What Are The Theological Questions Involved In Our New Normal?
It pays to think through just what we're doing and why.
Our view of just what the church is will impact how we respond to not being able to meet. If you think of the church principally as your building, then this time is going to much more trying than for those who are inclined to say church is your people. But, even if we do... Continue Reading
Your Church is Triumphant
On earth we are perpetually in combat as the church militant but our certain future is to be translated to the church made perfect, glorious and victorious in heaven with our Savior.
How comforting to us—in this present crisis or any other one that comes along—to know that we are sealed in Christ and washed in His blood so that we can fight faithfully as long as we live on this earth. We fight in the sure knowledge that as soon as we have finished our work,... Continue Reading
Pastor, You Were Made for This
Maybe the true church will rise to the surface. And with her, the true pastors.
Christianity was not launched in a world of comfort, and it was not designed to flourish in a world of comfort. If the Lord is doing anything in overseeing this season, perhaps it is a refining, a sifting. Things are going to get weirder, more difficult, more trying. What have the last two weeks... Continue Reading
The Coronavirus Crisis and the Deacons of the Church
Deacons have a wonderful opportunity to lead God’s people in deeds of mercy, sympathy, and service.
Deacons of the church, you have been given a unique opportunity to use your gifts of service for the building up of the church, that God would be glorified, the church sanctified, and the world come to know the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The novel coronavirus that precipitated our current global... Continue Reading
No Social Distance in Heaven
God will wipe the tears from the eyes of His people.
The holy hugs and handshakes that feature in our church’s weekly passing of the peace are, admittedly, a bit tamer than the “holy kiss” the apostles encouraged believers to extend to one another (2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Pet. 5:14), but they still reflect our physical embodiment in a way that online prayer meetings, texts, and... Continue Reading
Coronavirus Reveals America’s Mood
What explains the tendency of some people to embrace careless behavior in the midst of a public health crisis?
Commentators in The Atlantic and elsewhere have speculated why so many Americans are either being stupid or being jerks when it comes to coronavirus. Hoarding toilet paper is only the beginning of it. Reckless people risk not only their own health; they may also be asymptomatic carriers who pass the virus on to more vulnerable... Continue Reading
The Comfort of Justification by Faith Alone
The doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone puts the righteousness and merits of Christ between God and the sinner so that we can never add anything to or take anything from it.
It is altogether possible for a minister to empty the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone of its comfort for the believer by imbalanced theological emphasis. It is possible to so emphasize the doctrine of sanctification that one gives his hearers the sense that there is no comfort in the doctrine of justification in... Continue Reading
Will Anyone View Our “Shutdown” as A Severe Warning From God?
God’s providence tells us all that terrible events, like the Coronavirus, are warnings to everyone of the judgment to come, so we should repent today.
We must consider the warning that comes with unleashing of the Coronavirus. Something is unfolding before us that we have never witnessed in our lifetime. Whether one agrees with the severity of the virus is not the issue. Before us, society is shutdown, churches are banned from meeting, gatherings have ceased, and economic fallout and... Continue Reading
God’s Law and the Coronavirus Pandemic
We are in this predicament today because we have either ignored or rebelled against God’s holy law.
We have promoted the spirituality of the Church, and yet we have denied the power of the Kingdom of God over all of life. We have retreated back into our caves under the guise of protecting preaching and sacraments, and delivered the world over to Satan by ignoring the totality of God’s law. The... Continue Reading
Few Are the Plans of Many
The Wisdom in Scheduling Well
Because I have not planned well, I sometimes work in vain (or at least fail to do the most important things). I do many things, often many good things, but not the best things. And when I do, I not only let down whoever was depending on me, but I am left feeling unnecessarily anxious... Continue Reading