This is the third part in my short series on multiculturalism. The first two in the series can be found here:

1. Multiculturalism—You Are What You Eat?
   
   
2. Does Multiculturalism Mean I Have To Eat Blood?

When you mix with a number of different nationalities, you begin to realize that cultural differences are more complicated than you appreciated. They can also extend to quite surprising areas of life. One such area is that of whether or not it's a good idea to circumcise baby boys.

In the UK this practice is definitely on the decline. Articles in the Guardian and Times have sought to further discourage it, although, even by 1975, fewer than 6 per cent of boys born in the UK were circumcised, whereas in the USA this figure was more like 60 per cent, even today. Christianity Today has an article about the decision-making process on whether to chop or not that stays neutral and lists additional links that provide helpful information.

I was raised within a tradition that was not in any way convinced by the arguments of some that circumcision is good for "hygienic reasons." It was not all that uncommon during sermons to hear throw away comments about how glad we men were that circumcision was no longer required under the New Covenant. In fact, some would have gone further still and argued that circumcision was not permissible for Christians at all. They would have pointed to verses like the following to state that no Christian should allow themselves or their sons to be circumcised.

"Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:2-3, emphasis mine).

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace . . .

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! (Galatians 5:7-12).

At first glance these verses would indeed seem pretty conclusive. A bit like the eating blood question, I would, in many ways, love to find biblical support to buttress my prejudices. But not so fast! There are, however, two cardinal rules of biblical interpretation that I must not break. The first is to always consider the context of the passage. The second is to consider the difference between the situation that the words are spoken into and our own situation today, and the implications of this, if any, for our understanding of what the Bible means for us.

So, to the context. Those three dots should be a clue. Let's have a look at what I deliberately excised from the second passage: "For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love." Paul here seems to be stating that circumcision itself is not the issue. It would seem that, to Paul, being intact or otherwise is not what's at stake here. In fact, in Acts we learn that Paul actually circumcised one of his helpers—Timothy (Acts 16:3), and yet on another occasion he strongly resisted doing so for another of his helpers—Titus Galatians 2:3. Can you imagine the locker-room conversations between those two?!

Therefore, it does seem to Paul that whether to agree to a circumcision or not is a circumstantial decision that would perhaps hinge around what meaning is going to be given to it. Modern Christians who do circumcise their children are doing so, not for religious grounds, but for what they believe to be health benefits, or just because, unlike me, they have grown up in an environment where the tradition is that you are expected to do it.

I have yet to meet a modern Christian who believes that to carry out an operation on their son will make him more acceptable to God and in any way contribute to justification. Therefore, it would seem wrong to apply these strong warnings against circumcision to the many thousands who do this as a cultural practice. I should be gracious and accepting of such people, and ensure that if the conversation ever comes up, I don't appear incredulous that people still carry out this ancient practice. But, equally, I hope that those who do this will not consider those of us on the other side of the fence to be somehow "unclean."

Of course, this can all seem very irrelevant, and by now some of you may be wondering why I have even taken the time to bring this up. I do so because, if we are building churches together, and even marrying across clear cultural divides, these issues can cause division if we are not careful. The truth is, being circumcised or not can certainly be very important in forging your sense of belonging to a group—your "identity." Even without a conscious rejection of others who are different, there can easily be a feeling of dislocation and disconnection. For example, a careless joke made by someone from "the other side" about remaining intact (or not!) might go flat and leave people feeling unwelcome.

When two people from groups with different perspectives on this issue marry, they may find that it is best to have the conversation about which way their new family decides to go on this issue before any sons are born.

Should Christians circumcise their sons? If you're looking for a legalistic answer, I'm not at all sorry that I have to disappoint. Like so many of these issues, while there are some biblical guidelines, the answer is—at least on this occasion—it all depends on why you want to do it.

Once again the Doctor diagnoses the human condition with timeless pinpoint accuracy in this quote:

We are creatures of lust and desire and passion. Let me give you the best description ever given of humanity without Christ, humanity as it is by nature. In his epistle to Titus, Paul writes:

Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

— Titus 3:1–3

And is that not true of all of us by nature? Is that not true of our society? Behold those at a glittering party—how fond they all are of one another! But they have daggers in their hearts; they hate one another: “hateful, and hating one another.”

That is why the world is as it is—greed and avarice and envy and lust and passion and desire. It is in us all. Paul also describes this in the second half of Romans 1, and it is because of this that the world does not want Christ. “He spoils life,” people say. Christianity is seen as narrow, as contemptible, as something to be dealt with by sarcasm and ridicule and derision. It is a joke on your favorite television program. Christ is the spoiler of life, the one who introduces you to just a narrow, miserable, cramped little existence. Is that not the outlook?

There is only one explanation for such a view, and I say again that it has nothing to do with intellect; it is the state of the heart. It is the clever people who are leaders in vice at the present time. They have amazing ingenuity, but notice how they use it. They cater to the animal, and that which is even lower than the animal."

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Glorious Christianity, 1st U.S. ed. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004), 129. Also available electronically from Logos Bible Software.

For more information on Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones see this summary post or the MLJ Recording Trust.

UPDATE
Scott has made available an article which expands on this talk and includes other lists of characteristics that leaders have cited as being important in a church planter.


Thanks to the kind permission of Acts 29, I am able to share with you a number of videos of their recent DWELL Conference in London. I begin with one that is especially important for those of you who have come back from the conference excited, wondering what God may have in store for you. You can download the mp3 — or thanks to Google video (which has no time limits for its videos) you can watch the entire talk online below. My notes of this engaging and helpful talk by Scott Thomas follow.

You can ask yourself 20 questions that will help you determine whether you are called to lead a church plant. For the record, these questions indeed confirm my previous firm conviction that I am not meant to become a church plant leader. It is so important that we each realize what role God is calling us to. I am as sure as I can be at this time that God wants me to stay long-term at Jubilee Church, London. I hope and pray, however, that I can help many church planters in some small way.


DWELL — "Am I a Church Planter?" by Scott Thomas
Church planting is the new “cool” in Christian circles. The worst thing you could do is to become a church planter if you are not one! Are you called, competent, and do you have the character? Pay careful attention to yourself (Acts 20:28).

The top five issues that come up most commonly when Acts 29 is assessing planters:

1. Theology
   
2. Vision
   
3. Family
   
4. Calling
   
5. Character

Scott sais that they had surveyed UK church-planting organizations prior to coming here. To a network, of the ones who responded, not one gave a clear definition of what a church planter should look like. They were all doing it relationally, so men were being raised up from within. But it is necessary to identify who is the planter. Then prepare and send out. As a potential planter yourself, you need to ask yourself some questions to be sure if you are the right kind of person.

While in Brighton, Scott asked a group of Newfrontiers leaders to describe for him the characteristics of a church planter. Their responses, in this order, were:

1. A leader/visionary.
   
2. Missionary heart.
   
3. Preacher, a good proclaimer.
   
4. Generalist, i.e. do more than one thing as opposed to a specialist.
   
5. A family man. Need your wife and kids to believe in Dad's vision.

On the fourth point, as a new planter, you can't do what Mark Driscoll does — he studies, reads, writes a lot, one day a week has meetings, preaches, and spends time with his family, and that's it. There was a time, however, when he set up chairs, etc.

Scott then took us through twenty questions you can ask yourself to help answer the question, "Am I a church plant leader?"

Before we begin, as one of my asides, I want to remind you that there are lots of other ways you can serve God in an established church or a church plant apart from being the senior leader. Some very good pastors would make bad church plant leaders. That call from God you have to do church planting might be a call to go join a team led by another man to help plant a church, or it might actually be a call to stay so others can go. Please pray as you work through this list that God will either confirm your call or show you that you are not meant to lead a church plant after all.

1. Am I a Christian? — This is a good place to start! Integrity is critical!
   
   
2. Am I passionately in love with Jesus, and is he the Lord of my life in every area? Don't skip these! People plant churches who never open the Bible or pray. Some big churches are led by people who may not even be Christians! Jesus must be the most important thing in your life. Your life must be built on Jesus only such that nothing else is enough, and even if family and possessions are taken away, you will still have the grace of God resting on your life, you will have hope, and you will be able to say “That’s enough.” IF Jesus is in you and you love and follow him, people will be drawn to you.
   
   
3. Do I believe his Word, and does it affect my life deeply? It's not enough to just have good sermon material; it has to flow from your heart. The Word needs to speak to you, and you need to talk out of the abundance of his Word.
   
   
4. Am I Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, Spirit-directed, and Spirit-controlled? We want to be witnesses, but we have tendencies to lean on our own ideas and abilities. He will give you all you need, and give you the place and the way to go about it. The church planter needs to be an empowered man. The Spirit needs to be working in and through you and be dripping out. That’s the Holy Spirit I want!
   
   
5. Am I qualified as an elder? Timothy and Titus talk about these things. Study them carefully, assess yourself. They both say that to be above reproach is the over-arching thing — you have to be above reproach. There isn’t an exhaustive list of things, they overlap, but the key is to be above reproach. Here are some "for instances" of how to be above reproach: the husband of one wife, no one else in your head, your heart, your eyes, on that screen—none. Totally focused and satisfied in that one woman God has brought to him. Marriage can be a struggle. But you cannot stray, even an inch. Forgiveness is required for marriage. Children should be in submission. Need to be a pastor-dad.
   
   
6. Do I love the local church as an expression of a gospel community on a mission? The church brings hope, forgiveness, and community, etc. This is an expression of the gospel. Stop dating the church as Josh Harris said. It's not an institution, but Christ's body.
   
   
7. Am I a missionary to the city? Am I sent for the advancement of the gospel in the city? If you are a church planter, you have to be a missionary. Every pastor needs to see themselves as a missionary. For the glory of God and the good of the city. Don't be someone who wants to start something because of "me" and my desire to be recognized. It's not about me, or success. It's about exalting the grace of Jesus.
   
   
8. Do I have a clear vision for this new work? Nehemiah had to have a vision of a complete wall. Not take a survey. The city is in ruins, It's time to build. You know you have a vision when people around you say, “Let's do that.” People need to be following you.
   
   
9. Am I wiling to pour myself out in obedience to the vision?
   
   
10. Am I healthy physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually, relationally, maritally, mentally?
    
    
11. Am I the kind of leader many people will follow? Have I served as some form of church leader successfully?
    
    
12. Can I preach effectively? You don't have to hit it out of the ball park every time. But you do have to hit singles pretty regularly. The pulpit is the rudder that steers the church.
    
    
13. Can I guard the doctrinal door with biblical clarity and tenacious confidence? When you start a church, you'll have new people with new ideas for which they got kicked out of their old church. You have to be able to guard the doctrinal door, squash doctrinal error—not arrogantly, but being sure of what the Word of God says and being able to articulate that in a winsome way.
    
    
14. Can I architect a new work with entrepreneurial skill? What have you started successfully? Some men can't see the vision of what is to come, and some—even if they see the vision—can't find the steps towards the vision. If you can't be the architect, then you are in trouble. As an example, some very pastoral people are NOT the best people to start a church, or at least not as the main team leader. Be clear about who you are. If you're a shepherd, counselor, care-giver, and you could be a success doing those things in an established church or as part of a team, then that is where you should be. Someone who is called to plant a church is frustrated if they don't do it. Number two guys don't always make good number one guys. As an aside, for my English readers, the example that struck me was this (and blame me for this one, not Scott) — Gordon Brown was perceived widely to be a good chancellor, but when he became Prime Minister he has been widely perceived to be a bad one.
    
    
15. Am I called to plant a church at this time and in this place? Calling is a top issue. Not called when things are going badly. The call of God usually comes when things are going really well. It needs to be a ministry to God, not to anyone or anything else. 2 Corinthians 7:6-8, 7:13; 2 Corinthians 8:6, 8:16-17. You need to be someone who says because of your own personal calling, I need to do this.
    
    
16. Have my church leaders commended me for this calling? What do they think of you? Are they recommending you?
    
    
17. Am I a hard worker? Am I persevering?
    
    
18. Am I adaptable to new people, places, and concepts? If you don't like change, you don't like church planting! If you are the kind of person who goes into the fetal position, you're probably not a church planter
    
    
19. Can I raise the funds required for my family's needs? Can I still be there for my family? Anyone who won't provide for his family is worse than the ungodly. You also need to be there for your family. Your children need a father more than the city needs a church.
    
    
20. Am I humble enough to learn from others — particularly from those who have gone ahead of me in different areas? This is one of the issues we call "stallers" and "stoppers." You need to be coachable, teachable. If you're not teachable, your church will stay stunted in its growth. The local church makes the audible gospel visible. It's a glorious thing.

What if I'm called? What if I'm not sure? What do I do?

1 Timothy 4:12. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” Right now, no matter where you are, what you're doing, begin to build that into your life, begin to look into your own life, and set the believers an example in these areas. Don't neglect your gift. Practice these things. Devote yourself to them. Make it evident that Jesus Christ is the most important thing in your life. Listen to the calling of God. Examine your life. Examine your family. Then obey, and get ready for the ride of your life!

The speaker for the first main session today was P-J Smyth. P-J leads Godfirst Church and one of the Newfrontiers apostolic teams working in southern Africa, involved with planting and strengthening local churches. P-J, Ashleigh, and their three sons live in Johannesburg, South Africa.

More posts from this conference can be found on my TOAM08 label page. You can download the mp3 of P-J's talk or listen to it right here:


Those in distress, debt, and discontent, became the army of God. We need to manage a growing army that works. There are multiple enemies. When planting a church, it can feel like the people that gather are a motley crew. But God is in the business of producing change. It can be a cave-like start. It's not about being irresponsible and reckless. The cave is a season that becomes a great army. Don't panic if that is how it feels.

The Conscience of the Army (1 Chronicles 11:1-3)

Three things joined this group of people to David. What enabled them with a clear conscience to say “I am with you”?

