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The Historic Apology to the Stolen Generations is a significant landmark in the history of Australia
Nothing is more dynamic in bringing change of a positive nature than repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.
Repentance is a gift from God, as is forgiveness.
Forgiveness releases healing.
A true apology leads to a desire for a new level of relationship.
Eternal salvation is, of course, dependent upon repentance towards God. We need to ask the forgiveness of those whom we have grieved either knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally.
A true apology makes no excuses, and offers no defence. It can involve a dying to self, because the purpose of an apology is to offer something that will be a blessing to someone else.
Groups of people may apologise to other whole groups of people, and take responsibility in this way for wrongs that were done by only some within the group.
This type of apology is necessary, because many people have been tainted by the sins of some; and also many people in particular groups of people have received or inherited significant economic or psychological advantages in consequence of injustices performed by a limited number of people in their group, or by some of their ancestors.
In this way, there was an occasion in 1986 when I felt the need to apologise publicly to three aboriginal pastors in a public meeting for neglect or even worse done by some of my ancestors in the Windsor district in the first several decades of white settlement. Some years later I felt the need to make a similar type of statement in the diocesan synod during a discussion on funding for aboriginal ministry.
One of the factors in the national Parliament’s apology to the stolen generations has been the increasing awareness that several generations suffer from the effects of such dislocation and dismemberment of families in earlier generations. “Sorry” commences the healing process. Much more needs to happen.
Lindsay Johnstone
The New Opportunity with the Old Promises of God Speaking at the Katoomba Men’s Convention, a front-line London church planter, Richard Coeken exhorted us from Hebrews 11 to claim the clear promises of God in the Scriptures especially when we do not see evidence of their fulfillment.
Christ said that many lives are ready to be harvested into the Kingdom of God, but that there are not enough farmers to bring them in. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
(Luke 10: 2).
There are thirty children who belong to families in one short street alone near the church. Only six of those children and their parents have made visits to St. Luke’s. Many streets in our parish are loaded with families. There are also numerous single folk living around us. St. Luke’s has had significant seasons of prayer for the salvation of the lost. People continue to pray for the Lord’s victory over the obstacles to faith where the seed has been planted in thorns or on rocky ground.
Prayer needs to accompany action. Where the scope of effective action is limited by lack of people resources, then another strategy is needed.
The parish council is considering possible developments. In the meantime, keep praying for the following:
The further consolidation of our church teams that make up the life of St. Luke’s
The increase of people to come into the congregation who can minister with children
God’s gift of people who can minister with teenagers
The provision of people to come into St. Luke’s who can make fresh and lasting contact with many m any families within the local area
New people to come into St. Luke’s who can make fresh and lasting contact with single folk.
Expanded free-will giving income that will facilitate ministry output
An increased ability to be a welcoming church
Lindsay Johnstone
What Christ Achieved on the Cross
Christ as our
Representative 2 Corinthians 5: 14-15.
“For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died on behalf of all; therefore all have died. And he died on behalf of all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and was raised on behalf of them.”
Example I Peter 2: 20-21
“If you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. ’He committed no sin, and no deceit was in his mouth…”
Reconciler 2 Corinthians 5: 18- 19
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting g their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.”
Colossians 1: 21-2: “… you who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he ha snow reconciled min his fleshly body through death…”
Establisher of an Eternal Covenant
1 Corinthians 11: 23: “The Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed took the cup, saying. ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me’ “
Victor (Christus Victor) Colossians 2: 14-15
Christ, at the Cross, triumphed over the power of sin. He triumphed over legalistic condemnation upon us. “God made you alive together with Christ, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross”. Christ, at the Cross, triumphed over Satan and the evil spirits. “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in the cross.”
Christ bound Satan the Strong Man, for Christ is stronger than him.
Substitute and Exchange
Mark 10: 45 “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom instead of many”.
He the innocent died instead of us the guilty.
John Stainer’s Oratorio The Crucifiction. “Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by”.
Atonement: What did it cost?
Christ was made a curse for us. Galatians 3: 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
Mark 15: 34: “At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice,…My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Lindsay Johnstone
Christ’s Strategy in the Early Church: seen in the Book of Acts
The agenda and structure of Acts is found in the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8- “You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judaea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Stage One: Acts 2: Outpouring of the Spirit in Jerusalem leads to conversion of home Jews and Dispersion Jews visiting Jerusalem.
Stage Two: Acts 8: Outpouring of the Spirit in Samaria leading to conversion of Samaritans
Stages Three: Acts 10: Outpouring of the Spirit on Cornelius, leading to the conversion of Gentiles.
One of the Hellenistic Jews, Philip, fled from persecution into the area of Samaria. In this context the Holy Spirit came upon him in a special way and he did miracles. People came to put their trust in Christ. This being the first occasion of the conversion of Samaritans, a special visitation like that at Pentecost came upon the Samaritan converts and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Because this was an epoch-marking Pentecost experience, Peter and the other Apostles came down from Jerusalem for the impartation of the Holy Spirit.
Simon the Sorcerer tried to hijack it all. Of him people said, “This man is the great power of God”. Simon was faced by a competing power and competing miracles. He saw many people put their faith in Jesus, and seemed to join them, but as time went by he tried to buy from Philip the power to bestow the Holy Spirit!
