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Published on 2 Comments on What is Faith? How Can I Live A Life of Faith? A Sermon

faith

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Statements people make about faith:

“I wish I had your faith”

“As you know I could never share your faith”

“Faith is believing something you know isn’t real.”

“You just got to have faith.”

John 1:10-13 – Faith is recognizing and receiving

John 2:11 – Faith is responding to the glory of Jesus

Dutiful Derek

Derek’s Father says: “We’re going to visit the Grand Canyon and you’ll be awestruck!”

Derek says: “Do I have to be awestruck??”

Derek's Father says: "One day you’ll meet a girl and you’ll fall in love?"

Derek says: “Do I have to fall in love?”

Derek’s Father says: We’re going to church to hear about the glory of Jesus and we’ll believe in Jesus.

Derek says: “Do I have to believe in Jesus?”

That’s a funny question isn’t it?

Faith is like being awestruck or falling in love – it must happen if you’re recognizing the glory of Christ!

John 3:13-16 – Faith is looking away from self to Jesus (cf Brazen Serpent)

John 20:24-31 – Faith is meeting the risen Jesus

The Christian life is a life of continuing faith

Through the Bible.

Faith is not something in me that I need to drum up

Faith is not a leap into the dark – it’s stepping into the light

In fact it’s being in the dark and having someone switch the light on

Faith is not a hoop you have to jump through to get something else: salvation

Galatians 2:17-3:5

Faith is receiving Jesus – it’s a life-long love affair.

Galatians 5:6

It begins by being passive with God and bears fruit in love for others

1 Samuel 17       

Faithless, fearful Israel are saved by their Faithful, Fearless King.

Their unbelief turns to faith when they see His victory: they shout and advance

Every day we need to same: to look to our Champion, to shout and advance.

The life of faith is a continual looking to Christ.

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Published on 2 Comments on Ephesians 4:1-6 sermon

MonkeyGoneToHeavenHave you ever said the phrase "I've died and gone to heaven!"? Think of a time when you might have said "I've died and gone to heaven!" The dream holiday, the dream job, the dream boyfriend or girlfriend. The day the dream came true you died and went to heaven.

The book of Ephesians begins by saying "The Christian has died and gone to heaven"...

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Published on 4 Comments on Exodus 3 Sermon

Exodus 3

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This is always the way: God the Father sends God the Son to be with us in our suffering and to bring us out that we might worship the Father in freedom and joy.

Exodus is the story of this Figure from the bush: the Angel, the Great I AM: He leads the people out of slavery and into salvation.

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Published on 4 Comments on Luther and Preaching

http://vimeo.com/62285479

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Here Carl Trueman speaks about Luther's doctrine of the Word and our need, today, to recover a theology of preaching.

The Word of God transforms the reality of the world. That is the power of preaching, that is the power of the pulpit...

I'm convinced that while much time is spent at seminaries, rightly, teaching the technical aspects of preaching... it is equally important that preachers understand the nature of the theological action which they perform when they stand in a pulpit.

It's a vital, vital need.  I think evangelicalism would be transformed if we came to a deep appreciation of what preaching actually is.

Here's my effort on Theology Network to bang that drum....

It is often said that the real issue in preaching is not ‘How to?’ but ‘How can?’  How can a preacher stand before a congregation and dare to speak ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’?  The ‘How can?’ is by far the more pressing question.  And yet, in the textbooks, at the conferences and in preaching groups it seems the ‘How to?’ is the perennial concern.  Notes or full script?  Powerpoint or no?  Topical sermons or lectio continua?  These questions abound.  Even issues like ‘how to address the heart?’ or ‘how to preach wisdom literature?’ threaten to drown out proper theological reflection.  All the while the ‘How can?’ question stands above our practice demanding an answer.

Our silence on this issue could simply reflect the pragmatic spirit of our age.  We want to know what ‘works’ so we can copy it.  But I suggest there is a deeper problem.  Fundamentally we have an impoverished theology of revelation which fails to appreciate what evangelicals from another age held dear – namely that God Himself addresses us in preaching.

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Seminars on Luther's Theology of the Three-fold Word

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Published on 2 Comments on John 21 Sermon

John 21

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Twice in this passage Jesus is called "Lord".  And what have the disciples experienced to make them call Him 'Lord'?  Have you noticed? In this story He spends the whole time serving His friends.  What kind of LORD is Jesus?  He provides the catch, He provides bread and fish of His own, He provides the fire, He cooks the breakfast.

