Centre For Christian Living Podcast

From the dawn of time, systems of justice have demanded recompense for wrongs. The most fundamental systems have been kind for kind—such as, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or a life for a life. In fact, this sort of rudimentary justice system is biblical and it lies at the heart of so much of the law in Scripture. But in God’s kingdom, Jesus tells us that there is no room for vengeance. Instead, life in the kingdom demands forbearance and forgiveness. What does this mean for us practically? Can there be any justice? In this episode of the podcast, we bring you some of the audio from our most recent live event on vengeance, where we considered how Jesus transforms our expectations and pursuits of justice, and leads us away from vengeance. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-086/

Imagine being part of a church that wasn’t confused, reluctant or reticent about complementarianism, but rather embraced it. Imagine being so convinced of what God says that you’re able to express it confidently in what you say and do. Imagine being so compelled by the goodness of what God says that you express it positively in church life. This is the vision set forward in the new book, “Embracing Complementarianism” by Graham Beynon and Jane Tooher. In this episode of the CCL podcast, we consider the practicalities of complementarianism in our second episode with Priscilla & Aquila Centre Director and Moore College lecturer Jane Tooher on the matter. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-085/ To find out more about Jane and Graham's book, visit https://www.thegoodbook.com.au/embracing-complementarianism

Relationships can be difficult. One of the perennial issues for humans is how to relate as men and women. These conversations have changed over time, but they have not gotten any easier. For Christians, there is a deep conviction that God has made us male and female, equal but distinct. This is good. But what does it mean for this deep conviction to be realised in our practical life? In this episode of the CCL podcast, we explore how we might embrace complementarianism with Priscilla & Aquila Centre Director and Moore College lecturer Jane Tooher. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-084/

Integrity seems almost mythical in our current culture. Suspicion runs deep—largely because of a history of lying and deception. At some points, our culture celebrates this sort of slight in order to gain the upper hand. This problem isn’t novel; we may use a variety of “guarantees” to back up our words—for example, “I swear …”, “On my mother’s grave …”, and so on. But often we fail to be people of our word. However, Jesus says that Kingdom living leaves no room for deception. As recipients of the truth, disciples must live a life of truth. In this episode of the podcast, we bring you the audio from our most recent live event, in which Dr Tony Payne leads us to discover discipleship without deception. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-083/

Life is filled with many things that we appreciate: health and children are among some of the most treasured things we enjoy. We all appreciate health, as sickness, disease and disorders can affect what we consider a "normal" life. There is also a desire in most of us to raise children. But as good as health and children are, are they ends to be pursued at any means? Much in our modern health practice has evolved to accommodate these good ends. We have better care for pregnant women and unborn babies than ever before. But we also have many practices that remain unquestioned. In this episode of the CCL podcast, we consider ethical issues related to pre-pregnancy and pregnancy screening. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-082/

Have you ever wondered if you’re doing enough? It’s hard to escape this question. Do you ever feel like you haven’t exercised enough, read enough, given enough, spent enough time with people, or spent enough time alone? Thinking about these things is exhausting. It’s no wonder that many find life a worry. In the information age, there is always so much more than we can consume. And because we’re more connected than ever, we constantly compare ourselves to others. But what if limits aren’t bad? What if we’ve been pushing ourselves towards unachievable goals? What if we’ve misunderstood God’s design for us as finite creatures? In this episode of the podcast, we consider the goodness of our limits as human beings. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-081/

Church discipline is a much-neglected topic in the modern church. However, the Scriptures suggest it is needed for the good of the church and because Christians are called to love people caught in sin. How do we apply the biblical principles of church discipline to the modern church? What can we do at earlier points to ensure that more drastic church discipline is not required? Furthermore, how does our understanding of the danger of abusing power imbalances change the process of discipline? In this episode of the Centre for Christian Living podcast, we hear audio from a June event run by our partner centre, the Priscilla & Aquila Centre. Phil Colgan, rector of St George North Anglican Church, and Kara Hartley, Archdeacon for Women’s Ministry in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, discuss the difference between Big “D” discipline and small “d” discipline, and the implications that has for church life. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-080/

There are some very significant problems with the ways our culture thinks about our human bodies. For some, our bodies are everything, and therefore our physical appearance is what we work hardest on. But for others, our bodies have nothing to do with our true selves. Our true self, we’re told, is who we feel we are. So our bodies may actually be a block to us expressing our real identity. As Christians, how are we to think about our bodies? Having a body is not a mistake. But we won’t honour the Lord with and in our bodies properly until we understand his purposes for us. In this episode of the CCL podcast with Sam Allberry, we’re considering the significance of embodiment as God’s people. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-079/

Our recent live event looked at Jesus’ teaching on lust in the Sermon on the Mount. We were challenged in that event to consider once more the lives of holiness befitting Christian disciples. This includes abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage, but we also looked at the problems of pornography and living lives in the midst of a sexualised culture. In this episode of the podcast, we’re following up on that live event with an extended Q&A session with our guest presenters, Dr Marshall Ballantine-Jones and Dr Dani Treweek. We work through many of the outstanding questions from our live audience in the hopes of getting even more clarity about what it means to live for faithfully under the Lordship of Jesus. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-078/

Jesus raises alarm when he warns us that adultery isn’t limited to sexual intercourse outside of marriage, but actually begins earlier in the lustful glance of the eye and mental fantasies. Adultery isn’t just physical; it can be done in the heart. So great is the threat of a wandering eye or a straying hand that Jesus suggests losing a part of the body instead of facing the fire of hell. Kingdom righteousness demands more than physical abstinence from sex outside of marriage, but not less. In view of such teaching, what kind of sexual conduct is becoming of a disciple of Jesus? In this episode of the podcast, we bring you the audio from our May 2022 live event on lust with Dr Marshall Ballantine-Jones and Dr Dani Treweek. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-077/

