More Than Stone

Q: Is charismatic worship unfriendly to most men? Are all those love songs to Jesus off-putting?

A: …If a blokey bloke comes into church, is he going to connect with what’s going on? Some of the romantic imagery used in worship, the more I think about and study scripture, I’m not so sure about it.

Read the whole thing…

Technorati Tags: Matt+Redman

Wright maintains that many Christians start off with personal salvation, and there it begins and there it ends. New Creation is often simply an appendage. Did God create the world and say “It is Good”, only to then say “Well never mind, on second thought, it’s not that good, but I WILL save you from it (creation or the world)”

Romans 8
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

What is our inheritance, Wright asks. Is it heaven? No, it is New Creation.

“Heaven is important, but it’s not the end of the world. The Holy Land has not been abandoned, but broadened. “

Range of metaphors for new creation;

Harvest: God is sowing new creation

Marriage: New Jerusalem is the bride. Heaven and earth will be one

Military victory: Final battle whereas sin and death will be defeated.

Birth: Groaning in travail, the new creation from the old.

Court setting: The God of justice. God will sort it all out.

In Judaism, the temple was viewed as a place where heaven and earth overlapped. Torah study was also a place that this overlap took place. Jesus isn’t “coming back”. He’s already here. He will appear. The curtain will be torn apart. As new creations, we, by the Spirit, can sometimes see through the curtain as a thin veil and glimpse the new creation.

Wright maintains that many Christians today have forgotten about new creation and bodily resurrection. This can be seen by the change in tombstone engraving. Up until the mid-18th century, many tombs were engraved with things such as “I shall arise”. Now, we see “Gone Home” on many tombs, as though heaven is the final destination. He tells a joke about an Anglican and a Baptist:

Baptist: What is your position on eschatology?
Anglican: He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. There will be bodily resurrection, and his kingdom will have no end.
Baptist: That’s all?
Anglican: That’s enough.
Baptist: That’s refreshing.

What God did for Israel and Jesus, He will do for you and I, but also for the whole of creation.

Technorati Tags: N.T. Wright, Tom Wright, New Creation, Baptist, Anglican