Toby J. Sumpter's Blog, page 5

Keeping Your Heart in the Long Slog

Acts 25:1-27

Prayer: Father, we bow before Your glorious name. We confess that we are self-centered creatures and so often we can only think of ourselves. But we acknowledge this world, this story, our lives are for Your glory. So we ask for your Holy Spirit to be given to us now so that we might not miss the point, so that our hearts might be truly turned to You, and by beholding Your glory, may this word be a real encouragement to our hearts. Glorify your name in the preaching of this word, and may we go from this place praising you. Amen.

Introduction
This is a longer stretch of text describing the ongoing political grind surrounding Paul’s imprisonment in Caesarea. This is something of the quiet before the final storm of the end of Acts (literally). But it contrasts with all the action of most of the book: prison breaks, healings, mass conversions, and controversy all to (seemingly) land with a thud of several years in a prison – a long slog. 

Where is the fruitfulness of this? Sometimes the assignments of God are intense (moving, job changes, sickness, starting businesses, marriage, war, etc.); sometimes He acts in open and obvious ways and answers to prayer. But sometimes the assignments of God and His answers to prayer include a lot of waiting, patience, and maintenance obedience. And that can sometimes tempt us to discouragement, doubt, anxiety. But He is still at work. And sometimes the assignment is your heart, your attitude, your walk with the Lord. Yes, maybe you are waiting. Are you waiting faithfully? Stop blaming your circumstances, your spouse, your children, your job – you are responsible before God. We just said that we lifted our hearts up to the Lord. What did you lift up? Is it a fearful heart? A discouraged heart? An angry heart? A bored, disinterested heart? 

The Text: “Now when Festus was come into the province, after three days he ascended from Caesarea to Jerusalem…” (Acts 25:1-27)

Summary of the Text
The new Roman governor Festus immediately visited the Jews in Jerusalem, and they asked him to send Paul to them for a trial in Jerusalem, renewing the determination to ambush Paul on the road and kill him (Acts 25:1-3, cf. 23:14). Festus insisted that the Jews come and press their charges in Caesarea, which they did, and when Paul answered, Festus asked if Paul wanted to go to their court in Jerusalem (Acts 25:4-9). Paul insisted that he was innocent, and though he was willing to face death if he deserved it, he appealed to Caesar, and Festus granted the request (Acts 25:10-12). Now as Festus was preparing to send Paul to Rome, King Agrippa and his sister Bernice came to pay Festus honor, and Festus explained to them Paul’s situation (Acts 25:13-21). Agrippa asked to hear Paul, and so he was brought out again, and Festus explained the backstory, asking advice about what he should write Caesar (Acts 25:22-27).

Absolute Sovereignty & Real Freedom & Responsibility 
It’s remarkable to note how close to death Paul had come: he barely escaped a mob (Acts 21:21), the Jewish council would have apparently killed him (Acts 23:10), more than forty men took vows not to eat until they had killed Paul (Acts 23:14), and now two years later, another plot has emerged to murder Paul (Acts 25:3). That would have been plenty to tempt Paul to be anxious, stressed, worried, or discouraged. Paul sometimes asked for prayer that he would be bold and not delivered over to his enemies (Rom. 15:30-31, Eph. 6:19).

Now remember that Paul received a supernatural word from the Lord, “Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome” (Acts 23:11). But even with that clear word, notice that Paul has not been an inactive participant. He didn’t get the word from God and then sit back and watch. The absolute sovereignty of God does not displace human freedom and responsibility – even when there doesn’t seem to be a lot you can do. For Paul, this meant two years of waiting, punctuated with occasional hearings and testimony before corrupt politicians.

The Westminster Confession says, “God, from all eternity, did, by the most holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established” (III.1) Sometimes people ask: do you believe in predestination or free will? Do you believe in the sovereignty of God or human responsibility? And we say, the biblical answer is: yes. We believe in both. 

“For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:27-28).

How is this possible? He is God. How is anything possible? Nothing is outside of God’s control, and His control includes the choices and decisions of “second causes.” “Second causes” include things like prayer, preaching, telling the chief captain about a plot to murder you, defending your reputation, waiting patiently for months and years, obeying and having a good attitude today, exhausting appeals, and finally appealing to Caesar. God is sovereign; you are responsible for what you are responsible for.   

Christian Life & Ministry
We are not told a lot about these two years in Paul’s ministry, but they seem relatively less exciting and significant – seems like it was a long slog. It could have been tempting to Paul to be discouraged that nothing much seemed to be happening. Remember all the early parts of Acts: prison breaks, being let down out of a window in the middle of the night, many conversions and miracles. Sometimes we are tempted to think of the times of the prophets and apostles as constant miracles and wonders, but sometimes they just spent two years in prison with occasional requests to preach to corrupt politicians looking for bribes. 

This underlines the sovereignty of God and the seasons of Christian life and ministry. Sometimes your life and your spiritual life can seem particularly exciting, and other times it can feel like plodding, like nothing is happening. Or maybe it feels like you’re going backwards. Maybe it feels like you’re on one of those walking sidewalks but it’s going the wrong way. 

And maybe you say, well, it would be less discouraging if I had a word from God that said, “Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” You might say it would be helpful if you had a clear word from God that everything will be alright. But you do have a similar word: “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). What is God doing? Preparing you for eternal glory. What was God doing when you were 7 or 17 or 27 years old? Sometimes it may have been obvious, but sometimes it was not very obvious at all. But God was still at work, and what He is doing is a good work.

Applications
Think, pray, and work generationally: What’s 2 years or 10 years or even 100 years compared to eternity? Our duty is to disciple all the nations. Our mission is to disciple Moscow, Idaho. We want to see Moscow city council publicly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. We want all cities, counties, states, and nations to do so. And this task, the Lord told us, is like a tiny mustard seed that goes into the ground and slowly but surely grows into a great tree. In the middle ages, they sometimes built cathedrals over the course of hundreds of years. Jesus said it is like leavening a large batch of dough. It takes time, but there is important action happening during that time. Your God is still active; He is sovereignly working all things. You are responsible for what you are responsible for. Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Gal. 6:9).

Preach the gospel and the faithfulness of God to yourself – to your own heart: sometimes your slippery soul is the assignment. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). Guard your heart – because life is pouring it out of it. Jesus said something similar: it is not what goes into a man that defiles him but what comes out of his heart. It’s easy to blame Hollywood, the economy, your parents, your boss, your spouse. But Jesus says there is a river flowing out of your heart. Are you guarding it? Is it life and joy and kindness? Or is it fouled and filthy with angst and bitterness and worry. Preach the gospel to yourself. Preach the faithfulness of God to yourself. Preach the glory of God to yourself. Have you ever noticed how often the Psalmist talks to himself? Do you ever talk to yourself? 

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance” (Ps. 42:5). “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Ps. 103:1-2). “Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul” (Ps. 146:1).

But you don’t guard your heart and soul by trying to grab hold of it – that’s like trying to fish barehanded. You guard and tame your heart by opening all the windows and letting the light of Christ shine on it. And that light is the love and faithfulness and sovereignty of God. Jesus was crucified, buried, and on the third day rose from the dead for you and your salvation, for you and your eternal joy, for you and the healing of all the nations. Preach that message to your heart. Open up the windows of your heart and let that brilliant light shine in. And you do this by being in the Word regularly. Open the blinds by opening the word. And then you tell your soul to sing praises. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Prayer: Father, please press all of this into the corners of our hearts. Please do not let us be distracted or get off the point. You are good and faithful and true, and nothing our hearts desire compares with You. Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You. So please give us this Sabbath rest, the rest of worshiping you, praising you, and so make our hearts fountains of life, so that we might not grow weary in doing good. We ask for this in the strong name of Jesus, who taught us to praying, singing…

He Has Given Us Bread

Jesus said, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Mt. 21:22). And the apostle says, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight” (1 Jn. 3:22). 

These are verses that make Reformed Christians a bit nervous. We do not believe in some kind of health and wealth gospel. We do not believe that God is a cosmic vending machine, that we should expect God to deliver whatever comes into our minds. 

James anticipated this: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (Js. 4:3). And James says that is what causes many fights and wars: lust and envy and worldliness. God is not interested in feeding our lusts or helping us compete with worldly standards of success. 

