Category: Christian

Are we dead or alive?

If I tell someone that I follow Jesus they will expect him to be like me. If I am mean, greedy, selfish and easily angered people will pick up the notion that Jesus might be like that too.

Dry bones (Wikimedia)

Click thumbnails to enlarge

A few days ago I posted Butterfly dead or alive? I considered the difference between a dead butterfly and a living one. I thought about this in biological terms, suggesting I’d write again soon on the spiritual aspects for people following Jesus. This is that second article.

I’ll go through each of the main points from that earlier article to draw spiritual truth out for anyone who believes they are alive in Christ. So here goes…

Ability to move

If I’m spiritually dead, then like the dead butterfly I will be unable to move. But what is spiritually equivalent to the physical ability to move? There may be more than one way of looking at this. Read Acts 17:1-8. What does this mean, in real, practical terms? Try reading the entire chapter, Acts 17, and it will become clear. Paul was explaining to Greek philosophers in Athens that the ‘Lord of Heaven and Earth’ is not served by humans because there’s nothing we can provide that he doesn’t already have. Instead he’s the One who gives us life and breath and everything else we might need. You’re not spiritually alive until you start paying attention to Jesus and agree to let him work in you and through you. He will change you in so many ways, all of them good. But if you’ve never met him before and never spent time with him you will not become alive spiritually. When you allow him to touch you in this way you will become alive and aware and, like the living butterfly, you’ll be able to move with energy that is within you, the essential energy Jesus has placed in you. The dead butterfly would be dried up and provide food for the ants. The living butterfly can detect predators, move to safety, and gather energy from floral nectar.

When we’re spiritually dead we can do nothing to help ourselves, but when Jesus has made us alive we can move freely, and not just in this physical world for we can now move spiritually too. It’s difficult to describe this to someone who has not yet experienced it. But come on in! You will never regret it.

Appearance, colour, lustre

As you continue to learn from Jesus you will become a thing of beauty and fragrance, well maintained spiritually, colourful, clean and cared for. The body ages and deteriorates over the years, but the spiritual heart and life will never age or fade.

Ability to sense danger

There are forces of spiritual evil in the world, as well as the more obvious physical dangers we face from falling rocks, dangerous drivers, illnesses of many kinds, or the occasional thunderstorm, earthquake, or volcano. Jesus does not give us any guarantee of safety from the physical world, but he will alert us to and protect us from spiritual danger and damage – if we pay more attention to him and his Holy Spirit than we do to our own ideas and preferences. Often, sadly, we do not.

Reproduction

This is an important one.

Spiritual reproduction is not like biological reproduction, although both result in growing numbers. In the case of spiritual reproduction it’s mostly a matter of living lives that will make people ask themselves, What’s different about them? People tend to know a good thing when they see it. If I tell someone that I follow Jesus they will expect him to be like me. If I am mean, greedy, selfish and easily angered people will pick up the notion that Jesus might be like that too. So I’d better become kinder, more gentle and helpful and generous, more loving towards the people around me.

Metabolism

Living creatures of all kinds, including people, have an active metabolism, it begins in humans and other animals when a sperm fertilises an egg cell, generating the very beginning of a new organism. And that metabolism continues all day and all night, year in and year out, until that new organism dies through accident, illness, or old age. There is a spiritual analogue for metabolism too. There are complex actions and interactions going on in the life of the church. A church can be healthy or sick, it can be hungry or fat, it can be happy or truly miserable. There are spiritual gifts poured out over people who follow Jesus and gather as church. These gifts are crucial in forming and sustaining church growth in helpful and useful ways.

I’ll finish by mentioning two phrases that are sometimes used in church circles; they both come from Romans chapter 6 and verse 11.

  • The first one is ‘Dead to sin’
  • The second is ‘Alive in Christ’.

Would you rather be dead, or alive? That, my friends, is the choice before us.

