Thursday, August 28, 2025

 

Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership
"Servant Leadership" is a term often used by dictatorial people as a means of control in churches.
Mark 10: 42 "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
The Issue of Power.  We try to control things around us so as to keep our world liveable.
But: God's way is primarily the way of trusting Him.
Spears (1998) lists ten characteristics of servant-leadership.
1. Listening - This encompasses listening receptively and attentively to what is being said,
as well as listening to one's inner voice.
2. Empathy - This is related to active listening. In addition, empathetic listeners also
demonstrate acceptance and understanding of co-workers and subordinates.
3. Healing - True servant-leadership is a force of transformation, which provides healing to
self and others, so that wholeness can be achieved.
4. Awareness -This attribute includes both general and self-awareness. A servant-leader not
only understands the situation in a holistic way, but also understands his or her own
limitations.
5. Persuasion - Servant-leaders seek to convince others and build consensus within groups;
they do not use positional authority to coerce compliance.
6. Conceptualization - Servant-leaders demonstrate broad-based systems thinking and "provide the visionary concept for an institution" (p. 5).
7. Foresight - Servant-leaders "understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequence of a decision for the future" (p. 5).
8. Stewardship -This is based on Peter Block's concept. He defines stewardship as holding the institution in trust for the greater good of society. Servant-leadership also stresses the need for leaders to serve the needs of others.
9. Commitment to the Growth of the People - Servant-leaders take an active interest in the growth and well being of every one in the organization; they take concrete actions to stimulate the personal and professional development of their workers.
10. Building Community - Servant-leaders not only build a sense of community among those who work within an institution, but also people in the larger society. According to
Greenleaf (1991, p. 30), "all that is needed to rebuild community as a viable life form for larger numbers of people is for enough servant-leaders to show the way, not by mass movements, but by each servant-leader demonstrating his own unlimited liability for a quite specific community-related group."
 
A Conceptual Framework for Measuring Servant Leadership
I. Character--Orientation Being- What kind of person is the leader?)
Concerned with cultivating a servant's attitude, focusing on the leader's values,
credibility and motive.
• Integrity                        • Humility                          • Servanthood
II. People-Orientation (Relating: How does the leader relate to others?)
Concerned with developing human resources, focusing on the leader's relationship
with people and his/her commitment to develop others.
• Caring for others                 • Empowering others                       • Developing others
III. Task-Orientation (Doing: What does the leader do?)
Concerned with achieving productivity and success, focusing on the leader's tasks
and skills necessary for success.
• Visioning                   • Goal setting            • Leading
IV. Process-Orientation (Organizing: How does the leader impact organizational
processes?)
Concerned with increasing the efficiency of the organization, focusing the leader's
ability to model and develop a flexible, efficient and open system.
• Modelling                   • Team building                    • Shared decision-making
Bottum and Lenz (1998) have listed the guiding principles for business based on the Beatitudes.
Matt 5:3  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4      "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5      "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6      "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7      "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8      "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9      "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10    "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11    "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Their list includes the following:
(1) self-transcendence;
(2) service-sensitivity to the needs of others;
(3) commitment to values;
(4) achievement, productivity;
(5) nurturing the positive in people;
(6) integrity;
(7) team-building, peacemaking,
(8) growth through adversity, endurance.  
The attribute of integrity includes "genuine, sincere, open, authentic, trusting and trustworthy"    (Bottum and Lenz, 1998, p. 159).  It is to be noted that A.A. and other addiction breaking organizations have used the Beatitudes as a guideline for their "twelve step" programs.
After reviewing 50 years of leadership literature, Fiedler and House (1988) concluded that
task accomplishment and interpersonal relationship are the two major categories of leader behavior.
 
