One - Theme Song

This was our theme song for the camp (from Stuart Townend)

I have seen a mystery, 
The hopes of prayer and prophecy, 
And rising from all peoples see, she comes.
Rescued, ransomed, lifted up, 
Crowned with mercy, clothed in hope, 
The object of all heaven's love, she comes.

It is the church, 
The hope of all the world, 
And here I fix my heart and hand, 
I cannot turn away!
It is the church!
The passion of God's Son, 
The goal of history, come.
You'll see we've nearly reached the day.

And she will be all glorious;
Fitting for Him whose bride she is. 
In that day, in that day,
In that day, in that day.

It is the church...

Infant Baptism

Just did a briefing on infant baptism today

i would actually argue that not baptising a child born in a Christian (or semi-Christian) home - is tantamount to making him think that he must earn his salvation

would even go further and say that anything except raising him up with the full assurance that his Father loves him as a true child of God will cause him to backslide

though i am happy for the child to as many times as he wants - affirm and reaffirm his faith and trust in the Father seeing his own failings

i wonder if this is the problem we put on '2nd generation' Christians - we bring them up with an inherent lack of assurance

and i suspect that this is motivated by our own pride at what 'we've accomplished' as Christians ourselves (think of the disciples preventing many from coming to Christ)

to my own children i hope to always tell them - you are children of God - 100% true... you never have to doubt this... but He would love to hear you affirm it everyday

One

5 days on Ephesians - mainly chapters 1 till mid 5 - to 13-18 year olds
(just a note - Singaporean 15 year olds are very well behaved and pretty educated.. =) )

Theme: One Lord, One Love, One Family

Excuse my Singaporean-ese and you can obviously tell that it isn't scripted - so have mercy on my countless repetitions or hesitations

One Plan

One Hope

One Family

One Bond, One Body

One Bond, One Purpose

Let me know what you think...

Weakness?

2 Corinthians 12:9  My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."


How does weakness tie in with gifting?

For surely the gifts of God are not given so that we can 'do' things that we are not gifted in? - that would be quite  illogical

Weakness is not about inability - weakness is about understanding that you cannot do things alone...

Inherent to our creation is our gifts, but also our need for our Father and our Brother, and fellow brothers and sisters

when we understand - we are rightly weak... and pray about weakness rightly..

"without ME you can do nothing...."

The Church in the Last Days

The last of the mini-series on 2 Tim

this one on 2 Tim 3-4:4 - http://zionbpc.org.sg/resources/audio/2010/2010-11-28%20The%20Last%20Days%20-%20Dr%20Dev%20Menon.mp3

Previous ones are here:

2 Tim 1 (youth focus): http://zionbpc.org.sg/resources/audio/2010/2010-07-11%20Youthfully%20Passionate%20-%20Dr%20Dev%20Menon.mp3

2 Tim 2a: http://zionbpc.org.sg/resources/audio/2010/2010-08-15%20The%20Christian%20-%20Soldier%20Athlete%20Farmer%20-%20Dr%20Dev%20Menon.mp3

2 Tim 2b: http://zionbpc.org.sg/resources/audio/2010/2010-10-17%20The%20Christian%20-%20Workman%20Vessel%20Servant%20-%20Dr%20Dev%20Menon.mp3

Faithfulness

To be faithful means to never walk away from a person..

therefore if we grow in faith - we keep returning to Christ, and to every person that our Father puts in our way...

Only they can walk away

The Doctrine of Revelation and Its Implications on Evangelism

Here is an essay I wrote earlier this year..

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0ByH-45su4eeRY2ZhMDcyNjktNzkyNC00YjA5LTgzMmUtOTNmM2Q0NTk2OGVh&hl=en&authkey=CNCyqvoO

many thanks to Leon for all the Karl Barth quotes... =)

comments are welcome!

Inviting the Lamb in

another fantastic sermon from Leon:

http://www.emmanuelplymouth.co.uk/
- Look for the one he does on Luke 19

the website seems to be down at the moment.. i suspect from the thousands of requests to download his sermons =)

Chalcedon

Ok.. this will really show my ignorance...

but someone please explain to me these things...

So in Chalcedon it was proposed that Christ is 1 person (proposon), 2 natures (homostasis), consubstantial with the Father and with humanity

i.e. trying to get 2 different 'models' of the incarnate Logos to agree with one another

then the monophysites are not happy with the 2 natures - and end up with 1 nature, mixed but not mixed!?

then the nestorians are not happy with the 1 person - and want to say 2 persons, but not really.. it's 1 person?!

now... in terms of how the Logos (Word) and Sarx (flesh) come together

the 2 views were... 1, the Logos is clothed with the sarx.... and 2, the Logos and sarx are 'side by side'

the reason for all this is they don't want the Logos to be 'changed' by the sarx - i.e. God cannot change

Now another question... is the idea of changing in the Logos because we have a wrong view of what it means to be Spirit and unchangeable?

would it be too wrong to say the resurrected Christ is the Spirit of God going through the Logos, into the sarx,  forming a new 'way' a new creation..

basically in an eschatological sense - how are we eventually united with the divine nature, if the Logos and sarx never interpenetrate???

or am i off track?

The Benefits about Studying in Asia

Is you get to hear Asian Christianity..

This is from China - 7th Century AD

There was a true stillness, a natural constant, and primordial void of the Most High from which the Spirit of the void emerged, the Most High Lord. He enlightened the Holy Ones. He is Yahweh who embodies the three subtle and wondrous bodies and was condemned to the cross to save the people of the four directions. From the beaten up primordial winds he created two vapours and from the grey emptiness came the sky and the earth. The sun and the moon were set and night and day arrived. He created myriad things and then people. They had the original nature of goodness and were appointed as guardians of creation. Their minds were empty, their hearts were simple and innocent and they were content. They had no desire but Satan influenced them towards glitter and gold. They fell into death and lies and the 365 forms of sin. They put themselves inside their own web of retribution. There is material gain, some think they gain blssings from prayers, and some are treacherous. They get nowhere and within the wheel of fire they find themselves burnt and obliterated, unable to return [to goodness].

Ye Su, from the three subtle bodies, became human and came on behalf of the Lord of Heaven giving the good teachings. A virgin gave birth in the Da Qin Empire [the West]. The message was given to the Persians who followed the bright light with gifts. The 24 holy Ones have given the teachings, and heaven decreed that the "Three in One Purity that cannot be spoken of" (226) should be proclaimed. The teachings can restore goodness to believers, restore dust to truth, reveal the gate of the three constants, lead to life, destroy death and destroy evil forever. He set afloat the raft of salvation and compassion so we can ascend to the palace of light and unite with the spirit. He carried out deliverence and when done ascended to immortality in daylight. He left 27 books of scriptures, revealed the workings of the Origin and gave the method of purification by water. He gathered the four radiances to be united with the void.

