Politics, Creation and New Creation
To think biblically about political matters, believers need to look both to the past and to the future.
Governments are not merely a response to sin, but are also affected by sin. Governments can become “beastly”; they can function as objects of idolatrous designs. They can – even when they claim to be maintaining “law and order” – commit themselves to injustice, unrighteousness, and oppression…Since we are already citizens of God’s commonwealth, we must find effective... Continue Reading
The Importance of a Plurality of Elders
4 biblical and practical reasons that a plurality of elders is necessary.
A plurality of elders provides the flock of Christ with greater pastoral care. In the Old Testament, a multitude of elders were appointed to assist Moses in caring for the people of God. The Lord gave a portion of the Spirit that was on Moses to seventy elders so that they would help carry this... Continue Reading
Reign of Terror
Christians make way through an unpredictable, sometimes crazy, sometimes hostile world, we have the ultimate guide: God himself.
Do you find it accidental or coincidental that immediately after Jesus, Paul, and Peter all instruct us to be the kinds of people who refuse to “fight fire with fire” or “punch back twice as hard” their very next words are about persecution and suffering? This is not an accident. Far from being “unsuited” for our times, the cultural... Continue Reading
Christianity and the Working Class
One challenge for the church is that working-class Americans are increasingly unchurched.
How can churches become more welcoming to blue-collar Americans? The first step involves seeing them as “our people.” Nothing about the decline of America’s working class is irreversible. The middle-brow contempt for the working class must be replaced with a spirit of brotherhood and a sense that we are in the same boat. They are... Continue Reading
Why Did My Life Have to Be Hard?
Since the fall, suffering is an ordinary part of human life under sin’s regime.
No matter what is happening to us, we can recognize that it will ultimately count as little more than a “light momentary affliction” that is “preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the... Continue Reading
Christ’s Crucifixion Isn’t Child Sacrifice
3 reasons why characterizing it as child sacrifice is inappropriate.
Children did not consent to being sacrificed to Molech. Their death was forced upon them, and had they been knowledgeable of their fate, they would almost certainly have refused to die. By contrast, Jesus was not a helpless victim thrown into the fiery hands of Molech against his will. He willingly went to the cross because... Continue Reading
When Does the Bible Permit Remarriage After Divorce?
It is important to recognize that biblical law itself recognizes the possibility of a legitimate remarriage on the part of even the guilty party and even in cases of sexual immorality (Deuteronomy 24:1-2).
Allowing for remarriage in exceptional cases where reconciliation is impossible and where the marriage union truly cannot be remedied by either the church or the civil magistrate—either because the former spouse has already died, already remarried, or perpetually refuses reconciliation even where clear evidence of genuine repentance is present—does not in itself necessarily imply that... Continue Reading
Rejecting Syncretism: Paul and the Python
Paul’s reaction to the divining spirit of Philippi leaves no room for syncretistic behavior among Christians today. Accommodation and any reliance upon other religious powers compromises the quality of the gospel and the reputation of the savior.
People in the church who dabble with witchdoctors and occultism are ultimately deceived; they find no true, lasting solution. “To believe ‘Ukwimba kati kusansha na Lesa’ is to believe a lie. We must choose to trust and wait on God in every circumstance, and His Word must be our final authority as we encounter conflict... Continue Reading
Vanity
It serves as a warning label from God to help us discern what is real, lasting, effective, and of value, as opposed to what is empty, futile, meaningless, and fleeting.
The Apostle Paul expresses the salvation of God in Christ in terms of vanity. In explaining the effectiveness of Christ’s work, he explains: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. . . . And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and... Continue Reading
The Standard-Bearer: Pastoral Suffering in the Theology of John Calvin
We will see Calvin as a profound resource both for the work of modern pastoral ministry and for various trials that attend ministry.
Calvin is a resource to struggling ministers: he offers them a path forward, not out of their sufferings, but through them with patience. Present evangelical leadership culture tends to assume that unpopular and opposed leaders are either doing something wrong or need to go look for a better position; Calvin assumes they are doing something... Continue Reading
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