The Law of Love

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Paul has a lot to say in his letters about the Law. Throughout the Book of Romans, the paragraphs have subject headers like “Judgement and the Law,” “Released from the Law,” “Sin and Law” and so on.  As a Pharisee, Paul had studied the Law well and enforced it.  As a Christian sharing the Gospel, he realized that the Law and the Prophets had been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  His opinion of the Law remained very high.  Paul says the Law is like a tutor, or school master.  It teaches us about the attributes of God.  Living under the Law though would mean we are still subject to God’s judgement.  Living under grace is far superior to meeting the requirements of the Law.  Keeping the Law is a burden we cannot bear.

Paul also has a thing or two to say about love.  I was struck during my last read of Romans at how Paul relates love and the Law together.  Note this passage from Romans 13:

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.  -Rom 13:8-10

Wow.  Love is the fulfilling of the Law; very similar to Jesus’s answer about the greatest commandment in Mark 12.  In that case, Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and strength and the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no way to violate any one of the 10 commandments if this love is our guiding principle.  Which is exactly what Paul explains here.  In John 15, Jesus said things like “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,” and even “I give you this commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  I’m still amazed at the way Paul expresses love as the fulfillment of the Law.

Can You Really _______ for Jesus?

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This is a promotional video for the Light of the World Ballet Company.  I’ve watched two performances today, and didn’t take a single picture or video.

These are professional performers who tour the world, entering places like India and China that perhaps wouldn’t be open to missionaries (preachers) and share the Gospel while they are there.  Perhaps only Baptists would even second guess ballet as ministry.  Are other denominations as critical of dancing?  “A praying knee and a dancing foot don’t grow on the same leg,” I was told by one preacher’s wife.  Very Baptist.

I told our students (private Christian school) that whatever God has gifted them to do, do that for the glory and honor of God.  How many country music singers learned to sing in church, or got their start in the church choir?  But let me open this box: Can you really do anything for the glory and honor of God? David danced before the Lord; Psalm 150 mentions dancing, blowing horns and crashing symbols.  But where is the line?  Can you skateboard for Jesus?  Bowl for Jesus?  Play in a Christian rock band?  Are there things “done for Jesus” that are really just whatever we wanted to do in the first place?  Can you really (fill in the blank) for Jesus?  Or maybe answer this question: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever witnessed supposedly done for the glory of God?  I could easily link “preaching baby” again.

Bible Survey: The Covenant of Circumcision

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Here’s the deal: it’s been one year since I started Bible Survey, and I have now posted 10 times.  I refuse to quit.  Bible Survey is a project that I’m working on in addition to blogging theology, working full time in the ministry and being a husband/father in my family.  The goal is to work systematically through the Bible not doing a verse by verse commentary but an overview of the major points.  There’s a lot of important business in the Bible dealing with Abraham and his family (that’s right; I’m still in the first 25 chapters of Genesis) but afterwards I think the pace will really take off.  I’m hanging in there; I have the rest of my natural life or until Christ comes back.  Whichever.

In Genesis 17, God gives Abraham the covenant of circumcision.  If you don’t know what circumcision is, I’m afraid this post doesn’t get that plain.  If you’ve always wondered exactly what God is doing and what circumcision means, I think I can help with that.  What’s the purpose for circumcision?  Should Christians be circumcised?  What’s the difference between Abram and Abraham?  What does the name Clark mean?  No, really.  All of these answers and more when you follow this link to Bible Survey.

Gideon Sunday

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Today was Gideon Sunday, at least where we live.  It may not be the same in every county or state, but once a year the Gideon’s spread out and each take a church to visit and share with.  For those that may not know, the Gideons is an organization that does nothing but print and distribute Bibles.  If you have ever been in a hospital or hotel room, there was probably a Gideon Bible there.  That’s only a part of what they do. Continue reading →

The New Thing in Sermons

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In the Old Testament, the prophet was a person who did the speaking for God.  Not necessarily predicting future events, the prophet acted as the spoken voice of God on earth.  During Jesus’s earthly ministry, he was found daily in the temple or synagogue reading and teaching.  While his sermon on the mount may have turned the Pharisees’ world upside down, he was regarded as a rabbi in most Jewish circles.  In Acts chapter 2, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preaches something entirely new. Continue reading →

Memorial Service for Michael Spencer

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UPDATE:  Check out internetmonk.com for transcript/ audio of the memorial service.

Services were held this afternoon for the Internet Monk Michael Spencer.  The Internet has abounded this week with articles of tribute and expressions of sympathy for the family.  David Head and Bill Haynes both did excellent jobs.  David has a remarkable understanding of how Spencer’s ministry reaches a worldwide audience through his blog, and Bill did exactly what Michael asked him to; he preached the Gospel. Continue reading →

Bittersweet

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My dad often says that his crayon box has only 8 colors.  He was once told the color sample he was holding was pumpkin, not orange.  (He came home from work and asked me what color pumpkins were, just to make his point.)  Children do flavors one at a time.  It starts with baby food – peas, carrots, apple sauce – then extends into not letting their foods touch each other on the plate.  Children also have simple emotions; they like to feel one thing at a time and be able to identify it.  At some point during adolescence, we become aware of mixed emotions.  Sometimes things to be celebrated also make us sad.  We cry at weddings, the birth of a child, and graduation.  We also grieve after the death of a loved one, yet rejoice at the same time during the passing of a Christian. Continue reading →

The “Triumphal” Entry

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Several well known statements are found in Psalm 118:1-25: “His steadfast love endures forever,” “this is the day the LORD hath made,” “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and even others still.  Verse 25 reads “Save us, we pray, O LORD” in the ESV; “O LORD. we beseech thee, save us now!” in the King James.  The Hebrew word rendered in English as save now is hosanna.

All four Gospels tell the story of Jesus’s triumphal entry.  Palm Sunday is our celebration of Jesus entering Jerusalem for the last time to observe Passover with his disciples. Continue reading →

Who Framed Jesus?

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I can tell that Easter is near.  Every year about this time, several television specials and news magazines focus on the fact that Christians still believe in Jesus even though they should not.  In about a week, expect Time Magazine (or its equivalent) to run a cover story on how/why the resurrection could not have possibly taken place.  Predictably, they will claim Jesus either 1) did not die  2) stayed dead, or 3) was never alive in the first place.  Each year, several media outlets predict an end to Christian faith, despite the fact that each year there are still billions of Christians around the world. Continue reading →

Bible Survey: Abraham, Poor Guy

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Remember that newspaper comic the born loser?  The humor was that things never went his way.  Abraham was wealthy by ancient and/or modern standards, and became the father of many nations.  Sometimes though you just gotta’ feel sorry for the guy.  For all the faith, for all the blessings, some days he just couldn’t win for losing.  Could there be a moral to this story?

Click here for Abraham, Poor Guy at Bible Survey.