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 helps to godliness are developed. This …
So Stop Doing That
The apostle Paul exhorts us to do all things “without murmuring or disputing.” The result, he says, will be that we will be blameless and harmless, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, “among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” How do obedient Christians stand out? This is one …
At Your Post
In a time like ours, when everything seems in disarray and out of joint, many individual Christians wonder what they can do. Not only is the world outside corrupt, the world within the church seems hopelessly compromised. Faithful Christians tend to alternate between “not thinking about it” and chafing under the futility of not having …
A New Work
Over the next few weeks we are going to be launching Christ Church Downtown (CCD), and so I thought it would be good to give a few basic reasons why we are doing things like this. The central reason is that Christ commanded us to disciple the nations, and this can only be accomplished as …
Christiany Decorative Elements
One of the reasons why it is obvious that we need revival in our nation is the fact that we do not rejoice in God the way we need to be rejoicing in God. “Wilt thou not revive us again: That thy people may rejoice in thee?” (Psalm 85:6). But as we pray for reformation …
Trespasses and Debts
Some of you may have been curious about the different versions of the Lord’s Prayer. Is it supposed to be debts or trespasses? The word in v. 9 should be rendered as debts, and that is the best strict translation. Wycliffe rendered it as debts. But then later, Tyndale translated it as trespasses. The argument …
On Being That Guy
Last week I reminded you that tools don’t make you wise, but the wise do make tools. One of the tools that has recently been fashioned, and which virtually all of you use, is the smart phone. A central task that lies in front of you is therefore figuring out the relationship of that phone …
Tools
This is the first of day the new year, and traditionally a time for resolutions. As long as we recognize that there is nothing intrinsically magic about calendar years, church years, fiscal years, or academic years, we can continue to use them as tools, keeping a prudent eye out. So it is all good, but …
Rachel Comforted
Christmas is the best. But it is the best beginning of any possible story because this story had the best middle and the best ending. Christmas is glorious because it made Good Friday and Easter possible, and they are the best. Good Friday and Easter made Ascension and Pentecost possible, and they are the best. …
Not the Fun House Mirrors
Humility is a greatly misunderstood grace or virtue. Too many Christians think of it as trying to think what you don’t think, see what you don’t see, and know what you don’t actually know. This approach to humility is closer to the eastern and mystical way of emptying yourself than it is to the biblical …