Monday 31 December 2012

Day 7: Read the Bible in a Year

 
One of the greatest 'growth disciplines'  for any Christian is using a 'read the Bible in a year' scheme.

While it requires discipline and resolve, there is no substitute for reading the Bible cover to cover, because we're forced to read even the bits that we might naturally avoid and discover treaures we might otherwise miss. So often, I have also found that my reading for a particular day has been uncannily appropriate for a situation or struggle I have been facing.
 

Can I therefore challenge you to make a new years resolution to read the whole Bible in 2013?
 
I can promise you - you won't regret it!
 
There are lots of different Bible reading schemes available to suit every lifestyle, preference and diary pattern. The link below is to a blog I came across a few weeks ago which has helpfully gathered together in one place a collection of the most popular reading schemes available.
 
They are all free to download... you really have no excuse!
 
CLICK HERE to get to them.
 
The blog has got some helpful tips to get you started and you can then view and download the various schemes from here as well.
 
 

Sunday 30 December 2012

Day 6: A Cat for the New Year?


For most 21st century Christians, the word 'catechism' is a dirty word. And the concept of catechizing my children - well that's almost child abuse isn't it?
 
Well think again!
 
New York pastor and author Tim Keller teamed up with the Gospel Coalition last year to produce a new catechism for all the family based on some of the historic catechisms of the past.
 
And it's BRILLIANT!

 










(It's even has it's own free iphone and ipad app!)
(Or there's a web-based version for people who don't own i-things)
(And there's even a pdf version for people who are computer-phobic)
 
As most catechisms do, it's made up of questions and answers, through which biblical truths are taught. Each question comes with an adult answer and a shorter child-friendly answer. The idea is that all the family learns together. There are 52 questions, the idea being that you learn one question a week for the whole year.
 
We've done catechisms as a family for a few years now. I generally compile one once a year that we work through during our summer family holiday. (These are available on the church website - click HERE)
 
Each Q&A in the New City Catechism comes with a supporting bible passage, a short explanation, a prayer and a video clip from Bible teachers such as Tim Keller, Don Carson, Kevin DeYoung, John Piper to name just a few.
 
In short, this is a superb and rich resource!
 
With the new year nearly upkn us, why not make a New Years resolution to  work through it as an individual or as a family this year?
 
If you're not convinced - click HERE for the rationale.
 
If you're interested click HERE to go to the website.
 
 
DIRECT LINKS:
 
 



Saturday 29 December 2012

Day 5: 31 things to pray for your children (or grandchildren)

I recently came across the following really helpful list of '31 Things to Pray for your Children'.

Why not print it out, stick it in your Bible, and use it to help you pray every day of the month for your children or grandchildren.

If you don't have children, why not pick a family you know and pray this for their children?
When we do Child Thanksgivings at church we always ask the congregation to stand up and commit to pray and support the family in question. What better way to do this than to pray for them in the ways suggested here?

Oh, and while you're at it... why not pray these things for yourself as well?


31 Things to Pray for Your Children

1. for their moral purity (Prov. 5;7-23; 1Thess. 4:3-8)
2. to obey and respect authority (
Ex. 20:12)
3. God would draw them to Himself at an early age (
John 3:3)
4. protected from the schemes of Satan (
Eph 6:10-18)
5. know and love God’s Word (
Ps. 119:9-11)
6. that they would glorify God in whatever health or life circumstances He gives them, rejoicing always (
1Thess 5:18)
7. for them to be wise (wisdom of the Lord –
Prov. 1:7)
8. have and be a special friend (David and Johnathan – 1 Samuel 20)
9. they would endure hardship in fellowship with Christ (
Col. 1:24)
10. that their “yes” would be “yes” and their “no” would mean “no” (
Matt. 5:37)
11. equally yoked to a godly spouse (
2 Cor. 6:14)
12. humble, desiring for God to have the glory (
2 Tim. 4:18)
13. that their life would be used to promote God’s kingdom (
Matt. 28:18-20)
14. understand grace and so live out the law of Christ (
Titus 2:11)
15. that my girl(s) would have a quiet and gentle spirit and my boy(s) would be the spiritual leader of his family
16. hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness (
Matt. 5:6)
17. identify with femaleness/maleness
18. hate evil and avoid it and get caught when they disobey (
Prov 4:14)
19. hard worker (
Col 1:28-29)
20. think biblically (
2 Cor. 10:5)
21. an encourager to others (
Heb. 10:24)
22. love the Church (
Eph. 4:14-16)
23. be salt and light (
Matt. 5:13-16)
24. be secure in who God has made them to be (Eph. 1)
25. know they are deeply loved (Ps. 103)
26. live selflessly, not selfishly (
2Tim. 4:5)
27. love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength (
Matt. 22:37-39)
28. love others (
Matt. 22:37-39)
29. that they would have honesty with the Lord, themselves, and others (
1 John 1:1-9)
30. be faithful stewards of all the treasures and talents God gives them (
1 Tim 6:6-10)
31. live by an eternal perspective (
Phil. 3:20)

