Embracing God’s Zeal for His Truth: Be Loyal
Throughout Paul’s ministry the whole movement of biblical theology comes to bear in his deep awareness that his task of proclamation has no object other than a display of the full riches that are in Christ.
God’s message is a message about his Son. God’s redemption finds manifestation in his Son. The future Kingdom is brought to fulfillment in its specific character as a kingdom of the redeemed by his Son. The work of angels is marked out by God’s redemption of fallen humanity. The work of apostles continually unfolds layers... Continue Reading
Why You Should Read the Bible Over and Over
As we return to scripture year after year, we are better prepared to see what has been there all along.
I could try and pretend I read every day without failure, but that would only be pretending. Yet after a quarter-century of semi-disciplined reading, I’ve come to value the benefit of long-term Bible reading and want to meditate on it here to encourage other start-stop readers. I did not grow up going to church... Continue Reading
Will We Work in Heaven?
How could there possibly be work in a place of rest?
If you were to ask the average Christian to describe what Heaven is like, you are more likely to hear descriptions of floating on a cloud than furrowing a field. The truth is most people envision Heaven as a kind of vague, disconnected state of repose—not to mention tremendously boring-sounding. It is true that our... Continue Reading
Gospel Readiness
Nothing gives us surer footing than the gospel, the good news that our sovereign, holy God has intervened in history to reconcile His people to Himself.
For spiritual warfare, the gospel of peace fulfills the same purposes for the soldier of Christ. The announcement that God reigns and has reconciled Himself in Jesus to believers sustains us in the long march of the Christian life. It allows us to keep going even when things are so bad that we doubt whether... Continue Reading
How Did New Testament Era Christians Understand and Celebrate the Lord’s Supper
For the earliest church, Christ fellowshipped with the elements. The bread and wine were the body and blood.
The Gospel of John deepens one’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper by clarifying that union with Christ (John 6:56) by the Spirit (John 13–14) constitutes a reality of the Supper. Ignatius, drawing ideas that seem assumed by about 109 AD and so likely derive from much earlier, affirms the life-giving aspect of the Supper and... Continue Reading
The Lord’s Day
Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead on the same day.
Ignatius was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John himself; thus, since Ignatius explicitly identifies “the Lord’s Day” as that day “on which our life as well as theirs shone forth,” John’s more ambiguous reference appears more certain to describe the first day of the week as a special, dedicated sacred day.... Continue Reading
Sin Detox
God has given us His Holy Spirit in order that we might put off sin and put on righteousness.
Sin seeps into the core of our being and makes detox extremely difficult. In fact, my gluten illustration breaks down here because it can be eliminated from a person’s diet. However, sin touches us at a heart level (Matthew 15:19, Jeremiah 17:9) and stays with us until our final breath. That being said, victory over indwelling... Continue Reading
Consistent, Persevering Prayer
Our ultimate reliance on Christ for success in spiritual warfare is underscored in Ephesians 6:18.
Praying at all times is nothing less than taking every opportunity to acknowledge our weakness and our need for the Lord’s mighty help against Satan. Prayerful dependence must be the consistent attitude of our hearts, both in difficult times that make us quick to run to God and when prosperous seasons tempt us to forget... Continue Reading
Who is Jesus Christ?
He is the Word, the λόγος. He is the creator of all things. He is God. He is eternal. He has always existed. In Him is the life.
Jesus asked the following question of His Apostles,“But who do you say that I am?” Is Jesus just a good man, or good teacher, or great prophet in your heart? Is He just the founder of the Christian religion? Or is He the Son of God, the creator of all things who went to the... Continue Reading
If I Could Preach Only One Sermon: Love God
And if one will not love God now on earth, neither will he find himself loving God later in heaven.
Let us also remember that Jesus taught the first and greatest commandment in Scripture is to love our God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:36-38). He quoted the “Great Shema” in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (Hear O Israel!) and we ought not miss this call to listen connected with the summons to obeyGod’s commands... Continue Reading