Robert Letham in The Holy Trinity (2004) commented on the impact of postmodernism on society: ‘In terms of instability and diversity, he said, ‘the postmodern world of constant flux is seeing insecurity, breakdown, and the rise of various forms of terrorism… As diversity rules, subgroups are divided against each other… A cult of the victim develops, and responsibility declines. This is a recipe for social breakdown, instability, and the unravelling of any cohesion that once existed’, he said (p.453).

Let me touch on some key words in Paul the Apostle’s prayer of thanksgiving for the church in Colossae. In Colossians 1:3 we read: In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,…

Paul begins by thanking God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Significantly, the sentence construction tells us that Jesus Christ is just as much God as God the Father.

Let’s think about this: The essential nature of a perfect father is to love and give life. Paul’s understanding is that God the Father delights to love and give life. From eternity God the Father has given life to a Son.

A water fountain, whose very nature is to pour out water, helps us with this idea. For Paul’s words are consistent with what we read in the opening line of John’s Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And in Jeremiah 2:13, the Lord says of himself that he is the ‘spring of living water’. From eternity, before the creation of the universe, God the Father was loving and begetting his Son. God did not become a father at some point.

In the same way that a fountain is not a fountain if it doesn’t pour out water, so God the Father would not be who he is, unless he was giving life to his Son. God the Father and God the Son are distinct persons, but they are inseparable from one another. They always love one another, and they always work together in perfect harmony.

This is important, for it tells us that Paul is giving thanks to the God whose existence is not simply as a powerful intelligence behind the observable universe, but to God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Colossians’ faith in Christ Jesus was real and personal, expressing itself in their love and care for one another. The Colossian church was a place where there was genuine community. People accepted one another, treated one another as equals across the social and racial divide. Their love for one another led to compassion and practical care for those in need.

Significantly, Paul goes on to tell us that the faith and love the Colossians enjoyed, was inspired by a third Person of the Godhead – the Holy Spirit. In verse 8 he writes that Epaphras had told him of the Colossians’ love in the Spirit.

In John chapter 14 we learn that on the eve of his arrest, Jesus promised his disciples he would send the Holy Spirit to comfort and equip them. And in John 16:8 we learn that the Holy Spirit would also convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment:… An important part of the Spirit’s work is to convict our consciences of our failure to honor and love Jesus as Lord. One day God will ask us all: ‘What did you do with my Son?’

In The Bondage of the Will Martin Luther addressed what he saw as the fundamental question regarding salvation. He pointed out that so distorted and flawed is the human heart, that no one has a free will when it comes to our relationship with God. The desires of our hearts lock us into self-worship and vainglory, rather than the rightful worship and glory of the one true God who is Lord of heaven and earth.

Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of canterbury in the reign of Henry VIII, held a similar view of humanity. Dr. Ashley Null sums up Cranmer’s anthropology this way: ‘What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies… For Cranmer the mind is actually captive to what the will wants, and the will itself, in turn, is captive to what the heart wants’.

So how are hearts changed? From his rich understanding of Scripture Cranmer’s prayer books stress the need for God to intervene in our minds and hearts. And so, the 1552 Service of the Lord’s Supper begins with a Prayer for Purity: Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, so that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

It is a prayer for the outpouring, the coming down of the Spirit of God, significantly not on the bread and wine on the Holy Table, but on the minds and hearts of everyone present. As Ashley Null points out, the prayer is saying that we cannot truly love God unless God supernaturally changes our hearts.

A careful reading of Cranmer’s liturgies reveals that his prayer is that the Holy Spirit will work through the Scripture to change the hearts of the worshippers. For Cranmer, with all the English Reformers, believed in a living God whose delight is to answer prayer.

To return to Paul the Apostle’s prayer of thanksgiving in his Letter to the Colossians, we see the One God who exists in Three Persons, delighting to give life to his people.

Our broken world needs to hear afresh the good news of this Triune God. If we grieve for our world, we need to pray that God will act with compassion and send his Spirit to soften hearts, turning them, as they hear the gospel, to Jesus Christ as Lord.

