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Month: May 2014

11

Published on 11 Comments on We Do NOT Balance Licence and Legalism

Here's the poem I wrote last week performed:

Let me explain some of my thinking...

In the first kingdom everything is framed in transactional terms. There is a reward for the girl and, naturally, people want to talk about the terms and conditions. So there is a battle between legalism and licence: give the girl too much and she'll spend it on prodigal living. Impose too many terms and she's little more than a slave.

And so a debate ensues. One side may want the goodies given freely, no strings attached. The other side wants the girl to prove how serious she is about royal living.

These debates can get tiresome. But the worst development of all is the person who stands up claiming to have discovered the optimal payment structure - not too strict, not too liberal. These sanctification Goldilockses are just right - balancing license and legalism with their perfectly measured pastoral pronouncements.

But the answer is NOT to balance licence and legalism. The solution to this problem does not lie in between these errors. We need to come out of this transactional kingdom and enter the realm of gracious union. If we miss union with Christ, we miss everything, and we will be doomed to ping-pong back and forth between "grace" and "holiness" - as though those things were extremes to be avoided!

In Christ's kingdom, He marries His wicked bride - freely giving her His righteousness, graciously taking on Himself her sins. She offers Him nothing. He gives her everything.

And in that utterly gracious union, she finds herself both captive and crowned. She has a new Lord forevermore. And she has new freedoms she could never have imagined. Both. At the same time.

The bride now has everything - but not apart from her Lord. In her Lord she is free and she's possessed. In her Lord she is freely forgiven and given a new life. In her Lord, she is loved in spite of all sin and she's claimed for royal living.

If you take your eyes off your gracious Lord, you might celebrate the security of your wedding ring - surrounding you no matter what your behaviour. On the other hand, you might emphasize the seriousness of your wedding vows - binding upon you at all times. But neither focus is the Scriptural one. Look at Jesus - freely given to you in all your sin, fully possessing you for all your life.

Don't balance licence and legalism. They're both errors and the answer is not in between. In Christ we are both captive and crowned.

4

Published on 4 Comments on Podcast: Christianity and Science

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Episode 57: Andy and I speak about science and how the truths of 3, 2 and 1 give us the strongest possible foundation for scientific enquiry.

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For more on the issue of science:

Previous Podcast

Hasn't Science Disproved God?

Are You Sitting Comfortably? Then Let's Do Science!

Why The World Exists

We All Have Our Creation Stories

Faith Seeking Understanding

 

1

Published on 1 Comment on Happy Ascension Day

My favourite depiction of ascension: THIS VIDEO from 1:55

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New Paper From Union Theology

Seven Things To Like About the Ascension by Gerrit Dawson

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For Sermons...

Paul Blackham's teaching also now on the Union website
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For Prayers...

The Collects from BCP:

Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

or this

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell; who liveth and reigneth with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The South Indian Anglican Collect:

O God, whose blessed Son, our great high priest, has entered once for all into the Holy Place and ever liveth to intercede on our behalf: grant that we, sanctified by the offering of his body may draw near with full assurance of faith by the way which he has dedicated for us and evermore serve thee, the living God; through the same thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee, O Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

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For Songs:

words here

We thank Thee Jesus, Dearest Friend

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And here are a couple of my own:

.He Rose Up

He Rose Up

He rose up among us, as told.
He rose up the Promise of old.
My Brother in strife,
Assuming my life.
Exalted, the Father’s Decree
He rose up, He rose up for me.

He rose up humanity’s Last
Man’s Answer in life unsurpassed
My Champion living,
God’s life of thanksgiving.
Exalted as I’m meant to be
He rose up, He rose up for me.

They raised Him, my Saviour, on high
Man lifted, accursed, left to die.
My Priest in atonement,
My Lamb in enthronement.
Exalted on destiny’s tree,
He rose up, He rose up for me.

