The predominant picture of God that we get as we read the Old Testament is that of an all powerful, awesome, unapproachable God who communicates to His covenant people through His selected intermediaries, such as Moses (Exodus 19:10-25). The concept of God as a personal father was largely unknown to the Jew, even though there were a few hints in the Old Testament.  It remained for Jesus, as the God-Man, to reveal fully, first, the fatherhood of God toward Jesus Himself, and then toward…

“For it is God who is producing in you both the desire and the ability to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13 – ISV). We remembered last week that we are no longer living by obedience to the law of God, the knowledge of good and evil, the way mankind in Adam was tricked to live in the Garden of Eden. No, we now live by faith, i.e., simply doing what God, by His Spirit in our hearts, tells us to do, with no…

The exclusive emphasis on the biblical functioning of the family and the church in the kingdom of God in my blog postings these past few weeks has made me increasingly uneasy. I can hear the Lord reminding me, “Remember the other edge of the Sword, the divine truth that makes the Kingdom possible at all—the gospel of My grace.”  The Sword of the Word of God always has two edges (Revelation 1:16; 2:12; Psalm 149:6; Hebrews 4:12). I believe these edges represent the two…

Since the Reformation, Christians have believed that the Bible teaches more than personal salvation. It speaks authoritatively, showing us God’s will in every area of life, including the church. Without this understanding, one idea about church is as good as another. There is no plumb line, no standard. We are left with “Well, I think…” or, “It seems to me…” or, “We have always…” We are adrift on the stormy sea of personal opinion.  My blog posts assume the Bible as our plumb line,…

After going to church regularly throughout my childhood and not finding a relationship with Jesus until I was a junior in college, my answer to that question was the same as a huge percentage of American citizens who have tried church and didn’t stick—”Nothing that I can see.” Here are some possibilities of the ways we might have viewed the church while we were, consciously or unconsciously, trying them out: 1. A building – No building, no church. In some parts of the country,…

When we first come to Jesus as our Savior through an experiential conversion, our primary concern is our personal salvation. What are the implications in my life and my relationships with those around me? How do I continue in this new way of life? So, initially, the gospel is always a me-centered gospel—”What’s in it for me?” And why not? There is potentially a lot in it for me—forgiveness of sin, overflowing love for others, irrepressible joy, unfathomable peace, freedom from condemnation, eternal life,…

The overwhelming answer to that question in today’s culture, and rarely challenged in the church is, “Of course not! You are not promoting demeaning, oppressive, abusive ‘patriarchy,’ are you?”  I am thrilled to be able to answer, “No, I’m certainly not promoting that!” However, I am fully committed to teaching what God is promoting, and yes, He is, without doubt, teaching very clearly in His law what the culture calls “patriarchy.” A patriarchy is defined as “a form of social organization in which the…

Men, how did you answer that question? Most of you answered, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, “Yes, I love my wife.” But do you?  Any whiff of kingdom in your family must begin with this first of the two irreplaceable kingdom pillars we have discussed—a husband’s agape love for his wife. Those who lead must do so from this foundation. My contention is that most men don’t really know what it means to “love your wife.” When Paul commands us in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands,…

I know that the ideas we have discussed concerning the biblical roles of men and women in the kingdom of God are often jarring to many of today’s Christians. They have not heard them at church nor observed them in the culture. They sound as though they come from Mars, or at least they are a part of a bye-gone, outdated time and would be crippling and oppressive to today’s believers, so they are often ignored. However, even though the culture has changed, men…

In the postwar WWII years of the 50’s and 60’s the world was recovering from the emergency measures that war demands—women making up a majority of the workforce. That necessity had temporarily trashed the centuries-old custom of women being full time homemakers, and now, postwar, they were free again to return to that biblical family custom. Some (but not all) did that very thing. I was in high school and college during those years, and the majority of female students at Oklahoma University looked…