We’ve become accustomed to rushing, not beholding. Are we better off for it? Join in with this prayer for the worship service at Westminster on July 26, 2026.

Let us pray:
Lord God forever-mighty,
who makes 1000 years seem short,
and the girth of 1000 armies seem weak,
we behold you.
Behold.
That’s a word we don’t use much anymore—behold.
Instead of beholding your grandeur,
we put you in the footnotes of our priorities.
Instead of just beholding your mercy,
we rush past, as if stepping over someone who needs help,
because we have more pressing things to do.
Instead of just beholding your trustworthiness,
we give you five seconds of thought,
as we rush and zag this way and that—
otherwise distracted by a world
that wants our attention while it steps on our hearts.
But no.
Today—right here, right now—we behold you.
Your grandeur.
Your mercy.
Your trustworthiness.
We hold them close in the tangle of our frailty—
while you cut through the ugliness with your beauty.
Forgive our sin—
when we ignore, look away, trivialize, manipulate, shrug,
in the face of all the things that matter most.
Bring us, yet again, to that glorious space of gratitude,
to that internal sunrise of clarity,
where we behold you—
again and again and again.
These things we pray,
like toddlers at the foot of a hero,
in the name of Jesus—
Saviour to sinners,
Teacher to students,
Friend to tired souls—
Amen.

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“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” As we battle through life, is it just the size of the fight in us, or is there something specific about the nature of that fight that we need to know in order to be successful?

In this sermon, we explore 2 Peter 3:14-18, and then three additional verses which are representative of Peter’s teaching through his letters as a whole. 1 Peter 1:3 is about being born again to a living hope through Jesus’ resurrection. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we have. And 2 Peter 3:17 warns us against being carried away with the error of lawless people, losing our stability.

Life can be difficult and unpredictable. But Peter is a faithful fighter who knows how to persevere and have hope. That’s what he wants for us too. Let’s bring this series to a strong finish, and keep fighting!

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Disclosure Day is the latest movie by Steven Spielberg, starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, and Eve Hewson.

In short, here’s the plot. The government has had concrete proof of aliens (UFO’s) for over seven decades. Not only do they have piles and piles of documented footage, but they have actually communicated and interacted with aliens face-to-face—and, in some cases, done experiments on them.

The movie tells the story of several individuals who take this top-secret information, defect from their security company (which had been charged with guarding the secret), and attempt to disclose it to everyone else on planet earth—hence “Disclosure Day.” Everyone needs to know the truth! High-paced car (and train) chases, espionage, quirky birds, betrayal, and bombs populate their journey.

Since there has been some online chatter about this movie, I thought I would share some thoughts after having seen it with my 15-year-old son.

Oh, and there are some spoiler alerts ahead. Consider yourself warned.

Let me set the stage with some comments about what is happening in our wider cultural moment which makes our interest in the movie all the more timely.

First, our society has been talking a lot about aliens—although, we don’t tend to call them that anymore, perhaps because the word makes us think of green critters and conspiracy theorists who never leave their parents’ basements.

Today’s word is “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP for short. It’s more vague and, I think, is meant to sound more objective and cautionary. There have been several news stories about things flying the skies, and no one has been able to provide a definite explanation about what they are or who is causing them. Hence, UAP.

Earlier this year former American President Barack Obama made headlines when in an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen he said that aliens are real, though he hadn’t personally seen them. (He also denied that aliens are kept at Area 51.) After his comments went viral, he made a clarifying comment a few days later to downplay the hype. He basically said that he was only speculating: “the odds are good there’s life out there,” he said.

At other times, the former president has spoken about evidence of objects in the sky that move quickly and are unpredictable, but which can’t be explained. This just adds to the intrigue.

Here in Canada, a national survey released in 2025 by the University of British Columbia found that almost half of Canadians believe in at least one paranormal phenomenon. This could be the idea that people are visited by spirits or ghosts, or that extra-terrestrial life has visited our planet. I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people think there are mysterious things happening all around us, even if we don’t understand them all.

Second, questions about paranormal activity—whether that be aliens, haunted houses, or attempts to contact the dead—always seem to intersect with bigger questions about existence and faith. People ask questions like, ‘Does the Bible address any of this? Does it disprove—or confirm—what we know about God? If any of this is real, how does it influence our faith as modern people who are increasingly shaped by scientific discovery, but who are also open to things we simply can’t explain?’

Disclosure Day intentionally goes out of its way to directly address some of these questions. Other questions are only alluded to. Let’s turn to some of them now. I’m going to address eight points.

Close to the start of the movie, two of the protagonists (Daniel and Jane) find refuge in a convent (where nuns live). Turns out that Jane was at one time in training to be a nun, or at least engaged in a discernment process. She has a close connection with one of the main nuns, and will consult her with questions as the movie goes on.