Yielding of Rights in Interpersonal Relationships
A TRIANGLE!  All human relationships operate in a 'triangle' fashion! That is, all relationships have 3 sides— we have rights, expectations, and responsibilities. Sometimes rights and expectations may overlap. Sometimes rights and expectations are based on what is good, honorable, and Biblical. On the other hand, they can be based on tradition, on how I was raised, or upon selfishness, etc.
REALITY: About 99.999999% of all ANGER in relationships is in direct proportion to the fact that someone has VIOLATED or neglected our rights and/or expectations— OR at least we believe that they have … OR … they believe that we have violated their rights and/or expectations!
THUS, MOST fussin' feudin', fightin', resentments, bitterness, and etc. … are about UNMET rights and expectations! 
In such settings every time someone dishes out an accusation of real or imagined unmet needs, rights, and expectations— usually the only thing accomplished is that the other party now has more ammunition!
THIS BATTLE OF OPPOSING ACCUSATIONS will provide enough ammo to shoot against one another until hell freezes.
COMMON to these tragic wars are the battle tactics of
(1) Defending self and accusing others;
(2) Blame-shifting, putting up smoke-screens;
(3) Gathering an army of supporters to promote 'our side' ... 
(4) Confessing the real or imagined sins/faults of the other person — instead of obeying Scripture and only confessing OUR OWN faults! (James 5:16; 1 John 1:9); — thus, it is no wonder that 'emotional blood and guts' lie everywhere!
CRITICAL ALERT: The longer these sin-filled, satan-pleasing tactics are used there will be growing hardness of heart, resentments, bitterness, hopelessness, destruction of families, destruction of churches, and above all a deepening REJECTION of Jesus Christ!
When we are fighting such wars with such tactics— No one is focused on heeding their God-given responsibilities, their GOD-GIVEN ASSIGNMENTS!   
Moreover, we feel fully justified for not carrying out our God-given responsibilities— for, after all, 'the other person' – (spouse, fellow church member, relative, neighbor, or whoever) - is not carrying out theirs!  "He/she/they are not meeting MY needs. He/she/they are not loving me the way I NEED to be loved.
IN FACT, he/she/they are being down-right evil toward me. I have it all documented! (He/she/they need counseling— I don't… except to share how he/she/they have deeply wounded me!
Of course, I am not perfect; but he/she/they are the ones with serious problems— not me!")
YES, from time to time, others in our world do and say bad things and those bad things can wound and HURT. Legitimate rights and expectations are not met. However, none of this excuses us from our own God-given responsibilities!
REALITY: WARS escalate. Love and hope dies. Divorce follows … or churches split … or worse— ALL BECAUSE OF HOW WE MIS-HANDLE RIGHTS, EXPECTATIONS, and RESPONSIBILITY!
WHAT WAS JESUS' SECRET?
1. JESUS YIELDED HIS RIGHTS!
 Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus Christ gives us a striking example of complete obedience and surrender to God. In the Book of Philippians, we read that although Jesus was equal with God, He humbled Himself to live among men and to redeem them from the bondage of sin. The evil that was dumped on Jesus was unspeakable— yet He never took His eyes off His responsibilities!
Christians, (by the Holy Spirit) have JESUS INDWELLING. We have divine life and power, and commands from Jesus to walk in His steps: 
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:5–8).
2. Jesus Yielded His Right to Wealth!
In order for Jesus Christ to redeem men and women from sin, He left the splendor, beauty, and majesty of heaven. Jesus is God, the Creator of all things; He had a right to enjoy all wealth and riches (see Colossians 1:15–17), yet He confined Himself to the limited means of a carpenter's household.
3. Jesus Yielded His Right to a Good Reputation! In heaven, Jesus is continually worshiped and His name highly honored. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. When Jesus came into the world, however, He "made himself of no reputation" (Philippians 2:7). Rather than being born into wealth and prominence, Jesus was born into poverty and obscurity. Religious leaders claimed that Jesus was born of fornication. JESUS only went about doing good— even so, He lost popularity and his character was maliciously slandered.
Christ's ultimate humiliation came when He was arrested, falsely accused, and crucified. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Galatians 3:13).
REALITY: Regardless of the cost, Jesus lived on earth to please His Father. He did not come to be served. He did not come to demand His rights. He did not react in anger when He was violated. He stayed focused on doing His Father's will. Joy and Happiness are not dependent upon others treating us right!
1 Peter 2:19-21: "For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.  For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.  For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:.." (NKJV)
1 Peter 4:12-16: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;  but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter." (NKJV)
 
Psalm 37:1- 8How do we gain the personal security we need to yield to others our rights?
1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.
3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
 
Say "God is in control!"
Say "The future is yet to be bright."
 


