Here’s a conference I wish we could send some people to..shame it’s in Sydney.

I’m encouraged to see Christians committed to working at creative communication.  Of all the groups in our context clamoring for attention, Christians have something to say.  You might be forgiven for missing that judging from the effort and resources we put into the communication process.

They’ve also got a blog on the conference.  There’s some interesting thoughts on Obama’s campaign as an example of clear and persuasive communication.  Be worth reflecting on.

Mark Thompson recently visited Christchurch at the invitation of the Latimer Fellowship in New Zealand.  Latimer Fellowship is an evangelical Anglican body encouraging biblically faithful Anglican churches across New Zealand.

Mark was speaking on the topic of the clarity of Scripture – particularly in response to the commonly expressed sentiment: ‘the Bible’s a complex book, surely no one can claim THE right reading of a passage..’

It’s assertions like that that Mark is addressing in the talk he gave last Sunday.  There were about 20 Campus Church people there – I think they really enjoyed themselves.

The link to the mp3 of the talk is here - it would be great to have a listen when you get a chance.  You can also listen to Mark’s sermon at Campus Church on Revelation 1:1-8 from our talk archive.

Mark also has a book on the topic – A Clear and Present Word.  Looks fantastic.

Blogging -

“Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.”

from despair.com

It’s hard to think it’s been 7 years since that fateful day in 2001.  As the 7 year anniversary came up this month I thought I’d share 4 points I spoke on in a short slot on the topic at Campus Church tonight:

1.  9/11 represents a clash of ideologies.

I was reflecting on Samuel Huntington’s thesis in ‘The Clash of Civilisations’ (written pre 9/11) – that the next major conflict would be between civilisations rather than the traditional East-West tensions.

I spent 2002-2005 studying theology, which was framed by the events of 2001.  How do Christians understand the ideology that shapes our society?  What aspects of secular western liberal democratic tradition flow out of Christian thought?  Are there aspects that are incompatible?

Oliver O’Donovan’s political theology remains a long term exploration project for me – but he would certainly argue that secular democracy comes out of the framework of the Christian tradition – and can only be understood properly within the context of that tradition.  The version of secularism that sees religion as a contaminant to a church / state separation is significantly flawed.  It stands on top of the intellectual framework inherited from the Christian position yet won’t acknowledge it.  It assumes that all agree that secular democracy is the platform we all stand upon.  Yet what happens if this is not the reality of the world we live in?  What then?

Christians need to think more carefully about these issues if we are not to retreat into isolationism for fear of imposing our values or perhaps worse, engage the political process in a narrow and moralistic way that is highly selective and simply longs for the ‘good old days’ – as if there was a high water mark for Christian culture.

2.  9/11 reminds us that evil exists in this world.

Some worldviews have no category or explanation for evil in this world.  The liberal intelligentsia did not even appear to have the ability to name 9/11 as an act of evil.

Christians who know their Bible expect this world to be a place of evil – evil that infects the hearts of individuals as well as the structures of society and government.

Yet this acknowledgment of evil must not be hijacked for political purposes.  We must be wary of those who would declare evil as something outside of us, beyond us and ‘over there’.  Evil is not something we can declare war on.  This may seem decisive and bold, yet it doesn’t see the depth of the problem.

The Abu Ghraib scandals and the reported abuses at Guantanamo Bay remind us that evil must not be used to justify even worse crimes in the protection of ourselves.  Moreover, it reminds us that evil is not the preserve of our enemies – it dwells in us.  Interrogators found themselves scouring internet sites for techniques to humiliate and to hurt.

The Christian understands something of the depth of the problem and recognises why the cross is required.  Education and financial resources can mask the worst of the problem –  but they can never solve it at depth.  Only the work of Christ can take evil seriously and provide a way forward.

3.  Understand the difference between the responsibility of the Christian and the role of the State.

Romans 12:9-21 is one of the clearest passages in the New Testament on forgiveness and failing to take revenge.  Christians are to bless those who persecute – to bless and not to curse (v14) – something only possible in the light of the mercy show to us in the gospel (12:1ff).

