I open the bible to receive Christ.

Here’s my sermon on John 20:30-31.  Audio here.

The Scriptures bring me Jesus.  Jesus brings me life.

Sermon text below…

If God came down right now, I’d believe.  If He showed up in all His Godness and proved Himself to me, I’d bow down and worship.  I won’t believe if I can’t see, touch, taste and feel Him – but if He appears, I’ll believe. 

Have you ever said that? Or thought it?  Are friends of yours saying it?  Well, that’s Thomas’s issue. Verse 25:

“Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” 

Thomas wants proof.  Tangible, in your face, see it, touch it, taste it, feel it, proof.  

But he is blown away when this proof comes. Verse 26:

²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 

Thomas had wanted to see these wounds.  He demanded to see these wounds.  He would not believe unless he saw Jesus, bearing the scars of His crucifixion.  And so Jesus appears saying,  ‘Put your finger here, Thomas.  See my hands.  Reach out your hand and PUT IT INTO MY SIDE.’ 

Wow! 

And think about this, Jesus doesn’t just show Thomas the fact He was alive.  He shows Thomas the marks of His death.  

He shows Him His scars.  

Now that is interesting.  On a day when we remember two world wars, not to mention current conflicts that seem to be getting bloodier by the day.  Today we remember that there is One who is called LORD and God and He has scars.  He still has scars.  Even after resurrection and into all eternity He has chosen to keep His scars. 

Many people ask, How can we believe in God after all the war and bloodshed and cruelty and suffering?  What can we say?  One thing we can say is this:  Suffering disproves a million gods.  There are a million gods out there, who are simply arm-chair deities, unmoved by the suffering of the world, uninvolved and completely unworthy.  But there is one God who has scars.  And His name is Jesus.  Let suffering disprove every other god.  But it cannot disprove the scarred God – it cannot disprove Jesus. 

Suffering, bloodshed, cruelty, death cannot disprove this God because He is the God who suffered, who shed His own blood, who endured the world’s cruelty Himself – and He’s got the scars to prove it. 

Jesus appears to Thomas and shows His scars.  I wonder how many veterans today are reminiscing about their war wounds?  Wounds that perhaps tell a story of sacrificial love. 

On war memorials everywhere a verse from John’s Gospel is usually engraved: “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”  Written on those war memorials it brings to mind countless acts of self-giving love, where men and women very literally gave their lives for their friends.  We can imagine countless scenarios where perhaps one man would take a bullet for another, or throw himself on a grenade, or retrieve a wounded friend at the cost of his own life.  Scenarios where one man died so his friend would live. 

But you know it was Jesus who said these famous words.  And actually He’s talking about Himself.  The verse continues, “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends, and you are my friends.” 

Do you hear what He’s saying?  He’s saying “I am the One who will lay down My life – and you are My friends who I will die for.”  And there is no greater love. 

On the cross, Jesus took the bullet if you like, threw Himself on the grenade, rescued us at the cost of His life.  He suffered the death we all deserve to give us the life we don’t.  

And so there is Thomas in the Upper Room and there is Jesus risen from the dead but still bearing those war wounds – the marks of His suffering love.  

And, verse 28, Thomas can’t control himself any more: He exclaims to Jesus, “My Lord and my God. 

Notice Thomas doesn’t just say ‘You are THE LORD and The God.’  He says ‘You are MY LORD and MY God.’ 

It’s personal.  

I wonder whether it’s personal for you.  Do you know Jesus as MY Lord and MY God? 

Is Jesus personal to you? 

That’s what a Christian is.  A Christian is someone who looks at Jesus and understands His scar story.  You understand that He came because He considered you to be ‘His friend’ and He laid down His life.  He took the bullet of divine judgement and you are won by His great love so that you say ‘You are MY LORD and you are MY God.’  

That’s what a Christian is.  And you can become one this morning.  All it takes is to confess Jesus as your LORD and your God.  

But, I wonder if you’re thinking – it’s alright for Thomas.  He got to see Jesus.  He got to see those scars.

I don’t get to see Jesus.  What about me?  It seems like Thomas has it much better than we do. Well actually Jesus says it’s the other way around.  Look at verse 29: 

²⁹ Then Jesus told [Thomas], “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 

Jesus says: Blessed are people when they are not like Thomas.  Jesus says it’s better not to have a Thomas experience.  It’s better NOT to have seen and yet believe.  Do you see that in v29?  It’s better not to have the Thomas experience.  

