A multi-faceted jewel March 10, 2009
Posted by jonesy24 in Books, Christianity, God.Tags: Christ, Jesus, the cross
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“One theologian has called the cross the great jewel of the Christian faith, and like every great jewel it has many precious facets that are each worthy of examining for their brilliance and beauty. Therefore, you will be well served to see each side of this jewel shining together for the glory of God in complimentary and not contradictory fashion.”
After reading a book called ‘Death by Love’ (Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears) I realized that I had managed to walk into something I’ve been determined to avoid. I ‘forgot’ the cross. To explain, what I mean is as I was reading this book, which focuses on the different aspects of the cross, I was thinking ‘I know this, but I had clearly forgotten this aspect of the cross’.
My point is… we forget that Jesus was our Substitutionary Atonement, our Christus Victor, our redemption, our New Covenant Sacrifice, our gift righteousness, our justification, propiation, expiation, our unlimited limited atonement, our ransom, our Christus Exemplar, our reconciliation, and our revelation.
I’m probably going to do a blog on each of these, part because up until recently I hadn’t fully understood some of these and think it important to explain them if i’m going to throw them in a blog like I’ve just done, and partly because It’ll help me go over and remember the final details of each of these.
What I realized after reading this book, and thinking about it A LOT, is that many of the people I know understand and know most of these to varying degrees. But in certain aspects of their life, you don’t see it. Jesus as our expiation, meaning he cleansed us from the defilement of our sins and the sins done against us, means that we shouldn’t be hiding in shame, or be being shaped by things in the past – why? Because we were made new in Christ, and he dealt with our sin and our shame on the cross.
“God, make me like David…” January 12, 2009
Posted by jonesy24 in Books, Christianity, God, Internship.1 comment so far
David rocks. It’s official.
I’ve been reading a book called ‘Courageous Leadership’ by Bill Hybels… (just finished it actually) and he briefly talks about David’s faith-based optimism.
David believed so deeply in the pwer of God that a giant could not intimidate him, a murderous king could not paralyze him, and genocidal enemies could not defeat him. With complete confidence, David marched in whatever direction God pointed him, fully expecting grace and power to be revealed along the way.
Even at David’s lowest point, his ‘optimism’ was strong. When he failed morally with Bathsheba and God struck their firstborn son with illness (I’m pretty ill at the moment too… swollen uvula! Eeeeek), David did not give up his optimism. Even though God said that the child’s life would be required for the father’s sins, David clung to hope. He fell on his face. He fasted and prayed for six days and nights. He could not let go of the slight possibility hat God might spare his newborn son.
We know David’s son died though.
Later, when David was asked why he’d fasted and prayed, he said “I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live’” (2 Samuel 12:22)
Over the last year I’ve seen a lot of hopelessness. I’ve seen people who have long term illness struggling to understand why, despite prayer (and fasting?) they won’t be healed. I talked to an orphaned boy who’s hurt, hopelessness, and just plain confusion over ‘why he lost his parents’, turn to anger directed at God. I’ve had a close friend die, and I myself in that point in time lost hope. I’ve seen the homeless and addicts in complete hopelessness. I’ve had conversations with some of those people, who are desperately trying to escape reality – where they feel completely hopeless – through their addictions. I’m aware of people, who’s circumstances have wore them down to the point – in their hopelessness, that they’re ready to give up.
I think David’s got it right. He faces his share of the bad stuff, and has to do some pretty bold stuff – but he has complete hope in God. Complete optimism.
Regarding Hope… (haha… that joke will never get old)… I think for me there’s going to be circumstances and things that happen that I won’t understand. There’s going to be points where I’m going to have to either chicken out, or step forward in faith-based optimism. I think there’s going to be circumstances that are going to test me, that will most definately be some of the hardest stuff that can get thrown at me, where I’m going to have to do a David… cling to hope, trust in the fact that God is ultimately always in control, that he does have a plan.
God, make me like David.
Courageous Leadership – The ultimate supplier December 9, 2008
Posted by jonesy24 in Books, Christianity, Church, Glasgow, God, Internship, Re:Hope, What's happening with me....Tags: Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership
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Another book that I’m in the middle of reading as part of my internship is Courageous leadership by Bill Hybels. I’ve just about finished reading a chapter called ‘The resource challenge’ which talks about the challenge of funding, resources, etc… and how without proper resources… the local church can and does starve to death.
Again, I find myself thinking about the current situation with Re:Hope (see previous blogs).
Bill Hybels talks about his vision of an ‘Acts 2′ church, and facing the harsh reality (when first starting out with Willow Creek) of ‘trying’ to fund one.
In Psalm 50:12 God Himself hits this theme when he says “the world is mine, and all that is in it”. In a nutshell, God’s resources are unlimited.
I think (this isn’t the case with Re:Hope, but I’ve certainly been there with my own personal financial support) that we can rely too much on people… when in fact, “God alone controls the flow of the financial river we (I) need.”
He hits it right on the head when talking about people giving, not as the suppliers, but the ‘conduits’ through which God supplies.
God is not just able to help, He’s eager to help. Especially with regards to the local church – His bride. No one wants to see the church appropriately resourced more than God does.
