pastoral theology – Page 23

Being renewed after the Image of our Creator

GlenOctober 21, 2010Leave a comment

Four simple questions and four (perhaps) surprising answers regarding Colossians 3:10:

Put on the new self (the new man), which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

1) Who is the Creator referred to?

In context you'd think it was Christ, who is the Creator Image of God (Col 1:15-17)

2) What gets renewed?

The "new self" gets renewed. It's not simply that we are renewed by getting a new self. And it's not simply that we are given a new self. We are given a new self and the new self is renewed.

3) How does renewal happen?

Knowledge. Note all the knowledge language of the letter. This is just from chapter 1:
"heard... word of truth... gospel... learned... understood... all its truth... knowledge... spiritual wisdom... understanding... increasing in knowledge... make the word of God fully known... Him we proclaim... teaching everyone with all wisdom."
We desperately and continually need gospel knowledge to be renewed.

4) What does our Creator look like (given that we're supposed to look like Him)?

He is compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, forbearing, forgiving - in a word: He is love (v12-14). We know that these character-traits originally belong to the Lord because a) it says "Forgive as the Lord forgave you" and b) these virtues are outlined in the context of our becoming like Him.

So we don't become forgiving, humble and meek because God will hold us to account and He's big and powerful. We are forgiving, humble and meek because He is forgiving, humble and meek. And He has demonstrated it at the cross.

Therefore as we appreciate and know the goodness of this good news our new selves are being renewed to look like Him - the compassionate and humble God.

Surprised by any of those answers?

Crushed to life – an old sermon

GlenOctober 14, 2010Leave a comment

Ever since I first preached it a couple of years ago, I've kept returning to this story in Mark 5. It shows so much of Christ's unmanageable but life-giving power - a cruciform power that works in and through suffering, delays, frustrations and even death.

We tend to think of "sovereignty" in abstract impersonal terms. Here is a story of the towering authority of Christ working in and through the mess and darkness.

For the whole script go here

For the audio go here.

Mark 5:21-43

In your imagination, picture olives being crushed and pressed together and the oil seeping out at the bottom.

That's a picture of Jesus that Mark hints at again and again. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus is in almost constant danger of being crushed.

Mark 3:7-9:

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crushing him [that's literally the word - 'crushing Him']. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.

That's why in Mark 4:1 Jesus has to get in a boat to teach people, otherwise they'd smother Him. When he decides in v35 to go over to the other side of the lake, v36 says 'they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat.' He couldn't even risk stepping ashore, so they whisk Him off away from the crowds. Of course in this crossing, Jesus calms the storm (end of chapter 4), lands on the other side (chapter 5). Then, do we remember from last week, He meets Legion, exorcizes an army of demons and sends the delivered man back to his people as a missionary. That probably only took Him an our or two. So now, with that job done, He returns. So, v21, He's back after His flying visit. And the crowds are there again. Mark says: 'A large crowd gathered around Him.'

Mark really wants us to get a feel for this crushing crowd. And so Mark 5:24 says it again:

A large crowd followed and pressed around Him.

The disciples use the same word in verse 31:

You see the people pressing against you [literally]

This is a mini theme of Mark's Gospel. The whole world flocks to Jesus in their need. And in the midst of that crush - healing, forgiveness, restoration, salvation, peace and new life flow out.

The woman in this story presses in - she's part of this crush - but what she finds is that, in the crush, power comes out of Jesus and she is healed, freed, granted peace.

Now at the end of Mark's Gospel we see Jesus praying in a garden called Gethsemane. Gethsemane mean oil press. It's where the olives from the Mount of Olives were crushed. That's where Jesus was oppressed like you and I would never understand, that's where He contemplates the cross and He undertakes to die under the weight of a world's need. And because Jesus was crushed the oil of His Spirit flows out for the salvation of the world. In that ultimate crush, that ultimate power was released for all who come to Him.

Mark 5 is giving a miniature picture of that truth. Here in this crush, power goes out from Jesus and healing, peace, freedom and ultimately resurrection results...

Whole sermon here

On not taking yourself too seriously

GlenOctober 13, 2010Leave a comment

I was recently asked why I made a virtue out of not taking onesself too seriously. Here's my reply...

First of all, this truth needs to be held together with the other half of it: Take God seriously. Once I take God seriously - and by that I mean the trinitarian God of the Gospel - only then am I freed to get my eyes off myself.

Every human religion has humanity working before a watching God. The true God works before a watching humanity - Isaiah 64:4. In fact, as Isaiah says, that is the distinctive of the living God - He is the God of the gospel. And this gospel is that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit take salvation entirely into their own hands and leave not one calorie of effort to be done by us.

