Love & Hate Years ago, I heard a speaker recount how he taught the players on a college football team for which he was the chaplain to answer the prompt “love God” with the reply to “hate sin” or vice versa. The point is that the two things are in complete contradiction. If one loves God then he must also hate sin. This is because God and sin are diametrically opposed. Sin is, by definition, anything that is not in line with God’s character, anything that is not done in faith (Romans 14:22-23), or anything that misses the mark of God’s holiness and righteousness (Romans 3:20-23). It is impossible to love God and love sin at the same time! Sinful Hatred However, while it would be accurate to say that love for God necessitates hatred for sin, it does not follow that hatred for some particular sin is always proof or evidence of love for God. Just this week I encountered some graffiti on a bridge in my hometown. It was the combination of a course expletive with a hateful slur against homosexuals. I, of course, believe that homosexuality, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the practice or relationship, is sinful. But, the person that wrote this horrible attack is not on the side of God. It seems obvious to me that this person is angry, but not over the offenses against the nature of God and His good intentions as the creator. Instead, this person is filled with personal animus against something that their own sinful flesh finds appalling. My point is simple: it is possible to hate sin in a sinful way. Sin demolishes trust and relationships. The Apostle Paul wrote to Titus (Titus 3:3) describing the kind of people we all are while still in sin. Here Paul says that we passed our days in malice and envy hated by others and hating one another. In sin, we are prone to find things to hate because hate is reigning in our stony hearts. There is no honor among thieves nor fellowship in the darkness. Partners in crime become enemies when their greed and evil desires entice them (James 1:14-15) to double cross one another. This reality means that we as believers cannot rely on the hope that the enemy of our enemy will be our friend. Just because another person or group agrees with us on an issue does not mean that their reason and motivation is coming from the right place. As Bob King shared with me earlier today, we must be seeking to, “Do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way.” Hate Sin! It is not enough to hate the sins that offend our cultural sensibilities or our family traditions or our personal preferences. As believers, seeking to rightly bear the image of God we must hate and detest all iniquity, transgression, and sin (Isaiah 59:12-13). Starting with our own wickedness and sin. If a heterosexual man is engaging in sexual immorality with his girlfriend, but detests the evil of homosexuality, he doesn’t love the righteous and holy standard of God’s law. If a man is cheating on his taxes, but hates the thief that stole his lawnmower he is not a lover of goodness. Rather, if we are to judge righteously we must heed the instruction of the Lord and remove the beam from our own eye so that we can judge correctly (Matthew 7:1-5). As God’s people, we must remember that judgment begins at the household of God (1 Peter 4:17-19). Remember as Christians we do have holy hatred for sin in our own lives and in the world but that hatred is superseded by an even greater motivation in our love for our Father, our affection for our Savior, and our adoration for the Holy Spirit.
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A Rose What is the meaning of a name? William Shakespeare considered this age old question in his portrayal of the two star crossed lovers named Montague and Capulet. Probably, better known to most of us as Romeo and Juliet. The point of the question is, does a name really make a difference? It is something that every couple awaiting the delivery of a precious bundle of joy must consider. How will the name given to this child affect the treatment or experiences this precious image bearer of God will have? Of course, we cannot see the future or pick a name according to every possible contingency. However, as another great deceased poet (Johnny Cash) has taught us, life can be very difficult for a boy named Sue. The names are an issue because of the realities that they represent. The issue with Romeo and Juliet is the animosity between their respective families, not the syllables of their surnames. Names are labels that identify who we are and to whom we belong. The reason that our names are passed down in our families and from husband to wife is to identify relationships. Sometimes this notifies us of the relationships between other people or even the relationship to ourselves. Suitable Sue Brother Cash used the name “Sue” to point out that the culturally defined feminine name is not well suited to a boy in our society. While there are many things that could be commented on about the change in our culture from the 1960’s to today, the point that I want to focus on in this post is that the prevalence of inappropriate names is more common than we might think. I don’t mean that people have inappropriate “given” names or legal names. Neither am I referring to people with inappropriate or vulgar nicknames (although, this is probably more common). Rather, I want to discuss the suitability of social labels, specifically religious labels. Christian Just today I was speaking with a missionary and pastor living in Nepal who has visited and preached in dozens of countries and he expressed the reality that people really are the same everywhere that you