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John 10, Ephesians 1, Psalm 62 – God is Love…Sermons, Song and News article from St Peters

Last Sunday Morning Sinclair preached on John 10

In the evening Craig preached on Ephesians 1

And here is one of our favourite psalms – Ps 62

 

Finally it was good to have my article published in the Scotsman last Thursday – here is a quote from it…

What about that most absurd and evil of Christian doctrines, as Christopher Hitchens declared, ‘love your enemies’? Because for the Christian there is a different and more concrete version of love. The Apostle Paul teaches about it in 1 Corinthians 13, the Lord Jesus exemplifies and practices it – and the Apostle John sum it up neatly in his first letter. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 1 John 3:16 (NIV). “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. “1 John 4:10-11 (NIV) These are profound and deep words that require a lot of thought, meditation and practical working out. But they are real and concrete. What if they are true?

They provide substance and meaning to ‘Love is Love’ by telling us and showing us that ‘God is Love’. That does not mean that anything we feel is love can then be considered to be God. It does however give us an objective and real standard outwith ourselves, by which we can judge and be judged. It is the most radical and revolutionary teaching of Jesus Christ, which once turned the world upside down and can do so again. Perhaps our society really needs to come to grips with and understand the love of God in Christ – so that love ceases to be a second-hand emotion and instead becomes the dynamic of us all?

3 comments

  1. ‘My soul finds rest in God alone’ by Townend – as a song I quite like it. But it’s important that everyone is clear that it isn’t a ‘version’ of Psalm 62. There is a lot of the psalm missed out, what has been used is heavily paraphrased, and there is a lot in the song that isn’t in the psalm (the entire chorus for example). Test anything you sing that claims to be scripture; open your bible and try to follow along.

    It is at best, inspired by Psalm 62.
    Again, I don’t have a problem with the song, but we shouldn’t give it the misnomer Psalm 62 and lead people to think that is actually from the bible.

    (same story with ‘as the deer’, and to a lesser extent; Townend’s ‘the lord’s my shepherd’ )

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