Secured by Christ on the cross

To meditate on this Sunday:

“Everything that we know and appreciate and praise God for in all Christian experience both in this life and in the life to come springs from this bloody cross.

Do we have the gift of the Spirit? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Do we enjoy the fellowship of saints? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Does he give us comfort in life and death? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Does he watch over us faithfully, providentially, graciously, and covenantally? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Do we have hope of a heaven to come? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Do we anticipate resurrection bodies on the last day? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Is there a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness? Secured by Christ on the cross.

Do we now enjoy new identities, so that we are no longer to see ourselves as nothing but failures, moral pariahs, disappointments to our parents—but deeply loved, blood-bought, human beings, redeemed by Christ, declared just by God himself, owing to the fact that God himself presented his Son Jesus as the propitiation for our sins? All this is secured by Christ on the cross and granted to those who have faith in him.”

— D.A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Crossway, 2010), 70-71.

The worthwhileness of written prayers

“God in his kindness has recorded for us prayers in his word the Bible, e.g. Dan 9:4-19; 2 Sam 7:18-29; Job 42:1-6; Ps 86; and Mt 6:9-13.

These prayers teach and remind us of many things, including the worthwhileness of written prayers. …”

–  Back in 2016, this article by Jane Tooher was published in Moore College’s Think Tank series.

Thanks to Church Society’s Ros Clarke for the reminder (Written Prayers Redux).

Review of The Passion Translation of the Psalms

“My colleague Andrew Shead has written a review of The Passion Translation of the Psalms (“Poetry on Fire”) for The Gospel Coalition’s journal Themelios. Andrew is the head of Old Testament and Hebrew here at Moore Theological College, and is a member of the NIV Committee on Bible Translation. Here’s the abstract of his review article:

Brian Simmons has made a new translation of the Psalms (and now the whole New Testament) which aims to ‘re-introduce the passion and fire of the Bible to the English reader.’ He achieves this by abandoning all interest in textual accuracy, playing fast and loose with the original languages, and inserting so much new material into the text that it is at least 50% longer than the original. The result is a strongly sectarian translation that no longer counts as Scripture; by masquerading as a Bible it threatens to bind entire churches in thrall to a false god. …”

– Moore College’s Lionel Windsor draws attention to an important review.

And you can read the whole of the newly-released Themelios 43.1 here.

T.C. Hammond on Baptism (Article 27)

“The controversy concerning infant baptism has occasioned much difficulty to many students. The great body of the Reformed Churches accept it. A determined and earnest company, however, reject it as unscriptural.

There are two questions that need to be kept clearly distinguished from one another. …”

– In the latest posts from The Australian Church Record’s archives, T.C. Hammond turns to the question of Baptism from Article 27 – and then considers The Baptism of Young Children.

Related: The Thirty Nine Articles.

Five reasons why Pope Francis’ answer was demonic

“Pope Francis has made several controversial statements throughout the years, but perhaps none quite as controversial as the one in this video.

You can watch it here. …”

– At The Cripplegate, Jordan Standridge comes to a tragic conclusion. (link via Tim Challies.)

Dear @Channel9, Help me out and cut the family-targetted soft porn

“Dear Channel 9,

We’re both adults. We need to talk.

Because we’re adults we’ll start by not pretending about where we’re coming from.

I’m a Christian and an Anglican minister at a cathedral. You’re in the business of making money off advertising by promoting TV shows that you think will be popular. …”

– David Ould writes an open letter to the Nine Network on their promotion of an upcoming series.

Lee Gatiss on learning from Christians of the past

The Australian Church Record has published part 2 of Steve Tong’s interview with Church Society Director Lee Gatiss.

What is the biggest problem facing Evangelicalism? Comfort

“The biggest problem facing the British Evangelical church today is, without doubt, our own personal comfort.…

Far too many of us are happy in our middle-class Christian enclaves, in comfortable areas of the country, going to churches full of people exactly like them. …

… there is no soft and dressed-up way to say this, a generation of middle-class believers will have to give up their idolatrous worship at the altar of comfort and commit to taking the gospel to the urban poor and deprived communities.”

