The wisdom of the world is put on display for everyone to see its foolishness and as the academicians put on their masks of wisdom, God unmasks them and shows them their utter incompetency and foolishness.
Church Nurture, Sermon Excerpt
Without the nurture of the Church and her worship; apart from the strength and wisdom heard in the Word of God and eaten and drunk in the Eucharist, our daily lives cannot be what God demands it to be.
Sibling and Denominational Rivalry
I found this statement from James Dunn to be most insightful when considering current denominational rivaries:
It is the brother who threatens identity most (“sibling rivalry”); it is the party most like your own which threatens to draw away your support and undermine your reason for existence as a distinct entity.
On Gun Laws in Britain
The truth is that until 1920, Britain’s gun laws were so relaxed they made Texas look effeminate, but we had virtually no gun crime. That only really began to increase here after we abolished hanging.
Church and Market
The elements of early church worship are certainly not what you will find in most church growth books. They are too simple to compete for a place in the market. Actually, the opposite is true. The market is too simple to compete in the Church.–Excerpt from Sunday’ sermon
Secret Salvation?
Eugene Peterson writes:
God never makes private, secret salvation deals with people. His relationships with us are personal, true; intimate, yes; but private, no. We are a family in Christ. When we become Christians, we are among brothers and sisters in faith. No Christian is an only child. (Peterson, Obedience 175)
Restoration
Jesus’ goal was to restore people to fellowship with God. It is the one great love by which God loved the world in His Son and which returns to him in those who, in the Name of His Son, turn to Him as their Father.
–Herman Ridderbos
Tasting Grace
The same thing falls within our own experience in the present day; for he who has only tasted a little of the doctrine of the Gospel is more inflamed, and feels much greater energy in that small measure of faith, than if he had been acquainted with all the writings of Plato.–John Calvin (Commentary on John’s gospel)
A Fit Bride
…God is in the business of changing humanity into a fit Bride, and so God breaks down all attempts to freeze history.
–James B. Jordan in Crisis, Opportunity, and the Christian Future, p.29
John Calvin on Impermanence
Thus, in our own day, we see many who voluntarily shut their eyes, and spread the clouds of their doubt, in order to darken the clear light of the Gospel. We see also many light spirits, who fly about in idle speculations, and never find, throughout their whole life, a permanent abode.