Curate's Chronicles

This site has moved!

2008-02-20T10:31:00.000Z

You can now find my blog at my new site:

www.vasbyburnie.net

All I Want For Christmas Is... a Trebuchet!

2007-12-05T12:39:00.000Z

I'm normally at a loss about what I'd like for Christmas. A good mp3 player would be nice, as long as it works with Linux. Maybe some of the books on my Amazon Wish List. A new computer to replace my ageing laptop. More book shelves to create room for the books on my Amazon Wish List. A bicycle for touring (so I can get in training to do Land's End to John O'Groats sometime in the next 10 years).

But now I've found my dream present. Not only lots of fun, it would be an excellent aid for men's ministry and youth work. A combination of physics and history. I present to you...

The FAT3000.

That's right. I would like a trebuchet. I want to throw things a long distance, and break other things in the process. Here's a picture of the beauty:

This is a modern day version of the ultimate in medieval war machines. For a cheaper and more 'authentic' model visit here. And here's some video, although not of these models (much bigger ones!).

P.S. Did I mention my Wish List?

The Humility of God

2007-12-03T16:22:00.000Z

Thanks to Byron (via Glen) I found an awesome quote I've been looking for for some time.

But it needs some introducing. A vital question in theology is this: does Jesus accurately reveal God to us?

Obviously: yes! After all, in Jesus Christ "the fullness of deity lives in bodily form." (Colossians 2:9)

But so many theologies actually assume that Jesus is kind of "God-lite" - a diet version of God - all the taste but 95% power reduced. You see it whenever people say that Jesus' humility / weakness / sorrow / emotional-life is only true according to his human nature... because God could never be humble / weak / emotional / etc.

Whenever you see this you should ask, "Okay - but how do you know this? How do you know that God could never be such things?" It's the problem of deciding what God is like (based on what is reasonable) before actually approaching the One who is God Revealed.

Karl Barth argued passionately that this approach is wrong. We must let God speak first - because he has in fact spoken first. We must let Jesus define what God is like.

When we do this, we realise that the true God is utterly different from all false gods. All false gods are a projection of our own ideas. The REAL God is proved real because no human would ever imagine a god like him. No human would imagine a Creator God who stoops to be born as man, a man who would glory in the cross. So Barth writes:

What marks out God above all false gods is that they are not capable and ready for this [humility]. In their otherworldliness and supernaturalness and otherness, etc., the gods are a reflection of the human pride which will not unbend, which will not stoop to that which is beneath it. God is not proud. In His high majesty He is humble.

- Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV/1, 159.

Christmas is approaching - and we remember the King of the world born in humility: Jesus - the most humble man ever to live (Daniel 4:17).

(For another good quote, try here, and spend some time at Christ The Truth also.)

A Remembrance Day Sermon

2007-11-29T17:25:00.001Z

Earlier this month I preached on Remembrance Day (which was a Sunday). My text was Amos 5:24 "But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

It was part of a series on Amos, otherwise the passage isn't the most obvious choice!

You can find it here courtesy of Google Docs.

A New Blog in Town - Christ The Truth

2007-11-29T17:10:00.000Z

Head over to christthetruth.wordpress.com for a chance to worship God with your mind. You will find some awesome theology to get you thinking and get you praising! It's written by Glen Scrivener, one of my best friends since we lived and worked together at All Souls, Langham Place back in 2000-2001.

The name of the blog - "Christ The Truth" expresses its core conviction: that Jesus Christ IS The Truth. Just as there is no Way to God outside of Jesus, and we cannot experience the Life of God outside of Jesus, so also we do not know the Truth about God unless we begin with Jesus Christ. Yet very often we use the G word: G-O-D as if by simply using it everyone knows who we're talking about. This is not the case. If I were to say I enjoyed watching 11 men kicking a leather ball around a pitch, and you said the same, it could be that we support the same team but more likely we don't! It's the same in theology - which is to say it's true for all of life - the true meaning of G-O-D is discovered as the Spirit brings us into union with Jesus the Son of the Father.

So go and have a read. As you'll discover, one obvious point of relevance is in the whole issue of inter-faith dialogue, which I wrote about here.

More free Christian Audio

2007-11-21T16:10:00.000Z

Hurry hurry over to Christian Audio - you have three more days to download one of 6 books for FREE using the code THANKS2007. (It's a special Thanksgiving offer.)