See also:

You might also like:

Loving more fully and widely
John 15:9-17 – Love and fruit
Trump, Vance and fruit
An old castle made new

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Start with Jesus

A good start would be to state that church is defined by everything that Jesus is and does and teaches and by nothing beyond that.

Building work

church constitution – 3

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Click to enlarge

Perhaps it’s time to focus a little more closely on the people who make up church.

Where should we look for guidance?

We have to start somewhere if we want church to be the way it’s supposed to be. Here are some people and places we might consider approaching.

  • The Pope – If you’re a Catholic this might seem like a good place to begin, but you’re going to find it hard to get an audience with the Pope so you might have to set your sights a little lower. Working your way down the hierarchy bit by bit you’ll probably find the local parish priest will be the only representative you can actually talk to.
  • The Archbishop of Canterbury – An Anglican will find the same issue, you’ll probably end up talking to the local vicar.
  • Your friends at church – Friends have the great advantage of being approachable and helpful, but perhaps you feel they have very little authority in spiritual matters, no more than you have yourself, maybe. Or possibly you don’t have any church friends.
  • Christian authors, websites, and published advice – There’s going to be an awful lot of reading there and you still may not find what you need.
  • The Bible? – Now there’s a thought! It’s still a lot of reading, and there are many translations to choose from. However, you can safely ignore the entire Old Testament because everything it contains was written before church began 2000 years ago. You could read Luke’s Gospel and Acts, they might once have been a single book and cover the life of Jesus and the story of how church originated and developed during the first 80 years or so. Not a bad idea! You don’t even need to buy a Bible, try these links to Luke and Acts (completely free).
  • What (or who) might be better than the New Testament? Might I suggest Jesus and the Holy Spirit?

The story really begins with Jesus’ Father, he planned everything and sent Jesus as a go-between. Jesus is as human as you and I am and we can relate to him as a messenger sent by his Father to explain everything we need to know. What you should d0 is find out why Jesus matters and why he sowed the seeds of church. Talk to him (that’s called prayer) but don’t make it complicated. Just talk to him like you would to anyone else. It doesn’t have to be out loud, Jesus is really good at hearing you think. That may seem strange at first, but as you get to know him better it will become easier, less weird, and really a lot of fun; he’s very much a fun guy, understands where you’re coming from and is very much on your wavelength. Try to spend time with other people who are getting to know him – you’ll help one another along the way.

I’ll give you a couple of hints about what he may show you. You can also read my personal story of discovering Jesus if you like. But remember, everyone’s story is different, your story will be unique to you. As you set out on this journey, try to remember the points below:

  • You matter to him, he cares about you.
  • He has far better answers about church than any of those people we mentioned earlier, from Popes and Archbishops on down.
  • Church is not about a place, it’s about people – his people.
  • Church is not complicated, it’s very, very simple. You can begin to understand all this with your friends or, if necessary, on your own – here’s one way to get started…
  • Sooner or later (probably sooner) you will come across the idea of church services. I recommend a bit of caution here.

    It’s a simple guide to help you think about what church really is and what your part in it might be. I wrote it a while ago and it needs updating, something I’ll try to do soon. Here’s a short extract.

Let’s think about Jesus a bit more. What do already know about him? I’ll tell you one thing right away, he’s a builder and he’s an exceptionally good one. The photo show an active building site here in Cirencester where I live, if you enlarge the photo and look at it carefully you’ll see at least four builders at work. Despite the many pictures out there that claim to show Jesus, we don’t really know what he looked like though if you saw him in the street you might assume he was Arabic, not European, African or Asian. But if you really want to get to know someone, never begin with appearances, you’ll always learn a lot more from watching them at work. Jesus works for his Father’s business, he works in the building trade, turning all of us who follow him into a wonderful construction called the Church. He follows the plans his Father gave him and he builds not with bricks, stones, tiles and cement, but with people, ‘living stones’ as Peter puts it in one of his letters.

Start to follow him and he’ll use you in this great project, fitting you gently and carefully into a space where you’ll be a good fit with those around you. Together you will become a permanent part of what he is building.

