gospel – Page 30 – Christ the Truth

Successful and troubled

GlenJuly 27, 2009Leave a comment

Thinking and preaching through 1 Corinthians recently, it's so stark what a mixture the Corinthian church was. Successful and troubled. Their congregation contains former male-prostitutes, idolaters, thieves, drunkards and swindlers (6:9-11). What a work of grace to convert this lot from their dark past. As this motley bunch meet together, called saints by the Father (1:2), in fellowship with the Son (1:9), a temple of the Holy Spirit (3:16), they lack no spiritual gift (1:7). Paul always gives thanks for them (1:4). And yet they are foolish, divided, litigious, permissive, immoral, selfish, drunken and unbelieving. If your friend was moving to Corinth, would you recommend this church?

Well perhaps you wouldn't recommend moving to Corinth full stop. Here's a sailor town full of all sailor town vices. Here's an overwhelmingly pagan culture that not only has no Christian memory, but never had one to begin with. Yet here Paul planted the gospel seed, Apollos watered it and God grew a church (3:6) right there in the midst of a culture about as unChristian as you could possibly imagine.

But what a reflection of the gospel that Paul proclaimed to them. Here are unwashed heathen who are now washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (6:11).

In line with his gospel, Paul is able to address them as dearly loved brethren and to deliver stinging rebuke. The Corinthians really are genuinely loved and they really are genuinely wrong, foolish and sinful. And the intensity of this dual reality is increased by the very success of their church.

I heard Tim Keller say in a 1 Corinthians sermon that we don't experience the degree of trouble they did because we're not as successful as they were. It's the churches that really confront the culture and really grow in the midst of opposition that will produce these kinds of problems. If we don't know these kinds of discipleship issues in our own churches it's probably because we're not reaching the people the Corinthians did and/or not growing or seeking to grow like them.

Of course this made me think of our friend Mark Driscoll. And how I need to be far more public in saying 'Thank God for Driscoll'. And far more praiseworthy of the gospel ministry that seems to be happening through Mars Hill and Acts 29 .

The gospel means we are simultaneously righteous and sinner. And it means gospel communities and leaders can be critiqued and critiqued harshly (just read 1 Corinthians) without ever implying that they're not a gospel community. No, because they're a gospel community there will be sin (just as there is deep and dark sin in me). But there is also much to give thanks for and much to praise.

I thank God for Mark's incredible gifts, his passion for Jesus, his gospel-focussed preaching and his mission-mindedness. Which is quite a list! I wish those things could be said of me with even a fraction of the same intensity.

On the other hand I'm very uneasy about his macho-christology, his macho-manliness, and what I perceive to be a major lack of humility. These things are problems. I happen to think they really need pointing out and cautions raised, especially given his popularity.

Now I know I have a whole bagful of my own problems. In fact if I had a hundredth the gifting and a thousandth the success of Driscoll I'd be just as proud, probably much more so.

But what I get a bit tired of is the all-or-nothing approach to Driscoll. Either he's Satan himself, leading thousands astray, or he can do no wrong - any criticism justified immediately by his success or explained away as an understandable reaction to a wicked culture or liberal Christianity. Paul never said to the Corinthians 'Yes you're getting drunk at communion, but I understand your missional context and great giftedness so I'll forget about it.'

Please, let's believe the gospel. We are simultaneously righteous and sinner. Mars Hill can be successful and troubled. Driscoll can be loved and critiqued. And we don't have to collapse one into the other.

Sometimes the smart-assed answer is the best 9

GlenJuly 23, 20099 Comments

The Sunday School teacher asked:

What do you need to do in order to be forgiven by God?

Billy piped up:

Sin

Got it in one Billy.

Are you a sinner? That's all you need to bring. Jesus will do the rest.

Luther v Cranmer on Lord's Supper

GlenJuly 23, 2009Leave a comment

Given discussion about Lutheran influence on the UK, here's a Thawsday repost...

John Richardson (whose excellent blog is here) adds his voice to this discussion on Stand Firm in Faith. He writes about the place of repentance in the communion service. It chimes with a lot of what I wrote here:

I have long felt Anglicanism (specifically Thomas Cranmer) to be good at driving us to our knees in repentance, but not so good at letting us get up again.

