“Float the B-Doctrines on a raft of A-Doctrines” (Tim Keller)

We tend as Christians not to know what to do with non-Christians other than to say; “You’re wrong“. There are an awful lot of sermons that go like that. Here’s how the sermon goes; “We believe this and this. You out there in the world around us don’t believe this and this. We are right. You are nowhere near right. Let us pray. And we pray that the Holy Spirit will convict you through my words as negative and as blunt as they are”.

There’s another way to go here! Every culture has got some things that they appreciate about Christianity and some things they hate about Christianity. The attractive parts are A-Doctrines and the unattractive doctrines are B-Doctrines. Both are true. If you want to preach B-Doctrines in a way that is disarming and engaging then you have got to float the B-Doctrines on a raft of A-Doctrines. If you put the stones together in a river they will sink.

Timothy J. Keller, ‘Preaching the Gospel’ (Newfrontiers Leaders Conference at Westminster Chapel, February 25, 2009), Cited 12 Aug 2010, Online: http://vimeo.com/3484464.

Jesus Loves Gays

Jesus loves gays. He does. Some gays don’t believe it. Some homophobes don’t believe it. But it’s true.

He loves gays more than gays love gays. He loves gays more than gays love being gay. And he loves gays more than homophobes love hating gays. Simply, Jesus loves gays. (John 3:16)

Parents, friends, family, governments, businesses, schools and churches have at times failed to love gays. Jesus never has. And Jesus never will.

There is old folk song we sing at Vine Church called ‘Here is Love’, which is about the limitless love of Jesus.

Here is love vast as the ocean
Loving kindness as the flood.
When the prince of life, our ransom
shed for us His precious blood.

Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

The beauty of the love of Jesus is that it is unlimited, unmerited, and unconditional. He loves us the way a good father loves their children, for we are all children of our Father in heaven. This is the good news which the story of Jesus speaks about.

God’s unconditional love for me doesn’t mean He approves of everything I think, do, or say. Every parent knows the difference. The problem with gays and straights is the way we look to our romances, or our work, or family, or possessions or something else, to give our lives meaning, to justify and save us, to give us what we should be looking for from God. It is not that we desire good things, but that we make good things into ultimate things. This idolatry leads to anxiety, obsessiveness, envy, and resentment. But the love of Christ, which we see in the story of his death for us, invites us to become part of a new story. This story is not one we write in order to give our lives meaning, or to justify or save us. This story is one which God is telling, and which justifies, saves and gives meaning to our lives because that is what our God gives his children. God accepts his children and provides a future full of hope. This story of love is not only our only chance for forgiveness, but our only hope for freedom. For what you love ends up owning you. And so we become slaves to our relationships, or slaves to our work, or slaves to our possessions. But there is a love, which when it ends up owning you, bestows liberating freedom, true meaning, and genuine salvation. (Matthew 11:29)

A friend of mine recently tweeted a photo of this T-Shirt with a guy bending his arm to try and steal love from a vending machine. Another friend replied, ‘u can’t buy or earn love! U also can’t steal it. It’s a gift!!!!’

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

(Eph 2:8–9)

Why not talk to a Christian friend and ask them what the love of Jesus means to them. Also you could read: Tim Keller, How Can I Know God.

‘Coolness’ by Thierry Geoffroy

COOLNESS

Coolness is a state.

A smoothie.

A piece of luxury.

A feeling-proof jacket.

Une aureole.

Coolness is being not affected by anything.

Of a state of not being exposed to shakings.

Of a state of not sweating.

Or freezing.

But comfort.

To be in a constant state of self satisfaction.

Regardless of what ever happens.

Regardless of what ever appears.

Coolness is a state of indifference.

Coolness is a protection from suicide.

Coolness is an aggressive form of apathy.

Coolness is a form of scorn

against any form of passion.

Coolness is the opposition of any form of involvement.

Like a vibration without any radiation.

Like a shaking without any waves.

A distance.

Coolness sounds positive.

And looks good.

Feels quick and sharp.

Like a cliché.

Coolness is an invention of the power.

Coolness is the affirmation of power as an active state of apathy.

Une culture d’apathy.

Fertile.

Contagious.

Coolness is the opposite of being offended.

Coolness is the opposite of being affected.

Coolness is the opposite of being devastated.

Coolness is a suppression of the horror we all know about.

Coolness is the feeling of survival as self-maintainance.

Coolness is the maintainance of the power.

Of apathy.

For the price of compassion.

Coolness is in opposite of insomnia.

Coolness is a dreaming state.

Of feel-good.

For the price of sorrows.

Coolness is a luxury state.

Coolness is an attitude.

Coolness is almost a kind of yoga.

Coolness shields from torture and torment.

Coolness shields from horror and terror.

Coolness is so soft and flexible,

elastic, that

Coolness cannot be cracked.

Coolness is so self-confident.

So self-self

So auto-erotic

So alembic

So slippery

So flashy

That:

Coolness is the perfect form of an artistic attitude.

Coolness reproduces itself in itself

Because it is so cool.

Like a bubble bath.

Like shampoo.

Like soap.

Like buzz words.

Emergency Room is suspicious about coolness.

Emergency Room sees that it looks too good on photos.

Emergency Room suspects that coolness constitute the muzak of the

contemporary mind.

When your kids are sick

You suffer with them

You don’t use gloves to touch them.

From ‘The Emergency Room Dictionary’ written by French format artist Thierry Geoffroy.

http://www.emergencyrooms.org/dictionary/words/coolness.html