1. You are our own flesh and blood, i.e. we like being around you.
   
   
2. We see the anointing/fruit i.e. we see what God has been doing.
   
   
3. Because God said.

They didn't follow because the leader was the closest geographically, or because you were named the successor.

Jesus would ask questions — Who do you think I am? Effectively, Where are you at with this? Do you love me?

Philemon 8. Paul said he could not compel. He uses the phrase “clear conscience” many times. “We commend ourselves to every man's conscience” (2 Corinthians 4:2). “What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience” (2 Corinthians 5:11). He did not inflict and was not overbearing.

David was willing to tell Saul that he had a track record — a bear came, a lion came; Goliath is no different. Sometimes it's not wrong to tell people about things that have happened before in order to help win them over.

Paul strongly urged Apollos, but he was quite unwilling. Paul then backs off, but trusts that Apollos will go at some point. Paul trusts the sovereignty of God (1 Corinthians 16:12). Paul will have nothing to do with violating another's conscience.

• Be convinced.
  
  
• Give compelling theological reasons.
  
  
• Give compelling pastoral, prophetic, or situational reasons.
  
  
• Acknowledge and thoroughly address concerns and difficulties.
  
  
• Reassure that you are continuously looking to God for confirmation; moving forward, but not burning bridges too soon.
  
  
• Have a culture of robust discussion and debate.
  
  
• Patiently help people to get their own “faith.”
  
  
• Keep “my way or the highway” for last resort. Persuade, don't bulldoze.

David was not a softy. It wasn't a democracy. Don't violate consciences, educate them.

1 Chronicles 12:16-18. David is very clear and direct. Basically, if you are against me, God will get you! But it was the Spirit who joined them to him.

If you get a new leader, allow him to get a year or two behind him. Look for a sense of relationship to grow, for you to see the anointing, so you will hear God. But if you feel after that time it just isn't working, you may have to readjust where you're at.

1 Timothy 1:18 tells us that if we reject the clean conscience, then there is a danger that we will end in a shipwreck.

Devotion of the army (1 Chronicles 11:16). Brought water back, but wouldn't drink it. Followers can express radical devotion, not just to the mission, but to the person. But the leader shouldn't just glug it down! Thanks mate, give me more! No! If people devote themselves to the leader, then the leader should send that back to God.

P-J shared two sets of statements taken from the Scriptures — one that he uses when he is doing the leading and one when he is doing the following. Sadly I was too tired to type fast enough to capture this list in its entirety. If you did a better job than me, please do send it to me and I will complete it here.

The Leadership Set of Scriptures

• I am not doing this for gain (2 Corinthians 2:17, 1 Timothy 3:8, 1 Timothy 6:5, Titus 1:7 ).
  
  
• I am free from the love of money, content, trusting God (Hebrews 11:5-6).
  
  
• I am above reproach, and at pains to do what is right in the eyes of God and man. (1 Timothy 3:2, 2 Corinthians 8:21)
  
  
• My followers owe me nothing—I will gladly spend myself for them. (2 Corinthians 12:4)
  
  
• I consider devotion to me as if to God ... I will pour it out to the Lord (1 Chronicles 11:18)

The Followers Set of Scriptures

• My leaders are worthy of double honor (1 Timothy 5:17).
  
  
• My aim is to make their lives a joy (Hebrews 13:17).
  
  
• I can be attentive to their needs and quick to try to help, alert to give them support and encouragement (1 Chronicles 11:18).

In David's team there were the 30, the 3, and some who were honored, but some who didn't quite fit. In fact, someone who wasn't in the 3 became their commander. Structure and clarity is important, but sometimes you have to break the mould a bit. We need to be secure in God and have slightly blurred lines. Don't try and fit God's structure into a neat human "organogram." We can sometimes fit things into such a thing, and it's good to do so.

Structure of the Army

• Some order and clarity is good.
  
• Don't force it into an organogram.
  
• Allow gifting of God to trump structure.

Friendship gets us to the table—it's a round table, but gifting determines who gets the loudest voice. Ordered, but organic.

The Leader of the Army

Lead Inclusive
1 Chronicles 11:4. “You will not get in.” But the next word says, “nevertheless.” David said “whoever leads will become commander in chief." Perhaps David was about to lead the charge and remembered Saul letting him go for the wrong reasons, and so said “Who’s up for it?”

Don't give everybody a go! Provide an atmosphere and an opportunity, but don't over-promote people. Give room, but followers need to fill that room. Leaders are looking for followers who will become leaders.

Lead Strong
Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Leaders' Three Levels

• Guard what has been entrusted. Know what you are protecting. The trust, the people, the ground we have taken, the doctrine, myself, my integrity, my flock. Not going to throw away my wicket!
  
  
• Steady advance—it's not sexy, but it's important.
  
  
• Breaking new ground. Spot the opportunities. Cricketers have to decide: Will I let it go by, block it, or give it a whack? Seize the moments of advance. It's not teamsmanship; it's not managership; it's not administership. It's LEADERSHIP. Spot the soft spot of the enemy. When David sees Goliath he doesn't see the amor, he thinks, “What a big forehead you have!” Don't take "no" for an answer. Don't back off. I am up for this. We need an army of men who don't know what can't be done.

General Montgomery, on taking over the struggling 8th Army in 1942, said:

"I believe that one of the first duties of a commander is to create what I call ‘atmosphere’, and in that atmosphere his staff and troops will live and work and fight. I do not like the general atmosphere I find here. It is an atmosphere of doubt, of looking back to select the next place which to withdraw to, of loss of confidence in our ability to defeat Rommel, of desperate defence measures in preparing positions in Cairo and the Delta. All that must cease. Let us have a new atmosphere. The defence of Egypt lies here at Alamein. Here we stand and fight; there will be no further withdrawal. I have ordered that all plans and instructions dealing with further withdrawal are to be burnt, and at once. We will stand and fight here. If we can’t stay here alive, then let us stay here dead ... Our mandate from the Prime Minister is to destroy the Axis forces in North Africa; I have seen it, written on half a sheet of notepaper. And it will be done. If anyone here thinks it can’t be done, let him go once; I don’t want any doubters in this party. It can be done, and it will be done: beyond any possibility of doubt."

Emu and kangaroo are both physiologically incapable of going backwards. It's not like the army of God to go backwards.

I thought I might make a few suggestions about things that your Christian friend might want for Christmas. It is no surprise that I suggest books first of all. I love receiving new books. When the doorbell rings, I thunder downstairs, hoping that tell-tale flat-box will be in the postman's hand, announcing another book has arrived!

If you are looking for inspiration about what book to buy, I would obviously love you to go and scroll down through the rather long page which contains a number of my book review posts. But there are so many other great books out there.

I thought I would share a list with you of some of the books which I don't think I have reviewed yet. These books are on my shelves at home. Some of them I devoured eagerly from cover to cover, but just never got around to reviewing. Others were ones I started to read and found the bits I read to be helpful. Still others I have only skimmed through, but they look interesting to me!

I thought I would intrigue you by simply sharing the ISBN number and title only. If any of them tempt you, simply copy the ISBN number and search within your favorite online bookstore to find out more about these books.

1. 9781844741663
   Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in Diversity
   
   
2. 9781844741281
   Darwin's Nemesis: Phillip Johnson and the Intelligent Design Movement
   
   
3. 9780670915538
   England: The Autobiography. 2,000 Years of English History By Those Who Saw It Happen
   
   
4. 9781581344080
   Interpreting the New Testament Text: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis
   
   
5. 9781581348095
   Suffering and the Sovereignty of God
   
   
6. 9780737500684
   Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit?
   
   
7. 9780830833856
   Mastering Monday: A Guide to Integrating Faith and Work
   
   
8. 9781852403683
   Rebuilding the Walls: A Challenge to the Church from Ezra and Nehemiah
   
   
9. 9781581349344
   Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World
   
   
10. 9780801065330
    Escaping the Matrix: Setting Your Mind Free to Experience Real Life in Christ
    
    
11. 9781852404666
    Does God Approve of War?
    
    
12. 9781581349276
    The Great Exchange: My Sin for His Righteousness
    
    
13. 9780801027987
    Christ-centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon
    
    
14. 9781844741915
    Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community
    
    
15. 9781903725757
    Our Eyes Fixed on Jesus
    
    
16. 9781581348309
    Parent Fuel: For the Fire Inside Our Kids
    
    
17. 9780310270164
    Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church (Leadership Network Innovation Series)
    
    
18. 9780310256595
    The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out
    
    
19. 9781852404376
    The Christian, Israel and the Hope of World Revival: Israel in Romans 9-11
    
    
20. 9780842371513
    Through Gates of Splendor: 40th Anniversary Edition
    
    
21. 9781581347739
    The Great Work of the Gospel: How We Experience God's Grace
    
    
22. 9781576737262
    Finishing Strong: Going the Distance for Your Family
    
    
23. 9781844741458
    Gospel-centred Hermeneutics: Biblical-theological Foundations and Principles
    
    
24. 9781852404505
    Anger: How Do You Handle It? (Truth & Freedom)
    
    
25. 9781590523650
    Stop Dating the Church (Lifechange Books)
    
    
26. 9780976758266
    When Sinners Say "I Do": Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage
    
    
27. 9780830824106
    The Message of Evil and Suffering: Light Into Darkness (Bible Speaks Today Bible Themes)
    
    
28. 9781850787297
    Twenty-four: Integrating Faith and Real Life
    
    
29. 9781852403782
    The Parables of Jesus: A Guide to Understanding and Applying the Stories of Jesus
    
    
30. 9780830826216
    Shepherds After My Own Heart: Pastoral Traditions and Leadership in the Bible (New Studies in Biblical Theology)
    
    
31. 9780785262565
    Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible, and What He Wants to Do with You
    
    
32. 9780875527154
    The Heart of a Servant Leader: Letters from Jack Miller
    
    
33. 9781857923100
    Charles Simeon (HistoryMakers)
    
    
34. 9781860243400
    Work: Prison or Place of Destiny?
    
    
35. 9781601780003
    Meet the Puritans: With A Guide to Modern Reprints
    
    
36. 9780825415876
    What Jesus Demands from the World
    
    
37. 9780007150649
    Statecraft
    
    
38. 9780830829316
    A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John: 1 (Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians Set)
    
    
39. 9780830825820
    The Expansion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Wilberforce, More, Chalmers and Finney (History of Evangelicalism)

A number of logistical and technical challenges have been conspiring against live-blogging here over the last day or so — hopefully those are now resolved and normal service can return. I am glad that Andrew Fountain has been posting — I hope you are enjoying his posts. I am thrilled to have now been able to make it here — last night at one stage it looked as though storms would prevent me from getting here this morning, but in the providence of God — here I am!

We have just had a great time of worship. It focused around the cross and that phrase in Isaiah 53: “He crushed him”! There was also a sense of commissioning from the risen Christ to go out into the world with a mission inspired by the cross.

P-J Smyth
Married to Ashleigh with three sons — Jack, Ben and Sam — P-J leads Godfirst Church in Johannesburg, which is now two and a half years old. P-J is involved with helping plant new churches around Johannesburg and Southern Africa. His book, The World Needs More Elders, is helping many churches accelerate their development of leaders.

See also Andrew Fountain's notes on this talk: Joshua Part 2 - A New Phase in the Kingdom.

P-J Smyth spoke first today. He asked us to turn to Joshua 13:1 — the exact halfway point of the book. He began by explaining that this verse acts as a junction between two phases of the book. The first phase is all about being together and fighting battles together — a “we” phase.

Phase 2 begins when Joshua was old and much ground had been taken. “You are very old and there is still much to do.” Now there is a change, it's no longer all together. It's time to distribute it. Divide up the land. Pass the ball. The shift is to have trust in others. The purpose is to both hold what was taken already and to push on to more. Each of us has our own inheritance within our joint inheritance. We also have our own individual responsibility within what God has given us all to do together.

The second-half phase is critical to any ministry. This applies to small groups, eldership teams, a church itself, church movements. If we maintain things too tightly, we can drift into "headquarter-ism," passivity, or frustration. But it is not about unhealthy individualism, either.

Tips from the book. In chapter 13, we see everybody got an allotment. In verse 14, we see that the Levites did not have an inheritance of land, but the offerings. God is their inheritance. They did have a clear role, but a different one to the others. It was not as visible. They did not have clear territories. It wasn't easy to pin down. There is a role in not having a role!

Caleb, an older man in chapter 14:7, was, in contrast, very specific. “Now, give me my mountain.” ME is okay as long as it is part of the WE. He had waited for forty years because of the corporate need. He loved the together, refusing to do it alone for all those years. There is a time for individual response and a time to move together. Are you still in pursuit of your mountain? Or are you tired of waiting?

Chapter 15:17ff is a younger lady — Caleb's daughter. She asks for a special favour. We can go to the Father direct. God has an inheritance for each of us. She wasn't just grateful for what she had, but asked for more. We need to be very cheeky in what we ask for! Simon Pettit used to pray, “Lord, you say we don't have because we don't ask. Well, here we are asking .....”

Judah couldn't do it. Perhaps they should have asked for help. Or maybe it's just one of those sovereign things that are associated with living in a fallen world. We will have some disappointments. We shouldn't allow ourselves to be discouraged. We need to be looking forward, longing for heaven. We need battle experience.

The tribe of Joseph in chapter 17:14ff responded by reminding Joshua how blessed they were. In verse 15, Joshua says “go for it.” They replied to that by saying we need more, and reminding him of the strength of the people. Suddenly they seem weak, and so Joshua encourages them further. The “me moment” is really scary, but we must press on through. Joseph seemed to think the others should clear the land for it. Joshua didn't offer to clear the land for them. Sometimes it's just us and God. Don't do too much for them, rather let them do it. Allow their gift to make room for them. But do prophecy and speak faith and life.

Each of us has a specific role. Don't look at others and say, “Why can't I be like that?”

Simeon and Judah in 19:1. Joshua gave from Judah to Simeon as they had more than they needed. All have an inheritance, but for some it seems like it's part of someone else's. Some of us are "number two" type leaders. It's still your inheritance in the Lord, but wrapped up in another's. We need to learn to be content with that. Be delighted with people like Titus.

