awesome homework

"Your homework is to read Psalm 104 and reflect on it."

I love Bible College.  I love moments like this.

This really is a beautiful Psalm.  It celebrates the wonderful creative and sustaining power of Yahweh.

It uses beautiful poetic language to describe the ease with which Yahweh made the world.  Just as we can flick up a bed sheet to billow in the air, so Yahweh spread out the sky.  Just as we cover ourselves with clothes, so Yahweh clothed the earth with water.  He is in control.  It is not hard work for him, but is like child's play.

Furthermore, he did not just create things and let them run their course.  He continues to sustain and uphold them.  He provides food (v14).  Not only that, but he doesn't just supply the food we need, he also supplies abundance and niceness.  He supplies things to make our hearts glad (v15).

He did not create in a mindless or uncaring way either.  He made everything with wisdom (v24).  I was reminded of this when studying physiology at uni.  God made us in a really amazing and smart way!

The Psalmist keeps oscillating between the second and third person (you and he).  I'm not quite sure they are doing that.  But I wonder if he's just so amazed.  He talks about the amazing things Yahweh has done and is doing, so he can't help but address him directly.  Then lastly he responds in the first person.  What is his response?   "I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live" (v33).

And now to you: "Your homework is to read Psalm 104 and reflect on it." ;-)

Does Paul have a "set play"?

Today in New Testament we went through an overview of the structure and themes of 1 Corinthians, which we will be studying this semester.  Some scholars say there's no structure at all, but our lecturer put forward the idea that the glory of God is the unifying theme of the book.

Furthermore, he said that wisdom, sexuality, worship and resurrection/consummation - the key issues in 1 Corinthians - are not just key for 1 Corinthians, but in other letters of his too.  This view is heavily drawing on the work of Rosner and Ciampa in their commentary on 1 Corinthians (I've appended an excerpt below).

I found it quite interesting to ponder - does Paul have a "set play" (to put it crudely).  Does he have a way he commonly argues?  If one did agree that there is a pattern, one could get frustrated at Paul saying the same thing over and over again.  However, I find this idea encouraging.  Rather than creating his own message, Paul is preaching the gospel.  Therefore, one would expect each message to be getting at the same idea.  Wonderfully, Paul addresses each different community with their different people and different struggles.  Yet - if these guys are right in their analysis - it all boils down to the same essence.  It is all about Christ, and all for the glory of God.

It will take a while to examine whether I think the Pauline letters fit this mold, but I like the idea of it :-)

What a marvel that God has spoken to us!  What a delight that He has given us such a clear revelation of Himself in His Son and His word!  And what a privilege that he has given us His Spirit, so that we might understand his word about his son and be drawn to Him and fashioned into His likeness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This “shape” to Paul’s teaching is evident across the breadth of his corpus. To put the pattern in point form, with the overall goal of the glory of God, we find:

    1.      The proclamation of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is a call to enter the new eschatological age established in and by him. It demands that all people submit in unity to Christ, living out the wisdom of the other-person-centered lifestyle of the cross.
    2.      They must abandon the Gentile vice of sexual immorality (to the glory of God).
    3.      They must abandon the Gentile vice of idolatry, and give proper worship to the one true God (to the glory of God).
    4.      The Gentiles’ lives will be characterized by expectant hope for the final consummation of God’s glory (and so their own glorification) in the future bodily resurrection.


Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. 2010. The First Letter to the Corinthians. The Pillar New Testament Commentary (26). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.

is Jesus in 2 Samuel 2?

On Fridays at Moore College we get the privilege of hearing our Principal, John Woodhouse, explain the Bible to us in chapel.

John is infamous amongst the college community for taking a very long time to get through a sermon series.  We gave him a big cheer earlier this year when he finished his series on 1 Timothy (which had lasted a few years)!

But the fantastic thing about John's preaching is that he pays so much detail to what the text is saying (one of the consequences of this is that it takes ages!!).

