What’s Wrong with Having Nice Things?

Most of us have some nice things, some earthly possessions. Some of us have a lot of nice things. God made the world, and he has given us many gifts. But these possessions can be a real problem for us. Whatever they may have cost us to purchase, they may well cost us eternal life. Part of following Jesus is taking on an entirely new relationship to the things we own in this life. This is not a sermon about giving to the church. This is a sermon about getting into heaven.

The Re-Genesis of Marriage

Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason? Ever since we left Eden that question has been on our mind. It was a matter of controversy in Moses’ day, Jesus’ day, and in our day of easy divorce. When that question was put to Jesus, however, he changed the subject. He talked about marriage itself—what it is and what God intended for it. The obsession in his day was about exceptions. There’s more that the Bible has to say about this topic than what we have recorded here, but we desperately need the emphasis that Jesus lands in this sermon.

Jesus Schools His Disciples

Kids are back to school, which is hard but exciting. Imagine if Jesus was your teacher and the classroom was only twelve students. This week we will sit in on just such a classroom. But in this case we aren’t dealing with math problems, but with sin relationship problems.

Prayer on the Path of Discipleship

We know we should pray. But we don’t. Why not? In this sermon we find the disciples walking the path Jesus has called them to and doing so without prayer. Jesus artfully leads them into a lesson on his strength and their weakness and what to do about their hardest challenges on the path of discipleship.

The Transfiguration: Seeing Only Jesus

What will sustain the church in the face of the worst hardship in this world? Worse than physical pain or suffering can be isolation and social rejection. It all comes with the territory of following Jesus. We don’t love it or long for it, but we do accept trouble as part of the path we’re on together. What will ready us for the worst? We find out on a diversion up and down a mountain.

Who Do You Say That I Am?

With this sermon we come to the heart of the book, not only in terms of its central themes of the cross and discipleship, but the literary hinge of the story. We have been following Jesus all over the place at a rapid pace. Here the story slows to a walk and confronts us with a question and a call that none of us can escape.

He Makes Bread and Heals Blindness

Have you ever had a dream that kept coming back, but maybe with some of the details rearranged? That’s what this passage is like for us and it’s what this account must have been like for the disciples. We have another feeding, another boat scene, another conversation about bread, and another healing that involves spit. We’re going to handle it all in one sermon. But not because it’s just more of the same, but because there is a point to be made in this rolling cadence of familiar action. Where is Jesus leading us this time?

Jesus, the Hiding Healer

This passage is utterly perplexing. Jesus travels to a new region but hides. Jesus answers a woman with a derogatory comment. Jesus performs a strange ritual with spit before healing a man. Jesus, again, tells people not to speak of him and they tell everyone. Jesus’ actions and intentions seem to conflict, and both run counter to our own human expectations for him. Yet this counterintuitive text will teach us something important about the cross.

Worship and the Word

With this sermon we return to our series through the Gospel according to Mark. We drop in at a point of increasing conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees, between Jesus and Jerusalem. What is at the heart of the conflict that will lead ultimately to Jesus’ crucifixion? The answer to that question may be the start of your own way to salvation.

Take Heart, It Is I

The winds are blowing hard against the church. They’re against us and they are relentless. We live in difficult times, yes, but there is no reason for us to lose heart. We’ll find out why on a boat ride with Jesus’ disciples this Lord’s Day.

Twelve Baskets Full

The world is a hungry place. Not just hungry for food, but hungry for something else. We just don’t know what it is. The world is a wilderness and that’s one reason why Jesus sets the stage for his next miracle with a hungry crowd in the wilderness. There, Jesus will teach us concerning our real hunger and his willingness and ability to meet it.

The Cost of Disciple Making

Jesus has inspired us with his teaching and works. He has instructed us concerning the inevitably of hard ground but also good soil that bears incredible fruit. We have a promising mission. But there is another point to make concerning our call to discipleship and disciple making: the cost. Mark will get this across to us in a way that is both round-about and straightforward. We cannot afford to miss the cost of discipleship.

