A WHOLE MAN

“Many have taken the Christian faith to be a simple and easy matter, and have even numbered it among the virtues. This is because they have not really experienced it, nor have they tested the great strength of faith.” – Martin Luther  On Thursday, October 31, 2019, we will celebrate the 502nd anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. And for the past three Wednesdays, we have covered a few events and figures which/who have been influential during this much needed reformation of the church. We very briefly touched on the mysticism of the Dark Ages which was leading to the dawn of the Renaissance; a time which is summarized by the catch phrase ad fontes ( back to the sources ). We also looked at some of the contributions made by Erasmus, the Prince of the Humanities, to prepare and awaken the people of the need for reform in the church. But no study of the Protestant Reformation can be complete without also considering Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. Many of us have heard abo...

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.  1 Thessalonians 4:1  When you consider the content of Paul’s letters to the churches he wrote, you get the sense that not everything is going so well. To the church at Corinth, he wrote long letters to encourage unity and to call them away from worldliness, immorality, and pride. To the church at Colossae, he encouraged them to not fall to mysticism or legalism, but to be faithful to the Lord. The church at Ephesus was too proud and lacked in forgiveness, the Galatian church were tempted to fall into false gospels and the church at Philippi seemed worrisome and had two cantankerous women in the body. But the letter to the Thessalonicans has a much different tone, one of exceeding joy. Paul and his mates (Silas [Silvanus] and Timothy) had planted this church during his second missionar...

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”  Daniel 3:16-18  When I was a kid in Sunday School, many of my favorite Bible stories were from the book of Daniel. I was amazed at how bold four young boys could be in refusing to eat the king’s meals, choosing to live off of water and vegetables alone. It was a boldness that I desired for myself. I was shocked at how the king would throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a fiery furnace for not bowing down to his image, and then in awe at how God had saved them. I remember being in wonder at how God had closed the mouths of lions to preserve Daniel, an obedient and faithfu...

“Erasmus laid the egg and Luther hatched it” –16th Century saying of the people  Just as Switzerland was a neutral country during World War II, Desiderius Erasmus did everything that he could to be the “Switzerland” of the Protestant Reformation. Born in 1466, Erasmus had very humble beginnings as the illegitimate son of a Dutch priest. However, the mark that he left on the world was anything but humble. He was the first internationally famous thinker of his time, he wrote 226 works totaling about 2.5 million copies, and provided the world with a readable Greek New Testament. But why was this “prince of the humanists” so influential in the Protestant Reformation? Let’s start in the year 1499 where we find Erasmus listening to a lecture by John Colet at Oxford expounding the Pauline letters using the grammatico-historical method. It was through the influence of John Colet and Sir Thomas More that Erasmus became eager to master the classical tongues; which he did, and soon be...

Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.  Revelation 20:6  Oh no, based on the leading verse you probably can tell that this article is going to focus on the millennial reign of Jesus Christ and what that means. You would be correct, however before we jump into a short exposition on it, I do want to first remind you of the larger purpose for the book of Revelation that I made in the first article (If you have not read it yet, go back and read it). Ok, you’re back? Let’s jump into. In our reading from yesterday and today (specifically Rev 20:2-7), we find that controversial phrase, “a thousand years”. Probably this is the most hotly debated section of the book of Revelation and we really should approach this passage with a measure of humility. Firstly, as Christians we must understand that the book of Revelat...

Therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.  Ezekiel 36:22 If you asked High School/College Alex what his favorite subject was, he would have confidently replied with “History”! If you ask current day Alex what his favorite subject is, it would be the same answer. The reason why I love it so much is that we can learn so much from it. Solomon was right when he wrote, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecc 1:9). And because there is nothing new under the sun, by studying it we can avoid making the same mistakes as those who have gone before us. Likewise, by following “the ancient paths”, we can be sure to be following truths that have been established and have stood the test of time (Jer 6:16). And as we have been reading through...

“He who prays must speak to God as though he were in God’s very presence, for the Lord is everywhere, in every place, in every person, and especially in the soul of the righteous…This shows the great error of those who tell us to work our way through a set number of spoken prayers. The Lord takes no joy in a multitude of words, but in a fervent spirit. No doubt those whose only concern is to defend the Church’s ceremonies and outward rituals will attack me for saying this.”  - Girolamo Savonarola, Concerning Mental Prayer, He would later be burned alive and his ashes would be thrown into the River Arno In the King James Version of the Bible you will find the following verse in Psalms 4:2, “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.” Quiz time? What does the word “leasing” mean? Chances are your mind brought up a scene of a car dealership with the salesman trying to persuade you into leasi...

