Toby J. Sumpter's Blog, page 52

Babies Are Still Murdered Here

I posted several times on social media around the release of Babies Are Still Murdered Here, encouraging you to watch it and share it. It’s now on Amazon Prime, and once again I’d encourage you to take the time to watch it. And I want to elaborate here a bit on why I think it’s a really great addition to our growing pro-life arsenal, with a few specific comments about where I mildly differ with the film, with the ultimate goal of encouraging more of this sort of thing. 

Let me begin with one slight difference with the film or more precisely, a slight difference with one part of the film. And in my way of thinking, it really is so minor, that I have no problem recommending the film and cheering the project on. 

Heartbeat Bills, Ultrasounds, and Honest Incrementalism
My quibble is with the part of the film that focuses on the limited helpfulness of heartbeat bills and the (apparent) conclusion that since ultrasounds can be faked and beating hearts can be obscured, heartbeat bills are worthless. To this, I reply cheerily, ha, not really. But a lot rides on what people think the goal of a heartbeat bills is. I don’t mind the information on the weakness of heartbeat bills at all. That’s all very good information. If someone thinks that a heartbeat bill would essentially end or nearly end abortion in our land, they’re obviously very wrong.

My reason for robustly supporting heartbeat bills—where that is the best we can do this legislative session – is first off to simply establish as a matter of public record and public law that 6-8 week old babies actually have heart beats. I love CNN, CNBC, and all the rest of the pro-abort media establishment talking about unborn babies with heartbeats. I love hearing them hyperventilate about the coming end of abortion. That’s brilliant. That is a cultural and rhetorical success all by itself. Even if the pro-aborts are vastly over-stating the effectiveness of this kind of pro-life legislation, the panic is helpful to us if we will only be willing to ride that wave. A basic tenet of effective war tactics is pursuit. And even if they are running away panicked because we fired into the air, we should pursue and not discourage the folks who were firing into the air by saying that they haven’t saved a single baby and their efforts are worthless. Yes, I grant you that we have not won the war with these tactics, but it turns out that winning the war requires a number of tactical moves aimed at that goal.

This war is as much a rhetorical war as anything else, and heartbeat bills are rhetorical wins. The problem is not with the wins, the problem is with sitting on one of these wins as though we had finished the job. And yes, I know that’s the concern. The abolitionists are tired of the pro-life establishment taking these tiny wins, moving the ball down the field five yards, and going back to their supporters and fundraising on these gains like they won the Super Bowl. Yes, I get that frustration and I fully sympathize with it, but that doesn’t mean that moving the ball five yards is worthless.  

Second, right now, doctors are not inhibited by anything if they want to end the life of a 10 week old baby, but with heartbeat bills, they would have to break the law in order to carry out the murder. Now, will some of them break the law anyway? Almost certainly. Will some of them fabricate ultrasounds to hide the heartbeat? Do snowflakes need safe spaces? But will some doctors fear the law, fear fines, fear consequences, fear political/economic repercussions and will some be put out of business and consequently will it be more difficult for a woman to get an abortion? I think almost certainly some of all of that. And furthermore, once such a law is actually enforced (more on that in a moment), it is something that can be investigated, and where these kinds of weaknesses are demonstrated (ultrasound deception, for example), additional guidelines and restrictions can be put into place. The same thing goes for the recent Kentucky ultrasound law requiring a detailed ultrasound description be given to the mother before obtaining an abortion. Even if this law can be circumvented by the ungodly (and no doubt many will), further legislation can follow up, making it more difficult to circumvent. I know many of my friends think incrementalism is a bad word, but only lazy, cowardly, and corrupt incrementalism is bad. Courageous, ambitious, and honest incrementalism – like what I’ve just described – is, well, good and helpful. 

The Real Issue
But the real issue is the fact that we have not yet had a state willing to actually put such a law into action. And that means that what is necessary at this point is for a state to be willing to defy the courts on the matter. The ideal of course is for a state to pass into law a complete ban on all abortions from conception on, but such a law would also need to come with instructions to law makers and law enforcement that the will of the people is for Roe v. Wade to be defied and subsequent court rulings or injunctions to be ignored, with assurances of legal/criminal immunity for doing so. Such a bill will be presented in the coming legislative session in Idaho, and I have heard reports of several others like it in other states. And bravo for that. We should all support such legislation, and I will be on the front lines calling out the “pro-life” establishment that tries to stop it. As one of our Idaho state representatives has pointed out, there is already current state-level precedent for this, specifically on second amendment issues in conservative states, and liberal states have functionally done this with marijuana and immigration. I also think that this is a prime moment to do this with a Trump presidency and William Barr as the current Attorney General. 

