It is a strange moment preaching for my last time at Parish Presbyterian Church. The nine years that my family and I have been able to walk with this church have been precious to us. I will be forever grateful to Parish for graciously listening to me as a young preacher and patiently dealing with me as a young pastor.…
As we’ve been working through this series on Galatians, I have been following along in Martin Luther’s masterful commentary on the book, which both Pastors George and Cam have mentioned in their sermons. Coming to this week’s Keystone verse, Galatians 2:20, Luther lets loose with 10 pages of commentary on this verse alone. He writes, “These words, ‘the Son…
Several times the past two weeks, we have heard the book of Galatians described as a “one stringed harp,” a letter with a single-minded focus on the gospel of Christ. You’ll find a similar single-mindedness in the hymns we sing this morning: just as Paul’s narrative of his own conversion and ministry puts Christ front and center, each of our…
Foolish hearts why will ye wander from a love so true and deep? Here at the beginning of Galatians 1, Paul wastes no time expressing his dismay that the churches he has nurtured in the faith have drifted from the doctrines of grace back into man-centered religion. The temptation to rely upon works of the law or human goodness for…
In his commentary on Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Martin Luther has this to say of verse three: “These two words, grace and peace, comprehend in them whatsoever belongeth to Christianity.” This morning, we’ll be reading and singing quite a bit about grace and peace. The Gospel Invitation from 2 Corinthians declares, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus…
After fifteen weeks of walking through the book of Ecclesiastes, we come to what the Preacher calls “the end of the matter.” You may notice that many of the hymns we sing this morning have appeared earlier in this series. Pastor Grant’s sermon on Chapter One was paired with Hear Me, All You People (Psalm 49), comparing the Preacher’s lament…
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow… This morning’s Gospel Invitation from John 3 makes it very clear—because God loves, He gives. We serve a generous Lord who promises blessing even in a world where the days of darkness are many and when all is vanity under the sun (Ecclesiastes 11:8). This is the same God who, in Psalm 112,…
The “profile of foolishness” in this morning’s sermon text paints a devastating picture of our fallen world, where the vile and ugly are celebrated while the beautiful and noble are torn down (Ecclesiastes 10:6-7). Worse yet, the foolishness of the world is not limited to the society around us but penetrates our very hearts as well. As we sing today,…
After several chapters filled with frustration and seeming pessimism, here in today’s sermon text the Preacher of Ecclesiastes comes to some surprising conclusions: “eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart” (vs. 7), “Let your garments be always white” (vs. 8), “Enjoy life” (vs. 9). Having come to terms with his inability to know…
The Westminster Confession of Faith states that “The distance between God and the creation is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part…” (WCF 7.1). Here in chapter 8 of Ecclesiastes, the…