Well lifes been busy….. spent a week away at the Wales Evangelical School of Theology doing my last module for my MTh, and been trying to catch up ever since!
This time it was Christology and Soteriology, with a look at the New
Perspective(s) – yes, there now appears to be as many perspectives as
theologians – especially as per James Dunn and N T Wright. We had some
good lectures and discussions – there’s something about learning
together.
One interesting exercise was going down to the library and looking at
the growing use of extra Biblical resources in commentaries in the last
ten years – a shocking eye opener, with some ranging up to 10 pages of
references!
How encouraging to hear that its a move in the wrong direction
(contra Dunn and Wright), and the Old Testament is to be our base and
guide to understanding the New. To do otherwise is to suggest that in a
hundred or so years time people could gather from the writings of the
Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and any other cult and suggest that their
understanding of the Bible should help people of the day know what
Christians really believed back then! No way!
So, be encouraged, it doesn’t matter that you don’t have access to
the Dead Sea Scrolls or the numerous other bits of literature only
available to academia. Your Bible is inspired by God and fully
trustworthy. Get to know the Old Testament and how it is worked out in
the New – what a book; what a message!
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Free in Christ - Romans 8
For many Romans 8 is something they aim at, but rarely get there. To often their experience is Romans 7, the wretched man, but that is to fall short of the gospel. Romans 8 is meant to be the normal Christian life. Some years ago after living as a Romans 7 Christian I studied Romans afresh, and realised I had missed something.
Frequently the realm of Flesh and Spirit is seen as interior, and so an inner conflict is set up (and I had many of them), but Romans reveals it to be two realms, and we are either in one or the other. Here is a paraphrase I wrote of Romans 8 that seeks to bring it out.
8:1,2. So, the conclusion of it all is this: that there is now absolutely no condemnation whatsoever (and neither can there ever be), for those who are in union with Christ Jesus. For, the law of the Spirit of life which is in and through Christ Jesus has liberated you from the law of sin that always leads to failure, defeat and death.
3,4. For what the law could never do (enable us to be right with God, and live righteously because of our sinful flesh) God did Himself, and He did this by sending His own Son in flesh just like ours under the domain of sin, and for sin itself. He then past judgment on sin in the realm of the Flesh, and condemned it once and for all, thereby destroying it’s power, so that now, the righteous requirements of the law might be accomplished in us who walk no longer in the realm of the Flesh (lives lived without reference to God); but now walk in the realm of the Spirit (lives lived in reference to God).
5, 6. For, those who live their lives according to the realm of the Flesh, their thoughts and affections, in fact their whole perspective is shaped by and set on the things of ‘the Flesh,’ but those who live their lives according to the realm of the Spirit, their thoughts and affections indeed their whole perspective is shaped by and set on the things of ‘the Spirit.’ For, the whole inclination and outlook of the realm of the Flesh, is death, but, the whole inclination and outlook of the realm of the Spirit, is life and peace.
7 – 9. The reason is this: the inclination and outlook of the realm of the Flesh is hostile to God, for it is not subject to the law of God, and never can be. So then, those who live in the realm of the Flesh can never please God. But, as for you, you are no longer in the realm of the Flesh and under its power, but in the realm of the Spirit, managed and energised by Him, since the Spirit of God inhabits you. Now if someone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they cannot possibly belong to Him.
10, 11. Now since Christ does reside in you, that means the body is dead because of sin, and yet you have life by the Spirit because of righteousness. Moreover since the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead resides in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to these mortal bodies because of His Spirit who dwells in you.
12 – 16. So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors and have an obligation – but it is certainly not to the realm of the Flesh, to live in keeping with the Flesh. For if you live in keeping with the realm of the Flesh, you are obviously still in the realm of the Flesh, unchanged, fleshly, and you will die; but, if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body by saying no to sin and not giving in to it, you will live. For those who so live are being led by the Spirit of God and show themselves to be true sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of slavery that leads again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of full sonship that enables you to call out with confidence “Abba, Father.” For the Spirit Himself testifies to our spirit that we are children of God.
© R. Burgess 2001 revised 2012
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Communion - Four Key Words
Four Key Words
There are four key words to keep in mind when coming to the Lord’s Table; important words that will help us in our appreciation of it.