This initial sequence tells us that the possible relationship between aliens, God and faith is an overt subplot of the movie. We’ll return to this toward the end.

We also come to learn that aliens have given special abilities to two people. One of them is Daniel, played by Josh O’Connor, the other is a weather reporter named Margaret, played by Emily Blunt.

Daniel’s ability is to understand high-level mathematics. There’s more to it than that, but the point is that he’s very intelligent and can understand patterns, code and language in a way that other people can’t.

Margaret can simply look at someone and know things about them—their names, things happening in their life, and even their emotional needs. Again, there’s more to it than that, but you get the idea.

Biblically speaking, this may make us think of “spiritual gifts.” The Bible teaches that every Christian has at least one. There are about nineteen spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament. They include things like teaching, healing, words of knowledge, tongues, discernment of spirits, intercession, mercy, etc. Bruce Bugbee explains how spiritual gifts are “endowments or special gifts given by God that enable us to make our unique contribution. They are not natural talents, but divine abilities that enable us to do ministry.”[1]

The special abilities featured in Disclosure Day are other-worldly abilities which seem to exist for the benefit of the human race as a whole. Is Spielberg intentionally comparing (or contrasting) the gifts that have been given to Daniel and Margaret with how the Holy Spirit uses believers today? It’s hard to be sure.

I also found it curious that cardinals feature prominently in the movie—not the baseball team, but the beautiful red birds. Daniel and Margaret both receive their special abilities after a visit by a cardinal.

In the lore of some Christian traditions, cardinals are sometimes said to represent angels, or at least the messages of angels. ‘When you are visited by a cardinal, it means an angel is trying to comfort you.’ Perhaps Spielberg was picking up on this on this association with these red birds, even if it isn’t grounded in the Bible.

During one of the scenes, Jane is the subject of a “dive.” That’s when someone holds tightly to a grey handle (a piece of technology made possible by the aliens), stares at someone’s picture, and then appears in that person’s location no matter where that person is. When they do this, they seem to be in two places at once.

This happened to Jane when she sat in a safe house. A character named Noah was trying to find her. He used the grey handle and appeared to her at her location, and even spoke with her, despite being miles away. We might call this “bi-locating.”

Interestingly, there are accounts of this in the history of the church. There are a few people from history who are said to have done this, including Saint Francis Xavier, and more recently, Padre Pio. These were men of extreme holiness. Through intense prayer and contemplation, it is said that they physically appeared to people who were miles and miles away—details corroborated by witnesses.

Again, is Spielberg making an intentional connection? I just don’t know, but it sure is a good conversation starter.

When Noah is “diving” on Jane—i.e. when he shows up to speak with her even though she is miles away from him—something else happens which seems very much to be a kind of demonization.

“Demonization” is the New Testament word for when a demon (also called an evil spirit or an unclean spirit) exerts such an influence on someone that they gain influence over that person from the inside, even controlling some of their words or actions. Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians tend to call this “possession.” The process of casting out such a spirit is often called “exorcism.” Protestants tend to call the entire process “deliverance.”

As Noah “dives” on Jane, something else happens. He is able to control her from the inside. Her eyes turn black. (As Jesus says in Matthew 6:22, “The eye is the lamp of the body.”) In this moment, Noah is looking and living through her. Biblically speaking, this is what happens when a person is seriously demonized.

During their first encounter like this, Jane resists. She holds a crucifix in her hand.[2] She tries to resist Noah by squeezing her cross tightly. As she does so, blood drips from her hand as it cuts into her skin. When she focuses on the cross, Noah’s power seems to fade and he disappears. However, when she drops the cross, he reappears.

Again, this experience shares several similarities with what happens during someone’s deliverance. The fact that Jane could resist Noah when she focused on her crucifix (i.e. Christ and his power), may be a commentary on how demonization is a battle for the mind under Christ. The closer and more aligned we are, the more liberated we can be; the further and less aligned we are, the more bondage we can experience.[3]

A few scenes later, Jane almost stabs her friend Daniel while still under Noah’s influence. Only when Daniel makes eye contact with her and reminds her about her true identity does she “snap out of it,” and return to her former personality. This makes me think of the demonized man from Mark 5. After he was liberated by Jesus, the locals found him at peace and in his “right mind” (verse 15).

As the movie continues, we learn more about the aliens who have been—and continue to be—in our midst. However, many of them present as animals, at least at first. This is so they can remain undetected.

It is at this point that I need to highlight something fairly major. For years, Christians who have been engaged in the on-the-ground realities of spiritual warfare have suggested that many “visitations” by supposed aliens—or “visions” of supposed aliens—are actually demonic in nature.

