GREG BOYD on what it looks like when God reigns

Last week at camp I finally got hold of my own copy of Greg Boyd's talks on the Kingdom of God from Revive! 2005. I've listened to them before but these are such fantastic talks that I wanted my own copies to listen to and lend out!

I first heard these talks on CD about two and a half years ago and they made a huge impact on me. I'm not sure any sermons, or indeed speaker, have been as influential in my life. I remember listening to them and just going 'yes, yes, yes - that's what it's about!' and being completely moved, even overwhelmed by the truth of it. Faith-growing, brain-stretching, life-giving...

Here's a 3 minute clip of Greg Boyd talking about what the kingdom of God - the "dome (domain) in which God is king" - is like:

'What does it look like when God reigns?'

Link to mp3 if the player's not working for you.

Learning moments at Revive! 2008

[Something of a scrapbook of quotes etc from camp last week. Apologies for the lack of order - just getting them down!]

Jonathan Oloyede
- Luke 4.1 - the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. The Spirit can lead us into difficult and strange places. Jesus fasted for 40 days before going out in the power of the Spirit.
- If you want to follow the Lord he will ask you to drop some things...are you ready for that?

Christen Forster
- Matt 16.13-19. Jesus tells Peter 'on this rock I will build my church'. Jesus was not specifically a carpenter but more likely a builder (Greek: tekton, which is the general term for a builder/craftsman).
- this reminded me of Aslan telling Lucy "I am the master Bridge-Builder" in 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader'.

- Proverbs 30.21 "Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a servant who becomes king, ..." It is a dangerous thing for those with the insecurities of a servant to be put in positions of leadership. The primary responsibility of a leader is to be proactive in putting themselves in a position to encounter God and be open for God to change them.
- everything we do is motivated either by fear or love. Fear is born out of our slavery, love of our sonship.
- two fear-based behaviours that hit Christian leaders are competitiveness and striving.

Debbie Laycock
Matt 25.1-13 - the Wise and Foolish Virgins
'This is a Parousian Parable about God's People; Jesus makes it Personal and asks "Are you Prudent, Prepared and at your Post?"'
- do you have enough fuel to be burning hot on the day Jesus arrives? Are you filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit?
- You can't lean on the spiritual lives of others - do you have the Spirit in you?
- Are we being proactive in taking practical steps to fuel our spiritual lives?
- Are we taking our role in the kingdom seriously?

Sarah Fordham
- Need spirituality and religion in balance. Religion gives boundaries to our spirituality. Without structure we are easily swept away into the 'New Age' (no boundaries).
- 'Religion' comes from the Latin religio 'to bind'. As Christians we are to bind Christ - the Word - to ourselves in the same way Jews bind the Torah to themselves (Deut 11.18)
- The truth is to be encountered in Jesus
'Do what I say and then you will know that what I say is true' (Sarah's paraphrase of John 7.31-32)

Jackie Pullinger-To
- look at the world: there must be justice! there is so much pain that must be accounted for, retribution that must be made.
- without justice there is no mercy
- Isaiah 53. Jesus took the pain of those wronged and the punishment for the wrongdoers
- there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood
- The day of Jubilee: 'the slave driver is forgiven and the slave goes free'

- what the Scripture says is true: 'my soul thirsts for you'. We may not feel it but it's our feelings that aren't true.
- a man is a slave to what he worships.

Faith Forster
- 'a seeking soul and a seeking Saviour are sure to meet'
- we shouldn't be running after signs and wonders because signs and wonders should be following us!

John Paul Jackson
- if people don't find answers to spiritual things in the church they'll go elsewhere
- What is true spirituality? You cannot be spiritual by yourself - be filled with the Spirit of the living God
- the Spirit brings true 'enlightenment' while anything else brings only 'endarkenment'. Satan left the light and source of life and is therefore continually deteriorating...joining the dark side literally sucks the life out of you.
- Light always overcomes darkness. Darkness never wins unless there is no light.
- Fear / Faith are two sides of the same thing: a belief in something invisible that has not happened yet. Fear is the belief that something bad will happen, faith is the belief that something good will happen.