But Jesus still presses the point: what man of you, if his son asks for bread, will he give him a stone? How much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask (Mk. 7:9-11). So there it is again: God wants His people to ask for good things, and He wants to give His people good things – good things like buildings to worship in. We have been asking God for a building for decades, and our Father has not given us a stone. Thanks be to God. 

And as if to make the point even more emphatic, Jesus gave us this meal. Here, not only does He give us bread, but He gives us the bread of life. He gives us Himself, by Whom all things exist. He’s giving us this living bread, in this glorious place, with these precious saints. “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31-32)

So come and welcome to Jesus Christ. 

On Trial for the Judgment

Acts 24:10-27

Prayer: Father, I ask that you give us Your Holy Spirit this morning so that we might have a true sense of Your holiness and purity and justice. Please use this Word like a great mirror so that we might see ourselves accurately. I pray that You would not allow any of us to look away until we see Your Son Jesus for who He truly is and have peace in Him. And we ask in His name, Amen.

Introduction
How do you handle false accusations? Do you get angry? Do you crumple into a ball of sorrow? Someone has said that when you are falsely accused you should not hate your accuser since even if that accusation is false, there is much that you could be justly accused of. Here, Paul faces pagan courts, false accusations, and political corruption, but instead of Paul being consumed with wrath or despair, he speaks with poise and courage, and at one key moment, he causes the judge to tremble. Who’s on trial exactly? 

The doctrine of justification by faith alone is the Christian doctrine of peace, joy, and courage. It is what allows Christians to sleep at night, answer false accusations, and face trouble with a grin. The doctrine of justification by faith means that in the face of accusation and trouble, we already have the final judgment, the true verdict, full acceptance, full vindication brought into the present. The just live by faith – faith in God’s justification. Apart from this justification, the final judgment is fearful, and so is every other trouble. And in that panic, you will become unjust. 

The Text: “Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation…” (Acts 24:10-27)

Summary of the Text
After acknowledging Felix’s long service as governor (Acts 24:10), Paul proceeds to explain that it was only twelve days ago that he went into the temple peaceably and none of the Jews’ accusations can be proven (Acts 24:11-13). Paul says that what they call a “heresy” is simply the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, culminating in a resurrection of the dead, and therefore he strives to walk blameless in that faith (Acts 24:14-16). Paul says that he came to Jerusalem to bring an offering, and he was actually ceremonial clean in the temple (not profaning the temple) when he was interrupted by certain Jews – none of whom are present to testify as eyewitnesses (Acts 24:17-19). The men present had only been witnesses of the Jewish council, and the only thing he said there was that he was on trial because of the resurrection of the dead (Acts 24:20-21). 

Felix, knowing something of the Christian faith, deferred a decision, saying he would wait until Lysias came down to testify but commanded that Paul be kept with relative comfort and freedom (Acts 24:22-23). Some days later Felix and his Jewish wife requested that Paul speak to them about faith in Jesus, and as Paul explained the gospel to them, Felix became afraid and sent Paul away (Acts 24:24-25). Felix’s political colors show as he often called for Paul, primarily hoping for a bribe, and so Paul was left in prison for two years, even after Felix was succeeded, as a favor to the Jews (Acts 24:26-27). 

Heresy & Catholicity
Paul specifically answers the charge that he follows the “heresy of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5, 14). While this Greek word for “heresy” could mean something relatively neutral like “sect” or “party” (e.g. Acts 5:17, 15:5), it also meant a division or schism between the faithful and unfaithful: “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you” (1 Cor. 11:19). “A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject” (Tit. 3:10). It is listed among the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:20), and it is the destructive teaching of false teachers (2 Pet. 2:1).

This is in contrast to what Paul says he actually believes which is everything in the law and prophets with a hope in the resurrection (Acts 24:14-15). This corresponds roughly to the end the Apostles’ creed: “I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” If heresy is schism/division, orthodoxy (right faith/worship) is true catholicity/unity. The word “catholic” literally means “whole” or “universal.” This is what we mean by the “holy catholic church.” While people commonly use “catholic” to mean “Roman Catholic,” we mean the “whole Christian church” or the “true universal church.” We believe that the Roman Catholic church actually divided from the universal church. The early Reformers all labored to show that the true catholic church followed Scripture more closely and did not submit to the Pope as a universal pastor. 

So Paul insisted that he was holding the “whole” revelation of God, which now included the death and resurrection of Jesus. In fact, those who rejected Christ were “dividing” God’s revelation and becoming sectarian and heretical. This is the case for Jews who reject Christ as Messiah, and this is true of “Christian” groups that have abandoned the fullness of Scripture. The “holy catholic church” is holy because it is committed to all of Scripture applied to all of life. All of Christ for all of life. 

The Hope of the Resurrection 
Our text mentions the final judgment three times: “the resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:15), “touching the resurrection of the dead I am called into question” (Acts 24:21), and “as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled” (Acts 24:25). We confess this in the Creed every week as well: “from thence He shall come again to judge the living and the dead.”

When Paul pressed this point home, it clearly touched some kind of nerve in Felix, and he trembled with fear. It was evidently not enough to convince him to repent and believe or even do basic justice, as he continued holding Paul, hoping for a bribe, and doing favors for the Jews. But Felix trembled and sent Paul away. 

The Bible says that there will come a day when everyone will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and the secrets of our hearts will be laid bare: “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel” (Rom. 2:16). “for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Rom. 14:10). “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). All the secret thoughts, the selfish motivations, the lies, the cheating, the manipulating, the conniving, all our big and little heresies – all the things you think no one knows about – will be manifest before the judgment seat of Christ. 

This is why Paul tells Felix that this is why he constantly presses to have a clean conscience before God and men (Acts 24:16), and presumably this is why Felix trembles. 

Applications
So how can sinners have a clean conscience before God? “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:14) 

Far too many people think that being a Christian means “being good,” and yes of course we do want to be good and serve God. But being a Christian is fundamentally about the constant problem we have that we are not good. You can’t serve the living God with dead works. All our good works are like “filthy rags” (Is. 64:6) – tainted with selfishness, greed, pride, lies, manipulation. All our good works (trying to match God’s holiness) are “dead works.” And you can’t serve the living God with dead works. 

So our consciences need to be purged, cleansed, and sprinkled clean. Our consciences are like the hands that offer us to God, and sin is the puss, the mold, the gangrene, the rot and filth on our hands. And this is why even our good works need to be washed clean. If our hearts/consciences are not clean, our best works are still dead works. 

So this is the good news of Jesus Christ: He died and rose again so that anyone who asks can be forgiven and have a clean conscience. Good works with a bad conscience are dead, but good works with a clean conscience are sprinkled clean. They are justified. Remember the tax collector and scribe – who went home justified? The one who knew he needed mercy.  

And this is the key to fellowship and joy in a marriage and family. “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin… If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:7, 9). This is how you strive for a good conscience before God and men. This is how you are always ready for the resurrection and the final judgement – confession of sin and forgiveness brings the light of the final judgment (for believers) right into the present. 

But of course it is perfectly possible to mouth the words of confession and forgiveness like the scribe – I thank thee that I’m not like other men. But you can tell you’re doing that because you don’t go home justified. You don’t end up with peace in your heart and usually there’s very little peace in your home. So, this is the charge: look to Christ seated on His throne in majesty. He is holy and true and pure. And there are holes in His hands. 

Prayer: Father, whatever is in the way of true humility, please rip it out of our hearts and hands. We need the peace and joy and courage of your justification, and we know that we cannot have it so long as we grab hold of our own goodness. So do whatever it takes. And we ask in the might name of Jesus, who taught us to pray…

Racism, Homophobia, Leftist Framing, and other Real & Imagined Sins

Introduction
The political Left is a Christian heresy. From Rousseau to Nietzsche and from Darwin to Marx and all of their cultural and political descendants, one of the common elements between them all is a disingenuous and deceptive assumption of certain Christian principles or ideals while jettisoning the unifying fabric of the whole. This goes back to the Garden of Eden, when the serpent attempted the first “leftist framing” – “then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). It was full of half-truths, or better: the Devil took the shell of truth and replaced the kernel. In other words, “leftist framing” is all Mormon. Mormonism, like all heresies, steals Biblical words and concepts, redefines them, and then tries to pass them off as the genuine article. 