In 2 Corinthians 11:14 the apostle Paul describes how Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. He and his workers (demons) can appear differently to different people, or can at least manipulate light to make it seem that way.

Since the idea of UFO’s can make people doubt the biblical description of reality, and since demonic beings exist to deceive and harm people by leading them away from Christ who is their only and ultimate source of help and hope, it has been suggested that it’s all a grand act of trickery. This makes some people wonder whether nighttime visits, apparent “experiments” on humans, and even bright mysterious lights in the sky at night, are actually Satanic deception intended to invoke fear and a mistrust of the biblical worldview.

So even though the movie doesn’t make an obvious connection between aliens and demons, the foreign beings in Disclosure Day seem to have some commonalities with what some Christians observe when engaged in overt demonic conflict.

The aliens in the movie are not sinister. They seem to want to help humanity, even if they happen to do experiments on unsuspecting children from time to time!

Closer to the end of the movie, a character named Hugo explains that aliens teach us about empathy. “They regard empathy as an evolutionary advantage,” he says, “as the foremost evolutionary advantage, in fact, the core of animate existence.” The reason humans are going extinct, he says, is because they don’t have enough of it. This seems to be why Margaret’s special giftedness from the aliens enables her to see inside of people and even help them with their emotional needs.

All of this, of course, seems to be modern social commentary coming right from Spielberg’s mouth. Have you noticed how in certain movies it’s as if the plot abruptly stops and you get a short sermon through one of the characters? In Disclosure Day, this seems to be it. To paraphrase, ‘If only we were nicer and held hands, everything would work out in the end.’

Another significant theme in the movie is the pursuit of truth. Aliens-among-us is a truth that needs to be shared. Further, this motivates Jane to keep pursuing the truth, even if it upsets some people, including religious ones.

Again, the theme of truth is an important point of intersection with Christian values. Truth is good. God’s word is truth (John 17:17), Jesus himself is the truth (John 14:6), and the truth about him will set people free (John 8:32). In short, everyone can agree that truth is to be pursued. If God is good, so is the truth that we discover in his world—and, by extension, in his universe.

As I said at the outset, there is a lot of interest in aliens and extra-terrestrial life. When these ideas come up, people tend to ask questions like: ‘Does the Bible address any of this? Does it disprove—or confirm—what we know about God? If any of this is real, how does it influence our faith as modern people who are increasingly shaped by scientific discovery, but who are also open to things we simply can’t explain?’

I think one of the purposes of the movie is to answer some of these questions, at least from Spielberg’s point of view. Why else would he so overtly include a nun, religious symbolism, and outright discussions between the characters about faith?

For quite some time, people have tried to find evidence of aliens in the Bible. For example, when I was young, I remember watching an episode of Unsolved Mysteries where someone claimed that the metallic object in the sky with lights, eyes and living beings from Ezekiel 1 was actually a spaceship with aliens.[4] (By the way, I doubt they’re right.) And as already mentioned, there are people who think that alien sightings are actually demonic deceptions meant to lead humanity further into their own distracted darkness.

Spielberg tries to address this question directly in the movie itself. At one point, Jane calls her friend in the convent with existential concerns. Is it possible that aliens are real? Wouldn’t that disrupt everything the Bible says about God? The nun replies by quoting Genesis. She says that humans are God’s “supreme creation” on the earth. The nun intentionally leaves open the idea that creation is huge and therefore there is no reason to think that God wouldn’t have created creatures for other parts of his universe. In other words, she suggests that humans are supreme “on earth,” but not necessarily elsewhere in the galaxy.

As this scene was unfolding, I started scanning my brain for the verse she may have been referring to. But no, the book of Genesis doesn’t technically say that. What it says is that humans are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), and that we have a certain dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26, 28). Perhaps that is what she (i.e. Spielberg) had in mind.

Either way, the point of the scene is that a belief in aliens and God can co-exist since God is bigger than we realize and his universe is much bigger than the earth.

In closing, I liked it. There were several aspects of the storyline that didn’t sense. But hey, that’s okay, it’s a Spielberg movie, not the Bible. I was there to enjoy an afternoon with my son and have too much overpriced buttery popcorn.

What I value is thoughtful conversations about faith and life. This movie can help facilitate those conversations. But let me also say this.

These days, we are increasingly passive when it comes to forming opinions. Just because “everyone is saying something” on our social media platforms, that doesn’t mean that everyone is actually saying it. Algorithms have a way of skewing our perception about what is truly happening in the world. The same goes for big budget movies produced by people who may not always have our best interests in mind, and who may not be thinking theologically about the big questions we face.

