We all face various trials—from minor frustrations at home to tremendous grief; from small setbacks at work to great heartache; from slight opposition from the world to severe persecution. All of us have the need for patient endurance. But a patient endurance that glorifies God doesn’t come so easily in trial. God's word through James gives courage to persevere.
Keep ReadingHebrews 8 teaches that Jesus mediates "a better covenant." How exactly is the new covenant better than the old covenant?
Keep ReadingWe’ve all experienced it. Matthew 2:15 asserts that Jesus fulfills the prophet’s words. Then, flipping back to Hosea 11:1, we discover Israel coming out of Egypt. “How did Matthew get that?” we wonder. When comparing the historical, contextual meaning of an Old Testament verse with its appearance in a New Testament context, we often feel tension. How are the NT authors using the OT?
Keep ReadingSo what does preaching the gospel to yourself look like? We learned in Part 1 that amazing news that God changes the heart. Yet we also know that change comes through hearing, treasuring, and heeding his word.
Keep ReadingI want to explore how the gospel functions in the life of the church. No matter what the church faced, the apostles wove the gospel into the very fabric of the church’s life, ministries, and mission. The gospel never amounted to a “shelved” message for the church. It has ongoing significance.
Keep ReadingThe Lord’s word speaks pointedly to so many issues we face. Some months ago, our church studied Paul’s speech before the Areopagus in Acts 17:16-34. It took two Sundays, but we drew several inferences. One inference spoke directly to an issue that many, for varying reasons, have been thinking about afresh: racism. Acts 17 gives us at least four truths about all people that, when embraced rightly and applied comprehensively, kill racism.
Keep ReadingWhat is the biblical rationale for church membership?
Keep ReadingPornography is one expression of sexual immorality inundating our culture.[i] Grievously, it’s far too common in the church as well. Covenant Eyes reports that “64% of Christian men and 15% of Christian women say they watch porn at least once a month.”[ii] Such statistics hardly represent the biblical imperative: “sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints” (Eph 5:3). Are you among the 64% or the 15%? By God’s grace, you don’t have to be. Are others you know among them? By God’s grace, you can help them not to be. Contrary to popular resolve, Christians can say No to pornography and to any other sexual temptation.
Keep ReadingThe following reasons remain part of my own arsenal in the fight against lust and sexual immorality. I share them to equip you in the same fight. Part two will come soon, where I develop eight ways to fight sexual temptation. Until then please consider these seriously, especially those of you who may be looking at and thinking about porn. Some of my comments are geared toward men, but much of this post also applies to women.
Keep ReadingWhat is the church? While certainly not exhaustive, here's a brief portrait of the church based on numerous texts from Scripture.
Keep ReadingMay 14
2015
For many of us at Redeemer Church, it may be clear why we include both “our neighbors” and “the nations” in our vision statement. But over time new people join our local church and even existing members can forget why we’re so explicit about both neighbors and the nations. Thus, consider the following a brief primer on some of the theology driving the distinction in our vision statement.
Rachel and I sat to talk last night about the people suffering the aftermath of an earthquake in Nepal, the decision regarding marriage before the Supreme Court, and even longer about the situation in Baltimore and the hurt we feel for all involved. The events seem so huge; the issues involved, so complex; the people needing help, so many. We both wanted so badly to do something to bring healing, reconciliation, help, immediate relief, but what could we possibly contribute?
Feb 4
2015
We began by looking at the sole basis of our fellowship, unity in Christ, and then turned to taking advantage of every means of grace afforded us to foster gospel-centered community that makes Christ supreme in every area of life. In particular, we looked at how small groups
Jan 29
2015
I pointed out a distinction the Bible makes between progressive sanctification and positional sanctification. As we learn together, I thought it would be helpful to highlight the distinction for you again and then show you why this distinction matters for your Christian walk.
Jan 24
2015
The application of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 sometimes suffers from two unhealthy extremes in contemporary Christian circles: undiscerning "engagement" and exclusivist "holiness". Here are some questions we should be asking to avoid both.
Jan 21
2015
Being “authentic” is popular nowadays, and usually carries with it connotations of casting off all the outward constraints preventing someone from “true self-expression.” But that’s not the sort of authenticity I have in mind or that one should find characterizing Jesus’ church, especially when the church is defined, not by what is inside us but by what is outside us. If there is any casting off to be done, it is to be the casting off of what is inside us
Nov 14
2014
We meet together as a church to help each other live in the good of the gospel daily. And that means motivating each other to follow Jesus with the gospel’s empowering truth(s). We lead each other to drink deeply from the endless fountain of God’s glory in Christ, so that our souls rise with gratitude and run with faith.
Nov 13
2014
In this post, I begin by looking at devotion to biblical truth. From the start, the church devoted itself to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42; 4:33). Fellowship wasn’t centered on just anything, but on the living word of God, which revealed Christ to them, brought them joy, and shaped their devotion to God, their love for one another, and their witness to the world (Acts 2:41; 6:7; 11:1; 12:24; 1 Cor 15:2; Col 3:16; Jas 1:22).
Oct 17
2014
A new book is out titled, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships, by Matthew Vines. The question the church must answer is this: “Does Vines’s interpretation of the Old and New Testament passages on human sexuality accurately represent what God says about human sexuality?” Several leaders in the evangelical church have already served us well by giving extensive interaction with Vines’s book. The answer to the above question remains No.
The aim of the following posts is to give you a biblical framework on the church, that you might better understand how care groups serve the church’s health. Each post will make observations from the Bible on the nature of the church, also giving vision for how her members function together and clarifying how to walk out this vision in the smaller setting of care group.