Another area where self-control is greatly needed is in the area of mockery and scoffing. The reason this is needed is because mockery is a deadly weapon, and a lot depends on where it is aimed. This is important because mockery is inescapable—it is not whether you mock, but what you mock, when you mock …
A Singing Christ
When the Lord instituted this meal, it was in the context of a Passover supper with His disciples. We are told that at the conclusion of the meal they sang a hymn, and then went out (Matt. 26:30). It is almost certain that they followed the Jewish custom of singing the Hallel psalms, six psalms …
Marbled With Mammon
I have written before on the spectacle of Christians suing Christians, but the phenomenon is common enough that we really need to continue to discuss it in an ongoing way. To recap, the apostle doesn’t prohibit Christians adjudicating disputes in civil court, but rather prohibits it before unbelieving civil courts. The issue is testimony before …
I Suppose You Could Put It Like That
“He must employ the rhetoric which Jael used upon Sisera, putting his nail to the head of his auditor, and driving it sheer and clear through his brain” (Shedd, Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, p. 252).
The Road Goes Both Ways
“No man can cultivate and employ a vigorous, direct, and forcible rhetoric, without finding that he is driven to solid and earnest themes, in order to originate, and sustain it” (Shedd, Homiletic and Pastoral Theology, p. 251).
Clarity Goes With Clarity
“Clear, evangelical ideas favor lucid, earnest style” (Shedd, Homiletic and Pastoral Theology, p. 250).
Luke and Elizabeth
We cannot think about marriage rightly unless we learn to think about aesthetics rightly. Aesthetics is the study of beauty—what is it that makes something lovely? The elements are many, and include things like simplicity, balance, form, and so on. God has fashioned the world in such a way as to please us, and He …
Aeneas, Anarchy, and America #1
Introduction: This short series of messages can be considered as what used to be called “artillery sermons.” The custom (and the name) began in England in the first half of the 17th century, where military groups invited ministers to come and preach to them. In our colonial period, ministers used to preach such sermons prior …
The Sinful Rave
We have been emphasizing the relationship of personal self-control to the larger political issues related to self-governance. If a people are enslaved to their own passions and desires, then it will not be long before their enslavement takes on a larger and more sinister form. The most obvious area where a lack of self-control can …
A Meal That Means
As we gather repeatedly for this meal, one of the things you may have noticed is that the portions are small. You all receive a morsel of bread, and you receive a small communion cup of wine, a bit larger than a thimble. In one respect this is simply a function of what is necessary …