(c) John G. Mason

A Prayer for Trinity Sunday: Almighty and everlasting God, you have given us your servants grace by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and by your divine power to worship you as One: we pray that you would keep us steadfast in this faith and evermore defend us from all adversities; through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Is there anything that can really make us different, that can shake us out of our apathy and anxieties? That can inject enthusiasm and joy, confidence and courage into our lives?

Come with me to the events of Pentecost that we read about in Acts chapter 2. It was six-weeks after Jesus’ resurrection. Three questions emerge.

What happened?  When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples were together in an upper room in Jerusalem. ‘Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came…  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them… All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.’

Pentecost is the Jewish festival celebrating the giving of the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 19:18 we read that violent wind and tongues of fire had enveloped Mt Sinai at the time God gave Moses the law. However, as Israel’s prophets had said, the law failed to change the world because the law failed to change people.

Now at Pentecost some twelve hundred years later, God was coming with fire and wind, not to impart more law, but to impart his Spirit. The mighty wind symbolised the power of Jesus; the fire symbolised his purifying and cleansing work; and speech pointed to the good news of Jesus reaching every nation.

Luke, the author of Acts focuses on speech. He tells us: Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. … And everyone was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each (2:5).

The crowd came from the Caspian Sea in the east to Rome in the west; from modern Turkey in the north to Africa in the south. ‘How is it?’ they asked, ‘That we can understand them in our own native language?’

The cynics in the crowd mocked, saying the disciples were drunk. But Peter wasn’t silenced: ‘The bars aren’t open yet,’ he said. ‘It’s only nine o’clock in the morning’. This was the ultimate Author of speech reversing Babel.

The disciples, previously demoralised and defeated, had a new enthusiasm, confidence and joy. Peter, who had denied Jesus, was no longer a coward but a courageous preacher. What made that difference? It was the Spirit, ‘Another Helper’ whom Jesus had promised.

For many, Christianity is little more than a moral code they must struggle to observe, or a creed recited mindlessly every week. But in John 14 Jesus had spoken of ‘a Companion’ who would enable his people to experience a life-changing personal relationship with him.

What did it mean? The Holy Spirit was turning cowardly disciples into intrepid apostles. From verse 22 Luke records Peter’s speech: “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.  …And you, …put him to death …but God raised him from the dead, …”

People today mock the idea of Jesus’ miracles. Yet first-century historians such as Josephus, agreed that Jesus was a miracle-worker. Peter called the miracles signs. Just as a sign-post points to the road we might follow, so Jesus’ works pointed to the power and authority he wielded. “If I by the finger of God cast out demons,” Jesus had said, “then the kingdom of God is come upon you.”

The climax of his speech is in verse 36: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Peter had a logically developed progression of ideas – not a frenzied set of phrases. He explains that Jesus’ cross and resurrection reveal God’s extraordinary love. The Son of God had put aside the glory of heaven and come amongst us, giving his life as the one perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Human authorities had judged Jesus a threat and guilty, and nailed him to a cross. From his supreme court, God overturned that judgement and raised Jesus to life.

Does all this matter? It happened so long ago. Peter’s hearers were cut to the heart…, “Brothers, what should we do?” they asked (2:37f). Peter’s words cut through to their hearts. They were utterly ashamed. Previously they had mocked the dying Jesus. Now they knew the truth. God’s Spirit was at work.

Peter’s response is one we all need to hear: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven (Acts 2:38). He didn’t tell his hearers they needed to turn over a new leaf and start living moral lives. Rather, he focused on their relationship with Jesus. Repent. ‘Come to your senses about Jesus,’ Peter is saying. ‘Turn to him and ask him for his forgiveness.’

Three thousand responded to Peter’s call that day. God’s Spirit was taking up the work of Jesus the Messiah in the world, opening blind eyes and changing hearts.

Significantly Peter continued: And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him (Acts 2:38f). From now on God’s Spirit would come into the lives of all God’s people (see also Romans 8:9).

What God did that day, and what he has been doing ever since, matters. God’s delight is to draw men and women from all over the world, from every culture and walk of life – people like you and me – into a personal, living relationship with himself.

