koester: the theology of john's gospel

I can't speak highly enough of the Kindle app's sample chapter facility (I know you know that, faithful reader). There are times when it really comes into its own and here's another instance:

Having read a review of Craig Koester's The Word of Life: A Theology of John's Gospel, I downloaded the Kindle sample and will shortly be making my way over to the Kindle store to get the full book - it's a wonderfully promising read: richly suggestive, very well-written (not the least of my considerations) and illuminating.


The price will work-out the same as getting a paperback copy ordered but I'm at least as happy to have a book like this in electronic form. And to have it in a jiffy, rather than a jiffy bag.

paul's theology

Tom Wright (according to Michael Gorman) has suggested that Paul's theology is a

"christologically re-shaped and pneumatologically re-energized Jewish monotheism."

Seems good to me.

gentle; uplifting; healing

is the album, The Breaking of the Dawn, by Fernando Ortega.


You'll not regret giving it a listen.

mark dever's advice to pastors

Your main job - in order to reach the world for Christ - is to know God yourself, to know his Word, to faithfully preach and teach that Word to your people and, so, be used by God to create a community that does far more than you can ever do just by a cleverly-planned service - you know, the people that I preach to every Sunday are going to see far more non-Christians than we could ever fit in our building, so if I can equip them, if we can create a culture of evangelism where we're not trying to have an event that draws non-Christians to our gathering....

(And there the tape ran-out - argh!!)

themelios 35-1

Here ya go.


Public Service Post No.329

the great albums (vi) - on the beach

One of the hardest things about this list has been which Neil Young album to put on it - maybe I ought to just give in and fill it with his work? This could easily be After The Goldrush, Harvest, Comes A Time, Rust Never Sleeps, Freedom, Sleeps With Angels and so on. Even something like Landing On Water is impressive, despite coming during one of his leaner decades.


Anyway, I've opted for On The Beach. Released after the nightmare recording of Tonight's The Night (which still awaited release) and the events that birthed it, this album still sounds desperately sad and cynical, and yet it does have notes of optimism, buried deep under its weight of sorrow and anger. Well, maybe optimism is too much to claim - perhaps the defiance that preceeds optimism is about as far as the album can go. But at least he was back to caring enough to defy.

The world is turning
I hope it don't turn away

Some lovely guitar work, too. What's not to like about it?

how transformation occurs...

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any affection or mercy, complete my joy and be of the same mind...
continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.

Philippians 2:1,2; 12,13

depeche mode: violator

I remember their arrival onto the New Romantic/synth pop scene of 1981; they were duly poppy and synthy. Then Vince Clarke left (for the glories of Yazoo) and, whilst they continued to figure in the charts, I never took them seriously. Then it sounded like they went all dark and strange and - well, who needs that?


But they've lasted and often to great acclaim. So I've decided to give a listen to one of their most vaunted albums, Violator.


And I have to say it's rather good - yes, dark & strange it is but with a certain something that demands a more sustained hearing.

But their own original version of Personal Jesus isn't a patch on Johnny Cash's version.

looking in the mirror

What does James have in mind when he speaks about looking in the mirror (James 1:23)? Is he wanting us to see our sins and come away from the mirror humbled and deflated?


The person who doesn't do what the word says is equated to the person who forgets what he saw in the mirror (v.24). What that person saw in the mirror is not repeated and worked-out in obedience to the word.


It seems to follow, then, that looking into the perfect law of liberty (v.25) is seeing something other than their own sinfulness. They're seeing Jesus and they're seeing who and what they are in union with him.

No doubt they also, therefore, see their imperfections but they see them atoned for, they see them as antithetical to who they now are in Christ. And, so, in that liberty, they're to go into the world not forgetting who they are and, thus, be equipped for keeping the word.

a heart for the people who sinned

Numbers 16 is a fascinating anatomy of a rebellion and a sober account of judgement. It holds so much that is worthy of prolonged reflection, but I just want to point to one aspect here: the heart of Moses (& Aaron) for the people who sinned.


The rebellion was a personal slight on Moses and he was rightly angered (v.15) by the refusal of Dathan and Abiram to face the issue they had created. Yet on two occasions here, Moses pleads for God to be merciful (v.22 & v.45) and directs Aaron to make atonement for the people.


When he could be indignant with the community's repeated arrogance and folly, he places their security above his own feelings of betrayal and justice.


In that, he is clearly a (pale) reflection of what Jesus would himself do, especially when he prays that the Father forgive his enemies, who knew not what they were doing. But he is also a model for all leaders whose service is undermined and challenged.

self-condemned

Paul writes to Titus of people who are divisive, that they are wilful, sinful and "self-condemned" (Titus 3:11).


I've never really stopped to think what 'self-condemned' (αὐτοκατάκριτος) might mean. I guess I imagined it to mean something like 'their own conduct has brought them condemnation'.

Then along comes the NET translation: "such a person is twisted by sin and is conscious of it himself".


