Latest sermon - Gospel unleashed!

My latest sermon, on Acts 16:6-40. This was recorded, as is custom, at the first/morning service.

I was unwell that day (at the 2nd service people commented on how tired I looked), but I don't think I realised how low on energy I was until I listened to myself here! I'm pretty flat. At the evening service apparently I was a bit more alive. Thanks to a couple of friends who showed up for moral support.

In terms of prep, surprisingly, I barely consulted any commentaries for this one. Graham Beynon in the Explore Bible reading notes (April-June 2010) and a sermon by Sinclair Ferguson which I listened to were largely helpful. Whenever I looked at a commentary, it was FF Bruce in the NICNT that I turned to, which gave useful background info. Sermon structure was especially hard to crack; took me ages to find something for the sermon to hang on. This is the longest sermon I've ever written.

There was a powerpoint, which was basically the map, and some Scripture references.

Here's the outline:
Gospel Unleashed!

Intro: words words words

The gospel is God's heart for the world (v.6-10)

The gospel is God's power
...to open hearts (v.11-14)

...to unite believers (v.15)

...to liberate (v.16-20)

...that provokes (v.21-24)

...even in bleak times (v.25-34)

The gospel drives Paul's actions (v.35-40)

Song sung in response: Be Thou my Vision

A Crescendo of Wonder: a Good Friday sermon

The events of Good Friday are utterly breath-taking. We celebrate nothing less than this: "that God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross" (Col. 1:20).

We are talking here about something that happens at the very foundations of the universe. Call it cosmic redemption, ontological healing, metaphysical reconciliation, the Bible's version of Star Wars, or whatever helps you think about the largest, most ultimate reality, the "Really Real," capital R, capital R.

And it is all accomplished through what seems like a paradox. "Making peace through the blood of his cross" is like saying that a nuclear missile has become an olive-branch, that Guantanamo has become a garden of healing, that a sword has been turned into a plowshare, that a tank has been turned into a tractor. The very thought of it leaves us weak in the knees with astonishment.

Keep reading...

The Quid Pro Quo God

A couple of recent conversations suggest how hard it is to exorcize the quid pro quo god. Quid pro quo is a Latin phrase meaning "something for something." The quid pro quo god is one who does something for us if we do something for him, and the one who refuses to do something for us, or even punishes us, if we fail to do something for him.

Put this way, it seems impossible that anyone in their right mind would believe in such a god. The rub, of course, is that none of us are in our right mind—that's one of the effects of sin. And one reason we're attracted to the quid pro quo god is that he's a god we can get our minds around. He makes sense. He seems reasonable and fair: We do our part, he does his, and all will be well.

The problem is our part, which we tend not to do well at all. And when repeated efforts at doing our part fail, we discover that the quid pro quo god turns out to be a demon. Naturally, we try to exorcise this demon without success.

Read the whole thing.

Preaching on the ultimate treasure

Talk about getting thrown into the deep end! After preaching a full sermon for the first time a few weeks ago, I preached at 3 services yesterday. Obviously ppl haven''t been put off by me...yet. :) We're about to start a series finishing off Matthew (chapters 26-28), and I had Matthew 26:1-16, where the woman pours perfume all over Jesus. I think I found the passage personally beneficial as well, as like most of us, I struggle to treasure Jesus from day to day.

For what it's worth, you can actually download it here. Unfortunately, the sound quality is not very good. But if you right click and save it, and then turn the volume up, you can catch most of what I'm saying, I think. This was recorded at the first service, where I was probably the least fluent, so you can catch a few stumbles here and there. It's the same sermon at all 3 services, but with some slight variations. The first service has more families and some expats, so one section of application and language was adjusted accordingly. I applied one point differently at the other services, and allowed myself a tiny bit more local expression. The first minute is me just making some preliminary remarks and praying, and the sermon starts a minute in.

The Bible version used is the ESV. There was an outline to follow, roughly reproduced here:
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Introduction: King of Kings, Majesty?

Jesus' teaching in Matthew's Gospel

The setting (v.1-2)

The characters
The chief priests and the elders (v.3-5)

The woman and the disciples (v.6-13)

    - Grace and poverty (2 Cor. 8:1-9)

Judas (v-14-16)

    - OT background: Faithful and unfaithful shepherds (Zec. 10:1-11:14)

Jesus, our Treasure
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The song sung right before the sermon was King of Kings, Majesty (Jarrod Cooper) and the song offered in response was I Will Offer up my life (Matt Redman)

"that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope"

I didn't make it to the Klang Valley Bible Conference, but I did get to listen to Dr. Bryan Chapell's sermon at City Discipleship Presbyterian Church on Romans 15. It was food for the soul, causing me to marvel at our faithful and merciful God once again. Have a listen here.

