Hungry and Thirsty for Righteousness
We thirst for a rightness with God that we cannot achieve.
In Jesus, our hunger and thirst for rightness with God are immediately, completely satisfied when God’s Spirit draws us to trust His Son. This justification assures us of God’s love, arousing our hunger for the righteousness of character that reflects Jesus the righteous One. Jesus painted the picture of hunger and thirst for people... Continue Reading
Is This a Casket or a Hope Chest?
The dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible.
Jack was both a master craftsmen and very careful with his money. Since he didn’t appreciate spending the high cost of a manufactured casket, he decided to build his own. Yesterday I had the privilege to officiate the burial of my dear friend and World War II veteran Jack Drury. As I stood at... Continue Reading
The Importance of Integrity in the Small Things
Lack of integrity typically grows and multiplies.
We must beware of a lack of integrity in what we think are minor things. They are not minor things. And if they were minor things, a lack of integrity rarely ends there. Rosie Ruiz won the 1980 Boston Marathon in the women’s category. And she held that title for eight days until it... Continue Reading
On Handling a Fool
Though fools despise correction, that does not mean they should be spared it.
We are clearly told to “leave the presence of a fool” in the Scriptures (14:7). For “a companion of fools will suffer harm” (13:20). Through the years I have instructed my children to steer clear of foolish young people. That counsel is not “unchristian.” It is just applied wisdom. One very practical skill in... Continue Reading
Come, Behold
While looking we can fail to see.
Our idols can take us farther than we ever want to go, and make us more miserable than we can ever perceive. They can stir a disenchantment in our lives that dims beauty and centers our worship on things that were never created to be worshiped. For to have eyes is not the same... Continue Reading
The Last Days of Revelation
Whose kingdom will we seek and serve?
Revelation equips us for the spiritual struggle we are called to endure. We are instructed to overcome and are shown the resources given us by which we might do so. Most pointedly, we are shown the One who overcame on our behalf. Earthquakes, plagues, famine, civil unrest, and widespread godlessness have prompted Christians to... Continue Reading
The Greatest Christians and the Most Visible Gifts
If God chooses the weak to shame the strong, perhaps he also chooses the least visible to humble the most prominent.
Is it possible we tacitly communicate that some gifts are better than others, that some are more desirable than others, that some are more essential than others? Is it possible we suggest that the greatest Christians are those with the most visible gifts? I’m convinced we’re prone to make entirely too much of the... Continue Reading
Brothers, Ordain Your Deacons
What are we missing out on as a church if we have officers functionally serving without the church actually ordaining them?
The Apostles believed they and the Church needed ordained officers and that they couldn’t fulfill their own ministry as elders without ordained deacons. Are you stronger than the Apostles as a session? It is becoming a more common practice in some PCA churches for sessions to make the intentional decision not to ordain the deacons of... Continue Reading
The State of Theology
Survey reveals confusion and a lack of theological knowledge among evangelicals.
In this article, we will take a look at each of the thirty-one questions on the survey in an attempt to help readers understand the orthodox Christian view on these issues as well as the biblical grounds for it. Every other year since 2014, Ligonier Ministries has partnered with LifeWay Research to survey the... Continue Reading
The Deadly Sins of Proverbs 6:16-19: Hands that Kill
Evidence of our hatred for God.
Murder is a crime and a capital offense at that, because it is a strike at God Himself. In man’s act of killing man he is, at the root of the matter, seeking to murder God. This, of course, God hates. Perhaps you have noticed by now that Proverbs 6:16-19 is not simply a list of... Continue Reading
Don’t Edit Your Prayers
We don’t need to frame our prayers perfectly for God to hear us.
Don’t be put off by the formal prayers you hear in church. Prayer is simply talking to God. If you are upset with life, say that to God. When we think of prayer, sometimes what think about are the carefully crafted prayers we hear in church and see in prayer books. You know the... Continue Reading
Why Is There Only One Way To Heaven?
The one road that leads us away from God is paralleled by the one road that leads us back to him.
There is only one way to heaven because there’s only one way to hell—rebellion. There is only one way to be saved because there is only one kind of person who needs to be saved—sinful rebels like you and me. It is an audacious claim of the Christian faith that there is only one... Continue Reading
Finding Joy in the Immutability of God
Nothing can diminish His perfections.
If you are in Christ Jesus, you are as secure as his unchanging nature. Just as his perfections can never be diminished, neither can the salvation he has provided to us. He alone is the rock of our salvation that will never be moved (Psalm 62:6). Futility. That is what every attempt at rebellion... Continue Reading
A Concise Biblical Evaluation of Critical Theory
Scripture demands color-blindness, along with class- and power-blindness.
The problem with CT is that it is anti-biblical. It promotes interpreting the realities of life through categories and lenses that are contrary to what the Bible teaches and that actually fuel division rather than encourage harmony. The issue of Critical Theory (CT) has become the hot-button issue for evangelicals over the past couple of... Continue Reading
An Open Letter to a Discouraged Saint
Lift up your eyes and see your gracious King’s unchangeable countenance of love toward you.
