The Cost of Leadership
Although the biblical qualifications are quite straightforward, there are two ways that many churches have abandoned what God has said about biblical order and leadership and have inserted worldly qualifications into the equation.
The church that approaches God’s offices in a worldly fashion will functionally operate by asking, “How can we get what we want” rather than “How can we do what God wants?” Every church is working to build one of two kingdoms. The important question is, “Which kingdom are we building?” The way in which the... Continue Reading
Analyzing Annihilationism: Will Those in Hell Cease to Exist?
One of the most difficult truths to grasp is the eternality of hell.
The giant philosophical elephant in annihilationism’s room is its appeal to the sinful nature. The wicked want it to be true. There is a certain appeal to it. Culpability is annihilated and accountability ceases to exist. That works nicely for the truth suppressor. God isn’t as holy and righteous as their conscious testifies. Annihilationism quiets... Continue Reading
Our Secular Life Is A Covenant Of Works
One of the great mistakes made both by the religious left and the religious right in the USA is to attempt to turn our civil life into a covenant of grace.
Since the early 20th century, this has become an area of great confusion. Increasingly modern man has come to see civil life as a sort of substitute for the church, which is a minister of the grace of God. As the modern and late-modern West has rejected Christianity it has lost the sense of limits... Continue Reading
Can There Be Forgiveness Without Repentance? Part 1
Since not even God forgives people apart from their repentance, then why should we expect that we could do so?
The problem I notice is that many times Christians have ongoing difficulty in forgiving those who have wronged them. The strain may go on for many years even as they keep trying to forgive. They frequently assume that there is something wrong with them as being hardhearted and otherwise unloving. They fault themselves for not... Continue Reading
When Do We Stand Before God in Judgment?
We have to make a distinction between the judgment that we receive immediately upon our death and what the Bible speaks of as the last judgment.
Historic Christianity has almost universally, but not quite, confessed the idea that the departed saints go immediately to be in the presence of Christ, in what is called the enjoyment of the intermediate state; that is, we are disembodied spirits, and we await the final consummation of the kingdom of Christ, whereby we will experience... Continue Reading
Nehemiah Sets the Table for Christ’s Feast
If we could summarize: Nehemiah, moved by a genuine love for God and a loving concern for his people, laid aside his privileges and selflessly served those who were hungry and hurting
Surely you can see how wonderfully this service anticipates the greater Nehemiah. After all, the Lord Jesus Christ laid aside his heavenly privileges, put on humanity, and served those who were hungry and hurting due to the effects of sin. Nehemiah might have been able to say, “I ordered a daily feast and wrote the... Continue Reading
The Routine Absurdity of Leaders Growing Large (Part 1)
The gospel is God’s pin to pop the puffy heart and puncture the bloated head of entitled leaders
“With leadership comes certain privileges and prerogatives. You have a title, a name, a platform, a budget, a staff, better benefits – nothing inherently wrong, just things that are inherently sticky. This means that our identity and expectations can quickly adhere to the privileges and prerogatives of our role.” Our church is preparing for... Continue Reading
Selfaholism or Servaholism
The weird thing about addictions is that they promise much, but deliver little.
But here’s the strangest thing of all; the happiest people in the world are servants – not those who warm the slippers of millionaires, but those who serve others in all their relationships and responsibilities. They may have a million in the bank or even just red ink, but whatever their social or financial standing,... Continue Reading
Preaching the Gospel with TULIP’s Tricky “L” in Mind
How can you preach the “whosoever” of John 3:16 if you cannot be certain that Christ’s atonement was for every person?
The doctrines known as “Calvinism” insist that Christ’s atonement was completed with a limited or definite purpose in mind—the salvation of God’s elect. Thus, while the atonement was sufficient for all humanity, it was intended and applied only to those who had been specially chosen by God to be his. R.C. Sproul says, “Our view... Continue Reading
Tragic Worship
Worship characterized by upbeat rock music, stand-up comedy, beautiful people taking center stage, and a certain amount of Hallmark Channel sentimentality neglects that “in the midst of life we are in death.”
Of all places, the Church should surely be the most realistic. The Church knows how far humanity has fallen, understands the cost of that fall in both the incarnate death of Christ and the inevitable death of every single believer. In the psalms of lament, the Church has a poetic language for giving expression to... Continue Reading