Six ways to get beyond basic conversations at church

Reblogged from andrewhong.net:

What are conversations like at church? are they encouraging - or superficial? do conversations at morning tea lead you to see the glory of God - or are they bland and predictable?

Fellowship is meant to do great things for us. It's meant to encourage us, strengthen us, and fire up our love for God - but often the reality of our conversations falls far short, and that can leave us feeling alone and uncared for.

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Conversations with Church friends often stay within polite and superficial boundaries. Yet, we know that when we are with the Church, of all places, we should be able to go a bit deeper and talk about genuine spiritual needs and help each other move towards godliness. What other helpful ways have you thought of to get yourself and others talking about something other than sport, politics or the weather?

 

8 Profitable Ways to Read the Bible

Reblogged from J.C. Ryle Quotes:

1. Begin reading your Bible this very day. The way to do a thing is to do it; and the way to read the Bible is actually to read it! It is not merely meaning, or wishing, or resolving, or intending, or thinking about it , which will advance you one step. You must positively read. There is no royal road in this matter, any more than in the matter of prayer.

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  This article, originally by J. C. Ryle, is an excellent and practical approach to reading the Bible.  

 

Sunday School with Gospel GRUNT

In leading and training Sunday School teachers in the past I have often found one the greatest challenges was helping the teachers stay away from soft polite moralism and instead teach kids the Bible and how Jesus and the Gospel explain all of it. Now, there are many reasons for this. Not the least of which is decades of Sunday School curriculum that is nothing more than a list of religious morals dressed up in Joseph’s splendid coat. As a result, we have generations of Sunday School teachers telling kids nothing more than God wants you to be good boys and girls, so sit quietly and colour in your picture of Joseph’s coat. Like moths to a flame, both the teacher and the kids are more fascinated by a colourful cloak than how and why God included the Joseph story in the Bible in the first place.

The idea of sitting quietly, not rocking on your chair, or otherwise not misbehaving lead thousands of kids each year to declare, (accurately IMHO!) that Sunday School is BORRRRING! Another problem, connected to this, is trying to encourage men to teach in Sunday School. Even those who aspire to leadership as Elders refuse to get involved (even though as Elders they are supposed to be able to teach!), and though they won’t admit it, for the same reason: Gluing coloured strips of paper to a paddle pop stick and calling it Joseph just doesn’t appeal to them.

Now, there’s much that could be said on this, and much that Pastors can do to make sure their people are better equipped with the gospel than just knowing how to use a glue stick. Here is a little prod from Peter Leithart to give a positive example of how you could ramp up your Sunday School class a little and actually teach the Bible instead of something that could easily be mistaken for Confucianism or a re-run of the Brady Bunch. Read the whole article and try it in your Sunday School or Kids Talk. He suggests using chants and clapping and yelling as a way to help the kids learn the information. Chants might seem a little weird, but did you think so the last time you were at a sports game and were cheering for your team? They’re not as weird as you think. Plus the active learning will help the kids retain the information in a way that isn’t BORRRRING!

I’m trying to embed certain basic biblical-theological structures and concepts by using chants, clapping and drumming along, acting out various stories and rituals, etc.

… I’ve decided to use the four faces of the cherubim as an overall template for summarizing the Bible.  The four faces are ox, lion, eagle, and man.  They correspond to the four major covenants of the Bible – Mosaic, Davidic, exilic/postexilic, and new covenant.  They also correspond to the offices of Christ: Oxen are sacrificial animals and thus represent priests; the lion is a royal animal; prophets soar and see like eagles; finally, Jesus comes to bring all those offices to their fullest expression.  The Mosaic covenant focuses on the work of the priests; the Davidic on the work of kings; in the exilic/postexilic era the prophets come into their own; the new covenant is the fully human covenant, the exaltation of humanity in the Man Jesus.  Here are the chants I’ve used, all of which need to be said rhythmically to have their fully hypnotic, mesmerizing effect:

Ox, Lion, Eagle, Man

Priest, King, Prophet, Man

Moses is an ox; David is a lion; prophets are eagles; Jesus is da man (for little kids, this is best done with hand motions – horns for ox, claws and a growl for lion, wings for eagle, erect posture for man)

He has several more ideas. If you follow a pattern like this you’ll be laying a solid foundation of Biblical Theology for yourself and your kids. Plus you won’t have to worry about finding enough glue sticks

What other ways can you think of to actively engage kids in learning the Bible?

