March 30, 2008

Dreams

"A dream is the heart of God in the soul of a man."
- Paul DeJong

Impossible

Pastor Paul DeJong preached a hot message at Kings this morning. He included a section of this quote, which an Adidas advertising campaign made famous a few years ago.

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."

March 22, 2008

The Case for the Resurrection

"And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless."
- 1 Corinthians 15:14

In my previous post 'The Swooning Saviour" I outlined the fact that Jesus did indeed die when crucified. Therefore, the next logical question which must be considered is: "Did Jesus really return to life?"

The resurrection of Jesus is the central claim of Christianity. Theologian Gunther Bornkamm writes that 'without the message of Jesus' resurrection there would be no church, no New Testament, and no Christian faith even to this day.' (Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, p1,015)

What evidence is there to support the claims of Jesus' resurrection?

1. The Eyewitness Testimony
Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was written between AD55-57. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul is making a case for the risen Christ. He writes that the resurrected Jesus was seen by Peter (or Cephas), then by the twelve (v5), by over five hundred others (v6) and by James (v7).

Paul is not shy in mentioning the names of specific witnesses. This is significant because he is writing at a time when these witnesses were still alive. If people doubted Paul's claims of the risen Christ, they could go and ask the named witnesses. It's as if Paul is saying, "If you don't believe me, here's a list of people who will back me up; go ask for yourselves!"

This would be a brave move had he invented the resurrection story.

Lee Strobel writes:

"The amount of testimony and corroboration of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances is staggering. To put it into perspective, if you were to call each one of the witnesses to a court of law to be cross-examined for just fifteen minutes each, and you went around the clock without a break, it would take you from breakfast on Monday until dinner on Friday to hear them all. After listening to 129 straight hours of eyewitness testimony, who could possibly walk away unconvinced?"

2. The Transformed Disciples
After Jesus' death the disciples were despondent, disappointed and disillusioned. They were afraid of the Jewish leaders and went into hiding. Their hopes that Jesus was the Messiah were now dashed and their leader was now dead.

Yet, not long after Jesus' death we find the disciples publicly preaching that Jesus had been resurrected. Furthermore, they declared this message with great boldness in front of the very Jewish leaders from whom they had been hiding.

Something happened that changed the disciples outlook from discouragement to faith.

Strobel writes:

"The earliest Christians didn't just endorse Jesus' teachings; they were convinced they had seen him alive after his crucifixion. That's what changed their lives and started the church. Certainly, since this was their centermost conviction, they would have made absolutely sure that it was true."

3. The Empty Tomb & the Inability of Jewish Leaders to Refute the Claims
This point is simple. The Jewish leaders could have nipped Christianity in the bud by going to the tomb of Jesus and pointing to His lifeless corpse.

The Jewish leaders did many things to attempt to stop the disciples from preaching about the resurrected Christ. They had the disciples whipped, beaten, jailed and thrown out of cities. Why?

Wouldn't it have been more effective for them to go to the tomb of Jesus, take the corpse and show it to the people of Jerusalem in a public procession? This simple act would have instantly nullified the disciples preaching.

Obviously this option was not available to them, as the tomb was empty.

4. The Commitment of the Early Church
Skeptics would argue that the tomb was empty because the disciples stole and hid Jesus' body. However, consider the fact that many of the apostles were martyred for their Christian faith.
  • Stephen was stoned.
  • Matthew was killed by the sword.
  • Luke was hanged.
  • It is believed that Mark died after being dragged behind horses through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt.
  • According to church tradition, Peter was crucified upside down because he did not consider himself worthy to die in the same was as Jesus.
  • James son of Zebedee was beheaded.
  • Thomas was speared.
  • Barnabas was stoned to death.
  • Jude was killed with arrows.
Now ask yourself the question, 'Would all these men hold fast to their claims if they knew them to be a hoax?' That is not only improbable, it is ridiculous to think that all these men would die for a message that they knew to be a lie.

In summary I believe that the resurrection of Jesus is both reasonable and rational, and thereby provides a confident foundation upon which the Christian faith is built.

