The Book of Life_edited-1

 

Day 3 | Morning Talk 3 | Mark Baddeley | God’s Trustworthy Word

Introduction

In John 5 Jesus makes a huge claim and he doesn’t seem to defend it – he makes a lesser to the greater claim that if God’s Word refers to men as ‘sons of god’ then what will you do with me who is even greater? He then says ‘by the way, Scripture can’t be broken.’ and moves on. Why does he do this? Because he doesn’t need to establish that the Word of God is something they believe and something they live by.

In Romans 3 there is something similar – in 3:4 Paul ends a short argument with ‘let God be true though every one were a liar’. There is a rock bottom truth in scripture that God’s Word is true.

This is a big issue in scripture. With the creation of the world in Genesis 1 and the garden in Genesis 2 we come to Genesis 3 and find a debate over whether God’s Word is true or not.

  1. Has God really said? – Gen 3

The serpent’s first attack is to question whether God’s Word is true. When it all falls apart, and sin and brokenness is introduced into the world, it all happens in the context of questioning the trustworthiness of God.

When you and I reject God, or when we deny God, there are two things always in play:

1 – There is always a desire – like Eve desired the fruit, there is always something that catches our eye

2 – There is a questioning of the trustworthiness of God’s Word

 

  1. God’s Word is truth

A regular description

The bible’s regular description of itself is as ‘the word of Truth’

Psalm 119, John 17:17, Ephesians 1:13, James 1:18, Revelation 21:5 – all these references emphasise the ‘word of truth’. These quick soundbites function almost like a second name for the Word of God – the Word of Truth.

The importance of truth to how God works in the world

What is it that characterises the way that God works in the world – through truth.

Romans 1:18, 25 – humanity’s basic problem in this world: it’s not ignorance, nor disobedience, it’s deceit – the exchanging of truth, suppressing of the truth, and substituting of the truth for a lie.

We are a race who stumble in darkness, who love the darkness, and refuse to come into the light. How does God work in this situation? He brings the truth to bear upon it so that it cannot be suppressed.

Psalm 25:5 – lead me in your truth and teach me…

Psalm 43:3 – send out your light and truth…

John 1:14 – the word dwelt among us… full of grace and truth

John 1:17 – Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ

John 8:31-32 – if you abide in my word you are my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set your free

Ephesians 4:25 – having put away falsehood let each speak truth with his neighbour

1 John 1:8 – if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us

Truth characterises the way that God works. He sends out his truth, he leads people in truth, and the truth itself (Jesus) came to abide with us.

Truth also characterises God’s people – someone who speaks and does what is true, because you have been so powerfully shaped by something that is true.

The problem we need rescuing from is a truth problem (deceit, lies), and God solves it by bringing the truth to light and to bear upon his people.

No examples of Scriptures that identify errors in other scriptures

An argument from silence – which is not good to do, but this is a powerful argument.

While there are tricky ways that Scripture interacts with itself, but never does Scripture correct itself. If it is said in scripture then it is true by definition. So the way in which scripture talks about itself tells us that the Word is trustworthy and that we can build our lives upon it.

We often undercut this truth in subtle ways. In evangelical circles we can implicitly undercut the trustworthiness of the Word – sometimes in our preaching we don’t talk about the big idea of the passage before us. When preaching emphasises secondary ideas, even truthful ones, it undercuts the truth of scripture generally.

Why does solid preaching matter? Below…

  1. Truth matters

Truth of the Word grounded in God’s nature

John 14 – Jesus says ‘I am the truth’ – if you’re going to describe God accurately the word ‘true’ must come into it at some point.

Truth characterizes God’s works

The key thing that God uses to work is the Word of God. In trying to move people from non-truth to truth what he must use to do that must itself must be true.

Truth of the Word meets our need

The only way the Word can function for us is if it is trustworthy. There is no ‘plan B’ aside from trusting God’s Word. No other visions, no other miracles or acts.

God calls us to go all in, and we need to go all in, an in order to go all in we need something to trust.

