Archive for July, 2009

Days of Elijah: some Old Testament heroes

July 28, 2009 at 10:36 am · Filed under Old testament, The Holy Spirit ·Tagged , , , , ,

 

 

( Talk given at a Family Service. The names of the heroes were presented on a board using the technique of “ladder writing” with a paint brush.)

Sing Hymn,  “Days Of Elijah”,  by Robin Mark ( Songs of Fellowship No. 1047 )

These are the days of Elijah,
Declaring the word of the Lord:
And these are the days of Your servant Moses,
Righteousness being restored.
And though these are days of great trial,
Of famine and darkness and sword,
Still, we are the voice in the desert crying
‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord!’

Behold He comes riding on the clouds,
Shining like the sun at the trumpet call;
Lift your voice, it’s the year of jubilee,
And out of Zion’s hill salvation comes.

These are the days of Ezekiel,
The dry bones becoming as flesh;
And these are the days of Your servant David,
Rebuilding a temple of praise.
These are the days of the harvest,
The fields are as white in Your world,
And we are the labourers in Your vineyard,
Declaring the word of the Lord!


Let us think about these four Old Testament heroes:

 
ELIJAH

Elijah was a great man of God he lived at a time when the Israelites were turning away from the true God to worship all kinds of false gods. The chief of the pagan gods was Baal. And there were hundreds of priests of Baal in the land, all supported by King Ahab and his evil wife Jezabel. One day God told Elijah to go and see King Ahab so he went and challenged him to a contest. “Let’s see who is the true god. Gather together all the prophets of Baal and of the goddess Asherah and come to meet me on the top of Mount Carmel.

On the mountain Elijah said to the people, “How long will you limp along with two opinions? If the Lord is God follow him,   if Baal is god follow him!
Let’s see which god can answer by fire.  Let’s build two altars and put a sacrificial animal on both. You pray to your god and I’ll pray to mine. The god who sends fire down from heaven to burn up the sacrifice is the true God.

So the prophets of Baal started praying to their god. All day long they cried  out, “O Baal hear us!”  They ranted and raved, they went into trances, they even gashed themselves with swords and spears. But their god did not answer them. Then it was Elijah’s turn – all alone,  surrounded by 850 pagan prophets. He gave orders that the altar and the whole sacrifice should be soaked in water. Eventually it was saturated.  (It would have to be some fire if it was going to burn up that!)

Then Elijah prayed. He simply asked God that he would send fire and prove he was the true God. No ritual, no dancing, and certainly no slashing himself with a sword!

And God answered! There was a sudden bolt of lighting from the sky and the whole sacrifice was incinerated. Even the stones were destroyed. And all the water was evaporated. All the people bowed down and worshipped the Lord.

 So Elijah was used by God to restore the true worship of God in Israel.

These are the days of Elijah,
Declaring the word of the Lord

God calls us to do that today – like Elijah.

 

MOSES
Moses was used by God to bring the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt. God did many mighty deeds through Moses, parting the Red Sea, etc.  And God gave him the Ten Commandments, the Law for his people. To show them how they should live their lives.

We also are called by Jesus to shine out with good deeds.

Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

 And these are the days of Your servant Moses,
Righteousness being restored.
And though these are days of great trial,
Of famine and darkness and sword,
Still, we are the voice in the desert crying
‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord!’

 

 EZEKIEL

Perhaps we don’t think of him as a hero, but Ezekiel spoke God’s words to the Jews when they were in exile in Babylon. They were very discouraged and so was Ezekiel. And God gave him a wonderful vision to encourage the nation.

There was this valley full of dry bones – the bones of a mighty army that had been slain. God told Ezekiel to prophecy, to ask the Wind to come from the four corners and to breath into the bones. He did this, and then he saw, before his eyes, the bones being covered with flesh and skin. But they were still dead. God told him to prophecy a second time, to ask the Wind or Spirit to come and breath life into them. He did so and they came alive and rose to their feet – a mighty army!

This vision was given to encourage the people of the Jews. God was going to bring the nation back to life. he was going to revive them and bring them back from exile. The Wind, or Breath, is the Spirit of God.

We are called today to pray for God to send his Spirit in fresh power, to give new life to his church. We feel like dried up bones but he can make us vibrant and alive for Jesus.

