Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

Joy

31 Sunday May 2020

Posted by in Bible, Faith, Galatians, Pentecost

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

,

Pentecost

It has been quite a journey since Good Friday, and, perhaps due to lockdown, it has been somehow easier to follow, at least emotionally, in the steps of the Apostles. Crushed by what they took to be the ultimate defeat that we now call “Good” Friday, they passed into what looks like a state of bewilderment on that first Easter Sunday. Even the ever-faithful Mary Magdalene did not recognise Jesus by sight; it was the sound of His voice which drew from her the word: “Rabboni.” Thomas would not believe until he saw, and Peter, well Peter had good reason to be anxious as well as delighed; despite his big words at Gethsemane, he had betrayed his Lord.

Indeed, we see in John 21 that Peter had returned to his nets. It was John who first recognised the Lord. Impulsive as ever, Peter plunges into the water to greet Jesus. But what ground did he have to assume anything other than that there would be, at the least, a rebuke for his behaviour? Then, beside another fire, lit by Jesus, Peter receives forgiveness and healing. The three times Jesus asks him whether he loves Him echo the three denials, and what comes with that is forgiveness and a great commission, as well as a foreshadowing of suffering and death. Pardoned, healed, restored and forgiven, Peter is the pattern for us all. Our frailties and our wounds are not what define us, God’s forgiveness and Grace does that.

Throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus there were abundant signs that this joy, this forgiveness, this Grace was not simply for the children of Israel: the woman at the well who believed in Him was a Samaritan, a member of a despised minority; the Syro-Phonecian woman who begged Him for the crumbs of mercy was, likewise as a Canaanite, one beyond the pale – as the disciples were quick to point out; and the centurion of whom Jesus said:  “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” was an officer in the hated army of occupation. But it was not until the day of Pentecost, which the Church celebrates today, that the fullness of this message and its meaning were made clear.

The division between Jew and Gentile was deep and wide in the world into which Jesus was born, lived, and died; that division, like all others, was healed after the Ascension by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We are told in Acts that after the Spirit descended, everyone heard the Disciples speaking in his or her own tongue and that in that first day, three thousand were received into the Church. As Paul told the “foolish Galatians,” all who had faith were the “sons of Abraham.” Whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, all that mattered was faith in Jesus. It was for this reason that Paul gave Peter himself the challenge when the latter tried to argue that Gentiles needed to be circumcised and follow Jewish practices. Neither did Paul speak in his own name, as he told the Galatians: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

The Church is the risen life of Jesus, the means through which the joy that brings is shared with others. This morning’s “Thy kingdom come” Pentecostal service was a vibrant reminder of Paul’s words, and of the Spirit which binds where sin seeks to divide.

It has been a long journey from Good Friday to Pentecost, but with the birth of Church, may a new flame be kindled in all our hearts and may we love one another as He loves us; only thus will the world recognise us as His.

Maranatha

13 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by in Blogging, Faith

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

downloadUpdate: Due to a timing mixup, this published at the same as Dave Smiths Quo Vadis, which precedes it. Do read it as well.

Sorry Dave. Neo

 

This morning Gareth commented on Vale saying

Now, this Sunday morning, I have found the devil has been at work here too. So sad that we forget the devil is most active in the very time – Lent – when we try to follow our Lord in the wilderness.

I was going to post here the Latin prayer of exorcism, but stopped myself just in time: those words should only be pronounced by a priest. I suggest instead that we use whatever form of prayer is appropriate to our different Christian traditions on this blog. The attacks of Satan can only be repelled in this way, and not by arguments, excuses, and failure to repent of evil.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner. Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus.

Amen, and amen.

Seems to me that we have all adopted the mores of the American election process here, lately, and it’s quite unseemly. We have been talking (well shouting) past each other and none of us has been listening effectively, if at all. Well, that’s toxic to what our mission here is, and it claimed a victim.

The men in their obstinance have driven out the Chatelaine of the Watchtower.

Can we do this mission without her? Well, I don’t know, we are a contentious bunch. Are we even going to try? I don’t know that either. I spoke with Chalcedon yesterday, he is very discouraged, as am I, and by the same thing that drove Jess from our midst. Not that we should not disagree, we always have, we always will. But by the tone we have all adopted, which could well be called ‘my way or the highway’.