Re:hope is in the thick of it. The owners of our building want to sell it, and scoff at what we offer. We don’t have the ‘finances’. BUT… God is still the ultimate supplier, the God who I firmly believe will finish what He CLEARLY begun. We just have to keep on moving forward in faith.
“The ultimate supplier for the resources (and buildings/finances) we need is the God who wants to see HIS church built even more than we do. And He has plenty.”
Mountain Rain #1 – Faith December 3, 2008
Posted by jonesy24 in Books, Christianity, Church, Glasgow, God, Internship, Re:Hope, What's happening with me....1 comment so far
Talk about being long overdue… One of the books I read as part of my Internship was Mountain Rain – a biography of James O Fraser by Eileen Crossman.
Re:Hope at the moment is in a building that we don’t own. We rent it out from the current owners who are trying to sell it. There has been a bunch of people with different prospects for the building come and check it out.
We are putting our faith and hope in God – for Him to intervene. For Him to provide the building, or to provide somewhere else. After all, He provided the building in the first place. We believe (unless otherwise directed by God) that this building is where we’re supposed to be.
Something that stuck out at me as I was reading Mountain Rain was James Fraser’s faith that God would move. In much of ‘his’ work, it was so clearly God that moved, that he believed God would continue what He’s begun.
I am clearly seeing God move in Re:Hope. In the building situation over the last couple of years, in growth (in numbers and in people’s relationships with God), in the transformation of people’s hearts and in people being saved.
God is intervening. He is moving in Re:Hope. My hope is in the fact that God will continue what He has begun, and with regards to our current circumstances… I believe He will ‘provide’.
The thing is – I can’t see the end result. It’s pretty much down to naked faith. Faith that my God – who’s moved before, and is moving… will move again.
Be the Church – Change the world November 3, 2008
Posted by jonesy24 in Bible, Books, Christianity, Church, Glasgow, God.Tags: Christ, Christianity, Church, Glasgow, Hope, yieldedness
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So, allow me to explain the idea behind the sub-heading of my blog.
I’ve just started reading a book called ‘Courageous Leadership’ By Bill HYbels (review/thoughts to follow).
In anger, I blogged something entitled ‘Half – assed Christians’ – you can see why I didn’t actually publish it. But in that blog I pretty much pondered what would it look like today if people were to actually yield their life FULLY to Christ? What would it look like If people actually followed Jesus – no matter what the cost? I also ranted a lot about worldliness, but that’s not important.
I just wonder how effective we are being as Christians these days. I wonder, what would the world look like if we actually lived fully for Christ? What would the world look like if the church actually done things the way it was supposed to?
In Acts 2 it talks about the fellowship of believers “praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (verse 47)
The ‘church’ in acts 2 is a church that “offered unbelievers a vision of life that was so beautiful that it took their breath away.”
One of the amazing things about the ‘local church’ is it’s power to transform the human heart. This power I’m talking about is the love of Jesus Christ, the love that conquers sin a wipes out shame and heals wounds and reconciles enemies and patches broken dreams and ultimately changes the world, one life at a time.
The thing is: that ‘message’ has been given to the church. It’s our responsibility to ’share’ that message!
The Acts 2 church barely even needed to go out of their way to ’share’ it. They “enjoyed the favour of all the people!” What they were doing… their lives… their relationship with God… was… attractive! And what’s more… GOD was moving… people got ’saved’ daily!
Here’s the thing:
“There is nothing like the local church when it’s working right (and people are actually living their lives in full pursuit of God and God’s plan). It’s beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of community. It builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides resources for those in need and opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden, the disillusioned. It breaks the chains of addictions, frees the oppressed, and offers belonging to the marginalized of this world. Whatever the capacity for human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for healing and wholeness.”
There’s a huge gap between churches that are living out their purpose, and those that are…dead in the water.
That ‘effectiveness’ that I’m reading about and talking about depends entirely on whether or not that church is doing what their supposed to be doing – reaching seekers, growing up strong believers, putting their arms around the poor, lifting broken lives, etc. And the churches ability to do that depends upon the believers living the way they’re supposed to be living.
An example of that would be… God loves holiness and righteousness (that thing Christians are supposed to aspire to be), therefore in my mind he hates worldliness. I.e. dressing sensually, drinking too much, adultery, sexual immortality (does that include the odd kiss every now and again? YES!), etc. We’re supposed to be yielding our lives fully to God, following Him no matter what the cost, and been seen as clearly different (and attractively so)… and apparently… at least as a whole… we’re most certainly not.
I take this idea… the church being the hope of the world – the church that can change the world… and I think… imagine this in Glasgow? Imagine reawakening in Glasgow? Imagine a city changing church in Glasgow? Imagine a body of believers who lived drasticly different lives – in pursuit of God – people submerged in the word of God, and actually living it out? Ooft.
Be the church – Change the world.
God last, when he should be first. August 16, 2007
Posted by jonesy24 in Books, What's happening with me..., You and me.2 comments
The author of the book I’m reading writes:
“We as humans have a natural self-preservation mechanism we got at birth that tends to take the road of least resistance. Honestly, it takes a lot less effort to turn on some music, that talk to God, right?”
