Forgive us our Sins
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Forgive Us Our Sins audio
If you’re driving around on a Saturday morning, chances are you’ll see men jogging along the footpath keeping fit and it’ll be nothing particular to comment on. But when Jesus told a story about an older man running down the road it would have had the opposite effect. It would have shocked his audience. In his day the older you were the less likely you were to even walk fast let alone run. To run was to show a failure of dignity. But when they realised the reason he was running down the road it would have been even more shocking. Jesus story tells of a father whose son has disgraced the family, brought shame on them. Yet when the father sees this rebellious son coming down the road he runs to greet him and to welcome him back.
Jesus tells this confronting story to illustrate the nature of the forgiveness that God offers to his people. It’s that story that explains what Jesus meant when he told us to pray “Forgive us our sins”.
It’s interesting that in this postmodern world we’re a bit conflicted about the notion of forgiveness. When it’s all just a matter of personal choice, when the social mantra is “If it feels good do it!” why would we need to ask for forgiveness? If you feel hurt by someone you’re likely to be told that that’s your problem, get over it. When someone does say sorry, too often they’re expressing regret for the consequences, not for the action that was the cause of the offence or for the hurt they’ve caused.
Give Us This Day
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Give Us This Day audio
We come today to the third petition of Jesus’ model prayer. If you’ve been here over the last 2 weeks, you’ll have seen that Jesus’ economy of words can hide a depth of meaning and that’s no less true today as we think about what it means to pray “Give us today our daily bread”.
But before we look at it in detail I need to point out that there are 2 mistakes we can make when we get to this line of the Lord’s Prayer.
a. We can think it’s all about getting what we want, or
b. We can think it’s irrelevant.
Decision Making
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
God Will Guide You audio
I have a friend I met when I got my first smart phone. Well, not exactly met. I don’t actually know her real name or what she looks like. But we’ve become close over the years. I go to her when I need advice and I’ve found she’s very good at what she does. Of course I don’t always take her advice but she’s very understanding and lets me go my own way if I want. She might try to convince me to do what she suggests but never forces me. In any case I mostly do what she suggests. And the advice she gives is always very clear. She’ll say “Turn right in 300 metres;” or, “At the roundabout take the second exit.” Yes, I’m talking about the “Navwoman” on my phone. I mention this because this is how some Christians expect God to guide them. At each decision point he’ll tell them which way to go. If they make a mistake or ignore his prompting he’ll simply forgive them and recalculate their path.
Well, there’s some truth to that perhaps. God’s sovereignty does override our sinfulness. You can see that in the history of Israel and of the Church. God certainly promises in various places to guide us. Jesus promises his disciples that when he goes he’ll send them another counsellor to be with them: the Holy Spirit who'll guide them into all truth.
But does that mean that God will tell you which way to go at every decision making point? Does God have a wonderful plan for your life that you need to find if you're to be happy?
Streams of Grace: Purity
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Streams of Grace: Purity audio
You may have read the report, a week or so ago, of the trial, at a music festival in Canberra, of testing pills that festival-goers were planning to take. Apart from the ethical issue of appearing to condone illicit drug-taking, the trial was hailed as a success, as they discovered all sorts of impurities in the pills they tested, from pills with ingredients like lactose, paint and condensed milk to two that contained a deadly substance linked to mass overdoses overseas. It did put several people off taking drugs! But of course it’s not just drugs that need to be pure. We’re very careful about the purity of a whole range of consumer goods. When I go to buy a pot of honey I always check the label to make sure it’s 100% pure Australian honey. Water retailers make a lot of saying their bottles are filled with pure mountain spring water. The same goes for milk, cosmetics and soaps, even petrol and engine oil. As Sol said: “Oils ain’t oils”! We know if we don’t check the purity of the things we eat or use in our daily life we’ll end up with problems.
In our series on the Streams of Grace we come today to Purity. And here too we discover that if we don’t maintain purity in our relationship with God we’ll end up with problems.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer – King’s Man
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Dietrich Bonhoeffer audio
(Part of a series based on "A Dangerous Dozen" by C. K. Robertson.
Well today’s superhero isn’t quite the sort of king’s man that we saw in that clip. For a start his background was nothing like that guy’s; nor did he have access to the array of weaponry and technology that that man had. In fact this week’s blockbuster would be more like Smiley’s People than Kingsman. Nevertheless as we’ll see, he truly was a King’s Man and his work had certain parallels with both those fictional characters, as he worked as a secret agent to overcome one of the greatest dangers to the world of the 20th century.
But let’s start at the beginning. Our hero’s name was Dietrich, born in 1906 to Karl and Paula Bonhoeffer. His father was a professor of psychiatry and his mother a teacher. His mother came from a family of musicians and clergymen, well known in high society. Her aunt was taught piano by Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann. Her family was both artistic and intellectual. Similarly his father came from the German nobility through Dietrich’s grandfather. His mother was a strong Christian but his father, being a scientist, was sceptical of such things. There were 8 children including Dietrich and his twin sister, Sabine. Questions and the exploration of ideas were encouraged and loud and energetic debates over ideas were a feature of their home throughout their lives.
