Last weekend was our weekend away.
We delved into Psalm 27, 73 and 51 and had an amazing time of seeking the Lord
together.
Here are the top 10 (I think!) things God made clear to me last weekend:
1. Worship means an acknowledgment of the worthiness of God that involves our
entire being - it is all consuming!
2. Our lives shouldn't contain acts of worship; our lives should be acts of worship!
3. Glorifying God in your body means expressing how great he is through who we
are.
4. We need to live like we believe what we say - the last thing the world wants is a
phoney follower of Christ.
5. Rather than approaching worship with a mindset of “what can I get from God”,
think, “what can I bring him”
6. Some of God’s greatest work in our lives happens by pruning, refining and
chiselling – not by dramatic events and not when things are going great.
7. Communion with God is what he desires for us, so if we’re not doing it and he’s
committed to it, he will take us to a place where we are desperate for him. He loves
us too much to leave us where we are.
8. Things always turn out badly when we play with sin. Look what happened to
David, “a man after God’s own heart”
9. Who you are when no one is looking is who you are!
10. Pray for God’s help and be resolved to worship whatever the circumstances may
be.
Nathan
Monday, January 31, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
SOTM - Seeing God’s Kingdom In All the Scriptures
Seeing God’s Kingdom In All the Scriptures:
The theme of God’s kingdom runs all the way through the Bible’s narrative. Drawing from Graeme Goldsworthy and Adrian Holdsworth, let me try to take you briefly through the scripture tracing this theme, following the diagram below:
Kingdom Patterned (Eden):
God's kingdom can be defined as "God's PEOPLE in God's PLACE under God's RULE". The pattern for this kingdom was the paradise where God and mankind were in direct relationship in the Garden of Eden. It is a pattern for the fulfilled kingdom when we see the descriptions in Isaiah 65-66 and Revelation 21-22 echoing much the description of the garden - other than that all the nations reside in a city.
It is an interesting study to see how Eden is a bit like a Temple and Adam a priest - have a look if you have time!
Kingdom Polluted (The Fall and the Flood):
It is an interesting study to see how Eden is a bit like a Temple and Adam a priest - have a look if you have time!
Kingdom Polluted (The Fall and the Flood):
The kingdom was polluted by man's rebellion against God's rule. Suddenly God's people were expelled from the garden. The problem of sinful rebellion spread throughout the whole human race, who while advancing technologically also descended into the depths of sin. Murder, pride about murder, violence, destruction, unnatural behaviour. All these things resulted in God's judgement on the world in the Flood. God still loved His people though and sought to rescue them. He had made a promise to Adam and Eve that He would provide a saviour who would crush the kingdom of Satan in the world, and He gave a foreshadowing of Jesus by killing an animal to cover their nakedness (the sign of their fallen sinful state).
Kingdom Promised (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses):
God's work of bringing His kingdom narrowed in focus to one man: Abraham. God made a covenant and unconditional promise to Abraham that he would have a people, who would become a nation in a certain place and bless all the world - the king of this theocratic nation would be God Himself as their God. This promise is passed down to Abraham's sons, who were elected by God to be the people through whom the promise of the kingdom would come.
Kingdom Pictured (Moses, Judges, Saul, David, Solomon):
God used His servant Moses to rescue His people, Israel, out of captivity in Egypt. Their deliverance is a picture of the salvation in God's grace that is made possible by Jesus (look at the Passover lamb for instance). God gives His people the law at Sinai to constitute them as His nation before leading them into the Promised Land.
God eventually brings the people into the land. One of the problems they faced was that they lacked a clear leader after Moses and Joshua, so a cycle of apostasy set in. God raised up judges who would rescue the people from their enemies and restore thir worship of God. However, they needed a king. There was nothing wrong with having a king - what was wrong was that they wanted a king to be like the pagan nations and because they did not want God to rule. They chose Saul, a king after their own hearts. Saul was used to establish the people as a nation and bring the 12 tribes together - beginning to establish a picture of the kingdom. However, Saul fell and God raised up a king after His own heart, David. David was a picture of the promised King to come, but David was not perfect. David's son, Solomon, built the Temple in Jerusalem where God was worshipped and brought Israel into a time of great prosperity and territorial expansion and trade. However, this picture of God's kingdom was not to last due to the presence of sin.
God eventually brings the people into the land. One of the problems they faced was that they lacked a clear leader after Moses and Joshua, so a cycle of apostasy set in. God raised up judges who would rescue the people from their enemies and restore thir worship of God. However, they needed a king. There was nothing wrong with having a king - what was wrong was that they wanted a king to be like the pagan nations and because they did not want God to rule. They chose Saul, a king after their own hearts. Saul was used to establish the people as a nation and bring the 12 tribes together - beginning to establish a picture of the kingdom. However, Saul fell and God raised up a king after His own heart, David. David was a picture of the promised King to come, but David was not perfect. David's son, Solomon, built the Temple in Jerusalem where God was worshipped and brought Israel into a time of great prosperity and territorial expansion and trade. However, this picture of God's kingdom was not to last due to the presence of sin.
