Latest in Tabletalk Magazine
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Church Growth and the Sovereignty of God
from Burk Parsons Jul 27, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
It seems that every time I meet a pastor from another church, he asks me the common, unsolicited, ecclesiastical question of the twenty-first-century: “How big is your church?” Most pastors are usually a bit confounded when I respond: “I don’t know.” It’s only when I am pressed for an answer that I provide him with the number of families in our congregation. But if I am in a good mood I may simply explain that our church consists of people of every color and language and is as big as the world-wide church of Christ. It is my hope that in some, small way I might help other pastors obtain a better perspective on the size, growth, and health of the church, locally and globally. Keep Reading -
Mere Coincidence?
from Keith Mathison Jul 21, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
One of the most interesting stories ever published was a novella called The Wreck of the Titan, or Futility by Morgan Robertson. Robertson tells the story of the sinking of a large luxury liner named the Titan. The Titan in Robertson’s book was the largest ship in existence at the time: over eight hundred feet in length with a passenger and crew capacity of three thousand. It had numerous watertight bulkheads and was considered unsinkable. It carried the minimum number of lifeboats required by law, but far short of the number needed for three thousand people. While carrying many wealthy passengers across the North Atlantic on a cold April night, the Titan struck an iceberg at 24 knots just before midnight about ninety-five miles south of Greenland. The iceberg tore a gash in the ship’s starboard side, which flooded the watertight compartments. The unsinkable ship sank. Because the Titan did not have enough lifeboats, more than half of her passengers died in the icy waters. Keep Reading -
Beauty & the Gospel
from Terry Yount Jul 18, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
In the modern era, beauty is unavoidably tied to the simplistic concept of “prettiness,” like that found in greeting card poems or velvet paintings of lighthouses. In truth, beauty is far more. Beauty reveals the gamut of human experience. True beauty is an ally of the gospel in that it parallels the human dilemma. In reality, a rose is beautiful, but it also has thorns. When we investigate further, beauty reveals itself somewhere between the opposing forces of darkness and light, major and minor, protagonist and antagonist. Beauty can be appreciated often when seen in contrast with its counterpart — depravity. The honest painter, musician, or writer, gripped by the contrast between good and evil, is unafraid to portray both. In fact, the struggle between darkness and light is often the place artists do their finest work. Keep Reading -
Tevje Needed to Know
from Joel Belz Jul 16, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
An eery discomfort links the two famous questions. Tevje, in Fiddler on the Roof, bluntly asks his wife: “Do you love me?” How can it not remind you of Jesus, in John 21, using the very same words to put Peter on the spot: “Do you love me?” It’s easy to identify with both Tevje’s wife Golde and with Peter. Golde memorably — and self-righteously — responds: “For twentyfive years I’ve washed your clothes, cooked your meals, cleaned your house, given you children, milked the cow. After twenty-five years, why talk about love right now?” Keep Reading -
Give Without Pay
from Jon Bloom Jul 14, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
When it comes to the mixing of gospel ministry and money, we who are leaders of churches or their ancillary ministries must have the fear of God struck into us. Heaven and hell are at stake in how we raise, spend, and reserve money — because the way we handle money either adorns or obscures the gospel. Keep Reading -
Right Now Counts Forever
from R.C. Sproul Jr. Jul 11, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
It was Augustine who argued that every sin is a failure to love ordinately. Sin is the result of either loving something more than we ought or the result of loving something less than we ought. We are to love, in order. Eve, for instance, found the fruit pleasing to the eye and desirable to make one wise. Nothing wrong there. She would have had to be blind to miss it. But she loved that fruit more than she should have, and she loved the law of God less than she should have. Our temptation, because we are the children of our parents who fell into sin, is often to defend our sin on the basis that it is grounded in love. That we steal our neighbor’s reputation because we “love truth” is one form of love justifying a multitude of sins. That we steal our neighbor’s wife because we “love her” is another attempt to defend sin. To love ordinately is to love as God loves, in due measure. It is to love what we love as we ought to love it. Keep Reading -
The Fine Line
from Nicholas Batzig Jul 09, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
Every Christian is to have a conscience singularly informed by the Word of God, but it is utterly indispensable for the minister of the gospel. Ministers are called to take a stand for truth before those who oppose the Word of God in the world; but they also face the unique challenge of taking a stand for truth before those who oppose biblical teaching within the church. In a day of widespread individualism, heightened biblical illiteracy, and diminishing respect for gospel ministry, ministers are faced with the daunting task of taking a firm but loving stand in matters of faith and practice. Keep Reading -
Worship Matters: Resources to Assist Your July Tabletalk Study
from Karisa Schlehr Jul 07, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
The July 2010 issue of Tabletalk focuses on the concept of adiaphora within the practices and worship of Christ’s body and aims to provide biblical principles regarding adiaphora. Here is a list of helpful resources that will complement your study through Tabletalk this month. Keep Reading -
When to Stop, When to Go, When to Slow Down
from R.C. Sproul Jul 07, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
The college I attended was situated in a small western Pennsylvania town in an area heavily populated by one of the largest gatherings of Amish people found in the United States. The Amish are a delightful group totally committed to separation from this world. They go out of their way to avoid any social mixing with the non-Amish, or the “Gentiles,” who are present among them. They are easy to discern, as the clothing they wear is a clearly defined uniform, commonly consisting of blue denim. The men wear beards. Their clothes are never adorned with buttons but are gathered together with hooks and eyes. Keep Reading -
Life and Worship Matters
from Burk Parsons Jul 05, 2010 Category: Tabletalk Magazine
As I write this article I’m in Louisville, Kentucky, attending a conference called “Together for the Gospel.” Pastors, elders, and seminarians have gathered together for fellowship and worship around the theme: The Unadjusted Gospel. More than seven thousand men from various evangelical (gospel-preaching) churches with various liturgical traditions are standing together as we sing some of the greatest hymns (from both the seventeenth and twenty-first centuries). Keep Reading
