The grace of law

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Many members of the Galatian church, and many professing Christians since, have supposed that sinners are saved by their own best efforts, by keeping the law of Moses as promulgated in the Sinai covenant.

As Paul insists in Galatians 3 and 4, this is a fatal error, because it undermines the gospel of God’s free grace.

David Murray shows how the Sinai covenant is, in face, ‘a revelation of Jesus and his gracious salvation.’  Like this:-

  1. ‘The Sinai covenant painted pictures of grace.
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What difference does it make?

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I am sure that many of us lament the fact that the thoughts, attitudes and behaviours of many professing Christians seem to be indistinguishable from those of many who make no profession of faith in Christ.

The danger for the preacher here is that he encourages moralism: “You think you’re a Christian, then you really ought to … more.”

In order to avoid moralism, Randall Pelton finds it helpful to put the matter like this:-

‘When you trust Christ it changes the way you think about…’

(Fill in the blank, according to however the passage you are preaching from may be applied to the Christian life.…

Domesticating the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality

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If people don’t like what the Bible teaches, they may try one of a number of strategies designed to blunt its impact.

Applied to the thorny issue of same-sex behaviour, it can work like this:-

  1. ‘The Bible has been misinterpreted’.  Sodom is not about homosexuality, but about inhospitality.  Romans 1 is not about committed, loving same-sex relationships but about exotic and exploitative sexual behaviour.
  2. ‘The Bible is wrong’.  The Scriptures do indeed teach that homosexual behaviour is sinful, but we must work with the Bible’s underlying principles and values, re-applying them to changing times and situations.
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Preaching. Discuss.

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Some discussion starters for preachers.

  1. Do we agree on what preaching is (and is not?)
  2. What are the qualities of a ‘good’ sermon?
  3. If the aims of preaching may be defined as ‘having something to say’, and ‘knowing how to say it’, are we in danger of neglecting the skills involved in the latter of these?
  4. How important and helpful is it to have systematic appraisal of our preaching?
  5. Are we missing opportunities for consecutive teaching?
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The fear of God

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“Live in the fear of the Lord always”, says Prov 23:17.  “Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”, says our Lord, in Matt 10:28.  “In all things obey … fearing the Lord”, writes Paul in Col 3:22.

Clearly, the fear of the Lord is not optional.  But what effect does it have on people, when they truly perceive God in this way?

  1. When he saw God, Manoah expected instant death (Jud 13:22).
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Hallowed be thy name

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Or, as the New Living Translation puts it: ‘May your name be honoured.’

This, the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, established the Number One priority for prayer.  Not me, and my shopping lists of aches and pains, interests and concerns.  But God, and his honour.  We have not even begun to understand who God is, if we have no interest in putting him first.  In reality, God is first: as Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of the cosmos.  …

Preach love, as well as truth

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Whatever captures the heart’s trust and love also controls the feelings and behavior.  What the heart most wants, the mind finds reasonable, the emotions find valuable, and the will finds doable.  It is all-important, then, that preaching move the heart to stop trusting and loving other things more than God.  What makes people into what they are is the order of their loves – what they love most, more, less, and least.  That is more fundamental to who you are than even the beliefs to which you mentally subscribe. 
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Preach reality, as well as truth

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To engage the heart is also to engage the imagination, and the imagination is more affected by images than by propositions.  Here, we are talking about what are usually termed “sermon illustrations.”  Over the past generation, preachers have recaptured the importance of story.  Common sense tells us that stories capture interest and stick in the mind, and so preachers are often advised to lace their sermons liberally with narratives.  However, we should think a bit more deeply about why they are so effective. 
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Heroes and villains

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In his book Jesus on Every Page (54-59), David Murray discusses the pitfalls involved in preaching from Old Testament characters.  Among other things, writes Murray, this approach is

  1. Man-centred – It puts God in the background, when he should be in the foreground.  We should be preaching, not human character traits, but God’s nature, character and will.
  2. Moralistic – It turns the Old Testament into a manual of do’s and don’ts, rather than a revelation of God’s actions.
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Same-sex attraction and the church

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The Plausibility Problem: the Church and Same-Sex Attraction.  By Ed Shaw, IVP, 2015.

As others have pointed out, this is not just a book for those who experience same-sex attraction.  It is a book for all of us, calling everyone back to biblical faithfulness and radical discipleship.

The basis of Ed Shaw’s argument is that the orthodox Christian view on same-sex attraction (“Just say no”) is implausible.  Why on earth would we deny sexual intimacy to those who are attracted to members of their own sex?  …