Looking at Christ

There's a crucial theme in the New Testament that I don’t think I’ve properly recognised before: Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37) Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me (John 8:42) If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23 cf. 14:15) Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15 cf. v16, v17) …what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor. 2:9) If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. (1 Cor. 16:22) Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (Eph. 6:23) Though you have not seen him, you love him (1 Peter 1:8) I hold this against you: you have forsaken the love you had at first (Rev. 2:4) Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow co...

As lockdown has worn on, there's been a renewed interest in emotions, both in the secular media and among Christians. In the last few days there have been a rash of articles on stress, anxiety and mood swings, tips on increasing our emotional intelligence, strategies for boosting mental health and observations that this is the biggest psychological experiment ever conducted. In many ways this renewed attention to EQ and self awareness is very helpful. We are being reminded that the most important things in life are not economic or educational. We are not 'human resources' or 'chemical robots.' And individualism clearly doesn't work. We are relational, interdependent, givers and receivers of love. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself. (Matt 22:36-38) Affections matter. "The great...

I had the privilege of flying above the clouds in January. I always find it stunningly beautiful. Especially seeing the sun rise or set over the rippled snowfield. And this time I was reading an article by Dane Ortlund - Jonathan Edwards, the Christian life and calm . And I got to this Edwards quote: ‘The Christian temper is to be meek and calm and not easily provoked, to be undisturbed by affronts and injuries. The Christian is above these things; he is out of the reach of them; he does as it were dwell above the clouds, out of the reach of winds and storms, and enjoys a perpetual serenity and tranquility.' Edwards never saw what I was seeing out of the Airbus window. But in a sense he did. By faith. He knew what it was to be seated with Christ, above all rulers and authorities and suffering and sin, to set his heart and mind on things above, to consider himself dead and his life hidden with Christ in God, hidden in Christ seated at the right hand of the Father, hidden in ...

Most Bible lovers agree that the Old Testament Scriptures promise Christ, pattern Christ (in types and shadows) and present the problems that Christ solves (e.g. how can God justly justify the ungodly). Where there is less agreement is over the question of whether, to what extent and how is Christ present in the Old Testament. When the LORD ‘appears’ to people (e.g. Gen. 12:7) is that the second person of the Trinity – a Christophany – or is it a more indeterminate ‘theophany’? When the Angel of the LORD talks to people and it seems like the LORD God is speaking (e.g. Judges 2:1-3), is that the pre-incarnate Christ addressing them or is it an angelic being who is being used as God’s mouthpiece – like the LORD speaking through a long piece of piping coming out the mouth of the angel? There are differences on this and people I hugely respect (e.g. Gerald Bray) who would decide against seeing much of the Son of God physically/visibly/audibly present in the Old Testament. I don’t ...

Mike Ovey, who was recently promoted to glory, gave a very significant lecture at the 2013 GAFCON conference in Nairobi entitled  The Grace of God OR the world of the West? In this lecture he talks about Bonhoeffer's notion of 'cheap grace' - repentance-less self congratulation. Then he goes for the roots of this - how has this cheap grace become so prevalent in the Western church - and he zeroes in on narcissism and entitlement - the presumption expressed by the old L'Oreal advert: "Because you're worth it." The centre of the universe is me. Churches start to tell their congregations that they need to love themselves before they can love their neighbour. God is shifted from being The King to being my butler. The gospel is twisted so as to feed self-love rather than to free us from self-love. I recently came across the following section from Jonathan Edwards. His wider point is that the first foundation of love for God should be wonder at who God...

Richard Sibbes: "Many men will be glad to own Christ to be great by him, but as Augustine complains in his time, Christ Jesus is not loved for his own sake but for other things that he brings with him, peace, plenty etc. as far as [owning Christ] stands with these contentments. If Christ and the world part once, it will be known which we followed. In times of peace this is hardly discerned." ( Second Sermon on the Song of Songs ) This is basically what the Book of Job is all about. Does Job love God just because of what He has given him or because of who the LORD God is in Himself? "The Satan, for all his malice, is doing something necessary for the glory of God. In some deep way it is necessary for it to be publically seen by the whole universe that God is worthy of the worship of a man and that God’s worth is in no way dependent on God’s gifts." ( Christopher Ash, Job: The Wisdom of the Cross , Crossway ) Jonathan Edwards, after commenting on Job 1:9-10 conclu...