Following each of the three “pentecosts”, all believers of all types received the Holy Spirit at the point of spiritual rebirth and commitment to Christ as Lord and Saviour. Acts nowhere lends any support to the opinion of some that “baptism” in or by the Spirit could as a “second stage” after conversion.
Simon the Sorcerer was wrong or defective on all four basic issues of life. He gave out that out that the power of God emanated from him. His purpose in life was to manipulate others by his own access to the supernatural, which actually came from the demonic: Ethically he thought he could buy the power of God with money: He tried to believe in Christ without a willingness to submit his ethics to the Word of God. Consequently Peter told him that he should perish with his money Until he should repent of his sin he could not in any manner share in the destiny of the new Samaritan believers..
In the case of Cornelius that impartation occurred at the initial conversion because the Apostle Peter was already there.
Lindsay Johnstone (January 2008)
Changes brought by the Gospel of Christ in the Early Churches of Acts 1-7 A new level of fellowship between believers:
Acts 2: 42ff: Church gatherings:
1 Apostolic teaching from the Scriptures.
2 Fellowship
3 The breaking of bread, Holy Communion
(See also I Corinthians 10 and 11),
4 Prayer
5 A sense of awe and reverence for God
6 Sharing and material generosity. Acts 2: 45; 4: 32-37
7 Praise of God Acts 2: 47
8 Realignment of Church administration to facilitate both the Gospel preaching and also works of mercy 6: 1-7
9 Resolution of problems that could have aggravated injustice and racism. 6: 1-2
Occasional miracles that led people to commit to Christ
The lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple ch 3
This miracle pointed to the central miracle in the Gospel, the Resurrection. That was what incensed the enemies of the Gospel, e.g. the Sadducees. Ch 4
Many signs and wonders were done through the apostles 5: 12-16
Courage to face opposition and persecution
“We must obey God rather than any human authority” 5: 29
They committed it all back to God in prayer that was grounded in the OT Scriptures:
“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and everything in them, it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: Why did the Gentiles rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah. For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
Acts 4: 31: We care told that when they prayed thus the place was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.
Lindsay Johnstone (January 2008)
Our Special Gift
by Kerry Hall, a member of St. Luke's and a volunteer pastoral care visitor at Prince of Wales Hospital You are our strength, you are our hero.
You gave your life so we might live.
You’re our everything, you’re our Jesus.
We walk with you and we are found.
We may falter along our footpath,
But you don’t judge us like others do.
You wrap us up in your loving arms
And hold us gently enough to heal.
Then you bring us back to life slowly
So that we do not break.
You know how to handle our broken spirit, Lord,
So we can work in love for you, and not hate.
You taught us Lord to show others
What a life with you is like,
And when we stumble in our journey,
You intercede on our behalf.
It’s for us you fight. You pick us up
And help us to remember what our sins do to you,
And when we repent, you remind us through your Spirit
That we are blessed.
You gave us a gift to help others.
Help us, Jesus, to do our best!
Thank you Jesus for our strength!
Thank you Jesus for being our hero!
Thank you Jesus for dying for us!
Thank you God for Jesus our special gift!
Kerry Hall
12 August 2007 The Word of God 2 Timothy 3: 17
All the Scriptures are the full and complete Word of God.
The Canon of Scripture (the Official List of Bible Books)
The Church did not make the decision as to what books should be in the Bible. At various times church synods passed resolutions that made certain declarations as to which books had been recognised from the earliest days after Christ as being Scripture. Christians always accepted the Old Testament as consisting of the books that had been recognized by the Jewish Council of Jamnia in 91 AD to be the Hebrew Scriptures. The only church council of which I am aware that tried to decide what should be in the Bible was the Council of Trent (16th century), but protestant and eastern orthodox churches do not accept the authority of that council.
Major Questions about the Bible:
How should it be read? Is the Bible to be read allegorically, mystically, or grammatically like any other book? Is the Bible to be read allegorically, mystically, or grammatically like any other book?
How significant is the intention of the author? Is the intention of the divine author more comprehensive than the understanding and intention of the human authors? How do we avoid imposing our own understanding grids on the Bible when we read it? How do we avoid stealing the author’s copyright. (Remember that the Divine Author will never be dead for 70 years!)
How should the Bible be interpreted? How is context used in limiting the force of difficult sayings? How should it be applied in times and cultures different to those of the writers? The Bible has inbuilt its own principles for interpretation and even for application outside its own time line of writing.
Problems of Authority will have to do with questions of applying the Bible.
We might identify four heads of authority: The Scriptures as the Word of God; church councils and tradition; human reason; personal experience. Evangelicals will tend the give priority to the wording of the Bible. Roman Catholics will tend to expect church councils to make decisions about the use of the Bible, and thus synthesize the message of the Bible with the message of “the church” as the living representation of Christ. Theological liberals will tend to overemphasize reason and so neutralize the Bible, especially by rejecting miracles and the supernatural. The BBC series Yes Prime Minister has Humphrey referring to “theological liberalism” as “code for unbelief”. Pentecostals will tend to overemphasize private and personal experience, and thus risk compromising the completeness of the Bible.
