June 2010 Newsletter

We’ve had some disruption for a couple of weeks with the school hall being unavailable, but thankfully God has provided for our needs with an alternate venue.  It’s a bit of a challenge in making some late arrangements for services, but it had me thinking about what it must have been like for a couple of million Israelites in their journey to the Promised Land. They may have been camped in one location for months or possibly much longer, but when the cloud by day or the pillar of fire at night started to move, they were to follow.

Our pilgrimage is a spiritual one. Mark, in recording Jesus’ first words to his disciples, wrote: “Come, follow me…at once they left their nets and followed him.” (Mark 1:17-18) They responded to his call, and became his disciples. This month, we will be looking at the topic: “Disciples of Jesus”. We too have been called to follow him. And what is the ultimate goal of being a disciple? Luke 6:40 gives us the answer. “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” We are apprenticed to the Master, and as we mature spiritually, we become more and more like him.

As his disciples, it’s vital that we value the high calling we have been given. Paul, after discussing God’s wonderful plan and purpose in the book of Ephesians, then writes: “…I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (Eph 4:1) He then goes on to describe how a disciple should live his or her life, as we imitate God’s life. (Eph 5:1) Eugene Peterson writes: “Paul gathers everything that he has written so far into a single word that gets us ready for what comes next. The word is ‘calling’. God’s word to us is inherently a call, an invitation, a welcome into his presence and action. When we respond to the call, we live a calling. The calling gives us a destination, determines what we do, shapes our behaviour, forms a coherent life. We live into the world and the relationships into which we have been called. Our English word, derived from the Latin for ‘call’ is ‘vocation’. Vocation, calling, is a way of life…Jesus calls us. When we hear the call and respond, we live the calling. From then on the call shapes our lives, gives content to our lives, characterizes the way we live our lives.” (pp169-170, Practice Resurrection.)

“The verb ‘call’ is the root of the Greek word for church, ekklesia. Paul uses the word nine times in Ephesians…It simply meant assembly, a gathering of people, men and women who have been called together in a designated place. In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible the word it translates is ‘congregation’, but always with the implicit meaning ‘God’s congregation,’ the ‘assembly of God’s people.” We are called to be members of the Body of Christ, the temple in which He dwells, part of a spiritual community that is to be growing and maturing together.

Eddie Gibbs, author, minister and professor of church growth, in examining the elements of discipleship summarised as follows:

1. Discipleship entails a personal response to Jesus’ call to follow him.
2. Discipleship is a lifelong journey.
3. Discipleship involves learning in community.
4. Discipleship means a life of service and self-giving.
5. Discipleship means teaching as Jesus taught.

He then reminds us: “The church must give high priority to the Great Commission. We do so as Jesus followers sent into the world, guided and empowered by his Spirit. This entails a firm commitment to relationship-building and the recognition that disciples do not exist in isolation but in communities of mutual support, accountability and commitment.”

We have much to discuss and study this month, and especially to reflect on Paul’s message to the Ephesians: “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” What a great blessing and privilege we have received to be called at this time.

May 2010 Newsletter

Following his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples a number of times prior to his ascension. John 21 records one such time when the disciples had gone fishing, and Jesus prepared breakfast on the beach for them. Following the meal, and very interesting exchange took place between Jesus and Simon Peter.  3 times Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. (Significant in that Peter had denied Jesus 3 times.) Each time, Peter replied that he indeed did love Jesus. Following Peter’s response, Jesus then said: “Feed my lambs”; “take care of my sheep”; and the third time, “feed my sheep”. Later, he added: : “follow me”.

Not only was Jesus impressing on Peter that he was forgiven for his betrayal, but Peter had to be fully devoted in his love for Jesus, and his calling to the ministry of caring for and nurturing his lambs and sheep. Peter’s love for Jesus also involved loving and caring for His body on earth – the church.

