just chilling on schoolies, taking in God's handiwork :)

RevWrites - March 29

Have you been a Christian for five years or more? Are you teaching others the Christian faith?

Last week we looked at the centrality of teaching and learning to all of life, and especially to the Christian life. We looked at reasons why we feel reluctant to teach others and suggested some solutions to our anxieties.

All of us can remember our teachers. Some of them stand out. I clearly remember my year 3 and year 6 teachers. They were both men! But I also remember those who taught me the Bible. Interestingly, it wasn’t the Ministers who made an impact on my early Christian life. They preached every Sunday to me but I can remember counting the bricks in the arch at the front of the church many times over during their sermons.

Yet I clearly remember the influence of several men who taught me after I was converted. One of them was here for my 60^th birthday celebration. He taught me the Bible. His teaching methods were primitive. In fact, he made us learn some of Paul’s letters by rote. Most of us didn’t really appreciate what he was trying to do. We found it hard and we rebelled. But he persevered. Now, more than 40 years later, I recall his influence and appreciate the value of what he tried to do.

Another bloke who taught me every week for a year was a builder. He was a weather-beaten, “unschooled” bloke. His teaching methods were primitive too! But more than 40 years later I remember him teaching us about Jesus and Paul.

Perhaps the man who shaped my early Christian life was a man a bit younger than those two. He’s still only a few years older than I am and is a member of a church quite close to Northmead.

The interesting thing about him was he suffered from epilepsy. So every few minutes he would literally “disappear” as he suffered a small fit (petit mal). That was pretty disturbing to teenagers! Every week for a year, continually distracted by his fits, we learned as he taught us the Bible.

The common thing about these three men was they all loved the Lord Jesus. They tried every day to live as disciples of Christ. They were, simply, ordinary Christians. But they all taught! They taught with all the limitations of sinful men struggling to live as followers of Christ. They taught with very few educational skills or resources. But they taught others what they knew – Jesus. And they taught me! They shaped my Christian life. I am their legacy.

We need more teachers of the Bible in many areas of our life at NAC. Although the world has changed remarkably since I was a teenager, and although there is much more pressure on our time, we still need to teach others the Bible. It’s important we don’t fall into the trap of thinking that we pay our church staff to do all the teaching. Of course they teach. They are Christians!

But our staff are meant to equip the church members to do ministry. So if you’ve been a Christian for more than 5 years and you aren’t teaching the Bible then talk to one of the staff. It’s their job to get you doing what the Lord Jesus wants you to do.

Of course, that might be supporting those who teach by exercising some other ministry. More about that later.

Neil

200 words on... The American Dream

Did you see article in the paper where a research centre decided to see if Americans still had faith in the American dream in light of the current economic crisis? Despite going out of their way to survey people whose dreams had been disappointed, there was an overwhelming optimism among people. What was even more interesting to me was the definition of this dream that they believe in: ‘Being free to accomplish anything’; ‘being free to say or do what you want’; ‘children being better off financially than you are’.

That’s the great American dream. What stood out to me was the emphasis on freedom and individuality. People want to be able to do whatever they want and say whatever they want. It’s all about me. I make my decisions and my dream and my life happen. I can do anything.

This says something about people’s world view. It’s all about me. I think sometimes we can be the same. But as Christians, as James reminded us on Sunday, life is about a community of shared love. It is in this community that we make our decisions and choices. And we act in a way that promotes this community. What a far cry from the great American dream.

Can we talk about community and more?

It's been amazing working through the first scene of our 'The God of our City' series. I've found it hard and exciting preparing the talks. Our grasped on God has been stretched. Our understanding of life in our city has been sharpened. I've loved getting questions and comments on the feedback cards. But one feedback card from Sunday night really intrigued me. I wanted to chat with the person more about but there was no name on the card. So I'm sharing it here. They expressed surprise and disappointment that we were strongly emphasising social issues from Genesis.  What did they mean? 