How is that possible?  Surely the Thomas experience is what the world is crying out for. 

How many millions of people this very day are crying out for a Thomas experience?  “Show yourself to me.”  Jesus says, there’s something better than the Thomas experience.  What’s that then?  Well it’s verses 30 and 31, and these are the verses that explain why John wrote his whole gospel. 

John says, v30:

³⁰ Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. 

Do you see what’s better than a Thomas experience?  These are written that you may believe.  These are written, and this is better.  

Do you believe that? 

Well just think about it.  If Jesus appeared to you tonight at the end of your bed and you saw His wounds and heard Him say ‘Peace’ to you personally.  I reckon that would give you a spiritual high for days.  Weeks even.  But the next morning someone would ask – how’d you sleep?  And you’d say ‘Didn’t get much sleep I saw Jesus at the end of my bed.’  How’s that conversation going to run?   

But if you’ve ever asked for some amazing private experience or appearance, do you realize what are you asking?  You’re asking for something that will impress you today but will ultimately make you doubt more than believe.  

It is more blessed – it is better – to go on the eye-witness testimony of the Bible.  Because with the Bible, it’s all there in black and white for all time.  At three in the morning when I have doubts.  When loved ones die.  When I’ve lost my job.  I can always see Jesus, by opening my Bible and seeing Him in the words of Scripture.  

If I’d physically touched the risen Christ ten years ago – by now my memory would have faded and become distorted.  Instead I met Jesus in the pages of the Bible, and I assure you I am seeing Him more clearly today than I did when I first believed.  As I go deeper into the Bible His scars are more vivid, His scar story is more real, His love seems more profound and I know Him better than I know any earthly creature – all through the pages of this book. 

These things are written that you may believe. 

Why are we studying John’s gospel?  These things are written that you may believe.  We’re studying John’s Gospel together with the expectation that the risen Christ will encounter us through these words.  We hear these words again hoping for nothing less than a profound and personal meeting with Jesus Christ.  We open our bibles day by day seeking for something better than what Thomas experienced.  We seek the risen Jesus – reminding us of His death for us and speaking ‘Peace’ into the depths of our souls.  That’s why John’s Gospel.  That’s why preaching.  That’s why the whole bible.  These things are written that you may believe. 

If you want to understand verses 30 and 31 in a sentence it’s this.  The Scriptures bring me Jesus and Jesus brings me life.  The Scriptures bring me Jesus and Jesus brings me life. 

First let’s think about how the Scriptures bring me Jesus.  

How many millions of people are seeking for a divine encounter?  And yet John tells us plainly where to find it.  

He says, v30, he has written a selective biography of Jesus.  Jesus did lots of other miraculous stuff and John has had to leave it out.  He’s been selective. 

John includes seven miraculous signs that Jesus does – things like turning water into wine and like raising Lazarus from the dead.  But all those miraculous events are what John calls ‘signs’.  And because they’re signs, they point somewhere.  If you see a sign for the Tower of London, you follow the sign to the destination and there you’ll see the crown jewels.  But what you don’t do is camp underneath the sign hoping to see the jewels.  No, signs point somewhere.  And the miracles point to Jesus’ identity.  They tell the world that Jesus is (v31) the Christ, the Son of God. 

I’ve been thinking this week about those two titles of Jesus.  The Christ and the Son of God.  I don’t think there’s a more important truth in the world for someone to grasp than that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  All of Jesus’ miracles are pointing to it.  All of John’s Gospel, in fact the whole bible is crying out to you, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 

What does it mean?  Well Christ is a Greek word that translates the old Hebrew word Messiah.  And in English it just means the One who is Anointed.  In the bible, the greatest men of the Old Testament, the prophets, priests and kings were anointed with a little bit of oil in a ceremony.  A little bit of oil was poured on their head to signify the Holy Spirit – who would empower them for their job.  But Jesus is THE ANOINTED One.  Before the world began, He has been the ONE who is FULL of the Holy Spirit.  He has the Spirit of God poured onto and into Him and it flows out of Him.  That’s who Jesus is – the very greatest men of the Old Testament had a little bit of oil poured onto them.  Jesus is the One from all eternity, anointed by, flooded with, filled to over-flowing with the Holy Spirit.  

And He’s also the Son of God.  The Son of God the Father.  Before there was a universe there was God the Father loving His Son Jesus and pouring His Spirit into Him.  The Son of God is the One loved by God with an almighty love that has had no beginning and will have no end.   He is the beloved Son of God. 