"The Eastern facing rites can give you the path of life. Those who choose to grow beards, shave their heads, travel on the open roads, renounce desire, have neither male nor female slaves, see all people as equal, and do not hoard material goods, are followers of My rites of purification." (226) ________________- What do you think? Good?

Salvation and Swallowing

Following a thought from here:
http://youarethechrist.blogspot.com/2010/07/more-scaffolding.html

Salvation seems to come from both inside - i.e. work within the heart
and outside - clothed with righteousness

what i suspect is the outer clothing is a corporate covering
i.e. the covenant that embraces the whole family

so Immortality clothes the church, then the Spirit penetrates the swallowed deathly flesh
and begins to crucify and transform it into a Spirit-fused flesh
(think digestion)

then what is not filled with the Spirit is spewed out of the Immortal Body - immortal as well, but in the outer darkness forever (think Adam and Eve if they were not clothed sent out of the garden)

The rest is now Spiritual Flesh - the new man/thing/creation that lives the new life for eternity

Salvation (3)

Regarding the post below...

Think about it this way..

If you are a father, are you not in someways almost totally in control of your children?

therefore if you are a good father - do you not cultivate freedom in your children to be who they should be

How much more then how Father, who will set us free to be who He made us to be
"love God and do whatever you want"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Tim Chester etc.. all talk about the person who must be free to be a person

The orphan is forced to live a stereotypical orphan life - and we can predict his behaviour - selfishness, greed, cynicism, etc..

The child is free to do anything... anything within the love and power of his Father

Salvation (2)

here's another thing i've been thinking about

we tend to debate the Sovereign God vs Free Will

but realistically - one can only have Free Will if you have a Sovereign God
it is when we work 'outside' the will of God (i.e. outside of Christ) - you are  a slave,
for all your actions are controlled by a tyrant
so you are a puppet

this is not impaired free will - but total predictability of actions - based on the nature of the slave-driver

When we are under the total control of God - initiated by His saving grace,
then we are free - free to choose, free to act, free to love, free to serve, free to make legitimate choices

i think the early NT church understood this -  especially some of the early Fathers..

so there is no tension - but it is a logical conclusion

and it happens in our families too
only when we know the total security and safety of our father, husband etc..
are we not then free?
if we are not secure, we are predictable, enslaved, controlled - and we can diagnose with pinpoint accuracy what actions we will take based on our situation
(which has many pastoral implications)

Come to the Son, let Him save you, then you are free indeed... that is the truth

Salvation

Great comments from Dave Bish here:

http://thebluefish.org/2010/11/calvinism-arminianism-and-fathers-heart.html

currently i have this theology of salvation:

Jonah 2:8-9 - paraphrased - "Those that cling on to foolish idols forsake the steadfast love (grace) that is already theirs..." "Salvation belongs to the Lord"

Relational Exegesis

So since we know that reading the Bible is mysterious - i.e. it must be revealed to you...

http://youarethechrist.blogspot.com/2010/10/two-ways-to-read.html

we then can come to a conclusion that exegesis is also relational

sometimes people are always accused of reading Scripture anachronistically..

i.e. you read it using information they did not know at the time

so examples of this are reading the OT purely Christologically

which of course can be called allegorical reading, but sometimes it's simply called 'jumping to Jesus'

or more recently - reading the gospels in the light of Paul

but exegesis is always relational - i.e. the Bible is always read in the light of something else

whether that is your own culture, your own prejudice, your own experience, etc

like history - no one can have an objective view of Scripture

theologically - your relationship is with the world, i.e. with Satan, the voice of the world - who has many facets of a split tongue

so whatever you read - you will put in your light into it

So then as much as you try to read 'just the gospels' or 'just the OT'

you are going to either put the NT into it, or something else into it

it is NOT an objective - therefore right - reading of Scripture!!

Scripture then has to be read using relational dynamics

i.e. you read, it tells you something about Jesus, then knowing that thing about Jesus, you read 'that Jesus you know' back into Scripture, at the same time, trying to discover more about Christ - pointing back to Him

of course this sounds like an impossible cyclical argument

but the Christian arguments are not cyclical - they are spiral

you either spiral upwards or downwards

so the more you know Jesus, the better you understand any part of Scripture - in the Light of Him

and then you know Jesus more.. 

of course the necessary added 'element' here is prayer

i.e. a direct communication with the 'real Jesus' by the Spirit

then the exegesis is truly no longer stationary..

because He Himself begins to correct you and push you up the spiral of knowing Him

That is how the church fits in as well,

individual exegesis is incomplete, because it cannot have the whole picture - since that is the nature of the Spirit's work - He is many-fold in His revelation of Christ

Relational Exegesis comes from communicating with the Jesus you NOW know, and Him pointing more of Himself to you (plural - i.e. the fellowship), by being there in your twos and threes - you read Him not just out of the text, but out of each other 

It is the light of Christ you see in each other that adds to the Light of Scripture - you read the text based on the relationships you know - so the more Christ-like a teacher is - the more you read Scripture according to Him

and of course the downward spiral is true as well....

So how do we read Scripture better? 

1.Put the Jesus you know into your exegesis

2. Ask the Jesus you know to help you know more about Him, starting from what you know

- therefore this will have practical consequences as He tells you to deal with things in your life before you can move on

3. Hang out with Jesus-like friends, who illuminate more Jesus characteristics into your Bible reading - their lives will help your exegesis

- and yet they will also, being Jesus friends, make sure your life is also put on track

thus you will then read Scripture rightly - pointing to Him, knowing Him and having legitimate transformation - through prayer and the church

How to be Useful?

Continuing short series from here: on 2 Tim 2

http://zionbpc.org.sg/resources/audio/2010/2010-10-17%20The%20Christian%20-%20Workman%20Vessel%20Servant%20-%20Dr%20Dev%20Menon.mp3

using this : http://youarethechrist.blogspot.com/2010/10/two-ways-to-read.html

and this: http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/my-minds-made-up-by-the-way-that-i-feel/

plus one more thing.. coming up...

Who's Wisdom

I'm still of the opinion it's the Spirit, not the Son...

here's another reason why:

Proverbs 8:1-3  Does not wisdom cry out, And understanding lift up her voice?  2 She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, Beside the way, where the paths meet.  3 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, At the entrance of the doors:

Isaiah 42:1-2  "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.  2 He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.

they seem to have quite different ways of operating no?