Rousseau did this when he claimed that people were basically good, blamed human society for social ills, and then pretended to be able to build a better, freer society. Darwin did it when he claimed that everything evolved over millions of years from single cell organisms, and ta-da! complex organization and function emerged from simplicity, chaos, and mutation, while pretending that this understanding would produce technological and scientific advance. And Marx did the same, pretending to reject Christianity, while assuming certain standards of Christian morality and justice. Nietzsche perhaps came the closest to actually embracing the kind of nihilism that fully rejects Christianity but even he pulled the punch, glorifying strength, courage, nobility, and heroism, even while rejecting the transcendent standard that would give those virtues their, well, virtue. 

A Little Help from Dabney
And the same thing is true of modern leftist framing. Using Marxist categories of oppressor and oppressed, and systems of power and hegemony, the leftist framework recasts the ultimate struggle as racial and sexual, blaming white male Christendom for patriarchal oppression (and basically all the evil in the world, from the crusades to slavery) and seeks to “empower” and “liberate” so-called racial and sexual minorities. R.L. Dabney called this in the late 19th century with the rise of so called “first wave” feminism and “women’s rights,” beginning with the hard push for the right to vote. Dabney recognized that the whole set up was a revolutionary attack on Christianity despite their redefinition of terms:

“We must then make up our minds in accepting Women’s Rights to surrender our Bibles, and have an atheistic Government. And especially must we expect to have, presiding over every home and rearing every group of future citizens, that most abhorrent of all phenomena, an infidel woman; for of course that sex, having received the precious boon of their enfranchisement only by means of the overthrow of the Bible, must be foremost in trampling upon this their old oppressor and enemy. Its restoration to authority is necessarily their “re-enslavement,” to speak the language of their party.”

Dabney pointed out that this “language of their party” weaponized the whole notion of “rights” and “equality” and “liberty.” He acknowledged that the founders of America certainly did affirm a kind of universal rights and equality for all men and women, but “when our wise fathers said that liberty is an inalienable, natural right, they meant by each one’s liberty the privilege to do such things as he, with his particular relations, ought to have a moral title to do; the particular things having righteous, natural limitations in every case, and much narrower limits in some cases than in others.”

And so here is the “leftist framing” of so-called first wave feminism. It takes a word, a concept and guts it of its Biblical definition, replaces those guts with foreign, even contradictory notions, and then, playing off the definitional ambiguity, swings that Frankenstein concept around like a cat-o-nine-tails, cowing reasonable Christian people with the accusation that they are “misogynists” and “fascists,” haters of all women and liberty. 

But as Dabney labors to demonstrate it is not the “women’s rights” radicals that love and honor women. They are actually the misogynists. They are the true haters of women and liberty. He writes, “this movement on the part of these women is as suicidal as it is mischievous. Its certain result will be the re-enslavement of women, not under the Scriptural bonds of marriage, but under the yoke of literal corporeal force. Instead of being what the Bible makes her, one with her husband, queen of his home, reigning with the gentle scepter of love over her modest, secluded domain, and in its pure and sacred retirement performing the noblest work done on this earth, that of molding infant minds to honor and piety, she will reappear from this ill-starred competition defeated and despised, tolerated only to satiate the passion, to amuse the idleness, to do the drudgery, and to receive the curses and blows of her barbarized masters.”

And we have done this to our mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters.

The Modern Leftist Gaze & the Fear of God
And so it is the same down to the present day. From the false accusations of misogyny, the radicals graduated to accusations of “racism” and “homophobia” and “antisemitism” and so on. But the reason why the accusations have generally worked is because Christians and good-hearted folks knew that there was a real sin called hating women, spiteful treatment of people because of their race or religion, or treating even evil sinners with malice. But when the revolutionaries have been weaponizing Christian concepts for so long it can become tempting to become so fed up with it that you come to think of the true concepts as the “leftist framing.” 

This is clearly happening as recently I kicked a small bee’s nest when I affirmed that while leftists have tried to weaponize “homophobia,” it is nevertheless a sin to treat a homosexual with spite and malice. In a biblically just society, homosexuality would be suppressed and criminalized by law. That is not homophobic. It is not homophobic to affirm the sinfulness of homosexuality, and the fact that unrepentant homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. But the reason why that largely false accusation has been weaponized to some extent in our formerly Christian land is because everyone knows that the Bible requires a basic level of civility be extended to all people, even those who need to be firmly restrained in their evil lusts.

It is absolutely necessary for Christians to have the kind of thick skin and fear of God that doesn’t care about the leftist gaze, the guilt-shaming of the left that has no actual concern for women, different races, much less true social or criminal justice. But in our determination to not care what they think, we must absolutely care what God thinks. We must care what the Word of God says, and we must not allow the gaze of the bitter right or the noticing of the malicious right to matter to us either. Just because the left has used fake sins to create a Pharisaical cancel culture, does not mean that when real sins arise and are confronted biblically that anyone has succumbed to cancel culture and leftist framing. It is not cancel culture to discipline a church member for true malice or spite. And just because they have also weaponized the concept of “hate,” doesn’t mean there isn’t a sinful form of it.

Conclusion
When Paul confronted Peter for preferring his own people and parted ways with Barnabas for preferring his nephew, that was not a turf war or cancel culture or succumbing to leftist framing. It was a faithful man confronting serious theological and strategic error. And the Church was better for it. But there were no doubt many who saw Paul’s hardline stance as “brother wars” and “infighting” and “unnecessary division.”  

Barnabas was known as the “son of encouragement” and no doubt many thought that Paul was being overly zealous, perhaps becoming a bit jealous of Barnabas’s rising influence in the fledgling Christian movement. And why couldn’t Paul just pull Peter aside after the fellowship meal privately? Why did he have to confront Peter in front of everyone? Talk about divisive. Talk about cancel culture. No, not really.

Sometimes faithfulness doesn’t care what it looks like. Sometimes faithfulness simply speaks the truth and lets the pieces fall where they may. The truth is the only way to actually reject the leftist framing. It is to insist that God’s Word is the standard, regardless of how the left has weaponized it, regardless of how offended and exasperated the right is by the left. We serve the Lord God, not the petty grievances of political factions. And of course that may mean that we’re all Christofascists and homophobes and racists, and we must not care in the least about such false accusations, provided the accusations are completely false.

Christ the Nazarene

Acts 23:25-24:9

Prayer: Father, please grant us Your Holy Spirit now to lead us into all truth: the truth of this Word so that we might have truth in our inward parts, so that the truth might set us free, so that the truth might revive and refresh our land. Do this now because we ask for it in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Truth, Amen. 

Introduction
As we have seen throughout out study of the Book of Acts, Jesus is pleased to build His kingdom through the adventures of controversy, mobs, near escapes, false accusations, beatings, and trials. He is the main actor. In the Old Testament, one of the types of this adventurous, unpredictable hero was the Nazirite (like Samson). As we will see today, that is probably related the name of the city Nazareth, where Jesus was from. 

The Book of Acts teaches us that our duty is to be faithful to Christ, to Jesus of Nazareth. There are certainly wisdom calls along the way, but faith sees Christ ruling and reigning over history, pushing the story forward, and faith obeys even when the path is through the storm. He rules the wind and the waves, and He turns the hearts of kings. Christ is the Nazarene – the Nazirite, the devoted servant of God, our Judge and the Governor of all Time. And we see this at work even in the pagan courts and the Jews accusing Paul of sedition.   

The Text: “And he wrote a letter after this manner: Cladius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting…” (Acts 23:25-35)

Summary of the Text
Remember, a plot to murder Paul was just uncovered and Claudius Lysias has ordered an armed escort of 270 soldiers to take Paul in the middle of the night to Caesarea (Acts 23:23-24). This letter accompanies Paul to the governor, explaining the plot (Acts 23:25-27). Claudius Lysias claims to have rescued Paul since he was a Roman citizen (Acts 23:27), neglecting to mention that he had initially commanded him to be scourged without a hearing (Acts 22:24). Claudius Lysias explained the Jewish council, his judgment, the plot, and his invitation to Paul’s accusers to present their case before Governor Felix (Acts 23:28-30). Having arrived and reading the letter, Felix agreed to hear the case when Paul’s accusers arrived (Acts 23:31-35). 