“The baptized are brought into relation with God and with each other in the same act, by virtue of sharing in communion with the one Father, mediated by the Son and realized by the Spirit. Those who are in Christ are in the church: brought into relation to God and into community simultaneously.” (Colin Gunton, The One, the Three, and the Many)

Shortly after Jesus’ ascension, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, and the New Testament church began the Father’s mission on earth. This new community was and is to be a living witness of Jesus Christ – to be his body on earth.

Christ and the church – as Eugene Peterson wrote in his book Practice Resurrection, “Ephesians, more than any other text in Scripture, pairs Christ and church. Eleven times in this brief letter, Christ and church are set alongside one another as intertwined, inseparable.” He wrote further, “church is the appointed time and place of conversation between the two ‘being’ – the being of God and the human being. Both ‘beings’ get equal time. God created church as a place on earth accessible and congenial for being present to us, listening to us, and speaking to us on our home ground. Simultaneously it is his gift to us, a place in our neighbourhood within walking or driving distance for being present to God, listening to God, and speaking to him. Everything that God is and everything that we are intersects locally in the company of family and friends and the immediate circumstances of our lives…Church is the gift we have been given for maintaining conversational relationship with everything that God is and everything that we are, so that we can gradually live ‘to the praise of his glory,’ so that we can finally – it is going to take a long time! – grow to ‘the full stature of Christ.’”

When we receive the Holy Spirit, we too are immersed into the life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and with that Spirit, are immersed into the Body of Christ – His church. We are given spiritual gifts for service in that body, to help in strengthening and building up the body as we serve one another in love. Jesus’ questions to Peter are good for all of us to consider: do we love Jesus? If so, we will also love his body on earth, the very church for which he gave himself in loving sacrifice. With His Spirit in us, we too will have a part in His mission on earth, in doing His work, and loving and serving each other so that “from him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Eph 4:16)

May we declare by our words and deeds our total devotion to Jesus, and be doing our part in his work.

April 2010 Newsletter

What a victory! All expectations of deliverance and the kingdom of God being established were dashed. Their king was dead – crucified like the worst of criminals. The dead body was taken down from the cross, suitably prepared for burial according to the Jewish customs, and then was laid in a tomb. Early on the Sunday morning, a group of women, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and others, went to tomb. Two angels appeared to them, and gave them the most joyous news that could be heard: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” (Luke 24:5-6)

The women returned to the other disciples to share the good news – and were met with disbelief. However, Peter and John ran to the tomb. John was the better sprinter and reached the tomb first. From the outside, he witnessed the graveclothes, but no body. Peter went inside, and saw as well. John then entered, and believed. They returned to their homes, but Mary, who lingered near the empty tomb, continued to weep over the apparent loss of Jesus’ body. Jesus then revealed himself to her, and Mary shared this with the other disciples. Later that day, Jesus revealed himself to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and then to the rest of the disciples who had gathered together.

However, they still found it hard to believe. “When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement…(Luke 24:40-41). Thomas was not with them at that meeting, and when told, couldn’t accept their testimony. A week later, when Jesus stood amongst them again, Thomas finally accepted the reality. Jesus told him: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

The disciples took some convincing, didn’t they. The reality was and is that only Jesus can convince us. Jesus earlier words to Thomas are applicable to all of us: “Stop doubting and believe.” (Jn 20:27) The Christian life is a walk of faith – we walk by faith, not by sight. There are so many things which cause us to doubt. We struggle with our personal weaknesses. Our efforts to serve God and share the gospel seem so ineffective at times. We may doubt ourselves, we doubt others, and we can doubt God.

But the good news is that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have been given the victory. “…for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4-5) The faith that is victorious is the faith of Jesus Christ – His gift to us. He enables us to believe. “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Cor 15:54-58)

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead gives us the hope and the certainty for our present and future. With that confidence, may we give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, live the resurrected life in Jesus Christ, and share the victory.

