Light of the World, a City on A Hill
…thinking out loud about living missionally in the city of Sydney so that the city will come to know Jesus…Archive for scripture
Reformed Missology - Preface
As I have mentioned in a previous post, I intend to put some thoughts up on how a reformed theology might inform and shape our missiology. Before doing that I wanted to give some prefatory comments.
First, I am not intending on exhaustively defending a reformed theology - there are others much better qualified than I to do this. The validity of the viewpoint will be assumed.
I will not be suggesting that my conclusions are the be all and end all.
I will inevitably “contrast” against a more free-will orientated viewpoint, but will try to be as gracious as possible in doing so.
Here we go…
Fatherhood and Faith
I am a father twice over, about to make that third time lucky in June.
My eldest is almost 5 and is my budsky, my little man.
I am convinced that God invented fatherhood as a way of helping us dopey blokes understand, in some small way, how he relates to us as a father, indeed the Heavenly Father.
Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matt 7:9-11 [ESV]
Since becoming a dad, this verse has made so much more sense to me. I LOVEto give gifts to my kids, especially my son. Sharing their joy at receiving a toy or gift is wonderful and enough to make my heart almost explode at times. I actually have to restrain myself from buying them more gifts than I do, lest I foster an expectation and lack of appreciation.
Being the gift giver also helps you understand that giving kids everything they want, when they want it does not produce thankfullness and character. Of course you then realise God does the same for us - not indulging our every want so that our character will be shaped and formed in Christlikeness.
Amen to that.
Can you handle the Truth?
I quite enjoy studying Biblical Doctrine. As I am not a bible college student, pastor or other “professional” this probably puts me in the category of eccentric weird guy.
I have particularly been meditating/reading/listening up on God’s sovereignty, particularly as it relates to salvation. This is a very weighty topic, but also very crucial IMHO.
Matt from Journey’s in between has inspired me to consider how a reformed framework/theology might shape our missiology, and I will post on this soon. In the meantime, however, I am wondering whether the teaching of doctrine has been somewhat neglected in our churches?
Mars Hill will start a 12-odd week series on Doctrinal basics this Sunday. This content will essentially replace their Gospel Class which they use for inducting people as members.
As evangelicals we are sometimes accused of being all about bible (in terms of knowledge anyway) and lacking in other areas like social justice. Now while this is in some ways true, I have become less convinced that we even have enough bible understanding.
No doubt experience will be different across the city. For me, I did the Moore College Introduction to the Bible correspondence course last year. Great course and I would recommend it. The thing is, I was embarrassed by the amount that I learnt form that course, particularly with respect to the Old Testament.
Perhaps I am isolated in my experience, but if not, should we be more intentional about teaching our people doctrine? Or do we think that the average punter can’t cope with it?
…who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Rom 1:18 [ESV]
This verse resonates with me. Especially today.
The day did not start particularly badly, but went downhill quickly.
On my usual 1 hour drive to work, I was nudged up the backside by the car behind me while stopped at a set of lights.
Top cut a long story short, despite being at fault (both in truth and under law) the other driver refused take responsibility and wanted us to just part company. Suppressing the truth in unrighteousness indeed.
So anyway, another verse came to mind:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Matt 5:38-42 [ESV]
I deliberated whether to let it go (the damage seems minor) or to hold this person accountable for their actions.
In the end I have put a claim through insurance who will in turn claim on their insurance.
It seems like the right thing to do. Particularly as their car was a $130K+ Porsche.
A Tale of Two Cities
I’ve been to bible study/growth group/home group/community group twice this week…once in Sydney and once in Melbourne.
I am a Sydney-sider so my regular group was on Tuesday night. I was in Melbourne for work on Wed night and was invited to visit a home group of some Melbournian friends of mine.
It was great. It is wonderful to be able to meet with God’s people in all sorts of different places.
Jesus truly brings a unity that transcends location.
Christology, Missiology, Ecclesiology
I have been steadily ploughing through my recent Amazon haul of books and am finding them all really helpful.
I will post some more complete thoughts later, but for now I wanted to mention a line of thinking that has come out from a number of authors, and has resonated with me.
The view is that we first and foremost must understand and define our Christology (who Jesus is and what is the Gospel) and this in turn drives and shapes our Missiology (why are we here, what are we here to do) and then against the backdrop of our cultural context we form our Ecclesiology (what we do and how we do it).
Michael Frost explicitly spells this out in his “Exiles” book.
I think sometimes my faith tribe (and others like it) can be a bit “Pauline”, i.e. skewed toward the NT Epistles, and in turn de-emphaise the Gospels, reducing them to “Jesus died, rose, ascended,believe in him and be saved”.
I am now trying to re-discover the Gospels and perhaps move towards more well rounded view of ‘the’ Gospel.
Fan of Nooma?
One of the greatest blessings of the past 400-500 years has been the translation of the hebrew and greek scriptures into all sorts of languages, including our own wacky dialect - English.
The result is, that anyone who can read, can examine the bible for themselves and understand God’s word, and in doing so be able to evaluate the truth of what others say.
I say this as a preface to directing you to this series of critique’s by Greg Gilbert of the popular Nooma video series, presented by Rob Bell.
I have personally watched a number of these short, topic based DVD’s over the years and mostly found them OK. Some were a bit weird, but most had interesting challenges.
If you are a Nooma fan, I would encourage you to have a read through the critique. It will help you to approach these resources with eyes wide open, and like the Bereans in Acts 17, you can examine the scriptures yourself to see if these things are so.
The Atonement - The Jewel of our Faith
I know I can be a bit of a Mark Driscoll apologist, but I have been listening through the “Christ on the Cross” series he did a while back, and have been finding it great.
Duck, Duck, Damn
Phil Johnson over at the Team Pyro blog has initiated a firestorm of commenting over his post on Total Depravity.
The concept of total depravity (which basically says that people left to their own device and will cannot turn to God) leads on to issues of spiritual regeneration and therefore election or predestination.
Growing up the whole topic of predestination has always been clouded in mystery and a sense of “don’t even go near it” and so it was always relegated to the too hard basket. Until recently (thanks to the ‘net) I’d never heard it preached on, and bible studies always glossed over any reference to it, let alone focus on understanding it.
This always frustrated me. I understand that this, like many doctrines, is full of tensions and mystery, but that is no excuse for not coming to as complete an understanding as is possible.
Anyway, this weeks installment in the Mars Hill Religion Saves and 9 Other Misconceptions series is where Mark Driscoll tackles Predestination (or Duck, Duck, Damn as he calls it). There is also a very comprehensive post by Pastor Mark here.
This is a hard doctrine, but one worth studying and understanding as best as we can.
Current Scripture of Choice
I am looking for a new job at the moment, and there are two scripture verses that I am meditating on constantly…
“The heart of man plans his way,but the Lord establishes his steps” Proverbs 16:9 [ESV]
and
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28 [ESV]
Folks who don’t know God just get to worry instead…
