Intro: Today we want to continue our look at the kingdom of God from figure 2.  We will look at the development of the relationship of cultus to culture.  Or the relationship between Church and state. I have put up three figures on the whiteboard that should help with a visual explanation of this.

Introduction:  ‘…the conscience functions as a spiritual nervous system, which uses guilt to inform us that something is wrong and needs correction. Failing to heed the warnings of conscience can lead only to the hardening or searing of the conscience, which in the end will bring us to destruction.’  We have done a great injustice to the conscience in our day and silence it more often than heed it.  We do not appreciate this wonderful gift of God which often stands outside of us as it were to disagree with us and condemn us when we are in sin.  The conscience can be a great source of joy when it is at peace, enabling us to enjoy all things all the more, or it can be a great sense of pain.  As we continue on with Romans 14:20-23 we come to a portion where Paul repeats several things that he has said but he also speaks about the two different types of consciences that the weak and the strong in the Roman church were experiencing.  In the case of the strong there consciences were informed and sound and they were happy.  But in the case of the weak, their conscience or spiritual nervous system was communicating phantom pain and they were bringing themselves into sin.  Romans 14:20-23, ‘Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if...

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Introduction: This sermon forms a part two of this morning’s sermon on Romans 14:17-19. We promised to do a deeper look into the idea of the kingdom of God and that is what we are going to do. You will notice that I am using the whiteboard, and this is because it is often easier to illustrate it than explain it. The kingdom of God is a very important and misunderstood concept, and in Christianity you will find different brands and explanations of it. The three main millennial positions all have a different view on the kingdom of God for example. Postmills believe that the kingdom will come in an upswing in Christendom before Jesus returns so that Christianity can expect to have a worldwide effect impacting all the major institutions of society. This leads to a politicised approach, the culture wars becoming a battleground, and the great commission including all sorts of other things other than planting churches. There are Charismatic versions of this which like Bill Johnson see this as an age for miracles as an expression of the kingdom among us. Dispensationalists have traditionally seen the kingdom of God as the kingdom of Israel where the Davidic king would sit on the throne in Jerusalem and rule over all the nations of the world. The older schools of thought taught that Jesus came to set up this kingdom but Israel rejected Him so this plan was put on hold, while the age of the Gentiles goes on, and then in the Millennium we will see a fruition of the various prophesies that pointed to this kingdom coming to pass literally. The Amill position like the Historic Premill sees the kingdom come in an already-not yet fashion. We believe in a case of inaugurated but not consummated eschatology...

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Introduction: Never be a stumbling block to another Christian, this is the point Paul has just been making, we carry on with Paul in 14:17-19 where he talks about why we should not be a stumbling block, ‘For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.’ Our portion begins with the word ‘for’ indicating its connection with what Paul has just been saying. Paul has told the Romans to decide never to be a stumbling block and listed several reasons why: because it is a sin to act against conscience; because we are to walk in love; because we should not destroy our brethren; because Christ died for them; because Christ’s reputation is at stake. In this section Paul adds two more reasons for why we should commit to never being a stumbling block. V17 is an argument on the basis of the nature of the kingdom of God; v18 is an argument based on gaining the approval of God and man. And Paul ends with a call for commitment in v19 to pursue peace and mutual upbuilding.

Introduction: The good gifts of God given to bad hearts like ours can become snares to us.  The Giver is good and gives from good motives.  He seeks to display His generosity and kindness to us through the gifts of creation.  The gifts are also good, life, marriage, health, wealth, position, work, they are not evil in and of themselves, but good.  But we are bad.  You can give us a good gift like marriage and we turn it into an attempt to enslave another person to our wills.  God can give us a skill for work and we can take it to promote ourselves and look down on others.  God grants us bounty in peace and wealth and we take it and turn it into an obsession and a distraction that draws us from God and not to Him.  This is how we have to understand the life of Solomon.  We all know that Solomon was too insistent on pursuing riches and luxury and buildings and prestige.  However, we must remember that these things were also first promised by God, 1 Kings 3:13, ‘I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.’ So today we come to the building of Solomon’s house. In a socialist context where we would be evaluating this 13 year building project for how many housing development schemes for the poor we could finance, we do not look kindly on this section. Many commentators have launched straight into the evils of the luxury and excess of the house of Solomon, but we cannot begin there.  God had promised to make Solomon greater than any king on earth.  And this in a day when God was manifesting His glory through the earthly...

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Introduction: What do these three situations have in common: a pastor uses his hunting rifle to kill an abortion doctor; an Evangelist walks into a mosque and shouts out that Islam is idolatry; the parents of a teenager who has announced himself gay lose their tempers and verbally assault him calling a pervert and other things?  All three are right in a wrong way, all three have the truth but without love. Abortion is wrong, Islam is a false religion and homosexuality is a distortion of the way God made us, but we can be right in a wrong way.  This is what is going on in the Roman Church in the matter of the weak and strong. The strong are right, their theology is correct, but they are right in a wrong way.  

Talks from a conference in Palmerston North- Christ Sanctuary on Sola Fide- By Faith Alone. Question and Answer session featuring Jono Macfarlane, Ryan Vinten and Nick Clevely Ryan Vinten from Trinity Reformed Church in Hamilton. Nick Clevely from Covenant Grace Baptist Church in Timaru.

Talks from a conference in Palmerston North- Christ Sanctuary on Sola Fide- By Faith Alone. The first four minutes are an introduction and opening prayer by Jono Macfarlane Minutes 4:00-33:00 is Ryan’s talk: “Galatians and Sola Fide” Minutes 34:00-end is Nick’s talk: “The Nature of Justifying Faith” from Romans, Ryan Vinten from Trinity Reformed Church in Hamilton. Nick Clevely from Covenant Grace Baptist Church in Timaru.

Introduction: No Israelite apart from the priests would be able to enter the temple, and no priest but the High priest could enter the holy of holies, and that only once a year.  For this reason 1 Kings 6 would have been of special fascination to the Israelite. Never seeing it with their own eyes they would hang on the verbal descriptions.  Recognising the importance of the house and how each part had significance, the Israelite could ponder each part to gain more information about God.  They would have picked up on the fact that more attention os paid to the interior that the exterior.  We said last week that the house speaks of at least three aspects of God.  That He is a God of beauty, glory and holiness.  Today we continue looking at God’s glory and holiness.

Introduction: Phillip Ryken in his commentary on this portion points out that you can know a person by going through their house.  You can tell if they are rich, attracted to art, conservative, etc.  God’s house, the temple, tells us about God.  We have been looking at the interior parts of the temple, and now it is time to turn our attention to the interior.  The interior aspects of the temple will direct our attention to three things about God, He is a God beauty, glory and holiness.  Today we want to explore how God is a God of beauty thinking on the purpose of beauty, what clogs our ability to see it, and the various projects of beauty God has on the go.