This is where our main theme emerges. Remember when Jesus was saying goodbye to his disciples. “I will not leave you as orphans” he promised them (John 14.18). And so at Pentecost (Acts 2) the Holy Spirit came and the enabled the church to stay faithful and to proclaim Jesus’ name. Jesus stayed with the disciples through the Holy Spirit. And so the way Jesus rules and guides the church is through his Holy Spirit. In particular we can say that Jesus rules through the Bible which is a product of the Holy Spirit’s work; 2 Peter 1.20-21 describes the Bible's content as men speaking from God as they are carried along by the Holy Spirit.
So these leather bound words not just mere human words; they’re the words of Jesus as spoken by his Holy Spirit, they’re words of power, they're words which change lives. I’m not sure whether you still expect things to happen when you read the Bible: whether you expect to be comforted; whether you expect to be changed as people. I think we should! Scripture is a divine word which is transforming. Expect that you will be affected by it. Pray that you would be affected by it. It’s a powerful word and it’s an authoritative word. As the word spoken by the Holy Spirit it’s the word by which Jesus still rules his church today. Jesus is the head of the Church, and he exercises that headship through the Scriptures.
So what Church should our immigrant choose? A church which is ruled by the Christ through his Spirit-authored word. What church should we be? A church whose Bible studies remain just that: Bible studies. A church where we avoid the temptation to start considering other books in our small groups apart from this one. A church where the Bible is explained and applied in its sermons each week. A church where direction is taken from Jesus in his word. That’s the kind of Spiritual church we should be.
But of course, hunger for and submission to the Bible isn’t the only mark of a Spiritual church…
So these leather bound words not just mere human words; they’re the words of Jesus as spoken by his Holy Spirit, they’re words of power, they're words which change lives. I’m not sure whether you still expect things to happen when you read the Bible: whether you expect to be comforted; whether you expect to be changed as people. I think we should! Scripture is a divine word which is transforming. Expect that you will be affected by it. Pray that you would be affected by it. It’s a powerful word and it’s an authoritative word. As the word spoken by the Holy Spirit it’s the word by which Jesus still rules his church today. Jesus is the head of the Church, and he exercises that headship through the Scriptures.
So what Church should our immigrant choose? A church which is ruled by the Christ through his Spirit-authored word. What church should we be? A church whose Bible studies remain just that: Bible studies. A church where we avoid the temptation to start considering other books in our small groups apart from this one. A church where the Bible is explained and applied in its sermons each week. A church where direction is taken from Jesus in his word. That’s the kind of Spiritual church we should be.
But of course, hunger for and submission to the Bible isn’t the only mark of a Spiritual church…
5 comments:
Helpful and edifying?
Ill try!!:)
With this, and your latest comment at MJ's, I take it the fight is for a spiritual experience. The thing to do is to rightly ground that experience. Is this the gist of your arguement?
I am finding that people I spend time with are keen on the Bible, reject the theology based in pentecostalism, and yet are drawn there by what they call an experience.
Would people come in among us and say "God is really among you?" (1 Cor 14:25) Sometimes I am not too sure. However my upbringing makes me think that as soon as I open the gates to experience I become a raving hand waver. Do you have any thoughts on the experience issue, or is that still to come?
Yeah, I think the desire for what we might call a subjective experience is good and proper, AND it needs to be grounded properly and fostered by the means provided by the Spirit (Scripture, community etc).
BTW, hand waving is fine in my book. I'm at a loss to see how it can be damaging, provided it's not distracting others. Paul even said to raise holy hands in prayer (1 Tim 2). Last night I attended an evening of the Sydney Uni Evangelical Union's Annual Conference, which historically has been on the more reserved end of spectrum corporate worship spectrum. But last night I did notice more hand raising compared to years previous. Things seem to be shifting (in terms of what we do with our hands during singing).
Yeah, I agree, I personally dont understand why it is helpful or edifying, however I dont disparage those who do it. I was just painting the typical characature (Sic?).
Why do we find it so hard to have appropriate subjective experiences? Are we just all a certain type of person, and so we end up similar in ministry? I dunno, food for thought, thanks for your comments
Hey Marty,
Is this part of a sermon you preached or just your musings? Great reminder... i think it is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking my people need "me" more than they need "Jesus". Thanks for the reminder!
Sam
Heya Samwise...
It's part of a sermon preached at our branch church here at Castle Hill, although edited a little for the blog.
Hope you're Doin' GREAT!!!
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