Hometown Scandal

It’s usually an exciting thing to go home. A college graduate would be celebrated at home, and her achievements bragged on. That is not the case for Jesus on the occasion of his homecoming. He’s been plenty successful, but he is not the pride of his town. As always, there’s a lesson for those who follow Jesus.

Talitha Cumi

Sometimes the author of a Bible book leaves a phrase untranslated. In this text, Mark quotes Jesus’ Aramaic words, “Talitha cumi.” Jesus said those two words to a twelve-year-old dead girl. They must have left an impression on Peter, who relayed them later to Mark. Let’s pray for these words to leave an impression on us as well.

Jesus Breaks on Through to the Other Side

This week we come to a second in a series of three encounters with Jesus between desperate people and the only one who can deliver us from our trouble.

Jesus Stills (and Stirs) the Storm

Some passages are almost too familiar. Christian or not, churchgoer or not, you know about how Jesus stills the storm. It’s not a terribly surprising story, unless you were in that boat with Jesus. But there is a surprise here that you are not expecting.

Hearing the Hidden Kingdom

Listen in to hear how you can perceive the invisible kingdom of God.

The Sower and the Sifter

Jesus is a good teacher, right? Then why so many diverse responses to his teaching? Shouldn’t he be the most persuasive, most compelling, and most agreeable preacher ever? In Mark’s gospel we find a host of responses to Jesus. We find the same in our own day. We find the same in our own hearts! In Mark 4:1–20, Jesus takes up the task of explaining why the Word seems effective at times and ineffective at others. But this is no simple lesson. It’s a lesson that will shake up our own understanding of how the Word works

Jesus Creates a Family

Jesus’ unique authority made for his growing fame. Jesus’ concerning behavior raised concerns. Now we get to find out what it’s like to hitch ourselves to him. Since the first century, opposition to Jesus has taken many forms. In this sermon we see four problems that come with following Jesus. What makes following Jesus worth it?

Jesus’ Concerning Behavior

Jesus’ teaching raised all kinds of questions, specifically about his authority, which we explored last time. But his behavior raised all kinds of concerns. In this sermon we’re going to read a passage that might make us a little uneasy about Jesus. But my hope is that it will make us uneasy about ourselves, to be concerned about our concerns, and thankful that Jesus, at cost to his reputation, has concerned himself with the likes of you and me.

A Very Present Help in the Pandemic

Think for a moment about a worst case scenario. Now think of another. Where do we go for help at such a time? What should we do when the world and life unravels? The Scriptures give us an answer for that in Psalm 46, which will be the text for Easter sermon. What about Easter? Read that Psalm and ask yourself how any of that can be true apart from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is an unconventional and perfect text for Easter Sunday. Join us and listen in.

Jesus’ Questionable Authority

Authority is a topic of daily conversation right now. Federal authorities are making decisions, and local authorities are doing things. There are plenty of good decisions being made. But it seems there are also governments in other lands gathering more authority to themselves than is safe. Listen ins as we explore the authority of Jesus.

A New Beginning

With this sermon we begin our new series through the gospel according to Mark. On the one hand, this is a new series from a book in the New Testament. On the other hand, we are picking up where we left off at the end of the book of Exodus. Much has transpired in the history of God’s plan to save, but it is all one story.

Into the Tent

Social distance is all the rage. It should be, and I don’t need to get into that. None of us like it. But in our relationship with God, spiritual distance is the way things begin, and it’s our doing. He is holy and we are sinful. Whatever we might want to say about that, it’s not him; it’s us. What can be done about it? Surely this is a more insurmountable and serious problem than the coronavirus. And yet God has done something in order that he might dwell with us, in a way that is even better than Eden. This sermon will take us from Exodus 24–40.

