The Greatest Cure for Pastoral Burnout Is Christ Himself
The Puritans knew first-hand the challenges and toilsome labors that accompany faithful gospel ministry
“So what do the Puritans have to say to the weary, exhausted, discouraged pastor? Look to Christ. By faith, look to Jesus Christ, the One who is mighty and glorious and whose steadfast love is better than life. Out of a love for the glory of God, the word of God, and the people of God, the... Continue Reading
The Cross and the Believer’s Home
Jesus went to the cross to prepare a final home for believers in the new heavens and new earth.
As He approached Jerusalem and the sufferings that He was about to endure there, Jesus told His disciples: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go... Continue Reading
Great Guilt, Greater Grace!
Our Saviour gave Himself, and ascended to the heights to apply God's grace to us.
The primary consideration in the description of biblical guilt, is not that we feel subjectively guilty (whether the accusation is false, unproven or confirmed), but that, in the eyes of the LORD we are ACTUALLY, objectively and legally guilty before the Law. Absence or presence of feelings at this point are irrelevant. Sin, as an... Continue Reading
Our Cross
The pattern of Christian sanctification is connected to the experience of the cross – namely, our spiritual life is connected to suffering and weakness.
There are many who view sanctification as primarily a matter of human exertion. It is very natural for us to want to sanctify ourselves – to cultivate a sense of spiritual independence and self-sufficiency so that we can be in control of our spiritual lives. We are tempted to glorify the life of the victorious,... Continue Reading
Israel’s Golden Calf Idolatry
How Our Culture Perverts Our Understanding of Yahweh and His Ways
Did the Israelites really believe that something they built with their own hands turned the Nile to blood and destroyed all the firstborn of Egypt? Indeed, the Israelites seem less-than-intelligent to many modern readers. Were they that senseless, or are we as modern readers missing something when we read the story? “How could they... Continue Reading
It Pleased God…to Create
The creation is predicated upon the divine pleasure, or will, to create, as mysterious as that is to us.
Creation is, again, not necessary for God. God’s creative love is not ‘a love which is needy and in want’ and so ‘loves in such a way that it is subjected to the things it loves’; God loves not ‘out of compulsion of his needs’ but ‘out of the abundance of his generosity’ [quoting Augustine].... Continue Reading
Why Some Christians Embrace LGBT Theology
Jonathan Swift, author of “Gulliver’s Travels,” is often credited with saying that you can’t reason someone out of something they were never reasoned into.
HRC’s new guide is entitled “Coming Home to Evangelicalism and Self,” and purportedly offers ways to “help LGBTQ people live fully in their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, and to live fully in their religious, spiritual and cultural traditions.” The guide says that LGBTQ Christians “find it difficult to be fully themselves in... Continue Reading
Let the Wicked Return to the Lord
While we’re busy dividing “us” from “them” or “the righteous” from “the wicked,” it’s easy to miss one simple fact: we are the wicked.
Sometimes, we have a hard time thinking that God could ever reach a certain person. He is too bad or she is too far gone for God to reach, we think. This was how the Israelites thought of the gentile nations. Despite the fact that the call to minister to the nations was built into... Continue Reading
10 Things You Should Know about Christian Ethics
Christian ethics teaches us how to live.
Christian ethics teaches us how to live for the glory of God. The goal of ethics is to lead a life that glorifies God (“do all to the glory of God,” 1 Cor. 10:31). Such a life will have (1) a character that glorifies God (a Christ-like character), (2) results that glorify God (a life that bears abundant fruit... Continue Reading
Created to Enjoy God Forever
Man knows God in part by enjoying His presence, and this pleases God.
The biblical record of the creation of people by God is very different than what we see in other ancient Near Eastern accounts. In Genesis 1, mankind’s creation is the very crescendo of God’s creative activity, and so theologians call people the “crown of creation.” And, unlike any other element of creation, God makes humans... Continue Reading