These first verses of Genesis are often rife with controversy. In this sermon, Edmonson reminds us that these verses are foundational for our faith, giving us a pattern for God’s mighty acts throughout history. In them, we not only find revealed truth about how God created in the beginning, but a pattern for how God will redeem his world, and save his people.
Reformed
A Light to the Nations
Richard Mouw
Isaiah 60:5 proclaims that the “wealth of the nations will come to you.” In this sermon, Mouw unpacks the surprising implications of this prophetic claim. In our time of polarization, tribalism, and racial tension, Mouw reminds us of the eschatological reality of God that continues to break into our world. The promises of salvation include a word for our personal redemption, but they also – as we see in Isaiah’s vision – include a word for all of creation, and all of society, including how we live together, anticipating that day when those from “every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” will worship before the Lamb.
Towards a Theology of Race, Part 2
Stuart McAlpine
“The root of racial irreconciliation is the disconnect of the image of God in us with a relationship with God himself.”
Toward a Theology of Race, Part 1
Stuart McAlpine
How does one do good biblical exegesis on race? Pastor Stuart McAlpine of Christ Our Shepherd Church in Washington, DC has recently begun a three-part series called “Towards a Theology of Race,” the entirety which we will be publishing here. Here is Part I. An excerpt: “We must have an understanding of the roots of present bad cultural fruit. The self-professing church has a responsibility to take the untruthful consequences of Scripture being manipulated. It was not by cultural norms that the church justified racism, but by the very scriptures that our authors say that our understanding of sin is based upon. …We will not deal effectively and redemptively with social and racial personal inequalities if there is no conviction about spiritual equality in creation, equality in our sin, and equality in our salvation and deliverance. The manipulation of Christian faith by Christless religion had a long history before a year like 1619, and before the next stage of our national, theological conspiracy.”
But God…
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Is it possible that the gospel can be summarized in just two words? For Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the answer is an emphatic “yes.”
Banquet of Love
Bill DeJong
“The Lord’s Supper is not only a taste of God’s love to nourish us; it’s also a banquet of God’s love to unite us.
There ought to be no rank at the Lord’s Supper, no hierarchy, no divisions. At the Lord’s Supper there aren’t employers and employees or teachers and students. There aren’t even husbands and wives, or parents and children. There’s only one category—believers, brothers and sisters.”
Render Unto Caesar
Anthony Elenbaas
If all human wars stem from efforts to take the place of God, what needs humbling in this particularly fraught political hour?