But if a state had the option of defying Roe and passing a heartbeat bill, I’d gladly sign on to that play as well. Frankly, at this point, I’d support a twenty week abortion ban that included language requiring defiance of courts on the matter just to begin practicing the duty of nullification and regaining ground on that front, to begin establishing a precedent for state level interposition. While it’s certainly possible that the Supreme Court will change its mind (and it should), when it comes to high-handed acts of tyranny and rebellion against God’s law (like abortion or homo-mirage), SCOTUS rulings must be ignored and defied by all other lawful magistrates. And what we need to understand is that this is a lawful part of the checks and balances of our system. When other magistrates refuse to play this role, they tempt lawless men to take matters into their own hands at all levels. 

Two Final Thoughts 
First, the movie Babies Are Still Murdered Here does what many abolitionists fail to do, which is underline a deep respect and gratitude for the many who have served in the Pro-life caused for decades. BASMH does not white-wash the pro-life movement or romanticize it, but while pointing out weaknesses, it highlights some of the glorious strengths and honors the faithful in the trenches. For example, George Grant has a prominent voice in the film, and he has been involved in pro-life activism since Roe was handed down while he was a high school student in Texas. Likewise, the ministry of John Barros, a member of R.C. Sproul’s congregation, becomes something of the centerpiece of the whole film, which highlights the power of the gospel, the power of God, in the midst of human weakness, hatred, and sinful darkness. John ministers at an Orlando abortion clinic, leaning on crutches, supported by the prayers of R.C. Sproul (for many years), and that really is how the gospel triumphs, displaying the power of God in human weakness at every turn. And not to put too fine a point on it, this is what I fear some of my more perfectionistic abolitionist brethren seem to miss. I happily grant that some pro-lifers choose unfaithful weakness in order to compromise and that should be challenged at every turn, but I challenge my abolitionist brothers to be open to accepting some legislative weaknesses along the way in order to finally win. 

And finally, I want to finish with another note about rhetoric. There’s a fine line that BASMH threads carefully, that needs continued work on all sides as we work for the end of abortion in our land (and in the world). This is the thread of urgency and gratitude, zeal and confidence, righteous indignation and joy. Anyone who has followed my writing/preaching/teaching for very long knows that I have no problem calling a spade a spade. I pray for the courage and clarity and love to speak the unvarnished truth. And I despise the pandering, flattering, nuance-police that think the gospel demands all theological and cultural and political battles be conducted between combatants covered in emotional pillows and armed with nothing more than coy feather dusters. We need the spirit of Elijah and Ezekiel and John the Baptist and Paul and, yes, of course, Jesus, now more than ever. And this Spirit threads the needle of faithfulness with the twin strands of laughter and militance, feasting and fighting, singing and slaying. This includes a straightforward call for the end of abortion in our land. Period. Full stop. But until God grants that prayer, living under the tyranny (and that’s what it is) of abortion on demand, means the freedom to pull this idol down in pieces, by legislative cunning, evangelistic sharp shooting, cultural influence, and throwing every good rock we can find at the monster with wide, mischievous grins. This faithfulness knows that prayer is more powerful than legislation, that a table laden with good food and blessed with deep gratitude to the living God overcomes the world, and that it will only be a childlike faith and obedience and exuberance that will end the slaughter of children in our land. 

Christ on the Throne

During this Advent season, we are using the Definition of Chalcedon as our Creed, our Confession of Faith that we say together during the service. The central concern of the Definition of Chalcedon is to proclaim the two natures of Christ, that He is fully God and fully man, and that these two natures came together in the one person, Jesus of Nazareth. 

This definition is not only a theological point against all heresies; this definition is also a theological foundation for political liberty. The Definition of Chalcedon does this by clearly distinguishing between God and man. The miracle of Christmas, of God becoming a man, really is an astounding miracle. God bridged the infinite distance between Himself and man. 

