This series of talks are currently happening at church in the hope that we will bust some of the myths surrounding Christianity and set the record straight. We’d love you to come listen to any or all of them, examine the Bible with us, ask questions, and hopefully get meaningful, satisfying, and even life-changing answers from God and His word.

On our part, we promise to respect where you’re coming from, and not demand anything from you. And we promise free dinners after church! We sincerely hope you’ll check us, the Bible, Jesus, and Christianity out.

09/10 – Christianity is for mindless morons
16/10 – Christianity does more harm than good
23/10 – Christianity is for wimps
30/10 – Christians hate homosexuals
06/11 – Christians are all hypocrites
13/11 – All religions are the same
20/11 – You can’t take the Bible literally
27/11 – …so what does all this mean for me?

Sometimes I feel scared of sharing the gospel. People might think, “but you’re a pastor, it’s part of your job”. But sharing the gospel with my friends and family can be hard. I’m scared of being rejected. It is easy to think “how can my words change their lives?” I’ve always felt that I’m not a good speaker, or a clever debater.

It’s easy to think lowly of myself. I’ve always had a fairly low view of my abilities. It’s part of my family genes I think. Although I love reading Christian biographies, many of them make me feel so small, especially when I read of the amazing things that God did through people like the Apostle Paul. Paul is deservedly one of my heroes. It’s easy to put Paul up on a pedestal – thinking that he was super human. But I have found so much encouragement that Paul felt the same as me in many ways. He said in 1 Corinthians 2:3-4 – And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom.

How did Paul become such a great evangelist when he struggled with weakness and fear and much trembling? Paul answered this question in Romans 1:16 where he said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel.

What is the gospel? – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Why wasn’t Paul ashamed of the gospel? Because he knew that the gospel is the power of God to change human lives. The power was not in Paul. Paul’s eloquence of speech and his way of arguing did not change people’s lives. It is the gospel which is the power of God to turn hopelessness into hope. Paul knew we Christians are never called to convert people – only God can do that. But we are told to share the life-changing message of the cross. I may sometimes feel weak, fearful, trembling at the thought of evangelism. But Paul reminds me that I have no reason to be ashamed of the gospel. It changed my life. It can change others also.

A prayer for the timid gospel messenger: “Father, help me to trust in your empowering, and help me to declare your salvation to all, boldly and unashamadly, as I should. Please be strong amidst my weakness so that many may believe in your Son, the Lord Jesus, and have new hope and life. Amen”

Roof Top Chill Out! Sat Aug 6th
You haven’t been to a fundraiser like this one before! It’s kinda like a café, on the roof, in the Valley, in winter!?! The Rooftop Chillout is a fundraiser with a goal of raising $5000 to help us send Dene and Rachel Hughes to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in Japan. You can pop in at any time between 10 am to 10 pm and stay for as long as you want. A great atmosphere, with real coffee, live music, café style food and dessert, Japanese food (I promise it won’t be ‘live’). 

Hello everybody!

As advertised at 5:17 church, the highly recommended BLT+ is happening again this year. It’s on August 12 to 14th at PCYC Bornhoffen (the Gold Coast hinterland). We’re hoping as many 5:17ers can make it as possible. It will be an encouraging time away, together as a church, with people from around eight other churches. And we’ll be looking at our role in bringing the love of Christ to the world around us – the title is “To the Ends of the Earth”.

BLT+ is aimed for everyone – no matter where you are at as a Christian, or how old you are. It’s on the weekend so you don’t have to miss any days from work. And church will still be on on Sunday – so you won’t have to miss any 5:17 services (phew, I hear you say!). The speaker is Sam McGeown!

Chat with me (Steve), or Keiyeng for more details, or go here for additional information. Registration can be done here.

Prices are:

Early Bird Rego (Before July 18th, 2011)

Student: $75;

Worker: $85;

Part time (Sat only): $30 (no discount for part timers)

Normal Rego (After July 18th, 2011)

Student: $85

Worker: $95

Part time (Sat only): $30

P.S. Payment is by electronic payment only either with PayPal or Electronic Funds Transfer which is on the web form when you register. Keep in mind Paypal charges some additional hidden costs (+ around $2) so we recommend you to transfer your funds electronically to save on that $2.

