Blog Archives - URBAN LIFE CHURCH

Colossians 1v24-2v5: Christ in you

29/4/2015

As we look into God's Word and think about what Paul wrote to the small churches in Colossae and around, we see his great desire to see them be fruitful in their spiritual lives, and to recognise it is ALL about Jesus Christ.

The main things we learned about from this part of the bible were these:

1. Christ lives in you. This gives the certainty of the hope of glory.
2. This is worth struggling and suffering for - to see it in ourselves and in others aswell.
3. We struggle on, depending on Christ's mighty power!
4. We need to be encouraged in this so that we are deceived by impressive sounding arguments that throw in other ideas and direct us away from Christ... it's all about him.

We spent some time trying to think through what it means that we press on depending on HIS power, not our own. Because it isn't that we just sit back and watch God do it. We work. Hard.

Is it a bit like being in a tug of war, where we are on the rope pulling hard? We are putting effort in, but we know that it is not all about what we do. The reality is, we know that it all depends on the big guy at the back with the rope wrapped around his waist. If he wasn't there, we'd all be stuffed, and striving to no effect.

With him there, we do our part, secure in the fact that his strength is at work. And as we pull, we glance back grateful, and consciously dependent on him. And continue to pull as much as we can.

Christ in me

24/4/2015

This song has some amazing words. We will be using it on Sunday as we consider the theme of 'Christ in you' from Colossians 1v24 to 2v5. Have a listen to remind you - its a while since we have sung it. Lyrics below.

Jesus You're the hope I cling to
Tower that I run to
Saviour, ever near
Radiant, light within my darkness
Faithful in my weakness
God who strengthens me
Lead me, take me ever deeper
Show me all the riches of this mystery

Christ in me
My hope and my glory
My certainty
My heart bows down
Surrendered in worship
To my God and King

Jesus, You're the holy promise
Poured Your blood out for us
Rose again to life
All my sins are now forgiven
And my life is hidden
Saved through Jesus Christ
Jesus when I stand in glory
With Your throne before me
I'll be found in You

My hope is built
On nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust my feeble frame
But wholly lean on Jesus' name

Colossians - The Awesome Christ

23/4/2015

Colossians 1 verses 15 to 23

We are thinking about the Awesome Christ. We are going to read a passage in a minute which is one of the most amazing pieces of writing about anyone ever! Truly amazing.

The Marvel and DC comic character thing is massive at the moment. Lots of us are loving the whole X men, Iron Man, Avengers, Batman thing - excited about the release of the new Avengers movie, and so on.

There’s something about this hero thing isn’t there? Someone with powers, someone who can rescue, someone who can come in and do what we cannot do for ourselves. And there’s something about that, that strikes a chord in us as human beings, very often, isn’t there?

Many people observe this, and see something going on in us as people at that point. Something about us that longs for the rescuer, powerful, heroic figure who comes and does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, someone to worship and admire… there’s something about that which resonates. There’s a deeper truth going on there, these things are a faint reflection of a truer, better, bigger story of humanity and heroes.

Our heroes and how we worship them.

Well with that in mind, lets read these words from Colossians chapter 1. Verses 15-20
Read the words to let them soak in. They are SO fabulous, I almost don’t want to comment on them. I want to let them speak. Probably a song of some kind, with a kind of poetic style to them, a bit different to the way Paul often writes.
But listen to this. Let your heart praise as you read.

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Last week we saw how Paul is writing to a bunch of Christians living in a small town called Colossae, and he is encouraging them as he talks about them growing in fruitfulness and prays they will continue to grow in this, as they grow in knowing who it is they have believed in. And I think this was a key thing for them because there were other ideas coming in that were confusing them… maybe about worshipping angels, or other ideas, and Paul is writing all this to say – lets get clear, its all about Jesus!

People often look at some of the different world views and teachings of wise men and religious leaders through the centuries, and say something like… 'well they’re all wise, all have something interesting to say, all worth listening to', that may be true to a degree. But here’s thing – as we have said several times over the last few weeks, with the things that Jesus said, he’s not prepared to take a seat at the table as one of a number of wise guys with helpful insights into the world.

