If beauty is ultimately God’s self-knowledge and communicative self-delight, we can explain easily enough why other theories of beauty have defined beauty as harmony and symmetry, or truth and goodness, or pleasure and delight. For Trinitarian love is the ultimate and absolute form of harmony and unity, being a symmetry not of objects but of… Continue Reading
One of the things I’m going to miss most (among many!) during this unusual season when our church can’t gather is our annual “Facing the Cross Service,” a simple service we observe each year during Holy Week that recounts the last few days, death, and burial of our Lord through Scripture readings and hymns. Since… Continue Reading
In the Old Testament economy, God established particular means through which his people were enabled to draw near to him in worship, although since the sacrifices were not completely pure and the worshipers remained sinful, no one could enter God’s presence for free and open communion with him. Jesus enabled such communion by himself fulfilling… Continue Reading
Each year in our church, we have a Holy Week service that has become one of our most anticipated services. It is a simple service of Scripture, hymns, and Communion, following a similar structure to a Lessons and Carols Christmas service, but focusing on the events leading up to and including the Cross. Over the… Continue Reading
AM I a stone and not a sheep That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy Cross, To number drop by drop Thy Blood’s slow loss, And yet not weep? Not so those women loved Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee; Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly; Not so the thief… Continue Reading
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 This series has been intended to address biblically the necessity of so-called relevant ministry. I have deliberately avoided articulating “dividing lines” of what is necessarily “relevant methods” and what is not. In fact, I do not believe such lines would… Continue Reading
The gospel reveals many aspects of God’s character. It certainly reveals His love, mercy, grace, goodness, and kindness. If we want to know whether the true and living God is a God of love, all we have to do is to look at the cross. Yet the gospel reveals more than God’s love: it also… Continue Reading
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 Modern American evangelicalism has a tendency to augment the preaching of the gospel with certain practices and cultural adaptations by which they believe the Word of God becomes “relevant” to unbelievers. I have been arguing that Paul’s “method of ministry” outlined in the… Continue Reading
As conservatives, it can be easy to grow discouraged. There are very few of us. It seems that all of American Christianity (sorry, David de Bruyn) is abandoning the way of worship that we understand to be reverent. The good, the true, and the beautiful rarely brings in an audience. Our churches are shrinking. Fundamentalism… Continue Reading
Part 1 | Part 2 In part 1, we looked at Paul’s ministry model in 1 Corinthains 1:10-17. Paul took deliberate steps to preach the gospel in such a way that minimized himself and emphasized Christ and his redeeming work. Part 2‘s post showed why Paul went about ministry in this way. The message of redemption… Continue Reading
Part 1 In emphasizing the unity of the church in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, Paul asks the church pointedly: “is Christ divided?” (v 13). With their divisions, the Corinthian church was pulling away from Christ, the one who unites his church. This led Paul to explain that in his own ministry he took pains to emphasize… Continue Reading
