Christian Life

John 8:12 is a familiar verse. It's one of Jesus' famous "I am" sayings. “I am the light of the world”, or   ̓Εγω εἱμι το φως του κοσμου.

Given which, Matthew 5:14 is a massive shock, is it not? I've read both passages many times, but never realised what a significant statement that makes Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world”, or   ̔Υμεις εστε το φως του κοσμου.

One of the statements in John, that we take to be one of Jesus' unique and momentous claims concerning himself, is applied to all his disciples. He is the light of the world, "I am", … and so are we!

John Stott (paid link) articulates, with characteristic clarity, how counter-cultural the beatitudes are in Matthew 5:3-12:

“Yet in all this the values and standards of Jesus are in direct conflict with the commonly accepted values and standards of the world. The world judges the rich to be blessed, not the poor, whether in the material or in the spiritual sphere; the happy-go-lucky and carefree, not those who take evil so seriously that they mourn over it; the strong and brash, not the meek and gentle; the full not the hungry; those who mind their own business, not those who meddle in other men’s matters and occupy their time in do-goodery like ‘showing mercy’ and ‘making peace’; those who attain their ends even if necessary by devious means, not the pure in heart who refuse to compromise their integrity; those who are secure and popular, and live at ease, not those who have to suffer persecution.” (Page 54)

There are a few similar videos doing the rounds on Facebook etc. at the moment, but this is the best I've come across. It would have taken a lot of work to put together!

Apart from one small anachronism over the e-mail address Mary chose for herself, it's excellent.

Truth, like so many things we hunt for, is often in the last place you look.

James Cary has started a new blog called The Last Place you Look.

I'll let James tell you his reason for starting it in his own words:

I thought it might help if I wrote down my thoughts so far on the Psalms: What kind of literature are they? How are they to be read and interpreted today?

I recently spent a very happy day with Dr Garry Williams at The John Owen Centre studying the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture. (That's to say: Take the sentence "The Bible is the word of God"? How does that statement relate to other areas of theology - like what God is like, and the acts by which he makes himself known in history? What do we mean when we say "The Bible is the word of God"? What are we not saying when we say that? What biblical data would support that assertion?) A happy, and a very useful, day.

I think this post from Steve Jeffery is very helpful

2 Samuel 6 describes what King David did when the Ark of the LORD was brought into the city of Jerusalem.

I'm delighted to see that a new edition of Operation World is due to be published tomorrow.

(paid link)

Amazon are showing a price of £11.14 for the paperback (paid link); or £21.24 for the paperback book and a CD-ROM copy (paid link). It is also available in hardcover (paid link).

"Once you are convinced that your people need — I say need — the whole Word of God, and you get over the shock to your indolent flesh that you are not in the ministry for an easy job, you simply roll up your sleeves, and having gathered, or being in process of gathering, the most helpful library of commentaries and reference books you can find, you get down to it: and book by book you give your people a balanced diet of the truth." (William Still, The Work of the Pastor (p

The Lord's Supper is the world in miniature; it has cosmic significance. Within it we find clues to the meaning of all creation and all history, to the nature of God and the nature of man, to the mystery of the world, which is Christ. It is not confined to the first day, for its power fills seven. Though the table stands at the center, its effects stretch out to the four corners of the earth. (Leithart, Blessed are the Hungry (paid link), page 11)