Roger, the wolf and the grace of God

Isn't Roger Carswell just lovely? He spoke at Word Alive on Colossians 3:1-17, which is all about putting off the old life, and putting on the new. Everything has changed now Christ is risen from the dead, now that we know about it. Everything. Chapter 3 is the application of Chapters 1 and 2, which are exulatation and warning. We are to seek the things above, where our Savior, Brother and King sit, where we one day will worship Him for eternity. It struck me as we sung the last song on saturday morning (we will meet Him in the air) that i just can not wait to be with Jesus. Finally, my sin dulled heart will love and worship Him totally, and my sin dulled mind will appreciate Him fully. Its going to be good times y'know, and life here has got to be in preperation for life there. So seek the things above, and thats not easy (about which more later possibly), but it is neccesary.

Anyway, this isn't a write up of my notes from Word Alive, Bish and Ceryn will do that far more ably than me. Whilst talking Roger shared a similie that is so striking, so accurate it bears repeating on its own, and hopefully repeating in my head for many years to come. When eskimoes want to trap a wolf, what they do it this. They get a knife, and cover it in blood, and bury the handle in the ground with only the blade exposed. The wolf, driven by his lust and greed for the blood on the knife starts to lick it clean. And heres the rub. As he licks the knife his tongue is cut to ribbons, destroyed, and sheds more blood. The wolf, driven only by an unstoppable passion for blood doesn't notice this and keeps on going for the knife. Blood continues to pour from the wolves tongue and be licked back up again off the knife. Then, finally, the wolf dies. It's passion for blood, its hunger and greed has destroyed it. As our sin will destroy us if we don't clothe ourselves with the obediance of Jesus. We won't notice, it'll be too late as our hearts are hardened and our minds dulled. We must be ruthless. We must stand with Jesus and His obedience. It's our only hope.

So how to finish this one. To tell you that i was so shaken by this metaphor that mortal sin is now not an issue in my body. If only! By sunday evening i'd lost sight of all i'd learnt that week, all i'd been taught at church that morning. I was the wolf. And i went to bed and woke up feeling like an idiot. I am an idiot. But God is bigger, and grace is stronger. I'd started praying about my financial situation for Relay next year this morning, bought into relief by the fact that i had exactly £0 in my account by the end of Word Alive. When i went to the bank to pay some stuff in this morning, i checked, and, following my prayer, and due to the grace of Gid, this number had risen considerably. Now i'm aware of the mechanics of this, that my parents paid some money in earlier on, and the Hong Kong-Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC just doesn't do the name justice) had finaly remebered that they were supposed to be extending my overdraft. But i know the reason that it happened today. And i am thankful for it. For the providence and grace of God, and for His obediance and righteousness imputed to me, which gives me hope. Don't hear me wrong, i'm not saying for a second that grace=money, or that my sin is irrelevant, because i don't think either of those things. I'm just blown away again by the power of God's grace and provision to a wretched man like me.

Faces of RUCU at Word Alive 2006

*It's a chalet thing* RUCU @ Word Alive 2006

I need to get up in five hours...

This photo was taken so late time was going sideways...

This was before i asked Drew what rhymed with 'trundle'

Drew was easily scared!

Y'know, its not easy being gangsta

...honestly!

Drew dances like there's no one watching

Before the last evening...two thoughtful, two excited

'Shall we jump on Hoops?'

Photos from Ocean View, Harbour Bay, 121, or wherever it was called...i never really found out!

Let there be light

Something struck me, or rather, continued to strike me yesterday at football. We were losing, not playing badly but not playing well enough to suggest we'd get back into the game. So i stopped watching for a little while, and looked around me. Now, Adams Park is small enough that if you sit in the upper tier of the bigger stand, as i was, you can see out across the farmland that surrounds the ground. It was a beautiful day, sun, birds, trees etc, it was amazing. And it struck me, continued to strike me. God made this. Once, it wasn't here, now it is. God made it. It was a beautiful moment, and got me thinking about how powerful, how straight up powerful God's will and word is.

