Train Yourself for Godliness
Reflecting on Paul’s Words in 1 Timothy 4:7–8
The pursuit of godliness requires focus, sacrifice, commitment, and endurance. Paul knows that training is a perfect metaphor for Christian obedience—training “for godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7b). This kind of training has value for the present life and the life to come. In other words, there is an all-compassing value to this pursuit. Don’t you want to... Continue Reading
God Made Us Male and Female- Why We Cannot Change Our Gender
Submitting to God’s created pattern for humanity is a part of our response of faith to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
God doesn’t need to conform to our feelings, or our biological ability to mutilate our bodies. God has made and declared what is good. It is good for men to be manly, and good for women to be womanly. Each culture WILL look slightly different, but that doesn’t change the created order of God, and... Continue Reading
About That One Barth Quote
Disregard for a Manmade Method of Theological Inquiry Is Not Indicative of a Bad Character
Guess who is marked out as a false prophet by such criteria. Karl Barth. For that man maintained a lifelong, impenitent, and fairly public affair with his research assistant, Charlotte von Kirschbaum, in which he both refused to repent when confronted by his mother and forced his wife (who knew about the affair) to accept... Continue Reading
It’s Just a Distraction
The devil loves to get us talking about good things, so long as we are not sharing the best thing.
Be aware of the schemes of the devil and avoid being distracted from the main thing. When we go to share Christ, let’s actually share Christ! We need to tell folks about sin, and righteousness, and the coming judgement. People need to hear about their great need, and they need to hear that God in... Continue Reading
Why Mixing Up Social Justice and Biblical Justice Matters
One of the crucial errors at the heart of this new social justice framework is a redefinition of sin.
Many Christians in the West recognise that they have received blessings that others have not. We have education, wealth, and opportunities that many around our world do not. Social justice advocates want us to feel guilty about this and to see it as a privilege for which we should automatically feel ashamed. If we allow... Continue Reading
Deep Mirth and Mourning
How many tragedies go unmourned and unhonored by the church because of our loss of the capacity for sorrow?
“How can it be right to laugh when there is so much to grieve?” This is more of a question of context. We clearly must weep, just as we clearly must laugh. There are times for both, as Ecclesiastes says, but what are the proper times? Weeping should not be self-focused, but for others; laughter... Continue Reading
Lies that Paralyze: Weaponizing Pleasant Words
Lies that Live- Part 10
Many more pleasant, but false words seep into our culture. One way to be inoculated against them is to focus on what’s true, good, and beautiful. Or, as the author of Hebrews put it: But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from... Continue Reading
Hypocrisy and God’s Reputation
The Word teaches us that it honors Him when we confess our sin and sinfulness.
Our pride convinces us that God needs us to hide our sins, so as to not to bring shame upon Him. But He calls us to bring it out into the light, denounce it, be ashamed of it so that by His mercy our shame might be turned into the uplifted face of those who... Continue Reading
The Battle for Grace Alone
Augustine argued that the very cooperation with grace was the effect of God’s empowering the sinner to that cooperation.
The operative word in Augustine’s view is that regenerating grace is monergistic. It is the work of God alone. Pelagius rejected the doctrine of monergistic grace and replaces it with a view of synergism, which involves a work of cooperation between God and man. The early part of the fifth century witnessed a serious controversy... Continue Reading
Salvation Out, Self-Help In
We no longer believe in sin, so we no longer believe in a saviour.
Discussing the “saccharin-like” preaching of Joel Osteen, Wells says this of the kind of God he presents: “The dominant view, even among evangelical teenagers, is that God made everything and established a moral order, but he does not intervene. Actually, for most he is not even Trinitarian, and the incarnation and resurrection of Christ play... Continue Reading
Nourished on the Words of the Faith
Returning to the Church's true source of strength and vitality.
If God says sound doctrine is good for us, then that’s the way it is. If He says meditating upon His law day and night is what makes a man prosper and mature (Ps. 1:3), then that’s simply what we’ve got to do. It matters very little if our flesh objects otherwise. God’s Word sets... Continue Reading
Praising God During the Wait
Three Things We Can do During the Waiting Period
Praying comes last after we Seek God and Praise God. Praying comes as a result of seeking God by His Word, and Praising God for who He is and what He has done. We come to God through words after we have already heard His Word and praised Him despite our circumstances. Our seeking is... Continue Reading
Isolationism: A Historic and Christian Take
Isolationism is the belief that a country should avoid involvement in other nations’ military, economic, and political policies. How should Christians think about national foreign policy?
The Scriptures are clear that governments act per the will of God (Romans 13:1, Colossians 1:16). The U.S. prides itself on democracy, independence, and freedom for all. America is not perfect; it fought its own battle with slavery and civil rights. However, the founding ideals and principles have maintained prominence in American culture and have... Continue Reading
Knowing God According to His Self-Revelation
Swinnock focuses the gaze of his readers on the incomparable greatness of God, who “is boundless in His duration, perfections, attributes, and being.”
In the course of his book, Swinnock considered at least sixteen specific attributes of God. He defined God’s attributes as “those perfections in the divine nature which are ascribed to Him so that we can better understand Him. They are called attributes because they are attributed to Him for our sake, even though they are not in... Continue Reading
Wrap Your Soul in Truth
Under-Armor for Spiritual War
The Christian who wraps his soul in the objective truth of Scripture shapes his subjective heart for the wiles of war. He takes the divine word deep into his human center, for transformation and joy. He not only searches the Scriptures, but lets the Scriptures search him. He ingests God’s truth both to feed and... Continue Reading
Sometimes it Takes More Courage to Stay
The path of Christian life and ministry is one paved with difficulty.
