Discipleship?

It’s only just occured to me – discipleship is not in the bible.
The word I mean.
Disciple is.  Obviously.
But not discipleship.
Is that significant?
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The Cambridge online dictionary describes the ’ship’ suffix as…
having the rank, position, skill or relationship of the stated type
So a lord has the rank or position of lordship.
Scholarship denotes the skill of scholars.
Membership refers [...]

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Paul Blackham vs Radiohead

I love this sermon.  And I love Radiohead.

The full 30 minute sermon is here.  It’s in my all-time top 3.
Don’t forget other classic Blackham sermons here.
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Should I tell him? The marriage could never survive it

A friend of mine was counselling a woman who’d been cheating on her husband.  She ended the affair and resolved never to tell her husband about any of it.  She said “If I told him it would put a bomb under our marriage.”
What would you reply?
My friend’s answer was inspired:
“The bomb has already gone off.  [...]

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In other words…

Always given to verbosity, here’s what I meant in my previous post:
‘I have been crucified with Christ’ is profoundly ethical
‘Take up your cross’ is profoundly mystical
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If we have food and clothing we will be content with that…

A 2007 print media campaign for Cordaid: ‘People in Need’. 
 
Go here for full images.  H/T Mark Meynell
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12 Disciple-thoughts

A Disciple is a learner.
Mathetes is the greek word for disciple (from which we get ‘mathematics’).  It’s a term for learners. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:3). 
To be a disciple is to be Jesus’ family
Matthew 12:49
To be a disciple is to be included in Jesus’ ministry to the world
Matthew 15:36
There [...]

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Just what is a “marriage” anyway?

From Cranmer, his commenters and some disturbing web research:
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Woman marries fairground ride

 
“I love him as much as women love their husbands and know we’ll be together forever.”
 
In other news:
Woman Marries Dolphin

Dressed in a white dress, a veil and pink flowers in her hair, Sharon Tendler got down on one knee on the dock and gave Cindy [...]

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How Jesus views the collection plate

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. 43 Calling his disciples [...]

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1 Corinthians 13 sermon

 
How do you think of 1 Corinthians 13?  Is it a warm, relaxing bubble bath?  Does it make you forget your cares and give you the warm fuzzies?
 
 

I’m here to tell you, this chapter is not a bubble bath.  It’s a scalding hot bath full of antiseptic!
And we are covered in cuts and bruises and [...]

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All in the mind?

What’s wrong with solo sex?
Here CCEF has an 11 minute podcast on masturbation.  While there are some good points (like husbands prefering solo-sex to talking to their wives about the bedroom), it takes that age-old evangelical line: the problem’s all in the mind.
Have you ever heard the line, “If you can do it thinking about [...]

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1 Corinthians 9 sermon – part five

Continued from here.
Where do we draw the line though?  Is Paul infinitely flexible? Just a chameleon with no integrity?  No, look at those brackets in v21:
21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to [...]

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OT law seminar

The history of redemption according to Galatians 3: 
Not…

But…

 
Dave reminded me of this talk on OT law.  These diagrams may help explain it a bit.
And here’s the tabernacle:

And remember:
When there is a change in the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law.  (Heb 7:12)
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Nice and Christian

Those two things aren’t the same you know.  But often we forget that.  Especially as we try to live in community.  I mean, think about it – what helps our Christian communities function? 
Surely we get along because we all play nice, right?  Empowered by the gospel of course.  We have to add that caveat.  But now [...]

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What Matthew 8:1 does not say…

And lo, having spoken thus, He didst ascend from the mount before their eyes.  And He spake unto them saying, “Remember this that I have taught you.”
And lo, angels didst appear saying, “Why doth ye lookest into the sky?  He hath given to thee thy programme of reform…”
Instead there’s an unclean wretch who runs to the LORD [...]

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Soft words make soft people

I’m hearing this saying doing the rounds in sermons etc:
“Soft words make hard people, hard words make soft people.”
The implication being – therefore speak hard words.
Well.  Maybe.  And maybe Proverbs 15:1
“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
Let’s not forget how this dynamic usually plays out:  Hard words produce hard speakers.  [...]

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Cheek Turning 101

Turning the other cheek is the very nature of Jesus’ posture towards us.  It defines His way.  This is true in the OT as much as the New.
It is a response to being wronged.  (Note that being sued and forced labour are the parallel cases in Matt 5:40,41 – it’s not just about non-violence, it’s [...]

