Luke records the only adolescent account we have about Jesus between his birth and public ministry (Lk 2.41-51). Joseph and Mary were faithful Jews (cf. Lk 2.21-24, 39) who loved Torah and “went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover” (Lk 2.41). The year Jesus turned twelve was no different, at least for Joseph and Mary. Jewish tradition dictated a boy became personally responsible to Torah when […]
As part of God’s sanctifying providence, Christians must endure difficult seasons of frustration. Some will be brief and others lengthy, but they will all test our affections and whittle away our worldliness. Our questions will not always be about God’s power or authority, but about his care. Will he indeed mend the wounds he is right to cause? Answers will be few for most of them or at least selfishly […]
God can be very frustrating. There. I said it. We like neat categories where every situation has a clear explanation. God is doing this for that reason. A friend insists on a destructive lifestyle because he is clearly unregenerate, and sin is what the unregenerate do. One plus one equals two. Another friend seems never to suffer anything wrong. She always smiles and raises her hands in church because that […]
Right field. Every kid knows what it means to play right field. It means you’re not a playmaker. You’re not fast or a good glove. Coach doesn’t entrust bottoms of fifth innings to the awkward kid whose uniform doesn’t quite match. Right field is where you play when you’re not a player. You’re not there to make a play but so that you won’t have to. It’s the little league […]
What exactly is a Baptist? What must one believe if he is to consider himself a Baptist? What makes the ordinary Baptist different from the ordinary Methodist, Presbyterian or Episcoplian? Parts 1 and 2 argued Baptists swim in the same stream of Christian orthodoxy flowing from the Protestant Reformation. There is no “Baptist” version, for example, of the nature of God, sinfulness of men, deity of Christ, his substitutionary atonement, bodily […]
Part 1 suggested Baptist distinctives are vitally important but relatively few. Baptists share the essential convictions of historic Christian orthodoxy. Given a variety of confessions on a particular issue, one would be hard-pressed to sniff out the Baptist from among them. For example, take the following selections from three historic confessions of faith on the authority of Scripture: “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not […]
A good friend was recently exploring school options for his daughter. He was drawn to a school which “embrace[s] and adopt[s] the essential truths of orthodox Christianity as articulated in the system of doctrine expressed in the creeds of the Protestant Reformation, including the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and the Heidelberg Catechism.” He then asked if this contradicted anything he believed “as a Baptist.” The […]
Is tithing (i.e. giving 10% of one’s income) biblically mandated for the Christian? Do texts like Malachi 3.10 prescribe the tithe as an ongoing requirement of God’s people in all places at all times? Parts 1 and 2 suggest the larger context of Malachi does not enforce a Christian tithe but prepares us for a curse-reversing Savior. Before offering specific principles about Christian giving we should consider the purpose of […]
“Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9.7). Part 1 suggested Malachi 3.10 is about far more than instituting a Christian tithe. Rather it was part of Malachi’s whole message to an apostate Israel. Many preachers and churches lift Malachi 3.8-12 out of the context, overlay it on the church and impose […]
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows” (Mal 3.10). Malachi 3.10 is often the go-to text to jump start a church’s capital campaign or boost sluggish giving. When in […]