The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to died for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me.

This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself, nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.

Source: Timothy Keller, The Reason for God,

Last Sunday and at (some) CGs this week, we took a good look at Jeremiah 31:31-34 where the LORD promises to make a New Covenant with His people. I got pretty excited at CG studying the passage in conjunction with Hebrews 10:11-25, and it’s one of the units from Bible College that impacted me the most too. (It’s an unusual privilege when you actually enjoy writing an exam essay because the content is so fantastic!) Why so excited? All to do with how superlatively better the New Covenant is compared to the Old.

…but as we pointed out at CG, it wasn’t that the Old Covenant was a bad system in itself. God doesn’t institute bad systems; He’s not a bully for introducing something that He knew would ultimately ‘fail’. But it was a system that He knew wouldn’t be able to work perfectly because it was a Covenant made between Him (a perfect God with perfect standards of holiness) and a broken, sinful, and thus unreliable people. Namely, from Exodus 19:5, Israel was supposed to obey God fully and keep (or obey) His covenant – the process of which was fully described in the Old Testament moral, political, and ceremonial laws. If (or rather when) the people didn’t obey, they were to apply the procedures of the sacrificial system – as an animal died and its blood was shed on their behalf, the people acknowledged that the due penalty of their sin against God was the separation of death, but that an animal was taking this punishment upon itself in their place. A lot of sin was committed, and so a lot of animals died*.

But there was a bunch of other stuff – as we learned from the (translated!) Latin summary phrases in Sunday’s sermon, a fallen humanity is not able to not sin. So there remained this separation, this relational distance between a sinful people and an awe-fully holy God as they struggled to obey, yet kept failing. A new system was needed – one that didn’t depend on sinful people to ensure its success, yet one that didn’t compromise this awe-full holiness of God’s. What? How??

Enter the New Covenant.

Imagine if there were someone who could perfectly keep the human side of the Covenant, and then ‘lend’ this perfect obedience to the rest of humanity? And imagine if there were a blood sacrifice with blood so ‘potent’ it was sufficient to cover all sin for all time – so the animal sacrifices could stop? And imagine if there were a life of infinite worth that if sacrificed, would be sufficient to take the separation of death-punishment for all other lives?

Enter Jesus.

- the perfect Adam, and the perfect Lamb – the human who because of the infinite worth of his divine life, could represent all humans: as he both perfectly obeyed the perfect standards of God, AND as he offered himself as the perfect and final ‘animal’ sacrifice to completely take the punishment due all humans for all their sin.

So if he kept Covenant perfectly, and if God allowed this Covenant-keeping perfection to belong to sinful me, then … wow! Imagine all the benefits that would be mine! (Actually you don’t have to imagine – Hebrews 10:11-25 is a good start, and then you could read the rest of the New Testament to round it off!)

So this is why I get excited thinking about the New Covenant, and how it’s better – not at all because I’m better or more sophisticated than an Old Testament Israelite, but because a Better Person has kept it perfectly for me. And God by His stupendous grace, somehow sees fit to allow Jesus’ perfect Covenant-keeping righteousness to be MINE – so that God sees me as if I’d never sinned, and is changing and empowering me so that I sin less with time, and will one day perfect me so I can’t sin at all. Plus I get to have GOD as my friend, not a distant Creator or angry Lord, but as loving heavenly Father, and Jesus as my brother.

I’ve gone on for several paragraphs now, but I hope you’ve seen why this stuff makes me excited. It’s the Gospel – the heart of the Good News we believe as Christians – that God should be so good to me by including me in this New Covenant is too wonderful for words. I hope it makes you rejoice too, and if you haven’t yet experienced it for yourself, I hope it makes you want to. Find out how here.