Yet, straight after in chapter 13 is a very clear statement on the responsibility of the state to promote and reward good behaviour and to punish evil – and for Christians to submit to it willingly.  Interestingly it has nothing to do with whether the government is ‘Christian’ or not.  Christians ought to have no problem submitting to pagan rulers – for they know they are ultimately under the authority of God – we see his hand at work.

The difference is the recipient of each command.  We as individuals are not called to judge our neighbour – nor is the state called to turn the other cheek.  That does not mean that the state does not judge with mercy.  Yet it has a responsibility to judge – recognising that the final Judge will return and hold them to account for their provisional judgements.

4.  Remember that God is sovereign in the midst of an evil world.

The Book of Revelation is one of many places that ought to remind us that even when the most terrible things happen in this world, that God remains on his throne.

Of course we will not be able to explain why God allows particularly evil people to prosper.  The suffering of the innocent is not unknown in the pages of Scripture, yet we are not offered simple answers.

We do clearly see the Bible ascribe multiple authorship to a single action – not least in the betrayal of Jesus – which is attributed to Judas, God and the devil.  God is clearly able to weave evil into his plans for the universe without becoming evil himself:

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Gen 50:20)

Attempts to ‘protect God’ from responsibility for our evil by denying that He is in control of all things, ultimately backfire.  It is a strategy that removes the one comfort that a sufferer has – to know that God remains in control – even when we can’t see how God chooses to use events for our good.  Much more can and should be said, but the strategy is doomed to failure as well as being unfaithful to Scripture.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory.     (Ephesians 1:11-14)

 

God bless,

Nick

I had a question following last night’s talk on the missing years of Jesus’ life…

I referred to a few Old Testament passages along the way, but only in passing.  Here’s a potted summary of some of my sources from 4 ideas within the talk…

1.  The parallel of Jesus with the Prophet Samuel

I was arguing that Luke borrows heavily from Samuel.  It is as if he presents Jesus as like Samuel, but greater.  He does a similar thing in comparing Jesus with Solomon, the picture of wisdom in the Old Testament (Luke 11:31).

The evidence:

I suspect that Luke 2:52 is based on a parallel reference describing Samuel:

• 1 Samuel 2:26   Now the young man Samuel  continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man. 
• Luke 2:52   And Jesus  increased in wisdom and in stature  and in  favor with God and man. 

Combine that with the Song of Mary (Luke 1:46ff) being very similar to the Samuel’s mother, Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1ff) – both in wording and in overall theology of bringing down the proud and raising up the humble (a theme that follows in both books).

Samuel is brought up to the ‘house of the LORD’ at Shiloh (1 Samuel 1:24), Jesus is brought up to the temple and instead calls it ‘my Father’s house’ (Luke 2:49).  

I haven’t seen John Woodhouse’s new commentary on 1 Samuel – but from memory of his talks on 1 Samuel, his line is close to that.

2.  Hints about the Mission of Jesus in Luke 2

It’s interesting in think about the Mission of Jesus hinted at in Luke 2, the reference to attendance at the Passover festival.  In Luke’s gospel the word passover appears 7 times – once here, and 6 times in the Passover account in chapter 22 referring to Jesus.  So it’s probably significant in raising the topic early in the gospel.  The text doesn’t speculate on the psychology of Jesus – but it does raise questions for me – how much did Jesus understand of the passover festival at this young age?  I suspect Luke is raising the question – but leaving it unanswered at this point of the story.  Certainly by the Passover account, Jesus is thinking in terms of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 (he quotes Is 53:12 in Luke 22:37)

Also interesting is the reference to visiting Jerusalem – for in Luke, the whole account is structured around Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem to die.  Chapter 9 is a turning point as Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem and his imminent suffering and death there (9:51).  Jerusalem is representative of the opposition, suffering and finally judgement that is part of his mission:

‘Nevertheless,  I  must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that  a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’  Luke 13:33 

Finally, the wording in verse 49:

And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that  I must be in  my Father’s house?”  

