Archive for December 2020
Amos 1-2: For Three Transgressions and for Four
Amos 1-2, Job 31:1-23, John 16:12-24, Revelation 5 Amos 1-2: Preaching for conviction of sin is no easy task. Our hearts are too often self-deluded, and our ears tend to strain out sounds that bring conviction in place of noises that bring affirmation. And when we do hear conviction, we too easily mistake it for condemnation,…
Read MoreJoel 2-3: Call on the Name of the Lord
Joel 2-3, Job 30, John 16:1-11, Revelation 4 Joel 2-3: The day of the LORD is coming (2:1), but will it be the kind of day that God’s people had expected? No, “a day of darkness and gloom” (2:2). It is too easy to trivialize heaven, life after death, as nothing more than playing a harp…
Read MoreJoel 1: The Day of the Lord
Joel 1, Job 29, John 15:18-27, Revelation 3:14-22 Joel 1: Joel prophesies at a time when there has been a plague of locusts (1:4), and in that context calls on the elders and all inhabitants of the land (1:1) to pay attention and ask what is going on. In fact, they are to repent, mourn: Put…
Read MoreCommunism, Communalism, Community, and Christianity
If you were to ask me which part of fairly recent human history does the present most resemble, I would say 1930s. Which is a scary thought. The 1930s saw the increasing undermining of the credibility of international institutions, the rise of the radical left and the radical right—and as we all know, that eventually bled over into…
Read MoreHosea 13-14: Return to God
Hosea 13-14, Job 28, John 15:9-17, Revelation 3:1-13 Hosea 13-14: God’s people had begun down their slippery slope towards increasing idolatry “through Baal” (13:1), and “now they sin more and more” (13:2). Untended to, weeds grow and grow, addictions gather power, sin festers, and idols multiply. So it was with God’s people: once they began to turn, they…
Read MoreBiblical Complementarianism versus Feminism and Patriarchalism
When I was pastoring a church next to Yale University, we adopted a firm complementarian policy. For those of you who are not aware of the general climate of elite universities, let me just say that a complementarian view of men and women is not exactly normative in that culture. In fact, it would be…
Read MoreHosea 9-12: Out of Egypt I Called My Son
Hosea 9-12, Job 27, John 15:1-8, Revelation 2:18-29 Hosea 9-12: Poetic form takes over, and Hosea—God through Hosea—declares (as it were in song) that Israel is not to rejoice: “Rejoice not, O Israel!” (9:1). Stop your singing, stop your celebrating. Why? They are “forsaking [their] God,” and have “loved a prostitute’s wages” (9:1). Their spiritual idolatry…
Read MoreHosea 7-8: Remember Your Maker
Hosea 7-8, Job 25-26, John 14:22-31, Revelation 2:1-17 Hosea 7-8: These are two chapters where God sets before his people their sins and their refusal to truly and genuinely repent despite his confrontation. He “would heal Israel,” but “they deal falsely” (7:1). They are “hot as an oven” (7:7), constantly burning with sin and rebellion.…
Read MoreWhat Will the Church Be Facing After Covid?
With such a question, I am reminded of Yogi Berra’s remark: “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Nonetheless, with an eye to the past—and what we can learn from it—there are some things that I think we can say with confidence. First of all, it’s important to underline that nothing will change. People will still be people.…
Read MoreHosea 4-6: Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge
Hosea 4-6, Job 24, John 14:15-21, Revelation 1:9-20 Hosea 4-6: Hosea 4 begins with a solemn and significant call: hear God’s Word! How often must we deliver this rallying call today. Do not leave the Bible on the shelf; do not gather in church merely around entertaining stories and feel-good messages. Do not simply “do religion”; hear…
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