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*Gory? yup. But a primitive system of blood and death by an anthropologically immature people that later became outmoded as they developed a more sophisticated religion? (this is how some schools of thought would describe it) no. Yes, this might seem to be a plausible explanation, but a careful reading of the whole Bible helps clarify why the system changed – and it isn’t due to a group of people becoming more sophisticated. Actually, keep reading above for the Bible’s explanation.

a short musing on sin.

It’s easy for perfectionist-types to conceive of their sin as being frustrating lapses in their attempts to attain a perfect standard (which they delude themselves about actually being able to keep). Sin for perfectionists is against an impersonal standard, and against their better ability to achieve it. Repeated sin perpetuates the perfectionist’s prideful frustration.

It’s easy for self-pitying types to conceive of their sin as being yet another pitiful lapse, in keeping with all their other pitiful lapses to be a better person. Sin confirms them in their mindset that ‘the only thing keeping you from achieving your dreams is your negative attitude’. Sin for self-pitying types is also against an impersonal standard, and against their chronic inability to achieve it. Repeated sin perpetuates the self-pitier’s self-ward misery.

In both cases, there’s a terrible delusion at work – not that a perfect standard of morality doesn’t exist, but that it’s (supposed to be) achievable by us apart from Jesus achieving it for us.

But there’s also the key delusion that sin is merely against a standard rather than against a person. In actual fact, our sin is grievous not because it reflects our lack of self-betterment, but because it’s an expression of our rebellion against God. There’s a Person on the other end of our sin who is personally grieved by it.

If the perfectionist or the self-pitier would see their sin as being against a person, they would have the right biblical and relational motivation and empowerment to fight it – because not only does that Person care deeply about hating and fighting sin, He alone is able (and willing) to empower this fight to enable consistent victory. No longer then will the impersonal standard mock the hapless sinner, because the aggrieved Person doesn’t stop at being grieved, but offers the repentant sinner grace – grace to see and hate their sin rightly, and grace to overcome it.

It might be scarier to acknowledge that we sin against a Person rather than a standard, but it’s infinitely better for us. Because what an incredible God we serve (and sin against! :S) – who not only knows and grieves our weakness but is faithful and just (and unbelievably gracious) to forgive us our sin, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and to renew our very hearts and desires to love and obey Him.

Sometimes we say things that are unpopular, or embarrassing, or not politically correct. Telling someone their fly is undone or they’ve got parsley in their teeth is embarrassing – for them and you. But the idea is that you both suffer some mild embarrassment now for the sake of minimising the other person’s possibly severe embarrassment later.

Sometimes saying something unpopular or politically incorrect is like this. Like when Christians repeat things Jesus said that were most definitely unpopular and un-PC. Like when Christians talk about sin or hell or judgement like they’re real, and refuse to pretend that God is so ‘loving’ He arbitrarily accepts all people in heaven.

Several weeks ago, we displayed a series of 4 signs on our church signboard that were probably both unpopular and un-PC to most onlookers.

School violence, racism, GFC

- do society’s problems run

deeper than our solutions?

—

Does a solution exist

that runs as deeply

as the problem?

—

GK Chesterton said -

‘the problem is I’.

Will anyone else agree?!

—

Biblical Christianity offers

both diagnosis and solution -

Sinners need a Saviour.

Hardly politically correct,

but worth investigating?

But we were trying to be carefully confronting, because what good is being popular, palatable, and PC, if it also means being deceptive? If Jesus presented his Father in words that were comfortable to his hearers but not actually true, what good would that do them when they came to meet God in judgement? So as Jesus showed integrity to his mission by being ruthlessly true to his message, we believe as Christians we have to show integrity to Jesus by not mincing our words either.*

So back to our church signs. In one sense we are sorry if they caused offence. We don’t want to turn people off or away from Jesus and his message, because he said that it’s only through trusting in him that we can have forgiveness and Life. But we acknowledge these can be difficult ideas to swallow. Heck, many of us in this church found this to be the case and wrestled hard against them before being won over by them.

Ultimately that’s our hope (and prayer) for you if you’ve come across our signs or this blog post and find yourself offended by biblical Christianity. Could we humbly, respectfully, sincerely ask you to not just dismiss Jesus’ claims, but to wrestle with them?

