Calvin Vs Servet in the Afterlife

A funny cartoon, which I think says a lot of true.

Servet was a heretic by denying the Trinity, yet, he didn't deserve to be killed or to be exiled.

This proved that even the Reformers were victim of what they condemned in the Catholic Church, of intolerance.

Sound like the age of relativism started there and then.

The Joy the endures for ever

The Joy the endures for ever

Luke 10:20

Intro

Joy, or happiness, could be said it’s the one thing most looked for in our culture, and for that matter, throughout all of history. Nobody likes living a place where war takes place, famine, hardship, or difficulty. All of us strive to have a better, more pleasant life. It was Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the USA, and the one who wrote the American Constitution, that wrote the following:”We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

These three rights form the idea of the “American dream”. However, commentators are saying that that dream is more and more difficult to obtain, because even though Americans may have life and liberty, they don’t enjoy their lives as much as they used to.

Today we see how Jesus deals with the disciple’s misplaced source of joy. It is interesting to see that this passage is found in the gospel of Luke, the gospel that is considered the gospel of joy, due to its many references to joy, chairos (in the passage, and the other forms of Joy in the Greek found in this gospel) more than the other 3. Jesus gives the disciples, and us today, a corrective as what it is that we should consider as the source of our joy, a joy that does not change at all, but is assured for us in heaven.

The wrong sources of Joy

Sometimes we read Jesus and we feel that he may be downplaying his disciples. He just sent them to preach, and they bring a good report. All the things that he has commanded to them in the previous verses, they have accomplished. Yet, Jesus dismisses their reason for feeling joyful. Why????

We all have our moments of joy. This morning, most of us have our families with us, and that’s a source of joy. Do you remember how you felt last Christmas, at the table, sharing with your family, that’s a time of joy. Kids, when they are playing their Xbox, PS3, or Wii games, and finished them, they experience joy at having ‘clocked’ the game. When you finally bought your house and moved in, were you full of joy that now you had a home of your own??

If you think about it, all that you have accomplished in life, has been due to the Lord’s grace to you. Even minute things, it is the Lord that has given you the skill, and intelligence, the ability to accomplish this or that task. Just as the disciples were given authority to do miracles, we have been given abilities to accomplish things in our lives from the Lord. But just as the disciples got carried away by the success of their mission, you may also fall victim to that temptation, of measuring your happiness to what YOU have accomplished. This will be condemned by Jesus again in the gospel, cf. The parable of the Rich Fool, cf. Lk. 12:19 and the Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus, cf. Lk 16:19.

What is then, is the source of joy for us Christians??

The rightful source of Joy/Happiness.

It is amazing for me to thing that my mane, Luis Jovel, is written somewhere in a book in heaven. This idea comes from the Old Testament, especially Daniel 12:1. Jesus is telling his disciples, and us today, that our sources of joy, are but temporary. How long will your house stand? How many Christmas will you be able to get your family together for Christmas, or for any other occasion?? Kids, when you finish a game, how long do you have that joy in you? I have finished many games, and done many things that were joyful at that moment, but now, are just memories, and sometimes, I have forgotten them!!!

Jesus is showing us a better way, the real source of joy and happiness. It’s not something that we pursue, as Thomas Jefferson suggested, but something that is given to us by God through Jesus, if only we believe in him!!! As I mentioned last week, not all human beings are children of God, despite of popular culture, but only those who receive him and believe in his name that he gives them the right to become children of God, cf. Jn. 1:12.

Conclusion

Let us therefore, get our right perspective as to the source of our happiness. Our successes and good times will pass away, and will be forgotten, or at best, become good memories. But let your joy’s source be in the knowledge that no matter what happens in your life, you can be assure, that your names are written in heaven, and no matter what happens on earth, be it good or bad, nobody can deny you that joy, ever.

Nehemiah 8:10b Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

Abortion Statistics

A biblical exposition of Mission

Doing Mission like Jesus

John 20:21

Intro

Have you ever been confronted around 6 o’clock with a sales person at your door? You want to take your dinner, or just want to rest from work, yet, they want to convince you that you have to listen to them because they can offer you something that will outweigh the importance of your dinnertime, family time, or any other commitment you may have. They give you all the benefits if you join their company, cause, or product, and have the papers ready for you just to sign them off.

