A question of vision.

A question of vision.
John Stott's Bible Speaks Today : The Message of Sermon on the Mount pg 156

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Matthew 6: 21-23

Jesus turns from the comparative durability of the 2 treasures to the comparative benefit to be derived from 2 conditions. The contrast now is between a blind person and a sighted person, and so between the light and darkness in which they respectively live. THe eye is the lamp of the body. This is not literal, of course, as if the eye were a kind of window letting light into the body, but it is a readily intelligible figure of speech. ALmost everything the body does depends on our ability to see. We need to see in order to run,jump, drive a car, cross a road, cook, embroider, paint. The eye, as it were, 'illuminates' what the body does through its hands and feet... A sighted person walks in the light, while a blind person is in darkness. And the great difference between the light and the darkness of the body is due to this small but intricate organ, the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be fill of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. In total blindness, the darkness is complete.

All this is factual description . But it is also metaphorical. Not infrequently in Scripture the eye is equivalent to the heart. That is to 'set the heart' and to 'fix the eye' on something are synonyms. One example may be enough, from Psalm 119. In v.10 the psalmist writes: 'With my whole heart i seek thee; let me not wander from thy commandments,' and in v.19, 'i have fixed my eyes on all thy commandments.' Similarly, here in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus passes from the importance of having our heart in the right place(21) to the importance of having our eye sound and healthy.

The argument seems to go like this: just as our eye affects our whole body, so our ambition (where we fix our eyes and heart) affects our whole life. Just as a seeing eye gives light to the body, so a noble and singleminded ambition to serve God and man adds meaning to life and throw light on everything we do. Again, just as blindness leads to darkness, so an ignoble and selfish ambition(eg. to lay up treasures for ourselves on earth) plunges us into moral darkness. it makes us intolerant, inhuman, ruthless and deprives life of all ultimate significance.

It is all a question of vision. If we have physical vision, we can see what we are doing and where we are going. So too if we have spiritual vision, if our spiritual perspective is correctly adjusted, then our life is filled with purpose and drive. But if our vision becomes clouded by the false gods of materialism, and we lose our sense of values, then our whole life is in darkness and we cannot see where we are going. Perhaps the emphasis lies even more strongly than i have so far suggested on the loss of vision caused by covetousness, because according to biblical thought an 'evil eye' is a niggardly, miserly spirit, and a 'sound' one is generous. At all events Jesus adds this new reason for laying up treasure in heaven. THe first was its greater durability; the second the resulting benefit now on earth of such a vision.

1 Samuel 18: Bitterness

ONE OF THE darkest times in my life was when I allowed bitterness to root and grow in my heart. I was hurt. I refused to forgive or to risk being hurt again. My whole person was becoming engulfed by this monstrous plant that was growing inside of me. Others were defiled by it. If I had continued to disobey God in this way, I would have been destroyed.

Saul, ancient Israel's first king, knew those feelings. They were directed toward David, a young man from the hill country. David had changed the course of a forty-day stand-off with the Philistine army by singlehandedly killing their giant leader. Suddenly, all the people were praising this boy from the sheep pastures. Rumor had it that David would someday be king.

Warming Up to God
How do you usually respond when you are afraid that someone or something important to you will be taken away?

Read 1 Samuel 18. »
Discovering the Word

What causes can you find for Saul's hostile feelings?

Often, if not always, behind anger is fear. What specifically was Saul afraid of (vv. 8,12, 15, 28)?

How was Saul affected by the bitterness that he allowed to grow within himself?

What do you think is the difference between anger and bitterness?

What evidence is there that the problem became not only an emotional but a spiritual battle (vv. 10, 12, 28)?

What warnings do we get from this passage about the destructive nature of bitterness?

Applying the Word
Think about a time when you were bitter. What were you afraid of?

How was your relationship with others affected?

How was your relationship with God affected?

Responding in Prayer
Ask God to help you recognize the fears and/or anger in you that could lead to bitterness. Ask him to make you sensitive to those fears in others.

The Golden Canon

2008 Leadership Book Awards.
posted 12/26/2008



Charles Spurgeon counseled his students to be discriminating about what they read, and to bathe in good books "until they saturate you." He said, "A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books merely skimmed." But which books to choose? Each year in ministry, leaders find there are more books to read and less time to read them. That is why Leadership is presenting the ten books of 2008 deemed most valuable for church leaders. The titles were compiled from submissions by a diverse group of more than 100 pastors from across the country. Our contributing editors then voted to determine the winners in two categories: The Leader's Inner World, and The Leader's Outer World. We hope this canon contributes to your development as both a follower of Christ and a leader of his church. And yes, we know canon means "list" and not "artillery," but we still liked the image.

THE LEADER'S OUTER WORLD
The Reason for God
Belief in an age of skepticism by Tim Keller (Dutton)
"Tim Keller models for pastors how to thoughtfully and winsomely respond to the most common questions that people ask." –Rich Nathan

Also recommended:

Culture Making
Recovering our creative calling
by Andy Crouch (IVP)

"This book transcends the twin perils of Christian cultural engagement, lament and mimicry, with a wise and bold call to fully live out our creational mandate and go make something." –Mark Buchanan

Axiom
Powerful leadership proverbs
by Bill Hybels (Zondervan)

"This book truly helps Christians become more skilled leaders by offering practical wisdom that can be readily applied." –Sarah Sumner

Consuming Jesus
Beyond race and class divisions in a consumer church
by Paul Louis Metzger (Eerdmans)

"Consuming Jesus sounds the death knell for a paradigm of church growth driven by the homogeneous unit principle and that measures success by numbers, dollars, and buildings." –Mark DeYmaz

Church Unique
How missional leaders cast vision, capture culture, and create movement
by Will Mancini (Jossey-Bass)

