How Should We Benefit From Communion?
In this brief article I would like to try and answer the question by highlighting an often-neglected aspect of the Lord's Supper: its corporate and covenantal character.
We too easily—and unbiblically—think of the Christian life in personal, singular categories. I do not mean for one moment that the Christian faith is not personal, or that there is no such thing as individual faith. Yet God’s people are one, and salvation brings us into the one Body of Christ, His Church (1 Cor.... Continue Reading
In Praise of Heavy Providences
The Bible is full of reminders about how, in the call of God, things will be difficult rather than easy, complex rather than simple, strenuous rather than leisurely.
God brings into our lives “heavy providences” as a means of nurturing in us “God remembrance.” I call these circumstances “providences” because it’s God who brings them. I call them “heavy” because, well, that’s what they are—circumstances that are not easy and call for a deep dependence on God for His strength to endure. It... Continue Reading
The Purest Act of Pleasure
Why God Delights in Election
God will set his unstoppable love on sin-blind sinners, and this was his plan from eternity past. Depraved souls stuck in the unceasing cycle of sin and death will be the objects of his boundless love (Ephesians 1:3–23), a reality that speaks not to the merit of the sinner but to the magnificence of God’s... Continue Reading
Jumping the Shark and the Trajectory of Sin
The slow, degradation of characters is actually a microcosm showing us the trajectory of sin.
Sin always promises to taste good, and there’s some truth in its promise. Eve saw that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil “was good for food . . . a delight to the eyes, and . . . to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). Yet, what looked good and... Continue Reading
“For the Sake of the Gospel”—The Apologetic Speeches of the Apostle Paul in the Book of Acts (Part One)
I think it important to have a biblically based and carefully honed apologetic methodology in place before confronting both the learned and not so learned paganism of our age.
It is from Luke’s record of the ever-extending reign of the risen and exalted Christ, that we are given a clear picture of how the Apostle Paul sought both to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and defend the Christian truth claim (2). Paul does so not only in the synagogues of the major cities... Continue Reading
The Smallest Stage
The drums and trumpets resound in our hearts and the magnetic pull of the larger, public stage draws us away from the glory of God in the smaller, secret stage.
There is both fruitfulness and sinful desire in our engagement on the larger, public stage of vocation and opportunity. Some desires are driven by God-glorifying desire. Other passions are propelled by a vain attempt to soothe our souls with what will ultimately leave us unsatisfied. Therefore, if we are to navigate these various stages in... Continue Reading
Jesus: Baptism Is Death
What is there about baptism that lends it to being used as a figure for death?
Circumcision was an illustration of our inability to save ourselves. We need God to save us. We need bloodshed to save us. We need a new (circumcised) heart. We need a new life. Only God gives new life, true faith, the Savior, and salvation. Baptism illustrates those very same truths. We do not baptize ourselves.... Continue Reading
‘Where Two or More are Gathered’ Doesn’t Make a Church
The context has everything to do with how the church operates – but not in the sense it is often conveyed.
What people want this verse to say is that any time two or more Christians are gathered, there’s a church, because Jesus is in their midst. On a closer examination of the whole passage, we find this text to specifically deal with the practice of church discipline. I can’t recall the number of times I’ve... Continue Reading
Do You Struggle With Unbelief? God Has Good News For You…
Do you struggle with unbelief? Ask Jesus for more faith! He’s just waiting to give it to you.
All of us have to fight the good fight of faith. That’s the Christian life. Most of us struggle to have faith at times. We have an enemy who challenges our faith every day. We need to cling to God’s word and humble ourselves, cast our anxieties on Jesus and ask him for more faith.... Continue Reading
Thinking Like Jesus
The world has never experienced such sound thinking as was manifested in the mind of Christ
“I do not think for a moment that any of us, as long as sin is in us, will never become perfect in our reasoning. Sin prejudices us against the law of God for as long as we live, and we have to fight to overcome these basic distortions of the truth of God.” ... Continue Reading