All other authority stands under the correction of the Bible.
What should be the outcome of reading the Scriptures?
Read 2 Timothy 3 and 4 again.
Lindsay Johnstone
The Just shall Live by Faith
Habakkuk 2: 4; Romans 5: 1
Some key verses
Habakkuk 2: 4: “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright- but the righteous will live by his faith”
Romans 1: 17: “For in the gospel a righteousness is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith”.”
Romans 4: 13: “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith…”Rom 4: 20-25: “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to god, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. That is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness- for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
Romans 5: 1: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand…”
Habakkuk’s Problem answered by God
We go back to a time prior to the Babylonian Exile. The prophet Habakkuk brings some questions to the Lord.
Two problems. The second is a theodicy problem.
(1) How long Lord must I call for help when I see your people, engaging in violence and treating the Law with contempt?
The Lord replies that he is going to bring the Babylonians to punish the people of God.
This answer gives Habakkuk a second problem.
(2) Lord, you can never do anything wrong, why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves.
The reply of the Lord (chapter 2)Write down the revelation and put it on a big notice board. In God’s time the revelation will be filled: The Just will live by faith”.
Habakkuk 2: 4: “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright- but the righteous will live by his faith”
The Meaning of Habakkuk 2: 4
It seems likely that the first half of the verse refers to the arrogance of Babylon in contrast to the attitude of the faithful.
It is also possible that the verse includes two meanings:
Eternal life is entered by faith, with a declaration that the person is given faith by which to enter the kingdom: i.e. the just will live on account of his or her faith, “the one who through faith is righteous will live eternally”.
It is possible that the verse refers also to the persevering life-style of the faithful [person, i.e. the justified person will continue to live by faith.
The nature of justification by faith alone
Development of this by Paul in Romans
The person, who is saved, is saved not by merit, but by faith.
This person who has faith is one who has been declared righteous by God, by an act of God’s grace. The righteousness is imputed and not imparted. The righteousness that saves the faithful is external to the believer. It is not a type of spirituality that comes from inside the person. It comes from outside the person. It is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why Martin Luther called it an alien righteousness.
Justification by faith was not understood by the teaching of the Catholic Church, including the Anglicans in the Middle Ages.
In the Middle Ages, the official church teaching had departed from the clarity of the Scriptures. It was developed by people known as the Schoolmen: St. Aquinas, William of Ockham, Duns Scotus, St. Bernard and Gabriel Biel. There were two versions of it: the via antiqua (the old way) and the via moderna (the new way). The new way was an unsuccessful attempt to give “grace” a bigger place. Basically the Schoolmen taught that salvation was not available without some combination of grace and human merit. At some point we would receive grace as a reward for merit, or else grace would have to be followed by human merit to complete the deal.
The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century restored the truth that saving faith arises out of God’s grace, and that the merit belongs to Jesus Christ alone,
as pointed out by ML Loane (1958) who quotes Thomas Bilney (1519)(burnt 1531), John Frith (burnt to death in 1533), Thomas Cranmer (burned at the stake 1555) with regard to their views on justification by faith.
It should be noted that the reformed martyrs were burnbt at the stake not for talking about grace and merit, but for what they actually said was the truth on these matters.
Maria and I visited in 2005 the site in Oxford of the burning of Cranmer and of Latimer. I also visited the cathedral where Latimer ministered at Worcester. We wept at the martyrs’ memorial at Oxford and prayed that the Lord will again reform the beliefs and lives of the people of England and also of Australia; and that he will bring Anglicans back to the centrality of the beliefs that gave us identity. The Eleventh Article of the 39 Articles says, “We are accounted righteous before God only on the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works and deserving: wherefore that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine and very full of comfort.” As Archbishop Sir Marcus Loane puts it, “Justification means something more than a free gift of pardon; it speaks of a verdict which will allow us to stand as acceptable in the eyes of the Judge of all the earth.”
Or to put it another way, when God declares us righteous and acquits us despite our sin, it is not that he just allows us to leave the court and skulk off to the freedom of a pardoned life, well away from the judge and his court. No! Rather is it a declaration by the Judge of all the Earth, that allows us, despite our sin, to enter boldly into the very majesty of the courts of heaven, and boldly to stand before the King our Loving Heavenly Father, and to begin to receive the first fruits of our eternal inheritance as the adopted children of God.
Lindsay Johnstone
The Flame contains several messages from Rev. Lindsay Johnstone, and also one from Mrs. Clare Ryan entitled Why Did Jesus Wash the Disciples' Feet? Clare is a Science graduate from the University of NSW who has worked in clinical trials and is currently taking a degree in midwifery. She is alsoa Churchwarden at St. Luke's.
The Victorious Cross
Into the wilderness Christ did go,
The ways of testing would he know;
Strained and stressed from the storms of life,
Finding the way through the demonic strife.
Hunger and obscurity, with unfilled calling,
Empty and hidden, but called to be King,
Shunned he short cuts and faithless alliance:
Against the enemy a forthright defiance.
Son though he was, obedience did he learn.