He rose up from death He arose,
Immortal to crush all His foes.
The Lord of all history,
My Christ has the victory.
Exalted the darkness must flee,
He rose up, He rose up for me.

He rose up to heaven, He rose,
Ascended beyond other thrones.
My Friend in high places,
My Fountain of graces.
Exalted, my heavenly Plea,
He rose up, He rose up for me.

I rise up, I rise up in Him,
Emboldened in spite of all sin.
In Jesus attaining,
My destiny – reigning.
Exalted, with angels to sing,
I rise up, I rise up in Him.

Published on Leave a comment on Tweet as a nut

"To 1 who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly their faith is credited as righteousness." Rom4:5 #EnjoyYourDay

I used to have an NY State of Mind. I'm OK now

How come all roads only *lead* to Rome?
Cos there's no two-ways about It.

If you think repentance is a work you offer to God or a religious disposition you summon up: repent.

#1Cor1:2 Dear Christian, you are set apart as special by Jesus Christ and called holy in Him. In other words, You're a saint #EnjoyYourDay

Words Jesus did not use w disciples: Please, Sorry, Thank you.
Words Jesus did use w disciples: Come, Follow, Take up your cross, Well done!

People talk about Jesus as the "fullest" revelation of God who would never dream of calling Him the "best" way 2b saved. Why the disconnect?

Turning over a new leaf? Ur 2000 years too late. A whole new world born from the virgin womb & virgin tomb: yours 4 free #EnjoyYourDay

What this Premier League season teaches: it's where you stand on the Last Day that counts

Inspired by recent tweeting I'll soon be releasing a tangy, wheat-based snack called Cheesy Aphorisms

#Isaiah25 Salvation = shame removed, death swallowed up, tears wiped away & global feasting with Christ #EnjoyYourDay

“The Life has appeared. We have seen it & proclaim 2u the eternal life which was with the Father.” 1John1 #EnjoyYourDay

Everyone wants to take charge. No one wants to take responsibility.
The cross is Jesus taking charge by taking responsibility.

Listened to a lot of Steve Levy in the car: his Armour of God sermon was a favourite: http://www.mountpleasantchurch.org.uk/getfile.php?type=sermons&id=347.mp3

In the battle between Light and darkness, the Light has arrived => No contest! #EnjoyYourDay

The Bible never speaks of discipleSHIP, only disciples. It's not interested in the *art* of following Jesus, just in following Jesus.

Love God. Love neighbour. Love em 4 God's sake & 4 their sake. If "sanctification" is something else, it can only be self-love 4 self's sake

“I’ve seen the misery of my people, heard their cries & am concerned 4 their suffering so I’ve come down 2 rescue them” Ex3 #EnjoyYourDay

"Jesus turned the pose of execution into the pose of everlasting blessing" Gerrit Dawson https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1210961-father-forgive-them-for-they-know-not-what-they-do

Jesus was not a tourist. He took all we are & then all that belongs to us: sin & wrath included. He’s ours: flesh AND blood #EnjoyYourDay

You're so ad hominem I call you the Ad Hominid #checkmate

You know who else loved to cite Godwin's law? The Nazis #checkmate

I'm afraid your argumentum verbosium reveals a superfluum latine #checkmate

 

Though He disgusted many, Jesus was never disgusted. He’s not ashamed to be your Brother and to bring you to His Father #EnjoyYourDay

Systematic theology *does* take priority over biblical theology because no-one reads the meaning of Scripture like a bar code

Was it intentional that "The Future of Protestantism", after some vigorous opening salvos, turned tepid? An allegory perhaps?

Recently preached @ 2 churches within hrs. At 1 they thanked me 4 being 'Faithful' at the other 4 being 'Freeing'. We need double F churches

As Witness He sees yr suffering, as Advocate He sticks up 4u, as Intercessor He prays always, as Friend He sympathises. Job16 #EnjoyYourDay

On Yom Kippur every offering was important but the centre was the High Priest himself. Apply this to atonement debates

Why do sneezers get all the blessings? I'm gonna bless coughs & hiccups too. Burpers get an ironic blessing #HeapingCoals #IronicNotAaronic

"Yeah sure, I'm like totally blessing you or whatever." -- The Ironic Priesthood

What kind of holiness do you want that's not a love of God & neighbour? Oh you'd like a spiritual status to call your own? I see.