And we have a part to play. Let’s not be fearful. Rather, let’s pray for the Spirit’s strength and wisdom to take up opportunities we have, to introduce people we know to Jesus. Why not invite a friend to join you in exploring John’s Gospel through ‘The Word One-to-One’? It is available online free of charge at: www.theword121.com.

Welcome to this Word on Wednesday for Ascension Day. It is great to have you with us.

In his article in The Spectator (UK), ‘The China model: Why is the West imitating Beijing?’ (May 8, 2021), Niall Ferguson writes: ‘In a revealing essay published last year, the Chinese political theorist Jiang Shi-gong, a professor at Peking University Law School, spelled out the corollary of American decline. ‘The history of humanity is surely the history of competition for imperial hegemony,’ Jiang wrote, ‘which has gradually propelled the form of empires from their original local nature toward the current tendency toward global empires, and finally toward a single world empire.’

‘The globalisation of our time, according to Jiang, is the “single world empire” 1.0, the model of world empire established by England and the United States. But that Anglo-American empire is ‘unravelling’ internally, because of ‘three great unsolvable problems: the ever-increasing inequality created by the liberal economy… ineffective governance caused by political liberalism, and decadence and nihilism created by cultural liberalism’. Moreover, the western empire is under external attack from ‘Russian resistance and Chinese competition’. This is not a bid to create an alternative Eurasian empire, but ‘a struggle to become the heart of the world empire’.’

It is not my purpose to explore these issues, but rather to touch on the significance of Jesus’ physical departure from the world recorded in Acts chapter 1. In verses 9-11 we read: While Jesus (he) was going and the disciples were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

It reads like sci-fi. In his book Miracles CS Lewis asks, ‘… what precisely should we expect the onlookers to see? Perhaps mere instantaneous vanishing would make us feel most comfortable. A sudden break between the perceptible and the imperceptible would worry us less than any kind of joint. But if the spectators say they saw first a short vertical movement and then a vague luminosity (… ‘cloud’) and then nothing – have we any reason to object?’ (pp.177f).

Clearly Christ moved from the space and time dimensions that we know into another beyond our comprehension. Further references in the New Testament help us understand. Philippians 2:9f tell us that God the Father has highly exalted Jesus and given him the name which is above every name. And Colossians 3:1 speaks of Christ as seated at the right hand of God. And, back in the opening lines of Acts chapter 1, Luke tells us that during the forty days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God (1:3). The age of God’s Messiah had dawned.

From their question, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” the disciples were excited and thought that at last Jesus was going to reveal his true power and position as Israel’s true king. They were thinking in political and nationalistic categories.

And through the ages many have thought in similar terms. But it’s important that we focus on Jesus’ response: “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority (1:7). ‘You’re not to worry about times and end-times,’ Jesus is saying. ‘I’ve got something much more important for you to do with your time and energy: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Jesus had a very specific agenda for his disciples.

Witnesses. In commissioning his disciples as witnesses, Jesus wants us to know that what they passed on is nothing but the truth. This is so important because the Bible makes it plain that Christianity is not a religion, involving rules, rituals, and regulations. At its heart is a relationship with Jesus Christ. And because meaningful and lasting relationships can only be built on truth, we need to know the truth. Relationships within families are only meaningful where there is truth and honesty. Without truth there can be no trust.

Now, it’s important to make a distinction here. Jesus is not saying that his followers down through the ages are witnesses as were the original disciples. We can’t be. We weren’t there. But we are called upon to testify to the good news he brings.

Two kingdoms. For the present God’s kingdom, the rule of the Messiah remains hidden. Indeed, in his Letter to the Colossians Paul the Apostle tells us that the new age of God’s rule co-exists with the old – which the New Testament speaks of as the world. Currently a door is open, allowing people to pass from the old age to the new. So, while we see around us the movement of human kingdoms and powers, God, in his mercy is rescuing people throughout the world from the dominion of darkness, transferring us into the kingdom of the Son he loves… (Colossians 1:13).

We live in an uncertain and troubled world. We need to pray for the leaders of the nations and play our part in contributing to the welfare of people in need around us. Above all, let’s pray that God in his mercy will use the good examples of our lives and our testimony to draw many to the Lord Jesus Christ. His physical resurrection and the angels’ words at his ascension assure us that his return is certain.

