Introduction: When Christians are discouraged by the corruptions of our time, it is like complaining about a day that is dark gray and drizzly, wet and soggy. It is in fact a day just like that, but it is not a day like that at midnight. Because Jesus Christ lived, died, rose again, and ascended …
Continuing to Receive
When we come to this Table to receive the elements of bread and wine, we are coming here to receive Jesus Christ Himself. We do not do this because we have not yet received Him, but rather we do this as part of our ongoing and lifelong reception of Christ. Of course, when we first …
The Pride Part
Pride is a protean thing, a true shape shifter. Whenever a creature desires to believe in his own superiority, this is a desire that can be projected onto anything. When it comes to the erection of buildings and sanctuaries, we can take aesthetic pride in the beauty of what we have done, or economic pride …
Troubles at Thanksgiving
One of the fundamental duties of man is the responsibility to give thanks, to be grateful, and one of the fundamental realities of man’s experience is trouble. How are we to function in this kind of ongoing juxtaposition? Massive cultural apostasies are the result of men refusing to honor God as God, and refusing to …
Surveying the Text: Judges
Introduction: The book of Joshua is linear. God supplied a faithful leader to Israel, and he took them into the land, conquering it, and they all moved from left to right. The book of Judges is quite different—it is a book of cycles, a book of ups and downs. It is a book that contains …
Keep On Keeping On
When God established His church in the first century, there were a number of unique things about it. The surrounding world was overwhelmingly pagan, and so the burgeoning Christian movement had to make certain decisions about priorities. The first thing that happened after Pentecost was not a building campaign. Neither was it a political movement. …
Be Real First
“Better a thousand faults, than through dread of faults to be tame” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 449).
When the Spirit Says to Put a Sock in It
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #172 “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all …
Because You Can’t Deliver What You Don’t Have
“Have something to say which you are confident is worth saying; scarcely anything will contribute so much as this confidence, to give dignity, directness, ease and power to delivery” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 448).
A Helicopter on the Front Lawn
This last week my friend Peter Leithart did some musing out loud about some problems that he identifies as resulting from an emphasis on the “legal status” of righteousness. One post, “How to Say, ‘I Am Righteous'” is here, and another related post on Luther and imputation/infusion can be found here. In response I have …