As I mentioned before, my good friends at Fellowship of Wildwood in Missouri are giving away copies of Pleased to Dwell as part of their pre-Christmas outreach this year. Alongside the book, they have a weekly reading and a discussion. So here are the first three discussions.
Discussion 1: The Presence of the Promiser
Discussion 2: We Do Not Face Sin Alone
Discussion 3: The Birth of the Baby
I hope these are encouraging. There is one more coming in the next few days. Have a wonderful Christmas!
My good friends at Fellowship of Wildwood in Missouri are giving away copies of Pleased to Dwell as part of their pre-Christmas outreach this year. Alongside the book, they have a weekly reading and a discussion about an aspect of it. Here is the first reading:
And here is the first discussion:
I will post the others on here, but feel free to subscribe to their channel and see them as soon as they come out. Thanks so much!
Starting today, you would be very welcome to follow along with the Pleased to Dwell advent video playlist. It can work alongside the book, or you can just watch the videos. Here is the playlist, please do subscribe to the YouTube channel and use the playlist to work your way through these short videos as Christmas approaches!
The end of the year brings a strange combination of familiar traditions and genuine challenges. While we may be surrounded by bright lights and cheerful music, with parties and celebratory gatherings, we may also be struggling financially, wondering how we are supposed to get everything done and concerned about how we will handle looming difficulties. It could be navigating an awkward conversation with that difficult family member, or coping with the exuberant happiness when we are grieving a loved one, or facing particular challenges that would be hard enough at any time of the year, let alone during the “festive season.” Life can feel like too much, and Christmas sometimes makes it feel even worse.
As Christmas approaches, whether we are dealing with a particular challenge or not, we will all again be confronted with the challenge of seeing past the consumer festival and the nostalgic traditions to the reality of the incarnation. Finding the relevance of this critical doctrine is not achieved by simply revisiting familiar truths through nostalgic traditions. We also have a fresh need to explore how the old truth resonates with contemporary life – including all its challenges.
We are familiar with reviewing the great step taken by the Son of God from heaven to earth – the infinite taking on infancy, the glorious riches to abject poverty, etc. We are used to noting that He came with a purpose; He took on a human body and life so that He could experience death in that body for us. Indeed, Christmas is an arrow pointing to Easter, and it is right to think of that each year.
More than that, Christmas is an arrow pointing to a God who is revealing Himself in the ultimate way, and an invitation opened to rich and poor, local and global, Jew and Gentile. It is a story to stir our nostalgia and our worship, an inspiring example, and, if told well, a thriller with a villain, a deadly threat, and a perfectly-timed escape.
Actually, Christmas is a many-layered story, with intriguing characters, long-awaited prophecies, and profoundly moving themes woven together.
And yet, we so often end up repeating it as if it were merely a nostalgic children’s story to retell like an old family tale that gets trotted out once a year as we gather around a fire and nibble on seasonal treats.
How will you engage the Christmas story this year? How will it connect with your current experiences and concerns in a unique and fresh way in 2025?
Your life, your struggles, are very real. So was the first Christmas. It was not a pretty scene with snow falling peacefully. It contained real fear, real confusion, real hopelessness, real heartbreak. The bewilderment for Mary would have been so constant, the uncertainty for Joseph so vivid. The emptiness and despair of life for the shepherds would have been genuinely bleak. The intrigue of the wise men and all who came into contact with them must have been genuinely perplexing. The first Christmas was real.
As we come to another Christmas, let’s not just go through the motions of another ritual celebration. Let’s not think of it only in picture book scenes, nor apply its truth in nice generalities. Let’s be sure to bring the most real concerns of our time to the Christmas story and find in it a Saviour who has learned what it is to be human, what it is to enter into a world of political tensions, of the deadly inhumanity of men to one another, of the searing heartache of poverty. May we find a richer appreciation for our Lord because our 2025 Christmas realities meet with His first Christmas realities.
The reality of the incarnation is big enough to maintain its relevance and to shine forth its significance, no matter how difficult our current experience might be. May we honour God by bringing our real mess up close to the very real messiness of the first Christmas. There we will find a true Saviour, who is Christ our Lord, and that really is good news for all of humanity.
___________________________________________________
Peter’s book, Pleased to Dwell, is an ideal read in the Christmas season. To buy in the UK or Europe, click here, and to buy in North America, click here. Please do subscribe to the podcast, and let others know about it too:
It has been a busy few months and I haven’t posted links to the podcast on here as much as I had planned. But let’s do a quick catch-up:
After a sequence of weddings, I shared some thoughts on preaching at a wedding. The last months included some great interviews, including:
Andy Paterson – Firstly, on how the Word does the work of ministry, and then, the relationships of a preacher.