Through trouble and suffering in God he did yearn;
The tightrope of righteousness by victory won
O’er every temptation where all people had run
Tempted as we are, yet without sin,
Victorious to qualify our victory to win,
The valley of pressure fully he has known.
A heart of compassion shares he from his throne.
Timeless and eternal from the halls of majesty,
Equality with God in his own mind was no travesty.
The Father called to valour and gruesome sacrifice.
In humility he paid the awesome awful price.
Persecuted, violated and abused by human race,
What could for him mean words of divine grace?
The hidden face of Father he could not see;
“My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
That was the chasm that brought us near.
It was the cry that took away eternal fear.
Thrust into Satan’s hour and the power of darkness,
He lightened up a path of brilliant sharpness.
Come Holy Spirit and make our lives
A grateful response.
Lindsay Johnstone
So what is wrong with accountability?
Are we really accountable to God?
Is there a judgment?
A Christian minister once said to a fellow Christian who claimed also to be a communist that Christ shall return will return as King and conduct the Judgment. The reply? “That can never be. The people would never stand for it!”
Political correctness is the contemporary version of “red” or “pink”.
Further, on the international scene the disappearance of communistic atheism as the great threat has unleashed the threatened ascendancy of two major (though contradictory) forms of theism.
“God” is often thought to exist as however you want him to be: God, Allah, or “a significant other”. The trouble is that if the reality of “God” or “the guy upstairs” is depend upon my choice, then rather than worshipping my eternal creator then I am worshipping a “god” of my own creation, and he may in many respects look rather like the God of the Bible, with “suitable modifications”. The God of the Bible chose us, in Christ, before he even created the world. Ephesians 1: 3-4 says that God knew your name, not only before your parents decided, but even before he created anything. You were written on God’s eternal blue-print! And he chose you to be “holy and blameless” before him.
God planned to deal with the problems brought about by human sin.
That is why Christ paid the ghastly sacrifice of the Cross. Human sin has damaged the planet and God’s plan includes a cosmic rebuild.
(Read Ephesians 1: 15-23).
Accountability has become a fundamental factor in almost every area of human society. We expect politicians to be accountable. The media thrives on accountability. So do insurance companies, ASIC, the ATO. Why do we have so much OH&S (which reminds me that we have to change the smoke alarm batteries because Anzac Day has passed!)?
Who would expect a child or a parent, a teacher or a student, to be unaccountable?
Yet the human heart easily recoils from the thought that God would ever hold us accountable. Salvation by Grace is not meant to neutralise accountability. Rather it is the solution, but the solution only for people who take the judgment seriously. Neither is the doctrine of grace an excuse not to grow spiritually after conversion. Grace makes real obedience possible. Discipline is essential, and “discipline” means training. It is meant to make us “self-disciplined”.
Lindsay Johnstone
What was happening spiritually in Jesus when hanging on the Cross?
Psalm 22 commences with the words that we remember that Jesus spoke from the Cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” See also Mark 15: 34. Psalm 22 spells out in greater detail just what was to be experienced by Jesus. Together with the Gospel narratives, this opens a window on the soul of Jesus.
His experience and emotion speaks of brokenness and rejection and the shattering pain of radical alienation impacted also by physical pain.
His belief and meaning is that by accepting the sundering with the Father in that moment of dereliction and rejection he will, by substitution, accomplish what will lead to forgiveness for others. The Father may reject him on the Cross, but he is confident that the rejecting Father will hear and heed his cry, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
His courage and growth might be seen in that following the cry of dereliction he can promise forgiveness and mercy to the penitent thief. It is not inappropriate to speak of Jesus “growing”. He is a human person, as human as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 10 says that “Son though he was, he learned obedience by the things he suffered”. He did not cease suffering before he died, so it is reasonable to believe that he did not stop growing until he died.
With regard to ritual and practice, Jesus sheds blood, the blood of the covenant, by being the sacrificial lamb.
Vocation and consequence is seen in the hope he gives to the penitent thief (“Today you shall be with me in Paradise”) and in the expectation that a right relationship with the Father guarantees both of them a paradisic (heavenly) existence after death, even “today”.
His experience of Community is all but lost on the Cross. He has experienced betrayal, denial, abandonment through flight and the rejection of God the Father.
The only contacts he has are with his mother and two other women, and with John the apostle. This leaves him with some minimal hope of closure.
The experience of the Father’s rejection passes before he dies. He must die, but before he dies, he has completed upon the Cross what he needed to do. So he says, “It is finished”; “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” Then he bows his head and dies. The community of union with the Father is reconnected before he dies.
Authority and Guidance is also exercised by Jesus in relation to the care of his mother Mary and of the role to be exercised by John.
Lindsay Johnstone
How do we know Jesus Rose?
On what basis may with integrity believe that Jesus achieved this for us? How do we know? By what authority to we seek to convince others? By what right do we persuade
Do we know that the truth of the Christian Faith might be vulnerable to the findings of the historian? St. Paul himself said so.
The Truth of the Christian Faith stands or falls on an alleged fact of history.
