Talks, Sermons and Reflections

EPHESIANS 2.11-22 This is a complicated passage, and I confess that I have really struggled with it. It is about the unity that Christian believers have when we are in Christ, and it can be divided up into three sections. 1. Paul tells us what we were without Christ (2.11-12) We were not part of the people of God He is speaking to people who were not Jews.  4000 years ago God chose the Jewish people to be his people. He said he would be their God and they would be his people. He gave them his law. And he said that through his people all people would be blessed.  But as Gentiles, as non-Jews, Paul is saying to his listeners, you were not part of the people of God.  And we were at war with God.   We chose to live without God, as rebels against God, enemies of God.  I was wilfully blind and deaf when it came to the things of God, because I wanted to live life my way and to satisfy my own desires.  Yes, we might have spent...

                  1. Limitations of language ‘If you can understand it, it’s not God’. (Augustine of Hippo)   2. Experience of disciples a) They knew that there was only one God Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord. ( Deuteronomy 6:4 ) For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. ( Isaiah 46:9 ) The first followers call the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, God (Colossians 1.3)   They also saw that Jesus prayed to God as Father (eg. John 11.41), is conscious of being loved by the Father, of being sent by the Father, of being given all things by the Father (3.34), of speaking the words of the Father (12.49f), doing the works of the Father (4.34, 6.38), judging with the judgement of the Father (8.16), sharing in the glory of the Father (8.54; 17.5), and of being one with the Father (John 10.29). Jesus had this sense of being in the Father and o...

A talk given at the Bury St Edmunds Come Together event. listen to ‘The gospel is at the heart of Christian unity’ on audioBoom Philippians 1.27-30 Great to be here, together with other brothers and sisters. For the last 1000 years, Christianity has had a privileged position in this country.  It has been the established religion of our nation Our monarchs have been crowned by our church leaders We have bishops in the Houses of Parliament Many of our laws are rooted in biblical truths But that is all changing rapidly I predicted about 25 years ago that in 100 years’ time Christians would be some of those few strange people who – among other things – believed in life long monogamous partnership between one man and one woman. I stick by that prediction, apart from the 100 year bit. And I would make another prediction. In 50 years’ time Christians will be that strange group of people who make babies the old fashioned way! The new normal will be ...

1 Samuel 10.1-8 listen to ‘How do I know I really matter’ on audioBoom There are two deep desires that many of us have 1. We want to know that we are significant We are told that we are unique and special, that we matter and are worth it. But we see through the hype. If everyone is special then how can I be special? There is this deep need for us to know that we are significant, that we are not just a cluster of atoms, which have randomly come together, for a millisecond of eternity, surrounded by other clusters of atoms,   which have randomly come together for their millisecond of eternity.  We want to know that we really are significant. And so we dream of what I would call the Susan Boyle moment – one moment they are laughing at us, treating us as a joke, as if we don't matter and the next we are receiving a standing ovation. Or  it might be the dream of winning £93m in the lottery, being spotted by the scout, buying the...

2 Peter 3.11-18 listen to ‘Be holy, be hopeful, be humble’ on audioBoom What sort of lives should we live? I wonder what you will end up doing? Astronaut, lawyer, vicar, retail manager, musician, footballer, engineer, writer, inventor, nurse. It is fascinating: and I look forward to finding out. But Peter asks a slightly different question: not what will you do, but what sort of person will you be? What will be your character? It is more important. Because we are bigger than what we do. We are how we live. So what sort of people should be like? Holy, Godly, People with a hope, Active, Humble, Grow and mature, people who bring glory to God.  I’m just going to focus on three.  1. Holy people Peter writes: ‘What sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness … without spot or blemish’. That sounds so boring. We think of holy people as pious and aloof, sitting cross legged on some mountain somewhere. It is ...