In chapter 22, we see those who had served others and were told it is now time to return to what is yours. Civil war nearly arises. There is an investigation, and they said that they were concerned that in the future they would be told they were not part of it. We need to take initiative, and sometimes others might even think we are rebels. Leaders at every level need to rise up. Sometimes, like David, we will be called proud and conceited. It is not a question of being motivated by our own glory; rather it is the glory of God. We can't go much further without each of us being all we are meant to be in God. We need to take responsibility to hold land and take land. Let's rise to the challenge. We must each play our part submitted to the leadership and the whole vision. We are still together, but each having a part to play in fulfilling the promises God has given us and the vision God gives us.

Today we draw to a close our series on the attributes of God—which has been inspired by the T4G Statement—by publishing an article which, in an abridged form, has already been published in the online Comment magazine.

The article addresses the nature of God, but focuses on the fact that we need to learn to love this God—which is surely a good way for us to round off this series.

For more posts on the T4G Statement, Articles 1-4 see Ten Conclusions About Expository Preaching, and for more on Articles 5 and 6, see the following posts:

• Book Review on How Much Does God Foreknow?
  

• T4G Articles 5-6 — Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Trinity and Attributes of God
  

• International Federation of Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches Issue Warning — Do Not Jump in Church This Weekend
  

• T4G Articles 5-6 — The Attributes of God and the Trinity
  

In the light of eternity, we are all beginners in the task of learning to love God. It is the most significant challenge faced by the Christian. When asked what is the greatest commandment, Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” It is a measure of our spiritual weakness that we see this challenge as somehow less critical than the challenge to live morally.

How can I love someone I have never seen? We may experience a form of “love” for a character we read about in a book or see in a movie, but is that anything like the love we feel for someone we actually know? Is our love for God just a form of admiration that we might feel for a hero in a novel or the long-deceased subject of a biography. God is not the long-dead subject of a book. He is a living, breathing Person. How then can we learn to love Him as a real person?

I am convinced that the way we learn how to love God is to think of our relationship with Him in the same way we do with people we can physically see. God wants us to be His friends and to enjoy loving the One who is the most worthy of our love. We grow in our love for God in the same way we grow in our love for anyone else. In this article I will show you ways in which we build our relationships with other people and then apply them to how we can learn to love God Himself.


Love Goes Beyond Mere Feelings
The first thing to consider is, what does love actually mean? Many people think that love is simply an emotional feeling — like the way you feel when your knees go weak when you meet that someone of the opposite sex for the first time. Too often songs and sermons tell Christians to relate to God as if He were their heavenly boyfriend. Not surprisingly, that picture is frequently not very appealing to men. As Mark Driscoll says, “It's hard to worship someone you can beat up.” We must learn to love the real Jesus—not a weak imitation.

The contemporary concept of love is far from the biblical one. It is dangerous to think of love in merely emotional terms: Love is a “doing word,” a word full of action. It requires choices—hard choices sometimes. Love is about sacrifice, about faithfulness. It requires commitment. It doesn't always feel so good, and sometimes may even be very painful. As Daniel Bedingfield sings, “Nothing hurts like love, nothing causes your heart so much pain.” Loving God is no different. It, too, will at times be painful.

The first step toward learning to love God is to respond to His love for us. We do this because of what He has done for us: “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Like any other covenant relationship, we decide to love irrespective of how we feel or, indeed, how it appears to us another person is treating us. The extent of true love for someone else is not measured by how we feel about him when everything is going well. Satan's words could as easily have read, “Does Job love God for nothing?” (Job 1). Our challenge is to love even when we feel things are not going well — to love from the core of ourselves even when we feel despair attempting to take hold.

What is love? Love is a deep-seated orientation of your life towards someone else. It involves your whole being. It usually involves deciding to put the needs of another person before your own. Just ask any parent. Our relationship with God is no different, except that He doesn't have any needs—we are needy. We come to God determined to centre our lives around Him, and to put ourselves in the position of needy recipients of His grace. He calls us to serve Him and worship Him, but it is not because He is deficient in any way. We come to God as receivers, not givers. We love God as little children love their parents, and serve Him in the same way a good mother will ask her child to help her in the kitchen so the child will learn and so they can be together.


Love Requires Spending Time Together
There are no shortcuts to loving someone. Love demands interaction and communication, and these require an investment of time. Imagine a friend who comes to you complaining about his girlfriend. He explains that their relationship just doesn't seem to be going anywhere. You ask him how long they have been going out, and what their conversations are like. Your friend replies, “Oh, we don't actually go out and talk with each other!” Many Christians spend little or no time with God and then wonder why they are not growing in their relationship with Him.

What does spending time with God look like? Clearly one of the most important ways we spend time with God is in prayer. But how do we pray in such a way that we actually feel that we are in the presence of God — that we are in a real conversation with Him? Prayer must not be merely reciting a shopping list to God. Instead of rushing to ask Him to do things for us, we start by praising Him for who He is and thanking Him for what He has done for us. As we do this and experience clear answers to prayer, just as in any relationship, more of a sense of a shared history with God will emerge and love will deepen. The longer we know Him and the more we remember how He has helped us and answered our prayers, the more we will love Him. But prayer is not only about setting aside special periods of time to be with God. It's that sense of continually communing with Him in our daily routine. It is critical that we also spend time with God in repentance and receiving forgiveness. Jesus said that those who are forgiven much will love much (Luke 7:49).


Love Requires a Deep Knowledge and Understanding of the Other Person
There is no substitute for getting to know and understand God by reading the Bible. We must grow in the biblical knowledge of who God is and what He is like. Many Christians have only a vague idea of the character of God and are unable to identify where the Bible teaches what we assume about Him. To grow in our love for God, the Bible must shape our beliefs about God. I believe it is important that we know why we believe what we do, and that we do not merely parrot theories taught by others.

Do we merely “assume” certain truths about God? Unfortunately, not all of these can be assumed these days. Where C. S. Lewis was able to say, for example, “Everyone who believes in God at all believes that He knows what you and I are going to do tomorrow” (Mere Christianity), we can no longer assert it as something generally understood by our culture. If we compromise on these truths and we end up with a God who doesn't know everything or who isn't all-powerful, our ability to love such a weakened God is severely diminished.

As we learn more about God—His glory, His perfection, and His existence as the Trinity—I believe our love for Him will grow. We can trace throughout the Bible the unique characteristics of God, and see how Jesus shares every one of these. It is said of Jesus that "in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2:9). He is the revelation of God to us. The more we learn of Him, the more we love Him.

We must understand God in all his transcendence and immanence. As the book of Exodus describes God: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:6-7). Many Christians emphasize one or the other of these aspects. It is only as we understand that God is both loving and holy, near to us yet separate from us, that we will learn to love Him for who He is. The following table will help you to allow the Scriptures to shape your understanding of God and the way that Jesus shares all of His attributes:

GOD EXISTS ETERNALLY
God: Psalm 90:2; Revelation 1:8
Jesus: John 1:1-5; John 17:5; Revelation 22:13

GOD IS LOVE
God: 1 John 4:8
Jesus: John 17:24

GOD IS THE CREATOR
God: Romans 11:36; Psalm 104:24; Acts 17:24-25; Ephesians 3:10
Jesus: Colossians 1:15-17

GOD IS OMNISCIENT - HE KNOWS EVERYTHING
God: 1 John 3:20; Hebrews 4:13; Psalm 139
Jesus: John 2:24-25; John 16:30

GOD KNOWS THE FUTURE
God: Isaiah 46:9-11
Jesus: John 13:19

GOD IS NOT BOUND BY TIME
God: 2 Peter 3:8; Psalm 90:4; Exodus 3:14
Jesus: John 8:58-59

GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE
God: Malachi 3:6
Jesus: Hebrews 13:8

GOD IS WISE
God: Romans 16:27; Psalm 147:5
Jesus: 1 Corinthians 1:24

GOD IS TRUTH
God: Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:2
Jesus: John 14:6

GOD IS OMNIPRESENT - HE IS EVERYWHERE
God: Psalms 139:7-10; Jeremiah 23:24
Jesus: Matthew 18:20

GOD IS OMNIPOTENT - HE IS ALL POWERFUL
God: Jeremiah 32:17; Ephesians 3:20
Jesus: Mark 4:41

GOD IS UNCONTAINABLE
God: 1 Kings 8:27
Jesus: Matthew 17:2-6

GOD IS LIGHT
God: 1 John 1:5
Jesus: John 8:12

GOD IS SPIRIT
God: John 4:24
Jesus: John 1:14

GOD IS HOLY
God: Psalm 99:9
Jesus: Luke 4:34

GOD IS RIGHTEOUS AND JUST
God: Luke 18:19; Matthew 5:48
Jesus: 2 Corinthians 5:21

GOD IS JEALOUS AND FULL OF WRATH
God: Nahum 1:2
Jesus: John 2:17

GOD'S WILL ALWAYS ULTIMATELY COMES TO PASS
God: Ephesians 1:11; Job 42:2; Proverbs 19:21; Psalm 115:3
Jesus: Matthew 28:18

The Spirit Helps Us to Love God
It is sad that the arguments over charismatic gifts of the last century have led so many of us to forget that for hundreds of years many Christians understood that our birthright is an experience of God mediated by the Holy Spirit.

Christian leaders of the past spoke of a pouring out of the Holy Spirit that would help us to experience God's love. That is rarely spoken about today—even charismatic Christians sometimes have a tendency to over-emphasize the gifts instead of the Holy Spirit’s work in promoting the intimate knowledge of God that we are intended to have. The Bible describes the Spirit as follows: “For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). Clearly it is not an option to ignore the Third Person of the Trinity if we want to grow in our love for God.

Jesus is very clear about how we demonstrate our love for Him, and what the results are. He links obedience with love, and then He promises that those who obey Him will know the presence of God by way of the Spirit’s presence in the world: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him . . . my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:21).

The Apostle Paul describes it this way: “God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5) He also writes, “Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6). If we need help in loving God, we should ask His Spirit to aid us in our weakness and teach us how to love Him.

Jesus says an incredible thing: “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). I am increasingly provoked that few Christians would say that their experience of the Spirit was preferable to Jesus’ living in the world bodily. But Christians should seek a deeper experience of God's Spirit — not for experience's sake, but that we might love God more.


We Learn to Love Others by Spending Time With Their Friends
How often do Christians effectively say to Jesus,, "I love you, but I don’t really like your bride," by their indifference and their lack of commitment to a local expression of the Church? For all of us who are beginners at loving God, playing active roles in local congregations will help us learn to love God in all of the way I have mentioned so far. But more than that, by giving and receiving love from other members of the family of God, we will be exposed to the many facets reflecting the glory of God. The church is intended to demonstrate the multicolored wisdom and glory of God (Ephesians 3:10). We cannot love God properly without loving His Church. As we learn to give ourselves sacrificially in love to our spiritual family in the same way we love our natural family, our love for God increases. This is of such vital importance that Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

I believe God has put the Church on earth to love God, to love each other, and to love the world. I pray that God will give us the desire and ability to do each of these better.

Read more about loving God on Adrian's blog:

• What is Love?


• What is God Like?

The next two articles in the Together for the Gospel Statement discuss the nature of God. The concept of the Trinity is so entwined with God’s attributes and who He is I have decided to roll these two articles into one. I have already posted an extensive set of notes and an audio on the attributes of God and the Trinity. In my talk I demonstrated that Jesus can be shown from the Bible to share every major attribute of God that theologians describe. Enough of these are also ascribed clearly to the Spirit for us to say He must hold all the unique attributes of God also. There are also more articles on the trinity elsewhere on my blog.

Today, after sharing the two articles, I will share a long quote from what may possibly be the best article on the Trinity in the world. It is cited as by "Desiring God Staff" tho I am sure Piper was involved in it somehow. I encourage you to go read it all—I think it will be incredibly helpful.

Article V

We affirm that the Bible reveals God to be infinite in all his perfections, and thus truly omniscient, omnipotent, timeless, and self-existent. We further affirm that God possesses perfect knowledge of all things, past, present, and future, including all human thoughts, acts, and decisions.

We deny that the God of the Bible is in any way limited in terms of knowledge or power or any other perfection or attribute, or that God has in any way limited his own perfections.

Article VI

We affirm that the doctrine of the Trinity is a Christian essential, bearing witness to the ontological reality of the one true God in three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each of the same substance and perfections.

We deny the claim that the Trinity is not an essential doctrine, or that the Trinity can be understood in merely economic or functional categories.

“WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT GOD IS A TRINITY?

The doctrine of the Trinity means that there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Stated differently, God is one in essence and three in person. These definitions express three crucial truths: (1) The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons; (2) each Person is fully God; (3) there is only one God.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons. The Bible speaks of the Father as God (Philippians 1:2), Jesus as God (Titus 2:13), and the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-4). Are these just three different ways of looking at God, or simply ways of referring to three different roles that God plays?

The answer must be no, because the Bible also indicates that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons. For example, since the Father sent the Son into the world (John 3:16), He cannot be the same person as the Son. Likewise, after the Son returned to the Father (John 16:10), the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit into the world (John 14:26; Acts 2:33). Therefore, the Holy Spirit must be distinct from the Father and the Son.

In the baptism of Jesus, we see the Father speaking from heaven and the Spirit descending from heaven in the form of a dove as Jesus comes out of the water (Mark 1:10-11). In John 1:1 it is affirmed that Jesus is God and, at the same time, that He was "with God"—thereby indicating that Jesus is a distinct Person from God the Father (cf. also 1:18). And in John 16:13-15 we see that although there is a close unity between them all, the Holy Spirit is also distinct from the Father and the Son.

The fact that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons means, in other words, that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Jesus is God, but He is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, but He is not the Son or the Father. They are different Persons, not three different ways of looking at God.