Kingdom Prophesied (700 years of prophets):
Israel split in two after Solomon and there was a gradual decline in both nations as they left God. All this time it seemed like the kingdom had failed to come. However, God spoke through His prophets to tell the people that His plan for the kingdom to come was still going to happen. It was going to come as a spiritual reality in the form of a new covenant with the people (written on their changed hearts) after they had experienced a new captivity (in Babylon) and a new exodus (the return from Exile). They would be in a new Jerusalem with a new Temple, and most importantly in a New Creation on earth where God reigned with His people.
The prophets also spoke of how God's promised one was coming who would bring about this kingdom and free the people from their sins.
The prophets also spoke of how God's promised one was coming who would bring about this kingdom and free the people from their sins.
Kingdom Personified (The Promised Christ comes):
When Jesus came the kingdom was established initially. At the Cross, God's people were saved from their sins and made a part of His holy kingdom. The kingdom was within them as they became part of Christ's body and were filled with the Holy Spirit. However, this was not the final reality of the kingdom.
Kingdom Proclaimed (The Church spreads the Gospel):
Jesus sent the church out to proclaim to the world of their need to repent in order to enter into God's kingdom as His people, by submitting to His rule and receiving the forgiveness of their sins. Christ has ascended at this time and reigns at the right hand of the Father, so the kingdom reigns spiritually over the current age on earth - what we call "the overlap of the ages". Many of the blessings of the kingdom have come, but it has not fully come as a physical reality in a restored creation. There is this tension between the "now" fulfillment of the kingdom and the "not yet".
Kingdom Perfected (Christ returns):
When Jesus returns at the end of history one day soon, then He will establish His kingdom physically in a New Jerusalem in a New Creation. We will be God's people in His place and under His rule - and we will no longer sin against Him.
This is a very brief overview of the idea of the kingdom throughout the Bible's narrative. For more please read:
- Vaughn Roberts: God's Big Picture
- Graeme Goldsworthy: Gospel and Kingdom
I do not fully agree with either of these authors, since they have an overly spiritualised view of many of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel and the future kingdom ('Amillennialism'), however they are valuable to read with this caveat.
This is a very brief overview of the idea of the kingdom throughout the Bible's narrative. For more please read:
- Vaughn Roberts: God's Big Picture
- Graeme Goldsworthy: Gospel and Kingdom
I do not fully agree with either of these authors, since they have an overly spiritualised view of many of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel and the future kingdom ('Amillennialism'), however they are valuable to read with this caveat.
Monday, January 17, 2011
SOTM - The Beatitudes
The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes (which means the Happy Ones). The Beatitudes begin and end with “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” – it’s a set of book ends to say that the Christian in this world is someone belonging to a different kingdom, the kingdom of heaven and are the blessed happy ones for it.
The Beatitudes deliberately come at the start to describe the character of a Christian because the rest of the sermon can only be practised by a Christian who has Jesus in their life and have become a citizen of His kingdom. They teach us about Christian character, before we hear about Christian conduct (because the rest of the sermon is not about doing things with our own natural abilities and temperaments, rather is about living out a new character). “Every one of us, whatever we may be by birth and nature, is meant as a Christian to be like this”. Indeed Robert Murray McCheyne once wrote: “It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus”.
The Beatitudes also are set in a deliberate order by Jesus to illustrate a person’s journey to salvation and then afterwards their life in the kingdom.
Road to the Kingdom (the gospel):
| Blessed are the Poor in Spirit | Recognise they have nothing good that will get them into Heaven |
| Blessed are the Mourners | See the evil of their sin, how it has wronged God and the impending judgement |
| Blessed are the Meek | They have no pride in believing they can do anything to contribute to their salvation |
| Blessed are the Hungry and Thirsty for Righteousness | They flee to God and His gracious mercy to be made right with Him |
Life in the kingdom: (Builds on what has come before as the Christian life builds on the gospel):
| Blessed are the Merciful | Having been forgiven of so much more, we can forgive and love even the worst people |
| Blessed are the Pure in Heart | No longer blinded by sin, we are given clean hearts and can see and know God intimately |
| Blessed are the Peacemakers | Having peace with God now, we bring the “gospel of peace” to others calling them to surrender to God. We are united in Christ, whatever our race, gender or wealth |
| Blessed are the Persecuted | Are glad to suffer the loss of all things (even life itself) because to have Jesus means we have all things and to be with Him is better! |
SOTM - The Kingdom Concept
The Sermon on the Mount
Introduction to the “Kingdom” Concept.