  1. Word of truth and words of lies

And yet as Genesis 3 indicates, the Word of God doesn’t come in a vacuum. The snake runs around casting aspersions left, right and center. Elijah’s fight against the prophets of Baal is a dramatic example of this encounter of words of truth and words of lies. Jesus and his battle against the Pharisees, Paul’s battle against the words of Jews and philosophy of Greeks – constantly the Word of God is in a battleground for truth. In the OT and the NT there are always false prophets and false teachers.

So in wanting to tune into the truth of God we need to see that it comes to us in a battleground.

Discernment is greatly needed.

  1. Our debate: Inerrancy, infallibility, errancy

One area of debate is in inerrancy, infallibility and errancy.

When we say the word of God is true in what sense do we say that it is true?

Liberal churches take an errant view – the word of God is true in the sense that a person who reads the bible finds truth for themselves. So even liberal churches encourage bible reading – but in order to weed out errors and find your own personal truth.

Among bible believing there is another ground of debate – primarily on what level of truth is in the bible? The titles aren’t overly cool or sexy, but they are ‘inerrancy’ and ‘infallibility’.

Inerrancy – everything the bible says in big and small details is factually true. This position was mostly, up until 100 years ago, where everyone was.

But a problem with this view is that there are parts of scripture which are very hard to explain – there are parts which seem to blatantly disagree with each other. For instance the resurrection accounts differ enough to make you scratch your head. Because of these factors one solution is to suspend judgement on these matters for the moment, until something is cleared up and worked out later. And because this isn’t very intellectually elegant, a number of Christians have moved to a second position…

Limited infallibility – that God’s Word is there to teach us doctrine and ethics, and on these things the bible is absolutely true. On big historical events, the bible is also absolutely true. But in smaller details there can be some inconsequential errors.

While we’re not here to solve all these issues there are some markers we should note:

  • you can hold the limited infallibility position and still be a Christian – even if it’s not a strong position to take
  • while inerrancy is probably a better position, recognise it’s own weaknesses

 

Conclusion

At the end of the day we all come back to the fact that scripture is trustworthy. We can trust our eternal destiny to its promises – and God is good for it as well. They are words we can build our lives around, they will hold the weight of that. It is a word that is up to the challenge.

[Another mammoth talk, with perhaps a can of worms opened and unresolved – but the conclusion is all important: God’s word is trustworthy and able to bear the weight of our trust.]

 

Day 3 | Workshop | Ying Yee | How to love the church: warts and all

Loving the church, warts and all, is one of the hardest things to do. So many people in Ying’s experience have major problems with their home church. Ying’s story is no different.

(we pause here as Ying shares some personal experience of difficulties working in church)

Lots of people have good reasons to leave their church. We are called to love our church but it’s also one of the hardest things.

Some difficulties:

  • Change or lack of change
  • Lack of gospel preaching/poor teaching
  • Complaints never direct, always rumours and gossip
  • Church politics and power grabs
  • No one cares about each other – ie no one cares about me
  • Culture clashes
  • Churches which are inward looking
  • There’s no vision
  • traditionalism

And those in leadership will be in the thick of it as well.

Given all this it can be very hard to love the church. So sometimes we pack up and leave and head somewhere else.

Which gives rise to another trend – church hopping. Simply because we have the luxury of so many churches in Brisbane.  Or worst still, some are so burnt out that they give up the faith all together.

Why is it hard to love the church? There are good reasons here – by the are symptoms of a deeper issue. Here are some reasons:

First – in the world we choose our friends. We choose those who have same interests and likes. But in church you don’t choose. God chooses. Whether we like them or not. It’s the same with family.

See Ephesians 2 and 3. Jews and Gentiles had the worst of relationships – and yet it’s God’s design and plans to bring them together in the same church.

God chooses the people. And the kicker is that they are often the people we would never have chosen to be friends with.

Second – we forget that our church is sinful. Not just laziness in service, or unkindness – but deep rooted selfishness. Sinful people by their nature think they are God and everyone is there to do their bidding. This is what we should expect because we are not in the new creation yet. When you realise this it can greatly help.

This is not good. It’s normal, it’s reality, but it is not good. It comes with the territory.

