New Theses, New Reformation

Posted on March 2, 2021 by RC

Thesis 64 We must believe we have the Pearl of Great Price.

There may well be many of them, but perhaps not as many as you might think. Though I was blessed to be a son, a student, an employee and a parishioner of my father, though I have read more than a hundred of his books, edited more than a thousand of his articles and listened to thousands of his sermons/lectures, only a few tidbits stand out as “unforgettable.” This is one of them.

“What if,” my father asked the crowd within which I sat, “Jesus were to come to you, look you in the eye, cup your chin in His hand and say to you, ‘I promise you that everything that will ever happen to you will be for your good’ how much peace would you have? I was young enough to, with no shame, and missing the point, confess that all I would have is peace. It was a beautiful picture, a glorious dream. Then he told us, “He already has, through His servant Paul, in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

We worry about the wrong things, the very things that do not matter. The only real problem I have, Jesus has already solved. When He spoke the parable of the Pearl of Great Price His goal wasn’t to persuade us to give up all that we had, to pay for what He was offering us. Rather He was reminding us that everything He calls us to give up as we follow Him is the very stuff we would have sold just to be with Him. Whatever He takes from me in His providence is what I would gladly give up to have Him.

What though does this have to do with Reformation? Everything. As we have argued throughout this list of theses, the engine that drove the Reformation wasn’t Luther’s brilliant mind, but his valiant heart. And what drove that was his acute knowledge of his own need for the grace of God. When we realize that we already have the One thing that matters we are suddenly set free. The threat of the loss of our reputation means nothing if we’ve already given it up. The threat of the loss of our standing means nothing if we’ve already embraced our kneeling. The threat of the loss of our lives leaves us unmoved if we have already died to ourselves.

The Reformation did not happen because we needed to learn how we could be saved. It happened because we needed to know that we had been saved, and that nothing, including all the worldly power of the Pope of Rome could ever take it away. The same is true of the Pope today, of the mainstream media, of the powers in Washington DC, of the progressive lobby, of every enemy of the gospel. We are safe, secure. Better still, we have every reason to live in joy, content and confident.

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Parables; Fascism; The Father’s Gifts

Posted on March 2, 2021 by RC

Today’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

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Why should the Equality Act concern me?

Posted on March 1, 2021 by RC

There is as always, a struggle between an ostrich with its head in the sand and Chicken Little insisting the sky is falling. We are in the midst of a cultural free fall that has been going on for some time. The love that dare not speak its name has become the love that dares anyone to deny its legitimacy. The Obergefell decision by the Supreme Court in 2015 made homosexual “marriage” legal in all 50 states. On the one hand, this is culturally calamitous, a level of legal decadence unheard of in the sorry, sordid history of humanity. On the other hand, apart from genuine but isolated examples of suffering experienced by bakers, wedding photographers, and other businesses that cater to those getting “married” no great assault on the church has ensued.

The Equality Act may just change that. This bill, high on the priority list of the Biden administration, would add to existing law (including the 1964 Civil Rights Act) sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of “protected classes” of people. What’s wrong with that? Every Christian I know is quick to affirm that all humans bear the image of God, are due justice and should be treated with dignity and respect. So what’s the problem?

The problem is the marrying of the Equality Act with the scope and sweep of government. If, for instance, the government were not in the education business, the ideology behind the bill would not gain the force of law in the nation’s schools. If, for instance, the government did not take it upon itself to create public accommodation laws that strip businesses of their own God-given right to determine whom they wish to do business with, then the consciences of all involved would be protected. If, for instance, the government, through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission weren’t in the business of making sure people don’t get their feelings hurt at work, then we would be free to call boys boys and girls girls without fear.

The Equality Act is an atom bomb in the culture wars, providing for progressives total victory and for Christians status as enemies of the state. It is the final piece of the plan, that starts with asking for, and then demanding acceptance, followed by asking for denying acceptance to the opposing view and now, demanding that Christians, the Christian faith, God’s Word be deemed beyond the pale, the equivalent of neo-nazis and subject to legal sanctions for being so.