(HT: The Agora)

The Lausanne Global Conversation

New questions are emerging which are different from the older, familiar ones. And the older ones are also taking on new forms. Think, for example, of the issues surrounding the massive rise in people movements over the past 50 years, and of the trends in urbanisation, and of the penetration of other faiths. Christians need to talk, and global issues need global conversations.

The Lausanne Movement is working in partnership with publications around the world in providing the 12 key articles by leading theologians on issues facing the global church. Each article will be published in the same month by everyone, to spark the conversation globally. These articles each have four commissioned respondents from different parts of the world and will be accompanied online by video and photo essays, and responses from people like you.

The Lord gave gifts to his church to share and, through Lausanne, the Africans can share their joy and perseverance, the Indians their wisdom on living in a pluralistic context, the Persecuted Church their precious trust of what it means to share in Christ’s suffering, the converts from other faiths their insights into ways of reaching those whose faith they once shared, the West its scholarship (which we should remember was once found in North Africa), and so on around the world. In ways unimagined, we can share these gifts even across different languages, through automatic translation tools. Those translation tools are not perfect, but, with a commitment of all to the authority of Scripture and a willingness to listen and learn, we will manage to understand one another. The work you put into the global conversation will be richly rewarded.

The Lausanne Global Conversation will include:

a series of 12 articles appearing in Christianity Today (and in dozens of publications around the world), plus parallel articles in the Canadian media and elsewhere

thought-provoking blogs, podcasts, radio programs and video discussion forums

interaction on Twitter and Facebook

advance written and multimedia presentations from CT2010 speakers

connections to related discussions on the web already underway

in-person interaction at Bible colleges, mission agencies, churches and theological institutions through the Cape Town GlobaLink

Here is the very first article to kick off the whole conversation:
Whole Gospel, Whole Church, Whole World
by Christopher Wright

The Lausanne Covenant - substantially crafted by John Stott, includes the phrase: ‘evangelization requires the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world’.(1)

One might argue that the three wholes embodied in this ringing phrase are hardly new, and go back to the Apostle Paul, if not to the patriarch Abraham himself. Let us look at what each means.

The whole Church means all believers. The whole world means every man and woman. The whole gospel means all the blessings of the gospel. That is surely better than some missionaries taking some blessings of the gospel to some people in some parts of the world. But the three wholes also have more substantial, qualitative implications worthy of a Global Conversation.

‘The whole gospel’

The phrase suggests there may be some versions of the gospel that are less than whole - that are partial, deficient, less than fully biblical.

First, we must give full weight to the spiritual realities of sin and evil, and we must evangelistically proclaim the glories of God’s redemptive achievement in the death and resurrection of Jesus. There would be no gospel without the cross. Indeed all blessings of the gospel derive from it, from personal salvation through Christ’s death in our place to the reconciling of all creation. The cross is at the heart of The Lausanne Movement, and the theme around which the Cape Town Congress revolves is ‘God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself’.

The whole gospel must be drawn from the whole Bible. So we also have to ask how the social, economic, and political dimensions of the Old Testament relate to Christian mission. For centuries God revealed his passion against political tyranny, economic exploitation, judicial corruption, the suffering of the poor and oppressed, brutality and bloodshed. The laws God gave and the prophets God sent addressed these very matters more than any other issue except idolatry (they regarded such things as idolatry’s manifestations). Meanwhile the psalmists regularly cried out in songs of social protest and lament that we tend to screen out of our Christian worship.

Unfortunately one can still detect a subtle sense that somewhere between Malachi and Matthew, all that changed. As if such things no longer spark God’s anger. This makes the alleged God of the New Testament unrecognisable as the LORD God, the Holy One of Israel. He has shed the priorities of the Mosaic Law, and the burden for justice that he laid on his prophets, at such cost to them.

I find such a view of God and of mission to be unbiblical and unbelievable, if thewhole Bible is the trustworthy revelation of the identity, character and mission of the living God.

The great Christ-centred, cross-centred redemptive truths do not nullify - rather, they complete - all that the Old Testament revealed about God’s commitment to the wholeness of human life, and redeeming his whole creation, for God’s own glory in Christ.

As gospel people we must believe, live and communicate all that makes the gospel the staggeringly comprehensive good news that it is. I hope The Global Conversation will show multiple examples of this in action.

