Love gives food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless, help to the destitute, friendship to the lonely, comfort to the sad, provided always that these gifts are tokens of the giving of the self. For it is possible to give food, money, time and energy, and yet somehow withhold oneself. But Christ gave himself. Though rich, he became poor, in order to make us rich.
Why do we insist on Christ alone?
Glen Scrivener on Credo magazine’s “inclusivism” issue:
Again and again I got the feeling that Christ was being held forth as the sole distributor of eternal fire insurance. Salvation is defined pretty consistently as “not hell” and Christ is portrayed as the means of escape. When put like that, the exclusivist position can sound like a heavy-handed assertion rather than something arising from the nature of the gospel.
Many times the magazine’s writers anticipated objections, yet their response was usually a re-assertion of certain verses and a plea to be biblical and not worldly. All of which begs the question why do we insist on Christ alone? Is it that the Bible has this embarrassingly narrow doctrine but true believers will stick to the Scriptures, no matter how unpopular?
On a not-entirely-unrelated topic, here’s Dan Hames on Karl Barth’s theology:
We must begin with Immanuel, God with us; Jesus Christ. In doing this, not only do we anchor our study in the right God - the true and Living God - but we also delight and comfort ourselves with the best God, the only God who is for us, near us, and loves us.
Despite Glen’s critique, Credo Magazine is worth a read; also, Dan’s new blog has been fantastic so far.
2011 in review
Posted at 4:22 PM
I think if I remember 2011 for anything, it’ll be the sheer number of exams. Of course, I’m hoping that I can block those memories, but I fear they were too large a part of the year.
I find it hard to know how to sum up this year, actually. In trying to recall what I was doing a year ago, I’ve struggled to remember anything - though I think this is due to spending January to March working in Swindon, and consequently only seeing Bristol in the daylight at weekends.
This year I’ve been to America with work; I’ve passed all my exams to date; I’ve found work interesting on occasion, but also had times of debilitating stress and depressing boredom. I’ve had to constantly remind myself that work is worthwhile, but that’s not always been easy.
This year has also been one of trying (and generally not succeeding) to carve out time to keep reading. Most importantly, I’ve finally read through the entire Bible, and having read through books like Hosea and Zephaniah for the first time, am wondering why it took me so long. I’d also like to be able to give a top ten of books read this year, but I can barely remember five:
- King’s Cross by Tim Keller
- A Meal With Jesus by Tim Chester
- The Breeze of the Centuries and On Giants’ Shoulders by Mike Reeves
- A Man Called Thursday by G. K. Chesterton
- Everyday Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis
Honourable mentions go to The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks, Justin Martyr’s First Apology and Lit! by Tony Reinke.
2012 heralds more responsibilities (and hopefully greater enjoyment) at work, finishing my exams, and heading back to America for three weeks - but more excitingly, the start of a second congregation of Emmanuel Church and the wedding of two former housemates and one current housemate. Most importantly, I hope that 2012 will be a year of continued spiritual growth, both for me and those I know. Thankfully, I know it will:
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:4-11)
Happy 2012.
Reading broadly together will keep me from always being on a new crusade to the bewilderment of Christian friends. The Christian purpose of all of this reading is to glorify God. Reading alone may do this, but when we become passionate about an issue it is nice to have company. When we have seen things rightly, others can support us. When we have missed the mark they can correct us. It is gratifying, however, when the new viewpoint which seemed so exciting to me is adopted by the others. When I make a new discovery it will often seem implausible for the simple fact that no one around me sees what I now see. If friends travel the same road, all is different.
Remember Remember
[W]hen I tell the story of Guy Fawkes tomorrow night I will describe it as a story of what happens when religion and power politics become mixed, when there is oppression of a minority group, and what some desperate people will do when they lose all hope. Despite the story being 400 years old, it has a contemporary ring, doesn’t it? We’ll also take the opportunity to ask our guests tomorrow night if they think there’s a cause worth dying for … and briefly point them to the One we know who did.
Happy Bonfire Night.
