A dissatisfied contentment

Jeremiah Burroughs, a 17th century Puritan pastor, spoke of contentment as a rare jewel.  It’s something experienced by some but not all.  A paradox he also noted is that for Christians true contentment will always leave us dissatisfied.  He unfolded one side of this mystery but left the other side undeveloped.  Both are important and …

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Marriage Matters

I preached a sermon on 1 Corinthians 7 today, calling it “Marriage Matters.” The double entendre was intended. Paul addressed matters of marriage that Christians need to embrace; and the text reminds us that marriage is wonderfully important. The chapter also illuminates the weak status of marriages both in and outside the church throughout human …

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On fear, faith, and love

Fear holds a paradoxical status in Scriptures—it is regularly treated both as a positive and a negative; as fruitful and as destructive.    Positively, wisdom is a crucial moral outcome for those who “fear the LORD”.  On one occasion in Genesis God is even personified as “fear” when Jacob twice addressed his hostile father-in-law, Laban, …

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The Wise Fool

Many in the church of Corinth were enamored with style.  And Apollos had style to spare.  He seems to have been bright, articulate and alert to the philosophical streams of his day.  In a nutshell, Apollos and his offspring are the sort of men every church wants to recruit as a speaker for their annual …

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