– Here’s a hard-hitting article by Stephen Kneale, minister at an evangelical church in Oldham, near Manchester.

Our Religious Freedom campaign — from Barnabas Fund

Take the time to explore Barnabas Fund’s Our Religious Freedom website.

It includes resources such as the Turn the Tide booklet (PDF), which gives a good summary of the issues and helpfully documents some of the key developments threatening religious freedom in Australia.

As well, you can sign the Petition to the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives –

“We the undersigned call upon the Australian government to ensure full, permanent and adequate protections of religious freedoms:

the freedom to worship; to read Scriptures in public; to interpret Scriptures without government interference; to choose or change one’s faith; to preach and try to convince others; to establish places of worship; and the freedom from being required to affirm particular beliefs to study, stand for election, hold particular jobs (except where there is a genuine occupational requirement such as chaplaincy posts), or give parental care to a child.”

You can also download the printed petition sheet.

Lessons from the Worst Sermon I Ever Heard

“I spent this past summer on sabbatical, so I had an opportunity to listen to a lot of preaching in a bunch of different churches. All of the churches I attended – and all of the men who pastor them – are faithful to Christ. As far as I can tell, they love God and love his gospel, and are anxious to see people come to Christ in faith. All of the sermons I heard contained true, convicting, and useful things for listeners to know, believe, and act on.

But by the end of the summer, I’d come to the conclusion that there’s something very wrong with lots of evangelical preaching. …”

– At 9Marks, Mike McKinley gives us a sobering analysis – with helpful suggestions for doing better.

Related: Good news about preaching – Peter Jensen.

Scotland’s Little Pink Guards

“If the Israel Folau incident gives us an insight into how our ‘liberal’ elites seek to bully Christians into accepting their doctrines, then what has been happening back home in Scotland to the Church of Scotland minister Mike Goss gives another. …

When SSM was passed (in the name of tolerance) we warned that one of the consequences would be the marginalisation and demonisation of those who upheld the traditional Christian position – and of course, we were mocked and abused as extremists for suggesting such a ridiculous idea.…”

– David Robertson writes at The Wee Flea.

Keeping the Evangel in Evangelism

“In our culture, people who think themselves autonomous will claim the right to define all meaning for themselves. Any truth claim they reject or resist is simply ruled out of bounds by society at large. We will make our own world of meaning and dare anyone to violate our autonomy.

This is why evangelism is often perceived as insensitive or even threatening in our culture. Evangelism demands that we press the authority of Scripture and the claims of Christ on sinners as we invite them to the free gift of salvation provided through Christ’s atoning work…”

– Albert Mohler writes with a timely reminder of what evangelism is all about.

David Robertson speaks with Dominic Steele at The Pastor’s Heart

Dominic Steele spoke with David Robertson on the latest The Pastor’s Heart podcast.

Fascinating and encouraging. Watch it here.

High Court upholds rejection of inter-state vilification orders

“In a Federation like Australia, different jurisdictions (States and Territories) may have different rules on what amounts to ‘discrimination’ or ‘vilification’, and how those things interact with religious freedom. One of the pressing issues here in recent years has been whether there will be a ‘race to the bottom’ in freedom of speech on religious issues, with one jurisdiction in particular, Tasmania, raising deep concerns with a very broad prohibition on causing ‘offence’ related to matters such as sexual orientation.

Today the High Court of Australia, on appeal from NSW, has affirmed the decision of the NSW Court of Appeal that State and Territory ‘tribunals’ (non-judicial panels usually used in discrimination issues) have no jurisdiction to impose penalties on residents of other Australian jurisdictions under their own local laws. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Assoc. Professor Neil Foster looks at today’s decision.

The Folau case is a public relations disaster for Qantas and Rugby Australia

“What has happened to Israel Folau indicates that the inclusion and diversity programs run by Qantas and Rugby Australia seem to be, to coin a Trumpsim, ‘fake’ initiatives.

Moreover, the exposure of the attempts to gag Israel Folau has created a public relations disaster for Qantas and Rugby Australia. …”

– Commentary by Spiro Zavos at The Roar. (Link via SydneyAnglicans.net.)

Related: Israel Folau – Heretic or Hero? – David Robertson.

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