Climate Change

Global warming.
Everyone is talking about it.
And anxious.

But heavens.
That news is old hat.
It is part of the death-dealing news of the creation subject to sin and death, and under the curse.
There is a more up to date news-flash than that.

But it gets so little coverage - in the best way.
You see Christ is Risen from the dead.
He is in the race, at the finishing line, about to make all things new.

And we are looking still at yesterday's out of date news.
No the most up to date news we are ignoring is not Climate Change.
Sure, that may be happening, seriously, and it would be smart to address it.

But let's not ignore the real issues. Hope, has been given. Death has been dealt with. The promise of the regeneration of all things is secure, and at hand.
Rather, let us seek the one who said: 'Come to me...'.

There are a fair few big and small players on the human scene who demand we listen to them. But they ignore this voice, who says 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light'

He has borne the burden of the human race, and of the groaning creation.
We are not called to bear this - of ourselves!

Cease the panic, folks, and seek the One in whom the solution to every dark thing, lies clear and sure. Entrust your souls, (said the once not-so-reliable Peter) to a Faithful Creator. He had at least learned that. And that dear friends, would alter our approach from consumers saving our skins, to contributors, really caring for creation, carefully. Yay.

Up to date news!

The reason the Son of God appeared

The Reason the Son of God appeared

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1John 3:8b). Do not be mistaken - the world in which we live is full of beauty and wonder. How magnificent the sunrise lately. The fascinating life of little creatures around us is a joy to behold. Be it a garden worm chewing compost, a hawk hovering in the sky, cattle grazing, children playing, lovers walking on the beach, or old friends enjoying a yarn and a cuppa together. The Lord God’s world is very lovely indeed.

In every part of the world, however - we see corruption, injustice, war, hatred, bitterness, human communities, nations and families torn apart. We see the suffering of the poor, and the indifference of the wealthy. We see ugly crimes, bitter family feuds.

We must never forget that Jesus is God the Son, come to earth. He has come in to deal with the arch-enemy of the human race, the devil. Or Satan, or the Evil One. These names are given to this creature who’s entire agenda is to thwart the plan of God.

It is of course a cop-out, to say ‘the devil made me do it’. But it is also a sophisticated lie, and a foolish retreat from God’s Word, to deny the existence and action of ‘the evil one’. Again, people have been asking ‘why’ of the tragic events of Port Arthur some 10 years ago. One answer we must not miss is this: the Evil One! Sin is irrational capitulation to do the will of the evil one - idiocy.

O Jesus you came to reverse the horror of the fall, through your death, your grace, healing, forgiveness and eternal life. Thank you.

Resurrection Implications - Headline News

Resurrection Implications

The Christian claim is that Jesus rose from the dead, and is now, assuredly, the most important person ever born.

This is headline news, not mere religious clap-trap!

The implications of the resurrection of Jesus are enormous. We need to contemplate them.

We cannot know what these implications are however, apart from the interpetation of the event, by those who were given crucial insight into the meaning of it all.

The Apostles. Who are they? They are those called into Jesus confidence, and given the secrets - or the mysteries - of the kingdom of God. These are not special secrets for a few. But they are open secrets for all to hear - if they will. The Open mystery of the gospel was, and is, to be shouted from the rooftops.

1. Death has been defeated. That can almost sound lame, or like a cliche. But it is an occasion for stunning joy to break out across the human race. What? Death defeated? Yes. Yes. Yes. A thousand times, yes! The promise of the gospel is for a resurrection body like that of Jesus - truly human, yet full of glory. Glorified. No wonder there is a universal call for people to have faith. Believe it! C'mon it is stunning news.

2. A new hope has been inaugurated for the whole of creation. Not only does Jesus resurrection mean the redemption of our bodies. It also means the 'making new' of all things. This is the power at work in this resurrected man. Just as the beginning of creation was a sovereign action of God - Let there be light - so too is the resurrection of Jesus an act of God's love, indeed of his grace. The whole of creation now awaits the full outworking of Jesus resurrection effects upon the world.