There is more documentary evidence to believe that Jesus rose from the dead than to believe that Julius Caesar fought the Gallic Wars. Furthermore, the earliest Greek MSS for the NT involve up to 5000 either complete collections or fragments within the first 400 years after Christ as against very few MSS of Plutarch, Thucidides, Tacitus, Suetonius, or any other ancient historian, and none of them being closer than 800 years to the time of Christ.
In I Corinthians 15: 12-19, Paul says that if Christ was not raised from the dead within history the:
1 Our faith is in vain;
2 We are liars and have no integrity;
3 We have no forgiveness of our sins, and we shall die eternally;
4 We are the most miserably pitiful people on the earth.
The Resurrection of Jesus is attested by solid evidence
1 The empty tomb
2 The appearances: over 10 times recorded; different times of day and night; to between 1 and 500 people; including life-style appearances, eg resurrection fish BBQ
3 The inability of the Roman or Jewish authorities to produce the body and quash the rumours.
(After 10 days, the body would still have been recognizable)
4 The evidence in Roman historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Pliny that people believed in the resurrection
5 The willingness of believers to die for the truth of the resurrection, attested by Tacitus to have occurred within a generation (following the Fire of Rome in 64-66BC)
6 Archaeological finds of belief in the resurrection of Jesus and of believers. (Sukenik: “Jesus let him arise”)
An Unique type of resurrection
Compared with that of Lazarus, who was raised from the dead, but later died. Lazarus, and all who have placed their trust in Jesus will experience a type of resurrection where they can never die again.
The Hope of the Resurrection
The resurrection of Jesus is the worked example or paradigm for the resurrection of believers.
He is “the first fruits” of the eternal life of heaven.
We shall follow, if we have placed our lives in his hands.
This is the only ultimate source of real hope for us.
What if global warming is getting worse?
What if wars increase?
What if the world economy collapses in another great depression. Romans 8 tells us that the world is gradually mutating downwards. There is a reverse type of
downward evolution. The only hope out of it is associated with the pain of spiritual rebirth.
Romans 8 speaks of two types of pain occurring simultaneously:
The pain of decay;
The mother’s pain of labour in child-birth. When we are born again to a new life of eternity, it puts the sufferings of this world in a different context. Although we want to do what we can to relieve the suffering of both ourselves and others within this world, we know that there is a coming order in which ultimately Christ will rebuild and restore his fallen created order, and we shall share its eternal joy and meaning.
Lindsay Johnstone The Abolition of the Slave Trade
Galatians 5: 1 “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Christ’s Cross has freed us from the bondage of sin and eternal death. Do not submit again to a life-style of selfishness, domination and manipulation of others for one’s own benefit.
The worst slavery is eternal bondage on account of unforgiven sin.
Part of sin is a violation of the boundaries and the freedom of other people. The institution of slavery, whether as the bondage of personal servitude, or sex-slavery is a very heinous type of sin that carries a massive load of responsibility and accountability. Yet there is always forgiveness where repentance includes reversal and restoration.
John 8: 11, Jesus said to the woman taken in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
On 25th March 1807 King George III signed into law the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire. This had followed un unrelenting campaign by the evangelical William Wilberforce. Wilberforce had also petitioned Prime Minister Pitt for the provision of a Chaplain for the First Fleet to Australia from 1786, that arrived in 1788, thus laying the foundation for the Gospel in Australia. On 26 July 1833 slavery itself was abolished within the Empire. Wilberforce said. “thank God that I have lived to witness a day in which England is willing to give twenty millions sterling for the Abolition of Slavery.” Three days later, on 29 July, he died and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Queen Elizabeth I had said in the sixteenth century that the slave trade would ‘call down the vengeance of heaven’, and as Lord Melvyn Bragg has written, “there was a strain in English life and thought that was opposed to the slave trade from Elizabeth up to the contemporaries of Wilberforce… Between the utterance of Elizabeth I and the speech of Wilberforce , it has been estimated that more than 10 million West Africans were enslaved by European traders… The road to Wilberforce was paved with outrage. In 1781, for instance, Luke Collingwood, captain of a ship called Zong, threw shackled but living slaves overboard as they too weak to sell and he could use the excuse that this act served the safety of the ship and thus allowed him to claim insurance. When this became known there was uproar…” Wilberforce declared in Parliament in 1789 “I mean not to accuse anyone, but to take the shame upon myself, in common, indeed, with the whole Parliament of Great Britain, for having furthered this horrid trade to be carried on under their authority. We are all guilt – we ought al to plead guilty and not to exculpate ourselves by throwing the guilt on others…”
Lindsay Johnstone
When we baptize an infant we pray for an eventual spiritual rebirth.
Jesus told a Jewish leader, “No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3: 3) “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that all who believe in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3: 16)
Jesus spoke of being “born of water” and “born of the Holy Spirit”.
Being born of Water
“No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit”
Bering born of water means being cleansed of sin. It means having the guilt of our sin washed away. The guilt of our sin is washed away only because of the shed blood of Christ upon the Cross. When his side was pierced there flowed out both blood and water: the blood speaks of his death. The water speaks of the cleansing of the sin of those who were lost and were unbelievers.
Being born of the Holy Spirit
“Flesh gives birth to flesh and Spirit gives birth to spirit.. You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ (3: 6-8) This is essentially a miracle brought about by God. The new birth occurs because God soveregnly does something within our innermost being that we could not accomplish of ourselves.
