I found myself wondering the other day what would the world be like if Jesus had never been born, and the more I thought about it the more I began to realise it would be a vastly different place to what we know now and certainly not a better one.
Unfortunately the liberal West loves to blame Christianity for many of the world's ills and keep people ignorant of the positive and profound impact Jesus, and consequently, those who have believed in, and followed him, have had upon the world.
Let me list a few...
The coming of Jesus has transformed lives, relationships and communities.
It has brought liberty and justice, education, medicine and health care to the masses.
It has brought deliverance from false and futile religion and dark satanic practices.
It has provided relief to the poor, lifted the downtrodden and broken the yoke of the oppressed.
It has impacted politics and law and given dignity and rights, freedom of speech.
It has been a stimulator and contributor to the whole arena of science.
It has given dignity to work and the rights of employees.
It has contributed enormously to music, literature and the arts.
It has provided the biggest season of goodwill the world has ever known.
And so we could go on....
Which reminds me, not so long ago I read a report that had come out of atheistic China that said that all that is good (note that) about the West derives from Christianity and therefore from Jesus. That is some statement!
Yes, if Jesus had not come into the world it would have been a far worse and poorer place.
Praise God, Jesus did come!
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 December 2013
Saturday, 14 December 2013
God Prepares for Christmas
Preparation is a must – ask any decorator. It’s vitally important to the finished job.
The same applies to Christmas. In the run up to Christmas people prepare in many different ways and over different lengths of time, nevertheless preparation there must be, otherwise it just wouldn’t happen.
What most people fail to realise is that God took a long time preparing for Christmas, a lot of time and a lot of effort, it didn’t just happen spontaneously one idyllic night.
From the beginning, before the foundation of the earth, God had a plan to display his love, but to do so he needed to prepare a people, and bring everything together at the right time and in the right place. The plan was conceived and formulated in the blessed fellowship of that holy community, the Trinity, and there it was set in motion.
He started by calling Abraham, giving him a family, making them a nation, raising prophets, priests and kings, taking that nation on a journey so that they would get to know him, understand his ways, and be a witness to him among the other people’s and nations of the earth.
It was a long and eventful journey, but eventually we arrive at the crucial point in human history, and God finds the right person to conceive and bring forth his Son Jesus, his co-equal and co-eternal partner with himself and Holy Spirit.
The womb of the incarnation had been a long time in forming, through a family, a nation, an individual, but one day it was ready, and the time was right, that point in human history, that juncture of nations involving political, cultural and religious development.
Yes it took God a long time to prepare for Christmas.
Monday, 14 November 2011
The Wrath of God & Rebellion of Humanity
Revelation is a gripping book.
There are heights and there are depths. It shows you the glory of God and the the depths of human sin. It's a book of blessing and of judgment, and a word that frequently occurs is 'wrath' or more specifically the wrath of God, unveiled in the seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls, in increasing measures.
The word is mentioned 11 times and sometimes qualified as 'great wrath' or 'the fury of his wrath' - hardly words we like to hear.
To be frank it's not a subject we warm to, it is much easier to talk about the love of God. But.... if we cannot talk about the love and wrath of God in the same breath are we really talking about the right thing when it comes to either?
LOVE
Love for many today is no more than an insipid, sentimental feeling. It's gushy and slushy, and when it's not there, it's not there. It's also seen as 'tolerance' (of the politically correct form), where, 'if it makes them happy let them do it,' is the standard. 'I mean, whose to judge? They've gotta work these things out for themselves,' as they say!
The problem is when we put our modern day interpretations of love on to God we find it just doesn't fit, and rather than asking whether we've got it right, we say God's got it wrong - as if we should tell God what he should be like!
That's where we need to go back and read our Bibles. There we discover that God is not on our level - never was, never will be. He is holy, holy, holy - we certainly are not, and the fact of the matter is that a holy, loving, and just God has every right to be angry - we have rebelled against him, we have messed up our own lives and those of others too, and spoiled and soiled the world he created and declared was very good.
A BIG 'BUT'
BUT, like a good father (for that is what he is), he cannot simply ignore rebellion, and allow it to go on, turn a blind eye to it and hope it will rectify itself, or go away - it doesn't. It usually gets worse.
