Crossway Christian Church

Codes are used all around us; we make use of them on our phones, with every acronym we employ, and even in passing conversations when trying to keep things private. John's symbolism is much like a code, while it is not breakable in through the use of math or logic. Rather, John's symbolism provides insight into his Gospel, into the nature of who Jesus is and what he has come to do. Today, John all...

Today we are beginning a new sermon series through the Gospel of John. John’s Gospel stands in startling contrast of style and, frankly, substance to the other three Gospels. What made John want to pen his gospel? Is the message he is trying to communicate that much different from the others? No, indeed, John understands well that no three writings could ever grasp the fullness of who Jesus was or...

Today we are finishing our sermon series on prayer where we started it some two months ago. We started this time of looking at prayer with Jesus’ words of wisdom for us from the Sermon on the Mount. There, we found the reason for our prayers; today, we find the model of our prayers – what our prayers, in their various forms and foci, should look like. The model prayer provides a simple basis for o...

If we are honest, the majority of our prayers consist in attaining good in the here and now. We pray for jobs and relationships, health and contentment. We are told, in many quarters, that God is always desiring to give these things to us, if we just ask. Indeed, Jesus says as much! If we have faith, we are told, all these things are ours. But what if our greatest blessing comes not in health, com...

Our culture, largely spurred on, even without notice, by Christian ethics, largely supports the idea of love conquering all. We are all sure, no matter what else separates us, including what “love” is supposed to be, that it is the thing that should define us. After all, as we have recently heard, it is the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of Christians. Yet, today, we read of a passage that appea...

We are a happy people, or we think that we should be. The nature of our worship songs set the tone for our attitudes of what God should want from Christians: upbeat, thankful, rejoicing. Yet, at many times, and for many people, the sinfulness of the world sets the tone of their song. Their lives ring out with a pitiful dirge, not a playful ditty. Today, we turn to the nature of lament, a prayer of...

Last week we looked at the thankfulness of David, even in the midst of unmitigated evil. Today, we will try to address how we can be thankful even amidst prosperity. While this is a slight departure from looking simply at prayers through the Scripture, the purpose of the text is to ground the greatness of God over all things. If our prosperity blinds us to the reality of God’s goodness, the remedy...

We are continually told in Scripture to give thanks to God for the good things that he gives us. Simply being created beings makes us accountable to be thankful to the one who has created us (Rom 1:18-21). But often, the nature of our sin, and the world around us, makes being thankful hard. Sometimes, we find it difficult because of prosperity, but more often because of difficulty. Today, we have...

While we should pray for others, and especially for their great need of salvation, we cannot think that we are outside of such needs. We, too, are miserable sinners in need of saving grace! How ought we to go about asking for God’s help, when he is the one against whom we have sinned, and the judge who stands to condemn us? In Psalm 51, David writes of his experience praying for this very thing –...

When we pray, we often do not just pray for ourselves. Part of being a Christian is recognizing the great needs of those around you. When we pray for others, our prayers are called intercessory prayers. While there are many ways to pray for others, today we look closely at how Moses interceded for the Israelites before God and attempt to think through how his prayer ought to be imitated by us.

David says to God, vindicate me, or judge me. Effectually saying – judge so as to defend me. There is only one who has the right to judge and defend and that is God and David knows that. David offers his heart and mind to God to be tested - David can do this only because they both belong to God.

Today we are starting a new sermon series pointed at deepening our knowledge of prayer, that we might be more faithful in prayer, and better understand the immense importance of our prayers. This series will look at several diverse types of prayer made by God's people both in the New and the Old Testaments; but before we look at those prayers, it is important that we understand correctly why we pr...

Today we finish our study through the book of Galatians. As Paul wraps up his letter, we see a review of the most basic points that Paul makes to the Galatians. The gospel is the center of our lives before God, it alone has the power to justify us through the proclamation and our personal belief in Jesus' work on the cross. The wonderful news of Galatians is that this is all you need: trust that C...

We are told that, in order to be civil in public and in private friendships, we ought to avoid speaking on politics and religion. How much more, then, should pastors who earn support from church avoid speaking about that kind support! Yet, Paul insists that such giving is not just for the benefit of the pastor (which, indeed, it is!) but it also benefits the congregation that generously supports h...

Paul has started to fill in what it means to love our neighbors as ourselves, calling for us to walk by the Spirit by cultivating fruit in our lives. This focus was mainly on who we were to be and the kind of characteristics that we ought to have. Now, Paul wants to fill that picture in even further, and lead the Galatians in how such fruit is to be used amongst the body of believers known as the...

We are caught in a time between the times. Paul has encouraged us to know that we are free from the law, a thought that he will come back to in Galatians 5:16-24, because the law was from a former time, dominated by the flesh. Yet, Paul has also pushed us to see that our struggle against the flesh is not over. Being justified in Christ, cleared before the courtroom of God through his sacrifice, do...

One of the toughest commands placed upon us by Christ our Lord is to love our enemies. It is only by not thinking through what is being asked of us that many of us don’t balk more at the request: given that the same Christ said in the same sermon that persecution was to come our way, how are we to love those who seek our harm, even to our deaths? Although slightly eased, the same question applies...

Human wisdom is not a gateway for spiritual decisions. Past faithfulness is not a guarantee of future devotion. Small steps are not guards against great distances. 1 Kings shows that apostasy does not happen overnight. Small steps of disobedience eventually leads to a big departure from the faith.

The Galatians had been duped. Almost led astray by a false doctrine, they had listened to others they had no right to listen to. Sheep with pointy teeth are always a dead giveaway. Yet, we struggle to see them for who they are, and can be led astray by their false doctrines and the itching of our ears. How are we to protect ourselves? What kind of things ought we be persuaded by?

The idea of "firstfruits" is lost on many. An agricultural reference, it refers to the offering usually given during the first part of the harvest - but it means much more than that. The firstfruits were not just fruits, but the best of the produce of the land, given to God as an indication that all of it belonged to him, to secure his blessing on the rest of the harvest. When Paul calls Christ th...

The death of Christ has a temporal and eternal impact on the believer in Christ as he is united to him in his death. Paul connects Christ’s death directly to the believer. The Christian is dead to sin, dead with Christ, and dead no more.

In 5:2-6, much like 2:21, Paul brings his argument to its conclusion. Faith in Christ is all you need; not only does circumcision avail you nothing, but it puts you under the obligation of the law and separates you from the benefits of Christ. Therefore, do not turn to the law, but believe. But what is the nature of this belief, this faith?

Many questions surround the text of Galatians 4:21-5:1, from its placement in the letter to the nature of its argument. Why does Paul include something that is so difficult as the last argument in his epistle? The passage is not meant to be difficult but illuminating to both the Old Testament and Paul’s argument in Galatians.

We love reason, and appeals to cold logic seem to be the order of the day. We are continually told of reason’s importance: from the need for math and the scientific method as modes of knowledge, to our love of court-room dramas, logic and reason are seen to be the arbiters of truth in our culture. But humans are not computers; we are not beings who act and respond to logic alone. God often appeals...

The theme of Galatians rolls on in chapter 4: God’s work in Christ means that believers no longer need the law and are justified freely by Christ’s work on the cross. Paul reminds the Galatians of the slavery that existed before Christ for all people, so that all must come to God through the foot of the cross (cf. Gal 3:28). Here, however, Paul pushes further into our redemption, now focusing on o...