Seventeen82

I’m known for being a little bit of a one-trick pony when it comes to the 2nd and 4th commandments, and I own that. Though to be honest there is a reason for it, that ain’t exactly all my fault. I didn’t choose this battle ground, it came to me. Here I am minding my historical self and a wave of 20th century Americanism washed over where I was sitting. Within our confessionally Reformed camps there are several related issues that seem to come up regularly in both exams for the ordaining of ministers, and in the general life of the Church. And at the end of the day, in my opinion, it has to do mostly with a lack of consideration of other person’s liberty. Individualism is our national god. Presbyterianism, if it should be known for anything, is a covenantal and corporate faith, born out of the spiritual union we share together. When it comes to the Christian Sabbath there are particular applications worth considering today, which we’ll get into next. I want to start by saying something ...

Do you seek God’s direction in every aspect of your life? Or, do you have the same struggle as I do in which you make your decisions and then ask God to bless those decisions or to rescue from their consequences?   If you had the chance to ask the Apostle Paul any one question, what would it be? Would it be theological? Would it practical? Would it be historical?   Because of my pragmatic nature, I think I’d ask him to give me 3-4 things that a Christian should do to grow in his or her faith.  Since I can’t ask him that question, I’ve thought about what actions he might identify as essential for a Christian to live a faithful life as I’ve worked my way through 1 Thessalonians with our congregation. I’ve concluded that he would say there are four things that we must do, in addition to placing our faith in Christ, in order to be faithful throughout our lives. They are:  Read and believe the Bible (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Live your life in accordance with the Bible...

  I live in a house with four kids, a wife, a dog, and have a rabbit and eleven chickens outside with plans for more creatures in the future. One of my goals with all that outdoor wildlife is to be self-sustaining as well as to teach our kids about the value of life and what needs to happen for their food to get to the table. I am a frustrated Agrarian in many ways. I’d give my left arm for more land and tractors and all the money that would take. It also provides me with something to keep my time full and gives me an experience that is not-ministry related, a stress-reliever of sorts. Yet out of all that something that can be said is that it means that I am never alone. There is always someone, or some animal, keeping me company. My children are young teenagers and older youngins. They have baseball, basketball, karate, and now driving and work to do. Being by myself is not a common occurrence, in fact it is a little unsettling when no one is around. However, for many people in ...

  I've been thinking a lot about communication recently, particularly with the regards to the irony that we are more connected than ever before and yet we are worse communicators than we've ever been. I've heard it argued that this is because we are too busy to actually take the time to think about what the best way is to communicate with other people. And I agree. However, I think there are several other reasons why we struggle to communicate despite having countless media in which to do it.  First, I think most of us are overly consumed with ourselves and the lives of those we think are dependent upon us. We have unprecedented opportunities and choices before us every day. As a result, we have more responsibility than ever as we wade through these innumerable decisions. This necessarily causes us to spend the majority of our energy weighing all the options and making decisions that bygone generations either took for granted or didn't have.  Second, I think we are far ...

One of the most challenging stories for me in the Bible is the one is found in Luke 10:38-42.   In it, Luke tells us of an encounter with the three main characters: Mary, Martha, and Jesus.   Mary and Martha were sisters and the hostesses of a party. Jesus was the invited guest. Martha had a gift of service which she put to work. Mary did not have that same gift. She simply hung out at Jesus’s feet, learning from him. Martha was distracted with serving, and Mary was focused on Jesus, leaving Martha to complain to Jesus, for she needed and wanted Mary’s help.    Jesus’s response to her complaint was not what she wanted nor expected to hear. She wanted him to tell Mary to get up and help her. But, Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (verse 41-42). I can imagine Martha saying, with jaw dropped, “What? I’m trying to serve you. Is t...

We are living in some wild and crazy times, and we all know it. I haven’t spoken with anyone in the last 6 months who thinks otherwise. It also seems that we are all asking the same question: How are we supposed to live with everything going on?    We have heard a load of answers to this question from all kinds of different voices. (Some are better than others.) As a Christian pastor, I am convinced, however, that the only voice Christians should listen to is that of God, which we find in the Bible.    The Apostle Peter, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us some really helpful instruction in his first letter on how we are to live at all times, but especially during those times of great uncertainty and confusion. I have identified 7 particular things we should be doing right now. Here they are.    1.       Trust the Lord Jesus with Our Lives (1 Peter 1:3-12)  – The first and most important thing any Christi...

                Tensions are high. For Americans, one of the most highly volatile elections of our time is quickly approaching. For Christian’s, there remains a significant amount of uncertainty concerning the future of the American church and of our religious freedom. For many of us, it has become increasingly difficult to decide where we stand as both political parties seem to drift further and further from basic Christian principles, begging the question, “how should we interact with politics in a secular society?”             As we approach the celebration of the protestant reformation on Saturday, there are, I think, a number of similarities that are worth our consideration as we ask ourselves how we should interact with a politically dominant culture. While there are notable differences between 1517 and 2020, there are a surprising number of similarities. In ...

I want to begin this post with a confession: I struggle with self-centeredness occasionally. Ok, you got me, I struggle with it a lot. That should come as no surprise to you or anyone else reading this post. You know that I am no different than you. You are also well aware that we both struggle with self-centeredness. Like the Apostle Paul, we fight the fleshly temptation to honor ourselves rather than God (Rom. 7:15-19). This is true for us even after our hearts have been transformed by the gospel of grace in Christ. I don’t know about you, but my self-centeredness is periodically seen in my attitude before, during and after corporate worship. This was true before I became a pastor, and sadly it’s still true. (Shh, don’t tell anybody. Pastors are supposed to be super-spiritual.) There are times when I don’t want to get out of bed, don’t want to get dressed, don’t want be around people, don’t want to sing the selected songs, don’t want to lead the prayers, and certainly d...

A term that has grown in popularity among counselors and in psychological textbooks is gaslighting . One hears it on TV, reads it in print, and sees it used in any number of contexts.  Gaslighting is the attempt to create a false reality which forces another person to accept or do something that they under normal psychological circumstances would never do. This term originates from a mid-20th century film (itself based on an earlier stage play) where the protagonist successfully convinces his wife, and others, that she is crazy by slowly dimming the lights and then denying it is happening, eventually leading to her being committed to a mental institution.  Gaslighting is wicked and destructive.  Yet, this is the way much discourse in the church and society at-large operates. Sometimes this shows up in passive aggressive attempts to motivate decision makers to move in the direction desired by the instigator, but usually it is a reactive action of a party trying to appease ...

Where Does Pain Come From and What is It About?        Definitions are important. What is pain? According to the National Library of Medicine it is, “a signal in your nervous system that something may be wrong. It is an unpleasant feeling, such as a prick, tingle, sting, burn, or ache. Pain may be sharp or dull.” Emotional/mental pain can be just as debilitating and serious an issue. The pain-reducing industry is a multi-billion dollar one for a reason. Americans on average spent $10,224 per person on healthcare in 2019 and over $187.8 billion on mental health services in 2013. These are staggering numbers. One of things we will think through in this short essay is why is the world so interested in finding solutions in things that do not provide answers?      When the biblical case is made this truth is really not all that surprising. Looking too deeply into it would mean the world would have to deal with the truth that not only does God exist, bu...