Articles

Certain questions are crucial to the Christian faith: How does someone become a Christian? What do Christians believe? How should Christians behave? The Bible provides clear answers to each. But there’s another question, often overlooked, that’s equally crucial and to which the Bible gives sure guidance. It’s this: Where does a Christian belong? The question raises the issue of church membership.

Topics: Articles

Not all who profess faith in Christ actually follow Him. Not all who give lip service to Christianity necessarily know its truth. Various warning passages (e.g., Heb. 2:1–4; 3:7–4:13; 1 John 2:19), along with Jesus’ own words in the Gospels (e.g., Matt. 7:23; 25:41; Luke 13:27), alert us to the possibility that we can appear to have a relationship with Jesus and even enjoy the fellowship of close Christian community without finding a home in heaven in the end.

Topics: Articles

In the church’s mission to further the Gospel, Christians’ behavior plays an important role. Knowing this, Paul coached Titus to stress the ways his congregation should be ready to do good. Only the grace of a saving God changes immoral people into those who uphold the rule of the law, love peace, and consider others’ needs.

Topics: Articles

The late atheist Christopher Hitchens once described the unusual circumstances under which he came to terms with death: “It was only when I watched [my son] being born,” he comments, “that I knew at once that my own funeral director had very suddenly, but quite unmistakably, stepped onto the stage.”¹

Topics: Articles

REVELATION 5:9–10

“They sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’”

Topics: Articles

“Changes,” a popular ’70s-era song, captures well the feeling many of us have toward the notion of change:

Everyone is going through changes;
No one knows what’s going on;
And everybody changes places,
But the world still carries on.

Love must always change to sorrow,
And everyone must play the game;
It’s here today and gone tomorrow,
But the world goes on the same.¹

Topics: Articles

“What’s wrong with the world?” someone asks. Many explanations are on offer: economic turmoil, moral collapse, political extremism. Certainly these are things that are going wrong. But are they “what’s wrong with the world”?

Topics: Articles

Most pastors would say that they aspire to be good pastors—that is, good at the task to which they’ve been set, not merely average (much less rotten!). Thankfully, the Scriptures don’t leave us without guidance as to what being a “good pastor” means. When Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, he told him, “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 4:6).

Topics: Articles

Pastoral ministry is, in many minds, synonymous with pulpit ministry. Yet pastors, as their name suggests, are not only preachers but shepherds. They are “those who will have to give an account” (Heb. 13:17), working as under-shepherds to the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:2, 4), the one to whom the sheep belong. They have been charged with caring for the flock.

Topics: Articles

As pastors, we acknowledge the importance of evangelism in the Christian life. Sharing the good news was one of the last directives that our Lord gave His disciples (Matt. 18:18–20), and the early church’s rapid growth largely was due to the believers’ obedience to this command. Given its central role in the New Testament, evangelism should be a key feature in our lives—including in our preaching.

Topics: Articles