If they meant that churches don't engage with social issues well, I agree completely. We've allowed ourselves to withdraw more and more into our little communities just running programs for ourselves. 'The God of our City' series is driving at helping us do this better as we grapple with God and our city. 

If they meant we shouldn't be talking about social issues at 645, then I don't understand. We know that God created the universe and speaks into every part of our lives. So it's a great joy for us to explore what that looks like. We're actually being human when we wrestle with social issues together. 

If they meant we shouldn't be getting our understanding of social issues from Genesis then, I still don't understand. Fundamental to our world view and understanding of social issues is our beginnings. If there is no God and therefore no external referent point on our lives then social issues are just personal private things - do whatever you think best, do what you think you can get away with etc. But Genesis teaches us that God is creator he creates our reality and he shapes how we live. So as we saw on Sunday we care about and treasure all human life because God has made every human in his image.

This is why the 645 questions have been so exciting as we continue to wrestle with worshipping Jesus in this city. Some questions from the cards on Sunday.

1. What's the difference between Genesis 1:27 'male and female he created them' and Genesis 2:22 where woman is created? How is there female before the woman? I love this question. It comes from a 645er reading and thinking carefully about the Bible. It's important to emphasise that Genesis is not saying that there was female before there was woman or that there was male before there was man. Genesis is teaching that male = man, female = woman, humanity = male and female. The difference between Genesis 1 and 2 is that they give us different angles on the same reality. So Genesis 1 gives us the broad sweep of the creation of the universe. Genesis 2 zooms in to examine the heart of that creation - man and woman. We see it as Genesis 2:1-2 announces the end of the creating work. 'Thus the heavens and earth were completed in all their vast array' then God rested. But then we arrive at Genesis 2:4 'This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created'. Hang on didn't we just finish that account? As we read on we see we now get to the heartbeat of God's creative work - humans. It's not merely repetition but helping us understand the focus of God's creation. This reflects a different way of explaining reality in narrative. We're used to just a straight line of story telling, i.e. beginning middle end. Genesis 1-2 goes from beginning to middle to beginning to middle. It's a bit like how movies like Pulp Fiction, 6th Sense and the Matrix move around in a web of scenes.

 

The question also got me thinking about what it would mean if there was male and female before man and woman. It would be a bit like how the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato saw the world. He believed that there was somewhere in the universe the blueprint or basic form of everything. So there was a blueprint of a horse from which all horses derived their horseness. I know it sounds hilarious but it partly reflects a belief that our material existence was not the true reality but only a shadow of reality. Your day to day life is not the core of life but only a faint scent of the true spiritual reality. So salvation became the escape of the spirit from the body. This is not reality. The Bible says that male = man, female = woman, human = male and female. We are not a shadow or a faint memory of humanity and God's image. We are truly fully human and in God's image. Our humanity is distorted by sin but we're human. So this means our salvation is not escape from this world but we await the return of Jesus to this world to redeem this world and transform us to be like him (see Romans 8:18-25, Philippians 3:20-21). 

2. If you work best with imagery is there a particular image that could explain the Trinity? Or is it too complex for that? 

This is another interesting question because it touches upon our desire to know God better and more deeply. So people have come up with all sorts of illustrations to picture the Trinity. There's the 3 leaf clover or 3 interlocking circles. There's the egg (God is one with 3 = shell, white, yolk). There's water (God is one and 3 in different states = liquid, steam, ice). At first glance they seem helpful but they mislead us about God. They suggest that the Father, Son and Spirit are 3 separate gods or 1/3 god or 3 different modes of God. This is not how God reveals himself in the Bible. Perhaps the closest image is marriage. So in a marriage husband and wife have one home, one bank account, one vision etc. But marriages are never perfect and so the imagery breaks down. Matthew 11:27 says that no one can know God unless he reveals himself to us. God is revealed to us in the Son, Jesus. It's a closed circle of knowing that we invited into. So our knowledge of God is a gift from God. This means that we need to avoid bringing our human experience onto God. So we learn more about being human by understanding Jesus not we learn more about God by looking at ourselves. So we need to wrestle with the beauty and complexity of God - One God, 3 persons Father, Son and Spirit, all equally and fully God, in perfect relationship of love and unity from all eternity. 

