There seems to be so little time to stop and ask the BIG QUESTIONS. Questions about God, about our world, about our purpose and our future. At Adelaide Place Baptist Church we are taking some time to ponder, and we’d love it if you would ponder with us.

You are invited for six evenings of dinner and discussion.

There is no charge for this event. Please be our guest for a meal and then join us as we listen to a local speaker and gather into small groups to reflect on each evening’s topic.

When: Wednesdays from February to Mid-March 2010
Where: Meet at Yates’s at the corner of West George Stree and Renfield Street
Time: Meet a 6.00 to 6.30 evening finishes at 8.30

Information on speakers and topics to follow soon!

For more information or to RSVP please contact:
whatmatters@apbc.net

We look forward to welcoming you!

From my experience, church weekends have proven to be definitive events in the lives of many people from the very young to the not so young.

Already a good number of our folks have signed up for this and we are anticipating a full contingent of the fellowship to come.

We are delighted to welcome Alan Richardson back among us as our guest speaker at the weekend. Alan was once a member of the student youth group; he has since travelled the world, is married to Caroline and they have two young children Rebecca and Lucy. Alan is currently working as an accountant but studying Theology at Spurgeon’s College with whatever spare time he has. Alan was part of the preaching team that we once had at Adelaide Place and showed early signs of having a preaching gift and we look forward to hearing him now as he has matured both in thought and experience.

It will be a most memorable weekend and I am sure there will be lots of fun surprises during the course of these few days at Gartmore House.

It’s very simple, read one chapter per week for the next five weeks starting on the 20th of April

Contents:

This letter is a set of variations on two main themes: right faith and right conduct.

Prologue: 1:1-4, reality of incarnation

First Part – 1:5-2:27, the two main themes

1:5-2:17, walking in the light, warning against falling into sin; brotherly love is the proof of walking in the light

2:18-27, confession of Jesus as the Christ, attack on false teachers who teach otherwise.

Second Part – 2:28-4:6, the same themes continued

2:28-3:24, doing righteousness: the theme of brotherly love is expanded

4:1-6, Jesus Christ has truly come in the flesh

Third Part – 4:7-5:13, love and faith

4:7-21, love based on faith and…

5:1-13, …faith based on love are the marks of the true Christian

Conclusion – 5:14-21

Nature of the Writing:

As it lacks an address and final greetings, and as it has no personal references it is not truly a letter as it stands but more of a tract or short treatise intended for all Christians.

Purpose:

The author gives sharp warnings against heretical teaching that seems to be a general danger to the church rather than confined to a particular area. False teachers who have had their own spiritual experiences have arisen and denied that Jesus was the Son of God and that He came in the flesh. This was a variety of Christian Gnosticism, but it cannot be more closely defined with certainty. Many scholars suggest that the heresy was Cerinthianism ie the teaching of Cerinthus who lived at the end of the first century of Asia Minor. However, there is no trace of some of his distinctive doctrines, for example that the Christ was only temporarily joined with the man Jesus. It is a more developed Gnosticism, however, than the heresy attacked in Colossians, the Pastorals, Jude and 2 Peter, it includes wrong teaching about the person of Christ. In attacking the heresy the author uses terms that the heretics used and thought forms that are found in the Gospel of John.

Authorship:

There are clear similarities in language, style and thought with the Gospel of John, which has led most scholars to believe that they were by the same author. However, some have noted differences that lead them to propose a different author, though one who moved in the same circle of thought or was influenced by the Gospel. The arguments are:

Language: Some detailed differences in vocabulary have been noted. However I don’t think these are sufficient to prove another author, it is more plausible that it is the same author writing at different times.

Different Ideas: Examples. (1) future eschatology is emphasised (1 Jn 2:28, 3:2, 4:17) and (2) it is Jesus Christ, not the Holy Spirit who is described as the parakletos in 1 Jn 2:1. On the other hand (1) there are future eschatological references in the Gospel (Jn 5:29, 12:48, 14:3) and (2) Christ is referred to indirectly as a parakletos in Jn 4:16. The earliest tradition says that the evangelist was the author of 1 John and there is little reason to doubt it. The range of opinions is therefore the same as for the Gospel: there is no conclusive reason why John the apostle should not have written it, though some support John the Elder and some say the author is unknown.

Date and place of Writing:

It is not possible to say whether the Gospel or Letter was written first, but they were certainly written around the same time. The usual date is in the period 90-100. There is no tradition or other indication of the place of writing, though it may well have been the same as for the Gospel, traditionally Ephesus. However, Antioch in Syria and Alexandria have also been suggested.