In the face of Roman Caesars claiming to have become gods, the Definition of Chalcedon proclaims that there is only one God-man, Jesus Christ. In the face of the Roman Pope claiming to be the Vicar of Christ, God’s presence on earth, the Definition of Chalcedon rejects this, and insists that there is only One mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. In the face of the tyranny of nations and states and courts, claiming Divine authority over our property, our children, our inheritance, by taxing people far beyond God’s tithe, the Definition of Chalcedon draws a firm and fixed line in the sand, insisting that no man is God but Christ, no human institution is God, and therefore every man must answer to Him. When human courts claim to author the beginning or end of human life or human sexuality or marriage by their arbitrary and capricious whims, the Definition of Chalcedon scoffs at their hubris and insists that the divine and human natures can never be mixed or confused and changed. God is in heaven; man is on the earth. Christ is on His throne. 

The point is that secularism is only a convenient and temporary lie aiming to attack Christianity, but every man is deeply committed to the religion of humanism, the old Satanic offer to make men into gods, which is the foundation of all political tyranny and slavery and statism. Because if man is a god then he can do whatever he wants.

So as you proclaim your faith in the incarnation this morning and celebrate the birth of Christ this year, do so proclaiming your freedom, because no man is God except Christ.

Photo by Ivan Bertona on Unsplash

Gay Mirage & Homosexuality

These are notes for a talk I gave recently at a Logos School assembly.

Introduction
We have been inundated with PRIDE parades and flags and now television shows and commercials, and maybe you have even met people in your family or in the community who say they are homosexual or maybe you have even experienced homosexual temptation or sin. What does the Bible teach about this? 

Summary of the Text: Paul begins by summarizing the gospel he preaches, which is for both Jews and Gentiles, and which is the announcement of the righteousness of God from faith to faith (Rom. 1:16-17). This gospel is entirely necessary for all men because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness (1:18). Everyone has some sense of this since God has revealed Himself in creation, so that no one is without excuse (1:19-20). The heart of all ungodliness and unrighteousness is refusing to glorify God as God or be thankful (1:21). This fundamental folly leads to the folly of idolatry, which is a slippery slope of uncleanness and lust and dishonor, all grounded in a failure to worship the Creator (1:22-25). When men persist in this folly, God often gives them over to far worse sins, including sins of massive sexual confusion, sins contrary to the nature, like homosexuality (1:26-27).

The Gospel is For All Sinners & All Sin
Paul begins his letter celebrating the gospel of righteousness by faith precisely because there is no man who is righteous. As he will say explicitly a couple of chapters later, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). All men have failed to acknowledge God in everything, and all men have refused to worship the Creator in some respects. Therefore, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all men in our sin (1:18). The only way out of this mess will be from outside of ourselves, by faith. The wages of sin is death, and therefore, all sin is sufficiently repugnant to God to require the shedding of blood. Paul goes on in the following verses from our text to list sins like boasting and gossip and disobeying parents, and Paul says, “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death…” (Rom. 1:32). Therefore, Christ died in the place of sinners, so that those who place their faith in Him might have His righteousness: “For He made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). 

Great Transgressions
While all sins deserve death, and all sins are completely paid for in the cross, the Bible also teaches that there are sins/crimes that do greater damage and harm than others. The biblical standard of criminal justice is eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and that standard implies varying degrees of harm. Common sense teaches us this: striking someone is not as heinous as taking their life, even if the root sin of anger is the same in both. Stealing five dollars is not as harmful as stealing five million dollars. So too, sins against nature are more damaging. In Psalm 19, David prays that God would forgive his secret faults, keep him back from presumptuous sins, so that he might be innocent of “great transgressions.” The Bible also teaches that some sins are themselves the judgment/wrath of God, as Paul indicates here: “Therefore God gave them up…” (cf. Prov. 22:14).

The Bible also indicates greater degrees of harm with the word “abomination,” for the kind of sins that defile an entire land. Think of abominations like pollution: it gets into the air and water and effects everything. The Bible calls certain forms of sexual perversion abominations: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants” (Lev. 18:22-25).

