Today, there are elections going on all round the UK. I haven’t yet fully decided how I am going to vote. To be honest one of the main things I feel about the state of our democracy is disappointment. Spoiling the ballot paper is a valid expression of political discontent, and I haven’t ruled it out yet.

I was cheered to read this post by Marc Lloyd (with whom I overlapped at Oak Hill for a couple of years), and I think there’s real beauty in his first paragraph:

“I believe that the gospel, the fundamental reality, the most important truth in the universe, the first commitment of every individual and society is “Jesus Christ is Lord”. That should be the guiding principle of all, including politics and public life. It should be the first line of our consititution.”

Amen. Yet the day when that’s recognised to anything approaching the extent it ought to be is quite far off as far as I can tell from my vantage point. But that’s no excuse for not letting the Lordship of Christ compel our voting decisions now. That’s what I’ll endeavour, prayerfully, to do when I get to the polling station.

Here’s the notes/ script from a meditation I gave at our monthly celebration of the Lord’s Supper, part of a series working through the beatitudes.

Matt. 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

We aren’t used to thinking that there are conditions in play when it comes to God’s mercy and grace. Surely, by definition, when God treats us with mercy it is exactly because we don’t deserve the compassion and pity he is giving us. Or more accurately, we do deserve the condemnation and punishment that he’s not giving us.

And that’s exactly right. When Jesus says ‘the merciful will receive mercy’ he isn’t talking about a way of earning God’s mercy. Other religions do work that way. Think of the concept of ‘karma.’ Under karma the merciful person receives mercy in a sort of mechanistic way. Keep doing enough merciful things and some mercy’s gonna come your way too. Or think of the common idea in british ‘folk religion’ that ‘one good deed deserves another,’ so the person who wants to be treated with mercy had better show some mercy to others first, get them in their good books, and then get help when it’s their time of need.

But that’s not the way it works with God. Mercy is mercy is mercy. And that means it’s something you can’t really earn or deserve, by definition. At least the bible’s definition.

And yet this is a condition. ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.’ If you want to be treated mercifully by God, you need to be a merciful person. Think about the person that is unmerciful. The person who
- ignores the poor,
- tramples on the weak,
- is quick to pour condemnation on the sinful,
- impatient with other people’s mistakes.

That sort of person mustn’t think that they themselves are
- poor,
- weak,
- sinful,
- mistaken.
They say that the alcoholic who won’t admit he’s an alcoholic will hate and despise all other alcoholics.  The same is true of sinners. It’s only the sinner who doesn’t, who won’t realise that she herself needs God’s mercy and forgiveness that refuses to show mercy to others.

The degree to which you and I are merciful is a marker of how much you and I have understood that mercy is what we need from God.

In other words, it’s a measure of how much we’ve understood the cross. If we realise that we’ve been forgiven by God for so much, that he’s been so patient and merciful and kind to us,  then how can we fail to show that to others?

That’s what Jesus means. Being merciful is a sign that we’ve grasped the cross. And people who have grasped the cross and their deep need of it will be shown God’s mercy on judgment day. So, the merciful are blessed, because they will receive mercy.

So, are you merciful?

- How patient are you with those who make mistakes at work?

- How compassionate and considerate are you towards those with less than you, in your gamma team?

- How ready to forgive are you, in the home?

- Is mercy what people who have crossed you in some way experience?

- Are your finances marked by mercy for the poor (spiritual and material)?

- Are your prayers marked by mercy for lost sinners?

Because, the degree to which you and I are merciful is a marker of how much you and I have understood that mercy is what we need from God.

In a few minutes we are going to be taking the Lord’s supper. Visible, tangible, edible mercy. That’s what it is. As we remember Christ’s death we are remembering that you and I are always in a position of needing and receiving God’s mercy. And as we do that we are being fed spiritually, by putting our trust in Christ’s mercy once again, fed spiritually to give us the strength and the energy to live lives of mercy towards others.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”

Thought it was high time I resurrected Calvin Friday. Here is the Genevan reformer on Matthew 5:29, part of the passage I am preaching on this sunday at our 6pm service.

It might be thought that, considering the weakness of the flesh and of nature, Christ pressed too severely on men, and therefore he anticipates all such complaints. The general meaning is, that however difficult, or severe, or troublesome, or harsh, any commandment of God may be, yet no excuse ought to be pleaded on those grounds, because the justice of God ought to stand higher in our estimation, than all that we reckon most precious and valuable. “You have no right to object to me, that you can scarcely turn your eyes in any direction, without being suddenly drawn away by some temptation: for you ought rather to part with your eyes, than to depart from the commandments of God.” [Commentary on Synoptics, see here]

Here’s the rest of the notes from the appendix I gave to Yorkshire Training students yesterday (first half HERE).

