In the grip of unbelief, we love to pretend that the passage of time makes it unnecessary to trust in Jesus. We think that the modern era, or the postmodern era, or whatever unbelievers cook up after that makes simple trust, simple faith, somehow outdated. This is how the immaturity of every form of rebellion …
And Among the Empty Pizza Boxes There Was Not Found a Helper Suitable Unto Him
As we grow in the Lord, we discover that as soon as we turn from one thing, there is always another. There is no plateau in this life where we can afford to relax, pretending that we now have everything well in hand. If we turn away for a moment, if we offend at just …
A Table for the Riff-Raff
This is a Table set for sinners. But because sinners is a Bible word, many of us slip into our church-going trance, and we don’t rightly consider the ramifications of such a statement. This is a Table for riff-raff. This is a Table for losers. This is a Table for self-righteous fussers. Are you all …
More on Child Communion
Over at Canon WIRED, I recently answered a question about child communion, and that answer elicited this response. Since these are reasonable questions on a complex subject, let me add just a few more thoughts (three to be exact) to the matter. First, we hold the formal requirement for entry to the Supper to be …
Chalices and Platters I Never Asked For
We have before us bread and wine. We also have before us the choice of whether or not to renew our covenant oaths with God honestly or not. Never forget that the principle issues are not the bread and wine. “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He …
Ecclesiastical Immigrants
A month or so ago, I exhorted you all to mark your calendars for the Fall Conference that is coming up in September, and I urged you to remember that this was not just an fyi thing, but rather an event of some strategic importance. I wanted to follow up on that, explaining it a …
He Will Come
Because we present arguments in the presentation of the gospel, we sometimes come to think that the outcome of matter rests upon those arguments. But God uses arguments — He doesn’t depend upon them. He doesn’t lean on them. The reason people resist and reject the gospel is because of willfulness, not because we have …
Not Entirely Gone
As you know, tomorrow is the 4th of July. This is the day on which we as Americans commemorate our independence from the tyranny that was being driven by the Parliament of England, but which was allowed by the king—who was constitutionally bound to protect us from all such usurpations. Because he failed in this …
A True Foretaste
When Jesus tells His disciples that many will come from east and west to sit down in the great Messianic banquet (Matt. 8:11-12), we heard echoes of the great promise found in Isaiah 25:6-8. “And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of …
Answering the Invitation
The Supper we partake of here is, among other things, a glorious foreshadowing of the great eschatological banquet. This is the time at the culmination of history, when all God’s people sit down together in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. In the course of history, before that time, there is a winnowing—which foreshadows those …