go. Everywhere you go you find people who are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) for that is the only kind of people that exist. These image bearers are also sinners because all people regardless of society or status have sinned against the righteous standard of God’s own perfect character (Romans 3:21-23). These two realities means that everywhere you go you find that everyone is in need of the same glorious good news that they can be saved through the gospel of Jesus Christ! Jesus came to display perfectly the image of God that Adam and all his children have failed to show accurately (Genesis 3). In living this perfect life, He, in full humanity and deity, fulfilled all the righteous demands of the law of God (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Through this perfect, active obedience, He who had no sin was the rightful inheritor of life. Yet, He became sin so that through His death on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21) He could pay the sin debt of guilty sinners who had earned death (Romans 6:23). Then, in victorious resurrection, His victory was made manifest and those who through faith are His people were eternally saved! The problem is that this missionary and pastor shared with me the heartbreaking reality that nominal faith is not only a reality here among the professing church but also there. What I mean by nominal faith is simply the fact that so many people who wear the title of “christian” or who would self identify as “saved” or as “believing in Jesus” have no visible evidence of true faith. They are Christians in name only. I think that often we think that this is only a problem in the Bible belt, but in truth there are false believers everywhere. I also must report that there are false believers in the false religions. The heart of sinners is fickle and it is saddening to realize just how dead and deceived the lost world truly is. So let me urge you not to be Christian in name only, but rather turn from your sin and trust in your Savior and go after Him with your whole life and leave no confusion about your soul! Questions?! So in the title I put a question mark after “baby dedications.” The reason is that this can be a controversial subject. You may be thinking, “how could baby dedication be a controversial subject?” But it comes down to a couple of doctrinal positions. Now, our church has had baby dedications in the past and we will be again this Sunday, so I would like to point out the doctrinal issues that some people would have with having them, and why I think they are permissible and can be helpful. Dry Baptisms? The first doctrinal issue that could be raised in regards to baby dedications deals with our understanding of the doctrine of inclusion in the New Covenant. For our Paedobaptist brothers, it would seem as if we are trying to do what they do through the practice of “infant baptism.” Paedo is referring to the practices of baptizing infants or very young children who are not born again believers. The Presbyterian view of infant baptism is that the child of believing parents is baptized in the New Covenant community. The child is therefore a member of the visible church and the New Covenant, even though they are not yet a believer. They would regard this as an act of faith believing that the child will be a believer. They do not believe that baptism makes the child regenerate or "saved," however they do consider the child a “christian” in a strictly outward sense. So, they would say that we are doing the same thing with baby dedications. However, we are not including our infants or small children in any way into the New Covenant. In distinction, we identify our child as unregenerate until they come to have faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. This being the case, the child dedication is less about dedicating the child to the Lord and more about the parents and church dedicating themselves to the evangelization and discipleship of these children in the biblical knowledge of the Lord so that they can be saved through the proclamation of the gospel. So while the practice of child dedications and paedobaptism may have some practical and liturgical similarities, this does not mean that they are related in terms of belief or practice. Biblical Precedent? The practice of child dedication as opposed to infant baptism is a relatively recent invention. I am not sure of the origins of the practice, but I am quite certain that it did not exist before the modern period. Which brings us to the other possible controversy. We would say that we want to be obedient to the Bible and conform our worship practices as much as possible to the commands and examples of the New Testament. This is usually referred to as the regulative principle of worship. This principle states that the church should only do those things that scripture instructs us to do in the corporate worship gathering. The opposing principle is the normative principle which states that the church is free to do anything that the scripture doesn’t specifically forbid. For example, a church practicing the regulative principle probably wouldn’t have plays or skits during the worship service, because there wouldn’t be a positive example of this in the Bible. However, the normative church might include the skit, claiming that there is nothing forbidding such a practice in the Bible. You can see how both churches would understand themselves to be operating according to the Bible but based on different principles. All churches are probably operating on a spectrum, and two churches claiming to use the same regulative principle might still disagree