Let’s be proactive—not passive—when it comes to forming our opinions, and when it comes to having a modern, robust faith. Ask big excellent questions. Ask also the ones that kind of embarrass you. Most of all, study the Bible, use the brain God gave you, pray, talk with other wise people, and put your learning into action as the loving hands and feet of Jesus.

So, what happens at the end of Disclosure Day? Did they ever “disclose” all of this information to the world? Well, you’ll have to watch the movie to find out. And yes, there’s a pretty neat surprise at the end.

At one point, someone says: “If you found out we weren’t alone, if… if someone showed you, proved it to you… would that frighten you?” To me, the answer is No. In the spiritual hierarchy of the universe, Christ is at the top.[5] We are not alone. The Lord God is with his people. And with him, there is nothing to fear—ever.

May God bless you as you have proactive and thoughtful conversations about faith, life, and the universe God made.

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[1] As quoted in: Jon Thompson, Convergence (Sanctus Church, 2018), 76.

[2] A crucifix is a cross with Jesus still hanging on it.

[3] There are some exceptions to this, depending on the cause and kind of demonization. But here I am speaking in general terms.

[4] I’m recalling from memory. I’m pretty sure it was Unsolved Mysteries, but it could have been a different show.

[5] One of many passages that speaks to Jesus’ supremacy is Philippians 2:9 where he is bestowed “the name that is above every name.”

When you hear the word “beautiful,” what comes to mind? At first, perhaps you think about someone who is particularly attractive. After a few seconds, perhaps you think about “inner beauty.” But what if the future is beautiful? And what if you had an opportunity to take something from that beautiful future and bring it back into the ugliness of the present?

This sermon explores 2 Peter 3:1-13 and the return of Jesus—an event sometimes called the “second coming.” Something we can forget about Jesus’ return is what happens afterward. He will usher in “the new heavens and the new earth.” It is a place devoid of pain, tears, suffering and sin, and a place where there is only communion with God, peace among people, and glorious joy. Peter says it is a place where “righteousness dwells.” 

As we wait for this day, Peter invites us to live in holiness and godliness. The future is beautiful. As a people of hope who live in a world that much ugliness, we have an opportunity to foreshadow (in the here and now) the true beauty that is to come.

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For years there has been an assumption that younger people tend to be more “liberal,” meaning they are more “socially progressive” on a variety of modern issues.

A decade ago, I remember someone telling me, “You’re never as liberal as you are when you are in college.” That sentiment seemed to be widespread. I have heard it said, therefore, that the church needs to “get with the times” in order to appeal to the younger generation.

However, there is some new research which challenges some of those assumptions. A recent article in The Times by James Marriott was titled: “Full-fat faith: the young Christian converts filling our churches.” Is that true? If so, why?

Before I present the research, let me share a few personal observations.

First, no matter what we are told by various studies, the church should never shift its stance on important biblical beliefs or practices just because it’s the popular thing to do. As I wrote in a recent devotional, our job is to faithfully follow Jesus, not thoughtlessly follow the crowd.

Second, I too have noticed something happening. Many of my colleagues have noticed it too. Younger Christians are appearing in evangelical churches—not in waves, but here and there, consistently.

Third, for years there has been commentary on how “conservative” churches grow and how “liberal” churches shrink. Those labels aren’t very helpful, especially in Canada where those words immediately make us think about political parties. Further, people disagree about what makes a healthy church. A church with five hundred people is not necessarily healthier than a church with fifty if it has the wrong priorities. As we know, there are many churches which are numerically “small,” but which are still doing good work for the kingdom.

Having said that, based on my on own reading and observations, healthy churches in North America—no matter their size—tend to have some things in common. At the top of the list is an alignment with historic Christian beliefs like what we find in the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. Related to this is a serious commitment to teaching from the Bible across the ministry of the church (i.e. not just Sunday mornings). David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons confirm this in their own research: “immersion in Scripture is a driver of church growth and spiritual vitality.”[i]

Are there other important factors that need to be present? Absolutely. But if orthodox beliefs are missing, a healthy vibrant church is not possible, even if it has open doors and a full list of activities. If the Triune God isn’t honoured, and if the Holy Spirit isn’t working, nothing else matters.

With all of these observations in mind—and perhaps a few observations of your own—is it possible that this new research can shed further light about what is going on?

The State of Theology is a nationwide survey conducted by Lifeway and Ligonier Ministries revealing how people today view key doctrines of the Christian faith. It is focused on Canadian evangelicals.[ii] Although Canadian evangelicals are not the only group who would identify themselves as Christians, I am unaware of other studies this year on a similar topic in other subsets of the Christian community. Our focus, therefore, is on this specific group.

