In the last few months, I have been reading about the first Ecumenical Councils of the church in the 4th and 5th Centuries. It was at these councils that the nature of Jesus was clearly defined for all of Christendom. Many of the misunderstandings about Jesus that survive today were addressed by these councils.
The enemy’s best tool
Church leaders have the opportunity to deprive our great enemy of his best and most effective tool. What is that tool? It is us when we are more concerned about our own glory and reputation than we are of God’s glory and reputation.
Who builds the church?
When I am tempted to be overwhelmed by the problems in the church, I need to remind myself that it is not up to men to build the church. Jesus told us that he, himself, is the one who builds his church (Matthew 16:18).
How well do you shepherd your flock?
All of the items in the list above are related to the second great command to love my neighbor. A list like this is helpful because it reminds me that to love my neighbor, I have to get to know him and know what is going on in his life.
Social justice and the church
I find that writing is the best way for me to work toward clarification on an issue. So in this post I will share some thoughts, admittedly incomplete thoughts, on the relationship of the church to the need for social justice in our society. The Bible has a lot to say about social justice. Even […]
External versus Internal Focus
I’ve been involved in some discussions recently regarding the focus of the church. Should our focus be toward the outside to bring new people in or should our focus be on building people up that are already in the church? I struggle to see how these two can be separated without doing damage to what […]
Spelling vs. Writing – A lesson for church leaders
Can we admit the fact that we like being the one who knows the answer? Can we admit that sometimes we respond with our primary motivation to be admired for our knowledge? After we repent of our pride, we can then seek to be used by God to assist others in drawing into deeper relationship with Jesus.
Did God leave all mankind to die in sin and misery?
We like to think of ourselves as free moral agents with the ability to control our own destinies. We don’t want to have anyone tell us what we can or can’t do. We are taught that such freedom is our birthright and no-one should be able to take this away from us.
Orthodoxy alone is not enough
For those of us whose worship traditions place an emphasis on Biblical teaching and preaching, we should ask ourselves if we are caught in dead orthodoxy, imbalanced orthodoxy or clueless orthodoxy as Keller lists them above.
What is the misery of man’s fallen condition?
But those of us who are in Christ and have accepted his provision for us have had that guilt removed. We are no longer under condemnation (see Romans 8:1). We can begin to rise above the misery of this life and experience joy in our relationship with God.
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