That seems to me an interesting - and helpful - translation.

gina welch & what's expected of us

Maybe you've heard of Gina Welch - she pretended to be an evangelical Christian, spent time with a church and then wrote a book about her experiences. I think she's a-theist.

Well, Trevin Wax has interviewed her (great interview, TW) and in response to his asking if there things about evangelical belief she'd like to be true, she replied:

There are plenty of ideas in evangelical Christianity that appeal to me. It would be nice to know that even the most hideous acts of violence and destruction happen for a reason. It would be nice to know that this short life isn’t the end, that there’s something better on the other side, and that when I lose someone it’s only temporary. It would be nice to know what’s expected of me. It would be nice to know when I have dark thoughts or do something I know I shouldn’t it’s because that’s my natural sinful wiring, that I shouldn’t feel guilty about it. I think that’s why evangelical Christianity is such a popular formula–because it answers our common longings.

What really struck me were her words, It would be nice to know what's expected of me. The need for boundaries, for purpose, for structure, for significance - all testify to a Creator who has made humanity in his likeness and for displaying his image in the world.

a pauline epistemology?

No one in military service gets entangled in matters of everyday life; otherwise he will not please the one who recruited him. Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he will not be crowned as the winner unless he competes according to the rules. The farmer who works hard ought to have the first share of the crops. Think about what I am saying and the Lord will give you understanding of all this.

(2 Timothy 2:4-7)

resurrection letters

A nice album by Andrew Peterson (a group, not a guy - although the group contains a guy called...Andrew Peterson).


Anyway, you might like to listen to Resurrection Letters Volume 2.

credit where it's due

I am thankful to God, whom I have served with a clear conscience as my ancestors did...

(2 Timothy 1:3)

the truth within creation (john 4)

Jesus asks for a drink, then speaks of a deeper thirst and living water. The disciples come back and talk about food - and Jesus speaks of better food: doing the will of God.


Food and drink: just handy illustrations? Or maybe the whole created order points us, inexorably, to the Creator and to our need of him, as the one from whom every good and perfect gift comes down.

the epicentre of church

Fried & Hansson make the point that the epicentre of your business is what really matters, To locate the epicentre, they suggest you ask the question, "If I took this away would what I'm selling still exist?"


So: church. What is the epicentre? What can you can take away and it's still church? What can you not take away because it ceases to be church?

at the well: salvation-history being fulfilled

This previous post mentions aspects of the salvation-historical themes present in Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well. Especially striking is the repeated disclosure that, in Jesus, salvation history finds its fulfilment (see vv.21-23 in particular).


Preparing to preach on vv.27-42, it struck me that the harvest note that Jesus sounds is entirely suited to the fulfilment motif that has been present throughout this incident.

what 'glorifying God' looks like

Here's what Jesus says:

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

(John 17:4)

(cf. worship in Spirit and truth)

tom wright: easter sermon

If you remember little else about this morning, you will probably remember it as the day you got up at half past three in the morning to go to church. I hope you remember a lot more than that, but that’s a good start: because the whole point of Easter, and of baptism and confirmation, is that it’s all about getting up ridiculously early, being splashed with water to wake you up, and perhaps, in old-fashioned houses at least, lighting a fire somewhere so that the house can warm up for everyone else. Then, when all that’s done, you can think about some breakfast. Well, that’s what we’re about this morning – the water, the fire, and the breakfast: and all because Easter is about waking up ridiculously early while everybody else is asleep. That’s why, at the first Easter, everyone was shocked and startled – the women perplexed and terrified, the men disbelieving and amazed. This was all wrong. Things shouldn’t happen like this. The world was surprised and unready. It was still asleep. And it still is.

You see, the popular perception of Easter lets us down in a big way. I don’t just mean the chocolate eggs and fluffy chicks and rabbits. In a sense, they are all just good fun. Nobody in their right mind would mistake them for the real thing. No: the danger lies deeper. Many people in our culture, including many Christians, think of Easter basically as a happy ending after the horror and shame of Good Friday: ‘Oh, that’s all right, he came back to life, well, sort of, and so he’s in heaven now so that’s all OK, isn’t it?’ And the answer to that should be, ‘No, that’s not OK; that’s not what Easter is about at all.’ The whole point of Easter is that God is going to sort out the whole world, put the whole thing to rights once and for all – this world, not just somewhere called ‘heaven’ – and the resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of that great work. It is the launching, good and proper, of this thing we call the kingdom of God. 

What’s that got to do with getting up two hours before sunrise, and with the water, the fire and the breakfast? Well, pretty much everything. You see, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, it’s still night-time. Nothing new has really happened. The world would much prefer to believe that Christianity is simply another ‘religion’, offering another strange spiritual option, with a few odd miracles to back up its claims, but that really nothing’s changed. Corruption and death still rule the world, and Easter simply whispers that there’s a way of escape if we want it. No! Believe it or disbelieve it (though you, here, had better believe it!), the point of Easter is that when Jesus came out of the tomb he was alive again in a bodily life which was the start of the new physical world which God is going to make. And that means that God’s time has jumped forwards, so that what we thought would happen at the very end – God putting everything to rights at last – has leapt forwards into the present, into the middle of our time, our history. When the early Christians told the story of Jesus’ resurrection, that’s what they were saying: God’s new world has begun, and you are invited to be part of that new world – part of the world which lives on God’s time, and lives in God’s new way.