The folly of writing law wherein certain classes of people are afforded “protections” that other classes of people are not has come home to roost. The sheer fact that in a “free” country we can even speak of protected classes is shocking enough. That those classes now include the mentally ill, that the law requires we accommodate by pretending to buy into that illness is actually quite natural. Progressives have been playing the long game for a long time, while conservatives have been playing the surrender slowly game for a long time. This is where it all leads.

A day is coming, not in some misty future, but in our own lifetimes, when affirming out loud that homosexuals are not married, that boys are not girls, that sex outside a husband married to a wife is sinful will not only get you kicked off twitter, but will get you fined or imprisoned. The Equality Act is the “made to” in the “You will be made to care.” The question is, how much of the church will embrace the spirit of the age, and how much will cling to the Spirit of the Ages?

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Sacred Marriage Under Fire vii

Posted on March 1, 2021 by RC

Today’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

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Everything Old Is New

Posted on February 27, 2021 by RC

We are, I believe, by nature dispensationalists. That is, dispensationalism has so dominated the evangelical church over the past 10 years, boldly and faithfully standing on the inerrancy of the Word of God when so many turned their backs, that it has become the dominant wing of the evangelical church. Bible colleges and study Bibles strategically spread its message, and in turn its eschatology meshed well with an increasingly secularized west. It has become the water we swim in.

Dispensational doctrine tends to emphasize the differences between the old covenant and the new. The temptation among those who take a more covenantal approach to the question is to de-emphasize the differences. My dispensational friends are wont to drive a wedge between the Old and New Testaments. My covenantal friends are wont to tear out the pages that separate them. Make the first mistake and you denigrate the work of God prior to the advent of Christ, and reduce your Bible by more than half. Make the second mistake and you denigrate the greatness of the work of Christ.

The solution, of course, is to agree with all the Bible, which affirms both that God was at work well prior to the announcement to Zacharias, and that John, along with Jesus, came with a radical message. The difference- the kingdom of God was at hand. John the Forerunner certainly knew that things had changed. For centuries up to that point baptism was a ritual by which those who entered into the people of God from outside Abraham’s descendents came in. Now, however, John was proclaiming that even the Jews must be baptized. Why? Because the kingdom was hand. The ax was being laid to the root of the tree. The winnowing fan was in hand.

Jesus, in turn, preached the same. The first account we have of Jesus preaching recounts how He read this promise of a new age to come- “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
 because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
 to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19.) Reading the promise wasn’t the great watershed however, but what He said after, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (verse 21).

In the old covenant people came to have peace with God the same way we have peace with God. That is, they trusted in the future work of Christ that was to come. They, not knowing exactly how God would bring it to pass, cried out, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” In our context it is the same faith in the same object. We have peace with God by trusting in the once for all finished work of Christ. It is, of course, a great and glorious change in the new covenant that this event has come to pass in space and time. It is likewise a great thing that in the new covenant we have so much more understanding and revelation of the how by which God redeems us. I can’t imagine how much more difficult it must have been to live in a world of types and shadows. Which means we must give thanks for living in light of light.

There is, of course, yet another great change- the giving of the Spirit in power to all those who have been blessed to believe. That power, and its purpose, however, relates deeply to the great change. With the fall of man in the garden, what God had designed was swept into chaos and decay. The perfect world, which just days before God Himself had declared “Good,” and the stewards He had placed over the creation, were now corrupted. Sin opened a Pandora’s box of entropy- physical, spiritual, cosmological. For all the grace of God in the Old Covenant- the covering of Adam and Eve, the deliverance of Noah and family, the calling of Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, the rescuing of His people from the boot of Pharaoh, the judges, the godly kings, every moment of grace was given in a context of fits and starts, each designed to fall short, and to point to what was to come.

The kingdom we now seek is His kingdom, which shall have no end. We need have no fear that our King has feet of clay. We need not despair that His strong right arm will come up short of the task. When Jesus walked out of His tomb as the first born of the new creation, that downward spiral came to an end. His resurrection did not merely signal a counter-attack. It was not just the establishment of a beachhead. It was not just a signal success in a war whose outcome is still up in the air. It was victory. To be sure we have much yet to mop up. He is still bringing all things under subjection. But in principle, we are of good cheer, for He has already overcome the world. Seek this kingdom, because it has come. Seek this kingdom because it is covering the world as the water covers the sea. He is risen. That changes everything.