Because we truly don’t like being unpopular in presenting them to you; we don’t enjoy the feeling of causing offence! But we’re bound by the spirit of integrity to risk our mutual embarrassment now, for the sake of minimising some awful repercussions later.

Because Jesus said -

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

—

*Contrary to popular opinion, this doesn’t equate with being judgemental. Judgementalism has to do with standing above another person by showing personal disrespect or disdain to them or their beliefs. However, respectfully disagreeing with another is simply that (unfortunately seen as intolerant and unpopular when Christians do it, but acceptable practice otherwise!).

From C.J. Mahaney’s “Living the Cross Centred Life” (pp.69-70)

“If you were searching for a single sentence in Scripture to best capture the story line and theme of the entire Bible, what would you choose? Where would you look?

Many of us would no doubt go right to the beloved and familiar words of John 3:16, with good reason. But let me suggest we search no further than… the opening pages of Paul’s first letter to Timothy. Fix your thoughts on this sentence:

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time (1 Timothy 2:5-6).

J.I. Packer says it isn’t too much to describe these verses as “the key, not merely to the New Testament, but to the whole Bible, for they crystalize into a phrase the sum and substance of its message.”

In this one sentence, Paul succinctly captures the main theme and essence of the entirety of holy Scripture – as well as answering the desperate cry we heard from Job for someone to arbitrate between God and man. Yes, Paul declares, there is a mediator! There’s someone to arbitrate between us, to lay His hand on us both and remove the rod of God’s wrath so His terror frightens us no more. There’s a unique intermediary between God and man: the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all. The Bible’s complete message hinges on this one point.”

C.J. then gives two more quotes from some of my spiritual heroes:

R.C. Sproul: ”The glory of the gospel is this: The One from whom we need to be saved is the One who has saved us.”

John Stott: ”Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice.”

And a suitable conclusion:

“If there’s anything in life we should be passionate about, it’s the gospel. And I don’t mean passionate only about sharing it with others; I mean passionate in thinking about the gospel, reflecting upon it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to colour the way we look at the world and all of life.” (p.15)

Amen!

There’s someone we know who keeps having to deal with rather nasty people. I know this is a bold description, but from their behaviour they don’t seem to be terribly kind, thoughtful, generous, or other-centred. The nastiness involves things like bosses clearly exploiting their employees, rude clients, and ‘friends’ scavenging off and even stealing from mates. It makes me so frustrated to hear about it. Why? Obviously because it’s downright awful and we hate seeing our friend go through it, but also because our friend isn’t a Christian. He doesn’t get to experience the blessing of relating with people (other than family members) who consistently seek to do him good and not evil.

So in my upset-ness for him last night as I was pondering the situation again, I wished he could meet some great Christian men. I so much want for him to meet some genuine Christian guys – faithful, solid, loyal, true in word and character, generous, loving, sacrificial.

And then it hit me (silly me) – all this describes Jesus.

It’s so much easier for us mere mortals to look for exemplary behaviour in other mere mortals. It might be our lack of familiarity with the four gospels, it might be that we emphasise Jesus’ transcendence to the detriment of his imminence, or his divinity to the detriment of his humanity. It might be that I’m female so I’m not practised at looking to Jesus for an example of what (hu)manhood should look like. Whatever it is, I’m slow to see Jesus as the perfect man, the perfect human. It’s like (I suppose – haven’t seen it!) watching Avatar without the 3D glasses – we know Jesus was incarnated so he could die and rise for our sins, but we don’t fully appreciate or savour the added dimension of his earthy human-ness – in all its raw, full perfection.

So I still hope and pray that our friend meets some great Christian guys, but now I realise I’ve got to attach that description more solidly to the man Jesus. I hope those Christian guys are ‘great’ because they know and copy Jesus really well, and I hope that makes our friend want to get to know Jesus himself – so he can see what an incredible man Jesus was – and come to know that life can be lived better – not least because of his exemplary humanity.