It is in this context that the good news comes in and makes sense, the good news that God has done just that in Jesus, who willingly came and took all our sin, and bore it's judgment on the cross - the holy wrath of a just God. "You were dead.... under wrath.... But God who is rich in mercy, because of his great love..." (Eph 2:1-4) - wonderful words!
As an aside it never ceases to amaze me how many who deny God want justice. The logic is in an evolutionary world there can be no such thing as justice.
When you know the holiness of God and the depth of our sin, that line of Stuart Townends, In Christ Alone, is so soul stirring, and heart warming, "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied...."
No wonder Charles Wesley could write, "No condemnation now I dread, Jesus, and all in him, is mine; alive in him, my living head, and clothed with righteousness divine. Bold I approach the eternal throne...."
Yes Revelation speaks of the wrath of God, but it also has a parallel message of the gospel, providing the opportunity to repent in the face of such judgments. Sadly they all to frequently would not repent and turned on God and blasphemed his name, even preferrring to lose their lives than turn to God (6:16, 17; 9:20, 21; 16:9, 11).
NOW
Humanities rebellion runs deep, but God's love runs deeper still. All the while the earth remains the words of Paul apply, "Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2). What will you do? Will you repent and believe the good news of Jesus Christ and be saved from the wrath to come?
You can listen to Wesleys grand hymn here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQeIGbKqiw8
There are heights and there are depths. It shows you the glory of God and the the depths of human sin. It's a book of blessing and of judgment, and a word that frequently occurs is 'wrath' or more specifically the wrath of God, unveiled in the seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls, in increasing measures.
The word is mentioned 11 times and sometimes qualified as 'great wrath' or 'the fury of his wrath' - hardly words we like to hear.
To be frank it's not a subject we warm to, it is much easier to talk about the love of God. But.... if we cannot talk about the love and wrath of God in the same breath are we really talking about the right thing when it comes to either?
LOVE
Love for many today is no more than an insipid, sentimental feeling. It's gushy and slushy, and when it's not there, it's not there. It's also seen as 'tolerance' (of the politically correct form), where, 'if it makes them happy let them do it,' is the standard. 'I mean, whose to judge? They've gotta work these things out for themselves,' as they say!
The problem is when we put our modern day interpretations of love on to God we find it just doesn't fit, and rather than asking whether we've got it right, we say God's got it wrong - as if we should tell God what he should be like!
That's where we need to go back and read our Bibles. There we discover that God is not on our level - never was, never will be. He is holy, holy, holy - we certainly are not, and the fact of the matter is that a holy, loving, and just God has every right to be angry - we have rebelled against him, we have messed up our own lives and those of others too, and spoiled and soiled the world he created and declared was very good.
A BIG 'BUT'
BUT, like a good father (for that is what he is), he cannot simply ignore rebellion, and allow it to go on, turn a blind eye to it and hope it will rectify itself, or go away - it doesn't. It usually gets worse.
It is in this context that the good news comes in and makes sense, the good news that God has done just that in Jesus, who willingly came and took all our sin, and bore it's judgment on the cross - the holy wrath of a just God. "You were dead.... under wrath.... But God who is rich in mercy, because of his great love..." (Eph 2:1-4) - wonderful words!
As an aside it never ceases to amaze me how many who deny God want justice. The logic is in an evolutionary world there can be no such thing as justice.
When you know the holiness of God and the depth of our sin, that line of Stuart Townends, In Christ Alone, is so soul stirring, and heart warming, "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied...."
No wonder Charles Wesley could write, "No condemnation now I dread, Jesus, and all in him, is mine; alive in him, my living head, and clothed with righteousness divine. Bold I approach the eternal throne...."
Yes Revelation speaks of the wrath of God, but it also has a parallel message of the gospel, providing the opportunity to repent in the face of such judgments. Sadly they all to frequently would not repent and turned on God and blasphemed his name, even preferrring to lose their lives than turn to God (6:16, 17; 9:20, 21; 16:9, 11).
NOW
Humanities rebellion runs deep, but God's love runs deeper still. All the while the earth remains the words of Paul apply, "Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2). What will you do? Will you repent and believe the good news of Jesus Christ and be saved from the wrath to come?
