Famous Last Words...

Yesterday I spoke for the final time (at least for a while) at Ferndale Baptist Church. In the end I spoke on Colossians 1v15-23. I realised that there wasn't really anything else to speak on but the Lord Jesus, so that's what I did. If you want to read my notes, you can look at them here:

Colossians 1v15-23

I'm going to miss having the opportunities to preach at Ferndale. Although I guess I'll be doing a fair bit of speaking anyway (I've had a few invitations already), it's a different kettle of fish altogether speaking to a group of people you know, and even feel some responsibility for. As I spoke yesterday, I was speaking to friends. I knew some of the details of their lives. I knew what they've been taught over recent weeks and months. And I knew there were definitely some people there who weren't Christians, and I knew some of the issues they're dealing with. Now I've preached for the last time here, I've realised again what a great privilige it is to be a herald of the gospel. I think this quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones sums it up:

“Preaching is the most amazing, and the most thrilling activity that one can ever be engaged in, because of all that it holds out for all of us in the present, and because of the glorious endless possibilities in an eternal future”

And finally...

It's taken me about 2 1/2 years, but I've finally finished preaching my way through Ephesians. (In case you were wondering, it took all that time because there were long gaps in between, not because I did it in minute detail!) In fact, it feels a bit strange to have finished it. I had to do the whole of chapter 6 to squeeze it into my last evening sermon, so it's a little bit epic. You can read it as a PDF here:

Ephesians 6

To finish off the sermon, and the book, I found a great quote from C.H. Spurgeon. The whole of Ephesians is soaked in God's grace, and so I think these words from Spurgeon wrap it up well...

“Pause here, my hearer, awhile, and think before this world was made, ere God had settled the deep foundations of the mountains, or poured the seas from the laver of the bottom of his hand, he had chosen his people, and set his heart on them. To them he had given himself, his Son, his heaven, his all. For them did Christ determine to resign his bliss, his home, his life; for them did the Spirit promise all his attributes, that they might be blessed. O grace divine, how glorious thou art, without beginning, without end. How shall I praise thee? Take up the strain ye angels; sing these noble themes, the love of the Father, the love of the Son, the love of the Spirit. “

'Normal' service has been resumed...

It's been tricky getting anything onto the internet for the past couple of weeks because our connection has been dodgy - I think the box got struck by lightning. But now, thanks to the heroic efforts of my colleague Rudi, it's mended. So here are two things I've added to my website:

1 Thessalonians Overview
Galatians 5v13-26

The first is an overview of 1 Thessalonians (hence the title). I love this book, and it made a big impact on me when I studied it as a student, and then as a Relay worker. It was great to revisit it, and to teach it at our Bible study meeting. One particular highlight was the use of a 'wordle' (which Ed mentioned on his blog the other day). Basically you stick a load of text (1 Thessalonians in this case) into the website, and it spits out a pretty word picture, with the size of the words corresponds to the number of times they occur. OK, I know there are issues about translations and stuff, but I thought it would be a fun way for the group to work out what 1 Thessalonians might be about - and it worked quite well. Definitely worth doing again I think.

The second is a talk from our morning service yesterday on the 'fruit of the Spirit.' In one way, it looks like I take a really long run up to talking about the fruit of the Spirit, but it's impossible to understand the fruit of the Spirit without putting it in the context of the whole letter to the Galatians. It's all about freedom. Although they were free, they were starting to add rules, which Paul hates. But the alternative, to just do what you like, is no good either. Instead, Paul wants them to see a third way - life by the Spirit. Not following rules, but following a person.

Ephesians 5v22-33

Yes, I've finally got to that part of Ephesians. The notes are online here:

Ephesians 5v22-33

I found it mildly amusing that I happened to be giving this sermon on the 100th anniversary of Women's Sunday. I think some of the feminists on Breakfast News would have my guts for garters with all my talk about submission... (Hopefully if you read the talk you'll see that I'm not an oppressive chauvinist!)

Adoption

I've just added another talk to my website. It was given on Fathers' Day, so that's what it's about. It's always puzzled me why churches often celebrate Mothers' Day in a big way, but not so much Fathers' Day. As I mention in my introduction, surely Christians have a very good reason for celebrating it, as we know the best Father in the universe.

