The Most Excellent Way to Fight

Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13

This is actually the third sermon in our series on conflict based on 1 Corinthians. Carey preached the second sermon in the series and I intended to post the audio from that sermon, but we had some technical difficulties and the recording didn't get saved. At any rate, this sermon focuses on what Paul calls "the most excellent way" and how that ought to inform our approach to conflict.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon (.pdf).
Click here to download a recording of this sermon.

Preached on February 19, 2012 at PLWC.

In support of religious liberty

At this very moment, the religious liberties of thousands of American Christians are being trampled by the government.

Note that I said, “are being trampled,” not “are threatened.” It’s not something that might happen a year from now, it’s something that has gone on for decades, if not centuries, with hardly anyone caring to notice.

One of the current issues making the rounds of media outlets is that the Obama administration is threatening to force Catholics to pay for contraceptives, and that this is of course a grave threat to Catholics’ religious consciences, and that this will then threaten the entire notion of religious liberty for all Christians. What has gone unnoticed through all of this, and indeed for the last forty years, is that the religious consciences of those who object to war are trampled every time they pay their taxes. They are faced with a choice every bit as difficult as a Catholic hospital being directed to pay for contraceptives: either they pay their taxes with the knowledge that some of their money will support war and its related industries, or they must choose to break the law by withholding some or all of their taxes.

I say that this has gone unnoticed for the last forty years when in fact it has been much longer, but every Congress since 1972 has been presented with, and refused, an alternative. It’s called a Peace Tax Fund, currently before Congress as H.R. 1191 (though it has been languishing in a Congressional committee since last March), and it does just what it says on the tin: it’s a fund for those who wish to pay their taxes but want them used for peaceful purposes (the text of the bill specifies what that means).

Christians of all stripes have rallied around the Catholic cause of religious liberty; let’s see how many will follow the logical implications of their claims and likewise rally around their pacifist brothers and sisters in Christ.

More information and a link to contact your representatives can be found at peacetaxfund.org.

How to Win Any Fight

Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:1-3:23


We've got a few weeks before Lent, so we thought it would be a good time for a short series dealing with an issue we all face: conflict. Dealing with conflict well is a struggle for the best of us, and these days it can be easy to become discouraged and trapped in destructive cycles. But there is hope.

Click here for a manuscript of this sermon (.pdf).
Click here to download a recording of this sermon.

Preached on February 5, 2012 at PLWC.

Celebrating women in the kingdom of God

My heart breaks for any women who heard John Piper speak these words. Author and blogger Rachel Held Evans has called for men to respond to Piper by celebrating the importance of women in the church, so, while I wish I had the time to write something fresh, I will instead highlight two sermons that I have posted here in the past.

The first one is called "The Story of the Women," which I preached in April of 2010 as part of our "The Story of..." series. The second is a little more focused on the issue of women in ministry: "Before and After: Personhood" (that link will take you to a .pdf file; click here to download a recording of the sermon) was preached in May of 2011 as part of our "Before and After" series.