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Nathan E. Lewisliving the gospel
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The main story of the Bible is God redeeming his people. The following paragraphs outline the whole of the Bible showing how every bit of scripture points to Jesus Christ.
The Age of Adam: Adam is the one man who failed God, so the one man, Jesus Christ, came to represent all of us in his perfect obedience to God All of us who are united to Adam by natural birth, must be united to Jesus Christ for redemption and spiritual birth.
Are you critical of cubism or other forms of modern art as it departs from realistic depiction? Raphael’s ““The Alba Madonna” c. 1500 has some pleasing realistic parts to it, but it is the symbolic, non-realistic parts that make it a meaningful painting. The Christ child holds a cross in his hand and his focus is upon it. In the Gospels, the adult Jesus is intent upon his passion. When did he come to a realization that his first Advent would include the crucifixion? As the infinite Son of God, did he not know about the cross prior to his incarnation? As a baby, did he know about his role as the sole propitiation for the sins of the world? When did Jesus possess a messianic realization? What first century mother under the yoke of Rome would allow her baby to play with a toy cross, the implement of capital punishment? Mary’s gazes through the cross, “pondering these things in her mind.” Is she lost in thoughts stimulated from the reading of the book in her lap? Or is she thinking about her son and his miraculous birth and life mission? Continue reading »
The Power of the Gospel
I Corinthians 1:18 -2:5
Members of the Corinthian Church were engaged in the culture of their day. David Jackman, in the introduction to his book, Let’s Study I Corinthians, identifies four “buzz words” from Corinthian culture impacting the Church. These “buzz words” were factors in the division of the Church. The first “buzz word” is “knowledge.” The second, “wisdom,” the third, “power,” and the fourth, “spiritual.” As Paul addresses the lack of unity in the Church, he addresses these four parts of the Corinthian’s cultural awareness.
Actually, these four parts of Corinthian culture are shared by our present day culture. Knowledge is highly valued by us. Our culture accumulates knowledge and dispenses it at high volume and rate. Continue reading »
2005 Advent Series: The Virgin Birth - Four Sermons by Nathan E. Lewis
Sermon One: (Luke 1:5-25 ) “Unbelief: Our Problem with the Virgin Birth”
The virgin birth is like the creation of the world and the resurrection of Jesus. Do you find the virgin birth of Jesus difficult to believe? As Donald Macleod of the Free Church of Scotland College observes, Jesus is presented in the opening words of John’s Gospel as the divine Person who invades our world from above. John writes, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten Son of God come down from the Father, full of grace and truth.” But the historian Luke mixes the divine and human aspects showing us how this descent involved an actual family, an actual birth of a baby. He writes about the virgin birth. Continue reading »
Last night, Frank LeClerg and I visited the elders’ meeting of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Newberg, Oregon. For two years now, this church has allowed us to use their facilities to launch Chehalem Valley Presbyterian Church. As one of our ministers, Eric Costa, says, “That Seventh Day Adventist Church building in Newberg is the best church building in our presybtery!” Frank and I thought it a good idea to visit the elders’ meeting to express our gratitude to this church for her generosity and willingness to work with us. If you are an evangelical Christian of any sort, then you most likely have been taught that the Seventh Day Adventists are legalists, who don’t get the gospel, who are wholly dedicated to practicing the Mosaic laws and thus, a Christian cult. For the past two years we have been discovering something quite different from what we have been taught. Continue reading »
1) He hasn’t finished writing Chapter 7;
2) 7 is the perfect and mysterious number of the divine;
3) Most people would be offended by, if not disagree with Chapter 7;
4) His daughter’s dog ate it;
5) Chapter 7 would make the booklet too long and then it would not be a booklet but instead, a book;
6) Nathan is a perfectionist (a slightly different reason than #1);
8) Nathan was not at all sure that www.monergism.com would carry the booklet, “Prayer: from vice to virtue” complete with a Chapter 7;
9) Nathan is concerned about readers’ being more concerned about form than about content;
10) Who need’s Chapter 7?
To the person(s) who anonymously mailed to my home address the two Chick tracts, “A Love Story,” and “This was Your Life,” I return my thanks. Chick tracks are classic. They were a big part of my childhood. We read them. We distributed them to friends and to strangers. I loved the one with the Grim Reaper on the front. I loved “Holy Joe.” We argued about “Big Daddy?” Recently, Glenda and I were enjoying dinner at Higgins, seated next to four single adults in their late twenties. (You may ask, “Nathan, how do you know those details about them?” I answer: “I’m nosy Nathan. I listen to other people’s dinner conversations.) Continue reading »
