February 21, 2009 • 12:49 pm 0
I just noticed that I passed 10,000 hits today. No big deal to some, but I’m pretty stoked about that!
I also wanted to let everyone know that I made some updates to my “Who I Am” page. Check ‘em out…see what’s new in mi vida loca…
Filed under: Random
• 11:38 am 0
We’re continuing our series on the book The Shack. Someone asked me last week “What angle are you taking? What’s your perspective with The Shack?” I assured this person – just as I’m assuring all of you now – that although this is a series based on the book, we’re not preaching the book. The Shack brings up a number of themes that most of us have wrestled with. We’re using The Shack has a starting point for looking at what the Bible says about some of these themes.
Today, we’re bouncing off a rather interesting conversation Mack – the main character – had with God. At one point in the story, Mack and God get into a conversation about expectations. Like we all have, Mack asks, “What do you expect of me?” God responds by asking, “Why do you think we came up with the Ten Commandments?” What ensues is several pages dealing with the relationship between Law and gospel.
This morning we’re going to take a look at what the book of Colossians has to say about this relationship. So turn with me to Colossians chapter 2…
READ COL. 2:16-23
Let me give you a little bit of context to our passage…
The book of Colossians was written by the apostle Paul while he was in prison. He spent a lot of time in prison – he was in and out for most of his life. We don’t which bout this was, but we know he was in prison. And while he was in prison, he got word that something wasn’t right with the church of Colossae. Colossae was in Asia Minor – present-day Turkey. So Paul receives word that there was a problem in the Colossian church and he decides to write a letter to try to fix things.
Now we don’t know exactly what that problem was. Some of the smart people who study this stuff sometimes talk about the “Colossian Heresy,” but in reality, we just don’t know what was happening. But our text gives us the best idea out any other part of Colossians.
Now something else that is worth noting about this book, is that Jesus is a big deal in Colossians. I know, Jesus is a big deal no matter what book you’re looking at – but in Colossians, he comes up a lot. And since we know that Paul was addressing a problem – a “philosophy” – as he refers to it in this letter, it’s probably pretty safe to say that it had something to do with Jesus…
So what exactly was this problem that Paul was addressing? We get a hint of it in verse 16…
READ VERSE 16
Now I’m going to assume that we’re all fairly familiar with “religious festivals” and “Sabbath days” – as concepts, as ideas, we at least have some understanding of what that’s referring to. But these “New Moon celebrations” – what are those all about? The Bible does talk about “New Moon celebrations” or feasts, just not very often. Despite what it may sound like, the “New Moon” thing was actually a Jewish feast – it was part of the religious practices of Judaism.
Filed under: Bible Study, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Culture, Ministry, Preaching, Sermon, Theology
• 9:00 am 1
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So at this point we’re kind of in-between series; we just finished talking about our church vision for 2009, and in a couple weeks we’re going to start looking at some of the issues raised in the book The Shack.
As many of you know I intend to graduate this year from Calvin Seminary and become a full-fledged minister. But in order to get that point, there are a few things that I need to get out of the way. Today is one of those things. I’ve been assigned a passage that I needed to prepare a sermon on and preach, and since we’re in-between topics, we figured this would be a good time for me to get this done without breaking things up too much.
The text we’re looking at today comes from Genesis 1…
READ GENESIS 1:26-31
Before we get too far into the text, I want to “clear the air” about a few things. This is a popular passage. And because of its popularity, it’s a little tough to preach without boring everyone to sleep.
But this passage has also been used in a lot of different ways – some good, some not-so-good. For example: this passage has been used to prove that evolution is wrong. It’s been used to argue that birth control is wrong. It’s been used to argue that driving huge SUV’s that run on diesel and put out enormous amounts of CO2 is humanity’s God-given prerogative. This passage has been used as a starting point for explaining what it means to be “created in God’s image.” Within the past couple years, this passage has also been used defend the Christian environmentalist movement – or Creation Care as it’s sometimes called.
What I want to do this morning is try to avoid many of the typical interpretations and applications and present this passage in a more balanced way. While it’s possible to go off in a variety of different directions with these verses, I want to stick to our text as much as possible and trust that, over time, many of the questions and issues this text raises will be answered for you.
