Focal Passage: Ephesians 6:10-18 

Temptation is real. So real that we must be on constant guard against falling into temptation. 

But how does one guard against temptation? What tools or resources has God given us to ward off the temptation to sin? The good news is that God has given us every resource we need. We call these resources the armor of God.

The armor of God is of little usefulness unless we fully suit up and deploy the arsenal of weapons God has given us that enable us to overcome our own flesh, the enticements of the world, and the snares of Satan. How do the pieces of the armor of God function? Three aspects of the armor are essential: standing, equipping, and believing. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Psalm 32:1-7 

Can a person who has sinned be restored to usefulness in the kingdom of God, especially a Christian leader? 

This has been an age-old question in the church since the Donatist controversy of the fourth century — does the efficacy of the work of the church (the ordinances) solely depend on the character of the minister or does their efficacy reside in and of themselves? The answer is not as easy as one might think.

The power of the gospel is self-reverential. Yet, we know that the character of the minister can greatly discredit the gospel message. The character of the minister must coincide with the content of the gospel. This is why we must get the issue of restoration right. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 6:10-15; Matthew 4:8-11  

We love people, places and things. We rightly love people, we cherish places, and we rightly enjoy the good things of life. Yet, when we love people, places, and things more than we love God we have committed a form of idolatry that is dangerous and deadly. We are prone to idolatry.

Sixteenth century theologian John Calvin fought the battle of idolatry when he wrote in his famous Institutes of the Christian Religion, “Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols … Man’s mind, full as it is of pride and boldness, dares to imagine a god according to its own capacity; as it sluggishly plods, indeed is overwhelmed with the crassest ignorance, it conceives an unreality and an empty appearance as God.” (Institutes, 1:108) [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 6:16-25; Matthew 4:5-7 

To say that we trust God is one thing, but to deliberately put God in a position where He must prove His trustworthiness without necessary warrant is sin. 

In other words, we can trust that God will take care of us as we obey His commands. 

Yet, it is sin to deliberately “set God up” in such a way to show others that God will care for us as if God must act on our command. 

In the past, such an attitude was called the sin of presumptuousness, where someone would “blindly walk off the end of the pier,” so to speak, to show that God must protect that person from an otherwise foolish and unwarranted act. And when God doesn’t save us when we fall, we blame Him instead of the laws of gravity and our own foolishness. Risk-taking faith is essential; stupid faith is not. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 8:2-10; Matthew 4:1-14 

We are self-assured, aren’t we? We think we can handle just about anything on our own. Sadly, many Christians think this way. In fact, I would argue that many Christians think that the course of the Christian life goes something like this — I trust Jesus for salvation, but the rest is left up to me. 

Salvation belongs to God, but we are on our own when it comes to our sanctification. Right? Wrong! The greatest temptation is self-governance apart from the enabling power of God. What are our resources? [Read more…]

Focal Passage: James 1:13-18  

To be tempted to sin is the universal experience of humanity, both for Christians and non-Christians. 

The difference between the two is that the Christian has the awareness and the tools to overcome a variety of temptations, the unbeliever does not. Let’s do an autopsy on temptation through James 1:13-18 so that we might see how it works in order to conquer those temptations that come our way. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: John 20:1-2, 11-18 

Christianity is a historical religion. While there are many historical events recorded in Scripture for our benefit, two events form the basis of the Christian faith — the substitutionary, atoning death of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. Apart from these two historical events there is no Christian faith. 

As I Corinthians 15:12-19 notes, if Jesus has not been raised from the dead: (1) Jesus is still dead, (2) our preaching is meaningless, (3) our faith is in vain, (4) we are still in our sins, (5) all who died believing were fooled and are still dead and 6) we are to be pitied among all people. But then, in I Corinthians 15:20, Paul writes, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (died).”  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: John 19:16-19; 28-30, 38-42 

The great Puritan theologian John Owen once wrote that through the death of Jesus Christ the death of death has been accomplished. 

Even more, because of the death of Jesus Christ the sins of all who would believe — past, present, and future — would be forgiven. The One who knew no sin bore the penalty for our sins so that we might be given the righteousness of God (II Corinthians 5:21). It has been called the “great exchange” — our sin for His righteousness.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: John 9:1-7; 32-33, 35-38 

Why? This is one of the primal questions of life, along with How? When? Where? Who? We want to know why things happen, especially if those things cause suffering. Often, God will give us whole or partial answers to these questions. At other times, God remains silent reminding us that He has reasons for how He providentially cares for His creation that are above our “pay grade.” 

But why would I raise the issue of asking Why? The events surrounding the healing of the blind man at the Pool of Siloam raises the question of why so that we can see through the lens of this event to the truth of who Jesus Christ is.

God the Son glorifies God the Father (John 9:1-7.) On observing a man blind from birth, the disciples asked Jesus who had sinned to cause this man’s blindness — him or his parents. The thinking at that time (and still is) was that all suffering was a direct result of sin. To be clear, we can suffer because of our sins (Galatians 6:7-10). But not always. God may have other purposes in our sufferings (II Corinthians 12:1-10). [Read more…]

Focal Passage: John 8:2-11 

Though we sing and preach about it all the time, we don’t know much about grace. Yes, we might say, God’s grace is the undeserved, unmerited favor of God. But when it comes down to it, most of us have been raised to believe that unless one works for something we haven’t earned it.

Yes, we are to work for our wages. But when it comes to our relationship with Jesus we can’t work for our salvation; it’s all grace. We could never deserve our salvation. We are the recipients of God’s undeserved kindness (Ephesians 2:1-10). We do not work for our salvation; we work for God because of our salvation. The extra-canonical, John-like story of the woman caught in adultery is a perfect example of God’s grace. [Read more…]