Great Article on the Divinity of Jesus

Mark Roberts is a PCUSA minister who’s blog I read. He has written a great series on Jesus divinity. In this outstanding article he outlines some of the early development of the theology of the Early church with regards to the divinity of Jesus. It is very helpful as an apologetic tool against those who would suggest that the divinity of Jesus is a much later invention.

Chinese liers

I feel so cheated after watching the Olympic opening ceremony on TV and being wowed by it all. We are now told the girl who sang the song was actually lip synching because the girl who had the voice was not pretty enough and it "was in the national interest" to have a pretty face and a good voice. Likewise many of the fireworks where pre-recorded too.

It seems that so much of what China shows the world is a lie when the truth behind the scenes is something far more serious and devious. Whilst they might be the next superpower I think that their misinformation, lies and rhetoric will outdo even that of the current superpower, the USA.

It seems like nothing around us is what it seems. Lying seems acceptable if it will get us riches or power and what I find most disturbing is that people accept it and carry on as if nothing happens.

Perhaps it is time we stood up for the truth and for the one calls himself the Truth. Perhaps it is time that the church took a stand against corruption and lies that face us each and every day. I am not suggesting that the church become political, but I am suggesting the church speaks out against corrupt politics and lying politicians. Otherwise we stand to be mislead like we were at the Olympics and we fail to see what is really happening. We have the wool pulled over our eyes and we miss the wood for the trees.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. ^The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."

Perhaps it is time that we allow Jesus light to shine into the darkness of this world.

So long bud...

Yesterday my close friend Hannes died whilst climbing on Mont Blanc in the Alps.

His last mail a week back was “next week i am off with Mark Johnston to climb something big and alpine and so and so for 3 or 4 days...grim life! ciao H”

Here is a pic of Hannes (left) and I on the summit Mount Kenya almost three years ago to the day in happier times!

Hannes loved the Lord, amidst the questions and wrestles we all have as we face the confusion and difficulty of life. The sadness is losing him when he was at the highest point. It seemed that everything had finally come together and he had recieved answer to prayers prayed over many years. He had just relocated to Switzerland to be with his girlfriend Angelika and he was happier than he had been for a long time, they where planning to come back in a couple of months and already we'd begun to speak of what we'd climb.

There are so many moments that we shared roped together, sometimes just the two of us, other times with Ty another close friend. We shared laughter and fear, we had moments of silliness and other moments where we reflected deeply on life. There is a kinship of the mountains that can never be explained to those who have not shared it, a brotherhood of the rope - a bond that runs deep. There is something amazingly surreal about sitting on a ledge hundreds of meters above the scree slopes, arms buzzing after an epic pitch of Cape Town sandstone, your mind in a place so free, feet dangling barefoot over the void, a gentle breeze and the African sun warming your back - moments when it almost feel like you're touching heaven in God's creation - it is those moments with Hannes that I will remember forever.

Hannes died doing what he loved most, perhaps in heaven we get to do those things we love most again - I sure hope so and Hannes my prayer is that you're busy cranking the crux on some epic heavenly route!

Cheers bud, we’re gonna miss ya!

A great piece!

An outstanding piece about the prosperity gospel

New ways of reading the NT?

Some parts of the emerging movement are focused on us reading the scriptures in a ‘new way’ basically reinterpreting the Bible to show how Jesus is concerned with the world here and now and that the Gospel has a massive social impact.

 

I recently read McLarens ‘everything must change’ whilst on a stint in hospital. And whilst I find the book challenging, helpful and hopeful, I do have a concern. Whilst I agree with that aspect of the Gospel, and the reading between the lines approach to see what Jesus meant, I am concerned that this new movement has missed the basic stuff that Jesus actually said.

 

There is very little talk if any of sin, resurrection and the life to come. These things that I believe are of primary importance are often plainly missing. Whilst there are parts of the emerging church movement that are great and effective I really often find myself thinking they are searching the scriptures so hard to find things that Jesus might have meant that they miss what he so obviously said!

 

What do you think?

Where is our faith heading...

More and more I find in my pastoral work as minister of the church that I am involved in, that people are believing a more diverse set of ‘truths’ than ever before. There are all sorts of influences to this style of belief:

• The pluralistic values that most people buy into (all roads lead to Rome, all religions are equal)
• Political correctness (that we are unable to judge other beliefs)
• The church of Oprah (see below for a previous post)
• A lack of basic doctrinal training and teaching in the church (Doctrine is irrelevant and experience is everything)

But what I see is Christians believing a very alternative set of truths and spiritual ideals that fall far outside the realm of orthodox Christian doctrine. Whilst I am all for a diversity of opinions and a tolerance towards other beliefs I do find some of this hard to stomach in so far that it really takes liberty of opinion further than I believe Jesus or the scriptures would allow us. For those outside the church: believe whatever makes you happy to believe. But my concern lies with those in the church. I am not a wildly charismatic believer where anything not directly approved by the Bible is evil, but I do have my deep reservations about the spiritual origins and influences that some of these beliefs have, and particularly that many who call themselves followers of Christ believe these things. The problem for me is a dumbing down of Christian belief to a set of universally accepted principals that other religions might also believe. And as long as these basic ideals are the same another religious belief will be compatible with Christian faith: For example many Reiki masters abide by five principals:

• Do not be angry
• Do not worry
• Be grateful
• Work with integrity
• Be kind to others

These are great principals that any Christian would be happy to live by, but to contend that because these ideals are compatible with some of the ideals of Christianity that Christianity should accept Reiki (or any other similar new age religion or teaching) is a stretch that I am not prepared to make.

