Simple thoughts on faith, church and discipleship
It has been a terribly confusing week on the internet, well for me personally anyway, and I suspect for a few others judging by the plethora of “what have we learned articles” that I am unnecessarily adding to, and I am once again really wrestling with how and when to engage issues and how and when to leave them well alone.
We are very quick to point out how we don’t want to be jerks for Jesus, but then we just default to being cowards vaguely associated with Christ. Those aren’t our only two options.
God meets with people right at the end of their ropes. He stands to meet us right at the end of the runway of our own capabilities and self-assuredness.
This week we reach a beatitude that at first seems to make no sense. It seems to make no sense because it again flies in the face of the common wisdom of that day and the common wisdom of today. But, it also seems self-defeating and borderline contradictory as a statement. In essence, Jesus is going to say that the dissatisfied will be the most satisfied.
“There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian…” – E Peterson.
The Baptism of Jesus shows us what total submission and surrender looks like. The Baptism of Jesus shows us what Jesus will do to secure our righteousness. The Baptism of Jesus shows us what the perfect, loving community of the Trinity is like.
In essence, the text contains a warning from Peter to the church that they shouldn't be surprised when they are rejected and persecuted for the sake of Christ, and in fact they should rejoice in that form of suffering.
In this sermon, I covered the concept of Solus Christus (Christ Alone). I felt like I was holding a candle up to the sun.
In October 2017 we preached through the 5 "Sola's" of the Protestant Reformation. These are essential principles that changed the course of the church from where it had headed into error, and put the scandalous gospel of grace back into the ears, minds and hearts of the people who so desperately needed it. In this... Continue Reading →
