Earthly Good Last week, we looked at the idea of progressivism here. This week let’s think more about what we should be progressing toward. Have you heard the old saying, “He’s so heavenly minded that he’s no earthly good?” While I’m sure the original meaning of this phrase was that many people can get bogged down in foolish controversies and debates about the hereafter, which are not revealed in scripture and only promote disunity, this would be akin to people debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. However, I think that the statement is simply wrong. What this statement implies is that individuals who think of heaven often and deeply will not be practical in their decisions and actions. But by what standard would we judge this practicality? One must assume that the standard is how efficient and successful the person is in this temporal realm. But if one’s practicality is judged on the eternal effects, then wouldn’t it be advisable for everyone to be as heavenly minded as possible so as to increase success quotient in the eternal realm. I suppose it could be that the statement is right, but who cares if the 80 or so years you have on earth are fantastic if your eternity is terrible! Good Investments I’ve been listening to Dave Ramsey alot lately and one of the things that he points out is that what is good long term is usually hard in the short term. Spending now is of course more immediately gratifying than saving and investing but someday when you have an emergency, those savings will be a blessing. And someday when you are ready to move from your work earning a living to the work of finishing well, you will be thankful for the investment! So as we consider earthly and heavenly thinking, which equates to temporal and eternal thinking, practically we must be focused on the long term gain not the short term benefits. The Apostle Paul refers to us longing to put on our heavenly dwelling (2 Corinthians 5:2) He also encourages us as believers to seek the things which are above us, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1-4). This is where our minds ought to be focused and our efforts ought to be invested. If we truly believe that we are going to live forever with God and that how we live now will affect that eternity for us and for others, then why would we not live toward that end? Short Sighted Everyone knows they need to be saving and investing, but statistics show that most people are not doing either one. This is probably because people think that they have plenty of time for that later or they genuinely don’t think about the fact they will someday reach a point in life where they will need those long term benefits. I believe it is the same with Christians and eternity. Many Christians really don’t think about it in concrete terms. Also, many have fatalistic ideas of eternity. By this I mean that they believe that they have been saved by grace and so they are going to heaven and that their eternity will be the same regardless of how they live the rest of their lives. But that’s not true! Our eternal lives will forever be affected by what has taken place in the body even for those who have been graciously saved by God. The Apostle Peter said it this way in 2 Peter 3:11-13. “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” So what do you think? What sort of lives ought we to live? Heavenly minded or Earthly Minded?
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Politics
I must begin with a disclaimer. I usually try to stay away from online political discussions. This is not because I don’t have political opinions, and I hope it is not out of cowardice. It seems that oftentimes these political discussions can be unfruitful and not helpful for promoting the gospel of Christ crucified. However, the gospel and the implications of the real Lordship of Jesus means that politics belongs to Christ just like every other realm in God’s world. The topic today is not so much political as linguistic. There is a term being used regularly in the political conversation that deserves some in depth thought and analysis. This term is ‘progressive’. The term has become synonymous with ‘liberal’ as a designation for those on the political and social left. Certainly, the argument could be made that the tribalism of right and left is a part of the problem. But what does progressive mean? Well, to progress literally means to move toward a goal, to advance in some way, to develop, or to grow. This is one of those areas where the words all sound good, but we must ask the question - progress toward what? What is the goal that we are moving toward? What truth or agenda are we seeking to advance? What are we developing? Good and Bad The idea of being progressive then is not good or bad on it’s own. Rather, we must think of being progressive in terms of what the end goal is, to determine if it is good or bad. For example, we could speak about how a student, maybe your child or grandchild, is progressing educationally. In this case, progress is a good thing. However, we could also speak of how cancer has progressed from stage 3 to stage 4, an obviously bad thing. So progress is good or bad depending on what it modifies. Now think about the people of Israel in the Old Testament. They were supposed to be ‘progressive’ in the sense that they were to trust in the LORD and obey His precepts, decrees, and statutes. God would then bless them not as payment for their good works, but as a testimony to how great a God He is! So that