So we're all clear: God hates the "holier than thou" types http://kingsenglish.info/2012/06/04/holier-than-thou-2/ Turning goodness into your spiritual Klout score is wicked

Grace alone gives the strongest possible foundation for pastoral rebuke: "You CANNOT do that, you are Christ's" (cf 1Cor6:12-20)

Christ is the only way to the Father. If that were merely a New Testament reality it would be a funny use of "only"

#Ps146 The LORD reigns. How does He reign? He liberates, restores, lifts, loves & watches over. No other King like Jesus. #EnjoyYourDay

11

Published on 11 Comments on Cheap Grace – A Poem

AlanRickman

Enthroned upon fear with a sneer for the mob,
this Lord gives a job to a girl,
his lips curl,
as he lobs her the list.
Dismissed with a wave,
she flees to behave as a slave
and return to be scored:
to earn her reward.

And so, one year later,
before this dictator,
the beggar proceeds to establish her deeds.
The Lord must concede,
that all he had billed, to the letter's fulfilled.
So the purse of a king he flings
to this servant, observant of duties.
She pouches the booty,
and springs from the court,
to romp and cavort,
her life, uncontrolled, now financed in gold,
By royal appointment: the wastrel bank-rolled.

The king's chief adviser then frowns to despise her:
"My lord you're too lavish, the girl is a savage.
In future such treasure we'll measure much wiser.
Instead of cheap grace, each case we'll discern -
have them earn their commission,
maintain their submission.
With deals comprehensive we'll make grace expensive."
And the Lord well approved of this prudent petition.

Meanwhile far away, where a new king held sway,
A young felon in court
came to grovel, contort all her frame,
and declaim all her hitherto deviance,
to pledge fresh allegiance, nay royal obedience.
Yet all there suspected her airs were affected,
This bowing appeared just a game.

"My lord, do not crumble," the courtiers grumble,
"This dame in distress, may impress with finesse
but do not acquiesce to her schemes.
This wench is not all that she seems."

Ignoring their counsel, the King then dismounts from his place, face to face
with the girl to embrace,
and as gasps echo round, he then falls to the ground on one knee
and with right royal plea he asks, "Will you have me,
my throne and my kingdom, my future, my life?"
Receiving his hand she consents as his wife.

The palace erupts with indignant outcries:
"She cannot be trusted, her act's a disguise!"
The king sighs:
"I see what you see and much else besides!
It's not for her looks or the oaths that she swore.
It's not for her sorrow or pledge to do more.
I haven't been duped or swept off my feet.
I am not sweet.
I'm a King stooping strong, looking long past the present,
with love luminescent,
transfiguring gloom into dawn.
Do not warn me that scorn lies ahead, I know whom I've wed
and I'll see it through night-time to morn.

"There are kings" he continued "who give only things
to their subjects and then let them go.
But, no.
I refuse to be used as a means to an end
So I give them myself instead.
See my wife is possessing all possible blessing,
but I am the treasure, not she.
For free all things handed with no fee demanded,
but nothing is had without me.
Some fear such free grace and replace it with earning,
with works and their proper reward.
But consider my wife:
now, all through her life,
she belongs, heart and soul, to her Lord."

22

Published on 22 Comments on Grace aint a carrot; Sanctification aint a stick

 

I've got a sinking feeling about this.

People sometimes ask me where I stand with Tullian. My genuine first reaction is that I really like him. And every now and again his preaching lands with me. He speaks of Christ's finished work with relentless passion and I admire that.