Marcus Honeysett – First, on painting with fire, then on the nature of true transformation, and finally, on the heart of the preacher.
Steve Mathewson, we crossed the ocean to hear from Steve on the importance of all scripture in our preaching, and then we reminisced together about lessons learned from our mutual mentor, Haddon Robinson!
Jonathan Lamb – back to the UK to hear from Jonathan on crossing cultures as we think about preaching, and then we thought about how preaching models for listeners!
Rick McKinley – and once more back to the US to hear from an experienced pastor in the Portland metro area on connections required to connect with our listeners, and a great discussion about the role of humility in preaching.
Along the way, we have had some bitesize episodes on specific subjects, like adding to the text, is something missing in your preaching?, preaching the prophets, preaching at Christmas, and highlighting historical accuracy when we preach.
Mike and I have also enjoyed some helpful discussions: thoughts on being a guest preacher – something we’ve both done quite a bit of over the years!, landing a message, bad preaching (another area where we have experience!), a chat about Pleased to Dwell in anticipation of the advent season, and a chat about preaching at Christmastime!
We hope these episodes have been helpful for you, and if you have missed any, please do catch up! As ever, we really appreciate any help in getting the word out about the podcast – sharing links, liking, subscribing, etc., is all really helpful. If you particularly like an episode, please do let others know about it on social media – thank you in advance!
I can remember the first time I saw a Star Wars film in the cinema. This was back in the 1980s. With popcorn in hand, we found our plush velvet seats and tried to get comfortable. Then we were plunged into darkness. A slight pause. And then it began. In just two minutes, I was transported into another world. Everything normal seemed like a distant memory. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” Then the blast of the brass section of an orchestra as the film title appeared. Three paragraphs of background story to orient us, and we were there. The start of the Star Wars movies was genuinely epic.
The Bible can, and should, have that same effect on us. Lifting us out of the everyday rhythms of life and helping us to see another whole realm of reality. For instance, consider the theme of The Day of the LORD. It is mentioned eighteen times in the Old Testament, plus dozens of other references like “on that day.” It is that future moment when God would step into history, bringing judgment for the wicked and blessing for His people.
Not only is it anticipated in the Old Testament, but it is also still anticipated in the New Testament. Consider, for example, 2 Peter chapter 3. There, Peter describes how scoffers will ridicule the idea of anticipating that day. Their tactic? They will suggest that “nothing really changes.” And how effective that tactic can be. Nothing really changes. So why should we be concerned about anything happening in the world? Nothing really changes. Why should we try to influence what is going on around us? Nothing really changes. Why look for something to break in from outside of our world? Nothing really changes. Today is like yesterday, and tomorrow will be more of the same. As one fiction writer put it, “it is a pity that thoughts always ran the easiest way, like water in old ditches.”
And yet, the Bible wants to lift our eyes and our hearts beyond our psychological preference for predictability. It wants us to know, and live in light of, the reality that one day, God Himself will step into history again.
Consider one of the passages that anticipates “that day” – Malachi chapter 3. For the first few verses, we read of how God is coming, the messenger of the covenant who will come like the purifier’s fire, like fuller’s soap. Two vivid images of cleansing, purging, separating – that fire so hot that metal melts and the impurities are separated; that lye that pulls out the impurities from fabric and bleaches it clean. The Lord is coming to cleanse and purify. Yes, the focus is on restoring proper worship, but the imagery is imposing and intimidating.
We might expect the passage to conclude with a call to run. Run for your lives! Flee this terrible day that is coming! And yet, as in so many of the “Day of the LORD” passages, we find an invitation. This God, who is coming to purge and to cleanse, is a God of grace who invites His people to draw near to Him.
In verses 6 and 7, God speaks of His character. He does not change, which means they are not consumed (because He keeps His promises). But they should change. They should change direction. They have gone away from God, but if they return to Him, then He will return to them. As James later put it, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
They asked how they could return. So God raised the issue of their giving. In verses 8-12, God describes how they should test Him (an unusual concept in the Bible!) by seeing if they could outgive God. They never would be able to do that! As we come to the end of the chapter, we find that some of the people who were challenged to give of their treasure, which really belonged to God anyway, were also moved in heart to fear God and be responsive to Him. So they are described as being God’s treasured possession.