The whole church

In a quantitative sense, the expression ‘the whole church’ insists that mission is the task of all Christians, not just of the clergy or missionaries. The Lausanne Covenant talks of our being ‘called out’ to be ‘sent out’. The whole gospel is fully expressed only when the Church, Christ’s body on earth, faithfully fulfils the three roles Christ himself fulfilled on earth and for which he empowers us through his Spirit. We are called to a priestly role in worship and in prayer; to a prophetic role in declaring God’s message and priorities to his world; and to a servant role. When these are practised together we truly reflect God’s redeeming love for the world. Let’s look at dimensions of wholeness that will need to be included in the conversation.

Missional church.
What other kind of church is there, than the one that God created for mission? As someone said, ‘It’s not that God has a mission for his church in world; but that God has a church for his mission in the world.’

Scandalous lack of wholeness. The church is not just the delivery mechanism of the gospel. It is itself the product of the gospel, and is to be the living, visible, proof of the ethically transforming power of the gospel. The failures and abuses in the worldwide evangelical community are, in the literal New Testament sense of the word, a massive scandal—a stumbling block to the gospel being seen, heard and accepted. For that the only answer is repentance and reformation.

The global Christian community. We need the whole world church to work with much greater levels of mutual cooperation and partnership.. There is a lot of listening to do, a lot of learning and un-learning. Our task across borders and boundaries is to do better, in Paul’s words, at accepting one another, counting others better than ourselves, and looking to their interests more than our own. A Global Conversation is a good place to start, though not to end.

The whole world

We can take the phrase ‘the whole world’ in a purely geographical sense. Nowhere is not the mission field, including our own country. There are still many unreached peoples, many languages that have no Scripture, many places where the name of Christ has never been heard. All these are urgent priorities for evangelistic mission. The ends of the earth are still waiting. And today the ends of the earth may also be our next-door neighbour, or the migrant in our midst. But we need to go deeper and consider other dimensions of our whole world:

The world story. If our Bibles begin at Genesis 3 and end at Revelation 20, we are in danger of missing the whole point of God’s great story of the redemption of all creation. We will think only of saving sinners from the final judgment, not about living in the present creation as those who already bring the transforming values and prophetic truth of the new creation into the here and now.

The world of worldviews, philosophies and faiths. What are the gods that surround us, and what is the Christlike and neighbour-loving response to those who worship them? We must not confine this to thinking only about world faiths. There are whole ideologies of secularism and atheism that need to be engaged, along with the idols of patriotism and hedonism, that are happily thriving on the worship of those who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

The world of creation, and our responsibility to the world which God has reconciled to himself through the cross (Colossians 1:20). If the planet was created by Christ, sustained by Christ and belongs to Christ as his inheritance, the least we can do is to look after it. Biblical stewardship of the earth should have been an evangelical theme long before the threat of climate change turned it into a matter of self-preservation.

The world of globalization, and the public square. What kind of missional engagement should take place in relation to globalized economic trends and forces, massive migration, the cyber-world of the Internet and new technologies, and all that goes on in the marketplace and public square, in business, politics, education, media, journalism, medicine, and the whole world of human work?

The world of violence, war, and terrorism. Apart from addressing the appalling scale of death and destruction that these idols produce, do we not have a responsibility also to challenge and expose their falsehood and to ask what gospel reality is implied by Jesus when he said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’?

The world of human need and suffering. If the gospel is good news in relation to all that sin has turned into bad news, then it must be big enough, and our mission wide enough, to include the transforming power of God in relation to disease, hunger, brutality, human trafficking, and all forms of ethnic hatreds and oppression.

I close by returning to the Congress theme verse in its rich and profound context. The Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5 18-19 are a wonderful summary of the theme of this article. “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ...”

The reconciling, redemptive ministry of Jesus sends out those whom he has called out. And we are sent out to bring the whole gospel of God to the whole of God’s world. None of us can engage in every area. That is why God created the church with a multiplicity of gifts and callings, so that we can, as a whole church bear witness to the whole gospel in the whole world.

I invite you to join the global conversation now at www.lausanne.org. May it generate more intelligent understanding and more focused action, as we work with God in his global mission.

Chris Wright is International Director of the Langham Partnership International, and Chair of the Lausanne Theology Working Group.