March 2010 Newsletter

I have been reading Eugene Peterson’s latest book, Practice Resurrection, in which he talks about the resurrected life we are to live in as Christians. His book is a commentary on the book of Ephesians. He explains that what we read in Eph 1:3-14 in many verses is actually all one sentence in the original Greek. “One of our finest scholars (N.T.Wright) gives witness that this is ‘one of the most splendidly Jewish passages of praise and prayer in the New Testament…a prayer of blessing to the one God for his mighty acts in creation and redemption.’”

One theme which comes through strongly in this section is Paul’s deep appreciation for the wonder and magnitude of God’s grace. Peterson adds: “Grace is one of Paul’s biggest, most loaded, most comprehensive words. Variations on the word will occur twenty times in the Ephesian letter. It is not a word we can pin down with a crisp definition. What is required is that we enter into the ways it is used, the ways it gathers meanings from the various contexts in which God acts and in which we experience his actions.”

Our theme this month is “The Life of Grace”, and I hope we can come to appreciate more of the wonder and magnitude of God’s grace as we study, pray, reflect, listen to God’s word, and live the life of grace. A good start would be to prayerfully study the first chapter of Ephesians, and read it from several translations. I’d love to hear what further insights you gain from this if you would care to share. If you’re in a small group, and looking for something to discuss, here’s a book to get into. Or if you would like to join a Bible Study to go through it in more detail, let me know.

Notice a few of Paul’s statements: “…to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” (Eph 1:6),  “…in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding” (v7-8), “it is by grace you have been saved” (2:5, 8), “…in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace…” (v7).

One further quote from Peterson: “All is gift. ‘Grace is everywhere.’ God in Christ is actively doing for and in us everything involved in the practice of resurrection. So what is there left for us to do? Receive. That is our primary response if we are to find ourselves no longer lost in the cosmos but at home in it. For the most part, receptivity is a learned response. Receive the gift.” This quote brings to mind what Paul wrote to the Romans: “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” (Rom 5:17)

May we continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18)

From the “Surprising God”  blog site.

Kudos to the Experimental Theology blog for highlighting the work of Douglas Campbell  in The Deliverance of God. Though Campbell’s book is long, dense and expensive, it’s an important trinitarian analysis of Paul’s doctrine of justification.

Paul’s thesis in Romans is summarized in 1:17: “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”  Here Paul is quoting Habakkuk 2:4: “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright – but the righteous will live by his faith.”

Paul’s point is often misunderstood by viewing the one referred to here as “the righteous” who will “live by faith” as you or me. That misunderstanding then leads to another, namely that we attain a state of being “righteous” through our faith in Jesus.This view leads on to a transactional theory of justification that says we give God our faith in Jesus, and in exchange, he credits to our “account” his righteousness.

Campbell asserts that Paul’s argument is radically different than this popular (but erroneous) view. Paul’s argument, says Campbell, is not transactional but incarnational (and thus centered fully on Jesus and his work, not on ours). The faith that justifies humanity, to which Paul refers, is the faith (better translated “faithfulness”) of Jesus himself. He (not you or me) is “the righteous” (better translated “righteous one”) who has faith. This reading is faithful to the Greek text and supported by Hebrews 10.37-39 where the “one who is coming” (i.e. Jesus) is linked to the same verse in Habakkuk that Paul cites in Romans 1.

Paul is declaring that Jesus Christ, the righteousness one, is alive (through his resurrection) because of his faithfulness (onto death on the cross) – and it is his faithful death and vidicating/re-creating resurrection life that justifies humanity. Note how this understanding aligns with what Paul says as he begins Romans:

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:1-4).

The gospel is not about our performance (including our “faith”). Rather, it is the stunning declaration of the shockingly good news that Jesus Christ, through his own faithfulness unto death, vindicated by his bodily  resurrection, is declared by God to be both Lord (i.e. God) and Christ (the Messiah/Deliverer).

