Our presumption of life in Eden is that it would be a life of perfect leisure, where one would have no responsibilities, no obligations, no duties to constrain your time or pleasure. We fail to recognize that God gave Adam good work to do in the garden - work which required a helper to accomplish. If we wonder why so many marriages fail, it is often because marriage is often portrayed as a luxury, or experience, or an expression of an emotion. In reality, it is an alliance in service of a mission far larger than either partner.

The Christian account of the world’s creation is utterly unlike any of the other creation narratives in other cultures, and one of the key differences is that God creates mankind in his own image. As such, we are called to take up and carry on the work he has begun, both to steward and to order what the Lord has created. As such, we should give great care to the way we govern and order not only our spiritual lives and works, but also the physical, earthly tasks given to us in our families, homes, and communities.

Genesis 1 is a pivotal text for every biblical issue, but we have great difficulty reading the text honestly. Today, we go through some of the details of the text and how it pointedly rebukes many of the modern attempts to get around the simple, plain reading of how the Lord created the world.

John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ, and his message was one of repentance. Many folks today see how necessary the Christian moral order is to the USA, but it is not enough to want the moral order. You don’t get the biblical moral order without Christ, and you can’t have Christ without repentance.

The people of God looked forward to the coming of the Christ since the beginning, and now, we come to celebrate the fact that those prophecies came to pass with the birth of Christ. Even now, we should look forward to his second coming as our ultimate hope in this world.

While it might have been scandalous for Christ to receive even Greeks who come seeking him, he does not receive them without a clear statement of the totalizing claims of the gospel. Let us not trick people into the church by pretending that Christ will be some kind of addition to the purpose of their lives, rather than a complete dying to sin and living to righteousness.

The triumphal entry is the high point of Jesus’ popularity, leading both the celebration of the crowds and the despair of his enemies. However, both factions have misunderstood what story is actually playing out before their eyes.

The Lord always has a higher purpose, even when it comes to great suffering or the evil intentions of the hearts of men. We can have great confidence knowing that the Lord is working out all things for our good, even when appearances suggest otherwise.

Mary and Martha, as usual, have very different ways of dealing with a difficult situation, but Christ has mercy on both in how he meets their needs.

Christ’s choice to allow Lazarus to die is difficult for us to comprehend, if we believe that God only wants us to have peace and prosperity. However, the Lord has higher and greater intentions for us than merely to allow us earthly wealth.