See Revelation 2-3. The picture of the seven churches – a picture/metaphor for all churches. Some churches were all doctrine and no heart. Some compromised the truth, some lacked discipline, some were all show and no substance.

Remember that Jesus did not come to save the healthy by the sick.

Third – Satan goes to church.

Ephesians 6 – the real problem is not the battle out there, but the battle within. The spiritual battle in our lives everywhere.

Fourth – we need to recognise the distinction between the visible and the invisible church. The visible church is the physical gathered community. The invisible church is the community of regenerated believers. Lots of people say they are Christian and do the Christian things but are not actually converted.

Fifth – we fail to understand the doctrine of sanctification. God works in partnership with us to move us towards Christ-likeness. Our problem is that we expect the church to be mature overnight.  Maturity and growth take time, it never happens immediately. One of the marks of immaturity is selfishness, lack of discipline, that you don’t know how to do certain things. The church is a like a little spoilt kid that needs to grow up – and it’s a process which takes a lifetime.

Sixth – we often apply the wrong standard to measure what is a good church. For instance: we think the preaching is bad, but our standard is so high that no ordinary preacher could meet it.

Seven – we fail to see that Jesus loves his church.

Why and how should we love the church?

  1. Because the church is Jesus’ bride. Do we realise that? And when he married his church he did not marry ‘Ms Philippines’ he married an ugly duckling. Acts 20:28ff, Ephesians 5:24ff – reminders from scripture that Jesus loves the church and looks after her. The book of Revelation may begin with a picture of a decrepit bride in chapters 2-3, but it end with a glorious picture of the bride looking radiant because Jesus has cared for her.
  2. Remember also that Jesus not only purchased the church but also purified the church. He’s working behind the scenes to help his church and grow it.
  3. Distinguish the vine work and the trellis work. Trellis work is structures and programs. Vine work is people work. We need both the trellis and the vine, but we often focus on keeping up the trellis.
  4. Distinguish was is important and what is cosmetic. Visions are just well crafted basic work of Christian discipleship and evangelism – if you use the bible you have the same vision.
  5. Growing a child to maturity takes years and years, one step at a time. Remember you’re on a long journey that will take a lifetime, and it is often very painful. Galatians 4:18-19 – Paul is going through the pains of delivering children until Jesus grows in you. Imagine labour pains for 40 years. Producing children is a pain. To grow them up is a painful process.
  6. Don’t get distracted from the real work – people. Ministry isn’t just the programs, it’s the speaking to people in love to build them up. When you’re talking to people you get excited – side by side with each other.
  7. Pray for the church and give thanks for her regularly because Jesus loves your church. He died for your church. He is working in and for your church because it is HIS body. His spirit dwells in there, and he’s working in partnership to present his bride perfect.

 

Day 3 | Evening Talk | Richard Gibbson | God’s Faithful Son [Hebrews 3:1-4:2]

Why angels?

In Colossae worship of angels is connected with hyper-spirituality. But in the book of Hebrews it seems to be a different issue. Their significance has to do with the giving of the covenant in the Old Testament. There is a strong tradition of angels in the OT and in Jewish traditions. In Acts Stephen also makes this point that angels are important in the giving of the law. So also in Galatians 3 there is a reference to this tradition that angels were involved in giving the law.

Hebrews appears to be a long list of comparisons between Jesus and everything else, and the supremacy of Jesus. But it is actually one sustained and connected argument – and the subject of the book is the Old Covenant. The author is writing to a people who are in danger of walking away from the New Covenant in Jesus and back to the Old Covenant in the Law.

The Old Covenant is a shadow of the substance of the New Covenant – and the writer is surprised that this group is running back to the shadow.

Why Moses?

As the author is seeking to call these people back to Jesus he has to be very careful. He’s not in a position to criticise or condemn the Old Covenant. They were part of God’s revealed will to his people! So he isn’t critical of Moses, but his argument is very nuanced and careful.

Once you get Moses in the perspective of God’s revealed will in Jesus then you’ll pick Jesus all the time – this is the author’s point in this chapter.

 

Fix your thoughts on Jesus (3:1-6)

 

Moses, the faithful servant

Moses is held in very high esteem. It’s understandable that these people see in the midst of their confusion, their alienation, their pushing against their culture that they begin drifting back.