March 18, 2008

Reading - #2

Continued from earlier post:

4. Reading Conquers the Confines of Time

If a man does not read he limits his mind to think only on the concepts and ideas of his generation. Therefore his boundaries of available thought are perhaps forty to seventy years. However if a man reads widely, he avails himself of the thoughts and concepts of men and women of multiplied generations. His boundaries of thought are therefore hundreds and thousands of years.

Descartes, a French philosopher of the 17th century, said "The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of the past centuries."

In addition to this, by choosing to expand the historical breadth of reading material, a person is kept from any flawed concepts that may be prevalent in their generation.

5. Reading is the Habit of Effective People

When studying the lives of highly effective people, reading appears to be the reoccurring habit that links them all.

The Apostle Paul was a reader. In 2 Timothy 4:13 Paul asks a favor of Timothy, “Please bring with you…the books…”. Under house arrest and in the latter stages of his life, Paul’s desire was for a good book!

William Tyndale, Protestant reformer, scholar and Bible translator of the 16th Century, made a similar request during his imprisonment in the few months before his martyrdom in 1536. In a letter to the governor-in-chief, he entreated him to "kindly permit me to have my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Grammar and Hebrew Dictionary, that I may spend time with that in study.”

John Wesley was so passionate about reading that he did most of it on horseback, regularly riding fifty to ninety miles per day. He habitually traveled with volumes of science, history or medicine propped on his saddle. His method proved effective, helping Wesley to get through thousands of volumes. Wesley is quoted as regularly advising younger ministers either to read or get out of the ministry!

Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, typically read six books per week.

Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life and Senior Pastor of Saddleback Church (one of America’s largest churches) is quoted as reading a book a day.

Hundreds more examples could be given of successful people who highly value the habit of reading. If it’s good enough for the Apostle Paul, Tyndale, Wesley, Spurgeon and Warren, it’s good enough for Bell!

6. Reading Increases the Income of Ideas

J. Oswald Sanders writes, "Ideally a book is a channel through which ideas can flow from one mind to another."

I cannot expect to call upon a plenitude of good ideas if I have not invested good ideas into my mind.

Ravi Zacharias states this point superbly: "An expenditure of words without the income of ideas leads to conceptual bankruptcy."

A Swooning Saviour? - Part 2

Once Jesus arrived at the cross He was laid down and His outstretched hands nailed to the horizontal beam, which was at this stage separate from the vertical beam. Without going into detail of the nailing of Jesus’ wrists, it is suffice to say that the pain was intolerable. So uniquely intense was the pain that a new word was invented to describe the agony: excruciating, literally meaning ‘out of the cross’.

However, what was it that actually caused the death of a crucifixion victim?

“Once a person is hanging in the vertical position…crucifixion is essentially an agonizingly slow death by asphyxiation.

“The reason is that the stresses on the muscles and diaphragm put the chest into the inhaled position; basically, in order to exhale, the individual must push up on his feet so the tension on the muscles would be eased for a moment. In doing so, the nail would tear through the foot, eventually locking up against the tarsal bones…eventually complete exhaustion would take over, and the person wouldn’t be able to push up and breathe anymore.”

As breathing slows, the crucifixion victim goes into respiratory acidosis. Carbon dioxide in the blood dissolves as carbonic acid. This increases the acidity of the blood, eventually leading to an irregular heartbeat. He would then die of cardiac arrest.

Before Jesus died, His heart rate would have been rapid due to the hypovolemic shock. This results in the collection of fluid in the membrane around the heart, known as a pericardial effusion. This accounts for the blood and water which flowed from Jesus’ side after He was pierced by the Roman soldier (see John 19:34).

At this point, there is absolutely no doubt that Jesus would have been dead.

But what if Jesus wasn’t dead, but merely unconscious as the ‘swoon theory’ suggests?

This is not probable. Firstly, the Roman soldiers were employed to kill and knew how to do their job. Secondly, they would not have found it difficult to determine if a person was dead; the soldiers themselves thrust the spear into Jesus’ side. Thirdly, should a prisoner happen to escape, the soldiers responsible would be put to death. There was a huge incentive to ensure that each victim was definitely dead when removed from the cross.


Suppose however that Jesus did actually survive the Crucifixion; is this plausible?