Do we start to see who Jesus is?  The Christ, the Son of God.  Older than the universe, full to overflowing with the Spirit, eternally beloved Son of the Father.  No wonder, Thomas cries out ‘My Lord and My God’ – that’s Who Jesus is.  That’s who all those miracles are pointing to.  That’s Who John’s Gospel is pointing to.  That’s Who the whole bible is pointing to.  The Scriptures bring us Jesus. 

Do you know that about the bible?  The bible brings you Jesus.  The point of this book is so that you can MEET Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.  That’s the whole point of John’s Gospel.  It’s certainly the whole point of our sermon series in John.  But it’s also the whole point of the whole bible.  The whole bible is a sign pointing you to Jesus.

Turn back a few pages to John chapter 5.  Our first reading.  Turn to John 5 and verse 37.  Here Jesus is speaking to the best bible scholars of His day.  These people – many of them would have memorized the first five books of the bible.  Memorized them.  But listen to what Jesus says to them.  Verse 37: 

³⁷ And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, ³⁸ nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. ³⁹ You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 

The Scriptures bring us Jesus.  That is their whole purpose.  They testify, they point, they are like a sign with a massive arrow saying ‘JESUS, JESUS, JESUS.’  And if you read the bible and don’t come to Jesus, you are deaf, you are blind and you have a heart of stone.  You could memorize the bible, but if you don’t read it in order to be led to JESUS – you’ve never heard God’s voice, you’ve never seen anything spiritual, God’s word doesn’t dwell in you.  

See, the bible is not a religious text book full of interesting information and wise moral guidance.  That’s not its purpose – its purpose is for us to meet Jesus. 

And Jesus can say to the finest bible scholars of His day – if you don’t read it to meet with me, you don’t know the first thing about this book. 

How do we see the bible?  A burden to read?  A little religious text book? A little moral guide book?  Is it a religious chore to read?  Do we think we’re doing Jesus a favour by reading it?  We’re not!  Jesus does us the favour because He treats the pages of this book like the Upper Room where He appeared.  This is where He comes to meet with us.  And as we read it and the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, unblocks our ears, softens our hearts, we see Jesus, we see His war wounds, we are assured of His love again, and He speaks peace into the depths of our soul.  That’s what the bible is. If we don’t understand the bible like that, we don’t understand the bible at all. 

The Scriptures bring us Jesus. 

And Jesus brings us life. 

That’s how our passage ends.  John 20, verse 31: 

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. 

The Scriptures bring us Jesus.  Jesus brings us life.  

You see we don’t naturally have life. We breathe in and out and our hearts pump, but that’s not the life we really need.  Jesus says in John 5, verse 24 that we have to cross over from death to life.  Jesus says we’re born into death and must cross over to life. 

Because life and death are about relationship to God.  When we are cut off from the life-giving love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are dead – doesn’t matter if our hearts are pumping or not – that is true death.  But if we come to Jesus we are brought into that life-giving relationship.  We can be brought from death to life.  

When we join up with Jesus THE Christ, we become anointed by the same Holy Spirit.  When we join up with Jesus THE Son of God – we become children of the same heavenly Father.  We share in the eternal love relationships of the Trinity.  And THAT is life.  Life in His name 

The Scriptures bring us Jesus and Jesus brings us life 

That’s why John’s Gospel was written.  It’s why the whole bible was written. That you may believe 

Do you believe?  Some here have never come to Jesus.  You’ve never crossed over from death to life.  And perhaps Jesus is saying to you as He said to Thomas, “Stop doubting and believe.”  Perhaps even now you are meeting with Jesus through these Scriptures – we shouldn’t be surprised at that, we should expect it.  Will you call out to Jesus even now and call Him “MY Lord and MY God.”?  Come to Him now and know eternal life. 

Perhaps you need a bit longer, well don’t put it off – but seek after Jesus in the place where He is found.  Seek Him in the bible.  Keep coming on a Sunday morning as we go through the first chapter of John.  Perhaps pick up John’s Gospel yourself and enter into it like it’s the Upper Room and as you read and as you think hard on these things, ask Jesus to meet you 

Some of you have been Christians for 50, 60, 70 years.  What do you need to do in response to these verses?  You need to do what we all need to do – believe.  And go on believing.  We begin day one of the Christian life by believing and we continue every day of our Christian lives believing.  What does that look like?  It looks like Jesus meeting us again and again in His word.  Through the encouragement of other believers, through personal bible reading, through growth groups, through church, through any way you can get the Scriptures into you.  Because there you will meet with Jesus – and Jesus has what you need for the day.  He has the fullness of life.  And He gives Himself to you in the Scriptures. 