Filed under: Bible Study, Christian Living, Church, Ministry, Preaching, Sermon, Theology
February 20, 2009 • 9:00 am 0
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In my previous paper, I argued that the atonement was the “key-stone” event of the Christian faith. But it is forgiveness that makes all other things possible. Via the atonement, God’s people are imputed with all righteousness. However, even righteousness is a result of forgiveness. When Jesus obediently gave up his life upon the cross he won victory over death. In the “Lord’s Prayer” we are taught to pray for the forgiveness of “our debts.” This debt is our rebellion against God. Such rebellion has led us to separation from God and spiritual death. We then have a need to be reconciled to God and made right before Him. My thesis is simple enough: Following the atonement, forgiveness is central to the salvation process and the Christian life.
Before we can deal with my thesis directly, we must be sure we understand exactly what forgiveness is. Some of the difficulty associated with defining the term “forgiveness” is that there are several words used throughout the Bible that all relate to the singular idea of forgiveness [Morris, L.L. "Forgiveness." New Bible Dictionary (D.R.W. Wood, ed.). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996.]. Generally speaking, we can define forgiveness as a “covering over” or “doing away with” of a debt [This is my own definition based upon the key OT and NT words used to speak of the idea of "forgiveness."].
The Bible presents a multifaceted picture of forgiveness. Beginning already in the Pentateuch God provides a means by which the sins of His people are accounted for. In Le. 4 and Nu. 5 God gives instructions for various sacrifices and offerings. It is through these offerings that God declared, “In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven” (Leviticus 4:20). Especially here, the OT establishes the precedence of death/bloodshed as necessary for forgiveness.
However, bloodshed is not the only thing required in order for forgiveness to take place; there is a petitionary aspect to forgiveness. In 1 Ki 8:33-34 we read, “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.” Forgiveness is inseparably tied to true repentance and supplication on the part of those in debt. It is God’s response – something bestowed upon the debtor – to true remorse of the sinner.
Filed under: Christianity, Theology
February 19, 2009 • 5:13 pm 1
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It has been said that “There is no such thing as Christianity without atonement. Atonement requires Jesus of Nazareth to be so much more than a great teacher, social revolutionary, or spiritual guru…If there is no atonement, then Christianity is no longer Christianity” [Anthony, Shawn. "Thoughts on Judeo-Christian Atonement and Covenant." Lofitribe: Faith, Leadership, Design, Etc./Ver. 2009 Reboot! 19 Aug. 2007. 14 Jan. 2009 <http://www.lofitribe.com/2007/08/19/thoughts-on-judeo-christian-atonement-and-covenant/>.] This quote underscores the central role the doctrine of atonement plays in Christian faith and life as a whole. Ironically however, few Christians – clergy or laity – give due credit to the influence of atonement upon their religious lives. Perhaps it is fair to say that most Christians simply do not realize just how large atonement’s sphere of influence is.
My thesis is simple enough: the atonement is the “keystone doctrine” of the Christian faith. Our entire identity as followers of Jesus rests on the reality and efficacy of Jesus’ death and resurrection as it pertains to our justification before the Father. Without the cross, Jesus is nothing; without the cross, the Church is fooling itself into believing a philosophy has eternal ramifications.
As with any exploration, it is helpful to begin by answering what is perhaps the most simple of all questions pertaining to atonement: What exactly is atonement?
Atonement, in a very basic sense, is “the salvific ‘bringing together’ of the human to the divine that God the Father effects in Christ the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit” [Sherman, Robert. King, Priest, and Prophet: A Trinitarian Theology of Atonement. New York: T&T Clark International, 2004. 10.] Stated another way, atonement is “the act by which God restores a relationship of harmony and unity between himself and human beings” [Illustrated Dictionary of the Bible. Herbert Lockyer, Sr. (ed). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986. 118.] It is worth noting right at the beginning that in both definitions, God is emphasized as the agent. That is to say, that within the bounds the orthodox Christianity, atonement is never something which the believer is able to do on his or her own. Instead, atonement is something that has been “done” for the believer at some point in the past.
Filed under: Christianity, Theology
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