Exodus 32: A Few Words
This is a terrifying passage. This is a sobering passage.
The Israelites were at the foot of the mountain where God’s very presence passed by! The Israelites had just seen God’s 10 plagues and great miraculous victory at the Red Sea. When temptation arises we must always strive against it! We must remember how near the Lord is to us, indeed for those of us... Continue Reading
Romans 6:14, 7:14, And 8:14 Are All True Of The Christian At The Same Time: Simul Iustus, Et Peccator
Sola gratia, sola fide, believers are united to Christ. We have died to sin and we have been made alive to Christ.
Romans chapters 6 through 8 are a unit, written by a Christian, for Christians, about Christians. We are in a covenant of grace, not a covenant of works. We are sinners. We have been freely saved and justified and we are, therefore, being sanctified. It is all true at the same time. We should not... Continue Reading
Praise When You’re Struggling
The Christian life cannot and must not be lived based on mere feeling.
His Word, His promise, this is to be the ground of all our faith; resting in it, we can praise in the midst of our struggles. Because, in His Word, we see all His promises brought to yes and amen in Jesus Christ. The Christian life cannot and must not be lived based on mere feeling. We all... Continue Reading
The Christian Creeds
While they are not substitutes for Scripture, the creeds do model a succinct way of talking about the whole biblical storyline of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.
Thoughtful reflection on the creeds and their expressions of biblical truth can result in meaningful, Spirit-filled expressions of Christian worship. But the creeds also remind us that we are part of God’s church throughout history. From the very beginning, creeds and creedal formulations have played a crucial role in the beliefs and practices of... Continue Reading
Life Inside A Woke Corporation
People are scared to death for their careers – and they have reason to be.
Churches need to step up and recognize where we’re at, and start preparing people. Church members who are going to lose their jobs. We have to start building safety nets. People we’re in community with, we need to step up and help people know that their church members have their backs. I had a... Continue Reading
The Theory of Everything in Critical Theory
Racism is not the defining characteristic of American identity that CRT folks often make it out to be.
For us not to fall in the wrong direction is to join in the story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. This is the grand narrative of Christ redeeming His creation, using His people throughout the ages to work for the well-being of others and to change society. Until Christ comes again, the hurting will always... Continue Reading
What Is Our Theology?
Our theology is a theology of the triune God who is sufficient to Himself and in Himself and who in all His self-manifestations is holy love.
Theology is the gospel repair shop. Its various “loci” or topics (God, creation, fall, providence, redemption, glorification) are, as it were, so many departments of experts that first deconstruct our personal damage and then reconstruct us until the original vision in our creation is realized. Several important convictions drive Tabletalk magazine just as they have... Continue Reading
Ten Things I Learned from the Pandemic
Democracy is a luxury good that depends on prosperity. The minute that prosperity is threatened, democracy collapses into dictatorship.
Governments will use any excuse to seize emergency power, and they will always try to hold on to it even when the justification for seizing it has passed. I learned the following ten lessons about democratic society from the pandemic. Some of these things I already knew in an abstract way from historical study... Continue Reading
The Athanasian Creed
The Athanasian Creed is as careful and thorough an attempt in church in history expressing the great mystery of God who is “one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity.”
The creed is designed to be practical. It begins by recognizing what Christians must believe and whom we must worship. It is essentially a guide to worship, and worship for the purpose of individual right-relatedness to God. This means worshiping one God who is revealed to be Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for “their glory... Continue Reading
The Art of Drawing the Line in Preaching
What you leave out of a sermon can be as important as what you keep in.
The preacher must draw lines to limit his preaching so that the church can see more clearly the limitless grace and presence of her Lord. When I was being trained to preach three decades ago now, one of my seminary professors regularly said in homiletics class, “The art of good preaching is knowing where... Continue Reading