I still haven't decided, but I'm tempted by John Piper's biographical-sermon of William Wilberforce. You may have seen the film "Amazing Grace" but that won't have told you just how evangelical Wilberforce was. While he is famous (rightly so) for fighting against slavery, he knew full well that only the gospel of Christ crucified and justification-by-faith could change the country.

An intro to Leviticus

2007-11-13T09:01:00.000Z

A bonus for those who came to "Foundations for Life" - here is a very good introduction to Leviticus. I'll quote a little bit, but go to David Field's blog for the full piece.

With the building of the tabernacle, a new stage of God’s dealings with his people arrives. It’s like a new world – which is why there are “sevens” everywhere and why the tabernacle is like Eden in many ways. And at this point God has come to live nearer to his people than before – which is both wonderful and dangerous. Leviticus is, therefore, a book of house rules for God’s young children at that stage in history and it teaches them how to keep clean and tidy and how to grow in character like their father.

...

The uncleanness laws of chapters 11-15 relate to death and the curse. It is not that uncleanness is itself sin but rather that God gave his children a picture system to teach them how to make distinctions. This would help them grow to be like their Father who also makes distinctions (as in Genesis 1). Clean animals, in chapter 11, are those which keep away from death and curse-dirt by wearing shoes and by digesting their food extra-thoroughly. Chapter 12 talks about childbirth and chapters 13 and 14 about 'leprosy'. Chapter 15 shows that what comes out of us is death until we are made new in Jesus.

Listen to Jonathan Edwards for free!

2007-11-05T12:19:00.000Z

Every month the good people at Christian Audio release one of their books as a free download. This month the download is Jonathan Edwards' classic "The Religious Affections". Click here to order it and enter NOV2007 at the relevant stage to get it for free. You will have to register as a customer. Bear in mind that the download is 12 files, most of which are 35MB, so you're looking at over 400MB to download. Not one for dial up users! Quite helpfully each section will, when converted, fill an audio CD that could be played on a regular CD player.

But what a great offer - a chance to listen to a hugely important book. Section One is brilliant because it shows how important the affections (think emotions but deeper) are for true religion (by which Edwards' means true Christianity of course). Many Christians are divided into "lots of emotions but not much truth" vs. "lots of Bible truth but we never appear happy"! Okay, it's a caricature, but you may recognise the problem. This classic book is a never-bettered study on what does and does not constitute true religious affections.

Whether you download it or not, make a mental note to check Christian Audio each month for their latest offer.

We do what at church?

2007-10-31T07:56:00.000Z

It's always a favourite conversation among church leaders - what do we think about Baptism (infant or otherwise), the Lord's Supper (how often, at what age) and liturgy (why having it is wrong, even though we do everything the same way each week...). This post here - "Conversations with Nathan" - is a fantastic read - a true conversation between a teenager and father who visited one particular church in America. Even if you disagree with the teenager's point of view you will enjoy it.

A sample:

Nathan: Why are they so afraid of liturgy? We could explain that it isn’t hard to mean it when you say it.

Papa: But they won’t want to do it anyway. They want to be different every week.

Nathan: Really? Different every week?

Papa: Yes.

Nathan: What do they do differently? Do they sometimes take the offering at the end of the service instead of in the middle?

Papa: No. That’s always at the same time.

Nathan: Do they sometimes have the preaching at the beginning?

Papa: No, that’s at the same time too.

Nathan: Then what do they do that’s different?

Papa: They sing different songs.

Nathan: So does our church.

Papa: Well, it really comes down to the fact that they don’t have prayers and responses for the congregation to read.

Nathan: Why not?

Papa: They think that reading prayers and responses keeps people from worshiping.

Nathan: Really? What do they think the people should do instead?

Papa: Just sit there and do nothing.

The Cross and other religions

2007-10-20T11:33:00.000+01:00

Last Wednesday I attended some lectures about the challenges and opportunities of Christian Mission to the Muslim and Hindu communities in this country. It was a useful reminder that Christians should be engaging with these communities, showing friendship and hospitality, listening to what they believe (not just what we think they believe!) and also listening to their fears. For example, I didn't know that the Hindu community currently feel very marginalised: both government and Church are bending over backwards to engage with Muslims (for obvious reasons) but very little is heard about making such Hindus have their say.

However, as with many things Church of England, there was a rather obvious lack of engagement with the main questions:

Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? The speaker said yes. He mentioned one 'faithful Muslim' who loves going to Taize services - a display of unity despite 'doctrinal differences'. It seemed to be taken for granted that Muslims at least partly honour Jesus by declaring him a prophet.