As we weigh in the options to leave or keep fighting we can do what Jesus did. We can pray. I know that doesn’t sound like the solution we are looking for. But although the cup wasn’t removed from him, he did get the strength to stay, Luke 22:43. And let me tell you, it... Continue Reading
Have We Made God in Our Own Image?
Book Review: John Peckham and Covenantal Theism
There is no doubt that Peckham is a gifted writer, and his intentions motivating his work are noble. He seeks to provide an account of the divine attributes that is biblically faithful and theologically coherent in hopes that readers will be drawn to worship and praise for God. Unfortunately, Peckham’s unique formulation of the doctrine... Continue Reading
Wholesome Protestant Doctrine
Francis Turretin, Divine Simplicity, and the Creator-Creature Distinction
God is not simply a big person, sharing our imperfections with us or exalting the supposed virtue of dependence, as if God is somehow glorified in His need. Rather, His divine life is marked by a completely different type of being—so much so, that it is more proper to call him the source, ground, or... Continue Reading
Lessons Learned from a Wolf Attack
When wolves in sheep’s clothing are recognized for what they are, they will not run. They will attack.
Wolves are inevitable as the gospel advances. Jesus had Judas, the believers in Ephesus had their own fierce wolves emerge after Paul was gone (Acts 20:29). Wise believers will seek to prepare for this common danger to the church—and act when the wolves are exposed. Some of the most painful lessons of ministry are... Continue Reading
The Real Function of Third Way Rhetoric
The person using third way rhetoric positions himself morally above the positions to his left and his right.
So much of the teachings of the urban church flatter the sensibilities of the people in the pews rather than fundamentally challenging them about the way they are living their lives…The pedimental nature of third way rhetoric is very effective, and it’s easy to see why it appeals to the striver class people who populate... Continue Reading
The Bible Says It, I Believe It
The Bible is going to offend; we let it loose, and stand firm.
No matter the teaching, no matter the offense—if the Bible says it, we ought to believe it. Period. We should never apologize for what the Bible says. Society is saturated with apologizers. Every which way we turn, someone is apologizing for something because it offended someone. It’s a vicious cycle. And Christians are, in... Continue Reading
Take Your Guilt and Sins to God
The book of Lamentations is a testimony to the sovereign faithfulness of God.
If we are honest, we know that sometimes our greatest pain comes from dealing with the consequences of unfaithfulness and sin—whether our own or that of someone close to us. And when we find ourselves there—and we will—Lamentations is our handbook. As we wrap up our four-week series, Redeeming Trauma, we need to pay... Continue Reading
Don’t Confuse Secondary or Tertiary with Unimportant
There are lots of tertiary things that will have a significant impact on your church.
We should think through tertiary and secondary matters and think carefully about what the scriptures say and how our approach to them will impact our churches. We may not write people out of the corpus if they land differently to us, but where we land may have implications that matter far more than we tend... Continue Reading
Precision Pastoring: Nourishing the Caregiver’s Soul
Jesus told Peter, "Feed My sheep."
With their deep understanding of the brutal realities of my life and the potential dangers that lurk, my pastors do not “motivate” me; they shepherd me. Modeling “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4). They preach the whole counsel of... Continue Reading
“Is It Bad?” Is the Wrong Question
We want to actively pursue good!
The next time you have a choice to make…ask the question, “Is this good?” We want to pursue those things that build up, as well as avoiding the bad; to walk in righteous paths rather than just avoiding the sinful ones. Me: “Hey Stacy, do you remember that kids movie?” Stacy: “Sort of.” Me:... Continue Reading
Different from and Different For
Egalitarians and the State of Christianity Today
Egalitarianism treats men and women not just as equals but as persons who are equally fitfor various roles. This is a radical departure from the wisdom of our God, who made men and women different from each other and different for each other. And to speak or act in any way that ignores, diminishes, or denies God’s good design... Continue Reading
Against Brokenness Theology
Replacing sin with victimhood.
Brokenness theology is not only unbiblical and spiritually damaging. It is also the gateway drug to a whole host of other heresies and errors. By teaching people that they are primarily helpless victims of forces outside their control, rather than willful sinners in need of salvation, it opens the door toward seeing every difficulty or... Continue Reading
Postmillennialism: A Reply to Doug Wilson
Postmillennialism lacks a biblical text to establish its assumption that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14) before the second coming.
The eschatological kingship of Christ begins already at his first coming culminating in his resurrection and ascension. Already at and dating from Christ’s exaltation, “God has placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church” (Eph. 1:22; cf. v. 20). This is a key eschatological pronouncement….... Continue Reading
The Sun Is Blotted from the Sky
As the light fades, men and angels alike pause in wonder at Christ receiving without grumbling, accepting without complaining, and bearing without limit.
“Give me Adam’s complaining and Jacob’s obstinacy and Samson’s lust.” The angels of heaven seem to shout, “Stop! Surely he has reached his limit!” But again he speaks to say, “Burden me more! Add to me the weight of all the sins of the next two thousand years, add to me all the sins of all... Continue Reading
Your Elders Will Fail You
God did not make your elder perfect. God redeemed your elder and is still sanctifying him.
Your elder is not Jesus. They may be Christ-like, but the ultimate voice a Christian should hear and follow is Jesus’s, and not their elder’s. Your elder can pray for you, warn you, show you safe paths, and plead with you. But ultimately, every member is in the hands of the Lord Himself. We are... Continue Reading