Crossway Christian Church

The Lord Jesus Christ is the true shepherd of the church. Yet, he has given to the church under-shepherds, men given over to the task of caring for and maintaining the well-being of the sheep. How are we to do this? Let us follow the path of the Good Shepherd to find out!

We are often sold the idea that lives are directed and fashioned by solitary moments in our lives, monumental events that happen to us that change fundamentally who we are and what we are about. Yet, for many of us, this is not our reality. Our lives are not changed by any solitary moment, but by many moments, strung together, slightly altering both us and our trajectory in life. Abraham’s life of...

Circumcision was not a small deal to the Jewish people. It was a religious mark, a physical reminder not only of God’s promise, but of their belonging to God through their father Abraham. Yet, almost offhandedly, Paul sweeps away all concerns about circumcision with 4 small verses here in his letter to the Romans. Why can he do this? He offers a brief, straightforward explanation: Abraham was just...

This morning we have the great privilidge of baptizing two young men, Nate LaBo and Isaac Wallaker. Both young men not only are baptized today, but therefore have the opportunity to take the Lord’s Supper for the first time. While we often speak of the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, this is a good opportunity to speak about what baptism means, why we at Crossway handle it as we do, and how it relat...

We can no longer live the same lives we lived before there were smart phones, the internet, automobiles, and refrigeration. Yet, of all the events that have changed the course of human history, the cross of Jesus Christ stands at the apex. Nothing has radically shaped the future quite like that one weekend 2,000 years ago. So, what was life like before that? Or, rather, what was salvation like bef...

We love to press forward. We can consider the past, sure, but there is little time to consider what has happened when there is so much that will happen! Paul, having finished announcing our great gift of justification in Christ, would not be faulted for doing the same. We have a great inheritance, a great salvation, glory itself to consider! But, while such things will indeed be spoken of, Paul is...

Previously, as we walked through the first part of these verses, we saw that God’s salvation did not simply entail the putting aside of his justice, but rather the upholding of it. Oddly, when turning to our salvation, Paul notes that God has manifested his righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. All that is good! But how, precisely, does the work of Jesus make God both the just one and the j...

This week, Bill Cosby, formerly convicted of sexual assault, was allowed to walk free in Pennsylvania. It was not because the court, the jurors, the prosecution, the press, or almost anyone else in America thought that he was truly innocent. Rather, he was released on a technicality. Knowingly guilty, he is now a free man. This is not much different than those who profess Christ; knowingly guilty,...

Few people like to be the bearers of bad news. Those who are given such a task do not relish it. To have to inform someone that they are losing their job, that they have cancer, that some untold horror has come true is difficult for anyone. Yet, we have just such news to tell. And worse: our news is the worst that we can imagine; not simply a message of death, but of death eternal; of an all-power...

Questions are incredibly useful things. They are the way that we find out what we don’t know, helping to increase our knowledge of the world. They help to clarify our thinking when we are foggy about things. They can likewise be used as weapons and as rhetorical tools. Paul has labored in the first two chapters of his letter to lay the foundational reality of sin that provides the necessity of the...

Paul has been making his case that no one, on their own, is righteous before God. He has spent time focused on the unrighteousness of the Gentiles, and in the first half of Romans 2 began to turn his attention to the Jews. Now in our passage this morning, he turns his focus explicitly on the Jews. The Jews had great faith that the outward trappings of their religion would guarantee them safety fro...

Romans is known for its encouraging and uplifting passages. Few texts are quite as faith building and theologically rich as 3:21-26; few can encourage us in good works as 6:15-19; few are as uplifting in suffering as 8:18-39. These are the bright lights that many consider the heart of the epistle. Yet, we are not in these bright lights, but in Paul’s ongoing discussion of idolatry, sin, and judgme...

One year ago this week, the dam at Edenville broke, sending some 2.8 billion cubic feet of water downstream, eventually causing the Sanford dam to break, and destroying the small town of Sanford. Even as the waters rescinded, the misery continued, as the devastation lingered, for many, even to this day. Our idolatry has broken the dam of our sin, and we now find that we are awash in it. In the las...

