John 3:16

If I had ten sons, how many would I deliver over to a painful death for the sake of my enemies?

None, I think. I'm fairly sure of that. Even for my friends. Sorry!

But God had one, well-beloved Son, sinless, well-pleasing to him always ... and he delivered him up to save us, the sons of Adam, the rebel race. Not only to save us, but to give us life in all its fulness: that we should know him, that his Spirit should be given to us, and that we should have eternal glory waiting for us with him in heaven. He did this out of his love - a love which is for the whole world.

That's the good news, and why being a preacher is the best job in the world!

God so loved the world

Tomorrow in Eldoret we are beginning a new weekly evangelistic meeting on the Pioneer Estate where people will hear the gospel and know they can bring their friends to hear the gospel. Please pray! All being well, tomorrow I intend to preach from John 3:16.

What is love?

The second half of term at Bible college has started, which for me means continuing in Exodus and 1 John.

Here's a challenge from 1 John 3:16:

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

What is love? According to the Bible, we must measure it by the standard of Christ giving himself on the cross.

So... have I loved my wife enough yet? My children? My fellow-believers? Have I kept the law of God by loving them as myself? Can I sit back and say, "that's enough now - now it's their turn"?

The answer is "yes", if and only if I have done as much as Jesus did on the cross for me.

If (!) I have not done that much, then I still owe them a debt of love. Then it is still my duty to do more in serving them.

And then I must realise that in as far as I fall short of that standard, that's the sin that needs to be forgiven and which Jesus died for. What amazing grace that he can forgive so much!

The blood of Christ

"Martin Luther once dreamt that his accuser came to him to set before him afresh all of his sins. Luther admitted them all, without denying any or seeking to justify himself in any way, but he also scrawled across the list, 'The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.'" - Knowing Where We Stand, Peter Barnes (Evangelical Press), p22.

The day death died

The heart of Christian teaching and experience is both simple and profound: We who believe are united with Christ. We were united with him in his death and resurrection. His death at Calvary was our death; and now we live a new life together with him.

This is both in our justification and our sanctification.

Legally, the damnation that Jesus endured at Calvary is considered as his peoples'; their sin has been condemned fully and finally in him. God considers the slate wiped completely clean, considers us legally holy, and so can come to dwell in us by his Spirit. He will raise us from the dead at the last day to eternal life because we cannot be condemned and death can no more continue to hold us than it did Jesus.

Experientially, when we begin to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, our old way of life passes away, we become a new creation (and a part of The New Creation) and receive a new empowerment by the Spirit to live a new life. We can live a new way, because we have a new Master. We are not under the law's condemnation, or under the law as the covenant that regulates our approach to God. We relate to God by the Spirit of Christ who is in us.

Of course, the old creation is still with us, and the remains of the sinful nature are still at work in us. The work of the "New Creation" still has many future aspects, in particular its consummation when Christ returns and glorifies us and the world. But the Christian reality is that we live in a new way, even whilst still surrounded by the old which is considered obsolete, passing away, soon to be abolished. We have been born again and all things are made new.

This is the gospel, and we should think about it every day; not just what has come to be called "Easter Friday" ! But we can be reminded today to especially focus on the fact: all these benefits come to us by Christ's death and resurrection, and no other way. Only the painful stroke of divine wrath of that day of days brings us any of these benefits. Only the bitter cup of infinite judgment and condemnation which he drank brings us the refreshing nectar of life. Death did not die in any old way; it died on that day, in that glorious act. It was he who did it, at an infinite price to himself. Praise his name!

How to revolutionise your Christian life...

How to revolutionise one's Christian life. It's easy. Really...

Easy to understand, that is.

It's not to get some great liberating experience at a special meeting. Not to be specially "anointed" by a specially blessed "man of God" as many think in Kenya. And so on and so forth. What is it?

It's to believe and apply the gospel to yourself, day in and day out.