A chapter that begins with such overpowering imagery of judgment is so full of God’s overflowing grace. Yes, the Day of the LORD is terrifying, and many in this world should be shaking with fear at what is coming. And yet, for those of us who know what it means to belong to this God, we can look forward, waiting, anticipating, hoping. We live today in light of that day, knowing that the old ditches of life are not forever. We understand that the “nothing really changes” mindset is doomed to be proven profoundly wrong. We wait, knowing that with a blast of the brass section of heaven’s orchestra, we will be transported into another time.
Honestly, I am not concerned with whether we agree on the details of what is to come in the future. I am worried that we are discouraged by the scoffers who claim that nothing really changes. Let’s read God’s Word and let it lift our eyes and our hearts. We have a God who has stepped into time and history and who will again. His coming will shake up everything. And we who live in anticipation of that day should live differently today.
In light of Malachi 3, let’s be sure to turn to God now and be ready for that day. Let’s consider our “tithing” – that is, our giving and investing in eternity today. And let’s rejoice at the privilege of being His treasured possession. May the Lord use us now as we live for Him, and wouldn’t it be great if He came back soon!
____________________________________________________________
With Christmas coming soon, it is time to start making plans … especially if you are involved in preaching or teaching! Check out the latest episode of the podcast, and please do subscribe so you don’t miss any of the forthcoming episodes!
As Christmas approaches, plans are coming together—not only for family gatherings but also for church events. Last year, our church put on a Christmas musical, which involved lots of cast, support crew, set building, costume making, songwriting, etc. This year, we are keeping it simple with just a couple of carol services. Whether we “go big” or “keep it simple,” there is one important ingredient that must not be forgotten.
It is so easy to have everyone frantically pulling together a Christmas production and then have nobody remembering to bring the baby for the manger. In the same way, it is easy to be busy with Christmas plans, even Christmas preaching, and fail to keep the focus on the baby at the centre of the story.
If Jesus is forgotten for a nativity scene, then someone will be quickly despatched to go and pick up a baby doll before anyone notices. But what happens if we lose Jesus from our Christmas, and even from our Christianity?
If the theme is Christmas, but Christ is missing, then there will be lots of peace on earth and goodwill to all men, but no basis for such a message of hope. And if the focus is more general, then a Christianity without Jesus will descend into moral tirades and an attempt to police either church or society. There can be no real Christianity without Christ.
And yet, it keeps on happening. How often is the gospel presented as a moral and legal logical presentation? “You have been bad, judgment is coming, God can help you get fixed, and there are some other benefits too…” It might involve some presentation of truth, but the heart of the message is missing.
John Piper wrote these words in God is the Gospel:
“The critical question for our generation – and for every generation – is this: If you could have Heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with Heaven, if Christ was not there?”
We have briefly considered Christmas, and Christianity in general, as well as our evangelism. But what about on a personal level? When Jesus is missing, we will tend to see God as distant and become increasingly self-focused. This does not necessarily mean we will become rebellious and overtly sinful. We might just become religious and self-righteous. Whether in compliance or rebellion, we will become much more behavioural in our focus.
Without Jesus, we will start to see our Bibles as instruction manuals, more than God’s self-revelation. For instance, in John 5, Jesus is rebuking the religious leaders for diligently studying their Bibles and yet missing him completely. They would study and recite the Hebrew Scriptures, but they were blind to the self-revelation of God that should have had them excited at the arrival of Jesus. Sadly, their study spectacles only allowed them to see the dazzling lights of self-glorification, and they missed the main focus of the Scriptures who now stood in front of them.
When we let Jesus drift out of the spotlight in our Christianity, we will lose that vital sense of the relationship with God that Jesus came to establish. Instead of gazing on Jesus and being transformed (2 Corinthians 3:18), we will see only ourselves and drift toward self-glorifying, or self-loathing, or we will become self-appointed evaluators of others and start to inflict unhelpful pressure on others.
There is a world of difference between Christianity with Jesus at the centre, and religion with me at the centre. Actually, there is an eternity of difference.
As we come to another Christmas, let’s be sure to pause and allow our hearts to be wowed by the wonder of it all. Charles Wesley’s hymn says this: “In vain the first-born seraph tries, to sound the depths of love divine!” If angels are amazed, surely we should slow down and make sure we are too. Can we ever fully grasp the wonder of Christmas? Wesley’s words again, “Veiled in flesh, the godhead see, hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel!”