Is there revelation outside Christ and the Bible? The speaker said yes, in response to a question which insisted we shouldn't ignore books such as the Bhagavad Gita. He mentioned approvingly church services in which there had been three readings: Old Testament, Gospel and Bhagavad Gita, although acknowledging that this would be difficult for some.

Although these main questions were touched on, as the examples show, there was no theological engagement with them.

One of Luther's best contributions to the Church was his distinction between a "Theology of Glory" and a "Theology of the Cross". Put simply, if we hold to a theology of glory we imagine God is rather like we think him to be. We claim to know intuitively what "strength" and "glory" and "power" are, and imagine God to be the most strong, most glorious and most powerful. (See here for a better, but still short, summary.)

Luther, like the apostle Paul (see e.g. 1 Corinthians 1-2), thought differently. Sin has darkened our minds so that we do not think straight. What God is like is not what we think him to be like, but he is as he has revealed himself, and this most clearly at the cross. God's true strength, glory and power are revealed in the weakness, shame and humility of the cross.

In other words: a god without the cross is not the True and Living God. Muslims claim to honour Jesus while denying that he was crucified, but this is to deny all that Jesus stood for. It is in fact to mock and dishonour the true Jesus who came, he said, to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Similarly, while the Bhagavad Gita may contain some nice stuff, it does not reveal Truth because it never takes us to Christ and him crucified.

Self-delusion

2007-10-15T15:55:00.000+01:00

Christianity does not sit well with self-belief. No religion or faith or philosophy is quite so negative about humanity's propensity to be self-deluded, deceived, or just plain wrong!

"The heart is deceitful beyond all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" says Jeremiah 17:9

Occasionally, this is noticed by others. Here's an article from www.lifehack.org saying "The Brain is not your friend". A sample:

A mind is a terrible thing. Whether because of the brain’s internal structure or the way social and cultural pressures cause our minds to develop and function, in the end the result is the same: minds that are not only easily deceived and frequently deceptive in their own right, but when caught out, refuse to accept and address their errors. If you have a mind — or even half a mind — you might be best off losing it entirely. Barring that, though, there are a few things you should know about the enemy in your head. Before it hurts someone.

The article ends up a bit positivistic - thinking we may be able to fix it. The reality is we might be able to tweak ourselves, but only Jesus Christ can really sort us out. A life-time task completed only at the resurrection, I might add!

You know you haven't been posting when...

2007-10-15T15:53:00.001+01:00

You know when you haven't been posting entries to your blog when you start typing your blog URL into your web browser and it doesn't auto-complete for you.

I'm determined to post a bit more frequently. Like the fact that I got ordained a few weeks ago...

Church is more exciting than you think!

2007-09-22T10:12:00.000+01:00

Many local churches have their share of people who turn up on Sunday, slip away before coffee and are not seen until next week. There may be all sorts of reasons for this, good and bad. Maybe one reason is because people have not caught a vision of what the Church is called to be. Is is simply a feeding-station as we wait for heaven? Or a place to carry out our religious duties?

Ephesians is possibly the book to read to get a fantastic vision of the Church. Time would be well-spent simply pondering the different titles and descriptions we are given, such as 'saints' or 'God's household'.

A verse that continues to amaze me is Ephesians 3:10 -

God's intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms...

It takes a bit of digging around Ephesians to work out what this means, but basically it is saying that as the church demonstrates the unity we have in the Spirit (a unity of different races and backgrounds) God's wise plan (of bringing all things under Christ, see 1:10) is made known to the evil spiritual rulers and authorities (see 6:12). Go here to read a sermon by John Piper on this verse: it will transform the way you understand the purpose of church!

An unusual place to practise my caving

2007-08-17T20:26:00.000+01:00

In moments of vanity, I'm sure we have all googled our name at some point. Searching mine found an article and photo of me hanging around inside a church bell tower in Galmpton, South Devon. It's taken from sometime in my first year at University, judging from the bad glasses and bad hair...

Read the original article (and why I'm doing it!) here (you'll need to scroll down a little bit).

N.B. It talks about going up and down the rope in safety. Well, I managed to forget all my knot tying methods as I was setting the gear up, so I did an unsuitable knot lots of times. I'm sure it was safe. Honest.

The beauty of lives changed by Jesus, changing other lives

2007-08-15T15:35:00.000+01:00

Here's another link to Kaleo Church. It's the account of how God changed the life of a woman and is now using her to share the love of Jesus with others. Go and read it.