Because it is miraculous and relies not on conventional religious activity, Nicodemus then engaged in a piece of dishonest quasi-intellectual stupidity. Jesus then went on to point out that the faith that saves is made possible because God has manifested his love by providing the sin-bearing death of his only Beloved Son.
Some examples of people who are not yet born again
People who are in opposition to the Gospel.
People who equate the Christian Gospel with other religions
People who are relying upon the faith of their parents or ancestors
People who are relying on their own public or private morality
People who are relying upon the adherence to their church or denomination
People who are relying upon the fact that they are bishops, priests, pastors, church wardens, worship leaders or money raisers for their church.
In summary, people who do not rely solely upon the crucifiction of Christ to carry the penalty for their sin… are not born again.
The nature of Faith
The faith that saves is the faith that makes a trust commitment into the person of Jesus.
Such faith says, “Nothing in my had I cling, simply to thy Cross I cling…”
Faith is the opposite of Disobedience
When a person places his or her faith in Christ, then he or she repents of their sin and neglect of God, their contempt for the law of God. The faith that saves involves repentance for disobedience of the law of God.
Jesus taught that opposite of faith is disobedience.
Lindsay Johnstone
Faith as a Grain of Mustard Seed
Luke 17: 6
“The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith as a grain of mustard, you would say to this mulberry tree ‘Be rooted up and thrown into the sea’, and it would obey you.” The context is a request for the disciples to increase their faith.
Matthew 17: 20 “”For truly I tell you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain ‘Move from here to there’, then it will be moved, and nothing shall be impossible for you.” The context, why the disciples could not cast out a demon fro a little boy (because of their “little faith”)
Note the two different sayings and their contexts
The translations let us down. The Greek does not require us to talk about the size of the faith, but rather about the quality of the faith.
Take note Jesus is correcting different misunderstandings on the two occasions
The first correction is of the view that the best faith is found in quantity rather than quality. The right way to think about faith is that even if I have it in small amount, what matters is that I have the right kind of faith.
The second correction is to explain why doing God’s work does not succeed when there is too little faith, when faith is almost absent. The correction to too little faith is not to get large sacks of af faith, but rather to get and use a small grain of faith that is made up of the right DNA.
What is the DNA of faith?
The faith has the atomic or elemental makeup that is seen in the end result that is desired.
If you plant a mustard seed, you want a mustard tree.
If you plant a grain of corn, you want a maize plant.
If you plant a grape seed, it is because you want a grapevine.
If you want to achieve a result, plant the type of seed that is likely to produce that result.
Concentrate on the quality of the faith, not on its quantity.
What are the qualities that belong to mustard seed faith? What is its DNA?
The DNA of faith includes
the promises of God
the instruction of God’s law, to the precepts of Christ.
commitment to the truth of the resurrection of Christ from the dead as the basis of all faith goals.
Centering on relationship with Jesus.
a Vision towards which the faith is directed.
Wisdom and Giftedness to fulfill the vision
humility rather than the seeking of personal glory.
Lindsay Johnstone 2007: The View from Here
The World
Some are filled with fear and foreboding: wars, civil wars, natural disasters. Iraq is still in disorder, even though Saddam Hussein has received justice. Genocide, famine and AIDS still stalk large parts of Africa. The USA has its first Muslim member of the House of Representatives; and the electoral mandate to the congress is the opposite to the electoral mandate possessed b the president. The Christian Churches growing fast in some parts of Africa, but Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. The ice caps are melting.
How does the Scriptural Revelation show God’s view?
The world is decaying (Romans 8), but God has a plan to restore the cosmos/ universe. The church is in that plan and Christ is right at the centre. See Ephesians 1. Australia
We are hopeful for an ending of the terrible drought, but we have concerns about the long-term resolution of our water problems. We face elections at both state and federal levels. There are live ethical issues that surround therapeutic cloning, the ready availability of an abortofacient drug. Violence continues to rear its ugly head.
There appears, as yet, no evidence of a widespread halting of the drift to increasing secularism. The Christian churches have not yet, cumulatively speaking, reversed the decline of church attendance.
We need pray for a mighty work of the Holy Spirit to awaken the people of this great nation to bow the knee to the King of kings and Lord of lords; to follow the example of the wise men.
Yourself
There will be pasture and nourishment. God will care for all who put themselves under his lordship and throw themselves upon his mercy.
St. Luke’s Clovelly
As members of the church body incorporated by Christ we have a new opportunity to seek the Lord’s plans and strategies. 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18 reminds us that in our frailty we walk by faith and not by sight.
But this does not mean that we walk without a plan or strategy.
God has a plan, and it involves us.
What are the fresh directions that the Lord wants us to take in 2007?
What is the Lord’s present purpose for St. Luke’s Clovelly?
Will we all pray and ask the Lord to show us?
Lindsay Johnstone
What is our Understanding of the Gospel?
The Gospel is the proclamation of the news that can save us.
We need to be saved because by nature we are separated from God
The nice and good things we do are don e because we were made in the image and likeness of God.
