Category: Writings

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A Christian Response to Jihadist Violence & Donald Trump

Following the Paris and Beirut massacres and the social media discourse that ensued, as a reasonably regular twit I tweeted the following on 21 November: “In all the jihadist killings and hatred, WE MUST SEE JESUS – a King who does not kill anyone, but gives himself in love to die for everyone”

Then I was stimulated by Fr Francesco Follo’s meditation on ‘King of Truth and Love’ (in John 18:33-37) and I thought more about what I tweeted. So I wanted to elaborate and I posted this on my FaceBook page on 21 November 2015:

Jesus didn’t impose his Caliphate as a domain of lies, hatred & violence. He witnessed to the truth as an inviting Kingdom of self-giving love. His Royalty was exercised NOT as an imposition of an intolerant cruel domain, but as a witness (a martyr) to the truth of love – for this very reason King Jesus was born and came into the world (John 18:37). And everyone who is of the truth, who seeks truth, will hear his voice, his message of love.

What is the truth of love? Jesus didn’t spill the blood of anyone, adding to sin, but shed his own blood for everyone, atoning for sin. He does not violently sacrifice anyone, but sacrifices himself, absorbing all violence for everyone. He takes a cross as his throne, thorns as his crown, to rule not by the sword to behead or the Kalashnikov to massacre, but by the truth of love to save and set free. THIS love, and its truth, is the greatest power known in all created reality. It will ultimately conquer all and reign over all. Continue reading A Christian Response to Jihadist Violence & Donald Trump

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Extraordinary Jubilee Of Mercy declared by Pope Francis

As some Catholic Popes have done from time to time, Pope Francis has declared a special Jubilee, which begins Tuesday 8 December 2015.

What is a Jubilee?

God commanded the Jews to declare every 50th year a Jubilee, a Year of Freedom (Leviticus 25). All property was returned to original family ownership, slaves were set free, all debts cancelled and the land was free to rest. The decks were cleared to give everyone a fresh restart on a free and equal footing. The record does not show if and for how long Israel implemented (celebrated) the Jubilee. Some scholars say that when Jesus began his ministry, taking his mandate from Isaiah 61:1-2a, he actually declared the Jubilee, “The Year of the LORD’s favor and mercy” (see Luke 4:16-21). Jesus proved to be God’s promised Messiah and his ministry of the Kingdom was The Jubilee of all Jubilees – The Day of Salvation.

Pope Francis continues his courageous leadership as a follower of Jesus, by announcing a Jubilee of Mercy, thus radically stirring the Roman Catholic Church and challenging the world. And the rest of the Church of Jesus should take note.

Why choose the theme of mercy? Why an “Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy”?

In his Bull of Indiction, Misericordiae Vultus, he motivates why: “Mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s life. All of her pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy” (n. 10).

I fully agree! I support this Year of Mercy. What follows is from my reading of the Vatican News on zenit.org, with a mix of quotes from Francis and my interpretations and comments. I’m doing this to motivate YOU to ‘do’ this Jubilee – for God’s sake! Continue reading Extraordinary Jubilee Of Mercy declared by Pope Francis

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Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation & Transformation (continued)

For the audio teaching click on the following link:

http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/implications-of-the-gospel-mandate-of-reconciliation-part-6/

Last week I taught on The Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation. The key is transformed identity through faith in Jesus and water baptism. We’re God’s Beloved Child in his ‘one new humanity’. This is found in the Early Church baptismal liturgy/confession of Gal 3:28 – what we call The Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation through transformed identity:

  • “Neither Jew nor Gentile” – Racial/Cultural mandate: healing racism
  • “Neither slave nor free” – Social/Economic mandate: healing classism
  • “Neither male nor female – Gender/Sexual mandate: healing sexism

Jesus’ followers chose this confession to confront, reverse and transform, the dominant mindset of the day, seen in the daily prayer of Greek men: “Thanks God that I was born a human being and not a beast, a man and not a woman, a Greek and not a barbarian”, and the daily Berakot prayed by Jewish men: “Blessed be the Lord God that he did not make me a Gentile (dog), nor a boor (a slave/peasant), nor a woman.” Faith in Jesus transforms our identity, healing us of racist/class/sexist prejudice, making us reconcilers in society.