The word here ‘must‘ (Greek dei) seems to often go together in Luke’s gospel with predictions of events that fulfill the Scriptures.  Jesus life in Luke is seen as a constant fulfillment of the Scriptures (Luke 1:1, cf 24:44ff).  It is the Scriptures that shape the person and mission of Jesus.  For example:

• 4:43 [to preach the Kingdom of God]
• 9:22 [to suffer, die and be raised]
• 13:33 [to go to Jerusalem]
• 17:25 [to suffer]
• 19:5 [to remain with Zacchaeus]
• 22:37 [to be reckoned with the criminals]– possibly also 22:7
• 24:7 [to suffer, die and be raised]
• 24:26 [to suffer and come into glory]
• 24:44 [that Scripture about him be fulfilled – suffer, die , rise and repentance and forgiveness be preached]

It’s important to realise that Christianity is not an abstract philosophy or collection of timeless truths. Christianity is built upon a claim verifiable in history.  It’s built on the witness of the first Christians who testified to the physical resurrection of Jesus from the grave.

This fact seems to be overlooked by so much of the literature associated with the ‘New Atheists’ and their movement.  They often equate all religious belief as mere superstition on the level of believing in Santa Claus and the tooth-fairy.  It may serve a usefulness for a time, but we ought to grow out of it as soon as possible.

It’s important therefore for Christians to put some time into these issues because unless they are absolutely convinced of the historicity of those events, then their witness will be blunted.

It’s interesting as we go through Luke’s gospel (here’s the latest talk) the number of times where Luke intersects with the verifiable events of history (we’ve looked recently at 1:1-4, 2:1-2 and shortly we’ll look at in church 3:1-4).

If you’re thinking through these things can I suggest three areas for testing:

1. The events themselves.
2. The documentary record of those events.
3. The transmission of those documents to us today.

James de Costobadie did a slot last night on the reliability of the New Testament documents which is a good start if you’re interested in that area.  You can download a copy of his talk here.  He also recommended a book by Dr Paul Barnett – Is the New Testament History? which you can get from our bookstall.  The revised edition has an interesting chapter on the comparative evidence for the Islamic claims to historicity.

Written by Kent Hughes

Sweat, sweat, sweat, and a little more sweat. This is the most basic message of ‘The Disciplines of a Godly Man’. R. Kent Hughes starts out with a few good examples of men who are very successful. He shows us Winston Churchill, Leonardo da Vinci, Ernest Hemmingway and Thomas Edison. They all had one thing in common – success. Below that, their greater commonality was how they achieved success in their chosen fields – discipline, hard work, sweat.

As Christian men, we are called to serve God, to labour in His harvest field, and as with any other man, success is almost invariably had where discipline and hard work is to be found. Read Proverbs, ‘The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.’ And Paul says ‘train yourselves for godliness’.

Why do they say this? Why does Hughes beat into the mind that without discipline in our relationships (both God and others), without disciplining ourselves to read the word and diligently pray, without discipline in our jobs and in working together for the Kingdom of God, we will invariably fall short. This is not to reject the idea that it is only grace that saves, but rather to say that, by grace we are able to grow into a greater likeness of Christ, and this through discipline.

In conclusion, if you are willing to be challenged, if you are willing to say no to laziness and instead to sweat for Christ and the expansion of His Kingdom, but don’t know where to start, this book is for you. I have had my life picked to shreds by it, and in the rebuilding I have grown much. I hope you appreciate it as much as I.

Reviewed by Alex Mead

One of the things I’ve been meaning to put together at some point is a list of online resources that I’d recommend.  Perhaps we can make it part of the Campus Church website.

For now there’s a couple of one’s that I’ve found helpful recently that I thought some people might be interested in.

We’ve been promoting Tim Keller’s ‘Reason For God’ as a helpful read for communicating the gospel effectively in a postmodern and secular context.  Our bookstall sold out recently and we ordered 5 more copies.  We’re also looking forward to the paperback version – expected in 5-7 weeks.  That will bring the price down from around $35 to a much more manageable $15-20.  With volume we’re hoping to get it down even lower than that.  What was great to see was Katherine Orr listening recently to the online mp3s related to the book and putting a copy on CD from some people from church.  That was really thoughtful!

If you are interested you can download them directly from here

For readers on the journal ‘The Briefing‘ you may be interested to know they’ve now got a blog called ‘The Sola Panel‘ – a collaborative blog by a bunch of friends who love the five ‘solas’ of the Reformation, and want to promote a Bible-driven passion for theology, holiness and gospel ministry.

