James's Weblog

I love this quotation from Abraham Kuyper (paid link), quoted by Pastor Doug Wilson.

"Therefore, a long exposition of facts or propositions with a short application is in conflict with the nature of the sermon. The application must not be the dinghy behind the ship. Rather, the purpose of the sermon is really in the application. The whole service of the Word centers on the edification and building up of the congregation. The service is not like a brick factory where the bricks are baked and then piled up for would-be buyers to come and pick them up; the service is more like using the bricks that have been prepared for building" (Kuyper, Our Worship (paid link), p. 201).

A year ago, my friend James Cary wrote a short piece entitled "What's so good about Good Friday?"

Reading that would be two minutes of your time well-spent.

Back in February, we looked at the story of the baptism of Jesus in Matthew's gospel. ("We", as in "Kemsing Church").

We noted that we don't need to work out how to understand what went on there. God himself explains it for us. He does so with a sight (heaven opens and a dove alights on Jesus) and a cry ("this is my beloved son"). So the baptism shows us Jesus as the Son that God the Father loves, the one on whom the Spirit rests to achieve God's purposes on earth.

As we reach Matthew 27:45-50, we are at the end of Jesus' public ministry. Here again, we have a sight and a cry.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Has Bean Coffee. From time to time, I'm asked about whether their coffees are "fair trade". In this day and age when information is so much more freely available, there's a welcome movement - which Christians have been at the forefront of - to make sure that we shop in ethical ways. The price we pay for goods matters; the way workers are treated matters.

Steve, over at Has Bean Coffee has just launched a new blend.

All of the previous blends, launched 18-12 months ago, were designed for espresso. That's all well and good, but not everybody has an espresso machine or chooses to brew their daily coffee that way.

There is a real danger that we are so familiar with John the Baptist fulfilling Isaiah 40:3 that we lose sight of the staggering implication this has for Jesus.

So France (paid link) comments:

R T France (paid link) is characteristically helpful as he discusses what the phrase "kingdom of God" (Mark and Luke) or "kingdom of heaven" (Matthew) means:

It's easy to trot off the tongue that we believe in a doctrine called "the priesthood of all believers".

It's harder to explain what we mean by that, and what we don't mean.

It's harder still to articulate the cash-value: What impact does this doctrine make to the lives of Christians and churches on a daily basis?

Well, my friend of many years, Jules Beauchamp, has just put up a website to develop some of these things further. There are already some very helpful posts there coming at this from various angles, but I get the impression that there's more to come.

Go take a look at http://www.biblicalpriesthood.co.uk.

What's going on when someone preaches?

How does God's word preached relate to God's word written?

How does the sermon relate to the other parts of a church service?

How does preaching relate to / differ from the other contexts and events in which we hear God's word?

How do the words of the preacher relate to the words of God?

Where does the Spirit fit into preaching?

OK...

Jesus warns the 12, as he sends them out in Matthew 10, that if they speak to others of him they will be opposed. The warning is given in the context of their mission during Jesus' earthly ministry, but many of the details in there make fuller sense in the period after his ascension. Jesus taught them with the deliberate intention of preparing them for more than just that one mission, and Matthew recorded those words with the Great Commission at the end of his gospel in mind.