Sunday, August 24, 2025

 

Dr Thambar

DR SUKUMARAN THAMBAR

Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology

Dr Suku Thambar undertook his specialist training in cardiology at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, NSW and Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, USA. He has since lived in the Hunter region where he practices as an interventional cardiologist in the private and public sectors. Dr Thambar is a Visiting Medical Officer at Lake Macquarie Private Hospital, Newcastle Private Hospital and Mayo Private Hospital. He holds a conjoint appointment as a Senior Staff Specialist at the John Hunter Hospital and Senior Lecturer of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Newcastle.

Dr Thambar is an active clinical researcher who acknowledges the significance of research in contributing to the advancement of cardiology. His major research interests are the use of adult stem cells in the management of acute and chronic cardiovascular diseases, and the emerging technology of renal artery denervation using catheter-based radio frequency ablation to manage conditions such as resistant hypertension and heart failure.

Expertise

  • Coronary angiography
  • Left and Right heart catheterisation for valve assessment
  • Complex Coronary intervention with intra coronary imaging and lesion modifying devices
  • Complex coronary intervention with jarmo dynamic support
  • Left Atrial Appendage closure with Watchman device
  • Renal Denervation
  • Hypertension Balloon Aortic Valvuloplasty

 

Stem cell research

A friend from Newcastle Australia Dr Suku Thambar told me back in 2001 that he believed God had a better plan than embryonic stem cells. He began looking for God's better plan via adult stem cell research finding them in the nose of adults (and later the back of the neck).
He also initiated research on delivering heart valve replacements intravenously. A good godly man.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

 

Public speaking delivery


 

Peter Adam article N.T. Wright and the Death of Jesus: A Review of ‘The Day the Revolution Began’ 06/04/2017 | PETER ADAM

https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/n-t-wright-vs-straw-men-a-review-of-the-day-the-revolution-began/

N. T. Wright continues his prolific contribution to New Testament studies with an extensive focus on the meaning of Christ's death. It is written for a broad readership, rather than for academics. In it we find many familiar Wright themes, here used with specific attention to this one subject. The great strength of Wright's approach is his work on uncovering the coherence and resonances of the big Bible story, and of showing how narrative both expresses and reflects this larger picture. I particularly value his constant attention to God's people and to our responsibility for God's world. This is a valuable correction to solely individualistic interpretations of the gospel of Christ.

I have some sympathy for some of his frustrations. How many series on Romans end with chapter 8, while chapters 9-16 are ignored! And how often the application of Romans 1-8 is personal assurance of salvation, or the need for right doctrine, or the key to the Christian life. Individualism often distorts our reading of the Bible, and our preaching and teaching of the Bible.

His final moving section on the sufferings of the church is excellent, and an apt message for the church in the West, as it is for the church in the 2/3rds world.

 

However, his positive aim of showing us the meaning of Christ's death is undermined by his constant critique of the traditional doctrine of the death of Christ as our substitute undergoing God's punishment for sin on behalf of sinners. He does this in the broader context of a sustained and extensive attack on 'a platonic view of the ultimate goal' ('heaven'), a moralistic view of the human vocation ('good behaviour'), and a downright pagan view of salvation (an innocent death placating an angry deity).' (311) There is no interaction with Christian tradition or scholarly views which hold traditional nuanced interpretations of penal substitution, but an attack on what he perceives as the common preaching and teaching on the atoning death of Christ in evangelical circles. It is an intentionally divisive book, and its criticisms are harshly expressed. It reflects an academic impatience with those of less theological ability, and a reaction against perceived errors which runs the risks of falling into opposite errors!

It is an unfortunate feature of the book that other views are pilloried, and given the worst possible interpretation. So, the traditional view of penal substitution is constantly portrayed as an angry Father venting his anger on his innocent Son. He damns the traditional doctrine of penal substitution by constantly referring to it as pagan and capricious: 'paganising 'angry God punishing Jesus;'' (234) 'divine petulance;' (224) 'Capricious, or malevolent divinity longing to kill someone, and happening to light upon a convenient innocent victim;' (232) 'rescue this substitution from its pagan captivity;' (287) 'an arbitrary and abstract 'punishment' meted upon an innocent victim;' (337) 'the paganised vision of an angry God looming over the world and bent on blood.' (349) Guilt by association is rhetorically effective, but intellectually weak. He is attacking a straw person. As GK Chesterton observed: 'Any stigma to beat a dogma.'