Once we see the Son taking our humanity, empowered by the Spirit to live our life before the Father and then die the death we should die, all in our place and on our behalf, then we see that it's out of our hands. Completely out of our hands.

Hence the punchline of so many of Paul's gospel explanations: "Where then is boasting??!" (Rom 3:27; 4:2; 1 Cor 1:29,31; 3:21; Gal 6:14; Eph 2:9). Boasting is essentially the definition of taking yourself too seriously. And it's the opposite of joy!

The gospel means that we must get off centre-stage, sit in the audience and watch the living God work salvation for us. And thus we take God seriously and we do not take ourselves seriously. In fact the essence of faith is to transfer our focus entirely from self to Christ.

Before Paul came to faith he used to take himself very seriously. He would spend his time building and making known his spiritual CV: Circumcised on the 8th day, of the people of Israel... (Phil 3:5ff). But when he came to see Christ as the gift of righteousness from God to be received by faith he counted that whole self-focused, CV-building, take-myself-very-seriously Pharisaism as dung! Total crap! (Phil 3:8). (And if we don't like those words maybe we need to lighten up and stop taking ourselves so seriously!)

Now he just wants to be found in Christ (Phil 3:9). The old Paul is dead, crucified with Christ (Rom 6:3ff; Gal 2:20; 6:14). And he entrusts every judgement about himself into Christ's hands:

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. (1 Cor 4:3-4).

In the (half-remembered) words of Tim Keller, Paul is basically saying "I don't care what you think of me, I don't even care what I think of me." Paul has been so liberated by Jesus from self-focus, he knows his life is hidden with Christ in God - that's where his true life is (Col 3:1-4). And he refuses to be drawn back down into navel-gazing.

So that's what I basically mean when I say, Take God seriously, Don't take yourself seriously. Be released by Jesus into happy dependence. Then you can roar with laughter and not worry about what a goof you look. Then you can make fun of yourself and all your ridiculous self-salvation projects. Then you can hold everything else lightly because you know that you yourself are gripped by the triune God.

I admit that this can all sound quite radical because we tend to think that spiritual people are very serious people. And the more spiritual, the more serious. Well that's true for every human religion. But the gospel of Jesus is utterly different. And it's the one power to liberate us from the slavery to self and truly release us into the joy of the Spirit.
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Passover sermon – Exodus 11-12 6

GlenOctober 10, 20106 Comments

Exodus 11-12 sermon audio

It doesn’t matter what’s on the inside, it’s what’s on the outside that counts.

It’s not the interior – it’s all about the blood on the doorposts. It’s not about the LORD inspecting your house. It's ONLY about the blood outside.

It’s not even about how much faith you have in the blood. If the blood is applied at all, you’re saved. Strong faith in the blood and wavering faith in the blood lead to exactly the same outcome. Because it’s not faith IN the blood that saves - it’s the blood.

People say to me, “I don’t have very strong faith.” And I say “Me neither. But thank God we’re not saved by how strong our believing feelings are! Thank God we are saved, not so much by our faith in Christ’s blood, thank God we’re saved by Christ’s blood!”

...It’s not about the quality of your living, speaking, acting, praying. It’s not even about the quality of your own faith. It’s only about the blood. It’s the quality of His death, not the quality of your life. Your salvation has nothing to do with YOU – and everything to do with HIM. Nothing to do with your performance and everything to do with His performance.

People so often worry that their sins have cost them their relationship with God. Well you can’t out-sin the Blood of God can you?! Think about your sins. No matter what they are. Is your sin bigger than the blood of God?? Nonsense. You have not out-sinned the blood of Jesus. You cannot out-sin the blood of Jesus. Impossible! It’s about His blood outside – not your heart inside...

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Exodus 11-12 bible study

GlenOctober 10, 2010Leave a comment

Exodus 11-12

Thought Starter: If you have 90 seconds to explain the cross to a friend, what do you say?

Recap: Last time we looked at the first nine plagues on Egypt. These were judgements that revealed the LORD as Saviour of His people and Judge of His enemies. Each plague seemed to get more and more dangerous until we come to the final plague – the plague on the firstborn.

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What would cheap grace look like? (Repost)

GlenOctober 7, 2010Leave a comment

...The younger brother came to himself and said, 'My dad's an old softy. I reckon if I returned looking all dirty and sorrowful he'd bail me out. Worth a try anyway.' he reasoned.

And so he rose and made the journey back to his father rehearsing his sorry-speech along the way.