At times though his preaching (and writing) leaves me a bit more disappointed than I'd expect to feel with a guy so keen to preach the gospel. Partly it's that thing of obsessing over "grace" like she's the fourth member of the Trinity. Partly also it's because "grace" can all too often be used as an inspirational carrot. The Liberate guys are keen to secure "grace alone" against all potential legalisms. That's a laudable aim. But sometimes it seems like the point of these battles is to ensure that my Christian motivation is one of pure grace/gratitude. So often I wanna say "Pah, motivation schmotivation. Trust Jesus, love people. And yeah I phrased that as an imperative. So sue me."

If we start policing all our motivations and evacuating our speech of improper imperatives we might just find that we're the grace Pharisees. Let me say, we definitely need to ensure that Christ is offered apart from law and apart from any deservingness of our own. In other words, there is a right distinction between law and gospel and I'm grateful to Tullian and the Liberate guys for highlighting it. But in the rough and tumble of the Christian life, imperatives and indicatives, duty and joy are going to get jumbled up. That's just the way it is in Scripture and in life. When we insist on certain motivations and configurations of commands and promises an irony comes into play: we can get unhelpfully scrupulous in the name of free grace. 

But that's no reason to censor the guy. I'm really grateful for Tullian and at times he's preached into my life in powerful ways.

The fact that he points out legalism around him does not, in my opinion, make him a divisive figure. There is legalism around him. And while "grace" and "the gospel" can wear thin as terms on his lips - "sanctification" and "obedience" can wear just as thin on the other side.

If Tullian preaches that we ought to love God and neighbour (and he does, all the time), then we can take issue with some of the ways that he does it (see the crits above). But he does preach the good life of love - imperfectly but still genuinely. Therefore I'd say he preaches the only kind of "sanctification" we should concern ourselves with.

Honestly, if you want a "sanctification" that is not precisely and without remainder loving God and neighbour (because this is the good life of Christ freely given to you) then you are pursuing a proud and idolatrous spiritual status of your own. Such sanctification is not holy but utterly profane. The fact that people care so very much about "sanctification" when loving God and neighbour does not entirely satisfy this craving really worries me.

So whatever happens with Tullian and TGC, here's what I wish for both sides. Let's remember:

Grace is not a psychological motivation - it's Christ's life for us

Sanctification is not a religious status we seek - it's Christ's life in us

Grace is not mainly inspiration for the heart.

And grace is not mainly fuel for the will.

Grace is Jesus, freely given to us sinners. So let's hear less about the bad-guy legalists/liberals/licentious over there, let's hear less about the motivations of our hearts, let's hear less about our striving for some kind of holiness quotient and let's hear about Jesus.

The thing is, I do hear about Jesus from Tullian. I hear a lot about Jesus. And I'm grateful. Whatever happens I'll gladly continue listening to his preaching. His is an important voice to hear. TGC would be much the weaker without him.

Published on Leave a comment on Podcast: Hot Topics – Suffering

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In evangelism it might be tempting to run from the suffering question. Actually suffering allows us to speak of the deepest gospel truths.

Yes, Christians have a problem with suffering. But that's a good thing. The real problem is when people don't have a problem with suffering. Unfortunately that's the trouble with every other approach to suffering - non-Christian answers do not let us engage with suffering as the evil that it is.

Naturally the world responds to suffering in one of two directions - either they explain it by Karma or by Chaos.

With Karma - no suffering, ultimately, is undeserved. At the end of the day suffering is not a problem, it's just unpleasant.

With Chaos - no suffering is objectively wrong. We just happen to live in a random universe and some will get hurt.

But Christ offers us a third way - not all suffering is deserved, but no suffering is random. With Christ we have a way of upholding the meaningfulness and the unnaturalness of suffering.

Tune in to hear how, and to learn how 321 can help address the suffering question...

