Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

Sometimes people complain when others use big words and the reason for the complaint is that they don’t understand what the words means. Yet it is not only big words that are misunderstood because as we know some of our smallest words defy a full explanation. The word ‘God’ is short but we cannot fully explain its meaning. Of course we do not have to know everything about God in order to know what he is like. In fact, the simplest mind and the smartest theologian can speak intelligently to one another about him. Another little word that is misunderstood is the little word ‘sin’. Because it is misunderstood, people can use it in ways that others do not appreciate. We can imagine a Christian complaining strongly and regretfully about his sin. When we ask him what those sins are, we might be surprised at his answer. He will inform us that he is concerned about attitudes in his heart that no one else can see. Some people may not regard his thoughts as sin because they are not tangible and ...

The idea contained in the term ‘communion’ is fellowship or sharing.   So   we need to ask here two questions: (a) with whom do saints have fellowship and (2) with whom do they share spiritual realities? The answer to those questions is twofold – they have communion with  God  and they have communion with each another. But, first, a brief consideration of what it means to be a saint. What is a saint?   The basic idea of a saint   is someone who is   set apart to God, but the setting apart that the gospel accomplishes is always to become part of the church of Christ. It is impossible to be set apart to God anywhere else. This is true in a spiritual sense because we join the family of God, but it is also true in a practical sense because all believers should identify with a local group of Christians.    To begin with,   each of God’s saints was at one time not in a relationship with God and with one another. The great change was brought ab...

Jesus and his disciples have left the upper room and are walking to the Garden of Gethsemane. They could have passed a vine on the way, and maybe that prompted the reference to one. It has been observed that this was the time of year when the vines would be pruned and dead branches removed.   The identity of Jesus (v. 1) When Jesus says that he is the true vine, he is contrasting himself with Israel which had been God’s vine in Old Testament times, but which had failed in general to produce fruit for God to enjoy. The fruit would have been to obey the requirements of God out of gratitude for his goodness to them. Although Israel had been given great blessings, the Israelites had not benefited from them. Jesus identifies himself as the vine that Israel pictured. So Jesus was a replacement for, and a fulfilment of, what Israel should have been.   The activity of the Father (vv. 1-2) Jesus likens the Father to the owner of a vineyard who wants his vine to produce fruit. There are...

Who is the most unusual person in the world? The answer is a Christian, and he is so for different reasons. He is unusual because he trusts in the promises of God; he is unusual because he goes through opposite experiences; he is unusual because he talks to God about them. In this section of the psalm, the author refers to such occasions.   Cry for restoration (vv. 25-27) In verse 25, the psalmist finds himself feeling lifeless and dry. Clinging to the dust could suggest that he was stuck in the arena of spiritual death. The effect was so strong that he could not lift himself above it. If a person’s body was clinging to the dust, it would mean that he was lying on the ground. Here, the psalmist’s soul is weary. Yet we can say with regard to his spiritual dryness that there is clear evidence that he was spiritually alive. The evidence is that he knew that he was like that, and he knew that he had to pray about it.    Such times are not unusual in the spiritual life. They c...

The Creed now begins to consider God’s people and mentions five details that are true of them all.  I wonder how we would answer the question, ‘Please name five important truths about God’s people?’ Would we choose the five mentioned in the Creed? I suspect that the first truth – the existence of the church – might not be on our list.  This could be the case because we tend to think individualistically, which in some ways we have to do, such as when responding to the gospel. Or it may be the case that the presence of denominations has hidden the significance of the church and we fail to realise its importance. For many people, Christianity is ‘Jesus and me’ rather than ‘Jesus and us’. There are different ways of using the word ‘church’. We can use it to describe a congregation or a denomination. Sometimes we use it to mean the entirety of God’s people (the invisible church), or the church that we can see (the visible church) with its membership rolls and forms of church govern...