It harks back to one of the most astonishing things Jesus ever said.  Back in Luke 12 Jesus had said that when He, the Master, comes again…

…He will have His servants recline at the table and He will come and wait on them. (Luke 12:37)

When the Master comes: He will serve His servants. Isn’t that astonishing?  You’d never believe that was true, except that Jesus said it.  And then, Jesus did it.  Because here He is at the barbecue, apron on, tongs in hand.  He provided the catch, He provided the fire, now He’s cooking it up saying “Come and have breakfast!”

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Published on 4 Comments on Easter Sermon – Isaiah 50

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Here’s the good news:  You and I are sinking in quicksand.  Jesus appears to say "Don't worry, I'm here to save you." He promptly dives in and sinks like a stone before us. When Jesus dies it looks like hope itself dies: our Rescuer perishes!  It's strange news, but this is the way Christ rescues - through perishing.

So the quicksand scenario continues... After Jesus sinks without trace we feel a tug on our legs.  Jesus drags us under with Him.  He binds us to Himself in His death.

At this point you think the good news is really bonkers.  And it is - it's utterly right-side-up.  Jesus dies and put us to death in His death.  He takes us down into His judgement for us.  Then He bursts up out of the quicksand into new life - and He takes us with Him.  That’s the meaning of Easter Sunday.

Isaiah50

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Published on 1 Comment on Luke 22-23 sermon

Dali CrucifixionIt was a privilege to preach at the Crowded House on Sunday where two folks were baptised.

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The sermon begins at about 10 minutes. (If you've heard me on Christ's baptism before, you might want to skip to the 19 minute mark).

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Here we have an artist's dream. If you're a film-maker, a writer, a playwright - you would love to depict this scene: Humanity putting its Maker on trial.  What a scenario! All the Gospels tell us about this in some detail - these show trials with trumped up charges. Because the bible makes it clear: the so called judges in these trials are the guilty ones. The one in the dock is the only innocent one. Nonetheless He stoops into the dock, to be tried by His creatures.  This is the Judge of the world, judged.

And what we see in Jesus is the most incredible stillness and poise. He is like a mirror, reflecting back the accusations of His prosecutors. At every stage of His cross-examination, He manages to get confessions out of His prosecutors! Ingenius!

The brilliance of Jesus is to allow their judgements of Him to judge them.  Their accusations only end up accusing them.  This is true any time you try to judge a great one.

If you call Shakespeare hackneyed and cliched, it doesn't reflect badly on Shakespeare, it reflects badly on you.  If you call the Grand Canyon "a glorified ditch", or the Great Wall of China "shoddy workmanship", or Lionel Messi "a Sunday-league amateur" - that tells you nothing about Shakespeare or the Grand Canyon or the Great Wall or Lionel Messi.  It tells you everything about you.  

When we judge the Judge it tells us nothing about Him it tells us everything about ourselves.  Do you want to know what you're like?  Think about this judgement scene.  The Judge of the world condescends into the dock and submits to these kangaroo courts.  And we - the judges - find Him guilty of a capital offence.  What is His crime?  To be the Son of God.

When our Maker goes on trial we find Him worthy of death?  Why? For being who He is.

In Luke 23 we see everyone making this verdict: the powerful, the weak, the Jews, the non-Jews, the rich, the poor -  everyone deems Him worthy of death.  And what is Jesus' response?

He goes to the cross.  And as He is hoisted up He prays "Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing." (v34)

The Judge is judged. He does not protect Himself or justify Himself.  He exposes Himself to every accusation, every insult, every blow - both judicial and physical.  And He retaliates with mercy: "Father, forgive."  This is the heart of God for you.

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Published on 12 Comments on Incredible Sermon on Preaching (and it’s all about prayer)

Levy

Steve Levy on Ephesians 6:19-20; Ezekiel 37

If you preach, please listen, and pray.

If you listen to preaching, please listen, and pray.

If you know someone who preaches, please pass it on.

So they can listen. And pray.

I firmly believe that evangelicalism would be revolutionized if we had a true theology of preaching. This sermon both models and exhorts us towards that kind of proclamation. And prayer.

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