Church Blog (Page 48)
Windows#1. “Michal and the two windows.”
Michal loved David. On one of the occasions that her father, King Saul, tried to have David killed, she helped him escape. Michal, wondering what would become of her beloved, looked down in fear from the window from which she had just lowered him (1Sam.19). Years later Michal would again look down on David from a window. By this time, however, she had grown to despise him in her heart. He had danced before the Ark of God as it…
Bragging Rights#3. “Let not the rich boast of their riches” (Jer.9:23).
Netflix and their compatriots are spoilt for choice when seeking plots about the transforming nature of money. Everyone knows a story about someone who was made and then ruined, by money. The central point of such plots is that money takes everything down with it, with rare exceptions. The wealthiest of this world live lives that most of us will never see into, let alone enter. So why would the prophet, Jeremiah, send a personal warning to the wealthy of…
Bragging Rights#2. “Let not the mighty man boast in his might” (Jer.9:23).
I was walking the dog recently, when a car came to a screeching halt in front of a house I was about to walk past. The three occupants were obviously gang members. They were about to get out of the car to approach the house, but stopped when they saw me and the dog…so I thought. In fact, what actually made them think twice about getting out of the car was the homeowner. He suddenly came charging down his drive…
Bragging Rights #1. “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom” (Jer.9:23).
I met a young man (somewhere in his 20s) who mows lawns for a living. I was surprised when he told me that he has three university degrees. He laughed and said, “While I am trying to find a position in my specialised field of botany, my mother still expects me to pay rent.” I was reminded of others with equal numbers of letters following their names, but none, that I recall, with the humility or hard work inherent in…
Knowledge that Counts #4. “Being conformed to His death” (Phil.3:10).
The last words of William Tyndale were, “Lord! Open the King of England’s eyes.” The impact of Tyndale’s words is only felt when we realise that he spoke them while tied to a stake, and about to be strangled, and then burned. His crime? Translating the Bible into English. His death (6 October 1536) was testimony to his undying belief that translating the Living Word of God into the language of his fellow Englishmen was worth dying for. When contemplating…
Knowledge that Counts #3. “I want to know…the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil.3:10).
The fact that I do not like suffering, may say more about me than I would otherwise care to admit. I have suffered for the cause of Christ in various ways, but compared to Christ, the prophets, the apostles, and the other selfless martyrs over the centuries, I am yet to begin. Paul suffered much for the gospel. He knew pain and privation, and he gloried in it. As far as he was concerned, he was living to expend every…
Knowledge that Counts #2. “I want to know…the power of Jesus’ resurrection” (Phil.3:10).
There are always bad motives behind bad doctrines. But scratch the surface and it generally adds up to either apathy (the bad doctrine became a tradition), or the struggle for power and control inherent in maintaining the status quo. False teachers were quick to challenge apostolic authority by teaching that Jesus did not rise from the dead. Which causes us to ask, given that the resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone doctrine of the church, how could it have been…
Knowledge that Counts #1. “I want to know Christ” (Phil.3:10).
What prisoner cries from his cell that his greatest desire is: “I want to know Christ…” These are the profound words that Paul wrote from prison in Rome to the Philippian brethren in about AD60. This was the Pharisee who had been bent on wiping the name of Christ off the face of the earth. He was the man who stood and gave official approval for the stoning of Stephen. And not content with picking Christians off one by one,…
No man ever spoke like this!#9. “Follow Me…!”
Today is the last day of 2021. It is my prayer (if the Lord wills that there be a tomorrow), that each of us looks to the New Year with the excitement of a three-year-old greeting a new day. Let us rise and sing with the Psalmist: “This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). Having been blessed with another year in the Lord’s church, it is always wise…
No man ever spoke like this!#8. “Out of the mouth of babes…” (Mt.21:16).
Some churches have a “Cold-water Committee.” These are the brethren who have somehow developed a unique gift of “dis-encouragement” (and, lest I sound too self-righteous, I must admit that I might possibly have sat on one or two of these committees myself). They are easy to find. Each member has a near-miraculous ability to turn up at the happiest of events and proceed to pour cold water on it. A preacher friend told me that a brother once phoned him,…