We resume our normal blog structure with some minor tweaks for the month of October. For the most part, the schedule will be as follows: - Mondays: New Testament - Wednesdays: Protestant Reformation - Fridays: Old Testament ************************************ 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.  Revelation 1:3  If you have been following along in the Bible in a year journey, you may have been growing anxious for when we reach the book of Revelation. Perhaps it is because that means that we are nearing the end of our Bible in a year journey. However, it may also be that this book is often a book that is very confusing and you know that the goal/aim of this book is to aid you in your reading and to augment your understanding. Starting off, I want to say that this little blog will not be able to cover everything that we ...

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.  Malachi 1:11  If you have never seen the show The Office, this reference might be lost on you. But just like Dwight Schrute’s promotion to Office Manager and marriage to Angela (anyone know what her last name was) was the perfect ending to The Office , Malachi is a very fitting close to the Old Testament Scriptures. It not only directs worshippers towards living a life of holiness, but also builds the expectation in the readers of a future messenger who will “prepare the way” before the Lord (3:1). Malachi helps to sort of close out the Old Testament while at the same time transitioning and building an expectation for us in the New Testament. Apart from his name, we know very little about Malachi; this seems to hone our focus in on the messag...

On October 31, 2019, most of the world will be celebrating Halloween. But in my house, each year we have spent it with a study on the Protestant Reformation and handing out chocolate with Gospel tracts to the neighborhood children. The reason Monica and I started this tradition was because 1) what an incredible opportunity it is to have people come to our doors and willingly accept Gospel tracts, and 2) as we wait for the day when God will make all things new, we desire to redeem our time and actions and holiday celebrations for His glory. But probably the most influential reason for why we do what we do is because, having been a pastor for over 9 years, I am struck at how little most Christians know about their own history. I am by no means a Church Historian, but I do believe that there are certain figures and events in our history that all Christians would do well to acquaint themselves with. For example, the early church writings (such as John Chrysostom, Augustine, and Basil) ...

4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?  Haggai 1:4  In 2016, I started working on a new project; a board game. I spent countless hours working on the design (not looks, but how you play the game), theme (style of play), and the general vision for the art (looks of the game). I had even received price lists from various vendors to manufacture, ship, and distribute the game. However, due to several factors (art not in hand, starting a new job, not enough groundwork to grow the user base for pre-orders) the project never completed. It started out with a flash and sort of fizzled out as my priorities began to shift. Similarly, in the book of Haggai, we read of the resulting work of the first group of exiles who had returned to Israel to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. They had returned home and had begun their project to rebuild the temple sometime in 538-537 BC, but had given up on the reconstruction project ...

3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility;  Zephaniah 2:3a  King Josiah is considered to be the last “good” king to reign over Judah. Although only eight years old when he began his 31-year reign, God used him to reform and remove the idols from the land. It is probably at the beginning of Josiah’s reigns when Zephaniah begins his prophetic ministry as recorded in the book of Zephaniah. Some of his contemporaries were Jeremiah, Nahum, and Habakkuk (check out those articles to learn more). The book of Zephaniah can be neatly divided into three sections that are nearly across each of the three chapters in the book; 1) Judgments pronounced on Judah (1:1-2:3), Judgments pronounced on the nations (2:4-15), and finally future hope (3). Which, perhaps, comes as no surprise to you seeing as that is the typical formula that you find in the rest of the prophetic writings. Similar to the other prophetic books, the th...

Droplet from Acts  30 He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Acts 28:31-32 I love how the book of Acts ends! We read of Paul under house arrest, but even still he is able to continue his ministry and to proclaim the Gospel with boldness and without hindrance. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to proclaim Christ without fear of persecution. So, for those of us in America (and other places), let us thank God that He has ordained in his infinite wisdom to allow us to live in a time and place such as this where we do have the liberty to preach the Gospel without hindrance. This means three things: 1) We must be about the business of God. We should be preaching the Gospel to those in our spheres of influence as God has placed us here for such purposes. And 2) we must not forget to thank Him for His mercy and g...