However, we are tarnished image of God. We all experience a self-centred nature that does not want to submit to the ruler of the universe.
There is a great dilemma that God alone can solve
If he did nothing about imperfection and rebellion, his own goodness would be compromised. The whole order would deteriorate and goodness itself would evaporate! But God’s primary character is love.
Rebellion and selfishness (sin) must be punished, but a loving God does not want to obliterate us! If we do not receive and respond to the Gospel we shall be cut off from God for eternity.
God’s primary character towards us is love. That is why God the Father sacrificed his only beloved Son upon the Cross as our substitute. Christ made the great exchange. (Mark 10: 45)
It would, however, have been immoral for God to impose the benefits of Christ’s death upon people who remain disinterested and who do not own the need for forgiveness of the sin that alienated us from God.
A free gift is offered and a response of faith and repentance is mandatory.
It is made possible by a supernatural miracle, a spiritual rebirth that the Holy Spirit performs (see John 3: 1-16).
The Response needed has been described this way by Paul in Acts 17: 30-31:
While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Lindsay Johnstone
Why did Jesus was the disciples’ feet?
Article by Clare Ryan, from a sermon preached by her in 2006
John 13 - 17 is known as the “farewell discourse”. Jesus outlines his mission to the world: his departure through his death on the cross, the giving of the holy spirit, and his continued work in the world through the work of his followers. Throughout these few chapters, the disciples transition from being Jesus followers, to being his partners in ministry. Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, is the beginning of this transition, and a crucial part of their training. John focuses on the servanthood of Jesus on this final evening before his betrayal.
Why does Jesus wash the disciples feet?
Foot-washing in its context: in the time of Jesus, foot-washing before dinner was a standard custom. Feet would get very dirty in the course of a day. Not only this, but the custom of eating a meal in that time was not on chairs, but each person lying down on their side around the table. In verse 23, John describes of himself “there was leaning on Jesus bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved” (NKJV). Such was the proximity and intimacy of people sitting down for a meal together in Jesus time. So to have dirty feet would have been an insult to the person who sat next to you.
Furthermore, not only was foot-washing customary before a meal, but the custom was always performed by a servant. The reason why the custom hadn’t yet been preformed here at what we know is the ‘last supper’ is not stated. Whatever the case, none of the disciples had taken on the role themselves to wash the other men’s feet. It seems that even the disciples believed that this work was below their status.
The Cleansing by Jesus is costly and humbling.
Washing the disciples’ feet is a very deliberate act on Jesus part, and the description of him performing the custom shows him acting with great purpose (13:3). It was with the full knowledge of what was to come – his betrayal, his crucifixion, his death, and his ultimate glorification – that Jesus performed this act of service to his disciples. It was at the very time when all things were coming to a head that Jesus chose to display to his disciples his true leadership through servanthood, and demonstrate how they, in turn, would continue his work.
Jesus also washes the disciples’ feet in order to teach them about his forthcoming death. The symbolism of washing is often used in the bible as a cleansing from sin. It is through the death of Jesus on the cross, which was to follow soon after this encounter, that we – and the disciples – experience the ultimate cleansing from sin.
Cleansing is Necessary
Just as the literal washing away of the dirt off the disciples feet was a necessary custom, so our cleansing is of utmost importance. Peter is shocked that his Lord could be performing the act of a servant, and tells him “You shall never wash my feet!”. But Jesus says to him “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me” (v8). It was an essential act that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Without his death, we can have no fellowship with the Father. Jesus had to take on the role of the servant in order that we could be cleansed.
When Jesus says “you can have no part in me” he is not referring to Peter’s salvation, which was assured when he accepted Jesus as his Lord, and which can never be lost. Jesus tells Peter that he is “clean” in verse 10. Peter has already received his salvation through his faith in the Lord Jesus. But unless Peter allows Jesus to wash his feet, the daily intimacy with
Him is lost. Likewise, once we have accepted Jesus as Lord and been cleansed from sin, we still need to undergo daily cleansing and washing of our sins in order to maintain our relationship with Him. Just as foot washing was a daily necessity, so repentance and
cleansing should be a daily occurrence.
Cleansing is Sufficient
Jesus washes the disciples’ feet because it is only their feet that needs washing. “He who is bathed needs only to wash is feet, but is completely clean” (13:10). Once we have confessed our sins and made Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, our sins are forgiven and we accept
the gift of salvation. We cannot lose our salvation. Ephesians 1:14 says: “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession” In God’s mercy and grace, we are marked with a seal – we are saved. However, as Jesus instructs in this
passage from John 13, “he who is bathed” still needs to “wash his feet” (v10). Ongoing repentance of sin is required. But we do not do this out of fear of losing our
eternal salvation. We do this out of love for our Lord and Saviour and our desire to serve him and be in relationship with him. It is the work of Jesus that allows us to have intimacy and fellowship with him. It is not our work. His death was sufficient to bring us into relationship with the Father. We need do nothing else but to submit to his will for us and repent of our sinful natures. He does the rest.
