Union Church

The Seven Churches of Revelation: Ephesus

Listen in as we begin a news series looking at the seven churches of Revelation.

Notes//Quotes:

Revelation 2:1-7
“The book of Revelation really is about the future, but what is says does not satisfy our curiosity or match what we think are the obvious things to say. It is not a disclosure of future events but the revelation of their inner meaning. It does not tell us what events are going to take place and the dates of their occurrence; it tells us what the meaning of those events is. It does not provide a timetable for history; it gives us an inside look at the reality of history. It is not prediction but perception. It is, in short, about God as he is right now. It ups the veil off our vision and lets us see what is taking place. - Eugene Peterson

The Pattern:
Who He is (Character)
How it’s going (evaluation)
Promises made (conquering/overcoming)

I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on ever so grand.” - Antipater of Sidon

Rev 2:2-3

“The theology that matters is not the theology we profess but the theology we practice.” - Francis Chan

“Jesus’s command to follow him is a command to align our loves and longings with his—to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where he is all in all.” - James K.A. Smith

Matthew 24:12

Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into your mind; he is after nothing less than your wants, your loves, your longings. - James K.A. Smith

“In any relationship, there will be frightening spells in which your feelings of love dry up. And when that happens you must remember that the essence of marriage is that it is a covenant, a commitment, a promise of future love. So what do you do? You do the acts of love, despite your lack of feeling. You may not feel tender, sympathetic, and eager to please, but in your actions you must BE tender, understanding, forgiving and helpful. And, if you do that, as time goes on you will not only get through the dry spells, but they will become less frequent and deep, and you will become more constant in your feelings. This is what can happen if you decide to love. Actions of love lead to feelings of love.” Tim Keller

On Love and Loss: Job 13:13-16

Listen along as Anthony shares some reflections on grief and the love of God.

Notes/Quotes:

Job 13:13-16

Miles picture

“It is hard to have patience with people who say, ‘There is no death’ or ‘Death doesn’t matter.’ There is death. And whatever is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn’t matter. I look up at the night sky. Is anything more certain than that in all those vast times and spaces, if I were allowed to search them, I should nowhere find her face, her voice, her touch? She died. She is dead. Is the word so difficult to learn?”
- C.S. Lewis 

“My idea of God is not a divine idea, it has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it himself…He is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of his presence. The incarnation is the supreme example. It leaves all previous ideas of the Messiah in ruins…and most are offended by the iconoclasm and blessed are those who are not." 
- C.S. Lewis 

The Story of God: Revelation

Listen along as we wrap up our series through the Bible.

Notes/Quotes:

Revelation 1:1-20

 

Transcendence

Tribulation

Tears (no more)

 

“somewhere between the two extremes of preoccupation with and the avoidance of eschatology, we must take our stance. For eschatology is neither an unimportant and optional topic nor the sole subject of significance and interest to the Christian.” - Millard Erikson

 

4 popular perspectives on Revelation:

Futuristic

Preterist

Historical

Symbolic or idealist.

 

"‘Apocalypse’ is a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial, insofar as it involves another, supernatural world.” JJ Collins

 

“It is generally recognized that Revelation contains more OT references than does any other NT book, although past attempts to tally the total amount have varied. The variation in statistics is due to the different criteria employed to determine the validity of an OT reference and the fact that some authors include echoes and parallels of a very general nature together with allusions and citations.” - GK Beale

 

“John has his favorite books of scripture: Ezekiel, Daniel, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Isaiah, Exodus. But there is probably not a single canonical Old Testament book to which he doesn’t make at least some allusion The statistics post a warning: no one has any business reading the last book who has not read the previous sixty-five. John does not merely repeat [scripture]–it is recreated in him. He does not quote scripture in order to prove something; rather, he assimilates scripture so that he becomes someone.” Eugene Peterson

 

An approach to eschatology:

Emphasizing the Savior and salvation, minimize speculation

Eschatology must be connected to the entirety of the story

Eschatology is meant to provide clarity and eliminate confusion. 

Any vision of the future is meant to root and reorient in the present.