Five days later, the Jews arrived with their lawyer Tertullus to present their case (Acts 24:1). Tertullus is a Roman-trained lawyer and layers the flattery thick, crediting Felix with “great peace” and “worthy deeds” and “providence” and “kindness” (Acts 24:2-4), despite the fact that extrabiblical sources indicate his harsh suppression of the Jews. Tertullus accused Paul of being a “plague,” involved in sedition among the Jews, and a ringleader of a sect of “Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5). Like Claudius Lysias, Tertullus spins the story of Paul’s arrest, claiming that they were only in the process of following their Jewish law, when Lysias seized Paul “violently,” which Felix can confirm if he asks the Jews himself, and the Jews all agreed (Acts 24:6-9). 

Biblical Principles of Justice
Despite manifest corruptions and paganism in the Roman system, there was nevertheless a semblance of biblical justice: a fair trial required the presence of both the accused and accusers, multiple witnesses, evidence, testimony and cross examination of both sides. “One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established” (Dt. 19:15). “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (Prov. 18:17).

Related, is the biblical requirement of “equal weights and measures” “Thou shalt not have in thy bag diverse weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house diverse measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee” (Dt. 25:13-15, cf. Lev. 19:35-36). This applies formally in a court of law, but it also applies informally in how we work out disagreements. God requires His people to treat one another the way they want to be treated and prohibits all spin, lies, flattery, and lynch mobs, whether in person, voice, text, or online. Biblical principles of justice also err on the side of mercy. If there are not two or three witnesses, biblical justice requires us to let it go.    

Nazarenes & Nazirites 
While Tertullus supplies no evidence, his central accusation against Paul is that he is a leader of a cult called the Nazarenes (Acts 24:5). There’s always been a fair bit of discussion and confusion over this title “Nazarene,” first appearing in Matthew’s gospel, “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene” (Mt. 2:23). The trouble is that there is no verse in the Old Testament that says that exactly. Some take it as something of a pun on the description of the Messiah “branch” [netser] (Is. 11:1), which Child was associated with the northern region of Galilee (Is. 9:1-2) where Nazareth was located. 

Others suggest some connection with the Old Testament Nazirite vow (Num. 6, cf. Num. 13), in which a man was “separated” to lifelong or temporary priestly service to the Lord (e.g. Samson). And Paul was sponsoring Nazirite vows in the temple when the riot broke out (Acts 21:24, cf. 18:18). Perhaps the city of Nazareth in Galilee was named after this office and the Messianic themes, blending both into the associations of “Nazarene.” 

It is also likely that there were thousand year animosities and rivalries at work: remember the northern and southern kingdoms divided after Solomon’s death and there was periodic civil war until the northern kingdom was conquered in 722 B.C. The Samaritans were syncretistic Jews from the northern kingdom (2 Kgs. 17:27ff). And by the first century, Galilee was a bustling marketplace of trade and productivity with ongoing antagonisms with the wealthy priestly classes associated with the temple in the southern region of Judea. In other words, “sect of the Nazarenes” was probably something of an ethnic and/or political slur. This likely played some part in the blindness of their persecution. In other words, the trouble may not have been merely about religious influence but also cultural and economic. 

Applications
Flattery is a form of lying malice, clothed in a veneer of kindness, either avoiding a topic that needs to be addressed or else trying to get something from them. This can take place between friends or in business dealings: spinning the truth, shading the truth, avoiding the truth.  

It is double-minded or what we call ulterior motives (Prov. 12:2). “A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin” (Prov. 26:28). Flattery can be a justification for real evil. But Paul was careful not to use flattery in his presentation of the gospel (1 Thess. 2:5). 

When “providence” is assumed to be the prerogative of man, the only recourse is human manipulation, flattery, lawfare, and various forms of tribalism and animosity. And all of this is only intensified when real and perceived harm has been done. “They” and “we” and “friend/enemy” distinctions quickly become polarizing and weaponized. Spinning the truth can feel particularly justified when the “other side” seems to be playing fast and loose with the truth and principles of justice. 

Think about Peter during the trial of Jesus being questioned: “And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee” (Mt. 26:71-73). Peter lied when he was accused of being associated with the Nazarene. He lied because he at least momentarily believed that things were out of control. But Jesus was still in control even when He was on trial. Even though injustice and lies were being perpetrated, Jesus was ruling even that to bring about justice and truth. 

But Jesus is the Lord of history – the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End – and He was guiding this story (the flattery and lies of the Jews, the corruption of the Romans) in order for Paul to preach the gospel, even in the midst of the machinations of unbelievers. 

And the same thing is still true for us today. Christ is the true Chief Captain, our Great Nazarene. He is ruling and turning the hearts of kings and judges and CEOs today. So you must tell the truth, do justice, and love mercy – and follow Jesus of Nazareth.  

Prayer: Father, please help us to fix our eyes on Jesus so that we might not be distracted by the storms around us. Give us the courage to do our duty, to tell the truth whatever the consequences, to do justice even when it seems like losing, and we ask You to vindicate us, prove to all the world that we belong to You, and we ask this in Jesus’ name, who taught us to pray…

H-1B Visas & Miss American Pie

Introduction 
Well, on Christmas Eve I was accused of joining the ranks of Ebenezer Scrooge, along with Elon Musk. This wasn’t exactly on my wish list or on my bingo card for that matter, but St. Nicholas brings us gifts in all shapes and sizes. My friend Andrew Isker replied to a tweet of mine about the “fixed pie” fallacy, and he suggested that my thinking would crush the Bob Cratchits and Tiny Tims of America through the greed of corporate American. Then what followed was a goodish chorus of yowls and shrieks accusing me of “prosperity gospel,” of being Joel Osteen, and “blasphemy.” What had I said? I had written, “In God’s world, the “pie” of resources, job creation, and opportunity keeps expanding. This is part of the meaning of Christmas. If God can become man and save us from our sins, no eye has seen what God has prepared for those who love Him. Loaves and fishes, y’all.” 

Now, I’m happy to grant that it’s certainly not my most poetic post ever, and I’ll also admit that it even verges on the sentimental. But there it was Christmas Eve, with the lights on the tree sparkling and I was all dressed up for our Christmas Eve service. And well, perhaps the general bonhomie of the moment had gone to my head, but in my defense, there is something absolutely sentimental about the Christmas story. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men? I mean, the angel just starts announcing that to poor shepherds out in the fields. And I mean, poor shepherds; you know, shepherds oppressed by Roman and Jewish tyrannies, shepherds who had probably been kicked to the curb by society, shepherds passed over by first century DEI policies. They were probably even white. How can you say “peace on earth, goodwill toward men?” How can you sing such a thing every Christmas while kids are dying of cancer and London is being overrun by radical Muslims? But the reply comes that I was saying that bit of “Christmas goo” in direct connection to an Elon Musk tweet that was related to immigration policy. In effect my tweet was read as the equivalent of those cringey TGC He Gets Us commercials about Jesus being a lonely skateboarder whose only car was his mom’s minivan and it didn’t even have the heated seats.

Look, I’m not saying I was doing something particularly clever, but I don’t think I was doing something so dumb or foolish (or blasphemous) as I have been accused of. So what was I doing? Two things very simply: cheering on something good Elon said and getting the anti-capitalists to shriek. But in order to explain, we need to back up and get a running start.

H-1B Visas
So this particular skirmish erupted over Trump’s appointment of a gent named Sriram Krishnan as Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who will be working closely, we have been told, with another gent named David Sacks, incoming “Whitehouse A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Laura Loomer kicked off some of the dustup referring to Krishnan as a “career leftist,” opposed to Trump’s America First agenda, accusing him of wanting to remove all restrictions on immigrant students who “can come to the US and take jobs that should be given to American STEM students.” And she shared a screenshot of Krishnan saying he wants to remove “country caps for green cards / unlock skilled immigration” saying that would be “huge.”

David Sacks chimed in with a point of clarification, saying that Krishnan was only talking about “country caps” limiting certain countries, but insisted that Krishnan wants an entirely merit-based program, where “a limited number of highly skilled immigrants” may be hired by American companies. And Sacks protested, “Sriram is definitely not a ‘career leftist’!” 

This is all related to what is called an H-1B visa, allowing US employers to hire foreign workers with specialty education and skills, the largest category of visas granted in the United States for guest workers. And this is all particularly intense right now following the German terrorist attack by a 50 year old Saudia Arabian psychiatrist at a Christmas market last week in Magdeburg. High skill workers, in other words, may not have American values or interests in mind. No matter that the Saudi Arabian psychiatrist was apparently fairly anti-Muslim, but he was a psychiatrist, and that probably should have been our first clue, so there’s that.