These are the days of Ezekiel,
The dry bones becoming as flesh

 
DAVID

David was a shepherd boy who became a king. As a lad he defeated Goliath through  his trust in God. He wrote psalms of praise to God and accompanied himself on a harp as he sang. As king in Jerusalem he started to get ready the materials to build the first Temple of the Lord.  (Actually it was his son Solomon who built it,  but David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, ready for the building of the Temple.)

And these are the days of Your servant David,
Rebuilding a temple of praise.

We are called to build a Temple of praise to God with our worship, and to go out and bring in others.

These are the days of the harvest,
The fields are as white in Your world,
And we are the labourers in Your vineyard,
Declaring the word of the Lord!

Behold He comes riding on the clouds,
Shining like the sun at the trumpet call;
Lift your voice, it’s the year of jubilee,
And out of Zion’s hill salvation comes.

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In the beginning

July 20, 2009 at 7:56 pm · Filed under God the Father, Old testament ·Tagged , ,

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Adam and Eve cast out of the Garden of Eden

 

( Sermon preached in the Brecon Presbyterian Church in 2005)

 

Introduction

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”.

These are possibly the most important words in the whole Bible. They tell us that the world did not just come about by chance – that there is an intelligent and creative mind behind it all. These first chapters of Genesis are at the centre of controversy between the Fundamentalists who would insist it must all be taken absolutely literally and those who would want to see how these chapters relate to the findings of science. For example, geologists studing rock strata have deduced that fossils are the remains of creatures that flourished millions of years ago – how does that fit in with the seven days of Creation? 
 
I’m not going into that controversy now except to say that personally I tend towards the scientific approach. We could spend hours discussing the interpretation of these chapters and still miss the point. The message is the important thing here. What does Genesis teach us about God, about the world, about human nature? It conveys profound truths in a few words. The first chapters of Gen. undergird the  whole Judeo-Christian outlook, which is so different from that of other religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. 

 

God alone 

(v1) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
  – it teaches that there is one God, that he existed before the world and that he created all that is. Also, in the way that it speaks of him, it implies that he is a rational being who thinks and speaks. Indeed it is through his words that he creates the world. 
 
 (v3-4) And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
God first made the light. This is more than just a reference to that electromagnetic radiation that stimulate our optic nerves. Perhaps it means energy in general but surely it also refers to light in a spiritual sense. For God always shines his light into the darkness of our souls -

“For God , who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of  God in the face of Christ”.   (2 Cor. 4:6)

The next few verses of Genesis tell us how God spoke and things came into being.  “Stuff happened!”  He didn’t have to make it out of anything – he created it out of nothing. 

 He made a world with all things in order – Sun, Moon, Earth, land, sea, plants and animals. God made all things and gave them all the means of existence and sustenance.  God: the giver of all. To him we owe our very existence. We are required to worship him. 

 

 Caedmon’s Hymn

 Now let me praise the keeper of Heaven’s kingdom,
   the might of the Creator, and his thought,
 the work of the Father of glory, how each of wonders
   the Eternal Lord established in the beginning.

 He first created for the sons of men
   Heaven as a roof, the holy Creator,
 then Middle-earth the keeper of mankind,
   the Eternal Lord, afterwards made,
 the earth for men, the Almighty Lord.
(C7th. Old English poem)

 

Mankind 

God said, “let’s make human beings”.
(Gen. 2:7)  the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

 We are indeed made from the dust – from the materials of the earth. Take a handful of  soil and analyse its elements chemically. You will find carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus, iron, calcium, magnesium and numerous other elements. Take the same amount of human tissue and analyse it and you will find the same elements. We are made up of the same materials as the earth. And when we die and decay those elements are released back to the earth to be recycled by nature.
“For dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen. 3: 19).

 

Breath of God 

 The animals and plants are also made of the same elements but God breathed life into man. Not just the life that all animals have but a divine breath. So there is that divine spark in every human being. 
(Gen 1: 26) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,
-this is is another way of saying the same thing.
 
    So God created man in his own image,  in the image of God he created him;   male and female he created them.
 - male and female – both in God’s image. They were created equal. It is only the fall and the coming of sin that has introduced inequality. 

