In Christ Alone, My Hope Is Found...

Just a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining Christians from across the state for a Mid Year Conference, held at Camp Clayton in Ulverstone - a small town on the North Coast. Primarily I was interested to see what God is doing across the state, and also in hope to see some cross-city Church unity.

One of the things I loved when I lived in Sydney was the fact that I had Christian brothers and sisters spread all over the state. I could drive a few hours and have somewhere to stay, but more than that I could experience true fellowship with those at a distance through our unity in Christ. This is something I desire here in Tasmania.

My main reason for this post however, is to chew the fat over some of the hot Christian topics that were brought up in MYC and these are not what many would call light-hearted... What I'm concerned with are issues of predestination, election, God's will and what it means to be chosen.

Oftentimes when people talk about these topics heads swell with knowledge and confusion - conversations often become heated and prideful. For myself, I feel that we have often overcomplicated the issue in order to gain understanding, but there is a level to which we need to understand for it to be useful and fruitful in our lives. We must not avoid the issue, but we also need to realise that its useless information if we are unable to use it for the good of the Kingdom, a place where Jesus reigns in love and grants us freedom! Oh how I pray that we may be freed from the slavery of intelligence... (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)

So unlike usual I will try not to ramble on for paragraphs, and in this case I have some help. One night at about 12 or 1 am as I was struggling to sleep and tossing over this stuff (before MYC I might add) so I tossed together a diagram in hope of mapping out some of what I was thinking... post-MYC it has had some revisions and I'm certain many a learned theologian would have some issue with it, but alas here it is:

Alrighty! To anyone other than me this may not make a lot of sense, but bear with me and I shall take you through it. I'll go through the diagram systematically, explaining each part and giving biblical evidence. the difficulty is, that often my understanding of things is from an accumulation of passages and verses, no particular one... so my explanations have the potential to go on forever, but I'll attempt to  keep it relevant and concise.

1. God Revealed - Initially I was going to title this step "Revelation", however some may think this relates to special revelation, e.g. that of Paul on the road to Damascus. God revealed appeals to a broader group of people. Romans 1:18-23 suggests that God has revealed himself to all people through the very creation in which we find ourselves. Innate in all of us, we - Christians and non-believers alike - splendour at nature. Why do we find a sunset beautiful? Why is the ocean so captivating? Why are mountains so majestic? God also reveals Himself through His people; we know that we are His image, we are salt and light, we are His "workmanship, created in Him to do good works, that He prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph 2:10). God reveals Himself to all people.
2. Election or Rejection - This is often where Christians get confused or upset. They get confused because firstly, they find it difficult to distinguish election from being "chosen", and the on-flow from that is if we are "chosen" how can free-will exist? I believe we have free-will. I believe that God, being not a dictator gave us the power to choose Him as one that seeks to glorify Himself, and by graciousness, love us in the process. I believe that without free-will, Eve then Adam would have not had the capacity to disobey. Here's how I think of "election"; Every few years an election is held for parliament, or at uni it may be for the SRC etc. In an election, people are nominated - either they nominate themselves or are nominated by others. They then become candidates. A vote is taken, and then a candidate is elected to the respective position. Pertaining to God, its a similar process although instead of taking a vote, God holds the ultimate choice. So I see it as this - All people have a choice, we can put our hand up as candidates for God to elect us, or we can continue on without Him. You may then ask, does God elect all people? I put my trust in Romans 10:13 - "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Does this mean that before you are born God chooses one person to be saved and not the other. I don't think this is the case. I think that all people have the chance to come to Jesus, however we do know that God has foreknowledge (will happily provide a list of references). He knows whether we will come to Him or not, but we still have the choice. To flip the perspective, we don't now whether we will or not, yet we still have the choice. We can also choose to "reject" Him, and if you're unsure of what this looks like, I can help you through that if you wish, but for the moment I won't add that in here. You are a candidate for election.
3. Predestined Life - I mentioned before that God had foreknowledge. I believe that all people are predestined, and this is inclusive of Christians AND non-believers. I'm going to bring forth this idea from Romans 8:29-30 and Ephesians 1:4-5. Predestination is God's will for people to be conformed to the likeness of His son. In these two places we see that God predestines us before we are called, and this is to be adopted as His children which can only be done through Jesus. We then are to be conformed to the son and all of this is to the purpose of His will. But what is God about? What is His will. Throughout the bible we see that His will is that Jesus would die, rise and that people would be saved through Him and through this He would bring the restoration of His domain. Ephesians 1:4, "For He chose us IN HIM". We cannot separate the "He chose us" from the "in Him". Its only in Jesus that we are chosen. Does this mean that all people will find Jesus. Unfortunately no, because we know that we still have that choice. That does not mean that those people are not predestined. All people are predestined for the same thing, the difference is that not all people get to the same place, some of us miss the mark. When I think predestined, I break down the word. "Pre" meaning before, and "destined" referring to destiny meaning what will happen. Put it together and we have "before what will happen". What will eventually happen is the judgement of the world, but before that, we will live life, and will will live it in one of two ways; In Christ or in sin. All people are predestined for Christ.

