Paul encourages the Philippians church to live counter-cultural lives in the middle of Caesar's realm, knowing that Jesus is the true Lord and trusting that he is about to make all things new. The way to do this is to live in the joy of the Lord, live with...
Amid the challenges of Israelite disobedience and the looming threat of Babylonian invasion, Habakkuk questions God’s actions and struggles with the problem of evil. Yet, God responds by reminding him that His promises will be fulfilled in His time, and the righteous...
When Jesus comes into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday the crowds gather around him and chant his praises, excited that the one true king has finally arrived. And although some of his opponents try to make them stop, thinking that he has overstepped his bounds, the victory of...
Luther expands the “father and mother” of the fourth commandment to also mean “other authorities.” His reasoning for this is that all human leadership flows out of the leadership and responsibility God gives to parents over their children: parents cannot teach their...
Against the backdrop of unrighteous King Zedekiah's reign, God reiterates his promise that he would one day execute justice and righteousness in the whole world, and that he would bring about this world of righteousness through the Branch of David – the one...
In Psalm 50 God criticizes his people for believing that by offering him sacrifices they could manipulate him into favoring them. Instead, they should acknowledge that God doesn't need their offerings since he owns everything in the whole world, stop believing...
Jude addresses a church in which false teaching has begun eating away the church's testimony from within, and cultural pressures to accommodate paganism squeezes the church from without. In this situation Jude encourages the church to remain faithful to Jesus...
All of us know what it’s like to be humbled, and almost all of those times of humiliation have been forced upon us – after all, no sane person would willingly choose to be humiliated in front of other people. But Jesus’ humiliation is active: “he humbled...
The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross changes our position before God: now he sees us as completely perfect and innocent. But it also changes our condition: it begins to purify us and make us more like Jesus as we grow in his grace. And finally, the sacrifice of Jesus...
The preacher of Hebrews, arguing to his listeners that salvation can only be found in Jesus, outlines for them how Jesus is the only one who can get us in to the Father, he's the only one who can stop our suffering, and he's the only one who makes us alright...