B. Clarifications and answers to common objections

- Doesn’t this confuse the earthly with the heavenly?

In a very real sense history is about the ‘heavenification’ of the earth. After all, we regularly pray ‘your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ Christ reigns over the whole creation, seated in the heavenlies, and the Church’s mission is to see that reign recognised and enjoyed on earth to as great a degree as is possible before Christ returns. When he does return, the bible describes it as heaven and earth becoming one place.

There is a potential danger that we get so concerned with transforming the culture around us that our focus shifts from the fact that our life is hidden with Christ in God, and that what we’re really longing for is when he appears. However, the problem there is not so much a Transformationist approach to culture as a neglecting of what it is that must drive any transformation (whether big or little, personal or societal), namely, the gospel. So, in Colossians, we are called to focus on Christ in heaven so that our lives and our churches are transformed by the gospel.

-Doesn’t this approach confuse the here and now with the future?

Despite all that has been said in the answer above, it would be possible to make the mistake of investing all our time and energy on our impact on the culture here and now, forgetting that our real and ultimate hope is for the return of Christ and the consummation of all things. That kind of trying to build ‘heaven’ here is unbiblical, and is guaranteed to lead to disappointment.

But, just because the full transformation of all things will only take place at the consummation that’s no excuse to fail to subject everything we do, and everything within our sphere of influence, to the transforming power of God’s word in the gospel. We’d never dream of saying someone should forget about their own personal pursuit of holiness simply because we know we’ll never be perfect this side of the new creation. Transformationists simply believe they are broadening the definition of what this pursuit of holiness looks like to include every area of life that Christians are involved in.

- Doesn’t this sort of approach lead to confusing the Church and the State?

No doubt about it, some Christians have confused the roles of the Church and the State, most of them in the Roman Catholic and Anglican streams of Christian thought. Interestingly enough, the Transformationist approach is far more closely associated with various branches of Presbyterianism, both now and in the past, and Presbyterians are far clearer on the distinct roles of the Church and the State than many Anglicans and Catholics have been. Most Transformationists have pretty well-formed views on the relationship between Church and State. It is important to say that a. Institutionally the two ought not to be confused (such that church leaders were also members of the commons, for example), and b. functionally the two have sovereignty over different areas of life and exercise their sovereignty in different ways (for example, the State can’t excommunicate adulterers, whereas the Church can’t execute murderers).

The real issue is whether or not both the State and the Church ought to be governed by God’s word in Christ, albeit in their differing functions. Transformationists argue that they both should be. This emphasises the centrality of the Church in God’s plans for his world, since although the Church shouldn’t run/ be the State, in an ideal situation the biblical teaching that MPs and PMs receive from the Church would shape their policy decisions.

It’s worth reflecting on where we’ve come from in history on this one too. To us in the modern UK, Transformationist views look like they might lead to confusing the Church and the State because they encourage churches to be involved in activities that are currently organised by the State, such as welfare and education. Historically speaking however, these areas of life were not in the domain of the State’s control – that is a feature of modern democratic socialist thought, and it is worth pausing as to whether this is something the bible thinks is a good arrangement or not. Historically speaking the Church (or Christians banded together in parachurch organisations) has been deeply involved in welfare and the like as good works and love for neighbour flowed from the effect the gospel was having in people’s lives.

Today is Ascension Day. Christ is not only risen but he has been installed in heaven as King of kings and Lord of lords, and we have been seated with him. Christ is reigning and will do so until he has subdued all his enemies.

One implication of Christ’s Ascension to the right hand of the Father is a transformationist approach to culture (see this lecture HERE). I gave a lecture today to students at Yorkshire Training on the subject of ‘Christ and Culture,’ and here are some notes I gave them in an appendix.

A. Reasons I am a Transformationist.

1. It is able to incorporate the best insights of the other two models without their foibles.

Like Christ Against Culture, the Transformationist position argues
- …culture contains much evil, and Christ is in confrontation with evil, and with all human society that is in rebellion with him.
- The problem is not culture per se. Human beings are meant to be culture-creators, just godly culture. Hence Christ’s intention is to transform cultures as he transforms the people in the culture by the gospel.