What is most true, most real, most compelling, (and most long-lasting) about your life are not the multiple places of suffering, nor your two-steps-forward, one-step-back battle against particular sins. What is most foundationally true is that you are a beloved child of the Father, a co-heir with Jesus Christ. Dearest brother, I know you... Continue Reading
Let Us Reason Together
Before we can speak wisely, we first have to think deeply.
Right now, the world, at its worst, needs the church, at its best. It needs a clearly considered and thoroughly Biblical response to all aspects of the crises that threaten us now from every side. For those who hoped that our experience of living in times of crisis might end with 2020, I do... Continue Reading
What Makes Church Boring?
There is no "style" that keeps churches alive.
Church becomes boring when we make the gospel secondary, make our entertainment primary, and stop bearing one another’s burdens to fulfill the law of Christ (Gal 6:2). I recently ran across a quote from a book I read some years ago, and which I think remains immensely relevant. I wanted to share the quote,... Continue Reading
The Deadly Sins of Proverbs 6:16-19: A Lying Tongue
The seriousness of the problem requires a serious remedy.
How many “little” lies do we excuse as not so bad? Yet the Bible is crystal clear that to lie is to sin. But before those lies are told, two lies need to be believed—a lie about God and a lie about ourselves. The fall of mankind began with a lie. “Has God really... Continue Reading
Does Christology Matter?
Jesus Christ Himself is the gospel.
Most of us are sticklers for clearly describing anything we love, be it science, computing, sports, business, or family life. Should we be indifferent to how we think and speak about our Savior and Lord? “We all unanimously teach that our Lord Jesus Christ is to us one and the same Son, the self-same perfect... Continue Reading
How To Eat Your Bible
Cultivating a big appetite for the word of God.
I was a new believer at the time. I didn’t understand I desperately needed to read the Bible over and over again for the rest of my life. I thought it was possible to finish reading the Bible. The first time I finished reading the New Testament, I went to my mom and said... Continue Reading
A Simple Explanation of Divine Simplicity
He is what he is, and that is all there is to it.
We have partial knowledge of the fullness of God, not full knowledge of only a part of him. That knowledge will expand, but as with an image in a mirror, it will come into better focus, not be something completely different from what we already know. From Gerald Bray’s new The Attributes of God: An... Continue Reading
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: SBC, CRT, and the BFM
The Christian faith has boundaries.
When the boundaries that a confession of faith necessarily marks out are acknowledged, you can be sure that someone somewhere will start leveling the charge of bigotry. Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can... Continue Reading
Intersectionality Goes to Court
Intersectionality’s purpose was never to merely interpret the world, but rather to change it.
Scholars have for decades lamented that intersectionality, whilst influencing certain cases, has not achieved widespread momentum. Title VII, it seems, was always destined to serve as the first intersectional battleground, and Bostock may very well serve as the long hoped-for case that enables intersectionality to gain traction. In their insightful and unfairly neglected book, Beyond All Reason:... Continue Reading
What Was Early Church Worship Music Like?
The earliest Christians did not hold a “style doesn’t matter” view of music.
The church is in trouble when plainly presented “sound doctrine” through modest Scripture reading, humble preaching, simple singing, and unassuming praying is not enough. This is an important question because many earnest believers desire to worship on the Lord’s Day in form and content the same way that Christ and the Apostles worshiped. The... Continue Reading
The Bible Belongs to Every Age
It all comes down to “Thus says the Lord.”
The Bible belongs to every age. It is not simply the true Word for the first century. It is not simply the authoritative Word for the first century. It is not simply the necessary Word for the first century. It is not simply the sufficient Word for the first century. In 1734 and 1735,... Continue Reading
Liang Fa—The First Ordained Chinese Pastor
He was particularly fierce in his condemnation of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and all forms of idolatry.
At times, Liang was discouraged by what he considered a slow progress of the gospel in his country. After his death, however, the number of Christians in China, largely influenced by both his writings and his example, continued to multiply. In 1804, fifteen-year-old Liang Fa moved to the big city of Guangzhou (then known... Continue Reading
The Deadly Sins of Proverbs 6:16-19: Haughty Eyes
Wisdom pursues humility and love of others.
The person who has haughty eyes has rebelliously inverted the Lord’s command to love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. First, let it be known that God hates; He hates sin and he hates sinners.[1] And we ought not shy... Continue Reading
Drilling Down to the True Source of Our Anxiety
If God is for us, who is against us?
The real power to overcome anxiety is this—that surely God will take care of our practical questions and needs, in the way He sees fit in His wisdom, given that He has already given us the life of His Son. The introspective Christian knows that there is almost always a question behind our question.... Continue Reading
Faith and Works are Necessary
We should never take the profession of faith as being valid from any “believer” whose works consist only of being religious.
We should always look for the evidences of a regenerated heart in new believers, which are the good works that naturally flow from those abiding in Christ by obeying Him. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.... Continue Reading
The Power of Naming
Let us not abdicate our moral and intellectual duty to examine all naming for truth value in the interest of making a more perfect union.
Improper or inaccurate naming has serious consequences for individuals and/or communities depending on what is being named. Therefore, caution is required for how we name things, especially if the naming involves behavior/ideas of social/political importance. Consider how important naming is, especially naming things of concern to the general citizenship. It is interesting that the... Continue Reading