 

Wright then opposes this pagan view with the not-so-novel idea of God's love expressed in Christ: 'not an angry father lashing out at an innocent and defenceless son, but … someone embodying the love of God.' (201) One might have thought that the popularity of John 3:16 in evangelical circles would have reassured Wright that his fears are not justified. He writes, 'we do not find a wrathful God bent on killing someone… Instead we find the image … of a covenant-keeping God who takes the full force of sin onto himself.' (185) That sounds just like John Stott's memorable phrase, 'the self-substitution of God.'[1] Words used to describe the death of Christ by those who are not trained as academic theologians may be unwise and simplistic, but to accuse them of paganism is grossly unfair. Wright does not even mention Christian theologians whose writings defend the Christian tradition of penal substitution, and who make the same point he wants to make—that Christ's death reveals God's love. This idea is not new! Calvin, for example, quotes Augustine:

The fact that we were reconciled through Christ's death must not be understood as if his Son reconciled us to him that he might now begin to love those whom he had hated. Rather, we have already been reconciled to him who loves us, with whom we were enemies on account of sin.[2]

And Calvin himself writes:

The secret love in which our Heavenly Father embraced us to Himself is, since it flows from the eternal good pleasure, precedent to all other causes…The true looking of faith…is placing Christ before one's eyes, and beholding in Him the heart of God poured out in love.[3]

And Calvin has a carefully expressed view of the relationship between the Father and the Son in the atonement:

How could (God the Father) be angry toward his beloved Son, 'in whom his heart reposed'? (Matt 3:17). How could Christ by his intercession appease the Father towards others, if he were himself hateful to God?[4]

Christ endured the punishment of God in our place, and the Father delighted in his self-offering, and accepted his sacrifice. Any similarities between some pagan themes and the Biblical view of willing Trinitarian penal substitution do not mean identity of meaning, nor demonstrate derivation.

 

Wright holds the view that evangelical preaching of the cross has been entirely focussed on 'getting to heaven when you die.' I think it is more often focussed on relating to God now, and knowing his love and acceptance. Wright's negative assessment of evangelical engagement in the world is not justified. At its worst, evangelical Christianity can be solely individualistic, and retreat from involvement with the world. But at its best, evangelicalism has a fine record in planting churches, encouraging people to be prolific in good works, and made a significant contribution to global grass-roots improvements in education, health-care, and evangelism. The historian David Bebbington claims that one of the four characteristics of evangelicalism is 'Activism:' sustained and effective service of God in the world.

 

On Idolatry

Wright's focus on the significance of the atonement is on Christ's powerful death breaking the power of idolatry, on defeat of false gods and evil powers. For him, idolatry is our greatest problem: 'not only sin, but the idolatry that underlies it.' (68) The disease and the cure are closely linked. However in Romans 1:18ff, both idolatry and sin are the results of a prior and deeper sin, that of suppressing the truth about God and failing to honour him and thank him. The heart of our problem is our relationship with God: our idolatry, our sin, and our failure to serve God is the result of failing to worship God and turning away from him. It is the rupture in our relationship with God which is the cause of other problems, including idolatry and our other internal and external sins. So the restoration of this relationship must be at the heart of the atonement. Wright says that we are mistaken to think that fellowship with God is the goal (74). He is wrong: it is the heart of the problem and so the heart of the solution. Despite his claim to take note of the big Biblical narrative, he has missed the climax of the narrative in Genesis 1-3, as Adam is cast out of the garden. The point is made so clearly in Hebrews, that most extensive New Testament explanation of the atonement. The defeat of Satan and evil powers is present, albeit very briefly (2:14, 10:13). But the climax of the letter is entrance into 'the most holy place' by our great priest and his shed blood (10:19-15). In John's gospel eternal life comprises knowing Jesus and so knowing the Father.

So much contemporary atonement theology focusses on God's solution to 'horizontal' problems: our internal problems, our human relationships, our relationship with evil powers, our duties in the world. These are all significant, but they are the result of the dislocation of our relationship with God, resolved in Christ. Wright's focus on idolatry is a useful servant, but a bad master. He writes that 'lawbreaking is a symptom of a much more serious disease … idolatry.' (77) Actually, lawbreaking and idolatry are terrible because they are aspects of our turning away from, and against, God. The most fundamental problem we have is our broken relationship with him; not the deficiency of the idols we worship in his stead. Wright does acknowledge that 'humans are made to worship the God who created them,' (100) but his way of talking about idolatry marginalises that perspective.

