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
The Dark Side Of Shalom
Who would have imagined that the shalom root would be found in this famous line? “Vengeance is mine.
“Peace” is just one of the options by which we may translate the term shalom when we encounter it. Sometimes, it is entirely a matter of opinion whether peace, wholeness, welfare, well-being, or all of the above are being conveyed in any instance where the word is used. And yes, some of the extended meanings of the shalom root... Continue Reading
Encouragement on the Path of Righteousness
We first of all, cling to Him, and then, having received His holiness, we follow wherever He calls us
“We have been adopted by the Lord as children with this understanding—that in our lives we should mirror Christ who is the bond of our adoption. And truly, unless we are devoted—even addicted—to righteousness, we will faithlessly abandon our Creator and disown Him as our Savior.” There are two main parts to the instruction from... Continue Reading
No Spin on Sin
Speaking the biblical language requires thinking in biblical terms. We mustn’t spin sin
One such area where it is crucial to spot and deal with spin is how we talk and think about sin. Sometimes we think and speak of sin in relativized terms. For example, we may speak of our bad attitudes, selfishness or anger as personal defects that are expected and even accepted. We spin sin by saying or thinking things like, “I am a sinner” or “I’m not perfect” or “I know I really should do (fill in the blank)…” These are all true but they are often relativized and therefore declawed. And, to make matters worse, when we do say things like this often our Christian brothers and sisters affirm us with nods. The danger of this is it produces a culture where sin is not really a big deal.
Biblical Authority: Preaching the Word
When someone preaches they are bringing the Word of God with authority.
Second, the preacher only has the authority to bind the conscience where Scripture binds the conscience. Not only must the preacher stick to the Word of God, he cannot go beyond what is written when he corrects, reproves, and rebukes. The preacher must draw conclusions that are both good and necessary. For example, he can say with Biblical authority that it is sin to look at internet pornography even when there is no concept of the internet in Scripture. However, he cannot say with Biblical authority that one should never go to movies even if some movies are questionable or sinful. The authority from the pulpit must be tied to the Scriptures.