But a fair bit of ink (or digits) has been spent decrying “high skill” immigrants over the last week or so because at the very least, in the current climate of multicultural globalist fascism, there is less and less stomach for the risks. As was pointed out to me recently, ousted Syrian dictator Assad was an Ophthalmologist in London for a few years before being recalled to Syria to bury many of his people in mass graves. In other words, there are at least two major red flags on the H-1B visa discussion for many: First, how many jobs are being taken from skilled Americans? And second, how many Americans will have to die from similar terrorist attacks? It has also been pointed out that the H-1B visa program has become something of a burgeoning industry of indentured servitude, where less than skilled immigrants are brought into various sectors, given minimal training, with the explicit or implicit threat of deportation should things not work out. So the question of perverse incentives looms large as well.

Following the X thread a little further, entrepreneur and investor Joe Lonsdale founder of Palantir Tech and others, chimed in saying, “My friend Sriram is America First. For USA to have the highest standard of living, generous govt services and strongest military, we need to recruit the best and brightest and build the best companies. I’m against more low-end H1B immigrants; but let’s win at the talent game.” Which Elon Musk shared and added, “The “fixed pie” fallacy is at the heart of much wrong-headed economic thinking. There is essentially infinite potential for job and company creation. Think of all the things that didn’t exist 20 or 30 years ago!” And enter yours truly. I was cheering on that tweet when I was called Ebenezer Scrooge. Following so far?

Miss American Pie
There’s a whole bunch of stuff tangled into this discussion, tectonic plates under tectonic plates so to speak, and not many are pointing them out. Vivek Ramaswamy came out swinging the day after Christmas arguing the hard truth that American companies often prefer foreign workers because they frequently have a better culture of creativity and hard work. Vivek wrote: “Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG. A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.” Vivek even accused a bunch of us of growing up watching “Saved By the Bell,” which may have been a bit below the belt. Auron MacIntyre replied, “Turns out the ‘waste’ that DOGE wanted to cut from America was Americans.”

First off, let us put in a good word for the based bros. The Republican establishment has scammed Americans so many times with empty promises and smooth words that one can hardly blame them for being jumpy, angsty, and bit, shall we say, uncorked. The Republican establishment has lost all credibility. They lost it like Jack Nicholson lost his mind in that one Stanley Kubrick flick. So we have some sympathy with the crusaders and anons and based bros. We do not condone all of their rhetoric. We are not especially approving of their red eyed avatars and whatnot. But when you kick people in the head for several decades, one does imagine that the head is beginning to ache.

But there is no situation so bad that it is not possible to make it worse. Like I said, I have sympathy for the “end all immigration period” position. I would not be sad if our leaders decided on it for the time being. When the frat house is descending into Animal House chaos, it’s probably a good idea to generally end the influx. But this is not about “white people” saving their race; remember, it was a bunch of white people that did this to us. No, this is about a particular historical incarnation of Christendom in this place.

At the same time, Vivek and Elon and Krishnan have a point. If all you do is stop the influx, you’re left with our current cultural malaise. Now there are certainly some wisdom calls to be made about how to address that malaise. Some of the malaise is coming from that head-kicking via mass immigration. So ease up on the head-kicking and lighting people on fire on the metros and maybe some Americans get better grades in school. Others are pointing out that the plan really must be a more wholistic one of rebuilding American culture over decades. And sign me up for that. But if a non-woke businessman like Elon says he still needs access to some very high skill workers, why would we want to slow him down? He bought X, the very platform allowing us to have this banter. To demand that Elon slow down seems like cutting off the branch we’re sitting on. 

At the same time, we are the people who let this head kicking happen. We have been popping pills, funding an exploding porn industry, chopping up our babies and selling their parts for money, and letting these corrupt, Madhatter politicians pay us off with welfare checks and food stamps. Which is to say that if weaponized immigrant globalism has become a cancer, we have been smoking crack and snorting arsenic like in that one Quentin Tarantino movie.  

In other words, Miss American Pie has gotten obese and tumorous, which is not at all what we mean by the “pie” expanding and infinite resources.

Conclusion: Loaves & Fishes
Despite people accusing me of a prosperity gospel, the story of the loaves and fishes is not about easy-believism, name it and claim it, like some kind of Kenneth Copeland television special. In fact, one of the crucial elements of the miraculous feedings in the gospels is Jesus’ command to the disciples: “You feed them.” The situation was one in which Jesus commanded His disciples to get to work. Yes, in the midst of their work, Jesus did something miraculous that we cannot build business models off of, but the principle stands: in the midst of our faithful, obedient labors, God blesses and provides. He gives us our daily bread. And if Jesus were here, he’d say, stop pointing fingers at the Commies and the Jews, get to work. 

When the “American Pie” (and by this we mean American prosperity and opportunity) is run by the federal government, that really is a Joel Osteen prosperity gospel pyramid scam. “Just send your checks to the IRS, and we will multiply your sack lunches into a communist utopia.” And those who see all the solutions coming from federal regulations, that’s just another version of that statist prosperity gospel. But the way God made the world is such that whenever a man takes responsibility for his own needs and the needs of his own household, he generally produces more than he consumes. And when there is a widespread culture of that, the American Pie increases. And therefore, within the limits of the Ten Commandments, we should want to maximize the freedom of local men to make local decisions about how to provide for their people, including their businesses. 

Historically, this has been why the “county” was the most basic unit of government in America. One historian says that in the 17th century, when an Englishman referred to his “country,” it was likely that he was referring to his county. This is why historically land laws and property taxes and basic criminal law were all the jurisdiction of local counties. So if we want our country to preserve and recover a right love of places and people, as opposed to being bulldozed into a multinational economic zone, the power and responsibility for most meaningful decisions must be reasserted by local counties. If Washington DC is where everything important happens, our communities will continue to be treated like franchises. In order for a true Christian economy to flourish, one where family and community are at the center, you have to return the authority to local communities. 

Lastly, it seems plain that big corporations have leveraged and abused H-1B visas for a kind of cheap indentured servitude. And while the loopholes and corruption allowing that should absolutely be stopped, we need to spend a lot more time and energy ending all the regulations, taxes, and codes heaped up on business owners. We should incentivize hiring American workers, but we should do that primarily by making it easier to train, hire, and retain American workers. Endless health codes, safety codes, insurance requirements, and mindless red tape and wage laws and taxes (not to mention, entitlement and laziness among some Americans) makes it harder to train, hire, and retain them. It’s understandable, good even, for conservatives to be jumpy about all of this, but it seems odd to accuse Elon of being Ebenezer Scrooge and anti-American. 

So Merry Christmas and peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

The Sin of Sloth & the Protestant Work Ethic

State of the Church 2025

Gen. 1:26-28

Introduction

“The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute” (Prov. 12:24). To the extent that Bible-believing Christians have lost authority in the West, one clear reason is because of our sin of sloth. 

Cotton Mather once said, Christian religion begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother. And Deuteronomy warned of the same tendency: “And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth” (Dt. 8:17). Pride says ‘what my hand has gotten, my hand can get again’. Presumption says, what my hand has gotten, I don’t need to get again. And finally, Sloth says, what my hand has gotten, I just can’t get again.

Sloth is not merely laziness. It is a kind of despair about work, a kind of retreating cowardice and resentment of the blessing of work. Repentance means that we need a recovery of the Protestant Work ethic, but we cannot have the Protestant Work ethic apart from Protestant grace. A Protestant Work ethic apart from Protestant grace is a recipe for burn out, but Protestant grace is fuel that never runs dry. And Protestant grace is rooted in the doctrines of Creation & Redemption.   

The Text: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…” (Gen. 1:26-28)

Summary of the Text

God made men and women in his own image for dominion (Gen. 1:26), and that image and dominion means the work of fruitfulness and rule over creation (Gen. 1:27-28). We were made for dominion, and dominion means work. And what we see here is that this work is a blessing(Gen. 1:28). Sin has made our work harder and more difficult (Gen. 3:16-19), but we were made for work, and we were made for the rewards of good work (Gen. 2:11-12). This is central to being made in God’s image; God worked in creation, so we work. 