You can listen to Wesleys grand hymn here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQeIGbKqiw8
Monday, 12 April 2010
HOW? How the Saviour Saves
The How on God’s Part
John Calvin says that God in his generous mercy dealt with our sin in Christ so that “there might be no obstruction to his love.” What a thought, God wants no obstruction to his love - Hallelujah!!
1. The Plan
"Purpose," Eph. 1:3-14 To “redeem ... a ... people,” Titus 2:14, “bringing many sons to glory,” Hebrews 2:10; John 17.
2. The Incarnation
Illustration: drowning person. A drowning person needs someone stronger than themselves to save them.
As Gregory said,the “unassumed is the unredeemed.” So God must come and take on human flesh, flesh just like our own – Jesus is both very God, and very man. Romans 1:3,4; 8:1-4.
3. The Life he Lived
He lived in flesh just like our own. In order to save us every facet of our existence (mind, will, emotions) had to be united with God so that God can overcome the sin that permeates our entire existence. So we read that Jesus Christ was born of a woman, made under the law, in the likeness of sinful flesh.
And in that flesh he was tempted in all points as we are.
Every temptation Jesus experienced was for real, but throughout his life he said ‘yes’ to God, and through dependency on his Father beat back the forces of darkness, and overcame every temptation so that he never ever once sinned. As such he was now able to offer himself on our behalf – to bear our sin and its consequences.
4. The Death he Died
John Owen, “the prince of Puritan divines,” described the death of Christ as “the Death of death in the death of Christ” – in other words this was the death that we all deserved, but through his death our death as those who believe in him would now be completely different!
Owen lists four essential elements in any propitiation – all of which we can find in Romans:
1. An offence to be taken away. Romans 1:18.
2. A person offended who needs to be pacified. Romans 1:18.
3. An offending person; one guilty of the offence. Romans 1:18; 3:1-18, 23.
4. A sacrifice or some other means of making atonement for the offence. Romans 3:21-26.
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.” Romans 3:27. Note 1:18.
It is righteousness that comes through faith, 3:22.
The practical outworking? A sacrifice of atonement 3:25.
Different translations use different words here, sacrifice of atonement, expiation, propitiation.
• Expiation – has to do with humanity. Deals with the problem. E.g. removing the stain from a shirt by bleaching it. Cleansing which removes the problem sin/stain. BUT It’s only half the job done. It just deals with us and we could get dirty again. Doesn’t deal with the relationship.
• Propitiation – has to do with God. Deals with the persons/relationship. E.g. you do something which you know will stain your shirt and your wife is rightly extremely angry with you for doing so, so you go and buy her some flowers to make up for it and she forgives you. Wrath averted. The relationship is restored. Both parties reconciled.
In expiation we have the removal of guilt through a payment of the penalty, while propitiation emphasizes the appeasement or averting of God's wrath and justice. The result is at-one-ment.
Isaiah 53:10, 11 or as the hymn writer put it, “His soul was once an offering made for every soul of man.” Charles Wesley
• Justification – the result. Romans 3:24, 26. He was “delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” 4:25.
Not just cleansed and forgiven but acquitted! Declared righteous!
Some think that the cross, the necessity of such a bloody sacrifice, is nothing but gratuitous violence, not so, this is warranted violence, a violence that prevents God’s love from sinking into mere sentimentality and romanticism. As Niebuhr puts it, “Only a tragic and suffering love can be an adequate symbol of what we believe to be at the heart of reality itself.”
In the words of the songwriter, "What kind of love is this ...." Now with no obstruction!
John Calvin says that God in his generous mercy dealt with our sin in Christ so that “there might be no obstruction to his love.” What a thought, God wants no obstruction to his love - Hallelujah!!
1. The Plan
"Purpose," Eph. 1:3-14 To “redeem ... a ... people,” Titus 2:14, “bringing many sons to glory,” Hebrews 2:10; John 17.
2. The Incarnation
Illustration: drowning person. A drowning person needs someone stronger than themselves to save them.
As Gregory said,the “unassumed is the unredeemed.” So God must come and take on human flesh, flesh just like our own – Jesus is both very God, and very man. Romans 1:3,4; 8:1-4.