(1) For the Lord we Love: Your study guide to The Lausanne Covenant by John Stott is available in The Didasko Files series from Christian bookshops or online retailers. (64pp ISBN 978 1 906890 00 1)

Here are responses from Samuel Escobar, Emily Choge, and Christopher Heuertz


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One-Anothering: A Communal Gospel

I just finished listening to this talk from the Total Church Conference, having picked it at random since the title looked helpful. I'm blown away - it's outstanding and challenging, and also scary on one level actually! Dave Fairchild, the speaker, shows how the gospel and community relates to one another in fresh and convicting ways. I was struck by how much "one anothering" is there in the NT: love one another, care for one another, forgive one another, don't pass judgment on one another, spur one another to good deeds etc., and how that's intricately related to the indicatives of the gospel. So often the construction in the NT goes along these lines: "As I have loved you, so love one another".

If you have an hour or two, this is worth listening to. Don't worry about the first 5 minutes, where there's some audience interaction, as the talk only really gets going after that. The Q&A is pretty long and I think starts around the 55 minute mark.

One Anothering: A Communal Gospel

The wrap

Looking back, I think I had a pretty good week. A tiring one for sure, as I've had something going on every single night, and in some cases, had no break between the afternoon and the evening, but God was good in granting me enough energy and helping me to pace myself. Tuesday morning, for instance, I was simply peopled out and so I made sure I got some time to myself during lunchbreak, chomping on a wrap while walking along small, lonely alleyways, which really helped for that evening, where I would have been engaging lots of new faces.

So that's the personal update. Here's an internet roundup update of sorts! Here's some good stuff on the web:

Greg Gilbert at 9Marks has done some reflecting on what the gospel is. It's stimulating. Kingdom language gets thrown around a lot nowadays when it comes to defining the gospel, often over and against a "repentance of sin" gospel. And yet I think the two must hold together, and we must be clear on what we mean by "kingdom". But I accept it's quite hard to be able to articulate it clearly, simply because I guess the gospel is both simple and yet so comprehensive in scope it's hard to say everything in a short soundbite!

The Cruciform Life. I am grateful to those who first exposed me to worldviewish thinking, and how a Christian worldview has helped me in seeing the world with new glasses, as it were. But there is also a danger that the language of worldview devolves into an intellectual game with no corresponding desire to grow to be more like Jesus. But as Jimmy Davis points out in this article, ""my worldview was not biblical until it was also cruciform". (Cruciform simply means cross-shaped). One book that does a great job of showing us the entire shape of the Christian worldview is J. Mark Bertrand's (Re)Thinking Worldview.

I was really fascinated by English professor's Mark Edmundson's observations about my generation (though in an American context) in Dwelling in Possibilities. A snippet:

"They want to study, travel, make friends, make more friends, read everything (superfast), take in all the movies, listen to every hot band, keep up with everyone they've ever known. And there's something else, too, that distinguishes them: They live to multiply possibilities. They're enemies of closure. For as much as they want to do and actually manage to do, they always strive to keep their options open, never to shut possibilities down before they have to."

There are some other startling observations too, like the one about people going to parties only to whip their mobiles out, or the advent of the age of the iPod, which allows us all to have our own personal soundtracks. Well worth reading. I suspect that even non-American readers will be able to recognise hints of similar things in their own contexts.

Mission in the 21st Century. The title is indicative of its content! A survey of what the current mission situation looks like globally, and some brief reflections on how to adapt and engage new realities and challenges.

After Lehman Brothers: Desperate City wives. ("The City" in London refers to the central financial district like Wall Street does in New York). I know it's fashionable at the moment to treat all investment bankers with disdain and to rejoice at their comeuppance. And I don't doubt the fact that in many, many cases, they've been a showcase for greed. But they've also been a convenient mirror for many to project their moral superiority on. I thought this was a very well-done feature, simply getting us into the shoes of the spouses of the (formerly?) wealthy, and also perhaps giving us occasion to reflect on our own habits without being preachy.

Novelist Margaret Atwood looks at the cultural history of debt. A very interesting exploration and a model of how the tools of literary analysis could be applied!

A Conversation with Tan Twan Eng in the Far Eastern Economic Review on the state of Malaysian writing and other things. Tan Twan Eng's novel The Gift of Rain was longlisted for the Booker last year. Haven't read it, and not quite sure if I will. There's another novel by a Malaysian writer which has gotten good press this year - Preeta Samarasan's Evening is the Whole Day. I'm wondering too if I should tackle that one, looks like it would not be light reading though.

I think all the above have substance, so do go have a look! :)


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The way

"I feel, when I have sinned, an immediate reluctance to go to Christ. I am ashamed to go. I feel as if it would do no good to go, as if it were making Christ a minister of sin, to go straight from the swine-trough to the best robe, and a thousand other excuses; but I am persuaded they are all lies, direct from hell.

John argues the opposite way: ‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.’ I am sure there is neither peace nor safety from deeper sin, but in going directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God’s way of peace and holiness. It is folly to the world and the beclouded heart, but it is the way."

