Category Archives: Theology

Jesus the Master is Returning

I suspect Russell Crowe and the producers of his latest film, in cinemas from next week, had wished they had released Noah in January at the height of the wettest winter on record. The film has inevitably aroused controversy. On the one hand for being creative with the Scriptures, but on the other for assuming that the Flood really happened.

It has certainly divided my Facebook friends. When challenged as to whether I really believed in the story of Noah. I simply replied, “Jesus clearly did, and that is good enough for me.” In our series the Passion of Jesus, as we prepare for Easter, we are listening to Jesus explain the meaning of his death, the significance of his resurrection, the implications of his ascension and the signs of his return. In the first half of Matthew 24, last week, we saw how Jesus answered his disciples’ question.

“What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3).

I recommended viewing these verses through varifocal lenses. For Jesus describes: The Beginning of the Last Days. The Signs of the Last Days and the End of the Last Days. And all are in perfect focus.

In the verses before us today, Jesus elaborates on the events immediately preceding his return. I want to draw out three implications for us:

1. Jesus will return to an unsuspecting world
2. Jesus will rebuke unfaithful hypocrites
3. Jesus will reward his diligent servants

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Jesus and the Torah

I was recently with Vivid Broadcast, Broadbridge Heath, Sussex, to record six of my sermons on ‘Christ in all the Scriptures’ for ‘The Sermon‘ a ministry of Richard Bewes.

Genesis: Jesus and Abraham’s Sacrifice
Exodus: Jesus and the Passover Lamb
Leviticus: Jesus and the Atonement Sacrifice
Numbers: Jesus and the Bronze Snake
Deuteronomy: Jesus and the Prophet
Joshua: Jesus and the Commander of the Lord’s Army

View the whole series so far here

Vivid have recently won the contract to record the Antique Roadshow.

Jesus is Coming Soon

In July 2006, at the launch of Christians United for Israel, after recorded greetings from President George W. Bush, and in the presence of US Senators and the Israeli Ambassador, Pastor John Hagee from Texas suggested,

“The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God’s plan for both Israel and the West … a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ.” [i]

Is that what the Apostle Peter had in mind when he said we should “look forward to the day of God and speed its coming”? (2 Peter 3:12). Is this how we “speed Christ’s coming”? Well what did Jesus say? In our series The Passion of Jesus, we have come to Matthew 24. The chapter begins with Jesus’ disciples asking him a question.

“What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3).

They were dying to know when Jesus would return. And Christians have been speculating ever since. In verse 34, Jesus answers,

“Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” (Matthew 24:34).

Jesus is Coming Soon from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

The problem has been that Christians in every generation since have believed Jesus was referring to their generation. Were they wrong? Well, yes and no. As a young Christian growing up in the 1970s, I was addicted to books on Bible prophecy like Hal Lindsey’s, Late Great Planet Earth. Lindsey insisted the signs of Jesus return were coming true in our generation. Lindsey figured that the return of the Jewish people back to the land after 2000 years, the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, and the capture of Jerusalem in 1967, were signs that Jesus predicted. Since a biblical generation is 40 years, Lindsey speculated that Jesus would therefore return in 1988.

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Christianity Explored in Arabic

Would you like to help make history? South Sudanese Christians have asked for our help to fund the translation of the Christianity Explored course into Arabic.

One of our partners I have worked with in Juba writes,

“there is urgent need to translate the CE material to Arabic to benefit mainly those South Sudanese Christians who came from Arabic background. They are taking their discipleship seriously and they have great impact on other believers in South Sudan.”

We need to raise $1,000 US Dollars to facilitate the translation of the course material by this Summer. In August we hope to return to South Sudan and continue to train church leaders to use the course. If you would like to help make this possible, we would be pleased to hear from you. We are working with the charity Fields of Life to make this happen.

Here are photos of some of our adventures introducing Christianity Explored in Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and South Sudan.

Will the Jewish Temple be Rebuilt?

“Mounting tension: Israel’s Knesset debates proposal to enforce its sovereignty at Al-Aqsa Mosque – a move seen as ‘an extreme provocation to Muslims worldwide’” was the ominous headline in the Independent newspaper, 27th February 2014.

