The Plodding Preacher

Almost universally, today, December 31st, is referred to by the name New Year's Eve.  However, in the home in which I was raised, the night of December 31st was known as Old Year's Night.  For some reason it has hit my fancy this year to be more attracted to this latter designation.  The term New Year's Eve definitely has a forward looking connotation.  It suggests we are standing on the brink of something we have been anticipating.  The joy lies not in this moment, but in the potential of what tomorrow brings.  It is similar to Christmas Eve.  Everything about its celebration points to the next day - the big event it foreshadows. It seems to me that the name Old Year's Night pictures something very different by contrast.  Rather than a sense of standing at the brink of a moment looking forward into the future, it pictures a long, lingering look back over the year that has been.  It is a moment to savour the sweetness of a final taste of th...

It always amazes me how Scriptures that I have read a thousand times have truths that I have missed over and over. Recently, I was reading the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). All my life I have assumed that the term "prodigal" refers to the younger son's leaving the father's home. I had always thought that prodigals were people who wandered away. Imagine my surprise when I finally looked up the word and found that it means nothing of the sort. Prodigal is an adjective that means "excessive, extravagant, over the top." The prodigal was not prodigal because he left home but because he took his inheritance and wasted it on wine, women and song. He spent excessively and extravagantly. That is why he is described as prodigal. That got me thinking. Who is the real prodigal in this story? Yes, the son wastefully threw away his inheritance through extravagant spending. However, I think there is an even more extravagant prodigal in the story. It is the f...

The future is as bright as the promises of God. William Carey

There has always been a tension for Christians when it comes to the Law of God.  Right back to the earliest days of the church, the question of the Christian's relationship to the Law has been an issue of contention.  As early Acts 15 the apostles had to make a decision concerning how much of the Law Gentiles were obligated to obey.  When I am asked this question, I typically answer "None of it. . . and. . . All of it."  Now in this post I want to focus on the none of it side and in a later post I will address the all of it response. When the question of the Christian and the Law arises, I find I am often faced with two false assumption.  First, people tend to assume that the Law was created by God to allow mankind to gain eternal favour with God.  The thinking goes, "If I keep the Law God is happy with me and if I break the Law God is happy with me."  Therefore, I must obey the Law to make God accept me.  Unfortunately this assumption reduces G...

The very purpose of Christ's coming into the world was that He might offer up His life as a sacrifice for the sins of men. He came to die. This is the heart of Christmas. Billy Graham

Forbes magazine put out a list this past week of the top ten professions that attract psychopaths.  Among the professions were many that one might expect to see in a list discussing people who have trouble empathizing with others.  CEO's and lawyers topped the list, with media, salesperson and surgeon rounding out the top five.  Perhaps the most disconcerting among the top ten professions was that clergy appeared as number eight on the list.  Is the ministry a haven for people who have real trouble understanding the feelings of their fellow human beings? To determine if this is true, let's begin by examining what we mean by psychopathy.  Because many serial killers are also psychopaths, many think that calling someone a psychopath means that we can expect them to lose it at any moment and go on a killing rampage.  Psychology Today defines psychopathy in more understandable terms: "Psychopathy is among the most difficult disorders to spot. The psychopath...

Yesterday my father-in-law was in a traffic accident.  His car was t-boned by another vehicle at an intersection.  He is presently under observation in hospital with a concussion. As I sat awaiting news about his condition, my mind flitted in so many different directions.  I am sure that the thoughts that passed though my mind were typical of those that others experience in these types of circumstances.  There were concerned thoughts for his health and for my mother-in-law confined to the nursing home.  There were loving thoughts for my dear wife as she hurts for her father. There were speculative thoughts about what this accident might mean for his future.  There were even selfish thoughts about why this had to happen the week before Christmas. The most productive thought of the day was the one that reminded me that there are really no such things as accidents.  Oh, I know that is the word we humans use for things that happen in our lives tha...

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. Martin Luther

I spoke at the chapel this morning for our Christian school.  The character quality the school is emphasizing this month is perseverance.  As I contemplated what I might say about such a topic, I typed the word into my search engine.  Surprisingly it was a name that popped up first in my results page - Derek Redmond.  I went to youtube and watched the video of Derek running the 400 meter race at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.  About 100 meters into the race, Derek sustained an injury that caused him to drop to his knees on the track.  For about 30 seconds he knelt there while the other runners cross the finishing line.  Then he did something remarkable.  He fended off the track officials, and began to hobble towards the finish line.   The race was long over.  Victory had already been claimed.  Yet despite obvious pain, Derek Redmond steadily made his way towards the finish line.  At about the 150 mark a man dashed from the c...