Friday 28 December 2012

Day 4: God goes camping



At Christmas we celebrate the fact that God went camping.

In the Old Testament, when God’s people were in the wilderness searching for the Promised Land, God gave instructions for an ornate tent to be constructed, called The Tabernacle.
 
Whenever the Israelites set up camp, they did so around the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was the focal point of their community. The first thing they saw every morning when they walked  out of their tents was God’s Tent.
 
The Tabernacle was the sign of God’s presence among his people.
 
It was through the Tabernacle that God related to his people.
 
However, because God is holy and we are sinful, there were lots of rules that had to be observed by God's people in order for them to experience God among them.
 
The people had to offer sacrifices to make atonement for their sin. They had to go through priests who mediated on their behalf. And even then they were barred from God’s immediate presence.
 
But at Christmas God pitched his tent in a different place.
 
The Apostle John starts his Gospel by describing the coming of Jesus, the Son of God, who he describes as ‘the Word of God’.
 
He says this:
‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ (John 1:14)
 
In the original Greek language in which John wrote his gospel, the word translated in our Bibles as ‘made his dwelling’ is the word ‘tabernacle.’
 
When Jesus was born, God set up his Tent on earth in a new way.
 
And boy, was this tent an upgrade!
 
In Jesus – God came to live among us, by becoming one of us.
 
Because of Jesus we no longer need to offer sacrifices, go through priests, or stand at a distance.
 
Jesus offered himself as the full and final sacrifice for sin.
 
Jesus came to be our High Priest – the only mediator we need to come to God.
 
Jesus ushers us into the very presence of God.
 
When Jesus died the temple curtain, which acted as a large ‘no entry’ sign, stopping people coming into the presence of God, was torn in two.
 
Jesus death had opened the way up for us to know God intimately.
 
The writer of Hebrews says this:
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-25)
 
Because of Jesus, we can draw near to God!

In Jesus, God invites us into his tent.

And so, learning from God's people in the wilderness, we too are to 'camp around Jesus'. He is to be the focal point of our lives and our church community. He is to be our first - and best - thought in the morning, and our hope for the future.

 
 

Thursday 27 December 2012

Day 3: Advice for Avoiding Family Feuds

 
 
How is Christmas with the family going so far?
 
For many families the festive season is a time to come together and spend a few days getting thoroughly fed up with each other!
 
If that resonates with you, then you will find this short article from CCEF a real help.
 
And even if things are going swimmingly, it's a really helpful  reminder of how we can love the members of our families better.
 
CLICK THIS LINK to read it.

 

(The Christian Counselling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) has been around since 1968. They do a great work resourcing the Church with helpful material for exploring the wisdom of the Bible and applying its grace-centered message to the problems of daily living.)





DIRECT LINK: http://www.ccef.org/family-feuds-how-respond

Wednesday 26 December 2012

Day 2: Christmas Flash Mob


 
The church a friend of mine goes to in Maidstone took part in an amazing 'Christmas flash mob'  at the beginning of December this year.
 
If you're not familiar with the term 'flash mob', here's Wikipedia's definition:
 
A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression.

However, THIS flash mob was far from pointless!
 
It was designed to be a public act of worship, reminding busy Christmas shoppers of the deeper meaning of Christmas.
 
I hope you'll agree that they did this in a powerful, at times moving, and yet also humurous way! (Keep watching to at least 3mins 46secs because there's a distinct gear shift at this point!)
 
I'd have love to have been there!



Direct Link:


Tuesday 25 December 2012

Day 1: The Dignity of Dependence



Happy Christmas Day and welcome to the first of these '12 Blogs of Christmas'.
 
If you can join us, we'd love to see you at our 10am Christmas Day service at Woodgreen Church this morning.
 