Why is our sin so bad? Some of it is small and light, is it not? Would God send us to hell for lying in court to make sure the right verdict comes out? For simply getting angry now and again? Such questions are not new, but radically old, and are instructive. What is the real problem with our sin? And, if we can rightly identify that, what does the gospel of Jesus do about it? Today, we get a brie...

Paul was not a man who lacked boldness. He fearlessly strode into places that he knew would not receive him well, where his enemies surrounded him and would relentlessly pursue his life. Yet, all the same, he persisted in preaching the gospel. What gave Paul his great confidence and boldness? Was it a confidence in himself? In his abilities and, if nothing else, his way with words? Let us consider...

Luther’s conversion to the true gospel was likely not accomplished in one specific moment. Yet, if there was a moment, it was in studying the passage that lies before us today. It was here, above all else, that Luther came to realize that God’s gift of salvation was truly that, a gift, and that he might leave behind all attempts to earn such favor through his own merits. And it happened as he cons...

Many see any claim to authority as a claim to power, and in that, the ability to oppress and use others. Such claims are not typically wrong. We see throughout Scripture and history that men (and women!) use their authority for evil purposes, and seek to control others for their own selfish good. But, through Christ, who is of the highest authority, we have the prime counter-example! He who had al...

The authority of the apostle was an ongoing issue in many churches, not least among those very churches that he founded (see 1, 2 Cor or Gal). Why would Rome be different? The Roman churches were not started by Paul, nor did Paul’s preaching and understanding form them as they began to take shape. What right does Paul have to write such a letter to them? Why should they listen? Why should we? Anti...

Before you take a trip, it is always a good idea to look at a map of the place you will visit, even if you can navigate the city with your phone’s GPS. Doing so allows you to orient yourself correctly where you visit, and will undoubtedly help you to keep your experiences in context. Today, as we plan our visit to Paul’s letter to the Romans, we will look at the map of Romans, trying to capture th...

Christmas is the American holiday. No other day comes close, really. Christmas has its own music, sweaters, trees, cookies, and movies. Easter, at least in America, cannot compete with that! Yet, since Christianity’s inception, Resurrection Sunday has been the church’s most important day of remembrance. It is not just that we celebrate it one day a year, but every Sunday that we gather is a microc...

Christians do many weird things. Today, we proclaim the day that the Lord of glory, the one in whom we hope for eternal life, dying at the hands of wicked and sinful men, is a day best described as "good." Of course, we have good reason to do so. By his blood, he has redeemed us from our sin and given us hope. Yet, there are some things that even we Christians find odd. What does the Apostles' Cre...

Today we come to the end of the book of Esther. It has been a time, I hope, of worthwhile reflection on the work of God, even as it shadows the coming of the cross of Jesus Christ. Today, as we read and consider the last two chapters, we will focus on summing up the major themes of the book; themes that we no doubt have hit previously but will reward reflection. What have we to learn about God fro...

St. Patrick, the great early missionary, and the man who helped to bring the gospel to the British Isles, is celebrated each year with a day dedicated to drinking and debauchery. How unfitting that is! But it is a good reminder to each of us that our influence and acts live on far after we die. In Esther 7, we reach the emotional climax of our story; yet, even so, there remains work to be done. In...

Throughout the history of the church, many have questioned the nature and purpose of the OT. If we have Jesus, and he is the focus, why worry about the OT? Why not just focus on the new? The OT, however, is a necessary part of God’s revelation to us: it helps to shape and mold the very ways in which we are to think about Jesus and what he has done. The OT, then, builds up the picture of Jesus, lik...

James will end his epistle in Chapter 5 with his subject matter being a reflection of his heart. He was a godly man who was led by the one true God to be his witness as well as the author of this epistle. James lived a life of obedience to God's Word and law and a devotion to prayer. Today we will look at the first half of Chapter 5, verses 1-11. His audience is sinners and saints. The second half...