Up the Mountain

God saved us from bondage, but is that all he has in mind for us? Is God’s whole intention simply to get us out of the trouble of our sin and out of trouble with him? No, he has something much greater for us. God delivers us from something, and for something. He delivers us from servitude and into his service. Or, in other words, into a life of worship. With this sermon we engage our second of three sermons through the book of Exodus.

Out of Egypt

It seems there are a growing number of what are coming to be called, “de-conversion stories”—stories of how a person who identified as a Christian came to identify themselves, in one way or another, apart from Christ. These stories should sober us up to look out for our own soul and the souls of our brother and sisters. These stories are worth listening to, to understand how one person got from confessing Christ to rejecting Christ. They’re also a reason to re-examine the question of how one becomes a Christian. With this sermon we begin a short series through the Bible’s second book, the story of Exodus. The story of Exodus is a conversion story. It’s our conversion story. How does a people go from bondage to Pharaoh to bonding with the Lord? How does a people go from servitude to a wicked master to sonship to God? How does a people go from building cities for the world’s kingdoms, to building a tent for the Lord’s presence?

God Will Surely Visit You

Bones are a bad sign. Inside our bones is a factory of life, the marrow inside producing our white and red blood cells. But when we die, our bones are the last part of us to hang around. But with the eyes of faith, we see more than death in our bones, but the object of God’s determination to bless us with life everlasting.

I Wait for Your Salvation, O Lord

Surely this isn’t it. We have come to salvation in Christ, we have received the Spirit, we are members of a great church. But surely this isn’t it. In Genesis chapter 49 we have a string of blessings on the sons of Jacob; blessings filled with difficult to understand references, even for many scholars. Nevertheless, in this chapter, the last chapter of Jacob’s life, we find the answer to what we are waiting for—the same things God’s people have been waiting for since we left the garden.

By Faith . . . When Dying

The things we say in our last conscious moments might be meaningless. Perhaps we’re on a lot of medication. Or perhaps our mind has been eroded by some terrible disease. Otherwise, the things we say in our last years and days and moments are revealing. They reveal the place and posture of our faith. Jacob’s words at the end of his life sure did. And they are instructive for us. His eyes were dim, but he was the clearest seeing person in his room.

Into Egypt . . . Out of Egypt

How do we know that our pain is actually a part of God’s plan? How do we know that so many of the hardships we know here aren’t some grand mistake in God’s attempt to get salvation done? Is he well meaning, but incapable or incompetent? Chapters 46–47 of Genesis were written to answer this question for Israel on the other side of her deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

You Sold Me . . . God Sent Me

There are some passages of Scripture atop which we can see a long way in every direction of the story. There are some passages of Scripture atop which we can see a long way in every direction of our lives. Genesis 45 is one of those passages. Bringing together so many of the themes and promises we’ve uncovered to this point, Genesis 45 is an emotional and memorable encounter between Joseph and his brothers.

Found

With this sermon we’re back in the book of Genesis, picking up where we left off with Genesis 43. From here through chapter 45 we will follow Joseph’s brothers back and forth between Canaan and Egypt. Joseph won’t reveal himself for a few chapters yet. In the meantime, we find strained and at times confusing interactions between the brothers and Joseph. What is Joseph’s design in all of this? What is God doing in the lives of these brothers?

Mercy

We Are Guilty

Guilt doesn’t go away with time. We may put it out of our minds, but in a moment the weight of that guilt can be brought back to the surface. The problem of guilt and what to do with it shapes our lives and our world, from the smallest decisions we make, to entire political systems and agendas. The Bible is straightforward about this basic human problem. It also comes to us with an answer that can truly take it away. That answer was an unsuspecting child among animals in Bethlehem so many years ago.

Bow the Knee

Every person bows the knee to something; that something or someone who is the most important, the most powerful, most worthy. In this sermon we find the ancient world’s most prominent civilization bowing to a man named Joseph. Only days before he was in prison, where for thirteen years he waited. God will make his suffering servant king and savior, and the nations will bow to him.

