Minimalism Is Not the Gospel
I was a minimalist for less than a week. But I loved every clean, simple, sleek minute of it.
First-world citizens often do accumulate possessions to excess. We idolize our belongings and base our sense of self-worth on the newly acquired contents of our Macy’s shopping bag. We compare our stuff with others’ stuff in an endless cycle of covetousness. We’re also heedless of the consequences of our consumerism. In our pursuit of stuff, we become thoughtless stewards of creation and poor neighbors to those who produce goods in unsafe conditions for unfair wages. But minimalism is not the gospel.
Seeking the Approval of Men
Seeking the approval of other men — godly men — especially in ministry is not only beneficial, but also necessary
After these two experiences, I got reminded of another conversation that my wife had with another friend. Some time ago, my wife had elatedly posted on social media that I had received a license to preach from my presbytery. This other friend commented, with some deal of amazement, as to why I required such a license! Hasn’t Jesus called all of us to preach the gospel? Then why is there a need to seek a license for so obvious a task? Although that friend was sincere in asking these questions, his questions revealed to me that he had the same presuppositions as these two other friends: In ministry, we should not seek the approval of men.
The Day of Trouble
Few christians go through the whole of their christian lives without experiencing a time of trouble.
Why does the Lord allow christians to suffer for their faith? When the Lord says, ‘offences must come’, why does He use the word, ‘must’? Does He really mean that trials and afflictions are a ‘must’ in the christian life? Yes, that is exactly what He means. Why is this so? It is that even after a person is saved, and has experienced the great changes that accompany being saved, such as changes in inclinations, enjoyments, tastes, company, entertainments, and so on, God has further work to do on and in the christian, before they leave this world to enjoy the pleasures of heaven with Christ forevermore.
We Have Lost The Sense Of God
A Christian can never rise higher than his experience of God
“I am sorry to say that as I mingle with the younger generation today, I cannot help feeling that this culture of deep meditation on God has been largely lost. There is too much noise. Noise from the television, noise from the radio, noise from the internet, noise from the smartphone, noise from the computer,... Continue Reading
The Training Ground of Sound Doctrine
It is not just pastors who bear the weight of training in sound doctrine
“There are many reasons that ignorance pervades today’s church. For decades, Christians have focused on felt needs rather than doctrinal truth. We have focused on immediately-applicable topical sermons rather than verse-by-verse exposition that unleashes the whole truth of God’s whole Word.” For over a decade, I have been reviewing books that are of particular... Continue Reading
The Sufficiency of Scripture and Biblical Scholarship: Reading is a Big Deal
Jesus thinks reading is a big deal. After all, He wrote a book.
“Reading has always been at the core of human scholarly pursuits. Indeed, the ancient and long-standing view of a scholar has been one who has the ability to read (not necessarily speak) in multiple languages and synthesize this reading accurately. On more than one occasion Jesus criticized the official and unofficial leaders of God’s people... Continue Reading
Knowing and Doing What Righteousness Requires
Only the character of God as revealed in His law provides us with absolute norms for ethical issues
“We need principles that are absolute and normative; otherwise, the decisions we make will be arbitrary, and we’ll have no basis for distinguishing right decisions from wrong decisions. Our human-enacted laws can be helpful, but they can never provide absolute norms.” Every so often, I run across a news story that’s emblematic of our... Continue Reading
Trusting Christ Alone
Today, we will be tempted to doubt our salvation. We will take our eyes off of Jesus Christ alone, and find ourselves with diminishing assurance that all is well with our soul.
We are saved by Christ alone. We are saved by his faithfulness and not ours. Now, let us pray for more faith. Let us pray for more faithfulness. Let us grow in faith and faithfulness, for these are fruits of the Holy Spirit. But never let us confuse our faithfulness with the faithfulness of our... Continue Reading
Complaining Never Wins the Culture
What if the biggest danger ahead for Christians today is something we don’t expect, but should?
Furthermore, grumblers are neither persuasive nor appealing when they share their faith. In fact, they rarely share their faith at all. It’s hard to joyfully and consistently proclaim the gospel when all you do is complain about your mission field. Murmuring does not further God’s mission. What if the biggest danger ahead for Christians today... Continue Reading
The Hope of Grace-induced Holiness
We must look to our justification, that is, we must look at what Christ has done for us, for any hope of progressing in what Christ is doing in us
“It is imperative that we realize our complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit. We must not forget, of course, that our activity is enlisted to the fullest extent in the process of sanctification. But we must not rely upon our own strength of resolution or purpose. It is when we are weak that we are... Continue Reading