— Robert Murray M’Cheyne, cited in Andrew Bonar, Robert Murray M’Cheyne (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1960), p. 176

(HT:Of First Importance)

Christianity is for broken people

I was quite struck by something I heard somebody say in passing yesterday, that a true Christian isn't so much someone we immediately think of as "morally upright and disciplined" and all that jazz but someone who "loves Jesus and is clinging on desperately to him". I suppose on one level, that's an obvious point, but I still think it's worth reminding ourselves again and again, because in practice, we just don't naturally think that way. We're drawn to the externals.

The point here isn't that both are mutually exclusive, as if Christians must either be morally upright and therefore Pharisees or become antinomians of some sort, using forgiveness as a crutch. Rather, it's simply that the true mark of a Christian is that he or she loves Jesus, not how well he or she is doing in life. I think Tim Keller makes this point very well in The Reason for God. The gospel we believe in is the gospel of grace, so it should not be surprising that the church is full of broken people who still have a long way to go emotionally, morally or spiritually. So it is entirely possible for someone who has become a Christian, but who happens to have a past filled with so much heartache and sorrow and insecurity that he or she on the outside will probably still look less well-adjusted that a non-Christian who happens to be disciplined and a-ok. It could be that a church could look really dysfunctional compared to, I don't know, the NGO or something. As a Christian goes on in life, he or she is looking to be more like Jesus, but he/she also knows that it would never happen on their own. All they can do is say: "Nothing in my hand I bring / Only to your cross I cling". And so they trust that the Spirit is making them more like Jesus, bit by bit, as they behold him, and as they continually get on their knees to their heavenly Father.

That's the gospel. Even as Christians, I think we still miss it all the time. So when dwelling on my insecurities, I should taste and see that the Lord is good!

Traipsing around London / More on gospel outlines

God is worthy of our worship even on the bad days, but we praise Him on the good days too. :) I started the day with strangers but by the end of the day I think I can safely say I didn't.

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Some of you might remember that I wrote on James Choung's new gospel outline, True Story a while back. Justin Taylor has now linked to Trevin Wax's fair-minded appreciation and critique of the accompanying book here. Also be sure to read the comment thread where James Choung's editor, Al Hsu, interacts with others on the subject of the gospel.

Some of you might wonder why I seem to bring up this issue often; it's because more than ever, I think many of us are actually quite confused on the content of the gospel and we need to get clarity on the heart of our faith, and such conversation helps us.

Tim Keller: "The Gospel in All its forms"

here. Highly recommended reading.

His summary of the gospel:
Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever.

On mono/multi-cultural congregations

I’ve really enjoyed reading Tony Siew’s two posts on race and religion, here and here. I have always struggled to negotiate the tensions inherent in the task of assimilating into British culture while retaining a distinctly Malaysian identity; it gets even more complicated when you factor in that I am in some ways very Western, having taken the road less travelled by studying for a degree in English Literature, and have also been involved in international ministry for some time now predominantly amongst East Asians!

This translates over into church as well, where I initially sort of fell into attending a Caucasian-majority church during my A-Levels – I had no say in the matter really, but this turned out to be a good thing – and have done so ever since. Part of the reason for this was a conviction that church congregations should ideally be multiracial, having grown up in such a church myself. (Isn’t it interesting that Tony comes from the same denomination as myself? Ahem. OK, enough boasting for now. :->) I should hasten to add that I did not view my choices of churches primarily through ethnic lenses; there were plenty of other, more important reasons why I committed to the churches I did. And in any case, there are plenty of times when church congregations can’t be multiracial – I’m thinking hypothetically of the small church in the Japanese countryside where’s there’s unlikely to be any foreigners around!

In truth, there is a gospel tension "between building one church that displays Christian love, and the Christian love that reaches out to people in all their diversity", as Carson puts it. Andrew Lim, a pastor in Australia who comes from a Chinese church context, helpfully lists both criticisms and valid reasons for a mono-ethnic cultural church:

Criticisms

• They ignore the fact that we are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28); there should not be distinctions (no longer Jew or Gentiles…)
  
• They encourage cultural biases like a sense of superiority or monoculturalism
  
• They are by definition racist, and may be seen by outsiders as such
  
• They may foster cultural intolerance
  
• They are inward and exclusive, by not seeking to minister to outsiders
  
• They are prone to mix up cultural ethics with Biblical ethics
  
• They restrict evangelistic opportunities. The environment might not be one you would feel comfortable inviting friends from other ethnic backgrounds to.
  