These people are on a mission, a mission for you to join them. They tell you a good story, as to how better your life will be if you do what they say. Some of this people may truly mean what they say, while the vast majority, are just doing their jobs, and what a good job they do!!!

We have been sent by Jesus to accomplish a mission as well, and one that has no gimmicks or very small writing that may make us trap in a contract we later on wish we had never entered into. The mission that Jesus gives to us is the same mission that he got from the Father, to proclaim the good news to a needy world. Today we will see how God has always been a God that is interested in mission, and how He has commissioned us, as those before us, with the tools to carry on with such a mission.

Israel, a kingdom of priests and missionaries

The first missionary of good news that we find in the Bible is Moses, who is sent to preach to the people of Israel who were under bondage, freedom, Exodus 3:7-8. This, as we will later see, was very similar to what Jesus proclaimed he was doing during his mission. But Israel, after being delivered from their slavery, was not supposed to stay with their knowledge of God for themselves. They were rather commissioned to be a kingdom of priests, Exodus 19:5-6. Let’s look closely, we see the Levites are not the only ones who are entrusted with serving others, but the whole nation. The Levites who were set apart to learn the Law, were in turn to teach the people of Israel about the Law, who were in turn to teach the other nations about the Lord.

Their status as God’s messenger on earth was confirmed later on as we see in Isaiah 49:6. But later on, the same Isaiah says that they have failed miserably at their commission, Isaiah 52:5.

But God does not give up, and as God, has a greater plan to accomplish his mission on earth.

Jesus, God’s unique missionary

Israel failed; they did not reach the other nations with the knowledge of the Lord. Jesus was to take the mission that Israel could not accomplish. It is interesting to see that Jesus starts his mission with a similar proclamation as to what was told to Moses, Luke 4:18-19. Jesus was tempted in the desert, just as Israel was, yet, did not fall into sin as they did. He goes up to a mountain, and gives the Law by which his kingdom will be carried out, Matt. 5-7, as Moses went up to Sinai to give the Law that Israel was going to proclaim to the nations. Jesus was faithful to all of what the Father commanded, while not only Israel, but also Moses failed to do this, Numbers 20. Jesus submitted totally to the Father’s will, as seen in John 6:38-39; 8:29. Jesus also limited himself to speak only the Father’s words, Jn. 3:34; 8:28; 12:49; 14:24; 17:8.

Just as it was said that the people of Israel was going to be a missionary nation, Jesus also makes his new Israel a missionary people. John 20:21 can be seen as the commissioning of God’s people to do the mission in the world. Yet, this time we can accomplished the task set before us, because we don’t rely only on our knowledge of the message, but also, in the example and accomplishment of Jesus’ mission. Jesus does not only commands us to do mission, he has done it for us!!!!

The Church’s as Jesus’ missionary

Just as Israel was proclaimed as a kingdom of priests to carry out God’s mission on earth, so is the church, I Peter 2:9. We have been entrusted with Jesus’ message of freedom from the oppression of sin, from the bondage of disease, and from the fear of death. We have been given a commission and the tool to go along with it, the Holy Spirit. It is interesting to see that after Jesus commissions his disciples, he also gives them the Holy Spirit in order to carry out the mission. We do not only have God’s Law in our minds, but also in our hearts, Jeremiah 31:33. At Pentecost, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower the Church to carry the message to the ends of the earth, Acts 2. We have a message, and the power to proclaim it today!!!

Conclusion

As a church, are we carrying the mission of Jesus today??? Are we being priests to the people around us, or do we keep the good news of freedom and salvation to ourselves???

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to carry on with the mission that Jesus gave to us, so that we may bring all to the knowledge of Jesus, and in turn, to salvation.

Why Do You Think Tom Wright Is So Popular?

May 7, 2010

IVP

The recent Wheaton Theology Conference with Tom Wright as the keynote speaker was sold out weeks ahead of time. As we observed the masses at the event itself, a professor acquaintance asked me why I thought Wright is so popular. “It’s great academic theater,” I answered glibly. Where that came from, I don’t know.

