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 … [Read more...]
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, … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 sins, it … [Read more...]
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 glance. God’s … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
Partaking to Partake
Our corporate participation in this meal, together with all other saints in the world, is a corporate participation in one person, the Lord Jesus. This means, obviously, that He is no ordinary person, but rather is an Adam. Adam was a public person—that is, we were in him when … [Read more...]
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