 

“The effect of John’s visions, one might say, is to expand his readers’ world, both spatially (into heaven) and temporally (into the eschatological future), or, to put it another way, to open their world to divine transcendence. The bounds which Roman power and ideology set to the readers’ world are broken open and that world is seen as open to the greater purpose of its transcendent Creator and Lord. It is not that the here-and-now are left behind in an escape into heaven or the eschatological future, but that the here-and-now look quite different when they are opened to transcendence. The world seen from this transcendent perspective, in apocalyptic vision, is a kind of new symbolic world into which John’s readers are taken as his artistry creates it for them. But really it is not another world. It is John’s readers’ concrete, day-to-day world seen in heavenly and eschatological perspective.” - Richard Bauckham

 


“The end result of the act of worship is that our lives are turned around…The self is no longer the hub of reality, as sin seduces us into supposing.” - Eugene Peterson

 

Paul says, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…” 2 Timothy 3:12 and Peter says, “don’t be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you…” 1 Peter 4:12.

 

 

“The church universal is called to maintain a faithful witness in the midst of persecution, following in the footsteps of the Lamb, who died to free them from their sins. Having conquered through faith, they are promised the blessing of eternal life in the presence of God in the new heaven and new earth, all with the purpose that they worship him and that he receive the glory forever.” —G.K. Beale 

 

We choose: we follow the dragon and his beasts along their parade route… taking on whatever role is necessary to make a good show and get the applause of the crowds in order to get access to power and become self-important. Or we follow the Lamb along a farmyard route… in order to become, simply, our eternal selves in an eternal city.” – Eugene Peterson

 

“Every exodus in scripture is incomplete, except the last one. The patriarchs leave the land and come back wealthy, but their descendants are enslaved. Moses leads the people out out of Egypt, but they die in the wilderness. Joshua takes them into the Land, but the Canaanites remain. David and Solomon secure the Land and build the temple, but Israel divides. Exile is followed by return, but idolatry continues. Jesus goes into the depths and emerges victorious, but leaves when the conquest of the Land has hardly started. The church marches out in the power of the Holy Spirit, but as the Epistles clearly show, the church is still in the wilderness, awaiting its final rest, looking to the day when “death of death, and hell’s destruction, land me safe on Canaan’s side.” Every time we think the melody is complete, there is a final complication, another discordant note. Exodus, but. Exodus, but.”

—Alastair J. Roberts & Andrew Wilson

 

“Many people want to go to heaven the way they want to go to Florida—they think the weather will be an improvement and the people decent. But the biblical heaven is not a nice environment far removed from the stress of hard city life. It is the invasion of the city by the City. We enter heaven not by escaping what we don’t like, but by the sanctification of the place in which God has placed us. There is not so much as a hint of escapism in St. John’s heaven. This is not a long (eternal) weekend away from the responsibilities of employment and citizenship, but the intensification and healing of them. Heaven is formed out of dirty streets and murderous alleys, adulterous bedrooms and corrupt courts, hypocritical synagogues and commercialized churches, thieving tax-collectors and traitorous disciples: a city, but now a holy city.” - Eugene Peterson

 

“ The Bible is a redemption story. It is a cosmic exodus, stretching from Eden to the new Jerusalem. All the exodus narratives we have seen in this book—political, geographical, spiritual, liturgical—are contained within a global one that only comes to completion at the return of Christ. So if, at times, it has seemed like we were going round in circles, making bricks without straw, trapped in slavery to sin and death for century upon painful century, and crying out for someone to help us, that is because we have been. When Adam sinned, we left our homeland, fell into captivity, and have been hoping to get back ever since.

So have the oceans. So have the forests. Paul's teaching in Romans 8 is remarkable here: it is not just human beings who are awaiting redemption, but "creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (v.21). We are looking forward to the exodus of everything. When we left Eden and headed into Egypt, we took the Cedars and the sword fish and the puffins with us. The physical world, over which we were given dominion, suffered the consequences of exile and ruptured shalom. Like a woman in labor, creation as a whole is crying out in anguish, straining toward the day when her labor pains will be over and the new creation will break out from inside the old.

And when our true and better Joshua returns to lead us across the Jordan, creation will come too. We will rise up from the riverbed followed by a multicolored menagerie of flora and fauna, like a latter-day Noah emerging from the depths and blinking at the brightness, to find that the waters have receded and there is no longer any sea. There is a new heaven and a new earth, not just a new Jerusalem. The labor pains were worth it. Paul was right: the weight of glory makes our light and momentary afflictions seem trivial. Tolkien was right: everything sad has become untrue. Lewis was right: the dream has ended, and this is the morning. Dostoyevsky was right: in the worlds finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.” —Alastair J. Roberts & Andrew Wilson

 

“He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20)

 

The Story of God: Jude

Listen along as we look at Jude's letter on Christmas Eve.