Fun in the Playground

I missed church on Sunday, being away, so I was glad of this paraphrased excerpt(?) from Ruth's talk on Ben's blog:

Some people think of God's will, the plan God has for them, as a tightrope. You have to be really careful to stay on, otherwise it's a disaster. I think God's will is like a playground. It has a fence, and there are limits. Outside the fence it's dangerous as you could get hit by a car. Inside, there's slides, roundabouts, see-saws, swings - you can play on what you want. Sometimes God might say 'that's enough sliding for now, have a go on the swings'. You might enjoy some bits more than others, but you can have a go at different things. As long as you stay inside the fence, you're safe. But you don't have to walk a tightrope.

I like playgrounds!

(Thanks to Benbo Baggins!)

Preaching the Gospel

[From a link on Undercover Theologian.]

I liked this article by Tim Keller on Christianity Today's Leadership Journal on 'The Gospel in All it's Forms' about the different aspects of the 'one gospel' and, especially, his wisdom on preaching them:

1. I don't put all the gospel points into any one gospel presentation.

When studying Paul's gospel speeches in the book of Acts, it is striking how much is always left out. He always leads with some points rather than others in an effort to connect with the baseline cultural narratives of his listeners. It is almost impossible to cover all the bases of the gospel with a non-believing listener without that person's eyes glazing over.

2. I use both a gospel for the "circumcised" and for the "uncircumcised."
- or the moralists and the postmoderns

...I use the biblical definition of sin as idolatry. That puts the emphasis not as much on "doing bad things" but on "making good things into ultimate things." ...I tell them that they are sinning because they are looking to their romances to give their lives meaning, to justify and save them, to give them what they should be looking for from God. ...Then Christ and his salvation can be presented not (at this point) so much as their only hope for forgiveness, but as their only hope for freedom. This is my "gospel for the uncircumcised."

3. I use both a "kingdom" and an "eternal life" gospel.

...I point out the story-arc of the Bible and speak of the gospel in terms of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. We once had the world we all wanted—a world of peace and justice, without death, disease, or conflict. But by turning from God we lost that world. Our sin unleashed forces of evil and destruction so that now "things fall apart" and everything is characterized by physical, social, and personal disintegration. Jesus Christ, however, came into the world, died as a victim of injustice and as our substitute, bearing the penalty of our evil and sin on himself.

4. I use them all and let each group overhear me preaching to the others.

No one form of the gospel gives all the various aspects of the full gospel the same emphasis. If, then, you only preach one form, you are in great danger of giving your people an unbalanced diet of gospel-truth. What is the alternative? Don't preach just one gospel form. That's not true to the various texts of the Bible anyway. If you are preaching expositionally, different passages will convey different forms of the one gospel. Preach different texts and your people will hear all the points. ...

Lots of wisdom there I thought! Read the full article.

Thanks Matt!

Principles and Rules

Greg Boyd on Principles and Rules (MP3)

From Luke 6.1-11

Rules are made for people, not people for rules.

Be inflexible and uncompromising with the principles – love, mercy, justice, faithfulness – but be flexible with the rules. A least a little…

Sometimes in order to stick to the principles, we have to bend the rules.

Manifest life. Manifest love, mercy, justice, faithfulness.

Love people as they are – they don’t have to adhere to your rules.

Rules can make you stupid, preventing you adjusting to ambiguous circumstances.

Sometimes rules kill. They sometimes take on a life of their own.

Have wisdom: there’s a time to keep the rules and there’s a time to let them go.


(Sermons online at Woodland Hills Church)

Theological highlights from Revive!

Chris Forster - Revelation, not Information
Andrew tells Peter...'Come and meet the man who is the Christ' (John 1)
But it is not until later that Peter truly recognises Jesus: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" and Jesus tells him "this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven." (Matt 16:16,17)

Greg Boyd

God looks like Jesus Christ.
(Anything that doesn't look like Jesus Christ is the result of wills other than God's)

"Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Eph 6:12)
- therefore, no person can be the enemy. If it has flesh and blood, we're not fighting it. On the contrary, people in bondage are those people we're trying to save - this is who we're fighting for, not against!

Regard every sin you see in someone else as a speck of dust, and your own as a two-by-four.

When Jesus was faced with sickness and oppression, he didn't pray 'accepting' prayers...he got angry. He had a theology of revolution, of revolt! In which we lay down our lives...

Faith is the 'substance of things anticipated'. We're rarely certain about anything, but faith is the having enough confidence in order to act on something (e.g. to get on a plane).

