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Every Spiritual Blessing in the Heavenly Places
Dear Saints, I saw something in my time in the Word this morning that I couldn’t wait to share with you. I was reading Ephesians 1:3-10, [3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [4] even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed…
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Thoughts on Covenant Baptism
This Lord’s Day, we will have the great privilege of receiving a precious covenant child into the body of Christ through the sign of baptism. There are some in our congregation who have not been exposed to infant baptism in the past and may have questions about what we mean when we baptize a baby. My hope is that this letter will help clarify what we believe infant baptism to be in contrast with what we know infant baptism is not. We don’t believe infant baptism guarantees the salvation of the child: Some churches believe in “presumptive regeneration,” which is the idea that when a child is baptized, that child…
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Count Others More Significant Than Yourselves
This week, I received a very sweet email from a young lady in our congregation who said something that absolutely overwhelmed me with joy. Speaking of the family at First Scots, she said, “the way y’all treat the people in that building is probably one of the most heaven-like things I’ve ever seen.” She’s right: in the divisive, selfish world in which we live, a church that treats one another well is a foretaste of heaven. I have read and re-read that email about 50 times this week, every time praising God for His work in this body. Her words also made me cry out to the Lord again and…
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The “One Another” Passages in the New Testament
The phrase “one another” is frequently used in the New Testament to govern how we as believers are to treat one another within the context of the church. God emphasizes this because, after loving God with our whole hearts, love for one another is the most important evidence of true spiritual vitality (Matthew 22:38-39). In the following, I have categorized 52 “one another” passages from the New Testament to help us think about how we are to treat one another. Love one another: This is the most common of all “one anothers”, especially from the lips of Jesus in the Gospels. Our attitudes toward one another: Love for one another…
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Forgiveness and the Sovereignty of God
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been using these pastoral letters to look at the various “one another” statements in the New Testament. While we will only be looking at these for a few more weeks, there are actually enough that we could look at one every week for the whole year! Now, one thing we need to remember about these “one another” statements is that they are imperatives, not suggestions. They are not like when the doctor tells us to lose a few pounds, or the dentist tells us we need to be flossing a little more. The way we treat one another is the reflection of how we…
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February 2024 Book Recommendations
Dear Saints, Many of you know that I’m a book junkie. My office is full of books, and I’m always working through seven or eight books at a time. I’m a firm believer that the books we have read are vital to our personal and spiritual growth. And at the same time, if it is true that the books we read shape us into who we are, then the books on our reading list help shape us into who we want to become. For that reason, I’m starting to send out a monthly list of book recommendations in various categories that may encourage you in your walk with the Lord. …
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Forgiving One Another
Our Pastoral Letters are presently looking at the various “one-another” passages in Scripture (see parts one and two here). This week, we’re going to look at perhaps the most difficult of the one another passages so far: forgiving one another. Ephesians 4:31-32 says, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Forgiveness In Real Life Louis Silvie Zamperini lived an extraordinary life. In 1936, he competed in the Berlin Olympics, setting a lap record in the 5,000 meter race. Upon his return to…
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Singing in the Key of Christ Alone
For a few weeks in these pastoral letters, we’re looking at the topic of life together in the church, and we’re focusing on some of the “one another” passages in Scripture. Last week, I introduced this series by saying that it’s only when the church learns to put these “one anothers” into practice that the church acts like the church. This week, I would like to think about how we handle conflict with one another by looking at Paul’s words in Romans 15:5-6, where he instructs us to live in harmony with one another: “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one…
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When the Church Acts Like the Church
Some days, I can feel quite holy. I have my devotional time, time in prayer, and I feel ready for my day. I love that time early in the morning, just me and my Bible. But then, people happen. Time to stretch those spiritual muscles: bearing one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2), encouraging one another (1 Thes 5:11), stirring one another up to love and good works (Heb 10:24-25), being patient with one another (Col 3:12-13), and the most difficult of all- forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven us (Eph 4:32). Some days, the holiness that feels so profound in private fades away when it’s time to put…
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Pastoral Thoughts on Bible Reading
Dear Saints, One of my goals for 2024 is to write more pastoral letters to our flock. In this letter, I’d like to briefly share some thoughts about something on many of our minds at the start of a new year: Bible reading. I know many of us intend to read through the Bible this year, as Pastor Walton has wonderfully exhorted us to do. I also know the Bible, at times, can be an intimidating book, especially if reading through it hasn’t been your practice in the past. I’d like to give five thoughts that I hope may be of help to you as you get started with a…
