Repentance is the mark of a Christian as much as faith.

C.H. Spurgeon

When Jesus said “repent and believe” it was not merely a call to stop running away from God and to run to him, but that repentance is as much the mark of the ongoing Christian life as faith. Repentance is not just something the unbeliever does when he turns from sin, but an ongoing self-humbling and self-searching of every true believer. This extract from C.H. Spurgeon’s sermon on Song of Solomon 1:6 makes the point crystal clear.

A man who fears not God, will break all his laws with an easy conscience, but one who is the favourite of heaven, who has been indulged to sit at royal banquets, who knows the eternal love of God to him, cannot bear that there should be any evil way in him that might grieve the Spirit and bring dishonour to the name of Christ. A very little sin, as the world calls it, is a very great sin to a truly awakened Christian.

I will ask you now, dear hearers (most of whom are members of this or of other churches), do you know what it is to fret because you have spoken an unadvised word? Do you know what it is to smite upon your breast, because you were angry?—justly provoked, perhaps, but still, being angry, you spoke unadvisedly. Have you ever gone to a sleepless couch, because in business you have let fall a word, or have done an action which, upon mature deliberation, you could not justify? Does the tear never come from your eye because you are not like your Lord, and have failed where you hoped to succeed? I would give little for your godliness, if you know nothing of this. Repentance is as much a mark of a Christian as faith itself. Do not think we have done with repenting when we come to Christ and receive the remission of our sins by the blood that did once atone. No; we shall repent as long as we sin, and as long as we need the precious blood for cleansing. While there is sin, or a proneness to any kind of sin, lurking in us, the grace of God will make us loathe the sin and humble ourselves before the Most High on account of it.

Being missional – made simple

If you’ve seen the lady who won Ukraine’s got talent by doing a live animation of the history of the Ukraine in sand then you’ll enjoy this live animation explaining what a missional church looks like.   I posted similar diagrams to the ones in this video after reading Mark Driscoll’s Radical Reformission, but the youtube clip is much better, even though it needs cultural translation for us Brits.

The main point is that we either make the church the place where the needs of the community are met, in the name of Christ, or we make it the place where people are trained, equipped, resourced and motivated to live as representatives of Christ in the world.

An example of drifting to liberalism

Yesterday’s blog post outlined a way of checking against a slide from a biblical worldview to a liberal or non-biblical one. To help see how the check works I thought I’d do a worked example.

The diagram below shows basic tenets of liberalism and how each tenet falls into place one after the other.

A route I might take if backsliding

Let’s say I start as holding to the 39 articles or UCCF doctrinal basis of faith or The Westminster Confession as a summary of what God says in the bible and my attitude is that the bible shapes my worldview.  In other words, an evangelical, biblical worldview holds against each of the “liberal” tenets shown in the diagram above.

My Achilles heal is catholicity as in wanting everyone to be friends. The view that humanity should be united by just being friends, regardless of creed, leads to toleration. I will put up with what others say, in the name of Jesus, even when it is against his word, because I want to remain friends with them. I am not saying I should deliberately and ungraciously go out to make enemies by being dogmatic but there is a point where I should graciously and gently stand up for Jesus when someone is consistently against his teaching and in doing so risk the friendship.

However, once toleration has set in, I must become anti-dogmatic. I no longer believe anything strongly enough to risk friendships. And so, anti-voluntarism follows:  it’s okay to do what you want, even if it’s against the good and pleasing will of God, because I no longer believe the dogma which says God cares about what we do.

After that, the dominoes fall in quick succession.  I lose enthusiasm and start to see the good in people. I forget that all have sinned and have had their mouths stopped before the judgement seat of God because no one can save themselves by what they do.  I start to explain things empirically or inductively; we evolved, we’re still evolving, sin is not sin but only needs counselling. I’m now into natural religion, the bible’s gone as authoritative revelation. So God is not sovereign after all and my human reason tells me this is system of thought works. Ta-da, I’ve drifted to liberalism.

That’s why I do this check once a year. Do I still hold the the basic tenets of evangelical, biblical, scriptural, reformed theology and worldview? Am I still reading my bible as the final word of God on all matters relating to salvation, law and wisdom or has something else begun to take its place?

My emotional entry point is catholocity.  Find your emotional entry point and do the same exercise, then be on your guard.

Avoid the slide from biblical to liberal theology

Like all other belief systems, reformed, evangelical, scriptural thinking is done within a system of basic tenets. There’s a set of interlinked biblical doctrines and attitudes which underlie it all and these are listed below.