Look at Genesis 1:2-3. The earth was formless and empty. Dark. Nothingness was everywhere. Then God spoke. 'Let there be light', and there was light. He spoke, and it was. He willed, and so it happened. Something from nothing. Nothing + God's word = something. Time again this happens in Genesis. No animals, then God's word, then animals. And sea. And day and night, and man. Something from nothing. God spoke, and nothing, became something. God willed, and it just was.

Similaly i believe, Luke 1:34-37. Jesus Christ was born to a virgin. There was nothing inside her womb. And then 'the Holy Spirit came upon her', and there was. God willed, and something appeared from nothing. A baby was there. Again, nothing+ God's will and word = something. IN the first instance, creation, the second instance, the incarnate Christ. God is so poweful!

Thirdly, look at us, look at you. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 shows us the mechanics of how we came to believe. God shone the light of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ into our hearts. Light. What was in our hearts before? I can't speak for you, but in my case it was only darkness. 17 years of rebellion, and darkness. There was nothing there, not even a spark to work from. God spoke, and willed, and suddenly: light, new life, rebirth, i was a Christian! The same voice that spoke creation into being, the same Holy Spirit that worked in Mary. Thats amazing, and thats how poweful our God is!

How encouraging is this for evangelism? Where there is nothing God can create something. No one is beyond hope, no one is beyond saving. It just needs God's word, and will, and something will be created from nothing. There was nothing before creation. And then there was. There was nothing in Mary's womb, and then there was. There was nothing in my heart. And then there was.

God is more poweful than we can ever conceive. What an amazing thing it is to worship Him! What other response can there be?

Why CUs?

Mo ponders homogenous church (HT Bish). For what its worth my thoughts on this matter are:

Christian Unions are not (or, at least shouldn't be) para-churches, they do not exist to do the same work a church does, for very simple practical reasons that can not do the same work a church does.

Christian Unions are mission teams. A groups of people focused fro three or four years on doing mission in the campus that God has bought them to. This is their primary aim. Alongside this is the responsibility to support Christians on campus and bring them to a greater level of maturity. I think things like PURE and Forum are good examples of this.

Churches simply can not get onto campus, and do the things that students can do. There's no way a church group would be able to meet in halls and weekly on campus. NO way, it just would not happen. Students can do this, and are.

Students should of course, of course get involved and serve in the local church at Uni in any way they can. Churches are great places to grow, to serve, and to meet deeply wise Christians, something you probably won't find at CUs. Thats why i am baffled by the idea of student churches. WHY? How is that biblical? To segregate off a group of people, and make them meet together apart from the rest of the congregation. Does that not defeat the object of churches?

I think at Reading we're really blessed to have such a god relationship between the CU and the local Churches, who are happy to support, challenge and get alongside what we do as a mission team. As their mission team to thousands of otherwise unreached peoples.

Churches: great. CUs: great. Unity of purpose between them for the Gospel: GREAT.

Towards 400 innit?

I came into membership at Reading Family Church this morning, as we move towards a membership of 400 in 2008. Now, it may seem weird to be joining a church in a town that i'm moving out of in four or five months, but Fam is where i want to be long term, and where i want to come back to when i've finished Relay. I want Fam to be my Antioch, to be the place i come back to, to be the place i get sent out from for whatever i do in the future, God willing. So its great to be a member of a church for the first time. Even though i was really late today, because my alarm didn't go off, and, you know when you wake up, and you know its late without really knowing how late!? Luckily it was only just after half ten so i managed to get there pretty much just as Sean was bringing people up the front to become members.

We've just started a five week series on the cross at church. This morning we were looking at propitiation. The gospel is Good News! God's wraths burns and fires against sin, it has to...He can't not be angry with us, God is so holy and so righteous, and we're so not, we can't offer Him anything. But He loves us, and takes the initiative to save us by sending Jesus to the cross. Thank God for that eh? Jesus dies on the cross, taking all our punishment, all the anger, wrath, and fury that we deserve...wave after wave, until Jesus cries 'it is finished' and it is. And we only need to believe. We only need to believe. Its good news. God is a God of perfect love, and of perfect holyness. And He has saved us.

