When Religion Becomes Obsolete, Christ Does Not

By Russ Lackey | Mark Mattes

01/20/26

19mins

When Religion Becomes Obsolete, Christ Does Not

American religion did not become optional because the gospel failed. It became optional because religion slowly redefined itself around usefulness.

Bradley Gray

01/19/26

Behold the Lamb

The Passover wasn’t just Israel’s story; it’s ours.

Psalm 12, Part 2: The Saint Fails, The Word Purifies

Steven Paulson

01/16/26

Psalm 12, Part 2: The Saint Fails, The Word Purifies

God makes us pure saints by planting us back in the earth we imagined we needed to escape.

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Kevin Hale

02/01/23

Law and Gospel in 2 Corinthians 3

Rightly distinguishing between law and gospel, as Paul helps us see in 2 Corinthians 3, is, quite literally, a matter of life and death.

Ryan Couch

01/16/23

I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins

God gives us the power and authority to proclaim the forgiveness of sins to burdened sinners who entrust us with their pain, guilt, and defeat.

Haroldo Camacho

01/10/23

Another Look at the "Loving" Expert on the Law

The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.

Bradley Gray

01/05/23

Jesus is Better

As the writer to the Hebrews affirms, what makes the Christian gospel so much better is that we are no longer dealing with “types and shadows."

Luke Kjolhaug

01/02/23

A Toast to the End of Ourselves

Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.

John T. Pless

12/31/22

Book Review: Justification Is for Preaching

While they speak on various aspects of the preaching task, these essays share a unity in their authors’ commitment to the fact that the preaching of Jesus Christ is not simply motivational, informational, or inspirational; it is the delivery of God’s promise into the ears of those who if left to themselves are deaf to the Creator’s voice.

Steven Paulson

12/20/22

Christmas in Psalm 2: Futility is Funny

Who would ever want all these screamers and haters? It turns out that Christ does.

Karen Stenberg

12/07/22

My Badge of Self Sufficiency

God is not calling us to “grow up.” He is calling us to dependence.

1517 Staff

11/28/22

Church Fathers on Christmas: John Chrysostom

For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of him who works.

John Bombaro

11/12/22

Epistles: Colossians 1:13-20 (The Last Sunday in the Church Year: Series C)

The epistle text from Colossians 1 declares how the great drama of redemption and human history ends.

Bradley Gray

11/10/22

Jesus, Thank You

The mind-blowing part of this entire story, though, isn’t that only one leper came back to “give thanks,” but that the Lord Jesus healed all ten knowing full well that only one would come back.

Wade Johnston

11/03/22

Virgins in Hell

We don’t start with behavior and work toward Christ. We start with Christ and everything works out from there.

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