The personhood of each member of the Trinity means that each Person has a distinct center of consciousness. Thus, they relate to each other personally—the Father regards Himself as "I," while He regards the Son and Holy Spirit as "You." Likewise the Son regards Himself as "I," but the Father and the Holy Spirit as "You."

Often it is objected that "If Jesus is God, then he must have prayed to Himself while He was on earth." But the answer to this objection lies in simply applying what we have already seen. While Jesus and the Father are both God, they are different Persons. Thus, Jesus prayed to God the Father without praying to Himself. In fact, it is precisely the continuing dialog between the Father and the Son (Matthew 3:17; 17:5; John 5:19; 11:41-42; 17:1ff) which furnishes the best evidence that they are distinct Persons with distinct centers of consciousness.

Sometimes the Personhood of the Father and Son is appreciated, but the Personhood of the Holy Spirit is neglected. Sometimes the Spirit is treated more like a "force" than a Person. But the Holy Spirit is not an it, but a He (see John 14:26; 16:7-15; Acts 8:16). The fact that the Holy Spirit is a Person, not an impersonal force (like gravity), is also shown by the fact that He speaks (Hebrews 3:7), reasons (Acts 15:28), thinks and understands (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), wills (1 Corinthians 12:11), feels (Ephesians 4:30), and gives personal fellowship (2 Corinthians 13:14). These are all qualities of personhood. In addition to these texts, the others we mentioned above make clear that the Personhood of the Holy Spirit is distinct from the Personhood of the Son and the Father. They are three real persons, not three roles God plays.

Another serious error people have made is to think that the Father became the Son, who then became the Holy Spirit. Contrary to this, the passages we have seen imply that God always was and always will be three Persons. There was never a time when one of the Persons of the Godhead did not exist. They are all eternal.

While the three members of the Trinity are distinct, this does not mean that any is inferior to the other. Instead, they are all identical in attributes. They are equal in power, love, mercy, justice, holiness, knowledge, and all other qualities.

Each Person is fully God. If God is three Persons, does this mean that each Person is "one-third" of God? Does the Trinity mean that God is divided into three parts?

The Trinity does not divide God into three parts. The Bible is clear that all three Persons are each one hundred percent God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all fully God. For example, it says of Christ that "in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9). We should not think of God as like a "pie" cut into three pieces, each piece representing a Person. This would make each Person less than fully God and thus not God at all. Rather, "the being of each Person is equal to the whole being of God." The divine essence is not something that is divided between the three persons, but is fully in all three persons without being divided into "parts."

Thus, the Son is not one-third of the being of God, He is all of the being of God. The Father is not one-third of the being of God, He is all of the being of God. And likewise with the Holy Spirit. Thus, as Wayne Grudem writes, "When we speak of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together we are not speaking of any greater being than when we speak of the Father alone, the Son alone, or the Holy Spirit alone."

There is only one God. If each Person of the Trinity is distinct and yet fully God, then should we conclude that there is more than one God? Obviously we cannot, for Scripture is clear that there is only one God: "There is no other God besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:21-22; see also 44:6-8; Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 4:35; 6:4-5; 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:2; 1 Kings 8:60).

Having seen that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct Persons, that they are each fully God, and that there is nonetheless only one God, we must conclude that all three Persons are the same God. In other words, there is one God who exists as three distinct Persons.

If there is one passage which most clearly brings all of this together, it is Matthew 28:19: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." First, notice that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinguished as distinct Persons. We baptize into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Second, notice that each Person must be deity because they are all placed on the same level. In fact, would Jesus have us baptize in the name of a mere creature? Surely not. Therefore each of the Persons into whose name we are to be baptized must be deity. Third, notice that although the three divine Persons are distinct, we are baptized into their name (singular), not names (plural). The three Persons are distinct, yet only constitute one name. This can only be if they share one essence . . . .

How is God one? He is one in essence. How is God three? He is three in Person. Essence and person are not the same thing. God is one in a certain way (essence) and three in a different way (person). Since God is one in a different way than He is three, the Trinity is not a contradiction. There would only be a contradiction if we said that God is three in the same way that He is one.

So a closer look at the fact that God is one in essence but three in person has helped to show why the Trinity is not a contradiction. But how does it show us why there is only one God instead of three? It is very simple: All three Persons are one God because, as we saw above, they are all the same essence. Essence means the same thing as "being." Thus, since God is only one essence, He is only one being-not three. This should make it clear why it is so important to understand that all three Persons are the same essence. For if we deny this, we have denied God's unity and affirmed that there is more than one being of God (i.e., that there is more than one God).

What we have seen so far provides a good basic understanding of the Trinity. But it is possible to go deeper. If we can understand more precisely what is meant by essence and person, how these two terms differ, and how they relate, we will then have a more complete understanding of the Trinity.

ESSENCE AND PERSON
Essence. What does essence mean? As I said earlier, it means the same thing as being. God's essence is His being. To be even more precise, essence is what you are. At the risk of sounding too physical, essence can be understood as the "stuff" that you "consist of." Of course we are speaking by analogy here, for we cannot understand this in a physical way about God. "God is spirit" (John 4:24). Further, we clearly should not think of God as "consisting of" anything other than divinity. The "substance" of God is God, not a bunch of "ingredients" that taken together yield deity.

Person. In regards to the Trinity, we use the term "Person" differently than we generally use it in everyday life. Therefore it is often difficult to have a concrete definition of Person as we use it in regards to the Trinity. What we do not mean by Person is an "independent individual" in the sense that both I and another human are separate, independent individuals who can exist apart from one another.

What we do mean by Person is something that regards himself as "I" and others as "You." So the Father, for example, is a different Person from the Son because He regards the Son as a "You," even though He regards Himself as "I." Thus, in regards to the Trinity, we can say that "Person" means a distinct subject which regards Himself as an "I" and the other two as a "You." These distinct subjects are not a division within the being of God, but "a form of personal existence other than a difference in being."

How do they relate? The relationship between essence and Person, then, is as follows. Within God's one, undivided being is an "unfolding" into three personal distinctions. These personal distinctions are modes of existence within the divine being, but are not divisions of the divine being. They are personal forms of existence other than a difference in being. The late theologian, Herman Bavinck, has stated something very helpful at this point: "The persons are modes of existence within the being; accordingly, the Persons differ among themselves as the one mode of existence differs from the other, and-using a common illustration-as the open palm differs from a closed fist."

Because each of these "forms of existence" are relational (and thus are Persons), they are each a distinct center of consciousness, with each center of consciousness regarding Himself as "I" and the others as "You." Nonetheless, these three Persons all "consist of" the same "stuff" (that is, the same "what," or essence). As theologian and apologist, Norman Geisler, has explained it: "While essence is what you are, person is who you are. So God is one 'what' but three 'whos'."

The divine essence is thus not something that exists "above" or "separate from" the three Persons, but the divine essence is the being of the three Persons. Neither should we think of the Persons as being defined by attributes added on to the being of God. Wayne Grudem explains: "But if each person is fully God and has all of God's being, then we also should not think that the personal distinctions are any kind of additional attributes added on to the being of God . . . Rather, each person of the Trinity has all of the attributes of God, and no one Person has any attributes that are not possessed by the others. On the other hand, we must say that the Persons are real, that they are not just different ways of looking at the one being of God...the only way it seems possible to do this is to say that the distinction between the persons is not a difference of `being' but a difference of `relationships.' This is something far removed from our human experience, where every different human `person' is a different being as well. Somehow God's being is so much greater than ours that within His one undivided being there can be an unfolding into interpersonal relationships, so that there can be three distinct persons." READ MORE . . .
© Desiring God. Website: http://www.desiringgod.org/

UPDATE
Much of the discussion on this issue is now occurring over at blogs belonging to Thabiti Anyabwile and Justin Taylor - Why not pop over and join in?

John Piper is never one to shy away from controversy or difficult subjects. This week has been no different. He has sent out an e-mail entitled How and Why Bethlehem Pursues Ethnic Diversity that is also published on his website—the main point of which is that he is looking specifically for non-white people who could be appointed to the pastoral staff of his church.

Piper gives five reasons to admire ethnic diversity in a church, and by extension these are the reasons he has determined to be intentional about pursuing this at Bethlehem:

1. It illustrates more clearly the truth that God created people of all races and ethnicities in his own image (Genesis 1:27).

2. It displays more visibly the truth that Jesus is not a tribal deity, but is the Lord of all races, nations, and ethnicities.

3. It demonstrates more clearly the blood-bought destiny of the church to be "from every tribe and language and people and nation" (Revelation 5:9).

4. It exhibits more compellingly the aim and power of the cross of Christ to "reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility" (Ephesians 2:16).

5. It expresses more forcefully the work of the Spirit to unite us in Christ. "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13).

John Piper — How and Why Bethlehem Pursues Ethnic Diversity

This is all very admirable, and shows that Piper is a step ahead of many of us who, whilst we might agree in theory that aiming to build a multicultural church is a good goal, have not given serious thought to exactly what needs to change in our church in order to make that a reality.

It is interesting that Piper seems to have determined that pursuing an ethnically diverse leadership should be a major part of that strategy. I wonder, however, if I am the only one not entirely convinced by the wisdom of Piper's plea to the readers of his website to find him "ethnic persons" who might be suitable members of his pastoral team.

I struggle with this appeal at a more basic level than that of any concerns some may have about "positive discrimination" or "affirmative action" (although I am very open to people debating both sides of that argument in the comment section if they so desire).

My issue is that I am not convinced that any form of advertisement is the best way to find new staff members for a church. Interviewing and appointing applicants for vital church leadership positions who are strangers to the existing church leaders seems so alien to New Testament practice as to be very questionable in any circumstance. New Testament leaders were raised up through personal friendship and discipleship—they were hand-selected.

I am surprised that Piper's church (like many other thriving churches) still feels the need to go outside their own local congregation for its pastors. As I read the New Testament, I am left with the impression that Paul quickly established teams of elders in each church with the goal that they become self-sustaining and self-replicating, and so that in the future the subsequent leadership would be raised up from within the local church. As an example of this process, we have the repeated urgings of Paul to Timothy and Titus to find men to whom they could pass on doctrine and appoint to leadership roles so that they, in turn, could do the same.

It seems to me that a modern church aiming to replicate as closely as possible the New Testament model should expect that it will have a steady stream of leaders being raised up within itself. In fact, a healthy church could even find itself able to give away such leaders—ideally not to alien situations, but to sister or daughter churches where a real relationship opens the way.

I firmly believe that God has very frequently already placed the future leaders He intends for a local congregation within that very same church congregation as a specific gift from Him. It is the existing leaders' role to find them—they can seem quite hidden at times—and then befriend, train, and release them.

Now, my understanding is that Piper's church often does just that. Perhaps, however, he has been unable to identify enough ethnic diversity in his pool of leaders locally. Without wanting to speculate precisely why that may be the case at Bethlehem, it strikes me that there are a number of reasons why a local church might find itself unable to establish an ethnically diverse leadership team:

1. It is, of course, impossible to raise up a multiracial leadership team from within a local church if that church is, in fact, an entirely monocultural congregation. Sadly, all too many churches are made up not only of one racial group, but one tribe, one social class, or even one age group. In my opinion, unless that honestly does reflect the profile of the local population of the town in which the church is based, this is not something which we should be content about.

2. There may be fundamental changes to the way we "do church" or the way we relate to each other that are needed before people from different backgrounds are able to feel comfortable being members, let alone leaders, in the church. The precise nature of these changes will differ—and often we simply do not know what they need to be unless we ask an unusually honest member of another culture. I am convinced that it is very costly to make such radical changes.

3. Where churches do have the beginnings of a multicultural congregation, identification of leaders who are not from the most frequent grouping within the church can be hampered because of cultural differences. A potential leader may just feel a bit uncomfortable socially there, like they don't quite fit. They might behave in a different way from the way in which the church leaders expect them to behave. They might be quieter or louder than a potential leader "should" be, according to cultural norms existing in that specific church. They might well suppress their gifts, believing perhaps that since they are relatively new members, more established people have the ministry needs covered.

I thank God that there are individuals who are seeking to make a home in churches where they are culturally in the minority. Some of these may be future leaders. Some may even have specifically decided they want to attend a church where they feel less comfortable so they can learn more about that different culture and how it “does church." Being in that "learning" phase may make it seem as if that person is not interested in any ministry role. I have certainly seen some very gifted people take a back seat for a season because they felt that was what God was calling them to do. The challenge for church leaders is to have the eye of faith to see beyond how someone may look on the surface to what God may be doing secretly on the inside as He is training that person for future leadership. How many gifted leaders are currently sitting on the back rows of churches just waiting for someone to notice, encourage, and train them?

How do you get that eye of faith? Well, I guess it has to be a combination of prayer and taking the time to get to know someone. If you are a pastor, just maybe the answer to your prayers for God to send you someone to help you have already been answered and the person is right there in your church just waiting for you to find them, befriend them, train them, and finally release them into the role to which God is calling them.

I have moved quite some way from what Piper himself was saying, and I hope that you will all see this for what it is—it certainly is not intended as a criticism of Dr. Piper. I certainly welcome his desire to build a multicultural church for that is, I am sure, something very much on the heart of God.

This interview is being serialised over several days. So far I have published part one, which focused on personal issues, and part two, in which we discussed Systematic Theology. In part three, we explored Grudem's charge that feminism inevitably leads to a denial of Scripture's authority. Part four honed in on the "trajectory" arguments used on both sides of this debate. In part five, we looked at the issue of women addressing church congregations. Part six examined John Piper's accusation of Steve Chalke over the atonement. In part seven, Dr. Grudem discussed two areas where we perhaps can agree to disagree - the charismatic and baptism. Part eight focused on Dr. Grudem's predictions concerning the future of the Church. This part concludes the interview. It addresses theological blind spots and an issue where there is clear disagreement between me and my theological hero.

 

The interview is summarised in my post Dr Wayne Grudem Interview - Highlights and Reflections.

I will shortly be posting a "highlights and personal reflections" round-up post, and have a couple of other things I want to say before I go on a Christmas break - so keep coming back!

