Gideon’s 9700
When God Has You on the Sidelines
What matters most is to be where we bring God the most glory. And only God can know where we need to be to bring him the most glory. The other day, I was reading the story of Gideon in Judges 7. I’ve read the story many times, and have always been taken by... Continue Reading
Watching What We Wear
Modesty: We should be ashamed to show off certain features of our anatomy in public.
The reality is we all have “unpresentable parts”—parts of the body that are not evil but are to be “treated with greater modesty” (1 Corinthians 12:23). To call upon Christians—women and men—to cover up these parts is not cruel and unusual punishment. In truth, it’s an important way we honor God and love one another.... Continue Reading
An Unavoidable Political Building Block
Sin affects the way we think and plan.
“Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint” (Alexander Hamilton). This common idea was corollary of human depravity. In “What the Founders Didn’t Trust,” Barton Swaim argued, as many of our posts have, that the depravity of man... Continue Reading
The Unhindered Gospel
Scars for Christ were left on the apostles' backs.
The Lord had made clear that the road from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth was paved with suffering, the pathway of the cross. It turned out pretty quickly that the life of the church was not going to be some fairytale honeymoon. The honeymoon, at least proverbially, is one of the best... Continue Reading
Why Did God Give Us Mosaics?
Incredible beauty can arise from what appears to be little more than chaos, waste, and fragments.
God sees beauty beyond our marred natures, He sees possibility beyond our fractured circumstances, He sees ability beyond our broken bodies, and so He shapes it, He assembles it, and He polishes it into something wondrous, something worthy of His name. In many of the great European palaces, you can find entire walls that... Continue Reading
Sowell on Discrimination and Disparities
Clear thinking instead of reckless emoting is needed here.
Disparities come about for all sort of reasons.…Thomas Sowell is one clear thinker who has discussed this in detail. He has penned dozens of vitally important books that dissect and dismantle the reigning leftist orthodoxies. Why do some people, or groups, or nations, seem to do better than others in various ways? The standard... Continue Reading
On Ministry, Part 4: The Qualities
Love for God—manifested by obedience—renders us to serve others well.
Our spiritual gifts (1 Timothy 4:14) are not for our benefit; they’re for everybody except us. Our task is to serve those alongside us by doing well what we can do, in order to strengthen them in their faith and in their walk. Having laid out the qualifications for the church ministry offices, Paul... Continue Reading
The Keys of the Kingdom: On Church Discipline (WCF 30.1–30.4)
A church that refuses to practice biblical discipline is not just a defective church; it is not a church at all.
To watch a sheep wander toward a cliff and refuse to use the shepherd’s crook to pull them back is pastoral malpractice. The keys of the kingdom are heavy, and church censures are agonizingly painful for the elders who must administer them. Yet, they are a vital gift from our King—a spiritual immune system given... Continue Reading
Striving Side by Side
The Mind of Christ and the Mission of the Church
To strive side by side for the faith of the gospel is far more than a call to teamwork. It is a call to embody together the self-giving life of the crucified and exalted Lord. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and... Continue Reading
Sermons Are Not Ted Talks
Preaching Maxims, Numbers 1-50
Sermons are fundamentally a spiritual exercise, more art than science, more gift than craft. When centered on faith in the Son of God, who gave Himself for us, they are nothing less than an encounter with the living God. Introduction1 I first wrote these maxims on the social media platform Formerly Known as Twitter... Continue Reading
Learning the Logic of Leviticus 8-10
Place & Priest
On the same day, the very day of their ordination, two of the priests, Nadab and Abihu, sinned grievously, offending God’s holiness. The Lord killed them. We learn sober lessons. God regulates worship. Worshipping the Lord is a matter of life and death. Destruction comes to all who do not worship God as he has... Continue Reading
The Darkest of Dark Ages
It seems clear that infanticide is the wave of the future in the West.