In regard to this, I would point out the contrast between what the Book of Common Prayer says about our preparation to receive Holy Communion and what Luther said. The Exhortation in the BCP says in effect that if we are to receive Communion worthily we must first put ourselves right with God.

Contrast this with Luther. First, he says, “There must be faith to make the reception worthy and acceptable before God, otherwise it is nothing but sham and a mere external show.”

And what is this faith? It is “a firm trust that Christ, the Son of God, stands in our place and has taken all our sins upon his shoulders and that he is the eternal satisfaction for our sin and reconciles us with God the Father.”

But what does this mean for our ‘worthiness’? “This food demands a hungering and longing man, for it delights to enter a hungry soul, which is constantly battling with its sins and eager to be rid of them.”

Therefore those with the right faith are those, “who suffer tribulation, physical or spiritual ... spiritually through despair of conscience, outwardly or inwardly, when the devil causes your heart to be weak, timid, and discouraged, so that you do not know how you stand with God, and when he casts your sins into your face.” (emphasis added)

I don’t think the BCP reflects this. Rather, the BCP urges communicants first: “search and examine your own consciences ... that ye may come holy and clean to such a heavenly Feast, in the marriage-garment required by God in holy Scripture, and be received as worthy partakers of that holy Table” and so, “examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments; and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life” (emphasis added).

The Anglican way is ‘be cleansed, then come’. The Lutheran way is ‘come and be cleansed’.

Here's a 'come and be cleansed' type sermon I preached called Eating with Jesus (listen here).

Luther v Cranmer on Lord’s Supper

glenscrivJuly 23, 2009Leave a comment

Given discussion about Lutheran influence on the UK, here's a Thawsday repost...

I have long felt Anglicanism (specifically Thomas Cranmer) to be good at driving us to our knees in repentance, but not so good at letting us get up again.

In regard to this, I would point out the contrast between what the Book of Common Prayer says about our preparation to receive Holy Communion and what Luther said. The Exhortation in the BCP says in effect that if we are to receive Communion worthily we must first put ourselves right with God.

Contrast this with Luther. First, he says, “There must be faith to make the reception worthy and acceptable before God, otherwise it is nothing but sham and a mere external show.”

And what is this faith? It is “a firm trust that Christ, the Son of God, stands in our place and has taken all our sins upon his shoulders and that he is the eternal satisfaction for our sin and reconciles us with God the Father.”

But what does this mean for our ‘worthiness’? “This food demands a hungering and longing man, for it delights to enter a hungry soul, which is constantly battling with its sins and eager to be rid of them.”

Therefore those with the right faith are those, “who suffer tribulation, physical or spiritual ... spiritually through despair of conscience, outwardly or inwardly, when the devil causes your heart to be weak, timid, and discouraged, so that you do not know how you stand with God, and when he casts your sins into your face.” (emphasis added)

I don’t think the BCP reflects this. Rather, the BCP urges communicants first: “search and examine your own consciences ... that ye may come holy and clean to such a heavenly Feast, in the marriage-garment required by God in holy Scripture, and be received as worthy partakers of that holy Table” and so, “examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments; and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life” (emphasis added).

The Anglican way is ‘be cleansed, then come’. The Lutheran way is ‘come and be cleansed’.

Here's a 'come and be cleansed' type sermon I preached called Eating with Jesus (listen here).

The New Birth 17

GlenJuly 14, 200917 Comments

My great friend (and regular commenter here) Will Mackerras recently preached a cracker at Farm Fellowship (where Paul Blackham ministers).

Do we really believe that a person in Christ will naturally and organically produce righteous fruit - just as someone in Adam will naturally and organically produce wicked fruit? Do we have a proper understanding of our new nature? And of what will flow from it?

Will gets Rom 2:14 absolutely right to say yes. Even Gentile believers will do by nature the things required by the law, because they are born again - they have a new heart of flesh (Jer 31:33-34).

Then he discusses how to be born again. We do not contribute to the new birth. We are born again by faith (John 1:12). Will has a wonderful analogy for how Jesus does not dispense the new birth.

He asks us to imagine a super hero called Super Doctor. Super Doctor has the power to cure people of their sickness at will and even from distance. But Super Doctor's one weakness is that he hates spending time with sick people. So he hatches a plan. He decides that he'll wait until people come into his waiting room and then as soon as they walk through his office door he'll magically heal them so that they won't get any germs on him.

