Complaining About Government

It is a good old-fashioned American tradition to complain about the government. If you can not complain about the government, who can you complain about? Also, Christians have generally not been pleased with certain things our government has been doing in the United States. But Scripture says we are to submit to and pray for those in government (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 13-17; 1 Timothy 2:1-4). Now it does not help here to talk about how bad our government is. The man in charge when these passages were written was a man by the name of Nero. No one in our government is even close to him. Now there is a point where we must serve God rather than man (Acts 4:19-20; 5:29; Daniel 3:16-18). But it is not a conclusion to be reached early or lightly. How should we approach this issue?

The only perfect government will be when Jesus Christ comes to rule and reign on earth (Isaiah 2:1-4; 11:1-10; Revelation 21:1-7). But the problem with our being part of a perfect kingdom is that we are sinners (Romans 3:23; Jeremiah 17:9; Isaiah 64:6). Jesus Christ is God, who became man (John 1:1-18; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 2:9-18) to pay the price for our sins (1 Peter 2:24,25; Colossians 2:13,14; 2 Corinthians 5:21). He then validated this by rising from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Romans 1:4; 4:25) and will come again to reign as King (John 14:1-3; Titus 2:13; Revelation 19:11-16).  Now we can become part of that future kingdom by putting our faith in Christ and Him alone for salvation (Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 4:4,5; Philippians 3:9). 

This results in Christians being citizens of a higher kingdom and being pilgrims and foreigners in this world (Colossians 1:13; Philippians 3:20,21; 1 Peter 2:11,12). Further, God is at work in our lives to transform us (2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 1:29) and will ultimately make us people who belong in that perfect kingdom (1 John 3:2; Romans 8:29,30; Colossians 3:10). Therefore, we cannot allow ourselves to be conformed to this current world system (1 John 2:15-17; Romans 12:1,2; James 4:4). 

This puts the believer in a complicated and delicate situation in relation to the current civil government. We are required to be subject to these authorities. But we cannot give them our absolute and unquestioning allegiance. There is a place to rebuke the behavior of rulers (2 Samuel  12:1-15; 1 Kings 21:17-29; Matthew 14:3,4). Christians need to carefully decide what response to make in various situations. We cannot simply go along with everything the government does. But neither can we rebel over anything we may not happen to like. But most of all, we need to put things in perspective. There  will be no perfect government until Christ Himself comes to reign. This does not mean we should not try to do something against clear injustice in the world. But we need to pick our fights.

A Touch of Humor - Coincidence

Can we fool ourselves into thinking that what we want is what is best for others? How do we avoid this?

Old Erich Proverb - True Love

True love of God is shown by loving our neighbor.

A Voice from the Past - Watson

The causa, the inward impellant motive or ground of justification, is the free grace of God: ‘being justified freely by his grace.’ Ambrose expounds this, as ‘not of the grace wrought within us, but the free grace of God.’ The first wheel that sets all the rest running is the love and favour of God; as a king freely pardons a delinquent. Justification is a mercy spun out of the bowels of free grace. God does not justify us because we are worthy, but by justifying us makes us worthy.

Thomas Watson, 1620-1686, A Body of Divinity, 6. The Application of Redemption, 3. Justification, (p. 164)

Why is it important that salvation should be by grace even though we are not worthy? How should this affect our lives?

Death of a Church

How does a church die? The church in Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) is pronounced dead. We are not really told why. Was this a result of following one or more of the errors of the churches round about? Had they accepted false teaching, like Pergamum and Thyatira (Revelation 2:12-29)? Had they lost their first love, like Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7)? Had they become lukewarm, like Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22)? We are not explicitly told. Perhaps we are not told to prevent us from jumping to the conclusion that if we just avoid this one particular thing, we are safe. How then do we avoid going down that road?

We need to be firmly grounded in the Word of God, and not just in our few favorite sayings, but all of it (2 Timothy 3:16,17; Acts 20:27-32; 17:11). Also, there needs to be more than a superficial knowledge (remember Ephesus); we need not only to know the Word of God but to integrate it into our life and follow it (James 1:21-25; Colossians 3:16; Psalms 19:7-14).

We need to be willing to repent (2 Corinthians 7:10; Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9). If there is any theme that seems to run through the letters of Revelation, it is this. Now this is not a matter of making resolutions or gritting our teeth and trying harder. It is a matter of acknowledging our sin and turning to God and trusting in His power to overcome it (2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 2:13; John 15:5). But repentance is often hard to do. We will do many things to avoid it. We will rationalize our sin, blame other people, try to pretend our sin is not there, or trust in our own ability to grit our teeth and do better. And the great irony of all this is that God is willing to restore us and begin to work to change us if we just acknowledge our sin and come to Him.