 

Wright is willing to use the traditional words associated with the atonement, namely that it is achieved by the death of a representative, who dies a substitutionary death, and suffers punishment (240-241). He clearly claims that 'Jesus dies, innocently, bearing the punishment that he himself had marked out for his fellow Jews as a whole.' (211) However, he is at pains to point out that he uses such words in ways thoroughly distinct from traditional usage. The purpose of Christ's death is not reconciliation with God. The effects of Christ's death include the following:

  • 'Taking on himself the scorn, malevolence, and hatred of the world.' (219)
  • 'Self-giving love turns out to have a power of a totally different sort to that known in the world.' (253)
  • 'The Messiah's death 'for sins' under the right and proper curse of the law was therefore the necessary means by which victory could be won.' (245)
  • 'The Messiah's crucifixion…means the creation…of a single covenantal family.' (244)
  • 'The answer to human idolatry, the root of sin, is the fresh revelation of the one true God.' (332)
  • 'The Messiah as the place of meeting, the ultimate revelation of the divine righteousness and love.' (339)

All this is true: it is what is missing that matters. How did Jesus' death achieve all this? We know it was revelation, and we know its results. But what did it do?

Wright claims that God did not punish Jesus, but punished sin in Jesus:

Paul does not say that God punished Jesus. He declares that God punishes Sin in the flesh of Jesus. … Equally, it is certainly substitutionary: God condemned Sin (in the flesh of the Messiah), and therefore sinners who are 'in the Messiah' are not condemned. (287)

Yet if Christ died 'under the right and proper curse of the law' (245), then he died under God's curse. I know that Paul does not use the phrase 'cursed by God' in Galatians 3:13, but whose curse is it? It is God who sends curses to his covenant people in the big biblical narrative (Deut 27-28). To say that Christ 'bore sin,' and was 'made sin' (1 Pet 2:242 Cor 5:21) is to say that he suffered the consequences of sin. That sin was our sin: he was our substitute. And the most significant problem with sin is that it brings death, which is the judgement of God, and expresses the breakdown of our relationship with God. Christ suffered as our penal substitute.

His desire to avoid the God-ward element of the atonement is also expressed in his view that no Old Testament sacrifices relate to punishment for sin. Instead he claims they are signs of penitence; and blood-sacrifices release the life that is in the blood which then has detergent or cleansing power. So the blood cleanses people, it is not a propitiatory offering to God (329). In my opinion, what Wright affirms is right, but what he denies is wrong. The Old Testament claims atoning power for some of its sacrifices. It is because Christ's blood is propitiatory that it has the power to forgive and to cleanse. The God-ward meaning of Christ's death is fundamental.

 

Israel and the Gentiles

Wright makes it clear that Christ's death benefits Israel, as he suffers their covenant curse. How then does Jesus' death help Gentiles? His answer:

The servant will die for the nation, but will thereby do for the world what Israel was called to do but could not do, setting the nations free from their ancient bondage, so that they now can join the single people of God. (212)

While joining the people of God is the privilege of believing Gentiles, this does not explain how Jesus is their saviour. Salvation includes deliverance from the powers of evil, and the power to do good works in the world, but salvation is at heart the forgiveness from the penalty of sin, which is death. It is not clear how Jesus is the Gentiles' saviour.

Furthermore, while defeating the power of Gentile idols is a wonderful victory, Wright does not clarify how it was achieved. He writes,

Jesus, by taking upon himself the weight of Israel's sins and thereby of the world's sins, dies under the accumulated force of evil, so that at last the kingdom can come in its fullness. (217)

But how? Christus Victor is only one aspect of the death of Christ. In the words of Graham Cole,

The good news is that Christ's cross not only saves us but additionally disarms those forces arraigned against us …  The key to the disarmament is the forgiveness of sins on the basis of the cross … Christus Victor needs the explanatory power of substitutionary atonement. (1)

Another unsatisfactory feature of his argument is the forcing of false dichotomies, the artificial creation of unnecessary alternatives. Here is an example:

Not a system but a story; not a theory but a meal and an act of humble service; not a celestial mechanism for punishing sin and taking people to heaven but an earthly story of a human Messiah… (415)