Both Personal and Structural

Prejudice is the power behind every societal barrier. Prejudice is emotional-based, closed-minded, false-fixed beliefs and attitudes (“don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is already made up”). This leads to pain-filled words and actions against ‘the other’ who is different to us. Our perceptions about ‘the other’ (race, culture, class, age, gender, sexual orientation, education-level, political party, religion, denomination) are often unreasoned, irrational, untested half-truths and misbeliefs. We subconsciously imbibe them from birth via our parents. And from our peers and teachers, those like us, as we grow up. Unresolved hurt, painful life experiences, also leads to prejudicial beliefs and actions: we ‘blindly’ act out pain on others. Generalizations (“all women are…” “the poor are…”,”whites are…” “Gays are…”) reinforce social stereotypes and labels, damaging ‘the other’ and ourselves. Prejudice blinds us to new information, screening out objective truth. How blind are those who refuse to see… read John 9:13-34, 40-41. Continue reading Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation & Transformation (continued)

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Act 6 continued: The Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation

To listen to the audio teaching of these notes click on the link

http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/act-6-continued-the-gospel-mandate-of-reconciliation-part-5/

Last week I taught on Act 6 in God’s Drama: The Holy Spirit in & through the Reconciled & Reconciling Church – described in the Book of Acts. Paul called this “the message and ministry of reconciliation” given to us in Messiah (2 Cor 5:18-20), to reconcile people to God, and thus to oneself, others, & creation. This was made real in the Early Church by water baptism. The key to reconciliation and baptism is transformed identity.

Jesus’ Baptism in water

The Early Church got their understanding and practice of water baptism – by Messiah’s Co-Mission in Matt 28:18-20 – from Jesus’ own baptism. The key issue in both baptisms was identity. By choosing to be baptised Jesus identified himself with ALL sinners. As he stood in the water of John’s ‘baptism of repentance’ (Matt 3:13-17) he had no sins of his own to confess – as the only sinless One he confessed our sin on our behalf. Immersed into the waters, he symbolised he would willingly die our death in our place to wash away and bury our life of sin. His coming up out of water symbolised he would rise again. It was Jesus’ public act of obedience of his discipleship to God – that he willingly gave his life in faith to the Father, for HIS purpose. The Father then ‘tore’ the heavens open (Mk 1:10 cf. 15:38) and sent the empowering Spirit of Love on him, and publicly affirmed his identity: “YOU are my Son, my Beloved (Greek Agapetos), with whom I am well pleased” (Mk 1:11). This was Jesus’ identity, Beloved Son of God, from which he lived his life, did his ministry, fulfilling the Father’s call of reconciliation in the world.

Believers Baptism and change of identity

Early Christian baptism was not a ‘baptism of repentance’, but a ‘baptism confirming repentance and faith in Jesus’. When people put their faith in Jesus, saying ‘yes’ to following him, they were asked to express that publicly – to witness to Jesus – by being baptised in water for all to see. Thus baptism is our first act of obedience as a disciple of Christ. Standing in the water, we identify with Messiah (the only Righteous Saviour of the world), symbolising our death in/with him on the cross – we die to our sin (Rom 6:3-14). Immersed beneath the waters, we symbolise our burial with Christ. Or past life of sin is buried, together with whatever identity that defined us in THAT life. Raised up out of the water, we symbolise our resurrection in/with Christ to a new life in God, to a new identity in Messiah. The early Christians then laid hands on the baptised believer to impart the empowering Spirit of Love, affirming them in the new identity, conferred on them by the Father in the open heavens. I’m sure they looked up expecting the heavens to open, a dove to come down, a voice to speak, saying, “Gilli, YOU are my daughter… Alexander, YOU are my son… My Beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” Our new identity is Beloved Child of God, from which we live our new life in Christ, do our ministry with and for him, and fulfil his plan of reconciliation in the world. Continue reading Act 6 continued: The Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation

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Reconciliation & Transformation Act 6: Holy Spirit & Church

This listen to the audio teaching of these teaching notes, click

http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/act-6-holy-spirit-in-jesus-reconciled-and-reconciling-church-part-4/

This mini-series of Reconciliation & Transformation is part of ‘fishing the world’ to turn our church outward to engage in social transformation. We shared personal stories of racism and reconciliation. Then I taught God’s Greater Story in which our personal stories find meaning – God’s Seven Act Drama of Reconciliation & Transformation:

Act One: CREATION – God’s Garden of Delight
Act Two: HUMANITY – The Rebellious Fall
Act Three: RESTART – Noah, Babel and The Nations
Act Four: ISRAEL – God’s Instrument of Reconciliation
Act Seven: THE END – Shalom!
Act Five: JESUS – God’s Reconciler
Act Six: HOLY SPIRIT – Through The Church

The weird numbering is theologically important: from Israel (4), the failed instrument of reconciliation, to her prophetic hope of the The End as seen in Isaiah, and then in John’s Revelation when all things are made new (7). But THAT future END broke into our world 2000 years ago in Jesus, dissecting history (5). Act 5 is the gift of God’s Son (Jn 3:16) who accomplishes reconciliation in his own body on the cross, where all barriers and walls of division were destroyed, the principalities and powers defeated, and Jews and Gentiles reconciled into “one new humanity” (see Eph 2:14-18 & Col 2:15).