I’m a serious reader of Wright’s stuff. I have been so for over twenty years. And as many times as I’ve heard Wright speak—and those times are numerous—I’m still fascinated by his substance and delivery. I simply don’t know anyone else—at least in the theological world—who can speak like Tom. And he communicates effectively up and down the register of audiences. Without pauses, without “uh’s,” his speech flows forth in great verbal profusion, eloquence and substance. And so, at risk of utterly downgrading any scholarly gravitas I have left, let me gush a bit.

Editors (and many readers) know that a good speaker doesn’t make a good writer, or vice versa. But Wright’s writing is just as good as his spoken delivery. Only once have I surprised myself in telling someone that I thought one of his books was boring. But what I actually meant was that it was written for a popular audience, and I knew what he was going to say. In that sense, I found it boring, though I’m sure many others did not. So one reason for NTW’s popularity is that he is spellbinding.

But he also has some very important things to say. I recall wondering for several years about the fact that the return from exile (think Ezra-Nehemiah) was a far cry from the prophesied future return (think Isaiah) and how that might relate compellingly to Jesus. I could see the “return” motif in the Gospels, for instance. But my best attempts to think through this conundrum and see it as a whole were only halfway satisfactory. Then Tom came along and offered the missing piece: there is an interpretive tradition in second temple Judaism that understands the exile as ongoing, with Israel still in exile under Rome. Why of course! The penny dropped and some oddly fitting Gospel and Pauline texts quivered, shifted and fell into place. While Tom’s thesis has not gone uncontested, its main lines remain compelling for many of us. So too for his understanding of the first Adam, Israel and Jesus, the Last Adam. I could see a rude outline of Israel as Adam (particularly as I taught the Pentateuch for a few years), but the picture did not stand out in relief until Tom turned on the backlights.

When The New Testament and the People of God first came out, I immediately read it, and then reread sections repeatedly as I taught NT.

Then too I vividly recall picking up my copy of Jesus and the Victory of God at SBL right after it rolled off the press. I had been eagerly anticipating its publication. Between Thanksgiving and New Year I devoured it. I’d read tons of material on the historical Jesus and the Gospels, and initiated and was in-house editor of the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. But I remember telling friends that if they read Tom’sJVG, they would never read the Gospels in the same way again.

Tom was repeatedly shining a bright new light on old and familiar texts. And it was exciting. Here was serious historical scholarship that did not lose itself among the trees but showed the way toward a high Christology from the bottom of Israel’s story on up.

Later I was excited when we were able to publish The Challenge of Jesus, a book that has served as a wide-mouth funnel for introducing general readers to Tom’s work on Jesus. It was fun also to initiate a book we called Jesus and the Restoration of Israel, in which (under Carey Newman’s editorship) we enlisted a number of notable scholars to interact with aspects of Tom’s work on Jesus. (Perhaps the best part of that book was that his critics drew him out, encouraging him to clarify for us his thinking in several respects.)

And what can we say—that has not already been said—about the significance of The Resurrection of the Son of God. Then too, over the years I have repeatedly returned to my thoroughly marked-up copy ofThe Climax of the Covenant to be reminded of his insights into difficult Pauline texts. And many other books of a more general or less technical nature could be mentioned.

Why Tom Wright is so popular is a question that could have been asked at any time over the past five to ten years as his popularity has increased. But it’s a question that bears further reflection after the Wheaton Theology Conference (WTC) last month. With 1,100 registered attendees, it was the largest conference ever held at Wheaton College during the school year. And thanks to the Internet, many more have been downloading, listening to, discussing and blogging about the addresses made at the conference (and this conversation leaps geographical bounds).

There are comparisons being drawn with the Together for the Gospelconference that met at approximately the same time and what these two events tell us about evangelicalism today. There are critiques of what Wright or someone else said (and sometimes these critiques reveal a spotty acquaintance with Wright’s work). And there are some interesting reflections on Richard Hays’s paper, which exposed an important perspectival tension between these two long-time friends.

Beyond Wright’s exegetical brilliance, rhetorical skill and remarkable self-confidence—all of which do indeed make great theological theater!—there is this significant fact: Tom Wright has shone his interpretive lights on many an overly familiar or elusive New Testament text, and he has done so under a grand and sacred canopy of interpretive plausibility. I hesitate to make the comparison for obvious reasons, but—hey, this is a blog!—Bultmann is the twentieth-century icon who comes to mind as one who had somewhat similar influence in shaping a big picture—but in quite the opposite direction! Tom Wright shows us how the Bible—and primarily Jesus and Paul—“make sense.”