In fact, the New Testament gives us interpretation as well as story, theology as well as enactment; our forgiveness is a heavenly reality (as Hebrews makes clear), and eternal life begins now and continues forever; and while we have an earthly story of a human Messiah, he is also our high priest at the right hand of God. False dichotomies are powerful rhetoric, but do not reflect clear thinking. Similarly, when he writes that Jesus 'did not give them a theory, a model, a metaphor…he gave them a meal,' (182) this is another example of simplistic confusion. Yes, Jesus did give them a meal. But his words provided his interpretation of the meal. And elsewhere Jesus spoke of the powerful effect of the words he had spoken to his disciples, and of the power of the truth he had revealed (Jn 17:6-8, 8:31).

Another form of adversarial rhetoric Wright uses is to dismiss others and promote his own enlightenment: '(T)he gospels … give (atonement theology) not as a neat little system, but as a powerful, sprawling, many-sided, richly revelatory narrative.' (415-16) Goodness me! Has no one else ever realised that before? How amazing!

 

Other issues

There are five other issues that arise from this book, as they do from Wright's other writings.

  1. We have learnt that the meaning of words lies in their use, not in their derivation. Does not the same rule apply to the use of images and rites? If so, should we not understand the Old Testament in the light of the New, rather than assuming all Old Testament meaning is carried forward into New Testament meaning? Do we not move from 'shadow' to 'substance'? And similarly, while understanding the Judaistic background of New Testament words and ideas is important, does not their use in the New Testament define their meaning?
  2. While it is instructive to see the Judaistic background to the New Testament, the New Testament itself interacts most often with the Old Testament itself, not contemporary writings. And in both Jesus and his followers we find a sense of distance from contemporary Jewish thought and especially contemporary Jewish interpretations of the Old Testament. Was not Jewish opposition to Jesus' Old Testament hermeneutic one reason for his death?
  3. In Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Lk 18:9-14), there is a striking contrast between the self-justification of the Pharisee and the humility of the tax collector. And it is the tax collector who is 'justified.' Here justification is not about Jewish-Gentile divisions, but division within God's people. Is this not 1st Century AD evidence of an unhealthy 'works-righteousness' within contemporary Judaism?
  4. Could not Jesus' teaching on the water of eternal life and the bread of life in John 4 and 6 be described as a 'spiritualising' of these worldly Old Testament images?
  5. Wright constantly affirms that for the New Testament writers the exile ended with Christ's death, yet in James 1:1 we read that Christians are still in exile. And he constantly claims that return from exile includes forgiveness of sins. Yet in 1 Peter 1:1-2 we read that believers are still in exile, yet also that they are sanctified by the Spirit and sprinkled with the blood of Christ! These are the only two references to 'exile' in the New Testament! Peter refers to the church in Rome as being in Babylon (5:13). And in Revelation the fall of Babylon is yet to happen (Rev 18). Wright's theory does not deal with all the evidence. Perhaps the Bible narrative is even richer and more nuanced than at first appears?

A thought-provoking book, as you can see!


[1] Graham Cole, God the Peacemaker: How atonement brings shalom, NSBT, Nottingham, Apollos/ Downers Grove, IVP, 2009, 183.

[2] John Stott, The Cross of Christ, Leicester, IVP, 133-163.

[3] John Calvin, The Institutes, 2.16.4, quoting from Augustine, John's Gospel, cx. 6.

[4] Calvin, Commentary on John, 3:16.



Tuesday, August 19, 2025

 

Attitudes to education

I am pretty sure my dad kept me at high school ( he had 4 years of education total), only because of the possibility of me being sent to Vietnam in the early 70's). Besides I am hopeless at anything except digging holes ( because I can't break that!). When I got a scholarship to teachers college the wider family considered kicking me out of the family. When I went to theological college they held the meeting and did!
I got a PhD now and last year my uncle (who wouldn't attend my dad's funeral) finally accepted me back in the family.

Saturday, August 16, 2025

 

O S Hawkins Cuttjng edge

 The book of 2 Kings details the story of the building of a new dormitory to house his students. When they were cutting down the trees, one of the men's axe heads flew off the handle and into the river. The rest of the story is taken up with recovering the lost axe head.

What is the axe head? It is the cutting edge. For us, it is the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. All the education in the world will not suffice for the cutting edge. All the natural ability in the world will not suffice for the cutting edge. The cutting edge is the life of Christ made real in me through the Holy Spirit as I continually yield myself to Him.