You're a rotten sinner. Trust me, I know, because we all have the same fallen Adamic nature. Perverse, selfish, rebellious and revolting. But if you're a Christian, then that means you're a repenting rotten sinner. But did you know what the Bible says about repenting rotten sinners?

It says that God's mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

It says that if we claim to not be sinners, we're lying.... but if we confess our sins then God is both faithful and just to wash away all our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:8-10).

It says that as Christians, we can forget those things that are behind us, and press on towards the goal in Christ (Philippians 3:13-14).

This is the gospel, and it is tremendously liberating. It is grace - free and boundless. Hard to believe, because it is so counter-intuitive, and so unlike how we relate to others. But it is, feel it or not, the way that God actually does relate to us. As we believe this good news day after day, repent day after day and re-commit to pressing forwards day after day, God forgives us day after day and leads us on. This is a freedom from bondage that the world knows nothing about. The comfort of it comes only if we believe, repent and look anew towards Jesus Christ. Simple.... but wonderful. A revolution for every Christian life, and hiding in broad daylight under our very noses....

The Year Of Our Lord, 2010

Tomorrow is AD 2010 - Anno Domini 2010, the year of our Lord, 2010. Or for those who don't like Latin, CE 2010 - the year of Christ's Empire, 2010.

One of the great contributions of Christianity to the world has been the very idea of history. To the pagan mind, history is simply the endless repeating of cycles and has no inherent meaning or purpose in itself. We are born, we live, work, eat, sleep, reproduce and die. The sun rises and sets again, and goes round to the place it began.

The advent of the God-man at Bethlehem changed that forever. As Christianity has spread itself across the world, so has the idea of history as progress - an idea which is one of the bedrocks of post-Reformation Western civilisation. The words which Jesus spoke after his resurrection - "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations..." inevitably - to the believing mind - imply the meaningfulness of history, the reality of progress and the certainty of final victory however long it should be in coming. This is not unthinking triumphalism; it is reality. It does not minimise or ignore the setbacks, surprises and disappointments: it includes and transcends them.

Jesus has rightly reserved all the glory to himself and therefore no mortal is permitted to be more than - or should desire to be more than - the tiniest of cogs turning in the vast machine. Ours is not to redefine history around ourselves, but to rejoice every time that we remember that its who meaning, purpose and success is in him. Each time the calendar ticks round again we are one year's march nearer home and the final day when he shall be revealed and adored as the all in all. Let every knee bow. This is the year of our Lord and His Empire, 2010: all hail!

Jesus died and rose again

Jesus died and rose again. The only way to keep going in the Christian life is to keep preaching this gospel to yourself.

The work God has given us is absolutely impossible. But he is the God of the impossible; Jesus died and rose again. He's the God who brings life from death. So the impossible is not only possible, but the very heart of what we are and what we do. Without it Christianity wouldn't be what it is.

Many challenges. Many road-blocks. Many stumblings. Here in Kenya the work of planting credible, Bible-based, loving, fellowshipping, Christ-centred, evangelistic, holy churches seems to have hardly begun. There are "churches" and "Christians" everywhere; but the "Christianity" is little more than lots loud noise, excitement and wide-scale heresy (mostly of the "health and wealth" kind). Protestant Christianity has been here for 140 years - but the culture at large has hardly been touched: corruption, theft, lying, cheating and fornicating are the norm everywhere you turn. It seems hopeless.

But in fact our God is the God of the hopeless. He brings life from the dead. Jesus died and rose again. Glory and resurrection come following death.

I think it's John Calvin who described the work of a minister as being a "living death". When I was a boy, it looked a terrible work to me and I had no desire to go near it. Later, God changed my thinking. It's a glorious work, as well as a terrible one! But the terrible side is all temporary, and the glory is forever. Jesus died and rose again - never to die any more. When the great day of testing and judgment comes, the empty riches of this world will be burnt up as useless stubble. The work of Jesus will remain.

How can it be?