With his increasing popularity comes a company here that demurs on this (yes, that would include me), one over there that opposes him on that, and another that finds him downright dangerous all around. So far as I observed, the latter were not in evidence at the WTC. But no one who attended or has listened is unaware that even Tom’s friends differ from him in matters small and large. So it is and, in fact, should be. But I think most who attended the conference would say that even if they are not fan boys, or even have significant differences, Tom Wright has stimulated their thinking like no other NT scholar of our day. And perhaps some, who had viewed him as strictly an academic or a hoity-toity Anglican, were struck by his passion for the gospel on display in his flying overview of Ephesians in a chapel talk or the virtual altar call that concluded one of his plenaries.

Tom Wright has a brilliant mind and stunning eloquence. That makes great academic theater—and more (as I’ve hinted above). But more importantly, he’s also got a heart and soul that is not ashamed of the gospel and its saving power.

Here’s a small collection of blogs and comments on the conference:

John Armstrong

William Evans

Michael Gorman (Scroll down)

Christianity Today

Craig Carter and here.

Daniel Kirk (follow through with his three parts)

N. T. Wright: Is He the Most Dangerous Theologian of Our Time?

by John H. Armstrong

From the first moment I heard the name of N. T. Wright, about twenty years ago I think, I was told to avoid him like the plague. Why? He was a dangerous man with a theology that would undermine the entire Protestant Reformation. Dutifully I avoided him because those I respected told me to do so. I limited my reading of Tom Wright to a few articles and to only one book about him (not by him). I was told that he embraced a position called "The New Perspective on Paul" (NPP). This position was a damaging (some say, quite literally, a damning) stance on Paul's corpus of New Testament material because it directly attacked the most important truths of the Reformation. Thankfully a very good friend, who had taken the time to begin to read Tom Wright for himself, challenged me bluntly and forcefully to my face. In effect he told me to keep my mouth shut about Tom Wright until I had really bothered to read him for myself. In the mid-1990s I began to read Tom Wright and have appreciated his work profoundly ever since.

Shortly after I began to study Wright's work I decided to conduct an interview (a friend did it for our journal) with Bishop Wright. (He is the Anglican Bishop of Durham today.) We published this interview in our quarterly journal. Later on we did an entire issue of our journal on the theology of N. T. Wright. Time and again I heard stories of people saying that John Armstrong had given up the gospel and embraced the NPP. (Oddly, I heard all of this second-hand and in books and articles after the fact.) In almost every case the people who made these statements didn't seem to realize that Wright actually did not promote the NPP at all. He is admittedly appreciative of certain aspects of the NPP and openly writes of which parts he agrees with and why. But it made no difference to his critics. A label was found and a great scholar, who was and still is doing some remarkable biblical work, was deemed dangerous. The only problem with all of this hype was that it all only made Wright more interesting to a horde of younger readers, some inquiring pastors who would still read beyond what they were told to read, and a lot of us who just wanted to know what the hullabaloo was really all about. The end result is that Tom Wright is now one of the most widely read biblical theologians of our time.

I remember the first time I heard Tom Wright preach. I thought to myself, "If this man doesn't preach Christ and the gospel then who does?" He warmly commended the grace of God and the sufficiency of Christ alone to save those who believed the good news. He spoke with spiritual fervor and human warmth. I knew heresy when I hear it and see it and this did not seem like heresy to me. I was not alone in this response. A growing number of people made this same discovery by meeting and listening to Wright and over time they too found Wright compelling in so many ways.

Some years ago, before John Piper decided to write his book against Tom Wright's teaching on justification, The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright, several friends joined me for an evening of discussion with John about Paul's teaching on the nature of saving faith. It was a spirited and revealing dialogue. We clearly disagreed about some aspects of faith and the doctrine of imputation but parted peacefully. I had no idea, at least at that time, that John would eventually devote an entire book to this subject, seeking to show why Tom Wright's views compromised the gospel at several serious points. Wright then answered John Piper in his 2009 book, Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision.