Jude:1-3 - Jeff Orsburn
Jude 1:1-3

In the church, this is the season of Advent. It’s superficially understood as a time to get ready for Christmas, but in truth it’s the season for contemplating the judgment of God. Advent is the season that, when properly understood, does not flinch from the darkness that stalks us all in this world. Advent begins in the dark and moves toward the light—but the season should not move too quickly or too glibly, lest we fail to acknowledge the depth of the darkness. Advent bids us take a fearless inventory of the darkness: the darkness without and the darkness within. - Fleming Rutledge

“Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: “These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity, and held safe in an everlasting embrace.” Henri Nouwen
 
Jude 1:17-23

We think of him as safe beneath the steeple,
Or cosy in a crib beside the font,
But he is with a million displaced people
On the long road of weariness and want.
For even as we sing our final carol
His family is up and on that road,
Fleeing the wrath of someone else’s quarrel,
Glancing behind and shouldering their load.
Whilst Herod rages still from his dark tower
Christ clings to Mary, fingers tightly curled,
The lambs are slaughtered by the men of power,
And death squads spread their curse across the world.
But every Herod dies, and comes alone
To stand before the Lamb upon the throne.
Malcom Guite

Jude 1:24-25

The entire thrust of this season at the end of the church year is designed to bring us face-to-face with reality—reality about sin and death, reality about the human race, reality about God. Something ultimate has entered our world, something or Someone that calls us to attention, calls us out of our daily preoccupations and our routine points of view. That is what this season with its special biblical readings is designed to reveal - Fleming Rutledge

The Story of God: 1,2,3 John

Listen along as we continue through the story of Scripture.

Notes/Quotes:

1 John 1:1-10 - Christine Reading
Title: Reductions, Redundancies, Reassurances

In our unredeemed state we are “of the devil,” who has sinned and lied and murdered “from the beginning” (1 John 3:8 / John 8:44); we are “from the world” (2:16; 4:5 / 8:23; 15:19). We therefore “sin” (3:4 / 8:34) and “have” sin (1:8 / 9:41), “walk in the darkness” (1:6; 2:11 / 8:12; 12:35) and are “dead” (3:14 / 5:25). God loved and sent His Son to be “the Savior of the World” (4:14 / 4:42) so that “we might live” (4:9 / 3:16). Believing in him or in his “name” (5:13 / 1:12), we pass from death to life (3:14 / 5:24). We “have life” (5:11, 12 / 3:15, 36; 20:31), for life is in the Son of God (5:11–12 / 1:4; 14:6). This is what it means to be “born of God” (2:29; 3:9; 5:4, 18 / 1:13).
- The New American Commentary

“There, the people gathered earnestly to hear the aging apostle speak about his experiences with Jesus. As John’s strength diminished and his ability even to speak declined, Jerome tells us that “He usually said nothing but, ‘Little children, love one another.’” The listeners reportedly grew weary of hearing the old man repeat the same line over and over. “Teacher,” they asked, “why do you always say this?” According to Jerome, the aged apostle replied, “Because it is the Lord’s commandment, and if it alone is kept, it is sufficient.” - Michael LeFebvre

1 John 4:7-21
“7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” 

“Herein is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us” (I John 4:10). We must not begin with mysticism, with the creature’s love for God, or with the wonderful foretastes of the fruition of God vouchsafed to some in their earthly life. We begin at the real beginning, with love as the Divine energy. This Primal love is Gift-love. In God there is no hunger that needs to be filled, only plenteousness that desires to give."
- C.S. Lewis

1 John 3:1-3
“1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Questions:
1. John was simmering in the gospel—in the love of God. What am I simmering in?
2. John’s mantra (the song he sang) was “love one another” What’s mine?

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour, All for love’s
sake became poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender, Sapphire-paved
courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour, All for love’s
sake became poor.
Thou who art God beyond all praising, All for love’s sake
becamest man; 
Stooping so low, but sinners raising Heavenwards 
by thine eternal plan. 
Thou who art God beyond all praising, All for love’s sake
Becamest Man.
Thou who art love beyond all telling, Saviour and King,
we worship thee. 
Emmanuel, within us dwelling, Make us what thou 
wouldst have us be. 
Thou who art love beyond all telling, Saviour and King,
we worship thee.
—Frank Houghton, 1934

The Story of God: 2 Peter

Listen along as we continue our journey through the story of scripture.

