The new lockdown in England, while it (and the pandemic itself) brings great hardship, is a great opportunity for the church to proclaim the gospel. (Thread) /
Christ brings hope in the face of despair; life in the face of death; joy in the face of mourning; blessing in the face of hardship; delight in the face of disappointment; good in the face of evil. So hard times are always the right time to proclaim Christ. /
The main evangelistic event, the centrepoint of our witness to the world, is the worship of God's gathered people, the church. And praise God, he has moved our government to permit gathered worship to continue. /
At the same time, many of the other things in life which people enjoy doing - both good and bad - have been put on hold. We are going to be in a situation where the church is the enjoyable thing on offer - apart from work - to leave home for. /
We should see this as a great opportunity: to invite people to come to church, to hear of, to witness, and in time to experience the joy of meeting with God the Father in the name of the Son in the power of the Spirit. /
We may never again have an opportunity when there are so many people made aware of their need for life to mean more, and so few other competing distractions to the gospel on offer. /
Of course this requires us to be careful to continue to take appropriate precautions to manage the risk of Covid spread, both to repay the trust placed in us by the government and to give people confidence to come. /
But it's a wonderful opportunity, for which we should thank God and of which we should make the most.
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A thread on the UK Lockdown and the theology of church and state, in which I argue that we do not need the permission of the state before we hold church services.
The church and the state hold separate commissions from Christ, to proclaim and apply the gospel and the law respectively.
I wrote about this a couple of years ago, not imagining that we would be in a situation where the state has banned churches from meeting. wp.me/p7cGbU-2E
We only appreciate how very very big God is when we think of him as very very small. Here's why - from Mary's song, the Magnificat (Thread).
Mary's poem (Luke 1:46-55) is all about 'magnifying' the Lord: not making him bigger, for that cannot be, but (like looking at a galaxy through a telescope) expanding his size in our hearts and minds so that our thoughts of him get a little nearer to who he really is.
Mary spoke of God's greatness in classic Biblical terms: his power in defeating the powerful and evil, his mercy towards those who fear him, his faithfulness to his covenant. The Old Testament supplies many examples of these things. God is indeed very very big.
Sinclair Ferguson: if the children of believers aren't included in the new covenant promise, it doesn't even qualify as a covenant. Why not? My summary of his argument: (Thread)
God created mankind with particular blessing on marriage and children. This blessing is included in the covenant he made with Adam in Eden.
The satanic attack on man and his sinful response issued in the covenant curses of Eden, which particularly applied to these two blessings: the marriage relationship, and the bearing of children.