This morning's talk on 2 Samuel 2:1-11 illuminated the richness of the passage and helped us to consider how King David is like King Jesus.  They are both connected with Abraham.  They both show extraordinary kindness to their enemies.  They are both anointed king.  Yet not everyone recognises or submits to them as king.

John shone a light on the passage and caused me to rejoice in the Bible and rejoice in Jesus.  Win.  Thanks heavenly Dad!

the ups and downs of teaching SRE in schools

I love that we can teach the Bible in public schools in Australia!

An American woman reminded me of the amazing privilege that this is - they have no such privilege in the US.

Today I was apprehensive about how the lesson was going to go.  I was really excited to see the kids again after a long break due to holidays and exams!  But I was really tired after a big week, had a croaky voice and struggled to pull together the lesson (the big struggle was trying to figure out what the passage was about!!).  Struggle town.

But eventually with prayer* and hard work it came together.  More importantly, the kids got the big idea.  Nothing can mess up God's plans.

Another really big win was connecting deeper with the kids.  They were so excited to talk about their holidays!  By giving each of them attention, I was able to show that I care for them.  Then they responded positively to me.  One gave me her sheet as a gift.  Another said "See you next week."  This was a big step forward for those two, who can often be a little bit problematic in class.  Win.

Thanks heavenly Dad!


*this is so key, yet I keep leaving it as the last resort :-/  why oh why?

the intertwined nature of creation and redemption

Yesterday we had a doctrine class where we started talking about the doctrine of creation.

One thing that really got me thinking was the statement that 'we should not separate our doctrine of creation from our doctrine of salvation'.

This was new to me in some ways, but not in other ways.

Clearly Jesus is central to God's purposes.  It is where all things are headed.  "[God the Father] made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure that He planned in [the Messiah] for the administration of the days of fulfillment  — to bring everything together in the Messiah, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him" (Eph 1:9-10).  All things will come under Jesus.

But Jesus is not just involved at the end of time.  He was also involved in the beginning.  He was not plan B because we screwed up.  "[The Father] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4).  God always planned to save us.  He planned it even before any of us had done anything we needed to be saved from.  The fact that we would to be saved - and how it would happen - was inbuilt into the way God created the world.

So salvation impacted creation.

But creation also impacts salvation.  As the Son sought to saved humans, he needed to become human.  "Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death — that is, the Devil — and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. For it is clear that He does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham’s offspring. 17 Therefore, He had to be like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service  to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people" (Heb 2:14-17).

So creation impacts salvation.

Furthermore, creation impacts salvation in another, more abstract, way as well.  The Bible often describes salvation using creation language.  Salvation is cast as a new creation.  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come" (2 Cor 5:17).  "You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator" (Col 3:10b).  One of things we looked at in class was how the language of salvation and creation is intertwined Isaiah 40-55.  This was my favourite part of the class.  We saw how salvation is described using the language of creation.  Darkness to light, barrenness to fruitfulness, order to chaos.  Furthermore, God's ability to create gives him the ability to save, and gives assurance to his people that He will save.

What a delight!  The intermingled plans of creation and salvation.  This God is powerful and trustworthy.

hello blogworld

Hello blogosphere!

again my blog has attracted virtual cobwebs...

I hope to begin writing more frequently again...

...but don't hold your breath!

bittersweet times

I've had a really great time in Brisbane.

I've loved spending big chunks and little chunks of time with people, both family and friends.

But the last few days have been bittersweet.  I realised that I will have to say goodbye to these lovely friends again.  Pangs of sadness gripped my heart.  In some ways it is easier to stay away.  Seeing everyone again makes it harder to leave.  It reminds of all that I leave behind.  It reopens the door of grief.

But even though it is harder to go again once I see everyone, I wouldn't trade those times.  They bring lots of laughter and many hugs.

That's what I miss most, being able to sit in the lounge room to together and drink tea, chatting for hours, but much more than that I miss the hugs.  I really miss the hugs.