Luke 12:54-13:21 We all know hypocrisy is bad and Jesus gave plenty of warnings about it. But what causes hypocrisy and what are its symptoms? And who are the hypocrites? This passage shows that hypocrisy blinds and bind, and Jesus is one who liberates people from the bondage of hypocrisy
Acts 28:30-31 Many consider Christian beliefs to be not simply “out of touch” but even dangerous. It’s therefore a good thing that whatever impact Christianity has had on our culture historically is now receding. Listen in to find out what Jesus is doing in the world today and how we can be sure it’s neither outdated nor irrelevant.
Various Shame makes us feel that if others only knew what we were like they would never speak to us again. But the gospel is the clothes we need to cover our nakedness. Shame does not need to be the last word in our hearts.
Various What does it mean to say that the gospel is about all of life? The gospel is only an inch from all of life, and deals with the deepest issues of the human heart.
I wonder how would you react if you saw a church leader having lunch with a group of people who were guilty of fraud? Or maybe a Bible study leader hanging out with known drug addicts? Would you be a bit shocked, perhaps even judgmental, that they would even consider associating with such people? This is how Jesus was treated by the religious people of his day. We can distance ourselves from God not only in obvious rejection of him, but also in our religious morality – and this can be the more dangerous if it goes undetected…
A lawyer asks Jesus “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This is one of the most fundamental questions that everybody at some point asks, about what will happen when we die – we might phrase this question today something like “How can I be sure I’ll be saved in the end?” If we profess to be God’s people, then this will show in how we live our lives – not only in how we love God, but also in how we love others. Jesus challenges us not to think about who we are to love, but to be loving…
James Cary is an award-winning comedy writer for BBC, having co-written two series of Bluestone 42 (BBC3), and worked on Miranda (BBC1) and My Family (BBC1) and numerous Radio 4…
