Category: Writings

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The Life of The Beloved

Recap: You as THE Beloved

 Jesus’ life and baptism is the model for Christian life and baptism. Believing in Jesus, we are “accepted in The Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6 KJV). Our baptism in water and the Spirit confirms and empowers our identity as God’s Beloved – made real in God’s Family of Love, the local church. THEN questions arise:  how do we daily live the meaning of our baptism? What is the basis of our identity, of being loved? How do we die to the old and rise to the new? I.e. how do we live the life of the Beloved? We must go back to Jesus and apply what we learn to ourselves.

The Life of THE Beloved – TESTED

After his baptism – his affirmation of identity and destiny as God’s Be-Loved – “the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert” to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11). A careful study shows that when Satan tempts us, it is also a test from God. The three temptations that Jesus experienced are common to all human beings, testing our basis of identity and destiny by challenging God’s love for us. Jesus’ first followers not only took his baptism as the model of Christian baptism, but also took his desert temptations as the model for Christians to overcome evil, to grow mature through spiritual warfare, dying to our old life and identity, and rising to the new.

The First (Economic) Temptation: “After fasting forty days he was hungry. The tempter said, ‘IF you are the Son of God (Be-Loved), tell these stones to become bread’” Prove or use your newly confirmed identity and newly acquired power to be relevant by meeting human needs – your own and others. Then you will feel good about yourself, proving yourself to others! The deeper challenge is to God’s character of love: Will God feed you? Act independently of him and meet your needs! Jesus refused by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3: “God humbled us (Israel) in the desert, causing us to hunger, then fed us with manna to teach us that we do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from God’s mouth.” And his words that give me life are: “You are my Son, my Beloved, I’m pleased with you.” I.e. I will trust God for my (and other’s) needs, refusing to prove or to find my identity by meeting economic-material needs apart from God, in my own power. In fact, I am so secure in my Father and his love for me that I will give myself as his manna, his bread of life for the world (John 6:35). Continue reading The Life of The Beloved

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YOU as God’s Beloved

Recap: Jesus as THE Beloved 

The mamzer from Nazareth ‘discovered’ and grew into his identity and destiny as God’s Be-Loved. Then it was supernaturally confirmed at his baptism: “You are my Agapetos.” He was who he was and did what he did because he was so free to love, knowing Abba’s love. His life and baptism is the model for Christian life and baptism: When we believe in Jesus we are “accepted in The Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). Then OUR baptism confirms and empowers US to be God’s Beloved daughters and sons.

Christian Baptism, Gal 3:22-29 

“You are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Messiah Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Therefore, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”

Jesus is Abraham’s seed fulfilling the sacrifice of love in Genesis 22:1-14. In the Septuagint (Greek translation of Old Testament) the Hebrew yachid, “one and only son” is translated Agapetos (verse 2). In Jesus WE are God’s seed, “born again” by his Spirit as his “one and only” sons and daughters. That gives each of us a whole new identity and destiny as God’s dearly “Beloved Child” (see Ephesians 1:6 cf. 5:1). The Early Church used the intimate Abba (“Daddy”) in their address to God, which they learnt from Jesus: “As God’s children, he sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba’ (Galatians 4:6, see also Romans 8:15-17). Continue reading YOU as God’s Beloved

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Jesus as THE Beloved

Intro to Jesus as THE Beloved 

In the Christian ‘liturgical’ calendar the Feast of Epiphany follows Christmas. It’s held on 6 January to celebrate Jesus being revealed (manifest = epiphany) to the world. In the Western Church Epiphany focuses on the visit of the three Magi to baby Jesus. The Eastern Church focuses on Jesus’ water baptism, followed by his desert temptations. Both East and West Church then focus on Jesus’ ministry of the Kingdom from Epiphany to the beginning of Lent (starts 5 March), which prepares us for Jesus’ passion during Pesach (18-20 April). Here I teach on Jesus’ baptism in God’s Spirit of Love – his being revealed to the world as God’s Beloved Messiah.