Forgotten

A fear of forgottenness hangs over each of our lives. Imagine getting a midnight order to move to another land, never to see your family again. A sense of forgottenness would be a problem for you at that moment. If we wonder how hard-wired this fear is, consider how hard we try to be noticed, to be liked, to be popular, and how much we make of celebrities that seem to be remembered everywhere by everyone. Joseph was forgotten, and so were many others on salvation’s storied path through Scripture. What is God doing through it?

The Lord Was With Joseph

Have you ever had a hard time believing that the Lord is with you? You’re not alone. The first thing to get in order is the matter of your salvation. Do you know the Lord? But if you do know him and wonder about his presence in light of your circumstances, then you’ll take some comfort in the story we find in Genesis 39. It’s a familiar story to many, the story of Joseph’s flight from sexual temptation. But there’s more here for us than moral instruction.

Her Name Was Tamar

Can the hardest hearts be changed? We’ll get an answer to that question from an unlikely passage, Genesis 38. This is the most sexually explicit passage in the book of Genesis. It’s also one of the darkest passages. But there is encouragement here for God’s work in our lives, and in our church.

We Will See What Will Become of His Dreams

In this sermon, we will hear God make good on the promises he planted despite a descent into the pit.

Now the Sons of Jacob Were Twelve

The last sermon closed out with Jacob and the family stuck. They were stuck in their sin and stuck in sin’s consequences. This sermon opens with the encouraging and hope-giving words, “Arise!” The Lord has not left his people even when they have forgotten him. In fact, he has come to get his people and to bring them home. It will mean radical transformation, and that, of course, is his specialty. In Genesis 35 and 36 we come to the end of an era in the story of our origins, with the stage set for the next era.

An Outrageous Thing

This sermon brings us to one of the Bible’s most disgusting and humiliating stories, a story of rape and revenge. Why is this story here? What does it teach us about ourselves, about God, and about the only way out of this mess of ours?

You Have Striven with God

What must we do to be saved? There is one answer to that question that is both harder and easier than we might think. With this sermon we come to the climax of God’s transforming work in Jacob as he readies him for the land of promise.

Laban Removed the Male Goats

Christians have good reason to fear harm: Jesus has promised trouble for his sake in this world. Sooner or later, in one form or another, following God’s man, Jesus, will cost us something. For some it will cost them everything. But that’s not the whole story. We get a hint at God’s bigger safe-keeping purposes for his people in this story from the book of Genesis.

Give Me Children, Or I Shall Die

Sometimes we say the darnedest things. And actually, I should use the more unacceptable word there. Idolatry leads us to say things to ourselves and others that can only come from hell. In this week’s episode from the book of Genesis we hear something along those lines on the lips of Rachel. How will the Lord make anything good out of her worst moment? What can the Lord do with such unacceptable material as we are, sinful people?

Jacob Went on His Journey

The Lord gave Jacob a dream with a ladder from his place to heaven, with angels ascending and descending. What would the Lord have in store for this chosen of Abraham’s line? The Lord would be with Jacob, but not as he might expect, and perhaps not as we would expect.

Who Are You?

We have good reason to think that God’s plans for his people will not quite come to pass. It’s a little much to look around at the world, and even at ourselves, and think, “surely, the Lord is with us.” Genesis chapter 27 isn’t the first place you might have thought to look for assurance, but go ahead and take a look. You’ll find there even better reasons to expect, against all odds and all opposition, God will in fact do as he has promised. How much can we throw at God’s plan before it comes off the rails?

I Will Be With You

In this sermon we will hear the Word of the Lord promise the blessing of God’s promise to those who have been abandoned.

Baptism: A Sign of Danger

In this sermon we consider the costs associated with discipleship and the danger inherent in following Jesus. Baptism, as we’ll see, is a high-stakes, high-cost endeavor for both the baptized and the congregation baptizing. We’re in this together, and with this text we’ll remember what we’ve gotten ourselves into.