 
For this special day, a thought from John Stott about the staggering truth of the incarnation and what it teaches us about the dignity of depending on God.
 
Critics of Christianity sometimes call it a 'crutch for weak people'.
 
But the incarnation shows us that there is nothing demeaning in depending on God.
 
Christmas reminds us that the most appropriate way to respond the God who made us to know him, is to depend totally on him.
 

'Christ himself takes on the dignity of dependence. He is born a baby, totally dependent on the care of his mother. He needs to be fed, he needs his bottom to be wiped, he needs to be propped up when he rolls over. And yet he never loses his divine dignity. And, at the end, on the cross, he again becomes totally dependent, limbs pierced and stretched, unable to move. So in the person of Christ we learn that depedence does not, cannot, deprive a person of their dignity, of their supreme worth. And if dependence was appropriate for the God of the universe, it is certainly appropriate for us.'
 
John Stott, The Radical Disciple, p.113.
 
 
 

Saturday 22 December 2012

12 Blogs of Christmas

 
It's nearly here! Christmas Day is a few days away.
 
For most people, Christmas is a time to stop, rest and reflect on the year that has gone. It's a time of holiday, a break from the hamster wheel of life.
 
Last year I blogged for each of the 12 days of Christmas, starting Christmas Day. Many of you contacted me afterwads to say how helpful you found them.
 
So I'm going to do it again this year.
 
I'm officially on holiday from Boxing Day until 4th January, but I've just finished '12 blogs of Christmas' and they are scheduled to appear in time for breakfast on my blog site or in your inbox if you subscribe by email.
 
I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have enjoyed compiling them and that you find them thought-provoking, heart-warming and helpful as you reflect on 2012 and prepare for 2013.
 
(You can sign-up to get them sent straight to your inbox by putting your email address into using the form on the right.)

Tuesday 18 December 2012

The Christmas Chord

For those of you who have asked, this is is the video I showed on Sunday night at our Community Carols by Candlelight: The Christmas Chord.
 
It's an easy video to pass on to friends or family and it does get across something of the wonder of the Christmas story in a very powerful and moving way...

And when we remember this little guy,
We remember he is Son of the Most High.
In a crib, with straw in his face
Yet God's trump card against the sin of a broken race.




Direct Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkx-iqqI7So

Saturday 15 December 2012

Responding to Sandy Hook



27 people dead, 20 of them children under 10, shot by a 20 year old gunman, who killed his parents and then himself.

Sandy Hook School has just joined that terrible list of places that will forever be associated with school shootings: Columbine... Virginia Tech...  Sandy Hook.

When horrific acts of brutality like this occur, we react with shock. We ask: 'how could this happen?' Within the heart of even the most hardened atheist there is an instinct that says 'this is not how things were meant to be'.

This instinct comes from the fact that we were created by God to live in a perfect world, under his Lordship, in harmony with nature and each other. However because we rebelled against God, our relationship with him and each other was put out of joint.

We are broken people who live in a broken world. And the shooting at Sandy Hook is yet another grim reminder of the reality of that fact.

Writing on the Gospel Coalition website, Jen Wilkins eloquently put it like this:

'There is no spin to put on a story like this. Yes, we will hear stories of heroism begin to emerge over the next hours, and they are stories we will need to hear. But there is no way to soften the blow.

Nor should we want to.

As a mother watching someone else's horror play out on a screen, I want to feel this to the core of my being. I want it to inform my thoughts and actions in a way that leaves me changed. Because on days like today we learn just how broken sin has left us, just how bleak is our landscape without a Saviour.

Days like today give us no choice but to hate. They leave us only with a choice of where that hatred will land: Will we hate God, or will we hate sin?

I choose to hate sin. On days like today I will reflect again on the ravaging effects of rebellion against God, multiplied across millennia, manifested in a freshly printed headline. The more shocking the headline, the more I must come to grips with my minimized reckoning of the severity of sin.'

And yet, while incidents such as Sandy Hook should cause us to hate sin, we must remember that there is One who hates sin more deeply than we ever could.

God hated sin - and loved us - so much, that he sent his Son to conquer sin and redeem us. He enacted a plan of salvation that will culminate in a new heavens and a new earth, free of sin, and the heartache it brings. 

And so as our hearts go out to all those who have lost children in this tragedy, we can at least draw comfort from the fact that the God we pray to knows exactly what it is like to lose a child in a brutal and unjust act of violence.

