Archive for the ‘Love’ Category

Posted on April 30, 2010 - by Stephen Murray

9 Reasons we Don’t Experience Joy

1. We don’t understand the depth of our sin.

2. We don’t understand the breadth of God’s love.

3. We don’t understand the cost of Christ’s death in our place.

4. We only understand intellectually, not at a heart level.

5. We don’t nurture our affections for Christ through spiritual disciplines.

6. We don’t understand the glory of the hope of the new creation.

7. We don’t understand the now/not yet tension when we try and live consistently with the hope that we have.

8. We spoil our appetite for this hope by pursuing other hopes this side of the new creation.

9. We have not pleaded with Christ in prayer to pour his love into our hearts through the Spirit.

Posted on February 24, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Communal Love in Proximity

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

After reading these words my usual first reaction is to beat up on myself for not loving God’s community more each day and in more earthy practical ways. And in one sense that’s not a wrong reaction – where there’s sin there needs to be a level of ‘beating up’ – Paul says he beats his body and makes it a slave to God.

What I often miss though is that this commandment presupposes what I like to call proximity. It presupposes that Christian communities will be loving each other in front of the world – in proximity to everyone else. That means our loving is supposed to be out on the street for everyone to see and not only inside the church building where the chosen few can see. I don’t think I beat myself up enough about proximity. I don’t think I’m deliberate enough about living out love publicly. Not in a kind of  ‘come and see me’ way, but in a ‘I’ve got to live a public life anyway so let me do it in love’ way. That means Christians hanging out together and loving each other publicly – public communal love (by that I don’t mean the kind of hippie free love, Woodstock vibe).

It’s like learning how to live normally all over again like everyone else – except you’re doing it in community and that community is infused by love.

Posted on June 4, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Stetzer on Missional Attitude

“Missional living is not specific to a form of worship or liturgy. But it is specific to the attitude an individual Christian or church takes.” – Ed Stetzer in an interview with Alan Hirsch about his new book, ‘Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living‘.

Posted on March 8, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Robin Said “Yes!”

 

I am now engaged to this beautiful woman!

Posted on January 26, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Further Reflections on Love – The Loveless Church

I’ve spent the best part of the last 8 years moving in conservative evangelical church circles. The majority of the churches I’ve been involved with have been churches where the gospel of Christ is central not just in belief but also in proclamation. Whilst moving in these circles I’ve also often heard a repetitive criticism attached to them. I’ve heard many people complain that these ‘bible-based, gospel-centered’ churches are great on a lot of things but not great at being loving. My immediate response has often been to suggest that person offering the critique doesn’t really understand what biblical love is and that by preaching the gospel we are showing the utmost love. Often my response was justified. But often it wasn’t and the criticism was valid. It is not completely unfair to evaluate a number of the churches with which I am associated as being un-loving, or at least poor at displaying love.

This is a perplexing problem for someone like myself who holds to the absolute importance of gospel-centered bible teaching as the very core of the church life. Why doesn’t it seem to be working in some cases? Well I don’t have all the answers to a question like that, but I have noticed something that I think is contributing in part. I think that often we’re being reductionistic about the call placed upon every believer by the bible itself. Let me quote a section from Tim Chester and Steve Timmis’ book, ‘Total Church‘ to illustrate what I mean. Concerning ministry to the poor the authors comment:

“The most loving thing we can do for the poor is proclaim the good news of eternal salvation through Christ. It is by no means the only loving thing we can do for them, but it is the most loving thing we can do.” (p.75)

Often I think we’re forgetting to add in their little qualification ‘it is by no means the ONLY loving thing we can do…’ And forgetting that qualification can make the world of difference to whether or not a church is loving. So I still affirm, with the authors, that to proclaim the gospel is the single most loving act we can perform as Christians – BUT – its definitely not the ONLY one. We need to shake off that reductionism and teach regularly how the gospel causes us to love in a number of different ways. And then we need to display that true love to a watching world.

Posted on January 25, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Tired of Debating, Craving Love

As I hit the ‘publish’ button for my previous post I immediately had mixed feelings. On the one hand I’m eager to learn and debating on forums is one way to sharpen your thinking on a specific issue – especially when you have to defend your own opinion against criticism. At the same time though I just felt terribly tired and worn out from replying to comment threads on this blog and trying to faithfully provide answers to questions with the utmost integrity and in such a way that the God of the bible is glorified. It is exhausting.