Two Ways to Read

I think i've finally figured out how this Scripture thing works:

1st - if you cannot be bothered - you won't read it - you'll just pick the verses you like... too bad for you...

2nd - what happens if you can be bothered - and you study diligently?

1st option - you study it to improve yourself (like most secular education) - inevitably you end up being a Pharisee - this can be known as the Satanic way of reading Scripture

2nd option - you study it to know Christ alone - you become like Christ, since you now are beginning to love Christ


Therefore if you read any passage,  OT, parable, NT, etc...
without going to Jesus - you inevitably become more Pharisaical
you are not reading it 'spiritually' - because that implies reading it 'relationally'

e.g.  Psalm 1
Blesed is the man,.... etc, etc right?

what were the Pharisees doing? not walking with sinners, not eating with prostitutes, etc....  Psalm 1 followed?

what did Jesus do? walked with sinners, ate with prostitutes - Psalm 1 understood in the Jesus context means to not associate with the Pharisees!

take ANY ANY ANY passage in the Bible - try it out
you will always be a Pharisee if you don't read it looking for Jesus

YET - our natural tendency IS to read it the Pharisee way (if we are bothered with studying it) - so our first conclusion to every passage is not Sola Christus, Fide, Gracia, etc..
it is always, works-based, legalistic, pride causing moralism...

Read again.. with prayer, with humility, not trying to justify yourself, but looking for Jesus to either affirm or rebuke you...

Very hard to do...

So Scripture will always always be Mysterious....

Spaced out...

here's a bit of me going bonkers:

previously i commented on Gunton's need for 'space' in the Trinity - http://youarethechrist.blogspot.com/2010/06/space.html

Now think about this...

In childbirth, the mother makes 'space' for her baby.. it is space for new life, and that new life grows until it is permitted 'to have life in itself' and comes out of the mother...
yet of course is utterly linked to the mother in various ways,
first in the milk,
then in being provided for
then in genuine spiritual relationship

therefore it is no wonder that Christ makes space within Himself for His creation - of course all this done within the Spirit

yet by Christ making space, He only does what the Father has always done, made space within Himself for Christ - i.e. Christ is begotten eternally

but by making space for Christ, He Himself gets bigger - just like any pregnant lady

So the Father always enlarges Himself even as He constantly makes room for Christ and allows Him to grow

now the Son also has for the first time enlarged Himself - and in creation we see 1 cycle of an eternal expansion in God - something the Son has been subjected to ad infinitum

no wonder then creation and redemption are but 'the corner of His robe'

practically speaking - it means as Christ makes space for us, we must enter into the darkness with Him, and let Him feed us

for others, we make space for them - but only when we ourselves are full of the seed, and filled to the full..
then can they grow within us, and we hand them over to Christ (think John 4)
yet not apart from Christ when they are in us (think John 5) for Christ is in our flesh (Gal 2)

???????????????????

Bringing in the Dove

The story of Jonah...

listen to Keller here:
http://www.allsouls.org/ascm/allsouls/static/sermons/showsermon.flow?id=11783
http://www.allsouls.org/ascm/allsouls/static/sermons/showsermon.flow?id=11784
http://www.allsouls.org/ascm/allsouls/static/sermons/showsermon.flow?id=11785
(he's basically paralleling Jonah to Romans 1-11)

then listen to Glen here:
http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/sinners-slaves-or-sons/

Now then.. Jonah the idolater amongst idolaters

Bring it back to Jesus and the context:

Matthew 12:22-45
- the demon casting
- the accusative Pharisees
- the sign of Jonah
- the evil generation that will be accused by Nineveh and Ethiopia

Make sense now?
Jonah is from an evil generation church heading to an evil generation pagan nation
Jonah's condition is the same as that of the Pharisees
Yet it is the sinners who will accuse the religious

The warning of Jesus in Matt 11 - is the most stern..

The focal point of Jonah : "Salvation belongs to the Lord"
Grace or Sheol

Jesus brings the idol out of Jonah - chp 4
Jesus brings the demons to light to the Pharisees

True grace forces out the idols - who cannot match the Living God
they do not save

Jonah.. learn the lesson - God has come in peace to the wicked

you are also in the same boat in the storm - Christ is asleep on the cushion - rouse Him and He will save

now go and save others... i release you to bring the olive branch to where?
Go back to Israel - save the church
that's why I took you out to Nineveh

Day of Rest

From "O Day of Rest and Gladness" by Christopher Wandsworth - 1862

verse 2:
On Thee, at the creation, the light first had its birth;
On Thee, for our salvation, Christ rose from depths of earth;
On Thee, our Lord, victorious, the Spirit sent from heaven,
And thus on Thee, most glorious, a triple light was given.

Elijah

I did this for a school assignment - what would you do if you saw it? How would you grade and comment it?
If you let me know I  will tell you what the aim of the assignment was.

1 Kings 17:1-6:

Firstly the name Elijah means Yahweh is God, and he points to the one who will be a forerunner or bride for Christ – the one who comes after him, Elisha (meaning Jesus is God). Elijah lived in Gilgal, meaning "whirlwind", which indicates how Elijah will be swept up in a whirlwind back to his God and Bridegroom when he finishes his ministry of the Word on earth – also since Tishbite can mean stranger. Therefore we see the stranger in the world sent to preach the Word of God, who will signal the coming of the true Word of God – which is Christ. As the New Testament agrees, Elijah is a picture of John the Baptist.

The ancient John then goes head to head with Ahab, the husband of Jezebel – the Satan figure. Here we see Christ’s bride face up to Adam, the one who sleeps with Satan. The church-Elijah then holds back the promises of God from the natural man while he himself goes to the Kerith Ravine, or the Cherith Brook. He goes to the death-river called ‘drought’, instead of the river that symbolizes life through death – the Jordan.

During her time on earth, the church will not be fed by the provision of the world – through natural means, but by the very bread brought by the winged messengers of God Himself. The raven, although an unclean animal, symbolizes - as we see from Noah – that the earth is still not yet producing fruit. And the dove of peace has not come – this is not the new creation.

Yet the Lord uses unclean means to bring provision to His people, both bread and meat, in the morning and evening – every day He is fed by the Lord Himself. So when the people of God preach the Word of the Lord, they declare judgment on the world, and withhold its blessings, while the Lord blesses them richly in secret – though the world assumes they die by the death-brook of drought – they know how to live daily on the Word alone. Elijah holds his baptismal water away from the Pharisees of the church, and he alone has true holy communion with Christ.

