The Church's Moral Authority

The church’s authority is moral. The church does not spank or issue fines or imprison. It disciplines, theoretically, by persuasion, by example, by compassionate action, by preaching and teaching, and by exclusion from fellowship and office. As much as conservative Christians have clucked about erosion of morality, it is odd that we have not ourselves heeded or developed the moral authority of the Church. Have you ever heard of a dispute being adjudicated by the church?


Excerpt from "Trusting God or Trusting Ourselves"

God's Law

The moral law of God is perpetual. It has not been overthrown by Christ, but fulfilled by Him. Though since the fall of our race into sin, we have never been able to keep the law, we remained accountable to it and Christ fulfilled it on our behalf as the second Adam.

Excerpt from "Spurgeon on the Law of God"

A Person, Not a "Risk"

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” Later in 1 Corinthians, we are reminded that we are “not [our] own” and that we are “bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). In the book of the Revelation, we are told that there is a judgment of all.

A managed care organization may regard its subscribers as a number, an account, or some other kind of cipher, but we know them as persons with faces, who have certain habits (like showing up drunk or two minutes before closing time, or trying to get one child's medicine on another child's Medicaid). To the insurer, they are simply “a risk” which can be managed by the averaging power of large numbers in a policy-holding group. No one in Insurance Command Central is answerable before God for the health of the insurance policyholders. Those of us who know the patient can remind the patients of their personal responsibility. When the occasion permits, which in these days is, I think, rather rare, we should remind our patients.


Excerpt from "Pharmacy and Medical Interventions"

Serving Individuals

The persons we serve are individuals. The story of Joseph in the Old Testament is not the story of Joseph of Arimathea in the New Testament. God does not deal with us by simple diagrammable rules. Though He is operating according to His immutable nature, in which we can discern principles, He is doing so by engagement with the rich, intimate details of our personality. Matthew is called from his tax extortion and Zacchaeus from a tree. Peter is called from fishing for fish to fishing for men. Paul, who thought he could see sin clearly, is called in blindness from a murderous trip and sent on missionary trips. There is a sameness in the call, but also wonderful differences in its particular administration.


Excerpt from "Pharmacy and Medical Interventions"