All prayer is powerful and effective...you have pushed the world further in a kingdom direction.
No such thing as a wasted prayer.

How you look at something determines what you see...which affects your life.

Touch and see

Continuing my reflections on the Incarnation...

I was struck on Sunday to recall the story of Thomas at the end of John's Gospel and the nature of his declaration of faith, "My Lord and my God!"

Thomas' statement of belief, the first of its kind in the Gospels, reads as an almost immediate response to Jesus' appearance amongst the disciples and his invitation to Thomas to touch and see that his wounds are real. Thomas is the first person to declare that Jesus is God, and although this is partly a response to Jesus' resurrection and new life, it is significant to find it following a demonstration not of Godly power, but of human life.

Jesus invites Thomas to touch him and affirm his reality, his bodily life, his humanity - still showing the marks of pain and death. In this short interaction we find an illustration of some of the magic and the paradox of the incarnation. Thomas recognises Jesus divinity, not in spite of his humanity but through it. Jesus wants Thomas to know that he is real, that he has bodily life, and is not just a spirit. But in this very human demonstration, Thomas suddenly sees the fullness of who Jesus is, Lord and God.

Smouldering Hope

Tonight in cell, one of the passages we came across was Matthew 12:18-21, where he quotes from Isaiah 42. I was especially struck by verse 20:

"A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory."

I love the message of hope in that picture of His grace towards us.

As I see it, a smouldering wick is a candle which has gone out. It should be snuffed out because it won't relight itself. This is not a weak and feeble flame we're talking about, it's one that's pretty much dead! It's gone out, hopeless. And yet Jesus still sees the possibility of life.

The way I read this verse, it's an encouragement that Jesus sees hope and the potential of a life burning brightly, even when just the smallest wisp of smoke remains. He won't snuff us out because He hasn't given up on us. The only reason not to snuff out the smouldering wick is if you're intending to relight it.

James also used this verse to remind us that God doesn't mind using the bruised reeds. He won't break the reed because it's useless - in fact He delights in taking the dodgiest raw materials to accomplish his plans!

Indescribable

An unmissable speech by Pastor S.M. Lockridge..

The transcript can be found at: http://www.christchurchbedford.org.uk/Sermons/description.htm

Then download an audio-only (or even with drum backing!) version at: http://www.churchnext.net/resourcing_free_up_indescribable.shtml
(it has to be listened to!)

Ron on Sunday

Last thoughts for this evening (i hope!)... just trying to get stuff down before i forget!

Ron was preaching on identity on Sunday evening. He said any discussion of identity should not lose sight of the fact that we're sinners.
As in the AA - 'I am an alcholic' - we should not let ourselves forget that our relationship with God starts from a position of admitting our weakness. 'I am a sinner'

It was an excellent analogy and a good reminder.

Holy Spirit in NT

Was listening to Debbie Forster again in the car today.
She was comparing the experience of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament with that in the New. She described the work of the HS in the OT as being 'sporadic' - he comes upon people here and there and it's mostly temporary and for a particular purpose. He comes upon 'special' people as well - prophets and such. It's an outward 'resting upon' idea as well.
But the NT experience is an inward - and continuing - filling of the Spirit. We are living in the fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel:

"I will pour out my Spirit on all people...
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days." Joel 2:28-29
(emphasis mine!)

It's no longer a trickle.. now the Spirit is poured out on all people!
And he is no longer just resting on us for a short while... now he is with us forever, working inside us!

Debbie Forster on the Holy Spirit

Just been listening to Debbie Forster on a tape in the car.
She had some relatively familar but quite interesting things to say about the Holy Spirit.

She got the 'audience' listing the pictures given for the Spirit in the Bible. Impersonal / personal - most of the personal are in the New Testament. Many of the personal words used for the Spirit in our translations (comforter, advocate, counsellor, etc) are rendered from the Greek word 'Paraclete'. I remember dad preaching on this some years back. Paraclete means someone who stand beside you in court / times of trouble or accusation.

She also pointed out that in John when Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit it is always with a 'He' - not an it. This is not a translation issue, but a deliberate decision by John, as the Greek word for spirit is always neuter and should therefore never be referred to as 'he'.

That's about where I got to before I got home!