3. The Life he Lived
He lived in flesh just like our own. In order to save us every facet of our existence (mind, will, emotions) had to be united with God so that God can overcome the sin that permeates our entire existence. So we read that Jesus Christ was born of a woman, made under the law, in the likeness of sinful flesh.
And in that flesh he was tempted in all points as we are.
Every temptation Jesus experienced was for real, but throughout his life he said ‘yes’ to God, and through dependency on his Father beat back the forces of darkness, and overcame every temptation so that he never ever once sinned. As such he was now able to offer himself on our behalf – to bear our sin and its consequences.
4. The Death he Died
John Owen, “the prince of Puritan divines,” described the death of Christ as “the Death of death in the death of Christ” – in other words this was the death that we all deserved, but through his death our death as those who believe in him would now be completely different!
Owen lists four essential elements in any propitiation – all of which we can find in Romans:
1. An offence to be taken away. Romans 1:18.
2. A person offended who needs to be pacified. Romans 1:18.
3. An offending person; one guilty of the offence. Romans 1:18; 3:1-18, 23.
4. A sacrifice or some other means of making atonement for the offence. Romans 3:21-26.
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.” Romans 3:27. Note 1:18.
It is righteousness that comes through faith, 3:22.
The practical outworking? A sacrifice of atonement 3:25.
Different translations use different words here, sacrifice of atonement, expiation, propitiation.
• Expiation – has to do with humanity. Deals with the problem. E.g. removing the stain from a shirt by bleaching it. Cleansing which removes the problem sin/stain. BUT It’s only half the job done. It just deals with us and we could get dirty again. Doesn’t deal with the relationship.
• Propitiation – has to do with God. Deals with the persons/relationship. E.g. you do something which you know will stain your shirt and your wife is rightly extremely angry with you for doing so, so you go and buy her some flowers to make up for it and she forgives you. Wrath averted. The relationship is restored. Both parties reconciled.
In expiation we have the removal of guilt through a payment of the penalty, while propitiation emphasizes the appeasement or averting of God's wrath and justice. The result is at-one-ment.
Isaiah 53:10, 11 or as the hymn writer put it, “His soul was once an offering made for every soul of man.” Charles Wesley
• Justification – the result. Romans 3:24, 26. He was “delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” 4:25.
Not just cleansed and forgiven but acquitted! Declared righteous!
Some think that the cross, the necessity of such a bloody sacrifice, is nothing but gratuitous violence, not so, this is warranted violence, a violence that prevents God’s love from sinking into mere sentimentality and romanticism. As Niebuhr puts it, “Only a tragic and suffering love can be an adequate symbol of what we believe to be at the heart of reality itself.”
In the words of the songwriter, "What kind of love is this ...." Now with no obstruction!
Monday, 22 March 2010
HELP! Our Necessity of a Saviour
An unpopular subject
Talking about sin is not popular; some Christians now prefer to talk about ‘original goodness’ rather than ‘original sin’. Talking about sin is a bit like having an inkling that something is wrong with you and not going to the doctor because you are afraid of the diagnosis – the trouble is it doesn’t make it any better or cause it to go away.
To understand our dilemma we have to go back to the beginning otherwise we won’t get it.
“In the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1).
A Statement of fact and the starting point. God has no beginning or end, and needs no one and nothing to sustain him.
God is Trinity – He is One, and Three. At the centre of the cosmos there is a vibrant, loving, joyful and eternal relationship of three co-equal persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “God is love” and love does not dwell on its own, it must be expressed. Strict monotheism (as in Islam) leads to a lack of love, domination and oppression. It gives power to a single individual.
Creation – It was out of that loving, joyful, holy, happy relationship that God created the world – not because of any need in God, but out of sheer love and delight.
Humanity – It was out of that relationship of joy filled love that the Triune God made humanity in his own image (Gen 1:26, 27), to dwell within the circle of his own love – that is why relationships are so important to us, and why we crave them. It’s also why it hurts when they don’t work or are broken.
The point to note is: God wants us in on the relationship! And the gospel is all about right relationships.
BUT, God is holy love.
We have to understand God’s love on God’s terms, not ours. The world has whittled love down to an easy going, anything goes, sentimental thing.