That’s the tone that leads to a bar fight, not a discussion that illuminates. Some of us are more guilty of this, than others, I expect, but none of us are innocent, either.

I admire Jock, who said this morning.

Jessica, I now understand from both NEO and Rob that it was my last comment which played the decisive role in driving you from your own blog.

I wrote it in anger, without any time for reflection. It was mean spirited and nasty and I apologise unreservedly for it.

Takes a real man to take responsibility like that. I too have said some hard things that have hurt feelings, I too apologize.

But, in truth, from what Jess has told me, it wasn’t Jock, or QVO, or me, or any of us individually, it was the tone of the entire comment streams this week that she found toxic, and led to her withdrawal. She’s right, they were. Go back and read some of them calmly, many hard things were said, and we continually broke with our practice here of stating our beliefs calmly and rationally, opting instead to make personal attacks on each other.

As Rob said, I think there was a good bit of talking right past each other, as well. What really happened is that we all dug in like it was the last ditch and we had to defend it. Well guys, it’s not. Whatever we do here, our churches will survive, they will change, yes. They always have, maybe some will drop by the wayside, if so, then others will take their place. Whatever. I think we can safely leave that part in God’s hands.

We here, all of us, We are on the Lord’s side, maybe we should learn again to act like it. The adversary is over there somewhere, attack him, not each other, and do it in love, that’s how we grew, always, and its the only way we will grow now.

Ecclesiastes 3 tells us

To Everything There is a Season

1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

We have cast away she who is, I think, the best of us, now is, I think a time to heal.

Maranatha, Indeed

 

Saturday Jess

05 Saturday Dec 2015

Posted by in Blogging, Faith, Persecution

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

20121115-180317.jpgUsually, I try to select an article that goes along with what we’ve been discussing, and I’ve done that here. I also usually provide a short introduction, that I haven’t done here because the first comment on the article, from Kathleen of “Catholicism Pure & Simple” says it much better than I can, along with insight into how Jess wanted this place to be, and that we have tried to continue. Here’s Kathleen:

Jess, you are doing something very special and extremely important here; you are drawing together Christians from all denominations in inspiring and profound discussions on Faith topics. We can obviously not agree on all aspects of our beliefs, but we can exchange our views, traditions and teachings in lively conversation in an atmosphere of harmony and respect, and without any anger or self-righteousness. Really, this is absolutely amazing!

Through your gentle, respectful and sensitive personality (plus with your obvious high intelligence and vivid imagination) you are achieving something that no one else has managed to…… as far as I know anyway. Every other blog site that attempts such discussions always seems to end up in cyber-type battles and fights leaving no winners…… and a very sour tasting feeling of utter futility!

United?

So often, for me, one of the most wonderful parts of running a blog are the comments from you – they are never less than thought-provoking, and sometimes they are so profound as to make me glad to have such people with whom to converse through this strange medium.

Yesterday’s post on the ‘Beauty of holiness’ touch a chord with many, and set of some fascinating comments.  I was much struck with the conclusion to Kathleen’s comments:

I readily agree with you that in this, our secular age in the West, we live “impoverished times as Christians”…… and it is vital we should befriend our fellow Christians to stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of so many challenges of our day, rather than bicker, insult (and worse), which is what we have been doing since the times of the Reformation until fairly recently.
All denominations of true Christians hold and believe the most important thing of all: that Jesus Christ is the Saviour, the Only begotten Son of God, Who came to redeem mankind. Nothing is more important than this.

If I were able to sum up my credo it would be in these words. 

As anyone familiar with the site on which Kathleen makes such distinguished posts, Catholicism Pure & Simple, will know, she is a devout and knowledgeable Cradle Catholic, so her comments come with even more weight, as they are not the product of some casual ecumenist gust of emotion.  They were matched by words from my dear friend NEO, who commented:

Lutherans, Catholics, and Anglicans, we have all, to a great extent anyway, thrown away the reverential awe of worship. We did this with the best of intentions, to attract new congregants but, as with so many things, we didn’t think it through. When we lower ourselves to attract people, we lower the standards of Christianity. Of what use are multitudes of half-Christianized pagans to God or church?

