Let the Wicked Return to the Lord
While we’re busy dividing “us” from “them” or “the righteous” from “the wicked,” it’s easy to miss one simple fact: we are the wicked.
Sometimes, we have a hard time thinking that God could ever reach a certain person. He is too bad or she is too far gone for God to reach, we think. This was how the Israelites thought of the gentile nations. Despite the fact that the call to minister to the nations was built into... Continue Reading
1968: Fifty Years On
The religious aspects of 1968 are extraordinarily significant. Looking at them 50 years later, we learn there is a gulf that separates contemporary perceptions of key trends from later views.
Where observers would perhaps have got things most wrong would have been by focusing on the traditionally Christian West, and not paying attention to the wider world – to Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the quantitative hearts of a truly Global Christianity…one lesson is that media and academics in the late 1960s chose to stress... Continue Reading
10 Things You Should Know about Christian Ethics
Christian ethics teaches us how to live.
Christian ethics teaches us how to live for the glory of God. The goal of ethics is to lead a life that glorifies God (“do all to the glory of God,” 1 Cor. 10:31). Such a life will have (1) a character that glorifies God (a Christ-like character), (2) results that glorify God (a life that bears abundant fruit... Continue Reading
Created to Enjoy God Forever
Man knows God in part by enjoying His presence, and this pleases God.
The biblical record of the creation of people by God is very different than what we see in other ancient Near Eastern accounts. In Genesis 1, mankind’s creation is the very crescendo of God’s creative activity, and so theologians call people the “crown of creation.” And, unlike any other element of creation, God makes humans... Continue Reading
The Revoice Conference And The Danger Of A Big Theological Tent
The "big tent" Revoice Conference didn't have room for Christian conservatives even to attend yet it had plenty of room for ideas that have no place in a Christian conference.
And so, with love and respect for all committed Christians who struggle with same-sex attractions or gender confusion, I point back to the words of Jesus, which remain relevant to this hour: “Enter at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many... Continue Reading
For the Pastor Knee-Deep in Immorality
The collapse of a minister and his ministry creates a great shockwave of destruction.
The fall of another pastor means the agony of another church, as yet another community of Christians grapples with the fallout of their pastor’s great sin. The fall of another husband means the agony of another wife, as she bears the weight of her husband’s immorality. The fall of another leader means the disquiet of... Continue Reading
Do We Have to Forgive Someone if They Don’t Repent?
We often think to ourselves, “I can’t forgive someone who won’t apologize.” “Forgive? Don’t you know what they did to me?” Or “How can I forget what they did?”
Forgiveness is not reconciliation or reuniting with that person. Reconciliation takes two parties to agree and come together. Forgiveness is an act of faith which is not necessarily forgetting. Here are three things to remember about forgiveness and why it is always necessary. This question is a perennial problem. Everyone has been hurt by... Continue Reading
Only for a Time
"As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away."
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul contrasts three of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit (i.e. tongues, prophecy and knowledge) with three of the ordinary gifts of the Spirit (i.e. faith, hope and love). He then says that the extraordinary gifts would cease and pass away, while the ordinary gifts would remain. Finally, Paul teaches that love is the greatest... Continue Reading
5 Warning Signs That Laziness Is Creeping into Your Leadership
We are commanded to be wise and to make the most of the time.
Squandering time and living and leading lazily are foolish. Like all sin, laziness can slowly creep into our lives and leadership. If we fail to address the temptation to move toward laziness, we become unfaithful in our leadership. Here are five warning signs. The people of God have always understood laziness to be a... Continue Reading
Enjoyment East of Eden
The book of Ecclesiastes can seem confusing and foreign, perhaps even a little scary in places.
A proper understanding of the language, message and purpose–together with its role and place in the Bible–teaches us that Ecclesiastes is focused on life in this fallen world, but in light of and with a view toward eternity. Here is a biblical worldview/theology of life—one that is characterized by the fear of the Lord and... Continue Reading