That's about all the explanation I wanted to put in because the rest of the diagram I think speaks for itself, all I wanted to do was share how I think the parts work together. A life en Christos is a life of submission (giving yourself over to God) and then being led by the Spirit and transformed (Romans 12:2). A life without God leads to eternal torment. God gives us over to our desires. Hell is not a prison (you'll never get out), although it is a place of restriction. Hell is the rejection of God in its fullness, which happens to be a state of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Torment. God will give you what you choose.

I wasn't going to write this post, but I was prompted by the Spirit when I was reading Matthew 22. Jesus portrays the Kingdom of God to be like a wedding banquet hosted by a king. The Jewish people are like the invited guests that don't show up, and when the king (God) sent some servants (I'm thinking prophets) whom they killed, the king became angry and destroyed them. His servants then "gathered all the people they could find both good and bad" and they came to the banquet. While the king was at the banquet he found one who was not wearing wedding clothes. The king asked him how he got in, and then swiftly asked him to be tied hand and foot and thrown "outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth". The king declares, "For many are invited, but few are chosen."

Why was that one man not chosen? Why was He kicked out? It was because of His clothes. This is where I get excited! Consider this:

"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes... These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

- Revelation 7:9a,14b

I suggest you read the whole chunk of Revelation 7:9-17, but can you see it? Those who are wearing the right clothes are chosen! The right clothes are the robes that have been washed in the blood of the Lamb - the Lamb we understand to be Jesus. God chose, as it says in Matthew "all the people they could find". All people had the chance, all were invited but not all were chosen, because to be chosen, you have to be in Jesus. To be elected you have to choose Jesus and that option is open for all people. God doesn't want people for eternal torment, otherwise he wouldn't have sent Jesus for us. We're not predestined for torment, but we are predestined to be found in Christ. God does not choose people to be be tormented in hell, but he has foreknowledge that there will be some of us that will.

I hope and pray that this will be of some use to you. 

Grace and peace to you in Christ.

Followers and Servants

"The Answers Are Not in the Clouds...", photograph, Alex Archer, 2012

I've recently been thinking a lot about how I'm to serve God in this place. In a time where things are a little uncertain, through the help of brothers and sisters in grace I've been convicted lately of how much I need to trust God.

I was frustrated after church on Sunday, because although I want to serve God (or at least I think I do, lest I be deceived by lies) I've seen things within myself where I haven't surrendered to God and in such subtle and consciously unnoticeable ways I have wanted to steal some of His glory for myself - i concur with Pauls dilemma in Romans 7:7-25. Although I have entered into His glory only through Christ, my mission in this life is not to bring glory upon myself, yet to reveal the glorious, sovereign and worthy God in the hope of making DISCIPLES (not just followers) of God in all nations.

The idea of discipleship I believe goes beyond mere following. To be a "follower" implies that one is a supporter or devotee to a cause. One could easily say that they are a follower of the Liberal party, or a follower of Ashton Kutcher on Twitter. In some regard, following is a passive reaction, where discipleship is an assertive and active action. This assertiveness comes not from what we think we should do, but through submission to God, actively working for the sake of His kingdom... not because He needs us, but because He wants us alongside Him (consider John 21:1-14), has prepared us to work for Him and in this manner we receive blessing. (Acts 5:41).

