Tag: Grace

Terraced olive grove on hillside with person harvesting olives near a coastal village

Summer Reruns: Humble and Intentional Faith

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I had somebody ask me the other day if I had ever gone back to read an old post or sermon and found that I had written something in the past that I no longer agree with or believe. I was happily able to assure him that this wasn’t the case. I haven’t read anywhere in the universe of every post I’ve ever written to be sure, but my thinking on a number of issues has remained pretty stable over the past decade. I say that because here is a post from way back near the very beginning of the blog reflecting on a passage that I wrote about not too long ago on our journey through Romans. While I bring out some different angles on the passage here than I explored more recently, I still heartily endorse everything I wrote back then. Let take a trip down memory lane today and reflect on the humility and the intentionality the Christian faith requires.

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Worry About Yourself First

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Last week, I was out of town, and Pastor Dave did a great job walking everyone through the second part of Matthew 6. This week we are getting into the final third of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus opens this next section talking about judgment, and specifically not judging others. Or does He? What Jesus has to say about judgment here is more nuanced than it seems, often misunderstood, and absolutely vital for us to get right. Let’s dive in.

Worry About Yourself First

Have you ever been judged before? I don’t mean in a court of law. I mean you did something somebody else didn’t think you should have done and they made sure you knew it. Now, as for how they communicated this disapproval, the options are manifold. Maybe they just told you to your face that you were wrong. The direct approach usually does get the job done. Perhaps they didn’t use their words, but their face said plenty. I’ve been told I can sometimes use my outside voice without ever opening my mouth. Anybody else struggle with an overly expressive face? They could have been more indirect with their judgment as well, expressing their distaste for your chosen path in how they treated you thereafter. However they made their thoughts plain to you, if you were confident in your chosen course of action, you probably processed a single thought in your mind: I sure wish they would quit judging me. 

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Man tied to tree with rope in dense forest looking distressed

Getting Caught in Your Own Trap

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“Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman? For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, and he considers all his paths. A wicked man’s iniquities will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin. He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.” (Proverbs‬ ‭5‬:‭20‬-‭23‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Have you ever done something that seemed like a good idea at the time only to run into a wall later? Had you really stopped to think about it, you probably wouldn’t have done it, but you wanted it. And so, instead of listening to the friend or two who warned you against it, you convinced yourself that you were right or even wise—at least justified—in doing whatever it was. Sin is a trap, but it’s one we often fall into ourselves because of a pattern of bad decision making. This applies to all sorts of situations, but especially times of sexual sin. Let’s talk about it.

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Open Bible with broken chains on wooden table at a rural forked path with sunset

The Fast Road to Nowhere

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“My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge. Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil, in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol. She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.” (Proverbs‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

When Paul was warning the Corinthian church about sexual immorality, one of the things he observed to them was that sexual sins hurt ourselves. Most sin hurts other people when we do it. Sexual sin hurts us. It may hurt others too, but it definitely hurts us. Why would anyone do something they knew to be damaging to their body? It just doesn’t make a lot of sense. But unfortunately, folly in this particular area is frightfully hard to resist. We need the kind of wisdom Solomon calls us to here. Let’s talk about it.

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The Good News About High Standards

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Last week, as we continued our summer teaching series, A Kingdom Vision, we started working through the second half of Matthew 5. We often look at these verses as a series of only loosely connected blocks of teaching from Jesus. What we came to discover, though, is that in this section Jesus is doing something really important. He is helping us see and understand that self-righteousness is not the way into God’s kingdom. That’s not how God’s kingdom works. His kingdom is a kingdom of grace. After establishing this fact, Jesus gives us six examples to prove His point. Let’s work through those today as we finish up the rest of Matthew 5 together.

The Good News About High Standards

We have been watching a series on the Angel Studios streaming service called Guarded lately. It’s a basic romantic-drama. One of the main characters is the billionaire owner of a tech company, and one of the prominent plotlines so far revolves around his relationship with his father. No matter what he does, no matter how successful he becomes, his father is only ever critical. He seems to almost delight in pointing out every flaw he has or mistake he makes. His character hasn’t said it out loud, but you can tell that he feels like no matter how hard he tries, he’s never going to be good enough for his dad. 

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