We know that work is still our central task because it was repeated to Noah after the flood (Gen. 9:1), and because Jesus is the fulfillment of Psalm 8: What is man (Heb. 1-2)? Man is the creature God created for dominion – for good, rewarding work, and Christ has restored that blessing to us as the new Adam who accomplished the Great Work of our Redemption. We are saved by grace through faith, but this salvation means that God is at work in us restoring us to work (Eph. 2:8-10, Phil. 1:6, 2:13, Tit. 2:14). In this way, it is perfectly biblical to say that work is the meaning of life, and sloth is rebellion against our creation and redemption. 

The Destruction of Sloth

The way of the sluggard is difficult: “The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain” (Prov. 15:19, 20:4). The way of the sluggard destroys: “He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster [lit. great destroyer]” (Prov. 18:9). “Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger” (Prov. 19:15, cf. 19:24, 21:25). The way of the sluggard is cowardly and full of excuses: “The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets” (Prov. 22:13, cf. 26:13). “The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason” (Prov. 26:16).

Jesus roundly condemned the wickedness of the slothful servant in His parable (Matt. 25:26). And the apostles warned against it as well, “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord” (Rom. 12:11). “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb. 6:12).

Deceptions of Sloth

Part of the deception of sloth, perhaps especially in the modern world, is that technology allows us the illusion of work. You can drive around, be on your computer, on the phone, and manage a very busy schedule, but “busy” is not the same thing as fruitful. A farmer who studies seeds and soils and fails to actually plant may have been busy but was ultimately slothful. This is like the guy who is constantly making plans for work but never actually executing them. Diligence and industry are not just a matter of staying awake or going to work; they are matters of intelligent work, good work, the right work at the right time. 

The Latin word for sloth is “acedia,” which can refer to a kind of spiritual despair in the face of God’s goodness. Faith sees God’s world as teeming with opportunity, fruit, gold, and possibilities. But acedia is blind to the goodness and increasingly despairs in seeing anything as worth the effort. Dorothy Sayers said sloth “believes in nothing.” Rushdoony said, “Sloth means no love for God and no holy joy… acedia empties the world of God’s presence and replaces it with oneself.” Here we see how a culture that congratulates itself for all its great accomplishments can end up so melancholy. Self-obsessions are the path of sloth and depression. But if this world is God’s gift, how can you be lazy and sad?

Sloth is fundamentally a form of treachery to the Lord Jesus. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20). And when you are exhausted at the end of a long day, remember the lesson of the unprofitable servant: “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Lk. 17:10). Christ bought us with His precious blood, a price we can never repay.

Applications

Work as unto Christ: “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free” (Eph. 6:6-8). Don’t say, “I deserve/we deserve…” All is grace.

The seeds of sloth begin in the heart when obedience and righteousness seem like heavy burdens and inspire disgust or resentment. Why do I have to work so hard? Why do I have to work so much? Why does no one appreciate how hard I’m working? “The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth” (Prov. 26:15). The great irony is that work is food, work is blessing.

Some men are lazy by sitting on the couch all day, but other men are lazy by filling their days with worthless things (meetings, video games, social media). In general, you should be aiming to do hard things. You should be thinking about how to get a little more done. Why? Because it is for Your King. While men can become obsessed with fitness, the glory of men is their strength and often doing something physical is good practice for the rest of life. Beware of lots of “guys nights out.” Of course there’s a place for friendship, but focus more on shoulder to shoulder working at some project.

Women are warned in Scripture about being chatty Cathys: “And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully” (1 Tim. 5:13-14). This is why our general approach to women’s ministry is highly homebased and decentralized, aimed at serving and meeting needs (meals, showers, etc.). Some women’s ministries are busybody conventions. Of course there’s a place for friendship, but focus more on shoulder to shoulder working at some project.

Let each one bear his own burden (Gal. 6:5): you are an industrious lot in general – a lot of you are extraordinarily productive and fruitful, which means that there will be temptations to coast or to draft on the diligence of others (“drafting” is leveraging the vibe of someone else’s success). But Western Civilization is in shambles; we have work to do before we die. We are getting the world ready for the King. We don’t have time to coast. Don’t draft spiritually either. 

Finally, remember the Sabbath. Sabbath makes really good sense when you’ve been working hard for six days. But if a day of rest seems a little legalistic, that may be a sign that you haven’t been working hard enough. And in the New Covenant, our Sabbath is on the first day of the week: we begin with grace and the grace is so good, we hit the ground running every Monday. 

Photo by Tekton on Unsplash

Christmas Eve 2024: Worship Him

One of the central themes of Christmas is worship. When Mary entered the house of Elizabeth, she burst into song: My soul magnifies the Lord! Simeon sings that He can depart in peace because his eyes have seen the salvation of the Lord in the infant Jesus. The angel announces the glad tidings to the shepherds, and then a whole army of angels bursts into song: Glory to God in the highest. And then after the shepherds went and found the baby lying in the manger, they return to their flocks glorifying and praising God. And the wisemen, when they found the house where the child was, they came in and fell down and worshipped him, presenting their treasures.

Christmas is all about worship. And so our Christmas hymns agree: O come let us adore Him! Let all mortal flesh keep silence and with fear and trembling stand // Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand. Glory to the newborn king! Gloria in excelsis Deo! O ye heights, adore Him! Angel hosts, His praises sing; pow’rs, dominions, bow before Him, and extol our God and King! Let no tongue on earth be silent, every voice in concert sing! Come and worship, come and worship: worship Christ the newborn King! As with joyful steps they sped to the lowly cradle bed, there to bend the knee before, Him whom Heav’n and earth adore, so may we with willing feet ever seek Thy mercy seat. 

The word worship means to fall down, to bow down, to prostrate. In the ancient world, this was literally what subjects did in the presence of their king. This posture represented complete reverence, complete service, complete submission, and often, when there was genuine affection between the subject and the king, it was also heartfelt devotion, loyalty, and love. In the older wedding liturgy, the husband would give his wife a ring and say, “With this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.”

And so, Christmas, rightly understood is an extended Call to Worship. The whole thing, the weeks of Advent leading up to this night are the bells ringing, O Come All Ye Faithful, joyful and triumphant, Come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem: come and behold Him, born the King of angels: O come let us adore Him! Mary sang. Simeon sang. The angels sang. The shepherds praised. The wisemen fell down and worshiped. And so the Call to Worship comes to you. What will you do? 

If you are here tonight, you may think: well, I’m here aren’t I? Maybe you go to church every Sunday. You might say, I sing the songs. I kneel down at the confession of sin. But if that was all there was to it, would we really need all these songs, all the festivities, all the gifts, all the food? No. Think about Mary, Simeon, the shepherds, and the wisemen. Notice that all of them are worshipping in the midst of significant interruptions to their lives. Mary is pregnant out of wedlock. Simeon has been waiting many years and is now facing death. The shepherds have left their flocks. The wisemen have traveled far from home. Crisis pregnancy, old age and dying, employment uncertainty, and foreigners far away in strange land. And what are they all doing? They are worshipping. 

Despite their circumstances, they have found something more significant, more important, more consuming than everything else. But it’s even more than that. It is actually the child that they are worshiping who has caused the interruptions to their lives. He is the One who has freely come into the world at that moment and burst into their lives. But with the eyes of faith, they are able to see Him as their Lord and King, making all the pain and trouble worth it. It’s like the birth of every baby in this world. It’s painful and bloody and worth it. 

So it is with all the trouble in this world, all the pain and heartache. In the Christmas story, Christ comes, bringing all kinds of trials and difficulties and interruptions, and the faithful respond by recognizing Him and worshipping Him. And the same message is now proclaimed to you. Your difficulty, your pain, your uncertainty, your loneliness, your waiting – it is all from the Lord. It is all sent by the King. And so what will you do? Christ is born. The King is come. He rules all things. He has orchestrated every detail of your life: your marriage, your family, your trials, your pain, your situation. The message of the angels is still the message of all gospel preaching: Christ is born. Christ is King. And if you seek Him, you will most certainly find Him. 

Herod heard all of this from the wise men, and he said he wanted to worship him. But of course Herod had no intention of worshiping Jesus. He saw Jesus as a threat to his reign, to his kingdom. And when the wisemen didn’t return to tell him where they had found this King, Herod sent and had all the baby boys put to death in Bethlehem. And these really are the only two options: true worship and life or else false worship and murderous destruction. 