But then he thinks they won't be very grateful for this because they'll think they effected the cure by walking through the door. So instead he just magically zaps sick people in the community at random and trusts that eventually they'll figure out what's happened to them and turn up in his surgery to say thanks.

Of course both these scenarios are very different to Jesus' healing methods. Sick people come to Jesus just as they are. It's precisely the sick people who do come to Jesus - leperous warts and all. (Mark 2:17) 'If you are willing you can make me clean' said the unclean man to the Holy Lord of Israel. (Matt 8:2). Jesus heals the way He saves. He encounters people in their unregenerate sinful mess and through the encounter He changes them.

One implication of this for preachers is that we should be far more invitational. We call on people to turn to Christ just as they are. They don't need to clean themselves up but simply call on Christ even in their sins and love of darkness.

I spent some great time with Will a few weeks ago discussing how we love to hear invitational preaching. It is of the essence of the gospel to call on sinners to come to Christ right there and then as the sinners that they are. May our preaching reflect this precious gospel truth.

The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Rev 22:17)

1. Just as I am, without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me,
and that thou bidst me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

2. Just as I am, and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark blot,
to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

3. Just as I am, though tossed about
with many a conflict, many a doubt,
fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

4. Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
sight, riches, healing of the mind,
yea, all I need in thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

5. Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

6. Just as I am, thy love unknown
hath broken every barrier down;
now, to be thine, yea thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Listen to the sermon here (unfortunately it misses the last few minutes).

99 Balloons

GlenJune 28, 2009January 30, 2014Leave a comment

I'm absolutely blown away by this.

What gets me is the combination of sadness without any self-pity.

It's utterly tragic but not told as a tragedy. Somehow the whole thing is a celebration shot through with praise, thanksgiving and gospel hope.

Praise Jesus.

Eat Dirt Man Eater!

GlenJune 26, 2009Leave a comment

Satan must eat dust all his days (Gen 3:14)

Man is dust (Gen 3:19)

Satan is a maneater (1 Pet 5:8)

Yet Christ will join man to crush the maneater (Gen 3:15)

He does this by being Man eaten (John 6:51)

Only in this way does He swallow His enemies (1 Cor 15:54)

Those who don't eat (with) Christ get eaten (Rev 19:18)

Those who eat Christ join Him in crushing the maneater (Rom 16:20)

In this way Christ humbles Himself in order to be exalted (Luke 14:11)

Meanwhile Satan, who exalted himself will be humbled (Ezek 28:11-19)

Eating dust is the lot of the defeated enemy (Ps 72:9)

And Satan will eat dirt all the days of his life (Micah 7:17; Rev 20:10)

So eat dirt man eater! There's one Man you couldn't swallow. He's swallowed you. Our food will be the Man eaten. And you will eat dirt forever.

1 Corinthians 9 sermon – part two

GlenMay 16, 2009Leave a comment

Continued from here.

What does it mean to give up our rights for the sake of the Gospel? What does that even mean? What is the gospel? Let me summarize it for you:

‘Gospel’ is a word that just means good news. And here is the good news that the bible tells us:

[SLIDE - the Gospel]

Jesus Christ has all the rights in the universe. Jesus Christ is the LORD. He’s the King. He is the Son of God. He made the world. He owns everything. He’s got rights. Ultimate, supreme, absolute, unimpeachable rights.

On the other hand we... We think WE are Lord. If I ask you ‘Who’s got the right to tell you what to do...?’ Your heart, if it’s anything like mine, answers: ‘No-one! No-one’s got the right to tell me what to do.’ Well... what have I just said about Jesus. He does have the right to tell you what to do. So when we say ‘No-one’s got the right’. That’s blasphemy, mutiny, an utter rejection of Christ. It’s what the bible calls sin.