Act 6 is the gift of God’s Spirit who comes at Pentecost to effect (apply and make real) Jesus’ work of reconciliation & transformation. Act 6 goes all the way through to Christ’s Second Coming – The End of God’s drama, The Beginning of the Eternal Ages. Do you realise that we’re playing our particular part LIVE in Act 6, on the world’s stage right now as witness to world to bring the drama to The End (Act 7)? See the diagram Continue reading Reconciliation & Transformation Act 6: Holy Spirit & Church

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Spirituality of Leadership versus Technology of Leadership

I was asked to speak at our Vineyard pastors and leaders meeting today… here are my teaching notes.

The key questions in life are the who? and why?… not the what? and how?

Who are you? Who are you becoming? Who are you following? Who forms you? It’s way more important that what you do/achieve and how you do it. God is more interested in you than in what you can do for him – he doesn’t ‘use’ us! Dallas Willard said, “The only thing we will get out of our lives and take into eternity, when we breathe our last breath and stand before God with everything stripped away, is the person we will have become. Therefore, WHO are you and WHO are you becoming?” And WHY are you becoming, or want to become, that kind of person? The WHAT and HOW flow naturally from this.

The need for leadership as spirituality… not as technology

Spirituality, as in the formation of character toward Christlikeness, essentially has to do with the who and why questions, whereas technology of leadership has to do with the ‘what is leadership?’ and ‘how do we do it?’… as in ‘Five Easy Steps to Leading’, or ‘The 20 Laws of Leadership’! Eugene Peterson, in his five books to leaders & pastors and five books on Spiritual Theology, has been a prophet crying out in the wilderness of the Evangelical/Charismatic/Pentecostal church lost in the technology of leadership that’s been taken in and copied from the business world. We urgently need a return to the biblical theology (understandings & models) of leadership… then the what and how of leadership (also taught in scripture) find their proper basis and place of operation. I.e. our doing then comes from our being and becoming, and NOT the other way round. Many leaders have their identity in their doing, their activism, the what and how of success – leadership as achievement, position, power, title, turf – ‘push and pull’, ‘get the show on the road’, ‘hire and fire’ type leadership, the technology of getting things done! Our identity, meaning and purpose in life, as people, as leaders, is found in God and his love for us. Then we can freely give our lives away in love and service of God and others – our doing is then a natural/healthy overflow of our being/becoming, with eternal results. Continue reading Spirituality of Leadership versus Technology of Leadership

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Reconciliation & Transformation: God’s 7 Act Drama of His-Story

To listen to the audio teaching of these notes click on the link:
http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/reconciliation-transformation-4-gods-story-of-reconciliation/

Introduction: This mini-series of Reconciliation & Transformation is part of ‘fishing the world’ to turn the church outward to engage in social transformation. I’m teaching on this because of the growing racism and polarization in our nation. Plus, the Church ought to be the reconciler and healer in society. I shared my story of crossing the divides in SA under Apartheid to seek reconciliation with brothers and sisters in Soweto. Then we had two weeks of story telling from people representing the major race groups in SA. Our stories of racial consciousness and hurt only find redemption and meaning to the extent they become part of and are interpreted by God’s Greater Story of Reconciliation and Transformation – else we may become imprisoned by anger and hatred.

Reconciliation is to ‘make peace’ (restore Shalom) by removing the cause of alienation and division, thus making the two one again (Matt 5:9). And transformation is a change of heart, attitude and behaviour, by God’s Spirit and our responses to his work in us.

So, here is the sweeping storyline of God’s work acted out in human His-Story:
God’s Seven Act Drama of Reconciliation & Transformation.

Act One: CREATION – God’s Garden of Delight

In the beginning God created all things ‘good’. He then created humanity (Adam & Eve) in his image and likeness (‘very good’) to rule under God over creation through Shalom. Shalom is more than peace: it’s God’s order, wellbeing, harmony & abundance, through right relationship with God, ourselves, each other and creation. The Garden of Eden (‘Delight’) was a replica of heaven on earth: Adam & Eve were ONE with God, each other and creation, in an exquisite eternal dance of delight, love and community. Continue reading Reconciliation & Transformation: God’s 7 Act Drama of His-Story

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The Practice of Evangelism (2) – The How To?

To listen to the audio teaching of these notes click on:
http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/being-the-beloved-the-how-to-of-evangelism-part-38-2/

We practice ‘Fishing the World’ by living out our Kingdom vocation (calling) via our daily occupation (work). This naturally leads to EVANGELISM: sharing the good news of Jesus, who saves us through his life, death and resurrection. I’ve repeatedly said, however, who you are, how you behave, communicates much louder than what you say about Jesus. Last week I taught on the What? and Why? of evangelism; now we look at the How?