And it’s all because of Jesus, and his dying and rising again. God’s new time is the time when new life happens, but new life can only happen when death has been overcome. God’s new world is the world where sins are forgiven, but forgiveness can only happen when sins have been dealt with. God’s new life is the genuinely human life, the life that fully reflects who God actually is, but we can only even dream of that holiness if something happens to us and in us so that we ourselves make the transition from the way of death – which is what seems, to us, the ‘ordinary’ way of living – to the way of life. And the way we are brought into that new time, that new world, and that new life, is through being plunged into the death and resurrection of Jesus so that his death becomes ours, and his resurrection becomes ours.

Jesus himself showed how we are to do this. When we are baptized, we are drowned in his death and come out the other side into his new life, his new world, his new time. This is the meaning of the water of baptism.

But to be complete, we creatures of earth need not only the water but also the fire. When people come to confirmation they not only ‘confirm’ the promises made at their baptism – promises about dying with Jesus and rising again with him – but also pray for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the living fire of God’s own presence and power, and that fire comes to live inside us – us together, and us individually – so that we can live the new life, be part of the new world, and in particular live on God’s time, which is always ahead of the sleepy time of the rest of the world. When you pray for the Holy Spirit, and when together as a church we pray for the Spirit to come upon us – and today in particular upon you – God answers that prayer in all sorts of different ways. Sometimes it’s quite dramatic, and that’s fine. Sometimes it’s slow and quiet, and you will only gradually realise that things are different. You are to take responsibility for thinking it through and working out what God is now calling you do be and to do, what his new life will look like in and through you. As the Americans say, ‘You do the math’: figure out what are the ways in which he is calling you to wake up and live on a different time to the rest of the world, and in particular the ways in which he is lighting a fire inside you not simply to warm you up but so that, through you, he can warm up the rest of the world.

Because that’s the point of all this. Confirmation isn’t simply about God’s gift of himself, his own Spirit, to live within you. Confirmation is about God’s gift of himself through you to the rest of the world – more particularly, to the bits of the world where he has called you and put you. You are God’s Easter-presents to your family, to your school, your place of work, to our country and our world. The early Christians used to dress people up in white clothes after baptism, to symbolize the new life they had now entered. Perhaps we should dress you up as large chocolate eggs, to make the point that God is giving you to the world all around as a delightful and delicious Easter-present. I know people don’t usually think of Christians that way, but perhaps it’s time they did. After all, in many towns and cities and villages it’s mostly Christians who are volunteering to help in the hospice, or visiting in the prisons, or doing meals on wheels, or whatever. Yes, several people do these things who are not Christians, but again and again you’ll find they are. It’s Christians, mostly, who are campaigning on behalf of asylum seekers, who are working as Town Pastors in the confused night-time world of our city streets. Christians should be at the forefront of the world’s celebrations and its tragedies: rejoice, said Paul, with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. You are the salt of the earth, said Jesus; you are the light of the world. You are the fire that God is lighting in our cold, dark, nighttime world, the fire that says it’s morning-time and the place needs warming up. Christians are people who have been washed in the water and filled with the fire, abandoning the old life and bringing the new one to birth in a surprised and unready world.

And the water-and-fire people are then the breakfast-people. You can’t sustain the new life by yourself. You can’t live in God’s new world, on God’s new time, without constant help. And the help we need is Jesus himself – his death to go on dealing with our sins and failings, his new life to go on becoming ours, for us and through us. As we come to his feast, the bread and the wine become heavy with fresh meaning, Passover-meaning, Jesus-meaning, meaning for us and for the world through us. This, too, is shocking and puzzling to many people. How on earth can this simple, symbolic meal carry all that power?

The short answer is: because Jesus said it would when he told us to do it. The deeper reasons are all there to be explored in due course. But today, as we come to the first Eucharist of this Easter, you come with special joy, because you are today’s water-and-fire people, and, as we share in this breakfast with you, you remind us that all of us who belong to Jesus are water-and-fire people, all of us Easter-presents to and for God’s whole world. Thank you for standing up and being counted today. Thank God for all that he’s doing in your lives and through you for the rest of us. No doubt there will be times when you, like the rest of us and like those first disciples, will be perplexed and amazed, perhaps even disbelieving and terrified. But Jesus Christ is risen again! He is on the loose, on the move, at work in his world and in our midst, and you today are the living witnesses to the power of his death and resurrection and Spirit. Remember the water; pray for the fire; come to the breakfast, and be ready then to go out live as God’s Easter presents to his surprised and unready world.