In a side point, we also see the ravens, though unclean, can still be used for God’s purposes. The creatures, accustomed to eating carrion, can also be made clean – to serve His purposes. But also a warning, Jesus claims that many will do things in His name, but still be unclean. We must be wary of this – that our outer works are not our assurance, but only faith in Jesus Christ.

Reversing Light and Darkness

In the sermon on the mount Jesus says:

you retreat to the darkness to do evil deeds, and come into the light to show off false goodness

this is how you create a black hole
you shine falsely while inside you are dying - and in the end - you suck the light out of everything
how great is the darkness

now do the reverse
retreat to the darkness to do your good deeds, and come into the light to show off your true evil self

That is how you create a star...
let the dust clouds be seen while you ignite from within - and then your shining will be glorious...

More Pail Grabbing

In the light of John 4 - the woman at the well


Isaiah 12:1-6  You will say in that day:"I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.  2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."  3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.  4 And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.  5 "Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.  6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel." 

Grab a pail

Jesus and the woman at the well...

John 4
⁷When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" ⁸(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)


¹¹"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?


Prov 20
 5 The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters,
       but a man of understanding draws them out.

Woman... I've come to draw your water
I have found your well is dry

Draw from Me and be satisfied...

Prov 20
⁶ Many a man claims to have unfailing love, 
       but a faithful man who can find?


John 4

¹⁶He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
 ¹⁷"I have no husband," she replied.
   Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."


You have found not just a prophet - but a faithful, righteous lover judge-King

He now reaps in His harvest:

Prov 20
 ⁴ A sluggard does not plow in season;
       so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.

What is the problem?

Glen this one is for you...

from here

It is not sin that's the problem, or the wrath of God that's the problem

It is God's love that's the 'problem'

The reason God hates sin is because it destroys those whom He loves, His Son, His children and their brothers and sisters...

The problem the world faces is that it's God and Creator and Father loves it too much to leave it alone...

Failure

Something i recently published in the church bulletin:

Failure is necessary in Christian growth

Actually that’s not completely true, Jesus did indeed increase in maturity (Luke 2:40) without ever failing – in the sense that He always trusted His Father.

However, for the rest of us, who are riddled with sin, failure is necessary. We fail in our Christian service because we don’t know the love of God from eternity past. Sin means we naturally rely on ourselves, we always think we can do it – or even – we think we can’t do it. Faith means we put all that reliance directly onto Christ and He’ll tell us whether we can or can’t do something.

When Jesus’ followers faced their first solo demon confrontation, they failed miserably (Mark 9:18-19). Jesus doesn’t accuse them of being incompetent, but faithless – worse still, a perverse generation. They didn’t rely on the Holy Spirit for help – they did not cry out to Him, and worse, they were trying to gain glory for themselves (Mark 9:34) – that’s the perversion.

Failure in our Christian service is necessary because it exposes the sin within us. If we don’t serve, then we are content to sit in our sin-bubble, our little realm where we are in total control of everything we do (or so we think). The minute we actually step out to serve Jesus, we always fail - sin is revealed. Then we are left with the choice of returning back to sin-comfort-zone or deepening our relationship with Jesus (Mark 9:29).

If we long for maturity as Christians in whatever is left of 2010, then we must begin to serve Him wherever the need arises, whether we think we are competent or not – especially in ministries that involve dealing directly with other people. Yes, we are going to fail – but the kingdom of heaven is not a meritocracy… it is a kingdom of grace. That means we can have the confidence of growing through failure, because our God is our Father who loves us and will guide us through.

So then in Zion Bishan: Let us serve and fail - then come to Jesus and serve again. In our community of grace, we must reflect the grace of God that allows failure, so that growth may result. We walk people through the mistakes that they’ve made – the sins that have been exposed, and point them back to a faithful and forgiving God – for healing and growth to begin.

Dying Inside

From my last hermaneutics lecture:

In the mediaeval period the Song of Songs was one of the most commentated-on books in the Bible: the commentary was usually allegorical in nature.

A relatively late example of this approach is found in the writings of C.H. Spurgeon, the 19^th-century British preacher.

We can consider his sermon on Song of Songs 1:13, preached in 1864.

This verse reads: ‘My beloved is to me a sachet or myrrh that lies between my breasts.’

Spurgeon begins by setting out his interpretative approach:

Certain divines have doubted the inspiration of Solomon’s Song; others have conceived it to be nothing more than a specimen of ancient love-songs, and some have been afraid to preach from it because of its highly poetical character. The true reason for all this avoidance of one of the most heavenly portions of God’s Word lies in the fact that the spirit of this Song is not easily attained. Its music belongs to the higher spiritual life, and has no charm in it for unspiritual ears. The Song occupies a sacred enclosure into which none may enter unprepared. “Put off they shoes from off they feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground,” is the warning voice from its secret tabernacles.

He interprets the theme of the Song as the intimate love which the Christian believer may experience with the Lord Jesus. This is an allegorical approach.

He interprets Song 1:13 under the heads: (i) Christ is very precious to believers; (ii) there is good reason why he should be; (iii) mingled with this sense of preciousness, there is a joyous consciousness of possession of him; (iv) therefore there is an earnest desire for perpetual fellowship with him

In his detailed exposition of the verse Spurgeon applies the phrase ‘bag of myrrh’ to Christ in a variety of ways: it points to Christ’s preciousness, his pleasantness, the way he perfumes the believer’s life, his preserving qualities, his power to cleanse and heal.

In effect his interpretation involves asking two questions: What are the properties of myrrh? And (having answered that question): How does Christ demonstrate these properties?

But is this really the way to interpret the text, by engaging in a series of word associations?

Later on in the volume, expounding 2:13 (‘Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me’), and following a similar kind of exegesis, Spurgeon applies the text to the failure of the church in England and Europe to disestablish itself in the decades after the Reformation.

Christians heard Christ’s call to ‘come with me’, but did not respond as fully and as trustingly as they should have done. (Spurgeon was a Non-Conformist, not a member of the established Church of England.)

This is all very interesting: but is it what the text is really talking about?

(Most commentators on the Song today would answer: No.)

____________________

I only just succeeded in restraining myself from laying hands on people....

What response would you have given?

Sexy Evangelism

Effective evangelism is like sex don't you think?

You have to be overflowing with love and joy, etc... to be able to truly sow the seed

we are shameful, but He has gently uncovered our nakedness, and embraced and filled us - so we overflow with joy (John 4)

A feeble attempt at hermeneutics

Glen has a great series here, here and here.


Here is a simple diagram of my understanding so far...

