The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:13:

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

These are the beginning of comforting words to the living in Thessalonica about their deceased family member and friends. The Apostle reminds them that the living believers have hope because the believers who “are asleep” are with Jesus and will be reunited with their bodies and all believers, living and dead will be together with the Lord. He reminds them to comfort each other with these words (v:18).

Those believers who have passed from this world are with Christ in peace and comfort. We, the living can take solace in this and encourage one another. Often we may hear sermons on why we need not be afraid of death as believers, and that is certainly true. But, there is something I don’t think I have ever heard anyone teach on. Joy (my wife) and I saw it in my mother this past weekend.

As many of you know, my mother Continue reading …

I became a Christian in the 1970s. This was a challenging and exciting time for me. I hadn’t grown up in the church and was by example (my father) and choice, an atheist prior to being persuaded of the validity and truth of the claims of Christianity. When I became a believer the Jesus movement was in full swing and the era of church trends seems to have been coming into its own. Being a new believer I was vaguely aware of some of the controversies and concerns but only vaguely. I didn’t know enough to know what I didn’t know.

One the one hand, the Jesus Movement was challenging tradition in their evangelism and worship. Long hair, sandals and more contemporary music Continue reading …

It seems that Sociology has finally started taking an interest in that amorphous moniker: “Evangelicalism.” I once had a sociologist friend describe sociology as the “Study of all things obvious.” Evangelicals have been around for a long time, but as Timothy Beal writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education:

. . . [A]cademic studies of American evangelicalism and related movements have been fairly few and far between compared with those of other religious subjects—such as early American religious history and religion and politics—and their authors have written primarily for audiences of their disciplinary peers. More recently, however, there appears to be a growing intellectual interest in the subject among nonevangelical readers and outside academe.

Noteworthy are first hand accounts of outsiders venturing like anthropologists into the Continue reading …

Here’s the verse that’s been getting under my skin lately, dear reader:

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints ; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.Ephesians 5:4

In particular, what’s aggravating me is that phrase: “coarse jesting.” What does that mean? I suspect only a few sermons Continue reading …