This is why I want to be ordained and serve as a minister/vicar/elder (pick your favourite jargon!). To see changed lives changing the lives of others. This woman (no name is given) was a keen Christian but needed to rediscover what grace meant. Her description of the change in her life is a joy to read:

About a year ago I lived in a really amazing place. I loved it there! Life was good... and then one day I found this random door, this strange door that I had never noticed. I opened it up and was astonished at what I saw. That whole time I had been living in a tiny bathroom and on the other side of that door was a huge house... the rest of God's house. Since then I have been running from room to room, jumping on the beds, sliding down the banister and exploring every nook and cranny, fumbling around as I try to take it all in. I know that I will never get to every room, but I am so blessed by what I have seen. God used Kaleo to open that door for me... a door to show me just how much I didn't know or understand and how much there was to discover in Christ.

N.B. You don't have to be ordained to see lives changed - but I get paid for the privilege of sharing Jesus with others!

Kaleo San Diego: A Church that knows why it exists

2007-08-15T15:18:00.000+01:00

I'm a big fan of goodmanson.com and enjoy the occasional visit to the website of the church in which he is a pastor: Kaleo San Diego Church. They have recently updated their website - go take a look!

Central to the page are four tabs: 'Blog', 'Message', 'Motivation' and 'Mission'. You should read the last three because:

It shows a clearly thought out reason for the church's existence;
The theology is great!
I want to use these myself one day.

Many churches blunder along, never sure of what they are doing and (more importantly) why they are doing what they are doing. Go and take a look and get excited about what God is calling you to do.

Keep the children amused during summer

2007-08-10T11:24:00.000+01:00

The excellent Lifehacker website is generally most useful when it comes to using computers, internet etc to actually make life easier. But they are not limited to all things geekery. These two links may give some ideas for keeping the kids amused during the long summer weeks.

10 Cheap things to do with young children

Make your own Flubber (or follow the links for play dough, silly putty and more!)

Do you know any other good resources?

Broadband has arrived!

2007-07-25T14:51:00.000+01:00

Finally, broadband has arrived, my WiFi card is working and I can now connect online at home. What a relief. Hopefully this will mean an increase in posting levels, once I finish my Genesis 27 sermon and come back from Keswick.

Thank you Pope Benedict

2007-07-16T15:26:00.000+01:00

Pope Benedict 16th recently clarified the Catholic view that other (non-Roman-Catholic) churches are less than full churches. As might be expected, this was received by howls of protest. But Albert Mohler, a senior figure in the Southern Baptist denomination, is actually grateful for the Pope's clarity. A long quote is worthwhile:

It all comes down to this -- the claim of the Roman Catholic Church to the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and the Pope as the universal monarch of the church is the defining issue. Roman Catholics and Evangelicals should together recognize the importance of that claim. We should together realize and admit that this is an issue worthy of division. The Roman Catholic Church is willing to go so far as to assert that any church that denies the papacy is no true church. Evangelicals should be equally candid in asserting that any church defined by the claims of the papacy is no true church. This is not a theological game for children, it is the honest recognition of the importance of the question.

The Reformers and their heirs put their lives on the line in order to stake this claim. In this era of confusion and theological laxity we often forget that this was one of the defining issues of the Reformation itself. Both the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church staked their claim to be the true church -- and both revealed their most essential convictions in making their argument. As Martin Luther and John Calvin both made clear, the first mark of the true Church is the ministry of the Word -- the preaching of the Gospel. The Reformers indicted the Roman Catholic Church for failing to exhibit this mark, and thus failing to be a true Church. The Catholic church returned the favor, defining the church in terms of the papacy and magisterial authority. Those claims have not changed.

I also appreciate the spiritual concern reflected in this document. The artificial and deadly dangerous game of ecumenical confusion has obscured issues of grave concern for our souls. I truly believe that Pope Benedict and the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith are concerned for our evangelical souls and our evangelical congregations. Pope Benedict is not playing a game. He is not asserting a claim to primacy on the playground. He, along with the Magisterium of his church, believes that Protestant churches are gravely defective and that our souls are in danger. His sacramental theology plays a large role in this concern, for he believes and teaches that a church without submission to the papacy has no guaranteed efficacy for its sacraments. (This point, by the way, explains why the Protestant churches that claim a sacramental theology are more concerned about this Vatican statement -- it
denies the basic validity of their sacraments.)