Please join me in thanking Dr. Grudem for the time he has spent on this interview - I have enjoyed having him around! I hope you have, too.

Adrian
At the end of the day, with all these theological arguments, to me the most critical question boils down to "Can we accept the simple clear message of the Bible on this subject?" Do you agree that this is the most important question, and also, where do many go wrong?

Wayne
I tend to see many questions that way, and I hope others see them that way as well. The problem is that people on the other side of these questions wonder why I do not accept “the simple clear message of the Bible” on the subject at hand! And so we discuss these things with one another in Christian love.

But I do have to say that the egalitarian position is anything but obvious from the text of the Bible. It was hardly held by anyone (except the Quakers) for over 1800 years, as I explain in detail in my earlier book, Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth (2004).

Adrian
I do think that a humble attitude towards the Bible is perhaps the most important thing we should strive to have. Do you agree, however, that there are probably areas for many, if not all, of us where we are "blind" to the simple message of the Bible and allow either our traditions or our human reasoning to shape our teaching?

Wayne
Yes, I’m sure there are areas for all of us where we have made mistakes. I just wish I knew where they were! James has a good caution for us: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body” (James 3:1-2).

Adrian
I recently heard a respected Bible teacher criticise one chapter of your Systematic Theology and essentially accuse it of having just such a blind spot. He said that throughout the rest of the book you were constantly simply asking - "What do the verses say?" - but that on the subject of the structure of the church, that seemed to suddenly change and you were merely describing, "Well, this is what the Methodists do . . . this is what the Anglicans do . . ." How would you answer this accusation, and do you believe that the New Testament does have a clear model for church government that could be applied today?

Wayne
I’m not sure that he took account of the whole chapter. I did describe what various denominations have done about church government in the history of the church because I wanted students to understand how different denominations govern themselves, and how they’ve reached different conclusions about this question. But I also argued for my own understanding of a biblical pattern for church government, which is plural local elders governing a church, with the pastor or senior pastor being one of those elders. That seems to me to be the pattern in several verses of Scripture where we have indications about church government. James writes to all the churches in the Roman Empire at that time and he expects that there will be “elders” who will pray for the sick in every church (James 5:14). Paul appointed “elders” (plural) in “every church” (Acts 14:23), and he wants Titus to appoint “elders” in “every town” in Crete (Titus 1:5). There is a consistent pattern of plural elders governing every church.

Adrian
This Bible teacher went on to explain in his talk what he felt was the biblical model for the church – independent local congregations led by teams of elders who were appointed and helped by apostles. He argued we should have an identical structure today. Such a view separates the gift of Scripture writing and apostleship – after all, many of the original apostles didn’t write any Scripture at all, so if that was their only job they weren’t very efficient at it! I guess it could be argued that such a view does to apostles what you did to prophecy in your book – i.e. it removes their infallibility and instead makes them something that serves the local church and that, as per Ephesians 4, should be expected to persist until the church is perfect. What would your response be to such an argument?

Wayne
The whole issue is - What replaces the apostles? Everybody agrees that apostles were in charge of the churches at the time of the New Testament. The Roman Catholics say that the bishops and Pope have replaced the apostles. But the Protestant position has generally been that the writings of the apostles – that is, the New Testament Scriptures that were written or authorized by apostles – have replaced living apostles in the church.

There is no record of the apostles appointing successor “apostles” to fill in for them when they were gone. Peter sends not a replacement apostle, but an epistle to the churches of Asia Minor, telling them he is doing this so that “after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things” (2 Peter 1:15). Paul tells the Ephesian elders that “after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock,” but he does not tell them to be subject to some new apostles whom he will send, but tells them to look to Scripture: “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).

And I do think that the apostles had absolute authority to speak words of God and govern the churches as Christ’s direct representatives, a kind of authority that no human being has today. (I argue this in the chapter on church government in Systematic Theology).

But this does not mean that the apostles intended churches to be completely independent of one another. In fact, I don’t think there were any truly “independent” local churches in the New Testament, for they were all under the authority of the apostles. But if the apostles’ writings (in the New Testament) replace the apostles’ absolute authority over the churches, is there anything that is a modern counterpart to the personal oversight and connection that the early churches had?

Many denominations have thought that a wise modern counterpart for the apostolic oversight of local churches is some kind of denominational structure, and historically many denominations have had stronger or weaker denominational authority over individual local congregations. Honestly, I think the New Testament leaves us a fair bit of freedom in this regard, and various structures seem to work fairly well.

I have found it interesting to be in an “independent Bible church” - for the first time in my life - during the last five years. I love the church and think it does many things very well. But there is frequent talk of forming an “association” with other like-minded churches, or at least the other churches we have planted. And I do see some benefits that come from association with other churches in a denomination, benefits that my own church now does not share in because it is independent. So it seems to me that churches over time just seem to have a tendency to form networks or association with other like-minded churches, and these are the beginnings of denominations. I just think there is quite a bit of freedom in the Bible in this regard, and various systems seem to work very well.

However, I think I also argue in Systematic Theology that it is always wise to have a governing structure where the highest governing offices in the church and the highest positions of influence are open to lay people as well as ordained people. The denominations where only clergy have the highest of authority seem to be the ones that are never able to be brought back once they drift into liberalism because the ordinary lay people who have common sense and are reading their Bibles every day don’t have any way to regain control of a denomination that has gone astray if it has that kind of structure.

Adrian
This has turned into quite a long interview. Before I let you go, is there anything else you would like to say to my readers – perhaps one last reason why they should go and get the book?

Wayne
One last reason why they should go and get the book? I think the book, Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? will help readers to know the danger signs and the arguments to avoid when evangelical feminists try to take their churches down the path to liberalism.

And then for much fuller documentation and argument, readers may also want to buy the 856-page comprehensive reference book I published two years ago on this subject, Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth (Multnomah and IVP-UK). That book answers in some detail all of the 118 evangelical feminist arguments that I found in my research.

Finally, just in case someone thinks that an 856-page reference work is too long, Multnomah has published (just last month) a condensed version of that huge book that is a popular overview of the whole controversy. It’s called Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism. It’s just 320 pages - a quick read. So there you have three books on this topic, all in one interview. (And I hope I’ve finished writing on this topic for the rest of my life!)

Adrian
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to join us, Dr. Grudem!

Wayne
Thank you, Adrian, for your excellent ministry, and for allowing me the privilege of participating in this dialog.

At Jubilee we have been doing a series of talks this autumn, each one lasting about an hour, during which we attempt to instruct the hearer to a greater extent than is possible in our Sunday morning sermons. One of the ones I did - which was on the subject of "What is God Like?" - has just been made available online at the Jubilee Audio Sermons site. You can visit there to download the sermon or listen to it here:



These talks have been inspired by the following verse:

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

I do want to acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Wayne Grudem, whose Systematic Theology was used as a major resource for this talk. When preparing to speak as a Christian, I believe that it is important to lean on the wisdom found in the work of others, and I certainly did that here.

I definitely did make this my own, however, so don't blame Dr. Grudem for any errors! I will now share the full notes here. You can also download the PowerPoint file. As with all my material on this blog, you are welcome to use it in any way that does not involve making a profit, and you should, of course, attribute it if you copy the entire article.


THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD - WHAT IS GOD LIKE?

Do NOT expect to understand everything about God - He is infinite; we are finite and cannot understand Him fully. Almost all language used about God is a metaphor, and therefore it has the whisper “God is, but is not the same” as the concept used to describe Him.

This is not a mere intellectual exercise, but has two goals:

1. To know, worship, and follow God more.

2. For our beliefs about God to be clearly grounded in the Bible.

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)

Arguments for God’s Existence

• Intelligent design of the universe (teleological).
• God as the ultimate cause - that which came first (cosmological).
• The greatest being we can conceive (ontological).
• The presence of a universal basic set of ethics (moral argument).
• The spiritual nature of mankind – the mind/body problem.
• The God-shaped hole in all cultures.
• Christianity does people good (pragmatic argument).
• But . . . we cannot use our reason to prove God’s existence, for that would make our reason above God.

The Bible Assumes God Exists and People Know

• “In the beginning, God created ...” (Genesis 1:1)
• “…his invisible attributes...have been clearly perceived...” (Romans 1:18-22)
• “The fool says in his heart, There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)
• God is unknowable and invisible, but chooses to reveal Himself.
• “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways…” (Romans 11:33-34)
• “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

God Has Both Transcendence and Immanence

• Christians often emphasise one or the other.
• Jesus – the revelation of God.
• “…the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power...” (Hebrews 1:1-4)
• “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.” (John 1:18)
• “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.” (John 12:41)
• “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him … Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (John 14:7-10)

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

• “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)
• “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)
• “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:9-11)
• “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 4:6)

The Trinity Reflects a Chain of Authority

• “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” (John 15:26)
• “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3)
• “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” (John 14:10)
• “God has put all things in subjection under his feet...when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:27-28)

We Believe in One God in Three Persons

• “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26)
  “...baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)
• “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” (Matthew 4:10)
  “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God.” (Isaiah 45:5)
• Jesus accepts worship: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)
• “Let all God's angels worship him.” (Hebrews 1:6)
• Jesus shares seventeen attributes unique to God - “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” (Colossians 2:9)

1. God is an Independent Community - Because of His Self-Sufficiency and Trinity, He Doesn’t Need Us!

• “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:24-25)
• He didn’t make the world because he was lonely.
• “God is love.” (1 John 4:8)
• Jesus: “Father . . . you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24)

2. God is the Creator of Everything.

• God: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36)
• Jesus: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17)
• The Spirit: “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2)

God created diversity

• “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” (Psalm 104:24)
• “...so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 3:10)

3. God is Eternal – He Always Existed

• God: “Before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:2)
  “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Revelation 1:8)
• Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5)
• “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13)
• “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:5)
• Spirit: "...through the eternal Spirit..." (Heb 9:14)

4. God is Omniscient – He Knows Everything

• God: “For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.” (1 John 3:20)
• “No creature is hidden from his sight...” (Hebrews 4:13)
• “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:17)
• Jesus: “...needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” (John 2:24-25)
• “Now we know that you know all things.” (John 16:30)
• Spirit: “For the Spirit searches everything...” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11)
• Psalm 139:1-6

God knows the future

• God: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose . . . I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.’” (Isaiah 46:9-11)
• Jesus: “I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am.” (John 13:9)
• "God knows everything that ever was, everything that now is, and everything that is to be; all that is actual and all that is possible. Therefore God knows in advance all the free acts of all free creatures." (John Edgren)
• “Everyone who believes in God at all believes that He knows what you and I are going to do tomorrow.” (C. S. Lewis)
• Openess Theology denies this.

5. God is Not Bound by Time

• God: “. . . with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8)
• “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:4)
• “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14) or I am what I am, or I will be what I will be – God’s name Yahweh.
• Jesus: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him.” (John 8:58-59)
• Wayne Grudem: “God views the whole span of history as vividly as He would if it were a brief event that had just happened. But He also views a brief event as if it were going on forever. God sees and knows all events – past, present, and future – with equal vividness. Though He has no succession of moments, He still sees the progression of events at different points in time.”

6. God is Unchangeable

• God: “For I the Lord do not change.” (Malachi 3:6)
• Jesus: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
• God both does and doesn’t have regrets!
• “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me.” (1 Samuel 15:11)
• "The Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” (1 Samuel 15:29)
• But God does truly relate to us.
• “If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.” (Jeremiah 18:7-10)
• John Piper: “So the repentance over Saul means not that he did not know what Saul would be like, but that he disapproves of what Saul has become and that he feels sorrow at this evil in his anointed king, and that he looks back on his making him king with the same sorrow that he experienced at that moment when he made him king, foreknowing all the sorrow that would come. For God to say, "I feel sorrow that I made Saul king," is not the same as saying, "I would not make him king if I had it to do over, knowing what I know now." God is able to feel sorrow for an act that He does in view of foreknown evil and pain, and yet go ahead and will to do it for wise reasons.”

7. God is Wise

• God: “. . . the only wise God.” (Romans 16:27, see Psalm 147:5)
• Jesus: “Christ...the wisdom of God.” (1 Cointhians 1:24)
• Holy Spirit: “. . . the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and under-standing, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:2)

8. God is Truth

• God: “God is not man, that he should lie...” (Numbers 23:19)
• “God, who never lies.” (Titus 1:2)
• Jesus “I am the way, and the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6)

9. God is Omnipresent – He is Everywhere

• God: “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence...” (Psalm 139:7-10)
• "Do I not fill heaven and earth, declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:24)
• Jesus: “ For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:20)
• But, it is not wrong to speak of God “coming.”
• “...we will come to him and make our home.” (John 14:21)
• “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send...” (John 15:26)

10. God is Omnipotent – He is All-Powerful

• “... Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17)
• “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…” (Ephesians 3:20)
• Jesus: “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41)

11. God is Uncontainable

• God: “…heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you...” (1 Kings 8:27)
• Jesus: “...he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light...” (Matthew 17:2-6) (Building a tent to contain him was foolish!)

12. “God is Light.” (1 John 1:5)

• Jesus - “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12)

13. “God is Spirit.” (John 4:24)

• Jesus “And the Word became flesh...” (John 1:14)

14. “God is Holy.” (Psalm 99:9)

• Jesus “I know who you are the Holy One of God.” (Luke 4:34)

15. God is Righteous and Just

• God: “No one is good except God alone.” (Luke 18:19)
• “. . . your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
• Jesus: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

16. God is Jealous and Full of Wrath Against Sin

• God: “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful…” (Nahum 1:2)
• Jesus: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” (John 2:17)

17. God is Sovereign - His Will Always Comes to Pass

• God: “. . . according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” (Ephesians 1:11)
• “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)
• “… it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21)
• “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” (Psalm 115:3)
• Jesus: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18)

But he is not responsible for sin.

• “God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one...” (James 1:13-14)

WHO IS JESUS?