First, the report highlights trends in church attendance based on generation. Boomers are people who were born between 1946 and 1964. Gen X refers to people born between 1965 and 1980. Millennials are people born between 1981 and 1996. Gen Z refers to people who were born between 1997 and 2012.

The research found that Boomers (and also elders born before 1946) went to church, on average, 1.4 times a month. Gen X went 1.6 times. Millennials went 1.8 times. And Gen Z went 1.9 times. In other words, younger Christians went to church more frequently than older Christians.

As is often noted, church attendance isn’t always the best indicator of one’s actual faith. So fortunately, the research looked into a variety of belief statements as well.

The research found that younger Christians actually held to more “traditional” views in greater numbers than their elders. Keep in mind those four age categories that I previously mentioned. The youngest is 18-34. The second youngest is 35-49. The second oldest is 50-64. And the oldest is 65 and above. When asked about a variety of beliefs, the youngest two categories were more historically evangelical than the older two.

You may want to read that last sentence again.

The Lifeway-Ligonier report said: “There has been recent commentary on a possible renewed interest in Christianity among younger Canadians. The findings of the first State of Theology Canada survey do indicate a more widespread acceptance of biblical teaching by younger respondents, especially on those topics where historic Christian theology is more obviously in conflict with secular attitudes.”[iii]

In other words, on issues like marriage and gender, younger evangelical Christians are pushing back against trends in the wider culture to change or influence attitudes in these areas.

Recently, Alex Hibbs wrote an article in The Washington Post called “The Reconquest of Mainline Protestantism.” As a part of that, he highlighted “Operation Reconquista,” a group of Gen Z Christians trying to steer mainline Protestant denominations back to historic Christianity from within.

What do I mean by “historic Christianity”? This is the true Christian faith, rooted in the Bible and in the historic creeds and confessions of the church. Many (not all) “mainline” Protestant denominations like the Uniteds, Anglicans, Presbyterians and Baptists, have been wrestling with theological “drift.” In some key ways, they have lost their tethering and have shifted their focus to more “progressive” social issues. It’s possible to attend services in some of these churches and never hear the gospel.

Let me be clear. Working for social change is good. We want to share the love of Christ. But what has happened is that some of these denominations or associations have adopted the secular viewpoint on a variety of issues (or, at least, a position which is theologically compromised), and have then made their stance on these issues their central identity. This distorts the biblical teachings and sidelines Christ. If our thinking becomes skewed about who Jesus is and what he teaches, then the love or compassion we provide will be misguided and misleading.

“Progressive Christianity [i.e. liberal Christianity] can’t keep people in the pews,” Hibbs writes. “A Christianity that abandons belief in the divinity of Jesus, man’s need for salvation and biblical sexual morals, only to conform to the latest cultural trend has nothing to offer people concerned for their souls.”

Recently, I attended the national general meeting of The Presbyterian Church in Canada. I met with a group of Christians who are a part of a similar renewal movement. Oh, and they were among the youngest people in attendance. Afterward in a blog post, they made this statement: “We… hope that The Presbyterian Church in Canada will soon return to its Reformed confessional roots, repenting of its past sins of straying from God’s Word and refusing to clearly acknowledge Christ before others. We pray that the Church will fully embrace Scripture as divinely inspired words of God, infallible and authoritative over the lives of all Christians.”[iv]

In saying all of this, I don’t mean to suggest that all young Christians have a more evangelical outlook. They don’t. Further, I know of a few “liberal” churches who are doing better than you might expect. There are many well-meaning people in these churches—again, I know some of them—who are working hard and who have sincere convictions. I think they’re misguided, but they are hard-working and sincere nevertheless.

The point I’m trying to make is that a tide is turning. And that tide includes living water that appeals to a new generation hungry for the grace and truth of a Jesus who is more than just a mouthpiece or mascot for the flavour of the day.

But why is all of this happening? The Lifeway-Ligonier report was cautious on this point. But as a pastor of eighteen years, dad-of-teenagers, and close cultural observer, let me take a few minutes on some informed speculation.

The real Jesus is more appealing and powerful than substitutes or contortions. Young people are not naïve. When they hear from their parents or grandparents about a version of Jesus who sounds very much like a pushover who never stops smiling, and then start to read their Bibles for themselves, they soon discover that they haven’t been told the whole story.

In saying this, let me be clear that there are “conservative” churches who also misrepresent Jesus. Based on some of the things I hear, it can seem as if Jesus is a Pharisee who is always making everyone feel bad about their inadequacy, or that he would carry around a gun protecting his land if only they had shotguns in Nazareth. That too is a misrepresentation.

To a generation of people who are already suspicious not only of compromise in general, but of churches who want to blend in with a society in freefall, the real Jesus of the Gospels is more compelling than distorted portrayals on either end of the theological spectrum.

