As we prepare for our celebration of Christmas, keep in mind that we are not observing “just another religious holiday,” taking its place alongside all the others. If Jesus Christ was born into this world in order to remake all of humanity through His sinless life, loving sacrifice of Himself on the cross, and powerful …
Two Kinds of Black
As we celebrate the coming of the Christ, we must never forget the kind of world He was born into. The blackness that the star of Bethlehem shone brightly from was a creational blackness, the kind of blackness that was visible on the first day of our world—when it was evening and it was morning, …
The Suburbs of Sin
As we come, week after week, to confess our sins, we need to learn to make certain fine distinctions. In one direction is the peril of a false scrupulousness, and in the other we see the error of rejecting that, and settling in complacently to substandard Christian living. We don’t want hyper-scrupulousness of conscience, but …
Jesus Under the Word
When our Lord was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He answered with Scripture, as we all know. Three times He was tested, and each time He replied in the words of Deuteronomy. But this is sometimes misunderstood. We tend to think that Jesus was quoting Scripture at the devil, as though the devil …
Gently Bobbing
Not a person in this room has to struggle with the temptations that other people have. And every person in this room does in fact have to struggle against the temptations that present themselves, daily, to you. Now as we all seek to establish our walk with Christ, one of the perennial temptations will be …
A Deeper Level of Worship
Many of you are here as parents of little ones and, in some cases, many little ones. For you, the worship of the Lord is a far more arduous task that it is for the rest of us. All of us are engaged in the work of worshipping the Lord, but you are carrying young …
A Brief Theology of Two Services
As you no doubt know, you are worshiping God this morning in one of two services. Thinking about this, and as you discussed with your families which one you would attend, it would be easy to reduce the whole question to a matter of logistics. We don’t really have room to fit everyone conveniently into …
Senator Edward Kennedy
As you all know, this last week, Senator Edward Kennedy passed from this life. This drew national attention, and in the media virtually everyone—right, left and middle—paid their respects. Some considered him as the exemplar of what is needed, while others praised him personally while reserving to themselves the right to differ with him “on …
Wake, O Sleeper
This is the word of exhortation for an Easter morning, and so what shall that exhortation be? I do not exhort you to believe in the resurrection, for you already do. I do not exhortation to be raised with Christ in your baptism, for you already are. What shall the exhortation be then? The apostle …
Stand on the Resurrection to See the Resurrection
When Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem, He knew that He was going to be betrayed, scourged, crucified, and buried. And when He had suffered what man was going to do to Him, He was fully prepared for what God was going to do for Him—raise Him from the dead. That resurrection was …