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal over Easter, by a former hardline atheist journalist called Lee Strobel. And his article was entitled, ’How Easter killed my faith in Atheism’, responding to some comments Ricky Gervais had made.

Lee Strobel starts off his article:
‘It was the worst news I could get as an atheist. My agnostic wife has decided to become a Christian. Two words shot through my mind. The first was an expletive, the second was divorce.
I thought she was going to turn into a self righteous holy roller. But over the following months, I was intrigued by the positive changes in her character and values. Finally I decided to take my journalism and legal training (I was legal editor of the Chicago Tribune) and systematically investigate whether there was any credibility to Christianity.’ The rest is on our website. Have a read.

So Jesus. Who was he, or better, who is he?

This first part to look at is v15-20

In v15-20 there are two statements of who Christ IS.
- Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. An image in a mirror shows you exactly what the person just out of your sight is like. It is exactly like them.
- Christ is the head of the church which is his body. He is the first of us all, first in leadership, and in leading the way through death to eternal life.
Explore this further! Think about it. What do these verses mean?

SO FAR no mention of you or me! It is all about Jesus – simply revelling in who he is and how wonderful he is. But now in v21-23, we get into how this connects to us. 7 times we see YOU or YOUR. We’re getting personal. As we have sometimes heard, THIS IS YOUR STORY. We are involved here.

READ v21-23
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[g] your evil behaviour. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

3 words to explore:
Separated - from the God who made us.
Reconciled - by all that Christ has done.
Continuing - in what we have believed. Each day. One step after another. Not giving up.

How Easter killed my faith in Atheism

20/4/2015

Here's the article from the Wall Street Journal, referred to when we met yesterday........

It was the worst news I could get as an atheist: my agnostic wife had decided to become a Christian. Two words shot through my mind. The first was an expletive; the second was “divorce.”

I thought she was going to turn into a self-righteous holy roller. But over the following months, I was intrigued by the positive changes in her character and values. Finally, I decided to take my journalism and legal training (I was legal editor of the Chicago Tribune) and systematically investigate whether there was any credibility to Christianity.

Maybe, I figured, I could extricate her from this cult.

I quickly determined that the alleged resurrection of Jesus was the key. Anyone can claim to be divine, but if Jesus backed up his claim by returning from the dead, then that was awfully good evidence he was telling the truth.

For nearly two years, I explored the minutia of the historical data on whether Easter was myth or reality. I didn’t merely accept the New Testament at face value; I was determined only to consider facts that were well-supported historically. As my investigation unfolded, my atheism began to buckle.

Was Jesus really executed? In my opinion, the evidence is so strong that even atheist historian Gerd Lüdemann said his death by crucifixion was “indisputable.”

Was Jesus’ tomb empty? Scholar William Lane Craig points out that its location was known to Christians and non-Christians alike. So if it hadn’t been empty, it would have been impossible for a movement founded on the resurrection to have exploded into existence in the same city where Jesus had been publicly executed just a few weeks before.

Besides, even Jesus’ opponents implicitly admitted the tomb was vacant by saying that his body had been stolen. But nobody had a motive for taking the body, especially the disciples. They wouldn’t have been willing to die brutal martyrs’ deaths if they knew this was all a lie.

Did anyone see Jesus alive again? I have identified at least eight ancient sources, both inside and outside the New Testament, that in my view confirm the apostles’ conviction that they encountered the resurrected Christ. Repeatedly, these sources stood strong when I tried to discredit them.

Could these encounters have been hallucinations? No way, experts told me. Hallucinations occur in individual brains, like dreams, yet, according to the Bible, Jesus appeared to groups of people on three different occasions – including 500 at once!

Was this some other sort of vision, perhaps prompted by the apostles’ grief over their leader’s execution? This wouldn’t explain the dramatic conversion of Saul, an opponent of Christians, or James, the once-skeptical half-brother of Jesus.

Neither was primed for a vision, yet each saw the risen Jesus and later died proclaiming he had appeared to him. Besides, if these were visions, the body would still have been in the tomb.