We also ought to wash one another’s feet. The Servant Attitude of Jesus is our Model and
Example. Jesus is quite explicit in this teaching. We see this in verse 14, where he says “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet”. And verse 15, “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have
done to you”. The instructions of Jesus refers to the attitude of service. We are to serve one another in love. It is with utter gratitude to Jesus and his servanthood, his death on the cross, his willingness to submit to the will of God that we might have a relationship with the
Father that we seek to emulate his example of the servant.
Servanthood is exercised Willingly
Jesus, who willingly acted as the servant (both in this situation and his death on the cross), also washed the feet of Judas, whom he knew would betray him. We know from v3 that Jesus knew “that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God”, and it was with this assurance that he rose to wash the feet of the disciples, including Judas. The same needs to be true for us. We need to have the assurance of our relationship with God in order to be the servants that Jesus commands us to be. We have the seal of the Holy Spirit, and this allows us to serve even our enemies; even those who might betray us. This is a terribly difficult thing to do, and hardly seems possible without depending entirely on our relationship with Jesus. We need to look to him as our Saviour, our Lord, and our example, in order that we can serve others in this world and live the love of Jesus, demonstrating to others not only by our words, but by our actions. As Jesus says, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (v17).
Clare Ryan
Why does God let it happen?
The Theodicy question is about the vindication of divine providence in view of the existence of evil (Concise Oxford Dictionary). The Israelites wondered why God exiled them. Christians wonder why the churches are in decline. At times in our lives, we wonder why we have to experience personal tragedy, trauma, personal pain and unfair loss.
Why the Babylonian Exile of Ancient Israel? (2 Chronicles 35: 15-21)The leading priests and the people were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. They polluted the house of God. They kept mocking the loving God’s messengers the prophets.
Why the Babylonian Exile of the Church?
Unfaithfulness of leaders and people; Abuse of power, money, sex, relationships, “spiritual abuse; neglect of Christ and of the prophetic message of the Scriptures.
The experience of Jesus
In Mark 12, Jesus sees the rejection of the prophets as a precursor to the rejection of even the Son of God. He was rejected by people and by God the Father (for a period) in order that we might be received back to God. (Mark 10: 45)
How do people do to resolve the clash between their own pain and the place of God?
Some reject God, because either he is thought to be powerless, or else to be of bad character. Some reject religion, but choose some other type of spirituality. Some find purpose and meaning in the their suffering circumstances and become committed to hanging in with God, because they conclude that he is greater than their ability to explain or understand him.
Can you prepare for acute pain?
In one sense, “No!” , just as you cannot prepare for a cyclone or anticipate with certainty a life-threatening illness.
However, we can determine to grow in our personal intimate relationship with God so that we always have him as our friend, even when we cannot have mental or physical control of our circumstances. It helps also if we accept that pain is inescapable in the fallen world; that some types of pain go with Christian discipleship; that Christ has been incarnate within our pain; and that Christ has pioneered the victory over pain by resurrection.
Love, Loss, Rage and Resolution
David Damico, in the Faces of Rage (Navpress, 1992) points out that as loss seems larger than love, we resort to rage as larger and able to rescue us. The solution is not in eradicating rage but in accepting and resolving loss. One counselee said, “Jesus wants me to give it to him. He’s turned his back because he wants me to see the scars that bore the rage of others before me…”
How to believe what is liveable and how to live what is believable
Lindsay Johnstone Finding Purpose and Meaning within Pain
Difficult times will test our faith in Christ, If can help is we enter problems with a strong faith that has a better chance to stand the test.
It is easier for us in church to develop an intellectual framework of partial understanding, but when we actually deluged in pain, then our responses are going to be very deep feeling responses.
The Dilemma about God
The Bible teaches that God is love, and that he is all-powerful. If both these things are true, how do we explain suffering. Some people resolve thee tensions by saying that God is not love, or that if he is not love, then his power is limited. Some will assert quite rightly that God does not do evil or cause evil. Yet, if this is true, why does he not stop other people or other situations from causing pain. Martin Luther asserted that God does not cause evil, but that he hijacks evil and makes it serve his ultimate good. But that still leaves a dilemma for the person in pain. Why did God let me go through that when he could ,have stopped it. Why does he let my pain serve his higher good, when someone else does not have to experience my pain. It is not fair.
The Fall and the Future
The unfairness of pain distribution is one of the marks of the fallen world. The passage from Genesis 3 shows us how pain entered creation. The pain includes alienation between people and people, between people and the physical environment, and between people and God. And it is unfair.
What we can learn when we are not in the middle?
In our least suffering times we can prepare for ourselves a framework within which to understand our world. Bear in mind that this will still leave many unanswered questions, but it will still help us.
Five stages: Creation; Fall; Promise; Inauguration of the Kingdom of God; Fullness of the Kingdom of God.
An understanding that God has shared in our suffering.
God sent his Son, who suffered for us, an in Heaven he continues to sypathise with us and to pray for us.
How we understand when we are trapped in suffering?
We cannot answer this until we are in the midst of pain.
But it will help us if other people can stand beside us in our darkest hours and help us to find the meeting of our deepest spiritual needs.
Highfield and Cason research indicated that-
They will be:
To find meaning and purpose;
To be able to give love;
To have the ability to receive love;
And The ability to resolve issues of hope, forgiveness and creativity. Lindsay Johnstone
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