In 1994 Pastor John began explaining a theme he noticed in the introductions and conclusions to all 13 of Paul’s epistles. Paul begins each epistle with grace, and he closes each epistle with grace. The pattern is “a bracing trumpet call to the centrality of grace in Christianity.”

It is. But there was more to be discovered in the pattern.

As he studied these bookends closer, Pastor John discovered that each grace-centered greeting included some form of the phrase “grace be to you.” Each grace-filled benediction included some form of the phrase “grace be with you.”

Here are the passages:

“grace be to you” / “grace be with you”

Romans 1:7 / Romans 16:20

1 Corinthians 1:3 / 1 Corin…

Continue Reading →

Pastor John explains:

This excerpt starts at the 28:20 mark of this week's sermon.

God made humans to reflect his image and advance the display of his glory over the created world (Genesis 1:26–28). But Adam failed in this commission. Rather than have dominion over the serpent he succumbed to its craftiness. As Greg Beale explains, "Instead of wanting to be near God to reflect him, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden (Genesis 3:8 [so also 3:10])" (NTBT, 359).

Sin brought chaos and disorder. Things got all messed up. In fact, things became so backwards that Adam could be seen as actually suppressing the image of God to reflect the image of the serpent, like a back-story to Romans 1:18–25.

Adam was the first h…

Continue Reading →

What date is burned into your memory?

Many people impacted by disability can tell you the day it started. It is the day the child was born, or the diagnosis was made, or the accident occurred, or the virus attacked the body. 

And God already knew it.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:16)

For years this verse has been a particular comfort for me. God doesn’t just know my days, he has written them down!

That’s helpful when the days are hard because of disability. He knows, and he has a purpose.

Joni and Friends

On July 30, 1967, Joni Eareckson dove in…

Continue Reading →

An essential mark of a solid seminary experience is continually being stunned by how everything relates to Jesus. When we look long enough, press hard enough, and feel deeply enough, we discover again and again that it all comes back around to him.

The whole universe is about Jesus. The whole Bible is about Jesus. Our whole lives are designed to be about Jesus. And, for the love of God, any seminary experience worth a dime should be all about Jesus as well. Any institution, course of study, class, professor, or text that teaches aspiring pastors any differently — explicitly or implicitly — is throwing them under the ministerial bus.

My Worst Experience in Seminary

I remember it all too…

Continue Reading →

Dearest Grubnat, my poppet, my pigsnie,

The reports of your progress warm my blackened heart. When you were assigned to one of the Enemy’s ministers ten years ago, his infernal Majesty and I knew you’d have a rough go of it. The zeal of one new to the pastorate can be a daunting challenge to even the most cunning of our comrades, but we also believed that time breeds all wounds and that your task would become easier the longer your patient remained. You now prosper from that sweet spot of pastoral fatigue and assimilation. The shine of newness is gone. And up pop the cracks in the ministerial armor.

There are many temptations common among the Enemy’s undershepherds but one universal temp…

Continue Reading →

A small emergency struck our home last week when my 4-year-old son’s favorite hedgehog stuffed animal went missing.

The hope of finding him was beginning to shrink with every search under the couch and with every sweep under the bed. The outlook made it likely that (once again) my wife would need to search eBay for an exact replacement. (A few hot-water-and-bleach wash cycles wear the replacement down to faded authenticity.) But we had not lost hope. Yet.

It may have been an old stuffed hedgehog made with cheap China fabric and stuffed with beads and fuzz, but its absence made bedtime especially tough for my son. Convincing him that a stuffed bunny was an equal replacement didn’t work. T…

Continue Reading →

Michael Horton writes,

There is a significant origin and end point to history, within which we ourselves are cast members. It is a courtroom drama in which we are either false or true witnesses, “in Adam” or “in Christ,” justified or condemned, alive or dead.

Neither masters nor tourists, we become pilgrims. 

Unlike masters, pilgrims have not arrived and they do not presume to inaugurate their own kingdoms of glory. They don’t have all the answers and they are not exactly sure what their destination city will be like; they are driven by a promise and by God’s fulfillment of his promise along the way. Yet unlike tourists, they are on their way to a settled place and every point along t…

Continue Reading →

I take this as a serious and sober warning to people with significant influence and respected standing in the church and community. Job was a good man. “Blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). His fall from health, wealth, and family wholeness was not owing to an evil lifestyle.

Whatever remnants of pride lying in the bottom of Job’s glass of holiness, which God meant to expose and purge, he was a faithful man, no worse than you or I.

But he was prominent. Very prominent. He was utterly successful. He was revered by the young, and respected by the old. He had authority and great influence.

For example here is a sampling from Job 29:

• I was in my…

Continue Reading →

"This achievement was the greatest achievement that the Father and Son ever accomplished."

John Piper explains:

This excerpt starts at the 24:24 mark of this week's sermon.