Notes//Quotes:

2 Peter 1:3-11

The important point to keep in mind is that love is a virtue, not an emotion. Christians are not encouraged to feel warmly about each other or even to like one another; they are instructed to act lovingly toward one another. Thus Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 speaks about what love does, how it acts, not how it feels - Peter Davids

“If we aren’t careful we live with a gospel that leaves our inner life untouched and merely makes sure we have the right marking somehow, the right brand so it will be clear that we belong to the right herd…But Christ comes to us and says to us “Let me transform you inside, let me take all of those fears, all of those angers, all of that contempt, all of that lust that eats at your soul and replace it with a worship of God and a love of others that will make your entire life sweet and strong because you’ll be standing with me in the kingdom of God.”” - Dallas Willard

Gospel + safety + time. It’s what everyone needs. A lot of gospel + a lot of safety + a lot of time.
Gospel: good news for broken people through the finished work of Christ on the cross and the endless power of the Holy Spirit. Multiple exposures. Constant immersion. Wave upon wave of grace and truth, according to the Bible.
Safety: a non-accusing environment. No embarrassing anyone. No cornering anyone. No shaming. But respect and sympathy and listening and understanding, so that people can exhale and open up and unburden their souls. A church environment where no one seeking the Lord has anything to fear.
Time: no pressure. Not even self-imposed pressure. No deadlines on growth. Urgency, but not hurry, because no one changes quickly. A lot of “space” for complicated people to rethink their lives at a deep level. God is patient.
This is what our churches must be: gentle environments of gospel + safety + time. It’s where we’re finally free to grow. - Ray Ortlund

2 Peter 2:1-3

2 Peter 2:22 

Psalm 19:7-11

2 Peter 3:1-13

Acts 1:6-8, 
1 Cor 15:50-58, 
Titus 2:11-14
2 Peter 3:14-18

An Eschatological grid 
(A modest proposal)
Emphasize salvation, minimize speculation
Eschatology is meant to provide clarity and eliminate confusion.
The triumphant return is a catalyst for fully following Christ today 

The Story of God: 1 Peter

Listen along as we continue our journey through the story of Scripture.

Notes//Quotes:

Kim J Reading 1 Peter 1:1-12

 

Title: Exiles, Endurance, Examples

Subtitle: Pilgrim People

 

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

 

“…you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house…” (1 Peter 2:5)

 

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9&10)

 

“Earlier Peter referred to the church as a “holy priesthood” (2:5). Here, we discover that the priesthood is a “royal priesthood” because believers have come under the lordship of a King. Contrary to what many believe, no geo-political entity on earth is a “holy nation.” That is reserved for the church of Jesus Christ, those who are God’s “own possession.” 

- Sam Storms

 

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ…. 

(1 Peter 1:6&7)

 

"13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart…” 

(1 Peter 1:13-22)

 

“An old tradition sorts the difficulties we face in the life of faith into the categories of world, flesh and devil. We are, for the most part, well warned of the perils of the flesh and the wiles of the devil. Their temptations have a definable shape and maintain an historical continuity. That doesn’t make them an easier to resist; it does make them easier to recognize.

 

The world, though, is protean: each generation has the world to deal with in a new form. World is an atmosphere, a mood. It is nearly as hard for a sinner to recognize the world’ temptations as it is for a fish to discover impurities in the water. There is a sense, a feeling, that things aren’t right, that the environment is not whole, but just what it is eludes analysis. We know that the spiritual atmosphere in which we live erodes faith, dissipates hope and corrupts love, but it is hard to put our finger on what is wrong.

One aspect of world that I have been able to identify as harmful to Christians is the assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once. We assume that if something can be done at all, it can be done quickly and efficiently. Our attention spans have been conditioned by thirty-second commercials. Our sense of reality has been flattened by thirty-page abridgments.

 

It is not difficult in such a world to get a person interested in the message of the gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture, anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is a little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness”

- Eugene Peterson

 

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”

- G.K. Chesterton

 

Day 2:

One of the dark qualities of sin is that we don't recognize as much as we should is unwillingness. We’re often unwilling to do what God says if it doesn't make sense to us. We're often unwilling to inconvenience ourselves for the needs of someone else. We are regularly unwilling to wait. We're unwilling often to be open and honest. We’re too often unwilling to consider the loving rebuke of another. We struggle to be willing to say no to our own wrong thoughts and desires. We often struggle to be willing to answer God's ministry call. Often we are unwilling to admit that we are wrong. Too often we struggle to serve willingly to give generously. Unwillingness is one of sins powerful damaging results.

