Evangelical Students Conference

On the weekend I gave 6 talks on the Sermon on the Mt at the Evangelical Student Conference. It covers 3 university campus and their student ministries. It was a great time which really opened my mind to some of the amazing work the staff workers are doing. It was also a real eye opener for me in terms of the people that I met. Culturally very diverse and as it was interdenominational that also gave it a really exciting edge!

The campsite was nestled in the hills out the back of Stellenbosch. It was pretty stunning.

Meet Paul. He is from the DRC. He has only been in SA about a year and was really encouraging about the talks. He made himself part of our 'classic memories' package because when he heard that Hayley had arrived on camp he went to find her. When he did he ran up whistling & shouting, 'Mrs Scott! Mrs Scott!' Then after his curiosity was satisfied he ran back to me, slapped me on the back and said, "your wife is VERY beautiful!!"

Good man that.

On the left is Fritz - Campus director at UCT. On my right is Kurd, a new apprentice working with Fritz. They are both lengends and both still undersupported. If you are looking to give - let me know and we can hook you up with them.

Just a little taste of the winelands that surrounded the campsite. It's a pretty nice time of the year out there.

Bread

Yup, we're baking our own bread!

Nice eh?

I'm also eating fruit for b'fast.

Wow. Crazy times.

Conclusion

This is the conclusion to the sermon that has been occupying the last few posts.

Easter has become a victim of the calendar.

It gets locked into the end of term school holidays and gets camouflaged by chocolate eggs and special church services. We know it’s important, but we resign ourselves to the fact that life moves on, and so Easter becomes a quiet suburban cul-de-sac rather than an on ramp to the freeway. In other words it becomes an annual ‘dead end’ rather than the starting point for an exciting journey.

Think about it this way:

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in ’69 many thought that the space race was all wrapped up.

But even though that was without a doubt the defining event in space exploration, it turned out to only be the end of the beginning.

The space race took its queue from 1969 and has expanded in ways that people could only imagine.

· There were 6 other manned moon landings by the USA

· In the 80’s the Star Wars program introduced missile shooting satellite and space station as the new strategy in warfare.

· In 2005 we had a successful probe landing on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn.

· And now we are racing into Space tourism with Richard Brandson’s ‘Virgin Galactic’ claiming that they will take passengers up for zero gravity pleasure cruises by 2010.

Jesus wants us to see Easter in the same way.
Easter is to Christians what the moon landing was to the space race.
Only the end of the beginning.
And so we are to take our queue from Easter and think of it not as an end in itself, but as the invitation to pick up where Jesus left off.

He is Risen, but not gone

This was part of a sermon from Matt 28. To catch up, read the last few posts.

And lastly, Easter will outlive the holidays because even though Jesus has risen, he is not gone.

When Jesus says, ‘Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’ He is saying: Risen does not mean absent.

When the angel’s message to the women was that Jesus is not present in the tomb, but present in Galilee!

But these words of Jesus have even more bite to them if we read them together with the rest of the great commission.

Ever had a non Christian friend say to you, ‘If you can SHOW me Jesus, then I’ll think about taking him seriously.’ It’s something we find hard isn’t it?

But in what way is Jesus ‘here’ even though he is risen?

Or, in what sense do people ‘meet’ Jesus as we go to all the nations?
In Ch 28: There are 3 ways;

· They will meet Jesus’ authority as the Easter story is retold. ALL authority has been given to me. My death and resurrection testify to that.

· Matthew also says that they WILL meet Jesus’ flesh and blood here on earth. People like you and me whom have already responded to Jesus’ call to follow him. Is it true to say that when people meet you, they get to meet Jesus? It can be if we decide to let Easter prepare us for life after the holidays.

· And it’s also fair to say that people will meet Jesus through his words as we teach them and commend others to obey.

The way that Easter out lives the holidays is through the fact that even though Jesus is physically in heaven right now, he is still active in this world as we seek to make disciples.

Get Working

This is part of a Easter Sermon. First, read the passage and the last 2 posts below.



Jesus also reveals in Matt 28, that for Easter to outlive the holidays we must see that while His work is finished, Easter means that our work has just begun.

It might sound a bit funny to put it this way but after 33 years on earth, Jesus left a lot of loose ends. A lot of unfinished business.

He secured salvation for the whole world but he never left his backyard.
He left that responsibility for you and for me.

There is an emphasis in how Matthew wrote these words. The main verb, is ‘make disciples’. The other verbs in the sentence, the words ‘go’, ‘baptize’ and ‘teach’ are all servants to the imperative ‘make disciples’.



Let’s start with baptize.

On one level I think it is ok to take this at face value, to be baptized is a great and biblical symbol of new birth.
However, it is quite likely that Jesus is using the word ‘baptism’ as shorthand here to say that making disciples is about bringing people to repentance.

Do you remember John the Baptist at the start of the gospel account?