Covenant
The first one is Covenant – “This is the new covenant established by my blood.” This is our first base – it’s God’s covenant, it’s about what he has done. The Old one couldn’t do the job because of our falleness, so God establishes a new one. The idea of a covenant then roots us in Christ’s performance NOT ours. This provides a balance to the experiential nature of Spirit-filled Christianity and represents the tension between the ages, the now and not yet of the kingdom – the sacrifice once and for all time and the full consummation of what that means in the future. God’s act in Jesus has changed the way God feels, i.e. the Passover, “When I see the blood I will Passover you.” If things are going well for you then we are reminded when we come to the table its because of what Jesus has done; if you are struggling when we come to the table then we are reminded that its not our performance but his that counts. In Israels households there were no doubt good sons and bad sons, but it was the blood of the lamb that would save each. The Communion Table levels us all.
Remember
The second Remember – “Do this in remembrance of me…” For the western mind this is no more than the recollecting of details and events with no present reality, but for the Hebrew/Jewish mind it was a remembering that engages with and relives the event. It was a reactivating of its significance, so that generations later it was their story. And in many ways it was, you see we live in an individualistic isolated world, they lived in family/community world. Their identity wasn’t in themselves it was in thier community and its history. So there great, great, great, great… grand parents story was their story, and they remebered and told in such a way. So it should be for us as we break the bread and drink the wine.
Communion
The third is Communion. The original word is translated variously in different versions and places in the Bible as communion, participation, sharing; 1 Cor. 10:17 “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”
1. It is with Christ. This must be foremost, we commune with him.
2. It is with one another. Jesus died for the church, a body, his body. It expresses our unity. Sharing = a rejoicing in the common bond we have in Christ… This is where the scripture “Examine yourselves” comes in. This is not about introspection, but the fact we are part of the body, and is in regard to the body – our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are called to recognise it, honour it, and extend the same grace and mercy to it. It becomes then a meal that unites us and sustains us.
Proclamation
The fourth is Proclamation – “You proclaim the Lord’s death till he comes.” – what an amazing line – we proclaim both death and life at the same time! Everytime we Break Bread, eat the Lord’s Supper, we are proclaiming the reality of Christ – his life, his death, his ressurection,his coming again and in so doing we proclaim the power of the gospel to save all that will put their trust in him.
There are four key words to keep in mind when coming to the Lord’s Table; important words that will help us in our appreciation of it.
Covenant
The first one is Covenant – “This is the new covenant established by my blood.” This is our first base – it’s God’s covenant, it’s about what he has done. The Old one couldn’t do the job because of our falleness, so God establishes a new one. The idea of a covenant then roots us in Christ’s performance NOT ours. This provides a balance to the experiential nature of Spirit-filled Christianity and represents the tension between the ages, the now and not yet of the kingdom – the sacrifice once and for all time and the full consummation of what that means in the future. God’s act in Jesus has changed the way God feels, i.e. the Passover, “When I see the blood I will Passover you.” If things are going well for you then we are reminded when we come to the table its because of what Jesus has done; if you are struggling when we come to the table then we are reminded that its not our performance but his that counts. In Israels households there were no doubt good sons and bad sons, but it was the blood of the lamb that would save each. The Communion Table levels us all.
Remember
The second Remember – “Do this in remembrance of me…” For the western mind this is no more than the recollecting of details and events with no present reality, but for the Hebrew/Jewish mind it was a remembering that engages with and relives the event. It was a reactivating of its significance, so that generations later it was their story. And in many ways it was, you see we live in an individualistic isolated world, they lived in family/community world. Their identity wasn’t in themselves it was in thier community and its history. So there great, great, great, great… grand parents story was their story, and they remebered and told in such a way. So it should be for us as we break the bread and drink the wine.
Communion
The third is Communion. The original word is translated variously in different versions and places in the Bible as communion, participation, sharing; 1 Cor. 10:17 “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”
1. It is with Christ. This must be foremost, we commune with him.
2. It is with one another. Jesus died for the church, a body, his body. It expresses our unity. Sharing = a rejoicing in the common bond we have in Christ… This is where the scripture “Examine yourselves” comes in. This is not about introspection, but the fact we are part of the body, and is in regard to the body – our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are called to recognise it, honour it, and extend the same grace and mercy to it. It becomes then a meal that unites us and sustains us.
Proclamation
The fourth is Proclamation – “You proclaim the Lord’s death till he comes.” – what an amazing line – we proclaim both death and life at the same time! Everytime we Break Bread, eat the Lord’s Supper, we are proclaiming the reality of Christ – his life, his death, his ressurection,his coming again and in so doing we proclaim the power of the gospel to save all that will put their trust in him.
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Communion - what is it? Part 2
To understand communion we need to look at where it came from. The
scripture provides us with a very direct clue “As they were eating…”
(Matthew 26:26). The question is what were they eating? And the answer
is the Passover meal, something which Jesus said, “With desire (strong
desire) I have desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer.”
(Luke 22:15).
