Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

At first glance, how would we grade this verse? Do we find its statements as exaggerated, hyperbole, too good to be true? Or do we think that they can only be true for special saints, such as apostles and prophets, but never possible for run of the mill believers? Or do they describe what happens to ordinary Christians living here on earth? Zephaniah, in this passage, is describing the restoration of God’s people. One of the privileges of restoration is the presence of God. There are other privileges such as the dispersal of enemies and the removal of a sense of reproach. The question that we have to ask first concerns the time when Israel will be restored.  We know that this question was of interest to the apostles after the resurrection of Jesus because they asked him if the time was near when he would restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). They did realise that Jesus would be the Restorer. At the time they asked the question, he did not give a precise answer except t...

Jesus continues to speak to his disciples about various aspects of their calling as his followers. It is important to realise that he is speaking initially about the apostles, although there are applications from his instructions that apply to all believers. The commandment of Jesus (v. 12) Clearly, the reference by Jesus to his love would have a personal relevance for the apostles because they had experienced his love as they interacted with him. Yet we can think about how his love applies to his people through how he showed it to the apostles. The requirement of Jesus may seem daunting: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.’ After all, we know that he loved us perfectly, and we can never love in such a manner while we are in this world. And we also know that even if our love was perfect, it would not be as big and wide as the love of Christ. So Jesus is not referring to the perfection of love when he says that his disciples should imitate ...

A common illustration that is used is that the best way for an artist to highlight something bright is to give it a dark background. This is true for biblical situations as well. We can see the brightness of salvation when it is contrasted with the dark background of judgement. This way of speaking is found repeatedly in the messages of Amos. In Amos 5, we read another of his addresses to the northern kingdom. He again urges the people to seek for individual salvation (5:4), even although the nation as a whole was going to go into exile as a punishment for her sins. Amos repeats the manner of the punishment and the reasons for the punishment throughout this address – that is the dark background. We can remind ourselves of them before thinking about the brightness of the individual invitation that God gives through Amos. The judgement described In verse 2, the prophet says that Israel will be  isolated : ‘Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her la...

My telephone rang the other day, but it rang out before I could get to it. So I dialled 1471 to see who called me. I did not recognise the voice, so I asked the person their name. Instead of telling me, the person asked, ‘And who are you?’ I told the individual and discovered that I actually knew the person very well. But the question I was asked is an interesting one to be asked at other levels. To put it another way, ‘What does it mean to say that one is a Christian?’ How would we answer the question, ‘And who are you?’ Or take the information we have to put in a census form for the government. When we are asked about our religion, no doubt we tick the box that says Christian. Would it be acceptable for me to enlarge the line about which faith I identify with to say that in addition I am raised with Christ, that I have died with Christ, that I am hidden with Christ, and that I shall yet appear with Christ? After all, merely to say that I am a Christian might not say very much be...

We can see that in this passage Jesus is focussing again on love. He speaks about divine love and about Christian love. The divine love concerns love between the Father and the Son and love between Jesus and his people. The expression of Christian love in these verses is love between believers and Jesus, and in the next passage he speaks about love between Christians. The comparison (15:9) Jesus draws a parallel between the Father’s love for him and his love for his people. So if we want to know how much Jesus loves us and in what ways Jesus loves us, we need to ask how much the Father loved him and in what ways did the Father love him. This is what Jesus says: ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.’ The Father loved his Son eternally, and we know that Jesus loved his people eternally. Moreover, the Father loved his Son fully, and we know that Jesus loved his people fully, using everything he is to bring blessing to them. So it us an extraordinary comparison. It m...

When I was young, there used to be times when a preacher would come along and his messages would impress people and they would gather to listen to him, sometimes night after night. He seemed to address the hour, to call people to reflect on where they were, and call for a response. Then, after a while, he would go away. Did his words have a longterm effect? They always did have, although the effect might not always be positive. As Paul says, a sermon is either leading to life or leading to death. Something like that happened with Amos. He appeared with a message for Israel and they did not know how long he would stay. Yet his sermons would have longterm effects and indeed he was aware of that as he spoke to the Israelites in the passage we shall think about together. Our approach will be to consider under several headings what he said to them, and then focus on some applications to ourselves. Calling of witnesses to observe No doubt, we all like an innovative preacher who st...