Before the year is done, take a moment to stop and take stock. Jesus has to be the centre of everything, not only at Christmas, but in all of Christianity. He is much too precious to lose!
______________________________________________________
As we enter the month of December, click below for the advent series of videos in Pleased to Dwell – Peter’s book about the Incarnation . . .
It seems like food is significant in every culture. Whether a culture is known internationally for its food or not, something about sitting down together to eat carries more significance than the mere fuelling of the body or renting restaurant space for a meeting. In Jesus’ time, it is evident that table fellowship mattered greatly.
In Matthew 9:9, Jesus called Matthew from the tax booth to a new life as a follower of Jesus. That may seem like a familiar idea to us, but having such despised sinners as followers was a radical act by Jesus. Who deserves to be his follower? Who deserves to be his apprentice, learn from him, become like him, relate to him, and be launched into a life of ministry representing him? Did Matthew deserve it? Do you or I deserve it? May we never lose the wonder of the call to be his followers!
Immediately, we read of Jesus reclining at the table with many tax collectors and sinners. Luke’s account points out that Matthew laid out a “great feast,” although Matthew was too humble to mention that detail. (Luke 5:29)
The Fellowship Question (Matthew 9:10-13) – The meal sparked a fairly obvious food-related question – who should Jesus eat with? To the religious evaluators, it was obvious that Jesus should not be eating with tax collectors and sinners. Indeed, they were the ones who’d earned the invite to the special meal.
I was recently with a pastor whose church seeks to reach out to the marginalized and the maligned of society. He took my family to dinner, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal together at his favourite restaurant. He told us how, when his church had started, they hired this restaurant and filled it with people who may never have eaten in a restaurant before. The feast was a gift. The gift was not just the food; it was a fantastic way to get to know a Jesus who would sit and eat with societal nobodies like Matthew’s friends.
It is interesting how Jesus responded to the question. He differentiated between those who are healthy and those who are sick. It is the sick who know they need the help of the physician. After all, whoever says, “Let me allow my broken ankle to heal, and then I will head for the hospital,” or “Let me wait for this abdominal pain to pass before I go and get checked out?” It makes no sense to hold back when you know you need help.
Jesus called the religious to soften their hearts toward those who knew their spiritual need.
The Fasting Question (Matthew 9:14-17) – Matthew follows up with another food-related question. Why do Jesus’ followers eat? Some of John the Baptist’s disciples wanted to know about fasting. After all, the Pharisees were promoters of the Old Testament Law and promoted fasting. Then, they were followers of the final Old Testament prophet and were into fasting, too. So, indeed, if Jesus were a step forward religiously, he would promote fasting even more. The Law, the Prophets, and now came Jesus; therefore, his followers should be fasting extra! But they missed something: Jesus was not just another step forward. He was the goal of it all!
Jesus spoke in wedding terms. A wedding day is not a normal day. You never walk into a wedding reception and expect to find people fasting. It is a day of feasting! It cannot be a typical day when the bridegroom is present!
Jesus went on to give two everyday examples to make a point. Nobody would put a piece of unshrunk cloth onto an old garment because it would self-destruct when it got wet and dried again. Everyone knew that. Likewise, nobody would put new wine into old, hard, shrunk, leathery wineskins. Again, it would self-destruct when the wine fermented and expanded. Everyone knew that, too. So, to Jesus’ point – his work was not just another step forward in the Old Testament line of promise. It was the launch of something profoundly new that could not be contained in the old framework.
We may not be from a Jewish background and tempted to try to squeeze the radically new gift of New Covenant life into the framework of the Old Covenant. But actually, we are all tempted to try to add the new life Jesus offers into the old way of religious effort that always characterizes humanity. It is so easy to think that becoming a Christian adds a few more responsibilities onto my to-do list of moral efforts for respectable living. However, that is not how it works. It is a radically new life.
Jesus came to transform our lives by his presence. He calls us to live a radically new life as his followers. We are called to be with him, enjoy time together, learn from him, and be transformed from inside to out. We are called to feast in joy because he has come. We are called to fast in earnest because he is currently away. Jesus is not asking you to become more religious; he is offering something far more radical than that.
As our thoughts are drawn to the first Easter, remember the radical nature of all that Jesus has done for us. And then don’t settle for a modified version of religious living. We get to follow the risen Christ through the year ahead. Jesus offers a radically new life to really needy folks like you and me.
