Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

The apostle John, in his prologue to his Gospel, informs his readers about the coming of Jesus into the world (John 1:1-18). He, who calls the Word in verse 1 and the Son of God in verse 14, became man and revealed his divine glory in a life marked by grace and truth. People responded to him by either receiving him or rejecting him. Why should they have received Jesus? John gives two reasons. First, Jesus, as the Son of God, participated in the work of creation; it was through him that the world had been created, but they had not recognised who he was. Second, he came as the Messiah to his own people of Israel, but in the main they did not receive him as such. So he was rejected despite giving evidence that he was both the Creator and the Messiah, with the evidence being the miracles that he performed. Yet there were some who received him, and they were given by him the right to become children of God. John is describing those who responded to Jesus while he was here on earth, that is,...

It can be interesting to find out a person’s priorities, what makes the individual the person he or she is. I would like us to consider the priorities of three people mentioned in the Bible. Each of the priorities were connected to getting to know God or to know Jesus. We may wonder whether this has anything to do with Easter Sunday, but we shall see. David The first person we can think about is David who describes his priority in Psalm 27:4: ‘One thing have I asked of the L ord , that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the L ord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the L ord and to inquire in his temple.’ In his words, we can see the dedication he possesses, the location he has in mind, and the desire of his heart. His dedication is seen both in his prayer and in his practice. He asked the Lord for a blessing and then he pursued it, seeking after it. Nothing was going to stop him from experiencing what he wanted from the Lord. We can see from his meth...

I suppose the men who did the most dangerous of tasks in the ancient world were seamen. They may have been the astronauts of their day, the risktakers, the ones who were prepared to hazard their lives. After all, they had no idea that one day it would be possible to fly to different places. Nor would they have known that huge container ships would be built that would carry in one ship on one voyage what those ancient ships would carry in fifty years (of course, their boats would not survive that long). Still, they would be regarded as very skilful, the best that there was. And very brave. People would admire them. The preamble for thinking about providence (vv. 23-24) In verses 23 and 24, there is an unusual similarity which also turns out to be a contrast. Two kinds of businesses are described. First, there is the business of the sailors on the ship; second, there are the deeds of the Lord. Things are happening that can be interpreted at two levels. The sailors are busy doing what the...

Sometimes a friend moves abroad to live. He may have been there for years, but because he is our friend we can wonder what he is doing. Depending on what we know about where he lives, we could imagine him driving down a freeway or driving on a dirt track road. Of course, we could imagine him doing many different activities, depending on his abilities or his employment. We may even wonder if he ever thinks about us. It is possible, although we could not verify it, that we and he could be thinking about one another at the same time, and if that happened we might regard it as quite special. The fact of the matter is that we do have a friend who has moved to another country. That friend is Jesus. While we may not know everything that he is doing, the Bible does provide details of some of his activities. The Bible also assures that he is thinking about us, and not just occasionally, but all of the time. Indeed he has been thinking about his people in numerous ways. This means that whenever ...

Most people want a purpose in life and can usually give several reasons for the interests that they have. We can ask them, ‘Why are you doing what you do?’ and they will give us their reasons. A far more profound question is, ‘Why did Jesus die on the cross?’  Maybe we find the question surprising. But if we do, we should not really, because Jesus answered that question in several ways. We can consider those answers briefly. 1. Loved the Father First, Jesus died to show that he loved the Father. In John 14:31, Jesus says this: ‘ but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father’ (John 14:31). He had come into the world because he loved the Father who had called him to do so in the eternal counsels. There was nothing in the Father’s purpose for him that Jesus omitted to do when he was here in this world. The story of his earthly life was that he must be about his Father’s business. Jesus loved to speak about the name of the Father, and in doi...

Peter closes his second letter with an exhortation and a doxology. Both concern Jesus. The exhortation is connected to growing in knowledge of him and the doxology is a desire for him to have glory. Growth and Jesus Jesus is identified by two titles – he is the Lord and he is the Saviour. The first title refers to his position and the second refers to his purpose. When did he become Lord? While several answers could be suggested to that question, the likely answer is at his exaltation. It is possible that Peter is referring to a personal relationship rather than his position, and if he is doing so, then he became the Lord of Peter and his readers when each of them was converted. But usually this title refers to his position given to him as his reward for his successful work on the cross. This position is a very high one because he is at God’s right hand. The Father invited the ascended Saviour to sit there, on the throne of God. He is in control of all things, which means that it is a ...

As we have observed already regarding Psalm 107, it is a psalm in which the author considers four sets of circumstances that the Lord used in his providence to bring sinful people to himself – lost, imprisoned, affliction and a storm at sea. In these verses, we have the third feature that he uses, that of affliction. It is the case that this feature is the one of the four that most people are familiar with. As has often been said, many don’t get lost in a desert, many don’t get put in a cell and many may not be in a storm at sea. But most have experienced sickness in one way or another. Therefore, we should be able to relate to this section of the psalm. There are some qualifiers that we need to make. First, the writer does not mean that every illness occurs for the reason of converting someone. The biblical teaching is that illness exists as an outcome of the fall of man and there can be no obvious connection between an illness and a person’s salvation. People can be ill and yet not f...