There is very little written about this Saturday (although there was an excellent reflectoin given on this Holy Saturday at the 3 hour service yesterday at Glasgow Cathedral). Jesus is in the tomb, Jesus is dead. The disciples won’t be sure and the grieving process begins.

Contradt this with the celebration of tomorrow when is Christ is risen, thanks be to God.

Good Friday is a name that needs some explanation. How is it good? Who is it good for? It wasn’t good for Jesus who suffered the most horrific death, so brutal even the Romans eventually abolished crucifixion. It wasn’t good for Jesus who endured a sham of a trial before a coward after being betrayed by a member of His inner circle. It wasn’t good to die in pain.

But it was good for us as humanity. It was good that God decided to let someone else take our sin upon Himself. It is good for us that we don’t have to pay the price for our own sin, something that we could never do. It is good for us that we can go before a Holy God with confidence because of what one man did. When God looks at us He sees the blood shed by Jesus at the crucifixion, not the sin that pollutes our relationship with God. This day is the most momentous in history, apart from Sunday coming of course.

Today is the best day in the Christian calendar for devotional meditation. There is opportunity to go on walks of witness and to go to three or six hour services that consider the various words of Jesus when He was on the cross. It is sad to me that Christians don’t sometimes bother with going to church on this day when this day matters so much. It shows a lack of understanding of what this day means. It means everything. It makes me even sadder that I have to explain to people what Good Friday is, but at the same time I am glad because it lets me tell others about this wonderful man Jesus. All the better because people now have little preconceived ideas about what church is like.

Jesus dies for us this day, thanks be to God.

There is so much that can be written about Maundy Thursday. The Last Supper, Jesus talking with His disciples, the betrayal and arrest. The whole Maundy Thursday story is one that deserves and repays close, meditative reading. Reading the text slowly transports you and allows you to look in on that time and imagine the smells, the looks on people’s faces, the noise coming from Jerusalem as the Passover feast begins. It would have been quite a place to be. Try and do that, or watch one of the many movies that has these scenes and see it how it has been done and let fire your imagination and wonder.

I mentioned Jesus Christ Superstar yesterday. I remember when I saw this musical for the first time. The Last Supper is the opening number of the second act and it is followed by Jesus singing a solo in the Garden of Gesthemane. I’ve seen the Passion of the Christ, The Greatest Story Ever Told and others but I think in Jesus Christ Superstar the composer of the  music, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and particularly the lyricist, Tim Rice, captured the scene in a most remarkable way. It can’t replace careful meditation on the Gospel text, nothing can or should but if you get the chance have a listen to what is said in Jesus Christ Superstar.

I think it was so remarkable because there was an intentional decision to focus upon the humanity of Jesus. When I read the story in Mark’s Gospel of the Garden of Gesthemane I see a truly remarkable human being in pain and in suffering. I think Jesus showed amazing superhuman strength, maybe it was adrenaline, maybe it was His divinity, but He kept going, He was awake when all others were asleep and were struggling. So compounded with fatigue Jesus cries to the Father to let the cup pass Him by.  He pleaded, He prayed but He must have known Himself it would all be for nothing and that He would be faithful to His task.

Jesus knew He had to suffer for our sake, He knew the betrayer was approaching. Did He want Simon Peter and John to be awake so that He might be saved? What would a lesser man have done? Jesus didn’t shirk His responsibilities and give up on His mission. He knew that in the end it would come to this. Betrayed, arrested and tomorrow facing trial in the biggest miscarriage of justice ever recorded.

Ask yourself the question, what would you have done? Then be grateful and give thanks for what Jesus did today and think about what happens tomorrow.

The liturgy focuses on the Old Testament on this day, particularly Isaiah 49: 1-7. In this passage the Lord’s Servant is commissioned. As I reflect upon these words I realise that none of what happened in Holy Week is a surprise to Jesus or God the Father. God has the advantage of an eternal perspective so for Him there is no history. But there is for us. When we see some of the language used in Isaiah 49 we can see Jesus clearly in the text. Reflect upon these words today.

A little historical background. It is generally accepted that there are two Isaiah’s. 1 Isaiah is up to chapter 39 and 2 Isaiah is chapter 40 onwards. 2 Isaiah was written after Israel was exiled by the Babylonians. To see how they felt about this take a look at Psalm 137. The people felt abandoned by God, that He had broken His promise to them. In actual fact this exile was the most productive and creative period in the history of Israel. The people were given hope by the words of the prophet, that God wasn’t finished with Israel. Just like the Easter story reminds us that God isn’t finished with us either. So on this day Jesus rested. He would need it for what happens tomorrow.