New series alert! We always want to understand Jesus better, so what better way than a series on how he interacted with people in Luke’s gospel? Right from the start, Jesus spoke about how he came to bring a new day for jews and gentiles alike. We might not always relate to how offensive this message was. But we are all wired for groups!
We think this is one of the most important pastoral words we can share in our divided era (but be warned - it’s never been an easy one to hear.)
Faith is trust or confidence that someone/something is always true. It is having assurance even when we can’t be certain with our senses. This is what the letter of Hebrews summons us to take up and in the right order: faith comes first. Too often the emphasis is placed on doing good and getting well ahead of faith but as Hebrews makes the case, these are a byproduct of faith. This faith is not aimless or passive, it is set on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter. He is the one who brackets this walk for us, he is leads us to the starting point and sees us through to completion. We cannot do this faith thing apart from Jesus because he’s the point of it all. Faith isn’t the guarantee things will get better. It's the guarantee that Jesus’ presence will make a difference for how we show up. Let us look again to Jesus.
Is it possible to see God? The Apostle John writes from experience that the way we see God is not dependent on our senses. Instead, we see God clearest when we love one another. As God’s children, he forms us to be representatives of him, emissaries of his love to do his will. Our hope is that the Spirit enabled love between us would be enough for others to see God.
God’s insanely loyal love is like a line-leader, always showing us the way back into vibrant, close relationship with Him. Whether you’re in the midst of rebuilding your faith (after perhaps a time of disassembling it), or just needing to find time to reconnect with Jesus, we can do this together, as a community. Staying connected in any relationship takes time and intention and our relationship with God is no different. Discover some creative new ideas for rebuilding and reconnecting with God in this podcast.
In the second of two talks on money as our new financial year begins we’re turning our attention to the NT view of money. In 2 Corinthians 9 Paul appeals to the church in Corinth to give generously to the struggling church in Jerusalem. It’s a passage which tells us much about what Christian giving is all about. It’s rooted in love. Love from God and love for one another is the basis for all Christian generosity. And it means that to be a Christian is to be a giver. It is part of our new identity. But not just a giver, a giver of reckless generosity. We’re called to give abundantly. And whilst we don’t give in order to receive, God’s promise is that when we give abundantly we will receive abundantly: not necessarily materially (although God will always look after all our material needs), but also spiritually. Giving money away robs it of much of its power and frees from anxiety and joyful abundant living. Just like we’re meant to be!
The first of two talks on the subject of money. Often people have grown up with a skewed understanding of money in the bible. This is a talk from the Old Testament about what concepts have never applied (but have often been understood to apply), what has always applied and always will, and what applied in OT times but no longer does because of Jesus. Ultimately Christianity is about having our hearts completely changed. And when our hearts are like Jesus’ heart, we are able to be free and gloriously generous with our resources. This paradigm goes way beyond Old Testament concept of tithing- we are called instead to be joyful, carefree, delighted givers. Generosity is us! Allow him to make you more and more like this. And be who you now are by giving generously and abundantly.
Concluding our series on the opening chapters of Genesis we look at what life is like east of Eden. The consequences of Adam and Eve’s choosing independence from God mean that oneness with God, creation and humanity is lost. Post fall, the battle with sin is an ongoing constant reality. In the story of Cain we see that none of us is immune from temptation and the power of sin. But if our identity is built on the grace and love of God we can, in Jesus’ power, overcome. Cain though has built his identity in something far less secure, and his life falls apart very quickly.
There were consequences for Adam and Eve’s decision to eat the fruit. We all know this part of the story, an echo and response to the famous creation story of the Hebrews’ Mesopotamian captors. It’s fair to say that Eve’s punishment may have had more air time than Adam and the snake’s throughout christendom. In fact, many christians today still root their belief in ordained male authority over women in what God says to Eve in this scene. But this was never a story about God’s intentions for hierarchy. This story is about quite the opposite!
The Fall of Adam and Eve is one of the most famous passages not only in the Bible but all literature. But despite this it’s not always easy to understand what is going on. Rather than just being about disobedience or a loss of innocence, it’s really about something much deeper. The heart of Adam and Eve’s fall is about independence. They go after something they already have (wisdom and divinity) but they want it without God. This tends to be the heart and result of all human sin - a turned inwards on oneself, grasping at an identity independent of God. We become incapable of being the generous open people, connected to our creator, that we were made to be. The beauty of the gospel though is that we don’t have stay that way - Jesus has broken the death spiral of independence and offered us a reconnection to the God without whom we would be lost.
It is not good for us to be alone. In a culture that strives for autonomy and individuality, Genesis reminds us that we are made for togetherness. Often togetherness has been defined in terms that exclude and diminish some under others. The togetherness that Genesis speaks of is one of equality without any sense of hierarchy or patriarchy. What we find in Genesis 2 is God’s purpose for us is to grow into his family. It used to be one built through physical means but in Jesus, it is one growing by the Spirit. God’s family is blended, its big, and theres room for you.