3. How can we talk to our friends about sex and teenage pregnancy without just giving abstract morals?

Another good question - wrestling with how we bring our grasp on God and what it is to be human to our city. It's a complicated issue that needs refining in the particular relational situation but here's some thoughts.

(a) keep talking to yourself about Jesus. By nature we have a tendency to pride and religious moralism. We are tempted to look down on people. We are tempted to condemn their sin but justify our own. But when we keep preaching (reminding ourselves) Jesus to ourselves we remember we're saved entirely by God's grace to us in Jesus. We contribute nothing and bring nothing. This keeps us humble. This enables us to love others and share Jesus with them not self righteous morality. 

(b) Share a positive view of sex not anti sex moralism. The Bible teaches that God created everything. He created sex as a wonderful thing between a man and woman. Sex is a good gift in a loving marriage of a man and woman. Our culture actually thinks sex is bad because they keep on cheapening it as something to be shared with anyone at anytime. 

(c) Keep on speaking and displaying Jesus' forgiveness. Our friends tend to assume that following Jesus is religion (be good, follow the rules, earn God's love etc). So we need to keep on showing them God's kindness by sharing the Bible with them. A great example is the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). It's such a sharp explanation of the different between religion and Jesus. Religion is the Pharisees bragging about how good and religious he is. The tax collector knows his sin and simply cries to God for mercy. Jesus says he is the one who is justified and right before God. I remember sharing this with a friend of the family who'd asked how good do I have to be to go to heaven. He was blown away with how amazing and free God's forgiveness is. So you can display that forgiveness by being their friend when others abandon them or condemn them. You share that forgiveness by explaining to them God's free love and forgiveness in Jesus. 

There's more that could be said but it's a start in sharing loving community with them. 

RevWrites - March 22

Learning. Something we do from our birth. We start school at a very early age. Some of us spend twenty years or even more at school. Learning is at the heart of our lives. So teaching is at the heart too.

Teaching and learning is at the heart of our Christian life too. After the people of Israel had been rescued from Egypt, after they had received the Ten Commandments, just before they crossed into the Promised Land, God said to them:

Deut. 4:9   Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

In Deuteronomy 11 is the famous passage about parents teaching their children the word of God:

18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

When Jesus arrived he was called “Teacher.” He taught his disciples and the crowds.

Jesus’ apostles taught people the things of God. They, in turn, appointed others to teach the people of God the word of God.

Today, we still have teachers in our church. At NAC and WHAC we are blessed with many teachers who teach others the things of God. Preachers teach. This is central to our corporate life.

But others teach too. Group leaders teach. JGs leaders teach. BoB leaders teach. ClubReg leaders teach. Senior high leaders teach. Scripture teachers teach. And there’s more! (No steak knives though.)

I think that many people who have been Christians for more than 5 years should be teaching others. Yet we need more teachers. We need more teachers in many areas of ministry. This is always a need. Why?

Three reasons. First, many Christians don’t see themselves as teachers like this. Some don’t think they know enough. That is rarely the case as most of our members are well taught. Anyway, like all teachers you can learn more stuff.

Secondly, some don’t see themselves as competent to teach. Again, you can learn. One of the best ways to learn is to sit alongside someone who’s doing it. Become an apprentice. E.g. sit in on a school Scripture class for a year and have lunch with the teacher afterwards and talk about why they do what they do.

Thirdly, some don’t see themselves as mature enough in the faith or “godly” enough to teach others. This is important. The Bible warns against ungodly teachers. But this is where fellowship comes to the fore. Our friends will tell us if we ask them about our appropriateness to teach.

This week, if you’re not already teaching others, think and pray about how you might be involved in teaching the Bible to others. I will write more about this next week.

Neil

contrast

Arrived early in the city so I went to the botanic gardens for a sit.