Almost all new age teachings or spiritualities speak of an unseen "life force energy" that flows through us. And what happens is most people say “wow that kind of makes sense – they must be talking about the Holy Spirit” – well I am convinced that this is not the Holy Spirit. A spiritual force that all people are able to access is not the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is given only to believers in Jesus and to equate the third person of the trinity with some universal and impersonal force (I have visions here of Darth Vader “The force is strong with you young Skywalker!” ) is erroneous at best – blasphemous at worst. The Holy Spirit is God, and he is the one who guarantees those who belong to Jesus a hope for eternity (Eph 1) and empowers us to be Jesus agents in this world, to bring truth, justice and reconciliation in Jesus’ name (1 Thess 1). Finally the Holy Spirit will always testify to Jesus work ministry and truth (1 John 5).

This is not the same spirit that is proposed by a myriad of New Age religions that are punted by Oprah and the likes. Not everyone has the Holy Spirit and to suggest that they do is to misunderstand the New Testament witness at a substantial level. The abundance of teachings like The Secret, A New Earth, Reiki, Body Talk and a countless host of other influences are infecting the church and eroding the truth that the early church fought and died to pass on to the next generation.

So I find myself asking myself the question: How do we as leaders in the church deal with this?

Do we simply clamp our eyes and ears shut and see no evil, hear no evil? Do we pretend this is not an issue and hope it goes away (I am pretty certain it won’t)

Or do we speak strongly against this? ( possibly undoing the work of the grace of Jesus or chasing some away from the church)

Or is there a middle path?

I am still not sure of my answer.

Where is our faith heading...

More and more I find in my pastoral work as minister of the church that I am involved in, that people are believing a more diverse set of ‘truths’ than ever before. There are all sorts of influences to this style of belief:

• The pluralistic values that most people buy into (all roads lead to Rome, all religions are equal)
• Political correctness (that we are unable to judge other beliefs)
• The church of Oprah (see below for a previous post)
• A lack of basic doctrinal training and teaching in the church (Doctrine is irrelevant and experience is everything)

But what I see is Christians believing a very alternative set of truths and spiritual ideals that
fall far outside the realm of orthodox Christian doctrine. Whilst I am all for a diversity of
opinions and a tolerance towards other beliefs I do find some of this hard to stomach in so far that it really takes liberty of opinion further than I believe Jesus or the scriptures would allow us. For those outside teh church: believe whatever makes you happy to believe. But my concern lies with those in the church. I am not a wildly charismatic believer where anything not directly approved by the Bible is evil, but I do have my deep reservations about the spiritual origins and influences that some of these beliefs have, and particularly that many who call themselves followers of Christ believe these things.

The problem for me is a dumbing down of Christian belief to a set of universally accepted principals that other religions might also believe. And as long as these basic ideals are the same another religious belief will be compatible with Christian faith: For example many Reiki masters abide by five principals:

• Do not be angry
• Do not worry
• Be grateful
• Work with integrity
• Be kind to others

These are great principals that any Christian would be happy to live by, but to contend that because these ideals are compatible with some of the ideals of Christianity that Christianity should accept Reiki (or any other similar new age religion or teaching) is a stretch that I am not prepared to make. Almost all new age teachings or spiritualities speak of an unseen "life force energy" that flows through us. And what happens is most people say “wow that kind of makes sense – they must be talking about the Holy Spirit” – well I am convinced that this is not the Holy Spirit. A spiritual force that all people are able to access is not the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is given only to believers in Jesus and to equate the third person of the trinity with some universal and impersonal force (I have visions here of Darth Vader “The force is strong with you young Skywalker!” ) is erroneous at best – blasphemous at worst.

The Holy Spirit is God, and he is the one who guarantees those who belong to Jesus a hope for eternity (Eph 1) and empowers us to be Jesus agents in this world, to bring truth, justice and reconciliation in Jesus’ name (1 Thess 1). Finally the Holy Spirit will always testify to Jesus work ministry and truth (1 John 5). This is not the same spirit that is proposed by a myriad of New Age religions that are punted by Oprah and the likes. Not everyone has the Holy Spirit and to suggest that they do is to misunderstand the New Testament witness at a substantial level. The abundance of teachings like The Secret, A New Earth, Reiki, Body Talk and a countless host of other influences are infecting the church and eroding the truth that the early church fought and died to pass on to the next generation.