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1

Published on 1 Comment on Interpretation is Theology All the Way Down

Earlier today the great Andrew Wilson tweeted thusly:

Who knows the wealth and complexity of arguments that lie beneath the tweet - I don't doubt that they are impressive. But here was my twitter length response:

Let me explain what I'm getting at.

It is very tempting to think of theology as a two stage process. First a pure biblical scholar simply reads off the meaning of the Bible through the use of objective interpretive tools.  Then a systematic theologian comes to co-ordinate these propositions into a logically cogent order. In this process, the Bible's answers come first and then shape our questioning later.

But as Ben Myers says here: 'It's theology all the way down.' Theological pre-suppositions and commitments necessarily guide and shape all Christian activity from exegesis to exposition to pastoral work, to evangelism to hospitality to everything.

And yet the idea that the Bible can be neutrally read is so tempting.  We would love to conceive of revelation as propositions deposited in a handy compendium simply to be extracted and applied.  Yet, eternally and most basically, the Word is a Person (John 1:1).  And His book is Personal (John 5:39).  It's not something we judge with our double-edged swords - the Word judges us. (Heb 4:12)

Andrew is trying to honour this dynamic of Scripture judging us (not us judging Scripture) and that is vital. But precisely because Scripture judges us, we must allow it to judge our exegetical and hermeneutical presuppositions too. This involves a whole web of Scriptural interpretations and theological understandings that are not a one-way street - they are a complex web.

Let me point to an extreme example of where this goes wrong. It's a million miles from Andrew's position or intention, but consider the Socinians. They were "just being biblical" as they cast aside the creeds and became unitarians. They claimed to be clearing away the artificial edifice of trinitarian theology and getting back to the pure message of Jesus and the apostles. I don't doubt that on some level they were sincere. I also don't doubt that they were wildly mistaken about their own interpretive neutrality. They were children of their time (as are we all),  and instead of "just being biblical" they were "just being rationalists who were claiming to be biblical." The trouble is that we're all something-ists no matter how much we claim we're only being biblical.

And that's no bad thing. As I read Scripture I ought to be a believer, filled with the Spirit who confesses Jesus as Lord,  baptised in the triune name, a member of the one holy, catholic and apostolic church, reading the word in the communion of the saints - living and dead. Such dynamics are not the mere fruit of "Biblical Theology" - they are the result and the foundation of deep, christological and ecclesial reflections upon Scripture. It's chicken and egg - and that's the way it ought to be if I'm to read the Scriptures scripturally.

As I speak of the theological presuppositions inherent in Bible reading, I'm not trying to undermine the perspicuity of Scripture. After all, Jesus spoke of the Scriptures as absolutely clear. He never made excuses for theological error. He never gave even the slightest bit of latitude by conceding a certain obscurity to the Bible.  He never assumes that His theological opponents have just mis-applied an interpretive paradigm. If they get it wrong He assumes they've never read the Scriptures (e.g. Matt 21:16,42; Mark 2:25)!  

But we must go further. Jesus tells the Pharisees why they get it wrong: "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God." (Matt 22:29)  And, again, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." (John 5:39-40)  Those in error are are wrongly oriented to the Power of God and the One of Whom the Scriptures testify - Jesus. This is not simply a wrong orientation of the intepreter but of the interpretation.  Scripture reading must be oriented by the Power of God to the Son of God (i.e. by the Spirit to Christ). Within this paradigm - a paradigm which the Scriptures themselves give us - the Bible makes itself abundantly clear.

But this paradigm is an unashamedly and irreducibly theological one. It is the result of exegesis (e.g. studying the verses given above) but it is also the pre-supposition of such exegesis.  Theology is not the end of the process from exegesis to biblical studies and then to the systematician!

Methodologically, the Bible must come first. But that's not at all the same thing as saying 'Biblical Theology' must come first. No, the Bible stands above both Biblical and Systematic theology. And the two-way interchange between both is what ensures that the Bible is read according to its true nature. If you're a Biblical Theologian who wants the Bible on top - let systematics help you!

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