Friends, you don’t open the bible to receive a lecture.  Whenever I don’t open my bible it’s because I think I’m going to be given a lecture.  We’re not given a lecture, we’re given Jesus, who bled and died for us and who speaks Peace.  He spoke Peace even to doubting Thomas, He will speak peace to you as you meet Him in this book.

The Scriptures bring us Jesus and Jesus brings us life.

I will return to the Piper quote when I’ve got some time.  Meantime, here are some jottings I did a while ago on glory in John.  They are not joined up thoughts, it’s all a bit scattershot…

Jesus insists He will not glorify Himself, but His Father glorifies Him (John 8:50,54).  Glory is other-centred – even for God.

John 13:31 – “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified IN HIM.”

Let’s think about the ‘Now’.  The Now is the cross.  The cross glorifies God.  This truth has two aspects, both of which need to be held together:

The cross glorifies GOD.

and

THE CROSS glorifies God.

The first is important, and we’ll unpack its trinitarian character below.  But too easily we can trumpet the first without realizing the radical truth latent in the second affirmation.  The cross glorifies God.  God is glorified in His gracious, self-motivated, self-sacrificial, saving action.  Where the Son is lifted up in ignominy, in weakness, in apparent folly – there God is glorified.  What kind of God is glorified by this?  What is His glory, if this is it?  It can be nothing other than His incredible self-giving.

What else to say…

The Father is glorified in the Son and the Son in the Father (17:1-4).  This is an eternal, intra-trinitarian truth.  But it also flows out via the incarnate Son and through His work.

This eternal glory is displayed at the cross. (17:5,24)

It doesn’t stand behind the cross, it IS the cross.

The cross is not a bridge or stepping stone to something else called glory.  The cross is the display of God’s eternal glory.  Whatever Jesus brings us into at the cross, it is the eternal glory of God.

Can we begin to grasp this?  The cross and eternity, eternity and the cross – Jesus wants us to hold these things together somehow.

The glory of God is not simply locked up in eternity – not simply an impenetrable family secret between Father and Son.  It’s not a banqueting hall replete in itself and Christ crucified is merely the door into it.  Christ crucified and the bride He would thereby win is at the heart of it.  The bride is certainly in by grace and not by nature – yet it is God’s glory to include us in His eternal life.

John 17:10 – Jesus speaks of His church and says, “I am glorified in them.”  (KJV)

Again we need to hold onto both sides of this:

JESUS is glorified in the church

and

Jesus is glorified IN THE CHURCH

Wow.  Just as the Father is glorified in the Son, the Son is glorified in His people.

Wrap your head around that one!  The eternal Christ is glorified in His Church.

Now obviously glory is not a something we give to Jesus.  As He says:

“I do not receive glory from men.”  (John 5:41)

We’ve got nothing to offer in the glory stakes.  So then, how is Christ glorified in His church.  It must be because His glory simply is to give Himself to us in incarnation, cross and exaltation.  In this way He is glorified.  Because His grace is His glory.

We therefore participate in the divine glory.  How?  By receiving it.  (John 5:44). 

And so we find ourselves on the receiving end of God’s glory, which IS His trinitarian life overflowing in creation, salvation and judgement.

But not only does this glory spread out from Father to Son and Son to Church, such glory is meant to draw in the whole world:

“I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  (John 17:23)

So then:

God’s glory is the cross.

It is other-centred.

It is ecstatic (‘ek’ – out of; ’stasis’ – where you stand) and eccentric (out of the centre).

It overflows to include us.

We do not add to it but it is His glory to make us part of it!

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UPDATE:  If you’re going from London, can you give Josh VB a lift?  See details in comments

How about a day of teaching on the Trinity from Paul Blackham, Richard Bewes and Martin Downes, hosted by Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Swansea!  Sounds good to me.

Saturday 14 November from 10am, £10 including lunch. 

Paul Blackham will present two sessions on the Trinity in the Pentateuch.  Richard Bewes will speak on the pastoral implications of the Trinity.  Martin Downes will ask ‘Whatever happened to the Angel of the LORD?’ 

If I could make it, I’d be there with bells on.  Steve Levy, the pastor there, has assured me that they can provide accommodation for anyone travelling from a distance.  You can contact Steve and the church via their website.

