Blog: January 2014 — December 2014

After Levi the tax collector meets Jesus, he throws a big party for him(Luke 5:27-32)—“a great feast” with “a large company of tax collectorsand others” on the guest list. This socializing with despised traitors disturbs the Pharisees, but Jesus sets them straight: “Thosewho are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” As I mentioned on Dec. 14, this kind of “I have come” statement by Jesus alludes to his pre-existence outside this world, this life. That is, ...

As you spend time today at the MISSIONS FAIR (11:15-12:15), and as you head home with all kinds of ideas about how to serve the Lord and love our neighbors, here are a few facts about the West Chester community to ponder and pray over:  104,592 people live in zip codes 19380 and 19382—and that’s an increase of 23% since 1990 (Source: Percept Group 2012).  Millennials (born 1982-2001) make up 28% of the population, Survivors (1961-1981) 29%, and Boomers (1943-1960) 22%  35.1% of the population is single (never married), 52.4% married, ...

This past Wednesday in our weekly Prayer Gathering, we read Isaiah 40 and then practiced “The 3 Rs”—rejoice, repent, request. That is, God spoke to us by his Word, and we responded with prayers of faith. The Lord is up to all kinds of amazing things in Isaiah 40!  Let me draw out just a couple of ways this profound word was applied by the Holy Spirit to our hearts in this time of prayer: A life lived for self and not by faith in God is vain—it’s “grass”: All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The ...

We live in tumultuous times, with various hot-spots of warfare and violence around the world (e.g., there’s Syria today, but recently it’s also been Egypt, Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq; plus BokoHaram’s terror campaign in Nigeria including this week’s kidnapping of 129 school children; if we go back 20 years it was the unspeakable Rwanda genocide; not to mention widespread violence in America’s inner cities; and what will come of the Russia-Ukraine clash?). Horrific natural disasters and accidents are also in the news (like the Oso, ...

Leading figures in “The New Atheism” movement include Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and especially Richard Dawkins.  What makes this atheism “new” is its aggressive approach lambasting religion, and its ramped-up, provocative and attention-getting rhetoric (e.g., saying things like “religion poisons everything”).  The best-known book coming from this circle of authors is, no doubt, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (2006). In 2006 David Robertson, pastor of St. Peter’s Free Church, Dundee, Scotland, began posting ...

This summer has been a season of wrestling to find the wise and healthy “place” the Lord has for me—and for all his children—somewhere between chronic restlessness and sinful complacency. On the one hand, Jesus offers us “rest”: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matt 11:28). He brings peace (John 20:19, 20). So release your anxieties into his fatherly care (Matt 6:25-34)! Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything—that’s how we receive God’s peace that passes understanding (Phil 4:4-7)....

In last Sunday’s tirade of a sermon exhibiting so many facets of the priceless gem of salvation, I mentioned one particular text and image almost in passing. But it deserves more attention. In view of God’s unchangeable character, definite saving purpose, guaranteed truthfulness, provision of spiritual refuge, and strong encouragement for us to hope in Christ, Hebrews 6:19-20 then says: We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on ...

This past Tuesday I went to a book discussion at the West Chester library.  The book was Irvin Yalom’s Staring at the Sun:  Overcoming the Terror of Death (2007). Yalom writes from a secular vantage point; there’s no God in the picture as he ponders life and death. I found this jarring, especially two days after celebrating Jesus’ resur­rection and his victory over death itself:  here was an author looking death in the eye but with no hope of deliverance. For Yalom, the best we can do with death is face up to it.  His thesis is that many ...

Last Sunday we meditated on Jesus’ word, “You are the light of the world”(Matt 5:14). I made the point that God himself is the primary light in all reality (1 John 3:5), and we’re secondary lights reflecting his radiance (just asthe moon reflects the sun’s light).The more I ponder the truth that God shines the light of his glory into our world, the more I shudder at what it would be like to live in darkness. Still, that’s how it is for all who turn away from the Lord: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks ...

As I write, pellets of sleet are tapping on the window in front of me. And I wonder: is ice accumulating on those oak branches hanging over the power lines out back? Is our house about to go dark again? This has become the “winter of our discontent” (that may have been Shakespeare’s line, but it has found new meaning in 2014): freezing rain, sticky snow, tree limbs crashing down, raging icicles, plus some nasty cold temperatures. And yet, of the many ways to describe this winter’s weather (such as horrendous, unprecedented, stunning…), I’d ...

This week Slate.com ran an article entitled, “Why No One Actually Wants to Live Forever.”  Subtitle:  “It would be really, really dull.”  Let me tell you why I both totally agree AND vehemently disagree with the author, Gemma Malley. The article is mostly about the quest to extend the human life­span.  “We’re already living for decades more than our grand­parents.”  And who knows how future medical breakthroughs could elongate lifespans decades further!  But is that what we really want?  Malley concludes, “If we were to live forever, even ...