God is able to draw near to the brokenhearted,  because he knows exactly what it's like be brokenhearted.

John Stott once wrote:

'I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the cross. In the real world of pain how could one worship a God who was immune to it?'

We must pray that those who are mourning will know the comfort and solace only a God who has been there himself can bring.

'The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.' (Psalm 34:18)




Friday 30 November 2012

Who do we trust?

 
 
This week I stumbled across a fascinating piece of research conducted last year by IPSOS/MORI, the polling organisation, on behalf of the British Medical Association.
 
In June 2011, pollsters showed a list of occupations to 1026 people over the age of 15, and asked them whether they would trust them to tell the truth or not.
 
Top of the list of 'most trusted professions' were doctors. Nearly nine in ten (88%) adults across the United Kingdom said they would trust a doctor to tell them truth.
 
Unsurprisingly, politicians were the least trusted professions, with just one in seven people (14%) saying they trusted a politician to tell the truth. Rubbing salt into the wound,  more people said they trusted journalists (19%) and bankers (29%) than politicians!

The second most trusted profession were teachers: 81% said they would trust a teacher to tell them the truth, with professors, judges and scientists all scoring in the low 70s.
 
But what caught my eye was the trust level associated with a 'clergyman/priest'. 68% of people said they would trust a clergyman to tell them the truth.
 
At first sight this is encouraging. Despite the loss of trust in civic leadership over the last few years, and the growing secularisation of UK society, most people still retain a trust in Christian leaders. Public trust in clergy is greater than trust in the Police or TV news presenters. This residual public respect is something I have experienced as I have become more  involved in our local community and as Chair of Govenors at our local primary school. Despite the scandals surrounding allegations of child-abuse in the Catholic Church, there is still a lingering trust in 'men of the cloth'.
 
However the headline figure hides a less positive underlying trend. Since 1983 (when the poll was first done) trust in clergy has dropped from 85% to 68%, while trust in the 5 professions above them (doctors, teachers, professors, judges and scientists) has steadily grown.
 
Trust in politicians has never been high: in 1983 it was only 4% higher than it is today. However, the drop of public trust in clergy has been greater than any of the other professions measured in the last 28 years.
 
It is yet another indication of the underlying trend in UK society towards secularism.
 
Statistics like this should cause to pray for the current and emerging generations of Christian leaders, that they would be marked out by integrity, honest and transparency. The Apostle Paul's insistence that an Elder should be one who has 'a good reputation with outsiders' (1 Tim 3:7) was never more relevant than it is today!
 
However, the truth is that the UK will never be reached by professional paid clergy alone. Statistics like this should also remind us that every follower of Jesus is called to be:
 
'blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.' (Phil 2:15-16)
 
The erosion of trust in clergy is merely a symptom of a greater and deeper erosion of trust in God in our society. Unless those we rub shoulders with every day see the very real difference Jesus makes in our lives - forgiveness for the past, peace for the present, confidence for the future - they will never see the need to turn to him and trust in him and the UK will continue to slide into secularism and ultimately cynicism.
 
I took comfort from one other fact buried away in the survey... only 39% of people said they trusted pollsters to tell the truth!
 
If you want to see the survey click HERE.
 
 
 

Thursday 22 November 2012

Witnessing and Women Bishops


As those who follow my Twitter account know, I chaired two meetings this week: the Governors Meeting at our local primary school and the Members' Meeting at church.
 
I turned up to chair the school Governors' mMeting moments after it had been announced that the Church of England had voted against women Bishops. This therefore became a point of animated discussion among my fellow governors, as we waited for 7pm to arrive and the meeting to start.
 
I confess, I kept my head down and my mouth shut. The sense of outrage was clear.
 
For someone like me, who has a 'complementarian' view regarding the role of women in the church (which means that I believe women can do everything in church except be an Elder and preach/teach to a mixed congregation), this was not a discussion that I wanted to dive into just before chairing the meeting!
 
So imagine my horror, when one of the governors asks me point blank: 'Richard, you're a Pastor, what do you think about women bishops?'


If those around you know you're a Christian, the odds are that you will be asked (or will already have been asked) your opinion about the decision of the Synod of the CofE not to proceed with women bishops.

How can we respond in a way that commends Christ?