So basically... all Scripture, when Spirit-led - points to Christ, regardless of style or genre

By drawing us into Christ, it draws us closer to one another
By drawing us into Christ, it draws us to the Father - that we can now determine the Father's will
the Father's will is not independent of Christ, neither is it individualistic - it is always corporate, but relating to persons within the community

our ultimate goal... is to follow the will of the Father, showing that we are true sons of God, united with and living as Christ

then is our 'growth' complete - cf John 4:34, Rom 8:29

since only then are we perfect in faith - fully encompassed by His love, and in total (unresistant) union with Christ, completely indwelled and constantly filled by the Spirit

Church

What is church and the community?

Listening to quite a bit of Crowded House stuff...

So far what I figure...
is that church must be based on eternal Trinitarian relationships revealed to us in Jesus

There is an entrance point - that is Christ
There is a reference point - that is the Father

The church is invitational - hence proclamation
Yet confrontational - since you imply in the invite that you are not part of it

The community is perichoretic - interpenetrating, with individuals breaking down in confession and being rebuilt as a community of persons in Christ - one body

Liberalism causes the church to be informal and 'uneventful' - since there is no serious consideration of sin

Legalism causes the church to be only in the structure and events - since the leaders think they can run a system since they are not sinful

True church is a household - where there is interaction and activity
Where there is an understanding of sinful separatedness and those informal interactions or formal events are all purposeful - designed to break down the separatedness between each other, and re-reference ourselves with the Father - hence the events of the Word in proclamation, corporate study, visible sacrament, etc

All this is what it would mean to be Spiritual

The goal of church is unnatural love for one another (grace), lead and exemplified by Jesus, founded on the love for the Father, actualised by the Holy Spirit

or something like that....

What does it mean to be faithful?

A sermon I did on 2 Timothy 2:1-13

Link here

Managed to fit in this wonderful quote from Spurgeon:
“Eternal Faithfulness Unaffected by Human Unbelief”:

“Christ sits at the receipt of sinners waiting for them to mention their wants. He is watching for you. I tell you again that he cannot reject you: that would be to alter his whole character and un-Christ himself. To spurn a coming sinner would un-Jesus him, and make him to be somebody else, and not himself any longer. “He cannot deny himself.” Go and try him: go and try him. I wish some trembling soul would at this moment go and cast himself upon Christ, and then report to us the re-suit. Come, poor quivering seekers, sing in your heart, unbelieving as you are. Oh, but if you were to perish at his feet, you would be the first that ever did so out of all those who have ever come to him; and that first man has never been seen yet. Go and try my Lord and see for yourselves. Well now, you Christian people, I want you to come also. If you believe your Lord he will be faithful to you. Suppose it is a time of trouble with you: he will be faithful to you; go and cast your burden upon him. Suppose at this time you, are much exercised with spiritual distress: go to the-Lord as you did at first, as poor, guilty, rebellious sinners, and cast yourself upon him, and you will find him faithful. “He cannot deny himself.” If my Lord were not kind to me to-night when I go to him with my burden I should think that I had knocked at the wrong door; because the Lord has been so good and so faithful to me hitherto that it would take my breath away if I found him changed. Oh, how good, how exceeding good is my Lord! I could sing that with all my heart, and I hope many of you could earnestly join with me. So how surprised you would be if I were to meet anything but love from my dear Lord after all these years of tenderness, There is no fear of it, for “he cannot deny himself.”

Cracked Eyesight

Matthew 6:22-24 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.


Proverbs 22:9 9 Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor

Interestingly the Hebrew word for 'eye' is also the same word for 'spring'(as in water)

Thus if our eyes are bad - we have cracked springs - barren desert that sucks in the 'water' from others - ground that is always thirsty and never satisfies

Wherelse the Spirit will 'open our eyes' yet He also makes us filled up with living water welling up to eternal life - a fountain flowing with living water
filled to the full and able to supply others

perhaps then our natural eyes are black holes
and the eyes of Christ are truly the eyes of the Sun

God can only be God if He is the Graceful Giver

The Living God is God because of Grace

Only when God is allowed to give - can He be the undebted God

Every other 'god' feels owed - they are needy
they have to be satisfied outside themselves
They have to be paid their dues

only the Living God is self-satisfied - The Son satisfies the Father and the Father the Son

He needs not

He can give and give, and give in abundance

When we come into the Satisfied God, through His Giving Abundance,
We are Satisfied in Him,
and He is satisfied with us and in us - through Christ

here's the great Sola Series from Glen:
http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/grace-alone-sermon/
the rest of the links can be found on his website

Love Languages

Anyone ever posted thoughts on the 5 love language thingy?

Been wondering about it..

I figure the reason we are unable to communicate in any type of love is not because of personality types - but rather sin

since love is a fruit rather than a gift...
and because very young children are quite receptive to all the languages usually - and quite unable to give it out in any language

then surely the goal would be to find the 'right language' to minister to them
but then to grow to be able to both receive and give in every language..

after all the Spirit is a Spirit of all tongues?

The Core 'Function' of Prayer

What is the purpose of prayer?

the more I go through the Lord's prayer...
the more i wonder

I look at my son...
I realistically don't NEED him to talk to me...
in fact - things are much simpler when he does NOT talk to me..
i.e. no crying, no arguing, no talking back, etc.

If I am an experienced father, with 100s of children
I would not need to hear him speak
I would immediately 'know his thoughts'
just by looking at his actions and the time, etc..
I could tell if he was hungry, thirsty, sleepy, needed to go to the loo, sick, etc..

I could pre-empt and satisfy every one of his physical needs

so why talk?


The only reason is the answer to question 1 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism

So that I can enjoy him... and him me...


Prayer - conversation with God - teaches us how to come into enjoyment with Him
Beyond anything else - surely this is the point

Sickness and Medicine

If everything tells the gospel

then so should every sickness and every appropriate treatment

now then we should have doctors and scientists study carefully each one
that we may apply them in relational terms..
first to God, then to each other

so for example.. leprosy being the picture of sin, cutting of from both God and man
so what is the gospel of antibiotics? how do they work?

what about bone-rotting disease - how they cripple a person
that tells us loads!
is calcium our best cure?

what about a broken bone?
healing works by just temporarily fixing both ends together
how's that for reconciliation ministry!?

so much to discover....

Calling

What is our 'calling' in life?

A slightly informal seminar I did: http://www.mediafire.com/?35kq03a2dn1h1b2

What's the Difference?