Does anyone reading these words need to recover the cutting edge? This account in 2 Kings shows us the way.

I. The problem simplified (v. 5)

It was lost! The young man admitted that he lost it. Some of us never quite get to this place.

II. The problem clarified (v. 5)

It was "borrowed." It wasn't his. It belonged to another. And so it is with the cutting edge. We don't possess the power of God. He possesses us.

III. The problem identified (v. 6)

The young man showed Elisha the place where he lost it. It is not enough to admit we have lost the cutting edge, we must return to where we lost it. Perhaps it was lost in the waters of worldliness or even in the stagnant pools of indifference.

IV. The problem nullified (v. 6)

The young man was willing to trust the supernatural power of God for the recovery of the cutting edge. Elisha took a small tree, threw it into the water, and he made the iron float.

V. The problem rectified (v. 7)

Elisha told the young man to pick it up for yourself. So he reached out his hand and took it. Some continue to live without the cutting edge even though they have seen the supernatural power of God because they will not, as an act of their will, reach out and take it.

What about you? Are you simply swinging axe handles at the trees of life only to return home bruised and battered while the sound of the felling of trees remains silent? There is a lot of difference in something done for God and something done by God. The cutting edge is the life of Christ made real in you through the Holy Spirit. Nothing suffices for the cutting edge in ministry. Reach and take it!


 

2Kings 6 losing your cutting edge. H B Charles

O S Hawkins 
What do you do when you are growing spiritually cold? What do you do when your become spiritual passion becomes dry? What do you do when you lose your cutting edge? How do you recognize these inevitable times? More importantly, what can you do to overcome them? Let me answer these questions with a devotional thought from 2 Kings 6:1-7.
 
The "sons of the prophets," a group of young preachers, studied under the Prophet Elisha. So many lads joined this upstart seminary that they ran out of space. The dorms were overcrowded. But these young men did not allow their space problems to make them slothful, negligent, or distracted from their goal to learn and grow. Instead, they devised a plan to build new living quarters that would accommodate the growing student body. With Elisha's permission, and encouraging presence, the sons of the prophets went into the woods and began chopping down wood to build a new dorm. Can you see them? The wooded area is filled with hardworking young men. They have borrowed tools and are making good use of them. Axes are swinging ferociously. One by one, trees are falling to the enthusiastic cheers of all.
 
But notice one particular young prophet. He has borrowed an axe to do his part in the building project. He is attacking a tree with all his might. But after one powerful swing, the shaft suddenly goes light in his hands. The force almost knocks him down. He looks up just in time to see his axe head splash into the nearby river. He lost his cutting edge. He lost his power element. He lost the thing that made him effective.
 
This can happen to any of us. It has surely happened to me at times. There have been seasons when I been so spiritual dry that I could spit dust. And it can happen to you. Do not scoff or judge or dismiss this reality if it hasn't happened to you yet. Thank God for his sustaining grace. Remain humble, prayerful, and watchful. And memorize 1 Corinthians 10:12: Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."
 
Here are five suggestions for recovering your cutting edge. 
 
Practice regular self-evaluation.
 
Why did this young man lose his cutting edge? The most obvious reason I can give is that he lost the axe head because of negligence. The axe head did not just fly off the handle all at once. It never does. The tool had been loosening over time. But he was so busy swinging that he never noticed. That's how life is. A flat is rarely the result of a sudden blowout. There has often been a nail in the tire for some time. Little tacks can cause tragic accidents, if you let them go unnoticed. So practice regular self-evaluation to ensure your communion with God is strong, growing, and evident. You may not have to recover your axe head if you simply maintain it properly.
 
Take a break.
 
This young man may have lost his axe head because of negligent behavior. Yet he is still to be commended for the fact that when this young lost his cutting edge, he stopped swinging. Can you imagine how silly he would have looked if he kept swinging the shaft after the axe head ejected? To continue swinging would not have helped the project whatsoever. Instead of chopping wood, he would have only been banging on the wood. Swinging the handle without a handle, he would have only been making noise, wasting time, and loosing energy without accomplishing anything. So he stopped swinging. So should you. If you sense that you have lost your cutting edge, take a break. Get some rest. Take time to pray and read and think. Reconnect with God, the scripture, your family, your purpose, and yourself. For God's sake, please stop swinging! If you have lost your axe head, you are only getting in the way of the real work. 
 
