My Passion

What better way to kick off a new season for the student blog than with some slightly outdated news.

It’s good news, though. So in case you haven’t heard already, you can (and probably should) download a juicy new track from Jesus Culture completely free (in exchange for your email address).

It’s called ‘My Passion’ and you can get it right here. Enjoy!

While we’re on a Jesus Culture trip, you should probably go check out jesusculture.com.

Jesus Culture is a movement from Bethel that tours the world doing conferences and releasing materials designed to fulfill their mandate of  equipping “a new breed of emerging revivalists”.Their website has loads of stuff to poke around in, particularly the media section.

If you’ve ever been to our church you’ll be already familiar with them as we sing a number of songs from their various live albums: We Cry Out, Your Love Never Fails, and Consumed.

Last plug. I heard Banning Liebscher, the guy who leads Jesus Culture, speak at Bethel a couple of weeks back. He was really inspiring and I’ve bought his book – unsurprisingly entitled ‘Jesus Culture’ – which I’m sure is going to be great. I’ll let you know when I’ve read it, but you can always beat me to it.

Day 6: The Crucifixion

For the sixth day of Holy Week I have read Mark 15:1 – 41 and am going to look at the ‘Coronation’ of Jesus, which is something that is highlighted by Shane Claiborne in his book ‘Jesus for President’ (a book that is well worth reading in its entirety!). He looks at the powerful way that Jesus’ procession to the cross is contrasted with Caesar’s coronation and procession, and how significant it must have been to the early readers of the Gospel.

Coronation and Procession (8 steps)

1. Caesar: The Praetorian guard (six thousand soldiers) gathered in the Praetorium. The would-be Caesar was brought into the middle of the gathering.

1. Jesus: Jesus was brought to the Praetorium in Jerusalem. And the whole company of soldiers (at least two hundred) gathered there.

2. Caesar: A purple robe was placed on the candidate. They were also given an olive-leaf wreath made of gold and a sceptre for the authority of Rome.

2. Jesus: Soldiers brought Jesus a wreath (of thorns), a sceptre (an old stick), and a purple robe.

3. Caesar: Caesar was loudly acclaimed as triumphant by the Praetorian Guard.

3. Jesus: Sarcastically, the soldiers acclaimed, mocked, and paid homage to Jesus.

4. Caesar: A procession through the streets began. Caesar walked with a sacrificial bull and a slave with an axe to kill the bull behind him.

4. Jesus: The procession began. But instead of a bull the would-be king and god became the sacrifice and Simon of Cyrene was to carry the cross.

5. Caesar: The procession moved to the highest hill in Rome, the Capitolene hill (‘head hill’).

5. Jesus: Jesus was led up to Golgotha (in Aramaic ‘head hill’).

6. Caesar: The candidate stood before the temple altar and was offered a bowl of wine mixed with myrrh, which he was to refuse. The wine was then poured onto the bull and the bull was then killed.

6. Jesus: He was offered wine, and he refused. Right after, it is written, “And they crucified him.”

7. Caesar: The Caesar-to-be gathered his second in command on his right hand and his third on his left.

7. Jesus: Next came the account of those being crucified on his right and left.

8. Caesar: The crowd acclaimed the inaugurated emperor. And for the divine seal of approval, the gods would send signs, such as a flock of doves or a solar eclipse.

8. Jesus: He was again acclaimed (mocked) and a divine sign confirmed God’s presence (the temple curtain ripped in two). Finally, the Roman guard, who undoubtedly pledged allegiance to Caesar, the other ‘Son of God’, was converted and acclaimed this man as the Son of God.

This extraordinary symbolism would have been unmistakable to the first readers of the Gospel. The crown of thorns, the purple robe, the royal staff; the whole section leading up to the crucifixion reads like the coronation of Jesus! At the apex of this passage is the Roman Centurion’s exclamation that “Surely this man was the Son of God!” He saw how Jesus died and became the first evangelist. His realisation tears apart his whole view of the world and reveals the fallacy of earthly empire and the nature of the true King.