To find the real meaning then we need to go back to its origin in the Old testament in Exodus 12. In this chapter we come to the climax of the spiritual battle that was taking place. Every demonstration of God’s authority and power over the gods of Egypt had been resisted – Pharoah would not let God’s people go.
This last demonstration was going to involve the death of the firstborn in every Egyptian home – but there was a problem: God is holy and just. How could God be true to himself, and save some and yet judge others, after all his own people were sinners?
For justice to be done God instructed the selecting, keeping and slaughtering of a perfect lamb, and the eating of its flesh. This lamb was to take the eldest son’s place – to be his substitute. They were to take the blood and put it on the door posts and lintel because as God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” It was there for God, and for them. It changed first of all the way God felt about them, secondly, it would be the cause of the eldest son’s deliverence (I would encourage you to read/reread the story and put yourself in the eldest son’s place, consider what he and his family felt).
This was the “Lord’s Passover” and they were to keep it as a memorial feast to the Lord every year (12:14). This passover not only looked back, but it became part of the promise and anticipation of Messiah, the hoped for Deliverer.
Jesus said he strongly desired to eat this passover with them before he died.
Why? He wanted to invest it with new meaning, he wanted to transform it and give it new significance, and as he does so it becomes his story; he is the Passover Lamb, the fulfilment of Israel’s Story, the promised Messiah – as Paul was later to say, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
“All” says scripture “have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory,” and it is no easy thing for God to forgive sinners – he is utterly holy, and we have fallen completely short. I believe it was Carnegie Simpson who said,”Forgiveness to man is the plainest of duties, but to God it is the profoundest of problems.”
God cannot simply ignore our sin or turn a blind eye to it. God must be true to himself. The only thing God can do is to take our place, take on human flesh himself, be tempted in everyway as we are, then go to a cross as our substitute bearing our sin. He must bear our judgment, he must die our death. His death as John Owen put it would be the “death of death in the death of Christ.”
A Lamb who would be our substitute. Judgment. The shedding of blood. Passover!
This is the meaning that that Jesus invests the passover with. This was not the Last Supper, but the Last Passover!
More to come…. next time a key word….
To find the real meaning then we need to go back to its origin in the Old testament in Exodus 12. In this chapter we come to the climax of the spiritual battle that was taking place. Every demonstration of God’s authority and power over the gods of Egypt had been resisted – Pharoah would not let God’s people go.
This last demonstration was going to involve the death of the firstborn in every Egyptian home – but there was a problem: God is holy and just. How could God be true to himself, and save some and yet judge others, after all his own people were sinners?
For justice to be done God instructed the selecting, keeping and slaughtering of a perfect lamb, and the eating of its flesh. This lamb was to take the eldest son’s place – to be his substitute. They were to take the blood and put it on the door posts and lintel because as God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” It was there for God, and for them. It changed first of all the way God felt about them, secondly, it would be the cause of the eldest son’s deliverence (I would encourage you to read/reread the story and put yourself in the eldest son’s place, consider what he and his family felt).
This was the “Lord’s Passover” and they were to keep it as a memorial feast to the Lord every year (12:14). This passover not only looked back, but it became part of the promise and anticipation of Messiah, the hoped for Deliverer.
Jesus said he strongly desired to eat this passover with them before he died.
Why? He wanted to invest it with new meaning, he wanted to transform it and give it new significance, and as he does so it becomes his story; he is the Passover Lamb, the fulfilment of Israel’s Story, the promised Messiah – as Paul was later to say, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
“All” says scripture “have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory,” and it is no easy thing for God to forgive sinners – he is utterly holy, and we have fallen completely short. I believe it was Carnegie Simpson who said,”Forgiveness to man is the plainest of duties, but to God it is the profoundest of problems.”
God cannot simply ignore our sin or turn a blind eye to it. God must be true to himself. The only thing God can do is to take our place, take on human flesh himself, be tempted in everyway as we are, then go to a cross as our substitute bearing our sin. He must bear our judgment, he must die our death. His death as John Owen put it would be the “death of death in the death of Christ.”
A Lamb who would be our substitute. Judgment. The shedding of blood. Passover!
This is the meaning that that Jesus invests the passover with. This was not the Last Supper, but the Last Passover!
More to come…. next time a key word….
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Communion - what is it?
Last week I preached a message on Communion. It was good to look at
the subject again, I mean it begs a question, what place does it have in
the experience of the Spirit-filled Christian/Church, after all, we
seek and know the presence and power of God, why would we want to go
through what appears to be a ritual?
Then again I think of being asked as a pastor by a Christian of many years, “What is meant to happen when we take communion? What am I meant to do?” I wonder how many others think the same?