Jacob Was Cooking Stew

The book of Genesis could be divided three ways: Before Abraham (1–11), Abraham (12–24), and after Abraham (25–50). With this sermon we begin that last section, and we begin with no uncertain reminder of why God must save and God alone.

The Lord Has Led Me

How does God lead us? The Bible is filled with fantastic accounts of divine intervention. He parted the Red Sea and led his people through. He stopped the sun and led his people to victory. But where is he when he isn’t doing these things? Perhaps the Israelites who first read Genesis were asking these same questions. Genesis 24 answers that question for us. This chapter closes out Abraham’s life and gives us a template for the normal deliberate and invisible workings of the God to advance his promises.

And All The Trees

Those involved in education can appreciate the importance of a test, though I suppose it depends on whether you’re student or a teacher. Those of us who have graduated and don’t teach, are glad to be done with tests. But tests are a part of our relationship with God. And the Bible’s first book turns on the test of its main human character, Abraham. What is required of him and how does it go? Listen in and find out.

Take Your Son, Your Only Son, Whom You Love

Who Would Have Said?

Abraham was a man of faith. He was also a man who did some terribly stupid things. He looked to a better country, yes, as Hebrews tells us. He also looked out for himself a good bit. In this sermon we see God’s grace come to a man who needed grace. And that’s the point.

Sulfur and Fire from the Lord

Some places are remembered for their contribution to the world. Ancient Rome would be an example. Sodom and Gomorrah are infamous for their demise. The tale is sobering, and yet more bearable than the judgment promised by Jesus in the days to come (Matt. 10:15). Thankfully, there is good news here greater than this judgment.

Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord?

Is anything too hard for the Lord? No. If we know the Lord we know that. But is that always easy to believe? We know that the Lord doesn’t have to deliver on everything we might ask from him. But will he deliver on everything he has actually promised? We may laugh to ourselves at the thought. Sarah knew that feeling.

Between Me and You

Our relationships with great and powerful people are mostly transactional. If it’s a political leader, we get their leadership in exchange for our vote. If it’s a CEO, we get their expert direction in exchange for our diligent work. What could God Almighty want with us? What could he possibly want from us? This passage is about circumcision, and that’s part of the answer.

Your Name Shall Be…

The meaning of Abraham’s name is an enduring reminder of God’s promise to him and through him. It means, “father of a multitude.” God gave him this name to encourage him. God gave Sarah her name as well, and Ismael and Isaac, each name telling us something about the person and something about God.

He Believed the Lord

Our lives and God’s promises don’t always seem to align. Abram can relate. Yet by the end of Genesis 15 Abram becomes the father of all those who believe. This is a towering chapter in Scripture, filled with familiar lines and one unfamiliar ancient ceremony involving sliced up animals and a pot of fire.

They Will Kill Me

In this sermon we will hear from the Word of God on how Abram had to trust God when his life was on the line.

I Will . . .

In this sermon we will hear from the Word of God on how the promise was delivered to Abram and he followed the call to leave everything he knew behind.

Fulfilled: The Resurrection

This Easter sermon will explre the fulfilling work of Christ through the lens of the Gospel according to John.

They Glorified God

What is the deepest and most durable motive for global missions? That’s the question we want to answer from Scripture through this sermon. We’ll do this by taking a close-up look at a significant moment in the book of Acts. In Acts 21:17–21, the Apostle Paul returns to Jerusalem from his third and final missionary journey. There he recounts one by one the things God had done. Our answer to our framing question will come in the response of the church to this report.

The Church at Antioch

What is a missionary? Isn’t everyone a missionary? How are missionaries made? Who sends missionaries? With this sermon we continue our short series, Going Global: Following Jesus to the End of the Earth. We will be in Acts 13–14 where we will get some answers to these questions.

No Other Name

In this sermon we are confronted with the simplicity and the potency of the gospel message. Under the pressure of the first run of persecution, Peter preaches the gospel: “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name …” (4:12).