So here's what the Christmas story is all about: a willing Savior is born to rescue unwilling people from themselves because there is no other way. Jesus was willing to leave the splendor of eternity to come to this broken and groaning world. He was willing to take on human flesh with all its frailty. He was willing to endure an ignominious birth in a stable. He was willing to go through the dependency of childhood. He was willing to expose himself to all the hardships of life in this fallen world. He was willing to submit to his own law. He was willing to do his Father’s will at every point. He was willing to serve, when he deserved to be served. He was willing to be misunderstood and mistreated. He was willing to endure rejection and gross injustice. He was willing to preach a message that would cost him personal harm. He was willing to suffer public mockery. He was willing to endure physical torture. He was willing to go through the pain of his Father's rejection. He was willing to die. He was willing to rise and ascend to be our constant advocate. Jesus was willing.

You see, it's not just the Christmas story; rather, the entire redemptive story hinges on one thing—the eternal willingness of Jesus. Without his willingness, you and I would be without hope and without God. Without his willingness, we would be left with the power and curse of sin. Without his willingness, we would be eternally damned. During this season of celebrating don't forget to stop and celebrate your Saviors willingness. His willingness is your hope in life, death, and eternity.

But there is even more to be said. The Advent willingness of Jesus is your guarantee that he continues to be willing today. Right here, right now, he is willing to love you on your very first day. Right now he is willing to forgive you again and again. Here and now he is willing to be patient as you continue to grow and mature. Right now he's willing to battle on your behalf against evil within and without. Here and now he's willing to teach you through his Word. Now he is willing to supply everyone of your spiritual needs. Now he's willing to be faithful even when you're not. He, right now, is willing to empower you when you're weak and restore you when you've fallen. He is willing to comfort you when you were discouraged and protect you when you've stepped into danger. And he remains willing to do everything necessary to feed, guide, sustain, and protect you until eternity is your final home.

You see, the Advent story reminds us that our past, present, and future hope rest not on our willingness but on the willingness of the one for whom the Angels sing, the shepherds worshiped, and the magi searched. Willing Jesus is the only hope for unwilling sinners. 

- Paul Tripp

 

The Story of God: James

Listen along as we look at the letter from James to the church.

Notes/Quotes:

James 1:1-28  - Mike Reading

In a word St. John’s Gospel and his first epistle, St. Paul’s epistles, especially Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, and St. Peter’s first epistle are the books that show you Christ and teach you all that is necessary and salvatory for you to know, even if you were never to see or hear any other book or doctrine. Therefore St. James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it. - Martin Luther

Mark 3:20-21
John 7:1-5 
Acts 1:14

“In English, perfect means “without blemish.” What this word (perfect) means is: whole, to be complete, be consistent, like an integer, which is related to integrity. It speaks of maturity…All the ethics of the Bible are imitative, because this is what God is like.” - Jonathan Pennington

“In rapid-fire sequence, James: • encourages his readers to respond positively to their trials (1:2–4); • exhorts them to ask in faith for wisdom (1:5–8); • comforts the poor and warns the rich (1:9–11); • pronounces a blessing on Christians who endure trials (1:12); • warns believers not to blame God for temptations (1:13–15); • reminds his readers that all good gifts, including the new birth, come from God (1:16–18); • warns his readers about sins of speech (1:19–20); • exhorts believers to be obedient to the word they have received (1:21–25); • and reminds them of the essence of “true religion” (1:26–27). Wordplays, evident in the Greek text but usually not in the English, forge literary links between many of these sections: • chairein (“greetings”) in v. 4b is picked up by charan (“joy”) in v. 2 • leipomenoi (“lacking”) in v. 4b is picked up by leipetai (“lacks”) in v. 5 • peirasmon (“trial”) in v. 12 is picked up by peirazomenos (“when tempted”) in v. 13 • Note also that teleios (“perfect,” “complete”) occurs in vv. 4, 17, and 25." Douglas Moo

“I am more impressed than ever by James’s creative use of Hellenistic Jewish traditions in his exposition of practical Christianity. And I remain convinced that the heart of the letter is a call to wholehearted commitment to Christ. James’s call for consistent and uncompromising Christian living is much needed. Our churches are filled with believers who are only halfhearted in their faith and, as a result, leave large areas of their lives virtually untouched by genuine Christian values. Nor am I immune to such problems. As I quite unexpectedly find myself in my “middle age” years, I have discovered a tendency to back off in my fervor for the Lord and his work. My re-immersion in James has challenged me sharply at just this point.”
 Douglas Moo

 

The Story of God: Hebrews

Listen along as we continue our journey through the story of scripture. Today we look at the book of Hebrews.

