Did He Die for This?

In my last blog post I mentioned the delight of time away on a retreat for some rest and restoration. The place in which I took the retreat is actually the home for a community of people whom I got to meet whilst on the trip. I shared meals with some precious old men and women who were in the latter years of a life committed to serving the Lord in various capacities. Before I share some reflective concerns from being within this community for a time I want to reiterate what precious individuals these people were - their kindness and openness to me was richly warming. But there were two things that concerned me, upon reflection, with their ideology and general ethos.

Firstly, there was a total embracing of inter-faith relations that seemed in its outworking to form a Christian faith that had lost its fundamental identity. There is absolutely nothing wrong with relating to people of other faiths - in fact in postmodern Europe there is almost not the possibility of a working life without it. The idea of 'being missional' in its very essence demands that it is people of all race, religion etc. with whom we are to form authentic relationship. This inter-faith relation that received such significance in this community appeared something else all together. The upshot of it all, as it appeared to me at least, was a conclusion that Christ's sole purpose was to bring peace, any element of vicarious sacrifice in order to turn away the righteous wrath of God seemed necessarily absent or at the very least inconsequential. This concerns me. The bible does not merely intimate but portrays overtly that we are enemies of God at a 'DNA' level. The peace we need is - yes with each other - but primarily and essentially with the God of heaven. If your faith is one that denies that God the Father of Jesus Christ, his eternally begotten, co-divine, exact radiant image, is God then the peace that ultimately must be sought is with Him; and that is ONLY through FAITH in the gospel of Jesus Christ and submission to His lordship.

My second concern, which may simply be symptomatic of the first, but not necessarily so, was that the result of the transformative work of the Holy Spirit was niceness. The conversation that surrounded me at meal times and at other moments smacked of those who perhaps had settled for an understanding that "Jesus died to make us nice;" not radical, not zealous, certainly not 'non-pc' or offensive, but "nice." May I place it on record now that Christ did not endure all that he endured to make us nice - we can make ourselves nice! Christ died to transform our very nature and to make us loving but loving and nice are not synonymous, be absolutely certain you understand that. I am exceedingly offensive to a secular-humanist who believes he is God and the centre of the universe when I tell Him he is not and that He desperately needs to encounter the real God and become nothing in order to become something. Just concerns really but things that simply do not match up to biblically-rooted gospel truth.

Simon

All is Grace

It is not every day that I take a serious dip into the writings of the great American Puritan Jonathan Edwards, That's a bit of a pity really because then it is not every day that I get to read words like this about the astounding grace of God towards us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

"The grace of God, exhibited in the gospel, is glorious,

1st) Because of the greatness of it. Every circumstance of the gospel, grace surprisingly heightens it; let us look on what part we will, we shall see enough to fill us and all the angels in heaven with admiration forever. If we consider it as the grace of God the Father, and consider his greatness, his holiness, his power and justice, immensity and eternity; if we diligently consider how great a being he is, who took such pity and compassion on mankind, it is enough to astonish us. Or, if we consider ourselves, on whom this great God has bestowed this grace, we are nothing but worms, yea less than worms, before God; and not only so, but sinful worms, worms swollen with enmity against God. If we consider him by whom we receive [grace], the Son of God who made heaven and, by his almighty power, [is] equal with the Father; if we consider the greatness of what he did- he died most ignominiously and painfully in our nature it all infinitely heightens the grace of the gospel.

2nd) Because of the glorious fruit of this. No less than salvation and eternal glory are the fruits of this grace of the gospel; adoption, union with Christ, communion with God, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the heavenly happiness, the pleasure of the eternal paradise, the new Jerusalem, the glorious and triumphant resurrection of the body, and an everlasting reign with Christ in the height of glory, and pleasure and happiness: no less than these things are the effects of this marvelous grace.

What a vast difference is there between a poor, miserable sinner, full of sin, condemned to hellfire, and, a saint shining forth in robes of glory, and crowned with a crown of victory and triumph; but 'tis no less difference than this, is made in the same man by the grace of God in Christ."

Thank you God for rescuing me from my terrible state!

Simon

A Bridge for the Good News

It was sort of our re-launch Sunday as a church this past week. We had used Sunday May 10th as a run through of how it would all go and then asked people to bring friends and guests to VUE for this week.
I have said to a few people already that it was a morning where I felt we could really use the word 'BUZZ' in relation to us as a church. There was energy and enthusiasm oozing from everywhere which is brilliant because it is very attractive for anyone looking in. People got to the tasks of setting up, welcoming, serving refreshments leading the worship and all sorts of other essential bits with fervor and vigor.