To the End of the Earth

With this sermon we’ll begin with Acts 1:1–11, the table of contents for the book of Acts and the church’s work until Christ comes.

The Lord Came Down to See the Tower

Listen in to hear about man’s attempt to glorify their own names and God’s gracious blessing of humbling them.

The Lord Remembered Noah

Most people are able to tell the story of Noah. But how many of us know how to use the story of Noah? The account of God’s judgment and salvation in Noah’s day spans three chapters. Through this sermon we’ll walk our way through the account and consider how this cataclysmic event both warns us and comforts us.

East of Eden

Listen in to hear about the beginning of humanity’s exile and God’s plan for them. He has not given up on his creation.

Did God Actually Say?

What’s wrong with people? We ask that about other people, and on our honest days we ask it about ourselves. What exactly is wrong with people? In fact, what is wrong with the world, and is there a unifying explanation for everything that has gone so wrong, inside of us and outside of us? Listen in to hear the answer from Genesis 3.

Naked and Not Ashamed

Listen in to hear about a brief glimpse into a perfect world. All the conscience knows is innocence and all work is enjoyable. We know this is short lived, but it will inform us of how we were designed to live.

And Also the Stars

Listen in as we explore God’s purpose for creating the vast expanse that we live under.

In the Beginning

Listen in as we start at the beginning. The beginning of Creation and the beginning of God’s plan to bless the world through salvation. It all starts with a God who came before all things.

The God of a New City

With this sermon we close up our five-part series through the book of Isaiah. Here, the city that began in spiritual shambles is radiant, beautiful, and redeemed. They even get a new name, “you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken” (Isa. 62:21). This is what the work of the suffering servant has made possible, a renewed people, rejoicing in God forever. For believers today, these words hold out the certain hope of our final redemption at Jesus’ return.

The God of Good News for Sinners

We have one deep problem with far reaching consequences: sin. We’re also helpless and hopeless to address this problem. If Isaiah’s prophecy has taught us anything so far in our series it is this. But God’s promises of great hope are in curious proportion to the escalating insanity of our sin revealed on the pages of Scripture. How will God do good on His promises when sin persists? In Isaiah 40–55 we get our answer. If you plan to read ahead and want to narrow your focus, read chapters 48–53. Here in these chapters we find the heart of the Bible, the heart of the gospel, and the very heart of God.

The God Who Can Be Trusted

In our last sermon from Isaiah we ended with a vision of a multi-national worshiping community (Isa. 19:19–25). For God’s people, threatened all around by imposing and wicked nations, this was a nice thought, but was it possible? Chapters 28–39 give us an answer: yes, because God is the God of promise-keeping power. How God will bring that about given His holiness and our sin remains for a future week. But with this text we will behold the saving power of God to do what He says.

The God of the World and History

With this sermon we begin a new five-part series through the book of Isaiah, A Vision of Two Cities. The Book of Isaiah includes a number of familiar lines. For example, it was Isaiah who said of Christ, “they will call His name Immanuel,” and that the Messiah would be “crushed for our iniquities.” But who was Isaiah and what was the whole of his message? Hearing these familiar lines in the context of the book’s overall message will add depth to our gospel and strength to our witness. The Book of Isaiah can be broken down nicely into five parts, and so we will work through Isaiah in five sermons.

The God of Unapproachable Holiness

Our Gospel Vision

Every human being is a treasure hunter, longing for something truly satisfying and truly lasting. Where can it be found? We’re the people who know. We’ve found treasure in Jesus Christ and the unsearchable riches of His gospel. As those filled with the fullness of God, we long to see people find what we have found. We long to see people truly find and treasure Jesus forever.

Our Gospel Mission

What is the church’s mission? Is it to preach the gospel among the nations? Is it to transform our communities through social good? Is it to alleviate suffering? Is it to glorify God? What is it? How we relate these things will depend on how we define “mission,” a term not explicitly found in Scripture. So, after some biblical spadework to define terms, we’ll turn to Ephesians 3, and specifically to verses 8–10 to consider how Paul expressed the church’s mission in personal terms.