'Father, my father. I know I messed up. I know I don't deserve anything from you. You'd be well within your rights to shun me forever. But, father, my father, I'm throwing myself on your mercy, a poor stinking wretch. But I know you're a good dad - will you help me out?'

By the time he got to his father's house his speech was pitch-perfect. He rang the door-bell and waited.

Eventually he heard his father's shuffling steps, then the locks turning in the door, one after the other - four in all. At last it creaked open a crack and the old man squinted up at his son.

Ahem. 'Father, my father. I know I messed up. I know I don't deserve anything...' began the prodigal.

The father's look began to thaw. From frowning, to shocked recognition and then he softened. The speech was good. Perhaps the best yet. By the end the old man couldn't help but blurt out,

'Ah my son! You certainly know how to tug at my heart strings. What can I do for you?'

The son took a moment to congratulate himself on another triumph.

'Well, father,' he said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them. 'Wild living ain't cheap! And Lord knows how I'm going to afford my ticket back to the far country...'

'Back? You want to go back?' asked the father, his face falling.

'Well just for now. Unfinished business you see. But I'm definitely planning on returning...'

'...Because, son, you know there's always room for you here...'

'Yes, sure. Absolutely dad. And I'll definitely be returning. Probably quite often. But there's things I need to do and, well, I need your help.'

'How much?'

The prodigal couldn't suppress a guilty smile. He'd been found out.

'Well dad, there's the ticket. Then I need the deposit on a new place. I've found the perfect pad - downtown, the ladies love it. But that's another thing,' he said chuckling, 'they sure are expensive those women!'

'How much?' he asked again.

'It's hard to put a figure you know dad, it could be anything.'

They looked at each other for a full minute. The father broke the silence.

'Blank cheque then?'

'Blank cheque would be great! Yeah thanks. Phew. You're a real life-saver dad. Wow. I'd hug you, but I'm a bit smelly from the pigs. Speaking of which, do you have any food? Ham sandwich maybe?'

'Ham sandwich?? Look, come inside. I'll kill the fattened calf. Tonight we'll feast!'

'Gosh, dad. That's sweet but I really don't have time. Listen, I'll just grab something from drive thru. The cheque's fine. And, now that I think of it, don't make it out to the family name. I've changed it. Yeah, too many people were associating me with you and... well. You know...'

Within five minutes the younger son was heading back down the drive. He spotted his brother in the field and, holding the cheque aloft, called out. "Ciao bro'! Enjoy the slaving!"

Sinners, Slaves or Sons? 2

GlenSeptember 21, 20102 Comments

Luke 15: Younger Brother sermon here

Luke 15: Older Brother sermon audio here

The world is naturally divided into sinners and slaves. Sinners seek freedom. Slaves seek reputation. And they hate each other. Sinners think the world would be so much better without the slaves. Slaves think the world would be so much better without the sinners. We all exist somewhere along this spectrum.

Jesus comes and says - You're both wrong. You're both wretched. You're both equally far from heaven's banquet. That's the meaning of Luke 15.

Jesus comes to bring a new kind of humanity. Not half-way in between but something else. Not sinners, not slaves but sons.

Sinners wish God dead by taking His stuff and leaving.
Slaves wish God dead by despising His grace.
Sons are brought from death to life in His embrace.

Sinners are strangers to God in the far country.
Slaves are strangers to God in the field.
Sons are sinners in the Father’s arms.

Sinners seek freedom yet find deeper slavery.
Slaves seek righteousness yet find deeper sin.
Sons seek Christ and find both freedom and righteousness.

Sinners are wretched in their rebellion.
Slaves are wretched in their righteousness.
Sons are wretched in His robes.

Full sermon text below....

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Answering self-doubt – Exodus 4-7 sermon 3

GlenSeptember 20, 20103 Comments

Sermon audio

"Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11)

Here is Moses full of self-doubt. So what does Moses need? Ask anyone today and they’ll tell you: the solution to self-doubt is self-confidence. That’s the modern cure-all for whatever ails you. Have more confidence in yourself.

That’s what the world says. What does the LORD say?

Verse 12: I will be with you

Do you see what the LORD is doing? Not trying to instill self-confidence, but God-confidence. “I will be with you.” The LORD doesn’t say “Moses, don’t do yourself down. You were such a beautiful baby, and a powerful prince, and you’re in my top three all-time shepherds. I think you’ve got what it takes.”

The LORD doesn’t turn Moses’ eyes back on himself.

