Skip to content

Tag: gospel

Published on Leave a comment on Luther v Cranmer on Lord’s Supper

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).

 

.

17

Published on 17 Comments on The New Birth

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).

.

Published on Leave a comment on Eat Dirt Man Eater!

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.

.

.

Published on Leave a comment on 1 Corinthians 9 sermon – part two

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...

.

Published on Leave a comment on Gospel outline?

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!

.

Published on Leave a comment on Judgement and Salvation in Isaiah

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

Instead it's:

salvation-judgement2

And the only path to salvation is the path through judgement.

salvation-judgement31

Salvation is not the absence of judgement, it's bowing your head to the Refuge found in the LORD alone.

Some of these thoughts are in a recent sermon on Isaiah 2:6-22 (listen here).

.

Published on Leave a comment on Sanctification by Faith

Just an excellent podcast (25 mins)

Tim Rudge talks to Mike Reeves on living by faith on an hour by hour basis - applying the truths of the gospel to our sin and cultivating a healthy and happy walk with Christ.  I've listened to it twice already.  Great stuff.

.

Published on Leave a comment on Luther on Galatians 1:4

Galatians 1:4:  [Jesus Christ] who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age.

You will readily grant that Christ gave Himself for the sins of Peter, Paul, and others who were worthy of such grace. But feeling low, you find it hard to believe that Christ gave Himself for your sins. Our feelings shy at a personal application of the pronoun "our," and we refuse to have anything to do with God until we have made ourselves worthy by good deeds.

This attitude springs from a false conception of sin, the conception that sin is a small matter, easily taken care of by good works; that we must present ourselves unto God with a good conscience; that we must feel no sin before we may feel that Christ was given for our sins. This attitude is universal and particularly developed in those who consider themselves better than others. Such readily confess that they are frequent sinners, but they regard their sins as of no such importance that they cannot easily be dissolved by some good action, or that they may not appear before the tribunal of Christ and demand the reward of eternal life for their righteousness. Meantime they pretend great humility and acknowledge a certain degree of sinfulness for which they soulfully join in the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner." But the real significance and comfort of the words "for our sins" is lost upon them. The genius of Christianity takes the words of Paul "who gave himself for our sins" as true and efficacious. We are not to look upon our sins as insignificant trifles. On the other hand, we are not to regard them as so terrible that we must despair. Learn to believe that Christ was given, not for picayune and imaginary transgressions, but for  mountainous sins; not for one or two, but for all; not for sins that can be discarded, but for sins that are stubbornly ingrained. Practice this knowledge and fortify yourself against despair, particularly in the last hour, when the memory of past sins assails the conscience. Say with confidence: "Christ, the Son of God, was given not for the righteous, but for sinners. If I had no sin I should not need Christ. No, Satan, you cannot delude me into thinking I am holy. The truth is, I am all sin. My sins are not imaginary transgressions, but sins against the first table, unbelief, doubt, despair, contempt, hatred, ignorance of God, ingratitude towards Him, misuse of His name, neglect of His Word, etc.; and sins against the second table, dishonor of parents, disobedience of government, coveting of another's possessions, etc. Granted that I have not committed murder, adultery, theft, and similar sins in deed, nevertheless I have committed them in the heart, and therefore I am a transgressor of all the commandments of God.

"Because my transgressions are multiplied and my own efforts at self-justification rather a hindrance than a furtherance, therefore Christ the Son of God gave Himself into death for my sins."  To believe this is to have eternal life. 

Let us equip ourselves against the accusations of Satan with this and similar passages of Holy Scripture. If he says, "Thou shalt be damned," you tell him: "No, for I fly to Christ who gave Himself for my sins. In accusing me of being a damnable sinner, you are cutting your own throat, Satan. You are reminding me of God's fatherly goodness toward me, that He so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In calling me a sinner, Satan, you really comfort me above measure." With such heavenly cunning we are to meet the devil's craft and put from us the memory of sin.

Published on Leave a comment on What Matthew 8:1 does not say…

And lo, having spoken thus, He didst ascend from the mount before their eyes.  And He spake unto them saying, "Remember this that I have taught you."

And lo, angels didst appear saying, "Why doth ye lookest into the sky?  He hath given to thee thy programme of reform..."

Instead there's an unclean wretch who runs to the LORD of Israel even in His uncleanness.  And He is cleansed, healed, restored.

Oh, and then there's that whole death and resurrection thing too.

Might be important.

.