This all comes from a conversation I've had recently about being servants to Christ Jesus. Here are just some of the places I think of that suggest that we are God's servants:

"For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body... I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith." - Philippians 1:21-24, 25b

This is such a trustworthy saying, especially in light of the great commission:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Luke 28:19-20

What was alighted to me, was the fact that people are at very different stages of their faith. Some will be able to digest the idea of being servants (even slaves, Romans 6:15-23) to God's way but others will not be in the place to hear it. With prayer and with the study of God's truth, and by His Spirit it is my prayer that people will receive discernment and the fruit of the Spirit by the graciousness of God in order to meet people at the stage they are in (as Christ did). I'm now going to try and explain with a very minimal amount of complexity (as Pastor Steve would say, explaining the unexplainable) the essence of conversion.

How did we get here?

God created the world. It was good.

The Lord created people and they were good.

God gave us free will, in order that we would choose to love Him back (God's not given to dictatorship)

With this free will, we chose to go against what He had told us to do (Adam and Eve in the fall, Genesis 3)

To this day, the world is in a state of brokeness because of that original sin.

What is this sin I'm dealing with?

Sin came to be, because Adam and Eve went against the instruction of God.

God is good (Psalm 119:68, amongst MANY others), and God is just (Job 37:23).

God works for the good of His people (Romans 8:28).

Sin is when we decide that we don't want God.

Sin is when instead of following God, we choose our own way.

Sin is choosing our judgement over His.

Sin is self-centredness 

Repentance and Submission

In knowing what sin is, when we convert to God's way, we submit our lives to Him and we repent of the way we have been living. We are no longer denying God, but instead denying ourselves. We are choosing God's way, not our way. A common Christian analogy; you're driving your car down the highway and you see Jesus on the side of the road. You stop to pick Him up. You offer Him the back seat, he declines. You offer him the front passenger seat, He declines. He walks over to your door and says "I will drive". 

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works so that  no-one may boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9

But when we give our lives to God, we are entering into RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. Before Jesus, we were separated from God. There was separation between us and God, even though He was always there. This separation from God was sin, but when Jesus died, He "bridged the gap" between us and God. You may be familiar that when Jesus died, the curtain in the temple was torn. Previously, behind the curtain was the holiest of places where only those who were counted holy enough could enter on very specific occasions. When Jesus died on the cross, the Earth was shaken and the curtain was torn, signifying that the separation that once existed between us and God had now been dissolved, but only through Christ's death on the cross for our sin.

And when we are found in Christ, we become citizens of His kingdom and have a new place that Jesus prepares for us with Him (John 14:1-4). Through the knowledge of this truth, perseverance is brought about in us, knowing that the race we run is not in vain and that we have an eternal life to look forward to (Hebrews 10:34).

A Poor Attempt to Bring it Together... With Any Form of Coherence

When we repent, we submit our lives to God for we have come to the understanding that Christ died taking on the sins of the world, and that we realise that His way of doing life is infinitely better than our way of doing life.

Ephesians 2:10 reads, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Him (King Jesus) to do good works, that He prepared in advance for us to do."

We were created by God, we were then saved through Jesus, in order that we might do the good works that He planned us for do. The actual "doing" of the works makes sense... here's why.

In our submission, and our turning away from sin, we are in some way turning away from ourselves. We are deciding against our own way of living and instead choosing God's way; and as we learn of God's way, we are shown that we are to serve Him and in His name, serve others. Our own way of living would dictate that we should do things for our self gain, which is in very essence, sin.

Jesus, upon being questioned about the greatest commandment replied "Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it; Love your neighbour as yourself. All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40) Those who are under Christ are no longer condemned by the law (Romans 6:14), but justified (Just-as-if-i'd... never sinned) through Jesus.

When we take our understanding of sin as our own self-centredeness, and then align it with Jesus' command to love God and love others, all things are for the service of God and others to the glory of God.

WE DO NOT DO GOOD STUFF TO GAIN SALVATION, as religion would have us believe. WE DO GOOD WORKS BECAUSE WE ARE FOUND IN CHRIST, who works for the good of His people, and when we vow to live as His people, WE VOW TO WORK FOR THE GOOD OF HIS PEOPLE ALONGSIDE HIM.

Launceston has been changing me; or what I should say is God is changing me through Launceston. Since before moving down here i've felt that God has me here for a purpose. I don't know what He has in stall for me, and in some ways I'm a little miffed as to what to do and where to fit in, but what is true is that for me it is a test and challenge in obedience to His commands, submission to His will, and trust in His plan. May ALL the glory be to God, for my blessing is His graciousness that I might find joy in service to Him.