Elsewhere, the Bible calls sexual perversion a degrading passion, shameful, and vile, and the point of that is not to mock sinners but rather to name their sin honestly in order to drive them to their Savior. This is what we might call the “grace of shame.” Shame for our sin teaches us to hate our sin and love our Savior. Paul lists these sins and says, “And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). 

What About Shellfish & Mixed Fabrics?
It is a common objection to point out that the Old Testament law also called eating certain foods an “abomination,” but the answer is actually simple. Yes, some of the Old Testament laws were ceremonial laws that were tied specifically to the Old Covenant and the land of Canaan. When Peter saw the vision of the unclean animals coming down, God told us specifically that those ordinances had passed away, along with the distinction between Jew and Gentile, but when the Council of Jerusalem met, they insisted that the laws pertaining to idolatry and sexuality were still in force (Acts 15:20, 29). And of course, we have Paul’s own words in Romans 1 as well as two other references to the sin of homosexuality in the New Testament (1 Cor. 6:9, 1 Tim. 1:10). 

Homosexual Sin vs. Orientation?
One of the other common claims is that the sin the Bible is condemning is lustful, greedy, or violent homosexuality, but not committed homosexual relationships among people who have a “homosexual orientation.” One apologist writes: “In the ancient world, homosexuality was widely considered, not to be a different sexual orientation or something inherent in a small minority of people, but to be an excess of lust or passion that anyone could be prone to if they let themselves go too much… The concept of sexual orientation, and of same-sex orientation in particular, didn’t exist in the ancient world. The English term “homosexual” was not even coined until the end of the 19th century. And so translations of these words that suggest that Paul was using these distinctly modern concepts and categories are highly suspect…The Bible never directly addresses, and it certainly does not condemn, loving, committed same-sex relationships. There is no biblical teaching about sexual orientation, nor is there any call to lifelong celibacy for gay people…” But this logic falls apart. Would we do the same with idolatry or adultery or murder? The Bible was only talking about the bad kind of murder? Being created male and female is God’s way of addressing our “sexual orientation,” and when it comes to sin, the Bible recognizes that all people have a natural “sinful orientation.” We were all born that way. And that is why Christ was born.

The Sin of Effeminacy (& Butchness)
Some Christians who accept that the Bible does condemn all homosexuality, nevertheless have tried to argue that this “orientation” can still persist even in Christians. They admit that they must not act on it, but they claim that they are still “gay” even though they are committed to celibacy. They liken it to having a physical deformity that will not ordinarily go away or be healed until the resurrection. Some have gone so far as to claim that there is something redemptive about being “gay,” some special gift for same-sex friendship. Not long ago, a conference called Revoice was organized to celebrate this celibate gay Christianity, and one of their workshops was entitled, “What queer treasure will be in the New Jerusalem?” First off, this is a very strange way to talk, since we don’t speak this way about other sins. Just substitute the word “racist” or “thieving.” Sure, a Christian might occasionally reference the sins they have been delivered from when giving their testimony, but we wouldn’t go around calling ourselves a Drug-Addicted Christian or a White-Supremacist Christian. But secondly, we would not claim that these sins have any inherent goodness in them to be salvaged.

Often, these folks seem to be wanting to preserve some small element of that sinful lifestyle, sometimes male effeminacy or female boyishness. But the Bible condemns that as sinful as well. In 1 Cor. 6:9, Paul says that the effeminate will not inherit the Kingdom, and the word there is malakoi, or soft, and it can refer to homosexuality specifically but can also more generally mean cowardly. “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God” (Deut. 22:5). Remember, Paul said that the folly of failing to worship God rightly results in turning from the “natural use” of men and women. But while this often culminates in sexual sin, it can also happen in more subtle ways when boys/men do not use their strength for good and for the protection of women. It can also happen, when girls/women do not embrace their gifts of cultivating life and beauty.   