Ultimately, as we get more Trinitarian and 'eternal' in our theology..

we should be mapping every aspect of Christian life and mechanics to the unchanging dynamics and character of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as they have always interacted with each Other

But yet not everything is the same....

there is one other element to add in that is different from what has been happening in eternity

The Cross (meaning from incarnation to ascension)

The Cross is necessary because when God created - creation was outside Himself, as in creation is separate from Him
And so He goes into creation to bring it back to Him

We can summarise all of creation into 1 being - Adam

Adam (the fullness of created things) is apart from the Other Being - Christ (in which is the fullness of Deity)

Adam first must break, then Christ comes into Adam, then Christ must break, then Adam comes into Christ

now then we are back to eternal Trinitarian dynamics - church incorporated

what ever is 'left over' is thrown away... a strange new dynamic of eternal sinfulness

Confession

These are fantastic quotes from Bonhoeffer - taken from here

'In confession there takes place a breakthrough to community. Sin wants to be alone with people. It takes them away from the community. The more lonely people become, the more destructive the power of sin over them. The more deeply they become entangled in it, the more unholy is their loneliness. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of what is left unsaid sin poisons the whole being of a person. This can happen in the midst of a pious community. In confession the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and closed isolation of the heart. Sin must be brought into the light. What is unspoken is said openly and confessed. All that is secret and hidden comes to light. It is a hard struggle until the sin crosses one’s lips in confession. But God breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron (Ps. 107:16) Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of another Christian, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders, giving up all evil, giving the sinner’s heart to God and finding the forgiveness of all one’s sin in the community of Jesus Christ and other Christians. Sin that has been spoken and confessed has lost all of its power. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear apart the community.’

‘In this connection, we are talking exclusively about confession between two Christians. A confession of sin in the presence of all the members of the congregation is not required to restore one to community with the entire congregation. In the one other Christian to whom I confess my sins and by whom my sins are declared forgiven, I meet the whole congregation.’

‘In confession there occurs a breakthrough to the cross. The root of all my sin is pride.’

‘Confession in the presence of another believer is the most profound kind of humiliation. It hurts, makes one feel small; it deals a terrible blow to one’s pride.’

‘It is none other than Jesus Christ who openly suffered the shameful death of a sinner in our place, who was not ashamed to be crucified for us as an evildoer. And it is nothing else but our community with Jesus Christ that leads us to the disgraceful dying that comes in confession, so that we may truly share in this cross. The cross of Jesus Christ shatters all pride.’

Confession is to be broken before one another
Christ shows us that the only way we can be part of Him - is if He is broken that we may enter - and we have to be broken as well (blessed are the broken in spirit)

To create true community - we must break before each other - otherwise sin holds us intact, and apart....

Sabbath Rest because of Death?

In the Sabbath year the ground is allowed to lie fallow...
or rather, left to rest

in this rest it replenishes (or renews) the nutrients it needs to grow the crops again for the next 6 years

the nutrients however - i guess - would mainly come from the death of the last crops which are no longer maintained and allowed to decompose - similar to how a forest fire would severely enrich the soil

if that's a correct understanding of agriculture...

then our Sabbath is only possible because of the death of Jesus
because He dies, we can have rest in Him..
as His body is the manner in how we are renewed...
as we take Him in and now grow in Him

yea?

More Triniarian Hierachy

Even when it comes to understanding 'space'

The Trinity makes sense only in a hierarchical structure

Think Biblically - the Son is always where He is in reference to the Father
so where is the Son now?
on the right hand side of God

is the Father on the Son's left hand side? No! Never!

so is the Son facing the opposite direction so that the Father is on His right hand too.. of course not

The Son is always at the Father's right hand
the Father is where the Father is... that's it

the whole world is where it is in relation to the Father's throne

more specifically
the world is where it is in relation to the Father, and where the Son is in relation to the Father, and where we are in relation to the Son
in that specific order


now have a think how this works with relation to 'time' =)

More scaffolding...

Previous post here: http://youarethechrist.blogspot.com/2010/01/scaffolding-of-city-of-god.html

With Glen's post here: http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/in-praise-of-going-through-the-motions/

And Irenaeus's theology here: http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/creation-and-salvation-irenaeus-and-athanasius-7/

Everything about this age is a shadow, the creation, 1st Adam, the law, etc...
it is scaffolding

not that it should be done away with

but it is the precursor of what is to come - the City of God, the 2nd Adam, the gospel, etc..

therefore it is important we have scaffolding, or we cannot build the house

but then the real house is build within the scaffolding, filling it up, bursting through it, destroying the scaffolding, which is burned

Mortal is Swallowed up (from the inside) by immortality...

Youth

A simple talk for Youth Sunday

based on 2 Tim 1

Upward Spiral

Leithart on his post here: http://www.leithart.com/2010/07/03/harmony-in-god/

states:
So it seems that harmony in God must include some moment from dissonance to closure. Or, to put it in the paradoxical form that is probably inevitable: The Triune God is always moving toward the resolution that He has always already reached. As Robert Jenson has put it, there does seem to be room for the notion that the Spirit resolves and reconciles Father and Son, so that the Speaker and His Word are harmonized in His breadth.

i'm assuming this is about 'God's being is in His becoming' kinda stuff

but i'm wondering if this is still a 'static' view of God

why not the dynamic relationship between the Father and the Son be an 'upward spiral'
since according to Scripture sin is a 'downward spiral' - towards singularity - true lonely selfishness

then the eternal Triune God must be a constant outward expanding relationship
that overlaps itself in greater and greater proportion

this is why creation was almost 'inevitable'

and the endless ages to come - a great un-expressable joy!

so in musical terms... there is always a melody resulting in closure, yet that closure becomes the starting point for a new and greater harmony
so God is never unresolved, yet also never 'closed'

again.. i have very little idea of what i'm talking about

Understanding Corporate Identity

people complain that we can't be responsible for Adam's sin...etc..

the breakdown of family units and societies
leads to the rise (or re-rise) of individualism
that we are all apart from each other

yet take one look at World Cup Soccer..
and you know this is rubbish

everytime someone you don't know loses or does poorly
you are so physically affected that people kill themselves

we have corporate identity -
we just have a new corporation - football or sport
instead of the kingdom of heaven and the King...

Differential Perichoresis (2)

Continuing with the previous thought...

i'm going to suggest equality is a concept only necessary amongst individuals
i.e. when there are persons desiring to be recognised 'apart' from the other, they must claim their 'rights'
or rather - their 'individual right' that is to keep them apart from others

when there is one-ness or true unity, equality is a meaningless term
there is only the oneness,
in that one-ness, there are persons, distinct and other, but in their distinct-ness and other-ness coming together to form true one-ness

in the life of the Triune God - the greater the diversity, the richer and fuller the one-ness
and this is amplified in the church

the one-ness is also a dynamic (non-static) one-ness with the Son going away from the Father and coming to the Father in continuous motion, each time increasing the fullness of the One

the church is again an expansion of the expanding one-ness
with more 'space' and allowing for more growth - and continuous growth in the ages to come

coming up with ideas like the economic trinity (seen in the salvation plan) that is different from the immanent (or eternal) trinity, simply is derived from human thoughts of the necessity of equality

The Son is eternally 'lesser' than the Father, in the sense that He always relies on Him and derives His very being (even His own life from Him), and the Father gives off Himself to the Son, allowing the Son to have everything He is in Himself

Can i then derive a meaning of weakness..

