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 …
Getting What We Deserve
The task before us today, in these times, is that of learning how to live faithfully as Christians in the station to which we have been assigned, and yet to do it with an eye on the big picture. We need to understand that the nation will not be transformed by direct action, aimed at …
As a Lamb Among Wolves
The apostle Paul once said that he filled out the sufferings of Christ (Col. 1:24). Clearly, he did not mean that the atonement was somehow lacking—when Jesus cried that it was finished, it really was finished. So what did He mean? The complete atonement established the body of Christ, and because of the completeness and …
Inexorable Life
The crucifixion was not a bad dream. It really happened. Jesus Christ really was flogged, His beard pulled out, nails driven into His hands and feet, and a spear thrust into His side. It was not something that His disciples thought had happened, only to discover their error and that Jesus was still alive. No, …
A Post-Situational Encounter
God gives us stories throughout the Scriptures, and He does not do this for purposes of entertainment. God tells us the stories of our fathers—in the Garden, in the ark, in Egypt, in the wilderness, in the promised land, in the empire, in exile, and in the return, so that we might know how to …
One Little Word
The world is governed by the Lord Jesus, as we know, but it follows from this that the world is governed by the Word—Jesus is the Word of God, the Logos of God. The world is not governed by mechanical power. It is not governed by spells or necromancy. It is governed by the magic …
Christ in Others
Let no man seek his own, the apostle Paul says. This is an essential part of discerning the Lord’s body. We are to discern the Lord’s body, among other ways, in one another. As you partake of the Supper, do not close yourself up into a little private spiritual room. Feel free to look around …
Eating a Corn Dog to the Glory of God
We live in a generation in love with specialization. To a certain extent this is unavoidable—God has called particular individuals to particular vocational callings from the beginning of the world. But every believer is called by God to that vocation, and he is to pursue it in faith while oriented rightly to the rest of …