Whether I Sink Too Low or Soar Too High
I learned that day how pride is a devious and relentless foe.
Something happened as I walked down the steps and went backstage to take off my microphone. A sudden temptation loomed in my heart. Suddenly I found I wanted some outside reassurance. I wanted to hear the approval of other people. I wanted to know that others had been blessed by what I had said. And... Continue Reading
The Division of Old Testament Law
It seems clear from both testaments that there is a division among Old Testament laws.
We often hear that “the Law” is a unit, that all of it is moral, and that if any of it is abrogated, then all of it must be. While the issues involved in this dispute among sincere brothers in Christ certainly require more than a simple blog post, I offer the following short critique... Continue Reading
The Value of a Single Soul
If we have built a model for growth which demeans the need for believers to be treated as valued souls, then we are working against the grain of how God builds his kingdom.
Let the world have its ticker tape parades, its popularity contests, its straw poll politics and morals, it megastar and minor-soul ethic, and lets follow the heart of our God after the individual believer, and the path of our Saviour who drank the bitter cup that he might sup with individual believers gathered together in... Continue Reading
A Mantle of Love for the Weak
Puritan wisdom from Thomas Brooks', "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ."
Brooks’ section on “the duties of strong saints to the weak” is something every believer should commit to reading, digesting, and seeking to put into practice in all of our regular interactions with other believers. When he came to the ninth duty that God requires of spiritually strong believers in relation to spiritually weak believers,... Continue Reading
Yes, the Reformed Churches Do Baptize on the Basis of the Abrahamic Promise
Baptism is a sacrament, i.e., a sign of promised grace and a seal, a promise of saving grace to those who believe.
The Abrahamic covenant or promise is central to the Reformed understanding of the unity of the covenant of grace under the Old and New Testaments. We say that there is one covenant of grace with multiple outward administrations. The New Covenant did not first appear in history in the New Covenant. The Old Testament believers... Continue Reading
A Tribute to My Missionary Parents
They were God's holy fools, ordinary people who bore none of the marks of worldly significance.
What kind of people—often with multiple graduate degrees and significant opportunities for economic prosperity and security—uproot their lives, leave friends and family behind, and spend two, three, or four decades in remote jungle places where most of the people speak languages that had no dictionary and no grammar books? I grew up in the... Continue Reading
We Will Sneer at Death
Death will be defeated, and everlasting Life is going to win.
When we trust in Jesus—when we believe that he is the resurrection and the life and when we repent of our sins and put our faith in him as our Savior and Lord—we are reconnected to the source of life. We are reunited to God, our Creator. So, even if this body of mine will... Continue Reading
Reverse Engineering the Logic of Scripture
Undertaken in a considered and textually respectful way, reverse engineering actually serves to preserve rather than pervert meaning.
Particularly in the New Testament epistles it is vitally important to remember that these were originally documents designed to be read, and also studied. This means that the line of logic would be preserved in the worship of the church precisely because they would often be conveyed in their entirety, with their holistic concerns being... Continue Reading
“Christianity and Liberalism” and the Old Testament as History
Mercifully, gloriously, this God of the Bible is eager to be known, and is generous in his self-disclosure.
If the events that the Old Testament narrates really did happen in time and space as it records, then we see a God who exists independent of man’s imaginings, who acted on his own initiative and according to his own plan, who is, in fact, real! That is something that is relevant to all people... Continue Reading
When Old They’ll Still Bear Fruit
Growing old is really hard, but there are unique benefits that come to the friends and family of those who age well in Jesus Christ.
Unless Jesus returns or we die young, all of us will grow old. The Lord gives us examples to show us the way. How do we endure through pain? How do we navigate the loss of close friends? How do we continue to serve even as our bodies give way? Praise God for those who... Continue Reading