And then I go to college and sit in a class discussing the finer details of advanced Greek exegesis and its fascinating, and I’m convinced that it is thoroughly important that regular bible teachers invest time in the discipline. Yet at the same time again it just feels so far removed from showing a selfless act of love to a homeless man or any other act of true godliness. And so I’m forced to ask myself a question: What, as Christians, are we really about at the end of the day? The proper answer is simple I think, “Love God and love people.”

And so it just struck me that as I enter into debates, as  I discuss issues and as I explore the finer details of Greek exegesis I’m doing it all for one goal – love – love for God and love for people. If I lose that goal I lose everything. We ought to crave it daily – it ought to be what motivates me to debate with integrity on this blog and to spend painful hours in the Greek text trying to figure out what its actually saying. Those things however are not the goals – love is.

If you find yourself existentially removed from this love yet completely absorbed in all the technicalities of the periphery, as I find myself sometimes, then stop, step back and let a simple reading of the text remind you of the love of our God in Christ Jesus – crave that love and don’t proceed without it.

Posted on October 18, 2007 - by Anthony

Come here often? Part 1

Church and the newcomer often make for a bad combination. I don’t know about your church visiting experience but often going to church for a visitor is like reliving high school: people make you feel awkward, at times things get embarrassing and its one of those things in life where you just want it to end but seems to go on forever. This may not be everyones experience (it was mine when i went for the first time!) but there are some things i think we need to consider about the way we do church, particularly our Sunday services.

Here are a couple links about the visitor and their church experience. The one comes from a Christian perspective the other, definitely not!

Church from a visitor’s perspective

Church Marketing sucks is a website seeking to encourage better use of media and marketing within Churches to aid the Gospel. It comes a 9 part blog post series, not too long so its easy reading.

The Stranger

This is a local paper in Seattle who sent out 31 of their staff to some kind of religious Sunday meeting. From churches, to Mosques, to the living room for a bit of morning TBN, these guys each write about their experience of going to church. WARNING: there is strong language, sexual allusions and other naughty stuff in the article. I nor anyone at …daylight would endorse their perspectives as such, but we would probably acknowledge that’s the reality of the situation. So there is something to learn from this article i think as there are some who made up their minds about church before going and others who were pleasantly surprised

The reason i put these two together is that i realised that in running a church service on Sunday there is no formula that will guarantee the visitors comfort, engagement or acceptance of the Christian message. So, good decor, contemporary music, modern equipment or tasty chow will not guarantee that the visitor will like the service, the people or feel comfortable. It begs the questions;

What is the purpose of our services?

And how do we engage with the seeker in that purpose?

Posted on September 26, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

Love for God IS Love for People

In Mark 12 Jesus is confronted by a teacher of the law who had evidently been sitting in and around the conversations that we’re going on between Jesus and the other religious authorities that day. He’d noticed how Jesus had skillfully avoided their theological traps and turned numerous questions around so that the other religious authorities scrambling desperately for answers. This teacher was impressed and so wanting to see what Jesus was really about at his core he asked, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’

Jesus answers by quoting the ‘Shema’ from Deuteronomy 6 and outlines what he’s about by basically saying, ‘God alone is God, therefore love him with everything you have.’ What is striking is that he doesn’t leave it there, instead he adds another commandment, ‘love people as you love yourself’. The teacher only asked him for one but he gave two – why? Surely it must be because loving God is intricately wrapped up with loving people in this world. Whilst loving people is not all there is to loving God it is so closely connected that Jesus connects the two. Very simply, we cannot love God and not love people.

On Saturday I sat at a lunch table at a homeless shelter with a young guy from the Cape Flats, a Zimbabwean refugee and an elder Xhosa man far displaced from his home desperately looking for work. They were all very different from me, and to be honest conversation was hard and awkward, but Jesus says I have to love them, becuase I claim to love God. May we pray that God would give us the love for all his people that his Son so evidently displayed when he walked this earth.

