Introduction: What we know as orthodoxy is of course taught in the Bible. But that does not mean that every orthodox truth is found everywhere in the Bible, or that every verse that is used to defend an orthodox truth is being used appropriately. This means we should look at familiar passages carefully, making sure …
Quick Lies
God is the God of all truth, and so of course, we as His people should be careful to speak the truth. One area where we sometimes neglect this duty is in an area that might be called “quick lies.” They don’t even seem like lies at all unless you take them out in the …
The Central Table
This is the Table, and it has its rightful place at the center of our lives. What we do here sets the tone for what we do at every other table. This Table is the rudder; it guides and directs all our other table fellowship. If we are hypocritical here, we will be hypocritical around …
All Together Now
Last week at this time I mentioned that ritual actions are important to us. They are significant in the Bible, and we don’t ever want to fall into the trap of relegating them to the status of being insignificant. But there is another important element in all of this. We are gathered together as an …
The Rain of Bread
For those who are converted to God, the grace of God envelops everything, drives everything, and defines everything. This includes our desire to learn how to walk in His ways, which means our desire to grow and flourish in our sanctification, which means loving and understanding His law. This is a Table of grace. There …
The Apostles Creed 4: Maker of Heaven and Earth
Introduction: We confess the absolute authority of God, and there are layered reasons for doing this. He has authority over us in the first instance because He created us, and in the second because He redeemed us from our sins. We will come to the issue of redemption shortly, but we must begin where the …
A Ritual Reminder
Over the years we have emphasized the importance of ritual. Rituals are significant in the Bible, and they ought to be significant to us. We have also emphasized the importance of worshiping God with our bodies and not just with our minds. We have sought to resist the temptation that many Reformed Christians deal with, …
Christ as Manna and Water
Our Jewish fathers in the wilderness were followed by Christ and were fed by Him. He was the Rock that accompanied them, and they all drank from that Rock. The apostle Paul says that this was written for us, as an example, lest any of us destroy ourselves, the same way many of them did. …
Bomber Pilots Among the Sheep
Karl Marx famously said that religion was the opiate of the masses. Although his taunt misses true religion, there are many forms of religion in the world that his arrow hits dead center. One of them would be the Pharisaism of Jesus’ day. We often miss the import of the Lord’s teaching, his cryptic sayings, …
Objectively Submitting
The Table before us is set by God Himself. He invites us to it, and as we sit down with Him (in the person of the Lord Jesus), He deals with us. We cannot prevent this, we cannot manipulate it, and we cannot turn it to our own ends. This Table means what God says …