And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with tax-collectors and sinners, they said unto his disciples, "How is it that he eats and drinks with tax-collectors and sinners?" - Mark 2:16

After over two decades learning more about Jesus, I think cannot understand this question myself. Not in the sense the Pharisees asked it - they didn't classify themselves as sinners, and saw no reason why Jesus shouldn't fraternise with them. But if we do see who we really are, and who Jesus really is - just how is it that he can fellowship with us? Jesus had to explain to the Pharisees that is was the sick who needed a doctor - and as the "physician of souls" he'd come to visit those who knew that they needed him. That's why he came to them. But why did he come? How can he have been willing to come so low, to stoop so far, to fellowship with us?

That's the mystery of the good news which Mark wrote to explain - "the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (chapter 1, verse 1). We'll never understand it fully though by God's help we make progress year by year. We'll never reach the goal because the love is infinite; the good news is that we'll have an eternity to keep going towards it.

Preach the gospel!

What did the apostle Paul want to achieve for the believers in Rome? What had he hope to accomplish if he had been able to visit them? What did he now hope to do through writing instead?

• To impart spiritual benefit to them, 1:11
• To see them established, 1:11
• To bring mutual encouragement, 1:12
• To have spiritual fruit amongst them, 1:13
• To discharge his own debt to all who he was called to be an apostle to, 1:14

Now how did Paul think he would be able to accomplish these ends? What means would be up to it?

A new political program? An aid agency? A way to make them rich? Skilful psychological counselling? Better education? Signs and wonders? What does the text say?

So, as much as in in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also (1:15).

That is how it's done. That is the only way it's done. That's the way it really is done.

He ate with them

Mark 1:29 - "Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John."

When the synagogue service in Capernaum ended, whose house did Jesus enter? It wasn't the leader of the synagogue. It wasn't the mayor of the town, or some local politician or dignitary. It wasn't anybody rich or famous. It was the humble home of poor fishermen.

That house, Simon shared with his brother Andrew, his wife, and as the next verse tells us his wife's mother too. He and his brother were poor and uneducated (Acts 4:13). But it was that house which the Son of God visited that day. It was this family which the Lord of Glory had favoured. He had chosen two of these believers amongst his closest disciples, and was pleased to fellowship with them.

That's God's way, and in a nutshell that's the "good news" of the gospel. God comes and fellowships with the lowly. He scorns the high and the mighty - the self-righteous have no place in his kingdom. But with those who groan and labour with a knowledge of their sins and who humble themselves, he comes and eats and drinks. God visits sinners and makes himself known as their friend. Hallelujah!

Have you become very low, that God might lift you up? Or are you still puffed up in your own pride and self-sufficiency, on high, in which position he will forever scorn you?

The Year Of Our Lord, 2009

"Anno Domini", words with a lovely ring to them. At least, in the
believer's ear! They remind us of some precious truths: that history
belongs to the Saviour, and the event that has defined time for all time
is his long-awaited arrival. The year of our Lord, 2009 is dawning.

Atheists and unbelievers of all stripes may (should they think too much
about it) deeply dislike the daily and hourly reminders - it's probably
down there in the corner of the screen you're reading this on - but even
in this another Biblical truth is confirmed. Whether you love Christ or
hate him, you can't avoid him, because, well, he is Lord! You never will
be able. To him every knee must ultimately bow, whether it's in the
submission of loving delight, or of resented final defeat. We know that
some have tried to get us to re-label the next year "2009 C.E.", but I'm
assured this really just means the 2009th year of "Christ's Empire." At
least, whatever C.E. stands for, we all know there's only one event that
we're counting 2009 years on from regardless of what terms it's labelled
with. Love it or hate it, it is what it is.

Thousands of years ago, the obscure prophets of an insignificant nation
proclaimed day in and day out that one day, through the coming Messiah,
all the nations of the world would worship Israel's God, Jehovah. This
was a remarkable vision, and likely proof of early insanity, as the gods
of the nations in those days were routinely local deities, expected to
protect this hill or that nation but no more. The seers of this apparent
non-entity of a nation, though, ridiculously declared that their God
made the universe, and would one day have his rule (which had been
apparently overthrown by man's sinful rebellion), restored, on an
appropriately world-wide scale. Well, that's a good joke, one ancient
Near-Easterner might say to another, especially if he belonged to one of
the more important regional powers, such as Egypt, Babylon or
Medo-Persia (depending on your century).