He added:

We stress our coffee hours, our good works (which are important and are an effect of our faith) our modernity in general. And what do we get, a coffee shop filled with do-gooders. There’s nothing wrong with any of that but, it’s not who we are, we are the Church of Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord, nothing more and nothing less. Many of our Evangelical friends understand this, why can’t we?

And that, between them, sums up the place where some of us feel that real ecumenism already exists.

We are, not one of us, responsible for what divides us; we are all responsible for perpetuating it if we ‘bicker and insult’ others.

In the end it comes back, as it always must, to what Jesus told His disciples, which is why I have part of it on the masthead of this blog:

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

If we do that, then we follow Him. If we don’t, it does not matter what we say. If we do not love one another we walk in darkness.

From 14 August 2012, and as always the comments are worth reading as well.

The ‘Good thief’ and us

04 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by in Easter, Faith

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Only St Luke carries the account of the conversation of Our Lord on the Cross with the two thieves. We know from his prologue that Luke collected information from many eye-witnesses. He is the only Gospel which contains accounts of Our Lady’s reaction to the news that she would bear the Saviour of the World, and it does not seem too fanciful to imagine that it was from the same source that this account of the last words of the Lord came.

One of them was the voice of this world. Even in his death agonies he could find nothing better to do than to mock. But the other thief, whom tradition calls ‘Dismas’, was another matter. Christ ends by telling him that he will be with Him in Paradise that day. Do we stop to wonder why, or ask questions? After all, as Dismas himself admits, he deserves his punishment – he was a thief, a robber, a breaker of the law, and he acknowledged his sins. There is the first place he sets an example we could all follow. He admits his sins. He fears God and makes a clean breast of it. There are no ifs and buts, no ‘well, you see, it was society’s fault’; no, none of that; just the confession of a man who fears God’s wrath.

What else does this poor man do? He confesses Christ as Lord. Jesus is, he declares, innocent, and here Dismas bears a true witness; it is a good deed, perhaps the first for many years; but he does it. He also acknowledges who Jesus is by calling Him ‘Lord’. This confession is accompanied by an outpouring of faith, as he asks Jesus to remember him when He comes into His kingdom.

What humility and what faith do we see here?  If, as the Roman Centurion said, ‘Truly this man is the Son of God’, then of Dismas we might say, ‘truly this man confessed Christ, repented and followed Him.’

Is that true of us?

[First published on nebraskaenergyobserver on 30 March 2013]

The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord – Book of Concord

24 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by in Faith, Lutheranism

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Martin Luther

A bit of the Book of Concord which I think shed a fair amount of light on what we mean by free will as it pertains to our salvation.

For, as Doctor Luther says Ps. 90: “In worldly and external affairs; which pertain to the livelihood and maintenance of the body, man is cunning, intelligent, and quite active; but in spiritual and divine things, which pertain to the salvation of the soul, man is like a pillar of salt, like Lot’s wife, yea, like a log and a stone, like a lifeless statue, which uses neither eyes nor mouth, neither sense nor heart.

21] For man neither sees nor perceives the terrible and fierce wrath of God on account of sin and death [resulting from it], but ever continues in his security, even knowingly and willingly, and thereby falls into a thousand dangers, and finally into eternal death and damnation; and no prayers, no supplications, no admonitions, yea, also no threats, no chiding, are of any avail, yea, all teaching and preaching is lost upon him, until he is enlightened, converted, and regenerated by the Holy Ghost,

22] for which [renewal of the Holy Ghost], indeed, no stone or block, but man alone, was created. And although God, according to His just, strict sentence, has utterly cast away the fallen evil spirits forever, He has nevertheless, out of special, pure mercy, willed that poor fallen human nature might again become and be capable and participant of conversion, the grace of God and eternal life; not from its own natural, active [or effective] skill, aptness, or capacity (for the nature of man is obstinate enmity against God), but from pure grace, through the gracious efficacious working of the Holy Ghost.”

23] And this Dr. Luther calls capacitatem (non activam, sed passivam), which he explains thus: Quando patres liberum arbitrium defendunt, capacitatem liberatatis eius praedicant, quod scilicet verti potest ad bonum per gratiam Dei et fieri revera liberum, ad quod creatum est. That is: When the Fathers defend the free will, they are speaking of this, that it is capable of freedom in this sense, that by God’s grace it can be converted to good, and become truly free, for which it was created in the beginning. (Tom. 1, p. 236.) To like effect also Augustine has written, lib. 2, Contra Iulianum. Doctor Luther on Hosea 6; also in the Church-Postil on the Epistle for Christmas; also on the Gospel for the third Sunday after Epiphany.