A new Dark Age is upon us. The therapeutic culture has perverted our culture’s moral imagination.…We truly live in a world where good is called evil and evil is called good and where the murder of innocents is seen as a sign of moral progress. Indeed, the former Dark Ages perhaps don’t seem quite so... Continue Reading
Ordered Liberty After the Protestant Public Square
Reflections on Christian Nationalism, Protestant Institutionalism, and the Church’s Limits
The church can teach that liberty must be ordered without claiming the state’s office. The church can declare that rulers are accountable to God without giving the magistrate the keys of the kingdom. This article is not intended to replace, summarize, or correct the PCA’s ongoing study of Christian Nationalism. That work deserves careful... Continue Reading
The Ordinary and Enduring Gifts of the Spirit
All God-given gifts are to be used to serve the body of Christ, not to build ourselves up.
God calls us to use the “ordinary” gifts that He has given us, cheerfully, for the good of others and for His own glory. Scripture teaches that when Christ ascended, “he gave gifts” to all His people (Eph. 4:8). These gifts were given to strengthen and build up the church, the body of Christ.... Continue Reading
Assembly Declares Israel’s War in Gaza a Genocide
After hearing emotional testimony from a former GA moderator who recalled fleeing his home as a child, commissioners voted 454-15 to approve the measure.
As amended, RIW-04 states that Israel’s war in Gaza constitutes genocide and condemns what it calls Israel’s violation of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. MILWAUKEE—The 227th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted last week 454-15 to adopt RIW-04, declaring that the government of Israel... Continue Reading
Christ and the Third Use of the Law
Correct and discipline your child, but never fail to remind her of the source of her obedience—of Christ and his gospel.
Apart from Christ, we have no ability to live the Christian life—to love others. We must constantly hear the indicatives—who we are in Christ and what he has done on our behalf. We must hear of the Spirit’s work in our hearts and lay hold of the life-giving words of the gospel in order to... Continue Reading
Three Gauges Every Pastor Should Watch
Burnout can be an overused word, so we should use it carefully and not confuse it with ordinary fatigue.
Many pastors can carry seasons of intense labor without burning out, as long as there’s meaning, support, recovery, and a shared load. Burnout tends to take root when the work becomes unrelenting, when our hearts begin to grow cold, and when we start to believe that our work doesn’t make a difference. So pay attention.... Continue Reading
Why Jesus’ Incarnation Stands Alone Among All Faiths
The incarnation accomplishes one saving purpose: God restores sinners to himself, brings them into his holy family, and is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.
Salvation is not merely forgiveness. The child born to Mary is also Immanuel (Matt 1:23). Sin separated humanity from God’s presence; to restore God’s presence, sin first had to be dealt with. The incarnation begins the saving work that removes the barrier between God and humanity. John says the Word became flesh and “made his... Continue Reading
Shutting Down Christian Speech
A counseling bill in the United Kingdom shows that British Christians cannot escape the culture war.
Principled Christians here in the United States are better protected for now, as we saw in the hopeful precedent set by SCOTUS’s ruling in favor of therapist Kaley Chiles. In Colorado, an attempted ban on so-called “conversion practices” was struck down as an infringement on Chiles’ freedom of speech. Like Pilkington, Chiles used talk therapy... Continue Reading
The Jews, the Church, and Two Ditches to Avoid
What do Gentile Christians actually owe the Jewish people?
Romans 11 is not about foreign policy, it simply exhorts Gentile Christians to not be arrogant towards the Jews. It says maintain humility about your position as a wild olive shoot grafted into a tree you did not plant. None of that translates into a requirement to support any particular nation’s foreign policy. The only... Continue Reading
Giving Gifts to Men: Christ’s Provision for His Church
Gifts should be more about the well-being of the whole church than the preoccupations of its individual members.