We are told that John came with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John was not concerned so much with the water, he wanted people to turn from their sin so they could turn to follow Jesus. Baptism was the symbol of repentance, of doing a complete 180 so that you would stop worshipping yourself and start worshipping God.

Our work is not finished until we call all nations to repentance.

Another element Jesus mentions in ‘disciple making’ is to teach them to obey everything Jesus had taught his first disciples.


Making disciples is not just about conversion. It’s about growing them in obedience to the words of Christ. Jesus it seems, is not as worried about quantity as he is about quality. If we want to be serious about making disciples of all nations, and making disciples of ourselves, then we will feed off the words of Jesus, not just for knowledge, but primarily for obedience.

Our work is not finished until we teach all nations to live in obedience to Jesus.

And then of course is that little word ‘go’.


Because the scope of Jesus command is so wide – all nations – it’s not surprising that we will have to go if we are to apply Easter as Jesus commands us to. So whether you go to China or go to your university, going is unavoidable is you want to make disciples for Christ. It won’t happen by osmosis – we as individuals and we as a church will have to get off our backsides and ‘go’ for it.

Our work is not finished until we go.



Last point to come

Jesus is for everyone

This Read the passage and the intro below.

The first way that Easter outlives the holidays, is becuase Easter makes Jesus avalible for everyone.

It’s hard for us to imagine, but before the first Easter, Jesus and his gospel were not accessible to many people at all. Not because they didn’t have email and cell phones to spread the message, but because Jesus and his gospel was really only for Jewish people. If you were a gentile (a non Jew) then Jesus and what he had to offer was more or less out of reach. The coming of the kingdom of God was an announcement and invitation, first and foremost for Israel.

And yet the most famous words Jesus spoke after His Easter work had been completed were:

‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, so go and make disciples of all nations.’ ALL NATIONS

It is Easter that makes Christianity an international, multiracial and multicultural religion.
Easter is the reason you don’t have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian.

Easter bursts the bubble of the Jewish priority during Jesus' 33 earthly years.

More to come

Scott

Easter is over

Here is the first of a few post from a sermon I gave last Sunday.

To get started, read Matthew Ch 28:16-20

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Easter is all over.

And after you have recovered from the chocolate high, and after the public holidays have faded, if you are anything like me, you sit back and you ask yourself, is that it? Easter all done for another year?

Well, as far as Matthew is concerned, the Easter story doesn’t end with the resurrection. The conclusion, or as I’m going to suggestion, the application of Easter is what we read in Matt 28:16-20.

Ponder this moment from WWII:

By 1942 General

Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps had the run of Egypt. But by October, Montgomery with an army double the size of Rommel’s, were ready to take it back. Thus began the famed Battle of El Alamein. After 2 weeks of fighting Montgomery had won the battle, 30,000 German troops had surrendered, and the awesome Rommel was made to look mortal. It was the first major victory by British Commonwealth forces over the German Army. Along with Hitler’s defeat at Stalingrad, the battle of Alamein was a turning point in WWII.

Here is what Winston Churchill had to say:

"The Germans have received back again that measure of fire and steel which they have so often meted out to others. Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

Matthew wants us to see that Easter is not the beginning of the end,

but just the end of the beginning.

And so I want us to read Ch 28:16-20 as:

‘How Easter will outlive the holidays’

More to come.

Scott

PS: Thanks Richardt for the quote!

12

I have just seen a great movie, a movie that got to me.

But you'll be surprised what it was.

'Cheaper by the dozen'

Yup, the Steve Martin flick where he and his wife have 12 kids. (And it's got a great character which Ashton Kutcher does to perfection). It's a comedy, heart warming great movie. I was surprised. (I love Steve Martin, but I was expecting a Disney puke fest)

Here is why you should watch this movie and what it did for me.

1. It torpedoed the myth that if I work harder (longer hours, more stress) to provide more for my family, they will be better off. I find it hard to beleive that people still buy into this, but I have recently discovered that they do, big time. This was a refreshingly Christian message to get from a mainstream movie.

2. It encouraged me to not feel intimated by others when it comes to family. If you're on a good wicket, thank God for it and live it to the max. Don't listen to the detractors who try to lure you back to their highway of mediocrity.

But perhaps most importantly . . .

3. It reminded me of the joy of selflessness. Of giving up yourself for others. In a family of 12, that was the road they had chosen. And I know it is just a silly movie, but man, it had me at 'hello'. I was sold again on the message I first recieved from the scriptures (and my own parents) that to give yourself fully to others is the only way to get true freedom from self. As Jesus says, if you want it all, you gotta give it all away.

Make no mistake, it is a risk to do this. It is completely counter intuative. To others it will make no sense. Maybe not even to yourself, but it is truly a beautiful thing.

After the movie ended, Hayley and I re committed ourselves to selfless living. We had to do that becuase we are not very good at it. But we are learning, and we are now a little more hungry for it, and 'Cheaper by the Dozen' was a great inspiration.

Not bad for a Steve Martin flick eh?
Make sure you watch it soon.

Scott