So if you’re in the UK and free next Saturday – do yourself a favour and be encouraged and stimulated by the greatest of biblical themes and some wonderful teaching and fellowship.

Given our current discussion about apologetics, thought I’d thaw out this post…

We’ve noted the danger of fiting Jesus into a pre-fab system of truth. We don’t want to do that.  But Missy has asked the $64 000 question.  It’s basically this: What do we do when speaking to a non-Christian - isn’t it desirable at least sometimes to bring Christ to them according to their preferred programme?? 

I’m not going to be able to answer this very well.  But I’m just going to give some thoughts as they occur and then I’d love if others chimed in with how they go about this.

My first thought is this:  If we’re doing evangelism then we are necessarily relating Christ to non-Christian thought-forms.  Even if all we do is read out the sermon on the mount it will be heard from within a pre-existing mindset.  What’s more it will be heard as remarkably similar, if not completely continuous, with human philosophies.  Think about it.  We all live in a universe made by, through and for Christ and which proclaims Him in every detail. Everyone is working with the same conceptual raw materials and can do no other than come up with some re-arrangement of Christian truth.  When the pure stuff is brought to bear on discussion people will say ‘Yeah, yeah.  That’s just like X.’

But is it?  And is it ever true to say to a person ‘You know it is just like X.  And I’ll add Y and Z to your X and we’ll build towards saving knowledge of Christ.’

Well let’s think about the nature of truth.  Paul says we find truth in Christ – hidden in Him in fact (Eph 4:21; Col 2:3).  Jesus says He is truth (John 14:6) and even goes so far as to say that God’s word (which He also calls ‘truth’) when not related to Him, leaves people in terrifying ignorance.  (John 5:39f; 17:17). 

Truth is relative.  It stands in strict relation to Christ the Truth (good name for a blog I reckon).  His subjectivity is the one objectivity.  What is there outside of Him in Whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden?  Rearrangements of Christian reality yes – but because of that re-arrangement they are rendered blasphemous falsehoods.  The true test of a proposition is not its conformity to an abstract notion of reality or reason or scientific law.  The true test is its relatedness to Jesus.

It is simply not the case that discrete parcels of truth lie around the universe largely intact.  It is even less true that sinful humanity has some capacity (or inclination!) to assess these propositions, divorced as they are from Christ.  It’s outright Pelagian heresy to imagine that such ‘discrete propositions’ and such ‘objectively assessed’ truth will lead a person to Christ.  Christ leads us into the truth.  Study of abstract truth does not lead us to Christ.

Now, what about non-Christian philosophies?  Can a Christian take a sentence from Homer (either Simpson or the poet!) on their lips and use it to testify to Christ?  Of course!  But in doing so they have vindicated Christ not Homer.  They have not given testimony to the rightness of that proposition in its own context.  They have commandeered it and pressed it into Christ’s service – the service it should have always rendered.  This is precisely the language of 2 Corinthians 10:5 – taking every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.

In this verse Paul paints the picture of these renegade ‘thoughts’ that have gone AWOL from Christ.  We arrest them and press them back into the Lord’s service.  But what we don’t do is grant these thoughts a civilian existence, as though they’ll do the Lord’s service no matter what uniform they’re wearing.  No.  Either they’re in obedience to Christ (explicitly wearing the uniform) or they’re a pretension setting itself up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor 10:5).

Ok, but now we’re back to the inescapable problem.  Here is a non-Christian with all their presupposed notions of truth that can only lead them to error.  Now here comes Christ the Truth.  And we’ve already conceded that the non-Christian cannot but hear Christ according to their presupposed notions.  So what do we do?

Well here’s one tempting response.  Simply oppose everything they say.  They buy into post-modernism – we counter with modernism.  They’re comfortable with irrational claims – we respond with rationalism.  They say ‘truth is relative’ – we insist ‘truth is absolute.’  They indulge in immorality – we preach morality.  Well you may well get a discussion going.  But have you brought them to Christ?  Or to the 1950s? 

Tim Keller ministers among the groovy lefties of Manhattan.  What’s his approach?  Traditional religious values?  No, as he likes to say the bible is not left wing or right wing – it’s from above.  Whatever we say into these debates must make that clear.

Another thought.  Jesus did not come onto the world stage addressing ‘universal human concerns’.  He wasn’t born into the Areopagus as the Ultimate Philosopher.   He did not open with: ‘We all know the truth about relationships, money, power etc.  I’ve come to bring you the ultimate experience of these.’  No.  He comes specifically and almost exclusively onto the Jewish scene, addressing Jewish hopes and concerns.  He comes as Messiah into a very specific, encultered setting which He had been meticulously preparing for Himself for centuries.  A people had been formed, a law had been given, a land, kings, prophets, priests, the Scriptures.  And the understanding, ideals, hopes and problems of this people are actually quite strange to the natural ear.

