Growing In Grace

Recently we preached through Ruth and my love for the literary masterpieces of the Old Testament has been rekindled. Ruth is a book loaded with puns, wordplay, and double entendre which are all woven together to tell a wonderful story. For this post I want to focus on one of the central theological themes woven through Ruth - the doctrine of Providence. The Good  The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.” This teaching is found in many places throughout the Bible but Proverbs provides some punchy examples: Proverbs 16:1 “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.” Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.  Proverbs 16:33  “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” In all three examples ...

"...it is the goal of good theology to humble us before the truine God of majesty and grace." - Michael Horton from The Christian Faith. I love theology! I have entire shelves dedicated to theology books in my office, but I need to be constantly reminded that any study of theology that doesn't cause us to be more in love with Jesus is empty. Last time the post began with the reminder that the "chief end of man is to worship God and to enjoy Him forever." We have been created to find our purpose, joy, and fulfillment in the God of the universe who loved and died for us. In Joshua Harris' book "Dug Down Deep" (a great intro for someone that has never studied theology before) he also speaks about the goal of studying and learning theology and the doctrine of God in particular. He says, "When we study the doctrine of God, there should be a sense of awe in our hearts. We should be like children with a telescope under a starry night sky. Then w...

Many of you have heard the saying, "Essentials, unity; non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." I think this is a great saying because we must recognize that there are numerous essential and non-essential doctrines in the Christian faith. But I think that this saying is even more important when we consider Jesus' prayer for His disciples in John 17:23, "...that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me." For Jesus this issue of unity among his followers was far more important than them just getting along. Notice that the unity of believers is to have evangelistic implications, Jesus prays, "...so that the world may know that You (the Father) sent Me..." I was stunned to read recently that there are currently around 38,000 'denominations' in the United States! While I realize that many denominations have come about because of the range of non-essential issues, ...