Thought the contrast between the city and the gardens was really cool :)

200 words on... Christianity in action

I was at the San (Sydney Adventist Hospital) visiting someone this week. Walking around the corridors I kept seeing these signs up –

“Christianity in action: caring for the mind, body and spirit of our patients, colleagues, communities and ourselves.”

So I picked up a brochure that explains what their mission means. They believe that the mind, body and spirit are all linked and we need to take care of them all. They want to provide the highest quality health care in the spirit of Christian compassion.

I think we have some things to learn. Sometimes we forget that what we do to our body matters. We don’t want to create a false dichotomy between the physical and the spiritual. We could also think more about how being a Christian affects the way we care for people. Lots of us are on about social justice, but sometimes we make it a separate box in our life without realising that it’s not an optional extra. At the same time, it’s not in place of telling people about Jesus. Both of these things are part of the Christian life. We are to be Christians in action.

In the end, I don’t like their idea that ‘the best way to show our love and respect for God is to be the best we can be – physically, mentally and spiritually’ but it’s not a bad thing to do nonetheless.

645 Music Roster (March - version 3 and April)

Please contact troy@nac.asn.au with any questions or changes
Green coloured square is the song change for this Sunday
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how amazing is our Creator!

(taken in wiston hills at dusk)

200 words on... Obama & stem cells

This week you would have seen that Obama legalised stem cell research in the US. One researcher said "Now we can do everything, and we don't have to worry about, 'is that allowed -- is that not allowed'?" Sounds like playing God to me!

How do we, as Christians know what to think about this?
Here’s my 2 cents. When it comes to these issues my underlying question is: what is a person? If we can work out when a person becomes a person then it might help us with this and other related issues like abortion.

When David says ‘you knit me together in my mother’s womb’ (Psalm 139:13) what does that mean? When you read that John the Baptist leaped for joy in his mothers womb (Luke 1:44) – what does that imply? Is someone a person when they can speak, think, feel? Is it when there’s a separate egg and sperm? Is it when they’ve combined and the cells start multiplying? Can we even draw that line?

The other question is – because this research is for ‘a good cause’ should that impact the way we think about it? Can we make ethical decisions using a mentality of ‘the end justifies the means’?

Tricky questions. Any thoughts?

RevWrites - March 15

I was at a concert on Friday last week and the conductor mentioned that last week was the anniversary of the death of Joseph Stalin. He died on 5^th March 1953. I was 4 years old at the time so don’t actually remember it.

But when so many people in the audience burst into spontaneous applause when we were reminded of his death it made me think. I suspect they had escaped from Stalin’s terror or they had relatives who escaped.

It made me think about tyrants and death. I thought about how people often say religion should be banned because it causes war. Is that so?

The Roman Empire was religious. Roman state and Roman religion were intertwined. The Roman state suppressed the Jews because they wouldn’t submit to the Roman gods. Later on the early Christians got caught up in this religious tension and suffered because they were thought to be Jewish. So here’s religions suppressing people.

Often people point to the Crusades as an example of religious tyranny. There is little doubt that these were driven by religion. Again, there was a strong connection between the state and the church. It was the Holy Roman Empire, much later and different to the Roman Empire, that tried to suppress other pagan and Muslim nations. The Crusades lasted nearly 200 years and many people died during the various wars.

One of the features of the Crusades was the struggle for supremacy over Jerusalem. While the state, the Holy Roman Empire, wanted control there is no evidence that Christians within the state, especially Jerusalem, wanted such control.

There is a real sense that religion has been a factor in the serious loss of human life over the years. But that form of religion is often (always?) a religion tightly bound to the state. Little wonder that the Protestants sailing to the Americas wanted separation of church and state! Quite rightly.

But the anniversary of Stalin’s death reminds us of another side of the story. In the 20^th Century, non-religious dictators have been responsible for more deaths than any other comparable time in history. It is estimated that Stalin’s policies resulted in the deaths of nearly 700,000 people in 1937 and 1938 alone. “Between 1941 and 1949 nearly 3.3 million people were deported to Siberia and the Central Asian republics. By some estimates up to 43% of the resettled population died of diseases and malnutrition.”

