Context Matters: Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing
We cannot know Jesus’s full meaning in John 15:5 without understanding “abiding” and “bearing fruit.”
Apart from Jesus we can do nothing. When we read this verse in context we see that Jesus is not primarily warning against self-reliance nor dismissing the contributions of non-Christians. Yes, he is drawing a sharp line between those who follow him and those who do not. But this is a call to life. ... Continue Reading
Crunching the Numbers on the Resurrection Toll
The fact that Jesus rose from the dead is a gigantic deal.
Don’t let the roller-coaster resurrection story become stale for you. Grab a Bible, plop down on a couch with your kids, read it over and over, talk about it, and feel the awe. For those who are hidden in Christ, sin is forgiven. Death is done. Fear not. He is risen. Reading through the... Continue Reading
A Creedal Crescendo—Risen, Reigning, Returning
Exploring the work of Christ under headings of the Apostles’ Creed.
Jesus rose bodily from the grave, but where is He now and what is He doing? Jesus came into this world in the humblest of ways – born a helpless baby, in an obscure town, among the animals in a stable. He was born a king but yet to conquer. Christ left the world, however,... Continue Reading
More Than an Idle Threat: Real Assaults on Religious Liberty Emerge in the Pandemic
During a national or global emergency, bad precedents can take root.
We must be alarmed that…the mayor of a major American city threatened to have the police take down the license plate numbers of cars gathered in a parking lot for an Easter worship service—people who were otherwise abiding by the CDC and other governmental guidelines. They are taking names. They are taking numbers. This is... Continue Reading
‘Progressive’ Christianity: Even Shallower Than the Evangelical Faith I Left
Progressives had become just as fundamentalist as the fundamentalists they despised. But instead of traditional values being the litmus test, it was now wokeness.
We need more theology, nuance, grace, compassion, and understanding in our churches, not less. But these things are made possible by orthodox doctrine, not in spite of it. Doubt and questions need not catalyze a pendulum swing from belief to unbelief. In John 6, Jesus’s hard teaching causes a large number of his followers... Continue Reading
Services Suspended: Are They the Voice of God to Us?
Troubles and trials were sent to the people of God for two purposes; to drive them away from syncretism with the world, and to drive them to “return” to their only Refuge and Strength.
Indications are that the pause will soon be over, and life in ministry will be restarted. I believe then God will ask us, “What did you do with the time I gave you, all of you, in the whole nation, to seek Me and my Word?” I can’t speak for other Reformed denominations, but I... Continue Reading
7 Ways Our World Has Changed, But God Hasn’t
Our continent is humbled. But God’s Word is not chained.
God has faithfully carried His people through pestilence, plague, persecution, and war all through history. And all through history it has been the most difficult times that have led to the greatest growth in the church. It feels like we are living a key moment in history right now —may it be a key moment... Continue Reading
Life, Interrupted
Are you resting in God’s sovereignty and his grace, or are you disquieted by fear and anxiety?
The peace given to us – sincerely and really by Christ – will keep us and guard our hearts and minds from the fear and anxiety that threatens to consume us in these days of uncertainty. Know this: there is no uncertainty in the mind of our glorious God and Savior. Rest in that, and... Continue Reading
Trinitarian Language in the Early Church
The early church built their Trinitarian theology on Scripture.
Trinitarianism did not fall from the sky, nor did Jesus write the Nicene Creed on tablets and hand it to the apostles after his resurrection. Instead, the terminology changed over time for various contextual and missional reasons, particularly in response to the issues listed below. The biblical writers did not use the same terms as... Continue Reading
John Donne–Poet of Grace and Comfort
He questioned God and searched the Scriptures for answers.
Donne has often been described as a poet of death. To some people, especially in a culture where thoughts of death are often shunned, he seemed obsessed with it. In reality, death and pain were a constant reality in his life, but he didn’t stop there. In 1623, when a sudden illness brought the... Continue Reading