“I am persuaded that one reason why our workingmen so universally keep clear of ministers is because they abhor their artificial and unmanly ways. If they saw us, in the pulpit and out of it, acting like real men, and speaking naturally, like honest men, they would come around us . . . The vice …
Is Discipline a Mark of the Church?
Church discipline is relatively rare in the modern church and, because it is rarely done, when it is done, it is too often done poorly. As with everything, we have to turn to the Scriptures for guidance and protection. “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet …
No Dualism Here
“A mouthful of sea air, or a stiff walk in the wind’s face, would not give grace to the soul, but it would yield oxygen to the body, which is next best” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 158).
Why Is This Sin Privileged?
Once two men were talking about spiritual things and they finally came to an open disagreement. They had been friends for many years, but this was an area they had never talked about—not because they hadn’t been aware of the difference between them, but because they had been. It was, as you might guess, a …
Christ the Lord of Covenantal Partaking
Having suggested that observance of the Lord’s Supper should be weekly, perhaps more should be urged in favor of this than simply the argument that it seems to be in line with covenant renewal. “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all …
Laid Up In Lavender
“We are not to be living specimens of men in fine preservation, but living sacrifices, whose lot is to be consumed; we are to spend and be spent, not to lay ourselves up in lavender, and nurse our flesh” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 157).
Christ the Lord of Real Presence
The practice of the Lord’s Supper demands thoughtful observance. Without a careful scriptural study of what we are doing we are vulnerable to many errors — whether superstition on the one hand, or ignorant controversies on the other. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will …
And Other Days Your Tongue is a Brick
“It may save you much surprise and grief if you are forewarned that there will be great variations in your power of utterance. To-day your tongue may be the pen of a ready writer, to-morrow you thoughts and words may be alike frost-bound” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 152).
Catholicity and Fundamentalism
There is quite an interesting post, and follow-up discussion, to be found here. Tim Bayly defines the sine qua non of fundamentalism as a willingness to fight in order to defend the faith once delivered. There is a good fundamentalism that acquired a bad name through its faithfulness. “There’s another sense, though, that hearkens back …
I Take Your Point
Once there were two women, next door neighbors, who were on pretty good terms. One was a Christian and the other was not, but still they got on decently enough. This lasted for several years, until one day the Christian woman noticed that her friend was becoming irritable and easily annoyed. This increased over a …