Read Mt. 6:16-18 Many Protestants avoid fasting, thinking it to be a vestige of Medieval asceticism that is somehow alien to Reformed piety. The third example in this context concerns fasting that is not pretentious. A third time Jesus begins…
Read Mt. 6:5-8 The next example from the first Gospel that we’ll consider briefly concerns praying that is not presumptuous. The same principles hold for prayer as for almsgiving. All one needs to do to appreciate Our Lord’s wisdom in…
Matthew 6:19-24 is undoubtedly a difficult text to interpret. Why, you ask? Well, the verses are usually interpreted as if Jesus simply pasted them together. In other words, there is no context for verses 19-21 and the same goes for…
Read Mt. 6:1-4 Jesus opposed ostentatious piety. Tell that to your friends and also to yourself. And he was not fooled by the counterfeit. In Matthew 6, he developed these important ideas. Our Lord called for giving that is not…
This article is the fourth and final piece in a four-part series entitled “Truth and Idolatry.” Read part 1, “I Am Not an Idol Worshiper,” part 2, “Call the Gospel What It Is,” and part 3, “Call Theological Error What…
I am preaching through Matthew’s gospel these days and glad to have the Alliance Column from David Hall, First Truths from the First Gospel for the journey. I am currently in the Sermon on the Mount. Now, this isn’t the first time…
This article is part three of an on-going series, “Truth and Idolatry.” Read part 1, “I am Not an Idol Worshiper” and part 2, “Call the Gospel What It Is.” Golden statues, empty rituals, and corrupting bondage. Many conceptions flood…
Some Christians have become so allergic to work or effort that they blanch at the prospect of practice, virtually cursing any kind of effort as a legalistic bogeyman of some sort. However, it’s no mistake that the competitors for this…
This is the second article in a series entitled, “Truth and Idolatry.” Read part 1, “I Am Not an Idol Worshiper.” Idolatry by Degree? Idolatry lacks nuance. It knows no degrees, and before a jealous God, delivers no passable excuses,…
Read Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18 Jesus began his instruction in the Sermon on the Mount by describing the essential elements of Christian character, and then proceeded to indicate by his metaphors of salt and light the influence for good that Christians…