Similarly, like Christ and Culture in Paradox, Transformationists agree that
- …there are massive differences between the principles by which, for e.g. a government governs, and a Church governs. For one, the Church does not have the power of the sword, and the state does not have the keys to the kingdom.
- But, this does not mean that States are allowed to be religious neutral zones (as if they could be). The kings of the earth are commanded to ‘kiss the son’ (Psalm 2:12)
- They also agree that God’s common grace towards sinners means there is commonality between Christians and non-Christians, and there is ‘good’ of a sort in the culture produced by non-Christians that Christians can avail themselves of. This good, however, is based on the ‘borrowed Christian capital’ that non-christians avail themselves of in their inconsistency. Were they to live totally consistently with their rebellion against God there would be no such commonality, and non-christian ‘culture’ itself would be an impossibility.
- What’s more, everything in culture is ultimately a matter of ‘religion.’ Culture is ‘cult’ externalised. There can be no neutral ‘Jesus-free’ zone for the Christian.

2. This position alone seems to take fully on board the there are no areas of life that can legitimately claim freedom from Christ’s Lordship. He has all authority in heaven and on earth, has reconciled all things to God, and the Father is planning to bring all things under his headship. The Christian must do everything with his/ her ‘Jesus is Lord’ hat on.

3. This position fits best with the NT teaching that the Church is not just a club for the holy, but a new humanity, a civilisation/ city.

4. The bible teaches that redemption fulfils rather than supplants creation, grace renews rather than replaces nature. Hence we should expect the gospel to have in its sights a fulfilment of the cultural mandate, not a setting of it aside.

Yesterday evening the leadership and congregation of Christ Church Central (together with two of our outside trustees) publicly commissioned me for gospel ministry. Below are the questions I was asked and the answers I gave. If you’re someone who knows me, these are the things to encourage me in and keep me accountable on – especially if you’re a member of Central.

God (answer ‘I believe and trust in him’)

Do you believe and trust in God the Father, who made the world?
Do you believe and trust in God’s Son Jesus Christ -the only Lord
and Saviour?
Do you believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit who gives life to
God’s people?

God’s word (answer ‘I do’)

Do you believe and trust that the Bible is God’s word, inspired by
his Spirit, and that it contains everything we need to know in
order to be saved through Christ and to grow like him?

Prayer and Bible Study (answer ‘with the help of God’s Spirit I will’)

Will you be faithful in prayer and persistent in studying God’s word?

Teaching (answer ‘with the help of God’s Spirit I will’)

Will you faithfully teach God’s word in all its fullness in order to
prepare God’s people for works of service and to become mature in
Christ?
Will you do the work of an evangelist, teaching Christ and his gospel to
those who don’t know him?
Will you actively oppose all false teaching and errors which contradict
God’s word?

Perseverance (answer ‘with the help of God’s Spirit I will’)

Will you persevere in the faith, continuing to trust and obey Christ
even through difficulty and opposition?

Example (answer ‘with the help of God’s Spirit I will’)

Will you strive to build your character and lifestyle on Christ’s word,
setting an example to the church in your teaching and in the wayyou
live?

Then the minister handed me a bible saying:

Pete Jackson we commission you to the work of gospel ministry. Take
this Bible as a reminder of your responsibility to God and his church.
Always make the prayerful study of it your priority. Allow God’s Spirit,
through God’s word, to shape your own life. In the power of God’s
Spirit preach God’s word in the church and in the world and never
depart from it.

My sermons page has been updated (see here), with all my most recent preaching on there, including the one on facebook.

This is not the most reliable way of judging your own preaching, but personally I feel like in the past four or five sermons I’ve really started to learn how to preach again. Getting to know the flock better has a big impact on this, but so does growing in discernment about what to leave behind in the study, and remembering the difference between writing an essay and getting ready to preach.

Anyway, if you’re so inclined, you can take a listen and judge for yourself.

Two excellent posts worth reading HERE and HERE. Pastor Doug Wilson writes about the need to make the distinction between refugees from the world and advocates of the world. Highlights below, but the whole posts are worth reading.

“We have divided the world with false antitheses — like gay and straight, for example. But the real antithesis is repentant and unrepentant, and our language and demeanor must reflect that.”

“…if the hate crimes legislation is passed and signed into law, every faithful pastor in America will make sure he commits a “hate crime” the following Sunday in his pulpit. And in that same message, if he is worth his salt, he will extend the hand of grace to every struggling sinner there. Come, and welcome, he will say, to Jesus Christ.”

“So then, balance. And the balances we use must be those assigned to us in Scripture — all of Scripture. Can the goo-theologians find soaring passages in the Bible about inclusion and acceptance? Sure. Can our aspiring Tishbites find thundering denunciations of sin within the camp? Sure. So let’s do both. Make everybody mad.”

