Looking at Christ

It has been claimed that an over-dependence on the Titus 1 (and 1 Timothy 3) criteria, for example, in pastor or church planter job descriptions and job adverts, has led to a lowering of the bar – a watered-down, lowest-common-denominator, pedestrian, tick-box exercise. When what we really need in our church leaders is not cookie-cutter, reasonably-satisfactory ‘church managers’ but rather courageous, passionate, world-denying, full-of-the-Spirit ‘mighty men’ who will endure suffering, pray desperately, preach fervently. I would argue that a careful, contextual reading of Titus 1 does not give us a mundane tick list but rather is calling for exactly the Spirit-filled leaders that we need. The Elder is a miracle “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” So how are you going to find Cretans who are faithful, good, hard-working – men who fulfil the criteria of Titus 1:6-9? Only by a miracle of God’s grace. Only by the glorious truth of the gospel producing godliness (T...

Bible words have Bible meanings." So said Alec Motyer. Or maybe David Jackman. Probably both. What is holiness? You can go down the Hebrew etymology route and focus on separation and consecration. You can go down the systematic theology route and look at the Creator's transcendent otherness or his absolute purity (in him there is no darkness at all). But what about a biblical theology approach? The garden-city-temple The first reference to holiness is to the seventh day (Gen. 2:3) - not just a separate day but a blessed day, a day of God's rest, God's satisfaction in and enjoyment of his good creation, focused on the garden-temple where the LORD dwells with humanity amid beauty and abundance. The last reference in the Scriptures is to the Holy City (Rev. 21:2, 10; 22:19) - the bride, the bejeweled ephod, the holy of holies, the blessed garden city where access to the tree of life is restored. As Richard Coekin has pointed out, in the same way that a beautiful garden is...

I sit at a small table listening to a seminar. The speaker is an expert in their field. They've travelled a long way to be here. The audience is quietly attentive, leaning forward to catch every drop of wisdom. There are nibbles and handouts on the table. The speaker continues fluidly. But I start to feel queasy.   "I feel like vomiting - and all of a sudden, there it is: the Nausea." (Satre, Nausea , 1938, p. 176 in Penguin Classics edition, Baldick translation) Why do I feel this spinning, motion sickness, almost vertigo? I know why. The realisation is sharp and certain and lands on me with a suffocating heaviness. What I'm hearing through the mouth of the speaker is very largely AI-generated. I know it (at least 95% sure) because I've spent quite a bit of time using AI tools recently. Partly it's the presentation slides. It's the beige background and serif font (favoured by Claude and Gamma). It's the the three-column format and the little icons at ...

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. (Titus 1:9) What are the deep roots of those two voices - encouragement and rebuke? There are many - the nature of truth, goodness, God, the gospel - but one deep root is that the undershepherd/friend-of-the-bridegroom should be a man after the own heart of the Great Shepherd/Bridegroom (Jer. 3:15; John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2) who speaks with the same voice as the Great Shepherd/Bridegroom (Luke 10:16; John 10:16; Eph. 2:17). As Luther said, "Let me and everyone who speaks of the word of Christ freely boast that our mouths are the mouths of Christ" (A Sincere Admonition, 1522). So how does Christ feel towards and speak to his church? Richard Sibbes is particularly helpful on this.  The bruised reed and the smouldering church In probably his best known and loved work, Sibbes expounds Isaiah 42:3 (quoted and fulfilled in Jesus in Mat...

    It was actually in Kenya that I first learnt that you don't have to restrict pancakes to once a year on Pancake Day. My Kenyan boss cooked them every weekend for his family. So we started a family tradition of pancakes pretty much every Saturday morning.  A few things to do while you're cooking: Listen to David Suchet read the Bible on the YouVersion Bible app. You can get through 10-14 chapters in an hour - which is helpful if you're trying to read the Bible in 3 months .  Listen to Carl Trueman's classic (often hilarious)  33 lecture series on the Reformation  or his series on the Medieval Church . Listen to lectures from past Pastors Academy conferences  or Catalyst Conferences  or Clarus - rich stretching reformed biblical theology. Listen (critically) to some podcasts that give an alternative view of the world - e.g. Triggernometry, Diary of a CEO. Listen to some good Christian music - e.g. Emu. Just give your mind some space. You don...

The famous hymn by William Young Fullerton says: I cannot tell how he will win the nations, how he will claim his earthly heritage, how satisfy the needs and aspirations of east and west, of sinner and of sage. But surely we have been told quite a bit about how the nations will be won? Psalm 2 - the source of "I will make the nations your inheritance" - is quoted 7 times in the New Testament, twice in the Book of Acts which is basically a manual on how exactly the nations will be won. But even in the Old Testament, the Lord lays out the means by which the nations will be won. Continuing our thoughts from Jeremiah ( Jeremiah for planters and Shepherds after my own heart ) here are two wonderful verses from the beginning of chapter 4: “If you, Israel, will return,     then return to me,” declares the Lord. “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight     and no longer go astray, and if in a truthful, just and righteous way     you swear, ‘As surely...