Restless Wonderer

At New Horizon in Coleraine next week I'll be working with Valerie Murphy (formerly of Precept Ministries NI) to deliver three seminars under the title 'The Bible the Jesus Way'.  Our aim is to learn from Jesus how to trust, hear and obey God's word in the Scriptures.  If you're free to come to Coleraine why not join us in these seminars from Tuesday to Thursday?  Each day I'll be speaking about Jesus' teaching on and use of Scripture then Valerie will lead a guided study of a related passage.  There'll be plenty of time for questions and feedback. Over the next few weeks I'll be blogging on this same theme of The Bible the Jesus Way.  As I do that I'll come back to this post and add links to each post.  I'm convinced that there is no greater need for Christians today than to have confidence in the Scriptures.  Confidence that they are the Word of God, living and powerful.  Confidence that they can be understood and are relevant to lives

One week on from the momentous vote and a single word captures the mood of the nation: ‘uncertainty’.  Uncertainty about future relationships with Europe, our economic stability and the internal cohesion of the United Kingdom.  How are Christians supposed to respond?  One theologically-loaded word that resonated around the debates before the referendum is ‘sovereignty’.  The brexiteers’ slogan was “Take back control” and some have hailed the result as a demonstration of democracy in action – the people have spoken!  Apart from obvious questions about when we will exit and on what terms, the phrase “the people have spoken” is tricky.  Which people?  What about parts of the UK where clear majorities voted to stay?   What about all those who voted ‘remain’ (including 46.6% in England)?  What about those who didn’t vote at all?  How do we cope with the facts that older people were more likely to vote ‘leave’ while a majority of younger voters were in the ‘remain’ camp, or that working c

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. The gospel of God’s grace, when grasped fully, poses a serious question about sin.  If God has forgiven our sins on the basis of Christ’s death in our place, why shouldn’t we keep on sinning?  Why should we live differently?  Indeed, why not sin more so that God’s grace can increase?  Paul anticipates these questions in Romans 6.  Faced with this challenge he does not retreat at all from his confidence in our standing in God’s grace through Christ.  Rather, he points his readers back to their baptism and reminds them that it was a re-enactment of the gospel, a tangible parable of death and resurrection.  We died with Christ and now we live a new life with Him. Paul’s teaching is sometimes misunderstood.  How can he say that our old self is dead?  If that’s true, why do we struggle with sin at all?  Does

A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Most people know that Jesus taught us to love one another.  In John 13 he describes this as a ‘new command’.  What is new, or fresh, about this commandment is not so much its content as its point of reference.  The Old Testament Law, contrary to common perceptions, was really an embodiment of love.  It was given by a loving God to the people He had graciously redeemed from slavery in Egypt in order to forge them into a theocratic nation, a people of His very own who would enjoy His blessings and demonstrate His character to the nations.  The Law was also intended to draw individual Israelites into a loving relationship with God, by showing them their sin and providing the sacrificial system on the basis of which they could seek His forgiveness and express their gratitude to Him. Not only did the Law express God’s love for His people, it was also intended to guide them into more faithful

In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Covenants are powerful things.  They are binding relationships between two parties, consisting of promises and expected responses and usually accompanied by a sign to serve as a reminder.  I am in a covenant relationship with my wife, indicated by the ring round one of my fingers – the one I use as I write this, somewhat strangely since I type with only two fingers, to hit the ‘Shift’ key.  I am bound to Gar-Ling for life, to be faithful to her and to help her to be the person God wants her to be.  She made similar promises to me too.  That kind of covenant I can understand and I’m incredibly thankful for it, but when I begin to translate that experience into the nature of God’s relationship with His people my mind begins to boggle.  How can the eternal God, creator of all things, sovereign and all-powerful, bind Himself to sinful people?  It is a truly

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, “The old is better.” I know nothing about wine.  I know some is red and some is white, but I haven’t a clue what the difference is between a Shiraz and a Merlot (even those names sound more like characters from fairytales to me).  I have been known to drink the occasional glass of wine, but I’m virtually teetotal most of the time except for the tiny sip of red wine I take once a week when celebrating communion.  What I’m saying is that I wouldn’t have a clue what good wine is.  I’m not the kind of person Jesus envisages in this brief parable. In the culture Jesus inhabited, wine was a staple of the diet, partly because water was unsafe and partly because grapes grew abundantly in the climate.  Wine wasn’t supplied in glass bo

  And He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” What a verse to start a new series with!  This is one of those verses that PhD theses could be based on, such are the debates about its exact meaning.  Leaving aside the finer nuances of meaning, however, the basic thrust of the verse is quite clear.  Encountering, discovering and entering God’s kingdom changes everything and opens up a new world of understanding that must be shared with others. The scribes were a distinct group within the Jewish community of Jesus time who were experts in the Old Testament Law and specialised in teaching it to others.  Jesus taught many things to His disciples and in Matthew 13:51 He asks them whether they have understood His parables.  They respond simply “Yes” and this verse is Jesus’ response to their confident assertion.  If they have understood the nature o

And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” When Jesus began His public ministry it didn’t take long for people to figure out that something new was happening.  He boldly declared that God’s kingdom had come near.  The reign of God over all that He had created, which all devout Jews believed to be real and unchanging, was no longer going to be hidden – it would be revealed for all to see.  The prophets had spoken of the day when a new king in David’s line, God’s anointed One (the Messiah), would establish a kingdom in which God’s true purpose for creation would be fulfilled.  In that kingdom all that was wrong would be put right.  The glory of God, so evident in the Law they prized would emanate from Jerusalem to the nations. Jesus came declaring the kingdom and He called people to repent and believe the good news that a new order had arrived.  Th

I think this series was inspired by thinking about the New Year, although I realise that by the time the first instalment is posted more than half of January 2016 will have passed.  Still, I hope my reflections on New Testament references to new things will be helpful.  In Matthew 19:28, Jesus refers to the “renewal of all things”, a future time of judgement when those who have followed Him will be rewarded for the sacrifices they have made in the present.  The Greek word here translated as “renewal” could also be translated “regeneration”, a word that theologians more commonly associate with the salvation of individuals, as it is used in Titus 3:5.  The amazing truth Jesus presents here is that the whole universe will be born again at the future time when He returns in glory, just as individuals who believe in Him are born again in this present age. The renewal of all things is a future hope for the Christian – we know that it cannot occur until Christ returns in glory and po