Iron on Iron

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” This lively analogy of iron and men in Proverbs 27:17 always catches my attention.  I recall that some men—Art, Sam, Ed, John, among a few others—were iron-like figures to me.  These strong men—ready to mark others for good—were God’s gifts to me. With that in mind let …

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Fourth Dimension of the Gospel

When our view of the gospel is too small, then our proclamation will always fall short: 1. When our view of God is too small . . . I covered this in my other blog last week.  Perhaps we see God as having a split personality with his loving side held in tension by his …

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God’s Initiative

Two men—both living in the same country at the same time—asked God for help.  God remained silent for the one and answered the other.  He let the first man die while he elevated the other to a position of eternal prominence.  Did the first man have a bad connection?  Did the second man have a …

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Non-Cafeteria Theology

We used to talk about “cafeteria theology” when I was in Bible school.  Cafeteria theology is where you walk along with a tray and select the bits you like, making a personal theology . . . do we have a free-will?  When will Christ return?  How accurate is the Bible?  Which attributes do I like? …

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Adventure

Here’s a question for Christians: do you enjoy the adventure of following Christ?  Or is your faith placid?  And, if placid, would you accept something livelier? The premise of the question—that faith involves adventure—may be a novel notion!  Let’s think about it.  Then let’s ask about how to find more in life. But first, what …

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Unity

At Cor Deo we recently had a conversation about Christian unity.  How do we, as believers, determine with whom we can work?  In recent decades this has been an important conversation as evangelistic campaigns became a feature of the evangelical landscape, not least because of the growth in numbers of denominations.  And as we discuss …

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Collecting, Cooking, or Communing?

Richard Sibbes, my favorite 17th century mentor, shared, “Whatsoever we do [in our responding to the Scriptures] if it be not stirred by the Spirit, apprehending the love of God in Christ, it is but morality” [in “A Description of Christ”, Works, 1.24]. By “morality” he meant Pharisaic goodness: it may look good to us …

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Sanctified Sin

Sometimes I think we may be oblivious to the reality of our condition.  How many of us, in Christian churches, are effectively swapping one form of rebellion and independence for another? I like the way Tim Keller put it when preaching from Luke 15.  I remember him preaching that the gospel is not about turning …

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A New Perspective

A benefit of moving from time to time comes in seeing things in a new light.  Life in Spokane, Washington, for instance, was dramatically different for me as a teenager than life in Glasgow, Montana.  Glasgow, less than one-twentieth the size of Spokane, was great for deer hunting and wheat farming; Spokane offered lakes, libraries, …

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One Bible, Three Roles

We must be thinking along the same lines.  I just sat down to write my blog for this week and read Ron’s blog, The Lonely Spirit, over on spreadinggoodness.org – obviously we are thinking similar thoughts!  What role does the Bible play in the ministry of the church? Typically I suspect we contrast two kinds …

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