And that is great good news for us all. In Romans 5-8, Paul shows that all people are included in Jesus by virtue of who he is (as the incarnate, crucified and risen God-man), and what he has done for us all as our representative and substitute. In short, what has happened to Jesus, has happened to us all: In Jesus we have died to sin – which means we are forgiven and accepted by God. In Jesus we have risen to new life, and thus we share in his perfected/glorified humanity.

The invitation of the gospel is to open one’s eyes (and heart) to embrace this stunning truth. When we do, everything changes, and we begin to participate in and thus enjoy the new life that is ours in Christ.

This is the gospel that Paul proclaims, and it is in light of this gospel, that justification must be understood.

Still Afraid of God?

By Tammy Tkach

Are you still a little afraid of God? If you grew up in a church that regularly put the fear in people, you may worry he has something against you. Many preachers claim you can’t possibly be forgiven until you repent of every sin you’ve ever committed. Continuing in a state of forgiveness depends on how often and how deeply you repent of ongoing sins. Even if you’ve long understood God’s grace, you may have lingering fear of not repenting enough. One author uses 1 John 1:9 to back up this assumption: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

I don’t doubt this verse is true—I’m sure John was inspired! But I would like to offer another perspective, based on my little bit of understanding of God’s loving nature. In Hosea, God told the prophet to marry a prostitute, and he did. Their marriage produced children and Hosea loved his unnamed wife. She eventually went back to her immoral ways. In the same way Hosea didn’t stop loving his wife, God never stopped loving his chosen people. They often repented, but repeatedly turned back to idolatry.

The Good Samaritan who stopped to help a Jew in distress also showed one-sided love. In the course of normal, everyday life, the Jew and the Samaritan would have snarled at each other as they passed on the road. The Samaritan laid aside his hatred and prejudice to help a man who would just as soon spit in his face.

The father of the prodigal son didn’t wait for his son to drop to his knees, begging and pleading to be taken back, even as a servant. He ran to his son crying, elated to have him back, before his son had spoken a word.

 We tend to think God is like our parents or teachers, peering over reading glasses, looking down his nose, waiting for us to sheepishly or desperately admit our sins and ask for all to be forgiven before giving us the well, OK, but don’t do it again condescending nod.    And then we may or may not get the ruler on the knuckles before he sends us on our way.

Growing in grace and knowledge means we must put aside our childish notions of an anthropomorphic God who thinks and acts as we do. He is not like us; his thoughts and ways are not like ours. He is not a petty, malicious, self-centered being who gets offended when we sin and then peevishly waits for us to crawl to him on bloody knees. Just as in the examples of Hosea, the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, our God loves and forgives us even while we are sinning! Christ died for the ungodly. His love is not conditional and his forgiveness is ours before we even think to repent.

God does desire our repentance. He wants us to understand our nature and proclivity to evil. But what exactly does repentance mean? It means to change, to turn around, to go a different direction. It doesn’t mean drumming up artificial sorrow, especially when half the time, the sin was enjoyable and we’re only sorry because we got caught. The only way we can truly change our ways is in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Through the Holy Spirit, through him who is also God, we are enabled to turn our lives over and surrender to him to live as new creatures in Christ. Through him we can also surrender our fear and even dread of the angry, vengeful God we’ve been told is waiting to punish us.

God is not mad and he has not turned away from us. He stands at the door, anxiously awaiting our return, though we must return daily or even hourly. He lovingly awaits those who still feed at the pig troughs, no matter how long it takes. His love is unfailing and his grace is never ending.

As ministers of the gospel of grace, we need to let fearful people know—and remind ourselves—who God really is, not a cruelly gleeful, knuckle-rapping schoolmaster, but the loving father of his prodigal sons and daughters.

 (First published in Connections, Fall, 2009)

Time With the Word   by Tammy Tkach

“Captain, we’ve entered some kind of space-time continuum. Time is accelerating and we can’t slow it down. It’s already 2010!” Yes, I know Star Trek is science fiction but as quickly as 2009 flew by, sometimes I wonder if we’re caught in some kind of time warp. It seems I just started my read-the-Bible-in-a-year program. I’m happy to report I finished it on time, even though I fell behind a few times.