 

Stewardship 

(Gen.1: 28)   God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

God put them in charge of creation.  With their intelligence they have the power to dominate all other species. But what use will they make of this power? Will they rule kindly and justly? Or will they exploit and ravage the world of its resources? Will they mistreat the lower species and abuse them? Will they ruin the environment in which they have been placed by God? I don’t think that I need to answer that question!

In the beginning, though, all was right – man and woman were in harmony with their environment and God gave them work to do.

 (Gen. 2: 15.)  The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Human beings were made to to work – not to be idle. But the work that they were given in the beginning was not irksome toil, it was profitable and creative. It was the task of nurturing, tending, caring, improving the Garden of Eden. Work was never intended to be drudgery in the beginning – that is a consequence of man’s sin and fall. 
 

The Fall

Gen 3 tells how this Fall came about. It was the results of listening to the Evil One. It was the results of doubting the goodness of God. 
Gen. 3: 4 – 5 -  “You will not surely die”, the Serpent said to the woman, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”     In other words, “God’s just a spoilsport!”

So they listened to the evil One, they took the fruit, and suddenly they realised they were naked. They hid from God in the bushes. Now what was there to be ashamed of? It wasn’t the nakedness itself – it was the disobedience that they were ashamed of. There’s nothing sinful in a naked human body in itself but there is something deeply sinful in disobeying and distrusting God .

 

Banned from the Garden

So they were cast out of the Garden and had to make their way in the hard world with toil and suffering.  Immediately everything is messed up. Work is now irksome drudgery.

·  Humans are out of joint with the universe now. No longer are they in harmony with their environment. They start to spoil it and to exploit it.

·  They are out of joint with one another too. Even when they are still in the garden the first thing we see after the Fall is a domestic quarrel. God says to Adam, “What have you done?” Adam says, “She did it, it was her fault!” The woman says, “It was the serpent’s fault!” So this fatal tendency to blame others for our own faults began in the Garden of Eden. 
 
·  Man is now also out of joint with himself  – he becomes a restless being who can find no inner peace.  That can only come if he can get God back at the centre of his life.

·  He is completely out of harmony with God  – and this is the worst effect of his sin, for God is the source of life.  Adam and Eve have shut themselves off from God – they will die.

 
Conclusion 

 But I can’t end this sermon on a negative note. For, after all, we know the Good News:  how one of Eve’s descendants, Jesus Christ, has defeated that old Serpent Satan. He has overcome death.

·  He has dealt with the problem of sin and guilt. He has opened the way to put as right with God.

·  And he has made it possible to know inner peace.

·  He has made it possible for there to be reconciliation and forgiveness among the warring tribes of earth.

·  He has shown as the way of unselfishness so that we can be better stewards of the world’s resources and creatures. By his Cross and Resurrection Jesus has undone the work of the Evil One and reversed the effects of the Fall. Glory be to his name! 
 
But to understand and appreciate what Jesus has done for us we first need to realise the depths to which we have sunk. And the first chapters of Genesis tell us. They tell us who God is, who we are, and what we are really like, and they point us forward to Jesus the Saviour.

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Some thoughts on Evolution and Creation

July 20, 2009 at 7:06 pm · Filed under God the Father, Jesus Christ ·Tagged , , ,

 

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 This year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th. anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species. And the television schedules have been full of programmes celebrating this. Some have seemingly put forward the atheistic view that Darwin’s theory has made religion redundant. There have, however, been one or two programmes putting a more balanced point of view. Darwin himself did not claim his theory was contrary to Christianity. Although he was an agnostic towards the end of his life (largely as a result of the death of his daughter) he was not opposed to those who had faith in God. Writing to Joseph Hooker in 1870 he says, “My theology is in a simple muddle. I cannot look at the universe as the result of blind chance, yet I can see no evidence of beneficent design”.

Leaving aside Darwin’s personal views, I think it would be a good thing to clear the air a bit in the current debate with some definitions. It seems to me that there are only a few possible positions one can hold in this debate.

  

 

 The Modern Creationist View

 This is also known as Young Earth Creationism. Adherents of this position insist that the early chapters of Genesis must be taken literally. God created all species of animals and plants by individual acts of creation within a six-day period at some time within the last ten thousand years. The geological record is not millions of years old, and the presence of fossils in strata apparently millions of year old is just an illusion – these creatures can not have lived millions of years ago.