They worried about ceremonial cleanness and atoning sacrifice; about land and exile; about Sabbath and the throne of David.  They were a particular people with particular patriarchs and a particular God called Yahweh who was (and is), among other things, their tribal deity.  They were concerned about His particular promises – His covenant – and their particular fulfilment.  The Jesus-shaped hole at the heart of Israel was a very peculiar shape indeed – at least to modern sensibilities.  It is, in many ways, very different to what contemporary evangelists consider as the Jesus-shaped hole of today’s ‘enquirer’. 

And so when the LORD incarnate comes as His own Prophet, He does a couple of peculiar things that we modern evangelists don’t really do.  First He comes in fulfilment of the Scriptures.  All the Gospel writers do this but Matthew especially introduces Jesus as the fulfilment of the Old Testament.  Here is the One at the centre of this history and this people and these hopes.  Do we present Jesus like that? 

The other peculiar thing Jesus does is to begin by saying ‘Repent and believe the gospel.’  That’s not His punchline – that’s His opener.  ‘Repent and believe the gospel’ He commands.  And then He unpacks the life of the kingdom.  On those terms He speaks of relationships, money, power etc.  First the beatitudes – the gatehouse to the kingdom – then a description of this kingdom life.

What would evangelism look like that followed this pattern?  Something like this I think: “You’ve been speaking to me about love / freedom / fear / power / addiction / sexuality / abortion / capital punishment / healthcare / education / the state / animal rights / whatever.  Jesus has a lot to say on those issues but I’m going to have to back up from our discussion and give you a bird’s eye view.  Let me give you the bible’s view on X in three minutes.”  If your friend isn’t willing to do this then they’re not willing to have a serious discussion anyway.  Present your biblical theology of the issue with Jesus at the centre.  Now Jesus is your non-negotiable.  He is the vantage point from which you address the subject.  He is not in question – everything else is.  Even use language like “For the sake of argument, work with me on this.  I’m describing Christ’s universe – He made all things, He came into the world to reconcile them etc etc…  Doesn’t that explain perfectly what we find when it comes to X?’

What you don’t want to do is say ‘X is absolutely true.  Now please investigate Jesus and I hope you find that He fits the criteria already established by X.’  I find Karl Barth’s warning on this particularly salient:

The great danger of apologetics is “the domesticating of revelation… the process of making the Gospel respectable. When the Gospel is offered to man, and he stretches out his hand to receive it and takes it into his hand, an acute danger arises which is greater than the danger that he may not understand it and angrily reject it. The danger is that he may accept it and peacefully and at once make himself its lord and possessor, thus rendering it inoccuous, making that which chooses him something which he himself has chosen, which therefore comes to stand as such alongside all the other things that he can also choose, and therefore control.” (II/1, p141)

More Barth quotes here.

Anyway I’ve got a few more things to say but I’ve rambled on too long.  Maybe a worked example or two would help.  See this example from a wedding sermon.

But I’ll leave it there for now.  What do you think?

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I’ve just come back from a prayer meeting focussed on mission events we’re holding next year.  The woman I was praying with earnestly asked the Father,

Lord, we don’t want to persuade people that the Gospel is a good idea.  We want them to meet the living Lord Jesus and be born again.

My Amen was hearty indeed!

We all love the phrase: ‘The Gospel is not good advice, it’s good news.’   Or at least, we should love it.  It’s an essential reminder that we don’t preach a moral ladder to Jesus.  Instead we announce that He has come down.

But I am worried about a similar error in our evangelism.  It’s thinking that the Gospel is a good idea - even the best idea.  The crowning ‘world view’ among ‘world views’. 

In reality this is precisely the  ‘good advice’ problem transposed to epistemology.  Where ‘good advice’ preaching proclaims a moral ladder to Jesus, ‘good idea’ preaching proclaims a reasoned ladder to Jesus. 

Both approaches are just as opposed to the good news as each other.  One is moral pelagianism, the other is intellectual pelagianism.

But for people who believe in Scripture alone, Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone – let’s please preach the gospel alone.  That is evangelism to the glory of God alone.

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Just so my regular readers know, you’re vastly outnumbered on this blog by image searchers (so wordpress tells me).