You’ll understand right away that this isn’t how church is usually described and it’s not how Jesus is usually described either. But I want you to start thinking in terms of a living body, not a stone building put up by ordinary builders according to some architect’s design. Another way of envisaging church is as a body of people with a common purpose, relating well with one another, growing to look like Jesus in their thoughts and actions.

Jesus, although he is not here today in bodily form, interacts, communicates and relates to us through his Spirit.

The Constitution of church so far

1 – Church is not a particular place or building. It is, instead, a particular people

2 – A named place is not required, people can meet anywhere convenient to them.

3 – Jesus is the foundation of church, and he, personally builds it. We are not leaders in this work, we are servants working for and guided by Jesus, the Master Builder.

We’ll take those as the first three clauses of our Constitution for now. Perhaps they’ll be all we need – church is simple to define! Though people who don’t understand it sometimes make it seem complex, difficult, and counter-intuitive.

See also:

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You might also like:

Church as a network – INDEX
I will build my church
Church as we know it

Introducing Luke

Luke’s gospel and Acts probably began as a single book dedicated to Theophilus (a Greek name meaning ‘friend of god’ or ‘lover of god’) and written to provide a clear background and history of the church from the birth of Jesus up to the time of writing – less than 90 years later.

A Greek commentary on John

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Cruising the gospel – Luke

A fragment of Luke’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

Before we begin working through Luke, here’s a brief overview of the book and its author.

Luke is usually considered to be a Greek medical doctor who accompanied Paul on some of his missionary journeys around the Mediterranean. There’s no evidence that he was associated with or even met Jesus. Luke was a gentile or perhaps a Greek-speaking Jew. The many ‘we’ passages in Acts demonstrate Luke was with Paul on these occasions (see Acts 16:10–17; 20:5–15; 21:1–18; and 27:1–28:16). Further, Paul mentions Luke as his companion and co-worker in Colossians 4:14 (“Luke, the beloved physician”), Philemon 24, and 2 Timothy 4:11 (“Only Luke is with me”). Early church tradition consistently tells us that Luke wrote the gospel and Acts and adds that he was from Antioch in Syria, did not marry, and died in old age.

The author

Luke’s name is not mentioned in the gospel itself, and he’s an undistinguished person to be credited as author of a gospel; Matthew, Mark and John were three of Jesus’ disciples and perhaps thought to be more authoritative for that reason alone. However, Luke’s standard of Greek is very high, perhaps better and more learned than any other New Testament author.

Date of writing

This is not settled. Some authorities accept an early date, around 60 AD or a few years later. Supporting this are the facts that Acts concludes with Paul under house arrest in Rome, no mention of Nero’s persecution, and nothing about the Jewish War. But the commonest estimate is later, 80 to 85 AD, after the destruction of the Temple. This view is strengthened by the fact that Luke draws from Mark’s gospel, and that 21:20–24 seem to have been written with knowledge of the fall of Jerusalem.

Purpose

Luke’s gospel and Acts probably began as a single book dedicated to Theophilus (a Greek name meaning ‘friend of god’ or ‘lover of god’) and written to provide a clear background and history of the church from the birth of Jesus up to the time of writing – less than 90 years later. It may later have been converted into two volumes, one to accompany the other gospels and the second as an account of the early years of the church to be followed by the more detailed work of the collected letters written by Paul and others.

Theophilus may have been an early gentile follower of Jesus, the words ‘most excellent’ hint that he might have been an imperial official in the the Greek-speaking part of the Empire, but the way Luke writes suggests he might stand in for many Greeks of slightly lesser importance all of whom were ‘lovers of god’ and followers of Yahshua (Jesus).

See also:

The Wikipedia article on the book gives a lot of useful information all backed up by detailed references. If you want to understand the background in further detail it’s a good place to start. The article about the author is also useful and provides ample references.

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Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

You might also like:

Finding Jesus
Jesus at the centre – 1
Want to learn to follow Jesus?