on if something is permissible according to their interpretation of Scripture. We do not see any New Testament examples of something like child dedication in the Bible. Also, the examples that could be pulled from the Old Testament, such as Samuel, must be interpreted in the unique purpose in which God was working in them. We also must remember that those Old Testament examples were under a system where unbelieving children were included in the (old) covenant people through infant circumcision. Child dedication does not in any way bring the child into the new covenant community in our Baptist view. Maybe it would be best to understand that in the child dedication we are acknowledging the responsibility of the parents and the church to instruct the child in the things of God but this does make the child a member of the church until they become believers. So why is it ok to do parent/child dedications? The instruction for believing parents to raise their children to follow and honor God and for children to obey and honor their parents is consistent throughout scripture. Beginning in the Mosaic Law (Exodus 20:12), and extending into the New Covenant, Paul’s instructions to the Colossians about the responsibility of Christian children and parents (Colossians 3:20-21). I also think that it is a very helpful reminder to the whole church that we have a covenantal responsibility to pray for each other, love one another, and help everyone in our church to grow toward holiness and maturity in the Lord. Once again, the commitments being made are not so much about what the infant will be or do, but rather what we (the church and the parents) (Ephesians 6:1-4) will faithfully strive to do for the good of our children and the glory of our God! Graduation Season It’s that time of year when the students and teachers are eager for the school year to come to a close, and the tenured senior class is on the brink of graduation. These students will complete the school year for the final time. It is the end of their basic educational journey. Whether these are public, private, or homeschool students the next chapter of their lives will be something different and new from what has come before for them. This is usually associated with a mixture of emotion for everyone involved. Joy, fear, nostalgia, and excitement can easily fill our hearts as we experience these moments of transition in our lives. Maybe it is a relief for many that this chapter is finally over. For others, maybe there is fear about the changes and challenges that are coming next. In either case, this milestone, while it is a marker on the road, is not the ultimate finish line. To some degree, this is a good lesson for us that ends are not full stops, but only the transition that moves us forward. Endings There are many different types of endings that we will face in life. Some that we are eagerly anticipating and some that we wish would tarry forever. I’m sure we have all experienced those moments when we wish that we could just hit pause and linger in that moment. On the other hand, there are many times that we might want to push fast forward and get past a particularly difficult season. As we age, I’m sure almost everyone longs for the opportunity to hit rewind or get a do over. However, time just keeps going and so each ending of one thing leads to the beginning of another. Oftentimes, endings can leave us with a feeling of accomplishment and at other times we are left with a hunger for more. In either case we know that endings are sure to come. In our temporal experience, we have only understood things from the perspective of beginnings and endings. Try to imagine eternity. It is very difficult, if not completely impossible, because we only experience beginnings and endings. Some religions have tried to satisfy the God given longing of every human heart for eternity through appealing to some mystical, cyclical explanation but in the scripture it is God who reigns over time and eternity (Exodus 15:17-18). Finish Well Given the reality that we all will face the end of many things in our lives and ultimately the end of this physical life then we ought to live in light of that ending. To some degree, even an empty culture such as the one we live in understands this with the YOLO mindset. But what I am postulating is that we should live and act with humility and virtue, so that in each ending we are finishing well. The reality is that the end is coming. We can be found fallen or failed or we can strive to finish well. This was the desire that the Apostle Paul exhibited when he wrote to his young colleague Timothy concerning the end of not only his ministry but his life for the sake of the gospel (2 Timothy 4:6-8). In the text, Paul tells Timothy how he has “fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith.” Looking with Spiritual insight into the sureness of his soon death he was able to point out to Timothy that he had finished well. We must realize that finishing well is not as much a matter of being successful or accomplished, but rather, a matter of being faithful. In the end, there will be many who despite being blessed with many talents, advantages, and even prosperity will ultimately not finish well because of a lack of integrity and faithfulness. At the same time, many who have not had those same privileges will be found having fought hard and finished well, because they simply proceeded in faithful obedience to the clear commands of Christ. This kind of faithfulness is the essence of truly saving and transforming faith. |
AuthorEddie Ragsdale Archives
May 2024
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