Toby J. Sumpter's Blog, page 35

A Tedious Oblivion

“The irony of our modern egalitarian overlords is that their proposed path to progress is absolute and universal equality. But absolute, universal equality (equality in every way) is a world of complete monotony. Universal equality is universal uniformity and repetition. A world without qualitative difference is a boring and tedious oblivion… Striving for equality in every direction, in every way is a certain path to utter stagnation and regression… What a great way to not get things done. What a great way to not be able to create, invent, or improve upon things.”

– No Mere Mortals, 46.

Bring Your Sin

This table is the kindness of God to you. You have sinned this week. You have worried. You have snapped in anger. You have dishonored your parents. You lusted. You lied. 

And what does God say? He says, come and welcome to Jesus Christ. But wait, you might be thinking: don’t I have to repent first? I can’t just come like this.

Yes, it’s true that you can’t come to Christ and cling to any sin, but it’s not true that you have to have your act together in order to come to Christ. Do you see the difference? Another way to put it is that you can’t really let go of sin unless you come to Christ. The legalist wants people to let go of their sin first and then come to Christ, but they can’t. The libertine wants to let people cling to their sin while coming to Christ, but you can’t do that either. This is because there really is a transaction taking place at this table. There is a price of admission.

But what God requires is that you bring Him your sin. That’s the price of admission. And it doesn’t bother him at all for you to come here with your sin. That’s why He came. He loves to save. His name is Jesus, which means “Savior.” So do not say that you must get clean and then come. Do not say that you must get right and then come. Because then you will never come. You have to come dirty. You have to come messed up. You have to come with your sin because that is what Jesus takes away. You cannot get your sin removed any other way. There is no other Savior; there is no other salvation. There is only Jesus Christ crucified for sinners. So come. Come and welcome to Jesus Christ. 

The New Testament in His Blood

The word “testament” is another word for “covenant.” So when we say Old Testament or New Testament, you really could just as easily say “covenant.” The same thing is true for the words of Jesus that I read every week when He said about the cup: this cup is the new testament in my blood. Some translations say, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Both are correct and true. A covenant is a relationship sealed with promises and obligations, with blessings and curses. 

We still use the word testament when we refer to someone’s last will and testament, referring to a legal document that determines what happens to someone’s possessions after he dies. And Hebrews makes this very point: “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator” (Heb. 9:16). 

This means that Christ’s death secured an inheritance: the remission of all your sins as well as your complete sanctification. What is that sanctification? It is your obedience and faith, and wisdom and courage, and peace and joy for your entire life. Christ provided all of that to all who believe in His last will and testament. And He gave us this meal to assure us that His covenant is true and real. 

Whatever it is that you face, Christ is here promising that He has already prepared exactly what you need. Remember the widow who only had enough oil and flour for one last loaf of bread before she and her son died? The prophet said that it would not run out, and now the greatest Prophet of all has come, and He has promised that what you need to live faithfully will be provided and it will never run out until you and your children are safely home with Him. 

So come and welcome to Jesus Christ. 

Photo by Thalia Ruiz on Unsplash

A Letter to a Single Parent

Dear Friend,

I wanted to write you a letter of encouragement as a single parent in the church. I want to encourage several of you, so I’m going to write with several different scenarios in mind and not any one person in particular. So please take whatever applies and leave whatever doesn’t.  

First off, I want to emphasize the fact that there are no-second class citizens in the Kingdom. As a believer in Christ, you are part of His body, and He has put you here. There are no perfect families, but sin and death do their damage in different ways in all of us and some effects are more obvious than others. Some families have special needs children or other health or medical challenges. Some families are broken by divorce or adultery, and some families come into being through sinful relationships. And a single parent home faces its own challenges. But please know that you are welcome here in the church. Not only are you welcome; you are most welcome. And your “welcome” is exactly the same as every other “welcome” in the room. It is the welcome of Jesus Christ Himself. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, married or single, divorced, or widowed in Christ Jesus. All are sons in the Most Beloved Son. By faith, we are all here by the blood and righteousness of Jesus. And so you are most welcome, and you are here on purpose. You have gifts and abilities that are for the building up of the saints, and at the very least, this includes your ministry to the children God has given you to raise on your own. 

