In Genesis 4, Cain and Abel each bring an offering to God. God accepts Abel’s offering but rejects Cain’s. Why does God accept one and reject the other? Because, with a heart full of faith (Heb. 11:4), Abel brought the best of what he had to the Lord. Abel’s attitude was, “Because God is what’s most important to me, I want to give him the best of what I have.” So he brought the firstborn and the fat portions, and “the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering” [...]

In December, Christians remember, reflect on, and rejoice in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The incarnation refers to when the Son of God, or the second Person of the Trinity, put on human flesh, or “took flesh to himself.” The apostle John describes it like this: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14). And the apostle Paul: “In him (Jesus) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9). The Ligonier Statement on Christology summarizes this doctrine like this, “Truly God, he became truly man, [...]

Martin Luther’s life is an excellent example of a life well-lived for the glory of God. But his death is also an excellent example of how to die well for the glory of God. Luther preached what would be his last sermon at his home church, the Castle Church in Wittenberg, on January 17, 1546. On the same day, he wrote to a friend, “I am writing, my James, as an old man, decrepit, sluggish, tired, cold, and now also one-eyed.” He wrote of the “highly deserved rest (as [...]

Over the next two months I will be taking a sabbatical.  Some may wonder what this is and why churches do this for their pastors.  First, a sabbatical, broadly defined, is a time when a pastor draws back from his regular responsibilities for the purpose of rest and renewal.  There are no commands in Scripture that tell churches and pastors to do this.  Sabbaticals are thus a matter of prudence, not obedience.  Despite no clear commands in Scripture for pastors to take a sabbatical, in this article, I’d like [...]

Every human, and only humans, have a conscience.  Animals don’t have consciences because they don’t have the capacity for moral judgment.  Only humans have this capacity because only humans are made in the image of God.  Our consciences feel like an independent, third party watching over our lives.  This is because all humans know intuitively that God exists (Rom. 1:19-20) and all humans have an imperfect-but-accurate version of God’s law written on their hearts (2:14-16).  Verse 16 makes the connection between our intuitive knowledge of God and our intuitive [...]

When it comes to giving to the church, we all wonder, “How much should we give?”  In his instructions about giving in 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul never mentions specific amounts or percentages, but he does give us several principles to follow.  One of them is in 9:6-10.  In these verses (esp. vv. 6 and 10) Paul uses the metaphor of reaping and sowing to explain what happens when we give.  The Corinthians may have thought that they would lose whatever they give, so Paul reminds them that, just as [...]