3. A new way of life has been authenticated. Love. Grand triuphant love in theface of evil powers, political powers, liars, murderers, and all deceptive schemes. Jesus is Victor. Love is ultimately triumphant. His love. Now, we love, becase he first loved us. How does this change take place within angry hearts? Answer: the Spirit of God, comes to us, and indwells us, and we find our sins forgiven, our old lives transcended, and finished. We find ourselves to be loved. The outworking of that is simple: we love! Stunning. And it of course takes a little practise to see what that involves. Indeed lots of trials prove love to be true and enduring. Love now endures all things! (Always did).

4. Lordship. Yes. Lordship. Jesus is Lord, or Jesus is King, or Jesus is Mr. President, or Jesus is Prime Minister - of the nations of the world! This is the strength of his resurrection power. As David ruled Israel. The new David rules his eternal Kingdom. All nations are subjects of this new king 'David' - the son of David - Jesus of Nazareth. What this means for us is that we gladly come under his direction and rule. As the One who is simultaneously the eternal son of God, we seek now to do God's will. We are guided by Jesus. And his Father, And his Spirit.

5. Friendship. We are now included in Abraham's family as friends of God. He was said to be the friend of God. So are we. Jesus has called us his friends. End of loneliness. End of inferiority (friends of the co-Creator of the world! Friends in high places!). Friendship is now our way of life

6. Worship and service are virually the same thing in the New Testament. We serve God, Man and creation. We worship God, honour all people, and now seek to uphold and care well for the creation.

So then, what vast implications the resurrection has! There are many more, I know, that we can list.

Prayer: Risen Lord Jesus, help us to be aware of your presence this day, and to do your will in practical things.

As a wise person advised, now 'Eat That Frog'. (Sorry to all frogs). That is, do the things you need to do, first, without procrastination. The idea is, if you 'eat that frog' at the start of the day, everything that follows will seem relatively simple by contrast.

Integrity

Living with Integrity in the World Today

The great Man of integrity, in all of history is Jesus, of Nazareth.

'No one ever spoke like this man'. And his deeds matched his words. However the integrity of this man was too much for the human race to cope with, so "we" - the corporate human race - got rid of him. An expedient conspiracy. A useful scapegoat. A calculated murder.

Wonderfully enough the story does not end there. On the third day, to the surprise of all throughout history, and those closest to him in that day - he was raised from the grave. Resurrection. Flesh and bones. Humanity defeating death! Integrity triumphing.

The ancient writer said: 'Keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the issues of life'.

It is the heart of stone, that Jesus comes to make a soft, warm palpable heart of genuine integrity. By grace, through faith, and this not of ourselves. His integrity shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given to us. His genuine motivation - agape love. A strange, yet original, self-giving love, that never ends, endures all things, and hopes all things. A mighty river. An ocean!

Friends, if you would like to meet a person of utter integrity, seek your maker, by faith. Seek to know him in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Hear his Word to you, and receive his Spirit.

People who have come to Jesus, the Christ have found such redeeming kindness and honesty, that they have begun to love their only Lord - like no other. Then the flow of relationships, and contribution to life have changed magnificently. Some gradually. Others in an open, obvious manner.

May this Christ - give you renewed integrity, as you seek him in faith, in heart, in life, in example, in worship, in service, in the daily thoughts of your heart.

Turning us away from lesser things, is his work in us.

Turning us to the great things, He, the Eternal Son of God, the Son of the Father, the Holy One, calls us to share in the great Divine plan.

And why not?

Hierophants Help Humanity

I was reading David's Psalm 62 where he says of God:

"He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

I also found that in the first public address regarding the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, that one of David's Psalms was quoted (Psalm 16), in which he says there:

"I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken." (Acts 2:25).

The idea of being shaken, brings to mind my blue heeler with a little baby rabbit in his mouth. It also brings to mind many people I know, who are indeed people of faith - yet - they seem to be easily shaken.

Often we feel, in hindsight - that the Evil One has grabbed us, and we have been badly shaken.

I think it is most often guilt, for wrong living and wrong decisions, and culpable inaction, that sets us up to be shaken.

The way of confidently saying, "I will not be shaken", is to hear the Word of Christ, regularly, to see the Atoning Christ, deliberately, and to receive the grace of Christ, constantly.