Weakness then is not the lack of strength within oneself
but in the context of the Trinity, the refusal to look within oneself for strength - the insistence to rely on the other

The Son can not do anything without the Father
The Father will not do anything without the Son

So then Phil 2 - is a lesson that true strength comes from reliance on the other, emptying self to hold the other
as opposed to filling self - which is a releasing of the hand of the other
(cf prodigal son)

We are then purposely made weak physically that we may learn these eternal familial dynamics
in eternity our strength is characterised by our reliance on the other(s)
and our refusal to do anything except what is in the best interest of the other

i think these principles are rooted into the very physics of the universe - thinking of magnetic forces, resonance, fluid dynamics etc.. the unity of the many creates strength exponentially greater than the sum of their parts

it is the logarithmic curve of God-dynamics

Yet back to point one - the rhythm of this is not random, not reversible
there is always a directionality about things - it flows from the Father

We match our spirit with His Spirit, and not each others' spirits

Christ - the God Man

Glen's doing a great series on creation and new creation here:
http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/creation-and-salvation-irenaeus-and-athanasius-1/

Here's a practical application for this kind of theology:

How do you do ministry ?

1. You become exactly like them in every way (except sin)
2. You lose nothing of yourself
3. You make them become exactly like you were and now are in every way (by bearing their sin - which is the reason you'll suffer)
4. You live in one-ness with them for eternity - in the 'new' way (which is the same as the old way, but different) - the third way

=)

Differential Perichoresis

When we get very 'Eastern' in our theology
we tend to have a lot of uses of 'perichoresis' and 'koinonia' and things like that

but a loss of hierachical structure

the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father
but isn't this not differently so?

the Father is completely in the Son, that the Son becomes His image,
but the Father is not the Son's image

put it this way...
everything about the being of a tree is within the branch
but the branch is also within the tree, yet differently so

So the Spirit comes from the Father to the Son
from the Son to the church
yet He does not 'flow' back in the same manner,
it is quite different

The Word does not return to Him void...
i.e. The Spirit fills up the Word, and the Word returns with the ful-filled Spirit

it is a different dynamic
how does it work in reverse? i.e. what is the dynamic of the Spirit from the Son (or church) to the Father - don't know

all through the Spirit.. but differently

Jonathan Edwards in His Trinity essay basically explains that the ontology of the Son is begottenness, and of the Spirit is procession

the Son is only God because He is God from God
The Spirit is only God because He proceeds from God to the begotten God
Yet the Father is only Father because He begets and out of Him the Spirit proceeds

their ontology is Trinitarian.. there is no separate 'being' without each other

ok enough rambling.. i'm confusing myself

there is application to this..
how do we relate to each other, and to Jesus, and to the Father...
How do we find intimacy in Him and each other...
we need to understand what the Spirit is doing

What is Truth (3) ?

Jesus says He is the True __________ (basically everything that has been made)

if truth = faithfulness = unchangingness

then He is the True Door/Vine/Food, etc...

because all the rest change...
He does not change and all those things are from Him and tell us about Him

but they change, because of sin
therefore He is the only True, only Yes, only Amen

all the rest are because of sin are not true... they change...

Space

What is the point of space?

In the beginning the Living God created 'space' to put the world in..
and at the end... that space will be reconciled to the Father, that the triune God may be all in all.. (1 Cor 15)

the church is also said to fill up the space - so that the church is all in all (eph 1)

according to Colin Gunton...
space is required for 'otherness' to happen
one cannot be 'other' unless you have the space between the two persons - that allows otherness even within relatedness

the 'space' within the Triune God then has to be the Holy Spirit
the one that relates and unites the Son with the Father,
and yet goes with the sent out from the Father as the eternal Word of God
and He too will bring Him back as the Father draws Him

of course then, in the creation of the world,
the Spirit is everywhere within the created space
yet there is also an element of cutting off
a space where other created spirits reign instead of the Holy Spirit of God
this is all reconciled in the cut-off Son of the Father,
who will place all of creation back into the proper space of God

but there's another reason for space
space allows growth
thus if the Son is to always grow
He must always be filled by the Father
and then sent out by the Father to 'grow'
and in coming back.. the Father also 'grows'

not that this causes God to be change-able
because His perfection is that He always loves in increasing amounts
hence the overflow into the creation of the world
so this is His unchangeability

but yet in the cross, there must be something different
the 'space' of God is cut open so that others may enter into God
through the wounded side of the sent-out Son
and through this 'rip in the fabric of space' creation is born, and also reconciled in the healing of the wound
yet the scar will always be there to remind us of our birth
in the wounds of Christ

so that God continues to be the same God in everlasting ages
love expanding and growing... for eternity

too far fetched?

Let the Father be Father

After reading a lot of Gunton, Eastern theologians and the frequent mention of perichoresis and koinonia and other terms like that...

Beginning to realise there seem to be another problem arising

On one hand - by making the Trinity this unknowable 'God' - the divine 'stuff'
you tend towards modalism... the One Person God - which is the god of philosophy
and all the characteristics thereof...

On the other though... you make Trinity totally equal in role - the inter-related Persons who are exactly like each other
- now you get community, freely inter-connecting, inter-relating persons
but the total lack of any form of hierarchy and structure
plus a NEW divine 'stuff' - the love/relationship between the Three - instead of this being the Spirt

Yet the Father has always been Father to the Son,
not simply in the incarnation
but from Eternity

He has always been 'greater'
you may want to distinguish that Jesus is also God like God
but yet the Father has always been a Father, and the Son always 'lesser' than the Father hierarchically

But this is a great thing - especially to the Son
since the Son has always somewhere 'to rest His head' - on the 'bosom of the Father'

this would then flow into family structure, church eldership etc
we love having a father, we should love having elders
they are where we can rest our head
be refreshed by, encouraged, admonished, and sent out from them again

this is the structure for Eternity...

and it is in that structure you see the role of the Spirit
not at all like the Father or the Son
but totally 'other' yet uniting the otherness of Father and Son
again something completely different, yet the same oneness

The Spirit is sent from the Father to the Son, and returns to the Father from the Son,
The Spirit is sent from the Son to the church, and returns to the Son from the church

As the Spirit is sent from the Father to the Son, the Son is sent out by & with the Spirit (and in that - also with the Father)
As the Spirit returns from the Son to the Father, the Son is drawn back to the Father by the Spirit
It is the same dynamic with Christ and the church

He must flow from the Source Fountain, and then, like the rain that falls, returns, accomplished in His work - He does NOT flow upwards.