So what are you doing? You may say you are a worshiper of Christ the King, but are you? Are you growing in peace and joy and obedience? Or are you angry and jealous and stressed? And maybe you say that you want that peace and joy, but you just don’t know how to get it. The answer is this: worship Him. What do I mean? I mean bow down. I mean truly, fully submit everything you are to Him. Tell Him that He is your Lord, your Master, your King. Tell Him that all that you are is His. Tell Him you are His subject, His servant, and that you will humbly accept whatever His assignment is all your days. 

The trouble and trials of this life are sometimes sharp and painful, but the heaviest burden of all is fighting against Jesus. As Jesus said to Saul on the road to Damascus: it’s hard for thee to kick against the pricks. So Christmas is all about worship, and by this we mean: bow down. Bend your stiff neck. Kneel down. Fall down. Put your face on the ground. And bring your treasures and present them to the King. Do not hold anything back. What is your gold and frankincense and myrrh? What are you afraid to lose? What are you afraid He might not take away? Lay it down. Lay it all down. 

But know this: you are laying it down before the One who was once found by shepherds lying in a manger. Your King has come down. Your King has been born into this world. And when you kneel down in true humility, you find that you have come face to face with your King. You do not serve a King who does not sympathize with you in your weakness. He is a kind and gracious King. He only takes what must be taken so that we might reign with Him. And He only sends the trouble that is required so that we might be born again and live with Him forever. Your King is good, and He ultimately proved it on Calvary; He is worthy of all of your worship. Christ is born. So worship Him. 

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Beholding the Glory

Jn. 1:14

Prayer: Almighty God, our Father, You have set your glory above the heavens, but the whole earth is full of your glory. And You have done this so that we might know you, love you, and enjoy You and all of Your good gifts forever. So give us Your Spirit so that this Word might open our eyes to behold Your glory and so be transformed more and more into Your glory. Amen.  

Introduction

As the Church has meditated on the nature of knowing God, we have come to summarize this pursuit as the three transcendentals: truth, goodness, and beauty. You might think of these as truth is what we are to believe, goodness is what we are to desire, and beauty is what we are to enjoy. And the idea is that these three are interconnected: what is true is also good and beautiful; what is good is also true and beautiful; and what is beautiful is also true and good.

This text is one place we see something of this notion: in Christmas we have the truth, goodness (grace), and beauty (glory) of God fully revealed. The first two are often emphasized, but frequently we don’t know what to do with beauty. Many Christians have been particularly leery of beauty. Beauty seems to be deceptive. It can trick people into sin, like the fruit in the garden, like a seductress. While that is true, truth and goodness have their own deceptions, and God created world full of His glory and beauty and requires us to grow up into it. And Christmas is one time during the year, we get to practice.  

The Text

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14).

Summary of the Text

This verse is talking about the incarnation; “incarnation” means “made flesh.” The word for “Word” is logos, and logos was the Greek word for “order, meaning, word, or reason.” Aristotle used it to describe the content or principal argument of a speech, and other philosophers used it to describe the principle of origins, the “seed” of the universe. John famously opens his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1). John says that this Word created all things, echoing some of the philosophers, but when he says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, he is exploding philosophical categories. 

In the ancient world, the logos was distant, abstract, and impersonal, but the gospel says that the principle of all order and reason and meaning and creation is God with us, God made flesh, and not only that, but a particular man, in particular flesh. The universal has become particular and personal. And He has dwelt or literally, pitched his tent (“tabernacled”), with us. And in so doing, He revealed the glory of the Father to us. As the hymn says, “veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity!” But the emphasis really must be on the “see” not the “veiled.” This text says that the incarnation is the perfect revelation of the glory of the Father, and Jesus will insist on this later: “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (Jn. 14:9)

And in the incarnation, the gospel says that we have seen a glory that is full of grace and truth. The glory of God is not a distraction from grace and truth; it is the revelation of grace and truth. In other words, truth and goodness are beautiful and glorious. And truth and goodness that are not beautiful are not really fully true or good. Sometimes this is because our truth and goodness are faulty, and sometimes this is because our eyes and tastes are faulty, and sometimes it’s a little of both. 

Why Should Christians Care About Beauty?

1. Because God is beautiful: “we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (Jn. 1:14). “And [Moses] said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory” (Ex. 33:18). “Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory” (Ps. 24:10). “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple” (Ps. 27:4).

2. Because God loves beauty: “And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty” (Ex. 28:2). “And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim” (2 Chron. 3:6). “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth forever” (2 Chron. 20:21). “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Ps. 29:2). “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Eccl. 3:11). “And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Is. 6:3).

3. Because God intends for His people to share in His beauty: “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it” (Ps. 90:17). “The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head” (Prov. 20:29). “In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people” (Is. 28:5). “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified” (Is. 61:3)

Applications

1. Because God is the most beautiful and the source of all beauty, pursue beauty with holiness. This is part of what Christmas is supposed to remind us to do: lights, candles, carols, wreathes, the Christmas story, bows, cookies, presents, new clothes, family, generosity, and feasting. But make sure your heart and words match the glory. Nasty words and attitudes are like puking on the presents. Understood rightly, beauty helps us honor God and one another.

2. Read and listen to great stories and some poetry and symphonies. Beauty is about fittingness/timing. “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Prov. 25:11). Of course the Bible is our great Epic poem, but find stories to read out loud: Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, John Buchan, ND Wilson, Wodehouse, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and listen to Handel’s Messiah a few times. 

3. Delight in God’s creation: when Job wanted to know God, God came in the storm of His glory and showed him the glories of creation. There’s a tree in your living room full of light. And that’s to remind you that there are trees and lights everywhere constantly: stars overhead at night, sunsets and sunrises with clouds dancing in the light, fields, water, canyons, animals, colors, smells, tastes, sounds, textures, children, spouses, friends, grandparents. God made this world to meet us in it, to draw our eyes to Him. And then just to prove it, He came down and dwelt among us and took away our sin and conquered death and Satan, so that we might behold and enjoy His beauty forever.

Prayer: Father, I pray that our celebrations of Christmas this week would be particularly potent celebrations. I pray that they would be full of truth, goodness, and beauty, and I pray that they would make us more like Jesus. May our homes be places of forgiveness and light, and may our neighbors and families see it and be drawn to Your light, in Jesus’ name, who taught us to pray, singing…

The Woke Right Civil War

Introduction
So James Lindsay recently tried to pull a fast one on what he and others are calling the “woke right.” He took selections of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto and substituted some words, under the pseudonym Marcus Carlson (ha), and managed to get it published in the American Reformer, a newer conservative online journal. I thought it was kind of funny, even if it ultimately looks like he changed too much of Marx’s text to make his point clearly. But regardless, James Lindsay has made it his raison d’etre to accuse the “new right” of adopting leftist ideology and tactics, such as dividing the world into superficial classes of people and reducing politics to power dynamics.

At the same time, closer to home, my friend A.D. Robles (among others) has been referring to something called “Woke Wars 2.0” apparently describing the recent skirmishes surrounding antisemitism and Kinism in the Christian Nationalist orbit. Presumably, the new “woke” in this telling are actually the James Lindseys and James Whites denouncing this “new right” as racists and antisemites. If the BLM riots were “Woke War 1.0,” and consisted of gnostic witch hunts and struggle sessions, trying to get white people to admit they really did have secret racist thoughts deep, deep down in their heart (where?) and trying to get males to acknowledge they really were misogynists, “Woke Wars 2.0” appears to them as the same thing with antisemitism and Kinism only this time from supposed fellow conservatives. So interestingly, we have something of a conservative “civil war” with both sides calling the other side “woke.” At the very least, conservatives apparently agree that it is very bad to be “woke,” but the question is who is right and perhaps more importantly who will win?

A Very Short Overview
Before cannonballing into the melee, a quick philosophical overview is called for: remember, “woke” is modern slang for Marxist. Karl Marx swiped Hegel’s dialectic theory, which was that history moves forward via ideas that clash and collide resulting (inevitably) in greater truth (thesis + antithesis = synthesis). While Hegel was a theist and idealist and saw all of this as orchestrated according to the mind and will of God, Marx postulated a dialectical materialism: that history moves forward through the collision and re-synthesis of purely material realities, principally economic classes (working class + capitalist owners = socialist utopia). In Marx’s view, these material forces collide because the rich and powerful systematically oppress the poor and weak. Why this is not OK in a materialistic universe is never really explained, but Marx said that eventually the workers of the world would unite in revolution and throw off the chains of their overlords, take collective ownership of all property and means of production and destroy every vestige of capitalism, including things like marriage, family, private property, and religion – all of which Marx alleged were props and whips for Capitalist oppression. Following me so far? 