In that way of things, it is a profound thing for a human being - amidst all the unsettling forces of life - to be able to say, without a shade of hypocrisy, that in communion with the Risen, Ascended Christ Jesus - I will not be shaken,

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see” (John 1:46)

In Tasmania, we are aware that there are 2, even 3 distinct business, sporting and cultural regions: the South (Hobart), the North (Launceston), and the NothWest (Burnie, Devonport [& Ulverstone]. 3 Newspapers: The Mercury. The Examiner. The Advocate.

In Jesus time, there was a saying, probably coined by the studious types, living in Judea in the south: “If a person wishes to be rich, let him go north; if he wants to be wise, let him come south”. There was another saying, originating in the beautiful, rich, abundant farming district of Galilee: “It is easier to rear a forest of olive-trees in Galilee than one child in Judea”.

The Rabbi’s held a general contempt for all that was Galilean. Nathanael possibly felt that the Messiah must come from somewhere more noteworthy than Nazareth. He was wrong.

Like Nathanael we set limits to the power of God. Many Christians do not consider small, aging fellowships are able to produce much fruit. Often they are proven right. But we ought to be cautioned against limiting the power of God. He directs human affairs in judgment, and mercy, and acts in surprising ways. Added to that, this Man, Jesus, is more about substance than image.

Towns and people who try to project a good image, are often, less authentic than the seemingly ordinary places - and people - we meet. Often, country kids say: 'this place is a hole!' But then spend half a lifetime trying to find somewhere with as much community spirit, and fun, as that seemingly dull place they once came from.

Can anything good come ...from where you live? Yes, you - especially if you know the Father, in the same way Jesus did - and does.

Jesus, from Nazareth - he is Our Lord, and Lord of all. Being from Nazareth, he's not going to despise anyone else, now is he?

Conversion of C. H. Spurgeon

Conversion - as experienced in 1849 - by C.H. Spurgeon (born 1834).
This story is such a joy to read. The following is an extract, duly footnoted, and recorded by John Dunn at http://www.newcreation.org.au/books/covers/278.html

One Sunday morning he [Spurgeon] was prevented by a snowstorm from reaching his own church and went into a Primitive Methodist chapel nearby. A simple and not very well–educated shoemaker was the preacher that day. He gave out the text: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.”

He began thus:
“This is a very simple text indeed. It says ‘Look’. Now lookin’ don’t take a great deal of pain. It
aint liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just ‘Look’. Well, a man needn’t go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look. “But then the text says, ‘Look unto Me ‘.


Many of ye are lookin’ to yourselves, but it is no use lookin’ there. You’ll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some say look to God the Father. No, look to Him by–and–by. Jesus Christ says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Some of ye say, ‘We must wait for the Spirit’s workin’. You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, ‘Look to Me.’

Then the good man followed up his text in this way: “Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin’ on a cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sitting at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! look unto Me!”

Spurgeon recalled that in the middle of the sermon the preacher suddenly looked at him sitting under the gallery. “Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said, “young man, you look very miserable.”

Well, I did, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, and struck right home. He continued, “And you will always be miserable –miserable in life and miserable in death – if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.”

Then lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ, Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but look and live!”
“I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said–I did not take much notice of it– I was so possessed with that one thought. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, “Look!” what a charming word it seemed to me. Oh! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, “Trust Christ and you shall be saved.”

“I thought I could have sprung from the seat in which I sat, and have called out with the wildest of those Methodist brethren, “I am forgiven! I am forgiven! A monument of grace! A sinner saved by blood!” My spirit saw its chains broken to pieces, I felt that I was an emancipated soul, and heir of heaven, a forgiven one, accepted in Jesus Christ, plucked out of the miry clay and out of the horrible pit, with my feet set upon a rock and my going established.
Between half–past ten when I entered that chapel, and half–past twelve when I was back again at home, what a change had taken place in me! Simply by looking to Jesus I had been delivered from despair, and I was brought into such a joyous state of mind that, when they saw me at home, they said to me, “Something wonderful has happened to you,” and I was eager to tell them all about it.

Oh! there was joy in the household that day, when all heard that the eldest son had found the Saviour and knew himself to be forgiven.” Now everything was alive and fresh. He was filled with joy and gladness. The Bible was ablaze with glory and prayer opened for his approaching soul the very gates of heaven. He wrote and signed a covenant between himself and the Lord.

------------------------------------------------

... I won't go on further with that. Just to comment, that I thought it was profund, humourous and simple. A little less sophisticated philosophical thought, and discussion of religion, and a bit more directness and simplicity, might help us 2006 'complex' people.