But there’s something else we need – which we’ll talk about next week!

Being Mother’s Day this Sunday (May 9), let me highlight little-known or oft-forgotten words to men in their relationship with women. It’s most important that we keep before us biblical principles in our relationships.

In setting out features of the marriage relationship in 1 Peter chapter 3, Peter has some challenging words for believing husbands in verse 7: … In the same way be considerate as you live with your wives…, he says.

To first century ears these words were revolutionary. The idea that men should be considerate towards their wives was totally new. Despite liberation movements amongst first century Roman women, the reality was that they were still treated as second class citizens.

Be considerate. We can only begin to imagine the relief and joy of women as they read Peter’s exhoration here. No more would they be exploited. No more would they be chattels to be used and abused.

And with the almost daily news items of the abuse of women, we see the timeless relevance of Peter’s words to men. For today there is many a wife who fears her husband – his selfishness, his control, his unfaithfulness.  Many wives live in marital uncertainty and loneliness.

Show respect or honor, captures the meaning of considerate. ‘Get to know the woman you live with’, is another way this could be translated. Yet in far too many relationships this is ignored. A counselor often hears a woman say, ‘I don’t feel my husband cares about me. He doesn’t understand me. I’m a stranger to him. He doesn’t listen’.  ‘He’s always running me down,’ is another comment. ‘Whatever I do, he’s sarcastic or critical. He loves to make me feel a failure,’ is yet another.

Too often men don’t understand their life-partner because they haven’t bothered to take the time. A supreme example of this disinterest is Henry Higgins’ line in My Fair Lady: “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?”

Peter’s further words, live with, imply being aware of and sensitive to his wife’s sexual needs. It also refers to the issue of self-esteem: Treat them with respect, he says. One of the persistent causes of marriage breakdown is low self-esteem on the part of either a husband or a wife.

Women often need the security of being cared for and appreciated. Men, we need to be considerate of our wife’s feelings. We need to tell her how wonderful she is and what a privilege it is to enjoy the closest of all human relationships with her. We need to say this often. We need to say it when our children and others will hear. And don’t forget regular expressions of love that please her; it might be chocolate, flowers and the unexpected date.

Why should we do all this? Peter tells us why: Honor.  Paying honor to the woman as the weaker sex,..

Nowhere in the Bible does it state that a woman is spiritually, morally or intellectually weaker than a man. Yes, a woman is physically different – it is right to separate men’s and women’s sporting competitions.

The strength Peter has in mind is the implied reference to a woman becoming a victim of male exploitation. Men must be considerate and show respect. Far from taking advantage of a woman in the closest of all human relationships, husbands are to recognize their honor-bound responsibility under God.

With his words to men here, Peter is introducing a virtue that the ancient world knew nothing about – chivalry. Nobody had thought about this before. In Christian ethics a humble state of mind is required of everybody: the king as well as the slave, the parent as well as the child, the husband as well as the wife.

In the same way. Peter tells us in chapter 2 verse 24, Christ Jesus, although Lord of the universe, humbled himself and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

Equality: Since they too are also heirs of the gracious gift of life— Equality is a fundamental biblical principle – across the sexes, across nations and races. And here Peter is not just saying that we are equal as created beings, but now as redeemed beings. We share together all the benefits of God’s promise. A woman is not any less worthy, nor does she have any less status. Both men and women are dependent upon God’s grace – even for life itself. We are equally entitled to all the benefits of heaven. Men must treat their wives as fellow-heirs.

Prayer: So that nothing may hinder your prayers. How can our prayers be hindered? The Bible is quite clear that God does not hear our prayers when relationships with people around us are not right. Matthew 6 records Jesus’ comment about our need to forgive others if we expect God to forgive us. The effectiveness of our prayer life depends to a certain extent on the quality of our relationships. In the same way God doesn’t listen to the prayers of a selfish, inconsiderate husband.

Men, honor and respect your wife – and not just on Mother’s Day. Under God, serve her: she is an equal beneficiary with you of all God’s promises. Pray for the Lord’s forgiveness, for none of us is perfect. May the Lord equip you to be the loving, selfless husband in your wife’s life.

