One of the books I read Sunday mornings before worship is Luther’s Table Talk. I love that man. He frequently cracks me up, as he did this morning with his comments about pastoral hubris. “We want to set things straight and make everything right. To this God says, ‘Well, then, go ahead! Be clever and …
Active Obedience As Thematic Structuring Device
And with a sexy title like that, if you can avoid being dragged in then you are beyond all hope. I know that I have been referring to Peter Leithart a bit lately, but that is just the way it goes. This last Wednesday, Peter presented an unpublished paper to the NSA faculty forum. The …
Like A Weaned Child
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Oh Lord, my heart is not haughty. My eyes are not arched and lofty. Neither do I meddle with high doctrine, Truths too great to hold in my hands. Not for me . . . I have settled down, after the sobbing, …
Real Fellowship
We sometimes like our fellowship in small doses. We love being around other Christians if we can only arrange to have them available on tap. Turn it on when we want, and turn it off when we want. This is why weekend retreats are sometimes attractive. We get a good dose of other people, but …
In Person
We too often fall into the trap of thinking that a description is the same thing as an explanation. If confronted with the inadequacy of our description, we resort (oddly) to a more detailed and “scientific” description. But this makes no sense. When we let go of an object, we readily assume that our scientific …
As the Stars for Multitude
An important part of the service of covenant renewal is the recognition of sin, and the confession of it. Moses begins by recalling for the people how they have come to this point. “These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel . . .” (Dt. 1:1-18). First, an outline fragment. As we consider …
Confessing the Crass
James tells us that fresh water and brackish water should not flow from the same spring. The apostle Paul forbids a particular form of coarse jesting, and says that every word that proceeds from our mouths should be for the edification of the hearer. Our worship this morning is the fresh water. What has the …
Westminster Three: Of God’s Eternal Decree
1. God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass (Eph. 1:11; Rom. 11:33; Heb. 6:17; Rom. 9:15, 18): yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin (James 1:13, 17; 1 John 1:5), nor is violence offered …
A Fourth Decade of Psalms/Psalm 34
Introduction: This psalm is an acrostic—what the Latin Fathers called psalmi abcedarii. There are nine of these psalms total, and it is a pity that we can’t figure out a way to bring this across in translation. The Text: I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. …
Actually Praying for Turmoil
It is too easy to pray glibly for reformation. Who could be against that? But know that whenever God has shown His kindness in purifying His church, one of the immediate results is always turmoil. The overall result, of course, is reformation, and later historians will write about how glorious it was to be alive …