We come now to one of many penitential psalms — psalms expressing grief and sorrow over sin, with a cry for God to extend His mercy and grace. “O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger . . .” (Ps. 6:1-10). Again, this is a psalm of David. We are not given the occasion for …
The Unaware Billionaire
One day, a certain man became a Christian. He had been thinking about it for months, and a next door neighbor had explained the faith in a compelling way. This man and his wife both accepted the Lord, and were baptized the following Sunday. The next day, Monday morning, before he went to work, the …
God is No Miser
The Table of the Lord is a rich table, one that is filled with all good things. We who have been invited to that Table are not filled with all good things. The point, one that Scripture makes over and over again, is to bring about a transfer. What God has, He gives to us. …
Flesh is Grass
At Your Word, O God, the mountains smoke, And at Your Word, the oceans boil in their basins. You speak, and all the earth is silent. You speak, and regiments of tornadoes leap into battle. Quietly, You cause the grasses of the field to bend back and forth on the way to withering brown as …
Anabaptists in Puritan Face Paint
When was the first appearance of the strict regulative principle? And what does this tell us about certain deep affinities between certain streams of the Reformed faith and the streams of other communions? I have before charged that some of the pietists in the Reformed world are completely at odds with their own heritage. And …
Optional Realities
Once there was a nation that turned away from the living God, and so the living God turned them over to their vain imaginations, so that their foolish hearts were darkened. One of the states in that nation — let us call it Massachusetts –decided through its judicial system that our system of public life …
Moses the Unreasonable
Our presence here at this table makes a claim on us. Because we are here, we must not become idolaters, as some of the Jews did in the wilderness. We must not eat and drink at another god’s table, and then rise up to play. The golden calf, however, was not called another god. Aaron …
God of Sabbaths
God of the Sabbath, God of our fathers, we pray to You in Jesus’ name. We have completed another week of labor, built on the foundation of Your everlasting gospel, embodied in our last Lord’s Day. We now look forward to another week, and we desire to build it upon the same foundation — the …
Auburn Avenue Hubbub (AAH) Cool Quote #5
“Now in particular I ask you to pray with me that as I baptize this child with water and receive him into the number of Christians, that God himself inwardly baptize him with his Spirit and hold him in the number of his elect.” John Oecolampadius Basel Service Book of 1526
Going to Memphis
A certain man was traveling to Memphis, and as he drove along the highway, he saw one of those big green road signs that said, “Memphis, 250 miles.” This was not unusual, but what was unusual was the cluster of cars, tents, and Winnebagos around the base of the sign. Curious, he decided to stop. …