Logos’ March Matchups is down to its final pairing, so you should go and vote one more time.

Yes, there are once again some new Kindle deals.
(Yesterday on the blog: On Being the Main Character in Your Own Sermon)
The Honorable, Shameful Service of True Leaders
This article offers some wisdom for leaders. “The balance that Jesus models so well for us is one in which leaders are honored, but they respond to this honoring by embracing sacrificial and costly service. This service in turn generates more respect, and that respect spurs on more lowly service, in a dance of sorts of mutual submission.”
Should Youth Groups Baptize or Celebrate the Lord’s Supper?
“Student ministries sometimes celebrate Baptism and the Lord’s Supper at camps, youth group, and small groups. This practice is seen as a meaningful way to follow God’s commands in an environment that is comfortable for students. While often well-intentioned, is this the most helpful way to think about the ordinances?” No! As Will Standridge explains.
What Matt Walsh Should Have Said to Joe Rogan (Video)
This is a helpful way to respond to a fairly common question.
Kevin DeYoung @RMC23 “What Isn’t The Misson of The Church?”
Looking through a Biblical framework at how we define “missions”. In an age where everything is missions, what isn’t missions and why are so many good things in that category? In this video from RMC22, Kevin DeYoung walks through why church planting should be the primary focus of missions. Join us in June for The Radius Conference 23 (Sponsored Link)
Marriage Isn’t Rehab for Sexual Sin
Rutledge Etheridge: “But doesn’t the apostle Paul tell Christians that if they can’t control their sexual desires, it’s ‘better to marry than to burn’ (1 Cor. 7:9)? Isn’t marriage, then, God’s prescription for dealing with sexual sin? Though this rehab view of marriage is pervasive, it distorts 1 Corinthians 7 and creates an unsafe situation for spouses.”
Struggling with the Struggle
Melissa considers how God works in our hard times. “Sanctification often hurts. We don’t have to hate ourselves for saying ouch. We do, after all, have a Savior who can identify with our weaknesses. He understands pain. He understands disappointment, heartache, and struggle. We can trust Him with this process, and we can trust Him with our feelings about this process.”
The World’s Most Popular Bible: A History of the New International Version (NIV)
You may enjoy reading this history of the NIV.
Flashback: 8 Ways God Works Suffering for Our Good
Suffering never comes our way apart from the purpose and providence of God and for that reason, suffering is always significant, never meaningless. Here are some ways that God brings good from our suffering.

If we do not believe in hell—if we think the only justice and retribution to be had is in this life—then we must take revenge into our own hands. Without hell, justice must be forcibly executed by us, or it will not be executed at all. —Dane Ortlund

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians. 🇨🇦

At Westminster Books you’ll find a deal on a resource meant to help younger people engage with the great hymns of the Christian faith.
Today’s Kindle deals include a couple of books.
(Yesterday on the blog: Seasons of Sorrow: The Release Event (You’re Invited!))
The Triviality of Pro-Choice Memes
After SCOTUS handed down its decision, “there was much justified jubilation, as well as frustrated weeping, regret, sorrow, fear, and the full panoply of human emotion that such a movement towards costly justice could be expected to engender from advocates and foes. And, of course, in our culture that has displaced reasoned discourse with the image, the ad, and the infographic, there were many annoying memes.”
Is Church Growth Desirable or Dangerous? Yes.
There are lots of good thoughts in this one. “A lack of prayer is a mark of self-sufficiency, and it is simultaneously a cause of self-sufficiency. There could be few things more dangerous for the souls of church leaders than to lead prayerlessly and then to see growth. Woe to him who does not pray for what he needs, but a double-woe to him to whom God grants success apart from prayer.”
Valor Without Renown
Kristin reflects on valor without renown (and life without social media).
If You Find Listening to Sermons Boring, Try This
“During my lifetime I reckon I’ve heard about 4,000 sermons. Often I have been challenged, uplifted, provoked, transformed. Sadly, other times, I have been bored.” Here are some ways to gain more from the sermon.
Gospel Light in the Red Light District
Lauren Ray shares some of her efforts to represent Christ in Amsterdam’s infamous Red Light District.
Gen Z Mental Health Crisis: How Pastors Can Make a Difference
I’ve heard so much about the Gen Z mental health crisis—as have you, I expect. This article shares ways that pastors (and others) can make a difference.
Flashback: You Don’t Really Know Who Your Friends Are Until…
Jesus is unchanged and unchanging. He will not bow to the changing culture, he will not cede to the rising tide. Jesus will only ever be who he is and who he has always been. And each of us has a choice to make.

Don’t ever degenerate into giving advice unconnected to the good news of Jesus crucified, alive, present, at work and returning. —David Powlison

Sometimes I find myself on a reading kick in which I follow a common theme through a number of books. Over the past few weeks I have been fascinated with businesses that have the appearance of being legitimate while they are actually over-hyped at best and fraudulent at worst.

Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos claimed to have created technology that could run hundreds of tests on a single drop of blood when, in reality, she was lying to her investors and running the great majority of the tests on industry-standard machines. Adam Neumann’s WeWork was claiming to be a groundbreaking technology company when really it was a mere real estate company that was using fast growth to cover up its financial hemorrhaging. Ken Lay’s Enron was using false and fraudulent accounting to deceive its shareholders and give the appearance of profitability.
As I read of the crimes and misdeeds of the founders or leaders of these businesses, as I read of the ways they take advantage of others, as I learn how they enrich themselves at the cost of their investors, my heart begins to long for justice. As I come to the final chapters, I long to read the author’s explanation of how each of the culprits was caught, charged, sentenced, and confined to prison. I long to hear how their mansions were seized, their cars repossessed, their fortunes returned. This rarely all happens, of course, since those with billions of dollars to their names can usually hire the kind of defense teams that can help them get away with the most minimal sentences. Still, I find myself rejoicing at their downfall and satisfied when I see that their reputations have been forever shattered—and rightly so.
Yet I also realize that in these times I need to step back and consider myself. When I honestly assess myself, I have to admit that my longing for justice is not universal. I want justice for other people’s sins, but not for my own. I want their misdeeds to be met with justice but mine to be met with mercy. Is this not the very height of hypocrisy?
There are two ways I can deal with this contradiction. The first is to draw the line of what kind of sin demands punishment so that it falls just beyond my own. Now I can satisfy myself that what those people did merits harsh measures while what I did merits the most gentle. The other is to admit that both kinds of sin are bad, but then to determine that the nature of their sins demands punishment while the nature of mine merits grace.
But the reality, of course, is that if I long for justice for them I must also long for justice for me. The heart that is satisfied with Holmes’ downfall and Neumann’s ouster should also only be satisfied when I, too, face the consequences of my own sin. I can’t have it both ways. I can’t rightly conjure up a world in which I become the standard, the dividing line between justice and mercy. I can’t be satisfied with a world in which some receive justice while others do not.
And yet I don’t need to because I can have confidence that my sins have been met with justice. At the cross Jesus Christ took my sins upon himself and settled their sentence. That’s not to say I will or should escape all temporal consequences for my sins, but it is to say that the ultimate longing for justice has been met. And, therefore, I can long for justice even when it comes to the things I have done, the sins I have committed. In fact, I should long for justice even when it comes to the things I have done, the sins I have committed. And I can be satisfied that there has been and will be justice for me, not just for thee.
(Books I read: The Cult of We; Billion Dollar Loser; Bad Blood; The Smartest Guys in the Room.)