The old adage that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks is a sentiment that can seep into our mentality about growing in godliness. What sin most easily entices you? You certainly know that God graciously forgives that sin. But do you believe that God is able to give you the victory over that sin? 

Scripture doesn’t present the Christian life as one under bondage to sin. Instead, in regeneration your Heavenly Father gives you a new nature. This new nature is not yet made perfect, there remains a great deal of corruption which must be driven out. So the question naturally arises, “How do I change?”

First, all the virtues needed for overcoming sin––like patience, contentment, self-control––are glorious gifts from God. But as one theologian put it, “God Himself & not His gifts, dwelt in the temple.” This then must be the central understanding of your battle against besetting sin: God dwells in you. As Paul said, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?”

Second, you must cultivate the habit of saying, “Amen” to what God says about you in your baptism. He says, “Likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus.”

Third, you must make the twofold action of confession & repentance habitual. Confession is saying the same the thing about your sin as God says about it, while repentance is turning from your sin and also pursuing Christ. 

Your progress may feel slow. But like mountain switchbacks, you’ll gradually ascend higher. You can’t hike Kilimanjaro in one step. Rather, steady steps will. Know that God dwells in you. Mortify your sins. Mock your temptation. Confess & repent if you do succumb. These things are the mountain switchbacks of sanctification.

Ben Zornes – June 16, 2024

Read Full Article

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

There is an important distinction to make between peacemakers and peacekeepers. 

Peacekeepers think all other virtues must be sacrificed on the altar of so-called “peace.” Peacekeepers are unwilling to endure the discomfort of conflict, and so they seek quick-fix compromises when conflict arises. Peacekeepers believe that sinful means justify the end of maintaining harmony. So-called peace is maintained through people-pleasing by appeasing the emotionally immature, walking on eggshells, and quietly making sure no one brings up the wrong topics to the wrong people. Peacekeeping is cheap and fragile. 

On the other hand, peacemaking is a long-game. Peacemakers recognize that true peace only exists where the truth is upheld. Peacemakers know that true peace comes on the other side of battles won with the sword of truth. True peace can only exist where sin does not. 

Paul tells us in Romans 12:8: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” If we are to live peaceably so long as possible, what would make living peaceably with all men an impossibility? Well, when the truth is at stake. This is what made Luther once cry out, “Peace if possible, but truth at all costs.” That is the motto of a peacemaker, not a peacekeeper. 

There are times when temporary peace must be sacrificed in order that true, lasting peace—peace that is built upon the truth—might be brought about. And to those who commit themselves to pursuing that kind of peace, Christ issues this promise: “They shall be called children of God.”

Now, why is this a fitting promise for peacemakers? Consider Christ’s words from Matthew 10:34–36: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.

For peacemakers committed to true peace that is built on the truth, there is a real risk that those closest to you will turn their backs on you. There is a real risk of being disowned, of being disinherited. Families previously built on the sandy foundations of cheap peace will be torn down when the Lord shakes that which is not eternal. 

And so when you face real conflict and turmoil, even in your own family, as a result of your commitment to making true peace by proclaiming the truth, what hope can you cling to? If things get as bad as possible in your family, even if you are disowned and disinherited as a son or daughter, you have a promise to cling to. So take heart, he will never leave you. You shall be called a child of God.

Zach Wilke – June 9, 2024

Read Full Article

Summer is here. The days are longer, but the shorts are shorter. I’d like to offer a few biblical principles about modesty. In this feminist age, addressing feminine modesty is akin to saying “Hitler wasn’t all that bad.” So, wish me luck.

To begin with, modesty in apparel isn’t a matter of square footage (or lack thereof). Modesty begins as a matter of the presence or absence of God’s glory. In Eden, Adam and Eve didn’t required clothing because God’s presence endowed them with garments of borrowed light. Sin precipitated the need for clothing to cover the shame of glory-less nakedness. So, clothing spins a tale. It always has and always will. From Eden on clothing said, at bare minimum, God has withdrawn His glorious presence from mankind due to Adam’s sin. However, in eternity, clothing will tell another story, for the white robes of the saints will speak of our righteousness in Christ.

