We are coming into the presence of our triune God, and we do so in order to worship Him. We are coming to worship Him, and we have not come here to define Him. The Latin word for boundary, or limit, is finis. And so when we define something, we set the boundaries of it. …
We Can’t Count That High
We will continue this thread under the heading N.T. Wrights and Wrongs even though we are officially off the trail and thrashing around in the bracken. I appreciated all the questions and comments. We are so naturally oriented to “works” that when we discover that an embryo can be saved apart from any works of …
Cooks Who Feed Only Themselves
The problem with asking questions about the “minimum amount” of orthodoxy it takes to get somebody into heaven is that it treats human beings like machines, and ultimately, it tends to reduce salvation to a matter of works. God saves us by His grace, on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and …
My Answer Is Right, Darn It
One of N.T. Wright’s more important points is the one he has adapted from the teaching of the great Elizabethan Anglican, Richard Hooker. This is the observation that justification by faith is not accomplished by affirming or believing in justification by faith. Believing the doctrine of justification by faith alone as a way of being …
Let Israel Say
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! If You, our God, had not been on our side . . . We would not live to sing Your praise. But now, alive, let Israel say If it had not been for the Lord on our side, When men rose up …
Learning from Scandal
Some of the lessons that God appoints for His people to learn from time to time are the lessons that come with scandal. Whenever a situation arises within the Christian community that shocks, grieves, angers, or scandalizes the people generally, we have to remember that this also is from the hand of God. And because …
A Form of Battle
Our gracious God, we glory in You, and in what You have given to us. We know that what we are doing here — resting in You — is actually a form of battle. We thank You for overcoming our enemies while we sit at table. We thank You for the means You have selected …
Solomon in All His Glory
The name of Solomon is still evocative today. He is a striking picture of a man who possesses. In fact, his name is most familiar to us as a possessive adjective—Solomon’s wisdom, Solomon’s mines, Solomon’s wives, Solomon’s wealth, Solomon’s temple. And this characteristic of possession is the basis of the story we must tell about …
Making the World New
A central feature of proper Christian worship is a right understanding of the promised presence of God. But too often we assent to such phrases with a superficial and glib understanding — of course God is present with us in worship because He is omnipresent, and this leads us to think nothing unique happens here …
Marriage As Manifest Glory XXXV
INTRODUCTION: As we begin to wrap up this series on marriage, the topic today (for husbands) is love, sacrifice and authority. Next week we will consider (for wives) respect, submission and authority. The element the two have in common is obviously that word authority, and once we refresh ourselves with the principle, we need to …