Genesis 2 tells a second creation narrative that is told from the ground-up, whereas Genesis 1 tells the story from a more cosmic perspective. It speaks of Eden as a space where luxury and pleasure had no limit. It contained a garden where God himself walked with humanity, along with some symbolic rivers and trees. In this poetic-narrative we see a mirror-image of where all humanity is headed, when Jesus finally restores the earth. This series is called Back to the Start, but part of that is remembering where we are going. We aren’t headed back to Eden, but we are headed toward an earth that is restored and renewed by Jesus himself, when he will finally set all things right.
The creation of humankind in Genesis 1 is one of the most important passages in the whole bible. In it we see what God was and is again aiming for with us, the human race. We’re not a cosmic disappointment. We’re the pinnacle of his creation. He loves us and he saw that we are very very very good!
We are not God’s slaves (like in Babylonian mythology) we aren’t created to serve him, we are created to be him - an extension of his presence and power in the world. We are given extraordinary position and influence in the world. Through Jesus, God has redeemed, restored and ultimately recommissioned us to be his vice-regents on earth. Every single one of us has an identity and a calling from the King of Heaven. So allow him to breath his royal life into us once again.
The first chapter of Genesis may be one of the most controversial, but it’s mind-blowingly revealing, beautifully poetic & meticulously structured, and it serves as a triumphant introduction to the whole new message about the kind of God, God is. Dating back to the Babylonian exile, this was a piece of liturgy for a downtrodden people who were questioning everything about their call and the nature and even existence of the God who called them. It’s the overture to the whole story of God and his people: The Creator is all powerful, He brings order out of chaos, He is in control, He names us, He loves us and He says that we are good. Genesis 1 calls us back to worshipping Him because He is God. And He is good.
Ultimately the central character of Genesis is not Adam or Eve. It’s the one true God. And he is unlike all the gods of the surrounding nations. He is creative - he both creates out of nothing in his exclusive power; and he creates out of chaos in his redemptive power. And his spirit, there at creation, is, thanks to Jesus, here for us now. He wants to bring his redemptive and matchless power to every aspect of our lives. Because this is what he is like - the matchless creator who is good.
The week after Easter: Thomas doesn’t meet the risen Jesus until a week after the resurrection. He’s an intriguing character- alone, doubting, troubled- but he goes on to doing extraordinary things. As such he is the perfect example of how Jesus changes people. Following Thomas we’ve got to be honest, we’ve got to believe, but more than that- we’ve also got to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. This is simple, but not easy. But the consequences are huge- this is the way into life in all its fullness.
The most important moment in all of human history is the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. In the resurrection Jesus provides all humankind with answers to our most fundamental questions - is there a God? What happens when we die? Is there more to life than just the material? - as well as our most longed for needs - do we matter? Can we change? will we be ok?
When Jesus rises from the death all pain and sickness, evil and death are defeated - and he welcomes us into a new world order of love and peace and joy with him.
On this important day en route to Easter, we celebrate Palm Sunday as a paradox. Jesus was not the sort of king that God’s people were expecting. In the same way, Jesus experienced the heaviness of disappointment in God’s people missing the point. This message digs into the paradox of the now-and-not yet of Christ’s kingdom and how we can make room for Him and listen to the Spirit in new ways.
It’s not quite the most attractive of the disciplines but it is just as powerful. Confession is naming where we are and what we’ve done. It is unguarded truth-telling. Its unguarded because we know who we’re confessing to. When we know God to be eager and ready to forgive, we can approach him with anything we may be carrying. In confession, we’re released from the pressure to pose, to hide in shame, and we receive the forgiveness of Jesus. His forgiveness is immediate; he takes our sins, hides it, and forgets about it. The goal of all confession, whether it’s confession to God or to one another, is healing. This kind of healing-nourishment results in what Psalm 32 calls, true happiness. The more regular this practice becomes in our journey, the more confident we are in Jesus’ loving and transformative power.
Considered alongside other disciplines like prayer, worship or confession for example, celebration may seem incongruous. However celebration is integral to the christian life. After all the gospel begins with celebration, ends with celebration and has celebration at its heart: Jesus’ kingdom is one built on the foundations of the Old Testament concept of Jubilee. The gospel literally means good news, and good news must be celebrated. So how do we become more joyful people? Paul gives us three steps on the path to celebration - doing away with anxiety, presenting our requests to god, and fixing our hearts and minds on the beauty of our world. Despite all the trouble we may have in this world, joy is the hallmark of those who have placed their lives in the hands of good God who comes to bring good gifts to his children.
