Throughout the stories told in the Old Testament, we find three kinds of figures. All of them in various ways are types of the Lord Jesus, but no one figure portrays Him completely. We have kings, like David or Hezekiah. We have faithful priests, like Aaron or Jehoida. And we have the prophets, men like …
Godly Cover Ups
One of Jane Austen’s characters (somewhere) says that honesty is a greatly over-rated virtue. Of course we should not take this as a basis for justifying ungodly lies or other forms of unrighteous deceit. But at the same time, we should recognize that within the Church there are a number of verbal sins which are …
Covenant Renewal Worship
As we change our order of worship, we need to be mindful of the fact that we do not change for the sake of change — we are not merely rearranging the furniture to keep from becoming bored. That is a mentality that comes from restless spirits, who think that spontaneity is the justification of …
Christ in the Face of Others
God’s saints are not made out of simple and discrete blocks of wood. We are complex beings to begin with, and our sinfulness only complicates matters. As we approach the table of the Lord this morning, take special care not to abuse it through tenaciously clutching to your own opinions about others. Too many Christians …
Marriage As Manifest Glory XXXVIII
Introduction When a man leaves his father and mother, and takes a wife, one of the purposes God had for this was the creation and nurture of godly seed. As we mentioned when we considered this, it is one purpose of the marriage union, but it is not the only one. We come now to …
Discerning the Body
N.T. Wright wants to say that justification is not so much a matter of “getting in” as it is a question of understanding who “is in.” The problem I have with this (and a great deal of the NPP discussion) is that phrase “not so much.” It creates an adversarial either/or set up where none …
Express Warrant for Paedobaptism
With regard to the baptism of infants, I no longer accept the requirement for “express warrant” that I used to hold to when I was baptistic in my convictions. The “express warrant” hermeneutic winds up prohibiting way too much — worship on the Lord’s Day, women taking communion, and so on. At the same time, …
Security Guards and Bouncers
I appreciate Frank Turk’s comments and input from time to time, and would commend his discussion of my recent posts on the minimum of orthodoxy required to get one through the pearly gates. I commend them, not because I agree, but because it is a pleasure to interact with someone who at least gets what …
Canadians and Kurds
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! O praise the Lord, all you nations, You Gentiles and tribes to the end of the earth. Praise Him, all you people, Canadians and Kurds, Americans and Armenians, Brazilians and Englishmen, Chinese and Russians, Poles and Japanese, Praise Him all you people. …
Let It Go
Understanding Scripture is not just a question of understanding a particular passage, but also of understanding its place in all Scripture, and the balance we are called to have in the face of what might appear to be conflicting instructions. In Matthew 18, Jesus teaches us how to confront sin in our midst (and the …