In John 17 Jesus reveals something of the nature of this eternal relationship of love that he enjoyed before time began when he prays, “Father ... your Son,”(v.1), “Holy Father, ...”(v.11), “Righteous Father, ...”(v.25), “Glory” (v.5).
• Father/Son. Speaks of the intimacy that exists in the Godhead.
• Holiness speaks of God’s ‘otherness.’ E.g. Moses and the burning bush which was not consumed (Exodus 3:1-5) – holy ground; first time we are introduced to the idea of God’s holiness. Also Isaiah in Is. 6. He is so much ‘other’ than we are.
• Righteousness speaks of God’s ways. “Righteous in all his ways.” Psalm 145:17. There is no imperfection. Whether in mercy or justice, God is righteous in all his ways.
• Glory – ‘weight.’ There is nothing trivial about God. He cannot, and must not be trivialised. We trivialise him to our cost. E.g. Uzzah and the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 1-7).
God made us to dwell within the circle of his own holy love.
BUT, Something is wrong
It doesn’t take much to realise that there is something wrong with humanity. Wherever you look you encounter it, on TV, in the newspapers, or just daily life. The horrifying thing is that without the restraint and discipline of parents, without law and order it would be far worse! Parents spend their time teaching their children to do what is right ... they never have to teach them to do what is wrong!! The disturbing reality is we find it easier to hurt than to heal; to break up rather than to make up.
When someone commits some horrendous crime a question arises as to their nature, what possessed them. In the James Bulger case that recently hit the headlines again, discussion was raised as to the nature, or need, of the two ten year olds (as they were then) who committed the crime. Were they demons, monsters who should be judged, or misguided and unfortunate and therefore shown compassion and understanding?
A similar situation confronted Yehiel Dinur an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor when he was called to give witness against Adolf Eichmann in 1960. Dinur on entering the courtroom and seeing Eichmann broke down. Why? Because he saw the one who had killed so many of his friends ... because he was overcome with hatred ... by the awful memories ... by the evil incarnate in Eichmann’s face? No. As he later said, it was because Eichmann was not the demonic impersonation of evil that he was expecting. He was just ordinary. Just like you and me. In was in that moment he realised that sin and evil ARE the human condition, “that I am capable ... exactly like he.” His conclusion? “Eichmann is in all of us.”
Those two boys looked just like any other, so did Eichmann, just like you and me ... normal. Eichmann is in all of us. We are capable.
Total Depravity
In the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) we have the story of the Fall, and in it we see the loss of innocence, and the intrusion of guilt, shame, fear and blame as relationships are disrupted. More, God was now an enemy.
Calvin describes it as Total Depravity a better description today would be Radical Corruption. Radical means to the core ... everything is tainted. It’s not just a blemish that’s on the surface, but something that goes to the core of our being, so that every part of us is affected.
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." (Rom 3:10-12).
Now that doesn’t mean we are all as bad as one another, or incapable of any ‘good,’ though the good referred to here is according to God’s standard. Humanity is capable of the most heroic and kindest of acts as well as the most heinous, and sometimes both at the same time! E.g. the father who splits with his wife, and wants vengeance on her while at the same time doting on his children; Hitler and Eichmann who went home to family and friends
Everything is affected
Sin takes on all sorts of forms from outright disobedience/rebellion to spin! It’s not simply that we do wrong, it’s now very difficult for us to be objective. This means that we almost always have a tendency to skew everything ... put a spin on it ... in our favour of course, from children to adults to politicians to scientists. The tendency is to rationalise or victimise, and it all happened in the Genesis story!
The Fall affects not only humanity but also creation, it suffers, it groans under the weight of sin and the curse ... suffering, disease, and death ... the world is not as God meant it to be.
Six things about sin
• Sin – the outward act, to miss the mark. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. Fallen completely ... you missed, whether by a little or by far! E.g. target.
• Uncleanness (Lev. 16:16) Pollution, contamination. Our sin has polluted our lives and the world so that God cannot dwell there.
• Transgression/lawlessness – a legal offense (wilful rebellion) (Lev. 16:16; 1 John3:4) Broken Law.
