Advent Day 9: Matthew 9: The Things Jesus Says

I'm still thinking about chapter 8 to an extent–that Jesus we follow who mixes and mingles and heals people that we typically reject. Jesus didn't consider himself better than them–which is exactly how we tend to think of most people. We tend to stick with our own because it's comfortable for us. I'm not necessarily…

Advent Day 7: Matthew 7: The Kingdom of Love

If you have to force something, you really need to ask if it is love. If it isn’t love, you really need to ask yourself if you are of Messiah.

Re-Thinking Refugees

I've been thinking a lot for the past several days or so and the Lord has really convicted me of something. This morning he cornered me and left me no other option but to surrender.   It's far more complicated than simply changing my mind and agreeing with another person's idea. Fact is, some people…

Book Review: Messy Grace

Many, may years ago when I was still young, I felt I was being led to be the preacher of a certain church. I began going through all the motions–sending a resume, sample sermon, meeting families and members of the church, preaching trial sermon(s), and finally submitting to a vote of the congregation. During the…

Sometimes Christians are Just Terrible People

Jesus said a lot of things that we are aware of. Jesus said a lot of things we are not aware of. John tells us the whole world doesn't have enough books to contain all that Jesus said and did. I'm not surprised; although, I'd certainly like to have a little more. We like to…

Things that Make Jesus Happy

I grew up believing the untenable notion that Jesus never smiled or laughed. I'm not sure why I believed such a thing. I suppose it's perhaps because there's no explicit statement in the Bible that says, "And on that occasion, Jesus laughed." But surely Jesus laughed, right? Surely this one who gives his Spirit to…

Is Jesus into Politics? Do our American Political Opinions Really Matter?

Once upon a midnight dreary, I was enrolled in seminary. I had to write a paper once concerning whether or not Jesus ever said anything political. I don't remember everything I wrote but I do remember being marked down a grade because it was my opinion that Jesus had very little to say about politics.…

Daily Office: July 11, 2014

It's been a few days since I have written about the Daily Office. That kind of bums me out a little bit because it means I haven't been truly engaged in the Scripture as I want to be. I suppose all of us at some level have these ideas about what we should be doing…

500 Words Per Day: Grace

Grace. "It's a name for a girl" (U2). Grace falls all over us and colors us clean. Grace marks as children of the living God. Grace prevails upon us when we have no clue who we are, what we are doing, or where we are going. Grace guides, teaches, sustains, and reveals to us the…

500 Words Per Day: Being Loved (without conditions)

It's pretty sad when I read more about unconditional love from an author who makes no faith claims whatsoever than I do in books by authors whose sole purpose is to tell their readers about God's unconditional love. Or maybe it's not. Maybe I needed to read it some place else in order for it…

Let Love Rule; yeah Right!

Letting Love “We are created by love, to live in love, for the sake of love…By worshiping efficiency, the human race has achieved the highest left of efficiency in history, but how much have we grown in love?” (Gerald May, quoted in John Eldredge, Waking the Dead, 48) I’m thinking about this love—and especially as…

David Jackman on Loving other Christians

Friends, In my preparations for Sunday’s Lectionary readings, I came across this in David Jackman’s The Message of John’s Letters in the IVP The Bible Speaks Today series. The author is commenting on 1 John 4:20-21. I thought you might appreciate it: “This final ground of assurance brings us full circle back to 4:7, where…

Unity in the Body of Christ

Friends, I’d like to share a thought or two on the subject of Christian Unity. I am a preacher by calling, and as such, lately, I have been preaching a series of sermons to my congregation on this ever so strange idea of Christian Unity or as I prefer to call it, essential oneness. I…

Discern Your Doctrine with Love

Discern Your Doctrine (Mark Dever) Trevin Wax: What is at stake in this debate over justification? If one were to adopt Piper’s view instead of yours, what would they be missing? NT Wright: What’s missing is an insistence on Scripture itself rather than tradition . . . Kingdom People (NT Wright) or here Unfinished Christianity.)…

Day 11, Colossians 1:13-14: The Kingdom of the Son He Loves

The Kingdom of the Son He Loves “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Dunn wrote, “The implication, therefore, is not so much that the darkness has been already stripped of its…