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 …
Inescapable Politics
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 …
Way Too Clever
Sometimes we are puzzled by the requirements of Scripture. For example, why would the apostle Paul have to caution the Corinthians in this way? “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed . . .” (1 Cor. 12:3a). Why would a group of Christians need …
Inside Outside
The message today contains a section on debts, and the ways we sin against our duty to love others through a financial lack of love. This exhortation, and the confession that follows it, is a preparation for that message. We have grown accustomed to identify love with a feeling, and from there, we have grown …
Sin in our Civics
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 …
Above and Beyond Responsibility
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, …
Understanding the Story We are In
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 …
A Word and a Nod Delivers
he 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 …
Snobbery is not Excellence
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 …