The Historical Jesus as THE Beloved

 Jesus was “illegitimately” conceived before his parent’s wedding. He probably was known as a “mamzer” (illegitimate), with suspicious paternity and social rejection. Imagine the effect? He had father issues! As Jesus grew up he listened to his parent’s amazing stories of supernatural visitations at his conception and birth. He learnt to receive and trust God as his Father (Abba) in a very real sense. His father apprenticed him in his business, through which Jesus learned to “be about my Father’s business” (at age 12, Luke 2:49). Jesus consciously experienced Abba’s love in each moment and in each event of every day. At age 30 he went to John and was baptized. Matthew 3:13-17 says: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with him I am well pleased.” Continue reading Jesus as THE Beloved

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Being the Beloved: The Framework

Last week I introduced our year theme for Following Jesus: Being the Beloved – A Year of Spiritual Formation. We launched this theme with a week of fasting and prayer. Please feed back to our office or to me if you feel God is saying something to us – we want to hear and obey the Lord! Today I present the Big Picture, or the Overall Framework, of Being and Becoming God’s Beloved.

The Centrality and Heart of Love 

“GOD is love, whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him/her” (1John 4:16). We dare not reverse it, “Love is God.” Then we make love (whatever we mean by it) god, as many do today in a popular postmodern “spirituality of love”. We love only because God first loved us (1John 4:19), enabling us to love as he loves. How so? God created us in his image in love for love. To love is godly. But our sin, our fallen nature, rejects the ultimate source of love, God. BUT God overcame sin in love. He came to save us in his Son Jesus, his enfleshed love, his sacrificial gift of Self. In Christ we receive and live in the Father’s love – which he knew so profoundly (John 17:23-26). Father confirmed Jesus’ identity as “Beloved” at his baptism, in the Spirit of Love: “You are my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). This is the center that centers us: God’s love, giving us our identity in Christ as “Beloved.” Paul says it so well: “Be imitators of God, as his beloved (born again) children: live a life of love, just as Jesus loved us” (Ephesians 5:1-2). Continue reading Being the Beloved: The Framework

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Being the Beloved – A Year of Spiritual Formation

Last year was about replanting and restoring health to our church, as “Following Jesus”. This year is about laying a firm foundation for a) spiritual growth, b) healthy community, and c) service to our world. This letter is not only my preaching notes, but sets the tone for the year as we begin laying the foundation, being guided by our chosen theme…

“Being the Beloved – A Year of Spiritual Formation”

It might sound weird! Being the what… ?? The word/idea of “Beloved” is significant and powerful in the Bible. It’s all about “be-loved” or “being loved”, which is difficult for most people. We have to learn how to be loved, how to receive love, and thus to love. They say, “Love makes the world go round!” Pretty close! God IS love… so, love is the center of the universe, making all things work – that is IF we receive his love and learn to love as he loves – then that’s heaven on earth! But if we don’t, we make hell on earth!

Being the (God’s) Beloved is about discovering our true selves. It’s about our identity as human becomings. The deepest source and definition of our identity is God’s love for us – not the myriads of other means of identity imposed on us, or that we choose. And it’s not the “feel-good-flowery-luuvvv” from Hollywood! It’s God’s love from eternity, enfleshed in its costly demonstration in Jesus of Nazareth. He lived and died for YOU, for ME, for our sin, our rejection of God’s love, so that we may turn and receive God’s love. In fact, Jesus was who he was, and did what he did, because he came to know how deeply God loved him as his Father – confirmed at his baptism in water when Father spoke from the heavens, “You are my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased”

That voice, that Spirit of Love, opened the heavens for Father’s love to flood and fill each one of us, so that we may learn to live in his love as Jesus did. All of life flows from that. It’s the source of healing and spiritual growth, community formation and social transformation – our focus for this year as we follow Jesus together. Why not take this journey very seriously and commit to Being (becoming) the Beloved? In effect, we will be unpacking our calling as a church, our Mission Statement: Following Jesus and making followers of him, learning to live a life of love just as Jesus loved us.

To begin this journey we are calling our church to a full week of FASTING and prayer, from 20-26 January. Here are some guidelines to help us. Continue reading Being the Beloved – A Year of Spiritual Formation

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Prayer & Planning for the New Year – Part Two

Recap from last week:  Why prepare for 2014?

Because God is the God of second chances and new beginnings: “Don’t hold onto the former things… I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, don’t you perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19). Thus we must PRAY to “attune” to God, to work with him in dependence on his power in what he’s doing in our lives. But we must also PLAN – it’s your responsibility, or else others/life will set your agenda and make you overly busy! Live life, live 2014, intentionally from conviction. To do that we need a deeper planning framework

A Seven Step LIFE Planning Framework Continue reading Prayer & Planning for the New Year – Part Two

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How to Prepare for the New Year – Part One

Why prepare and plan for 2014?

