Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

We saw previously that God had initially called Abraham when he lived in Ur of the Chaldees. In response to that call, Abraham had left that city along with his father Terah and other family members. They travelled as far as Haran, a region that today is on the border of Turkey and Syria. There they settled down, for how long we cannot say, although we are informed that this second call occurred when Terah had died. So we can assume that the delay had a connection to Terah. Was Abraham a backslider in Haran? The call that Abraham received the second time was virtually the same as the first call. He was told to leave his situation and his family and go to an unknown location. There he would prosper under the hand of God, and eventually he would become a blessing to the whole world. The point to note is that God, when he gives a second call, does not adapt his original call. This feature is found in the experience of many in the Bible who received a second call from God in a s...

Today it is common for businesses and other enterprises to have a slogan or mission statement that summarises their purpose. One statement that states the purpose of the church in a very clear way is ‘Christianity is Christ’. We have already noted that Luke is presenting his material in Acts as the activities of the risen Christ. Now as we continue to look at Peter’s sermon, we can see from its contents that Christianity is Christ. We noticed in the previous chapter that Peter began his explanation of the significance of Pentecost by referring to the prophecy of Joel in which he predicted the outpouring of the Spirit. In developing his explanation, Peter moves from the biblical passage that described Pentecost to the One who was in control of Pentecost, that is Jesus Christ. Peter’s sermon structure thus contains two essential features of a sermon: biblically based and Christ-centred. This shift by Peter does not mean that he has ceased basing his comments on a biblical passage (h...

It is well-known that there is a common format to the seven letters sent by Jesus to the selected churches in the province of Asia. The format usually had five points and they are the particular characteristic of Christ that is appropriate to the specific church, a commendation of the church by Christ, a criticism made of the church by Christ, counsel for the church from Christ and comfort for the church from Christ – with the exceptions that the church in Laodicea receives no commendation and the churches in Smyrna and Philadelphia receive no criticism. So we are going to consider a church in the city of Smyrna that pleased the Saviour as he searched and probed the hearts of her members, as he walked around the churches assessing the kind of light each of them displayed. So what can be said about the city in which this church’s light shone? Smyrna, situated about forty miles north of Ephesus, was a very nice place to live. It was a revived city, the original one having been destroyed...

The church in Ephesus was a very important church in the first century. It was established by Paul during his third missionary journey. He was there for about three years and used the location as the centre of evangelistic missions to the surrounding towns and cities, perhaps to some of the places mentioned in the list of seven churches. Over thirty years have passed since then. Timothy was there for some years, because he was in Ephesus when Paul wrote 1 Timothy. Later, the apostle John lived there and his letters are connected initially to the surrounding area. So it was a church that had received a great deal of spiritual input. Each of the letters to the seven churches follows the same basic framework: character of Christ, commendation by Christ, criticism by Christ, counsel of Christ and comfort from Christ. Exceptions are the letters to Smyrna and Philadelphia for neither of these churches received criticism, and the church of Laodicea, which received no praise. These letters w...

By any account of the biblical story, Abraham is one of its crucial characters. Although he lived long before the Israelites became a nation, he was regarded as one of the fathers of their nation. His influence continues in the New Testament, with the writers of the early church asserting that he was their spiritual father. Yet if we had seen Abraham before his encounter with the Lord, we would not have even imagined that he would become such a prominent person in the Bible. The reason for this is obvious – in those days Abraham was not a believer in the true God. Instead he was an idolater, as explained by Joshua, the leader of the Israelites who God chose to lead them into the promised Land: ‘And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan,...

The circumstances John was in In verses 9-12 John describes his commission from Jesus Christ. Before he gives any details about Christ he describes his own situation and in so doing gives encouragement to other believers. John was exiled to the island of Patmos because of his faithfulness to Jesus Christ. But his circumstances did not remove him from the family of God. Notice that he reminds his recipients that although separated from them by land and sea, he is still their brother. Nothing could separate him from God’s family. In a similar sense, he was still a subject of the kingdom of God, for once a member, always a member. Further, his circumstances did not mean that Christ could not reach him. One reason for John’s exile in Patmos was the influence he had over Christian congregations. The authorities imagined that by shifting him to an out-of the-way place they could isolate him. But no human barrier can keep Jesus and one of his people apart from one another. And his circumst...

There are two common attitudes to the Book of Revelation: one is to regard it as so mysterious and complicated, even obscure, and therefore best left alone; another is to assume that somehow John was commissioned to detail particular events that are going to happen in our lifetime. It is not too difficult to highlight the errors in each view: the error in the first view actually dismisses as unimportant a divinely-inspired book given by Jesus for the benefit of his people; the problem with the second view is that it assumes that the book has nothing to say to the countless number of Christians who have lived in previous centuries. 1. A book about Jesus In response to both views we can note that the first clause in Revelation 1:1 tells us what the Book of Revelation is about. It is not primarily about beasts and other imagery which we have to decode in order to work out the future; rather it is about Jesus Christ, giving us insight into his role, his expectations, and his triumph. So, ...