National unity is a major topic of conversation in the United States of America. After all, the word “united” is part of our name. Our national motto is “out of many, one.” Most people in the United States long to be a part of a nation united, but yet they often don’t feel very unified. The nation of Israel is …
Living in the Covenant
The very first prerequisite to understanding the Old Testament as a whole and the book of Joshua in particular is to understand the different covenants that are brought forth in the preceding books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). A short list of the covenants up until Joshua 1 are as follows: Adamic Covenant- God told Adam …
Motives
Almost every sermon series that we teach at Venture seems to have a focus on right motives in the acts of obeying God. This is not coincidence. The theme of right motives for Christian living is actually a major tenet of what it means to be a Christian. Think about some of the things that Jesus said to people who …
Reaping and Sowing
Paul has spent most of the letter to the Galatians explaining why salvation cannot be found through adherence to the law of Moses. Toward the end of the book, he now reintroduces some laws that have are good, from God, and still have great impacts on our daily life. In the past weeks, we have talked about the ethical good …
The Humility of Bearing a Burden
The timing of this discussion comes during a month when modern Western culture celebrates the fact that it is rushing headlong into a moral abyss that will culminate in its eventual implosion. All our cultural institutions and leaders are trying to outdo one another to see who can demonstrate the greatest “pride” in a particular angle of humanity’s fallen state. …
Bear One Another’s Burdens
There is much made throughout Galatians drawing a contrast between life by faith indwelledwith the Spirit of God and life according to the flesh that is identified with law. The only positivething that could be said about the law previously in Galatians was that it kept the nationtogether in a way that pointed to Christ. The law of Moses was …
Restoration
Very few weeks go by without a news story about a prominent Christian who has been caught in sin. This becomes a common theme that people expect when they hear things about the American church. But it’s even more jarring that every church has moral failings by people within the body. Some of these are big and noticed by others; …
Life by the Spirit
One of the great ironies of religious life is how some of the people whose lives are most dictated by rules are often the people who are greatest offenders of the rules. This makes no sense to many people who are outside of religion. Religious people who fail to uphold the rules are very quickly labeled as “hypocrites” and cast …
False Doctrine
I often say that I love the academic environment of seminary or anywhere that is set aside for in-depth learning about theology and the Bible. However, there is one negative aspect to seminary when I attended that is very easy to assume as the reason you are there. Seminary students (and I include myself) can be some of the most …
The Yoke of Slavery
One of the greatest works of literature in the history of the English language is the allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress. Many of the themes of Galatians take great prominence in Bunyan’s masterpiece. Not least of these is the comparison between works of religion and salvation by grace through faith. A great illustration of this juxtaposition takes place on one of the occasions …