What Repentance Means 
Repentance begins with confession. And confession means agreeing with God. This begins by agreeing with God that there are only two sexes, male and female, and they are both made in the image of the living God. This confession also includes recognizing that marriage only exists between a man and a woman. Two men or two women may claim to be married, but this is like putting a crown on your poodle and calling him a king. This cannot even be changed by a ruling from the Supreme Court, which is what was attempted in the 2015 Obergefell decision. There is no such thing as homosexual marriage, and so it is better termed, homosexual mirage. Naming the sexes accurately includes agreeing with God that male and female biology is an assignment from God. A male person has been given the assignment to live as a man in this world, and a female person has been given the assignment to live as a woman in this world. This assignment was given to you at conception and is woven into the fabric of your nature and DNA. Worshiping the Creator rightly and giving Him thanks, means thanking Him for making you who you are, beginning with your biological sex. 

Agreeing with God also means naming sin accurately and asking God to wash you clean from all your ingratitude, all your unrighteousness, all your sin. This excludes calling yourself by your sin, as some kind of identity badge. It also means forsaking all lusts and sexual sin and putting on the “new man” in Christ. In Christ, we are new creations, the old has passed away. This means that we are born again by the Spirit of God as new men and new women. The old flesh still rises up in us, but salvation means you have been set free from slavery to sin and set free to run toward Christ in obedience. And this ordinarily means planning for and pursuing marriage and children. It is a terrible lie to claim that since someone has been tempted to homosexuality they must not be called to heterosexual marriage and must be called to a life of singleness. No, the Bible says that those who burn with lust should pursue marriage. Yes, God does sometimes call a man or a woman to a life of chaste singleness, but when He does, He blesses that person in unusual ways. And we must not think that children are an optional accessory for marriage. It is true that sometimes God does not give children, but fruitfulness should be our goal, something that homosexuality is not, by definition.  

Conclusion
We live in a world that is currently demanding that we go along with homosexuality and celebrate it as a good thing. As Christians we cannot do that. We must be courageous and tell the truth. But the truth also includes the gospel of forgiveness and cleansing for all who believe. And part of living out this gospel means embracing our sexual assignments, learning to live as men and women before God and pursuing marriage and children (fruitfulness) under God’s blessing. 

Photo by Mercedes Mehling on Unsplash

Stainless Steel Theology, Federal Vision, & the Apologia Crew

Brandon Adams has written an article that is among the more reasonable, sensible sorts in the recent, what shall we call it, discourse on whether anyone from Moscow, Idaho should be welcomed to any respectable Reformed event. CrossPolitic and myself were honored guests at the Founders Conference last January, and then again at the recent ReformCon sponsored by Apologia Church, and we will also be doing a live show at G3 in January. And the various self-appointed gatekeepers of the “true reformed flame” — defined as, shadow-banning, cancelling, and generally prohibiting admitting any public appreciation for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (but it rhymes with Shmouglas Shmilson).

Now to be clear, I really do appreciate this guy’s attempt to be fair, objective, and not a screecher. This is hard to do in these conversations, and he will no doubt take flak for going easy on us. So props there, but I still think he draws a number of wrong conclusions. He says that he has attempted to do careful reading and research and is willing to be corrected if he is wrong, so taking him at his word, here are a few scattershot thoughts in return.

First, just for the record, CrossPolitic is not the “media arm” of Doug Wilson or his ministry or Christ Church. Anyone who says that doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Please pass the word along. Doug Wilson is my good friend, a fellow elder, our esteemed pastor, and an occasional guest on our show, but apart from an occasional request for input or counsel (the way, you know, you do with pastors), Doug Wilson has no formal connection to CrossPolitic. CrossPolitic is an independent Christian business. Neither does CrossPolitic have any formal connection to Founders, nor are we producing their new documentary By What Standard. If we are, nobody told me, and I have made no decisions about its production along the way, which is a really poor way to produce a film. One member of CrossPolitic is an independent film maker, and he is contracted with Founders directly. It’s true that we are all friends, but it’s simply poor reporting to state that Founders is “cooperating” with CrossPolitic on their documentary.

In the interest of not allowing this post to sprawl like the Palouse hills of my homeland, I will leave specific questions for Andrew Sandlin and Joe Boot and Douglas Wilson to their able care. Neither will I answer the questions about whether Baptists can be FV. I will leave that to the competent baptists in the crowd. And rather than going through the whole article point by point, I want to make a general point about doing theology and evaluating theologians with a few examples and then offer one substantive point that seems to be at least one significant hangup in Brandon’s evaluation.