Ben Lynfield writes, “The Arab-Israeli conflict took on an increasingly religious hue when the Jordanian parliament voted unanimously to expel Israel’s ambassador in Amman after Israeli legislators held an unprecedented debate on Tuesday evening over a proposal to enforce Israeli sovereignty at one of Jerusalem’s holiest sites, currently administered by Jordan, and to allow Jewish prayer there. 500 metres by 300 metres, the Temple Mount, or Haram Al Sharif as it is called in Arabic, is probably the most disputed plot of land on earth. Hal Lindsey claims, ‘I believe the fate of the world will be determined by an ancient feud over 35 acres of land.’[1]

Many Christians share the belief that the Islamic shrines must be destroyed and that a Jewish Temple must and will be rebuilt – very soon. But this won’t be a museum replica of the one king Solomon built or be just another attraction for pilgrims to the Holy Land. No, this Temple will be built for one purpose and one purpose only – for bloody animal sacrifices, and lots of them.

What is the case for rebuilding the Jewish Temple? Does the Bible predict such an event? If so, where and how it might be built? What does the New Testament say on the subject? What are the implications for Christians should the Jewish Temple be rebuilt? Continue reading →

The King of Righteousness is Coming

Isaiah 32–35: Community Bible Study International (CBSI)

In 1919, American writer Lincoln Steffens visited the Soviet Union to see what the Communist revolution was accomplishing; and in a letter to a friend, he wrote, “I have seen the future, and it works.” If he were alive today, he would probably be less optimistic; but in those days, “the Russian experiment” seemed to be dramatically successful.

In the four chapters that conclude the first section of his prophecy, Isaiah invites us to look at four future events to see what God has planned for His people and His world. These chapters are not human speculation; they are divinely inspired revelation, and they can be trusted.

1. The King will Reign (Isa. 32:1–20)

At the beginning of its history, the nation of Israel was a theocracy. God was their King. But in the days of Samuel, the people asked for a king; and God gave them Saul (1 Sam. 8). As you know Saul failed in his divinely appointed role and the Lord raised up David who established both the dynasty for Israel’s throne and the ancestry for Israel’s Messiah (2 Sam. 7). Every Jew knew that the future Messiah-King would be the Son of David (Matt. 22:41–46). In Isaiah 32:1, Isaiah writes about “a king”; but in 33:17, he calls him “the king.” By the time you get to verse 22, He is “our king.” It is not enough to say that Jesus Christ is “a King” or even “the King.” We must confess our faith in Him and say with assurance that He is “our King.” Like Nathanael, we must say, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49, NKJV)

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What are we to make of Jesus Christ?

When I was a child, I used to read the Daily Mail newspaper every day – well, the Peanuts cartoons, to be precise. I still remember when Lucy asked each of her friends whether she should have her ears pierced. The conversation went on for days. Schroeder was playing his piano. “Do you think I should have my ears pierced?” He replies, “I don’t mind, you pierced mine long ago.” She storms off. “Linus, Do you think I should have my ears pierced?” “I have a better idea…” he replies cheekily, “Why don’t you have your mouth boarded up?” Lucy wallops him. When he comes to, he reflects, “It was worth it!”

How do you cope with people who just don’t seem to like you? No matter how hard you try to be nice to them, they will always twist your words, they question your motives, they gossip about you, they try and discredit you, they seem to undermine you at every opportunity. Maybe you work with them, maybe they live next door, or maybe you are related. How do you deal with them? Blank them out? Retaliate? Stoop to their level? Do you go on the defensive? How do you react?

As we approach Easter, in the first of our new teaching series, entitled The Passion of Jesus, we see how Jesus dealt with his enemies. We see his passion for them. When they ask what appear to be innocent questions, Jesus responds with a question of his own:

“What do you think about the Messiah?” – “who is he?” (Matthew 22:41). Implicit in that question are two more, “Why did Jesus come?” and What is his claim on our lives?”

What are we to make of Jesus Christ? from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

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What Abraham Discovered: God will Provide

Our son Michael celebrated his 21^st birthday last week. When he was born, five weeks premature, and I held that little bundle of life in my hands for the first time, I didn’t know whether the Lord who had given us a son would take him back again. Although I wasn’t quite as old as Abraham, it was the first time I could really identify with him. Twenty one years later, Mike is taller, more intelligent and more attractive than me.