As a boy I remember observing communion (or the Lord’s Supper as it was known) in the church I grew up in. The Christian adults at the end of the meeting once a month all got up and went to the front and had their own little meeting, while we children stayed quietly (and I mean quietly) in our seats… The Table was covered with a cloth, there was bread and wine, a reading, prayer. It was quiet, solemn, serious (not that quiet, solemn and serious is neccessarily wrong)… after that it was a mystery…
So what of it? What is it and what is meant to happen?
Real (Physical) Presence
Well there are those who think the bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Jesus once the priest has prayed – it’s now consecrated, holy, and when they take communion it’s at an altar where Christ is offered afresh.
For others the bread and wine don’t physically change but nevertheless there is a very real presence in and under the elements, much as a sponge dipped in water is a sponge with real water in it.
Spiritual Presence
Still others say, no, Real Presence is wrong, but there is a Spiritual Presence in the Bread and Wine, somehow Jesus is present in them, though not physically.
No Presence
And others reacting to both of the above say, no, there is no real physical or spiritual presence, they are only emblems, its just a means of remembering Jesus – his death and resurrection, and we shouldn’t be looking to experience anything.
Present at the Table
Now the fact that Jesus said ‘this is my body’ can mean no more than he intended it as a representation is revealed in the fact that he was sitting there in his body, and the bread he held was just bread – nothing had changed. Yes he was present to them and yes his desire is to be present to us. The drama was in the action. Jesus said elsewhere that when two or three are gathered in his name he is there among them. The same I think applies to communion, it’s a meal he invites us to partake of, its a table and not an altar – thats important as an altar separates and needs special people to officiate and offerings to be made, whereas tables put us all at the same level and are the place of fellowship. The presence then is not in the bread and wine but in the act itself when done in faith.
In a world where much of our worship can be about what we are doing, “I worship you,” “I give you my life,” “I trust in you…” (and theres a place for that) the communion table is solely about what he has done, and invites us to.
More to come…
Then again I think of being asked as a pastor by a Christian of many years, “What is meant to happen when we take communion? What am I meant to do?” I wonder how many others think the same?
As a boy I remember observing communion (or the Lord’s Supper as it was known) in the church I grew up in. The Christian adults at the end of the meeting once a month all got up and went to the front and had their own little meeting, while we children stayed quietly (and I mean quietly) in our seats… The Table was covered with a cloth, there was bread and wine, a reading, prayer. It was quiet, solemn, serious (not that quiet, solemn and serious is neccessarily wrong)… after that it was a mystery…
So what of it? What is it and what is meant to happen?
Real (Physical) Presence
Well there are those who think the bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Jesus once the priest has prayed – it’s now consecrated, holy, and when they take communion it’s at an altar where Christ is offered afresh.
For others the bread and wine don’t physically change but nevertheless there is a very real presence in and under the elements, much as a sponge dipped in water is a sponge with real water in it.
Spiritual Presence
Still others say, no, Real Presence is wrong, but there is a Spiritual Presence in the Bread and Wine, somehow Jesus is present in them, though not physically.
No Presence
And others reacting to both of the above say, no, there is no real physical or spiritual presence, they are only emblems, its just a means of remembering Jesus – his death and resurrection, and we shouldn’t be looking to experience anything.
Present at the Table
Now the fact that Jesus said ‘this is my body’ can mean no more than he intended it as a representation is revealed in the fact that he was sitting there in his body, and the bread he held was just bread – nothing had changed. Yes he was present to them and yes his desire is to be present to us. The drama was in the action. Jesus said elsewhere that when two or three are gathered in his name he is there among them. The same I think applies to communion, it’s a meal he invites us to partake of, its a table and not an altar – thats important as an altar separates and needs special people to officiate and offerings to be made, whereas tables put us all at the same level and are the place of fellowship. The presence then is not in the bread and wine but in the act itself when done in faith.
In a world where much of our worship can be about what we are doing, “I worship you,” “I give you my life,” “I trust in you…” (and theres a place for that) the communion table is solely about what he has done, and invites us to.
More to come…
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
What dreams have you got?
What dreams have you got?
God meant us to dream and we are not talking day dreaming here! He spoke to people in the Bible through dreams. On the day of Pentecost when God poured out his Spirit on all flesh, Peter said the young would have visions and the old dreams - that's not visons for the future and dreams about the past. It refers to God speaking across the generations - with peole living longer, the average age in the UK for both sexes is now in the 80's, and we're healthier and stronger - maybe its time whatever age you are to dream again in God, to listen for and hear God afresh.