Strobel quotes Dr. Alexander Metherell:

“… a person in that kind of pathetic condition would never have inspired his disciples to go out and proclaim the he’s the Lord of life who had triumphed over the grave…

“After suffering that horrible abuse, with all the catastrophic blood loss and trauma, he would have looked so pitiful that the disciples would never have hailed him as a victorious conqueror of death; they would have felt sorry for him and tried to nurse him back to health.

“So it’s preposterous to think that if he had appeared to them in that awful state, his followers would have been prompted to start a worldwide movement based on the hope that someday they too would have a resurrection body like his. There’s just no way.”

A swooning Saviour? An unlikely theory. Instead, evidence and logic point to Jesus’ definite death, which raises the next question: How can we know that Jesus was resurrected?

'The Swooning Saviour" posts are a summary of Lee Strobel’s "The Case for Easter".

March 17, 2008

A Swooning Saviour? - Part 1

From 2004 to 2006 ‘The Davinci Code’ phenomenon swept the western world. In case you had forgotten, the Christian faith was apparently under siege. In his fictional novel, Dan Brown purports that Jesus of Nazareth did not die and was therefore never resurrected.

The resurrection of Jesus is at the very core of the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul himself wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:17: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” It is Jesus' resurrection that is the ultimate evidence of His divine identity and inspired teaching.

However, suppose that Jesus did not actually die on the cross. The resurrection story is instantly discarded as pure legend. If Jesus did not die, the accounts of his reappearance are hardly remarkable and the empty tomb is to be expected.

Over centuries, many theories have been popularised suggesting that Jesus did not in fact die. Some have suggested that Jesus merely fainted on the cross due to his exhaustion or as the result of a drug. He then later revived from the damp, cool air in the tomb. This and other similar theories have been called ‘the swoon theories’.

The questions that demand answers are these: What really happened at the Crucifixion? Did Jesus actually die? Is there any way that Jesus could have survived the ordeal?

Firstly, what really happened at the Crucifixion?

Before His crucifixion, Jesus was flogged with a whip of braided leather, with metal balls and pieces of bone woven into them. The metal balls caused deep bruising while the bones would tear the flesh.

In his book "The Case for Easter", Lee Strobel quotes:

“As the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh…The sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.”

“…many people would die from this kind of beating even before they could be crucified. At the least, the victim would experience tremendous pain and go into hypovolemic shock.”

“Hypo means ‘low’, vol refers to volume, and emic means ‘blood’, so hypovolemic shock means the person is suffering the effects of losing a large amount of blood… This does four things. First, the heart races to try to pump blood that isn’t there; second, the blood pressure drops, causing fainting or collapse; third, the kidneys stop producing urine to maintain what volume is left; and fourth, the person becomes very thirsty as the body craves fluids to replace the lost blood volume.”

Evidence of these symptoms can be seen in the gospel accounts of Jesus’ flogging.

Enthused?

"I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work."
- Harry S. Truman (33rd President of the USA)

"I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom."
- Anatole France (French Author, 1844-1924)

Thanks to my nephew Jonty for his outstanding example!



Little by Little

Last week I asked God for a congregation of 300 people in Kings Noosa; yesterday there was 129 people.

Why didn't we have 300?

Exodus 23:30 says, "Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land."

Why is it that God doesn't always give us the things we ask, when we ask? Why is it that things don't always eventuate according to our intended timeframe?

Perhaps God is trying to tell us that our personal increase is more important than our promised inheritance? To receive all of our dreams without the process of development would be detrimental to us. God loves us too much to answer some of our prayers immediately.

The application. While I firmly hold onto God's great promises for my future, I commit to a daily discipline of excellence in the little things. Little by little I increase. Increase develops me for my inheritance.

Artie Shepherd has a great message on the thought of 'Little by Little'. Artie is one of the key team members at Kings, leading the fast growing Empire Youth & Young Adults ministry. A long-time skeptic of bloggers, Artie has succumbed and created his own blog. Artie, perhaps the message could be a blog post in the near future? Check out his blog here.

March 16, 2008

Reading - Outdated or Underestimated?

Why Read?

In the highly visual age in which we live, the question is one that many may pose. Isn’t reading outdated, considering that we now have at our disposal numerous, more ‘time effective’ methods of learning? Has visual technology replaced our need for reading?

I would argue ‘no’.

Why?

