"God's invisible qualities have been clearly seen... again!"

I came across this poem the other day when Ravi Zacharias used it in a talk I was listening to. It was written by a US soldier during the Vietnam war and reminded me again of those invisible qualities of God, made evident through creation, that are mentioned in Romans 1...

"Lord God, I have never spoken to you
But now I want to say `how do you do’.
You see God they told me You didn’t exist
And like a fool I believed all this
Last night from a shell hole I saw your sky
I figured right then they had told me a lie
Had I taken time to see the things you made
I would have known they were not calling a spade a spade.
I wonder God if you’ll take my hand
Somehow God I feel you’ll understand
Funny I had to come to this hellish place
Before I had time to see your face.
Well I guess there isn’t much to say
But I’m sure glad God I met you today
I guess zero hour will soon be here
But I’m not afraid since I know you are near.

The signal:
Well God I’ll have to go
I like you lots I want you to know
Look now this will be a horrible fight
Who knows I’ll come to your house tonight.
Though I wasn’t friendly to you before
I wonder God if you’d wait at your door.
Look, I’m crying, I’m shedding tears, I’ll have to go now God Goodbye
Strange now since I met you, I’m not afraid to die."

God Bless.

Dear Freedom

"Who do you say I am?" :: 4

The purpose of giving the talk (first part can be found *here*, second *here* and third *here*) over the weekend was then to receive feedback and constructive criticism, from a group of Christians, on the delivery and content. Having given the talk, received the comments and consequently returned home I was reluctant yesterday to continue with posting the remainder of the talk. This isn’t because I don’t agree with the content, but more because I’m not sure whether the talk fairly exposits and preaches the content of the verses.

The weekend was the Biblical Evangelism Conference that is put on by UCCF on an annual basis. One of the main discussions within my group, and I gather across the conference as a whole on a yearly basis, is whether we need to preach the “whole” gospel every time. Do we need to explain all the intricate details of the cross? Do we need to discuss the resurrection? Do we need to mention either? The conclusion drawn was that if we are preaching from a passage then we preach the content of the passage. If we are preaching a “gospel-talk”, well then we have free reign over all the passages of scripture!

So, looking at Mark 8:27-30, is the cross contained within the passage? Does the passage talk of Jesus as the “Son of God” or as God himself? Does my talk go beyond the scope of the passage as whole?

Obviously the cross is not explicitly mentioned in the passage of Mark 8. The question is of the identity of Jesus, it is not an account of his death. However that said, if we go beyond verse 30 and venture into the realms of verses 31-38 then we do see Jesus talking of his death and an implicit mention to the nature of his victory to come. This victory to come, and the fact that the disciples saw it as neither Christ-like or victorious, is the very reason that Jesus tells his disciples, in verse 30, to remain silent with regard to his true identity. So, within the direct passage of scripture, no, the cross is not contained within the scope of the verses.

The question of whether the passage teaches Jesus as divine or not is one that can be approached in a number of different ways. Looking at the whole of the book of Mark the definite theme is that of Jesus identity. Mark 1:1: “Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, Mark 1:11: “You are my Son”, Mark 8:29: “You are the Christ” and Mark 15:39: “this man was the Son of God!” I think it therefore could be inferred that if Mark has identified in Mark 1:1 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that when he writes that Peter refers to him as “the Christ” the other titles are expected implicit connotations with the word. However, if we preach Mark 8 in an evangelistic context we are preaching Mark 8, not Mark as a whole and cannot, and do not, presume upon any pre-existent knowledge of the structure or outline of Mark’s gospel.

As I said previously, I do not disagree with anything that I wrote in my talk with regards to the theology, but having reconsidered the passage and its contents I think it is perhaps fair to say that I have overstepped the bounds of the passage for a 10 minute expository gospel talk. Hopefully over the next few days I will get round to writing an “alternative” ending…

God Bless.

Dear Freedom

"Who do you say I am?" :: 3

This is the third and final part of a talk I gave this last weekend. The passage is Mark 8:27-30. You can find the first part by clicking *here*. You can find the second part by clicking *here*.

"But if it is true, if Jesus is God and we want to “respond rightly”, to acknowledge him as God, what does that mean? Well, we can look at Peter and his life for an answer to that question. We know from history that Peter whole heartedly followed the life and teaching of Jesus. That he trusted it and that he saw it as an issue so important that he was willing to die for it. He saw it as something worth explaining and persuading others about; in fact we see a great example of that explanation a little later on in an account written about Peter and the early church.

““Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know - this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”

…

““Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.””

[Acts 2:22-24, 36-38]

What does Peter want us to understand here? What does he want us to be persuaded of? He wants us to know and trust that Jesus’ death and resurrection is the means by which we can be restored to right relationship with God; the very relationship that we were originally created for. Peter wants us to know that the punishment that we deserve for severing that relationship with God and for rejecting him in the way that we live has been taken by Jesus, in his death and resurrection, if we trust in him to do that for us. Finally Peter desperately wants us to understand that if we don’t accept that Jesus wants to take that punishment for and from us, that Jesus wants us to be restored to right relationship with God, then we will have to take the punishment for rejecting God ourselves and that is a terrible thing.

Jesus, like Peter, wants us to recognise his true identity. We see Peter’s right response, both there in the villages around Caesarea Philippi, and also in his life that followed – that Peter recognised Jesus as God’s anointed one, as the King of his life and as one worth following, as God himself. For Rhys Jones a sad case of mistaken identity became a life or death issue. Jesus wants us to know and to recognise that if we do not get his identity right that it is a life or death issue for us. Jesus has given us a lifetime of opportunity to respond rightly to his true identity. Let’s not squander or miss our opportunity."

God Bless.

Dear Freedom