While there’s a fair amount of rubbish said and done under the banner of recovering true manliness, I do throw my lot in with those who are deeply concerned about the feminisation of the church. While the gospel aims at restoring humanity in the image of God, too often the church has colluded with our society’s distortions of gender roles. Women ‘elders’ is more like the tip of this particular iceberg, a manifestation of our culture’s crisis in masculinity rather than a cause.

Hence why I found this article an interesting read. No doubt it only reflects part of the picture, and doesn’t really have a clue about what really needs to be done (what can I say, it’s the Daily Mail!). But interesting nonetheless, and food for thought for those who choose hymns and songs for use in corporate worship.

By the way, the answer to this problem isn’t gratuitous illustrations about sports, hunting, and cars, or public displays of laddishness and public schoolboy humour from Christian leaders. We must let Christ in his life and teaching, and perhaps supremely in his death, determine our concept of masculinity and shape our practice of headship. That means we must sing of and to the real Christ of the scriptures, our victor, our captain, our Lord, our brother, our King and our husband.

…was my title yesterday evening at both our services. It was part of an occasional series we run entitled ‘culture explored’ – a series founded on taking Jesus seriously when he said ‘all authority in heaven and an earth has been given to me. We’re doing two in the series this term, both examining at different aspects of the internet. In a few weeks time ‘God, Google, and the Gospel’ will look at the internet as a source of information/ way of learning about the world. This week was a look at the phenomenon of online social networking through bible glasses.

As part of my preparation I put together the list below. It’s a facebook-style list of 25 things, though the 25 things are bible verses for meditating on in order to shape the way we use such technologies.  If you’re my friend on facebook you can find the list in my ‘notes’ section too (using the technology to subvert the technology is very punk!).

25 bible verses to shape how we use facebook

Loving God

1.    Deut. 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
2.    Col. 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
3.    1Cor. 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
4.    Ex. 20:3 You shall have no other gods before me.
5.    James 4:4 Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Loving your neighbour

6.    Mark 12:31 The second [greatest commandment] is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
7.    Matt. 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
8.    Ex. 20:17  You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.
9.    Matt. 7:12  So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
10.    Prov. 10:1 A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.
11.    Eph. 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
12.    Heb. 3:13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
13.    Matt. 5:28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
14.    Prov. 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offences.
15.    Eph. 6:18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Ultimate reality

16.    Matt. 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
17.    Rom. 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
18.    Col. 3:4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
19.    Rev. 3:12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
20.    1Pet. 2:9 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 marvellous light.

Wise living

21.    Prov. 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
22.    Col. 2:3  [Christ] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
23.    Prov. 10:32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse.
24.    Col. 4:5 Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
25.    Prov. 12:22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.

Is Jesus a political revolutionary?

His enemies thought so. Why else arrive with lanterns and torches and weapons and soldiers (John 18:3)? Of course, the irony is that they’re the real revolutionaries. They’ve come to capture and subdue I AM (v5).

Peter thought so. Why else draw your sword and attack the other side (v10)?

Jesus thought otherwise. Not that he doesn’t have a kingdom (v36), just that it’s not going to be established that way, the way of the insurrectionist. This kingdom is established by truth, the truth Jesus came to bear witness to (v37), the truth spoken of in his death as he takes the Father’s cup of wrath (v11).

It is the same today. Jesus is not a political revolutionary. Not really. Of course, he is political. And he is revolutionary. He has a kingdom after all, and even those in Caesar’s kingdom ought to acknowledge that (19:10-11). But it is not a ‘from the world’ kind of kingdom – it’s an ‘in the world’ kingdom that grows not as his servants draw their swords but as they bear witness to the truth.

John’s Gospel (his ’second Genesis’) chapter 18 and the Great High Priest (John 17) enters the garden-sanctuary with his disciples (v1). Like the first Adam, the enemy approaches, seeking to bring captivity and death (v3). Unlike the first Adam, this Son of God protects his bride (vv8-9). The first Adam hid from the judgment of God, this Adam voluntarily steps out of the garden into exile (v4). He will drink the cup the Father has given him.

He’ll be found in another garden come the other side of all this, at the start of the new (creation) week (John 20).