Remember you are only a steward.
 
When this young prophet lost his axe head, he did not nonchalantly whisper, "Oh well." He cried out, "Alas, my master! It was borrowed" (2 King 6:5). The young man was devastated. He did not simple ask for another tool to keep working. He lamented the loss of the axe head, because it did not belong to him. It was borrowed. The owner permitted him to use the axe head. But it was to be returned when the work was finished. The young man would have to answer to the owner for the lost axe head. Likewise, your gifts, talents, position, relationships, and opportunities are not yours. For that matter, you do not belong to you! You have been bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Let me state the essence of Christian stewardship in four words: God owns it all! You are only a steward of that which belongs to another. And you will have to answer to the Lord of all that he has entrusted you to manage. 
 
Ask for help.
 
The lamentation of the young man was also a cry for help. "Alas, my master!" he said to Elisha. "It was borrowed" (2 Kings 6:5). There was nothing he could do about the situation on his own. He needed help. I am not sure what he expected Elisha to do about the missing axe head. He surely could not have imagined that Elisha would perform a miracle to retrieve it. But he recognized he needed help. So do you. You cannot recover your cutting edge on your own. Call on the Lord in prayer to renew your spiritual passion. Ask him to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. Likewise, call on those the Lord has placed in your life for fellowship, encouragement, and accountability. Don't be too proud to ask for help. 
 
Examine yourself.
 
Elisha responded to the young man's cry for help with a question, "Where did it fall?" (2 Kings 6:6) This question required the young man to look back, retrace his steps, and think about his situation. Pointing to a ripple in the water, he answered, "It fell somewhere around there." Indeed, the unexamined life is rarely effective. Take the time and trouble to examine yourself. "If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength," wrote Solomon, "But wisdom helps one to succeed" (Ecclesiastes 10:10).
 
The provocative story ends with a miracle. When the young man showed Elisha the place where the axe head fell, the prophet threw a stick into the water. And the axe head began to float. Yes, the iron axe head began to swim. God sovereignly and graciously intervened to restore what was lost. He can do that for you, too, when you find you lose your cutting edge. 

Friday, August 15, 2025

 

Ryle


These two parables are meant to teach us, that men really convinced of the importance of salvation, will give up everything to win Christ, and eternal life.

What was the conduct of the two men our Lord describes? The one was persuaded that there was a "treasure hidden in the field," which would amply repay him, if he bought the field, however great the price that he might give. The other was persuaded that the "pearl" he had found was so immensely valuable, that it would compensate him to purchase it at any cost. Both were convinced that they had found a thing of great value. Both were satisfied that it wasworth a great present sacrifice to make this thing their own.Others might wonder at them. Others might think them foolish for paying such a sum of money for the field and pearl. But they knew what they were about. They were sure that they were making a good bargain.

Behold in this single picture, the conduct of a true Christian explained! He is what he is, and does what he does in his religion, because he is thoroughly persuaded that it is worth while. He comes out from the world. He puts off the old man. He forsakes the vain companions of his past life. Like Matthew, he gives up everything, and, like Paul, he "counts all things loss" for Christ's sake. And why? Because he is convinced that Christ will make amends to him for all he gives up. He sees in Christ an endless "treasure." He sees in Christ a precious "pearl." To win Christ he will make any sacrifice. This is true faith. This is the stamp of a genuine work of the Holy Spirit.

Behold in these two parables the real clue to the conduct of many unconverted people! They are what they are in religion, because they are not fully persuaded that it is worth while to be different. They flinch from decision. They shrink from taking up the cross. They halt between two opinions. They will not commit themselves. They will not come forward boldly on the Lord's side. And why? Because they are not convinced that it will compensate them. They are not sure that "the treasure" is before them. They are not satisfied that "the pearl" is worth so great a price. They cannot yet make up their minds to "sell all," that they may win Christ. And so too often they perish everlastingly! When a man will venture nothing for Christ's sake, we must draw the sorrowful conclusion that he has not got the grace of God.

The parable of the NET let down into the sea, has some points in common with that of the wheat and the tares. It is intended to instruct us on a most important subject, the true nature of the visible Church of Christ.



This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?


Free Hit Counter