Oh! The wonderful cross

Oh the wonderful cross
Oh the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die, and know that i
May truly live.

Oh the cross, where it all began and ended, where believers unite. There is no battle that Jesus has not won on the cross, no battle that He did not fight that needed fighting. It blows me away.
Oh that we may be blinded to the world by the glory of God radiating from the face of His Son, and not the other way around. Open the eyes of my heart Lord...

Devoid of elegance or eloquent plan

On one level i'm a bit worried this (HT: Ceryn) exists...on another, as i leave studentdom, i'm very glad it does...although obviously sunday morning is no good!

Alive in Christ.

These thoughs are taken from my notes on John Piper's 'How to kill sin' parts one and two. (HT Paul). Read my stuff if you want, but look at Romans 6:11-13, and listen to Piper, and glory, and live in the truth.

1. Christ died for your sins. This is foundational stuff but we must not miss it. Thats why Paul waits until chapter six before talking about killing sin, because it means nothing without the truth about how we are justified. We are justified first, then, and only then can our sactification begin.

2. We died and rose with Him. IN HIM. In him. When God looked at Christ dieing and rising again he saw us, His people in union with Him. If thats not the case then the cross loses its power. We died with Christ, and we rose with Him, to new life.

3. God united us to Christ by faith. How are we in him? By faith, by beliving. We are justified by faith apart from the law. Isn't that the best thing? Everything that was needed was accomplished by Christ on the cross, and we are joined to Him by our faith. 1 Cortinthians 1:30 tells us that the Jesus is the foundation for our life, for everything we need.

4. Faith bring us our justification. God made Christ, who knew no sin, who never sinned, sin on our behalf. God made Christ sin on our behalf. He was punished and we get the reward. And the reward is the foundation of our joy. The reward being the union with can gave with God in Christ from the cross, the restored relationship with our Maker. The fulfilment of all our lostness and longing. Relationship with Jesus. YES!

5. Defeating sin is a mental and willing act. Look at Romans 6:11. CONSIDER YOURSELF. This is objective. This is a statement. This is not encouragement, us being dead to sin is an event that has happened. We must align ourselves with this truth. We must know this truth, and know ourselves by this truth. We need to learn to think this way, that we are alive in Christ Jesus, that we are dead to sin. THIS IS TRUE. This is the battle before the battle. This is verse 11, before sin comes tempting you with its lies and half truths. We must, as the Bible commands us consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

6. We must prefer another ruler. We must desire God. 'Just say no' theology is not Christian theology. There are five steps here before just say no, there are five chapters in Romans before even talking about how we say no. This is a real engagement of our will. Not to sin. Not to let it reign. To prefer God, to know He is better, His way, His will is THE way. Do not let it reign, choose not to. Don't just say no to sin, but say yes to being alive to God in Christ Jesus (v11).
So what is choosing? Choosing is preferring. We must prefer God, thats why we are dead in verse 11, because we prefer God, we choose God over sin. To live is Christ! Not sin.
Say yes to Christ, prefer Him, choose Him. Do net let sin reign in our bodies.
Christ is our life.

How you know you're back in Wycombe #36578

When you see someone washing his car, in the middle of a heavy rainstorm (oh yes!)
So back home for a week before heading off the Skegness, thats going be to excellent scenes. Its always nice, if a little weird to be back home...my room needs a serious tidy.
Following on from my (very very exciting) trip to Guildford yesterday, it thought i'd big up some of the blogging community there.
Paul and Cat of course, if your not reading their blogs, then start now, and two more that i've found Liz, and Phil (who looks just like Jonny off of the OC). Any more i've missed?
Anyway, thats it for my 150th post (!) more profound stuff starting soon, including probably some thoughts on James 2 and hopefully some words about how amazing it is to belong to Jesus, to really belong to Him. I think He's been speaking to me a lot about that this week.