24] But before man is enlightened, converted, regenerated, renewed, and drawn by the Holy Ghost, he can of himself and of his own natural powers begin, work, or concur in working in spiritual things and in his own conversion or regeneration just as little as a stone or a block or clay. For although he can control the outward members and hear the Gospel, and to a certain extent meditate upon it, also discourse concerning it, as is to be seen in the Pharisees and hypocrites, nevertheless he regards it as foolishness, and cannot believe it. And in this respect he acts even worse than a block, inasmuch as he is rebellious and hostile to God’s will, unless the Holy Ghost is efficacious in him, and kindles and works in him faith and other virtues pleasing to God, and obedience.

25] Thirdly, in this manner, too, the Holy Scriptures ascribe conversion, faith in Christ, regeneration, renewal, and all that belongs to their efficacious beginning and completion, not to the human powers of the natural free will, neither entirely nor half, nor in any, even the least or most inconsiderable part, but in solidum, that is, entirely, solely, to the divine working and the Holy Ghost, as also the Apology teaches.

26] Reason and free will are able to a certain extent to live an outwardly decent life; but to be born anew, and to obtain inwardly another heart, mind, and disposition, this only the Holy Ghost effects. He opens the understanding and heart to understand the Scriptures and to give heed to the Word, as it is written Luke 24:45: Then opened He their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. Also Acts 16:14: Lydia heard us; whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. He worketh in us both to will and to do of His own good pleasure, Phil. 2:13. He gives repentance, Acts 5:31; 2 Tim. 2:25. He works faith, Phil. 1:29: For unto you it is given, in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him. Eph. 2:8: It is the gift of God. John 6:29: This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. He gives an understanding heart, seeing eyes, and hearing ears, Deut. 29:4; Matt. 13:15. He is a Spirit of regeneration and renewal, Titus 3:5. 6. He takes away the hard heart of stone, and gives a new tender heart of flesh, that we may walk in His commands, Ezek. 11:19; Deut. 30:6; Ps. 51:10. He creates us in Christ Jesus to good works, Eph. 2:10, and makes us new creatures, 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15. And, in short, Every good gift is of God, Jas. 1:17. No one can come to Christ unless the Father draw him, John 6:44. No one knoweth the Father, save him to whom the Son will reveal Him, Matt. 11:27. No one can call Christ Lord except by the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 12:3. Without Me, says Christ, ye can do nothing, John 15:5. All our sufficiency is of God, 2 Cor. 3:5. What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? 1 Cor. 4:7.

27] Accordingly, St. Augustine particularly writes of this passage that by it he was convinced that he must lay aside his former erroneous opinion, when he had maintained the following in his treatise De Praedestinatione, chap. 3: Gratiam Dei in eo tantum consistere, quod in praeconio veritatis Dei voluntas nobis revelaretur; ut autem praedicato nobis evangelio consentiremus, nostrum esse proprium et ex nobis esse. Item erravi (inquit), cum dicerem, nostrum esse credere et velle; Dei autem, dare credentibus et volentibus facultatem operandi. That is: I erred in this, that I held that the grace of God consists only in this, that God in the preaching of the truth reveals His will; but that our consenting to the preached Gospel is our own work, and is within our own powers. Likewise, St. Augustine writes further: I erred when I said that it is within our own power to believe the Gospel and to will; but it is God’s work to give to them that believe and will the power to effect something.

28] This doctrine is founded upon God’s Word, and conformable to the Augsburg Confession and other writings above mentioned, […]

And yes, if you read this carelessly, one can see where the one shot conversion that some evangelicals proclaim, but Luther always proclaimed and lived that you had to live every day (as much as you could), in the Lord. It’s not a ‘One and Done’,. It never was.

Lutheran Vespers

13 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by in Faith, Lutheranism

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

There is an experimental one year lectionary in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod that I am coming to love. It is based on the historic lectionary. Our churches like the Roman Catholic went to a 3 year cycle after Vatican II, and so this is a sort of traditional thing.