Do you ever do that when someone’s full of self-doubt? We often say, “Have more confidence in yourself, you’re so talented, you’re brilliant…” But if someone’s fishing for compliments, how many compliments are enough? The WORLD is not enough to fill our need for affirmation. Just speaking for myself: the WORLD could not satisfy my black hole of self-obsession. If you get me started, I’ll never be satisfied.

Which is why God does something very different. He fights self-doubt with GOD-confidence. Essentially the LORD says, “Who are you?? Who are you?? That’s not the point Moses. I will be with you.”

There used to be a saying in tennis that the greatest doubles team imaginable was John McEnroe and anyone. John McEnroe and anyone could win Wimbledon.

Well imagine if you were that anyone. Imagine if you were John McEnroe’s partner going into the Wimbledon final and you spent the whole pre-match press-conference saying “Who am I to win a tennis match? Who am I to win Wimbledon? I am not a brilliant tennis player!!”

What would John McEnroe say? Apart from ‘You cannot be serious?’ He’d say, “I will be with you. I will be with you. Enough about yourself, really it’s irrelevant.”...

...In a deep sense Moses is going to be just like that staff in his hand. The staff by itself is nothing. We call it a staff, that’s just fancy name for a stick. But through that stick, miracles would be wrought. Through that stick the plagues would fall. Through that stick the Red Sea would be divided. By that stick the Rock would be struck and the waters would come out. Why, because it’s such a great stick? Because the qualities inherent in the stick can call forth the powers of heaven?? No it’s nothing to do with the stick and everything to do with the eternal I AM who uses the stick.

He can use a stick to unleash the powers of heaven, He can use an octogenarian shepherd to defeat the most powerful man in the world. Later in the bible He uses a bunch of fishermen to turn the world upside down. Because where does the great I AM really show His power? On the cross. (John 8:28) The great I AM bleeds and dies on a rugged wooden cross, and that’s the power that saves the world. Can He deal with weakness? Can He use weakness? That’s His speciality. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 9, the Lord says to a weakened Paul, “My power is made perfect in weakness."

Full script below

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Pigsty Christianity 11

GlenSeptember 14, 201011 Comments

Sermon audio - Luke 15 LINK NOW WORKING

"Here we have a son devising a speech and a repayment plan to get his life back. And what he is proposing is self-redemption. He wants to stop being a younger brother type and to start being an older brother type. He’s given up on the freedom lark, now he’ll try slaving. But this is NOT the way back to Jesus. The pigsty is NOT the turning point.

So often I hear evangelistic talks and they go something like this: “You’ve made a mess of your life haven’t you? You realize you can’t do life on your own don’t you? Well then come to your senses. Pick yourself up out of the pigsty, make some resolutions to try really hard for God. And return to Him using this prayer that is guaranteed to win God’s favour. You’ll have to promise to behave, and you’ll have to make this speech word perfect which is why I’m going to feed it to you line by line and you can parrot it back.”

Does that sound vaguely familiar as the way the gospel gets taught? But what’s the problem here? Well that would make the younger son into his own Saviour.

But think about those other stories Jesus tells. The lost sheep doesn’t come to its senses and decide to come home and make good! Can you imagine the film "Flossy comes home"? Can you imagine the lost sheep trotting back up the front drive in slow motion, the music swelling, the shepherd on the porch, tears in his eyes??? No! It needs the shepherd to go out and save it IN its lostness. And when the shepherd finds the sheep he can't even trust the sheep to follow him home. He's got to hoist the stupid thing onto his shoulders, so wayward is the sheep. Jesus says we're like sheep. We go astray, we each turn to our own way (Isaiah 53:5). We DON'T come home. That's not our nature. We're like lost sheep who need saving. This younger son is like a sheep, he's not returning to the fold under his own steam. This is not him saving himself. Not even close. The pigsty is not the turning point.

But so much of Christianity is pigsty Christianity. So much is about coming to your senses, resolving to do better, and impressing God with how sorry you are. Pigsty Christianity. It’s filth. That’s not the gospel! The gospel is a running father who embraces, kisses, clothes, honours, celebrates and eats with an evil conniving son, still stinking of pig. That's the gospel."

Read the whole sermon below...

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Exodus 1-3 sermon

GlenSeptember 12, 2010Leave a comment

"Here is a bush that is burning. Burning, but not consumed. And, wonder of wonders, the Angel of the LORD, has come down INTO the bush - into the furnace of His people's affliction.

...That has ALWAYS been His nature. It has always been His nature to COME DOWN, to enter in, to suffer alongside, to suffer at our Head, and to rescue!

Sermon audio

Powerpoint slides

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