This is a long message, and if you find any untruth in it, please by the word rebuke me in love! It is my pray that your hearts may be protected from any false hope or truth, and that by the Spirit you may possess discernment and understanding, and gain wisdom and knowledge.

Peace and Blessings!

You are not your own...

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God" You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore Honour God with your body."
     - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I've come to love the community at Door Of Hope. This sunday we've started a new series on the Babylonian Empire, looking at what God had done with His people during this time. The first sermon of the series was more of an overview of the themes for the events of the time period, and we had a good little history lecture for some context.

The big theme from the sermon was that "God is God and He is sovereign; We are not God."

The above verse from 1 Corinthians in context of its passage refers to sexual immorality/impurity with our bodies, but I especially like the reasoning for putting off such behaviours. It is about submission.

We have a God who has chosen us. He has planted the Holy Spirit in us. Now that we have given our lives back over to God (for they have really always been His), the sins that we struggle with are all the little thoughts/feelings/parts within us that want to make ourselves the focus of our lives; to take control of our lives away from God and into our hands.

YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN; you were bought at a PRICE....

That price was the life of Jesus. He died on the cross. Although I was already God's property, when I eventually made the choice to follow God, the choice He gave me to make, I relinquished any right I had to preserve my will, instead submitting to God's will for my life. This was, and still is my act of worship to Him.

Submit to God, for He is God. I am HIS! I need to give to God what is God's...

Amen?

RE: Manifestation of the Spirit

Near Wilson's Promontory, Victorian Coastline, Alex Archer 2012

[In a particular charismatic service] There's a lot of space for "worship" which is a great opportunity to bring praise to God, but we are to worship God by giving over the entirety of our lives, everyday, all the time (Check out Romans 12:1-5)..

I'm not entirely sure that "worship" has a time period, and what i mean is "we're going to worship god now because we're singing" - although it is good to have a time specifically focussed on God, I wish there was more time like that in our lives. But isnt that the whole "fan into flame (2 Tim 1:6)" aspect of faith? That we are untrained in worshipping God (since the fall of man) and throughout our lives He will transform and lead us to holiness?

This is something I'm concerned about in many churches, but it seems to be specifically in the charismatic services... the presence of the spirit is not based on our feelings. There is an experiential aspect to the Spirit, because He manifests Himself in the life of his people to empower them, teach them, comfort them etc etc. BUT if you are in Christ you have the Spirit, and this is not based on human emotion; if you aren't crying on your knees or jumping for joy during "worship" time, it doesnt mean you're any more connected with the Spirit, it just means at that exact point in time, you're not reacting in an openly viewable way to any particular aspect of God's character (His goodness, faithfullness, sovereignty etc).

If the presence of the spirit is based on feelings and emotions, we can say when we dont "feel" God, that He's left us.. but He hasn't, He can't have, otherwise how can we say that God is faithful to his people?

So I find in charismatic services, its a little odd to ask "Spirit, descend on us," when we already have it inside us. It seems like a redundant question... what is a more worthy question could be "Lord, I give myself to you; please use me for your will" - we have the Spirit, but instead pray that the Spirit would work in and on and through us.. but we can't hold expectations of what that will look like because God may have the intention to miraculously heal someone before your eyes or maybe make a certain passage of scripture challenge your heart. This is all the work of that SAME spirit...

Sorry for the rambling. I hope this is edifying and not discouraging.

Peace and Blessings

Why Separate the Universal Church?

National Penny Farthing Championships, Evandale, TAS, Alex Archer 2012

A physical grouping of the church ceases to function as such when they deviate from the salvation gospel of Christ, dead and resurrected. I'm really pining for unity within the church and being in Sydney it was hard to envision that, because there are so many church groupings spread all over the place. Here in Launceston however, its not uncommon to have 2 or 3 within a block of one another. I want to see church unity happen, not just talked about. I also need to be fed.

We can never "give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing" (Heb 10:25). I'm not content however, with the view of being a part of a church grouping as the only way to experience church in its fullness. God will use people in different ways, we cannot rob Him of His power to do so. Out of the bounds of "I go to Christ Church of blah" or "I go to such-and-such Anglican", people can very well be sustained given they are still active as a member of the body. By very definiton you cannot be part of God's church in isolation. Church is a people, so to be a part of God's church you're already sorted into a grouping, which is alternative from what the bible would call, people "of the world".

