Work may not be as certain as death and taxes, but it has been around longer. Just read Genesis 1. From the beginning of human existence, it was part of what God made us to do. Work is a blessing—few things are as fulfilling as a job well done. And yet it can also feel like a curse—how many people do you know who hate their job?

Why is that?

If you’d like a better handle on the pleasures and pains of work, a good place to start would be Work and Our Labor in the Lord by James Hamilton, profess..

We know the Reformation recovered biblical theology, with the five solas. We know it contributed to a divided Western church. We might even know how the revival sparked by Luther’s dramatic protest in 1517 eventually led to new ways of viewing work, government, economics, and more. We’ll study and celebrate those effects when we gather April 3 to 5 in Indianapolis for The Gospel Coalition 2017 National Conference, No Other Gospel: Reformation 500 and Beyond.

But did you know the Reformation als..

Sure, we usually do this selectively. Liberals and progressives, conservatives and traditionalists each have their own favorite sins that they like to denounce, while ignoring those that seem to painful to confront. In the meantime, adultery and complicity in oppression are far too prevalent among us, as we live our comfortable, non-confrontational lives. We are so used to slander and deceit – or even practicing it ourselves – that we stand by as it crashes like a wave through the highest places..

The critical lesson is that if we crucify the desire, God will almost always shield us from the opportunity. And even if God may permit the devil to throw a spark of opportunity our way, there’s nothing in the heart that will easily catch fire. However, if we entertain and enjoy the desire to sin, God may permit the opportunity to sin to coincide.

When a Christian falls into gross immorality, the question arises: What came first: the desire to sin or the opportunity?

From what I’ve seen and he..

Richard Hays explores the ways in which the Gospel writers draw the Old Testament to narrate the identity of Jesus. In Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness he focuses on Jesus as the embodiment of Israel’s God. In Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels he goes beyond this to look at other aspects of the identity of Jesus, as well as the re-narration of Israel’s story in light of Jesus and the role of the church (the gathering of Christ-followers) in the world. I am ..

In one of the best reads of the last few months, Kenneth Woodward, Getting Religion: Faith, Culture, and Politics from the Age of Eisenhower to the Era of Obama, opens with some insights into what he calls “embedded religion.”
Many of the younger leaders in our churches today don’t know the story of the older leaders, and I don’t know a better book to “catch them up” than Woodward’s romp through the last sixty years or so. Extraordinary prose is accentuated by Woodward’s presence in all the majo..

“Attitudes toward homosexuality and sexual identity have been transformed, obviously, with far-reaching consequences for religious movements of all kinds. Religious groups have had to confront gay-related issues in their own ranks and also had to decide their attitudes to public policy.”

What are the most significant changes and megatrends that have occurred in the U.S. since the mid-1970s?

If you imagine someone time traveling between the eras, what would strike them? What was not tolerated t..

Today’s media has hijacked the word “radical.” Its Latin origin simply means “roots,” like the roots of a tree.

In this sense, Christian parents actually hope to raise “radical” kids. As our kids grow up, we want them to grow down—deep into the roots of the faith.

Deep Roots

Why should we wait years to introduce our kids to theological treasures like the Trinity, the attributes of God, the storyline of the Bible, or union with Christ? Kids are brighter than we often realize. Even at a young ..

All things considered, of the three, the third explanation seemed most likely. I had a seminary professor who used to warn us all about the danger of empire building. He was exactly right. As I sat in his office, he would recount stories of this fellow and that who had trampled on old friends as they sought to build a (religious) empire (his word) of some sort. He noted how pastors do it. He warned about the problems inherent to the church growth movement, which was in full swing, and the Reform..

After a recent talk I gave, an attendee shared that Psalm 88 was her favorite psalm. For those of us familiar with it, we might hear such a comment and raise our eyebrows in confusion.

Psalm 88? Really?

Psalm 88 isn’t a feel-good, everything-will-be-all-right kind of psalm. In fact, it’s the darkest one. If we put it to music, it’d be set to the tune of a sad country song—if not a funeral dirge. Hear the despair of the psalmist’s words:

O LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night bef..