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Mt 2:13-23 – Out of Egypt – sermon notes

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V13 – ‘When they had gone’ – that same night?

Whatever happened to the gold, frankincense and myrrh?

Three places – three prophecies. Not always 1:1 prediction/fulfilment (cf. Mt 2:5/Mic 5:2); they are more like ‘patterns’.

1. Egypt – a place of rescue

Border about 75 miles away. Many Jews living there.

V15 – ‘And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”’ (Hos 11:1)

Hos 11:1 not a prediction, but a glance back to the Exodus.…

Inspiration and criticism

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The Christian doctrine of inspiration says that the Bible is the word of God, and therefore uniquely authoritative.

The academic discipline of biblical criticism insists that the Bible is a human word, and therefore subject to ordinary methods of enquiry regarding authorship, interpretation, and so on.

Can these two perspective be reconciled?  And, if so, how?  This is dealt with by John Goldingay in an early (1976) article entitled Inspiration, Infallibility and Criticism.

I would like to summarise Goldingay’s article because I think it’s interesting (not because I necessarily agree with all of it):-

For evangelicals the doctrine of inspiration has, as its corollary, the notion of infallibility (or something similar).  …

Romans 11:26a – ‘And so all Israel will be saved’

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11:25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 11:26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come out of Zion;
he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.
11:27 And this is my covenant with them,
when I take away their sins.”…

Replacement theology

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A few years ago, I had some dialogue some Christian friends about the place of Israel in God’s purposes.  I wrote up my thoughts at the time in some of the posts that you will find linked to this one.

One of those friends has recently placed into my hands a copy of Derek White’s booklet Replacement theology: it’s [sic] origin, history, and theology.

White was one of the founders of Christian Friends of Israel (CFI) in 1985.  …

Connecting with postmoderns

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According to Robertson McQuilkin, there are some elements of postmodernism that we should adopt, others that we should modify, and still others that we should reject.

1. Adopt

(a) The spiritual trumps the material

(b) Authenticity is crucial

(c) Reality must be experienced

(d) Heart is more important than head

(e) Relationships are paramount

(f) Hope is at a premium

2. Modify

(a) Anti-intellectualism – a healthy suspicion of the cerebral helps dethrone materialism and scientific naturalism

(b) Story-telling – while not neglecting propositional truth, we follow Scripture when we tell stories

(c) Diversity – when taken to extremes, the celebration of diversity means that everyone’s ‘reality is different, and intolerance is the only sin.  …

Charnock on natural theology

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Stephen Charnock (1628-1680) held that men can and do know something of God, “though nothing of Christ.” Though they are sinners by nature, they are unable to blot out completely the knowledge of God’s existence, Rom 1:20.

Charnock lists ten attributes of God that may be thus known from nature:

  1. the power of God, in creating a world out of nothing;
  2. the wisdom of God, in the order, variety, and beauty of creation;
  3. the goodness of God, in the provision God makes for his creatures;
  4. the immutability of God, for if he were mutable, he would lack the perfection of the sun and heavenly bodies, “wherein no change hath been observed”;
  5. his eternity, for he must exist before what was made in time;
  6. the omniscience of God, since as the Creator he must necessarily know everything he has made;
  7. the sovereignty of God, “in the obedience his creatures pay to him, in observing their several orders, and moving in the spheres wherein he set them”;
  8. the spirituality of God, insofar as God is not visible, “and the more spiritual any creature in the world is, the more pure it is”;
  9. the sufficiency of God, for he gave all creatures a beginning, and so their being was not necessary, which means God was in no need of them; and finally,
  10. his majesty, seen in the glory of the heavens.
…

Spiritual decay

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Hebrews 4:16 urges us to ‘come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’

The Puritan Robert Traill, in the course of preaching a series of sermons from this text, noted that one time of special need of God’s grace is the time of spiritual decay.  Here’s a summary.

1.  Whence it comes

(a) It comes from the weak and infant state of the new Christian.  …

Tactics

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This is the title of a book by Greg Koukl.  The author suggests a number of ways in which the Christian, in seeking to commend her or her faith to others, might guide the conversation.  In other words, the book covers not the ‘what’ of Christian apologetics, but rather the ‘how’.  Recognising that the person who seeks to commend Jesus to others needs (a) knowledge, (b) wisdom, and (c) character, Koukl focuses mainly on the second of these.…

2 Thess 3:6-15 – Against the tide – sermon notes

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The church in Thessalonica – a model church in many ways, 1:3f.

There were some problems. See v11. Some of them ‘toadying up’ to the more well-to-do (Acts 17:5 hints at the cultural background).

Any vision for the church will need a way of dealing with problems like this:-

1. With authority, v6

Paul had already offered a milder admonition, 1 Thess 4:11f.

‘Stepping out of line’ – military terminology.

Apostolic authority means ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ’: that is, with his own authority.…

Tom Wright doesn’t believe in miracles…

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…and I (sort of) agree with him!

In the course of a wide-ranging interview with Justin Brierley on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable show, Tom Wright explained why he’s uncomfortable with the word ‘miracle’, as popularly understood.  ‘Let’s give up the word “miracle”,’ he said,

The word comes from an Epicurean or deistic worldview which envisages a God who is outside the process and occasionally reaches in, does something funny, and then pushes off again.  That’s not what the New Testament is talking about.  

…