Monthly Archives: November 2008

The Alpha and the Omega: Revelation 22

When do you think about eternity? About your own mortality? I think about eternity whenever I turn my car ignition key. I think about eternity whenever the cabin crew ask me to fasten my seat belt. I think about eternity whenever I stand before a coffin at the crematorium, or before an open grave. I think about eternity whenever I look in the mirror and see the lines and the grey hairs. Watching the tragic events unfold in Mumbai this week again brought home this reality. God has put eternity on our hearts, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him. Its tempting to ignore the news, avoid looking in the mirror, live busy lives in our own little bubble and believe that it would never happen to us, that this life is all there is, that this life is the only one that matters, that this life will go on forever. Only it isn’t and it won’t, will it? It’s a lie and we need to call it that.

Eternity became very real to me when my father died suddenly and I became the oldest male member of our family at the age of 28. It came mid way through my theological training. God in his wisdom, dealt with the one thing I was most worried  about in becoming a vicar – coping with death and supporting others in their grief. I could now empathize. It is never too early to prepare for eternity. That is what Jesus has been teaching us in this series. We have been examining his great “I am” statements.

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12). “I am who I am” (John 8:58). “I am the gate for the sheep.” (John 10:7). “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” (John 10:14). “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die.“ (John 11:25) “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). “I am the true vine.. I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:1, 5). Today is Advent Sunday, when we think about the return of Jesus. It is therefore appropriate that we come to the final “I am” in the Bible in Revelation 22.  Please open your Bibles and turn to it with me: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the last, the Beginning and the End… Yes, I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22:13,20)

Let us consider this final great “I am” statement made in the closing sentences of the last chapter of the last book of the Bible. As we stand on the edge of eternity, thinking about the return of Jesus, three questions:

1. Who is this Jesus?

2. What will Jesus do when he returns?

3. How then should we respond?

Read more here

Listen here

Rico Tice on Zion’s Christian Soldiers

“Reading this book was a huge shock to me, and not a pleasant one. I had no idea that the biblical hermeneutics on the word ‘Israel’ had such extraordinary implications. So how we interpret the Scripture in terms of that one word ‘Israel’ really does seem, in some circles — to quote Stephen Sizer — to ‘justify a pre-emptive global war against the “axis of evil”‘ (page 19).

I almost felt like a man who discovers a lump under his arm and then finds on examination that it is malignant and life-threatening. But you must do the reading for yourself. It is too important to leave to second-hand opinion. How is this word ‘Israel’ used in the Bible, and what implications does that have for our fragile world?”

Rico Tice, Associate Minister, All Soul’s Church, Langham Place (author of Christianity Explored & Song of a Stranger: Daniel)

The Audio Book with Seminar Notes

You can listen to or read six presentations based on the chapters of the book as well as print outlines useful for personal and group Bible study.

1. For the Love of Zion: The Bible tells them so

2. Israel and the Church: Who are God’s chosen people?

3. The Promised Land: From the Nile to the Euphrates?

4. Battle for Jerusalem: The Eternal Capital of the Jews?

5. The Coming Last Day’s Temple: Ready to Rebuild?

6. Overture to Armageddon: Want to be left behind?

Revd Dr John Stott on Christian Zionism

“I am glad to commend Stephen Sizer’s ground-breaking critique of Christian Zionism. His comprehensive overview of its roots, its theological basis and its political consequences is very timely. I myself believe that Zionism, both political and Christian, is incompatible with biblical faith. Stephen’s book has helped to reinforce this conviction.”

Revd Dr John Stott, Rector Emeritus, All Soul’s, Langham Place, London, the principal framer of the Lausanne Covenant (1974) and founder of the Langham Partnership International (author of more than 40 books including Basic Christianity, The Cross of Christ, The Contemporary Christian, Evangelical Truth and New Issues Facing Christians Today, and eight New Testament expositions (Acts, Romans etc.) in the ‘Bible Speaks Today’ series published by IVP).

John Stott also wrote the foreword to In the Footsteps of Jesus and the Apostles and allowed his sermon on ‘the Place of Israel’ to be included in Zion’s Christian Soldiers

My Top 5 Books on Social Justice: Tony Campolo in Christianity Today


by Tony Campolo, professor of sociology, Eastern University

Rich Christians in An Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity Ron Sider

Continues to make the evangelical community aware of what the Bible says about our responsibilities to the poor, and calls Christians to do something about it.

Christian Zionism: Road-map to Armageddon? Stephen Sizer

A comprehensive survey describing how Christians have embraced a theological perspective that has encouraged justice for Jews, but has also led to the oppression of Palestinian people and extreme hostility between Christians and Muslims worldwide

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical Shane Claiborne

If you want to get a glimpse of what radical obedience looks like when lived out by a Red-Letter Christian, then this book is a must.

God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It Jim Wallis

A New York Times bestselling book offering an alternative to the polarizing politics promoted by many in the religious culture wars. Wallis helps us find unity with a politics that addresses the needs of the poor and oppressed.

