In these days of web slander, what should a ministry’s rule of thumb be in responding to such things? There are two basic principles to remember. First, if a charge has any surface plausibility (or possible “traction”) at all, do not let it go unanswered. The Scriptures are full of vigorous replies to various saucy …
A Heart That Turns to the Right
To repeat the same things over again is a protection. Those who struggle against sin must be reminded again and again. If we start to chafe at the warnings, it simply shows how much we need them. “Therefore thou shalt love the Lord they God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, …
The Companionship of Saints
In taking part in this meal, we are the Lord’s companions. The word companion originally meant to share bread together with someone. The com means together, and panis is the word for bread. We are the Lord’s companions. This sounds wonderful to us, but there is a hitch. Everyone else who comes to this Table …
The Mere Fact of Worship
The efficacy of worship goes far beyond the intentions of the worshippers. It is fitting and proper that all worshippers of the triune God fix this in their minds. We are worshipping God in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We are doing so in faith, and are offering up a right worship of …
Co-Signing
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 103 “A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend” (Prov. 17:18). The book of Proverbs famously takes dim view of co-signing a note. But before we absolutize this, we should take note …
Aesthetic Puritanism
“Even in the plastic arts, then, the Puritans were willing to record the truth as they saw it and to appreciate the beauty of that record. On gravestones, in meeting houses, and in the works of over two hundred poets, they were not, in Moses Coit Tyler’s words, ‘at war with nearly every form of …
Good Will on the First Page
“There is no work in which holes can’t be picked; no work that can succeed without a preliminary act of good will on the part of the reader” (C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism, p. 116).
Life in the Provinces
“If a man is redeemed by Christ, then he is a member of this one Church — a Church founded in God’s decree before time existed, and by the grace of God manifested in history as long as sinful heirs of Adam have lived. Enter the modern rootless evangelical, who, with a bemused detachment, is …
The Victim is Always Ignored
“Job constantly reverts to the community’s role in what has happened to him, but — and this is what is mysterious — he does not succeed in making his commentators, outside the text, understand him any better than those who question him within the text . . . No one takes any notice of what …
Church of England in Exile
I want to begin by praising N.T. Wright, but I want to do so in order to critique the Church of England, along with Dr. Wright’s apparent approach to her. In Jesus and the Victory of God, Wright has a wonderful section where he shows that forgiveness of sins needs to be understood in a …