The Simplicity of Jesus’s Salvation Message Seems Foolish and Offends Many It shouldn’t surprise us that the gospel is offensive, that the good news of Jesus offends people. Quoting God, the prophet Jeremiah writes that the word of the Lord is offensive to them (Jeremiah 6:10). Not only does this apply to the people in […]
God reveals his truth to Paul. Paul calls it a mystery. God gives it to Paul so he can share it with the church in Ephesus; he’s not supposed to keep it to himself. This isn’t something Paul figures out on his own; he doesn’t logically deduce it or make it up. This isn’t something […]
Who Else Is Worthy? Today’s passage: Revelation 5 Focus verse: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain.” (Revelation 5:9) Our scene in heaven continues to unfold: the four living creatures have declared God holy, and the twenty-four elders have laid their crowns at the feet of […]
The mysterious character of Melchizedek shows up only once in the book of Genesis. There he meets and blesses Abraham after the patriarch defeats Lot’s captors and liberates his nephew, the rest of the town, and their possessions. Abraham gives Melchizedek a tenth of the plunder. Yet this seemingly straightforward story also intrigues. First, Melchizedek […]
Embrace the Common Good for the Sake of Others and Our Faith I often write about the importance of Christian unity. I even covered it in my dissertation. Yet I live in a society that celebrates the individual. These two ideas stand in conflict with each other. We can’t achieve the unity of believers when […]
The Church in Laodicea: Lukewarm for Jesus Today’s passage: Revelation 3:14–22 Focus verse: “So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:16) We don’t know that Paul ever traveled to Laodicea during his missionary journeys, but he mentions their church in his letter to the […]
Examine Your Answer Carefully Jesus asks his disciples, who do people say that I am? The disciples reel off some common answers. He could be John the Baptist, others say he’s Elijah, and some think of Jeremiah. Or he could be anyone of the other prophets. Then the teacher brings the question into focus. “What […]
What if God Told You to do Something Crazy? A guy named Peter knew how to fish. That was his trade, his livelihood. When it came to catching fish, he was the expert. Peter’s buddy Jesus was a carpenter by trade. He knew how to make things with his hands, things constructed of wood. He […]
Be Accessible but Not Accommodating The idea of having seeker sensitive services at church has been around for a few decades. The vision is retooling church services to make them more attractive—that is, less intimidating—to the unchurched. While this was an admirable goal and did achieve results, it also created other problems, which may be […]
John (referred to as John the Baptizer) was Jesus’ cousin and a couple of months older. John preceded Jesus in ministry, pointing people to Jesus. John did his work admirably and without fault, albeit amidst criticism. He was eventually imprisoned because of what he said. With all the amazing things Jesus did and the miracles […]