When we gather to worship the Lord, when the call to worship is uttered, the Holy Spirit gathers us up, and ushers us all into the heavenly places where we then worship God in the name of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. We have not come to a mountain that can be …
Stealing Ones and Zeroes
Once there was a pastor who preached a sermon on restitution and inexplicably left out any reference to electronic stealing—downloading music illegally, copying software, and all that. He was asked various questions about this after the message, and as a result he learned his lesson, and will never do that again. There’s the story part …
Sinning Against Thoughtfulness
We are living in a generation of great upheaval and change. One of the results of this is that many Christians have found themselves in a slippery place, not knowing quite how to behave. As the gospel works through a culture, that culture is transformed, and many external cultural aids to godliness are developed. This …
Ordination to Ministry
This morning, we will have an ordination of Douglas Jones to the ministry, right after our reading of Scripture. Doug has been an elder in our church for many years, and so this ordination calls for a little explanation. Our local church polity follows the pattern of Calvin’s Geneva, and is called the “four-office view.” …
Gladness or Gloating
I said last week that this was the last of our exhortations on civic affairs, at least for a while, but I was off by one week. There is one other set of comments that needs to be made. First, it would be wrong of us to let this election pass by without giving thanks …
The Chuckle of Faith
This is the last of our exhortations on civic involvement, at least for the present. And so, let me offer a series of final exhortations, as simple bullet points. Regardless of what happens, we do not win or lose at the polls. God is always sovereign, and His position is absolutely unthreatened. He establishes the …
The Altars of Democracy
Whenever governments have a problem with God’s people worshipping the true God as they ought to do, the issue is always competition. Those who have made an idol out of the state do not want the presence of anyone who lives in a way that rebukes that idolatry. But we must make a distinction between …
The Servant Vote
The political process that we have in this country was greatly influenced by the Church in generations past, and it continues to be influenced by Christians today. But the influence we used to have and the influence we have today are very different. The whole idea of representative government was established in the Church long …
Back to Normal
I have taking a few weeks to urge you to participate fully in the political process of our town. We have a city council election coming up shortly, and I have wanted to consider some of the implications of that. And please note again that it is not the place of the church to be …
Idolatry of the Grand Scale
One of the great political temptations that moderns face is the temptation of the “grand scale.” When the state aspires to deity, the state needs to generate the requisite awe in those who participate in the process. One of the ways of doing this is to proclaim that the future of the planet is at …