"Remissionalizing established churches can be rough going. If leaders are to successfully steer through the spiritual, cultural, and institutional challenges of the 21st century, they will need help. Will Mancini is a savvy navigator and Church Unique is an impressive blueprint for renewal." –Alan Hirsch

THE LEADER'S INNER WORLD
Surprised by Hope
Rethinking heaven, the resurrection, and the mission of the church
by N.T. Wright (HarperOne)
"Engaging the mind and soul, Surprised by Hope is an invigorating read that places the mission of the church within the massive context of God's redeeming work through the resurrection of Christ." -David Swanson

Also recommended:

The Jesus Way
A conversation on the ways that Jesus is the Way
by Eugene Peterson (Eerdmans)

"Eugene Peterson has a way of asking pointed questions but allowing the answers to surface conversationally, much like Jesus. Peterson lives what he writes, which means his tough questions come attached with redemptive motives." –Clark Cothern

The Attentive Life
Discerning God's presence in all things
by Leighton Ford (IVP)

"The school of spiritual formation is in session in the mundane rhythms of life, and Ford reveals how the Spirit intends to shape us through our attentiveness to God's movements in our ordinary life." –Matt Tebbe

Life with God
Reading the Bible for spiritual transformation
by Richard Foster (HarperOne)

"Foster helps us apply the Bible on a deeper level. He teaches us to read the Bible for transformation not just information. It should fill our lives and not just our brains." –Benny Perez

Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor
The life and reflections of Tom Carson
by D.A. Carson (Crossway)

"In an age when pastors are told that in order to be successful we must seek power, recognition, and status, Carson shows us that God defines success in terms of giving, not taking; self-sacrifice, not self-indulgence; going to the back, not getting to the front." –Tullian Tchividjian

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal.
Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal

THE NEW TESTAMENT DOCUMENTS Are they Reliable? By F. F. BRUCE,

Hi Andrew... here's the link that i talked about.. FF Bruce writes on issues with regards to canonicity...

THE NEW TESTAMENT DOCUMENTS
Are they Reliable?
By F. F. BRUCE,

http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/ffbruce/ntdocrli/ntdocont.htm

Psalm 146: The Source of Hope

Here's the study that we did on monday at NUS law school ... for jeremy's information.

Psalm 146: The Source of Hope
"MY OWN MOM and Dad failed me," Linda said in her support group meeting. "Then my marriage fell apart. And then my health fell apart. Life has always been hard. I don't see why I should expect it to ever get any better. If anything, it will probably get worse. How is it possible for me to have hope?"

The Bible teaches that there is more to the story of our lives than our experiences of loss and disappointment. The planet may be fallen, but it is not forsaken by God. God is actively present in our lives, bringing gifts of life and joy into the midst of our darkness. We can dare to hope because of who God is.

Warming Up to God
In what area of life is it hard for you to find hope?

Read Psalm 146. »
Discovering the Word
How does this psalm contrast the experience of hoping in God with the experience of hoping in people?

The psalmist mentions eight kinds of circumstances that might seem hopeless. List these situations/conditions and the reasons why they might seem hopeless.

Describe how God responds to people in each of these situations.

What do these responses from God to people in hopeless situations suggest to you about God's character?

Applying the Word

Which of the eight images of hopelessness do you most strongly relate to at this time? Explain.

Take a few minutes and allow yourself to picture God responding to you in the way this text describes God's response. What thoughts and feelings do you have in response to this image of God's care for you?

Responding in Prayer
What would you like to say to God who is the source of your hope?

Some stuff about Matthew

Hi folks,
it has been a while since there are posts here... and i discovered something about Matthew worth sharing...

Each of the four Gospels highlights or foregrounds things that distinguish it from the others. Matthew’s Gospel is written for the Jews, stressing Jesus as King and as the fulfillment of OT prophecy. It has apocalyptic and ecclesiastical interests as well. The arrangement of material bears the imprint of an orderly mind and a penchant for tidy organization and grouping, traits in keeping with the tradition that the author was Matthew the tax collector and bookkeeper.

The most important feature of the book’s structure is its arrangement on a principle of alternating sections of narrative and discourse, with the two loosely related in each unit, as follows: narrative of Jesus’ early years (Mt 1–4) and his inaugural demands for those who wish to live in the kingdom of God (the Sermon on the Mount in Mt 5–7); the miracles of Jesus as he travels about (Mt 8–9) and the discourse about how his disciples are to conduct themselves on their travels (Mt 10); Jesus’ conflicts with the Jews (Mt 11–12) and his parables about entering the kingdom (Mt 13); experiences with the disciples as the core of the new community (Mt 14–17) and a discourse about the duties of discipleship within the new community (Mt 18); events surrounding Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem (Mt 19–23) and eschatological instruction (the Olivet Discourse in Mt 24–25); the events of Passion Week, ending with the resurrection (Mt 26–28).

While it is speculative to ascribe the five-part arrangement of discourses to a conscious imitation of the five books of the Pentateuch (though this would fit the Jewish orientation of the Gospel), the convenience of the scheme (perhaps an aid to the memory of new converts being instructed) is unmistakable. One can count off the five discourses on the fingers of one’s hand, each one answering a question. The question of how citizens of the kingdom are supposed to live is answered by the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5–7). The question of how disciples are to conduct their travels is answered by the missionary discourse on servanthood (Mt 10). Those wanting to know what parables Jesus told about entering the kingdom will find some of them collected into a single chapter (Mt 13). The question of how disciples should live with each other finds an answer in the discourse about humility and forgiveness (Mt 18). The question of how it will all end receives its answer in the Olivet Discourse on the end of the age (Mt 24–25). The tidiness of the arrangement is highlighted by the way each of these sections ends with the formula “when Jesus had finished these sayings” [543] (see Mt 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1).