 

Heaven on Earth?

An idea often found in Christian devotionals is to equate the entry heaven with occupation of Canaan by Israel under Joshua. This creates a very confusing image of heaven. Surely heaven is not a place of conflict but a rest from all conflicts? This type of interpretation misses the point and purpose of the book of Joshua.

Drawing from my notes taken during my Bible College Old Testament History class way back last century I offer the following thoughts about the significance of the story of Joshua.

The occupation of Canaan is not representative of the believer entering Heaven. Canaan is inherited through testing that results in maturity and conquest leading to rest. Canaan is the picture of the believer’s present position and possession in Christ (Heb 3:1 – 4:16).

A Christian is not given a ticket that allows them to escape the singe of hell before they enjoy a free ride to heaven. Those who enter into covenant with God have received the Word of God, are called to obey it, or be rejected by it. The life of persevering faith will involve an active, intentional fight against sin as you strive towards holiness to appropriate what God offers you in Christ (1 Cor 10:1-14, Heb 12:14-17, 2 Pet 1:5-9, Phil 2:12-13, 1 Thes 5:24).

What should the Christian take away from the book of Joshua? We live and work from a position of victory, but we must not surrender to apathy and presumption (Rom 6:1-23).

 

Tripped up in the journey to holiness

The period covered by the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy is a time when God separates Israel from the world, to himself. He makes them a holy people.

What does it mean to be a holy people?
To have a higher view of God than I do of myself and to live in obedience to the good news of God’s Word in such a way that God’s purity & purpose is seen by others to be higher and bigger than me.

This separation or distinction (holiness) is marked several ways:

Passover
On Day 2 of the creation week, the division of sea and sky created an atmospheric cover for the earth (Gen 1:6-8). The waters (clouds) cover the earth and protect it. During the 1st passover Israel was protected from death under a covering of blood as God passed over the land of Egypt (Ex 12:13, 23).

When Israel prepared for the first night of passover, a veil of blood was painted over their door (Ex 12:7, 22). This veil served to divide Israel from Egypt (Ex 12:13, 23, 27, 42, 51). The veil also features in the tabernacle to separate the most holy place (Ex 26:31-35). That veil is decorated with angels who guard the entry to God’s dwelling place just as an angel guarded the door to Eden.

Ten Commandments
The terms of God’s covenant are summarised in the ten commandments. (Ex 20:1-21, Deut 5:1-22). To breach the ethics of the covenant makes you liable to the sanctions of the covenant. In this way, the law reveals the righteousness of God and it also reveals our unrighteousness. It is our schoolmaster, teaching us what sin is.

The Tabernacle
When the Lord makes a new Covenant in the Bible, it is spoken of as a New Creation. The instructions for the Tabernacle (Ex 25-31) are seven speeches which follow the pattern of the Creation Week. The Tabernacle was a miniature “clean” world, a micro-cosmos. It was the DNA for a new Creation.1

Sacrifices
Leviticus presents many pictures of Christ and His work of redemption on the cross. Hebrews 10:1–14 makes it clear that in Christ we have the complete fulfillment of each of the OT sacrifices. In return we can still offer sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving and devotion to Jesus and the gospel.

Festivals
The festivals involved eating and drinking. We are reminded that the Son of Man came eating and drinking (Matt 11:18-19, Luke 7:33-35) and each of these not only point us to Jesus, but call us to celebrate God’s work of redemption. When we observe communion today, with bread and wine (eating and drinking!) we are celebrating Christ and anticipating the full and final feast at the end of history (1 Cor 5:6-8, 11:23-26, Rev 19:9).

All of these gifts are meant to provide Israel with vivid, tangible demonstrations of the greatness and glory of God.

The four books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy cover a period of 120 years.

