School of Discipleship, January 2013
Showing posts with label John Stott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Stott. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary, the church is God's new community. For this purpose, conceived in a past eternity, being worked out in history, and to be perfected in a future eternity, is not just to save isolated individuals and so perpetuate our loneliness, but rather to build his church. The reason why we are committed to the church is that God is so committed.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Let there be no mistake. To proclaim the lordship of Jesus in all the world can never be a matter of merely inviting people to embrace a personal salvation that leaves the power structures of the world untouched. If it is reduced to that, then in the name of the whole New Testament we must say that the Jesus of whom such a message speaks is not Jesus of Nazareth, but an idol who has usurped his name and distorted his message. And at the same time, we must say that to work for justice and peace in the world on any basis other than the declaration that the crucified and risen Jesus is Lord of the world, and that his Spirit is at work today to implement his victory, is to fight idolatry with idolatry. Only Jesus, the real Jesus, is Lord; only by his Spirit is there victory, is there hope. The gospel promises the life of the age to come, the hope of resurrection, to all who turn from idols and trust in this Jesus. The same gospel promises that, because his victorious reign has already begun, the power of his self-giving love can challenge and dethrone the usurping idols that still enslave, distort and destroy human life. There is one gospel, because there is "one body and one Spirit & one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, on baptism, one God and Father of all" (Ephesians 4:4-6). There is one world, one God, one gospel. And with this gospel we, however surprisingly, have been entrusted. We are not spectators in this drama. We ourselves are summoned to be God's agents in bringing this earth-shattering message to the world--and to the church!--that so desperately needs it.
God is a peacemaker. Jesus Christ is a peacemaker. So, if we want to be God's children and Christ's disciples, we must be peacemakers too.
Order of Worship, October 31 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
At no point does the gospel come into more violent collision with the world than in its insistence on humility as the paramount virtue. The wisdom of the world despises humility. Western culture has been greatly influenced, often unconsciously, by the power-philosophy of Nietzsche, who envisaged the emergence of "a daring and ruler race." His hero was the Ubermensch, tough , brash, masculine and overbearing, who would become a "lord of the earth." But if the ideal of Nietzsche was the superman, the ideal of Jesus was the little child. There is no possibility of finding a compromise between these alternative models; we are obliged to choose.
Where the Spirit is poured out on the church, it sweeps the believers along as though in a great river of obedience, praise, and mighty works. Empowered by the Spirit, the community can dare and hope great things, seeing visions, dreaming dreams, turning the world upside-down...Preeminently, the Spirit energizes the community to bear witness in word and deed to the power of the resurrection...Where the Spirit is at work, liberation is underway: good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, deliverance to the oppressed. The purpose of God's outpouring of the Spirit is to establish a covenant community in which justice is both proclaimed and practiced.
Order of Worship, October 10 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
For us Christians, all truth is "relative," relative to this Jew named Jesus. We really do not know what the world is, much less where it is headed, until we know him.
The repeated promises in the Qu'ran of the forgiveness of a compassionate and merciful Allah are all made to the meritorious, whose merits have been weighed in Allah's scales, whereas the gospel is good news of mercy to the undeserving. The symbol of the religion of Jesus is the cross, not the scales.
Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is a farce, there was no need for it.
We trample the blood of the Son of God under foot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only explanation of the forgiveness of God, and of the unfathomable depth of His forgetting, is the Death of Jesus Christ.
The Death of Jesus Christ is the performance in history of the very Mind of God. There is no room for looking on Jesus Christ as a martyr; His death was not something that happened to Him which might have been prevented: His death was the very reason why He came.
God could forgive men in no other way.
The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross: "It is finished." That was the last word in the Redemption of man.
Order of Worship, September 26 2010
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