Notes//Quotes:

Hebrews 1:1-4

“It is the audience that really helps us to understand the book. The audience appears to be primarily Jewish Christians, who grew up in Judaism, but have believed in Jesus. They have embraced him as the Messiah. Yet they have hit a snag. For whatever reason – perhaps the pressure of persecution and opposition – they are thinking about going back to Judaism. They’re considering leaving this newfound faith and going back to the old ways: animal, sacrifices, worship at the temple – the old paths, if you will, that the Jews have trusted in for generations. In other words, these people are starting to doubt whether this Jesus thing is all it first promised to be.” Michael Kruger

Colossians 1:15-16

”If Jesus is not God, then there is no Christianity, and we who worship Him are nothing more than idolaters. Conversely, if He is God, those who say He was merely a good man, or even the best of men, are blasphemers. More serious still, if He is not God, then He is a blasphemer in the fullest sense of the word. If He is not God, He is not even good.” J Oswald Sanders, The Incomparable Christ

“The great object of the Epistle is to describe the contrast between the old and new covenants. But this contrast is based upon their unity. It is impossible for us rightly to understand the contrast unless we know first the resemblance. The new covenant is contrasted with the old covenant, not in the way in which the light of the knowledge of God is contrasted with the darkness and ignorance of heathenism, for the old covenant is also of God, and is therefore possessed of Divine glory. Beautiful is the night in which the moon and the stars of prophecy and types are shining; but when the sun arises then we forget the hours of watchfulness and expectancy, and in the clear and joyous light of day there is revealed to us the reality and substance of the eternal and heavenly sanctuary” Adolph Saphir

Hebrews 2:1
Hebrews 3:12-14
Hebrews 4:11-13
Hebrews 4:14-16
If you have a choice between letting the doctor examine you right away, uncomfortable though it may be, and waiting until he or she can do a post-mortem on you after it’s too late, it’s wise to go for the first. If you open yourself, day by day and week by week, to the message of scripture, its grand sweep and its small details, and allow the faithful preaching of Jesus and his achievement to enter your consciousness and soak down into your imagination and heart, then the admittedly uncomfortable work of God’s word will be happening on a regular basis, showing you (as we say) where you really are, what’s going on deep inside. You may need help from someone else in this process. Just as the healing work of the early church didn’t mean that doctors became unnecessary, so the probing, searching, penetrating analysis of God’s word doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a job for psychotherapists and similar professionals. But nor do they make the task of the word unnecessary. To spend time, prayerfully and thoughtfully, with scripture and with Jesus, the written and living Word of God, is to know that gentle but powerful touch, like a very sharp and fine blade, producing surprising and perhaps alarming results. - Tom Wright

“Weak faith is still real faith, because weak faith is still faith in a strong Savior. It’s his strength, no our weakness that matters.” - Dane Ortlund

The vultures of consumerism will come to steal your generosity.
The vultures of lust will come to steal your holiness.
The vultures of power will come to steal your humility.
The vultures of selfishness will come to steal your sacrifice.
The vultures of distraction will come to steal your focus.
Drive them away with faith.
Drive them away with the word.
Drive them away with prayer.
Drive them away with spiritual disciplines.
Drive them away for the reward that God has promised. - Jon Tyson

Hebrews 12:1-2

The Story of God: Philemon

Listen along as we go through the letter to Philemon

Notes//Quotes:

Text: Philemon
Title: History, Heart, Hope

Reading: Philemon (esv)

“23 …if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23 & 24)

“though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you” (Philemon 1:8 & 9a.)

 “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances” (Proverbs 25:11, nasb)

“Human reconciliation runs on loving tact, something every Christian should master regardless of personality or position.” (R. Kent Hughes)

“12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.” (Philemon 1:12-16)

“…[I]n Christ Jesus you are ALL sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” 
(Galatians 3:26-28)

“The relationships of the old creation that are marked by polarities (you are either one or the other) and characterized by an economic hierarchy (one side of the relationship is valued higher in the economy of the present age) do not continue into the new creation in Christ.”  (Daniel Ragusa)

“17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” 
(2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

“6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” 
(Romans 5:6-11)

“Forgiveness is a form of voluntary suffering. In forgiving, rather than retaliating, you make a choice to bear the cost.” Timothy Keller