Hitler and his Reich resulted in serious loss of human life. “Between 1939 and 1945, the SS, assisted by collaborationist governments and recruits from occupied countries, systematically killed somewhere between 11 and 14 million people, including about six million Jews.”

More recently, Pol Pot ruled Cambodia. “The combined effects of slave labour, malnutrition, poor medical care, and executions resulted in the deaths of an estimated 750,000 to 1.7 million people, approximately 26% of the Cambodian population.”

These three men, and their fellow idealists, were all strongly anti-religion. (Pol Pot’s followers did adopt some aspects of a form of Buddhism to justify their non-standard Communism.)

These three men alone in the last century or so have been responsible for more deaths than there has been in any other comparable period in history. It is very difficult to see that religion played a part in their motivation, except to oppose it. Perhaps religion, especially Christianity, is not the problem. People might be!

Neil

Some thoughts on Creation, Science & Sin

G’day everyone - lots of good questions on God as creator from Sunday. Here’s some thoughts…

How do we read Genesis 1? Is it 7 literal days or 7 non specific time periods? Some people read Genesis 1 and say ‘it says seven days so it must have been 7 literal days’ (creationist view). So the earth would be thousands not billions of years old. But Genesis 1:1 ‘in the beginning’ seems to be deliberately avoiding any claim about how old the universe is. Other people want to argue that it should be read more poetically. For them the 7 days represent the fullness and completeness of God’s work. So in the Bible the number 7 often functions as a symbol of fullness and completeness (see Genesis 4:15, Leviticus 4:6, Joshua 6:4, Psalm 12:6, Ezekiel 39-40, Daniel 4:16, Daniel 9, and 55 times in the book of Revelation). So the 7 days of creation would simply represent that God’s creative work was full and complete. However, we might ask whether the number 7 only took on such symbolic power because God made the universe in 7 days? Did the symbolism emerged from the reality of a 7 day creation and is not an indication that Genesis should be read that way? Again Creationists might argue that when God gives the law to Israel at Mount Sinai he institutes the Sabbath because he created in six days and rested on the seventh. Again Genesis 1 points out there was ‘morning and evening’ on each of the 7 days. So our week is 7 days of 24 hours not 7 unspecified periods of time. So the creationist position would argue that we need to stop giving ground to science (which changes its theories every few generations anyway) and read the Bible on its own terms, trusting God not our minds.

However, there are more questions we still need to ask. For example, the order of Genesis 1 doesn’t fit how we know the world works. How can we explain the creation of the Sun on day 4 the day after the plants. Are we saying the earth and plants were formed before the Sun was created? Again Genesis 2:4-7 has humans made before the plants on the earth. We would have to be absolutely certain that Genesis 1 really does require that we have a literal 7 day creation before we reject hundreds of years of scientific research by 1,000s of scientist.

So without dismissing the creationist view, I lean toward a more poetic reading of Genesis 1-2. First thing I need to say is that by poetic I don’t mean untrue or fictional. Poetry can use symbolic language and structure to point to concrete reality (the Psalms and Proverbs do it all the time). There are many different styles of writing (genres) in the Bible. So we shouldn’t read Paul’s letters like a gospel or Revelation like a literal foretelling of history. So what is Genesis 1 pointing to;

(1)  pattern = God speaks & commands then it happens. This sets the scene for the rest of history where God is connected to his world by his Word.

(2)  Order = Days 1-3 he separates then days 4-6 he fills the creation. He gives everything its place and name in his creation.

(3)  Good  = the repeated ‘it was good’ points to the reality that the creation fits the purpose God intended for it.

As Nathan Sewell helpfully pointed out on his feedback card Genesis 1 seems to be more concerned with ‘who’ created the universe rather than ‘how’. Think about it if Genesis was written for modern science, to answer the questions of modern science – it would have made no sense to anyone for 1,000s of years until science caught up and then today it would be useless and replaced by a good science textbook. No the bigger questions from Genesis are – Who are we? What is our purpose in this world? Where do we find our identity?

