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The moral matrix

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In his book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (2012) Jonathan Hardt examines how we think about what is right and wrong has changed in recent decades.

He has devised the following matrix

1careharm
2libertyoppression
3fairnesscheating
4loyaltybetrayal
5authoritysubversion
6sanctitydegradation

Liberal secular thinking give priority to the first three sets of items, whereas conservative religious believers put greater stress on the last three.…

Silence speaks

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William Barclay (Daily Study Bible on Mark 15:5) writes:-

There is a time when silence is more eloquent than words, for silence can say things that words can never say.

(i) There is the silence of wondering admiration. It is a compliment for any performance or oration to be greeted with thunderous applause, but it is a still greater compliment for it to be greeted with a hushed silence which knows that applause would be out of place.…

Lk 5:1-11 – Fishers of men – sermon notes

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Luke 5:1-11

Do you remember the day you became a follower of Jesus Christ?

Simon Peter would never forget this day.

1. Hearing the word of Christ

Jesus preaching by the lake – pushed back by the crowds – gets into boat, continues teaching.

Lk 4:43 – “I must preach the good news…to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

The word of Christ is ‘the word of God’, v1.  Jn 7:16 – “My teaching is not my own. …

The gospel according to Galatians

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Fitzmyer has identified six characteristic aspects of Paul’s gospel:-

  1. it is an apocalyptic revelation, the unveiling of good news previously unknown in the same way it has now been manifested. The whole argument of Galatians is in essence an unpacking of the confessional statement with which Paul opened the book: Christ “gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age” (Gal 1:4). The revelation “through” Paul is an integral part of the rescue mission of Christ himself.
…

Descriptions of hell

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Hell is described as

a place where the fire never goes out, Mk 9:43
a place where ‘their worm does not die’, Mk 9:48
a place of darkness, Mt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30; 2 Pet 2:17; Jude 14
a lake of fire, Rev 19:20; 20:10,14,15; 21:8
a place where we may be ‘beaten with blows’, Lk 12:47
a place of ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’, Mt 8:12; 13:42; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30
a place in which people are ‘shut out from the presence of the Lord’, 2 Thess 1:9

‘Even when we affirm that this language is metaphorical, and the suffering concerned is accordingly essentially mental and spiritual rather than physical, the presence of some profound degree of conscious anguish is inescapable.…

Why expository preaching?

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‘Expository Preaching,’ writes Peter Adam, ‘is the preaching of the message of a book of the Bible, usually verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter, by explanation and application of it to the congregation.’

Here are fifteen argument in favour of expository preaching:-

  1. It explains and applies the Bible as it was actually written – not as a collection of quotations, useful texts, inspiring ideas or isolated stories, but as a sequence of sentences, paragraphs, and book.
…

Expository, yet merely moralistic?

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Peter Adam points out that it is quite possible for a preacher to use the expository method and yet still remain stubbornly moralistic.

Thus (and I’m slightly paraphrasing here):-

  • Genesis 1 – the importance of creativity
  • Genesis 2 – caring for the environment
  • Genesis 3 – none of us is perfect
  • Genesis 4 – we must learn how to forgive

We need, says Adam, a Biblical theology as well as an expository method if we are to free our preaching from the dangers of mere moralism.…

Jesus: inclusive or exclusive?

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‘Diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ are today’s great buzz-words.

Jesus, it is claimed, accepted everyone ‘just as they are’, and so should we.

But, actually, it’s not quite as simple as that.

Certainly, Jesus preached (and practised) inclusion.  His invitation was astonishingly wide: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37).  …

Paul and the historical Jesus

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‘The lack of reference to the historical Jesus [in Paul’s writings] has often been exaggerated.

  • [he] shows himself aware of the birth of Jesus and his descent from both Abraham and David; (Rom 1:3; Gal 3:16; 4:4)
  • he knows of the betrayal of Jesus on the night on which he also instituted a fellowship meal; (1 Cor 11:23-25)
  • the crucifixion is frequently mentioned, a death in which the Jewish leaders were implicated; (1 Thess 2:15)
  • he speaks of the burial of Jesus and of the eyewitnesses to his resurrection.
…

Acts 1:8 – You will be my witnesses – sermon notes

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Acts 1:8 – “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses.”

What are all reasons you can think of why a person might not do an errand like that?

Can’t hear it
Don’t understand it
Think that it’s someone else’s job
Got something better to do
Think it’s too difficult
Don’t have the means
Don’t know how to do it
Don’t want to

In our Bible passage, Jesus’ followers had been given a task to do. …