The application of this can be summed up in John’s words, “I must decrease, and he must increase” (John 3:30). Jesus is the main character on the stage of the story of redemption in the world, not us. We must be careful not to be tripped up the temptation to think that God’s saving work through us is any work of our own. It is all His work. Jesus is the one who takes away the sin of the world, not us.
We have in our minds a very romantic view of the nativity. A little shed like structure with a light shining down on it with a single narrow beam. Joseph and Mary are there, looking pensively at the manger. It is full to overflowing with clean straw. In the background Read more…
There is no greater praise than the adoration delivered by Mary as she proclaimed what we call the “Magnificat.” Found in Luke 1:46-55, the Magnificat reveals the depth of why Mary declares her praise of God, and it is both personal and historic. First, the personal. My soul proclaims the Read more…
The wise men gave Jesus the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Each of these three gifts correspond to aspects of Jesus’s identity and redemptive mission in the world. The gold is symbolic of Jesus’s royalty. Jesus wasn’t the King of an earthly empire, but the King of the cosmos. Read more…
Psalm 15 is a temple entrance liturgy. It begins with the twofold question, “O, Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” This is an important question. In other words, the psalmist is asking, “What kind of person is saved?” Put another way still, Read more…
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. — Matthew 1:1 It’s not by accident that Matthew’s Gospel is the first of four in the New Testament. This is by design. The book of Matthew—as the first book of the New Testament—is intended Read more…
The words you utter can defile you (i.e., keep you out of the presence of God). People who take holiness seriously must take sin seriously. This means that we must have clear definitions of what sin is and what sin isn’t. If sin keeps us from the redeeming presence of Read more…
True freedom is not the ability to freely pursue happiness as we each define it. Freedom is the ability to break free from the crooked, perverse, self-centered human nature and live entirely for God.
On Palm Sunday we read about how the people shouted “Hosannah!” while Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. This proclamation is directly from Psalm 118 and means “save us!” This cry for rescue is the perfect introduction to Holy Week. Holy Week is the week in which we turn Read more…
Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, which is the last Sunday before Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday commemorates when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people celebrated and praised him as their long-awaited Messiah. In their act of celebration they waved palm branches along the streets Read more…