This afternoon I watched the Christmas concert put on by our Christian School children.  It included all the elements that I love in these concerts.  It had cute little ones dressed as shepherds and angels.  It included those who had trouble remembering their lines.  It even included that one child who unconsciously did something in front of the whole audience that would have absolutely mortified his mother. There is no doubt in my mind that Simon Cowell would have given the whole program a thumbs down if he had been judging the program.  Fortunately, an even more important judge was watching this program, and I am convinced that His evaluation was overwhelmingly positive.  You see, we have allowed ourselves to fall into the patterns of evaluation common in this world.  Music must be professional, slick - perfect, in order to be good.  The music I heard today was none of those things.  But it was joyful, heartfelt and glorifying to God....

At Christmas and Easter every year the History Channel, PBS, and other so-called educational channels take a break from their schedule of ancient aliens, pawn stars and bridezillas to take a shot at historical Christianity.  At Christmas they attack the virgin birth, the wisemen and the star.  At Easter their focus shifts to the resurrection.  Behind both attacks lies their absolute conviction that Jesus was a very nice man who never ever claimed that he was God.  Rather, they argue that a group of men who lived 300 years after the historical Jesus decided at the Council of Nicea to elevate Jesus to God status in order to further their own political ambitions.  Every year some new special loaded with experts with impressive sounding credentials is presented to debunk the biblical myths of Easter and Christmas.  With great sympathy, they pity the poor deluded Christians who still are taken in by this ancient conspiracy and actually believe that the...

"Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else." C. H. Spurgeon

What is the first name mentioned in Luke's rendition of the Christmas story?  Mary, Joseph, Jesus?  Actually the first name Luke mentions is Caesar Augustus.  For years historians denied that there ever was a census that made Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem.  However, in the last fifty years we have discovered how God's sovereign hand was even on a pagan emperor of Rome. Augustus was pagan but moral.  He hated the fact that the empire was declining due to loose morals.  Men were not marrying and raising a family.  One day he went into the coliseum in Rome and made all the men stand up to determine who was married and who was not.  As a result laws encouraging marriage and family were enacted.  Families with more than three children were given special benefits. How did he know if his policies were working? He held a regular census of the empire. Recently a document has been discovered containing a list of the 35 Acts of Augustus....

This has been a long week for the family. We have lost three dear church family members within a week. I praise the Lord that all three had trusted Jesus as Lord and Saviour. His promise to save is sure and they all are enjoying the fullness of God's joy in heaven today. When I think about their faith and trust in Christ, I am reminded of a inscription from the tomb of the great astronomer Copernicus: "I ask not such favour as St. Paul received Nor yet such grace as St. Peter obtained; But what, on the cross, to the thief Thou did'st give, O Jesus, I fervently pray, grant to me."

Over the last number of weeks, the issue of suffering has come up several times. Specifically, the question of why Christians suffer has been at the forefront of our thoughts. Finding a comprehensive answer to this question has always troubled believers. It is too easy to latch on to one answer and then limit God's work to our theological construct. At times, we easily fall into the formula of "Do good, get blessed; Do evil: get cursed." Unfortunately, we all can immediately cite examples where those who do good aren't blessed, and those who do evil seemingly are blessed. Indeed, many of the formulaic approaches to suffering hit this snag. There are exceptions to the formula. Where do we find a comprehensive explanation for suffering? Well, let's start with our title. It is taken from the title of a well known book from a number of years ago. It is a question that is repeatedly asked. However, it is wrong in its basic formula. Bad things don't happen to ...

William Carey, the father of modern missions, described his greatest strength in the following words: "I can plod. This is my only genius. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything." I cannot claim to have the genius or determination of a William Carey. I share his doctrine and his denomination, but fall far short of his commitment to Christ. However, I do identify with the desire to be a plodder for Jesus Christ. We live in a day where everyone seems to be chasing after their 15 minutes of fame. "Here today, gone tomorrow" appears to be the motto of our age. In contrast, I want to plod on till Jesus comes or until that day he calls me home. Having now clearly entered into the second half of my life, I want to finish well. My prayer is that I may be found a faithful servant till then. When I chose a "life" verse as a young man, I had no idea that it would become so much more meaningful the older I grew. Yet these verses seem ever mo...