As a ship on stormy seas, the Church has often swayed back and forth between two emphases: the head and the heart. Regrettably, she has also taken into her mind the notion that these two are polar opposites. But our intellect and our affections are not enemies, anymore than your two eyes are enemies. Our faith is not the analytical evaluation by our intellect of brute facts. Nor is our faith the throbbing emotions of reaction to pleasant stimuli.

Our faith is the result of God making us new, giving us a new heart by the mighty and gracious working of His Spirit. Because He called unto us, opened our ears, and made us alive we respond to Him by faith. This new life causes us to think God’s thoughts after Him. This new life gives us holy affections, where our delight is in the Lord as He satisfies our sanctified desires.

So then, if by grace you have trusted in Christ, both your mind and emotions should be enflamed with holy thoughts and feelings. You ought to sing songs of praise jubilantly, enthusiastically, and heartily; but you can sing all the more jubilantly if what you are singing is the truth in poetry with razor sharp wit and wisdom. If you wrestle by faith with the dark sayings of God’s word, you won’t come away weaker, but with the perspiring glow of a triumphant athlete.

Grace doesn’t dull our intellect it illumines it. Grace doesn’t numb our emotions it warms them. The words of that Narnian lion ring true, we are not quite as happy as he intends us to be. Intellectual rigor and emotional vibrancy are the fruits of God’s Spirit at work within us. So set your mind and affections upon Christ, and think and feel rightly.

Ben Zornes – April 21, 2024

Read Full Article

The Christian life is not only a race, it is a particular kind of race. You must not only run it, you must run it in a certain way. Hebrews says that we must run the race set before us with endurance. This requirement ought not to be quickly passed by. I have known men who were remarkably fast. They could out run another man without even trying. But some of these very fast men were not the kind of men who could hold up when difficulty came knocking. Over their lives, they had not steadily become men who could face significant adversity.

Your duty is to steadily become such people. Doing so requires three things of you:

First, lay aside every weight and sin that obstructs your progress. These sins take on many forms: lust, pride, laziness, worry, gossip, covetousness, pick your sin. Whatever you will confess before the Lord now is a weight. You must lay it down before the Father and then rise lighter and unburdened.

Second, consider the cloud of witnesses surrounding you. They remind you, even in the face of these new difficulties, which seem quite heavier than the last round, that you do not run alone.

Third, and this is the most essential thing: You must look to Christ. And I mean really look to Him. He is the author of your faith, and he is the finisher of your faith. That means you don’t merely look to Him as an example, saying, “Well if Jesus endured the cross, then surely I can face the day.” No, you look to the finisher of your faith, knowing you can’t finish it. The trial teaches you that you cannot trust in yourself. And so you look to Jesus because He is your endurance.

Jared Longshore – April 21, 2024

Read Full Article

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.“

Titus 2:11-14

Now, there are several sermons in this short text, but I want to highlight just one command — to live soberly.  This word is not too common in our modern lexicon but it expected of Christians.  We recognize its opposite in drunkenness, but what does “to live soberly” mean or look like?  Some translations use terms like discretely, temperate/moderate, or sound mind.  A close cousin is self-controlled, which we know from Galatians 5:23 is a fruit of the Spirit.  

In his recent book on Leadership, Joe Rigney describes sober-mindedness as a combination of three elements:  clarity of mind, stability of soul and a readiness to act based on the first two.  Applying this directly to men, consider it this way.  When we are confronted with challenging circumstances or relationships, we must be in control of our passions.  We can’t let other people’s sin or hardships cause our passions and emotions to get out of control.  We can’t respond with anger, envy, bitterness, self-pity or indulgence.  

As the start of this section states, “the grace of God has appeared to us.”  And that same Grace empowered us with His Spirit of self control.  In the midst of the storm or facing a snarky comment from our wife, a criticism from a co-worker, that ‘look’ from our kids, that unexpected bill, that news of an illness or whatever, we are called to remain sober-minded.  And, in that soberness, we need to see with clear eyes what is really going on.  