In this we see better the Trinity...
and we begin to love and respect and treasure authority and those above us,
yet we never lose the sense of community, and friendship
for our Father is our Friend
Just like He is to Jesus

There is no need for Trinitarian "equality" (in our understanding)....
there is no need for the church to be "equal" with Jesus - yet we will be truly Divine

Gregory of Nazianzus - "I should like to call the Father the greater, because from Him flows both the equality and being of the equals"

The Father always is Father... He longs for His Son to be like Him, in His Father-hood - hence the creation, but yet as He perfects His Son, He is also made even greater in His perfection
this is the unchanging God

Solar Flare

John 9:39 Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."

Imagine you're in a dark room

some people are leading you
they claim that they are squinting really hard, with their God given eyes they can see

Others - just admit they are blind.. can't see a thing... lost

Then there's the Light of the world.... the sun bursts into light within the room
(cf John 8 - esp v 12)

Then those who were lost finally see

those who were squinting so hard and claiming to see are now blind...

No Spirit equals machine

The death of Adam (in eating the fruit) caused the absence of the Spirit of God

He is now spirit-less in a way - a puppet controlled by the other spirits
http://youarethechrist.blogspot.com/2010/03/generated-soul.html

same thing happens in the church: (more Gunton)

“the Spirit tends to be institutionalized, so that in place of the free dynamic, personal and particular agency of the Spirit, he is made into a substance which becomes the possession of the church. It can be argued, then, that the criticism of the mainstream common to many of the ‘heretical’ movements of European church history is that they see the institution as claiming too much o a realization of eschatology, while expecting too little of the community as a whole.”

The church then runs via the zeitgeist - the spirit of the age
whatever that spirit is, so the church runs... a dead machine

Jesus' Relationship with the Spirit at Baptism

Been reading some of Gunton...

not really the focus of the book.. but it brought this to mind:

Augustine on the baptism of Jesus:
"It would be utterly absurd for us to believe that he received the Holy Spirit when he was already thirty years old... but (we should) believe that he came to the baptism both entirely sinless and not without the Holy Spirit"

so the act of the Spirit coming upon Christ is merely a teaching aid for us or something like that - sounds ok?

Now Basil the Great:
"After this (the baptism at the Jordan), every operation was wrought with the co-operation of the Spirit. He was present while the Lord was being tempted by the devil... He was inseparably with Him while working His wonderful works... And He did not leave Him when He had risen from the dead..."

Here- there is a 'new' kind of relationship with Jesus and the Spirit after that point. really?

Here's my 2 bits:

At the point of baptism, Jesus is ready, being 30 years old, to be anointed as the Great High Priest, of the order higher than Levi. Here the high priest becomes one with his people, that is the assembly of God. He now enters via the Spirit not into a new relationship with the Spirit per se, but with the people of God via the Spirit, thus having a new dimension to His relationality, that is the communion of the Spirit. He is now the Head of the body, having been cut off from His Father's headship, He must now come into His own, before He can restore His full body back to the original Head - that God may be all in all once again.

what do you think?

Poison

the text before the famous John 3:16 verse is all about the Son of Man being lifted up like the bronze serpent

the serpent bite caused the venom to flow through Adam's veins

Christ takes the poison in the flesh into His own flesh and instead brings the new Spirit that has the new life blood - coming from the heart of Christ (which is the new heart)

but what is the poison?
it is the lie that God is a slave-driver, God is wicked, God holds back from you, God hates you...
He is not a good Father

then re-read John 3:16 - listen to Jesus slowly and carefully:

For God SO LOVED the world, that He gave His only begotten Son...

Keep looking to Jesus.. take out the poison...

Throwing out stones

Here is yet another post on creation vs new creation...

The old house (tent) or temple is not going to stand - "not one stone will remain"

This temple was ruined from the beginning, and is destined to fall
the Law props it up... little sticks to prevent it from collapsing on itself

then an 'oddly shaped stone' is removed - since it is thought to be the cause of the problem

that stone is found to be Christ - which was all that was keeping the ruin from total destruction - then that old house is destined for collapsing, and does so at increasing rate and intensity

the odd stone, becomes the cornerstone of the new house

one by one, the old house-makers (the fallen angels) in charge of the house and the ones that set up the Law-beams try to get rid off more corrupt stones

they throw them out to the Odd stone - which they stack up beautifully in this new dynamic house that moves - it is a Living House - not something stagnant

The old house finally runs out of odd stones, and collapses, being cast into the eternal rubbish heap

the new house is incredible, and is sealed with fire - the black stones turn into diamond, wonderfully reflecting the light of the White stone, the Cornerstone, constantly flowing (modern architecture is barely catching up to this), brilliant, and full of life

The Father enters His House, handed back to Him by the cornerstone, and what a house it is... for all eternity

Why is God not fair?

why doesn't God give us all equal things instead of keeping some rich and some poor?

I get this finally by being a father about to have his 2nd child...

If we get them all the same toys etc..
they won't learn to share...

(Cf 2 cor 8-9 - plus look at the implications of the Exodus quotation)

Images of Divine Things

From Jonathan Edwards - Vol 11:

108. Bread-corn is much used in Scripture to represent the saints. The wicked are represented by the clusters of the vine, but the godly by bread-corn. They are called Christ's wheat, that he will gather into his barn and into his garner, and we are all said to be that one bread. Now this is remarkable of wheat and other bread-corn: that it is sown and grows before winter, and then is as it were killed, and long lies dead in the winter season, and then revives in the spring and grows much taller than before, and comes to perfection and brings forth fruit; which is a lively image of the resurrection of saints... Therefore 'tis said of Israel, Hos 4:17, "They shall revive as the corn". The reviving of the church after a low state and time of trouble is compared to the reviving of corn from under the earth in the spring in Is 37:30-31.

120. Tongue. God hath fixed to it a natural bridle and fenced it in with a strong wall as it were, even the double row of teeth, to intimate how it ought to be restrained and strongly guarded.

198. As the silkworm, so the bee seems to be designated as a type of Christ who, having spent his life with ingathering with the greatest labor and industry, and laying up in store the most delicious food, having completed his work, is killed; and by his death yields his stores for the refreshment and delight of his murderers.