Last Sunday night, I started the message on Jesus: Let’s talk About Him! with a video on ’8 Reasons Why I Don’t Share My Faith.’
Do you relate to any of them?
The Fourth Anglican South to South Encounter took place in Singapore from April 19th through April 23rd, 2010. The theme for this encounter was: “The Gospel of Jesus Christ – Covenant for the People; Light for the Nations.”
A total of 130 delegates from 20 provinces in the Global South (comprising Africa, West Indies, Asia and South America) gathered together. They represent the vast majority of the active membership of the Anglican Communion.
There was a call to declare the next ten years a Decade of Mission and Networking with the Provinces urged to take up the matter, especially in expanding mission sending capacity to enhance networking among Global South Provinces. Churches were called on to pay greater attention to the role of Christian professionals in the mission, ministry and witness of the Christian community. And also to pay particular attention to the pastoral needs of the laity, especially women and young people, who are witnessing to their faith at the cutting edges of mission.
The concluding report from the Encounter noted that:
“During our plenary sessions, bible studies and small group discussions we were called back to a fresh vision of God, of the Church and of Christian leadership. We saw God in His stunning holiness and absolute sovereignty through Isaiah’s vision (Is 6: 1-13), and correspondingly saw our own ingrained sinfulness and utter foolishness in trusting man rather than God alone. We caught a “ big” vision of the Church from her role as ‘servant of the Lord’ (Is 42: 1-9) to bring God’s justice or ‘right order of living’ to the nations of the world. This established the absolute necessity and priority for the Church to disciple her members under the authority of the inspired Scriptures so that they may transform their societies and reach the nations with the Gospel. The fresh call upon the Church’s leadership, from the Servant of the Lord’s costly obedience (Is 50: 4-9), is to be courageous and fully confident of the Lord’s sustaining grace and final vindication.”
We commence a three-week series, this Sunday night, 25th April, on sharing our faith in Jesus with our friends.
Thom Rainer of Lifeway Christian Resources identifies Seven Characteristics of Highly Evangelistic Christians, namely:
We are running a monthly seminar series, Free-in-Christ, based on the excellent Dr Grant Mullen training DVDs, Transformation. So far we have looked at the topics of forgiveness, moods and fear. The session on ‘Moods’ focuses particularly on depression. After the seminar, a medical doctor present commented, “That’s the best presentation on depression I’ve come across.” The most recent seminar, ‘Fear: when trust is lost’ is simply outstanding.
Grant speaks from his experience as a medical doctor and as a Christian with a clear biblical understanding of spiritual warfare and prayer ministry. If you are in Melbourne, the weekend of May 28th-30th, he will be speaking at Essendon Baptist Community Church.
Chapter Eight: What did the resurrection ever do for us?
I remember the first time I read the Acts of the Apostles in one sitting. I came away with two ‘R’ words embedded in my mind: Repentance and Resurrection.
And the author of Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything, Adrian Warnock is also impacted by the importance of Jesus’ resurrection in Acts. As he rightly says, “each sermon [in Acts]…highlights a particular aspect of what the resurrection accomplished.” So let’s make a quick journey with Adrian:
Ever read Acts cover to cover? It is not only a great read but contains life transforming truths. Jesus is risen and that changes everything. We’ll be looking at the last part of Acts (chpts 18 to 28) at Deep Creek on Sunday mornings, beginning on May 9. Join us and/or download the messages.
Jesus is risen!
Chapter Sixteen:1 Tim 2:8-15: Introduction”
Philip Payne now comes to the much debated section in 1 Timothy regarding women’s ministry. He takes eight chapters in Man and Woman, One in Christ to consider in detail 1 Tim 2:8-15.
He begins by considering the situation in the Ephesus church addressed in this occasional letter. Our author concludes that the Pastoral Epistles were authored by Paul but penned by Luke; the time setting was after his first imprisonment in Rome (ending between AD 61 and 63) and his execution under Nero (sometime between AD 64 and 68).
Payne contends that the primary purpose in writing this first letter to Timothy was to advise him on how to overcome false teaching in the church at Ephesus. In this introductory chapter, there are two main topics considered by our author:
False Teachers: The havoc wrought by false teaching teaching dominates the entire letter (see esp. 1:3-11, 18-20; 4:1-8; 5:11-15; 6:9-10). Chapter 2 is linked to this problem of false teachers in a number of ways:
Our author also looks at the false teaching in chpts. 3 to 6. His conclusion: the church at Ephesus had been infiltrated by an early from of Gnosticism (clear link with five problems identified in 1:3-11). Further, the prominent teaching role of women in Gnostic circles helps explain Paul’s restriction on women teaching in this situation.