We can go round and round on this question. It’s important that we don’t let it forces us into a corner, where we exclude people because they’re a literal creationist or take a more poetic view.

So where do the dinosaurs fit in to all this? Again we need to be careful not to try to make Genesis say more than it does. They simply are not on the horizon in Genesis. Not because we don’t believe they existed or because Genesis didn’t know about them. The book is simply not interested in this small mechanical issues compared with the creator God and his plan for humanity. There was a good discussion on dinosaurs on the 645 Facebook group site under ‘Dinosaurs, Raptors etc’.

So if God wants us to thrive why did creates knowing that we would commit a sin? Good probing question. It’s probably helpful to remember that God has bigger plans than we often realise. So Deuteronomy 29:29 says “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law”. So God reveals to us what we need to know to have eternal life and live to please him. But there are ‘secret things’ that are not revealed to us. Not because they are impossible contradictions in God but simply because they are not necessary for us to know. 

However, we do get little hints of something bigger. In 1 Peter 1:17-20 we read that the Lamb Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world but only revealed in these time for our sake. So sin entering the world was not a surprise to God. Nor did God have to quickly come up with plan B ‘send Jesus’ to fix the problem. Jesus was prepared as the lamb to be slain before all that but it was only revealed to us later. So a reader of the OT before Jesus might have asked ‘what is God going to do to fix the mess in the world?’. We don’t ask that question in the same way because we have seen God’s complete and eternal solution in Jesus. 

So perhaps it’s the same with this question above – when we get to heaven it will all be clear or even forgotten as unimportant in the joy of seeing God face to face. This is the reality we see in the book of Revelation, where the people of God give him all glory. This comes at the end of a history which has seen God's patience, grace, love and justice rescue and shape a people devoted to him. The glory of God is magnified by bringing us to that point - from the depths of sin to heaven more so than perhaps if we went straight from Genesis 1-2 into heaven. 

Perhaps we want to say 'but then everything is about God' - Yes. And before we say 'is that fair' we need to read Romans 9-11. There Paul grapples with God's faithfulness in the face of Israel's rejection of Jesus - Is God unable to keep his promises? Is God unreliable or unfair? The answer 'the clay doesn't talk back to the potter'. That means we need to remember our place. God is Lord and Creator and has plans bigger and more glorious than our minds can often get a grip on. We also struggle with always assuming that life is about us. Remember Genesis 1:1 'in the beginning God' not you or me. So it's good for us to wrestle and ask big questions but we must always do that humbly remembering that God ways are beyond our tracing out. 

James

city on the move

Driving along old windsor rd with a friend one night when i took this photo. A reminder of how our city is constantly changing and moving!

Updated March Music Roster

Please contact troy@nac.asn.au with any questions or changes
645 Music

200 words on... magnum worship

I really enjoyed the new ‘cityscapes’ segment on Sunday night. Our meetings team are brilliant at being creative and pouring time into loving our community by making Sunday nights great.

But I have a question - did Brittney go far enough?

It is sad that a company would use the language of 'worship' for chocolate and ice cream. And it is sad that people value insignificant things like chocolate so much.

But they have something right - anything we do that does not worship God is worshipping something else.

The first commandment is ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ (Exodus 20:3). Anything that does not worship God is idolatry. If you don’t worship the true and living Triune God, you worship an idol. And idolatry provokes God’s wrath. It is what God abhors.

That billboard isn’t just sad, it rouses the wrath of God and represents what is at the heart of sin. The world, our city, our friends lives are all full of idolatry.

What’s the word to us? ‘Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.’ 1 Cor 10:14 As believers, we need to flee from idolatry and point our city to the true worship of a Triune God who rescues us from wrath and judgment.

Launch 09 Talk Downloads

You can download the talks by going to

www.deluxestudios.com.au/nac/launch09

There are basically 5 talks - the trick is Talks 2+3 were 1 long talk broken in half (hence the weird name). QT is the Sunday AM question time.

If you would like a booklet to listen to them with - please email paul@nac.asn.au and we will get you one

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