But let me back up a bit and underline a theological point that relates to all of this, and that is the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. The Bible teaches that God is absolutely sovereign over every detail of the universe, including all of the details of your life. Every detail is on purpose. Every detail is meant by the One who gives all meaning. Jesus taught this when He warned His disciples not to worry: your Heavenly Father feeds the birds of the air and clothes the grass and the lilies of the field, and you are of much more value than they are (Mt. 6:25-34). He also taught that every hair of our heads is numbered – He cares for every detail. But God’s sovereign care is not generic, it is a very specific plan to bless us, which He established before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). This blessing is centered on Jesus, in whom we have redemption through His blood, but the cash out of this means that we have been granted an inheritance in Christ, who is working all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11). Jesus not only saves us; He is at work in “all things” to bring us to the mind-blowing inheritance He has won for us. 

Another way to say this is that because of Christ all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). We sin and people sin against us, but God is not powerless toward evil. Remember what Joseph told his brothers: what you meant for evil, God meant for good (Gen. 50:20). God is the greatest artist and there is no evil blotch on the canvas of History that He is not able to brush into His Masterpiece. Are you in Christ? Then this is true for you. In fact, the Bible says that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10). We are His sculpture, His painting, His artistry. This applies to what other people meant for evil toward you or your children, but it can also apply to your own sin, what you meant for evil. Because you have confessed those sins, you are forgiven, and God is now even working those things together for your good. 

Now put all of this together. Your story is not an accident. It has been difficult and painful and still is, but it was hand-written, hand-woven, hand-painted by your Heavenly Father. Not one detail is out of place. Every detail is being worked together by the counsel of His will for your good. Do you believe that? And whatever you or anyone else has done that is evil, God is in the process of turning to good. Do you believe that? 

There are a couple of additional points that flow out of all of this: you need to make careful distinctions in your mind and heart about the difference between guilt, shame, and consequences. You may have sinned and/or been sinned against and now you are pregnant or perhaps you married an unbeliever who was abusive and hateful and maybe you were a real pill or an angry person, contributing your own sin to an already toxic stew. The gospel is for all of that. Did you sin? Then Christ died for it. Did you sin badly? Christ suffered for all of it. Have you confessed your sins? Then God is faithful and just to cleanse you from all of it. In Christ, God only sees your perfect record, your obedience, your holiness – all gifts from Jesus. And all of your guilt and sin is gone forever. It was buried in the deepest sea never to be found. As far as the east is from the west, so has God removed your sins from you (Ps. 103:12). Nevertheless, you may have all your sins forgiven and yet you may still feel the shame of what was done to you or what you did and you may still be dealing with the consequences of your sins or sins committed against you. 

Shame is the sting of guilt and abuse. Shame is the burn that often lasts for many years after various sins or crimes have been judicially dealt with. You can know you are forgiven and you can have forgiveness for the ones who wronged you, and yet you can still feel horrible, dirty, worthless, embarrassed. The Bible teaches that there are at least two kinds of shame: one is a good shame that Christians can actually embrace and the other is the kind that Christians really must walk away from. Good shame is the sort that teaches us to run away from all sin and folly and run straight to Christ and His righteousness. Bad shame wallows in the feelings of worthlessness and ironically ends up pulling you back down toward old habits and sins. I think Paul had something like this in mind when he talked about godly sorrow and worldly sorrow (2 Cor. 7:10). Godly sorrow leads to repentance, but worldly sorrow leads to death. It’s the same way with shame. If you burn your hand, and the pain causes you to run to put your hand under a cold water faucet, that is good. The pain drives you to the solution. But if you burn your hand and you just stand there crying and yelling in pain, the pain is worthless and over time it will cause you to act even more irrationally. So it is with shame. If it drives you to the cold water of Christ and His righteousness, then thank God for it. We can never get enough Christ. And whatever God uses to pull you closer, you should thank Him for. 

But you can be completely forgiven and bathing in the cold water of Christ and His righteousness, and there you are still facing the consequences of your actions and the actions of others. There you are with financial difficulties, custody battles, visitation squabbles, a pregnancy, loneliness, and just sheer fatigue doing it on your own. As a forgiven Christian you must have it firmly fixed in your mind that these consequences, these difficulties are not your sin clinging to you. They may be the consequences of sin, but if you have been forgiven, God is not bringing up your sin and accusing you when you still have to go through with giving birth or your ex is being difficult. When you become a Christian and when you confess your sins and have a clean slate before God, everything about you passes under the blood of Jesus. You have been crucified with Christ and now you no longer live, but the life you are now living is Christ in you (Col. 2:20). This means, that as a forgiven Christian, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, you face every trial and tribulation just like Jesus. And how does Jesus face His trials? Are the trials and tribulations that Jesus faced His sin being thrown back in His face? No, not at all. He doesn’t have any sin to be thrown back in His face. And here is the point: neither do you. Stop and let that sink in. There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). 

