May we not fall into ritualistic, Christless, and imbalanced approaches to the means of grace in our churches. How we minister the means of grace in the context of public worship is more important than simply professing to be “an ordinary means of grace church.” May the ordinary means of grace be more than a Shibboleth to us....
A brief survey of the top fifty best-selling Christian books reveals what subjects are of the greatest and least interest to the majority of professing Christians. Books on purpose, finances, personality, self-esteem, love languages, and relational boundaries dominate the list. Books on the triune God, Christ, sin, the gospel, Scripture, preaching, the sacraments, prayer, church discipline, and the local church are woefully wanting. ...
In his book "The Problem of Pain," C.S. Lewis wrote, “The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. . . . Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.”...
we need to learn to react to error in a way commensurate with the truth...
Evangelical repentance is not a one-time experience in the life of those who come to Jesus Christ in faith. Rather, as those trusting in Christ, we will spend the rest of our lives repenting of indwelling sin (Rom. 7:15...
Most of the types in the Fourth Gospel are rooted in Israel’s exodus and wilderness experience. Whether it was the incarnation of the Son of God typified in the tabernacle in the wilderness (John 1:14), Jesus’ miracle of turning water to wine (John 2:1...
t is right for us to both affirm that the Father never stopped loving the Son when he hung on the cross and that the Father was justly angry with the Son "because of the sins themselves which he took upon him, and because of the persons of sinners whom he sustained." It would be unorthodox to insist that within the Godhead, the love of the Father for the Son was ever diminished or ceased. That would be a denial of the doctrine of Divine simplicity. It would be equally unorthodox to insist that--insomuch as Jesus was the representative of a people who are, by nature, under the wrath and curse of God and rightly the objects of his just anger and displeasure--the Son was not the object of the Father's just wrath. ...
The defense of historic doctrinal formulations regarding the Triune God, the Person of Christ, inner-Trinitarian relations and the implications of those relations for gender roles are among the more substantial issues at stake in the debate. The interconnectedness of the matters involved in the controversy makes just about any attempt to distill the essence of the debate into a summary form an extremely daunting task. However, there is one supremely important component of the debate that has been largely neglected...
With each cultural crisis or natural disaster, our minds are freshly flooded with a litany of images and calls to come to the aid of our neighbors who have been the victims of an injustice or who have suffered loss. One of the downsides of living in a media-connected age is that we can't escape the constant barrage of information about all of the miseries of this life. Additionally, we have an overwhelming number of para-church ministries that, by virtue of the fact that they are specialty ministry organizations, often give the sense that their thing is the thing in which all should be invested...
I've noticed something of a concerning trend over the past several years. It is the way in which believers speak about culture-impacting individuals at their deaths. Instead of simply expressing appreciation for their life and achievements, it has become commonplace for Christians to use the shorthand R.I.P. ("rest in peace") on social media when speaking of individuals--in whose lives there was no evidence of saving grace--at their death. At the risk of sounding ill-tempered, I wish to set out several reasons why I am troubled by this occurrence....
We sometimes mistakenly think that those who lived in Jesus’s day had an easier time leaving behind everything they had known to follow Him. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, we see just how much the disciples left behind to follow the Savior. In Matthew 4:18...
Keep ReadingBy entering into the world in the person of Jesus, God came to reestablish His presence with His people. Christ is greater than the tabernacle and temple. Because God dwelt fully in the Person of Christ, believers will dwell in His presence forever. By faith in Christ, we have direct access into the very presence of God....
Keep ReadingMay we not fall into ritualistic, Christless, and imbalanced approaches to the means of grace in our churches. How we minister the means of grace in the context of public worship is more important than simply professing to be “an ordinary means of grace church.” May the ordinary means of grace be more than a Shibboleth to us....
Keep ReadingBelievers rest assured that they will go to heaven when they die only because of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. We joyfully sing, “Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to the cross I cling.” With the Apostle Paul, we say, we “put no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3)and “nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Rom. 7:18), while at the s...
Keep ReadingA brief survey of the top fifty best-selling Christian books reveals what subjects are of the greatest and least interest to the majority of professing Christians. Books on purpose, finances, personality, self-esteem, love languages, and relational boundaries dominate the list. Books on the triune God, Christ, sin, the gospel, Scripture, preaching, the sacraments, prayer, ...
Keep ReadingWhen I was a boy, I loved to watch the popular television show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. In each episode, host Robin Leach gave a virtual tour of mansions, properties, automobiles, and vacations. Focusing on all that the wealthy could afford in this life, the show held out the prospect of affluence and success. It would be interesting to interview people who were...
Keep ReadingJesus always listened to His Father, spoke truth from the heart, and followed through on His vows. Jesus atoned for the sins of our mouths, by keeping the promise He made to the Father that He would lay down His life for His sheep. When we return to God in brokenness over the many ways we have been slow to listen, quick to speak, and unfaithful to our vows, we find Him to ...
Keep ReadingDuring this global COVID-19 pandemic, let’s commit to diligent and skillful labor in our homes. Let’s commit to prayerfully planning out the many tasks in which we may best invest our time. By so doing, we may look back on this season with gratitude...
Keep ReadingIn light of our current circumstances, a number of important questions about the nature of the church have surfaced. For instance, what authority can the state exercise over the church? Is it appropriate for churches to voluntarily cancel in-person worship? What are the best ways for pastors to stay connected with and care for their members while they are sequestered in th...
Keep ReadingThough this may not solve all of the difficulties in our minds, it certainly offers a plausible explanation for the fact that God...
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