating ‘intolerance’, it is possible to disagree with someones lifestyle or views and still express love.  Now there’s a word, love isn’t about being tolerant, sometimes the expression of love is intolerant. If I see someone in the grip of addiction love is expressed in attempting to intervene! Christians follow a fairly radical leader who expressed love but was not always tolerant!  Please don’t try water down love to be wishy washy counterfeit called ‘toleration’, that is just a parody of true love.

Now if your blood is boiling with rage at this blog, please just show me some toleration!

Bible Study, Ephesians, Preach

Masterplan of Grace : Peace (Eph 2:8-18)

pdf file of Masterplan of Grace – Peace (Eph 2 v8-18)

The Gift of Grace

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

God’s Grace Gift (v8)

When we get given a birthday present it is normally because of who we are not because of what we have done.  To understand grace you must comprehend that it is not about what you have done to deserve grace, in-fact from the earlier part of this passage it is entirely about what we have done not to deserve grace!

“The character of God is revealed through His mercy (cf. vv. 4–6). Believers are the trophies of His love. Grace is best defined as the unmerited, undeserved love of God. It flows from God’s nature through Christ and is irrespective of the worth or merit of the one loved.”  R Utley

Belief or faith is the means by which we access this grace.  We are not saved by our faith, no only by grace.  Without the belief that we have received grace it is not possible to grasp grace.  Sounds very simple really, just believe!  But so much about our rational existence wars against simple belief.  That’s why Jesus tells us to be like children (Mt 18:13) when it comes to matters of faith, being all grown up seems to stop us from accessing the kingdom of God!  You don’t need much faith, just a tiny seed of it (Mt 17:20).

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Comment, Thoughts

God’s Anger… at what?

There are a whole bunch of scriptures, Old and New, that point to the idea of an angry or wrathful God. Perhaps we need to ask ourselves, who is God angry with? Is it me? All through the narrative of the OT God gets angry but restrains himself from acting on his anger, actually his anger is an expression of his lavish love for humanity. Sin has embedded itself into humanity so that it becomes the default position for us, it is passed on from generation to generation.

Our modern world finds such talk of sin very hard to comprehend let alone accept. We live increasingly in a world where tolerance and equality are paraded as paramount virtues. However, attitudes and lifestyles that would once have been considered sinful by our fathers are now embraced fully because tolerance and equality seem to trump truth and righteousness.

A sinful world that provokes an angry response from God is whitewashed out of our vocabulary. We face a conundrum, how do we lead people to the saviour of the world if we do not want to be saved from our sinful state? How do we talk about sin in a world that accepts sin as normal behaviour? How do we lovingly challenge sin when we seem to be forbidden by society from even calling sin sin? Truth and righteousness may be right for you and not for me.

By removing God from the picture, our personal choices become the guiding standard by which we live, being true to ourselves and following our desires becomes our moral compass. Rather than being true to God and following His desires!

“Love is not the opposite of wrath, as difficult as it may be to conceive, the wrath of God is an expression of his love and deep attachment to his people” – Kyle Snodgrass

Comment, Politics, Thoughts

The Battle for Britain’s Soul

There was an interesting editorial today in the Sunday Telegraph by Cole Moreton.  He tracks the pressure points that have arisen over the last few years with regards faith and society.  Arguments over a multi-faith Britain, banning the wearing crosses at work, gay rights in the clergy, gay bishops, the banning of prayers at council meetings and the reversal of that decision and now the redefinition of marriage, no wonder Rowan Williams has decided to pass on the baton a little sooner than he planned.

I’ve no idea whether the journalist is a believer or not but he has hit the nail on the head, there is a spiritual battle raging at the moment.  What we are seeing at the moment is the surging back and forward, Christians get a supportive politician or an advance, and then there is a knock back, this is what happens in battle.  Actually Christianity fares better when it has a cause to rally around, passivity is not good for followers of Jesus, we need a degree of opposition to work out what is important.

The debate raging about marriage is the latest battleground, what is at stake is a God world view, so are the followers of Jesus going to take their stand?

Telegraph article