I don’t normally do Vespers, (not least because none of my area churches offer it) although I often use it as  a guide. But this week, I decided to share Sunday’s, as it seemed very appropriate to almost all of what we have experienced this week, as usual, the week has been a rather mixed bag, some horrendous news, and some triumphant as well. But, as usual, if Jesus is on our side, who can stand against us?

The Collect

Lord, we beseech Thee, grant Thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the devil and with pure hearts and mind to follow Thee, the only God; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

First Reading: Deut. 11:1-25

Love and Obedience Rewarded

1 “Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always. 2 Know today that I do not speak with your children, who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of the LORD your God, His greatness and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm— 3 His signs and His acts which He did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to all his land; 4 what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots: how He made the waters of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day; 5 what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel— 7 but your eyes have seen every great act of the LORD which He did. 8 “Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess, 9 and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’[a] 10 For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; 11 but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12 a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. 13 ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 then I[b] will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15 And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’ 16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, 17 lest the LORD’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you. 18 “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth. 22 “For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him— 23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea,[c] shall be your territory. 25 No man shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.

Footnotes:Deuteronomy 11:9 Exodus 3:8 Deuteronomy 11:14 Following Masoretic Text and Targum; Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and Vulgate read He. Deuteronomy 11:24 That is, the Mediterranean

And the Gospel

Second Reading: Matt. 12:1-21

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” 3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’[a] you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even[b] of the Sabbath.”

Healing on the Sabbath

9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him. 11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. 14 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.

Behold, My Servant

15 But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes[c] followed Him, and He healed them all. 16 Yet He warned them not to make Him known, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
18 “ Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen,
My Belovedin whom My soul is well pleased!
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not quarrel nor cry out,
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench,
Till He sends forth justice to victory;
21 And in His name Gentiles will trust.”[d

What we see here, is that if we have Faith, and Love, there are certain ares of the law that we can supersede. The law matters, but Faith, and Love, and yes, Charity matter more.

I think the Collect says it all when it says, “Lord, we beseech Thee, grant Thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the devil and with pure hearts and mind to follow Thee”.

Testing the Spirit

27 Friday Jun 2014

Posted by in Bible, Early Church, Faith, St John

≈ 75 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

st-john

St John’s first letter tells us:

 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

This was the fruit of John’s own bitter experience with those he called ‘liars’, and who promoted a gospel other than the one they had ‘heard from the beginning’. John became aware, here, and painfully, of the limits of the view that inspiration by the Holy Spirit could unite a community; how do we know? Because his own community was destroyed by those making the claim to be inspired by the Spirit, but who taught something other than what John had heard from Jesus and taught his followers. These men claimed to have the anointing from the Holy Spirit, and yet what they taught was not what John had been taught. They clearly thought, and acted on the thought, that their revelation was superior to that even of the ‘beloved disciple’; they had met the Spirit and he had told them what was what; the problem was, for John, was that what they were teaching was not what Jesus had taught him. So, from this early on in the life of the Church we have had what here we call the ‘Bosco problem’ – someone claiming to be born again and ‘saved’ who tells us he has had a personal revelation and that others will be damned if they do not heed him. John gives us the answer – ‘test the spirit’. Is it in accord with what the rest of the community believed, was John’s test, and for us, nearly two thousand years on, it is whether what the Boscos of this world say chimes with what Christians have been taught.

Now this is more difficult than it was in John’s day, because of the variety of churches calling themselves Christian, but we return, as I do here so often, to the consensus reached on the important Christological matters at Nicaea. Christology matters because it goes to the heart of who Christ is; if we claim to follow him, we have to know who he is. So, for us, as for John, at the heart of the matter is that he is God and Man – fully both. Those, who, like Bosco, cite only those verses which emphasise he is a man, miss the point and do not know him; yes, Jesus is a man, but he is the Godman.

At stake here is what was at stake for John, it is indeed the same issue exactly; heresy is never new. So, John tells us, because his opponents denied it that: “Jesus is the Christ” (2:22; 5:1); that “Jesus is
the Son of God” (4:15; 5:5); that  “Jesus Christ has (is) come in the flesh” (4:1-3; 2 Jn 7) that he is: “the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ” (1:7; 2:1; 4:2, 9, 10, 14; 5:6; cf also 3:16). These three credal formulas reflect the basic Christological tenets of the opponents of John, as they do of those who follow the teachings of the Father of Lies to this day. These are the credal tenets of orthodoxy, and we do well to test any Spirit by them; if that spirit does not confess these things, then he should be turned aside.