I was interested to hear there’s a podcast associated with The Briefing as well – and that they recently interviewed Col Marshall.  Col has affected more people than most through his model of ministry at UNSW over 25 years.  The formalisation of that model in courses we run on UC campus like ‘Growth Groups’  and the widely known apprenticeship scheme MTS are examples of the kinds of things he’s had a hand in.  I haven’t listened to it yet, but am looking forward to it!

We’ll try and get some other recommendations together sometime soon!  Let me know what you think…

Dave Morgan is a friend who works in Armidale with a university congregation next to then University of New England.  He was mentioning that a number of their students run into troubles living in flats – mainly because they’ve never lived away from home before.

Their church put together a document full of ideas for flats to help prevent problems before they come up.

You can download it from here.

Thanks Dave!

Last night at Campus Church I reviewed a new book on our bookstall about faith.

“Faith – It’s Always Been A Matter of Trust” by Bryson Smith…($12)

I know I get excited about books generally, but it’s fantastic to spend an hour and half reading a book from cover to cover and walking away feeling encouraged and sharpened on such a key topic.

I really want to create a culture in Campus Church of reading and giving books away. Wouldn’t it fantastic to have members constantly reading new books – then going the next step of asking the question – who really needs to hear this message? How can I get this material to them?

Here’s my three reasons why I think it’s worth reading and then giving away (and sorry – you can’t get a copy from our bookstall anymore – we sold all our copies by the end of the night! We’ll try and make another order very soon).

1. It’s short

This is no magnum opus – this is a short punchy summary of a key Christian topic. It’s 6 chapters – each of which can be read in under 15 minutes. So it’s great for the bus or for a quick study break during exam time.

2. It’s Clear

Bryson is a pastor of a church in country NSW. You get the feel that this material arises from serious study of the Bible in the context of real world struggles and the normal kinds of misunderstandings about faith I hear so often.

Bryson has spoken in Christchurch before – I think at our Men’s Convention – he writes clearly and the tone is pretty conversational throughout the book. It feels like it has been refined over several presentations in preaching or other contexts.

…oh and if you’re into studying books together – there’s a few page discussion guide in the back that might help you think further about it and apply it in your lives. I think that can be a helpful think if you’re looking for a way of structuring a catchup with a Christian friend.

3. It’s Faithful

The book is deceptively simple – in 100 pages you feel like you’ve just started – but when I thought back over the material it was obvious that he’d done the hard work with the Bible. As I think over the New Testament teaching on faith, it felt like the balance of the book was well represented and all the key passages looked at throughout the text. He didn’t even feel afraid to reproduce the whole of Hebrews 11 as part of the text!

It also presents a view of faith that arises from the Bible itself, and from that critiques the most common distortions of that we see around today.

• Faith as mere positive thinking is critiqued by reconnecting faith to the promises of God in Scripture. Faith is shown to be trusting the promises that God has made and believing that is both willing and able to keep his promises. Demanding God keep promises he hasn’t made is shown to be what it is – lesser, not greater faith.
• Faith as believing in things for which there is no proof is critiqued in the light of Romans 4:21 – “being fully convinced that God is able to do what he has promised” and passages like Luke 1:1-4 which stress the certainty we can have as believers.
• Faith that is merely intellectual is critiqued as not measuring up to biblical faith which always results in changed lives – active obedience. I really liked the explanation of key passages here like James 2:14ff.

There are chapters on the power and consequences of faith (forgiveness and assurance), the purpose of faith (to bring glory to God), the life of faith (talking about faith and obedience), the enemies of faith (both sin and mere distractions from the main game) and Jesus – the founder and perfecter of faith.

I think the thing that excited me about it was that I could here echoes of many conversations over the years where alternative views of faith were being promoted. It’s great to be able to have a simple and short book to be able to put in people’s hands and say – take and read!

In the New Zealand church scene there is a lot of talk about key Christian words like faith, but not a lot of clarity or precision on what we actually mean by them. It would be great for this book to get a hearing in churches across this country!

Any thoughts?

Nick