If we're honest, I suspect that many of us who have a complementarian view of the sexes (especially us blokes) feel very vulnerable when this subject comes up with non-Christian friends. Like my 'on the spot' moment at the Governors Meeting, we don't usually get the time to go into detail about the biblical reasons for our view. We're often reduced to a one sentence response that - if we're not careful - can kill further opportunity for witness and sometimes terminally undermine our credibility in the eyes of others.

And even if we are given the opportunity to give a fuller answer, most non-Christians still don't get why we're so committed to following an ancient book in the modern age.

One contributor, responding to an article on the 'no vote' on the BBC website on Wednesday, referred contemptuously to those who had 'medieval views' about women. So often the debate about the role of women in the church is wrongly reduced to one of discrimination and inequality, with those who disagree being labelled as outdated and sexist. This is a totally unfair caricature, revealing the increasing intolerance of our supposedly 'tolerant' liberal society. But hey - let's be honest - sometimes us complementarians have only ourselves to blame! When we're asked what we think we can sometimes find ourselves expressing our opinion in such a clumsy way that it feeds that view! 
 
So how should we respond when asked 'the question' point blank?
 
Let me suggest three possible short responses, each of which has the potential to lead on to gospel discussion. My hope here is to provoke you to think about how a potentially door-closing question can be turned around into a potentially door-opening gospel opportunity. I'm sure you can come up with much better responses, if so please get in touch and I'll compile the best one-liners in a later post.
 
As a friend of mine is fond of saying: 'The best form of spontaneity is planned.'

So, here goes...
 
Q: What do you think about women bishops?
 
A1: 'As someone who believes in the independence of  local churches and doesn't agree with the concept of Bishops at all - whether they're male or female doesn't really make any difference to me. Jesus calls the shots in my life. The real question is 'who should be King of my life' not 'who should be the bishop of my parish.'
 
A2: 'Surely what matters most is what God thinks, rather than what I or the CofE or popular culture says. The only way we know what God thinks is by reading the Bible. Have you ever thought about doing that?'
 
A3: 'Jesus lived in a society where women were marginalised, however time and time again, he went out of his way to honour women and elevate them. I think we should stop talking about what the CofE thinks about women and remember that Jesus came to save men and women.'
 
A4: 'The problem with this whole debate is that it has confused value with role. The Bible teaches that God values men and women equally, however that doesn't mean they should have the same roles. This is self-evident in some areas,   after all men can't have children, that's a women's role! In a similar way, God created men and women to be different and I think we should celebrate and enjoy that. Ultimately we are not fulfilled by the role we fulfil, but whether we're in a relationship with God. Is that something you'd be interested in exploring?'
 
Which response did I give?
 
For what it's worth A1 - although not quite as concisely!
 

There have been some excellent resources/articles on the web this week about the issues raised by the women bishops debate. If you want to explore the whole issue of complementarity and the role of women in the church, here are the three best ones I have come across:
 
  • I haven't engaged with the issue of the biblical role of women in the church in this post. If you want to explore that further I commend the FIEC's 'Women in Ministry' statement that you can find HERE.
  • The Good Book Company published an excellent article on Wednesday: The Women's Bishop Debate: Debunking a Few myths,  which is well worth a read, and answers many of the arguments used in favour of women bishops. You can read it HERE.
  • Mary Kassian has written a superb (and very funny) article addressing the 'straw women' that are often used by those who attack complementarians: 'Dora the Doormat' and other Scary Straw Women of Complementarity. As well as being very entertaining, it also deals with the objections brilliantly. Mary Kassian was at the gathering of theologians 25 years ago where the term 'complementarian' was coined so she speaks with a wealth of experience and insight. You can read her article HERE.


Direct Links:
FIEC 'Women in Ministry' statement: http://www.fiec.org.uk/resources/article/women-in-ministry-statement
'Women BIshops: Debunking a Few Myths': http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/blog/debunking-a-few-myths
'Dora the Doormat' and other Scary Straw Women of Complementarity: http://www.girlsgonewise.com/dora-the-doormat-and-other-scary-straw-women-of-complementarity/

Friday 16 November 2012

Jesus FULL STOP



I've been reading through Galatians in my devotional times over the last few weeks.

I love Galatians! Paul is at his very sharpest when he's defending the gospel, and there are few blunter statements than his opening one:

'I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all.' (1:6)
 
The Galatians were being led astray by false teachers who were insisting that in order to be fully accepted by God they had to trust Jesus PLUS be good Jews by keeping Jewish food laws and being circumcised. It seems that even the great Apostle Peter had been intimidated by this influential group and had withdrawn from Gentile believers at meal times (2:12).