So what are these trials then? What are these consequences of past sins and crimes? Why is it so hard? Paul answers that question at the end of the same chapter of Romans: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, not things present, nor things to come, [nor manipulative exes, nor child support payments, nor children out of wedlock, nor sin or crime committed against me,] nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39). 

Not only does this mean that God loves us in all of these things, but it means that God is with us in all of these things. Christ is in us in every single one of these things. And how does Christ do facing His enemies? How does Christ do in the face of taunting, hatred, manipulation, abuse, and hardship? Christ wins every time. Christ conquers. He more than conquers. 

And so this is the final point. Ask God to give you the eyes of faith to see that your current circumstances, the current crazy, the current challenge, the current moment is from His hand for you to shine in. If this is God’s absolute best for you right now, in this moment, then you should want to be nowhere else. You can and should hold this together with prayers of deliverance and taking judicious steps to relieve these hardships. But there should also be a deep sense that so long as God has you here, you would be nowhere else. Let your prayer be that you desire relief, peace, deliverance, a faithful, godly spouse, and yet, insist to Him that you would be nowhere else except where Christ is. And if Christ would have you remain longer right where you are, then you would have it no other way. 

Darlene Deibler Rose spent four years in a Japanese concentration camp in the jungles of New Guinea facing starvation, disease, isolation, and every form of hardship, loss, and abuse, including separation from and the death of her husband. After her release she received a final letter her husband had written to her before his death in which he expressed the wish that he had evacuated when they had the opportunity before the war. To which, through tears she prayed, “Lord, I trust that You reminded him that it was You who impressed upon both of our hearts that we should not leave. I have been safer here, overshadowed by Your love, than I would have been anywhere else on this earth, outside of Your will!” (Evidence Not Seen, 198)

This would never be an easy prayer to pray, much less a conclusion that is easy to believe and fully rest on. It would only be possible by the supernatural power of Christ. But when you can thank God for putting you exactly where you are with all the hardships and difficulties and pain, when you can praise God for His wisdom in knitting together your story exactly like this, then you must know that this is only because Christ is in you. And that is why Christ brought you here. Christ has brought you here, to this exact spot, to reveal Himself in You. You know Christ now in this darkness like no one else. What a privilege. What an honor. Would you be anywhere else in all the world? Would you have any other story? 

And now perhaps you know a little more of why you are most welcome here, why you are needed here, why your presence is a blessing to all of us. By faith, you are not here as a wounded straggler. By faith you are here as a witness to the goodness and glory and power of Christ. Yes, it is heavy. It is hard. And you know that we are alway here to help. But you are never alone. Christ is in you. He is carrying you and carrying all of it in you. And what’s more, He made you for this glory. He made you to shine here, as you trust in Him. This is your story. By the grace of God, you are here. 

Sincerely,

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Photo by Randy Rooibaatjie on Unsplash

Amway Justice

Introduction
The problem with all materialistic forms of social justice is that they are inherently unjust. There, I said it. And enough said, right? I mean, if social justice is a matter redistributing material means, opportunities, and privileges, how in the world are you going to get the exact same amount to everyone? This is like that hair cut you gave your kid that one time where you were trying to get that line in the back or on the bangs exactly straight. Yes, we all know what happened and why he wore a baseball cap for two weeks after. You cut on one side, and then a little bit on the other and then a little more in the middle and then a little more on the left and then the right, and then you cried. 

Glorious Inequality
So this is the problem: there is only so much material to work with, and it is simply impossible to equally distribute all the stuff. And if for some wild, insane (impossible) moment you could get it to 99% equality, the very next instant that equality would be in free fall, disappearing out of sight because it turns out you still can’t completely equalize the bodies and minds and instincts of all the people, much less their geographic locations or weather. Their health and fitness is different; their intelligence is different; their preferences are different. And as we are actually now being told, there is also weather and environmental inequalities. And they would immediately respond to all the resources, money, opportunities differently. I mean if we had the exact amount of raw materials, most of it would go to waste with most of us because we wouldn’t even know what to do with it, much less want to do anything with it.

The first point then is that it is utterly impossible to equally distribute all things in every way, and this means that there will always be differences between people. Some people will have more things, more money, more expertise; some will be taller, some will have better eye-hand coordination, some will have more patience, and some will actually like working with numbers. And others will not. Some people will want to spend all their time doing back flips off of diving boards. Others will want to garden. And still others will want to build space shuttles.

