Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This letter was written towards the end of the first century by the apostle John, who by this time was the only surviving member of the apostles, the others having been martyred. Although the others had died, he is writing as their representative, which explains his use of the word ‘we’ in these verses because we can see that he is describing the ministry of the apostles and others as the first witnesses to Jesus and the witnesses who possessed his authority. At the time of writing the letter, various wrong ideas were circulating about Jesus, even in the church, and among them was the claim that his humanity was not real. Various reasons can be suggested for this spread. One is that people were listening to ideas from outside the church, opinions from non- Christians as to who Jesus is. Another is that some were not listening to true explanations of Jesus that were being given in the church. A third is that the devil would be actively encouraging wrong ideas about Jesus, because that w...

One feature stands out in this petition and it is that the Father has a kingdom. A kingdom implies subjects, locations and laws. Since we have seen in the previous petition a claim to the perfection and glory of the Father, we might assume that his kingdom would be marked by perfection and glory. Yet when we read the Bible, we will discover that his kingdom is marked by imperfection and weakness. Apart from two aspects of it, that is, and one of those aspects is his kingdom in Eden before the Fall and the other is his kingdom in eternity. Both of them have no imperfection.   God’s kingdom in the Bible As we look at this petition, we need to ask what is meant by kingdom. After all, there is an obvious fact that God is king because he is the sovereign God. We are told about that fact in many places in the Bible. He rules through his providence and display many aspects of his rule. He alone decides the weather, and the effects of his decision are not limited to planet earth. Job was g...

None of us likes our name to be misused. People have found themselves in court for misusing another person’s name. The basis for protecting our name from misrepresentation and slander can be traced to the third commandment in the Decalogue which forbids taking the Lord’s name in vain. And we are told not to say wrong things about other people for the reason that they are made in the image of God.    Probably, we think of swearing and a crude use of the divine name as being the point of the third commandment. Yet there is more to it than such wrong usages. We take his name in vain when we use it lightly, thoughtlessly, carelessly. Maybe the best illustration is to consider how a people or nation should use the name of their monarch. What would people think if we misused the name of the Queen? They would not think much of us.   What the petition reveals about Jesus One obvious aspect of this petition is that it reveals how much Jesus loved the name of the Father. He wants h...

In what ways can God be called Father? Two ways are mentioned in the Bible. One is that he is the Father of everyone by creation and the other is that he is the Father of all who have believed in Jesus. The petitions of the prayer reveal that it is the second way that is intended here because they can only be offered by a person who values the progress of the kingdom of the Father. Jesus has just contrasted Christian prayer with both Pharisaical prayer and pagan prayer. Pharisaical prayer was ostentatious, trying to please God by formality, and pagan prayer was manipulative, trying to pressurise God by shouting longer about an issue. The difference between those options and Christian prayer, as John Stott pointed out, ‘lies in the kind of God we pray to.’   Adolph Saphir pointed out that it is not only the simplicity of the way of addressing God that should be recognised but also the sweetness of what this says about God. It is a sweet way to pray when we are converted and brought ...

One never knows the effect of a discussion with Jesus. Nicodemus could not have anticipated that the conversation he had arranged with Jesus would result in the introduction into language of the concept of being born again. Nor could he have imagined that the conversation with Jesus would lead to a life that would be very different for him and that he would find himself engaging in activities that would not have crossed his mind before. And he would not have anticipated that this meeting with Jesus would be a crossroads from where he took the road to heaven, which is where he is now.     Nicodemus is known for coming to see Jesus by night and it is often suggested that he came by night because he was too frightened to come during the day. Maybe he was, but evening would be a normal time in Jerusalem for people to meet if they wanted to talk. In any case, it is not obvious that either Nicodemus or Jesus was alone because they both use the pronoun ‘we’, which suggests that other...