Except that it wasn't a joke. The good news that Jesus Christ came into
the world to die for our sins is today being spread comprehensively
throughout the nations, just as the prophets announced it would. The
most obscure and unlikely tribes and peoples have, as they foretold,
turned to the God who was worshipped in those days as the God of Israel,
Jehovah or Yahweh, now more fully revealed as the Triune Jehovah,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Whichever continent you travel to, and
whichever country (even those where Christianity is outlawed and
punishable with death), you will at least find small gatherings even if
only of secret believers. In other places you will find the whole
direction of entire cultures and continents which were defined (however
much the late-comers are trying to undo it) at their foundations by
faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to the New Testament which tells his
story.

This story will continue, like it or not. So why not decide to like it?
Jesus is Lord, and his Lordship is a wonderful thing for those who bow
to him. It is the Lordship of a loving Saviour who suffered and died to
bring us back to God, to redeem us to the uttermost. It is the Lordship
of a heavenly Friend who cares for his own people like a shepherd for
his sheep, and will at last bring every single one of them to heaven and
eternal glory. On the other hand, you can go on despising it or
rejecting it. If you do, it will only ever be the Lordship of a supreme
Potentate whose empire will spread much to your chagrin, and to whom one
day you will bow even if ultimately it is only as your terrifying and
hated judge. Whichever way you cut it, Jesus is Lord, and this new year
is marked as the 2009th year of his glorious kingdom.

I remember speaking once in a Christian old peoples' home, for the
morning devotions, and afterwards one of the resdents repeating to
himself in delight over and over the Bible verse which we had looked at:
"Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Amen, and amen, and
may his kingdom come!

A Saviour Is Born

Human beings everywhere are looking for a deliverer, a saviour. Because God made us, and made us for himself, until we find him we can only wander around in lostness. We're looking for something that's missing - whether we can articulate just what that missing "something" is or not. Some people suppress this sense of missing-ness better than others, but it's a fact of life in all human societies and cultures.

Just how desparate we are once all the image and pretence is stripped away is shown by how quickly each passing bandwagon is jumped upon. A youthful and charismatic politician appears, promising hope and change, and carries all before him. Then he fades, and it's time for the next one. Someone gave my wife some copies of the "Reader's Digest" from early 1997 - featuring an interview with the British prime minister in waiting - who's now old hat and we look for the next anointed deliverer. Politicians, football players, soap stars, musical icons, and so on - we like to believe in someone or something super-human who'll lift us up. Or we might look for it in achievement, or adventure - to "find oneself" in some trip of a life-time, or achieve some life-long goal. Excuse me, I feel a song coming on. "To dream, the impossible dream... to fight, the invincible foe..." Etcetera. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy football and am profoundly grateful for those who take on the immense task of political leadership. They have their place - but that place is not that of a Saviour.

Christmas is good news, because it tells us that this endless, fruitless quest that our nature compels us to pursue, is actually an ended and fruitful one. "A"nother saviour has not been born; the Saviour has. The Saviour to end all Saviours, who breached the gap between man and God when he died for our sins. He fought the invincible foe, overcoming man's true enemy, his sin against God. He lived the life we should have lived, died under the curse we deserved, and rose triumphant to never die again. Jesus came as a true man 2000 years ago to save men. The deep yearnings we have, which spring from our distance from God, are all satisfied in him. A Christian can sit with a level of disinterest when the next political/sporting/musical superstar is lifted up for the public to transfer their worship to. No other name is needed. God himself came in human nature. There's no need this Christmas to yearn to know how to climb your way up to him, because he came down to us. Turkey is nice, playing games and relaxing with the family is better still. But when all the fun of the season has faded once again, it'll not be leaving a gaping hole when we know him.