I actually appreciate the Pope's concern. If he is right, we are endangering our souls and the souls of our church members. Of course, I am convinced that he is not right -- not right on the papacy, not right on the sacraments, not right on the priesthood, not right on the Gospel, not right on the church. The Roman Catholic Church believes we are in spiritual danger for obstinately and disobediently excluding ourselves from submission to its universal claims and its papacy. Evangelicals should be concerned that Catholics are in spiritual danger for their submission to these very claims. We both understand what is at stake.

The Rev. Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, responded to the press by saying that the Vatican's "exclusive claims" are "troubling." He also said, "what may have been meant to clarify has caused pain."

I will let Bishop Hanson explain his pain. I do not see this new Vatican statement as an innovation or an insult. I see it as a clarification and a helpful demarcation of the issues at stake. I appreciate the Roman Catholic Church's candor on this issue, and I believe that Evangelical Christians, with equal respect and clarity, should respond in kind. This is a time to be respectfully candid -- not a time to be offended.

Diocese of Lichfield and leaders who grow churches

2007-07-13T12:06:00.000+01:00

Okay, so being back online hasn't yet produced a flurry of posts. Bear with me!

Yesterday I met the other prospective deacons from Lichfield Diocese, who like me will be ordained 30th September at 10am (you are invited!). One of the highlights was hearing Archdeacon Bob Jackson speaking about the Diocese's commitment to growth, rather than organized retreat. He said that this extended to looking for vicars and curates who will lead churches into growth. It was very exciting to hear of official structures looking to see mission high on the priority, and not simply affirming this without practicing it!

A favourite website of mine is goodmanson.com, named after a church planter / leader at Kaleo Church, San Diego, and part of the fabulous Acts 29 Church Planting Network. Go check it out! If you want fresh biblical thinking about how to lead churches that proclaim the gospel and transform the world, here is a good place to start.

Bob Jackson said that the Church of England was slowly realising that we are not a pastoral institution caring for a Christian country, but a missionary church in a post-Christian culture. This needs to affect the priorities that church leaders have, and the following two posts will help:

Leading a Movement not an Institution
Eldership that leads a transformational community

Back online!

2007-07-04T16:27:00.000+01:00

I'm back! I started working here in Stone, Oulton & Moddershall (we need a snappy title for the Benefice...) on Sunday - and a very big thank you for the warm welcome we have received.

Highlights of the last few weeks:

Moving in dry weather (the rain arrived an hour after the movers left)
Riding a steam train in a local back garden...
Digging on Bantham beach (Devon) AND staying dry
Tim Keller's fantastic talks at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly
Eating lunch at the top of the Gherkin

I have just started reading the Doctor (i.e. D Martin Lloyd-Jones, not the time travelling one) on preaching and hope to post some thoughts soon.

On the move - don't expect much for a while

2007-06-08T21:22:00.001+01:00

Today was our commissioning service here at Wycliffe Hall - which means it's all over! Three years, countless essays, far too many hours online, exhilerating conversations, etc etc etc. Time to move on.

And we move on Wednesday, to Stone in Staffordshire. I won't be near broadband until July, probably, so don't expect much here. But from July I hope to be posting regularly.

Coming up (hopefully):
- A series on preaching (and why Tim Keller is great)
- Life as a curate
- The joy (and maybe some woes) of Ubuntu Linux
- Why Jesus is the only Vicar
- A 365-day walk through the Law of Moses
- Why evangelicals need to do some work on their anthropology
and, as they say, much much more!

Simul conservative evangelicus et peccator

2007-06-05T18:01:00.000+01:00

The Ugley Vicar has a discerning post on problems within the conservative evangelical world, especially British Anglican evangelicalism. Go read it! We must be the first to repent of our shortcomings, which are many. It's easy to imagine that the reason others don't like us is because they hate the gospel, when in fact we're being proud, or combative, or just plain rude.

I think one problem is that conservative evangelicalism tends to define itself by what it's not: we're not liberal, we're not anglo-catholic, we're not charismatic, and we're not those liberals-in-disguise open evangelicals (a tongue in cheek comment, BTW!). So if we're not all those wrong people, we must de facto be right. By definition, we are the true preservers of the gospel. So we're not particularly good at listening to our critics.

NB I first encountered John Richardson (the Ugley Vicar) on a Cornhill 'London Week' which aims to give students a week's insight into church leadership. His first comment was 'there is no such thing as a full-time Bible teaching ministry - after all, Paul wasn't one!' - which seemed to worry a few but was very refreshing!