We also need to ground ourselves firmly in the gospel. It is only if we remember what Christ has done for us that we have a basis for loving and serving God (2 Peter 1:9; 1 John 4:19; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15). We need to remember that we are sinners (Romans 3:23; Jeremiah 17:9; Isaiah 64:6) and that Christ died to pay the penalty for our sin (1 Peter 2:24,25; Colossians 2:13,14; 2 Corinthians 5:21) so that we might be saved by faith in Him (Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 4:4,5; Philippians 3:9). If we remember this, we will be motivated to build our church and our life on the Word of God and to repent when we turn aside from it.

I do not want to be purely negative. Christ is at work in His church, and we can trust Him to be at work in His people (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 4:15,16; Colossians 2:19). But we do need to exercise vigilance so that we do not depart from God’s truth and end up like the church in Sardis.

The Gift of Service

In looking at spiritual gifts, I would like to start with the simpler gifts and work up. (Now it must be recognized that some of the gifts have very little said about them in Scripture, and anything I say is based more on deduction and experience than clear facts.) One of the simpler gifts is the gift of service (Romans 12:7, 1 Peter 4:10,11; 1 Corinthians 12:28). There is a question whether helps is another name for service or is a different gift. I would maintain they are two names for the same gift. But if they are different, I would see service as the overall gift of service and helps as a gift to meet some more specific need. While the word can be used more broadly, in this context the meaning is basically the inclination and ability to meet others' physical needs.

The possessors of this gift are the backbone of the church. They accomplish much that needs to be done in the church organization. They also help out their fellow believers who are in need. Their works can also serve as a way to reach out to needy people outside the church in a low-key way. They will often work long and hard without any public appreciation. (In fact, too much public appreciation may embarrass them and drive them away. But ways need to be found to show them they are appreciated, or they may end up feeling no one notices or cares.) In Romans it says that those who have this gift should use it in serving. I would take this to to mean being involved in service and doing it well. Service is work, and there is a tendency to want to avoid it. Also, while the person with the gift will have a natural inclination to use it, past experiences can get in the way. Therefore, those who have the gift should make a deliberate effort to use it, and the rest of us should encourage them to do so. One of their biggest weaknesses is wanting to do everything themselves, and they may need to be encouraged to delegate or give up some tasks. They also can come to look down on others who are not as diligent or do not work as hard as they do in their own areas of service. The solution to this involves teaching them about the different gifts in the body. But if properly encouraged, people with this gift are highly valuable members of the body of Christ.

Basis for Giving

(One of the major causes of division in the church today is the use of money. I would therefore like to start series dealing with this issue.)

Who do we belong to? The common modern concept is we belong to ourselves. But this is not the Scriptural position. It says that we were created by God (Psalms 139:13-16; Acts 17:24-28; Genesis 2:7). Also, if we have trusted Christ for our salvation (Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 4:4,5; John 3:16-18), we belong to Him as having been redeemed by Him (1 Corinthians 6:19,20; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9). But if we are able to trust God with our eternal destiny, why is it sometimes so difficult to trust Him with the money for the electric bill? (I am preaching to myself here.) And why is it that no matter how many times God comes through, I doubt Him the next time? God has given us a promise to supply our needs (Philippians 4:19; Matthew 6:25-34; Psalms 127:1,2), but we struggle to believe it. Perhaps part of this is that God provides in His own way on His own timetable. But I suspect another reason is that we see our things as belonging to ourselves. I also suspect that one thing that reinforces this is a refusal to give to help others. Dave Ramsey says that God wants us to give, not because He needs something (Psalms 50:7-15), but because it makes us into the kind of people He wants us to be. God is the ultimate giver, and as His children we are to reflect who He is (1 John 4:7-21). But if you are like me and have Lincoln thumbs from pinching too many pennies, how do we become people like that? 

There are some things I have found helpful in putting this in perspective. (Again, I am preaching to myself as much as anyone else.) I need to remember what Christ has done for me, in comparison to which anything I might do for Him is minuscule (2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:5-11; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15). Also, I need to realize I am not my own person, but God is in control of my life and will guide it where He wants it to go (Ephesians 2:10; Romans 8:28; 2 Timothy 2:4). I also need to see that all my present struggles are temporary and will all look minor in the light of eternity (2 Corinthians 4:17,18; Romans 8:18; Revelation 21:4). But the bottom line is, as C. S. Lewis points out in Mere Christianity, that we tend to treat God as we treat the taxman. We try to figure out what is the minimum we can get away with giving Him and hope when it’s over we will have something left over for ourselves. God rather asks us to give everything to Him (Romans 12:1,2), and He will take over and rearrange our entire life after His pattern. For it is only then that we can become the cheerful givers God wants us to be (2 Corinthians 9:7).