Numbers 12:6ff – this passage puts Moses in a category of no one before him or after him. The author of Hebrews has this passage in mind as he develops this comparison and contrast between Moses the faithful servant and Jesus the faithful son.

There was a sense that Moses was an apostle – sent by God, mediator and priest. Moses was the original apostle and high priest – but our apostle and high priest of our confession is Jesus.

Jesus, the faithful Son

 

The problem wasn’t with Moses in the Old Covenant – he wasn’t the point of failure (even in his human frailty). But Moses is the building, whereas Jesus is the builder (v3).

Jesus has more glory than Moses because he is the builder of the building. Moses was always provisional to a further ultimate revelation (in the person of Jesus). Moses was only ever a servant whereas Jesus was a son. Moses was always only intended to be a side character, laying the foundation for Jesus to come. To confuse the servant with the Son is a huge mistake in a households politics.

A warning word from God (3:7-11)

Spoken by the Spirit

Psalm 95 is quoted (the author of Hebrews loves the Psalms) at this point. Psalm 95 is familiar to those who grew up in synagogue. It was a great call to worship.

Notice the way the passage is introduced – that the Holy Spirit says… even though there’s no mention of the Holy Spirit in the Psalm. And notice the present tense – the Holy Spirit ‘says’ in order to connect it with the Psalms’ use of ‘today’.

Israel’s rebellion

The call to not harden their hearts comes back to Numbers where Israel was on the brink on entering into the promised land and their rebellion in response. Their rebellion at heart was distrust of God’s goodness. In God’s anger he declared that this generation would die in the wilderness.

Yahweh’s anger and oath

Here is why the author of Hebrews goes to psalm 95 – he uses the same address as back in the Old to say that you must listen to this word: you are in a comparable position as Israel on the brink of the promised land and are about to run away.

But in the OT there was still rebellion, they hardened their hearts, and they lost the promised blessing. So the author says don’t do the same thing as they did back then.

The warning applied (3:12-4:2)

Watch out

The author is now warning of a heart disease of greater significance than physical heart disease – but spiritual heart disease with eternal consequences.

Who is the warning for – how do you know your heart is hardening? If you keep making excuses for sin, if you keep putting off obedience or listening to later. When you say, ‘I know what God says, and I know… I know… but I don’t care to change just yet.’ This is the symptom checklist to show that the heart disease is rampant – and that you have drifted.

At heart is the belief that God has not been good to you.

How do you know you have a healthy heart? Not when you’re sorry or guilty. But when you are quick to repent. At the bottom of it is the conviction that God hasn’t been good enough for you and you’ve been trying to compensate – and that you’ll turn away from this.

Today is the day to repent of this.

Encourage

Verse 13 reminds us that the above response is not just individual, but corporate. We know how hard our battle with sin is – and that is the same for those beside us.

So look out for each other and share life with each other and live life together so that you’re growing together and keeping each other accountable and watching whether we are drifting.

If we’re serious about this then we will forge deep relationships to keep each other accountable.

Hold on

Verse 14 – the nature of Christian faith is that it perseveres. The author makes clear that we can have a confidence in Christ – but that can slip us into complacency. It can make us think we don’t need to persevere and hold on.

Beware the horror of hearing and not heeding

Verses 16-19 – these were the people who were at the mountain which trembled, where God spoke, with people who heard the law and were eager to covenant in relationship with God. But they were also the same ones who fell in the wilderness.

Still ‘today’

It is still today. Are we hearing God with faith and responding with faith. Is your heart soft to God and responding when his word cuts you to pieces? Do we respond with repentance, with godly sorry, we cling to Jesus and throw himself on his mercy. Or do we continue to make excuses, minimise or explain away our sin?

Friends if you hear his voice today do not harden your hearts.

 

[There are talks that leave us guilty for our sin and complacency. There are talks that stroke our ego and make us feel more better about ourselves than we should. Tonight was neither. Tonight was an extended plea to not forsake Jesus, to not harden our hearts. Please, don’t drift from Jesus!]

 

 

 

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