In our church, we have just completed an eight-week series in 1 Peter. Here are some brief reflections that may be helpful:
1. This epistle is relevant. I know that is not breaking news to you, but it bears underlining. 1 Peter speaks to people that felt like oppressed outsiders in the society in which they lived. It did then, and it does now.
2. Suffering may be necessary. We have lived through decades of relatively little suffering, but times seem to be changing. Suffering is not permanent, “now for a little while.” And suffering may be part of the plan, “if necessary.” In 1 Peter 1:6 we are introduced to the possibility that suffering is not the result of bad luck, but divine providence. As we come towards Easter we have the ultimate example of deliberate and planned suffering.
3. Biblical background helps. There is the situational background of the readers, forcibly moved from Rome and repatriated to these five regions of modern Turkey. There is the historical background of Peter’s life and experience. Keeping that in mind, as he would have done, is helpful to shine a light on his call to be prepared (3:15), to stay humble and to resist the devil (5:6-9), etc. Then there is the textual background of Peter’s biblical awareness as he wrote. For instance, the situation behind Psalm 34 seems to be shining a light on much of Peter’s writing in this epistle.
4. Difficult texts still have simple points. Preaching the end of 1 Peter 3 and the start of 1 Peter 4 is not easy territory to navigate. There is the timing, location and content of Jesus’ preaching in 3:19; then the reference to Noah in 3:20; followed by the awkward reference to baptism in 3:21. It is exegetical difficulty piled on exegetical difficulty. I chose to give some minutes to explain that complexity, but not before I emphasised the simple point of this section: Jesus suffered and Jesus was victorious. It helps to keep a clear picture in mind when trying to make sense of the complex.
5. The letter has a strong DNA. God’s pattern is for suffering now to be followed by glory later. It was true for Jesus, it was true for Peter’s readers then, and it is true for Peter’s readers now. Suffering and then glory: this idea works its way through the entire letter.
6. Variation can help a series work well. We had a team of preachers on this series. One of the messages was preached in first-person. It came in the middle of the series and really helped the series to not feel monotonous in style. Different preachers helped the series, although it was important to make sure we were preaching a coherent series.
7. Non-Suffering forms of Christianity lead to harm. We seem to live between two extremes. One is the fatalistic idea that disaster is coming no matter what. The other is the idealistic idea that we should always be healthy, and wealthy and travel in a private jet. What is the healthy middle ground? It is not a gentle form of health and wealth – that is, things should generally go well for us if we simply trust, pray and obey. Many Christians seem to want to live with their basic orientation towards good circumstances. No, the reality is that we live in a fallen world filled with suffering. So let’s turn from gentle forms of health and wealth, and let’s engage a fallen and sin-marred world with our hope reaching out beyond this suffering to the glory to come. Our hope is not in our experience but in the character of our good God and his plan.
8. 1 Peter should prepare us for difficulty, but stir us to trust! Every problem we face in this world is a problem that exists within creation. 1 Peter urges us to look beyond this realm to the eternal realities. We look outside of this realm to the God who is so much bigger, the God who cares for us. “The dog bit me,” ~ yes, but God is bigger. “But it was a big dog,” ~ so what, God is bigger. “But it was a lion,” ~ it doesn’t matter, God is bigger. “Actually it was a killer whale.” ~ Ok, but God is still bigger than any problem we can face in this realm. What’s more, he already came and suffered, and is now sitting in victory. So we can be humble, be watchful, and be hopeful. We get to stand in the true grace of God whatever may come our way.
There are plenty more thoughts generated by two months in 1 Peter. But hopefully this list is a motivational starter for now…
____________________________
I have a series of videos on 1 Peter 2:1-10 that focus on the interpretation phase of Bible study. You can find them in this playlist:
We all say it every year. Where did this year go? Before we know it, the year has slid past, the temperatures have dropped, and the shops swell with Christmas sights, sounds, and shoppers. In church, we are busy preparing for the nativity play and dusting off the carols for their annual airing. We will hear the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke, a briefer reading from Isaiah’s Immanuel section, or Micah chapter 5, and soon Christmas will be all over.
But the Incarnation is not just for Christmas.
The Incarnation is critical to the Christian faith. At some point during these weeks, someone will point out that Easter is the reason for the season. They are not wrong. Jesus had to be born to live the perfect life and then die in our place. But that is not the whole story. The Son of God became one of us for several reasons, including God’s great rescue mission.
I have introduced three more reasons that the Incarnation is not just for Christmas. To read the article, please click this link and then check out all the other great resources on the Union website!
Biblical Preaching 