Bill_Spanjer

Ouch!

"Unlike many Presbyterians, he often used the word 'beautiful'" Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It. Tough but good words for a PCA minister to hear.

A Confused Jenner-ation

Thanks to a caller on the Eric Metaxas show that brought up a fine comparison regarding the Bruce Jenner issue and the response to it that has dominated our culture.  The tidal wave of approval of this mans sad condition from the power brokers of the media, news, and entertainment has been predictable and discouraging. But as the caller mentioned, if it was a celebrity woman who was convinced that she was fat even though she clearly was not and went about starving herself to alter her body to conform to a feeling she had, our culture would rightly view her as unhealthy and struggling with anorexia.  No one would call her courageous and applaud her for taking control of her own identity.  When Bruce Jenner makes such radical changes to his body to conform to a feeling he has long struggled with, we do him and others like him no favors by telling him...

The Christian Mind

There is no longer a Christian mind. There is still, of course, a Christian ethic, a Christian practice, and a Christian spirituality. As a moral being, the modern Christian subscribes to a code other than that of the non-Christian. As a member of the church, he understands obligations and observations ignored by the non-Christian. As a spiritual being, in prayer and meditation, he strives to cultivate a dimension of life unexplored by the non-Christian. But as a thinking being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization. He accepts religion - its morality, its worship, its spiritual culture; but he rejects the religious view of life, the view which sets all earthly issues within the context of the….

A Treasure Pursuing

Imagine a long day of work at the business that you and some friends began a few years ago.  Things have been tough as they are for almost every startup.  This day is no different.  Sales were down again and you are exhausted.  You shut down for the night and you have just spent an hour or so cleaning and cashing out the registers in preparation for the next day’s business.  You are just ready to lock up and go home when Jesus shows up.  You have heard word of his amazing teaching and healings and have even met him once.  He actually invited you to come and be a follower of his.  You were interested, but you have a business to run.  So, Jesus shows up and asks if before you lock up he could use your business space for a quick Bible study.  You just want to go home for the night, but you have great respect for him and...

Doesn't He Care?

It must have been brutal to have been one of those people who showed up to be healed by Jesus only to find out that he had just left the area.  In Luke 4, after Jesus had healed Peter’s mother in law and many others he left and went off to be alone.  The crowds, anxious to have him continue the amazing works he had been doing, pursued him and tried to convince him to stay.  How many people hoped that this might be the answer to their prayers for healing only to be disappointed?  How many people travelled some distance to get there and see him only to find out he was gone.  When asked to stay, Jesus denied their request.  He had come to teach, he said, and must go to others.  How do we reckon with the painful reality that Jesus would not stay and heal the broken. How do we deal with fact that Jesus does not answer many of our prayers for healing and other good things? Didn’t he care? ...

Jesus' Censorship of The Gospel?

A few weeks ago I wrote about the amazing fact that the demons recognized and professed publicly the true identity of Jesus.  I made the point then, that we must have much more than the faith of demons if we are to have saving faith.  Well, one more word about the demon’s sermon in Luke 4.  As shocking as it must have been to have a demon publicly announce the identity of Christ, perhaps even more shocking is the fact that Jesus commanded the spirits to be quiet and “would not allow them to speak because they knew that He was the Christ.”  This is striking given...

Who Is Like The Lord Our God?

The other gods were strong; but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.

                                                              Edward Shillito,  "Jesus Of The Scars"

 

The Blood Of The Martyrs

News broke yesterday of 147 Christians killed in Kenya by Al-Shabaab, the radical muslim group out of Somalia.  According to an article here ( http://news.sky.com/story/1457254)  the gunmen singled out Christians and shot them on the spot. In hearing this terrible news we join our cry to that of the martyrs in Revelation 6, “How long, O Lord holy and true, before you judge and avenge our blood?”  It is hard to hear about  our brothers and sisters suffering around the world and in particular, in East Africa and in the Middle East.  It is absolutely appropriate to pray that God would avenge their blood and judge these murderers and servants of the beast or convert them. However, God’s response to the martyrs and to us, is that...

Beyond The Faith Of demons

In what must have been a shocking moment in Luke 4:34, as the people were gathered for worship in the synagogue listening to Jesus’ teaching, when suddenly a demon burst forth in speech from the mouth of a possessed man.  Contrary to the cursing one might have expected, Its’ words were perhaps the truest thing ever spoken in that synagogue.  In some ways this demon preached the best sermon ever heard there.  He yelled, “Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”  Jesus’ true identity was being declared by this demon.  In verse 41 we are told that...

On Becoming Good for Nothing

Jesus told his disciples very clearly that they were the salt of the Earth.  Of course this applies not only to his immediate listeners, but to all his followers.  This demands that we bring a distinct flavor to the culture around us.  We are to bring a “Jesus flavor”, as one of my Seniors put it in class.  Yes, we are to bring that distinct, God glorifying, righteousness magnifying, self sacrificing, beatitudes flavor that we taste so clearly in Christ.  Or, as he goes on to say...

False Conclusions of a Secular World View

A famous theologian has recently said, “A society is viewed as fully modern, so far as it is post-Christian.” Based on this definition, America appears to be racing towards the apex of the mountain that is full modernization.

We live in a secular age. An age that is now subconsciously the living embodiment of the philosophical “ISMS” of the 20th century: Relativism, Logical Positivism, Pragmatism, Existentialism, Humanism.

One of the great and destructive consequences of this Secular worldview is that it has left in its wake many false dilemmas.  It has pitted friends as enemies and enemies as friends.

Polycarp's Prayer

Yesterday in the third week of our class on Revelation we studied the letter to Smyrna in chapter two. Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna lived during the second century and suffered persecution and death at the hands of the Romans. Considering that Polycarp may have been present for the initial reading of Revelation to Smyrna and how it contains warning of the coming persecution, this was an excellent time to look at Polycarp's prayer before his martyrdom. 

Lifting the Veil: Seeing the World Through the Eyes of God

Though the book of Revelation is sometimes confusing, and often intimidating, its beauty is in the fact that it lifts the veil and allows us to see our world from God’s perspective.  While our experiences tell us of a world out of control, Revelation shows us God seated firmly upon his throne.  Our eyes may see world leaders in fine attire dignified in stature; however,  John exposes many of them throughout history as beasts.  The cultures of the world, particularly for us, Western cultures, may appear as a thing of beauty, yet Christ unmasks them as harlots wooing us toward idolatry.  The church may seem to be a broken and flawed assembly, but