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What Does It Mean to Rest in Christ?
This month, we are studying the ways that God has designed us to glorify Him both in our rest and our work. As we saw in last week’s letter, God has designed the world with built-in rhythms for both: He has designed the day for activity and the night for sleep. He has designed seasons for harvesting and seasons for reaping. He has designed six days for working and one for rest. He even gives us a few months off from cutting grass each year! These rhythms all point to the wise design of an caring God. No Rest for the Weary If such rhythms are baked into creation, why…
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They Will Know You By Your Love
We have been using these pastoral letters over the last two months to examine many of the different “one another” passages in the New Testament. I hope it has been an encouragement to you; it has certainly encouraged me as I have watched you live out these commands from God in the life of our church. As we conclude this topic with this pastoral letter, I want to return to a quote I shared in the first pastoral letter in this series: “Holiness is not a mystical condition experienced in relation to God but in isolation from human beings. You cannot be good in a vacuum, but only in the real…
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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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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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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…