I have longed argued that the vast majority of ordinary folks, and many pastors must also be included here, criticize Tom Wright without paying careful attention to what he has actually written or spoken. I often begin a conversation about Wright with one simple question: "What books of Tom Wright's have you read in whole and what did you learn? Tell me what he actually says about such and such and tell me what did you object to and (very specifically) why?" The silence is often staggering. One critic, according to a source who knows this author personally and informed me of this fact recently, has read one small book by Tom Wright, What St. Paul Really Said. Based upon his reading of this little popular primer (with its one offensive chapter about imputation and 2 Corinthians 5:21) this man has written a rather large book that can very easily be construed as one of the more anti-Tom Wright books available to ordinary readers. (There are some excellent scholars who do disagree with Wright in a serious and engaging way and have done a wonderful job of expressing disagreement in a rigorous and proper academic way!) So hearing Wright critiqued in a context where he would personally interact with critics has always been a personal hope of mine. This is precisely what happened at the annual Wheaton College Theology conference on April 16-17. I was pleased to attend the entire event and enjoyed it immensely. I was not surprised, however, that I could not find a serious critic of Wright's in the entire crowd as I mingled and engaged scores of people one-on-one. (I am sure there had to be a few in a crowd of 1,100 plus registrants! ) The serious academic critics who disagree with Wright will tell you why. Some of this came out at the Wheaton Conference as you can see for yourself. He doesn't pretend to have everything figured out and admits he is still thinking through the implications of his own paradigm.

For those who are I remind you the same is true of great theologians of the past like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, etc. Scholars speak, for example, of the early-Luther, the middle-Luther, and the late-Luther. Why will we give him a pass and if a living teacher like Tom Wright admits he is growing this is a sign that he is dangerous? Like I tell friends, fall in love with the work of a theologian who is dead and things will be tidier and a great deal safer for you.

This theology conference was filled with hordes of ordinary people, local church pastors and bible professors who have read Tom and wanted to hear him speak. Like me they wanted to hear various academics respond to his work in a gracious, critical and helpful way. You can be the judge of all of this for yourself since the entire conference is now available on video at Wheaton College. I hope you will take the time to watch and listen. I think you will find Tom Wright to be one of the truly great Christian thinkers of our time. And I also think you will be impressed by his gracious, humble and winsome manner throughout. If you are going to call this man dangerous then make absolutely sure that you know why before you repeat such a warning. If you are wrong then you may well be keeping yourself, and a lot of others, from the very theological truths that need recovery in our time so that we will discover the unity in the church that Jesus and Paul worked and prayed for in their own ministries.

Personally, I think Bishop Tom Wright is very dangerous. I think he is dangerous precisely because he winsomely and powerfully challenges some esteemed (and I think incorrect) ideas that need to be challenged by a fresh and faithful biblical theology. He seeks a theology that focuses upon the Jesus who is revealed to us in the New Testament. He wants a theology that lines up with the central emphasis of the Apostle Paul upon our unity in Christ in the church. (He refers to this as covenantal inclusion!) Two presentations by Wright were the very best in this conference if you do not have time to watch them all. First, watch the short chapel address that he gave the Wheaton student body on Ephesians. Second, watch his Saturday night presentation on the theology of Paul. I was moved deeply by both messages and gladly commend them to you. Meanwhile, be forewarned. Tom Wright may well be a dangerous theologian in your life. I believe he is so dangerous that his work will very likely change your thinking in ways that call for repentance and real faith. He will make you see the Jesus of the Bible and long for the unity of the Spirit that Paul labored for throughout his entire ministry. I have grown to love Christ more by reading and listening to this highly esteemed teacher of the gospel of Christ. I believe this is a danger that we can afford to take on board when the church is in desperate need of a new biblical reformation.

Is Gallipoli/ANZAC Day a christian celebration?

Gallipoli or Calvary from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

Will the true Jesus please stand up?

Intro

“The great servant of God”. I’ve heard that said so many times, I don’t even remember which was the first.

There are some ‘servants’ that travel first class, eat in the finest restaurants, sleep in the best hotels, and gathered around the finest people. Why? Because they think that being servants of God, they deserve the best at all times, at all places, at all costs.