Posted on September 25, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

10 Tips for On-Line Christian Discussion

I read and write comments on a number of blogs that I personally wouldn’t always identify with theologically. If you go through the sidebar you’ll see that although the majority of the blogs come from a theologically reformed position, not all of them do. To be honest I probably spend more time reading the blogs that aren’t theologically reformed than the ones that are. I also don’t think I’m alone in these reading adventures, I think a large number of bloggers often read outside of their own theological school – its surely a healthy blogging habit to pick up. Naturally though, as bloggers read other bloggers from different schools, the debate begins to flow back and forth over certain issues. Now the blogshphere has a bit of a reputation for getting out of hand in these situations, and since we write Christian blogs this really is the last thing we want. Yet at the same time healthy debate is good for all of us in the blogging community. So what I want to share with you are a few tips that I’ve picked through trial and error as I’ve waded into certain debates around the blogsphere:

Tip#1: Don’t go intentionally looking for a brawl. If you’re one of those bloggers who’s only interested in controversy and is always found near it then – shame on you! Put your energy into something more constructive.

Tip#2: When debating a specific point always be open to admit the weaknesses in your own argument. Healthy debate is a learning process – if you can’t face up to the fact that your argument might not be flawless then don’t enter the discussions.

Tip#3: Always praise the good and the areas of agreement in your opponent’s case. Christian unity is only ever going to be built around what we all agree on. Look for those points of contact and work gently from there.

Tip#4: Be quick to apologize. Often we misunderstand someone or say something rashly – don’t be afraid to say that you were wrong and apologize.

Tip#5: Keep checking with your opponent to see if you understand him/her correctly. There’s nothing worse then two people going at each other and they arguing on two completely different levels. Make sure you understand what the discussion is about.

Tip#6: Never throw your weight around in a discussion if you haven’t done the reading. Many posts that preempt discussion often quote other on-line posts or articles and call for a response, if you haven’t already read the material under discussion then to just throw in your opinion is highly arrogant.

Tip#7: Try and open up email contact. The comment threads are often limited in how much actual discussion can take place. When discussing really important topics see if those who are involved with you are not interested in probing the topic further through email correspondence. I know this takes the discussion away from the public sometimes, but it also helps build trust and relationships between people from opposing viewpoints (I’ve personally experienced this on three or four occasions).

Tip#8: Always remember the gentleness and humility that comes with being a Christian. We are Christians before we are bloggers – being behind a computer screen doesn’t absolve you of your ethical and moral responsibility.

Tip#9: Don’t be afraid to give your viewpoint. Being confident over your view (due to evidence in support there of) and being arrogant are not the same thing. You can still be humble and gentle but firm in certain convictions. We always want to please God and man – there will be occasions where this is not possible. Please God first and then man.

Tip#10: Have fun. Ask lots of questions, approach things from different angles, be a learner.

Posted on September 18, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

To Know or Not to Know?

Do we know through doing or do we do through knowing? This is a paradigm that the Emerging Church (EC) seems to be struggling with. They’re disillusioned by all the ‘God-knowers’ who just seem to have no out working in their lives of the mission of God (and they should be deeply disturbed by this fact). So they begin asking the question ‘do we know things about God first and then begin doing? OR is it perhaps possible that through doing we begin to really know God?’ From just a general reading of EC literature you might begin to pick up that for some this shift has already taken place where knowing no longer constitutes primarily gaining knowledge but the emphasis has shifted significantly to doing in order to know. Now upfront I want to affirm that knowledge of God is much more than merely gaining intellectual knowledge about him, yet at the same time I’m disturbed that gaining intellectual knowledge is becoming highly unpopular.

My reading of the Bible seems to be saying to me that first and foremost we need to come to a recognition and understanding of God’s revelation and respond appropriately. I’ve been reading through the book of Isaiah and I’ve become extremely aware of how many times God makes statements like this:

‘…this is a people without understanding so their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor’ (Isa 27:11b)

There’s always direct relation then between this lack of understanding and the moral decay of the people being judged. The New Testament continues this idea in places like 1 Thess. 4:5, 2 Thess. 1:8 and Titus 1:16. And yes, there is an experiential side to this knowledge which is worked out as one ‘does’, but that doesn’t do away with the fact that people must gain this knowledge first. So you come to a passage like 1 John 4:8 that says we don’t love because we don’t know God and God is love. Why don’t we ‘do’? Well because we do not ‘know’.

The EC should react against intellectual knowledge about God that never translates into intimate and experiential knowledge of God, but it should be careful about how it frames the whole concept of knowing God. We don’t know God simply by going out and doing a whole lot of social work – we know God through revelation. Going out on the basis of revelation and then doing social work can greatly enhance and add experiential depth to that knowledge, but in and of itself it does not constitute the necessary knowledge.

We need to be God-knowers, proceeding from revelation into all of life.