With that thought in mind, I started to pull apart what we mean when we call God 'Father.' There's a Trinitarian way of saying it (God the Father in relation to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit). But when we talk about 'Our Father,' there's a danger we can end up talking in a very general sense. So that got me onto the subject of adoption. And what a subject! I struggled to narrow it all down to a sermon, but here is the result (here are the notes at least).

Ephesians 1v3-14 - a Fathers' Day sermon on Adoption

If you're reading this and want to know more, read Knowing God by Jim Packer - there's an awesome chapter on being Sons of God in there (which I refer to in the talk).

Glorious Apologetics?

I've just put another sermon on my website. It's onHaggai chapter 1. It's a bit rough around the edges, and I don't like the introduction, but it seemed to go down OK. I really like Haggai, although I don't think he gets enough attention. I particularly love this chapter - it's a kick up the backside to the Jews who'd returned from exile but become more concerned with their fancy houses than with God's glory. Something which is really clear from Haggai 1 is God's concern for his own glory - he makes all the effort to get people to see his glory. He sends Haggai with a message, he's been frustrating their efforts to find satisfaction in other things, he tells them what to do, and he stirs their hearts to do it. God's glory is God's top priority.

As I mention (possibly a bit clumsily) in the introduction, this has had a huge impact on my understanding of God. People like John Piper have helped me to see that God's number one priority is his own glory, and it's a truth which turns everything upside down. One major effect is that it puts us in our place. We tend to think that we're God's main concern, which he proved by dying for us. But, in truth, God's glory is demonstrated in the death of the Lord Jesus as his love and grace and holiness and justice are displayed.

Something else I was trying to get at in the sermon, which I don't think I did justice to, is that God's glory is key to understanding who he is, and why he acts the way he does. When we lose sight of it, we see God differently, and a lot of things about him become far more difficult to understand.

One obvious area is the problem of suffering. How can God possibly allow suffering if he is good and powerful? God's glory is key to understanding this - listen to John Piper's talks on suffering from New Word Alive, or read Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. It's only when we factor in God's glory that these things begin to make sense. Otherwise any answers we come up with are either deeply unsatisfying, or we have to make things up.

Which brings me to the point of this post, and a question I've been pondering for a while. It seems to me that we don't like to talk about God's glory to non-Christians. I don't think I've ever heard an apologetic talk on suffering which deals with the subject in the way Piper would. I don't think I've ever given a talk like that either. I'm wondering, why not? Perhaps it's because we can't understand it or explain it properly, so it makes God sound like an egomaniac? How can I talk about God's glory to non-Christians in a way that will make sense of the big problem they have, but which will do justice to God and maintain his goodness and grace and compassion? Hmmm... I feel there will be more to come on this...

Spurgeon on the Incarnation

The other week I spoke on Matthew 1v18-25 as part of Ferndale's "We Believe" series. I've just put my notes online here.

At the end I used a quote from one of my dead heroes, local lad Charles Spurgeon. I had to limit myself on the day, but here's a slightly longer quote. It's from a sermon called, "His Name - Wonderful," preached on 19th September 1858. You can read it all (and lots of others) here if you want.

"This is a sight that surpasses all others. Talk ye of the sun, moon, and stars; consider ye the heavens, the work of God's fingers, the moon and the stars that he hath ordained; but all the wonders of the universe shrink into nothing, when we come to the mystery of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a marvellous thing when Joshua bade the sun to stand still, but more marvellous when God seemed to stand still, and no longer to move forward, but rather, like the sun upon the dial of Ahaz, did go back ten degrees, and veil his splendor in a cloud. There have been sights matchless and wonderful, at which we might look for years, and yet turn away and say, "I cannot understand this; here is a deep into which I dare not dive; my thoughts are drowned; this is a steep without a summit; I cannot climb it; it is high, I cannot attain it!" But all these things are as nothing, compared with the incarnation of the Son of God.
I do believe that the very angels have never wondered but once and that has been incessantly ever since they first beheld it. They never cease to tell the astonishing story, and to tell it with increasing astonishment too, that Jesus Christ. the Son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary, and became a man. Is he not rightly called Wonderful? Infinite, and an infant—eternal, and yet born of a woman—Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman's breast supporting the universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother's arms—king of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph—heir of all things and yet the carpenter's despised son. Wonderful art thou O Jesus, and that shall be thy name for ever."