When It’s Hard to Wait on God
This obsession with immediacy, is not only a modern issue; it was also a struggle for those Judean exiles fresh home from Babylon.
Before the exile, one of the weeds growing in Israel’s field of sins was their refusal to accept the prophets’ warnings of the coming judgment. They reasoned, “Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and Jeremiah have been preaching fire and brimstone for centuries. If it hasn’t happened yet, it’s never going to happen.” The delay in the judgment... Continue Reading
Deconstructing Destruction in the Church: The Lord’s Supper
We must remember the theological purpose of the meal.
The cup offered by the Father, the cup he would drink upon the cross is full of fiery indignation and is the exact payment for sin owed to an infinite God. Jesus drank from that cup for his people. But the cup offered by Christ in communion is the cup of his blood, shed for... Continue Reading
The Seven Letters in Revelation are Sermons on the Rest of the Book
Revelation 2-3 provides us with seven exemplary interpretations and applications of the book as a whole.
It means that Rev. 4-22 is for churches that are resisting persecution but have lost their first love, or who need encouragement in the midst of slander, or who have been infiltrated by false prophets, or tolerate syncretism, or who are really dead inside. It’s for churches that are faithful and long for their reward... Continue Reading
Why Is Social Justice the Biggest Threat to the Church in the Last One Hundred Years?
I’m arguing that social justice is a three-headed dragon—one that’s often difficult to define—yet one that has a powerful push both in terms of numerical and financial support.
When people suggest that social justice is “the greatest threat to the church in the last one hundred years”—many Christians who know their history begin to see images of large crowds at the annual SBC meetings over inerrancy and they think of the church growth movement of pragmatism, and the Emerging Church movement and the racism of... Continue Reading
Racism and the Church: Some Reflections…
When the Church diagnoses a sin problem (e.g. racism) in such a way that Christ (as he is offered in the Gospel) is Not the Answer or Remedy for sin, past and present, then she has not fully or Biblically diagnosed the problem.
All too often we focus on eradicating outward behaviors as proof of “solving the problem”, i.e. righting the wrongs. This is understandable given that the symptoms of sin (bigotry, adultery…) are horrible and painful. Yet a diagnosistic goal primarily focused on stopping outward symptoms often leads to an ends justifies the means prescription. Broad brushes in Law... Continue Reading
Why Does Paul Call the Church God’s Field?
Agricultural images in Scripture typically carry connotations of growth—or lack thereof.
The Apostle Paul uses an agricultural metaphor for the church in 1 Corinthians 3, calling it “God’s field” (v. 9). In that same chapter, he also refers to the church as “God’s building” (v. 9) and “God’s temple” (v. 16). All of these images teach us something about the church, and each metaphor brings out a... Continue Reading
The Parable of the Sower and the Power of the Seed
Which kind of soil is your heart made of?
Parables serve as a kind of filter for the world. Jesus’ parable in Mark 4:1-20 shows that in every crowd there are different responses to the Word of God. Some people are really interested in Jesus, some are pretending to be, and some aren’t at all. And the parables sort them out. My yard... Continue Reading
Two Types of People and Two Eternal Destinies
As you consider these statements, examine your life and see if you are in the faith.
The unbeliever sets his mind on the things of the flesh (the world) while the believer sets his mind on the things of the Spirit (God and the things of God). The unbeliever receives the second death while the believer receives eternal life and eternal peace. That’s the entire point of Romans 8:5-6. In other words,... Continue Reading
How Can We Know God?
Human history is the story of the revelation of God.
There are two ways that God has chosen to reveal himself to us. The first is typically called general revelation, or alternatively natural revelation. This is the basic knowledge of God we see expressed in his created works, which image God to us. We use the word “image” because no created thing is exactly like... Continue Reading
Herman Bavinck’s Doctrine of God is Like no Other
The knowledge of God is inexorably bound up with the doctrine of salvation.
Within the landscape of modern evangelicalism, the doctrine of God, in which we come to know the nature and character of God, has often been considered impractical and irrelevant for life. The trend has been either to neglect the doctrine of God or try to augment it in order to make God more relatable and... Continue Reading