So, for our friend and brother Bosco, this is how he should test the spirit:

  • Does your Spirit say Jesus is the Christ?
  • Does it say that He is God and Man?
  • Does it say salvation is by water and the Spirit?

There are many spirits in this world, and Peter warns the devil prowls around seeking whom he can destroy, and he does so by getting them to take snippets of scripture and encouraging men in their stubborn pride to teach what has not been taught from the beginning. Even the words of Scripture can be twisted to our damnation.

Addendum

The idea, just elaborated by Bosco, that one ‘tests the spirit’ by listening to it is, shall we say, a little strange. If the Father of Lies is speaking to you, he is not going to want you to listen to any spirit but his own one.

Kingdom of God

30 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Bible, Faith, Prayers

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

, ,

The definition of The Kingdom of God arose in posts with Q. It is an important issue for which I have posted this introduction to my understanding.

As Christians we pray ‘your kingdom come’ but what exactly are we praying for?

Evangelical Christians preach the ‘new birth’ but the new birth must be proclaimed in the context of the Kingdom of God, because entering into the Kingdom of God is the purpose for which men are born again.

The central theme of Jesus message is the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven sometimes the Kingdom of the Father or even just the kingdom.

The current use of the term kingdom refers to the realm ruled by a king e.g. Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the United Kingdom. The older (archaic) meaning is the kingly rule, reign, authority, dominion or government exercised by a king. It is in this sense that the word kingdom is primarily used in the Bible. This is the meaning of the Greek ‘basileia’ and the Hebrew ‘malkuth’. This idea is expressed in Isaiah 9:6 “and the Government will rest on his shoulders”.

The Kingdom of God is the rule and authority of God in action, God getting his will done. In Aramaic ears Jesus could be heard saying “The kinging it of God is near” Matthew 4:17.  Matthew 6:10 may be understood as a Hebrew parallelism ‘your kingdom come, your will be done’.

The geographical space where the activity of God is taking place does come into it. We pray for the coming of the kingdom to earth Matthew 6:10 and we are told “the kingdom of the world (cosmos) has (this is still in the future) become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ” Revelation 11:15. Heaven is the place of the full expression of the kingdom. So the kingdom is designated the kingdom of heaven.

As we pray “your kingdom come . . . on earth as it is in heaven” we ask for the kingdom’s future consummation and its present expression. Our prayers express God’s desire to see His actively changing this world scene by the exercise of His power NOW as well as its future consumation. This understanding ties the request for the coming of the Kingdom with that of our present need ‘give us our daily bread’ and our present duty to forgive. We are requesting the drawing near of His kingdom, the exercise of the kingly activity of God. We want t the kingdom of the heavens to invade the kingdoms of this world, for His kingdom to come upon people by the activity of the Holy Spirit and the authority of Christ. Now is the only time in which our faith can operate as we pray!

The kingdom is already on the earth but ‘not yet’ as it is in heaven. It is the ‘yet’ but ‘not yet’ concept the Kingdom has been inaugurated but not consummated.

This coming of the kingdom is an event that can be observed and has been observed in:-

– The Gospel stories of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee Mark 1:14-15, 27-34.

– The outpouring of the Spirit in Jerusalem “the kingdom comes with power” Acts 2

– The ongoing works of Jesus (Acts 1:1) carried out by the church in the power of the Spirit recoded throughout the book of Acts

– The many lives of the saints and historic revivals throughout the history of the church

We can also note that as people become subject to the rule of God (his kingdom) by allowing his will to operate in their lives, they can be said to enter the kingdom of God into the realm of God’s saving activity. John 3:5, Matthew 23:13.  By faith and the power of the Spirit the active rule of God can then be released through them. As the centurion understood in being subject to authority he was positioned to exercise authority. he possessed this in the military sphere and so recognised authority in Jesus.

The church then is the Lord’s chosen vehicle to carry The Kingdom of God into the world by the power of the Spirit in the authority of Christ and to share in and complete His mission working with the Lord.