• They are anti-integration and anti-assimilation, a charge often summed up by the questioning statement, “But we live in Australia [or Britain!]...”

Valid reasons

• Jesus tells us to reach ‘all nations’ (Matthew 28:19)
  
• They overcome language and cultural barriers to understanding the gospel
  
• They target specific ethnic groups for evangelism
  
• They are a better forum for addressing culture-specific issues

Andrew and Carson (and I!) all agree that there is plenty of value to mono-cultural congregations, especially for missional purposes. I also find them a much needed resting place when the task of crossing cultures become too taxing . The dangers come in when churches become more "Chinese [substitute any other ethnic grouping here] than Christian", and Andrew helpfully lists 7 key identifiers when this might happen, all of which can be said to be a variant of insularity and/or restrictiveness. In other words, against the grain of a gospel that purports to be for all cultures. His whole article is worth reading. May I gently suggest here too that I’m afraid that some Asian Christian gatherings in England run a real danger of falling into this trap.

My current church has a small afternoon mono-cultural congregation for people who come from a particular Asian country (or who speak their particular language), but at the same time, they are encouraged to participate in wider church activities which will see them mixing with Caucasians and others. I think this is quite a helpful model, although in practice it isn’t always as neat as outlined here!

What are some of things I’ve learnt from being in such a congregation? Well, firstly, I think in some small way, I really do understand more what it feels like to be a minority. I think I know more of what it feels like when there are not many who can always understand where you are coming from, or to appreciate certain jokes. I agree with Tony that we should be seeking to understand the cultures of others, and on some things that’s not a problem for me, but it’s also true that it’s unlikely you will be able to get to attain a similar level of understanding unless you have the luxury of time. To be fair, for some it’s easier than others; I think some Malaysians and Singaporeans in particular are brilliant at this. Just last night I was listening to banter about people’s experiences of Christian summer camps. I’ve been in British church circles long enough now to have some knowledge about Iwerne and Sparkford and Bash Camps and their influence on British evangelicalism generally, but I don’t really know what it’s like to go on one, and I found no avenue to participate in such a conversation. I think wistfully of the Christian camps I’ve been to as a teenager and think that it would have also been quite alien to the many around me!

But I also know a little more about what true gospel unity looks like. I can think of a couple of British Christian friends who have put in the hard work of getting to know me, and thus provided some impetus for me to put in the work myself and I am thankful for that. Again, for some people this is not a problem, but for me personally I know it’s unlikely to ever get to a stage where it’ll be second nature for me to relate to a Brit. And the hard work stems from the wider recognition that together, we are a body in Christ.

I like what Tony says about over-sensitivity as well. I know there are times when I find it difficult to relate and it’s easy to blame it simply on cultural differences, when it’s more a matter of, for example, different temperaments. I do find it hard occasionally that I do get pigeonholed with mainland Chinese, when in reality I am very different to them, but well, the answer should be better education, not explosive reaction! After all, I do get it from the other side as well, when Malaysians who hear that I’ve studied literature have me pigeonholed as some sort of Shakespeare-spouting thespian when I’m nothing of the sort.

Finally, Tony suggests that "Western churches make extra efforts to show hospitality and love to foreign students or workers in their midst". I am glad that British churches are beginning to wake up to the reality of the huge numbers of overseas students and workers that are flowing in. A good friend of mine has just recently been appointed to a newly created international students worker post at a London church and I’m excited for him.

Won’t it be great when the day comes when such struggles will be no more?


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Around the web

Just a couple of things that I thought was too good to pass up...

Those of you who've followed this blog for a little while now might remember me doing a series working through the complementarian and egalitarian views. I didn't touch on the Trinity then, but John Stackhouse of Regent College, an egalitarian, has a good post in which he sums up how both camps appeal to the Trinity to substantiate their respective positions before arguing that the Trinity doesn't prove anything about gender either way.

I listened to Mark Dever's message, Improving the Gospel at T4G, an American conference looking to find the centre ground of an increasingly fragmented evangelicalism, last week (although I'll admit I wasn't concentrating 100% of the time!). It's worth a listen as he wrestles with distinguishing between the gospel proper and what are merely implications of the gospel - might sound like an academic exercise but actually, how we understand the gospel really does impact what we see as priorities, how we witness etc. There's a good summary of his main points at Out of Ur. No substitute for listening it for yourself though, as the subsequent comment thread on the summary post shows. Ugh, lots of people were missing the point, it was just so frustrating to read! I don't know if I agree entirely with everything Dever says, but he's the smart guy and I'm not. But another smart guy, Mike Bird, has good thoughts on it. Bird wants to probe a little more on the details while agreeing with the thrust of Dever's message.