• Iniquity/wickedness – covers all aspects of sin. The character behind the fault.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick (incurable); who can understand it?” Jer. 17:9
Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Mat. 15:19
• Dead; cut off from the life of God. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Eph 2:1-3)
“but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” (Isa 59:2)
“They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” Eph 4:18, 19
• Deserving of wrath and judgment. An unpopular subject. E.g. Eden, Cain & Abel, Noah, Egypt’s god’s, Romans 1.
“If your hand, .... foot, .... eye causes you to sin.” “cut it off/tear it out” (Mark 9:43-47). Not meant literally, but a radical problem needs a radical solution ...
Next week, Who? The kind of Saviour We Need.
Some questions for further reflection and application.
What thought do you give to the holiness and righteousness of God?
How might we/you trivialise God? Do you?
Do I recognise my own sinfulness?
What about the 'small' sins ... white lies ... spin ... blame shifting etc.?
Do I understand the serious nature of sin?
Do I find it easy to point the finger at others?
Am I self-righteous?
Do I see my need of a saviour?
Talking about sin is not popular; some Christians now prefer to talk about ‘original goodness’ rather than ‘original sin’. Talking about sin is a bit like having an inkling that something is wrong with you and not going to the doctor because you are afraid of the diagnosis – the trouble is it doesn’t make it any better or cause it to go away.
To understand our dilemma we have to go back to the beginning otherwise we won’t get it.
“In the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1).
A Statement of fact and the starting point. God has no beginning or end, and needs no one and nothing to sustain him.
God is Trinity – He is One, and Three. At the centre of the cosmos there is a vibrant, loving, joyful and eternal relationship of three co-equal persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “God is love” and love does not dwell on its own, it must be expressed. Strict monotheism (as in Islam) leads to a lack of love, domination and oppression. It gives power to a single individual.
Creation – It was out of that loving, joyful, holy, happy relationship that God created the world – not because of any need in God, but out of sheer love and delight.
Humanity – It was out of that relationship of joy filled love that the Triune God made humanity in his own image (Gen 1:26, 27), to dwell within the circle of his own love – that is why relationships are so important to us, and why we crave them. It’s also why it hurts when they don’t work or are broken.
The point to note is: God wants us in on the relationship! And the gospel is all about right relationships.
BUT, God is holy love.
We have to understand God’s love on God’s terms, not ours. The world has whittled love down to an easy going, anything goes, sentimental thing.
In John 17 Jesus reveals something of the nature of this eternal relationship of love that he enjoyed before time began when he prays, “Father ... your Son,”(v.1), “Holy Father, ...”(v.11), “Righteous Father, ...”(v.25), “Glory” (v.5).
• Father/Son. Speaks of the intimacy that exists in the Godhead.
• Holiness speaks of God’s ‘otherness.’ E.g. Moses and the burning bush which was not consumed (Exodus 3:1-5) – holy ground; first time we are introduced to the idea of God’s holiness. Also Isaiah in Is. 6. He is so much ‘other’ than we are.
• Righteousness speaks of God’s ways. “Righteous in all his ways.” Psalm 145:17. There is no imperfection. Whether in mercy or justice, God is righteous in all his ways.
• Glory – ‘weight.’ There is nothing trivial about God. He cannot, and must not be trivialised. We trivialise him to our cost. E.g. Uzzah and the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 1-7).
God made us to dwell within the circle of his own holy love.
BUT, Something is wrong
It doesn’t take much to realise that there is something wrong with humanity. Wherever you look you encounter it, on TV, in the newspapers, or just daily life. The horrifying thing is that without the restraint and discipline of parents, without law and order it would be far worse! Parents spend their time teaching their children to do what is right ... they never have to teach them to do what is wrong!! The disturbing reality is we find it easier to hurt than to heal; to break up rather than to make up.
When someone commits some horrendous crime a question arises as to their nature, what possessed them. In the James Bulger case that recently hit the headlines again, discussion was raised as to the nature, or need, of the two ten year olds (as they were then) who committed the crime. Were they demons, monsters who should be judged, or misguided and unfortunate and therefore shown compassion and understanding?
