3 Things that Keep Christians from Living with a Sense of Urgency
Not one of us knows when Jesus will return. It could be… now. Or now. Or now.
Before we come to understand the good news of Jesus Christ, we must come to understand the grave news of sin. Whether we know it or not, all of us are in the most real and the most grave of danger apart from the gospel. Not one of us knows which breath will be our... Continue Reading
Union with Christ is Everything
The New Testament uses a wide variety of Greek constructions to describe Christians' connection with their Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.
Believers are “crucified with Christ,” “raised with Christ,” “in Christ Jesus,” “baptized into Christ Jesus,” “sanctified in Christ Jesus,” “circumcised by Christ,” and reconciled to God “through Christ.” Christ’s disciples are related to Him as branches to the life-giving vine. In Christ, believers receive “every spiritual blessing,” including election (v.4), predestination (v.5), adoption (v.5), grace... Continue Reading
When Humpty Met Alice: Some Thoughts on Systematic Theology as Poor Relation, Part Four
When it comes to the meaning of the classic vocabulary of Reformed theology, the question is: Which is to be master, that’s all -- in this case, the Confession or the reader?
I want to highlight the fact that the issue of the ST-BT relationship is not just theological and pedagogical. For confessional Protestants, it is also ecclesiastical because ministers take vows to uphold the faith as summarized in the great confessions of the Reformation. Since those confessions were forged through the kind of dialectical doctrinal process which I noted in Part Two, it is highly questionable whether... Continue Reading
Incomprehensible but Knowable: Human Knowing
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Not only are we never going to be able to truly know all that God knows, we are never going to be able to know in the way that God knows things. In other words, when God knows something He understands all of it. For Himself, He knows Himself completely and in absolute perfection. When He knows... Continue Reading
10 Things You Should Know about Common Grace
Most of us have close friends and relatives who are not Christians but who are, what we would feel justified in calling, “good” people.
The truth of God’s common grace is driven home when we ask how it is that people who lie under the wrath of God experience so many good gifts at the hand of God. How do we account for the extraordinary gifts, talents, and accomplishments of those who are unregenerate? How is it that so... Continue Reading
Here I Raise My Ebenezer
The Inspiration for ‘Come Thou Fount’
The meaning of Ebenezer originates more than a thousand years before Christ, during the ministry of the prophet Samuel, who played a pivotal role at a key juncture in the history of God’s people. Long has he been remembered as one of Israel’s greatest figures, alongside names like Moses and David. God raised up Samuel as the... Continue Reading
Waiting When God Seems Silent
What about when we wait and listen, with seemingly no response from God?
The call to wait on God is an invitation to trust and hope. It entails believing that one day — even if today is not that day — he will make all things right. In times of waiting, as we seek God in prayer, we must learn to listen to him as well as talk to him... Continue Reading
Sabbath Rest – Part 2
In Exodus 20 we find the codification of the Sabbath into law, given to Israel at Mt. Sinai and then the renewal of the covenant in Deuteronomy 5.
In the Fourth Commandment we see the concept for six days of work, which is just as commanded as the one day of rest, followed by the Sabbath observance on the seventh day. The widespread, nondiscriminatory nature of the observance, which simply includes “no work”, extends from the individual, to family, to servants, to livestock,... Continue Reading
Incomprehensible but Knowable: A Lisping God
The God of the Bible, the Creator, is too great to enclose in the limits of creaturely minds.
Though pastors in training often earn Masters of Divinity degrees, they simply cannot master God, but can only be mastered by him, or fail to be. How then can we know God, if he is beyond us? Together with affirming God’s “incomprehensibility,” Calvin emphasized that God graciously overcomes our natural inability so that we truly... Continue Reading
An Everlasting Meal
In God’s wisdom, the death of Christ would coincide with the Passover feast.
Jesus supplies the primary purpose of this new covenant feast: “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:25). Paul clarifies that this mandate has an expiration date: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (v. 26, emphasis... Continue Reading