Now, I can hear the howls of our woke priests in the distance shrieking about how hateful and bigoted all of this is, but I would like to take this opportunity to say that I don’t care. In fact, I’m not sorry at all, and I would even go so far as to say that I think such a situation with people doing different things with their different opportunities, gifts, resources, and abilities (and weather!) is a good thing. In fact, it’s good for everyone. It’s the best thing for everyone. This diversity of gifts, abilities, and interests is what creates a diversity of goods, a multiplicity of additional opportunities and resources down the road. It means I don’t have to do some things and because of this division of labor, if I need what they are making, I can pay them for it and do something else with my time.

There is No Mercedes
But let me say one more thing, specifically to Christians who are tempted by the woke justice scam. What you are being offered is Amway Justice. Ok, maybe you don’t understand that. How about this: What you are being offered is Essential Oils Justice. What I mean is that it’s a multilevel marketing scheme, a pyramid scheme, a Ponzi scheme. The promise is that everyone will get rich, everyone will get an opportunity, everyone will get a Mercedes, but the problem is that it’s like musical chairs and there really aren’t enough chairs for everyone. It’s justice for people who are bad at math, which come to think of it is probably why so many government-schooled Americans are being duped by it.

The point isn’t that we should object to Critical Theory and similar schemes because we don’t want real biblical justice and fairness for all, the problem is that it doesn’t actually deliver the product. There is no Mercedes. A few people get old beaters and everyone else has to settle for somebody’s old, rusted bike that somebody wrote “Mercedes” on with a black sharpie. Shut up and be grateful, sucker.

The reason Christians should hate every form of intersectionality and woke justice is because they aren’t actually just. They are inherently unjust. They keep shouting “no justice,” and then what they demand is more injustice, programs and plans and charts and ministries and letterhead that all amount to that bad haircut you gave your kid. You scurry around distributing stuff, redistributing stuff, listening, empowering, meeting, planning, and doing all the things, and lo, it’s never equal enough, it’s never fair enough. Meanwhile, while you are busy divesting and kneeling and surrendering and woking all your privileges and opportunities, if you stop and listen for a moment, you can hear the sound of all your money, time, and energy pouring down the drain. If you ever look up and look around, you should realize that you will never actually get there. You will never get to equality. You will never get to exact material sameness, whether racial, ethnic, intelligence, physical, monetary, etc. And if you did, you find the planet desolate and the human race extinct. The materialistic social justice project is like spooning sand into the ocean hoping to build an island and promising everyone beach front property. The end of this road is despair, apathy, and in the end you have only made matters worse. 

Another Way
But here’s the thing: you don’t have to do that in order to work for real biblical justice and peace in the world. There is something wrong with every human being and with human societies; there is a great deficiency, a systemic injustice problem wound through every society, but it is not primarily material. The problem is sin. The great hole in the human race is our fallen nature. But this really is good news. There is an infinite supply of grace, forgiveness, and justice for the human problem. And it is immediately available to everyone, and it is immediately useful to everyone. What is that resource that everyone needs, that everyone can have immediate access to? The blood and righteousness of Jesus. Sin is the universal oppressor, and Jesus is the universal Savior. 

Is there real injustice in the prison system? Is there real racial animosity and injustice in neighborhoods and courtrooms? Is there economic oppression and employment partiality? Is there child abuse, sexual abuse, human trafficking, rape, and murder? Yes to all of it. Are there material factors wound through them all? Yes, again. But this is the point: you can’t count that high. You cannot quantify the material factors, much less organize them all on a spreadsheet and then place the order. First off, just listen to yourself trying to turn tragedy and heartbreak into a numbers game. People are not numbers, but when you reduce people to their material circumstances, you cannot help but dehumanize them. But second, you do not know what is needed, beyond immediate shelter and safety in moments of pure emergency, but beyond that, you do not know what all the factors are, what all the needs are, but Jesus does. 

Conclusion
We are Christians. And this means that we know and believe that Jesus lives. Jesus died for our sins, for the sins of the world, and He rose from the dead in order to make all things new. He is not dead; He is alive. We have met Him. We have seen His hand at work in our lives and in our world. This is no excuse making. This is no spiritualizing, no gnostic gospel hand-waving. This is the solution: Jesus Christ Himself. And there is no other solution. When we preach Christ crucified, when call the world to come to Christ, we are not minimizing their material challenges or wounds. We are maximizing their opportunity for healing, for wisdom, for real success and glory in this world and into eternity. We are not the Maker; we are not the saviors. But we know Him, and so we bring the world to Him for healing and forgiveness. And since He made them, He loves them more than us, and He knows how to minister to their needs. 