Jesus Shares All the Attributes of God

• He was eternally one of the three persons in the Trinity. He is frequently described with the word “lord” which is used 6,814 times in the Septuagent for Jehovah/Yahweh. Jesus is also fully man and a real man’s man.
• “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him . . . the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1) “And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.” (John 2:15)

Jesus Was Truly a Man

• He was born of a normal human mother.
• He “grew and became strong” (Luke 2:40) and “increased in wisdom and in stature
  and in favour with God and man.” (Luke 2:52)
• He was hungry.” (Matthew 4:2) and he said, “I thirst.” (John 19:28)
• He got “wearied” from a journey (John 4:6) and he slept. (Luke 8:23)
• He was not a “Clark Kent” figure only pretending to be vulnerable.
• There were things that Jesus, the man, did not know. "But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Mark 13:32)

Jesus Felt All Our Emotions

• He “marvelled.” (Matthew 8:10)
• “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The sceptre of your kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” (Psalm 45:6-7)
• “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)
• “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” (Matthew 26:38)
• John Piper: “Jesus was fully human and fully God – he was not God with a human veneer – like a costume. He was a real flesh and blood man, a carpenter's son.”
• Mark Driscoll: “It's hard to worship someone you can beat up.”
• Wayne Grudem: “An infinite God came to live in a finite world. In Jesus, God and man became one person . . . For Jesus Christ was and always will be, fully God and fully man in one person.”

Jesus Remains a Man Forever

• “…a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have...” (Luke 24:38-43)
• “This Jesus…will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

How Can Jesus be Both Man and God?

• Error 1 - A human body, but not a human mind or spirit – Mickey Mouse suit.
• Error 2 – Two persons in one body – circus “horse” suit.
• Error 3 – One new nature – neither God nor man! -Drop of ink in water.
• The Solution: Two natures, but one person (see Power Point for graphical images of these - thanks to Wayne Grudem for the illustrations!)

Some Things are True of Only One of Jesus' Natures

• Jesus’ human nature ascended to heaven and is no longer in the world - John 16:28 “I am leaving the world.”
• But . . . his divine nature is everywhere present. -Matthew 28:20 “I am with you always.”
• Jesus felt weak and tired. (Matthew 4:2; 8:24; Mark 15:21; John 4:6), but in His divine nature He was omnipotent. (Matthew 8:26-27; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3).
• Jesus was 30 years old and existed from eternity!
• A false objection: “Omniscience and ignorance, omnipotence and impotence cannot coexist. The former swamps the latter.” (A.N.S. Lane)

The Two Natures and Jesus’ Death

• “. . . it is not correct to say that Jesus’ divine nature died, or could die, if “die” means a cessation of activity, a cessation of consciousness, or a diminution of power. Nevertheless, by virtue of union with Jesus’ human nature, his divine nature somehow tasted something of what it was like to go through death. The person of Christ experienced death. Moreover, it seems difficult to understand how Jesus’ human nature alone could have borne the wrath of God against the sins of millions of people. It seems that Jesus’ divine nature had somehow to participate in the bearing of wrath against sin that was due to us (although Scripture nowhere explicitly affirms this). Therefore, even though Jesus’ divine nature did not actually die, Jesus went through the experience of death as a whole person, and both human and divine natures somehow shared in that experience.” (Wayne Grudem)

A BIBLICAL SUMMARY – KEY VERSES

• “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty . . .” (Exodus 34:6-7)
  
• "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose . . .I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” (Isaiah 46:9-11)
  
• “...who, though he was in the form of God ...” (Philippians 2:6-11)

WHAT WE SHOULD SAY ABOUT GOD

• Together for The Gospel 2006
  -We affirm that the Bible reveals God to be infinite in all his perfections, and thus truly omniscient, omnipotent, timeless, and self-existent. We further affirm that God possesses perfect knowledge of all things, past, present, and future, including all human thoughts, acts, and decisions.
  -We deny that the God of the Bible is in any way limited in terms of knowledge or power or any other perfection or attribute, or that God has in any way limited his own perfections

• What does Jubilee Believe About God?
  -“Life in Jubilee Church can be summarised as: loving God, loving each other, and loving the world.” (Membership Course)
• Jubilee is a member of the Evangelical Alliance and holds to its Statement of Faith:
  “We Believe in . . .
  -The one true God who lives eternally in three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
  -The love, grace, and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming, and judging the world.”

This God Chooses to Take Delight in Us!

• God: “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)
• Jesus: “. . . who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Hebrews 12:2)

He Wants Us to Delight in Him!

• “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4).
• “Delight yourself in the Lord; and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4).
• “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” (John 14:1)

CONCLUSIONS

• If we believe in a good, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, all-wise, all-loving God who is in control of every detail of the universe and works it all out for our good, how can we not worship Him and trust Him with our future?
• When we know God better, we become more like Him.
• “And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
• “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.” (Psalm 27:4)
• “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24-25)
  

If you are wondering what a serious theologian like Wayne Grudem is doing preaching at a charismatic conference, then you have yet to meet a group like newfrontiers. There are charismatics who are as committed to the preaching of God's Word as the average cessationist. Indeed, many of us would argue that we take the whole of the Bible seriously as our guide to doctrine and practice - including the books of Acts and 1 Corinthians! In fact, there has already been a lot of biblical teaching at the conference, as regular readers of this blog will realise.

One bit of good news is that it was announced during one of the notices that the audio of this conference will be available for download from their website www.newfrontiers.xtn.org some time after the conference ends. So let your anticipation grow as you wait for that time!

On a personal front, the afternoon's rest back in the hotel really helped my nerve pain. I even had time to read a newspaper, and I will be linking to a couple of interesting articles in tomorrow's links. I have also discovered that there is a "nursing parents" room where the audio and video of the meeting are piped into the room. I am sitting in this air-conditioned room in a cushioned chair, which is allowing me to slouch a little, and has the effect of reducing the nerve irritation significantly. Another benefit of being in this room is that I can hear the band and singers more clearly on the audio feed - the others in this room are not singing nearly as loudly as the sound of 4000 charismatics singing with all their might! Of course, another factor that may help me is that I am also not going to be tempted to even sway a little as I did this morning since I won't be surrounded by people doing the charismatic hop!

Once again during the worship there were several prophecies shared. Even in the notices, the prophetic came to the fore as Nigel Ring reminded people of a prophecy given ten years ago that we would be a movement that would be a blessing to millions of people and that millions of pounds of money would flow through us to bless the nations.

One of the articles that will be included in tomorrow's "links" speaks of how money given to aid agencies can be swallowed by administrative costs and be put to projects that don't meet the real needs felt locally. One of the strengths of our family of churches is that we have real relationships stretching across all the continents of the world. This means that when financial needs arise, we can give money directly into the hands of churches led by local indigenous leaders in many of the poorest nations of the world, confident that our friends will spend the money wisely.

The worldwide extent of the newfrontiers family and the breaking down of barriers to church planting came across so clearly in the video that was shown tonight. With all the talk on mission, after the video finished Terry quoted Piper, who said, "Mission exists because Worship doesn't." Terry encouraged people to buy Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology (one of the books I encourage every Christian to read) which he told us now has 100,000 copies in place. Terry also recommended the new short paperback summary of this which has recently been published.

Wayne Grudem introduced his talk by saying that Terry had asked him to speak on the person of Christ and how Jesus can be both God and man. He aimed to give us, if you like, a lecture on christology.

The Humanity of Christ - He was Fully Human

He was born of a human mother with no human father.

He had human weaknesses and limitations - He increased in physical strength as He grew as a human being. He learnt how to read, and increased in His knowledge. Palestinians were trilingual - Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew. He became tired (John 4:26). He understands it when we are weary. He thirsted on the cross. He shared all our human experiences - "He was hungry" (Matthew 4:2). He wasn't a ghost; even after the resurrection He had flesh and bones and ate food. He took that physical body with Him into heaven.

He had a human mind - He would have been given bigger responsibilities as He grew as a child. He never sinned, but was tempted by more and more difficult situations as He grew. He faced peer pressure as a teenager. Perhaps He was ostracised when He didn't sin. He grew in His ability to resist temptation - He learnt obedience through what He suffered. Mark 13:22 - with respect to His human nature, He did not know the time of His return.

He had human emotions and was deeply troubled at times (John 13:21, Matthew 26:38). There was a weight of sorrow that felt almost like it would take His life as He considered what was coming as He would bear the full wrath of God. He wept. Hebrews 5:7 - He had loud cries and tears!

He felt the needs of the world.

He seems to have experienced the death of a parent, and then had to support the family - so He knew what it was to be the head of a household, although He had no wife. He would have experienced financial and sexual temptations - for the Word says He was tempted in EVERY way we are.

He knew the pressure of having people asking Him to do more than He could - the crowds pressing around Him.

He knew physical frailty - presumably He had illnesses of various kinds as He grew up. He is not unable to sympathise with our weaknesses. He understands what I am facing today, what you are facing today.

Jesus was seen by the people near to Him to be just a man. People would say, "We have known Him for thirty years" (Matthew 13:55). The people were astounded that He was able to do what He did as they had no hint as He grew up that He was also God! Even His own brothers, who would have shared the same bedroom with Him, didn't realise that He was God and came to accuse Him of being mad!

Mary knew because she had been told by the angel who announced His birth that her son was also the Son of God.

He was without sin (Luke 4:14, John 8:29). "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." - Don't you wish you could say that? (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 2:22, 1 John 3:5)

He was truly tempted (Hebrews 5:8, Hebrews 2:18, Hebrews 4:15). There is a divine nature and a human nature, so He resisted in the strength of His human nature alone by trusting in God as we should.

Could he have sinned? His divine nature meant that He could not have sinned, but His human nature meant that the temptations were real. Grudem used the illustration of a swimmer who went across the Channel with a divine rescue boat, so could not have drowned, but in fact He didn't use the rescue boat and faced them with His human nature - the swim is none the less a real one!

Temptation is hardest for those who resist to the end - rather than for those who give in! Jesus' humanity is incredibly important to us - to represent us, to be our substitute sacrifice, to be our example, to be a sympathetic high priest, to be the mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5).

He will always be a man in heaven! (Matthew 26:29, Acts 1:11, Acts 7:56, Revelation 1:13). He will be a man like US!


The Deity of Christ - Jesus was Fully God

Direct scriptural claims - the word theos was used (John 1, John 20:28), and John wrote, "This is why I wrote this book." Romans 9:5, Titus 2, Hebrews 1:8, and 2 Peter 1. 7 are verses that use the word God of Him.

The word "lord" in the New Testament is also a claim to deity. It is the common word used in the Old Testament to refer to God. 6,814 times in the Greek translation it is used to refer to God. Over 200 times Jesus is called the Lord - e.g. Luke 2:11: He is the Messiah and the Lord. Prepare the way of the Lord means God is coming. "One lord, Jesus Christ."

Other strong claims to deity. "I am the bread of life." "I am the resurrection and the life." "I am the light of the world." No creature could claim that. John 8: "Before Abraham was I AM" - and they wanted to stone Him. It is exactly a word-for-word quotation from the Greek translation of the OT. He was claiming to be the same as the One who identified Himself to Moses. He eternally exists - not "I WAS," but rather "I ETERNALLY EXIST." "I am the way, the truth, and the life," "the alpha and omega." Hebrews 1 is the key chapter for His deity. God created the world through the Son. He is the exact imprint or representation of God! If the Father is omnipresent, so is the Son, and in every other respect. He continually upholds the universe. This boy growing up in a small house is continually upholding the universe by His word and power!

He knew the heart of everyone around Him - which suggests He was omniscient - "You know all things."

He is omnipresent - "When two or three gather, I am there." "I am with you always."

He is all-powerful - He said He would raise Himself from the dead (John 2:19).

The fullness of God dwelt in the man Jesus - Emanuel, God with us (Colossians 1:19, Colossians 2:9).

How do these two fit together?

This doesn't make sense! Many sceptics claim it is incomprehensible, incoherent, and a myth. Our response is, "Of course, we cannot understand." To deny the idea that Jesus is God in the flesh we have to deny that the Bible is trustworthy.

Don't let your lack of ability to understand cause you to reject the biblical truth. Jesus had to be divine to be the mediator and the substitute. We lose our salvation without the divinity of God. We need His deity to have Him reveal God to us and say, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." There is only one way to God - through Jesus.

People have tried to explain how this could fit together. There are three inadequate views of which we need to be aware that are heretical, and which can also recur today if we don't warn against them.

1. Apollinarism. Jesus had a human body only, but His mind and spirit were divine. But our minds, spirits, and emotions also need saving. He could not have been tempted in every way, and would have been a hollow man like Mickey Mouse at Disney. It wasn't a real mouse, it was just a costume! Inside the mouse was some non-mouse stuff! Jesus was not just a shell.

2. Nestorianism. Christ was really two distinct persons in one body - like a circus horse where one man is the hind legs and one the front! They are not one horse! The gospels do not portray Jesus arguing with Himself like Gollum in Lord of the Rings! He always speaks of "I."

3. Monophysitism. Human and divine nature mingled together a bit like an ink drop in a glass of water. A third substance different from ink or water is formed - can't use it to drink or write with! So He was more than human but less than divine. BUT, He is no longer God and no longer man - you lose on both counts! He is no longer human, but superhuman, and He is no longer God, but sub-God.

The idea of a kenosis in Philippians 2 - Jesus emptying Himself can also make Christ less than fully divine on earth. But Philippians 2 does not mean that Jesus gave up His divine attributes. Don't give in to the heresy that came from this idea. He gave up His privileges of being in heaven, but NOT His divine attibutes.

The Chalcedon Creed has been accepted for centuries by all wings of the church. This is summarised as being two natures in one person. There are two overlapping natures - the divine and the human, neither of which are changed, but which overlap and function together as one person. Jesus wasn't always man - He was always God. The human nature was a full man who did not previously exist, but was joined in one person to God forever. How could God join Himself for all eternity to a human nature like our own? Jesus was the eternal omnipresent, omnipotent God who could also walk around and talk! People could touch God. We can talk to Him, too. God is fully man and fully God.

