Introduction: Many of the problems confronting modern Christians is that they diligently try to do the right thing . . . in the wrong categories. They try guitar fingering on a mandolin; they try chess rules on a backgammon board; they apply the rules of French grammar to English. And for us to draw attention …
On Kissing the Casket Enough
While we were in Kiev last week, another place we visited was the monastery of the caves, a warren of cells deep underground. The active monastery above ground is Russian Orthodox, and the holy things below constitute one of the most unholy things I have ever seen. But there are some Western Christians who think …
A Cavalcade of Mummery
John Calvin famously said that the human heart is a factory of idols. What this means is that there is a yearning, a lust, to place some object, any object, in the position that only God Himself should occupy. “Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for …
Liturgical Confession
Introduction: As part of our emphasis on practical Christian living, we have emphasized the importance of confession of sin for many years. We have taught (and continue to teach) that confession is nothing less than full honesty before God, and that such honesty is always to be ongoing and immediate. But something else we do …
The Mastiff of the Lord
Robin Phillips has written an article in which he wants to set an “agenda for fresh dialogue” on the subject of covenant renewal worship. Okay. I’m in. But I don’t want to answer Robin point by point — rather I would like to make a series of background observations that might help us to determine …
The Lure of the Fragmented Life
We all have a tendency to live fragmented lives, and a central part of this is because we do not look to the place where all true integration happens, and that is to the Lord Jesus. But part of the reason we don’t do this is because we foolishly believe that fragmentation makes us easier …
How the Sin Argument Can’t Work
This meal is a meal of all grace. When we shrink back from it, we do so (most often) because of our sins. But because it is a meal of grace, all the arguments we might construct out of our sins do not and cannot work. This is because grace is there because of our …
The Spice Spoons of Sentimentalism
We all know that mercy is a good thing, and we are grateful to God when He extends it to us. We also know that we are called to imitate God in this, and to show mercy to others. But because of our fallen world, this is more complicated than it might look at first …
Those Darts Are Doubts
This meal is offered to you as a means of grace. It is one of God’s great instruments for building your faith, for encouraging you in your walk, for establishing your assurance. Ah, there’s the problem, some of you might be saying . . . assurance. If only I had it. You think you need …
However Do We Manage That?
Self-deception is hard to understand, and even harder to see. Think for a moment about what self-deception involves. You have to be cunning enough to tell yourself a lie, and you have to gullible enough to believe it. How can that happen? How can one part of you pull the wool over the eyes of …