The dreams and visions God gave people in the Bible were very often bigger than the individuals involved...... That's God's way! God always gives us dreams bigger than ourselves, otherwise they wouldn't be dreams, and they wouldn't require us to go out on a limb in God.
As we head into 2012, what are yours?
Are you just expecting more of the 'same old,' or are you looking for somehing to happen?
What are your dreams for....
Yourself?
Your marriage?
Your family?
Your education?
Your work?
Your church?
Your .......
Don't let this year be the same as last. Put your hand into the hand of God and walk into the future he has for you. Let him shape both you and it. You'll be surprised!
God meant us to dream and we are not talking day dreaming here! He spoke to people in the Bible through dreams. On the day of Pentecost when God poured out his Spirit on all flesh, Peter said the young would have visions and the old dreams - that's not visons for the future and dreams about the past. It refers to God speaking across the generations - with peole living longer, the average age in the UK for both sexes is now in the 80's, and we're healthier and stronger - maybe its time whatever age you are to dream again in God, to listen for and hear God afresh.
The dreams and visions God gave people in the Bible were very often bigger than the individuals involved...... That's God's way! God always gives us dreams bigger than ourselves, otherwise they wouldn't be dreams, and they wouldn't require us to go out on a limb in God.
As we head into 2012, what are yours?
Are you just expecting more of the 'same old,' or are you looking for somehing to happen?
What are your dreams for....
Yourself?
Your marriage?
Your family?
Your education?
Your work?
Your church?
Your .......
Don't let this year be the same as last. Put your hand into the hand of God and walk into the future he has for you. Let him shape both you and it. You'll be surprised!
Saturday, 14 January 2012
Missions & Culture
Well I’ve been away this week doing the fifth module of an MTh, this time it was Aspects of Modern Mission – Great stuff!
Now I grew up reading missionary stories, stories of men and women who gave up everything to go and tell the Good News of Jesus Christ in what were largely unknown places, sometimes it cost them their lives – I loved them and was inspired by them.
Today the story of missions is quite different, but nevertheless still as inspiring. The character of missions has changed, but the message hasn’t, what’s more it’s not only ‘over there’ it’s here, right on our doorstep.
The town I live in was predominately White English up until a few years ago – in fact I can remember going to Spring Harvest in the 1980′s (a big Christian event held over three weeks at Easter to accomodate the numbers), and hearing talk of a changing culture, pluralism etc and how we as Christians and the church should respond to it. Well, then it didn’t connect with me or the church I was in, my part of England was still very English indeed!
Today it’s very different, it’s fast becoming a town of many nations, and we are having to learn to do mission at home – to learn about and reach other cultures with the Good News of Jesus Christ, King and Saviour.
It also makes us reflect on our own culture – the early missionaries went to not only bring salvation but to ‘Christianise’ others, which tended to mean the imposition of a western colonial culture. Now we find ourselves asking in such a diverse world is there really one truly Christian culture? And with the world on our doorstep, how do we do reach so many people from different cultures? How do we build churches that are truly an expression of the manifold wisdom of God, a representation of the one new man in Jesus?
It’s easier to go the homogenous route, but that seems to deny the wisdom of God in the gospel, a gospel that not only breaks down the barriers between God and humanity, but all peoples.
Now I grew up reading missionary stories, stories of men and women who gave up everything to go and tell the Good News of Jesus Christ in what were largely unknown places, sometimes it cost them their lives – I loved them and was inspired by them.
Today the story of missions is quite different, but nevertheless still as inspiring. The character of missions has changed, but the message hasn’t, what’s more it’s not only ‘over there’ it’s here, right on our doorstep.
The town I live in was predominately White English up until a few years ago – in fact I can remember going to Spring Harvest in the 1980′s (a big Christian event held over three weeks at Easter to accomodate the numbers), and hearing talk of a changing culture, pluralism etc and how we as Christians and the church should respond to it. Well, then it didn’t connect with me or the church I was in, my part of England was still very English indeed!
Today it’s very different, it’s fast becoming a town of many nations, and we are having to learn to do mission at home – to learn about and reach other cultures with the Good News of Jesus Christ, King and Saviour.
It also makes us reflect on our own culture – the early missionaries went to not only bring salvation but to ‘Christianise’ others, which tended to mean the imposition of a western colonial culture. Now we find ourselves asking in such a diverse world is there really one truly Christian culture? And with the world on our doorstep, how do we do reach so many people from different cultures? How do we build churches that are truly an expression of the manifold wisdom of God, a representation of the one new man in Jesus?
It’s easier to go the homogenous route, but that seems to deny the wisdom of God in the gospel, a gospel that not only breaks down the barriers between God and humanity, but all peoples.
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