The true Jesus is more than just a moral teacher who came to an untimely death on a cross. Scholar Luke Timothy Johnson says the most important question a Christian needs to ask him- or herself is whether or not Jesus is still alive. The answer to that question changes everything.  

“Christ is risen” is not just something you say on Easter morning. He is alive and reigning at his Father’s right hand—today, right now. He opens his arms in forgiveness (Mark 2:5), but also preaches repentance (Luke 13:3). He warns against throwing a stone at a sinner, but then tells that same sinner to go and clean up her life (John 8:7). He casts out actual demons (Mark 1:34), heals the sick (Mark 5:29), turns water into wine (John 2:7), and preaches fervently about a kingdom that will turn the world upside down (Mark 1:15).

In the words of English pastor Charles Simeon: “The truth is not in the middle and not in one extreme, but in both extremes.”[v] That’s a great description of Jesus. Radical love and radical truth—not to the exclusion of one another, but at the same time.

Do you remember that old story about the emperor’s new clothes? Two swindlers convinced the emperor’s servants, and then the emperor himself, that his new clothes were marvellous, even though no one could see them. Since no one wanted to look dumb, and since no one wanted to upset the emperor who himself had come to believe in these marvelous-but-invisible clothes, everyone went along with the insanity.

Do you remember what happened? The first person to say anything against the crowd was a child. “But he hasn’t got anything on!”

We are living through a time of radical societal change—and a lot of that change is not good. Perhaps the high-ranking representatives of officialdom have started to believe their own press releases. “Everything is marvellous!” And, just like in the emperor’s new clothes, perhaps it is the young people who are prepared to call them on it. Turns out that Jesus is in fact a greater King.

If you’ve been told your whole life that “it’s all relative,” and that we’re just descended from monkeys, and that when your heart stops you simply vanish into nothingness, how would you feel? Exactly.

Add into the mix the non-stop digital assault on our brains, and the perpetual threat of cancel-culture if you just so happen to offend the wrong people, and you start to hear a collective groan that sounds something like this: “There’s got to be more than this. Isn’t there someone who cares for us, who will tell us the truth, and who can speak to the eternal questions in my soul?”

Well, of course, there is. His name is Jesus, and everyone has a meaningful place in his glorious and everlasting kingdom, including those who don’t have gray hair yet.

Speaking of our world, it is not a stable place. There are wars and rumours of wars. There is a new controversy every six months. The time span between those controversies is probably going to get shorter. People seem to yell a lot. Politics and pandemics and social media platforms have not helped. If someone were to announce tomorrow that there is a new global disease spreading rapidly, or that it is now a human right to identify as a rabbit, or that World War Three has begun, would you be surprised? I wouldn’t.

With this in mind, the historic faith—and churches rooted in that historic faith—are fairly stable places. There is something eternal and deeply-rooted about Christians gathering on Sunday (as they have done for millennia) to read from the Bible, recite ancient creeds, pray for one another, sing with one voice, help people who are hurting, share light, and stand under a single solitary emblem—the cross.

Is the church perfect? Of course not.
Are there things that sometimes need to change? Yes.
Can we get arrogant or apathetic? Yes.
Has the church made mistakes? You bet.

But the church of Christ—rooted in her historic past—is bigger than any government, nation, cultural controversy, or stain. Under the Lord Jesus, she is bigger than any of us could ever have dreamed. And she’ll still be standing long after all of us have had our funerals.

Maybe that’s actually appealing to all generations, including those who have been lied to or misled about who and what matters most.

Barry Corey is the president of Biola University. In an interview, he said that Christians should have “soft edges and firm centres.”[vi] I think that’s helpful. “Soft edges” is a reference to loving and compassionate hearts as we interact with others. “Firm centres” is a reference to resolute beliefs which are securely tethered to our eternal God. Sounds like a wonderful, biblical recipe for a hurting, spinning world.

In closing, yes, something is happening. Not for everyone, but for some. The story is still unfolding. But it seems to be good. Let’s keep our eyes fixed on the real Jesus for the glory of God.

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[i] David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons, Good Faith: Being a Christian When Society Thinks Your Irrelevant and Extreme (Grand Rapids: BakerBooks, 2016), 244.

[ii] Here is how Lifeway Research defines “evangelical”: people who strongly agree with the following four statements: The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe. It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin. Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Saviour receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.

[iii] The State of Theology research can be accessed by clicking here.

[iv] “A Reflection on The Presbyterian Church in Canada’s 2026 General Assembly (151st). A summation of individual reflections by PCC Renewal Council Members.” Posted on the PCC Renewal substack, June 30, 2026 here.