In this passage, we see Jesus doing exactly the opposite. He didn’t ride a horse as conquerors did, and still do (if you remember Napoleon’s painting), rather, he comes in a colt, whic is a sign of peace, cf. Zach. 9:9. Jesus “triumphal” entry to Jerusalem, follows from the recent parable, in which the people were waiting for the kingdom of God to appear at once, cf. Lk. 19:11. But the way the people were expecting the unfolding of the kingdom, just as in the parable, was not God’s way of working in the world.

We face a similar dilemma today. As the “great servants” of God, we may create our own image of Jesus to suit our needs and desires. In this passage Jesus is correcting the Jewish expectation of what a messiah should be. Jesus also in this passage, is correcting the attitude we, as his disciples, should have towards him. Even more, there are many assumptions as to who God is, what the Christian life is supposed to be, and who Jesus is. Jesus breaks all the assumptions that the Jews had, that the world has, and that we may have.

Jesus is ruler of all creation. 28-34.

Bethphage and Bethany. They are Two miles east of Jerusalem. It is interesting that Jesus is coming from The Mount of Olives, where the messiah is said to make his appearance, Cf. Zach. 14:4, and from where Jesus ascended and promised to come back, cf. Acts 1:11. Jesus, through this act, is claiming to be who the Scriptures say about him, he is the Messiah.

The colt refers back to Zac. 9:9, but may also refer to I Kings 1:32-40, where Salomon is placed on a mule and is proclaimed king. There’s a play of words in the Greek in vs. 33 and 34. The words ‘owner’ is kurioi, plural for lords, but the disciples answer that the LORD needs. Jesus is the Lord of all creation!!!

Jesus does not come, therefore, as a conquering messiah, to destroy the Romans. This is what the Jews expected. Jesus came to show us that their, and our real slavery is to sin, John 8:31-37. Still, they claimed to be free, and did not listen to Jesus.

We find ourselves in a similar situation. We expect Jesus to be the one who supplies us with every desire that our heart comes up with. James tells us that we ask with wrong motives and for our own pleasures, James 4:1-3. We think we are so good, that we deserve all good things that come up in the culture, society, among our friends, etc. We must renew our minds by the power of the Spirit, cf. Rom. 12:1-2, if we are to confirm God’s will for our life. Suffering is not usually because we lack faith, rather, because it’s a trial sent by God to purify our faith, James 1:12.

But the world has the same type of assumptions. They ask, “How can a good God let bad things happen to good people?” My answer to them is that no one is good but Jesus, everybody else, is as Michael Jackson sings, “Bad”. Rom. 2:9-20. Have you noticed how we never blame ourselves for bad things, but always God?? People usually think so highly of themselves, but they think that they can do a better job than God. This reminds me of another being who thought the same thing, Satan, cf. Eze. 28:6-19.

If we have trusted in Jesus that he is our Lord and Saviour, we must accept him as the Lord of all, of every aspect of our lives. No matter what may happen to us, we will never be forsaken by Jesus, and this is not an assumption, it’s a fact, cf. Rom. 8:37-39.

People’s praise is not always what it seems. 35-40.

The disciples threw their cloaks on the colt, while the people threw theirs on the road. This was done in ancient Israel, cf. II Kings 9:13. Psalm 118:26 was used in the Passover to commemorate the liberation of Israel from their oppressors. The Jews were being oppressed by the Romans, so they saw Jesus as their liberators.

The “stones will cry out”, may be referring to Isaiah 55:12, where the inanimate creation will praise God.

The Jews based their own hope of how a Messiah would be on Scripture. They had a proper reason to praise Jesus, for he was the real Messiah, but they had the wrong motives. Their motives were for self gratification, not for real love towards Jesus, since 7 days after, they were asking for him to be crucify, cf. Jn. 19:14-15. Their assumptions about Jesus apparently proved wrong, so it was easy for them to dispose of him.

We are also reminded how we can be at church, praising God, singing to Jesus, yet, our hearts may be far away from meaning it, Isa. 29:13. It is very easy to praise God when all things go our way, but we when things go wrong, we are so fast in blaming him. We don’t see that in Job, cf. 2:10, or Jesus at the garden of Gethsemane, where he knew what was awaiting for him, yet, he prayed, “not my will, but yours be done”, cf. Lk. 22:42.