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Love Your Grammar

Posted on February 26, 2021 by RC

Grammers defiantly not easy getting it right. Know what I mean? Of course you know what I mean. So what difference does it make that I didn’t begin “Grammar’s definitely not easy to get right?” Aren’t grammar nerds, you know, like editors, professors, writers, just pedantic snobs, geek bullies trying to make the rest of us look bad? In a word, no. The truth is, understanding the basics of grammar can make all the difference in the world, and our ignorance is showing.

Not long ago a pastor friend of mine found himself on the cancel culture chopping block because he had the audacity to compare Vice President Harris, who is second in command to the President, who is a female, who is bloodthirsty in her rabid defense of the murder of the unborn to a certain queen in Israel who was second in command, who was female and who was bloodthirsty in her raging hatred of the prophets of God. His crime? That’s it. He made that comparison. He was accused, however, of something far different- of calling the Vice President a Jezebel.

It is not just Christians, however, who seem to have trouble with the English language. Gina Carano actually fell under the ax, being removed from her role on The Mandalorian. Her crime? Well, before I tell you, you might want to be sure no children are in the room. She posted this on social media:

“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…. even by children.”
The actor continued to say, “Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”

I know it’s horrible, the denigration of people’s cultures and religious identities. It’s abhorrent and unacceptable. That said, as Hollywood would say, “No people’s cultures or religious identities were harmed in the creation of this faux scandal.” There is literally nothing in the least offensive in this statement. It is the creators of the program, Lucasfilm, who apparently live in a galaxy long, long ago and far, far away where the English language is not spoken, as they are the ones saying the actress’s comments denigrate people’s cultures and religious identities, are abhorrent and unacceptable. Somehow, it seems using the words “Jews,” “Nazis” and “hate” in a statement is enough to melt snowflakes from a thousand paces. Even if said statement condemns Nazis for hating Jews. Because, reasons.

Grammar matters. It gives actual meaning to words spoken or written. It keeps words from meaning something other than what they mean. It keeps love from being hate, freedom from being slavery and ignorance from being strength. Grammar is what keeps Big Brother at bay.

Here’s a free lesson. Comparing does not mean equating. Comparing two things is not making them into synonyms. Not when treating them as synonyms means scoring points against your ideological foes. Not when treating them like synonyms scores you virtue signal points. They are not synonyms in a boat; they’re not synonyms on a goat. They are not synonyms to a mouse; they are not synonyms in my house. They are not synonyms here nor there; they are not synonyms anywhere.

Love your grammar. She’s the one who taught you how to talk, and how to listen.

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Sovereign Grace News; Bible Blindspots & More

Posted on February 26, 2021 by RC

Today’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

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How should the church prepare for battle?

Posted on February 25, 2021 by RC


There is nothing new under the sun. There are, however, seasons. We forget the former when we grow comfortable in the latter. We like the season we are in, and in turn expect it to last forever. When the cold winds begin to blow, and the leaves begin their descent, we become Chicken Little not realizing we are merely entering the winter of our discontent.

Storm clouds are brewing in the post-Christian west as the broader culture has blown through its Christian capital like Congressmen at budget time. The scapegoats of the coming age are the joyful, the fruitful, the faithful. Which means they are coming for us. How then should we prepare?

When God’s enemies massed against God’s people there was one simple call- put behind you your idolatries, and serve the Lord. Which is just what we need to do. When we weep over the loss of our cultural position we show that we saw our privilege not as a weapon by which to press the crown rights of Jesus, but as an idol. We were cultural leaders, world shapers. Now we are becoming cultural pariahs, hated by the world we are called to preserve.