Results are in!

2007-06-04T17:26:00.000+01:00

The Bachelor of Theology results are in, and I've got enough points to get a 2.1 overall, assuming my last essay doesn't fail (and nothing ever fails on the BTh).

God taught me (rather painfully) in my first year not to base my identity on my exam results, so I can honestly say: thank you Lord!

As for the last essay, it was printed and bound last Friday night so simply awaits being handed in to examiners in time for the end of September. So my Wycliffe work is now finally all over!

Jonathan Edwards - hear his sermons!

2007-06-04T14:45:00.000+01:00

Every month the good folks at Christian Audio have a free audio book to download. This month they are offering The Best of Jonathan Edwards' Sermons - simply add it to your cart, then during checkout use JUN2007 as a coupon code.

"The Jonathan Edwards trilogy includes three of the most important sermons ever preached on American soil. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is maybe the most important and well-known sermon of his, but also included is A Divine and Supernatural Light describing and illuminating what Edwards describes as a supernatural light imparted by God. His farewell sermon was given in June of 1750 and is a commendation to those who are in the Lord’s service, a plea to maintain unity, avoid dissension and false doctrine, and a call to devote themselves to prayer."

Blues Traveler

2007-05-30T15:13:00.000+01:00

I mentioned earlier that I was listening to Blues Traveler. Well, their website is here and here are some free downloads:

The Traveler Suite.mp3 : 18.61 MB

Sun and the Storm.mp3 : 7.31 MB

12 Swords.mp3 : 3.07 MB

The Path.mp3 : 5.79 MB

Enjoying the Bible

2007-05-30T10:25:00.000+01:00

One-to-one work with other believers is extremely important, but I've often felt daunted at the prospect of doing all the preparation. Also, my experience is that they can often become a bit artificial, as one person asks the questions and the other answers.

But here's a pdf with a great idea by Ron Frost for reading the whole Bible through in 3-4 months with others!

The rules are simple. We selected a date for completing the project (in this case, four months from our commencement). We meet Tuesday morning for an hour. We chat for about 15 minutes and then begin to read verses that weíve underlined in our reading for the week. Each of us has 15 minutes to review as much as he can ñ thereís never enough time for all the verses. Then we share requests and pray. It may not sound dramatic, but it is the highlight of my week.

There's no need to keep pace with others - in fact, if one goes at a different rate it means together you go through the Bible twice! It also means you can meet other people without having to prepare separate studies for each one. What a great way to simply enjoy God's Word together.

The big clear up

2007-05-29T19:17:00.000+01:00

As mentioned a moment ago, I'm in the middle of clearing up my Wycliffe room. This involves sorting out not only three years of lecture notes, but also sermon notes from St Andrew the Great (the church I went to as a student), notes from CICCU days, All Souls days, and two years of Cornhill Training Course notes. Throw in all my paperwork from working at the British Red Cross, C-of-E selection conferences, etc and we have a huge paperwork mountain!

But, to keep myself sane, I'm listening to some Blues Traveler music. Hmm, must go see whether their website has changed since I last visited it, 4 years ago. I'm quite a fan of blues music and discovered these guys through the Blues Brothers 2000 movie. You can't beat some rock 'n' harmonica to keep one going!

Excited about Preaching!

2007-05-29T19:09:00.000+01:00

While I tidy up my Wycliffe room I'm running Ubuntu on Caroline's laptop and ripping Tim Keller talks onto my mobile phone. Last year Tim Keller delivered a series of lectures on preaching at Gordon-Conwell on the topic of Preaching to the Heart. Here are the sessions:

Preaching to the Heart without being Legalistic
Preaching to the Heart without being Piestic
Unintentional Preaching Models
Reading, Preparation, Conversation, and Preaching
Preaching to “Emerging” Culture
Preaching to the Heart without being Individualistic

I ordered these from the Ockenga Institute. It also includes a CD with the PDF files as well - being Tim Keller, we're talking some 40 pages of full script handouts! I haven't listened to them yet (which is why they're going onto my phone) but a glance at the handouts have whetted my appetite. These could be the best resources about preaching I have come across - and I'm speaking as someone who has had some of the best conservative evangelical training going in the UK. I'll post my favourite quotes and ideas as we go on.

Happy Ascension Day!!