The question, then, for Christians is, “What story do my clothes tell?” Clothing can suggest a wide range of things: one’s occupation or gender, sexual invitation, lazy indifference, attentiveness, disrespect, vanity, and so on. Wearing a clown costume is lawful, but wearing it to a funeral would be insulting. It’s a bit surprising, then, to hear that godliness requires you to think about what others think when you get dressed. The WLC teaches as much: “The duties required in the seventh commandment are, chastity in body, mind, affections, words, and behavior; and the preservation of it in ourselves and others; watchfulness over the eyes and all the senses; temperance, keeping of chaste company, modesty in apparel […].”

This commandment obliges each of us to actively love our neighbor by modesty of apparel. Furthermore, we’re particularly required to keep our eyes watchful so as not to indulge sensual lusts. So then, a Christian’s garments should tell a story of Gospel hope, not of carnal despair.

We have become an immodest culture. Our jokes are crass. Our entertainment feeds our basest desires. Our clothing is precariously perched and this belies how insecure our culture is. God’s glory has departed, and we are left with shame of face. We reach for the fig leaves of our own devising, when the Father call us to be clothed in the righteous robes of Christ, which cover us and fill us with true holiness. May we go to God for forgiveness for the ways in which we have dressed, spoken, thought and acted without modesty. And may He grant us a contentment in His promise to clothe us in the white robes of Christ, and strength to guard both our own and our neighbor’s chastity. If you humble yourself before God, He promises to restore you to the robes of glory-light of Eden 2.0. You are not left in the shame of sin’s nakedness, but are clothed with the promise of the Gospel.

Ben Zornes – June 9, 2024

Read Full Article

Your life will end. Every thing that you have done or have left undone will be left behind and your very soul will leave your body. The body that has carried you. The body that you know so well. Your body of twelve years or eighty years. Perhaps a prime body of eighteen. The body that is full of scars and muscles. The body that is bone tired or fit and fast. The body that is pregnant. The body that has seen the sun rise and fall so many times. That body will decay. Your teeth will fall out and clatter on the floor and you will be standing there mouth agape. At the same time you will notice the skin sag and you’ll not be such hot stuff anymore. Maybe not. Maybe you’ll be strutting your stuff when the lights go dim. Who will see your impressive body then? Your workouts and toning will be for naught. Forget about showering or bathing because the soaps and bodywash are no match for the death stench. Forget about changing the sheets on your bed. You won’t need those where you are going. Forget all the comforts you know. The coffee, the beer, the wine and cheese have all gone to waste. Landfill material. You. Will. Die.

But how will you die?

Will you follow in the footsteps of so many who have gone before you? Will you be as the chaff driven away by the wind? Will your life end in a flash like a North Dakota grass fire? After your life has been crawling along so slowly did you expect an abrupt end? You came into the world naked and you will leave just the same. We really are all equal at the end of the day because we all end up horizontal.

Your life will end.

There is another way. This way involves another death though and surprisingly it comes before the life slips away from your earthly home. Are you scared of death? Don’t be. For this first death is actually the second birth. “How can we be born again?” is actually a fair question but I don’t go in much for fair questions and that is because the answer is not fair. The answer to this first death and second birth is the wind. The wind blows where it will. You will not see it, you will not understand where it comes from. But you will hear it. And then you will be destroyed. You will die. This will be a death by water. I already told you not to fear death. Why? Because this first death brings about a glorious resurrection. After you come sputtering out of the water and gasping for air, your lungs will be filled with the sweetest oxygen that you have ever experienced. You will get more enjoyment out of your body than you ever thought possible. You will be on fire and your smoke will rise to the heavens and it will be a pleasing smell. You will not be the only one though. No. This earth will be filled with 8 billion plus little fires. All of them shining. All of them sending smoke to heaven. Yes, all of you will die. But how will you die?

Joshua Dockter – June 9, 2024

Read Full Article