Grudem led the whole congregation in reading the Chalcedon creed:

Following, then, the holy fathers, we unite in teaching all men to confess the one and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This selfsame one is perfect both in deity and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually God and actually man, with a rational soul and a body.

He is of the same reality as God as far as his deity is concerned and of the same reality as we ourselves as far as his humanness is concerned; thus like us in all respects, sin only excepted. Before time began he was begotten of the Father, in respect of his deity, and now in these "last days," for us and behalf of our salvation, this selfsame one was born of Mary the virgin, who is God-bearer in respect of his humanness.

We also teach that we apprehend this one and only Christ-Son, Lord, only-begotten -- in two natures; and we do this without confusing the two natures, without transmuting one nature into the other, without dividing them into two separate categories, without con- trasting them according to area or function.

The distinctiveness of each nature is not nullified by the union. Instead, the "properties" of each nature are conserved and both natures concur in one "person" and in one reality. They are not divided or cut into two persons, but are together the one and only and only-begotten Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus have the prophets of old testified; thus the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us; thus the Symbol of Fathers has handed down to us.

Practical Application of This

One nature of Jesus does some things that the other nature does not do. His human nature is no longer in the world, but His divine nature is still in the world - hence He could say, "I am leaving," but also "I will always be with you." Jesus could get tired humanly whilst remaining all-powerful. Matthew 8:24 - whilst He slept, He was also carrying the universe. He was tired. Wake up! Save us! He is stretching, opening His eyes, and says "peace be still". Jesus' human nature died, but His divine nature did not die for He was able to raise Himself from the dead. He was active in the resurrection.

How can Jesus learn things but be omniscient - He had two wills and two centres of consciousness - He could learn the human alphabet, but know all things. Yet He remains one person! J. I. Packer - perhaps Jesus had something like our experience of calling something to mind - we know something, but have to think about it to remember it. So, although He could only know at any one moment what the human brain could contain, He could call to mind any fact that is known in the universe.

Anything that either nature does, the person of Jesus does. Therefore, "before Abraham was I AM" even though it was His divine nature, or "I am leaving the world," even though the divine nature was not leaving, or how it is possible to say that the world crucified the Lord of Glory even though the divine nature did not actually die!

Dare I myself also add here that perhaps this may go some way to explain why Jesus could speak on the cross of being forsaken by his Father, and yet somehow the unity of the Trinity was not broken?

He will be God and man FOREVER. This is the most astounding miracle in the universe. EVERY KNEE WILL BOW TO THE CARPENTER OF NAZARETH! Who would you rather have as Lord and Savior?

Here are my notes from this mornings sermon.

The audio is now available for download from the Jubilee Sermons website.

Bible verses
1 Cor 4:1-5; 2 Cor 5:9�6:4; Ro 1:15-17;1 Peter 3:15-16; 1Th 2:4; Col 1:25; 1 tim 1:11-12; Luke 12:48

Now that we have been entrusted with the gospel what should we do?

� LOVE IT!
� LIVE IT!
� GIVE IT!

There are few depictions of stewards in our modern culture � an expception is the film the Lord of the Rings � in some ways it is all about stewardship � every character is entrusted with a task to do � some of them do it well, some of them don�t! I intend to watch the trilogy (extended edition!) again as part of my sermon prep � you can join me if you like!

There is a scene in �The Return of the King�. The Hobbit who is aware of the debt he owes, and gives himself to serve an unreliable master as a result. Compare and contrast the Steward of Gondor who imagines himself to be the king and has set himself on the throne of Gondor instead of guarding it for its rightful owner.

Too often we forget that as Tope said last week we have been entrusted with everything and owe God our very existence not to mention our salvation. How can we do anything else but offer him our �service such as it is��..

A Steward sounds like a strange word these days but the concept permeates throughout our culture we just call it different things�..

A steward is someone who has been given a task to do by someone else or who has been given something by someone else to use for the purposes of the owner. A steward acts an agent of the owner � they are not the owner! They are not free to do whatever they like with what is given to them!

Or as one dictionary puts it �

�someone who manages property or other affairs for someone else�

The key is that when something is entrusted to you, it isnt yours, but belongs to another. The one who entrusted it to you has the right to dictate what you do with it whilst it is on loan to you You may well be expected to use the entrusted thing for his purposes rather than yours.

The person who has been entrusted -eg an employee cannot merely do whatever he likes, but instead has a job to do, with accountability. If the work is not done, then the trust has been violated. If a big task has been entrusted, then we sure better be intentional about how we live our lives in order to get to the end and hear God say "well done, you have acheived the task entrusted to you" This line of thought has been very convicting to me. I pray it will be convicting to you also!

I think there is a wealth of beneficial meditation to be done on that one word entrusted



Start where Tope finished last week

1 Cor 4:1-5 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

Judgement day really is coming. It is coming for all of us � for the non Christian can you really expect to hear the commendation from God. For the Christian, the question will not be �will God commend me� but instead �how much?� �will I have made the most of what he has done for me?

A steward is required to be found trustworthy

What does this mean for us who have been made stewards of the gospel (not gospel music but Gods message for the world?). Lets look at some examples of stewardship at work in our culture-

An employee acts as an agent for his employer � in return for pay he gives himself as a temporary slave to his employer to do their bidding. Imagine if the employer said �Clean that table� or �Answer that email� and the employee said �Well, lets not get too overzealous about this shall we � I mean I don�t want to be over-committed here � I need to be free to make my own decisions�. The answer � sure you are free to make decisions : �my way or the highway!� is the answer!!


WE DO EXACTLY THIS WHEN WE THINK THAT GOD ISNT INTERESTED IN THE DETAILS OF MY LIFE �The non-christian thinks they can live their own way. The professing Christian says �I can have Jesus as my saviour, but not my Lord � and do whatever I want. Lets not get superspiritual�. God says �I bought you! You belong to me!!�

Investment in a bank � imagine if you money instead of being locked up in a safe was taken to a boot fair and laid out on a table to be given away in lovely crisp new �5 notes � all your money being given away to whoever wants to grab it! �Well sir, I knew you were a generous fellow!�

We do this when we make out God is only a God of love � we forget he is a God of wrath and so we give people the impression that everything will be fine � God will accept them into heaven irrespective of what they do � they don�t have to do anything, not even ask for forgiveness. God is kind we say. BUT like the man whos money was given away God might well say �Yes, but not THAT kind�. The offer of heaven does come with some strings attached! We are fools if we think it is wise to change the message to make it more attractive to the world around us! The gospel message is an old one � it doesn�t need to change!

Imagine a builder who built a conservatory at the bottom of your garden instead of attached to the house as you asked him to! �Well I thought I could improve on your plan!�

We do this to God whenever we ignore parts of the bible that don�t fit with the way we want to live our life or build our churches. I am amazed at the blind spots so many of us have � Surely God didn�t really mean it that way � surely it will look better this way � build your life and your church on the plan of God or expect him to say �What did you do with the life I gave you � how come you didn�t build it according to my plan?�

Imagine a commissioned artist who refused to paint what asked but painted something totally different!

If we crash a borrowed car and fail to even apologise to its owner! We do this when we take forgiveness for granted and forget to keep short accounts with God!

If an ambassador or secret agent of a country �goes native� and is so deep in cover that when the call comes for the sleeper to wake up he is sound asleep! We do that when we ignore the call of our master to carry out taks for him � perhaps someone comes our way who is interested in God and we fluff it and are too scared to act � we think of ourselves as citizens of this world rather than the next.

We often deny God not so much by our words but by our lack of words!

Imagine how long a pizza delivery boy would keep his job if whenever he went to the pizza shop to collect customers pizzas he instead took them back to his house to enjoy them with his friends!

We do this whenever we think that God has saved us simply so we can have a good time, and we fail to share the wonder of being a Christian with others. We use what he has given us for our own pleasure only, and we forget that he has contracted us to be the delivery boy for OTHERS blessings � to share the good news!

Imagine a lawyer who spent your deposit money on his own pleasures rather than passing it up the chain so you can buy your house! On completion day you ring up and his secretary says �O didn�t he tell you, hes gone to Spain and said to thank you for the money- hes enjoying spending it in the bar� Meanwhile you have no house to move into!

Or worst of all, imagine a careless brain surgeon who dropped a scapel in someones brain- just because he couldn�t be bothered to put the practice in to make sure that he was equipped to carry out the trust put in him � we do this when we fail to study and pray hard to prepare ourselves for those moments when we are called upon to pass on this life-saving message!

The Amazing thing is God has put his trust in us. He has trusted us with much, but the greatest thing that he has entrusted to us is his message � not just any message but the only message that can save the world.

God will ask us at the end of time � So, how did you do? He wont need us to answer because he will already know!

How amazing that he should rely on us to carry out his work on his behalf. How can God do that with us, unreliable people? Only of course by his sovereignty overruling our feeble fickle wills - hallelujah! We have to cry out to him to help us have the determination to act in such a way that he will be able to say to us �well done�

God doesn�t entrust tasks to people unless he is committed to making them worthy of that trust!



2 Cor 5:9-6:4
�.. we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others�...
��. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised��.
�.Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. [2] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling [3] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
6:1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says,
�In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.�
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way

TREASURE PICTURE GOD has GIVEN A PILE OF TREASURE here � don�t lets just admire that but take it cherish it, then give it away!

We have a lot to be thankful to God for therefore we have a lot to be responsible for � what he has given us he expects us not to just enjoy but to do something with it!

What has struck me is that God has been giving us incredible grace over these last months as a church. Surely we will be accountable for how we respond to that. If we are faithful with the little we have then God will give us more!

Luk 12:48 Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more


Other verses that speak of us being entrusted with the gospel

1Th 2:4 �..just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.�

��.for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known�..warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.� Col 1:25-


Titus 1 � through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior�

SO, Now that we are clear that we have been entrusted with the gospel what are we to do with it?

Love it, live it, Give it!

What to do with the Gospel we have been entrusted with?

love it � preserve and protect

We live in a disposable world! The gospel must be treasured not disposed
Even this talk of being entrusted should send us back to our knees � who is worthy of such a task?
Where is the worthy steward?
Who here can say that they have always been faithful to God in living their life consistently with the gospel or in sharing it with others?

The truth is we CANNOT deserve the grace of God
We CANNOT repay the debt we owe God
We CAN only SERVE as GOD enables us.
Realising we have not been faithful as stewards should drive us back to God for more mercy and grace.

1 Cor 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus is the centre of the gospel. There really is a core to it which is found in this verse, but of course the gospel comprises the whole message of God � What is the gospel? Well it begins �in the beginning God�.� And ends �The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.� It includes the law, it includes Gods story, it includes the church. No one method for sharing it�.. any bit of it has power, but there is a core message�.that is if you like more crucial- because it is closer to the crux, closer to the cross!

When we realise how much God has given us it should make us fall in love with the Gospel that takes wretches like us and makes us sons, and that love should compel us to love others enough to want them to share in the gospel.

What a wonderful Gospel that not only saves us but makes us in a sense as Spurgeon put it �saviours� in that we bring that message of salvation to others

How can we but treasure it?

-live it
We only truly believe what we live!
Behind every sin is a lie that we have not corrected with the truth of the gospel
Eg �I desevrve better treatment than that� so we get angry � who said we deserved better treatment? I thought we believed that we deserved Hell beforfe God gave us grace?

This is why we need to study the gospel because a small misunderstanding of the Gospel can give rise to a MASSIVE problem in our lives. Behind every sin is a lie we believe in place of the truth.

If we live in a manner that is NOT worthy of the gospel how foolish we are, and how poorly we reflect on our master. What a sad figure that steward made � not leading as he ought!
Lets not be the tail but the head! Lets be the one at work people turn to because their life is sorted out

Imagine how one slip up by a member of the church can reflect badly on all of us! We cannot afford not to live it � we must live in a manner that means others will want to listen to what we have to say � we earn the right to speak!

-give it!

Don�t be ashamed of it and try and hide it , instead GIVE it

RO 1 :14- I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, �The righteous shall live by faith.�

Sharing the gospel: �Its costly, its urgent, but its worth it!� Mark Dever

You want to live � trust GOD!
How can we not tell them the truth
If they don�t trust God they wont live for ever in heaven, if they do they will!
Its that simple � it is Gods righteousness that clothes us � how difficult is it to say it?

We are obligued � or under a debt!

We must tell them they are powerless but that there is a power that has worked on their behalf!

The gospel is POWERFUL � let it out of its cage! A power to unleash!

Not just about arguments, but requires a change of heart. Power of the Spirit. Have to pray.

�cannot coerce anyone to become a Christian any more than you can coerce a corpse into dancing!� Mark Dever

�God didn�t call us to argue. He called us to tell� Mark Dever

Its far more powerful than we realise!

SOULWINNER- �You must also believe in the power of that message to save people. You may have heard the story of one of our first students, who came to me, and said, 'I have been preaching now for some months, and I do not think I have had a single conversion.' I said to him, 'And do you expect that the Lord is going to bless you and save souls every time you open your mouth?' 'No, sir,' he replied. 'Well, then,' I said, 'that is why you do not get souls saved. If you had believed, the Lord would have given the blessing.' I had caught him very nicely; but many others would have answered me in just the same way as he did. They tremblingly believe that it is possible, by some strange mysterious method, that once in a hundred sermons God might win a quarter of a soul. They have hardly enough faith to keep them standing upright in their boots; how can they expect God to bless them? I like to go to the pulpit feeling, 'This is God's Word that I am going to deliver in His name; it cannot return to Him void; I have asked His blessing upon it, and He is bound to give it, and His purposes will be answered'"

If we share just a fragment of the gospel with just one person in much fear and trepidation, we should expect it to be just as powerful �for it is the message not the messenger that is important

Imagine if a trembling motocycle courier delivered a batch of blood to the scene of a terrible accident where a single motorist was trapped and bleeding to death, would it be any less a life saving act than if a truckload of blood was rushed to the site of a major disaster?