Was the resurrection simply the recasting of ancient mythology, akin to the fanciful tales of Osiris or Mithras? If you want to see a historian laugh out loud, bring up that kind of pop-culture nonsense.

One by one, my objections evaporated. I read books by skeptics, but their counter-arguments crumbled under the weight of the historical data. No wonder atheists so often come up short in scholarly debates over the resurrection.

In the end, after I had thoroughly investigated the matter, I reached an unexpected conclusion: it would actually take more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a follower of Jesus.

And that’s why I’m now celebrating my 30th Easter as a Christian. Not because of wishful thinking, the fear of death, or the need for a psychological crutch, but because of the facts.

Lee Strobel wrote “The Case for Easter: Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection“; his first novel, “The Ambition,” releases May 17.

Colossians - Fruitfulness: living it and praying for it

20/4/2015

For the next 6 weeks we are learning together from the New Testament book of Colossians. A letter from the Apostle Paul to the group of Christians living in the small city of Colossae, in what today is part of Turkey.

These guys had come to be followers of Jesus and although Paul had never met them, Epaphras heard the good news about Jesus from Paul, and established a community of people who followed Jesus.

At this point Paul is in prison, writing to them to encourage them to keep on going. He's encouraged by the way have grown and are fruitful - seeing Faith, Love and Hope in their lives; their faith in Christ Jesus, their love for all of God's people, and the confident hope of what God has reserved for them in heaven.

These three are the basic markers of growth in us as followers of Christ - growing in faith, hope and love. And they are interlinked in so many ways. As the good news of Jesus impacts people all over the world, this fruitfulness is seen in their lives too. Faith in what Jesus said about life and reality. A self-giving love for others. And that certain hope that what Jesus Christ has said about our future, will happen - that we are part of a new kingdom that will go on and on into eternity. These three are markers of the stable fruitful Christian life.

And although Paul sees these things in the Colossians, he prays for it still. He prays very specifically. No vague namby pamby prayers. Specific. Deliberate. Clear. He pours on the fertilizer of prayer, to encourage more fruitfulness and growth. Though he cannot be with them, he believes in the power of prayer - that when he prays for them (in Rome probably) that the Spirit works in the people he is praying for. He really believes that!

This is what he prays:

We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding...
We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need.
May you be filled with joy always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear Son who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

Now that is something worth praying for one another.

The Resurrection

8/4/2015

We celebrate the good news that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. This is so important. Everything Jesus said about himself, about us, and about the universe, is made much more, strikingly more important, because of this. If Jesus Christ is alive as he said, that shows us clearly that everything he said is true - all his claims, all his statements about life, everything he told us about reality in the present, past and future. It means following him is far more than just a lifestyle choice for those who are inclined to feel a bit religious. It is way more important than that. To quote CS Lewis again...

"One must keep on pointing out that Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important."

Here's the words of the eyewitnesses:

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdelene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; he is risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: "He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him." Now I have told you.'
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. 'Greetings,' he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.'

Happy Easter - Christ is Risen!

5/4/2015

Christ is alive. And because Christ is alive, everything is different. He beats death so death cannot beat us. There is joy and hope and freedom and forgiveness and new life - which starts now, and goes on forever.

The Hour of Darkness

4/4/2015

You know when someone quotes the first line of a well known song, and even though they say no more, you have the theme of that song in your mind? Jesus does this on the cross when he cries out 'My God my God why have you forsaken me?'.

He's quoting Psalm 22. Read the whole thing:

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.”
A psalm of David.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
    since he delights in him.”

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
    you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you;
    from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

16 Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

19 But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
    You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver me from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
    save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will declare your name to my people;
    in the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
    Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scorned
    the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
    but has listened to his cry for help.

25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
    before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek the Lord will praise him-
    may your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth
    will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord
    and he rules over the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
    all who go down to the dust will kneel before him--
    those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
    future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it!

Jesus said...

1/4/2015

Matthew 20 v17-29:
Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 'We are gong up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!'