Author: Pastor Rich Lusk
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The Creation of Man and Woman
Why was man made from the dirt and woman from the man? There are several ways to tackle this question. I like Peter Lombard’s explanation: “The woman was created not from just any part of the man’s body, but from his side. This was to demonstrate that she was made for loving communion with him. She…
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Baptismal Exhortation: Types and Shadows of God’s Salvation
To understand baptism, we cannot just look at a few NT passages that mention baptism explicitly. The apostles clearly believed there were events in the OT that prefigured Christian baptism. For example, Peter says the flood, in which Noah and his family were saved by water in the ark, was a type, or foreshadowing of…
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The End of An Era
Last Sunday was the end of an era for the Lusk family. For years, I have watched my wife and kids in worship; I’d be upfront leading the service or preaching and I’d see them all lined up, usually across the front row. When we first moved here at the end of 2004, our kids were…
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Finding Peace in the So-Called Gender Wars
A few thoughts on the so-called gender wars: If we want mutuality between the sexes, it is crucial to resist movements that minimize the differences between the sexes (e.g., feminism). According to Rene Girard, it is similarity that breeds rivalry (e.g., sibling rivalries are based on the fact that the siblings share so much in…
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Liturgical Sacrifice as a Way of Life
Romans 12 sermon (2005)Romans 12:11-2 This sermon was originally preached as the first of a two part series on February 27, 2005. The audio of Part 2, from Haggai 1:1-11, can be found here. Daniel Boone was the great American explorer who first scouted out men of the Western Frontier. He was a pioneer and a trailblazer, cutting…
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The Justification of the Good Samaritan (2003)
This essay was originally published at Theologia. The story of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:25-37) is one of the best known and most loved of Jesus’ parables. I am not going to attempt to exegete the passage, as that has been done admirably and ably by others. Rather, I want to briefly examine what bearing the…
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Church Discipline Questionnaire
Years ago, in 2008 to be specific, when I was still fairly new to being a solo pastor, a seminary student asked me to participate in a project he was doing. He wanted to compile views and practices from a variety of churches regarding church discipline and conflict resolution. I came across this document in…
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Confession of Sin
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, this church opens wide her doors and offers welcome to all who are spiritually weak and seek rest; to all who mourn and long for comfort; to all who struggle and desire victory; to all who sin and need the Savior; to all who are strangers and want fellowship; to all who hunger and…
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Jesus and the Blessed Man
This essay presupposes and builds upon my sermon on Psalms 127-128, available here. The first part of the sermon focused on the man in these two psalms and that’s what I want to look at further here. If we want to know what it means to be a blessed man, perhaps we need to start with…
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A Short Note on “Patriarchy”: Reclaiming Biblical Terminology
The term “patriarchy” is controversial. I used to be opposed to the term “patriarchy” and was settled on the term “complementarianism” to describe the relationship of the sexes. I was especially frustrated that many who called themselves “patriarchal” seemed to have weird “hyper-patriarchal” views. Perhaps that is still the case in some quarters. But a…
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