Just a quick reminder that tomorrow, Boxing Day, is the release date for 100 Cupboards. For those in the Moscow area, Ball and Cross Books still has some copies that have not been reserved, and Nate will be there from 12 to 2 to sign copies if you would like.
Christmas Irony
At Christmas time, we are privileged to reflect on how God in His wisdom has taken human sophistication and urbanity, and folded it back over itself, turning everything around. The first Christmas was the time in history when God began announcing His mastery of irony—and it is also the time when the worldly wise began …
And Give Me Family
Several wonderful blessings at church this morning. The first is that I had the privilege of baptizing two of my grandchildren, the twins Chloe and Titus. Praise God from whom all blessings flow, including the blessing of God’s generational kindness and promises. The second blessing was a dedication, not a baptism. A family in our …
The Judge in the Dock
In chapter three, John Piper continues to interact with N.T. Wright’s take on the law-court aspect of justification. At the center of the discussion is this now famous section from What Saint Paul Really Said, which needs to be quoted at length. “The result of all this should be obvious, but is enormously important for …
We can Easily Arrange for a Scene
Once there was a little girl who was always copying her older sister. Now this is what younger brothers and sisters ought to do—we all learn by imitation. This is how God made us. But God created us to learn by imitation in a spirit of admiration and gratitude, and not in a spirit of …
And So We Come Gladly
You have perhaps heard the admonition that the “family that prays together, stays together.” This is quite true, and families should pray together. But it is also true that families that eat together stay together. One of the signs that our culture is fragmented is that it is so easy to eat alone—in the car, …
A New Human Race
INTRODUCTION: The birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem marks the Advent (arrival), not only of the long promised Messiah, but also the advent of a new humanity, established in the last Adam, the one St. Paul calls the man from heaven. We sometimes emphasize that Immanuel means “God with us,” and it does. But let …
Some Agreement In Spite of Ourselves
Andy Webb has responded to my Demands of the System post here. In his handling of John 15, I actually appreciated and agreed with much of what he had to say, so this response might possibly bring some closure to this line of the argument. Just two crucial points. First, Andy thinks that I was …
Gripping the Sides of His Coracle
In the second chapter, John Piper starts to get down to brass tacks, and he begins with the definition of justification. N.T. Wright defines justification as God’s (legal and forensic) declaration that someone is already within the covenant family. Quoting Wright, Piper writes, “‘Justification’ in the first century was not about how someone might establish …
Please Let Us Come
The glory of the New Covenant is of course seen in its nature, but in the prophecies of Scripture we also see that glory in its promised extent — from the river to the ends of the earth, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the name of the …