We do believe in the equality and justice of the gospel: we preach the same blood of the same Christ for the same salvation, but since we are bringing the world to the Maker, He knows how to re-make them into the unique and gloriously diverse people He intends them to be.  

A Republic, If You Can Keep It: Independence Day 2021

Introduction
America is not a democracy. America is a republic. In fact, the early founders of our country were extremely leery of democracy. The democracies of ancient Greece served as cautionary tales to the founding fathers. The democracies of Greece lurched from chaos to tyranny to civil war and back again frequently through the decades. And the founding fathers understood that. Democracies are inherently unstable.

We are a constitutional republic. A democracy is rule by the majority of individuals, plain and simple, but the founding fathers thought that the idea of rule by majority was abhorrent. Thomas Jefferson said, “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” Ben Franklin famously quipped that “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.” 

When the Constitutional Convention concluded in 1787, someone asked Franklin: “Well, Doctor, what have we got – a Republic or a Monarchy?” To which Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Alexander Hamilton said, “We are now forming a Republican form of government. Real liberty is not found in the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. If we incline too much to democracy we shall soon shoot into a monarchy, or some other form of dictatorship.” In his last letter, Hamilton likewise warned that “our real disease is democracy.”

What is a Republic?
What is a republic? It is the rule of the people through their elected representatives in different branches of government separating powers in system of checks and balances. In fact, historically, there were three main forms of government: aristocracy, monarchy, and democracy. A constitutional republic aims to combine and moderate those three tendencies in history, through representation and through a separation of powers, spreading authority out and limiting it so that it does not concentrate in one place. An aristocracy recognizes that there is some wisdom that comes with experience and expertise, and so the American republic invested Supreme Court justices with lifetime appointments and senators serve longer terms and represent all of the states equally – two senators per state. A monarchy has the strength of executive decisions that are sometimes needed, but our president serves for only four years and is bound by the constitution (or at least he used to be). A democracy gives voice to the people, and so the House of Representatives is based on population, and representatives serve only two years. 

But the Founding Fathers understood that these three forms of government all had their weaknesses. When aristocracy goes to seed, it turns into an oligarchy of elites, who are often corrupt and domineering (but enough about Dr. Fauci). When monarchy goes to seed, we have a dictatorship and tyranny. When democracy goes to seed, we have already noted that we get mob rule and anarchy. 

And so it was that our Founding Fathers had the audacity to posit a new form of government that would attempt a great balancing act. It would be a balancing act between these forms of government, separating powers while seeking to limit all of it. It would be a balancing act between the branches of government. It would be a balancing act between state and federal governments. It would be a balancing act between the people and the states, between counties and cities and states. And it would be a balancing act between the people and their representatives. While our exact form is not the only way a republic might be established, a republic is by design this grand balancing act. It is like a solar system with many planets spinning around a central sun. But the question is what holds them in their orbits? How do they not collide or go hurtling away into space? 

The Gravity of a Republic
Now it’s true that some of these ideas of the balance and moderation of a republic came from the ancient Greeks and Romans, but what is frequently overlooked is the fact that the Greeks and Romans rarely actually did any of this. Their philosophers speculated that if there was something like this it would probably be the best sort of political system, but meanwhile there was rarely anything like it on the ground and it usually it was careening from one extreme to the next. But America began this solar system, and almost 250 years later it is still recognizably the same republic.  

But the question is: what has held America together? Is it random luck? The answer is actually in the word “federal.” Any more, if someone says “federal government,” you might wince. And I don’t blame you. But the word federal comes from the Latin word foedus which means treaty or covenant. When King George heard that the colonists had revolted, he called it the “Presbyterian Rebellion.” In part this was a pejorative term aimed at the many Calvinists and Puritans in the colonies. But part of it was also an historical fact: Presbyterianism was basically born in Scotland, and the Scots were also known as “covenantors.” Over the course of several centuries, the Scots resolutely refused to be ruled by the English because they understood that God made different covenants with different authorities. It was not right for the English King to be the head of the Church of England, much less the head of the Church of Scotland. They understood that civil government had been given one kind of covenantal or federal authority by God. And the Church was given another covenantal or federal authority by God. And the family had yet another covenantal or federal authority from God. These different governments were given different jurisdictions and they were to keep one another in check, balance one another out, so that power did not concentrate in one single entity. 

