Which Old-Testament Promises Apply to Me?
Christians may rightly embrace the promises of the Old Testament made to Israel, because in union with the Messiah, Jesus, we are Israel, we are the true Israel
“Let me see if I can simplify some very complex issues and provide a two-step process that enables Joe and the rest of us Christians to appropriate the Old Testament, especially the promises for our use as Christians in the 21st century.” We get a lot of questions in the inbox about how to... Continue Reading
Running the Race of Redemption
After his diagnosis, John entered a race--a race in which he acknowledged his need for Christ to carry him across the finish line.
John's life became a glorious testimony to God's redeeming grace. As painful as it was for me to sit by his bedside as he lay dying, my mind was repeatedly filled with a sense of the infinite wisdom of God in crafting the circumstances of John's life in order to draw him to His Son. One minute, John was a law enforcement hero, the next, he was a weak man who recognized his need for Christ and his utter dependence on God to sustain his life.
Sexuality and the Gospel
Homosexuality, in Paul’s view, represents as obvious and intentional an inversion of the created order as is this idolatry.
It is so obvious, to Paul, that God designed the bodies of men and women for sexual relationship with one another, that one needs to willfully suppress this truth to imagine that directing sexual passion to one’s own sex is in line with the creation order. Paul’s argument is not that these people’s conduct is so bad because their passions are so disordered. His argument is that their conduct is so obviously out of accord with God’s purposes in creation that it shows them to have been given over to the same sort of willful self-deception that is at the root of idolatry.
Christmas Peace
In truth, the craziness of Christmas reminds us that we need someone to rescue us from ourselves!
The Son of God living among us? Who would’ve thought? But that’s not all. Jesus didn’t come just to live among us, he came to do something. He came to redeem and restore what was broken. He came to heal the hurting, find the lost, free the bound, and save sinners. He came to bring peace on earth. But not just any peace, the peace that comes from knowing God and being known by him. The peace of redemption.
A Real Redeemer, or: “Remember the Rose!”
Christians call Jesus the Redeemer, and he is, but we sometimes forget that biblically, to be redeemed means to be ruled.
Is there ever really a situation in which we’re not ruled by someone else, even when we think we’re calling the shots? Self-rule, autonomy, is a delusion. We are utterly dependent creatures, created to be dependent upon and cared for by a good and loving God, whose law points the way to real, full, freedom. But we’ve all broken that law; we are way beyond the category of repeat offenders. We need a redeemer who loved God’s law enough to keep it, obeying it himself, suffering the deserved death penalty on behalf of lawbreakers who’d trust in him, and risen to reign not as a superhero, but a sovereign. Jesus frees us from the tyranny of autonomy and its delusional pursuits. He calls us to renounce autonomy, not just rein it in a little.
The Neglected Advent
Very little time and thought is given in the church’s calendar to the second coming of Christ.
Most commonly, I fear, is the idea that there are so many prophecies still to be fulfilled before the second coming (e.g. rise of the antichrist, conversion of the Jews, etc.) that there’s no chance of Christ’s return anytime soon. We forget that very few were expecting or ready for Christ’s first advent. They understood the prophecies only with the benefit of hindsight, and even then most were still in a major muddle. What makes us think we’re any better placed regarding the second advent.
I Won The Lottery And Didn’t Even Play
Why isn’t everyone not intoxicated with the story of God’s grace to undeserving men and women?
I then remembered the quote, the same sun that melts wax hardens clay. When men go to church, read the scriptures, and practice religion, this results in either tender healing or further callousness. The same Jesus who was precious to some was odious to others. Yes, it is true, the Word of God softens some while it... Continue Reading
Baptism – A Personal Journey In Which It Is Discovered That Infant Baptism Is Biblical!
A personal testimony about a journey on the issue of covenant baptism.
So because I had come to see that baptism was something that God does for us, not something that we do for him; because I had come to see that Gods church existed in the Old Testament as well and that the covenant applies across both Old and New Testaments; because children were included in... Continue Reading
Taking Back Christianese #6: “All Sins Are Equal in God’s Sight”
Our enthusiasm for maintaining the seriousness of sin (which is good) can lead us to make additional statements which may not be so true
First, to say all sins are the same is to confuse the effect of sin with the heinousness of sin. While all sins are equal in their effect (they separate us from God), they are not all equally heinous. Second, the Bible differentiates between sins. Some sins are more severe in terms of impact (1... Continue Reading
Answering Four Common Laymen Responses to the ESS/EFS/ERAS Debate
We must, to uphold the truth and majesty of the Gospel itself, confess with clarity that the mission of Christ was to become submissive—a role contrary to and not a simple corollary of His eternal Nature.
But in the end, regardless of the terms used, ESS/EFS/ERAS is indeed about ontology and ontological subordination. “Ontology” is the study of fundamental being, nature, essence; it has to do with what makes something what it is, including what it must be to be what it is and what it cannot be and still be... Continue Reading