Trevix Wax has a follow up interview with N.T Wright and his new book, Surprised By Hope.

Stephen Murray: Why Being a Follower of Jesus is not enough.

Al Hsu on common ground between 'emergents' and 'new calvinists'. We've just finished a series on 1 John at church and I'm thinking that it's the biblical letter that we all need to hear the most in these times, with its tight emphasis on right belief and right living, both of which are essential, whatever label we self-identify by. I'll love at some point to read both Collin Hansen and Tony Jones's books and compare my own journey over the last couple of years.

Counterfeit gospels

Jonathan Leeman posts on a schema of seven counterfeit gospels, as cited in How People Change by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp.

1. Formalism. “I participate in the regular meetings and ministries of the church, so I feel like my life is under control. I’m always in church, but it really has little impact on my heart or on how I live. I may become judgmental and impatient with those who do not have the same commitment as I do.”
   
2. Legalism. “I live by the rules—rules I create for myself and rules I create for others. I feel good if I can keep my own rules, and I become arrogant and full of contempt when others don’t meet the standards I set for them. There is no joy in my life because there is no grace to be celebrated.”
   
3. Mysticism. “I am engaged in the incessant pursuit of an emotional experience with God. I live for the moments when I feel close to him, and I often struggle with discouragement when I don’t feel that way. I may change churches often, too, looking for one that will give me what I’m looking for.”
   
4. Activism. “I recognize the missional nature of Christianity and am passionately involved in fixing this broken world. But at the end of the day, my life is more of a defense of what’s right than a joyful pursuit of Christ.”
   
5. Biblicism. “I know my Bible inside and out, but I do not let it master me. I have reduced the gospel to a mastery of biblical content and theology, so I am intolerant and critical of those with lesser knowledge.”
   
6. Therapism. “I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs."
   
7. "Social-ism." “The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships.”

(HT: Between Two Worlds)

Was looking at Colossians tonight with my small group on the sufficiency of the gospel, so this feels timely. I'm sure we have all fallen into one of the traps above at one time or another!

On the Word as word

Whatever else the gospel is, it is inescapably verbal. The gospel is always announced, preached, proclaimed, heralded, as demonstrated by the early disciples of Jesus. Luke could simply record that they "preached the word wherever they went" and "proclaimed Christ" (Acts 8:4-5), and Paul could thank God for the Colossians' "faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints - the faith and love that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you" (Colossians 1:4-6a), as well as for the Thessalonians "because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe." (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Romans 10:14-15 has inspired many a missionary: "And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

But words have fallen out of favour. In a world where political spin seems to distort every column inch and broken promises run rampant in many relationships, we have become cynical about words. Talk is cheap, we say. The contemporary British poet Carol Ann Duffy captures the dissatisfaction over words in her short poem 'Words, Wide Night'. A seemingly conventional poem about someone expressing her longing for her distant lover, Duffy turns this on its head: "For I am in love with you / and this is what it is like or what it is like in words." Shorn of meaning, words cannot capture nor convey what I really feel. I may as well say "La lala la".

Such thinking can easily extend to the good news that Christians offer, good news all too easily obscured by prosperity preachers and graceless peddlers of the gospel. It is into such an environment that we need to hear Paul's words afresh: "God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe...we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the capricious and foolishness to the postmodernists" (1 Cor. 1:21, 23). We are all too aware in today's environment of the fragility of words, and yet God has decreed it such that his gospel comes in the humble form of a message that Jesus is Saviour and Lord, come to redeem sins and restore creation.

Nonetheless, we can be confident about the adequacy of words. They are not disembodied, for words come from the exercise of the tongue, the movement of the hand. Where there are words, there is a person, whether this person is ignored or otherwise. Why else do we still value face time when we have Facebook? And this leads us to an important truth, that words need not be characterised as merely cerebral. No, words can be intensely personal, as Hollywood has long recognised when an intense scene culminates in the words being spoken: "I love/hate you!" Such words provide us access, access to another world where thoughts become concretised and bonds are formalised. Words are in themselves consequential: witness the couple exchanging the "I do"s of marriage vows or the captain shouting "Fire!" to members of his execution squad.