When the colonists resisted and declared independence, they did so on constitutional or what we might called “covenantal” grounds. They appealed to their charters with the king, which granted them the authority under the king to establish their own colonial governments, assemblies and courts. When the Parliament started taxing the colonists, their objection had nothing to do with amounts and had everything to do with breaking contract or breaking covenant. The colonies had their own assemblies that from time to time already taxed themselves. The problem was not with taxes per say, it was with a foreign assembly sending them a tax bill. No Taxation without Representation was a covenantal objection. The colonists had representatives and a particular agreement, promises, stipulations, and obligations in their colonial charters, But King George refused to honor those covenants. So it really was a “Presbyterian Revolt.” Presbyter means “elder” which is an elected representative in presbyterian churches, and presbyterians have always taught the centrality of the covenant. So the point is that the early Americans were living and thinking in covenantal terms, both when they resisted England and when they established the new Constitution. Our Republic is a thoroughly Christian concept.

A Republic, If You Can Keep It
So here we are facing some really dark days in our republic, and Benjamin Franklin’s quip stands: “it’s a republic, if you can keep it,” but it’s really a rather phenomenal thing that we’re still here. There are a lot of tatters in the flag. Fires have raged and scorched it, and some sections have been torn off completely, just as sections of our constitution have been completely ignored or effectively cut out. There is a great war raging all around us between those who believe in the old vision of a constitutional or federal republic under God, and those who want a pure democracy, but which always needs elites and aristocrats and tyrants to steer it. And the foundational difference between these two visions comes down to what you think it means to be human. In the old covenantal view, people are who they are on the basis of the many relationships God has created them to have. You are related to your family, to your neighbors, to your co-workers, to your church, to your city, to your state, to your nation, and to your God. You have multiple loyalties to these various communities, multiple covenants. God gives those covenants with specific assignments and roles, and when people are faithful to fulfill these various covenantal assignments, He blesses them and that in turn spreads out the responsibilities and powers. These various covenants create checks and balances for all authorities and powers. And it’s harder for power to concentrate in one entity, when many are functioning so well. For example, when children take care of and provide for their elderly parents and grandparents, there is no need for government retirement programs and social security. 

We still have some semblance of separation and balance of powers in the federal government and with the states and counties and cities, but we are quickly losing it. More and more power is accumulating in civil government in general and the federal government in particular. But this is the point we must underline: The reason we have had a balance of powers in the past is because the older view of the founding fathers was thoroughly covenantal. And it worked so well for so long because everyone was expected to have a multiplicity of covenantal loyalties, and all of those covenant entities created balance. Again, the chief covenants being the church, the family, and the state/civil government. But the opposite of this covenantal view is individualism and democracy, the idea that people are basically, fundamentally just individuals, with no obligations to anyone else if they don’t want to. In individualism, people are like BBs rolling around in a drawer. In the covenantal or federal view people are like atoms connected to many other atoms through various bonds: marriage bonds, family bonds, church bonds, neighborhood/friend bonds, business bonds, political bonds, and so on. And the thing to notice here is that BB’s are a lot easier to herd. And so individualism lends itself nicely to pure democracy and ultimately statism. If people are just isolated individuals with no fundamental connections to anyone else, you just need one centralized, totalizing organizing power. Power tends to centralize and concentrate in individualistic cultures because remember: all you need is 51% of the vote.

Individualists Who Want Covenantal Government
So this is the great struggle, the great war that is going on as we speak. It is between those who believe in and still live out the old federal republic and those who live as individualists and democratic statists. But there are many in America who love the old federal republic, but they are still functional individualists. They want the benefits of a covenanted republic, a limited government that is not totalitarian or tyrannical, but then they live their lives as though the state is the highest power in their lives, the only government, the only binding authority. What do I mean? Well, if you want state and federal government to be small and limited, then this means that you want it to be covenantal, but that means you must live covenantally. This is true in principle, and this is true practically. In principle, if you break your covenants with your wife or children or business partners or church, why can’t the federal government ignore the constitution? In order to hold the government to a standard, there must be a standard and it must apply to you as well. Otherwise, you are what is known as a hypocrite. 