Paul's response is robust: he confronts Peter and asserts in the strongest possible terms that salvation is by faith alone:

'a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no-one will be justified.' (Gal 2:16)
 Justification by faith is a wonderful Christian doctrine.
 
It means that God accepts me SOLEY on the basis of Jesus finished work on the cross. Because he has paid for my sin in full, I am welcomed by God. I cannot do anything to make God love me more and I cannot do anything to make God love me less. I am totally secure in Christ, because my salvation is by faith in Jesus, not my own good works.
 
However... there is a problem with justification by faith.
 
I keep on sinning!
 
I want to please and honour God and live a life of purity and holiness, but I keep messing up.
 
Every Christian knows the sense of failure and shame that comes from screwing up - often in the same areas time after time. We are creatures of habit and so often the habits we fall into are sinful ones.
 
And so while it is comforting to know that we are saved by faith alone, there is a tension in our experience of salvation. On the one hand I know my sin does not make me any less a child of God or change his acceptance and love for me. However, when I  let him down, I FEEL like he is further away and that the barriers have come up.
 
But justification by faith shows us that the reality is quite the opposite!
 
The parable Jesus told in Luke 15 that we know as 'The Prodigal Son' illustrates this perfectly.
 
When the prodigal son comes to his senses and heads home he isn't met with cold forgiveness but a warm embrace. He isn't greeted by a father who holds him at arms length, until he becomes perfect, but by one who draws him close. He isn't just given his old room back, he's given a welcome home party.
 
And that is what it's like every day for a Christian.
 
God's grace isn't just given when we're saved - it's poured out day after day!
 
Paul told the Ephesians that God had lavished his grace on them! (Eph 1:7-8)
 
Justification by faith means that we are constantly drenched in the grace of God.
 
And the great news is that his water hose is so long, that no matter how far away from him we run, we can never get dry!
 
So when you next feel like you've screwed up (yet again!) remember Galatians 1:6.
 
God doesn't accept you because you're great - he accepts you because he is gracious.
 
We've been called BY THE GRACE OF CHRIST, so don't be tempted to turn to a different gospel - 'which is really no gospel at all.'
 
It's Jesus... FULL STOP.
 
 
 

Friday 9 November 2012

God's change agenda for every Christian


This coming  Sunday I'm preaching on the 'Ordo Salutis', as seen in Romans 8.

'Ordo Salutis' is a Latin phrase meaning 'Order of Salvation', and it's a logical sequence of stages that reformed theologians have traditionally found helpful in understanding the process of salvation. Put simply - it's God's change agenda for the life of every Christian.

It's a thrilling doctrine because it expresses how God's plan of salvation for us as individuals started way back in eternity past and reaches forward into eternity future. Appreciating these 9 stages (some of which happen instantaneously when we 'become a Christian') helps us see that salvation is far more than a simple decision to trust Christ on our part - it's God's work in us in order to transform us into the likeness of his Son. And because salvation is GOD's work in us, understanding the Ordo Salutis should also result in us having a greater sense of security and assurance as believers - which is how Paul famously concludes Romans 8:


'For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' (Romans 8:38-39)


Paul says that we were known by God and chosen by him before the creation of the world - in love he predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of his Son (Romans 8:29), and because of that our eternal security and future glorification is absolutely certain.

I love the inevitability of the sequence Paul gives us in Romans 8:30:
'And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.' (Romans 8:30)
While studying the Ordo Salutis this week, I have come across some great resources that I won't have time to refer to on Sunday morning.
 
One of those  is the infographic that forms the thumbnail for this post. This is included in the handout for this week which you can download HERE. This also has all the other handouts from the series so far.

But there are some other great resources on the web that it's also worth highlighting:
  • VIDEO: is this the coolest a theologian has ever sounded? Follow THIS LINK to listen to 5 minute radio interview with theologian Wayne Grudem, where he outlines the Ordo Salutis in simple terms. It's worth listening right to the end just to find out what 'Fo-shizzel, my man vizzel' means!
  • POSTER: The Ordo Salutis is not a new idea. Way back in the 17th Century, John Bunyan, author of Pilgrims Progress, produced a beautiful poster showing the two paths through life. You can see a high definition version of it HERE.
 
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