About once a year I go back to this list as a really helpful way of identifying drift from reformed thinking to liberal theology. This exercise is taken from a lecture given by David Field at Oak Hill in 2005.

When liberal, non-reformed theology developed out of reformed theology during the enlightenment, a number of basic tenets were gradually eroded. Once eroded, these behave like a stack of dominoes, when one falls the rest follow. The key to avoiding theological drift is to identify our own Achilles heal. Mine is probably catholicity, wanting to be friends with everyone.

To do the exercise, read the following definitions of the tenets, find your emotional point of entry (the first domino to fall) and then work out which domino falls next. It helps to print off the diagram and draw lines from circle to circle.

Reformed theology to liberalism

Empiricism and inductivism: the belief that science trumps revelation. In this scheme, no human behaviour is inherently sinful, God is not offended by sin. Rather, all behaviour may be explained and changed using a pseudo-scientific method and counselling. And, of course, miracles are not miracles, they can be explained away. The incarnation of God and his resurrection from the dead are myths to the empiricist or inductivist.

Anti-voluntarism: Voluntarism states that God is good and so God’s will dictates what I do. If I think I know better than God, that’s anti-voluntarism.

Anti-determinism: if you don’t think God knows the beginning from the end and that all things work according to the sovereign will of God, that’s anti-determinism.

Anti-enthusiasm: Jeremy Paxman wrote “the English like their religion in moderation.” Instead of intensity, certainty and confidence you display a cool, arm’s length detachment to Christian truth.

(some) People are good (anti-total inability, anti-total depravity): When people only see the image of God in others, and overlook indwelling sin, they conclude “Surely God won’t condemn the good people”. Instead of admitting that people are unable to save themselves from sin and judgement, liberals conclude that God will let the “good” people in.

Reason verses revelation: For a reformed theologian the command to love the Lord your God with all your mind means; think as hard as you can about God revealed in scripture. For a liberal it means think independently as if human reason alone can fathom all mysteries.

Toleration: The bible teaches that God is not tolerant, he is patient. Patience expects change, tolerance doesn’t. The reformed pastor is patient with people but the liberal is tolerant of bad behaviour and/or sloppy theology.

Natural religion: liberals believe that God reveals himself only in creation and all religions sense this. Religion is an attempt by finite humans to put God into a system of words, codes and morals, therefore, all religions are equally inadequate attempts to grasp the ungraspable.

Catholicity and friendliness: the primary goal is for everyone to be friends, regardless of creed.

Anti-dogmatism: this is the belief that doctrine is bad because doctrine divides people. Best not to belief anything to strongly for fear of upsetting someone.

Hebrews 3:7-12 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

From the vicarage February 2010

The 20th of February marks the 1st anniversary of the arrival of the Robbie family in West Bromwich. Looking back over the year there have been lots of good moments as we’ve achieved many things together for God in a fairly short period of time. We have a new ministry for youth in the area. At TNG we aim to have godly fun together and teach the next generation about the wonder and glory of God. I’ve been really encouraged by the batch of new volunteer leaders, without whom TNG would not exist. Our ministry trainee Tommy Merry has been a great blessing, especially now that he has settled into vicarage and parish life and he sets about various aspects of ministry with great enthusiasm and energy. There’s cake and chat on Thursday morning which continues to attract a faithful group of mums, and some dads, from the church school community. We have a new church vision statement which lays the foundation for our purpose and direction as we think about new ways of giving our all for God’s glory. The is plenty to thank God for in church life over the past year.

Yet, as we approach the start of the second year of my ministry at Holy Trinity I expect a hard year ahead. After a year in post trying to get a feel for church life and how things work we face a task of tweaking and structuring church life to match God’s vision. I can see two urgent needs for our church. The first is to pray. As a church we face many challenges and obstacles in the work of the gospel in West Bromwich but we know that God works with us and for us as we pray. We need prayer for a greater grasp of the knowledge, love, wisdom and glory of God. One of the great things about being a Christian is that we can always grow in our grasp of God. We also need prayer for many eyes in our community to to be opened to the wonder, goodness and love of God in Christ Jesus.

The second urgent need is to make effective disciples. We need to create pathways for people to become believers and then become effective disciples. These pathways need already effective disciples to help teach and train the next generation. The principle is simple: we listen to God by studying all of God’s word together in the light, power and fellowship of the Holy Spirit. However, finding an effective way of doing this, which is right for our culture, is a little more challenging and will need thought and prayer. It is essential that we help new believers to pray and read the bible for themselves.

