<p> 1</p><p>Introduction to the Bible Readings:</p><p>EXPLAIN PURPOSE – Teaching & Preaching</p><p>Hostel: - ‘Thank you for not treating us like children’ (dumbing down) !</p><p>Matthew 13:24 – 30</p><p>Lectionary – a series of readings containing parables</p><p>Third of Five ‘Books’ in Matthew Sermon on the Mount Missionary Discourse Parables Community Discourse Judgment Discourse</p><p>Shortened reading (parable & explanation – leaving out explanation)</p><p>Romans 8:12 – 25</p><p>Romans - The Most influential letter every written !  Paul’s most considered Epistle !  Meat rather than milk (solid food)</p><p>Chapters 7 & 8 – part of The Gospel according to Paul</p><p>Romans 7:1 – 8:11 ‘The Life the Law could not give’</p><p>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!</p><p>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…</p><p>The Human Condition</p><p>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</p><p>Human beings at our most basic level live by animal instincts & behaviours 2</p><p> cf nightly news… (and TV dramas) !!! - depraved human living</p><p>What distinguishes humans from the animal world ? Often, little !!!</p><p>Humans as a higher intelligence ? </p><p>Biblical affirmations of humans as made in the image of God</p><p>And created to be in relationship with God</p><p>The dilemma of human sinfulness - alienation</p><p>Separation from God & God’s purposes</p><p>The Gift of the Law</p><p>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.</p><p>Essentially Paul is talking about the Torah – Law (not primarily individuals)</p><p>A deep sense of failure, inadequacy, frustration, guilt !</p><p>RELIGIOUS LAW does not solve the problem – it simply manages it !</p><p>Speeding fine in Heather’s car - careful drive to UC Archives !</p><p>BUT grateful of the safety of rules – even if limited !!!</p><p>The Gracious Gift of God – Justification ….</p><p>THEN – the Gift of the Spirit who enables us to become what God desires of us ‘The Life the Law could not give’</p><p>Proclamation</p><p>PROLEPTIC ESCHATOLOGY – Christian Living Oriented By Hope</p><p>Romans 8:12 – 25 considered: Personally Communally Universally</p><p>Renewal, Restoration, Transformation - Re-Creation </p><p>Paul is here holding out the Christian Hope of Re-Creation of all things !!! 3</p><p>Personally (- the most commonly considered)</p><p>Our personal sense of helplessness, guilt</p><p>Met by God’s forgiving grace</p><p>And the Spirit’s work of renewal – an ongoing work…</p><p>John and Charles Wesley on Christian Perfection:</p><p>TiS 217 – Love divine, all loves excelling</p><p>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.</p><p>Communally</p><p>BASIS OF UNION Paragraph 3 includes (note the PLURAL – ‘WE’):</p><p>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…</p><p>NOTE – Holy Communion liturgy</p><p>Prayerful Remembrance…</p><p>YET … oriented toward God’s future</p><p>Food for the Journey… </p><p>Universally </p><p>Our passage is universally oriented toward the whole of creation !!!</p><p>(So a link with ecology - the care of our planet !)</p><p>Putting a price on carbon is like making ‘laws’ that manage</p><p>Quite apart from the party politics of the present debate 4</p><p>What is needed is a deep love, respect & care for planet earth</p><p>Deep commitment to being God’s co-workers in creation</p><p>Visit to London’s Saint Marylebone Church, 1986</p><p>QUOTE Christopher Hamel Cook re Archbishop Usher </p><p>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’)</p><p>NB - Creation is not something that took place back then ! It is something God is doing continuously !!!!</p><p>Close - Hope</p><p>Active anticipation (eg football, etc) of the Promises of God…</p>