But it’s true practically as well: You must have many other functioning covenants and powers in your life in order to keep the state in check. Authority is for the purpose of providing some service to meet some need. So for example, if you want a small, limited civil government, you must honor the covenant of marriage. You must honor your father and mother. You must plan to leave an inheritance to your grandchildren. And the point is: strong families provide for the needs of their members. But weak families need welfare and food stamps and social security. If you want a limited government, you have to limit what you need from it. The Nanny State exists because there are so many children without fathers and mothers. God says that it is parents’ job to teach their children and provide a Christian education for them, but if you send your kids to government schools, why are you surprised when the government thinks your kids belong to them? So notice here that a covenantal view of the family means that parents and the father in particular is the representative leader of the family, and that there is a balance of powers, as father, mother, parents, children serve one another provide those things that God has assigned to them in that particular covenant.

But strong family is not enough. God has also established the Church. For too long, we thought that going to Church was just a nice thing you do some times to have some religious thoughts or feelings. But Jesus said that He was establishing the Church so that the gates of Hell wouldn’t prevail against it. The whole point of the First Amendment, that “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” – the whole point was to insist that Churches are independent governments that oversee the worship of God and teaching everybody the whole Bible for all of life. The Bible has instructions for families, for marriage, for childrearing. The Bible has instructions for nations, for economics, for criminal codes, and so on. But the whole point of the separation between church and state was to insist that the church was an independent government that has an independent authority apart from the state, an authority directly from God. If you want a limited civil government, you need to be a member of a Christian church. Where did the idea of limited government come from? If came from the Bible. It came from Christians. The Bible teaches that God has established different governments, and that these governments have limited roles. If you want your government limited to punishing criminals and defending us from invaders and pretty much nothing else, then you should want to be a member of the government whose job it is to teach and command politicians to stay in their lane. 

Does that Banner Yet Wave?
It’s interesting that our national anthem is actually entirely a question. “O say can you see by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed in the twilight’s last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?” And it ends with that question: “O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” 

I believe that it still does. Not because many of us still hang these flags on our homes with real honor. Not because we sing the anthem at baseball games or say the pledge. The fact that our republic has lasted this long is really remarkable, and it has lasted this long and we have been able to actually walk this tightrope, this balancing act with some degree of success because we have been a people who, to some extent, understood and kept covenant. We have had strong, faithful marriages and families. We have been a land of strong and faithful churches. But we have to see these things as connected. You cannot live as an individualist everywhere else and then be loyal to the civil government and then wonder why it’s getting more and more bloated. Civil government is like what they say about bears: don’t feed them. Why? Because that only makes them more hungry. And before long they eat you. If you want a limited government, then you want a covenantal republic. A republic that is organized and ruled by representatives and a balance of powers. But that kind of government does not grow in the soil of individualism and democracy. It grows in the soil of covenantalism; it grows in the ground of covenant families and churches. It thrives in a culture where people are bound to one another and loyal to one another in their assignments by God. 

Conclusion
The word “patriot” comes from the Greek word patria, which comes from the word pater, which means father. A patriot is one who loves and honors his fathers: his fathers in the faith – church fathers, his fathers in the family – grandfathers and forefathers, and fathers of the nation – founding fathers. But you really have to honor them all. You cannot say you are patriot and then only honor one set of fathers, that is inconsistent, and over time the other governments will be spoiled. So one practical application is this: don’t just say the pledge of allegiance, say the Apostles Creed as well. Don’t just make and keep vows to your country, make and keep your vows to your husband and your wife. Don’t just Sing the Star-Spangled Banner with your hand over your heart, sing the Psalms in Church and around your dinner table. Ultimately, if you would be a patriot, you must come to God the Father, through Jesus Christ His only Son. Jesus is our federal representative, the One who stood in our place on the cross to take the punishment for our failures and sins. And only in Him can you be under the blessing of God in every area of life. The land of the free and the home of the brave is a covenantal republic, not a democracy, so live like it.  

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God’s Plan is Better

Romans 8:28 says: we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. And it goes on to say that this means that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. In every hardship, distress, tribulation, no matter the enemy, we are more than conquerors. Christians do merely endure, they conquer because Christ is in every moment and God is working every detail out for good. 

This is gloriously true for every child of God, but it is the kind of truth that has to be worked out day by day, moment by moment. Faith clings to this promise and proclaims it in every hardship. When there is tension in the family or at work, sin to confront or confess, your answer must be God is doing good here, Christ is with me to conquer here. Or if you look out at the world around you and see the insanity and tyranny of unbelief and perversion, look with faith and see God at work weaving an unbelievably good story, and thank Him for putting you in it at this moment in order to win, in order to succeed for his glory. 