2007-05-17T16:35:00.000+01:00

Today should be the biggest celebration of the Christian year... at least, that's what Augustine thought. Without the ascension, Good Friday and Easter Sunday would have had no value. Without the ascension, Pentecost could never have happened.

The best way to understand the Ascension is to follow the example of Hebrews and get to grips with the Tabernacle and the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). I've tried to do this in the post below, which I wrote a few years ago and added in the Ascension Day cards I sent to various friends (yes, I made the Ascension Day cards myself!). I'm still trying to work out the exact symbolism of the holy place and the courtyard - and had a very enjoyable lunch today discussing this - so this is by no means my final thoughts.

Maybe one day I'll do some posts about the symbolism of the Tabernacle - and why it's the ultimate visual aid for explaining the gospel!

2007-05-17T16:34:00.000+01:00

Ascension Day

Ascension Day isn’t exactly the most well known celebration of the year, and Ascension Day cards aren’t available at Clinton’s, which is a terrible shame because it should be one of the biggest parties of the year. I suppose being on a Thursday it was never linked to the weekend and turned into a bank holiday; personally I think it deserves taking both the Thursday and the Friday off!

So, in my own small way, I want to correct the imbalance. It’s fairly unlikely I’ll turn the church around – my National Ouagadougou Day never quite lived up to its name – but I can make a start…

What actually happened?

Having risen from the dead on the third day, just as the Old Testament had predicted, Jesus appeared to his disciples many times over 40 days giving convincing proofs he was alive. Luke – the physician who carefully researched the events between Jesus’ birth and ascension – then records that “When Jesus had led the disciples out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.” (Luke chapter 24, verse 50). King David, writing hundreds of years beforehand, tells us what happened next:

“The LORD (God the Father) said to my Lord (Jesus, God the Son): ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” (Psalm 110:1)

Or, to quote Paul, one of Jesus’ personally appointed spokespersons (apostles),

“God exalted Him to the highest place.” (Philippians 2:9)

It seems like quite a simple event. But there are huge implications of Jesus’ ascent into heaven to sit enthroned at the right hand of God the Father.

What does it mean?

The meaning of the ascension is spelt out in great detail in the letter to the Hebrews. Let me quote part of what the writer says and then explain it:

[In the ascension] ²⁴Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. ²⁵Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

[The quote comes from chapter 9 of the letter; the verse numbers aren’t original, but help readers know where they are.]

The writer has been explaining how things in the Old Testament such as the sanctuary (part of the temple), animal sacrifices and priests were models/copies/shadows of a greater reality, and also how the models contained deliberate flaws just in case anyone was tempted to think the models were actually the reality. Now that the reality has come in Jesus Christ, the Jewish Christians can dispense with the models; not to would be like gazing intently at a picture of one’s other half while he or she was standing in the room with you!

Before I go on, I had better explain what the Bible means by ‘sin’. Basically, sin is rejecting Jesus. The whole world was made through him and for him; it is a gift from God the Father to Jesus, God the Son. The eternal love that existed between Father and Son as it were ‘overflowed’ and the world was made so that humanity in could share in that love and enjoy loving Jesus as the Father does. So to reject Jesus (either deliberately or by simply ignoring him) is to be the greatest rebel around. And having lost our frame of reference, we continue rebelling through our actions against God and against one another. If there’s one lesson to be learnt from the Twentieth century, it’s that our mutiny has singularly failed. This is sin, and God hates it. Jesus himself said, in John’s gospel, chapter 3 and verse 35, “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever trusts the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” Our sin, and God’s anger against our sin, is the biggest problem we all face. The quote from Hebrews mentions in passing that everyone is destined to die once, and after that face the judgment. The grim reality that Jesus tells us is: we can’t do a thing about it. In God’s eyes, we are guilty as hell, and heading that way also. Christianity is good news about being rescued by the one we’ve rejected.

Back to the letter to the Hebrews. The writer has been explaining in particular the reality behind a special day in the Jewish calendar – the Day of Atonement, which is described in Leviticus chapter 16. This annual event was done to symbolically take away the sin of the nation of Israel. The High Priest selected two goats and, as representative of the nation, laid his hands on the heads of the goats to symbolically transfer the sin and guilt of his nation onto the animals. One was then sacrificially killed – it took the judgment that the nation deserved, in place of the nation. The other goat (the original scapegoat) was released into the desert – symbolically taking the sins away. It was a gory event, but a graphic portrayal of all that Jesus would do. Together the two goats showed how Jesus was “sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people” (verse 27). As one of us, he was our High Priest. As our representative and true substitute he offered himself “to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (verse 26). Perhaps the best explanation of Jesus’ death on a cross was written by the prophet Isaiah, some 500 years before Jesus left heaven to be born as a member of the human race. Isaiah writes:

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,

yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities [sins];

the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

This amazing act is what allows God to forgive us without brushing sin under the carpet. But, back to the Day of Atonement, there was more to come.