Our Gospel Identity

In Acts 2:44, we read that, “all who believed were together and had all things in common.” The church’s faith was the foundation of her life. With this sermon we begin a three-part series reflecting on the question of the church’s identity, her mission, and her vision. This is a sermon titled, “Our Gospel Identity,” answering the question, who are we?

Finishing Touches

Listen in to hear our conclusion as we meditate on the ending of 1 Timothy and reflect on building healthy churches.

Sing, All the Earth

Psalm 95 says to the congregation, “Come, let us sing!,” and Psalm 96 speaks to a different audience, “Sing, all the earth!” The church’s singing is proof that God really does save, that He really is the one true and living God and that He really will come to make all things right.

Fight the Good Fight

When Paul opened his letter, he charged Timothy to “remain at Ephesus” (1:3). Apparently there were reasons Paul suspected that Timothy might want to jump. But there are better reasons to stay. In this passage, nearing the close of his letter, Paul turns to a final charge. In this charge, Paul will deliver not only what Timothy needs to do, but the enablement he needs: a vision of an invincible, immortal, inaccessible, and invisible God. Nothing can stop him

Contentment, Work, and Wealth

Work and our wallets. These are two deceptively difficult dimensions of the Christian life. When we think of areas of temptation, these aren’t normally the first things on our mind. Yet these were areas on the mind of Paul, and he wanted them on Timothy’s mind as one shepherding the flock at Ephesus. And so this sermon will put these subjects on our mind. They aren’t easy subjects, for more reasons than one. There are some difficulties of historical context that we’ll need to consider. Even more difficult, the context of our own hearts. Abundant help is ours for every related challenge in the “sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 6:3).

Caring for Elders

Over the last few weeks we’ve looked at an important dimension of the church’s health: her care for her widows and, individually, her care for family. With this sermon we come to another important dimension of the church’s health: her care for her spiritual leaders, what the Bible refers to with three different terms: elders, or pastors, or overseers. From compensation to accusations, from the process for appointment to recognizing that even elders get indigestion, all of these go into ensuring a healthy eldership, and a healthy eldership is important for a healthy church.

Caring for Parents and Please God

Caring for aging parents is a burden. That’s what Scripture calls it (1 Timothy 5:16). But is it also a blessing? Yes, and understanding how is an important key to taking on this humble service. Some of us are in a position of needing care, others are in a position to care, and all of us will be in one of those places in a matter of time. Consider this: all of us are right now in a position to exhort and encourage one another in this hidden service, a service seen and smiled on by our Lord.

Honoring Widows

Widows are near to the heart of God, and so it is no surprise that the matter of their care fills a good portion of Paul’s first letter to Timothy. The early church invested great energy in the care of their widows. It is possible that in Ephesus the church’s generosity was unsustainable. Paul, in 1 Timothy 5:3–16, seems to offer needed regulation on how the church went about its care for its older widowed members. Many things have changed since the first century, but something clear remains: the church’s responsibility to its most vulnerable members. Some work will need to be done to reconstruct the historical situation, but once we do we’ll see a beautiful picture of how God cares for His people.

Baptism: A Sign of God’s Sovereign Work

Listen in to hear the story of a sister’s baptism from Acts 16:6–15. Her name was Lydia, and she was the first European convert to Christ. As Luke tells her story, we realize that there is more going on in our salvation than the preaching of the gospel and our reception of that good news. These are God’s gracious means. But God is at work behind the scenes to orchestrate every salvation, even opening our very hearts to hear and receive the Word. This account will put a story to the words, “Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).

Family Ties

Leadership in the church isn’t just about public up-front ministry, but life-on-life ministry. Which means we need both from God’s undershepherds in our life. We see that ever clearly in this passage, 1 Timothy 5:1–2, “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.” There’s something here for everyone and something for our good whenever we’re together.

