Speaking on the Unspeakable: Shame & Student Ministry
Shame is that inner voice each one of us has heard telling us we are unworthy, unlovable, and unredeemable.
Those who have had little interaction with teenagers may wrongly assume that the youth of today have somehow avoided the grip of shame. They assume this, of course, because teenagers are great at faking confidence. What words come to mind when you think of “shame?” Humiliation. Embarrassment. Weakness. Ridicule. Total rejection. While recently listening... Continue Reading
God Doesn’t Need Us
He doesn’t need you, He doesn’t need me, and He doesn’t need anyone or anything in this world.
God is not a needy God. It’s not as if He was bored, twiddling His thumbs, desperately lonely before He created the world. God is not dependent on the world for His existence, nor is He dependent on the world for His happiness and self-fulfillment. Instead, He possesses life in and of Himself. More precisely,... Continue Reading
How We Treat The Church is How We Treat Christ
If Christ is unified to his people, then what one does to his people is what one is doing to Christ.
If Jesus’ words to Saul tell us that those who persecute the church are persecuting Christ, it also tells us that how we treat the church is how we treat Christ. If we never go to church, if we constantly go away for the weekend, if we never serve, if we find anything else to... Continue Reading
This Is America: A Returning Missionary’s Perspective
What’s most disturbing about returning from Africa isn’t just the consumerism in American culture, but the consumerism within the American church.
American consumerism has crept into the sacred beliefs of our faith. Rather than understanding that faith in Christ means that he gets our everything, many Americans believe that Jesus is just a nice addition to our already-nice lives. We wouldn’t say that, of course, but our beliefs are exposed in the way we are living.... Continue Reading
The Churchly Authority of the Office of Deacon, Part 2
The Representative Authority of Deacons
Is the office of deacon part of the government of the church? The answer to that question should be painfully obvious to any blue-blooded Presbyterian, so obvious one might even scoff at the question even being posed. Of course they are a part of the government of the church. The deacons are part of the... Continue Reading
The Church, Israel, and “Replacement” Theology, Part 1
Not every person who is a physically ethnic Israelite is a spiritually elect Israelite.
Israel has a right to exist in the land and that we have a moral and political obligation to stand with her against all enemies. But this is not the same thing as saying that Israel has a biblical or covenantal right to the territory over which so much blood has been shed in recent... Continue Reading
Perfect Peace in the Face of a Loved One’s Cancer?
To live by faith means to believe that it will continue to be sufficient on a daily basis, come what may.
In all times of life, good and bad, we need to stay our minds on God. This means we need minds that are well-stocked with truth about Him so that we can draw on that truth to sustain us. Just as food in the stomach nourishes the body, so truth in the mind nourishes the... Continue Reading
Eternal Subordination of the Son and Focus on the Family
There is nothing to be gained by appealing to an eternal relationship of authority and submission within the Trinity, and plenty to lose.
We need to stop doing damage to the doctrine of the Trinity in our attempts to explain how submission works in marriage. ESS, while tempting, is not a viable answer to the question of marital submission. For over four years now, I’ve been writing about a popular doctrine of the Trinity called the eternal... Continue Reading
Seven Letters Seven Dangers: Zeal & Complacency
I have found that one of the most pernicious dangers to the Christian life is a cold-hearted complacency.
There are Christian believers who were once enlivened by the vivifying effects of the Gospel but have now, over time, been cooled into a stone-cold stoicism; living statues no different than the impassive victims of Narnia’s White Winter Witch. One of the causes behind this coldness is the unfortunate stigma now tied to zeal and excitement.... Continue Reading
Drops of Vinegar
I would like to highlight Geree's reasons for engaging this theological battle, for the manner in which he engaged it, and for his focus on Crisp.
Vigorous polemic aimed at an individual is not a relic of a bygone era; it is very much a part of our own culture. Indeed, with the advent of social media, it seems like it is everywhere, which is why many people today are turned off by it and argue against it. While the misuse... Continue Reading