[v] Quoted in: Trevin Wax, The Multi-Directional Leader: Responding Wisely to Challenges from Every Side (The Gospel Coalition, 2021), 30.

[vi] As quoted in: Kinnaman & Lyons, Good Faith, 232.

J.I. Packer said: “Bad theology hurts people.” When we stray from biblical teachings, we become susceptible to misguided beliefs about God and, therefore, misguided ideas about life. These beliefs can cause destruction. 

In 2 Peter 2, the apostle goes on what we might call “a rant.” However, his passionate teaching comes from a place of love and concern for his people and is motivated by love! After he is gone, false teachers will try to deceive and mislead the people. Peter wants to ensure that doesn’t happen. 

Today, we need to hear this message more than ever. We live in an age which increasingly tries to make everything that is spiritual or religious “subjective.” Francis Shaeffer uses the language of a two-tiered approach to truth. He gives us a helpful model by which to evaluate our beliefs. This sermon takes us through the text, introduces Shaeffer’s idea, and encourages us to see how good theology—grounded in Scripture—helps you, me, and the people we care about more fully flourish under God.

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Join in with this prayer I led during a worship service on July 5, 2026.

Lord of light, which is a way of saying truth, wisdom, goodness, guidance,
Lord of light, we marvel at you repeatedly.
Every single day you open your door to someone who is lost, crying, weary.
Every single day you forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it.
Every single day you remain unmoved from your pillars of justice and truth.
Lord of light, we thank you that you don’t keep that light to yourself.
When we think of the word ‘rebel,’
we usually think about some sort of criminal who doesn’t care about consequences,
or maybe we think about someone we know who doesn’t care what other people think.
‘What a rebel!’
But ‘rebel’ is a way that can often be used to describe… us.
You say: ‘Trust me,’ and we rebel.
You say: ‘Love,’ and we rebel.
You say: ‘This is truth,’ and we rebel.
Forgive us.
Purge from within us, and the aura of naïve independence around us—
purge rebellion that we throw up in the face
of a God who authors all that is good and true and beautiful.
Give us undivided hearts.
Open the door yet again to your lighthouse
where the light of Jesus exposes every secret,
and also where the light of Jesus showers our rebellion with mercy,
and our vulnerability with embrace;
where the light of Jesus makes something new—
replacing selfish rebellion with friendship with the Prince of peace.
All these things we pray in his name,
and together with the words he taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father…

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In the Bible, there are virtues and there are vices. These are traits to cultivate, and traits to purge.

In the sixth century, Pope Gregory the first curated a list that we know today as the “seven deadly sins.” Pride was first on the list. Its corresponding virtue was (and is) humility. But if pride is so bad and humility is so good, what is it?

This episode will provide a definition which, I believe, is faithful to how the word is used in the Bible. Speaking of which, here are a few of the times it is mentioned.

In James 4:10 the half-brother of Jesus says: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” The apostle Peter says something similar in 1 Peter 5:6. Both of these statements echo Jesus’ own words in Matthew 23:12: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Proverbs 3:34 says: “Toward the scorners he [God] is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.” That verse was so well-known that it is alluded to in two other places in the New Testament.

Further, there are times when the humility of a biblical character is celebrated. One example is Mary in Luke 1:46-55, a passage famously known as the Magnificat. Another is Jesus himself in Philippians 2:5-11 where we are told to be like Jesus who: “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (verse 8).

When it comes to zeroing-in on a definition, the Thayer lexicon says that it has to do with littleness, modesty, and even lowliness of mind. Interestingly, it mentions that the word for humility is very rarely used by secular writers outside of the Bible at the time, and when it is, it is used negatively. This already tells us that there is something counter-cultural about the biblical ideal of humility.

The Friberg lexicon includes the ideas of voluntary submission and selflessness. In light of what we know about Jesus, that makes sense. Literary critic and author C.S. Lewis picks up on this when he says: “Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself, but of yourself less.”[i]

I’ve also become fond of an insight by Henri Nouwen. He pointed out that we live in a society that values upward mobility. Think of the “ladder of success”—which, by the way, seems to imply stepping over other people in the process. In contrast, Nouwen coined the phrase “downward mobility.”[ii]

That’s good. And it leads us into a definition that I think is faithful to the biblical picture: Humility is being down-to-earth and unpretentious as you yield to God for the benefit of others.

Let’s break down that definition one idea at a time.

First, the English word “humility” is connected to the word “humus,” meaning ground or soil. This is where the ‘down-to-earth’ part comes from. It’s seeing things as they really are, in a way that is honest and on the ground-level, without pretense or show.

Second, this definition makes it clear that humility includes yielding to God. The opposite of humility is pride and arrogance; these presume to know better than the Lord does. However, we exist for God, not the other way around. This phrase makes that clear.