Having sacrificed one of the goats, the High Priest then took some of the blood into the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place of the temple. To explain all that the tabernacle/temple symbolised would be too much now; as the writer to the Hebrews himself says in verse 5 of chapter 9: “we cannot discuss these things in detail now”! But verse 24 of our quote explains what the sanctuary was a copy of:

Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear to us in God’s presence.

Unlike the Day of Atonement, which was repeated year after year as “an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4), Jesus only had to do this once:

Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

This is what Ascension Day is all about. After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus ascended to heaven to present himself before God the Father as both High Priest and sacrifice. There are many important implications of this; I’ll mention three.

SALVATION ACHIEVED

When someone turns to Jesus and trusts him for salvation, God the Holy Spirit unites us to him. The Bible uses the imagery of being ‘clothed in Christ’. All that he achieved becomes ours.

‘Ever since Adam spurned God it had been impossible for God and humanity to meet safely together. But now God had not only become one of us, He had suffered the punishment for our sins, taking away the curse of death. And now He ascends to heaven so that one of us, a flesh and bones member of our race, sits next to God the Father on our behalf.

‘This is the enormous comfort the Christian has. Whenever I look within myself, I am overcome by the wickedness and evil that’s within me and I know I have no right whatsoever and no chance in myself of ever having friendship with the Father. But, when I stop looking at myself and start having faith – in other words looking out from myself to see what Christ has done for me – then I see a completely different picture. I’m not the damnable wretch I was when I looked inside my heart. No – there I am – in Christ, raised to new life; righteous, accepted, loved by the Father. Seated at His right hand in honour! That’s the real truth about me and anyone else in Christ. Right now, however sick I know my heart to be, I can boldly approach the Father who is too pure to even look at sin, and right now I can sit in His presence and enjoy friendship with Him. I can talk to Him. “Therefore,” the writer to the Hebrews says, “since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”’

SALVATION FULLY ACCOMPLISHED

There is a bizarre and blasphemous heresy going around; one that most non-Christians believe, and it goes something like “Christianity is all about being good so that God will let you into heaven.” But the ascension shows that to be wrong. The writer to the Hebrews says,

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy.

Christianity is NOT about trying to be good; it is NOT about doing religious duties. The good news of Jesus is that he has completely accomplished salvation on our behalf. The quote shows us that this is the case because, unlike the ‘shadow’ priests who kept repeating the sacrifices, Jesus has made THE sacrifice for sins, and has sat down at the right hand of God. A Christian is someone who has realised his or her complete inability to do anything good in God’s sight and instead is trusting Jesus for his or her salvation. Yes, a Christian tries to live like Jesus their Lord and Saviour; a Christian is someone who is ‘being made holy’, but when he or she fails – as all Christians do every day – we know that “by one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy.”

JESUS THE UNIVERSAL KING OF GLORY

Psalm 24 speaks of Jesus’ return to heaven in the ascension and describes him as the King of glory, the LORD strong and mighty, the LORD Almighty. The apostle Paul describes the ascension by writing

God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus wasn’t just any priest – in chapter 7 the writer to the Hebrews has been explaining how Jesus is also the King of righteousness and the King of peace. Jesus has been enthroned as King over the whole creation, and so every knee in the whole creation should bow to him and confess him as Lord. It’s sheer stupidity not to. He promises he will return one day “to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28) and to judge those who have continued their wilful rebellion. Jesus made this very clear during his time on earth – and since he died for me, I have no option but to believe him.

Ascension Day

There are so many more implications of the ascension, but then I would be writing a book and not a short explanation of why Ascension Day should be such a massive celebration! On our own we deserve only judgment for our rejection of Jesus, but the one we rejected died in our place, rose again to new life and has ascended to heaven to appear for us before God the Father. Salvation is achieved – God and man are re-united – and that salvation is offered freely to those who would simply trust Jesus as Lord and Saviour. With such good news, I hope that you will be joining in the Ascension Day celebrations not just next year, but every day until Jesus returns to claim the whole creation as his own.

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