Most creationists would say that the fossils were laid down in the geological strata during the Flood. Under this view God would have created all species of animals and fitted them for various habitats – the giraffe for the grassy plains of East Africa, the kangaroo for the Australian Outback, the polar bear for the Arctic wastes. Noah would have had to bring these animals to the Ark from their various habitats, and after the Flood they would have migrated back to their original regions. Anyone who thinks about the practicalities of this will see great difficulties in this view. For example: how did the kangaroo get back to Australia from the Middle East after the Flood? How did it cross the seas? How did the three-toed sloth, a creature which can hardly walk on land, get all the way to South America?

  

 

 The Old Creationist View

 The Young Earth Creationist position is a fairly recent one. Before the 1960s most creationists held to the Old Earth Creationist view. According to this position the fossil record really is millions of years old and dinosaurs did roam the earth before Man ever lived. But that world was destroyed (in some undefined way) before Man was created in the Garden of Eden. I have to say, to the scientific mind this seems incredible.

 

 The Darwinian View

According to this, all creatures came into existence by a process of natural selection working on genetic mutations and the process took millions of years. This is the standard scientific theory taught in schools today. Please note: it makes no statement about the existence or non-existence of God. It is simply a description of the mechanism by which species developed from other species. Increasingly, evidence from genetic research is backing up the Darwinian view.

Now science can not make judgements about God. These belong to the realm of faith and theology. But if we are looking at evolution theologically, what positions is it possible to hold? The main theological/philosophical positions are:

· Intelligent Design,

· atheistic evolution,

· theistic evolution.

  

Intelligent Design
 
 This has recently come to the fore in the USA with attempts to have it taught in schools alongside Darwinian evolution. To a Christian, at first, this seems an attractive position. After all, we all as Christians believe in the Creator. He is the Designer, the Architect of all things. But we have to be careful with our terminology here. “Intelligent Design” (when spelled with capital letters) is a term used in a very specific way. According to the adherents of Intelligent Design, evolution proceeds mostly according to natural laws but at certain key points some intelligent being intervenes and alters its course. For a Christian who believes in Intelligent Design that Being is God. He would have intervened at key points in the evolution of creatures to bring about the situation we see today. This is what is meant by the term Intelligent Design – not just the fact that God is the Designer of the universe. That truth is surely best expressed by the theistic view outlined below.

 

 Atheistic Evolution 

This is the view propagated by the likes of Richard Dawkins. According to the adherents of this view, everything happened by chance and there is no God. There is no Creator who framed the universe and ordered its laws. Obviously no Christian can hold this view.  

 

Theistic Evolution
 
 This is the the position I believe a Christian with a scientific outlook can hold. To my mind it is perfectly compatible with an evangelical faith. According to this view, God created all things. He made the universe out of nothing (possibly by means of the “big bang”). He created time and space itself. He framed the laws of nature which made it possible for life to evolve on our planet. These same laws also made it possible for human beings to evolve from the animal kingdom. Rather than saying that God intervened at certain steps along the way ( the view held by the adherents of Intelligent Design) we would say that he controlled the whole process by the laws of nature. We believe in a God who knows about the movements of every atom and subatomic particle in his universe – nothing happens by chance. He doesn’t bring the world into existence and then leave it to run down – like an absent-minded clock maker.

In the words of the Apostle Paul:

Everything was created through him (Christ) and for him.He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together
 
 

 

(Colossians 1: 16-17, New Living Bible)
 And in the words of the writer of Hebrews:
He (Christ) is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
 (Hebrews 1: 3, English Standard Version)
 God is the Creator who goes on creating because he maintains all things by the word of his power, he holds everything together. If he were to cease to do so for even one second, the whole universe would cease to exist.

   

 

Conclusion

 

I have written this article in an attempt to clear up some of the muddle and confusion. For the evolution debate often produces more heat than light! I remember when I was a young biology student in Cardiff. I had only just come to a real faith in Jesus Christ. Religion was one of the many topics we would discuss together as students. Often the discussion would start off with talking about God and Jesus, but then so often, it would veer off down the path of evolution versus creations, and we would never get back to talking about Jesus. Now to me, Jesus Christ is central – our relationship with him is the most important thing in the universe. How sad if we only talk about evolution and never talk about Jesus!