In the early 20th century, some of Marx’s ideological descendants said that Marx was right but that he didn’t take it far enough. Not only were the oppressed those without money and property, they were also every sort of minority: women oppressed by the patriarchy (traditional marriage), blacks oppressed by whites (capitalist wealth built by slavery), and of course homosexuals and (eventually) every sexual minority imaginable (apparently including furries) constantly being oppressed by all that heteronormativity. So the new tagline became something like, “Help! Help We’re being repressed!” 

Marx and all his ugly stepsons hate hierarchy. They are radical individualists, statists, and revolutionaries. This is why abortion has been the sacrament of the revolution: women must be “free” from the natural consequences of sexual promiscuity, free to compete with “the patriarchy.” This is why DEI policies have been enforced from workplaces to universities: sexual and racial minorities must be given places of priestly prominence. Likewise, the push for unlimited immigration and multiculturalism are liturgies of this cultural revolution. Large groups of homogeneity are considered threats to peace and harmony because large groups of homogenous people create “hegemony” – centers of power, and power is always used to oppress and subjugate. All power must (in theory) be divested in order to “empower” the powerless. It is also why you must believe all women, except Crystal Mangum and Potiphar’s wife. 

Of course, in the middle of the revolution very few of the leaders have ever felt it was the right time to actually divest themselves of power. Turns out, in order to accomplish said revolution, there must be certain enlightened leaders pulling the levers of power, all in the name of the will of the people (of course) and only as long as it takes to bring the socialist utopia into being, which it also turns out, takes longer than anyone imagined and has never actually happened. This is how you get something like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemning America for refusing to elect a woman president, but then he is not resigning and divesting himself of power, as the male chauvinist pig he (apparently) is (although his administration seems to be crumbling at the moment). 

Who is the Wokest of Them All?
So the question is: have conservatives adopted any of these categories or tactics and is there really a Woke War 2.0? My answer is “yes” and “yes,” but both sides are doing it. While the accusation is perhaps being launched rather recklessly in some quarters, wherever conservatives are not grounded in the truth of God’s Word, they are necessarily drifting woke, which is to say: if your politics is not chained to an immoveable rock, when it comes to giving an account for why we should do what you think we should do, whatever your reason, it’s not because God said so. And that means your answer has to be some variation of because I said so, because we said so, because science said so, whatever. Whenever your politics is not grounded on God’s Word in Scripture, you are going the gnostic route of hunting for secret, mystical knowledge, whether in the caverns of Philosophy or the ruminations of Dominion voting machines or the whims of Anthony Fauci and the high priests at the CDC. 

A true “conservative” is someone dedicated to preserving and defending fundamental realities that do not shift or change. This would include things like the fixed realities of male and female, marriage only between one of each, sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death, and the public honoring and enforcement of the Ten Commandments. And this is because the Creator said so. This is because the Lord God Almighty has spoken, and He did not stutter. And this means recognizing both individual, inalienable rights from the Creator as well as hierarchical and covenantal realities that bind people together in families, churches, nations, and other social institutions. Even though there is ebb and flow in these institutions, they are natural (and therefore basically good) and create various inescapable hierarchies in the world because God Himself has granted authority to the heads of those covenantal entities. While that authority can always be abused, these natural hierarchies are good in so far as they are instituted by the Creator and under the personal Lordship of Jesus Christ and therefore are limited and accountable to Him and His Word. 

The fact of the matter is that everyone has been swimming in this progressive Marxist swamp for the last 80 years. What Rusty Reno has called the “post war consensus” really is a thing, and nobody is fully immune. And that post war consensus really was laced with Marxist heroin: in the name of preventing World War 3, the liberal establishment agreed to demote Christianity for a bland Judeo-Christian deism and began a full scale assault on marriage and family as the bedrock for national identity. In its place, a multicultural, multisexual ethic was embraced, and the boomers largely bought it for the price of a booming economy, Winnebagos the size of Vermont, and lots of cheap sex on the side. 

And the thing to notice is that in the name of preventing the abuses of power of the Nazis and Fascists and Communists, the West largely embraced an inverse form of identity politics. Instead of Aryan hubris, we chose multicultural hubris. Instead of nationalism, we chose globalism. Instead of monogamy, we chose polyamory. Instead of orthodox Christianity, we chose a privatized, castrated state religion based on the myth of neutrality and the salvation of secular statism. But both sets of “identities” are fully capable of being weaponized and exploited by powermongers. Identity politics cannot save us from our sins or usher in world peace.

So a bunch of guys on the right are rightly bothered by all the newly arrived parasitic Republicans longing for the glory days of 1990s secular liberalism. And please note here that I’m using “liberal” in its old Lockean sense: liberalism as in the secular democracy of the last couple hundred years divorced from explicit Biblical truth. But that project is the moldy toadstool (the Enlightenment) that grew the fungus we now affectionately refer to as the “post war consensus.” And James Lindsay appears to be among these so-called conservatives that talk about “inalienable rights” but refuse to say why they are inalienable and where they come from. If you will not tell us where these so-called rights come from, what makes your ideas better? What makes you right? And more importantly, if you are agnostic about where our inalienable rights come from, then your version of conservatism can be manipulated and exploited, just as it has been over the last hundred years. You can’t rewind to 1995 or even 1945, embrace the myths of state neutrality and secularism end up somewhere else. And when you accuse people of being racists and antisemites, your accusations are suspect because you have no standard to point to. By what standard? If you have no fixed, transcendent standard, then you are drifting woke. All your philosophical sophistication is a gnostic struggle session. And we’ve had enough of those, thank you very much.

On the other hand, those on the “radical right” who are talking about “using the power of the state to crush radical leftists” need to spend a lot more time defining that power and the objects of that vengeance. This is where the James Lindsays of the right have a point. And this is where James White has a very good point. There is such a thing as racial vainglory and racial animosity. There is such a thing as fleshly pride, spite, vengeance, and wrath. There is such a thing is true hatred of Jews. There is such a thing as a bunch of white boys flopping on the soccer field crying “Help! Help! I’m being repressed!” Just because the leftists have weaponized sins and victimhood and falsely accused us of being racists and bigots and homophobes for decades, doesn’t mean that those sins don’t exist or that no one on our side harbors them. And for a bunch of so-called Christians to go suddenly agnostic about the real version of those capital “S” sins is to join James Lindsay in his philosophical labyrinth. 

Conclusion
We are Christians. We are conservatives. This means we believe in absolute standards of right and wrong, good and evil. This is why the sudden right wing love affair with anonymous accounts on social media is kind of mind boggling. And yes, I know about the long and venerable history of Junius Brutus, Publius, and Hebrews (but it’s Paul). And so if you are saying good and virtuous things online that might get you in trouble with your woke employer, I get it, but your wife and pastor should know who you are. But if you’re MemeLord578, and you’re using the anonymity to say things to people you would not otherwise ever dream of saying to someone in person, that’s what we would call hypocrisy and sin. And you are acting like the BLM rioters with your words. And if you’re encouraging social media mobs, yes, that’s woker than a Biden supreme court appointment prancing around in a Broadway musical. Stop giving James Lindsay such easy targets.  

And besides, all of this is the central tactic of Satan, the Accuser. Not only is he the Accuser, he is also a liar, and the father of lies. Satan has been accusing and manipulating sinners of real sin and fake sin since our first parents stumbled out of Paradise six thousand years ago. And all his sons are full of evil, brawling, lust, malice, envy, and hatred. Which is why our side is exhorted: “To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Tit. 3:3-4). 

The answer to all satanic lies and condemnation is the Cross of Christ. If you think the BLM and MeToo struggle sessions were evil and unseemly, don’t you know that Satan’s guilt tripping makes those look like kindergarten playground tiffs? But you can’t fight accusations like a kindergartner: Did too! Did not! The only comeback that works is the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. His blood answers every stain of real guilt, and His righteousness answers all the lies. We need the sword of the Spirit, and that sword is only found in the rock of His Word.