Like many lights illuminating a large room, the triune God shines more brilliantly through Christians gathered together than apart. Gifted grace fosters “humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love” and being “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:2). Graces are others-centered, which means that... Continue Reading
Carl Trueman’s Royal Elegy: A Confessional Reformed Critique
Over-reliance upon description over prescription reduces scholarship to a mere diagnosis of the disease rather than a theological cure for a godless society.
Even within a deeply pluralized, multi-faith setting, historic Reformed theology does not default to the compromise King Charles has chosen. The civil ruler still bears an office of divinely ordained authority and is morally restricted from using that authority to equate the Christian faith with false religions or to relativize absolute truth claims. The transition... Continue Reading
Peter’s Deliverance and Herod’s Judgment Echo the First Passover
Not only was Herod not a god, but he was also not even the sovereign ruler of his own kingdom. God in his sovereignty rules all things, including persecution and deliverance from persecution.
On the appointed day, Herod appeared before the people of Tyre and Sidon in all his royal splendor and delivered an eloquent speech (Acts 12:21). The Jewish historian Josephus noted that he wore a robe of silver, designed to sparkle in the sun.2 Impressed by this display, the people of Tyre and Sidon credited him... Continue Reading
Legacy Tree
Tucked away in a draw on our Montana property stands a Douglas fir that a forester estimated to be more than six hundred years old.
Jesus told us to consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. He pointed to ordinary things that people passed every day and used them to reveal extraordinary truths about His Father’s care. Standing beneath this old fir, I’ve begun to wonder whether that invitation extends farther than flowers and sparrows.... Continue Reading
Lessons About Marriage from the Dance Floor
During my sabbatical my wife and I took ballroom dance lessons. I never expected they would become one of the clearest illustrations of God's beautiful design for marriage.
No one watching an accomplished couple would conclude that the dancers are interchangeable. Their movements are different precisely because they are dancing together. Their differences do not diminish the dance; they create it. Scripture presents marriage in much the same way. Men and women possess equal dignity because both bear God’s image (Genesis 1:27), yet... Continue Reading
What About the Awkward Psalms?
Plead for the revival of the unjust.
We should desire all people to ‘serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling’ lest the Son’s wrath be kindled against them (Psa. 2:11, 12). Therefore, it is right to apply such prayers to the enemies of the church today. Jesus promises that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her (Matt. 16:18).... Continue Reading
Many Members, One Body: Gifts and Love in the Church
Whatever the gift might be—teaching, administration, and so on—all must be exercised to grow the body in mutual love.
The diversity of body parts is not detrimental to the body as a whole—it’s essential to it. What makes a body a body is the unity of the diversity. The same is true in the church: What makes it the church is the part you play. Your feeling like you have a part to play... Continue Reading
2. Why Reformed Pastors May Be More Subject to Depression than Others
Our job is to keep fighting while engaged in the long retreat of life.
We are all in a form of retreat while we are in these earthly frames. Our bodies and minds, and sometimes our resolve, weakens. In Scripture, we see godly men like Moses or David or Peter fall into sin late in life. We should not think that our doctrine of progressive sanctification makes us immune... Continue Reading
Reputation vs Reality: The Church in Sardis
Façades won’t furnish faith.
So many saints in name only hear the Word of Christ through the Spirit of Christ Sunday after Sunday. The way forward is back: Return to those very words, and believe! There’s power in the words. There’s life, real life, not reputation-only life, in those words. By the grace of the Spirit, we have these... Continue Reading
Book Review: A Sight Never to be Forgotten: Eyewitness Accounts from Union Chaplains at Gettysburg
Hale’s book offers an impressive array of primary resources. No student of the battle or chaplains today can reasonably do without it.
Hale makes a valid case that “chaplains perceived and interpreted” the battle of Gettysburg differently from other participants. Unlike the combatants, “whose focus was limited to killing the enemy directly in their front,” chaplains sometimes stood just behind the battle lines of their regiments, granting them “a wide-angle view.” Others stationed further to the rear... Continue Reading