In my ministry I have often deliberately avoided discussing matters of evolution because it alienates some people. For example,if a preacher is a creationist and he or she preaches on that they will alienate many sincere Christians who believe in theistic evolution. If on the other hand the preacher does believe in theistic evolution and preaches it he or she will alienate equally sincere Christians who are fundamentalists. A preacher who speaks about the ideas of Intelligent Design will probably alienate both groups!

As believers in Jesus I think we can agree to concentrate on the main issue – our faith in Christ – and agree to differ on the matters which are not central to our salvation. We can all agree to reject the propaganda being put forward by the like of Richard Dawkins. Whatever some people may say, science does not promote atheism. It can not, and never will be able to disprove the existence of God.

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John Calvin

July 18, 2009 at 7:56 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

 

Introduction

You may or may not know that the official title of our denomination is the Calvinistic Methodist or Presbyterian Church of Wales. On the English-speaking side of our Connexion we tend to use the term Presbyterian, but on the Welsh-speaking side the term Calvinistic Methodist is still often used. In Welsh “Calvinistic Methodism” is translated as Methodistiaeth Galfinaidd – or “Galvanized Methodists” as one elderly Welsh lady called them in English! (Oh, that we were indeed galvanized Methodists – electrified into action by the power of the Holy Spirit! ) But we are, in fact, Calvinist, not galvanized Methodists.

All Presbyterian churches are Calvinist (in name at least, if not always in doctrine). It was Calvin who first set up the Presbyterian system of church government in Geneva, with the church controlled by a group of elders rather than just one minister or priest.

Another word which is used as a synonym for Calvinist or Presbyterian is “Reformed” – as in Dutch Reformed Church, or United Reformed Church. Our Presbyterian churches sprang out of the Reformation, and in particular the Calvinistic Reformation centred in Geneva . (How we, in Wales, came also to be Methodists is another story, for another day! )

 

500 years of Calvinism

But why am I talking about Calvinism and Presbyterianism? Well on the 10th July 1509 John Calvin was born. That means that two weeks ago we celebrated his 500th. anniversary.

 [ For information about Calvin's life may I recommend the article in the July Treasury by by Rev. Dr Eifion Evans. http://www.ebc Presbyterian Church of Wales.org.uk/en/publications/treasury/09-07-01.pdf ]

Last year I gave a sermon on Luther and the Reformation, so we can’t let Calvin’s anniversary go by without reference to him also. He was just as important as Luther – although perhaps he does not feature so much in the public mind. This is partly because Calvin was a self-effacing man. He was also rather reserved and perhaps a bit distant in his manner. (Luther, on the other hand was very much a man of the people, even a bit crude at times, he was quick tempered and had a pretty interesting and eventful life.) Calvin’s life was less exiting to read about.

But Calvin was a man of influence, whose thinking has tremendously influenced our modern world. We have heard a lot about Charles Darwin over the last few months as the media have been celebrating his 200th anniversary. There is no doubt that Darwin is a highly significant figure, and worth commemorating. He has changed the whole aspect of biological sciences. But what about Calvin? I don’t recall seeing even one television programme about him, yet Calvin’s influence has spread far wider than even Darwin’s.

Calvinism has greatly shaped our modern world. The early Pilgrim Fathers and most of the first settlers in America were Calvinists – either Puritans, or Dutch Reformed Church, or Scots-Irish Presbyterians. The so-called Protestant work-ethic ( by which we mean largely, Calvinist, work-ethic) has made possible the Industrial Revolution and the commercial success of Britain as a nation.

Modern science and technology owes a great deal to Protestant influence. Where would science be if we still had to look to the Pope to tell us whether or not the Earth went around the Sun. Galileo was persecuted by the Catholic Church of his time. He wouldn’t have had that problem had he been a Calvinist! ( Galileo was born in 1564 – the year in which Calvin died.) There might not have been modern scientific advance without the Reformation.

Yes, Calvin has been very influential but the world takes very little notice and generally ignores Calvin. I did an Internet search for Calvin and came up with:

· Calvin and Hobbes, the cartoon characters

· Calvin Klein, the underwear designer

· and finally, John Calvin the reformer.