Seeing and believing (2)

Yahshua, coming and standing there amongst them says ‘Shalom alechem’, ‘Peace be with you’. It’s the everyday greeting you’d hear on the streets in any Jewish town but here amongst these frightened men it has a much wider and deeper meaning.

Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)

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Cruising the gospel – John 20:19-31

Bible text –Read it yourself (opens in a new tab)

Brief note:

In the previous installment, I used the Aramaic names for people rather than the modern English equivalents. I’ve done the same again this time because it’s what we normally do with foreign names.

We would not call Jacques Chirac ‘Jack’ and we don’t use an English name in place of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, so why do we call Yohanan ‘John’ and Cephas ‘Peter’? Using the original names reminds us that these people were part of a different culture than our own. From now on I shall continue to take this approach.

An amazing day

A fragment of John’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

20:19-31 – In the first 18 verses of John 20 we saw how Maryam Magdalitha (Mary Magdalene) saw and believed; here in the rest of the same chapter we read about Te’oma (Thomas) and how he came to believe. Te’oma (Aramaic) and Didymus (Greek) both mean ‘twin’; John was writing in Greek so he gives both versions for clarity.

For Maryam, hearing Yahshua’s (Jesus’) voice was enough. but Te’oma needed a clearer hint. Notice the gentleness and understanding of Jesus here. There’s no tone of judgement or disappointment in Jesus’ words or in the way he gives Te’oma time to process things and finally what he needs to spark belief. It’s not at all surprising that someone might struggle to believe that after crucifixion and burial, someone might be alive again. In similar circumstances I might have struggled to believe, and so might you. Things were happening at breath-taking speed; this is the evening of the same day Maryam saw Yahshua outside the tomb at dawn.

Notice how the disciples are afraid of the Jews and therefore had the doors closed, perhaps even bolted. They are Jews themseleves, of course, but the Jews they’re afraid of are the leaders who had Jesus crucified and want to stamp out any hint of people still following him. They are surely right to be afraid of these powerful men.

Yet Yahshua, coming and standing there amongst them says ‘Shalom alechem’, ‘Peace be with you’. It’s the everyday greeting you’d hear on the streets in any Jewish town at that time, but here amongst these frightened men it has a much wider and deeper meaning. It’s not just a wish for physical peace and safety, it means peace and safety in the presence of Yahweh, the almighty Father who will protect them. And Yahshua shows them his hands and the wound in his side. And their fear and anxiety turn to rejoicing. We, too, can rejoice in his presence as he stands amongst us when we meet.

Jesus repeats the warm greeting, it’s also a promise, ‘Shalom alechem’ – ‘Peace be with you’. As the Father sent me, so I’m also sending you. They’re not just being given peace, but also a mission! It’s a message to us, today, as well. ‘Peace be with you and I’m sending you’. We can’t take only the peace, we must accept the being sent as well.

He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’. He breaths on us too and tells us to receive the Holy Spirit. Do we receive him? And do we realise we have the power to forgive sins, or not to forgive? I’m not sure that we are quite so convinced about that! Why did Jesus breathe on them? the word for Spirit is ‘Ruach’ and it it also means ‘breath’. When Jesus fills us with his spirit he is also filling us with his breath. We can see the link in English with words like ‘inspiration’ and ‘respiration’ – both spirit and breath. As followers of Jesus, just as life-giving air flows in and out as we breath, so the eternal life-giving Holy Spirit flows in and out, active and equally life-giving (or even more so!).

But just like you and me, poor old Te’oma wasn’t there when Jesus appeared and said these things. When he does turn up and hears what had happened, he tells the others, ‘I can’t possibly believe that nonsense. I won’t believe such a thing unless I can see his hands and put my finger on the holes where the nails were, and put my hand in the hole in his side. We can’t judge Te’oma for not believing what they had told him. I’m pretty sure we’d be just the same, though possibly less open and honest about it!

