In the course of my ministry, over the past decade or so, I have made mention on several occasions of a personally life-impacting book by David Wells titled, God in the Wasteland. In this work, Wells speaks of what he calls “the weightlessness of God.” Writing from a North American perspective, Wells notes that, in the average evangelical church, God is seen as peripheral. He … [Read more...]
Scripture Alone (2 Timothy 3:1–4:8)
Everybody lives in submission to some authority, whether it be God, tradition, another person, a religion or self. In the words of Bob Dylan, “you gotta serve somebody.” Someone or something makes the rules by which you are inclined to live. And for the Christian, the rules by which we live our life are contained in Scripture—alone. Especially when it comes to salvation, we … [Read more...]
In Christ Alone (2 Corinthians 4:1–6)
It is nigh impossible to state any of the five solas in isolation. After all, if we hold to Scripture alone as our final and all-sufficient authority for all that we believe and do, we are immediately confronted with the question, what are to believe about salvation? Our answer is, we believe that salvation is “by grace alone.” But we cannot stop there, for there is a means … [Read more...]
By Faith Alone (Romans 3:19–28)
In the hymn “Rock of Ages,” Augustus Toplady wonderfully pictures what it means to come to Christ. At one point he writes, “Nothing in my hand I bring / simply to the cross I cling.” In a more modern hymn, Charitie Lees Bancroft writes, Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea; a great High Priest, whose name is Love, who ever lives and pleads for … [Read more...]
Grace Works (Ephesians 2:1–10)
In early March this year, BBC will observe its annual World Outreach Celebration. The theme of this year’s celebration is “All of God’s Glory in All of the World.” When I invited Ronald Kalifungwa of Lusaka Baptist Church to be our special speaker, I asked him to address the issue of the five solas and the Great Commission. My reason for doing so was that all too often there is … [Read more...]