All of this means that Christians must have a far bigger view of God and a far smaller view of their own understanding or plans. God’s plan is better. God’s way of winning is far better than anything we might come up with. Nothing can separate us from His love. Therefore, we are in His love now, in every detail of our circumstances. And these gifts of bread and wine proclaim this to us. He has sworn by his own life, by the body and blood of His Son. 

Come and welcome to Jesus Christ. 

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No Matter How You Feel

One of the ways modern Christianity has been infiltrated by worldliness is through the emphasis on feelings and emotions. How do you know you are a Christian? How do you know your sins are forgiven? How do you know God is with you? 

Frequently, modern Christians have been trained to immediately point to how they feel to indicate God’s presence. The problem is that feelings and emotions are slippery things. Sometimes you feel bad because you’re tired or hungry, and sometimes you feel good because the sun is out. If you’re walking with God, then the fact that the sun is out can certainly be received as a bonus token of God’s goodness. But it isn’t the foundation of your confidence that God is with you. God causes the sun to shine on the good and the evil. A serial liar can wake up to the morning sun and feel good, but she really should feel bad. And on the flip side, you might feel down because you’re tired or hungry, but that’s because you’ve been faithfully pouring yourself out at work or for your family in the strength of Christ. 

Your feelings are not worthless, but your feelings are not the foundation of your faith. The foundation of your faith is the finished work of Christ, which is true no matter how you feel. And this is part of why Christ gave us this meal. This meal is an objective sign and seal of your security in Christ. It proclaims forgiveness for sinners, peace for the anxious, and the presence of Christ. Are you a guilty sinner? Then you qualify. The blood of Jesus is for you. Have you been anxious or worried? Then you qualify. Jesus went to the cross for your peace. Here it is for you. Are you unsure if Christ is with you? He is here. Do you want to walk with Him? Then come.

Come and welcome to Jesus Christ. 

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The Complete Answer

Satan is the Father of Lies and the Accuser of the brethren. Satan has been cast down out of Heaven, and therefore he cannot and does not accuse us there. Christ is there now, as our advocate. But between now and the end of the world, the Devil does prowl around seeking whom he may devour with his lies and accusations. 

On the one hand, Jesus said that He will keep all that the Father has given Him, and no one, not even the Devil can snatch a single one of us out of Christ’s omnipotent hand. On the other hand, we know that Christ keeps His own by working in them vigilance and faith.

So putting this together, our task in resisting the devil’s lies and accusations is simply putting on Christ – Christ is your complete armor. The only answer, but the complete answer to the lies and accusations of Satan is Christ died for me and Christ lives for me. And as you practice putting on Christ, Christ protects you from all lies and accusations.

As you practice confession and forgiveness, and putting the armor of Christ on, the lies and accusations of the devil become quieter and fainter. Christ died for that, for that, for that… Everyone in this room has enough sin to give the Devil material to work with for eternity, if we let Him. But we won’t because Christ holds us, and Christ protects us. All the lies and accusations bounce off us because Christ died for all our sins and rose to make us new. His blood has made us completely clean and now no charges against us can stick. 

So come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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Troubling the Darkness

Wherever Jesus went He was getting into trouble. And it was the same with all of the apostles and prophets. But we should pay careful attention to what got them all into trouble. Everywhere they went, it was the trouble of the gospel, the trouble of healing and restoration, the trouble of love for neighbor and countryman. 

But what was the accusation brought against them? The accusation was always that they were the troublers. Remember what Ahab said to Elijah: “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” But Elijah answered, it is not I who has troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house who have forsaken the law of God and followed Baal.

So this is how it always has been and always will be to the end of the world. The kingdom of darkness hates the light, and when the light comes, it always accuses the light of stirring up trouble, of being the trouble maker. Of course, we do intend to trouble the darkness, but it is the darkness of sin that troubles the whole human race, just as the doctor comes to trouble the cancer that is troubling your body. 

So what kind of trouble are you making? Sin really is a kind of trouble. Achan sinned with his lies and theft and became a great trouble to Israel. But following Jesus means that we have been called to the trouble of healing and restoration, confession and forgiveness. Why will we not go along with celebrating cancer-pride month? Because cancer destroys lives. Why do we set tables and toast our wives and mothers? Why do we work hard, with honesty all week long? Because Christ is risen from the dead, and now the darkness is in full retreat, because the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness is in trouble.

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