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Turning the other cheek in the OT

I’ve had the blogging equivalent of getting my face wiped with spit on a hanky.  My mother (long-time reader, first-time commenter) could keep her silence no longer when I failed to mention Old Testament incidents of turning the other cheek.  Well in keeping with my theme I graciously submit to the correction and ask that [...]

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The mad genius of turning the other cheek

when you are struck…
don’t strike back, take the blow
don’t protect yourself, expose yourself
don’t lead with justice, lead with mercy
don’t retreat into safety, advance into danger
don’t retaliate with strength, retaliate with weakness
don’t shrink into self-pity, move out into self-giving
don’t insist on your rights, open yourself to wrong
don’t cower in defeat, hold fast in meekness
don’t stand on your dignity, stand on your shame
don’t harden [...]

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Good advice for boasters

 
Are you a boaster? 
Bet I’m a bigger one…
See?
I’ve been thinking about the early chapters of 1 Corinthians recently.
Here’s some of the things they boasted in. 
Chapter 1:31 alludes to Jeremiah 9:23.  There the spotlight is on wisdom, strength and riches.  
This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong [...]

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You will

Ok, Dave’s right, blogging’s about the quick post.  So here goes…
The Ten Commandments are written in the indicative.  Did you know that?  There’s a perfectly straightforward imperative mood in Hebrew.  God could easily have  said “You must not murder”.  But God didn’t say that.  He said “You will not murder.”  You won’t.  You’re my special people.  [...]

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Freedom – where to begin?

Seriously, Happy Creation Day everybody.  Hope you’ve been enjoying the festivities.
The other day I started talking about freedom: Beginning with ourselves will never get us to a sustainable or satisfying account of freedom.
When we say: “I am who I am / I will be who I will be”, it is both blasphemous (Exodus 3:6) and the [...]

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Discussion continues…

I, like some deranged Sanballat, continue my attempts to abolish religion.  Marc, like brave Nehemiah, is building the wall.  Go here for the latest comments.
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New Wineskins

Some thoughts generated from a sermon on Mark 2:18-3:6
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In Mark 1:40-2:17 we saw three stories about the people of Jesus’ kingdom.  And this was the shock: The people of Jesus’ kingdom are the lepers, the paralytics, the tax collectors and their spiritual equivalents.  Jesus calls sinners.  Sinners.  Not the righteous.  Jesus’ people are not the [...]

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Too far?

Is it too much to say “Jesus is the abolition of religion” as I did in my last post?
Thanks to Marc who commented with this:
Glen, this “religion” as a dirty word is tiresome and misleading, don’t you think? Jesus came to abolish man-made religion and false religion, sure. He calls us to true religion of [...]

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Jesus: the abolition of religion

Adapted from a sermon on Mark 1:40-2:17
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Jesus’ teaching.  Jesus’ followers.  Do you ever have trouble putting those two things together?
In a sense that’s the problem the Christian faces as they seek to follow Him.  And it’s the problem the non-Christian has as they look on.  How do Jesus’ teaching and His followers go together??
Think about it.  [...]

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He saved my life and I don’t even know his name

Anyone else sick of the whole ‘Christ in the OT’ debate?  Man… some people just go on and on.
I’m announcing a new hobby horse – Christ in the NT.  In fact I think this is where you really see a preacher’s Christ-centredness.  We’ve had the rule drummed into us by now – Thou shalt ‘bridge [...]

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Jesus, not some Christ-principle

An interviewer once suggested to Barth that he followed a christo-centric principle in his theology.  Barth was not impressed.  He insisted that he had no interest in a christo-centric principle.  He was interested in Christ Himself. 
Whether Barth always achieved that is another matter (who does?).  But at least he identified the danger with which all [...]

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Responding to sin

How should we respond to sin in our lives?
One response is to think ‘Come on Glen, I’m better than that.’
Another is to think ‘Come on Glen, Christ is better than that.’
The first may produce a very moral life.  But the devil is more than happy to concede to you a Christ-less morality.  Self-righteousness is a [...]

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Four surprises in Mark 8

(I’ll get back to the series soon, just thought I’d break things up).
I was reading some very familiar words again:
 Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after [...]

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What is godliness?

From a sermon on Luke 14 I gave yesterday:
Godliness is radical other-centredness.  Christ-likeness is opening your life out in invitation to the world.

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