�the gospel is all about rescue from the judgement of God� it is therefore more important than �life and death� situations!



So WHY do we want to GIVE the gospel?
Why do we want to do this?
� Desire to be obedient
� Love for the lost
� Love for God

� God is slandered in the world!
� God is calling us to turn our lives outwards from focussing on us and our needs to God and his purposes!
� He has a way for others to come to him how wonderful is that!


�Friends, if I believed that, or even a tenth of that, I would drop my job, sell my house, throw away my possessions, and set out into the world burning with the desire to tell others.� Matthew Paris (The Times)

I am not going to ask you to sell your house � but I am going to ask you to take some small steps towards loving the gospel more, living the gospel more and giving the gospel more!

Imagine that we found ourselves at the scene of a Disaster � perhaps a massive hole had opened up in the ground. Someone in authority said �stand here and don�t let anyone past or they may die�. If we failed in that trust and instead went and had a coffee how terrible would that be!

If we fail to warn our friends, if I fail to warn any non-christians here of the disaster that is coming towards them how much worse would that be?

3 Groups
- Unsaved � sorry if we haven�t always been clear with you � please as that passage said we IMPLORE you � get right with God TODAY
-Those who are not living as a Christian now, though they once did � the only way to be sure you are on the way to heaven is to live as a Christian � get right TODAY
-The rest of us to make a commitment to sharing this message.

The Following Quotes inspired me as I prepared this sermon � they all came from �Soulwinner� by Spurgeon AVAILABLE for SEVEN POUNDS

�You must also believe in the power of that message to save people. You may have heard the story of one of our first students, who came to me, and said, 'I have been preaching now for some months, and I do not think I have had a single conversion.' I said to him, 'And do you expect that the Lord is going to bless you and save souls every time you open your mouth?' 'No, sir,' he replied. 'Well, then,' I said, 'that is why you do not get souls saved. If you had believed, the Lord would have given the blessing.' I had caught him very nicely; but many others would have answered me in just the same way as he did. They tremblingly believe that it is possible, by some strange mysterious method, that once in a hundred sermons God might win a quarter of a soul. They have hardly enough faith to keep them standing upright in their boots; how can they expect God to bless them? I like to go to the pulpit feeling, 'This is God's Word that I am going to deliver in His name; it cannot return to Him void; I have asked His blessing upon it, and He is bound to give it, and His purposes will be answered'"


we are not made all that we shall be, nor all that we ought to desire to be, when we are ourselves fished for and caught. This is what the grace of God does for us at first; but it is not all. We are like the fishes, making sin to be our element; and the good Lord comes, and with the gospel net he takes us, and he delivers us from the life and love of sin. But he has not wrought for us all that he can do, nor all that we should wish him to do, when he has done this; for it is another and a higher miracle to make us who were fish to become fishers�to make the saved ones saviours�to make the convert into a converter�the receiver of the gospel into an imparter of that same gospel to other people. I think I may say to every person whom I am addressing�If you are saved yourself, the work is but half done until you are employed to bring others to Christ. You are as yet but half formed in the image of your Lord. You have not attained to the full development of the Christ-life in you unless you have commenced in some feeble way to tell to others of the grace of God: and I trust that you will find no rest to the sole of your foot till you have been the means of leading many to that blessed Savior who is your confidence and your hope.

His word is�Follow me, not merely that you may be saved, nor even that you may be sanctified; but, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Be following Christ with that intent and aim; and fear that you are not perfectly following him unless in some degree he is making use of you to be fishers of men. The fact is, that every one of us must take to the business of a mancatcher. If Christ has caught us, we must catch others. If we have been apprehended of him, we must be his constables, to apprehend rebels for him. Let us ask him to give us grace to go a-fishing, and so to cast our nets that we may take a great multitude of fishes. Oh that the Holy Ghost may raise up from among us some master-fishers, who shall sail their boats in many a sea, and surround great shoals of fish!�


You may depend upon it that you may make men understand the truth if you really want to do so; but if you are not in earnest, it is not likely that they will be. If a man were to knock at my door in the middle of the night, and when I put my head out of the window to see what was the matter, he should say, in a very quiet, unconcerned way, "There is a fire at the back part of your house," I should have very little thought of any fire, and should feel inclined to empty a jug of water over him. If I am walking along, and a man comes up to me, and says, in a cheerful tone of voice, "Good afternoon, sir, do you know that I am starving? I have not tasted food for ever so long, indeed, I have not;" I should reply, "My good fellow, you seem to take it very easy; I do not believe you want for much, or you would not be so unconcerned about it." Some men seem to preach in this fashion:�"My dear friends, this is Sunday, so here I am; I have been spending my time in my study all the week, and now I hope you will listen to what I have to say to you. I do not know that there is anything in it that particularly concerns you, it might have some connection with the man in the moon; but I understand that some of you are in danger of going to a certain place which I do not wish to mention, only I hear that it is not a nice place for even a temporary residence. I have especially to preach to you that Jesus Christ did something or other, which, in some way or other, has something to do with salvation, and if you mind what you do"�and so on�"it is possible that you will"�and so on, and so on. That is, in a nutshell, the full report of many a discourse. There is nothing in that kind of talk that can do anybody any good; and after the man has kept on in that style for three-quarters of an hour, he closes by saying, "Now it is time to go home," and he hopes that the deacons will give him a couple of guineas for his services. Now, brethren, that sort of thing will not do. We did not come into the world to waste our own time, and other people's, in that fashion.


"We ought so to preach as to make every sinner tremble in his seat; and if he will not come to the Saviour, he ought at least to have a hard time of it while he stops away from Him. I am afraid that we sometimes preach smooth things, too soothing and agreeable, and that we do not set before men their real danger as we should. If we shun in this respect to declare all the counsel of God, part at least of the responsibility of their ruin will lie at our door."

"It is fatalism, not predestination, that makes men talk as if there is nothing whatever for them to do, or that there is nothing they can do. There is no likelihood of anyone being saved while he gives you this as his only hope, "If salvation is for me, it will come to me in due time."

"That is the real difficulty in many, many cases; the man does not come to Christ because he is not conscious that he is lost, he does not ask to be lifted up because he does not know that he is a fallen creature, he does not feel that he has any need of divine mercy or forgiveness, and therefore he does not seek it."

"The people will not be converted while they are asleep; and if they go to sleep, they had better have been at home in bed, where they would sleep much more comfortably."

"Preach, for instance, as you would plead if you were standing before a judge, and begging for the life of a friend, or as if you were appealing to the Queen herself on behalf of someone very dear to you. Use such a tone in pleading with sinners as you would use if a gibbet were erected in this room, and you were to be hanged on it unless you could persuade the person in authority to release you....for they see that then you communicate to them not only the gospel, but yourself also. The kind of sermon which is likely to break the hearer's heart is that which has first broken the preacher's heart, and the sermon which is likely to reach the heart of the hearer is the one which has come straight from the heart of the preacher"

"Let your sermons be full of Christ, from beginning to end crammed full of the gospel. As for myself, brethren, I cannot preach anything else but Christ and His cross, for I know nothing else, and long ago, like the apostle Paul, I determined not to know anything else save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. People have often asked me, "What is the secret of your success?" I always answer that I have no other secret but this, that I have preached the gospel,�not about the gospel, but the gospel,�the full, free, glorious gospel of the living Christ who is the incarnation of the good news. Preach Jesus Christ, brethren, always and everywhere; and every time you preach be sure to have much of Jesus Christ in the sermon. You remember the story of the old minister who heard a sermon by a young man, and when he was asked by the preacher what he thought of it he was rather slow to answer, but at last he said, "If I must tell you, I did not like it at all; there was no Christ in your sermon." "No," answered the young man, "because I did not see that Christ was in the text." "Oh!" said the old minister, "but do you not know that from every little town and village and tiny hamlet in England there is a road leading to London? Whenever I get hold of a text, I say to myself, 'There is a road from here to Jesus Christ, and I mean to keep on His track till I get to Him.'" "Well," said the young man, "but suppose you are preaching from a text that says nothing about Christ?" "Then I will go over hedge and ditch but what I will get at Him." So must we do, brethren; we must have Christ in all our discourses, whatever else is in or not in them. There ought to be enough of the gospel in every sermon to save a soul. "


"I mean those discourses that have had much real prayer offered over them, both in the preparation and the delivery, for there is much so-called prayer that is only playing at praying.... the way to make sermons is to work vital electricity into them, putting your own life and the very life of God into them by earnest prayer......You must anoint your sermons, brethren, and you cannot do it except by much private communion with God. May the Holy Spirit anoint every one of you, and richly bless you in winning souls, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

From the Soulwinner: "The best attraction is the gospel in its purity. The weapon with which the Lord conquers men is the truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel will be found equal to every emergency; an arrow which can pierce the hardest heart, a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Preach it, and preach nothing else."

I have been listening to one of pyromaniacs sermons again, which I very much enjoy. I'm going to have to with great trepidation disagree with him about one point.

Phil claimed in his sermon that the visit of Paul to Jerusalem spoken of in Gal 2 is the same event as the Jerusalem council.

This may seem like a minor issue on a level with the debate I raised concerning whether Paul had ever met Jesus before his death. It does however have important implications for the dating of Galatians and our understanding of its message and that of the Jerusalem council.

I have always believed that Galatians was written before the council, for the very simple reason that Paul would have referred to its conclusions in the argument as both Galatians and the Jerusalem council address the same issue.

Acts records two visits of Paul to Jerusalem after his conversion and before the Jerusalem council.

Acts 9:26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.

Acts 11.27-30 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). So the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothersliving in Judea. And they did
so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

To me, a simple comparison of the above scripture with the two visits mentioned in Galatians 1 and 2 settles the argument about both when Galatians was written (ie BEFORE the Jerusalem council) and whether Acts 15 and Gal 2 are referring to the same event (ie NO they are not if Galatians was written before the event even happened!). Lets compare and contrast the relevant passages in Galatians with the two from Acts I just quoted.

Galatians 1.15-22, 2.1-2 ".....when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ......

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas,taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and setbefore them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain."

So this second viist was in response to a revelation, that in my view of Agabus. It was private (unlike the public Jerusalem council) and puts Pauls commendation by the apostles in Jerusalem as happening before he began his apostolic journeys.

Thus, Galatians becomes a very early document indeed and is a remarkable written defense of the gospel which itself may well have influenced the outcome of the Jerusalem council.

Paul is very clear and explicit in Galatians that he has told the truth and thus I am 100% convinced that all the commentators who believe that the Gal 2 visit is the same occasion as Acts 15 are frankly wrong. I cannot comprehend any argument that could stand against this comparison of these scriptures., but maybe pyromaniac or some of my readers can!

A new challenge: Explore a chain of bible verses together. Taken together, these verses together form a convincing picture. Your task is to paint it. I am not after bold statements of doctrine, certainly not throughout the post. But, given this string of verses and tackling them in this order, what does the bible have to say about issues of authority and submission and how that impacts on family church and work life?

The verses are Is 66:2, Phil 2:3-10, Mt 23:11-12, 1 Cor 11:3, Col 3:18-24, 1 Tim2:11-14, Titus 2:3-4, 2 Tim 1:5, Acts 18:26, Gen 1:27, Gen 2:18, 20-21, 23, 3:1, 9, 16, 17

The prize? Well, mostly the reward of doing it to be honest. But, for those who want such a thing, a Warnie award is likely to go to whoever I feel has done the best post exploring the issues, provided I like the rest of the blog, and provided they actually want one!

For the purposes of this task you are not in this journey permitted to make many detours. I will allow you an extra 3 detours tops where another verse is brought in to explain matters relating to these.

Your entry should be posted on your blog, if necessary divided into sections. Comments received and in particular the kind of comments of the original author will weigh in my decision. I want to see this idea linked to so there is a chance for others to get involved. So remember let the word and the spirit be your guide and take us through this warnie wild ride through the bible. What does it all mean today? Do these verses hang together?

Jollyblogger and others have been essentially saying that there is no such thing as a specific will of God for my life. Quoting Augustine �Love God, and then do what you like� we are told to simply make our own decisions.

Now it is with great hesitation that I beg to differ with such an august blogger (no pun intended!).

Jollyblogger is right that many Christians today are preoccupied unhelpfully with their own fullfillment, and as a first step I couldnt agree more with the notion- 'if you want to find out what God's will is for your life try reading the bible!' I have heard of pastors having visitors to their study stating 'God' had 'told' them that they had married the wrong person and should therefore get a divorce. The bibles teaching on divorce is very clear and 'hearing from God' is not a biblical ground for divorce.

But decision making is not as simple as what is moral or not.

How then do I believe we should make decisions?

1. Begin with clearly considering all the relevant teaching of the bible on the subject. Is their direct biblical teaching that tells me what I should do? Which of the options before me are most consistent with biblical understanding? Prayer and seeking God to ask him to reveal the truth of his word and its application to your life is important even at this stage.

A biblical understanding should always trump all the other concerns. I suspect that this is what Paul reports in 2 Cor 2:12 'When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.'

Here Paul's understanding of the importance of teamwork trumped a belief that it was God who had opened the door for him.

2. If 1. does not answer the question I do believe that their is a place for seeking God, and listening to the impressions he places on our hearts. Jesus seems to be describing his own dependence on this process in John 5:19 �Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing." What is good enough for Jesus is surely good enough for me!

It would seem from Eph 2: 10 'For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.' that there is indeed specific tasks for us to do with our lives.

I see no biblical reason to suggest that events such as seen when Paul and Barnabas are commissioned by the Spirit speaking should not occur today.

Acts 13:2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, �Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.�

The interesting thing about Paul's journeys is that such supernatural intervention did not occur all the time, and thus it would seem that he did invlove his own common sense and planning ability in planning his journeys

3. A thorough consideration of the circumstances in which we find ourselves can also often give an indication of God's leading.

4. Discussion with godly men and women who will be able to confirm the leadings we are feeling.