The words of human beings are finite and imperfect. But the word of a God who spoke creation into being, never fails to keep his promises and who sings over his people (Zephaniah 3:17)? Even more astonishingly, a Triune God who is so willing to reveal himself in relationship to a sinful people that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth?" (John 1:14). Jesus, before returning to be with his Father, mandates that his disciples preach in his name to all nations, and assures them that those who do will do so in his power, through the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:46-49). The gospel is inescapably verbal, but this is not to pit the person of Jesus against the propositional content of Scripture. The disciples obey Jesus, as Luke tells us in The Acts of the Apostles. And when we get to the end, we find an invitation, there, to follow in the footsteps of Paul, an enemy of God who encountered the living Christ, repented, trusted and worshipped him, and "boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 28:31).


† Expand post

Good Friday

To the cross I look, to the cross I cling
Of its suffering I do drink
Of its work I do sing

For on it my Savior both bruised and crushed
Showed that God is love
And God is just

At the cross You beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees, and I am
Lost for words, so lost in love,
I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrendered

What a priceless gift, undeserved life
Have I been given
Through Christ crucified

You’ve called me out of death
You’ve called me into life
And I was under Your wrath
Now through the cross I’m reconciled

In awe of the cross I must confess
How wondrous Your redeeming love and
How great is Your faithfulness

© Jeremy Riddle

Wednesday: Faith in Jesus in Mark's Gospel

"The cross is the intersection where God meets humanity. Saving confession is not predicated on prior knowledge, proximity to Jesus, or privilege; it is, rather, an act of faith in a divinely revealed act of atonement. The centurion's confession is the saving proclamation of the church, for it is the convergence of Mark's two major themes: the meaning of Jesus and the meaning of faith. The Son of God, on whom rests the unique blessing and love of the Father, chooses not to exalt himself but to follow a path of servanthood, indeed of vicarious suffering and death, so that through the cross the world might acknowledge him to be the Son and with him share free and joyful access to the Father."

"True faith is always aware how small and inadequate it is. The father becomes a believer not when he amasses a sufficient quantum of faith but when he risks everything on what little faith he has, when he yields his insufficiency to the true sufficiency of Jesus, 'I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!' [Mark 9:21-24] The risk of faith is more costly to the father than bringing his son to Jesus, for he talk about his son but he must "cry out" for faith. True faith takes no confidence in itself, nor does it judge Jesus by the weakness of his followers. It Looks to the More Powerful One (1:7) who stands in the place of God, whose authoritative word restores life from chaos. True faith is unconditional openness to God, a decision in the face of all to the contrary that Jesus is able."

- James Edwards, Pillar Commentary on Mark, p. 483, 280.

Tuesday: Whither forgiveness?

This clip from ER has already made the rounds in the blogosphere, but if you haven't seen it, it's worth watching.


"Love is at the heart of the Apostle Paul's account of Christ's death. But surprisingly, even scandalously, love not just for victims but also for perpetrators - for those who are "powerless" because they are caught in the snares of "ungodliness," those who are "unrighteous", sinners deserving of God's "wrath", "enemies". [Referring to Romans 5:6-8]. It is not, of course, that love for those who suffer is absent from Paul's writings...And yet at the heart of the gospel is a powerful conviction that God loves the ungodly - loves them so much that Christ died for them and in place of them. Ungodly - the kind of person Paul himself was before being called as an apostle...

...Since no third party is involved, in Christ's Passion no one is forced to do anything for anything else. Substitution is a gift initiated and willingly given to Wrongdoers by the One who was wronged, not a burden of service placed on an outsider. And it is a gift that, far from signalling the passive acceptance of abuse, most radically calls into question such abuse. For it condemns the wrongdoing while at the same time freeing the wrongdoers, who receive forgiveness in repentance, not just from punishment and guilt but also from the hold of the evil deed on their lives."

- Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World, pp. 116-7

Monday: Lenten Prayers for the Week

Loving God,
I am just beginning to realize how much you love me.
Your son, Jesus was humble and obedient.
He fulfilled your will for him by becoming human and suffering with us.
I ask you for the desire to become more humble
so that my own life might also bear witness to you.
I want to use the small sufferings I have in this world to give you glory.

Please, Lord, guide my mind with your truth.
Strengthen my life by the example of Jesus.
Help me to be with Jesus in this week
as he demonstrates again his total love for me.
He died so that I would no longer be separated from you.
Help me to feel how close you are and to live in union with you.

God of love,
My prayer is simple:
We have been stubborn and rebellious
but you are merciful and kind.
For the sake of Your son, Jesus Christ,
who suffered and died for us,
forgive us all that is past.
I know only
that I cannot have real strength
unless I rely on you.
I cannot feel protected
from my many weaknesses
until I turn to you
for forgiveness and your unalterable love.
Help me to share this
strength, protection and love with others.
Amen.

P/S,
Christ's Imagined Choir