Redwood Church Preaching

Shamgar and Ehud are a study in contrasts: Ehud is Hebrew, Shamgar is Canaanite; Ehud smote a people of the land, Shamgar a people of the sea; Ehud struck one head, Shamgar 600 bodies; Ehud used a weapon for intimate and personal assassination, Shamgar a tool for impersonal killing at arm’s length. There is a clear picture here of the progression of the power and peace of the gospel from Israel to...

What is the relationship between the story of Ehud and Eglon…and the story of the church? What enduring principles does this story exemplify, and how do they inform the way Christians should live today? Should we expect God to still raise up men like Ehud — men of daring and deceit? What would they look like, and how would they act? To answer this question, we must understand how the symbols of Is...

Worry is fundamental to the human experience, and our worldly cares and concerns often unsettle us. Jesus, the man with perfect mental health, knew what it took to deal with anxiety—and he distilled this wisdom in seven simple arguments against anxiety in his Sermon on the Mount. We can follow these arguments to reason our way out of anxiety, and into mental fortitude. The first is that anxiety op...

Whereas the story of Othniel frustrated us with its lack of detail, now the story of Ehud frustrates us with its details. What are we to make of the scatological humor, deceit, and assassination in this first “real” story of one of Israel’s saviors—a type of Christ? From the left-handed “son of the right hand” to the fattened Eglon (“calf”), every element of this narrative reveals through physical...

Who are God’s sheep, and how does he feed them? And what is different about the pastures of God, compared to the world’s? While all those baptized into the Church are called to respond to the food of God’s word, not all are eternally elect. Some will harden their hearts — yet are still exhorted as sheep. This can only be understood through the doctrine of covenantal election. This is a public epis...

In the book of Judges, why is the first story of an actual judge so short on details? Because it is crafted to teach us how to read the more detailed and difficult stories that are to come. It establishes a clear paradigm for interpreting these—lest we imagine the judges as crazed vigalante superheroes. It also establishes what is at sake—the victory of Aram over Israel, the world over the church,...

Psalm 137 expresses Israel’s grief in exile and longing for true worship. Though contextually bound to Babylon, the psalm applies to the church today as we seek worship that pleases God, mourn sin, trust in divine justice, and anticipate the perfect worship of heaven. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodch...

Worship should shape us—not be reshaped to our comfort. Psalm 137 calls believers to unashamedly embrace God’s justice, long for his kingdom, and trust his sovereignty in judgment. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

Israel’s failure of warfare leads to two major compromises: bonds with their enemies and idolatry. The same failure and compromises are present in the new covenant age. The church today feels overrun by the world because we shrank back from our spiritual warfare—and now cannot even recognize the enemy because of the bonds we have formed and the false gods we serve. This became very obvious during...

An exposition and application of Psalm 132. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

We are all by nature thankless creatures; but God, through the gospel, makes us thankful. Yet even after this transformation, we are still prone to grumbling, and must be beckoned back to gratitude. The truth of this should be applied especially to public, corporate worship—coming into God’s great and gracious presence, and responding with appropriately loud singing and praise. This is a public ep...

Israel’s existence is threatened by her forming covenant bonds with the Canaanites, leaving God’s altar (the center of her identity) for Baal’s. Yet God nonetheless leaves leaves these serpents in the garden of Canaan—because Israel must learn his work of warring against evil. This is a picture of the New Testament age: Israel is the church, the promised land is the world, and the Canaanites are s...

To understand what happens in the book of Judges as a whole, we must understand what happened immediately after Joshua died. Every time Israel is oppressed, it is because a new generation arises that prostrates to the world, rather than to God. Why? Because their parents failed to teach them to remember who God is, and what he has done…and what he requires of them. The church, too, is in the same...

Christ is Lord over all things — so we must submit to his rule over every part of life. Christ’s lordship is mediated through his infallible word — so we must learn to read it as he reveals. Christ is sovereign to choose whom to save (and who not to) — so we can rely on him to build his church through our preaching. Christ intends to save the world — so Christianity will surely conquer the world i...

Like Israel, we have been given a command to drive out the Canaanites. Like Israel, we have failed. Like Israel, the reason is the same: we have compromised our ability to build God’s city, because we have formed covenant bonds of convenience with those who hate God’s religion and culture, and want to build their own cities instead. Judah’s compromise at Luz is the toe in the door that leads to Is...

A common Christian trope is to wonder what Mary knew when she pondered the baby in her arms. Scripture tells us that she knew a lot. Many of her responses to the angel Gabriel are unintuitive and surprising to us, but reveal an extraordinary knowledge of scripture, of God’s plan, and of the implications for her own life. Examining the Magnificat can help us to become more like Mary in our own resp...

Judah’s failure to conquer key territory planted the seed for Israel’s later division. In the same way, spiritual compromises today can produce disastrous long-term divisions in the church. We have mirrored Israel’s failures in fearing worldly opposition like COVID-era shutdowns, more than fearing God. Correcting these errors is necessary to restore the church’s ability to fulfill the Great Commis...

Psalm 98 calls all creation to a joyful celebration of God’s salvation, kingship, and coming judgment. These are not hidden, but proclaimed to the nations, and established in history through the birth of Christ. In his cross, he promises salvation; in his reign, he restores both humanity and creation; and in his coming judgment, he assures us that justice, righteousness, and peace will prevail. Th...

Many details in Judges are perplexing if we don’t know how to read symbolically. The Canaanite City of Records is captured and renamed Word—a picture of the church replacing the false identities of the nations through the gospel. Aksah is given a field and asks for the upper and lower springs—a picture of the Church seeking the Spirit from God, to make the world fruitful. The burning of Charamah,...

In an age where the church has taken much ground, but failed in the last hour to fulfill the Great Commission, perhaps the record of Israel’s prior failure will be of help to us in understanding our times—and what we ought to do. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

As with all sanctification, the pursuit of happiness is already and not yet. It is a forward-looking anticipation of the perfection we already have in Christ, which will become ours when we are glorified. By faith, we anticipate the perfect bliss of eternal union with God, but we also know we already are united to him in Christ. And so we seek to participate in that union now, as practice for what...

As Western civilization collapses, Western Christians are struggling for identity. For some, the pendulum is swinging from woke radical individualism to ethnic allegiances. But without recovering these natural bonds as covenantal categories, we are trading one form of identity politics for another. To rightly order the bonds of blood and soil, they must ultimately be fitted together under the cove...

How can it be true that “ask ye whatever ye may wish, and it shall come to be for you,” when our prayers so frequently go unanswered? The answer is that we do not pray as we ought—either continually enough, persistently enough, or with true faith: i.e., a living participation in Christ, discerning what God desires in him. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subsc...

Though we seek continually to work out our salvation through righteous deeds, we often fall. How can we not be discouraged? By clinging to Christ, even in failure and humiliation—because in doing so, we share in his victory. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit redwoodchurch.substack.com

It is impossible to become like Christ without being attached to his body, just as it is impossible for your finger to keep reflecting your will and intention if it is cut from your hand. Outside the church there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. The transformation of our minds is therefore not just a question of “what am I becoming,” but also fundamentally, “what are we becoming?” This is...