Mark is trying to show us where our allegiance should lie. At the foot of the cross, when even those that Jesus loved must have been bewildered (only failed Messiahs hung on crosses), a Roman Centurion proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God! The journey to the cross was the final coronation of the Son of God, the rightful King, who in the cross defeated sin and death.

JB

Can we be over-efficient?

I’m reading a book at the moment called The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It’s about a family from Oklahoma who, like countless others, have been forced off their land and replaced with men in tractors. Traditional farming techniques were no longer producing sufficient profit margins, so the banks that owned the land repossessed it and introduced cheaper, higher-tech methods. Methods that, while producing a greater yield in the short term, would eventually end up killing the land for good.

When reflecting on this change, and the contrast between the family who lived, breathed and worked the land, and the man who just turned up for a few hours to do a shift on it, Steinbeck  wrote the following passage that really struck a chord with me:

But when the motor of a tractor stops, it is as dead as the ore it came from. The heat goes out of it like the living heat that leaves a corpse. Then the corrugated iron doors are closed and the tractor man drives home to town, perhaps twenty miles away, and he need not come back for weeks or months, for the tractor is dead. And this is easy and efficient. So easy that the wonder goes out of work, so efficient that the wonder goes out of land and the working of it, and with the wonder the deep understanding and the relation. And in the tractor man there grows the contempt that comes only to a stranger who has little understanding and no relation.

It made me think of church. If our faith is the land, have we become a bit like the tractor man? Have we become so efficient at Christianity – saying the right things, being in the right places – that we have lost the wonder of our faith? And so with it have lost our deep understanding and relation with God? Deep understanding and relation that comes from day-in, day-out intimate interaction with Jesus, our “land”.

I’d like to think not. I think we just have be careful about avoiding the tendency to simply “get the job done”; to tick off our Christian commitments and then get on with the rest of our life. God created us to enjoy him; too see him and savour him. And if we do feel like we’ve lost our wonder of God; our deep, heart-to-heart connection with him, maybe it’s because we’ve sent for the tractors. Maybe we’ve exchanged relationship with God for an effcient Christianity that fits better with our 21st Century lifestyle; an efficiency that may just end up running our faith into the ground.

But thankfully, I’m excited that we seem to be going the other way. Our hunger for intimacy is growing and we seem to be really catching God’s vision for our church and our city. Bring it on!

Website of the Week – Desiring God

www.desiringgod.org – God centred resources from the ministry of John Piper

In its own words,

“Desiring God exists to say that…

God’s ultimate goal is to glorify himself.
And that’s good news.

Everything we do aims to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.”

It is a truly staggering resource, with more than 25 years worth of sermons available to read, listen to or watch online. All of them organised by date, scripture, series, topic, occasion and title. In addition this, many of John Piper’s books and articles are also available alongside a wealth of other resources - and all for free!

If you find yourself with a spare minute, or just really need to hear a sermon (or six) on virtually anything, I’d highly recommend checking www.desiringgod.org out!

Top 5 Books: #1

I’m sure you’ve all been dying of suspense but I am delighted to inform you that the winner of  my recommended reading this summer is…

…The Anointing by R.T. Kendall

I love this book. I love it for a number of reasons, but predominantly because R.T. Kendall seems to have really hit the nail on the head when it comes to the whole word and works thing. His a keen advocator of a greater union between ‘word’ people and ‘spirit’ people – basically, we don’t need to pick a team as we need both in our lives. As a charasmatic with a theology degree this really hits home!

The book starts with Kendall unpacking the story of the transfer of executive power in Israel from King Saul to the prophet Samuel to King David. He looks at the role anointing plays in each of their lives (namely: ‘lost’, ‘held’, and ‘promised’ respectively) and then applies it to a modern context. Past failures and current frustrations are dealt with in equal measure as the need to look to the future. The overriding message from the book is the need to look for what God is doing and then going and doing it – regardless of any accompanying difficulties. The main reason being that the key ingredient for any kind of minsitry/service for God is ‘the anointing’ – i.e. the favour of God over that thing/person.  On a more specific note, one particularly interesting section of the book is where Kendall recounts the introduction of teaching on spiritual gifts such as prophecy into his highly traditional Westminster Chapel congregation.

