Christ is the end of the law
May 1, 2013
It's been too long away from Ref 21, computer troubles, endless
sermon preparation and last week I was away for a short preachers
conference with other London ministers. It was a good time. Peter Adam
on Revelation, Nigel Styles on Deuteronomy and then preaching groups
where a small group of ministers listened to a recording of your sermon
and gave you crit. It was terrific. Mike Neville led our group and, at
one point, corrected my pronunciation of fois gras. The preaching groups
were very helpful. It struck me that the contexts we all minister in
are so different even though we all live in the same city. As always
with sermon feedback the negative stuff was most helpful, the short cuts
that we take in preparation that other ministers can spot. I'm
convinced that when giving crit the tougher the better. If we can't take
it from each other we'll never take it when get back to our
congregation. Each person who preached in our group had far too much
material, lots of good things that could have been left out.
It was also a joy to meet Matt Perkins who is the
interviewer extraordinaire behind the St Helen's Preaching Matters
videos. To be able to ask questions as slowly as Matt does is a rare
skill indeed.
So in my absence what's been happening? - I see Derek is in
trouble for letting the mortification of spin boys - Carl and Todd - out
in his new car.
Anyway, I'll leave you with this magnificent quote from Calvin that Nigel Styles gave us last week :
He was sold, to buy us back
captive, to deliver us
condemned, to absolve us
He was made a sin offering for our righteousness ...
so that by him ...
fury is made gentle,
wrath pacified,
darkness turned to light,
fear reassured,
debt canceled,
heaviness lightened,
sadness made merry,
misfortune made fortunate,
difficulty easy,
disorder ordered,
division united,
humiliation made noble,
rebellion quashed,
intimidation intimidated,
ambush uncovered,
force forced back,
combat combated,
war warred against,
vengeance avenged,
torment tormented,
damnation damned,
the abyss sunk into the abyss,
hell transfixed,
death dead,
mortality made immortal.
In short,
he was cursed so we can be blessed
you can read the full article here