The way the world gives praise to Jesus is by saying that he was a great man, a wise man, but no more. A relationship with him is not necessary, or anything to do with him in any case. People like to imagine Jesus, yet, when confronted with the biblical Jesus, they despise him, because he doesn’t meet his expectations. I was talking to a family member recently, who claims to be a Christian, and her definition to the human condition was that we are tempted by the devil, and therefore, he is to blame, for our sin, and Jesus came to die to deliver us from the devil’s grip. It is some true to what she said, cf. Colossians 1:13, the real source of our problem is within our selves, cf. Matt. 15:19; Mark 7:21. She couldn’t accept that Jesus had said such a thing, and dismissed it as my own interpretation, even though I was only reading the text!!! Some people, after knowing what the real Jesus said, stop praising him, and even come to despise him, thinking that their version of Jesus is a better and improved one from the one found in Scripture.

Reversal. Jesus weeps for Jerusalem. 41-44.

Jesus knew better, his coming would not bring the liberation the people wanted, rather, calamity for their lack of understanding. Jesus is not the first prophet to weep for Jerusalem, cf. Jer. 13:17; Lam. 1:1-4; Mic. 1:8; Isa. 22:4.

The whole assumption that the Messiah would bring them victory was dashed by Jesus. No wonder one of the accusations brought against them was that he was going to destroy the temple, Matt. 26:61. The Jews did not recognised God’s coming to them; therefore, they missed Jesus’ real intent all together. They thought their view of Scripture was a lot better than God’s.

Both some Christians and unbelievers think that because they are related to a church, or have some spiritual knowledge, they are right with God. Unbelievers have a problem, because they see themselves as spiritual, yet, the Bible say to us that without Jesus, we are dead in our sins and trespasses, cf. Ephe. 2:1; Col. 2:13. Some who believe, have the problem that they may claim to know and love Jesus, yet, they say they despise his bride, the church!!!! Cf. Heb. 10:25. Only by being confronted by Scripture, and the real Jesus, they, and we, can fully know who God is, and what he wants from us.

Conclusion.

Is your view of Jesus shaped by the aspirations of the world of by what he says about himself??

N. T. Wright and the Media

N. T. Wright picks on some points that I have already touched in some conversations with friends and fellow church goers.

Not against technology, but very against its possible dangers.

NT Wright on Blogging/Social Media from Bill Kinnon on Vimeo.

False Worship. The Golden Calf. Exodus 32:1-14

False Worship

How Worship that appeals to our liking may lead as stray

INTRO

You find a bag full of money. Of course you are happy. You think of all the things you can buy…. or pay. No name, no address, no way to trace the bag’s origins. You start spending the money, buying a new car, a new LCD High Definition TV, a new stereo, a new bed, etc. You still have a lot of money left, so you take the decision to put the rest of the money into the bank, so you can earn some interest, a sensible thing to do. But that’s when your apparently struck of luck turns sour. The bank sees that the money you have is counterfeit, not real, and they start enquiring as to where you got it, and what you have done with it. The police is brought in, and you have to return all the goods that you have bought, and worst of all, you become a suspect in the police investigation, since you can’t prove where you got the false money from.

This morning, we are looking at how the people of Israel, in order to have immediate self gratification, turned away from the Lord’s commands as to how to carry on with the worship of the Lord, and started to make up their own. The worst thing of all is that they deluded themselves into worshipping a statue, ‘honouring’ the Lord, but the Lord had rejected such worship in the first and second commandment. The anger of the Lord was against them, but Moses, their leader, the one they had said they didn’t know what had happened to him, interceded on their behalf and God didn’t give them their rightful punishment.

Two very different conversations

The Rejection of God’s appointed leaders, lead us to finally reject God Vss. 1-6.

Moses had been on the mountain around 40 days, and the people were getting anxious. Moses did not take a vacation from them; rather, Moses was receiving the Law to govern them from God. We can understand their desperation. They are in the desert, they need to move on, and maybe they think Moses is dead. They attribute Moses for bringing them out of Egypt, not God. (cf. vs. 7, where God says the same, but contrast it with vs. 11).