The most popular searches  are ‘kebab’, ‘waterfall’, ‘puffer fish’, ‘fat cat’ and ‘ned flanders’…

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…which, I think you’ll agree, represents with eloquent simplicity the profound and far-reaching concerns of Christ the Truth..

]]> http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/youre-in-good-company/feed/ 4 Glen kebab waterfall fat cat puffer fish flanders http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/theo-centric/ http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/theo-centric/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:26:13 +0000 Glen http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/?p=3021 ]]>

In a previous post I asked for feedback on this quote:

And so the biblical mindset starts with the assumption that God is the center of reality. All thinking starts with the assumption that God has basic rights as the Creator of all things. He has goals that fit with his nature and perfect character. Then the biblical mindset moves out from this center and interprets the world, with God and his rights and goals as the measure of all things.

No prizes for guessing this comes from John Piper.

In the comments of the last post people mentioned lots of the same issues that I have with it.  Let me go through my beefs.  I’ll post this in stages.  Today I’ll just talk about the first sentence.

1) In the first sentence we are encouraged to be God-centred.  Good.  But which God?

Cue groans from across the blogosphere.  I know you’re thinking ‘Glen, go and drink some beer, shoot some pool and cut the man some slack.’   But before you think I’m just being nasty or pedantic, let me just say there’s nothing wrong with this sentence and I don’t at all begrudge Piper saying it.  You’ll find such sentences on my own lips.  I’m just picking up on this phrase to highlight some of the things that go on in theological discussions.

Here’s the point.  The person who cries ‘God-centred’ the loudest is not necessarily the most biblical.  (Nor is the person who cries ‘biblical’, but that’s another story).  The absolutely key question is what kind of God is central to our thinking.  And that question is not resolved in the slightest by saying He’s central.  In fact to say that ‘God’ is central to our theology is basically a tautology.

As Simone Weil says:

“No human being escapes the necessity of conceiving some good outside himself towards which his thought turns in a movement of desire, supplication, and hope. Consequently, the only choice is between worshipping the true God or an idol.”

We’re all God-centred.  The question is, which God?

I have little patience for theologians or bloggers who claim a superiority because they are ‘God-centred’.  Often it’s accompanied by the accusation that their opponent is ‘Man-centred’.  (And one of these days I’ll write a post about how they’re both wrong – we should be ‘God-Man (i.e. Christ)-centred’).  But really, in Simone Weil’s sense, we’re all ‘God’-centred.  What we really have to do is sort out who this God is who is central to our thinking.

But let’s note well:  the fact that our theology should be (and, in a sense, always is!) utterly consumed by and radically focussed upon God, in no sense tells you whether God Himself is consumed by and focussed upon Himself.  Those are two entirely separate questions.

One is about our theological method, the other is about the ‘theos‘ who, of necessity, stands at the centre of it.

Of course we should have our hearts and minds fixed on the living God, and of course if we fixed our ultimate affections elsewhere that would be idolatry.  Ok, great.  What bemuses me is the claim that God Himself must fix His affections on Himself lest He be an idolater too.  Do you see how theo-centrism as a theological method gets confused with theo-centrism as a doctrine of God?

And, more dangerously, do you see how such a method is in fact anthropocentric? It’s an argument that says ‘We would be idolaters to set our affections on lesser beings, so God must be an idolater if He did that.’  It’s a theology from below.  And yet I find it on the lips of the very people who want to accuse all around them of man-centredness.

So let’s be clear – everyone is already God-centred in their theology.  The real issue is what kind of God we’re talking about.  And the question of theo-centric method does not at all settle the question of God’s own being.  While we must be theo-centric, we have to admit that God Himself is higher than the ‘musts’ that apply to us.  The theologian who says God “must” love Himself higher than the creature has actually followed a theo-logic that is less than God-centred.

We do not by nature know the kind of being that God is.  And we cannot reason it out from the basis of how we find life as creatures.  To tell a person that ‘God’ must be at the centre of their thinking will not tell them anything really.  God cannot be assumed from the outset, He must be revealed.

The fact that all the gods of human religion are self-centred means nothing.  The fact that we are called to be ‘God-centred’ means nothing for God’s own life and being.  It neither means that God should be centred on us, nor on Himself.  The question of His own being is the key question and it can only be resolved as God reveals Himself.

Now I’m not saying that this first sentence from Piper commits him to any of the things I’ve outlined here.  As I’ve said, you could find the same sentence on my own lips.  I’m just trying to clear some ground and say what being ‘theo-centric’ is and isn’t and how it can and can’t be used in these discussions.