It is never appropriate, in my estimation, for one word of moral counsel ever to proceed from a Christian pulpit that is not clearly, in its context, redemptive. That is, even when the faithful exposition of particular texts requires some explanation of aspects of our behaviour, it is always to be done in a manner that the hearer perceives such commended behaviour to be itself a matter of being rescued from the power of sin through the grace of Christ. When properly done, the hearer longs to be rescued from that depravity from which no sinner can rescue himself; and the hearer rejoices to know that a kind and gracious God is both willing and able to begin that rescue, which will be completed in glorification. …
Fill the sails of your hearers’ souls with the wind of confidence in the Redeemer, and they will trust him as their Sanctifier, and long to see his fruit in their lives. Fill their minds and imaginations with a vision of the loveliness and perfection of Christ in his person, and the flock will long to be like him. Impress upon their weak and wavering hearts the utter competence of the mediation of the One who ever lives to make intercession for them, and they will long to serve and comfort others, even as Christ has served and comforted them.
Happy Reformation Day!
Taken from Dan Hames’ article “The prophecy and the dream”:
As he was taken to his death, [John] Huss refused to recant and was heard to say, ‘You are now going to burn a goose, but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.’
‘Huss’ means ‘goose’ and his prophecy was fulfilled remarkably when 102 years later in 1517, Martin Luther, whose family seal was a swan, wrote both his ‘Disputation Against Scholastic Theology’ (Ninety-Seven Theses) and his more famous ‘Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences’. Luther’s initial outrage with the abuses of the Catholic church led to his 1519 gospel discovery of justification by the word of God, and year of remarkably potent writing in 1520. Those who would stifle the word with human authority - whether scholastic theology, or the magisterium of Rome - could not silence the man or the movement that grew around him.
On 31st October 1517, the Ninety-Five Theses were posted to the church door in Wittenberg, popularly viewed as the start of the Reformation. So, in celebration, why not read Dan’s article, then dig into the Heildelberg Disputation that followed the Ninety-Five Theses. Rich stuff.
Steve Jobs Solved the Innovator’s Dilemma
When describing his period of exile from Apple - when John Sculley took over - Steve Jobs described one fundamental root cause of Apple’s problems. That was to let profitability outweigh passion: “My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products. The products, not the profits, were the motivation. Sculley flipped these priorities to where the goal was to make money. It’s a subtle difference, but it ends up meaning everything.”
In other words: if your aim is to make great products and you succeed, the profit follows. Not a universal law, but it’s one reason Apple are so successful. Apple Store staff believe that their products sell themselves, so they don’t (in my experience) try to sell you stuff. Their staff aren’t “sales assistants” so much as “customer assistants” - the aim is assisting customers, not assisting sales. Consequently, they sell a lot.
It strikes me there are parallels in the Christian life. A growing love of God and his grace to us in Christ - our hearts being captured by all he is and all he’s done - necessarily drives our behaviour. But what happens if we focus on our works and not Christ’s finished work? What if our aim is primarily to change our behaviour, rather than to grow in a love of Christ? We might profit for a while, but it won’t be sustainable. As our minds become focused on our progress (or lack of it), we will fall prey to pride or discouragement. Whereas a growing love for God - a heart that’s truly changed, gripped by the gospel, filled with the Spirit and delighted in Jesus - will never lack the fruit of the Spirit. Obedience is important - vital, in fact. But how we get there matters.
A subtle difference, but it ends up meaning everything.
(For more of this, listen to Mike Reeves: How to grow as a Christian.)
When grace explodes your expectations
I’ve been very much enjoying reading Cat’s blog lately. She writes such warm, rich, encouraging theological reflections in a fun, energetic, everyday, real life kind of way. So enough of me, then:
When I come to God in this frame of mind I am grossly misrepresenting his character. Along the lines of:
“Daddy, I know you have always given me nothing but bread. And good things. You have always given me manna, more than enough for today. Always. But here’s me, coming to you with this (stupid) sinking suspicion that this time - if I ask for what I really want - you might thwack me on the head with a snake….” (Matthew 9)
Grace explodes low expectations.
Grace frees us to hope.
To hope big
To dream big
To live fiercely and fearlessly.God is mega-colossally kind. He loves to give us what is good for us. And his timing has the composed finesse of a comic genius.
With that as a sample, go read some more over at her blog.
In our own days, when it is but too clear that infidelity increases, it is not in consequence of the reasonings of the infidel writers having been much studied, but from the progress of luxury, and the deacy of morals: and, so far as this increase may be traced at all to the works of sceptical writers, it has been produced, not by argument and discussion, but by sarcasms and points of wit, which have operated on weak minds, or on nominal Christians, by bringing gradually into contempt, opinions which, in their case, had only rested on the basis of blind respect and the prejudices of education. It may therefore be laid down as an axiom, that infidelity is in general a disease of the heart more than of the understanding. If Revelation were assailed only by reason and argument, it would have little to fear.