A similar situation confronted Yehiel Dinur an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor when he was called to give witness against Adolf Eichmann in 1960. Dinur on entering the courtroom and seeing Eichmann broke down. Why? Because he saw the one who had killed so many of his friends ... because he was overcome with hatred ... by the awful memories ... by the evil incarnate in Eichmann’s face? No. As he later said, it was because Eichmann was not the demonic impersonation of evil that he was expecting. He was just ordinary. Just like you and me. In was in that moment he realised that sin and evil ARE the human condition, “that I am capable ... exactly like he.” His conclusion? “Eichmann is in all of us.”
Those two boys looked just like any other, so did Eichmann, just like you and me ... normal. Eichmann is in all of us. We are capable.
Total Depravity
In the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) we have the story of the Fall, and in it we see the loss of innocence, and the intrusion of guilt, shame, fear and blame as relationships are disrupted. More, God was now an enemy.
Calvin describes it as Total Depravity a better description today would be Radical Corruption. Radical means to the core ... everything is tainted. It’s not just a blemish that’s on the surface, but something that goes to the core of our being, so that every part of us is affected.
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." (Rom 3:10-12).
Now that doesn’t mean we are all as bad as one another, or incapable of any ‘good,’ though the good referred to here is according to God’s standard. Humanity is capable of the most heroic and kindest of acts as well as the most heinous, and sometimes both at the same time! E.g. the father who splits with his wife, and wants vengeance on her while at the same time doting on his children; Hitler and Eichmann who went home to family and friends
Everything is affected
Sin takes on all sorts of forms from outright disobedience/rebellion to spin! It’s not simply that we do wrong, it’s now very difficult for us to be objective. This means that we almost always have a tendency to skew everything ... put a spin on it ... in our favour of course, from children to adults to politicians to scientists. The tendency is to rationalise or victimise, and it all happened in the Genesis story!
The Fall affects not only humanity but also creation, it suffers, it groans under the weight of sin and the curse ... suffering, disease, and death ... the world is not as God meant it to be.
Six things about sin
• Sin – the outward act, to miss the mark. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. Fallen completely ... you missed, whether by a little or by far! E.g. target.
• Uncleanness (Lev. 16:16) Pollution, contamination. Our sin has polluted our lives and the world so that God cannot dwell there.
• Transgression/lawlessness – a legal offense (wilful rebellion) (Lev. 16:16; 1 John3:4) Broken Law.
• Iniquity/wickedness – covers all aspects of sin. The character behind the fault.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick (incurable); who can understand it?” Jer. 17:9
Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Mat. 15:19
• Dead; cut off from the life of God. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Eph 2:1-3)
“but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” (Isa 59:2)
“They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” Eph 4:18, 19
• Deserving of wrath and judgment. An unpopular subject. E.g. Eden, Cain & Abel, Noah, Egypt’s god’s, Romans 1.
“If your hand, .... foot, .... eye causes you to sin.” “cut it off/tear it out” (Mark 9:43-47). Not meant literally, but a radical problem needs a radical solution ...
Next week, Who? The kind of Saviour We Need.
Some questions for further reflection and application.
What thought do you give to the holiness and righteousness of God?
How might we/you trivialise God? Do you?
Do I recognise my own sinfulness?
What about the 'small' sins ... white lies ... spin ... blame shifting etc.?
Do I understand the serious nature of sin?
Do I find it easy to point the finger at others?
Am I self-righteous?
Do I see my need of a saviour?
Thursday, 24 December 2009
Joy to the World the Lord has Come
"Joy to the world the Lord has come!" What a line! Christmas is a message of JOY! Joy that is sourced in God alone, through Christ alone.
It is the joy of being loved when we didn't, and don't, and never will deserve it.
It is the joy of God being made flesh for us.
It is the joy of Emmanuel - God with us.
It is the joy of a totally sufficient Saviour.
It is the joy of his forgiveness.
It is the joy of being reconciled to him.
It is the joy of cleansing from every guilty stain that mars that relationship.
It is the joy of knowing him as our Father in heaven.
It is the joy of knowing he cares.
It is the joy of the hope he gives for all our tomorrows.
It is the joy of eternal life.
It is the joy of being loved when we didn't, and don't, and never will deserve it.
It is the joy of God being made flesh for us.