Titanium Theology
So the first general point is that theology and theologians are not made out of titanium. This may seem obvious, but I think Brandon’s analysis suffers from assuming that theology comes in large, prefabricated slabs of metal on their way to Boeing. It is simply not true that someone who quibbles with the language of “Covenant of Works” has necessarily redefined what Justification by Faith Alone (JBFA) means. Now, is that *possible*? Sure, it’s possible, but a lot of careful work needs to be done before arriving at that conclusion, especially when a particular man is insisting that he has not denied JBFA, much less redefined it. While it has been a long time since I’ve read Shepherd, based on the quotes, he listed, I would want to make various and sundry clarifications/qualifications to the Shepherd quotes, and I don’t recall if Shepherd made those clarifications/qualifications in other places. But my point here is simply that I don’t think it’s helpful to think in terms of a stainless steel “system.” I certainly agree that faithful systematic theology is working towards a thoroughly consistent, biblical system of thought, but even a cursory read of church history ought to give us a bit of patience and humility in that project. Count me among those who are very concerned to preserve the doctrine of JBFA. And I’m not talking about some kind of Neonomian redefinition of those terms. I mean the straight whiskey kind of JBFA that Luther would have been pouring during his Table Talks.

And while we’re at it, I’m not sure how he arrives at the conclusion that I am a “proponent” of Federal Vision but I’ve only recently criticized some FV men. What I wrote recently was, “

Communion with People Around

The fact that we worship a God we cannot see should never be taken to mean that God is not there. God gave us this meal to celebrate together in order to commune with Him. 

On the one hand, you could close your eyes and try to shut everything out and try to commune with God in a way that ignores or rejects everyone around you, like some kind of spiritual cocoon. And while that might look or feel super spiritual, it isn’t what Jesus told us to do. He told us to share this bread and wine together with thankfulness, believing in Him, and in His death for our sins.

On the other hand, you could collapse communion with God entirely into this moment. And assume that since you ate the bread and drank the wine that you must have communed with God. You did the religious thing. You checked the religious box. Maybe you even felt religious while doing it. But God is not mocked. He is not fooled. We cannot hide from God even in a church service. He sees all the hearts of men. He knows us completely. And He knows whether we are truly seeking Him or not. 

His promise is simple: to those who truly seek Him, they will truly find Him. To those with eyes to see, they will see evidences of His presence. To those with ears to hear, they will hear His voice in His Word. To those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be filled. 

So this is the charge. Do not seek God elsewhere, somewhere in the silence or darkness of your heart. No, seek Him here, at this table, in His word, with His people. Open your eyes, open your ears, smile at the people around you, pass the bread, taste the wine, bounce the toddler on your lap, and so commune with your Savior. He promised that where two or three gathered in His name, He would always be in their midst. He said that this is His body broken for you, His shed blood poured out for you. Here He gives Himself to us as a sheer gift. And He can do this because He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. 

So Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Hearts Turned to the Father

To know Jesus Christ is to know God as your Father. It means you have been adopted into the family of Jesus – so for all who trust in Jesus – His Father is now your Father. In our world, there are no perfect fathers. All of our fathers have sinned and failed in various ways, even the very best ones. And many of our fathers have sinned grievously. Some of our fathers have abandoned us and have hurt us and our mothers. Sometimes they have been absent, silent, or distracted. Some of our fathers have been full of rage and bitterness and malice and lust. This situation is close to the very heart of where sin does its worst work, where the curse is most clearly seen, where the ache and pain of sin is most visceral and deep. Who am I? Where do I belong? The brokenness of family leaves us feeling profoundly lost. 

So our Old Testament closes with this glorious promise: “And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Mal. 4:6). This is what Jesus came to do. Jesus came to take the curse that resides in every human family upon Himself. He was hung up, naked on a barren tree, cursed by God for sinful fathers, sinful sons, sinful daughters. The way He turns the hearts of fathers and children is first by turning our hearts to Himself. And he does that by calling each one of us by name. When He calls us, we know how we have sinned grievously against Him, and we know that the feeling we’ve had of being lost and abandoned and scared has always been our own fault. We have willfully run away from God and rejected Him. But when He calls your name, His voice is full of love. 