 

 And when the world does take note of Calvinism it is usually in a hostile way. The stereotypical view is of the dour Wee Free in the Highlands of Scotland or the bigoted Ulster Protestant. The word Calvinist, to most people, suggests someone who wants to stop you enjoying yourself.

So is this true? What was Calvin really like?

Is it possible to be a moderate Calvinist?

Can you be a Calvinist and enjoy yourself?

 Is Calvinism relevant to the modern world?

I shall attempt to address some of these questions now. In doing so I know that many of you were not brought up as Presbyterians. You come from Baptist, Methodist, Anglican, Roman Catholic, or Pentecostal backgrounds. You may not feel that you are Calvinists.

The same could be said of many who were brought up in our Connexion. As a denomination we have never made a great deal about being Calvinists, and most members of the Presbyterian Church of Wales probably would not be able to say much about Calvinist theology.

So first of all, an outline of his life:

 

John Calvin

John Calvin (10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564), né Jean Cauvin, was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530. After religious tensions provoked a violent uprising against Protestants in France, Calvin fled to Basel, Switzerland, where in 1536 he published the first edition of his seminal work Institutes of the Christian Religion. In that year, Calvin was invited by William Farel to help reform the church in Geneva. The city council resisted the implementation of Calvin and Farel’s ideas, and both men were expelled. At the invitation of Martin Bucer, Calvin proceeded to Strasbourg, where he became the minister of a church of French refugees. He continued to support the reform movement in Geneva, and was eventually invited back to lead its church. Following his return, he introduced new forms of church government and liturgy, despite the opposition of several powerful families in the city who tried to curb his authority. (Wikipedia)

 

What did Calvin believe?

The priesthood of all believers

Calvin believed that all Christian believers have access to God through Jesus Christ, without having to go through a priest.

 

The Presbyterian system

He believed that the local church should be run by a group of elders who are all equal in status. One of the elders is the minister who has special role of teaching and pastoral care. This is the Presbyterian system of church government. There is no hierarchy as there is in the Episcopal churches. Ministers, officers, elders and members are all equal in status – they just have different roles with regard to leadership.

There are no bishops. In the Presbyterian Church of Wales, for example, we have a Moderator and we also have a General Secretary – but in no way do I regard either of these people as my boss! We are equal in status.

 

God’s grace and man’s depravity

Calvin believed in the grace of God and in the complete sinfulness of human nature. Without God’s grace there is no way we can please God. Human beings are made in the image of God, but that image was spoilt by sin. We are unable to find God by their own effort, we need God’s grace in the first place to even begin to seek him. We can not reach up to God by our own effort – he has to reach down to us to raise us up.

 

Election and predestination

Calvin believed in the sovereignty of God and in the eternal security of those who believe truly in Jesus. Like the Apostle Paul Calvin believed in predestination and the election of those who believe.

( Romans 8: 28 – 30 ) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

This is a very knotty and controversial topic which I do not intend to go into now. Suffice to say that it is found in the Bible, in the writings of Paul, and that it requires quite a lot of theological and philosophical subtlety to discuss this topic in a way which is not over simplistic.

 

The Great Exchange

These are some of the themes that Calvin and the Calvinists stressed but what was at the very centre of Calvin’s faith may be seen in these words:

“This is the wonderful exchange which, out of his measureless benevolence, He has made with us;

· that, becoming Son of man with us, He has made us sons of God with Him;

· that, by His descent to earth, He has prepared an ascent to heaven for us;

· that, by taking on our mortality, he has conferred His immortality upon us;

· that, accepting our weakness, He has strengthened us by His power;

· that, receiving our poverty into Himself, He has transferred His wealth to us;

· that,taking the weight of our iniquity upon Himself (which oppressed us), He has clothed us with His righteousness.”

 

Conclusion

If you were to ask me “Are you a Calvinist?” I would say, “Yes, but a Christian first. Then a Calvinist, then a member of the Presbyterian Church of Wales if you were to ask me, “Do you believe everything Calvin taught?” Then I would have to say, “No”. And that is true probably of most Presbyterian Church of Wales ministers. For Calvin, and for us, the most important thing is to be a Christian, a follower of Christ.

