In the words of the prophet Ezekiel, we read this: “I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God” (Ez. 34:15). The Lord really is our Shepherd, and the Lord really does see to it that the flock is fed. It is striking that in the passage …
Because You’re Family
In Psalm 28, David asks the Lord to separate His people out from the wicked. He asks the Lord to deliver them from the judgment that is coming upon them. When he concludes this psalm, the way he puts it is striking. “Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them …
Stones for Bread?
When we ask God for bread, will He give us a stone? No, of course not. And when He has promised us bread, and we asked because of that promise, will that change anything? Still less. And when He has promised the bread of Christ, offered to every sinner who understands he needs salvation from …
Providence and Covenant
We live in community, which means in part that we feed one another. We live in community under God, which means that we are dependent upon God—He feeds us. If He did not give the rain, if He did not make the crops grow, we would all of us starve. We want a strong doctrine …
And the Spirit is the Car
Last week I mentioned the very common problem of father hunger. With reference to this meal, there are still a few things that need to be said about this. Jesus teaches us, plainly and explicitly, that He is the only way to God the Father. I am the way, the truth and the life, He …
Without Guilt, Without Shame, Without Fear
Our modern world is full of eating disorders of various kinds. These range from the obvious, like gluttony, anorexia and bulimia, to the not so obvious, like being way too obedient and servile to the latest food guru. These problems rest on a common foundation, which is father hunger, coupled with the resultant guilt and …
Administering the Sacraments
The sacraments are ordinances of the Church; in other words, they are one of the things that makes church into Church. As such, the authority to oversee their administration, and the teaching that accompanies their administration, lies with the government of the Church. This is why the Westminster Confession restricts administration of the sacraments to …
Then Come to Christ
We are continuing to reflect on what our doctrinal standards—the teachings of the Westminster Confession—say about the sacraments. A striking thing about our standards is that they say that the Old Testament contained sacraments, and not only the New Testament. In the New, we have two sacraments, but the number of sacraments in the Old …
Efficacy in the Sacrament
The Westminster divines taught us the true foundation of the efficacy of the sacraments, and it is an important and biblical point. The first aspect of this is to note that they taught that the sacraments were efficacious. Their concern was to note why the sacraments were efficacious, not whether they were. They made a …
An Exhibition of Grace
Our confessional standards, the Westminster standards, say that when rightly used, grace is exhibited in the sacraments. There are two sides to this. First, note that the sacraments can be, and have been, wrongly used. When that happens, as it happened at Corinth, the apostle says the observance does more harm than good. This is …