Theological Boxes: We seem to like to pidgeon-hole one another. Someone's little test revealed the following about 'yours truly'. Not sure about the 1st one, though I am glad to own much of that category. But I certainly do not hold Wesley's idea of Christian Perfection. Rather, I am persuaded by the Scripture, that P.T. Forsyth's teaching concerning holiness (The Cruciality of the Cross) is far more faithful to the text, and to the revelation of the Cross in the New Testament. So, here it is:

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Neo orthodox 75% Emergent/Postmodern 61% Roman Catholic 54% Reformed Evangelical 46% Fundamentalist 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 39% Classical Liberal 25% Modern Liberal 25% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.

Australians and the Gospel

Australians and the Gospel
There are a myriad of qualities that each nation, tribe and culture have in common.

Just quickly: human beings everywhere - have a heart that pumps blood, lungs that breathe air, and a mind that thinks, arms and legs to travel and do things. All - generally speaking - sleep, eat, walk, talk, laugh, cry, engage in art, music, literature and so on. They marry, have children, form families, societies, communities, towns, cities, nations and a global community. People also have a sense of eternity, hold spiritual beliefs - they pray, have systems of thought, religions, a rationale for the universe. People enjoy animal life, interaction with birds, fish, and animals. People like to name everything. As we read everywhere on the internet and on TV - they enjoy sexual intercourse. They like to own things, have money, gain power and influence. They feel emotions deeply, they argue, get angry, fight, kill, murder, seek revenge, go to war, discern right from wrong. People pay taxes - in most nations. People die - universally. People sin - universally; that is, they go against conscience, reason and common sense to behave in ways that are harmful to others, and themselves; people act in destructive ways towards society. People seek meaning and purpose for their lives. People can do great things. People can do shocking things. In common - are many small details of life, and 'the eternities'.

What is it about Australians, that is unique?
I am an Australian. Australians have links with the island continent of Australia. Resident Australians obviously live in Australia, and have a common, unique social history, background and identity - which influences the way in which we behave.

Australians and the Gospel
I would like to examine how this uniqueness as Australian people - very mixed and diverse as we are - especially bears upon the way in which we hear, or do not hear - the gospel. The message of Christ Jesus is central to 'the gospel' - the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

There are certain things about Australians, that make us especially receptive to the gospel.
What might they be?
There are social and historical factors, that influence us - so as to be especially unreceptive to the gospel.
What are they?

Begin Anew

To Begin Anew

"If anyone is in Christ: New Creation!" [2Corinthians 5:17]

This is the new beginning every person needs.

'You MUST be born from above' - said Jesus.

Every human being has in some measure opted to live apart from God. And the outworking of such an opting, is dislocation, disorientation, anguish, angst, guilt, shame, and the temptation to join the massive global conspiracy, to do a 'cover up job' on what is essentially wrong in our lives, and the world in which we live.

G.K. Chesterton, gave the shortest reply to the issue, posed at one time, in this way: 'What is wrong with the world?' He wrote his letter (to the male Editor, at the time): Dear Sir, I am. Signed: G.K. Chesterton.

As a person of faith, he knew that the solution lay with a deep repair-work taking place within the heart of humanity. The repair work, he also knew, flowed from Jesus, at the cross of Calvary.

As we approach the New Year, and begin those resolutions, the greatest resolve, if it can be called that - is to be a person of faith in Jesus Christ, and his work of repair. We call it atonement. That which deals with sin, with the old person of the past. That which makes a person, a new person, a new creature, a part of the new creation, begun in the resurrection of Jesus.

We must be able to say, to have ture faith: 'I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me'.

We mean the old, egocentric, selfish, evil "I" has been crucifed int he death of Jesus. When he died, "I" died. And I have been raised with him, a justified, forgiven, sanctified, new, useful, different person. A new beginning has taken place in this deed of Jesus. My relationship with him now, is the newness of life I need. Kept by grace. Redeemed by grace. Made new by grace - all flowing in the life of faith, to a believer.

Faith is very crucial indeed, for life in 2006. May you launch into January, cleaving to Christ, by faith, and receiving all of his benefits - newness of life, totally. The old has passed away. the new has come

Happy New Year!
Trevor