I’m glad I did this. It’s been years since I had read some books in the Bible. Reading straight through has one major drawback, however. It allows no time for lingering over interesting passages or doing extra reading on the background and context. This year I’ve decided to go back and spend time in the passages and subjects I found intriguing. It’s like walking slowly through a park rather than jogging. I plan to take my time, pick up rocks and leaves, sit on the grass, watch the clouds go by and smell the flowers. Both are acceptable ways to read the Bible. It was good to read straight through because it left me wanting more.

How are you reading the Bible? Are you reading it? It’s easy to put it off, especially if you’ve been reading it for years and feel familiar with it. While we don’t worship the book itself as some do, we realize the Bible is the inspired Word of God. As Paul told Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NLT).

Reading the Bible from this perspective is good. After all, Paul was speaking under inspiration. But if we only read it this way, we may miss something important. If I had approached my year-long Bible reading with the goal of being corrected and taught to do right, I might have missed the overarching purpose of the whole of Scripture. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus opened up the Scriptures to the disciples, showing them how they pointed to him (Luke 24:27). He didn’t point out their sins; he showed how the Old Testament was all about Jesus.

I remember when I stopped reading the Bible simply to discern right and wrong and started reading it to see Jesus. Not only my perspective but my whole attitude toward the Bible changed. I wasn’t reading it as a handbook for living so much as a way to know Jesus. When we read the Word of God, we are reading the Word of God, the living Word, the Logos of John 1. As we read the Bible, the Word comes alive in the form of Jesus and he is the reason, the center and the point of Scripture.

I may not read straight through the Bible again for some time, but I will be spending time with the Word – Jesus – as I walk through the park and linger beside the still waters with him.

January 2010 Newsletter

Dear Readers,

Here we are already into the New Year. This year, we will be focusing on “The Gospel of God’s Grace”.  We live in a world where there are many variations on the true Gospel. There is the very popular health/wealth (prosperity) gospel, or various prophecy gospels, and legalistic gospels. Paul wrote of his deep concerns to the churches in Galatia, because they were departing from the true Gospel.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” (Gal 1:6-7)

There is only one true Gospel – the gospel about Jesus (Mark 1:1),  the gospel of Christ (Gal 1:7), the good news of God (Mark 1:14), the gospel of the kingdom (Matt 24:14), and the gospel of God’s grace (Acts 20:24). Different descriptions are used, but they are all referring to the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ. The reality is, any other “gospel” is no gospel at all, as Paul wrote in v.7 – it’s bad news, not the good news of Jesus.

During this year, we will be developing this theme, and keeping Jesus Christ central to our teaching at all times. Our whole life is dependent upon Him, and that we are saved by grace, not because of our righteousness, or our works.

T.F.Torrance in his book, “Atonement” has this to say: “That righteousness of Christ is proclaimed to us as the gospel of grace and it is freely bestowed upon us in and through Christ. It is a righteousness in which we are clothed or given to share – or to put it otherwise, a righteousness which becomes the foundation on which we stand for our own life of obedience in the faith…The whole gospel of salvation and redemption through atonement is interpreted from the side of God’s righteous act of grace…God is the subject of the action throughout. It is pure act of God, opus Dei, work of God…The gospel is thus equivalent to the righteous act of God, the act of divine righteousness that fulfils itself in grace and which does not in any sense need to be placated or propitiated by man…” (p.103-104)

It’s natural for us as human beings to look to ourselves, rather than to God. Paul continued to emphasise the grace of God in his letters to the churches. “But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles…” (Gal 1:15-16) He knew he was saved through the grace of God, and gave his whole life to preaching Christ. Let our response to God continue to be the same.

May this be another year when we continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)