I wouldn't bother with the rest but the middle hour of Rowan Williams' lecture here is beautiful and heart-warming. Listen from 1:00:10 till 1:54:50.
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Tag: sermons
Rowan Williams on John's Gospel
I wouldn't bother with the rest but the middle hour of Rowan Williams' lecture here is beautiful and heart-warming. Listen from 1:00:10 till 1:54:50.
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Disagreeing with the translation
My preaching theory: When preaching, it is best not to disagree with the translation people have in front of them.
It cultivates the sense that people can't read the bible for themselves. I know that personally I have held many difficult passages at arm's length merely under the suspicion that the underlying greek might be ambiguous. Maybe in some cases it is. But I found that when I knew no greek my first reaction to hard verses was generally: 'I bet it's not really saying this in the original.' It was a way of sheathing the sword of the Spirit.
My preaching practice: My sermons are littered with "That's not literally what it says in the Hebrew. In the Hebrew it really says..."
Hmmm. Maybe deep down I don't really believe my theory. Maybe I want people dependent on my magisterial interpretation. Maybe my proud desire to prove special knowledge simply wins out. Maybe I want to communicate excitement at the rich layers of nuance the Scriptures possess. And maybe sometimes you just have to see your theory as a rule of thumb because the translation sucks. I think for me probably all the above factors come into play.
Case in point: my sermon on Isaiah 2:6-22.
In verse 10 it literally says (I've gotta stop saying that in sermons, it bugs even me): "Go and hide in the rock"
Go is an imperative. The rock is a singular noun with a definite article - The Rock. 'The Rock' is a title for the LORD 6 times in Isaiah - a book in which, as my previous post has said, refuge in the LORD is all important. Verse 10 is different to verse 19. Verse 19 is a future indicative. In the future day of judgement many people will hide themselves in many caves and many rocks. But in verse 10 we have a command. Go, now, and hide yourself in the Rock.
Trouble is people had NIVs in front of them which says 'Go into the rocks...' And the first three conversations I had after the service began like this, "So what translation of the bible can we trust!?"
Hmmm. What do you think, should preachers disagree with translations? When? How?
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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:
Instead it's:
And the only path to salvation is the path through judgement.
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).
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A theology of mission 5 – some talks
We've been thinking about a theology of mission grounded in the doctrine of God.
Here are some relevant talks from me on the subject.:
Luke 14 - Mission the way Jesus did it
1 Peter 2 - Doing mission together
Here is Paul Blackham on being salt and light
And here is hands down the best talk I've heard on mission and missional church. Tim Chester on Rethinking Attractional Church. The whole series of talks with him and Steve Timmis are just excellent.
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Recent sermons
I haven't updated My Sermons for a couple of months. Here are my last few months worth of sermons.
Philippians 2:5-11 & John 1:1-14
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Total Sermon
New Years Encouragement
Here are Paul Blackham's wonderful new year's sermons from All Souls, Langham Place.
His Matthew 11 is a personal favourite (surprise surprise).
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And here's my new year's encouragement to our Wednesday communion service this morning. A little ten minute sermon. It's David and Goliath again. Here's my conclusion...
We are the fearful and faithless Israelites, standing behind our brave Champion. But friends, He has won! And we have not contributed a calorie of effort - all we've done is flee from Goliath and deride our King. Even so - His victory is our victory.
And so, as in 1 Samuel 17, we LOOK, we SHOUT and we ADVANCE. Of course we don't advance killing Philistines, but we do make in-roads into enemy territory as we spread the gospel. That's a wonderful consequence of Christ's victory. We LOOK, we SHOUT and we ADVANCE.
But perhaps you don't feel like shouting this morning. Perhaps you're not looking forward to advancing into 2009. Well what would you say to an Israelite at this battle who remained unmoved by David's victory? Clearly they haven't seen it properly. Or they don't realise how it affects them. What would you tell them? You'd say LOOK - LOOK to your Champion. Don't grit your teeth and advance anyway. Don't look to your own strength and convince yourself you can take on Goliath. LOOK at Christ. Your champion has won the battle for you. And He won it for you when you were weak, faithless, sinful and cowering in fear. Doesn't matter. He has done it. You might still be weak, sinful, cowering, faithless. Doesn't matter. He has won for you salvation, forgiveness and new life.
So LOOK, SHOUT and ADVANCE into 2009.
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David and Goliath sermons
Preached on 1 Samuel 17 twice today. I tried to make them fairly different (for all the twicers).
The morning was a more detailed look at the text (audio).
The evening was a bit more drawing out some implications (audio).
A lot of this first saw light of day in this series: Five Smooth Stones.
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Incarnation and salvation
ok the Christmas clock is against me.
So let me just say that for all the talk about incarnation manifesting the triune glory and incarnation giving coherence and consummation to creation, the biblical emphasis falls overwhelmingly on salvation as the reason for incarnation. (Though of course the interconnectedness of God's outgoing being, creation and salvation ought to give us much to chew on!)
But let's realize that Jesus comes as Saviour. And Saviour from sin.
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst.
1 John 3:8 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.
How's it all work? Well due to time constraints, let me simply link to a sermon I preached last year from Hebrews 2. Audio here.
Christ as the Seed of Abraham (singular) lays hold of us, the seed of Abraham, (plural). He sums us up so as to be our substitutionary Lamb and merciful High Priest. He lives our life, dies our death and now presents us to the Father in Himself. Therefore...
"As you look into the manger this Christmas, look with irrepressible hope. There, in the face of Christ, you see not only the Father's self-giving love. There also you see yourself. There in the manger is your humanity laid hold of by Immanuel. There is your life, hidden with Christ. And His victory is your victory, His future is your future, His righteousness is your righteousness, His joy is your joy. God has gotten hold of you, permanently, irreversibly. Christmas guarantees it."
I wish you all God's blessings in His Son. Rejoice that they flow to you because today He became our Brother. Happy Christmas.
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