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More to follow…

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From

In the last 48 hours the following has happened in my blogging world

1. I’ve been part of a fascinating discussion on a cutting-edge topic in contemporary theology.  And little old me got to sit at the table along with PhD specialists and theological educators in the field.  Great fun.
2. I’ve been able to help someone via email as they make their journey into Christian faith.
3. I’ve been able to share ministry resources with people that first appeared on the blog.
4. I’ve read wonderfully heartwarming things and been gobsmacked by extremely insightful comments.
5. People I know have been able to contact me by searching me online.
6. People I don’t know but who share common interests have come across me and we’ve corresponded.
7. Discussions about seemingly disparate topics on different blogs have converged around common themes, giving added insight.
8. Via email I’ve learnt about another blogger’s background and Christian story – very encouraging.
9. Commenters have helpfully pointed out where my tone has been unhelpful and obscuring.
10. Maybe best of all, when a comment crossed the line there was repentance and reconciliation (as opposed to nastiness and retaliation).  More of that please.

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I wasn’t a huge fan of this paragraph quoted on Tony’s blog (as my comment makes clear).

But I love this one:

Thomas Manton, from a sermon on John 3:16

“Love is at the bottom of all. We may give a reason of other things, but we cannot give a reason of his love, God showed his wisdom, power, justice, and holiness in our redemption by Christ. If you ask why he made so much ado about a worthless creature, raised out of the dust of the ground at first, and had now disordered himself, and could be of no use to him? We have an answer at hand, Because he loved us. If you continue to ask, But why did he love us? We have no other answer but because he loved us; for beyond the first rise of things we cannot go. And the same reason is given by Moses, Deuteronomy 7:7–8: ‘The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you…’ That is, in short, he loved you because he loved you. All came from his free and undeserved mercy; higher we cannot go in seeking after the causes of what is done for our salvation.”

–Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, 2:340–341.

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Huh?

Huh?

That’s what I’m talkin about.

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Here’s a quote.  A quote about foundations and starting points.  What do you make of it?

And so the biblical mindset starts with the assumption that God is the center of reality. All thinking starts with the assumption that God has basic rights as the Creator of all things. He has goals that fit with his nature and perfect character. Then the biblical mindset moves out from this center and interprets the world, with God and his rights and goals as the measure of all things.

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Glory is not a something that God gets.  Glory is the display of who God is. 

And this display, shining out from Christ and Him crucified, reveals the overflowing plenitude of God’s being as Giver.

Glory is not what lies behind the cross (the cross considered as a veil or mere stepping-stone).  God’s glory is this self-giving cross.

It’s not ‘the Giver gets the glory.’  It’s – ‘God’s glory is His giving’

Glory is not what God gets.  God’s grace is His glory.

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A friend preached a wonderful sermon on the bible last Sunday.  He spoke, among other things, of Luther’s attitude to the bible:

The whole reformation was birthed by a tenacious asking, seeking and knocking at the door of Scripture:

I beat importunately upon Paul at that place (Rom 1:17), most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted. At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words… There I began to understand… I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open doors.

Do I beat importunately upon Scripture?  Luther spoke of treating the bible like the rock in the wilderness – smiting it with the rod until water gushes out.  Do I do that?

When he lectured on Ecclesiastes he found it tough.  He wrote to a friend “Solomon the preacher, is giving me a hard time, as though he begrudged anyone lecturing on him. But he must yield.”

Wow!  It’s been a while since I’ve wrestled with Scripture like that.  Do we really believe that there’s life-giving Waters in this book?  Well then, let’s smite it till our thirst is slaked!

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You who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ  (Gal 3:27)

I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you  (Gal 4:19)

Christ put on me

Christ formed in me

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Christ surrounding me

Christ birthed in me

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Christ already

Christ progressing

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Christ: My status

Christ: My stature

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I in Christ

Christ in me

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]]> http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/i-in-christ-christ-in-me/feed/ 1 Glen http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/did-you-meet-safely-yesterday/ http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/did-you-meet-safely-yesterday/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:33:04 +0000 Glen http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/?p=2987 ]]>

Then be thankful:

ht OldAdam

Here’s a website where you can write to Christians imprisoned for their faith.  They will tell you the background to different prisoners, translate your encouragements into the approapriate language and tell you where to send your letter.

Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow-prisoners, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves were suffering.  (Heb 13:3)

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