Aaron’s response to their request (vs. 2) is dismaying. Did he also think that his brother was lost? Or did he just give in to peer pressure? From verse 1, it seemed that they jump on him, and made such a request, and from past experiences, he was comprehensibly afraid of the people, cf. 15:24; 16:2; 17:1-4. Aaron’s instructions were to give the most precious metal they had, gold, in order to make an idol in the shape of a calf (picture 1). Having lived in Egypt form 430 years, it is not surprising that the people of Israel would ultimately represent their concept of God as a calf or a bull. The God Apis, in Egypt, was represented as a Bull. Baal in Canaan was also represented as a bull, and was an object of worship for Israel later on, cf. I Kings 12:28.

What we find here, it’s a total rejection of the Lord. The people proclaim the calf to be the god (dispute as to how to read it, plural or singular) who took them out of Egypt. They attribute God’s mighty works to a bull!!!!! Aaron’s runs along with this, proclaiming a festival to the Lord. The idea is that they thought that the calf represented the Lord, and therefore, deserved worship. The festival mentioned, has many links with the previous festival to the Lord in chapter 24. The main problem was that they had changed their leader, and finally, they had changed their God for a calf, and they were celebrating it, (Picture 2).

God’s anger is always superseded by his mercy

The second part of this conversation does not involve the people at all anymore, but it’s between God and Moses. The conversation at first is for the total destruction of the people of Israel due to their idolatry. God had commanded them no to cast idols in Ex. 20:4. They had proclaimed the calf to have them brought out of Egypt, which was not true according to Ex. 20:1. God, in his holiness, was correct to want to destroy the people of Israel. They had broken the commandments that he had given him, and his plan could still go on, since he would make a new people out of Moses.

Moses, far from being proud to have found such an honour, interceded on behalf of the people. He gives two reasons as to why God should not destroy the people. First. Because the Egyptians would attribute God the wrong motives for taking the people out of Egypt, vs. 12, and to fulfil the covenant to the ancestors of Israel.

The Lord relented, and heard Moses. This is not the first time that this happens, cf. Gen. 18:22-33; Amos 7:3, 6. Many explanations have been given about why God seems to change his mind. In the classical period, Christian theologians thought that God was speaking in human fashion. Calvin thought that God was testing Moses. But the best explanation that I have found is that God is not indecisive, rather, when God’s justice is tempered with mercy, and that when the two qualities clash the former yields before the later.

These things occurred as examples for us…

There is a reluctant in some circles to day as to the moral value of Scripture. The saying goes that we cannot learn anything from the lives of the characters of the Bible because they are all faulty and fall short of the perfect image of God. I beg, along with the apostle Paul, to disagree. Paul refers to this incident in I Cor. 10, and specifically vs. 7. Stephen also points to this situation in his recollection of how stiff necked the Israelites have been through out their history, Acts. 7:38.

But we also fall into the same patter of thinking and behaving as the Israelites. Our Moses, Jesus, is up in heaven interceding on our behalf, but because we don’t see him, we turn our impatience and frustration to the one we consider to be his representative for us here on earth, mainly the pastor or the leadership of the church. We sometimes find the church boring, and want to import new, and ‘innovative’ ways to praise and worship God, but at the end, we end up pleasing our selves (café church for example). Willow Creek did an internal survey, and found out that they were so engrossed in bringing seekers in, that the congregation did not grow spiritually, because they had watered down the gospel, and came up as to what is known today as “Christianity light”.

But worst of all, we may have our own golden calves hidden in our hearts. Because they look good and innocent, we may think they won’t affect our worship, just as Aaron did, (Two reverend fun pictures). What are those golden calves, can it be Money? Your House? Work? Your car? Health? Your family, including pets? Your church????

We don’t see Jesus today, but we know what he has done for us. (picture of Jesus carrying the Cross) There’s no reason to doubt that he won’t do what he has promise to do for us.

It has been said, that root of idolatry is when men think that God is not present, unless they see him physically. As with the Israelites, they needed to see something shining, beautiful to see God, but the best representation of God that is shown in the bible is the cross of Christ, (final two pictures). This is not a good sight, but it is the one that God shows his glory, and what he has done for us, saving us from our sins, and giving us eternal life.