Dr Paul Allen

Christians need clarification and encouragement. When things are difficult, asking why they are so hard is easy. There may or may not be specific answers to this question, yet the Scriptures remind us that the people of God have, in every season, faced opposition—yet not without purpose. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his commentary on Acts 6, said: The Church has had to fight for her life from the very beginning. We have seen how the apostles were arrested and thrown into prison, how they were threatened, and how they were commanded to stop preaching. From the moment it was born, the church has faced a world that has done everything it could to exterminate Christianity. Although this tempts us to be more anxious than anchored, it reminds us that what we face is not entirely unprecedented. It also causes us to look to the early church to see how they faced difficult circumstances and remained faithful. The life of Stephen, in particular, can help us understand how we are to live. Stephen wa

Jesus was pretty stern in his treatment of the Pharisees. In contrast to his usual gentleness, he rebuked them in the hardest, most offensive terms on multiple occasions. Matt 15, 7-9: “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:  ‘“These people honour me with their lips,  but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain;  their teachings are merely human rules.” Matt 23, 15-33: “Woe to you, law teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are…Woe to you, blind guides…you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness…You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel…You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, an

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name . . . (Matthew 6:9) How many lips have formed these words since the Lord Jesus first taught them? How many languages have uttered them? How many different people, in how many different circumstances, have bowed their heads and hearts to pray as Jesus famously instructs? The dying has prayed it. The uneducated have prayed it. The unbelieving and villainous have even prayed for it. Children have prayed for it. The great and wise have found room for it. Every continent on earth has heard it whispered. Tribes in remote villages and kings in tall palaces have bowed and repeated after the Jewish prophet from Nazareth. Has there been a prayer more prayed; have there been words more often spoken? “For some of our wandering prayer lives, the best thing for us to learn is how not to pray.” And yet, for as many as have repeated our Master’s teaching on how to pray, how many can repeat what words come directly before them — namely, the ones teachi

“No one ever spoke like this man.” There is a brief, tense conversation recorded in John’s Gospel that encapsulates, in certain ways, the last two thousand years of Jesus’s confounding impact on world history. Given Jesus’s troubling and growing influence on the Jewish public, the chief priests and Pharisees decided to send officers to arrest Jesus (John 7:32). The officers, however, returned empty-handed. When the furious Pharisees asked why, the officers responded, “No one ever spoke like this man” (John 7:46). This dumbfounded them. Even the officers were infatuated with Jesus! You can hear the religious leaders’ exasperation: Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. (John 7:47–49) This pattern has recurred over and over, throughout history, with what Jesus of Nazareth said and did. His Confounding Words Leaders and scholars have repeatedly and relentlessly tried

Have you seen them? There is a new kind of Pharisee today. Things like social media have paved the way for them. And they are not rare or quiet. Here is a partial profile of the new Pharisees: They have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. The tactic of the new Pharisees communicates that they are in the highest seat of judgment and above questioning. As such, they behave as if God has charged them to prosecute those who do not conform to their law. In this way, they make themselves and their standards well-known on social media. They hand out violations on partial information and without the full story. They lack grace and learning. They’re watching you, waiting in the shadows to trap you in a statement, plotting together how they might trap you in what you say. 2.  They are judgmental in the true sense. Ironically, the most abused verse in the Bible can safely be said of them: “Do not judge so that you will not be judged” (Matt. 7:1). In the name of compassio

“But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting , but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:17–18). I have observed over the years that Roman Catholics are much more diligent about fasting than Protestants—or at least they used to be. The reason for this is that the Catholic Church used to require a partial fast, from meat, every Friday. There were other days of fasting in the Roman calendar as well. Protestant churches, however, have had little to say about fasting. Why is this? The reason lies in the fact that at the time of the Reformation, fasting was connected with the sacrament of penance. In the Roman system, if a person committed a mortal sin, he lost his justification. In order to regain his justification and escape the sentence of hell, he had to make use of the sacrament of penance. Frequently

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” ( Matthew 6:6 ). In Matthew 6:1 –21, Jesus gives a series of exhortations about the secret life of the believer. He contrasts true belief with Pharisaism .  First, in verses 1–4, He states that our alms-giving is to be done quietly, not publicly.  Second, in verses 5–15, He argues that our prayers are to be done secretly, and not openly. Third, in verse 16–18, He commands that our fasting is to be concealed, not done before men. He closes in verses 19–21 by arguing that in this way we lay up treasures in heaven, rather than on earth. Notice that Jesus makes it plain that we are required to give alms. This means, first of all, a tithe of ten percent of our income to the church. It also means additional giving to those in need, particularly to the poor. Jesus also makes it clear that Christians are to practice fast

“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” ( Matthew 5:28 ). As Jesus comments on the implications of the law for kingdom living, He turns from murder to adultery. Many of the Pharisees acted as if only the physical act of adultery was forbidden by the Ten Commandments , and that “everything but” physical adultery was permitted. Jesus pointed to lust in the heart - is also forbidden. I’m sometimes asked by college students how “far” it is all right to go in necking and petting. Jesus answers that question right here. It is not permitted to go any distance at all outside of marriage, because all forms of sexual intimacy, and even lust, are condemned outside of marriage. Some have taken Jesus’ admonitions the wrong way, and have thought that Jesus was saying that lust in the heart is just as bad as fornication and adultery. This is not the case at all. In the Old Testament law, given by the same God who sent

“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” ( Matthew 5:22 ) There are a number of Scriptures that, taken alone, would indicate that a Christian should never get angry about anything. For example, note Ephesians 4:31 : “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger . . . be put away from you.” Yet, Jesus indicated only that anger “without a cause” was wrong and invited judgment. Many modern translations omit the phrase “without a cause” in this verse, but the phrase does occur in over 99.5 percent of all the Greek manuscripts and thus clearly should be retained. If anger were never permitted for a believer, it would contradict even the occasional example of Jesus Himself. “And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts” ( Mark 3:5 ). He was angered here by certain hypocrites among the Pharisees who were ready to condemn Him for healing a disabled man on the

Now that Andy Stanley has  responded  so fully and helpfully to the critics of his sermon “ The Bible Told Me So ,” we may be able to sort out a few things about his method more carefully. My aim here is to state what I think Stanley is commending to preachers and then suggest some questions that young preachers should ask before embracing Stanley’s method. He has important things to teach us, and I was helped by reading his rejoinder to his critics. (Note: Andy and I corresponded about this article before publication. Just so you know where he is on it, he gave me permission to quote him: “Your response is gracious, thorough, fair, and inspiring. The last two paragraphs made me want to shout, ‘AMEN.’”) Should We Say, “The Bible Says”? In a  recent conversation  with Russell Moore, Stanley made the case that, in preaching to unbelievers and Christians who are struggling with doubts, you can help them get more traction with the truth of Scripture if you do not say, “the B