Third, we live this way for the benefit of others. This is the opposite of being self-serving. The Great Command is about loving God and the people around us. It is focused outward, not inward. This was certainly true for Christ, and it can be true for us as well.

Tim Keller points out that in this there is a measure of self-forgetfulness. We become so centred on God that we become less and less concerned with our reputation or what other people think.[iii]

Here’s the definition again: Humility is being down-to-earth and unpretentious as you yield to God for the benefit of others.

Is it just me or is humility downplayed as a modern virtue? Perhaps this is because humility has become confused with getting walked all over or being taken advantage of. But those are different things. I think that people who are truly humble hold within themselves a powerful confidence. After all, they don’t feel the need to bring attention to themselves or be first in line. They know they are first and foremost serving God. They have an ultimate audience of One.

In addition to a deep inner confidence, humble people are also generally more successful when engaged in spiritual warfare. Our Adversary—Satan—can exploit our pride to gain influence over us, just as he can exploit our anger, unforgiveness, or dabbling in the occult or false religion. Humility is an antidote to the Devil. It’s not the only ingredient in this battle, but it’s certainly critical.

In his book Unseen Warfare, Lorenzo Scupoli writes: “For how can grace, which comes to help and enlighten us, enter that man, who thinks of himself that he is something great, that he himself knows everything and needs no outside help?—May God preserve us from this disease and passion of Lucifer!”[iv]

Scupoli calls pride a disease. He also calls it a “passion of Lucifer”! Why? Because it helps his cause, not yours. Pride pushes God away, but humility yields to his rule. The Devil doesn’t want you to focus on him only. The devil wants you to focus on you, because the more you are focused on you, the less you are focused on God.

Since we live in a world that is soaked and saturated by a desire for bigger-better-more—not only in our driveways, bank accounts and social media audiences, but in our mirrors—we constantly need to be reminded about how Jesus defined greatness. And yes, you guessed it, it isn’t what most people think.

In Mark 9, the disciples were arguing about who was “greatest.” Jesus responded by saying: “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” (verse 35). According to Jesus, true greatness is servanthood. To be clear, humility is often seen as weakness in the eyes of the world, but it is seen as greatness in the eyes of God.

When I was young, we would sometimes read the Mr. Men books. One of them was Mr. Topsy-Turvy. Things were very unexpected in his world. His curtains hung downside up instead of right side down. He said “Morning good,” instead of “Good morning.”

I can only imagine that Jesus came across in much the same way to many people, but in a more profound way. He turned their expectations upside down. As we know from reading the New Testament, this is often the way when it comes to the Kingdom of God. Selflessness instead of selfishness. Love instead of la-dee-dah. Grace instead of blame. Truth instead of excuses. Following Jesus instead of the crowd.

Humility is being down-to-earth and unpretentious as you yield to God for the benefit of others.

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[i] Quoted by Tim Keller on Twitter, June 20, 2013. In the comments, he suggests that his quote is a paraphrase of something he read in one of Lewis’ books. The original thread of the Tweet is here.

[ii] Henri Nouwen, In The Name of Jesus (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 92.

[iii] Keller speaks to this in his sermon called “Humility” through the Gospel in Life Podcast. It was delivered at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 23, 2010.

[iv] Lorenzo Scupoli, Unseen Warfare as edited by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and revised by Theophan the Recluse, trans. E. Kadloubovsky & G.E.H. Palmer (Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, no year given), 82.

Alasdair MacIntyre thinks we may be entering a “new dark ages” when it comes to virtue. That may be so, but not for the people of God. Even when we’re feeling morally bankrupt and tempted to throw up our hands in defeat, God leads us forward in Christlikeness—even despite ourselves.

This sermon explores 2 Peter 1:1-21. It includes a word of encouragement to people who feel like they’re not as far along the path as they want to be, and also some specific help moving forward along the “ladder of faith,” seven qualities Peter highlights for Christians who are growing in the knowledge of Jesus.

Christlikeness through you is overflow from Christ in you. Let’s learn together.

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Can the Devil use pride and focusing too exclusively on yourself to inflate worry in your life? Yes.

He can, he does, he will.

Worry loves to make you question the past, fear the future, and doubt God in the present, so that you are forever frantic and mentally somewhere else. However, by focusing on Jesus, and by clothing yourself with humility, you can successfully resist the ways he is prowling around you and trying to sow destruction in your life.

This sermon unpacks 1 Peter 5:1-14 and addresses worry and anxiety, humility, and an antidote to the Devil. Instead of giving him an open door, let’s be alert, informed, and proactive. A deep heart-rest in the sovereign care of our Good Shepherd is possible.

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