An instinctive reason is that we all need new starts. From time to time we need to bury the past and start again to go further. God is the God of creation, of seasons and rhythms, of night and day. Jeremiah says, “Your mercies (compassions) are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22). So my regular prayer – often in the mornings when I come before God – is “O God of second chances and new beginnings, here I am again!” And God promises us, “Do not hold onto the former things… I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19). Look for the new things he’s doing.

We need to prepare for 2014 because we need vision and direction: “where there is no vision (purpose from God), the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). Viktor Frankel (in Man’s Search of Meaning, his observations from the Holocaust) said to live for a purpose beyond yourself is to have real reason to live. In terms of vision, if you aim at nothing you will surely hit it! If you aim at some things you will grow, you will be directed, you will be stretched and achieve some things. It’s important for self-image and living well with yourself. And “new year’s resolutions”, “turning a new leaf”, etc, is mostly a self-defeating exercise. Most people revert back to their old habits within a few weeks. We need an approach that is long-lasting and more long-term, that is deeper in terms of vision and convictions and sustainability. Continue reading How to Prepare for the New Year – Part One

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Why Celebrate Christmas?

Why celebrate Christmas? Are you not sick and tired of the crass commercialisation of this festival? All the marketing of goods that say “buy me!” All the stressful shopping, all the food and drink, the glitzy lights, the expenditure and debt. What do we mean when we say “Happy Christmas”? Is it over indulgence and unhappy hangover?

What does this have to do with “Christ’s mass” – the Christian celebration (“mass”) of the historic birth of the “Christ” (Messiah-King)? Jesus was born as God’s promised King to save the world. Jesus (Hebrew Yeshuah) means “The Lord saves” from sin and consequential judgment. All who trust him by coming under his Kingship are saved.

How can we recover and celebrate THAT historic event, THAT message? Was Jesus really born on 25 December? When and how did contemporary Christmas originate?

Jesus’ first followers spread the good news of his birth and life, death and resurrection, by presenting their message in the cultural forms they came into contact with. E.g. they re-interpreted pagan festivals by infusing the symbols with Christian meaning to convey the good news of Jesus. There is no historic/biblical record of the date of Jesus’ birth. No one knows. The earliest record of Christmas is in the Philocalian Calendar of 354, citing its celebration on 25 December 336 in Rome. Scholars say it was the Christianization of the Roman festival of The Birthday of the Unconquered Sun: at the winter solstice (25 December) the sun began to show an increase in light. Motivated by evangelism (and political power!) the Church in Rome re-interpreted it as The Feast of the Nativity of the Sun of Righteousness: the birthday of God’s Light that drives back the darkness of sin and evil. This particular “Christ’s mass”, with the four weeks of advent added later, gained acceptance in the Christian west (Eastern Orthodox celebrate on 6 January).

And the customs/trappings of Christmas? The merry making and exchange of gifts came from the Roman Saturnalia Festival (17-24 December). Christians used it to celebrate Christ’s birth as God’s ultimate gift of himself to the world. The greenery and lights came from the Kelands of January and its solar associations (1 January, the Roman new year). Christians used these symbols to say Christ’s birth brings light and new life. Santa Claus and his reindeers derive from Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra (4th century). Little is known of him except that he brought gifts on his sled to children on his feast day, 6 December. He became the patron saint of Russia, of children and of sailors. So giving gifts to children and feeding people in need became associated with Christmas. Continue reading Why Celebrate Christmas?

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Halloween – The Truth Behind

From Global Prayer (I should have posted this earlier!!)

Halloween is celebrated on 31 October every year in many nations, even by believers who are completely unaware of the origins or of the spiritual implications. This is the night when most paganists honor the spirits of the dead, offer human sacrifices and make pacts and covenants with the demonic forces.

It originated among the ancient Celts of Europe and was called the festival of “Samhain” or “All Hallowtide” (the feast of the dead). It started on the evening of 31 October, signaling the end of harvest and the beginning of winter and also the beginning of the New Year for the Celts. Continue reading Halloween – The Truth Behind

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Ignatian and Eastern Orthodox Spirituality

A while ago I asked for prayer regarding my wife and I starting the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises under the weekly guidance of the Jesuits in Johannesburg (“Ignatian Retreat in Daily Life”, an hour a day of prayer-meditation over a ten month period). It drew quite a bit of feedback. A few years ago a friend of mine in Norway gave me an eastern orthodox prayer rope (he makes them). He recently asked if I could share a picture of it, as he wanted to put it on his Facebook page. This too has drawn comments. I’ve been asked, “why are you doing this Catholic and Orthodox spirituality stuff?” Here’s a brief perspective. Continue reading Ignatian and Eastern Orthodox Spirituality