In answer to the question of whether or not Jesus was going to reign over a particular part of the earth or not, the answer that Isaac Watts suggested is an apt one. Well, he asks, does the sun shine on it? Jesus shall reign where’re the sunDoes his successive journeys run. This is a …
Doing What He Says
Folly is not defined against a worldly standard. There is a kind of folly that exists there, true, a dumb and dumber kind of thing. But we are not concerned with that. In Scripture, folly is not a matter of intelligence, but rather of a moral indisposition to submit to God. Some of the most …
Open Communion
Here at Christ Church, our practice with regard to the Lord’s Supper, which we observe weekly, is called open communion. What does this mean, and what does it not mean? How do we fence the Table? Why do we fence the Table? As you have probably noticed, we have a statement in our bulletin that …
Learning Our Lines
You have been exhorted as a people numerous times to remember who you are in the story you are in. You have been asked to think about what kind of character you are. If the day you are having were a movie, what character would you be? And would it be a sympathetic character or …
Simplicity and Glory
The Bible teaches us that the times of the new covenant are attended with a greater glory than the old covenant, as well as with a greater simplicity. In effect, that simplicity is part of the glory. The arrival of Jesus the Messiah was not a signal for us to lapse into some kind of …
Calling It Something Else
The Bible instructs us on how we are to live together. When we do not follow those instructions, there are two kinds of disobedience. One is flagrant, and knows that it is disobedient. When professing Christians give way to these sorts of temptations, the results are called theft, adultery, fornication, sodomy, false witness and so …
Coronation Day
Jesus Christ has ascended to the right hand of God the Father. This does not mean that He is now on the other side of the universe. It actually means that His authority is suffused throughout the entire universe. And this is inescapably political. Jesus is a king. Not only is He a king, but …
Power Meant to Flow
Scripture records of the Lord’s teaching ministry that He taught with authority, and not like the scribes. Scripture tells us in another place to beware of those who hold to the form of religion, but who lack the power of it. The words we read, every week, are powerful. The lyrics of our psalms and …
Loving Your Creditors
When we live in tight community the way we do, it is not possible for this to happen without some of us becoming indebted to others of us. Scripture says we are to owe no one anything except the debt of love, and this either means no debt or no debt but what is fully …
The Mountain Behind
As Christians who live in history, as believers who occupy time, we want to make sure we understand the tenses of the verbs that describe our salvation. Before the foundation of the world, He has chosen us. That is in the past. His past choice concerns our future—that we should be holy and blameless. Because …