So I find myself asking myself the question: How do we as leaders in the church deal with this?

Do we simply clamp our eyes and ears shut and see no evil, hear no evil? Do we pretend this is not an issue and hope it goes away (I am pretty certain it won’t)

Or do we speak strongly against this? ( possibly undoing the work of the grace of Jesus or chasing some away from the church)

Or is there a middle path? I am still not sure of my answer.

Jacob

OK so last Sunday I preached on Jacob wrestling with the angel at the Jabbok river. A fascinating passage and I spent a lot of time reading and researching to make sense of it. I though I gave the message a good run.

I write this blog four days later lying in hospital recovering from a broken hip after crashing my mountain bike. One of my elders who was unable to make worship called to say that on wednesday shortly after hearing about my accident opened his daily devotional to find the Genesis 32 passage on Jacob having his disclocated whilst wrestling the angel.

Rather strange?

Of course if we beleive there are no coincedences then the question must be asked...what exactly IS God trying to say to me?

Small or Big

No I am not talking about waist lines, but about church size.

There seem to be two movements in the church these days. On the one hand are the mega-churches, sometime meeting in multiple locations with one minister doing all the preaching and teaching, othertimes holding many services at different times in one large venue.

The second movement is characteristic of the emerging church movement. These churches meet in small informal and intimate environments and many of the people will be participative in the worship. There is a belief that these churches are more "biblical" than mega churches.

Let me make some comments and open it up to some discussion. It is clear that the early church met in both homes and at temple worship and so there seems to be some biblical model for both styles. Secondly Jesus spoke to large crowds, sometimes significantly bigger than some mega churches. Peter too at Pentecost preaches to thousands of people. There is clear evidence of both styles of meeting.

The move towards smaller churches is caused by a number of factors and I dont want to enter into all of them here. Some are around accontability and community which I value very highly and agree with completely.

But one of the issues is the centrality of the preacher. Whilst I firmly belive in conciliar leadership (leadership by a council of leaders) and that the only person the church should be build around is Jesus, there are gifted men and women who are called to preach and others who whilst called to lead should not be allowed near a pulpit :) In many of these post-modern smaller churches there is no specific preacher and the baton of bringing the message is passed around from one Sunday to the next. And I just don't agree with that. Not all elders are teachers/preachers, they may have wisdom, integrity and maturity of faith, but some really should not be allowed to teach up front.

Personally I do not like being the center of attention and get annoyed when people focus on me rather than the subject of my message, Jesus. but I also realize that by God's grace I do have the ability to expplain the scriptures in an engaging way. Not all the elders I have served with have that ability.

So there is my opinion (for what it is worth being a precher :) )

Comments...?

God's grace

Recently new life church (of Ted Haggard infamy) had a terribly tragic shooting. But it is in traumatic moments that God works his power int eh most amazing ways. Read the following excerpt from a LeadershipJournal article, it is a powerful testimony of what the grace of God is able to do with our brokenness.

 

FYI:  The Murrays son had shot and killed four people at the church, two of whom are the daughters of the Works family.

 

A few days after this interview, Pastor Boyd quietly contacted the family of Matthew Murray, "Would you like to come to the New Life campus … to see the place where your son passed away?" Overwhelmed with gratitude, Ron and Loretta Murray admitted they had longed for this very thing, but they'd felt they would be invading what they knew had been a tragic and difficult situation for the church. So they had stayed away.

Now they agreed to come. Boyd then asked them if they'd be willing to meet with the Works family. They said they would. He asked the Works, in turn, if they'd be willing to meet with the Murrays. Surprisingly, they also agreed.

Before the meeting, Boyd spent some time alone with the Murray family, retracing the steps of Matthew Murray on the church grounds, up until the place in the hallway where their son passed away. Many tears and hugs were shared as they grieved and prayed together over the tragedy.

Later, in Pastor Boyd's office, David and Marie Works joined the Murrays. "What happened there in the two hours in my office … was the most significant ministry moment I've experienced, maybe in all of my life," Boyd said. When they first entered the office, the two families embraced. They sat, wept, and cried together, Boyd said, for "I don't know how long."

Then they prayed together. Later Jeanne Assam was invited to join them. When Jeanne, who had undoubtedly saved many lives but had been forced to shoot the Murray's son, walked into the room, "the Murrays embraced her and hugged her and released her from any guilt and remorse. The dad looked at Jeanne and said, 'Please know we're so sorry that you had to do what you did. We're so sorry.'"

We are reminded in the Bible not to repay evil with evil—not to be overcome by evil but to overcome it instead with good. The families involved in these tragic events are showing how to live out their faith by clinging to what is good in the face of unimaginable pain.

"We can talk philosophically about repentance and redemption and going forward with God," Boyd said, "but what I saw in that room in my office was the greatest testimony of forgiveness and redemption that I have ever seen. It was a testimony that God really can restore and redeem."