If we don’t know, we need to investigate, ask questions, ponder, self evaluate ask for help, and ask for wisdom (James1).  Then, when we understand what is at hand, we will be able to measure this against God’s Word and act.  Sometimes it will be to comfort the weak.  Other times, a strong exhortation may be in order.  Or, you may have identified a wolf in your midst and have to take more extreme measures to confront and remove the danger.

In each of these situations, you likely will face real blow back from your decision and taken actions.  But, God made you men, revealed His Grace and gave you His Spirit.  So, act like men.

Matt Meyer – April 14, 2024

Read Full Article

Hypocrisy is one of the most hated sins. There are Pride parades, Pro-Choice rallies, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and anxiety support groups. But you’ll have a hard time recruiting folks to show support for “Hypocrites Rights.”

Hypocrisy is, of course, claiming to hold up some virtue or set of virtues while secretly violating those virtues. Some examples come to mind. The pro-life politician who is exposed for making his mistress get an abortion.The Pastor using tithe dollars for secret trips to Vegas. The Instagram trad-wife whose perfectly curated online image doesn’t match her real life image of laziness in homemaking and bitter snappiness in mothering. All such hypocrites will soon find their secrets out in the open, and their hidden sins made public, and God will judge it.

But amongst Christians there is a silly but dangerous temptation when it comes to hypocrisy. We know how we ought to live and the standards we ought to uphold. And if we have sinned in some arena we are tempted to think we must protect God’s reputation by not confessing our sin, bringing it into the light, and making things right. We reason that we wouldn’t want to embarrass God with a confession of our sin. As if He would need to rush a PR statement to the press when one of His people confess their sin.

God has already informed us what His position is in regards to confessed sin: He delights in mercy. That’s why there’s a bloody cross after all. He gives that mercy to those who humble themselves and confess their sin. So don’t hide your sin out of fear of what it might do to God’s reputation. His mercy is wide enough to swallow up your worst sin, and for His holiness to remain unsullied.

Our pride convinces us that God needs us to hide our sins, so as to not to bring shame upon Him. But He calls us to bring it out into the light, denounce it, be ashamed of it so that by His mercy our shame might be turned into the uplifted face of those who have received forgiveness. So then, we ought to be swift to confess our sins, so that by God’s grace we might be kept from presumptuous sins in order that we might not give way to great transgressions. If our desire is to bring honor to name of the Lord we must remember that the Word teaches us that it honors Him when we confess our sin and sinfulness. So then put your certain hope in Him, trusting in His character and nature which is a deep ocean of tender-mercies to those who put their trust in Him. This is your only hope in life and in death, that God has made a way for your sins to be confessed and for Him to forgive them all without compromising His righteousness.

Ben Zornes – April 14, 2024

Read Full Article

By 700 BC, King Sennacherib had achieved unparalleled military success, subjugating 46 fortified cities and asserting dominance over the known world. However, this unbroken chain of victories was fostering a dangerous sense of pride within him. The following is recorded for us in 2 Kings 18 when the Rabshakeh mocks the Israelites, “Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?” The interesting thing about this tirade is that it was true. The false gods of the nations did not deliver them from Assyria. But the cupbearer’s mistake was believing that Yahweh was simply the next name to be added to the roster of conquered gods. And so he uses impious speech to disrespect and profane God. In contrast, the Israelite King Hezekiah does the opposite and uses terms of veneration and reverence to plead for help. He says, “O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O LORD our God, save us please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.” There is no middle ground; blaspheme him or revere him. If you’re an atheist you insult His name. If you worship another god, He holds you in derision. If you try to be agnostic you deny general revelation. And one thing is for sure, God will not be mocked. Listen to Yahweh’s response to King Sennacherib, “Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins. But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me. Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.”

The pagan is quick to attribute success to himself and then blame God for failure. He says, “I know what I’m doing and I know where I’m going.” But let the Christian echo what James says, “If the Lord wills, we will do this or that.” He is in control and He is our God, not our therapist, our bestie, or our bosom buddy. We are to fear him as the righteous sovereign judge of the universe who turns the hearts of blasphemous kings wherever he wills. Let us be very mindful then, of how we reference God, how we talk to Him, the things we attribute to His hand, and what we say about Him.

Daniel Namahoe – April 14, 2024

Read Full Article