It really is worth a read. I found it both uplifting and incredibly challenging – it really helped me to evaluate how I was going about my life. Summer may be drawing to a close but it’s a quick read and I’m sure you’ll be able to squeeze it out in the last few breaths of your holiday if you want to.

P.S. You may have noticed that there is no #2 on this list. Honestly, I’ve been putting it off for a while now and was always intending R.T. to be #1 so, in light of it being September already, I just sacked it off and went straight for the big dog. Apologies. You have every right to feel cheated.

Top 5 Books: #3

Coming in at number three we have….

…Knowing God by J. I. Packer

Knowing God is a bit of a theological classic. It’s main objective is to help you understand a bit more about our Creator and his character in order to be able to live for and worship him with greater vigour – essentially, to help you get to know God! The book is based on the notion that the greatest thing that can happen in a person’s life is for them to be able to say that they have known God – all else is secondary in comparison (Phil. 1:21). This doesn’t just mean knowing about God, but actually knowing him for who he is.

Now no book about God can ever be a substitute for time spent with him – that’s where you’ll really get to know him – but having a greater intellectual grasp of who God is can definitely be a significant help. Knowing God is excellent at this. Part 1 is a goldmine filled with discussion about the results (a.k.a. benefits) of getting to know God, how we can go about it, and how we know if we’re on the right track. One point that particularly struck me was Packer’s discourse on prayer in which he argues that the number one way we can measure how well we know God is not to calculate how much we ourselves know/do but to evaluate how we pray and what goes on in our hearts. We need to be “seeking the Saviour”.

Part 2 focuses in on specific aspects of God’s character – for example: his wisdom, his goodness, his severity – and the book closes with a third part that brings all the exposition of the previous sections into one presentation of the true saving message of God – a.k.a. The Gospel (The chapter entitled ‘The Heart of the Gospel’ is a particular highlight.)

There’s no escape from the fact that this book is by no means an ‘easy-reader’ but underneath the scholastic feel of the text is a great wealth of wisdom, so it’s definitely worth investing some time and giving it a read. Go on – challenge yourself! It’s even wrapped in a Piper-esque pretty cover to entice you in…

Read it? Let me know what you thought!

Top 5 Books: #4

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

And coming in at number 4 in our chart we have an absolute classic from C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity.

If you haven’t read any C.S. Lewis before you are well and truly missing out. As far as I’m concerned the guy’s a genius. God blessed him with both great intellect and the ability to communicate his knowledge to the masses in an extremely accessible manner. As well as Mere Christianity he’s written The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, The Great Divorce to name but a few (and Narnia of course!).

Mere Christianity is, as the name suggests, an unpacking of the fundamentals of Christianity in order to sure up your conviction or to help persuade of its truth. I really love the way Lewis approaches the argument in that he starts in a general manner by looking at the concept of right and wrong and the idea of there being a creator, before gradually honing these basic truths into a convincing arguement for Christianity being the only true expression of them. I particularly enjoyed his discussion on morality and also the way he approaches the subject of time and space.

On a personal level, I’ve found this book to be most useful in apologetics (defending your faith) due to the excellent allegories and pictures that Lewis uses to communicate Biblical truth. It’s a relatively short book as well so I would heartily recommend checking it out!

Top 5 Books: Number 5

Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be counting down 5 of my favourite Christian books, all of which come highly recommended for summer reading. If you want to make your own recommendations drop me an email!

Number 5: The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

I’ve read this book a couple of times over the years and have found it helpful whenever I’ve dipped into it. The book is broken down into 40 chapters designed to read on an individual basis – ideally one per day. This means it would be a perfect book to incorporate into your daily quiet times over summer – especially if there’s a little less pressure on your time.

In terms of content, the book grapples with the fundamental question: what on earth am I here for? By looking at broad issues such as worship and calling, Warren encourages you to bring everything in your life into a ‘God-perspective’ rather than offer specific guidance on particular issues.

It’s definitely worth checking out if you have the opportunity, and the structure of the book is a definite bonus – especially if, like me, getting through books can sometimes seems like a bit of a mission!