Podcast: Gospel in Life

On the surface, one of the most unattractive things about Christianity to our culture today is its view of sex; but if you look underneath the surface and get a better grasp on what is really taught, the Christian view of sex is one of the most attractive things about it. In other words, a…

As soon as you hear the word relationships, right away you say, “Ah, relationships,” and you think of friendship or romance. But the main purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to talk about our relationships to other people, to those outside of our close relationships. Right away, Jesus talks about three groups of…

What is the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus? In 1 Corinthians 15, there are three basic things Paul says about the resurrection as he answers three questions. We must confront these three questions about Jesus’ resurrection: 1) did it happen? 2) what did it accomplish? and 3) what should we do about it? This…

Christianity is utterly different from religion. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says there are two paths—one that leads to life and one that leads to destruction. And here’s what the scary thing is: both ways have people praying, giving to the poor, obeying God’s law. You can do all that…

Jesus introduces a revolutionary kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount. He contrasts the pattern, power, and product of two kingdoms: the old one which we are currently under, and the new one which is to come. Jesus’ teaching goes against every natural instinct, and represents a reversal of the world’s values. This sermon was…

What can the music of John Coltrane tell us about the relationship of  art to God, and of our own work in general to God? We can all learn quite a lot from Coltrane, actually. And what we can see in his approach to his music applies not just to musicians and artists, but to…

In Ecclesiastes, the author takes the position of a practical secularist. And he asks, “If this life is all there is, then is life meaningless?” The writer says if this life is all there is, if there’s no God and no meaning that you have to submit to, then you’re free to construct your own…

Consider how much of your time, how much of your life, is built around your work. Yet, so many of the books and materials that look at what it means to live as Christians only focus on our evenings and our weekends. How are we to be a Christian on the job? We’re going to…

Some of you may know I was actually a teacher at graduate school seminary for five years. Then I said, “Get me back in the ministry,” where there is no grading papers and no one knows whether people are learning or not. But the gospel changes everything . . . even education. We’re looking now…

If you’re Christian, what is the rationale for being an actor? Why should Christians be actors? How should Christians who are actors or writers or choreographers or directors think about their faith and their work? To answer that, we need to look at the power of stories, at why we connect with and are overwhelmed…