The Allure of Sin
Lasting enjoyment comes from denying self, rejecting sin, and pursuing Jesus.
My desire for food that I should not have reminds me of the allure of sin. There are times in life when I can see the ugliness of sin and its deceitful nature quickly. But then there are other times when I ignore the Spirit’s prompting and warnings, and I succumb to the flesh. Sin... Continue Reading
Surveying Sanctification: Already Made Holy by God
The definitiveness of God’s work means the Christian is enabled to work on the holiness that God has already secured definitively for him or her.
In Romans 4:16-17 Paul clarified that the Christian’s faith in God is the work of God’s grace, and he quotes from Gen. 17:5. Already God had made Abraham the father of many nations, but Abraham had not yet experienced in his being and in history the fullness of this blessing. The whole Christian faith and life is wrapped... Continue Reading
What Happens when Christianity Doesn’t Work
But God reminded Job, as he reminds all of us, that just because we don't have the answers does not mean that there are no answers.
Christianity is not true because it works. In many cases, it does not work. That is to say, it does not solve all of the problems that we think it should solve. Those who become Christians because they were told it would fix their marriages, only to find themselves in divorce court, might well give... Continue Reading
What We Miss When We Skip the Prophets
Aside from missing out on a fifth of God’s word, here are five specific treasures we miss when we consistently neglect the reading and study of the prophets.
I don’t have any recent data or research to back me up. But when I talk to other Christians about what they’re reading, the prophets come up the least. If someone mentions the prophets, it’s usually because they’re following a read-through-the-Bible plan. (And they’re usually eager to get to Matthew!) From what Biblical book... Continue Reading
Surveying Sanctification: What About God’s Holiness?
The call to holiness is rooted and grounded in the triune God.
In the middle of winter temperatures are below freezing and it snows. Yet I can look outside and see young people standing at the bus stop in shorts! These young people are not living in light of winter. They are actually living indifferently or even in rebellion to winter! They are certainly not living in... Continue Reading
Why Legalism Destroys Churches and Kills Christians
The law as a guide to salvation is a terrible taskmaster.
While few of us today seek to follow the Pharisaical model, this level of misery is alive and well among those who misunderstand the complementarity of law and gospel and seek to earn favor with God through both keeping the law and misappropriating it to extrapolate a set of personal convictions—often related to modes of... Continue Reading
Heaven Would Be Hell Without God
To be with God — to know him, to see him — is the central, irreducible draw of heaven.
Surely no one who had actually been in heaven would neglect to mention what Scripture shows is its main focus. If you had spent an evening dining with a king, you wouldn’t just talk about the place settings. When John was shown heaven and wrote about it, he recorded the details — but first and... Continue Reading
Another Downside Of Pietism: Christ’s Bodily Resurrection Is Marginalized
Pietism is not to be confused with piety, which describes the Christian life and worship; pietism describes a retreat into the subjective experience of God.
Dale W. Brown, who writes from a perspective sympathetic to pietism, identifies five central motifs: 1) a turn to the practical; 2) a primitivist reading of Scripture, which is described as Biblicism; 3) an emphasis on sanctification and ethics; 4) an emphasis on religious experience; 5) acts of mercy (Dale W. Brown, Understanding Pietism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,... Continue Reading
Because Jesus Loved His Body More…And So Should We
Jesus is bigger than our perceived offenses and the Holy Spirit’s power more forceful than any push to segregate, divide and conquer on worldly terms.
I see the internet spats. The calling out. The dissension. The accusations. High profile leaders or high prolific tweeters are targeting and targeted. Social media is awash with charges and pointed fingers. We are doing the opposite of what Jesus did by shaking Judas and neglecting the greater mission. I have no doubt that this... Continue Reading
One Great Difference Between A Covenantal Piety And The American Conversionist Alternative
What a wonderful blessing it is never to have known a day when one did not believe.
It is not necessary for one to be able to say where or when he came to new life and true faith. That is a human invention not biblical truth. Our confidence is not in our experience nor in our memory of an experience but in Christ, in his person, in his finished work for... Continue Reading