Matthew’s gospel has the most references to the Kingdom: “the kingdom of God”, “the kingdom of Heaven”, and “the gospel of the kingdom”. It introduces the beginning of Jesus’ three year preaching ministry as: “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17). It is only a few verses later that we are given the account of the famous “Sermon on the Mount”.
A helpful definition of the kingdom is “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule” (Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom). Revelation 21-22 describes the kingdom of God coming physically into a restored creation and Jesus reigning physically among His people. This is a future reality. However, it is interesting to read what Jesus says about the kingdom in the gospels, as it is too simple to say that the kingdom is totally awaiting future fulfillment.
Looking at these texts Jesus indicates:
o Matthew 4:17 (is near)– the kingdom is at hand/near to coming imminently
o Luke 17:20-21 (has come) - Jesus deals with the wrong assumptions of the Jews about a material kingdom saying the kingdom is in their midst, presumably referring to His presence among them.
o Luke 22:15-18 (will come) – then at the Passover feast Jesus looks ahead to when it will be celebrated again in the kingdom with His people in the future.
o Acts 1:6-7 and 10-11 (will come but ambiguous as to when) – finally the disciples ask Jesus prior to His ascension, when will the kingdom come? Jesus does not tell them when it will yet come in the future (He does not tell them they are wrong to ask this question because the kingdom has already come in its fullness) rather they are told He will return in same way to the Mount of Olives, presumably to establish the kingdom in all its fullness described in Revelation 21-22.
Furthermore, numerous scriptures describe Jesus now, having ascended back into Heaven, as reigning at the right hand of authority of the Father on the throne in the kingdom (Acts 7:55; Eph 1:20; 1 Peter 3:22).
How can we put this altogether to get a coherent picture of Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom?
A helpful phrase is that God’s kingdom is “Now and Not Yet, but Will Be”. The Kingdom has come now for those who place their faith in Jesus (Colossians 1:13) in a spiritual sense. We are seated with Christ and in Christ NOW (Ephesians 2). We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. However, we do NOT YET experience the fullness of the kingdom promises of a glorified body and life in a restored New Heaven and New Earth where the Lord reigns physically. When Jesus returns He will bring in the fullness of His kingdom in this way, described at the end of Isaiah and Revelation, and so the Kingdom WILL BE. Until this happens we are in the “Overlap of the Ages” when Christ reigns spiritually but before He returns to reign physically, having put away all sin and rebellion on the Earth.
So much more can be said and written on this, but for now let me leave this summary.
Next post will deal with the theme of God’s kingdom traced throughout all the scriptures.
The Sermon on the Mount - New Series
09-Jan | The Sermon on the Mount: KINGDOM LIFE | ||
16-Jan | The Beatitudes | (Matthew 5:1-13) | David Nixon |
23-Jan | Life Under Persecution | (Matthew 5:11-13) | Stephen Schleen |
30-Jan | Weekend Away | Wayne Sutton | |
06-Feb | Salt of the Earth; Light of the World | (Matthew 5:13-16) | Jonah Fransson |
13-Feb | Christ's Righteousness; Our Example | (Matthew 5:17-48) | Alasdair Peterson |
20-Feb | The Spiritual Life: Mercy, Prayer & Fasting | (Matthew 6:1-18) | Iain Hamill |
27-Feb | Humility: Battling Spiritual Pride | (Matthew 6:1; 5; 16; 18) | Erlend Scott |
06-Mar | Treasures: Danger of Worldliness | (Matthew 6:19-24) | Andrew Adamson |
13-Mar | Pastor Q&A | Wayne, David, Andrew | |
20-Mar | Special Evening | London City Mission | |
27-Mar | Treasures: Danger of Anxiety | (Matthew 6:25-34) | Nathan McCavery |
03-Apr | Film Discussion and Lunch Afternoon | ||
10-Apr | NO INDEX | ||
17-Apr | NO INDEX | ||
24-Apr | EASTER RESURRECTION EVENT | ||
01-May | Judging and Discerning the Truth | ( Matthew 7) | Joel Woodier |
08-May | End of Term Party |
Monday, January 10, 2011
Index Challenge: Memory Moleskin
Memorising a whole book of the Bible sounds pretty much impossible, but it doesn’t have to be. The Resurgence have produced a ‘Memory Moleskine” to help us memorise the entire book of Philippians in 16 weeks.
What a New Year’s resolution! Can you do this with a group of friends or other people at Index? This would be amazing if we embarked on this challenge together! I hope you'll consider it as we seek to remember God’s word in our heads that it might be more deeply treasured in our hearts and verses would spring to mind just when we need them.
You can read more about it and download the pages to cut out and stick in a notebook from the link below. Nathan McCavery is doing it and some encouragement and help would be great - he'll probably need it by the middle of this week! Check it out:
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