But when Jesus does come by again, more than a week later, there’s double proof. Jesus already knows what Te’oma had said, and tells him, ‘Come on then, take a proper look, here are the nail holes and here’s the wound in my side. Put your finger here and take a good look at my hands, and put your hand here in my side and believe! Te’oma said, probably rather tremblingly, ‘My Master and my God’. Notice that this is far more than just believing Jesus died and returned to life. Te’oma knows who Yahshua really is, God himself in a different and unexpected form. I think at this stage Cephas (Peter), Johanan (John) and Maryam Magdalitha understood this, also Yahshua’s mother would have known. But Te’oma fully understands quite early too.

We sometimes think of him as ‘doubting Thomas’, but as soon as he had the evidence there was no room left for doubt!

And Yahshua’s comment right at the end of this gospel is very telling too. You saw and believed, how blessed are those who don’t see yet nevertheless believe. We don’t really need physical evidence, believing happens when something changes in our hearts. This is available to everyone!

See also:

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Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

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John 20:1-18 – Cruising the Gospel

Climate emergency!

If you’ve made it to this point, then ‘Thank you for watching and thinking it over’, and thank you also for anything you can do, however small, to reduce your impact on our climate in the days and years ahead. Many small impacts can add up to something really significant.

Climate emergency!

ad hoc post – 7

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Europe from Space

The UK Government commissioned a video nine months ago to launch their response to what is now seen as a full blown climate emergency. It’s a good video; it includes presentations by people who are experts in their fields; it’s informative; and it’s very hard-hitting. It’s not widely available except through a series of local meetings throughout the UK where it’s being used very effectively to get people thinking and responding in useful ways at the local community level.

Click the video below to watch the Earth turn on its axis. Your home is here, can you spot it as it rolls by? This planet is home to every single one of us.

The UK Government video is available, however, on YouTube, published there by GB News.

Whether you live in the UK or not, I suggest you watch this video in full. (Note that the useful content ends at 2 hrs 41 mins into the video. There are plenty of natural breaks between speakers so you can watch it in sections if you find that more convenient.)

If you live in the UK, I also suggest you attend one of the many local meetings currently available, discuss what you have seen with others at the meeting, and try to get other local friends and family to join you. If you can’t find a meeting, you can always organise one yourself. as you watch, jot down anything that strikes you as particularly important or significant.

Finally, go through anything you wrote down and consider how it will affect you, your friends, your family, and your community. Is there anyone else you should share this with? Could you watch the video again with friends, family or neighbours and talk it over together? Also (and just as importantly) think about ways of reducing your individual impact on the climate.

If you’ve made it to this point, then ‘Thank you for watching and thinking it over’, and thank you also for anything you may do, however small, to reduce your impact on our climate in the days and years ahead. Many small impacts can add up to something really significant. That, after all, is how we got into this mess in the first place. It may also play a significant part in getting us out of the dangers we now face.

I have one last thing to say, and this is primarily for anyone involved in church in any shape or form; but please don’t let that stop you reading it. Jesus was prophetic and that’s a gift with two characteristics. On the one hand it forges links between people here on the planet we call Earth and the Father we think of as living in heaven. But also the prophetic gift involves bringing people together here on Earth, forging links between opposing sides, rebuilding trust and a willingness to work together, mending broken fences. Prophetic people are always demanding justice and aiming to reforge broken links. A sort of conciliation service. If we ever needed a conciliation service we need one now.

So if you are involved in any form of church, now is the time to recognise your prophetic gift (whether strong or weak) and use it to call as loudly as possible for everyone to work together to save this planet at last from the danger we have put it in. There is no time to lose. We need to bridge the gulf between those who would profit in the short term with no concern about next year or the decades and centuries ahead, and those who would do without in the here and now to secure a long term future for children, grandchildren and great-great- grandchildren.

Prophetic voices would give vision to the former, and hope to the latter. Indeed, there are many prophetic voices in the government film you just watched. It would be a serious mistake to think that church has a monopoly on gifts like this.

See also:

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Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

You might also like:

Climate change ideas