Now how does Jesus respond? He has every right to crush our little rebellion. But here’s what He does. He gives up His rights. He who was rich became poor. He came into our world as a penniless preacher. He who was free became our slave. He stooped and served and washed our feet. He who was powerful became weak. He could have called on 12 armies of angels to save Him from death, but instead He walked alone to His execution. He who was righteous, became sin. You see on the cross Jesus stepped into our guilty shoes and He took the punishment due to us. Have you ever seen a Man more stripped of His rights than Jesus Christ on the cross? Next time you find yourself bitterly lamenting how you’ve been wronged, think of your LORD, Jesus Christ. Next time your entitlement spirit surges up within you and you cry out ‘It’s not fair’, think of the cross. There is the King of the Heavens, the LORD of the earth betrayed by a close friend, deserted by the disciples, wronged outrageously in the courts, mocked and abused by the soldiers, nailed to a piece of wood and jeered at by those He came to save. But He gave up His rights and took our punishment. So that we, who were due His punishment can have His rights.

[SLIDE - John 1:12]

John’s gospel chapter 1 says ‘To all who receive Jesus, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become a child of God.” Jesus has the right to be a child of God – He’s the eternal Son of God. If you receive Him, you get His rights – you’re adopted into the family. This offer is for free and it’s for everyone.

[SLIDE - For free, For everyone]

There are only two kinds of people in this room. Those who insist on their own rights to run life their own way. And those who’ve given that up and received Jesus instead. In Him they’ve received the right to be a child of God. Which are you?

If you’re not yet a Christian, if you’re still insisting on your own rights to run life your own way, stop! Tonight, stop insisting on your rights. Receive Jesus and by receiving Him receive the right to be a child of God. That’s the only right worth getting excited about.

If you have received Jesus, do you realize the nature of this gospel? This gospel is an offer. And if you receive the offer, it claims you so you pass it on. The gospel doesn’t just save you – it claims you. It’s not just a message you once trusted – it’s a way of being that has wrapped its arms around you. We’re like someone who has received the torrent flowing down the hill, and we are swept along to offer it to others. So as we pass it on to others we will pass it on for free and for everyone.

You know what that means though, don't you? It’ll be costly. Not costly to pay off God – all that’s dealt with. We’re children now. Kids don’t pay back their parents, they just receive. But of course kids grow up and have other kids. And that’s costly. Same with us. We don’t pay back God, but it will be costly as we pass the gospel on to others. It was costly for Jesus to offer us a free salvation. It was costly for Paul to offer the Corinthians free gospel ministry. It will be costly for us to freely offer the gospel in Eastbourne.

In the first 18 verses, Paul has outlined the time and money cost. It put tremendous pressure on Paul’s diary and his wallet to serve the Corinthians like this. Gospel ministry costs time and money. And that’s a huge sacrifice. Are we prepared to sacrifice time and money? But more than this, from v19, Paul talks about another sacrifice that is just as costly.

From v19 we see Paul sacrificing his personal comfort. It shows him moving out of cultural comfort zones and into other cultures and religions and socio-economic groups to win them. But to offer the gospel for free and for everyone that's precisely what needs to happen.

To be continued...

Gospel outline?

GlenMay 8, 2009Leave a comment

Ok, I'm off for the weekend - but that doesn't mean you can slink off. I have work for you all.

I've just thought of a gospel outline - probably for a tract. But I need you to fill in the details for me.

Provisional Title: "What for?"

Six sections (of course):

For Him - Creation is for Christ, are you?

For sin - This is the problem Christ came to fix thru death & res

For free - received as a gift, faith - the essence of the Christian life

For ever - new creation hope with Christ at centre

For all - gospel to go out to nations first. Be a part.

For you - finish on Gal 2:20.

Hope that's clear. I want it in my comments by Monday.

Go to work!

Judgement and Salvation in Isaiah

GlenMarch 2, 2009Leave a comment

I've been preparing sermons from Isaiah recently. What's really striking me is the universal judgement pronounced by the LORD.

The book has rightly been called a tale of two cities and the remarkable thing is that both cities are Jerusalem. Jerusalem stands at the head of both old and new creation. The earthly Jerusalem has its earthly copy of the heavenly reality - the temple. And contemporary threats to earthly Jerusalem (from Assyria and Babylon) are the sign of universal judgement on this present evil age. But there is a heavenly Zion, eternal capital of the new heavens and new earth.

Hope is not found in avoiding the universal judgement. Hope is not found in belonging to some other earthly city or people. Humanity will be judged wholesale from the top down. Judgement will begin with the house of God (1 Pet 4:17) - meaning temple, meaning household (people), meaning Christ! The world will go down in flames. This is root and branch demolition.

So it's not:

salvation-judgement1