Thanks to all who prayed for our mission last week. The week as a whole seemed to go pretty well. Starbucks had 50-60 people in each night, church members invited plenty of friends and neighbours. Several people turned up on Sunday having been to something during the week, when they heard a fuller presentation of the gospel. The format of the three mid-week events seemed well-suited to us as a church, allowing us to play to our God-given strengths as well as encouraging outsiders to turn up. The people at Starbucks were really helpful, and really pleased to have us, which seems to have opened the door to further opportunities in the future.

There are now therefore contacts to follow up on, people to pray for, more teaching and proclaiming and explaining to be done. Our easter series is in the latter chapters of John’s gospel, and post-easter we’re hoping to run a Christianity Explored course.

This week as a Church we are holding a (mini-) mission. We’re calling it ‘a purpose for life,’ partly to co-ordinate with our involvement in ‘A Passion for Life’ next year, and partly because we think that (as some people once put it) the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. If you have the time and the inclination, we’d love you to pray for the three events we’re running in Starbucks throughout the week. Our desire is to proclaim the gospel as it addresses our contemporary ideas, idols, sins, and challenges. The titles are as follows (and I’m giving the talk at the second one):

Tuesday: ‘Faith in a Scientific Era.’

Wednesday: ‘Hope in an Economic Crisis.’

Thursday: ‘Love in a Broken Society.’

Below are notes from a short sermon I preached during our monthly communion service. We’re currently working our way through the beatitudes.

Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

I wonder what you think of when you hear the word meek? I know what I think of. The doormat. The shrinking violet. The pushover. Meek = a weak geek.

Not surprisingly, that’s not really at all what Christ had in mind in this third beatitude. I have heard it said that meekness is not so much about being weak. Rather it is about power under control. In Psalm 37 (which Jesus is virtually quoting here) there’s a contrast between not the meek and the strong, but the meek and the evildoers, the wicked.
Using what power and strength we have to serve rather than destroy others. A concerted effort to look after other people’s interests rather than our own.

Meekness is the opposite to our default me first mindset. Not selfishly or slavishly demanding rights. Not being defensive and rushing to justify ourselves. Not pushing our way to the front of the queue. It has a great deal to say therefore about the way you

- Drive
- Shop
- Talk to your husband or wife or parents
- Live with housemates
- Treat those under you at work
- Treat those over you at work

The astonishing thing here is that the meek are blessed because they inherit the earth! Pretty counter-cultural. The way to get ahead (all too often) is to tread on others. To climb the corporate ladder not really minding who you have to trample over on the way up. The survival of the fittest where ‘fittest’ is to do with savagery, physical prowess, aggression, being too busy and too important to stop and care about people who are weak and needy.

It seems if we look at the world that the war-mongers, the oil barons, the corrupt and greedy bankers who inherit the earth. Those who grab what they can when they can! But Christ says that the meek will inherit the earth. I think we see this principle fulfilled in two ways:

1. As Christ’s Kingdom grows throughout history.

Between 1960 and 1990 bible-believing Christianity grew from 4% of the world’s population to 8%. In 2007 it stood at 11%. Bible-believing Christianity is growing 2x as fast Islam and 3x as fast as the world’s population. The meek inherit the earth. Christ’s kingdom grows. But it grows as his people live out their lives of meekness towards God and meekness towards others. As the church suffers and serves and loves and gives. Where is it that growth the most significant? Iran the fastest. China the most significant numerically. Bit by bit, gradually, Christ is fulfilling his own promise here. As he spreads his kingdom of meek, servant-hearted, suffering people walking the walk of the cross.

Mission week is almost upon us. Meekness isn’t opposed to biblical boldness. But we won’t get very far by being arrogant, cocky, defensive. People are going to be encountering us as a church community for the first time over the next week or so. Will they find us to be meek and other-person centred?

2. When Christ returns

Then the gift of this earth renewed and perfected will be given as inheritance to the meek. Knowing that to be true now enables us to be meek doesn’t it? If in Christ we will inherit the world, we don’t need to grab what we can now whoever we trample on.

Our meekness is not a work that earns us a place there. It’s not about totting up the meekness points in order to get a pass to the new creation. Meekness is one of the defining characteristics of those who complete the journey. Those who follow Christ to the end are those who are meek towards God and towards others. Those who walk in the way of the cross.

Because after all, Christ himself is the example of all this. Later on in Matthew’s gospel Jesus says

Matt. 11:29
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle [meek] and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

In a moment we’ll come to his table. The meek Lord’s table. The Lord whose strength was shown in the weakness of the cross. His body torn and his blood poured out for others. Exactly what we remember in the meal he gave to us. We come and we remember, we feed spiritually on him and all he did for us in the cross, to find the strength and resources we need to live as he did.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”