the nations would know about Him and then could even know Him! While we do see some examples of gentiles recognizing the greatness of the LORD (for example Rahab, who even was included in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus) on the whole Israel broke covenant with God and did not advance in this way. But progress is always being made one way or the other and since Israel was not progressing in advancing the fame of the LORD in all the earth we find them instead progressing in sinful practices. They fell into deep adultery and idolatry. They were progressing, but not toward freedom but rather slavery, not toward holiness but rather unrighteousness, not toward truth but rather a lie. Where are we going? If you have ever been on a long trip, especially with children, you know the inevitable question that will be asked, “Are we there yet?” But right now the most important question is, “Where are we going?” In a world with so much talk about being progressive, we must ask what are we progressing toward? Regardless of your political affiliation, what is the world we are heading for going to look like? The reality is that the Bible has answers for where we should be going and what our goals ought to be. Ultimately, we as individual Christians are called not to conform to the pattern of this world but rather, through renewing our mind, we are to be transformed (Romans 12:2) and that transformation is so that we can be conformed into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). We will dive more deeply into the Biblical answers next week! Gender and the Church I want to begin by stating that I am not trying to offend fellow believers who simply disagree with me theologically. However, I think that perilous times such as those that we live in today call for loving but boldly frank discussion of the truth found in the Word of God. With this said, the issue I want to address is the culpability of the American church and of conservative evangelicalism in the moral mayhem know as the transgender agenda. It has been said that if you want to know the roots of any moral issue facing a CULTure then you just need to look at the predominant CULT which is, in America, protestant Christianity. I am not here using the word ‘cult’ in the common sense of a false religious group holding to heterodox beliefs. Rather, by cult I am saying that the primary religious worldview from the beginning of the American experience has been that of Christianity. So this issue has had at least some help in the things that have festered in the churches of our land. Now obviously, there has been a lack of gospel clarity and it would be easy to say that the fault of the church lies with not effectively reaching the population with the true message of repentance from dead works and faith toward the living God. But still, I think that there is more responsibility that lies at our feet. So what is it? What did we get so wrong? Well, I believe we failed to practically believe all that the scriptures teach about gender roles in both the home, society, and the church. Any society where the church is predominantly either formally or functionally egalitarian will eventually and inevitably deal with gender confusion issues. This statement is phrased very carefully, and so I would now like to explain what I mean by each part. I will begin by explaining the term “egalitarian.” I am using this term to refer to the understanding that there is no difference between men and women in regards to the roles that God intends for them to fill in the home, and specifically in this article, in the church. I want to clearly state that the issue is not equality, or capability, or competency, but rather what has God revealed in the Bible. 1 Timothy 2:8-15 is quite clear about what the proper roles of men and women should be in the local church. This is not an issue of equality because the scripture never asserts that men are more valuable than women. Two examples that God deals fairly and righteously with both men and women, would be Numbers 27 where Zelophehad’s daughters received an inheritance alongside their kinsmen, and the general treatment of women by the Lord Jesus Himself. In no way does God esteem either men or women higher because of their gender, but He does give men and women different roles and works that He has prepared beforehand for them to do. (Phil. 1:21) Next, I want to explain the use of the words “formally” and “functionally.” By utilizing these terms I am drawing attention to two different ways the church has made this mistake. First, the term formally refers to those churches who would openly state that the offices of the church are open to both men and women. Particularly, those churches that have or affirm women as pastors and elders. If the church cannot discern the biblical mandate for male leadership among the local congregation, what chance does the lost world have of maintaining biblical and natural roles for men and women. But the problem is not only among those churches and denominations with female pastors but also denominations and churches who would not formally affirm female leadership, but who do functionally because of the lack of Godly men to lead their families and their churches. Just as Deborah’s leadership of Israel was a judgement on them because of the impotent and weak leadership of Barak so also many of our churches are withering and dying from a lack of godly male leadership. From the time of the fall the default sinful pattern