Category Archives: Christian Ethics

Jan 25 2021

Meekness – Jesus Style: 'Monday Morning Musings - January 25, 2021'

Biblical meekness, like humility, is also not a personality type. It has nothing to do with an external demeanor of diffidence. It does not involve being an emotional eunuch. It is about being fully alive, experiencing all range of emotion, but having those emotions under the rein of the governance of Christ. It does not mean I live as a doormat for others to abuse or degrade me.

__________________________________

Copyright 2021. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

Nov 24 2020

Money Can’t Buy Me Love: 'We Can't Serve God and Money'

Money Can’t Buy Me Love

The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls . . .  So wrote Simon and Garfunkel in their 1966 hit song, The Sound of Silence. If we pay close attention, we will find that the secular artists (poets, musicians, authors, etc.) of a culture often speak kingdom values and insights to the people of God with a clarity not found among the people of God.

Continue reading →

Nov 23 2020

Kingdom Values in John’s Epistles – One Anothering: 'Monday Morning Musings - November 23, 2020'

John’s epistles are sometimes over-shadowed by Paul’s doctrinal epistles. John’s first epistle at first glance seems simple, repetitive, and to the English eye and ear, not well written. Nothing can be further from the truth. John’s structure and style are laden with purpose and his message is practical and profound: if you do not love one another, you do not know God. We know we have passed from life to death, not because of our doctrinal convictions (as some would present Paul), but by our love for the brethren. Failing here has far reaching consequences.

Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash

______________________________

Copyright 2020. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

Nov 16 2020

Defining Orthodoxy Relationally: 'It Takes More Than Correct Doctrine to be Truly Orthodox'

Orthodoxy Relationally Defined

Defining Orthodoxy Relationally

“Objective historic theology is Reformation theology.  It is historical evangelicalism.  It is historical orthodoxy.”  So says John MacArthur (Charismatic Chaos: 32). If John’s lips are moving, there’s a good chance I don’t agree with much of what’s coming through them! The narrow and sectarian nature of that statement is appalling. But John is just following in the footsteps of his spiritual forefather, Martin Luther.  Luther said that in the history of the church no one–not Augustine, not any of the Church Fathers–NO ONE other than himself–ever understood “pure doctrine.” He called everything before himself “great darkness.” (Table Talk: §530)  

Continue reading →

Oct 26 2020

Reality is in the Meal, Not the Menu: 'Monday Morning Musings - October 26, 2020'

Just because you have memorized a restaurant’s menu, does not mean you know anything about the reality of what the menu represents. The reality is in the meal, not the menu. Within Protestantism we have had 500+ years of “preaching the Word.” It is assumed that in so-doing we have faithfully discharged Christ’s mandate. If better or more preaching was necessary for the kingdom of Jesus to grow in Western cultures, we would be far better off spiritually and civically than we are today. The world is not waiting for another sermon. The world is waiting to see some people who resemble and act like, the Firstborn of many brethren (Romans 8:28 ff). The world does not need another lecture. It is high time that those who espouse a message and expect others to conform their lives to that message, bear a family resemblance to the One whom they preach. The essence of Christianity is incarnational, transformational, and manifestational, not informational.

______________

Copyright 2020. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

Oct 19 2020

Gnostic Christianity: 'Monday Morning Musings October 19, 2020'

The incarnation of Jesus–him taking on the totality of what it means to be human-body, soul, and spirit–is a statement about the value of the realm of time and space–the created order. The incarnation has given value to and sanctified ALL of the created order. There are some prevalent strains of Western Protestantism that are more Gnostic in their belief systems than biblical, though they might aggressively deny it. Over-emphasis on the “spirit realm” and defining “spiritual reality” by denigrating or devaluing the material realm, including or mortal bodies, is 100% Gnostic, no matter how much Bible veneer it may have.

Copyright 2020. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

___________________________

Oct 5 2020

Doing Truth: 'Monday Morning Musing - October 5, 2020'

In our worldview truth is a noun, describing our convictions and beliefs about abstract principles (or convictions about “what the Bible says.” ) In the worldview of Jesus and Paul, truth is a verb of relational fidelity and truth is incarnational, not abstract. These profound differences will affect the way we approach, understand, apply, and live out both What and Who we see in the Scriptures.

_________________________

Copyright 2020. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

 

Sep 11 2019

Gentleness, Humility, and Meekness: 'They're Not What You Might Think'

They’re Not What We Might Think They Are

When simple terms like gentleness, humility, and meekness take on modern cultural definitions rather than culturally sensitive biblical ones, we will end up creating God in our own image. We will also likely create faith communities that reflect cultural values rather than biblical ones. We do not have to become Jewish nor import their culture into our world. But neither should we export our culture into the text and think we are being “Biblically faithful.” Jesus and the apostles were not white Americans from Nebraska in 1954. Gentleness, humility, and meekness can become grossly distorted in our day if we do not at least understand what the terms meant to the people of the day, before we try to live out an ethic that may have no biblical foundation at all.

Continue reading →

May 11 2018

Wisdom in Saying Nothing: 'Saying More by Talking Less'

The relational wisdom of silence

The Wisdom in Saying Nothing: Saying More by Saying Less.

I have learned that when on spiritual and theological “adventures and excursions” it is often relationally best to say little, or nothing. The deeper the plow of the cross goes into our lives, the less one usually has to say about it. Eternal jaw-jacking and yammering about this and that spiritual thing is neither spiritually wise nor relationally mature. It is lacking in relational wisdom. It is a form of self-centeredness: what I think and what I have to say is so important that  . . .  blah, blah, blah. No one is listening.

Continue reading →

Jun 16 2017

Christian Business Ethics – A Challenge to the Christian Business Person: 'Don't Slander the Lord in Your Business Dealings with Others'

Christian Business Ethics

Christian Business Ethics

I have been a follower of Christ for forty-two years. For thirty-four of those years I have been self-employed. Fewer things are more offensive to unbelievers, and more undermining to the Lord’s testimony in the earth, than vocally “Christian” business people whose true God is the love of money and whose business ethics resemble more of Bernie Madoff and Martin Shkreli than Jesus Christ. Being a Christian in business is more than having a fish sticker on the bumper of your business vehicle. It is having a Jesus stamp on your heart.

Continue reading →