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Introduction to the Bible Readings:
EXPLAIN PURPOSE – Teaching & Preaching
Hostel: - ‘Thank you for not treating us like children’ (dumbing down) !
Matthew 13:24 – 30
Lectionary – a series of readings containing parables
Third of Five ‘Books’ in Matthew Sermon on the Mount Missionary Discourse Parables Community Discourse Judgment Discourse
Shortened reading (parable & explanation – leaving out explanation)
Romans 8:12 – 25
Romans - The Most influential letter every written ! Paul’s most considered Epistle ! Meat rather than milk (solid food)
Chapters 7 & 8 – part of The Gospel according to Paul
Romans 7:1 – 8:11 ‘The Life the Law could not give’
7: {24} Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? {25} Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
8: {1} There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. {2} For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death…
The Human Condition
Nature programs – similarity with animal behaviours & instincts: Zoo, Attenborough, Mountain Gorillas (primates), etc Survival Food Territorial behaviours Sexual drives & pro-creation of species Protection of offspring
Human beings at our most basic level live by animal instincts & behaviours 2
cf nightly news… (and TV dramas) !!! - depraved human living
What distinguishes humans from the animal world ? Often, little !!!
Humans as a higher intelligence ?
Biblical affirmations of humans as made in the image of God
And created to be in relationship with God
The dilemma of human sinfulness - alienation
Separation from God & God’s purposes
The Gift of the Law
Paul is not dispensing with Torah nor debunking it. In fact, he is saying that it is vindicated – but is no longer the chief agent of God’s redemptive work.
Essentially Paul is talking about the Torah – Law (not primarily individuals)
A deep sense of failure, inadequacy, frustration, guilt !
RELIGIOUS LAW does not solve the problem – it simply manages it !
Speeding fine in Heather’s car - careful drive to UC Archives !
BUT grateful of the safety of rules – even if limited !!!
The Gracious Gift of God – Justification ….
THEN – the Gift of the Spirit who enables us to become what God desires of us ‘The Life the Law could not give’
Proclamation
PROLEPTIC ESCHATOLOGY – Christian Living Oriented By Hope
Romans 8:12 – 25 considered: Personally Communally Universally
Renewal, Restoration, Transformation - Re-Creation
Paul is here holding out the Christian Hope of Re-Creation of all things !!! 3
Personally (- the most commonly considered)
Our personal sense of helplessness, guilt
Met by God’s forgiving grace
And the Spirit’s work of renewal – an ongoing work…
John and Charles Wesley on Christian Perfection:
TiS 217 – Love divine, all loves excelling
Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be, Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee: Changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love and praise.
Communally
BASIS OF UNION Paragraph 3 includes (note the PLURAL – ‘WE’):
The Church as the fellowship of the Holy Spirit confesses Jesus as Lord over its own life; it also confesses that Jesus is Head over all things, the beginning of a new creation, of a new humanity. God in Christ has given to all people in the Church the Holy Spirit as a pledge and foretaste of that coming reconciliation and renewal which is the end in view for the whole creation. The Church's call is to serve that end…
NOTE – Holy Communion liturgy
Prayerful Remembrance…
YET … oriented toward God’s future
Food for the Journey…
Universally
Our passage is universally oriented toward the whole of creation !!!
(So a link with ecology - the care of our planet !)
Putting a price on carbon is like making ‘laws’ that manage
Quite apart from the party politics of the present debate 4
What is needed is a deep love, respect & care for planet earth
Deep commitment to being God’s co-workers in creation
Visit to London’s Saint Marylebone Church, 1986
QUOTE Christopher Hamel Cook re Archbishop Usher
Archbishop Ussher was not so much at fault for his arithmetic. It is not that he should have been thinking in terms of millions of years rather than a few thousand years. It is that his whole concept of creation was mistaken. Creation did not take place thousands or millions of years ago. It is taking place now ! (Christopher Hamel Cooke page 16, ‘Health is for God’)
NB - Creation is not something that took place back then ! It is something God is doing continuously !!!!
Close - Hope
Active anticipation (eg football, etc) of the Promises of God…