When Moses is 40, he is set apart as a Judge and Deliver. He is rejected by the people and they are condemned to another 40 years of slavery while Moses goes into the wilderness to receive God’s Word. A new (2nd) generation will inherit God’s promise of deliverance.

After that time, Moses returns, God judges Pharaoh and Egypt and following the first Passover, God delivers his people as he promised.

They are a holy priesthood divided from the world by the water of the Red Sea and will be tested and refined (threshed) so that they can inherit the land given to Abraham.

In the first passover, their faith is tested at the Red Sea, their commitment is tested and during their travel in the Wilderness, their obedience is tested.

When presented with the opportunity to enter and occupy their inheritance from Abraham, the 2nd Generation also fails to trust the judgement and deliverance of God. As a result they are condemned to another 40 years of wandering in the wilderness so that the next (3rd!) generation will receive and benefit from the promises.

How did that happen?
Compare the people’s behaviour in Exodus 15:13-18 with their attitude in Numbers 14.
In Exodus 15, they are focused on what God had done and would continue to do.
In Numbers 14, they focused on what they could not do and looked away from God and to themselves.

They allowed unbelief to cloud their vision of God and the purpose he had called them to.

Biblical faith abides in  (lives, rests, tenaciously clings to) the promises of the Word of God and yields an faithful and fruitful life.

Holiness and obedience is based in the Word of God. When we act independently of scripture we do not enter, we do not overcome and we do not occupy the place God calls his people to be. So often, Christians trip up in their pursuit of holiness because they seek something outside of scripture. Whether it be an experience, feeling, or some other “sign”, it moves our focus away from God to ourselves. We are not the centre of the universe.

 

What is wrong shall be undone

Following my note about Where did we go wrong, I leave you stuck in the mire if I stop there.

Having looked in the mirror, we have seen the enemy and it occurs that Walt Kelly was right, at least about that. So what? That knowledge does not help or heal in itself. (Aside: this is one of the key elements of the serpents initial deception – taking and eating the fruit will bring a certain knowledge, but not the kind we thought. Rather the kind that overwhelms us with our inadequacy and drives us to compensate. Whether we do that through denial, anger, guilt or imitation and cover up is, in the end, self defeating.)

The consequence of all sin, original, occasional, habitual, natural or otherwise is death. Death not just being the absence of life, or rather the absence of physical experience via my five senses. Death is the opposite of life and life is much more than taste, touch, see, hear and smell. I’ll gladly point you again to Phillip’s ‘The World Tilting Gospel‘:

People in hell exist forever, but I can’t think of any passages that refer to their existence as “life.”

Instead, as he mentions in the footnote, it is called the second death.

The conquest of sin though is promised and provided through its destruction. The first Adam brought it in and the last Adam will take it out.

For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ~ Romans 5:19

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:21-22

In the midst of God’s judgment against Adam’s sin he promises salvation – the undoing of our sin. There will be salvation through the death of a substitute and a promise of a redeemer. It is, at first, pictured tangibly when an animal is killed so that they can have clothing to protect them both from the environment and from the constant confrontation of the shame and guilt of their sin.

It is, ultimately to come through the birth of another “Adam” one who will both do what Adam did not and not do what Adam did and be victorious on all accounts. He will speak words of life, crush the serpent’s head and inaugurate the kingdom of God. Christ Alone is The True / Last Prophet, Priest & King.

Will you continue as Adam did, followed by his son Cain to constantly try to seize what God offers freely?

Will you rely on a false covering, and try to hide your sin from God through religious behaviour or moral behaviour or living the life of a so-called good person? Always be inadequate because you will always be acting independently of God?

Or, would you accept new life, be born again as Jesus once described it and die to your self, die to your schemes and plans, die to all those silly pathetic attempts you make at saving face before others and realise that God, as the author of life, is the only one who can give you life.

Don’t define your life in terms of existence or in terms of possessions or in terms of achievement.

Define your life, by experiencing life as it was meant to be, in the fullness of joy through Jesus alone.

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. ~ 1 John 5:11-12

But, when shall these things be? Ah, that is for another post, in the interim, have confidence that:

if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17

Are you in Christ?