Fruitful outcomes are something we normally expect from worthwhile endeavors. So, we look for measures of productivity in the corporate world – a measure of life and growth.

Why then do we often overlook the fact that Jesus is concerned with productivity? He lived in an agrarian culture and on one occasion used grape-growing as a metaphor for the productivity to which he is committed.

Vineyard owners work hard to develop the quality and the output of each vine. They know that to get maximum output, judicious pruning is required: good growers don’t confuse short-term profitability with long-term viability. Indeed, Jesus makes the point that a good vine-grower treats low-producing branches quite differently from non-productive ones.

In John 15:1-2 Jesus says: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower.  He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”

To understand his reference to fruit, we need to consider the context of his words. John Chapter 14 concludes with Jesus’ expectation that his people will love him and keep his commands. And in John 15:9 we read: ‘If you obey my commands you will remain in my love’.

There are times in the Old Testament when Israel was likened to a vine, planted and tended by God. Psalm 80:8-9 says of God, ‘You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. By the time of Jesus, the grapevine was close to being a national symbol for Israel – a little like the Big Apple for New York.

But there’s an irony: wherever we find the metaphor of the vine in the Old Testament it is usually associated with the moral and spiritual degradation of Israel. Isaiah 5, for example, tells us that instead of producing good grapes, Israel yielded sour grapes. For all the blessing God showered upon his people, he looked in vain for the harvest of righteousness he wanted to see. For his part Ezekiel commented that Israel was a useless vine.

With his words, ‘I am the true vine’, Jesus challenges Israel. Israel may say it is a vine, he says, but I am the true vine. ‘You are the branches’, he continues. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5).

These tough words weren’t just for Israel. They are words to everyone who says they are ‘Christian’, but for whom Christianity is no more than a Survey box to check. Jesus warns us that he expects visible evidence of our loyalty to Him. In the absence of such evidence, we cannot be assured of his friendship. It is said that the philosopher CEM Joad, was once asked at a university high table: ‘Tell me, what do you think of God?’ To which he replied, ‘My greater concern is what God thinks of me’.

Israel’s mistake was to assume that because they had the temple, because they had the Scriptures, because they had the right pedigree, they would be immune from judgment.

We today can say, ‘I’ve been baptized and married in the church’, and, ‘I attend church at Christmas and Easter’, thinking that all will be well when we pass from this world to the next. But, according to Jesus, the mark of everyone who is part of the true vine is fruitfulness. Where fruitfulness is absent, so is true faith.

Fruitfulness. So he continues: “Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers;…” (John 15: 6). There is a dramatic change in the tense of the verbs here. Literally he is saying, ‘whoever is not remaining in me’ (present tense), ‘has been thrown away’ (past tense).

This strange counterpoint of tenses suggests that the severance of the branch and its consequent decay are not the result of its sterility, but the cause. It is because it never really belonged to the vine that it never produced fruit. So, when he speaks of branches ‘in me’ being cut off, he is referring to people who have superficially called themselves ‘Christian’.

Love in response to his love, prayer, and loyalty to his commands is what Jesus expects of us.

As we reflect on what this fruit-bearing love and obedience looks like, we see that it refers to the reality of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the quality of our life measured by the Ten Commandments and the exhortations of the New Testament; it also involves sharing God’s passion for the lost. Fruitfulness is seen in Godly love and living, prayer, and drawing others to know Christ Jesus. Let’s pray for God’s grace in these troubling times, enabling us to lead fruitful lives in Christ.

So urgent is the need for fruitful gospel living today, so ill-equipped are many of God’s people, that I ask you to join with me in praying that many more will take up the current opportunity of accessing the Anglican Connection gospel-focused online conference. It’s not just for ministers or even Anglicans. Available until May 31 at www.anglicanconnection.com, it is for everyone who is committed to the priority of God’s gospel. Keynote speakers include Dr. John Lennox, Richard Borgonon (‘Word One-to-One’), Dr. Liam Goligher, Keith Getty.

© John G. Mason

Note: Today’s ‘Word’ is adapted from my Word on Wednesday, April 26, 2017