Somewhere we have congregationalised the church. Naturally people are going to form into groups, but there is a difference between "meeting regularly with Christians" and "meeting regularly with the SAME Christians". In this congregationalisation of church we usually think that the latter is more true. In no way it negative to meet with the same people regularly, there are boundless advantages to meeting with the same people, but there are also disadvantages. Mostly the issue is that the bible is non-specific about church being "meeting with the SAME Christians," but instead "meeting together". It's a nice concept to think that one could go from there home town all around the world and experience the same level of fellowship with other Christian brothers and sisters, and as far as I can see the only barrier in the way of this is an individual ability to form relationships.

Some people have debated that if you're not meeting with the same people on a regular basis, then you cannot experience church or relationship to their fullness. I think this is not dealing with the same issue, although related. The problem is it makes the depths of our relationships based upon the circumstances of those relationships, and not solely upon the level of "lovingness" in our relationships.

In the bible we are called to love our neighbour. Who is our neighbour? Everyone! This is the command for ALL our relationships, and although our relationships may work out in different ways, I am not convinced that the DEPTH of our relationships should be any different. You are either loving or you are not. You may show it in different ways under different circumstances, but in all, there are two categories for love. When we have a God who sees and knows all about us, and sees and knows all about everyone around us and yet chooses us even "while we were still sinners... died for us," (Romans 5:8), we have anything to hide anymore? We're freed from the slavery of sin, so why should we still feel shame because of it as if we were still slaves to it? I'm not saying the shame will instantly go away, but I am saying there is no reason for it and it is to our detriment. In fact confessing our sins to each other as well as God, leads to healing! (James 5:16) We have nothing to withold from our brothers and sisters...

There are instructions in the ways certain relationship should look (1 Corinthians 7, Eph 5:22-33, 1 Timothy 5 amongst others) but the command to love remains constant. The depth of our relationships should be based upon, and worked upon in relation to our ability to love, opposed to the context and circumstance.

A saint cannot give up meeting other christians in the name of jesus for the glory of God without excluding himself in very essence from what is THE church. However, we are accustomed to congregationalised church, and just because we live in a society that has a congregationally based culture, doesnt mean God is powerless to produce church in a different fashion in the life of one of His chosen.

I guess, if you are a christian, you are in THE church of Christ and it is essential that you meet with other parts of the body (for encouragement, edification and the glory of God), but the way that one meets with the saints can take on many different forms and still be well within what I think is the biblical refinement of Church.

I hope this seems as worth thinking about to you as it does to me.

Peace and Blessings

Wisdom... Colin style.

Laughing Ganesha Indian Restaurant, Alex Archer, 2012

This is my first post in 2012! Happy New Year!

It comes at a time of great change and anxiety. I woke up this morning feeling incredibly uneasy, and an hour and a bit later the feelings aren't entirely quenched, but after reading some James and 1 Peter, the angst is a bit better directed.

As I've been dealing with my anxieties of late, I praise God that He has provided wisdom for me over the last few months in the most bizarre ways. For example, Colin Buchanan music...

I know, it's for kids right? The thing is, the message of each song is carefully and truthfully compounded into simple and easy to understand concepts. Sometimes in our Christian walk we are so overloaded with Biblical knowledge and trickier (yet very relevant) concepts like predestination and total depravation etc etc, that we forget the simple truths. And so I've been considering the lyrics of two Colin songs in particular:

Remember the Lord:

"Remember the Lord, Oh, Oh.

Remember that he is in control.

Remember the Lord, Oh, Oh.

He's watching, His children, He cares,

Oh, Oh.

Remember the Lord,

Oh Oh, Oh Oh"

Practice Being Godly

"Have you seen those big and healthy guys,

always doing their excercise,

Well its better to work for a Heavenly prize!

SO practice being godly.

Never give up, make it your aim.

Practice being godly.

If you've been forgiven in Jesus' name.

Practice being godly.

He paid the price for all our sin,

His Holy Spirit dwells within,

So centre all you do on Him.

Practice being godly."

We can learn a LOT from songs designed for kids...