In the highly automotive age in which we live, have cars replaced our need for physical exercise?

Just as physical exercise benefits us in a way that cars cannot, I believe that reading benefits us in a way that visual learning cannot. Am I against cars? No! Am I against podcasts, vodcasts, YouTube and the like? No! I simply believe that the advent of the new does not render the old irrelevant.

So, why do I believe in reading?

1. Reading Enhances the Gift of Intellect

I believe that wise stewardship of entrusted resources is our responsibility before God. We talk much of our responsibility to steward our finance and giftedness, yet little focus is given to the stewardship of our intellect, which is one of the greatest resources God has entrusted to us.

In his book Christian Behavior, C.S. Lewis writes:

“It is quite true that God will not love you any the less, or have less use for you if you happen to have been born with a very second-rate brain. He has room for people with very little sense, but He wants everyone to use what sense they have. God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers.”

2. Reading Stimulates Fresh Inspiration

This point is true particularly in the genre of biography. Sir William Robertson Nicoll (Scottish pastor and journalist, 1851-1923) writes, the “lives of great men still remind us that we may make our lives sublime.” Is it possible to read the biographies of truly great men and not be inspired?

American pastor, author and co-founder of the Fuller Theological Seminary Harold Ockenga said, “Read to refill the wells of inspiration.” So convinced was he of the merits of reading, he took a suitcase full of books on his honeymoon! (I can’t say that I will follow your lead Harold)

3. Reading Facilitates Fellowship with Great Minds

To perceive reading as simply the assimilation of text is a great error. Instead, consider reading as a doorway into the minds and thought processes of history’s most brilliant and effective people. This is an opportunity too good to miss!

J. Oswald Sanders writes, “It is possible to hold communion with the greatest and godliest of men of all ages through the medium of their writings.”

More points soon...

March 7, 2008

Popularity & Goodness

I read a great article yesterday titled 'Drink Culture Leaves a Bad Hangover' by Ruth Limkin.  Ruth is a pastor at one of Brisbane's largest churches and writes occasionally for the Courier Mail.  

Here's an excerpt of the article:

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd was right when he said recently that alcohol abuse was a growing problem and that the "epidemic of binge drinking" he had witnessed was "not good".

Interestingly, our Prime Minister's remarks make for a fascinating juxtaposition with those of someone in the alcohol service industry. The owner of the Normanby Hotel (in Queensland), defending his hotel's record on public safety, was recently quoted as saying: "If we're so bad, why are we so popular?"

It's not rocket science to realise that popularity is not necessarily an indication of whether something is good. All it shows is that it is popular. After all, smoking is popular. So is junk food. But neither of them is "good".

Furthermore, being good doesn't always guarantee popularity – if that was the case, carrots and celery would be in much higher demand. And why do we tend to lean towards popular – even when we know that, sadly, carrots are better for us than chocolate.

One thing our society is generally good at, supported by underlying philosophies such as individualism and materialism, is elevating short-term pleasure over long-term benefits. Hence, a smoker will tell you that they know cigarettes are bad for them but they still smoke.

It's why I choose a chocolate bar instead of an apple for a mid-afternoon snack, or sleep in instead of getting up and exercising. I know what is good, but the good is not always popular. And being popular does not make it good – no matter what the owner of the Normanby may hope.

Click here to read the full article and to visit Ruth's blog. 

Love Advice

With my wedding fast approaching (only 50 days to go!) one of my groomsmen Steven Davie, who now lives in Adelaide, has offered me two pieces of invaluable love advice via text message (and I quote verbatim):

1. "Don't forget to wax your butt before the honeymoon.  Chicks dig hairy chests but not hairy butts.  Remember it's the honeymoon, not hairy-moon."

2.  "Farting will ruin the mood, so tell her to keep farting to a minimum"

Thank you Steven.  

March 3, 2008

Bonhoeffer on Chastity

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and activist in the German Resistance movement against Nazism.  His involvement in assassination plots against Adolf Hitler resulted in his imprisonment in 1943 and hanging two years later, just before the end of World War II.  

I like Bonhoeffer's view on chastity, from his book Letters and Papers from Prison:

"The essence of chastity is not the suppression of lust, but the total orientation of one's life towards a goal."