What are our idols? The need to be deemed acceptable, and normal by our neighbors. The need to be a feared voting bloc. The comforts and ease that our neighbors have enjoyed. In short, peace with the world. The good news is that God in His grace is the one destroying our idols. What looks like the kingdom of God in retreat is actually our Lord routing the idols in our camp. We do not weep at His iconoclasm, but ought instead to cheer Him on, joining Him in smashing to bits the mute testimonies of our folly, the blind totem of our ambitions. Weep not for Babylon the great, but look for the city whose builder and maker is God.

How then do we serve Him? The same way we always have, by dying to self and visiting widows and orphans in their trouble. We serve Him by serving His body, loving the brethren. Ironically this is also how we love our enemies. As we live in the city on the hill, as our corporate lives are marked by genuine joy in our community, they might be drawn in by His Spirit. We serve Him by serving the least of these. Go into the very heart of the battle, where the wickedness of the wicked is at its most gruesome, where babies are torn limb from limb from their mothers’ wombs, at their mothers’ requests. Go there with our one weapon, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Call on them to turn, to leave the darkness and come into the light. Call on Him to come, to descend from heaven on His chariot of war to defend the defenseless.

We feast, and we fast. We weep, and we cry for joy. We marry and build homes while the foundations all about us crumble. We still, as much as is possible with us, live in peace and quietness with all men, remembering all the while that in this world we will have trouble. They hated Him; they will hate us. We preach as He preached, knowing the fruit of that preaching- the death of the one so preaching.

All this we do in the midst of the war, in the heart of the storm, knowing that we have been given a peace which the world cannot understand, knowing that we are the very bride of Him whom even the winds and the waves obey. All of this we do, and we go to bed each night enjoying the sleep of the innocent. For in Him, so we are. Fight by dying. Rest by living. And be of good cheer, knowing He has already overcome the world.

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I Don’t Know; Appeal; FF Dr. Todd Lasner

Posted on February 25, 2021 by RC

Today’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

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Murdering Miracles

Posted on February 24, 2021 by RC

It is, in one sense, a simple enough question to answer. When you remember that we are wicked enough to murder our own children it makes sense that we are also wicked enough to not be terribly concerned about the murder of children. Thus the answer to the question- why are Christians so profoundly unmoved by the murder of babies?- is this- sin. We are outside of wombs and therefore safe, and struggle to have compassion on those who are in danger.

I believe, however, that beneath this ultimate reason is an important proximate reason that is all too easy to miss. We have for nearly 50 years been arguing with the world that the unborn are babies. Of course everyone already knew that. Some just didn’t want to admit it. The trouble now is that both sides agree that the unborn are babies. And both sides agree that babies are the natural result of a man and a woman joining together.

But babies are not the natural result of a man and a woman joining together. Indeed babies are not the natural result of anything. They are profoundly supernatural. While it is true that God is sovereign over all things, He typically works through secondary means. With babies, however, God seems to take a proprietary interest, to insist that this is His call and His work. He is the one who opens and closes the womb. He is the one who blesses with the gift of children (Psalm 127). He is the one who responds to the prayers of Elizabeth and Hannah.

Is it possible that one reason Christians are insufficiently concerned about abortion is precisely because we think babies are merely natural? It is a terrible thing to kill a baby. But how much worse is it to kill a baby that God made? And if God made them all, then each killing is a tragedy of the deepest hue. We are killing miracles.

Our perspective on abortion is born not merely of our perspective on the ontology of the unborn but the history of the unborn. It is one thing to say of a baby in the womb, “This child, like all children, bears the image of God.” It is altogether another to say, “This child, like all children, is a direct creation of the true and living God.” The Bible, of course, tells us that each child is knit together in the womb, not by natural forces, not by the outworking of DNA, but by God (Psalm 139:13). Abortion is the unraveling of what God is knitting together. Which ought to unravel us. We are not merely witnesses to a wrongdoing. We are not merely averting our eyes from a tragedy. Rather we are snuffing out the very life God is about the business of growing, or being indifferent over others doing the same.

Our God is not a distant God. He is at work. May we begin our growth in grace by confessing our wickedness in working against His work. May His miracle of our rebirth make us more zealous to protect the miracle of the birth of all He is knitting together.

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