Category Archives: The Lord’s Supper

Of All Peoples

He who said that he came to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15) did, in perfect obedience to the Law of God, not only as an adult but as an infant, as we see in our passage today. According to the law, as the firstborn male, he was to be presented to the Lord, harking back to the Egyptian captivity and God’s preservation of Israel’s firstborn sons by the blood of the lamb. Jesus’ presentation also included his mother’s ceremonial purification, following childbirth, and a required sacrifice of a lamb or “a pair of turtledoves, or two you young pigeons” (2:24), the offering of a family of meager means. It is a humble yet beautiful picture of covenant faithfulness, obedience, and the early blessings of a godly home.

The First Gospel

Throughout history, man’s bias has been of his own time, a chronological snobbery, as C.S. Lewis called it, affecting how we see both history and the future. Our self-importance seems to breed a deception of self-improvement, a myth of progress leading us to think of the culmination of time as in our purview. Given the variety of modern media, it would be easy to entertain such a view, amusing ourselves with the developing events of the day with titillating speculation. Breaking news seemingly announces more clues of history’s denouement. And yet, today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s fire-starter.

The Holy Spirit Bears Fruit

To be clear, the imperative Jesus gives is not bear much fruit to abide in Christ but abide in Christ to bear fruit. Apart from him there is no fruit. There is then no such thing as a fruitless Christian. Though yield may vary, as well as seasons, fruit’s presence doesn’t. Fruit is proof positive, as Jesus says, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:8).

This Mortal Life Also

In simple verse, Luther reminds us of the eternality of God’s Word, the abiding presence of his Spirit evidenced in his gifts, all of which transcend this mortal life and prepare us for eternal life. It’s a sanctifying reminder in this mortal life that screams for our attention and devotion, encouraging us to fear and fight not to lose it: this life is not eternal, but God’s Word is. God’s truth abides; this life does not. So, what do we gain by fearing death and obsessing over this mortal life, when all that we have and all that we will be is secured for us in Christ? As Jim Eliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” So, let us live this life for Christ. Unlike this life, “his kingdom is forever!”

Life Is Beautiful

Search as we may, work as we might, we will never find heaven on this earth. But through the enjoyment of God’s simple gifts, the “splendors of this world,” we’ll get a sense of what’s to come for all who are in Christ Jesus. And in this sense, life is truly beautiful.

When Everything Sad Comes Untrue

In his mercy and by his grace, God has dealt with our sin problem: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Positionally, by God’s grace through faith in Christ we are perfectly righteous. Practically, through his Spirit we are enabled to live in obedience to him. And while in this life under the sun, we battle our sinful flesh, Christ is preparing a place for us where the inequities of this life are not true, where the righteous don’t die, where there is no folly nor sadness because sin no longer is. This is the Christian hope, that in the final consummation, we will hear from heaven “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5), and on that day everything sad comes untrue.

With Reverence and Awe

In his book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Carl Trueman describes the age in which we live as “a world in which it is increasingly easy to imagine that reality is something we can manipulate according to our own wills and desires, and not something that we necessarily conform ourselves to or passively accept.”[2] We perceive it to be a world of our making, not God’s. This should not surprise us. Though it seems insignificant, the Disney movies that children grew up watching told them they could be anyone they wanted to be if only they followed their heart. Who knew they would take this mantra literally in interpreting human sexuality? But personal perceptions of self-creation and autonomy are prevalent not only in modern views of sexuality but a myriad of other matters, including Christian worship.

God-centered Worship

In explaining our familial relationship with God in Christ to the Galatians, Paul provides one of the most succinct yet elegant statements of the Trinity. Here we see clearly the distinct Persons of the Trinity: “God sent forth his Son … And … has sent the Spirit of his Son …” God the Son was sent from God the Father for the purposes of redeeming his elect through the atoning work of God the Son, applied to us by God the Hoy Spirit. In considering this in the context of redemptive history, John Calvin explains, to the Father “is attributed the beginning of activity, and the fountain and wellspring of all things; to the Son, wisdom, counsel, and the ordered disposition of all things; but to the Spirit is assigned the power and efficacy of that activity.”[2] What we refer to simply as our “salvation” is a glorious trinitarian testimony, which should lead us rightly to worship, as the Holy Spirit “with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified.”[3]