Elders as Bible Men

The fourth chapter in Paul’s letter to Timothy addresses Timothy with what he must do in his role of spiritual leadership at Ephesus. Timothy’s job helps us grasp the nature and role of biblical elders in the life of the church. With this sermon we come to 1 Timothy 4:13–16, a passage with no less than six commands to Timothy concerning what he is to do with the Word: “devote,” “do not neglect,” “practice,” “immerse,” “keep a close watch,” and “persist.” Why such repetition and urgency? It’s because we need it.

Elders as Examples of Godliness

Fitness and physical training is and has always been the rage. That’s why Paul could say this to Timothy: “train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:7–8). That’s a very great promise. What is godliness, how do we get it, and why should we want it? And what does that all have to do with elders? Paul is, after all, writing to a young elder/pastor, Timothy.

Elders as Theological Watchdogs

Why do some among us fall away? We get one answer in 1 John 2:19: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” When someone falls away they do so because they never belonged to us in the first place. But in 1 Timothy 4:1–6 we get another set of answers. Demons are involved, so are false understandings about God. How does God keep and protect His own? He does so, in part, though the vigilant labor of theological watchdogs, sheepdogs called, elders.

Heartbeat of a Healthy Church

We have reflected on the important roles of elder and deacon within the church. But if we’re inclined to think that elders and deacons are the important people and the rest of the church something else, then this week’s text will set our thinking right. The church, the new covenant community, is “the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). And this church has its origin in the womb of a virgin and the right hand of the Father. A healthy church knows who she is and whose she is.

Profile for a Church Deacon

We will look at a second office of the church, that of deacon, a term that comes from the word for servant. In God’s wisdom, He has ordered His church so that she would be led by qualified leaders, and that they and she would be joyfully served by a team of servants. Servanthood isn’t something for a few of us, of course, but for all of us. Jesus Himself “came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Through their service, our deacons model the kind of deaconing we all do in following Christ.

Profile for a Church Elder

1 Timothy 3:1–7 outlines the qualifications for the office of elder. Or, to use another biblical word, the role of pastor. This is the Lord’s check-list for how to identify those He would have lead His church. Put another way, this is how much the Lord loves and treasures His church, the very household of God.

Women of the Word

On any building site there’s a structure. There are beams that support other beams, workers that work with and under others, and a general orderliness that leads to a sound, safe, and beautiful structure. So it is in the church, the household of God. Christ is building His church and there is a certain design for her health, for her soundness. With this sermon we come to the subject of the women’s role in the context of the church’s gathered teaching ministry. Why don’t we have female pastors or public mixed-group teachers? That’s a good question. It shouldn’t be because we’ve adopted a previous generation’s cultural default. We should seek to operate out of Scripture.

Getting Ready for Church: Prayers, Hairdos, Modesty, Etc.

What happens when a church loses their vision of God in all of His majesty and mercy? We find out in this text, 1 Timothy 2:8–10. The topics that come up there will be familiar and well-worn in church life—prayer, modesty, etc. But these subjects take on depth when we understand why they come up here.

Prayer and the Wideness of God’s Heart

Timothy is a young pastor with an urgent task. He must deal with false teaching in the midst of the church which threatens to choke out her gospel life. But there’s another matter of great urgency: prayer. Timothy is to lead the church at Ephesus in prayer for specific people and for specific reasons. As we meditate on this call to prayer we find evidence of a subtle but strong current that runs through all of Paul’s letters and through this letter: the church’s gospel purity is for the sake of her gospel witness.

Taking Sides: Church Work in the War Zone

What images come to mind when you think about the church? Family is a good one. Perhaps a vine or a light on a hill. Those are biblical images that serve specific purposes. There’s another image we might use: a war zone. When Paul tells Timothy, a young pastor, how to go about the work of ministry, he says, “wage the good warfare.” What is this war, what is it for, and how is it fought?

Speaker: Trent Hunter

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