“But why do we need a catastrophe in our life, to cry out to God? Because that’s the way our automaton society works. We go to work, we make money, we spend more than we make, so we work harder. And around and around we go. We are a self-sufficient people that will only break for God, with pain. Remember what happened after 911? Church attendance went through the roof! Why? Because people know, deep down, that they need God – but our culture preaches a different message.”
I don’t want to be the type of Christian who’s only time spent with God is the prayer for the parking space, or when I hit rock bottom. That’s not a personal relationship with God. That’s more like…’we’ve met before’ and occasionally catch up – when I need to. If we don’t listen to God, and give him time to speak – what makes us think God will listen to us whenever we fall back on him as our last resort? I’m not saying he won’t listen, but why should he if we don’t?
So… it’s important to give God time to speak. It’s important to spend a bit of time on a regular basis in the quiet, solely waiting on God to speak.
Also, we can’t just run to God in the bad times, when we have nothing else to turn to. God’s not a last resort. He should be the first one. It’s important to spend equally, if not more time with Him, in the good times as well as the bad.
Rainbow days May 21, 2007
Posted by jonesy24 in Books, What's happening with me..., You and me.4 comments
Ever wondered where God is? I have. Sometimes I get frustrated because God isn’t showing himself the way he was ‘in the bible’. When was the last time you saw an angel in front of your army, or God descended, or water gushing out a rock? Sometimes I look around and just wish that God would part Loch Lomond for me, or turn my water into wine. Only Kidding!!!
Then I think about how blantantly… HERE… God is. How often do you take where you’re walking for granted. The scenery you see. The rainbow in the sky. Loads of things, if not everything.
I can’t help but think how easy Noah got it. Or maybe I just feel that way sometimes. As a covenant for Noah, his family and every living creature got a rainbow. I’m guessing that was a big thing for Noah. Every time he saw a rainbow in the sky he must have been like…’WOW!’.
God must have been very ‘present’ for Noah that day… on rainbow days.
It’s kind of easy on Rainbow days. The days where God is just…’in your face’. Maybe when your kid has just been born. Or you watch a sunrise. Or whatever. The days where you feel ‘close’ to God.
Not every day is a ‘rainbow’ day though.
I think it’s important to remember the rainbow days when we’re not feeling as close to God as we have been previously. BUT…
It’s also important to remember that God is moving, but perhaps not in the way WE expect. Perhaps not in Bible sized movements… be He still moves. I think God moves in the little things as well as the big things. Kindness innitiative is a good example. Is showing a little bit of…’love’ or ‘kindness’ by giving a homeless person a sandwhich God moving? Or how about someone buying a building, one which we’d love to have our church, and saying they want to sell it a week later – at a loss?
Foundational Truths of My Life with God May 20, 2007
Posted by jonesy24 in Books, What's happening with me..., You and me.add a comment
- God is always present and active in my life, whether or not I see him
- Coming to recognize and experience God’s presence is learned behaviour; I can cultivate it.
- My task is to meet God in this moment.
- I am always tempted to live “outside” this moment. When I do that, I lose my sense of God’s presence.
- Sometimes God seems far away for reasons I do not understand. Those moments, too, are opportunities to learn.
- Whenever I fail, I can always start again right away.
- No one knows the full extent to which a human being can experience God’s presence.
- My desire for God ebbs and flows, but his desire for me is constant.
- Every thought carries a “spiritual charge” that moves me a little closer to or a little farther away from God.
- Every aspect of my life – work, relationships, hobbies, errands – is of immense and genuine interest to God.
- My path to experience God’s presence will not look quite like anyone else’s.
- Straining and trying too hard do not help.
God’s Great Desire. May 20, 2007
Posted by jonesy24 in Art, Books, You and me.add a comment
I’m reading a book at the moment called ‘God is closer than you think’ by John Ortberg. So far it’s quite good, and most likely the next few blogs will be about what I’m reading/learning from this book.
My ‘bit’ of the moment is this:
This is Michelangelo Buonarroi’s painting of God and Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Check out God in this painting. He’s stretching out. His body is straining. He looks as if there’s alot of effort going into trying to reach out to Adam in the painting. There’s what I suppose to be Angels holding onto God almost as if it’s so he can lean out further. His gaze is fixed upon Adam. His finger is extended straight towards Adam. God (in this painting) looks as if his entire being is wrapped up in trying to connect and close the gap with this man. What an effort. It’s almost as if God has got as close as he can be…. and is now waiting for Adam to make his move. It’s Adam’s choice after all – to close the gap. To connect.
Then there’s Adam. He looks quite relaxed. Lounging about. He’s sorta lazily reaching out his arm in the direction of God. But… he’s not quite there. His body is leaning backwards, as if he’s not that interested in connecting with God. Perhaps, seeingas God came this far… he can finish it off himself. Why should Adam put in the effort?
If you look closely at the painting, it looks as if all Adam has to do to ‘connect’ with God is to raise his finger.
So. It’s a reminder. Maybe God is closer than we think. He’s never further than a prayer away. All it takes on our part is the barest effort, the lift of a finger.
