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Thoughts on thankfulness

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The class was set a task to write a short paper on “Things I Am Most Thankful For.” One small boy put at the top of his list, “My glasses. They keep the boys from punching me and the girls from kissing me.”

‘As the Lord loves a cheerful giver, so likewise a cheerful thanksgiver.’ (John Boys)

‘The Christian is suspended between blessings received and blessings hoped for, so he should always give thanks.’ (M.R. Vincent)

Bible commentator Matthew Henry, after being robbed, wrote in his diary: ‘Let me be thankful.…

Incidental references to ‘spiritual gifts’ in Paul’s letters

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It is sometimes thought that because the ‘charismata’ are directly discussed only infrequently in Paul’s writings, they were regarded by the apostle as the marks of an immature church, and needed to be discouraged or actually suppressed.

However, it is at least as plausible to argue that Paul took the exercise of spiritual gifts more or less for granted in the churches, and he felt the need to discuss them in detail only when there were problems (as at Corinth).…

The blind men and the elephant

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A famous Indian fable tells of a number of a blind men who try to describe an elephant.  One, touching its side, declares that it is ‘like a wall’.  Another, feeling the tusk, think that it is ‘like a spear’.  Yet another, encountering its trunk, says that it is ‘like a snake’.  Other contenders are ‘like a fan’ (the ear), ‘like a rope’ (the tail) and so on.

The intended moral of the story is clear: no-one has a monopoly on the truth.  …

John Stott on 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

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A summary of a sermon preached by John Stott at All Souls, Langham Place, in 1984.  A recording of the sermon is available here.

Verses 1-3 – Introduction

It was a miracle that there could be a church in such a place as Corinth.  It was notorious for sexual immorality, overseen by the Temple of Aphrodite.  If a church can be planted in Corinth, it can be planted anywhere.

Paul had been called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.  …

Flavel on Jesus’ cry of dereliction

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‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:46)

Here is a summary of Ch. 33 of John Flavel’s great work, The Fountain of Life.

Here, says Flavel, ‘are words that might rend the hardest heart.’

The manner of the complaint

Note what our Lord complains of. ‘It is not of the cruel tortures he felt in his body, nor of the scoffs and reproaches of his name; he mentions not a word of these, they were all swallowed up in the sufferings within, as the river is swallowed up in the sea, or the lesser flame in the greater.’…

Mt 26:57-68 – Jesus before the Sanhedrin – sermon notes

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Matthew 26:57-68

This sermon was preached in two parts.  The first part was followed by a time of sung and spoken confession.

This Powerpoint presentation was used:-

Part 1 – Four portraits

(a) Caiaphas – perverted justice.

‘Looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death,’ v59.

Looking for the expedient solution – Jn 11:49f “It is better that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”…

Matthew 27:46/Mark 15:34 – ‘Why have you forsaken me?’

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Mark 15:34 ‘At the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” – which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”‘

Matthew 27:46 (NET) — 46 At about three o’clock Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Six hours after he was nailed to his cross, the dying Jesus shouted out these awesome words.…

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.…