Teaching for today

In this lecture Nick Needham focuses on Jeremiah 29:7: "Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Dr Needham helpfully draws out the parallels between the exiled Jews in Babylon and Christians today.

With so many challenges coming from science, education, politics, and popular culture, there is a danger that some Christians may get swept along by the cultural drift. What do we say to Christians who start to doubt what the Bible says on essential truths? How can the faithful believer retain confidence in what the Scriptures say on these issues? If we are saved through faith, does the presence of doubt imperil our very salvation?

Evangelicals rightly stress the glorious plan of salvation and the proclamation of the gospel. However, what exactly we are being saved for, beyond this life, is often regarded in the haziest manner. There must be something better and more exciting than floating on clouds and playing on harps ahead of us! Why are we so unclear about the nature of future glory? What should excite us about 'heaven'? What can we be confident about in that Life ahead? How should seeing the New Creation more clearly affect our thinking and behaviour in this present fallen world? It is time to penetrate Satan's smokescreen. It is time to regain a clearer sight of Glory.

The media and education loudly proclaim that we are a secular society. Sociologists tend to believe that affluence, universal education, scientific and medical advances mean there is no longer any need to believe in God. They say that secularisation and modernity have gone hand in hand. But how does this claim stand up to scrutiny? Has history been distorted to make secularisation theory more plausible? And has belief persisted in a way which undermines the cherished theory?

As Christians we are in the world but not of the world. But how do we engage with the culture of our day, if at all? Should we abandon, embrace or try to transform it? In 1951 American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr famously described five ways professing Christians have engaged with culture throughout history. In this talk we will use these five ways to better understand how we as Christians should engage with the wider culture.

Why do we 'work'? What does the Bible teach us about how our work fits into the wider picture of God's purposes for humanity? Does it matter what work we do? We will explore these questions, as well as current issues of pay, wealth, taxation and our responsibilities to others.

Whatever the Bible declares is true, whether people believe in it or not. While Christians need to realistically assess the level of opposition that they will encounter in the public arena, they also need to remember the utter reliability and truthfulness of God's Word, in whatever area it addresses, as well as God's common grace to all mankind and the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. We have every reason to be confident and not to lose heart.

Christian believers are often puzzled and distressed when they see the apparent triumph of evil over good. We wonder what God is doing when the ungodly prosper. This is a recurrent theme addressed in the Bible. This talk will look at the right approach for faithful believers to take. Satan wishes us to be depressed and discouraged but we must look to God and be strong.

What does it mean to be a Christian citizen in 21st Century Britain? What are the implications of the Gospel for our stance in the public square? Revd Ovey looks at how Christians should respond to our modern culture of entitlement and 'rights', in which so many, including the Government, do not submit to anyone higher than themselves. He explains how Christians need to understand why the Gospel is so precious, and where it is under threat.

Though we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, faith is never alone. As James says faith without works is dead. We have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling in whatever sphere of service in every sphere of life – in our jobs, family and society. That includes thinking Christianly about the ethical issues which face us and acting accordingly. Putting our faith into action will be costly but in so doing we will be bringing glory to Christ and having a disproportionate influence for good on those around us.