Archive for the 'Church' Category

New prophecy?

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Published
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bcg
on 10 August 2008
in Church
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We had an interesting comment by the preacher in church today.  He was saying that whenever he preaches, he tries to have something fresh, something new and prophetic to say.

Now I whole-heartedly agree that preaching should be prophetic.  It should challenge people, show them what God is saying to them through the Bible, feed them with truth, and encourage them in their day-to-day lives.  And above all, it should point to Jesus.

Now, my understanding of 'prophetic' is not that it is all about predicting the future (although it often does include that).  Much of the prophecy in the Old Testament consists of the the prophets reminding the people of God's promises, to bless them if they are faithful, and to punish them if they are not.  Granted, that included predicting the consequences of their disobedience, but essentially they were calling the people to remember God's word and his promises, and to be obedient.

Now that will sometimes include something 'new'.  That is, a fresh way of putting something, or teaching people something they didn't already know.  However, my reflections on the Old Testament prophets is that very often the people did know what they were being told, they were simply choosing to ignore it.  Or, they needed to be shown or told something they already knew in a different way.

I think that preachers should not be too worried about having something 'new' to say, but having something faithful to say - faithful to God's word.  The challenge comes not from what the preacher comes up with that is new or fresh, but from the word of God itself.

All this, the preacher tonight would agree with - his comment simply set me off on a train of thought!

GAFCON

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Published
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bcg
on 7 July 2008
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With all the troubles in the Anglican Communion at the moment, and ahead of the Lambeth Conference in a few days' time, a number of archbishops, bishops, clergy and laypeople gathered in Jerusalem for the first meeting of what they have called GAFCON: Global Anglican Future Conference.

The move has met with many different reactions, from condemnation to welcome with open arms.  One of the best articles I have read about it is by Andrew Goddard on the Fulcrum website.  He recognises the various strengths and weaknesses of the GAFCON statement, and suggests various things that now need to happen as we move forward.

Perhaps one of the most important things that has come out of the GAFCON meeting is what appears to be a firm commitment to the reform of the Anglican Communion, rather than the creation of an entirely new communion.  How this works out in practice, as Andrew Goddard says, remains to be seen, but it is encouraging that GAFCON has aligned itself in that direction.

Let us hope that the Lambeth Conference finds a genuine and helpful way forward.  The current Anglican crisis must be dealt with one way or another, or everyone's hand will be forced by extremists, from either side.

Christian freedom

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bcg
on 15 May 2008
in Bible and Church
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I read this verse this morning:

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

1 Peter 2.16 (ESV)

The kind of freedom won for us in Christ is not that we can do anything.  The word translated by the ESV as 'servants' is actually douloi, which perhaps should be translated 'slaves'.

Too often we exercise our 'freedom' for our own selfish gains, citing 'freedom of speech' or 'it's a free country' as our reasons for doing so.  Instead, Peter tells us we should use our freedom for good, to serve God (and other people).  We have been freed for obedience, freed to serve the one we were made to serve.

In Gone (by U2) Bono sings these lines, some of my all-time favourites:

You hurt yourself,
you hurt your lover,
but then you discover
what you thought was freedom
just was greed.

We have been freed so we don't have to be greedy any more, we can live unselfish lives.  If only more people used their freedom in the way it was intended, rather than to cover up evil.

Faith and works

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bcg
on 10 May 2008
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I read James 2 this morning, the almost infamous passage which apparently contradicts Paul's theology that we are saved only by faith, that there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation.  I don't think it does say that, however.  Here is the passage in full, from the ESV:

2.14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (ESV)

The particularly difficult verse is 24: 'You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.'  This seems to contradict Paul's assertion in Romans (which intriguingly quotes the exact same verse about Abraham from Genesis):

4.1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. (ESV)

Even more starkly, in Romans 3.28 Paul says, 'For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.'  What is this apparent contradiction?  Are Paul and James saying the exact opposite?

Well no, actually!  One of Paul's main points throughout Romans is that salvation depends entirely on God's grace.  No-one can keep the law, no-one can be holy as God is holy, everyone messes up, except Jesus.  In and through Jesus God offers us the free gift of life, of redemption, salvation and justification, all those long words that basically mean we are given the gift of new life.  We don't earn it, we are simply given it.

Now James is making a different point.  He is saying that faith on its own means nothing - even the demons believe in God!  If you have no works - if your faith does not affect how you live your life - then your faith is not really faith.  Works demonstrate whether or not you really have faith, and so in that sense 'complete' it.  The works in v.24 are therefore the 'works of faith', rather than 'works without faith'.

In other words, James is not saying that 'works without faith' justify, but he is saying that 'faith without works' is not really faith.  He is arguing that we need 'faith that produces works'.