In many places around the world, it’s easy for Christians to take peace for granted. But for much of history and even in many current contexts, Christians live with the real fear and threat of violence. One of God’s great provisions in this world is the establishment of nations and national powers. These powers are intended to provide defence for their people, as well as just rule. But Christians can often question whether national defence should be a priority and whether defence is simply a means of justifying violence. Shouldn’t we simply advocate for peace? In this episode of the CCL podcast, together with Akos Balogh, Manager of External Engagement at Moore College, we think more about the place defending nations—especially considering the Russian attack on the Ukraine, and the rise of Chinese power and its expanding influence in the world. For an edited transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-076/

Violence is not only a physical activity, it's also something that lurks in our hearts. The Lord Jesus cautions us that refraining from physical violence is only half of the equation. We are also liable for our thoughts towards one another. Kingdom righteousness demands that Christians pursue reconciliation with one another, rather than harbouring a grudge. This is urgent work! At our first live event in March 2022, CCL Director Chase Kuhn and Archdeacon for Women Kara Hartley consider how the command to not murder exposes the anger in our hearts. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-075/

A little bit about the Centre for Christian Living podcast. Find out more at https://ccl.moore.edu.au/podcasts/

In this episode of the CCL podcast, we get to know another one of the students on our CCL team—a young man named Jordan Cunningham who, as you’ll learn, has come from quite a long way to study at Moore College. Jordan’s story is quite different to Brooke Hazelgrove’s, who we met in an earlier episode, though there are similarities in some of the steps they both took on their path to theological education and ministry. Jordan was not raised in a Christian home, he did not attend a Christian school, and when he answered God’s call to ministry, it was because he first answered God’s call to faith. It is our hope and prayer that as you hear Jordan’s story, you’ll come away encouraged and eager to pray for and support not just him and his future in ministry, but also the college as it carries out its vision of seeing God glorified by men and women living for and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources

For many Christians, the law is one of the most challenging topics for their life. It’s as if they feel they’re walking a tightrope between legalism on the one side and licence on the other—as if they either need to perform, or else they’re simply embracing a loose way of living. But careful examination of the teaching of Jesus helps us gain a richer picture of the law and its place in our lives. When we encounter the law in Christ, we see something beautiful. Today on the podcast, and in preparation for our four live events this year, we’re looking carefully at how Jesus reframes our experience of God’s law with David VanDrunen, the Robert B Strimple Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics at Westminster Seminary in California. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-073/

Some of our modern church practices can fool us into thinking that our faith is a private matter, or perhaps even that church itself is something for us to sit and enjoy, listening to a nice message and then leaving. But the Christian life is inherently focused on others, not just on self. A quick search of the New Testament will show that there are more than 50 occurrences of commands for one another. Think about the Lord Jesus’ teaching to his disciples in the upper room when he said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35). Jesus expects that all who follow him will take an active role in loving others. In this episode of the CCL podcast, we explore several of the “one another” commands and consider how, in becoming aware of them, we might live more faithfully as disciples of Jesus. For a full transcript and show note

In this episode of the CCL podcast, we get to know one of the students on our CCL team—a young woman named Brooke Hazelgrove. In some ways, Brooke’s path to ministry and Moore College was quite typical of many of our students: she was raised in a Christian home, she attended a Christian school and she decided to answer the call to ministry around the time she graduated from university. But in other very key ways, Brooke’s journey is far from typical and she doesn’t fit neatly into the cookie cutter idea of what many people think a Moore College student is. It is our hope and prayer that as you hear Brooke’s story, you’ll come away encouraged and eager to pray for and support not only her and her future in ministry, but also the college as it carries out its vision of seeing God glorified by men and women living for and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-071/

Community isn’t something that is static; it stretches through time, as culture is passed from one generation to another. The Bible has many commands about ensuring that its truth is passed on to the next generation. Yet as simple as this command is, the practice of raising up children and new leaders can cause great anxiety. At our October 2021 event, Ruth Lukabyo, Dean of Women at Youthworks College, Paul Dudley, Chaplain at Shore School, and Mark Earngey, Head of Church History at Moore College, offer us some instruction about how we might work to raise the next generation in the Lord. Whether we are young or old, a parent or a friend, we need to take an interest in seeing the next generation of the church grow to be followers of Christ. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-070/

In every age, societies have had methods for finding a future spouse. For better or worse, our culture embraces dating. But what is dating? Is it Christian or not? And if it isn’t, is it redeemable, or should Christians be looking for an alternative? In this episode of the CCL podcast, we feature a recent event from our partner, the Priscilla & Aquila Centre, at which Moore College Dean of Students Paul Grimmond explores God’s wisdom for dating and answers some audience questions. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-069/

When Paul and Silas came to Philippi in Acts 16, a woman who was demon possessed began to pester Paul. Paul commanded the demon to come out of the woman and she was set free from spiritual bondage. But Paul and Silas then got into trouble, because setting this woman free came with economic consequences: she had been enslaved by owners who exploited her demonic abilities for profit. Now their slave was worthless to them. Tragically, this story highlights one of the worst evils known to humanity—the enslavement of others for economic gain. Many Christians in Western nations like Australia see slavery as a thing of the past or something unrelated to everyday life. But is this true? What comforts might we enjoy at the expense of others? What slavery might be taking place even in our own land? In this episode, we consider what modern slavery looks like and how we might take action against it. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-068/