There are two kinds of loyalty, one good and one bad. If you are fiercely loyal to your family, to your nation, to your church, or doctrinal traditions, and that loyalty results in you maintaining (emotionally, if not actually) that the object of your loyalty could never do wrong, or be in the wrong, then …
The Odds Are Strong
When we gather together like this, we are gathering as the people of liberty. But two other l’s are constantly beckoning—those of legalism and license. Having the history we do, we have little trouble rejecting legalism, but in our emphasis on Christian liberty, we often—especially among our young people—veer into license. When this starts to …
Inherited Worship
This word of exhortation is addressed to our young people, to those of you who have been growing up in the covenant. Most of you are in a very different position than your parents—they have been on a pilgrimage out of unbelief, or from other, very distinct expressions of Christian faith. For them, as a …
What We Do in Worship
The structure of our worship service follows what we call a covenant renewal pattern. First, there is a call to worship, where God’s people are solemnly called to order in the name of Christ, making this a worship service. When we do this, the Holy Spirit gathers us up and escorts us into the heavenly …
The Headwaters of our Impotence
As you read the newspaper, as you follow political campaigns, as you watch the evening news, you will see outrage after outrage. But I am not referring to the outrages of private criminals, which can certainly be horrendous. I am referring to the outrages of our elected officials, our appointed justices, our magistrates. Now all …
Looking Down the Aisle
Never forget that the point of worship is identical to the point that God has established for the history of our world. The meaning of worship is the same as the meaning of history. God is engaged in remaking the human race in Jesus Christ. Easter Sunday is a powerful reminder of this. There are …
Odd Crusades
In just a few moments, we will come to the point in our service where we confess our sins. We do not do this because we think it should just be part of the drill—because we just want to acknowledge something theologically. Although this does make a theological statement, we are not preaching here; we …
On Bringing Your Bible to Church
For various reasons, the practice of bringing your Bible to church is slipping away from many. Because of a number of factors—the fact that many of you have six little kids, the fact that eight psalters are quite enough to haul around, the fact that the text of the sermon is on the outline—has led …
The Challenge of Others
One of the most difficult things for us to do is the task of locating sin properly. One common mistake, one that we have addressed a number of times before, is the mistake of locating sin in stuff. This mistake thinks that sin must be resident in material things—in sex, in alcohol, in refined sugar, …
Supplanting the Old Way of Being Human
Never forget that you are a called out people. God is establishing a new nation among all nations, a new people among all people, and a new race of men in the midst of the old race of men. He is doing this with the intention of having this new race of men in the …