Looking at the context of both passages from James and Romans demonstrates that they are not contradictory after all.  In fact, much later in Romans (12.1 and onwards) Paul writes one of his great 'therefore's.  Having expounded grace and the need for it over the previous eleven chapters, he begins his section on ethics.  We have been given a great gift, therefore we must live our lives accordingly.  In other words, faith on its own is not faith: real faith produces works, produces love for our neighbours, generosity, etc.

We need to get away from the absolute contrast between faith and works.  We can sometimes make it sound like we have no responsibility to do anything except 'preach the good news'.  We must of course do that, but we must also demonstrate and 'complete' our faith by the 'good works' that God has 'prepared in advance' for us to do (Ephesians 2.10).

Assurance

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Published
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bcg
on 18 April 2008
in Bible, Church and Theology
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I had a long conversation last night with a good friend about various theological topics.  Some of them will find their way on here, in time.  The first of them is the doctrine of assurance.  How can we be confident that we are saved?  Is such confidence possible?

For Methodists, 'assurance' historically refers to a feeling of peace and joy that our sins are forgiven.  An example might be John Wesley's famous line, 'I felt my heart strangely warmed.'  He goes on to say:

I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation. And an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Assurance of God's love

On this understanding, assurance is the feeling that accompanies faith in God's promises.

The difficulty is of course that feelings can mislead us.  It is entirely possible for someone to feel 'assured' of their salvation, without having the accompanying faith.

It is therefore perhaps more helpful to talk about assurance in terms of faith.  God has promised that those who believe in him will have eternal life, that if we believe in the salvation won for us by Jesus on the cross, we will be saved:

It is not possible for someone to be genuinely broken by sin, genuinely to believe that Christ is the only way to salvation and genuinely to have asked God for salvation, and yet still to be unsaved.

Assurance and Election

This is the most we can say: God has promised certain things in Scripture.  Therefore if God is true to his Word, then what God has promised will happen.  At the end of the day we can never be 100% certain that God exists, or we would not have faith, we would simply know.

However we can be almost 100% certain that he does, and therefore almost 100% certain that we will be saved if we trust in his promises.

Common Worship Ordination

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Published
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bcg
on 9 April 2008
in Church, Life and Theology
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I have to confess that there are many parts of the Church of England's new Common Worship services that I don't like.  The Baptism service, for example, is hugely long, overly complicated and (I think) theologically wrong.  (For more on that you might want to read my essay on baptism.)  The pattern of daily prayer changes every day, and there are so many options that it is difficult to see what is 'Common' about the new services.

Despite all this, my wife and I spent the day in Durham Cathedral yesterday - where we will be ordained in June - going through the ordination service, both practically and theologically.  As the last part of Common Worship to be published, there has been a lot of time and effort put into the service, and I think it has paid off.  The prayers are good, there is a focus on the call to preach and to serve, and even on the importance of the Bible!

The ordination itself, where the Bishop lays his hands on each candidate, takes place within the context of the main prayers in the service.  From the service booklet we were given yesterday (all forty pages of it!) it really does seem like the transition between prayers - ordination - prayers is seemless.

The centrality of prayer in the service caught me by surprise, but actually I think is absolutely right.  It means that our life as ordained ministers begins firmly within the context of family, friends and the wider church praying for us, and it means that we ourselves begin on our knees.  This all acknowledges just how important it is that God enables us to perform our various ministries (ordained and non-ordained), that we can't do any of it in our own strength.

I was looking forward to the service before - now I can't wait!

Humility and the popes

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bcg
on 1 April 2008
in Bible, Church and Quotations
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Susie and I recently returned from a few days in Rome, courtesy of her great aunt.  I have wanted to visit the Eternal City for years, mostly to see the Roman ruins, which are, well, ruins, but still spectacular!  The best preserved is probably the Pantheon, which is incredible, but the Colosseum and Baths are not far behind.

We also visited the Vatican museums and St Peter's.  The Sistine chapel really is quite special, as are many other things in the museums.  However, St Peter's basilica provides much food for thought.  In huge letters the front reads:

IN HONOREM PRINCIPIS APOST PAVLVS V BVRGHESIVS ROMANVS PONT MAX AN MDCXII PONT VII

That is, translated, 'In honor of the prince of apostles by Paul V Borghese, a Roman, Supreme Pontiff, in the year 1612 and the seventh year of his pontificate.'

All very well and good, but what you actually see when you look at it is 'PAVLVS V BVRGHESIVS ROMANVS', because it's in the middle, on the central pediment!  This is the story throughout Rome: the most prominent place is always given to the name of the Pope.  Even on the side of the Colosseum pope Pius IX gets pride of place!

While there I read this verse:

The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honour.

Proverbs 15.33 (ESV)

And also this verse:

For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2.21 (ESV)

I couldn't help but think of all the popes who have sought their own interests, their own honour, before God's.  All it would take is 'SOLA DEO GLORIA' ('only for God's glory') as an inscription.

The challenge to us is how easy it was for the popes to behave like this - and we are no different.  I'm sure if I was the pope and built an enormous church I'd be tempted to stick my name on it somewhere for the generations to see.