The Wisdom of Every Believer Evangelism

To be a follower of Jesus is to be his witness (evangelist). Every believer is his messenger of joy sharing The Gospel, ‘fishing’ people into his Kingdom. While some are gifted as evangelists (Eph 4:11), every believer is called to do evangelism… right where we are, and further afield, to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Therefore, we must “always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have… with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet 3:15, cf. Eph 6:15 & Is 52:7).

To ‘win’ people requires wisdom as Solomon says: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and those who win souls are wise” (Prov 11:30). Those who are wise will lead many to righteousness, shining like bright stars in a darkening world (Dan 12:3). This applies to Jesus’ fishing image: to catch fish you need to be clever, knowing what fish you’re trying to catch, the season, the time and tide, and what bait to use! Because we ignore these factors we often don’t catch fish (people) – besides our lack of motivation and practice. Jesus used other images to teach the same regarding his disciples’ mission and witness in the world: “I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves, therefore be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves” (Matt 10:16) – be cunning and clever, yet pure and innocent! To be “the salt of the earth” is to make people thirsty for God’s goodness, while stinging their corrupt conscience; and to be “the light of the world” is to show people the way to God by your good deeds, while confronting and driving back their darkness (Matt 5:13-16). Continue reading The Practice of Evangelism (2) – The How To?

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Fishing the World – The Practice of Evangelism

For the audio teaching on these notes, click on:
http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/being-the-beloved-fishing-the-world-the-priority-practice-of-evangelism-part-37/

Our third value of ‘Fishing the World’ for God is practiced as we live out our Kingdom vocation (calling) through our daily occupation (work). This naturally leads to our second priority and practice: EVANGELISM. If we are good news in our workplace, then we will be able (even invited) to speak the good news of Jesus. This teaching answers the What? and Why? of evangelism, and will introduce the How? to do evangelism.

WHAT is Evangelism? What is The Gospel?

English ‘evangelism’ comes from the Greek evangelion, with the root angelos, messenger or herald… of good news. Used of Greco-Roman generals and emperors, ‘messengers of joy’ ran to the ends of the Empire telling of their victories in battle, and the good news of the Emperor’s birth, enthronement and reign. Thus, evangelion referred not only to a) the messenger (evangelist) and b) the act of proclaiming the message (evangelising), but also to c) the message itself, called the Evangel – ‘The Gospel’ – the good news.

Seventy Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew (Old) Testament into Greek in 150 BC, called The Septuagint – read by Jesus and his first followers. The translators used the verb evangelizomai (to evangelise, proclaim) in Is 52:7-10: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace and salvation, who say to Israel, ‘Your God reigns!’” (also Is 40:9, 41:27, 61:1, Ps 96:2f)). Isaiah predicted, in 750 BC, that God’s end-time messengers will herald and proclaim the joyous good news of GOD’S REIGN: God will come in his Messiah-King to save the world by defeating evil in all its forms, and make all things new, and will rule and reign over the earth forever.

Continue reading Fishing the World – The Practice of Evangelism

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The Practice of Occupation and Vocation and MONEY!

To listen to the audio of these teaching notes click on this link:
http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/being-the-beloved-occupation-vocation-money-part-36/

Last week I taught the first priority that makes ‘fishing people’ for God’s Kingdom a daily practice: learning to live our Kingdom vocation (calling) through our daily occupation (work). This obviously does not mean that we use the work place to talk about Jesus all the time! You have to BE the good news to win respect, so that when you SPEAK the good news – invited by your friends and colleagues – they are ready to listen and receive.

Work is what ‘occupies’ our daily time, energy, gifts and skills (training), in a formal or informal job. But work is also about money. Human resources = time, energy & money. We put our time and energy (labour) to work, in order to earn and generate money for our living (food, home, etc), so that we’re not dependent on others as Paul says (1 Thess 4:11). But money is also for our life and work with God in the world – it’s all from him in the first place! Jesus taught on work and money; e.g. God gives various talents (gifts, money) to each of us, to be used to “occupy till I come” (Lk 19:13, read 12-27). Jesus will call us to account for how we used (worked), or did not use, the resources God gives us. We will be rewarded accordingly, either given more, or loose what we had. So, our relationship to money is our stewardship of resources as a God-given means of ‘fishing the world’ for him.

How should we view money (resources)?

 Many people think that money ‘is the root of all evil.’ Not true! It is a misquote of Paul – he said, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim 6:10). Money is ‘neutral’. The issue is our relationship to money. It’s not what’s in your hand but what’s in our heart that counts. It’s what we do with money that is right or wrong. Money and possessions have no value in itself; it only has the value we give to it by our attitude to it, how we use it, what we spend it on. Some wrong attitudes to money: Continue reading The Practice of Occupation and Vocation and MONEY!