has been for men to abdicate responsibility and for women to usurp authority. Thus, leading at least partially to the current state of the church and the culture. I use the terms eventually and inevitably because without the church there is no other correcting or preserving system for society. Higher education, expanded literacy, capitalism, and democracy are all well and good but these are not sufficient to properly lead and direct the culture. WE ARE THE SALT! Only the biblical church can rightly and adequately preserve a people, WE ARE THE LIGHT! Only the biblical church can rightly light the way forward toward a godly glorious trajectory. So what is the answer to the gender confusion we see in our culture? In short, it is to recover a biblical view of gender through repentance from our own ideas and obedience to the plain meaning of God in His Word. How? We as believers must read the Word, Study the Word, Preach the Word, and Obey the Word. God has established the roles of men and women and yet, He has not done so unfairly or without tender mercy. The Lord has fitted the way He has made us both male and female and the way He has created our roles in life to match His purposes. It is not possible that we would be able to ever find true fulfillment and lasting joy while seeking to do what God has not made us to do. God has created us and He directs us through His word to do as He would have us to do for our good and His glory. Who’s in Charge? Who’s the boss? Who’s really in charge? Even using these phrases brings to mind the classic TV shows starring Tony Danza and Scott Baio. Both of those shows, “Who’s the Boss” and “Charles in Charge,” are playing on the comedic effect of the relationships between the characters who are supposed to have authority, and the characters who seem to truly have influence. But when we draw back from the convenient caricature world of the 30 minute sitcom to consider the real world, both physical and spiritual, that we all live in then the question takes on greater significance. Who is really in charge? Who ultimately has authority and influence? The God of This World The scripture of the New Testament contains several titles for a being with some kind of temporal authority over the present world (at least the world present when those texts were written). In Ephesians, this figure is called the “prince of the power of the air.” Those who are dead in sin, walking after the way of the world, and labeled by Paul as “sons of disobedience” are following this prince. Then, 3 times in the gospel of John (12:31;14:30;16:11), Jesus refers to the “ruler of this world” who, in at least 2 of these passages, Jesus says is about to come under the judgment of God. Then, in 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul references “the god of this world” as the one who blinds the minds of the ones who are perishing. It seems that these are all referring to the same biblical character, namely, Satan the devil. Because of these texts, we see that the enemy does wield a certain type of power in this world. So does this mean that the devil is in control of the things that happen in your life? Well, no. In these passages, we see that the enemy does have authority, what we might call jurisdiction, over “this world” or “the power of the air,” but what kind of authority or power are we talking about? I would argue that the power that our enemy has is not that of brute force or autonomous freedom. Remember, he needs God’s permission to do anything (Job 1 & 2). Rather the power that our enemy has is the power of influence. Paul said in Ephesians that those under his power are following the prince of the power of the air. This power of influence is no joke. The power of influence means that we ought to expect that our enemy will attempt to deceive, manipulate, and coerce us to keep us under his influence and doing according to the dictates of our sin and his unholy standard. I am writing this because two dangers exist for us with regard to Satan. First, is that we would assume that as the “god of this world” he has sovereignty over us and our lives and so we would be fearful of him and his hordes of demonic subjects. But, we need not be petrified by this enemy because he is no sovereign, and his realm and jurisdiction are limited. The second danger is that we would ignore him and then fall prey to his subtle and deceptive ways. The True God of the Whole Earth So if Satan doesn’t have absolute control over this world, who does? Well, Isaiah 54:5 says that the Maker, the Holy One of Israel, our Redeemer is the “God of the whole earth.” Also, in Psalm 24:1, David says that the earth is the Lord’s. The reality is that in a sinful fallen world things are not as they should be. Adam (& Eve) in the fall abdicated and relinquished the role that God had given them as image bearers, and that upset the governing arrangement in the world. However, we must remember that the Last Adam defeated the enemy by crushing the serpent’s head and all authority in heaven AND ON EARTH has been given to Jesus! So even though the enemy has influential power that he can use in this world he does not have sovereign authority over everything in this world that belongs to Jesus. The sovereign authority was given to Jesus by the Father, because at no time has the true and living God lost His sovereign authority over all that He has made, which is all that exists! |
AuthorEddie Ragsdale Archives
May 2024
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