Creation or evolution - do we have to choose (chapter 4 - natural selection and reproductive success)

This chapter explains the "big idea" of Darwin's theory (in its modern form) - that natural selection, operating upon the the variations generated by mutations, is the engine driving the evolutionary machine.

By his own confession, DA postpones the difficult questions until later chapters, such as: where does the amazing complexity in even the "simplest" life forms come from in the first place? (i.e. the idea of Darwinism requires a pool of competing candidates to begin with), and are the changes generated by gene mutations (which DA concedes are normally harmful, not beneficial) able to cause not just one offspring to differ from another, but to bridge larger gaps - even such that ultimately the whole of all life is just a single family tree? That is, are there limits to the changes which can be generated by DNA copying errors? Likewise, questions of what evidence exists that such a process has actually happened (the fossil record, etc.) is not in this chapter.

So, like the previous chapter that makes this more of a plodding exercise in describing what the theory actually is, rather than one in which there's much argument to show that it's true or not. At least, though, in those particular cases which DA flags up, he attempts to answer them in later chapters. Other issues are not even raised.

To take an example, somebody attempting to evaluate the theory of evolution as a Christian theologian is going to have to grapple at some point with the fact that man is an awesome creature who is capable of vastly more than he needs to be capable of in order to survive. He's made in the image of God, not just as a machine to survive by the skin of his teeth. I like Handel; but even the most cunning and inventive minds haven't yet suggested how the ability to compose such intricate melodies, harmonies and so on stopped George Frederich or his fans from getting eaten by the local predators. All the wonders of human art and culture might ultimately be attributed to our immaterial souls, but they do at least pass through our physical brains. If Darwinism is a purported explanation for the origin of the complexity of those brains, it needs to explain this. Natural selection, as DA defines it, is to do with relative likelihoods of survival. Yet, the breadth of human capabilities exceeds what is needed for mere survival by a galactic mile and then some more after that. We might learn to play a piano concerto, debate the niceties of internal Labour Party politics, blend spices for the finest lamb madras, or contemplate the consequences of this or that chess move a few gambits down the line. It ought to be obvious that anyone who thinks that such excessive capabilities can be accounted for in terms of reproductive pressures is probably a few quality genes short up top themselves. DA, though, as has been his habit thus far in the book, simply ignores this question, if he's even aware of it.

One helpful "thought experiment" DA partakes in is to liken the (supposed) history of the earth to a 24-hour clock. On this scale, man appears at 3 seconds to midnight, and all of his record history takes place in the final fifth of a second. If we lengthen that to take in the whole history of the universe (not just the earth), then it's 1 second to midnight, and somewhere about 0.07 seconds for the bits we know about. DA, though, simply ignores the theological question that then arises, as to in what sense man's creation can with any responsibility or accuracy be portrayed in Scripture as being an event at the beginning of time, grouped with the creation of light and land when in fact they come at opposite poles in evolutionary reality. Nonetheless, DA is consistent in gliding over all such questions, because as we've seen his method is not to look for Scripture for history in any way - for him, it gives no parameters or boundaries, this is the role of modern science. Hence, he simply never raises the question; it doesn't come up within his methodology.

That's one of the things that concerns me about this book most. The undiscerning reader is not at the most fundamental level just being shown how evangelical thought and Darwinism can live together. He's actually getting a whole course of instruction in a new way of reading the Bible. A new way in which there are boundaries and limits set before we even open the book. A new way in which the key questions aren't to find out how the New Testament interprets the Old, or how the Saviour and his apostles guided us concerning the reliability of Genesis not just for matters of spiritual truth but also for flesh-and-blood matters of people, places and times. The reader is unwittingly being shown how to relativise the importance of the Scriptures, and form a whole new world-view which does not come from the mind of God as revealed in the Bible but from the secular "Enlightenment". A new world-view in which he learns not to ask "What does Scripture say?", but simply, in many important cases never to raise that question at all, because he's been taught to think of it as a category mistake.