 

[Sermon preached at the Brecon Presbyrian Church, 19th. July 2009 ]

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Möbius strip

July 15, 2009 at 9:50 pm · Filed under God the Father, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit ·Tagged , ,

A Möbius Strip

 

Talk (A)

Produce three paper loops.Demonstrate cutting in two longitudinally:

·  simple loop    =    results in two separate loops
·  loop with one half twist =     results in one large loop
·  loop with two half twists   =     results in  two linked loops

 

Application:

 
·  Two loops: God and us, we are separated from God by sin, self-centredness. Every human being is like this by nature.

·  One big loop:   Jesus. He is different . The only man who never sinned. He is perfectly at one with God. “I and the father are one,” Jesus said  (John 10: 30). “then they took up stones to stone him” for blasphemy.

·  Two interlocking loops:  this is us, linked to God for eternity. When we believe in Jesus, when we turn away from evil, when we ask Jesus to rule our lives,  then we are linked to God. Our sins are forgiven, we become new people and we share in the life of God’s
eternity.  Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  ( Romans 8:35–39)
Recap: two loops – we are separated from God
  one large loop – Jesus is one with God
  two interlocked loops – in Jesus we are joined to God.

 

  

Talk (B)  Möbius Strip

 

[show Möbius strip]
This kind of loop is called a Möbius Strip.  It is a loop with a twist in it.

Can anyone think of somewhere where you can see a Möbius loop in everyday life?  How about at the recycling centre?
The universal symbol for recycling is a Möbius loop in the form of a triangle:

See full size image

 

 Why is it called a Möbius loop? after August Ferdinand Möbius, a German mathematician. he discovered it and studies its amazing mathematical properties. (I’m afraid  we haven’t got time to go into all those equations, etc! )

Let me just  show you something strange: If I draw a line along the strip it comes back to where it was at the beginning. So what? That would happen with any loop. Yes,  but look: the line seems to be drawn on both sides, but it can’t be. I did not allow the pen to cross over the edge! I only drew on one side. If an ant was walking along this strip it would have gone right around the whole strip without once crossing over he edge.

You see: a Möbius strip has only one side – even thought it is a 3-dimensional object!
Most things have got more than one side. A sheet of paper has two, a book has six (think about it). What about a ball? That’s only got one side. (Unless it’s hollow then it’s got an inside and an outside.)
So a Möbius strip is like a sphere,even though it looks very different. Like a sphere it has only one side.Now here is the mathematical symbol for infinity:  

See full size image 

But some people  think the Möbius strip is an even better symbol. You see, it just goes on and on, and never ends Also, it includes both side in one. It is a bit like God! He is infinite and eternal, he goes on for ever. He also covers everything. He is everywhere and he combines in his nature various attributes that we might think are opposites.

For example: God is perfectly good and holy, he can not look upon sin and evil,  but at the same time he is perfectly loving and forgiving.
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  (1 John 1:5) 
 - that refers to his holiness. He can not tolerate evil.

But at the same time:
“God is love”  (1 John 4:16).
- God loves us and yearns for us to come to him and know his forgiveness.
One part of his nature has to punish our sins but another part has to forgive our sins. These two seem to be in opposition.  How can God forgive the sinner and punish the sin at the same time?
Well, in Jesus he has done it.  He has done the seemingly impossible. Just as the Möbius strip brings together two sides into one, so Jesus brings together God’s holiness and his mercy. When Jesus died on the cross he took our sin upon himself. He was punished in our place. At the cross God’s holiness and God’s love come together.

Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.    (Psalm 85:10, New American Standard Bible )

 

 

 Talk (C)  The Holy Trinity

[Demonstrate cutting a strip with three half turns in it. Straighten it out into a trefoil knot.  (Girl Guides should know this!)

 

See full size image

 

 

 

 

 

It's just one loop, but it is knotted in such a way that it looks like three interlocking loops. Amazing, isn't it? And our God is amazing too. Far more amazing than this. For he is three Persons in one God.

So this trefoil knot is a symbol of the Holy Trinity. The Father and the Son and the Spirit are three distinct persons. But they are only one God.  Just one Being. You can not separate them. They are bound together eternally in love and holiness. And such is the love of our God, the Lord, the Holy Trinity, that he actually came into our world in the person of the Son.  Jesus came to bring salvation to us.

[Recap the first talk with the various loops.]

This talk was given in the Brecon Presbyterian Church at a service of worship for all ages.

 

 

 

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