In the short term, we have a mini mission during Lent.
- Sunday March 7th Memorial Service (6:30pm)
- Sunday March 14th Colin Buchanan at Edgebaston School for girls
- Sat & Sun March 20th & 21st Holy Trinity Passion for Life Mini Mission weekend
- Fri-Sun March 26th – 28th A Passion for Life at Birmingham Town Hall
- Fri-Sun April 2nd – 4th Good Friday and Easter Sunday

Watch out for more details at church.

This year’s lent course is called “Lost for Words: sharing your faith naturally”. The Lent course starts this year with an Ash Wednesday (17th Feb) service and talk. We then move to Thursdays in the hall from 7:30pm to 8:45pm and we end with a Maunday Thursday (1st April) service. In Lost for words we will explain what being a missional church looks like. We’ll find your mission style, develop courage and give you some simple mission tools for your spiritual arsenal.

It is my prayer that, more than ever, we’ll be focused as a whole church on living for the glory of God together in this place.

Where are the hymns about teaching kids?

Can anyone help? I need songs or hymns which remind the church to teach kids about God and Christ. Can anyone suggest any songs or hymns that I could use over the next few weeks?

I was preaching Psalm 78 and found a metrical version, but struggled to find anything else.

Psalm 78 – Metre 77 77 77

1. Listen, all to what I teach,
Pay heed to what I shall say.
I will speak in parables
And tell myst’ries from the past.
Things that we have heard made known,
That our parents told to us.

2. We won’t hide them from our young,
We will tell those yet to come,
All the mighty deeds of God,
All the wonders he has done.
He gave laws to Israel,
And commandments to Jacob.

3. God instructed our forebears
To teach these laws to our young,
So those yet unborn will know,
Passing them on to their young,
So that they should hope in God,
Not forget, but keep his laws.

10 ways in which God in Christ is a God of love #8

Here’s the eighth abridged extract from Ebenezer Erskine’s 10 point sermon on 10 ways in which God in Christ is a God of love:

Ebenezer Erskine

8. God in Christ is a God of infinite bounty and liberality, and a prayer-hearing God; Oh Sirs! his heart is free, and his hand is full and open; open hearted, open handed: …When we have asked great things of him, he quarrels us as if we had asked nothing: he does not deal with a scrimp or a sparing hand : no, no; “Ask, and ye shall receive, (says he) that your joy may be full.- Yea, such is his bounty, that he is ready to do for us exceeding abundantly above what we can either ask or think…

BBC Radio 4 Today programme editors – wolves in sheep’s clothing

Did anyone catch this morning’s main headline on the Today programme? The item of greatest public concern this morning was “the British public are becoming more liberal with respect to sexual ethics but more conservative economically”. The BBC’s social policy correspondent reported that in 1983 62% of the population thought homosexual sex was unacceptable and only 36% think so today.

At 8:10, the main morning debate, Justin Webb discussed attitudes to homosexually with Michael Cashman a founder member of Stonewall and a Kelvin MacKenzie, former editor of The Sun. Again, the message was “social attitudes have been transformed”.

The “news” was read impartially, in the spirit of the BBC, and the debate conducted honourably. What is interesting about these “headlines” is not primarily their content or the manner in which they were delivered, but their timing in relation to the defeat, yesterday, in the House of Lords of the equality bill.

Without initially mentioning the house of Lord’s debate, Radio 4 listeners were first exposed to the fact that our nation’s moral standards on homosexual sex have swung in a short period of time and (for anyone making the connection), therefore, the Lords are out of touch with public opinion. Then, with these statistics in place, the debate at 8:10 was teed up for Michael Cashman to slate the church and claim that one day attitudes in church will be changed as he battles on.

Ignoring any debate on the tyranny of the majority verses the rights of the minority, the editorial positioning of these news items reveal a deeply partisan ruling class at the BBC. The editors are obviously not scared to bias the “news” to promote a their own social agenda. What seems to have escaped them is that this sort of biased redaction has brought about changes in societies morals. If you keep saying loudly enough, on a national platform, that homosexual sex is morally acceptable, eventually attitudes will swing. After all, who will stand up against a national mood? We all want to fit in.

The complex relationship which exists between national broadcasters and the public mood must be taken into account when statistics are analysed. More than that, the role of the established national press needs consideration. What is news and why did these statistics even make headline news at all? Unless of course the editors think it is important to keep campaigning against the Lords decision.