I felt it strongly on my heart to preach about moving to VUE out of a real desire to bridge the gap between church and culture. It was a fantastic opportunity and I finished off explaining how I hoped we would go about doing that. Here is the gist of it:

This is the mission we think we must proclaim and embody, we will certainly give it our best shot at least.
We must overcome that which has made the church invisible in culture, we must:

NO LONGER FLEE FROM CULTURE OR HAVE A 'BOMB SHELTER' CHURCH MENTALITY
NO LONGER IMPOSE OUTDATED CULTURE BUT ADAPT TO CULTURE TO GIVE OUR MESSAGE
OFFER DIVINE COMMUNITY TO A FRACTURED CULTURE
LOVE AND NOT JUDGE (DON'T ASK SOMEONE TO CHANGE BEFORE THEY HAVE ENCOUNTERED THE AGENT OF CHANGE- GOD)
'SHOW' THAT FOLLOWING CHRIST IS THE GREATEST THING AND NOT JUST 'TELL' PEOPLE IT IS!

I finished off stating that if the church has a message that can transform the lives of 21st Century people, if the gospel is true than everyone should get a chance to hear it without having to leave their cultural reality to do it!

We want to make a difference, we must.

Simon

The Vital Link

The Cross without the Resurrection is an incomplete gospel, the two are vitally linked:

"The cross and the resurrection of Jesus belong together. They should never have been divorced into separate and all but hermetically-sealed components of dogmatic theology. It is not the cross which saves. It is Jesus, crucified and risen. 'Jesus was put to death for our offences and raised for our justification' (Rom 4: 25). And because this link has been so often lost sight of, our grasp on both cross and resurrection has been weakened. How could the death of a self-styled messianic figure avail for anyone - if God had not raised Him from the dead. And what is the resurrection but god's vindication of that suffering figure who dies in ignominy on the public gallows... they belong together."

- Michael Green

Simon

A Perfect & Complete Gospel

Preached on our second value this week-- A Perfect & Complete Gospel.
Here is the statement undergirding that value:

We are wholeheartedly assured that the Gospel is a true message that must be declared, a power that changes lives, and a lifestyle that must be embodied. The gospel message is centred on the person, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Holy Bible. We believe Jesus is alive today, thus, the gospel must have the same rescuing, healing, and transforming effect that we see in the New Testament

In defining the gospel I borrowed very heavily from D.A. Carson who spoke on this at the Gospel Coalition in 2007. His summary is brilliant and he uses 8 words to define the gospel as revealed in I Corinthians 15.

It is
CHRISTOLOGICAL: It is totally, thoroughly, and primarily about Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
THEOLOGICAL: It is about God, it is about sin, the fall of mankind, the plan of redemption. It has theological depth.
BIBLICAL: From Gen 3, through the Psalms, and prophets the bible is littered with references to this coming redeemer and His work for mankind.
APOSTOLIC: They were divinely entrusted with the message, they passed it on, they were inspired to preach it & write it for us.
HISTORICAL: On a day in history Jesus Christ of Nazareth was born, he died roughly 33 years later (historically) and 3 days later He rose from the dead, literally and historically! THERE ARE NO BONES IN THE TOMB!
PERSONAL: This gospel paves the way for individual salvation!
UNIVERSAL: Christ, the New Adam had inaugurated a NEW HUMANITY, a new family of faith. People from every tribe, every tongue, every people can be part of this new family.
ESCHATOLOGICAL: There is a glorious end day that this gospel points to, when all will be restored to God's perfect requirements.

WHY DO WE VALUE IT?
THE ONLY ANSWER: There are no other answers to the problem of mankind's distance from God.
THE ONLY HOPE: We are stuck in a desperate situation and all around fails to bring hope, until we discover the hope in the gospel.
THE ONLY POWER: All other remedies to cure mankind's ills work outside in, the problem demands an inside out transformation only possible in the Gospel.
THE PERFECT LOVE: It is truly the most beautiful thing in history. If love is most to be valued, then the infinite love of God the Father, for His infinitely worthy Son, handed over to restore mankind as an act of love is truly beautiful (when understood in light of the total outcome of that moment (I mean don't see the bloody cross without the glorious resurrection))

HOW DO WE VALUE IT?
BELIEVE IT: Initially and as a continual act of belief. Believe it.
KNOW IT: Don’t just believe it, get it into the core of all you are and do!
LOVE IT: Be satisfied in the new life given by the gospel; live so no other thing completes you, no other thing is necessary for your happiness.
LIVE IT: A New life, a radically different life!
SHARE IT: Speak it; get it into any conversation.
HATE RELIGION: The gospel is the polar opposite of Religion!

A perfect & complete gospel. How marvelous.

Simon