The Prophets Abraham J Heschel

Provides rich insights from the Hebrew prophets as they empathized with the pathos that God shows upon seeing the oppression of the poor.

See Christianity Today

Bishop Riah on prospects for peace in the Middle East

The Right Revd Riah Hanna Abu El Assal, the retired Anglican bishop in Jerusalem, was interviewed on Sunday about the situation in the Middle East. He speaks candidly about the plight of the Christian community and his hopes for peace. You can listen to the interview here

John 15:1-17 “I am the Vine”

“Jacob came for a bride from his own people. He desired Rachel, but he did not get Rachel at first, but Leah. After he learned to love Leah as much as he did Rachel, he got Rachel as well. In the beginning Leah had all the babies, her womb was most fruitful. But then Rachel conceives. Israel shall be a fruitful vine. Jesus came for Israel. He wanted to marry Israel, but He did not get Israel. He ends up with the bride He did not desire at first, the Gentile church. After He learns to love the Gentile church, then He gets Israel. In the beginning, the church has all the babies. But in the end, Israel becomes a fruitful vine.” (Jacob Prasch).

What is the relationship between Israel and the Church? Does God have one ‘chosen people’ or two? What is the relationship between God and his people? Who is the fruitful vine?

These were the subjects addressed at a conference in Johannesburg, I attended earlier this month. It was sponsored by Messianic Good News, an organisation dedicated to take the good news of Jesus to Jewish people. It was a great encouragement to spend a week with Jews who love Jesus and who have a passion to make him known within the Jewish community.  I hope we can build on this relationship and support their work in the future. Following our day with Chawkat Moucarry looking at Islam earlier in the year, and with Juge Ram on Hinduism and Sikhism yesterday, I hope that early next year we can arrange a teaching day on Judaism and learn how to share our faith with Jewish people.

Please turn with me to John 15 and let us examine the meaning of this image of the vine and the branches.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2)

Jesus makes three main assertions: God the Father is the Vineyard Owner. God the Son is the Vine. God’s People who remain and bear fruit are the Branches.

Continue reading →

A foot in many camps – a reply to Stephen Kuhrt

by Chris Sugden in the Church of England Newspaper November 21 2008

In his CEN article last week, Stephen Kuhrt argued that the 57 member CEEC is not representative because 28 members belong to what he defines as one, conservative, stream.  Stephen argues, as does Graham Kings in a parallel article in the Church Times last week, that there are three streams in the Evangelical Constituency and any organization claiming to represent that constituency needs to reflect them in proportion.

PROPORTIONALITY

Arguments about proportionality encourage a particularly narrow view of ‘representation’. Like MPs and Bishops, CEEC members – drawn as Stephen’s piece shows from different types of ‘constituency’ – are there to represent the whole constituency.  That should be common ground about how we understand the ‘Evangelical Constituency’ to be made up.

Stephen speaks of ‘three streams’:  but why (only) three?  How do we know their relative strengths?  The usual way is by elections – to see which groups win support. Even accepting the argument for proportionality, applying it in the evangelical constituency is problematic. The categories overlap. Many, but not all, conservatives are charismatics. There are different kinds of charismatics and conservatives, just as there are different kinds of points of view in Fulcrum.  Fuclrum itself illustrates the difficulty. Its strap-line refers to ‘The Evangelical Centre’.  But what is the ‘centre’? Identifying the centre requires an agreed definition of the limits of the range – the meaning of ‘Evangelical’.

DEFINING IDENTITY

A representative organization like CEEC needs some means of establishing what makes it distinctive so that it can be seen who and what it represents.  When an organization consists, as many do, of a number of viewpoints, defining its identity is difficult. This is particularly so when some who agree on some points but disagree on others find allies with those on the outside who are in fundamental disagreement with the view of other members of the first organization.

Continue reading →

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” John 14

Hands up if you own one of these? (a GPS unit). If so, do you  remember what life was like before you had one? I do. Painful. The low point for me came the day I got lost in Bedford. I had gone there for a meeting and forgot the location of the road. After a fruitless half an hour trying to find my way, I was ready to give up and drive home. Then James Hughes, the former curate, phoned. “Where are you” he said. “I don’t know” I replied.

“Let me help you” and he then proceeded to open up his computer which had street maps of England. Having identified the name of the road I was parked in and the name of the road I was heading for, he literally talked me there road by road, on my hands free phone, of course. That is what made me realize I needed a GPS. I never leave home without Sean Connery now  – or at least a digitized version of Sean Connery’s voice. You know when you have arrived because he says “shaken not stirred”.

Do you know how GPS works?  You turn it on and type in the post code. No, that is not what I mean. Do you know how it works? “When people talk about “a GPS,” they usually mean a GPS receiver. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is actually a constellation of 27 Earth-orbiting satellites (24 in operation and three extras in case one fails). The U.S. military developed and implemented this satellite network as a military navigation system, but soon opened it up to everybody else.

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