Women’s involvement in the false teaching: Payne reviews the letter and finds numerous instances where Paul describes women using identical or similar expressions to those used to describe false teachers. Further, “no other book of the bible has a higher proportion of verses focussed specifically on problems regarding women: 21 out of 113 verses.” In 5:13, the Greek word “gossip” (NIV) in fact most likely means ‘teachings or philosophies opposed to the truth.’ False teaching had deceived the women in Ephesus (2:14).
But why was it so attractive to women, especially widows? The false teaching (encompassing resurrection already taken place; forbidding marriage; food restrictions) pointed to an overly realised eschatology – women in Ephesus likely considered themselves in the ideal state before Christ – highly attractive if you were a widow pushed out to the fringe of society. More than that, with the philosophy that the body is spiritually unimportant, the male false teachers propagating this heresy appear to have had illicit sexual relations with women caught up in their teaching.
Payne concludes that the “problems caused by women depict a situation where women had become central to the false teaching that was dividing the church.” And so Paul, seeking to bring peace in the church, puts forward 2:11-12 as a practical solution to the situation in the Ephesian church.
Our author finishes his chapter with eight reasons that support the conclusion that 1 Timothy is “not a manual on church order but is rather a letter from Paul giving Timothy specific instructions for dealing with false teaching in Ephesus.”
Even if you are not particularly focussed on 1 Tim 2:8-15, I recommend chpt. 16 of Man and Woman as an excellent overview of 1 Timothy.
Chapter Fifteen: Ephesians 5:21-33 and Colossians 3:18-19: Husband-Wife Relationships”
We return to Philip Payne’s very significant book Man and Woman, One in Christ.
Philip begins this chapter highlighting that Paul’s ‘household rules’ are vastly different to those in the 1st C secular world. ”Paul goal is the actualisation of the “New humanity” where all members are filled with the Spirit and nurtured in Christ (Eph 5:18).”
Our author contends that Paul’s statements do not endorse a hierarchical structure, so prevalent in that 1st C world. For example, Paul effectively undermines slavery – the image of God in humankind and the family of believers who are one in Christ is fundamentally incompatible with slavery (see also 1 Tim 1:10).
Before our author gets into the detail of Eph 5:21ff with its instructions on husbands and wives, he highlights the importance of mutuality and love in the Letter to the Ephesians. Payne comments,
“True love for one’s wife is not compatible with a husband completely controlling her life, just as true love is not compatible with a master completely controlling his slave’s life or for a parent controlling his mature child’s life.”
Paul writes in Eph 5:21 (NIV): “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Payne notes that:
“Paul highlights for women and men what each tends to need to hear most.” (277)
The second critical issue that Payne wrestles with is the meaning of “head” in v23. This is an analogous relationship put forward by Paul between husband/wife and Christ/church. So the starting point is to understand what is meant by: “Christ is the head of the church“. Our author makes the following points:
I found Payne’s analysis very helpful. My understanding of this passage starts with the command of Eph 5:18 on being filled with the Spirit. What follows, all the way down to Eph 6:9, are descriptions of what this looks like in the church and in everyday life. And clearly Eph 5:21 is an overarching verse on the conduct of our relationships. Payne’s examination of v21 and its link with v22, and the analysis of the ‘head’ metaphor has put much more meat on my understanding of this passage.
Death is a topic that people often seek to avoid. But Adrian Warnock in Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything reminds us that the biblical writers have no such reticence. ”By reminding us so forcefully of the problem of death, the Bible prepares us to fully appreciate the importance of the solution that resurrection offers.” It’s been a while since we looked at Raised with Christ – what with Easter, preaching through Hebrews on Sundays and a wife undergoing extensive chemotherapy. But time to get back into this important book. And we’ll resume by considering the following chapters:
Chapter Six: Glimpses of Resurrection?
Chapter Seven: Resurrection before the Cross
Our writer looks at the Old Testament witness of resurrection, but through New Testament eyes:
Adrian concludes chapter six noting that OT people did believe in God raising the dead.
I think that the OT case is overstated – for the OT saint, the future after physical death was not particularly clear – that came with progressive revelation in the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry and the apostles. There was a hope for the future, including resurrection (see Dan 12:2f) but clarity came with the Lord Jesus.
In chapter seven, our writer considers the 1st century world in Palestine. The Pharisees held to a physical resurrection; even King Herod (Matt 14:2)! But as Adrian states, there is “scarcely a more dramatic statement in the whole of Scripture” when Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus spoke about the resurrection and the afterlife in His parables and emphasised His impending death and resurrection to His disciples. Of course, they did not grasp the significance of His words until after His resurrection.
Adrian concludes: “The resurrection of Jesus is the key event in human history…”
Amen to that. The Lord Jesus is the author of life; the source of eternal life; and the One who will raise the dead at His return. The challenge of the absolute certainty of the resurrection is to be connected and in union with the One who is Life.