It is the joy of Emmanuel - God with us.
It is the joy of a totally sufficient Saviour.
It is the joy of his forgiveness.
It is the joy of being reconciled to him.
It is the joy of cleansing from every guilty stain that mars that relationship.
It is the joy of knowing him as our Father in heaven.
It is the joy of knowing he cares.
It is the joy of the hope he gives for all our tomorrows.
It is the joy of eternal life.
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Sovereign Grace
Reading, studying and reflecting on the Christmas story I am reminded that salvation is a sovereign act of God, we neither looked for it, asked for it, or wanted it, or for that matter could bring it about if we had. It all starts in the heart of God and is worked out by God himself without human agency.
"For God so loved the world that he gave ..." John 3:16, "the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy-the Son of God." Luke 2:35.
"For God so loved the world that he gave ..." John 3:16, "the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy-the Son of God." Luke 2:35.
Monday, 21 December 2009
Pure Grace
LOVED
"God so loved the world" - not an abstract world, but the world of people, a world of rebellious, fallen humanity. A world running away from God. A world cut off from God. A world that doesn't want to know God - and if it did, wants to make its own more convenient God.
GIFT
"That he gave his only Son." This is nothing but pure unsolicited grace! Nothing on our part, everything on his. Nothing from us, everything from him.
THIS CHRISTMAS
Think of it that way, pure unsolicited grace towards you, towards me - undeserved, unearned, never was, never will be. No wonder this was, and still is, good news of great joy! O JOY! JOY! JOY!
May you know the fulness of the joy of the Christmas message this season.
"God so loved the world" - not an abstract world, but the world of people, a world of rebellious, fallen humanity. A world running away from God. A world cut off from God. A world that doesn't want to know God - and if it did, wants to make its own more convenient God.
GIFT
"That he gave his only Son." This is nothing but pure unsolicited grace! Nothing on our part, everything on his. Nothing from us, everything from him.
THIS CHRISTMAS
Think of it that way, pure unsolicited grace towards you, towards me - undeserved, unearned, never was, never will be. No wonder this was, and still is, good news of great joy! O JOY! JOY! JOY!
May you know the fulness of the joy of the Christmas message this season.
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Veiled in Flesh
VEILED
The hymnwriter Charles Wesley says in his carol Hark the Herald Angels Sing, "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see." Veiled, that's a reference to the mystery of the incarnation. The human mind cannot get it's head around that. We look and see a baby, and if it wasn't for the angels and the star, I don't suppose that either the shepherds or the wisemen would have known any different either.
INCARNATE DEITY?
"Hail the Incarnate Deity!" God in flesh? How? Simply "of the Holy Spirit." But how? We aren't told any more than that, and because we aren't told any more than that, many are stumbled. The fact is that many at the time didn't get it either - a God who was human/a human who was God? Family, friends etc. did not recognise him so human was he. The Word was made flesh.
WHY?
Its not so much the how that's important, as the WHY? Why would God do this? The answer is it was the only way he could save us. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." He had to come to us, as there was no way we could get to him. He had to be one with us, in order to make us one with him. He had to live our life, and die our death.
WHY?
BECAUSE HE LOVES US, and he wants us to dwell within the circle of his life and love.
The hymnwriter Charles Wesley says in his carol Hark the Herald Angels Sing, "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see." Veiled, that's a reference to the mystery of the incarnation. The human mind cannot get it's head around that. We look and see a baby, and if it wasn't for the angels and the star, I don't suppose that either the shepherds or the wisemen would have known any different either.
INCARNATE DEITY?
"Hail the Incarnate Deity!" God in flesh? How? Simply "of the Holy Spirit." But how? We aren't told any more than that, and because we aren't told any more than that, many are stumbled. The fact is that many at the time didn't get it either - a God who was human/a human who was God? Family, friends etc. did not recognise him so human was he. The Word was made flesh.
WHY?
Its not so much the how that's important, as the WHY? Why would God do this? The answer is it was the only way he could save us. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." He had to come to us, as there was no way we could get to him. He had to be one with us, in order to make us one with him. He had to live our life, and die our death.
WHY?
BECAUSE HE LOVES US, and he wants us to dwell within the circle of his life and love.
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