Dyslexia and Christian ministry

In my first year at theological college, aged 33, I discovered I was dyslexic. I guess I had known it since my mid twenties when my then fiancée’s house mate, a special needs teacher in Cambridge, told me she thought I was dyslexic.

As an engineer, with a good degree from a Scottish University, I had used all the strengths of dyslexia (3D thinking, visualisation of buildings in my mind’s eye; sales and marketing of a structural engineering system which relied on being able to combine the economics of construction with technical stuff). I had project managed a couple of small contracts in Singapore and really enjoyed it, pulling together teams from different disciplines to get the job done. I had not needed to know that I might be dyslexic.

What I discovered toward the end of my time in construction was that I could not write a legal letter for toffee. A couple of our bigger contracts had gone legal and I was given the job of wrangling with the main contractor. I’d take letters into my director’s office, knowing that I was unsure about what I had written, asking for help to review them, to be shown that I had no grasp of logical, legal, written argument. I knew what the problem was technically and contractually but I could not explain it on paper.

In my opening week at theological college I was told that essay writing is like a legal letter. The aim of an essay is to argue a point. I knew I’d struggle. Another struggle was reading the bible in public which took 110% effort to lift the words off the page, mentally process them and then speak them with the right tone and emphasis.

Being a dyslexic minister of the word of God presents me with some struggles but some strengths. Dyslexia is the condition where the brain processes information conceptually and pictorially rather than verbally. As a dyslexic, I have no internal dialogue.

So, the struggles are mostly word based. I struggled in biblical Greek, taking it to third year at college I was convinced of its importance and still use Greek today, but it is not easy. I really struggle to preach biblical narrative, for reasons I can’t quite figure out. Where a passage is logical, then I can preach, because the work I find so hard, making a step-by-step logical argument, is done for me. I struggle with my diary and chronological thought, often leaving things too late to organise them properly or double booking without realising it until the moment is upon me.

The benefits of being dyslexic are based on the dyslexic person thinking in concepts and pictures rather than words. I see things and then describe them. And so, structural organisational thinking, forward strategic thinking, having a sense of where things are and addressing needs appropriately, all these things come easily.  When it comes to the bible I see patterns and connections in scripture.  I find easy to see links between the situation on the ground in the Epistles, the flow of the arguments or theology of the letter and it’s application to the present.

Although it is tempting, because of time, to drop word based ministry, I am determined to stick with expository preaching and so when I prepare a sermon my preparation goes like this:

1. read the context of the passage
2. do my exegesis (translating Greek when NT)  using text flow diagrams and lots of colour
3. find the theme and aim sentences
4. develop a sermon structure
5. mind map it and write my talk in mind map software
6. convert the mind map into a full text
7. use my text to speech software to read my sermon to me
8. edit it
9. produce the final version with lots of colour on each page (blue, red and black work for me)

On weeks where time is squeezed I jump from stage 5 to 9.  I did that last Sunday only to find I could probably have removed 25% of my material which was repetitious.  The problem is, I can’t hear the repetition, even when I am speaking live.

I hang the ministry God has given me on the peg of 2 Corinthians 2:17.

For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

I speak God’s word with sincerity and give the best I have each week.  I pray that God will take his word and write in on the hearts of those who hear, not because I am eloquent but because his word and Spirit are at work when God’s word is preached.

1 Corinthians 1:17  For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Spurgeon – remember the fact of Christ’s love

To help start the week on the right note, here’s an extract from Charles Spurgeon’s sermon the memory of Christ’s love.

Charles Spurgeon

What a wonderful thing it is that the Son of God should love us! I do not wonder so much that He should have any love for you—but I am lost in wonder at the fact that He has any love for me, even for me! Does not each Believer feel that the wonder of wonders must ever be that the Lord Jesus Christ loves him? He was in Glory, needing nothing. He was in His Father’s bosom, enjoying ineffable delight. If He wanted to cast His eyes of love on any of His creatures, there were myriads of bright spirits before the Throne. But, no, He must look down, down, down, to earth’s dunghills and find us who were utterly unworthy of His regard!

Then He might have pitied us, and left us in our lost estate, but it could not be so with One who has such a heart as our dear Saviour has—He must love us! What it is for God to love, God only knows. We faintly guess, by the love that burns in our bosom towards the objects of our affection, what the love of God must be. The love of God must be a mighty passion!