8

Published on 8 Comments on A theology of mission 4 – Evangelism only?

We have been thinking about mission grounded in God's own life.  God is the Sending God, His Sent Son and the Reconciling Spirit - this is not simply something He does but who He is.

So it is with the Church.  We have inherited our mission from the Sent One and we too find ourselves not simply doing mission, but being His sent ones to the ends of the earth.

There is discontinuity between God's mission and ours in that Christ has saved the world therefore we do not.  Instead we point to His once for all saving. 

But there is also continuity between God's mission and ours.  Therefore, just as the eternal Father's concern has ever been the exaltation of His Son in His Spirit-empowered word, so too our mission must be thoroughly evangelistic. 

At this point people will often ask, does social justice or care for the environment have a place within such an evangel?  The answer is Yes, but we must emphasize that such concerns find their place within the gospel.  Not instead of it.  And not alongside of it.  God does not have one goal for social, political, cultural and environmental well-being and another goal for the salvation of souls.  Such a dualism has plagued the church's understanding of mission for too long. 

There are some who have simply privileged one side of the dualism.  So on the one hand there have been the evangelists like D.L. Moody who famously said: "I look upon this world as a wrecked vessel.  God has given me a lifeboat and said to me, 'Moody, save all you can.'"  Such a view divorces creation and redemption and privileges the latter.  On the other hand there has been the 'social gospel' of Walter Rauschenbusch in which mission is "transforming life on earth into the harmony of heaven."  This makes the same divorce but privileges creation instead. 

In fact both fall into a dualism in which heaven and earth, time and eternity, the spiritual and the physical are pitted against one another.  This cannot be the outlook of the Christian who has accepted mission from the hand of the risen Christ.  In Him heaven and earth, time and eternity, the spiritual and the physical are united at the deepest level.

But there is yet another mistake to be resisted.  We have not solved this dualism by accepting these two concerns for creation and redemption and simply determining to give them equal emphasis.  A well balanced two-pronged approach to mission is not the solution, as though some cultural mandate lies side-by-side together with a gospel mandate for the world.  Such a view seems to be that of the very influential Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization.  Here is a key statement from them in 1982:

In addition to worldwide evangelization, the people of God should become deeply involved in relief, aid, development and the quest for justice and peace.

It is the phrase 'in addition to' that is so problematic.  The authors liken the relation of these two concerns to 'two blades of a pair of scissors or the two wings of a bird.'  Yet to accept this two-pronged approach is still to put asunder what God has joined together.  These are not unco-ordinated concerns in God's mission.  The Father does not have one desire for the lifting up of humanity and another for the glorification of His Son.  There is not one will for creation and a separate will for redemption.  Yet this seems to be precisely the assumption of Lausanne's authors. 

John Stott (the driving force behind the Lausanne declaration) said this in a sermon given the morning before the 1975 Assembly in Nairobi of the Central Committee of the World Council of Church:

"[There are two freedoms and two unities for which Jesus Christ is concerned] On the one hand there is socio-political liberation and the unity of all mankind, for these things are the good will of God the Creator, while on the other there is the redemptive work of Christ who sets his people free from sin and guilt, and unites them in his new community.  To muddle these two things (creation and redemption, common grace and saving grace, liberation and salvation, justice and justification) is to plunge oneself into all kinds of confusion." (quoted in Timothy Dudley Smith, John Stott: A Global Ministry, IVP, 2001, p204

With the greatest respect for John Stott, I don't think that's right.  Creation and redemption are not separately addressed by the Lord and they shouldn't be separately addressed by His church.  No, the Father has one almighty gospel passion that lifts up humanity and the world precisely in the gospel of His Son.  So it is with God, so it must be with us.  Whatever cultural mandate there is, it is included in and dependent upon the gospel mandate to make disciples of all nations. 

Authentic social, political, economic, cultural and environmental renewal happens within the gospel.  It occurs within the sphere of Christ's explicit Lordship.  This means, minimally, where the word of Christ is proclaimed as authoritative on its own terms (for instance where the church speaks prophetically into the issues of the day).  But more usually and concretely it occurs where this word of Christ is received in faith and His Lordship is lived out first in the body and, then, spilling over into the world.

In this way the most radically political, social and environmental revolutions can occur.  Yet they occur as gospel revolutions where King Jesus is reigning by the power of His Spirit-anointed word.

More to follow...

.

Twitter widget by Rimon Habib - BuddyPress Expert Developer