At the age of 75, Abraham was called to follow the Lord. Now, aged well over 100, he was still having faith-stretching, heart stopping experiences. The lesson? We are never too old to face new challenges, fight new battles, and learn new truths. When we stop learning, we stop growing; and when we stop growing, we stop living. “The first forty years of life give us the text,” “and the next thirty supply the commentary.” The “commentary” is being written as we listen to God, and follow His directions, one step, one day, one challenge at a time. Sad to say, many people understand neither the text nor the commentary, and their lives are ended before they have understood the meaning of life. Genesis 22 records the greatest test that Abraham ever faced. In it we also see the progressive unfolding of God’s rescue mission for planet earth. As we found in our series Christ in All the Scriptures, it contains a beautiful prefiguring of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary.

In both, the lesson from this passage is this: obedient faith overcomes in the trials of life. I want us to consider five lessons we can learn from the testing of Abraham. We can learn them the hard way or the easy way. With God or without him.

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Ten Commandments for Worship

I modestly suggest ten rules for the introduction of new music without pain, if sensitivity and careful explanation are used in the exercise.

The best in traditional hymnody should be preserved and used. Much modem worship may supplement the old, but it cannot possibly replace it.
New songs should be biblical in emphasis and in actual wording.
Heavy use should continue to be made of the Psalms (in one form or another). This is our only God-given hymn book.
The music should be appropriate to the words. This is easier to feel than to define—but we all know when it happens, and when it doesn’t.
There should be a judicious mixture of styles, age, rhythm, length of hymns, shortness of songs, etc.
At least some of the hymns and songs should be credal, confessional and Christological (ie stating the great facts that we believe, especially about Jesus). Traditional examples are ‘At the name of Jesus.’ Splendid modern examples are ‘These are the facts as we have received them’, ‘Jesus is Lord! creation’s voice proclaims it’, and the more brief ‘God has highly exalted Jesus’.
At least one hymn or song should be trinitarian (ie proclaiming the persons of the Godhead and what they mean to us). Traditional examples are ‘Thou whose almighty word’ and ‘God is in his temple’. It is significant that many of the modem songs are specifically trinitarian: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord’, ‘Father, we adore You’, and ‘Father, we love You’ to quote but a few.
There should be a balanced mixture of the objective (what God is, whether anyone believes it or not) and the subjective (how we feel about it and what we experience when we believe it).
Use the right instruments for the appropriate words.
If you can’t find any modern hymns to fit your sermons, there’s probably something wrong with your sermons. If you have the same problem with traditional hymns, quit preaching.

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Abraham: Lessons in the Call of God

February 28, 1944, started out like many other days in Corrie’s family watch shop in Nazi-occupied Haarlem, in Holland. Corrie, the first woman watch-maker in Europe, was helping her father, Casper, repair watches, and her sister Betsie, was doing housework in their home attached to the back of the watch shop. Corrie wasn’t surprised when a stranger, under the pretence of showing her a broken watch, whispered that his family was also hiding Jews. His wife had just been arrested. Could she help? Believing that God called her to resist the evil embodied in the Third Reich, Corrie led a clandestine network of rescuers hiding Jews in Haalem. By 1944, Jews still alive in Nazi-occupied countries had a simple choice: hide or die. Corrie agreed to help the stranger.

During the night of 1st March 1944, sleep in the ten Boom house was shattered by a Gestapo raid. That night Corrie, Betsie, Casper, and thirty-nine other rescuers in their network were arrested, beaten and charged with hiding Jews. But in spite of a two day search, the Gestapo never found the six people hidden behind the bookcase in a secret room. Casper ten Boom, Corrie’s father, died in prison ten days after his arrest. Corrie and Betsie were transferred to the Ravensbruk death camp, where Betsie later died on Christmas Day. The Jews hidden behind Corrie’s family bookcase were freed, hidden again, and eventually survived the Holocaust. Corrie Ten Boom had a God-given purpose, that kept her focussed and faithful to her calling during severe trial.

We don’t know what will happen in 2014. But how we respond to the challenges ahead will be determined by our convictions, by our character and above all, shaped by understanding our calling from God. Do you know God’s purpose for your life because you are not here by accident. Rick Warren says, “Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance…” The greatest tragedy is not death. The greatest tragedy is to live without a purpose.”

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