And He calls you here, to a table with bread and wine, a table of gifts, a table of a joy. Every week you are invited here; every week you are welcomed home. And here, as we walk with our Father, our Father is knitting us back together. He is teaching us what fatherhood really is, what being a son really is, what a family really is. And here is one of the most basic lessons: It’s sitting at a table together, giving thanks. It’s sitting at a table together, giving gifts. It’s sitting at a table together, forgiving one another. It’s sitting at a table together, rejoicing in Christ.      

So Come and Welcome Home to Jesus Christ.

Photo by Christiann Koepke on Unsplash

The Gideon Plan

 2 Cor. 4:5-18

Introduction
Any time we gather with our families, there can be temptations to squabble or complain or fear or stress. Christ did not come to give us serene, placid lives. He came in order to fill our hearts, so that His light would shine through our troubles, causing Thanksgiving to abound.

The Text: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us…” (2 Cor. 4:5-7)

Summary of the Text: Paul is in the middle of defending His apostolic ministry to the Corinthians. His first letter was a bit tart, and since it had been a while since they had heard from Paul, there were apparently rumors starting to go around that Paul was fed up with Corinth. But the truth was that Paul had been tied up, and his previous plans just hadn’t worked out (2 Cor. 1:8-9, 13-16). But Paul was determined not to come to Corinth for fireworks if at all possible (2 Cor. 2:1). While one man had repented, some still wondered if Paul only came around for offerings, and besides, Paul wasn’t on any of the lists of apostles (2 Cor. 3:1-3). However, Paul insists that His ministry is authenticated by the work of the Spirit in the Corinthians themselves (2 Cor. 3). 

Our text picks up with Paul explaining how the Spirit has been manifest in his ministry, specifically the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as a treasure in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:5-7). Paul admits that his ministry (and that of the other apostles) is a bit raucous: pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed – all a manifestation of the death of Jesus in their bodies (2 Cor. 4:8-12). Paul quotes from Psalm 116, a song of praise for deliverance, insisting that this is God’s pattern of death and resurrection (2 Cor. 4:13-14). If we understand that God is working all things together to spread thanksgiving among the saints, we will not lose heart, and we will see with eyes of faith what is in an eternal, lasting weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:15-18).

A Thanksgiving Text
This passage fits well with preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving on several levels. The first level is the sociological circumstances. Paul is preparing to see old friends he hasn’t seen in a while, and there has been some tension between them. If you are in a family, then you know what Paul is dealing with. There are no families on the planet without challenges or tensions of one sort or another. And Thanksgiving is a moment where many families gather together for the first time in a while. If there aren’t troubles yet, there’s generally plenty of flammable material laying around. None of us are Apostles, but we can all relate. And the message here for us is that trouble is part of the plan. To follow Jesus is to take up a cross. And crosses are painful, humiliating, difficult, and full of trouble.

Jesus was not a slick, used car salesman. There was full disclosure on the front end: “For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household… he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:35-39). Paul added his own encouraging assurance: “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). The point is not to go looking for trouble; the point is that if Christ is in you, trouble has already found you (2 Cor. 4:10-11). To follow Jesus is to follow Him in the trouble of the cross – the trouble of confessing sins, the trouble of forgiving those who sin against you, the trouble of telling the truth in love, the trouble of enduring hardship/suffering with joy, the trouble of being unashamed of Jesus, and more. The trick is to have the wisdom to see the difference between needless fleshly trouble (petty bickering, bitterness, bad attitudes), and the glorious trouble of following Jesus. While the Apostles were put on special display with this plan, these are the only two options for faithful Christians.   

“I Believed & Therefore I Spoke” 
This quotation is from Psalm 116, which is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving for deliverance, but it’s striking that Paul quotes this particular partial verse because it cuts in at least two different ways. The rest of the verse says, “I am greatly afflicted,” and the next verse says, “I said in my haste, ‘All men are liars.’” In other words, this appears to be the thematic center of the Psalm, and at this center we find faith crying out to God in trouble, but also temptation to despair. This quotation cuts against those who are tempted to despair in the face of trouble (“all men are liars”), but it also cuts against those who are tempted to turn on the faithful who have seemingly “caused” the trouble (“I believed therefore I spoke.”) Paul had spoken/written hard words to the Corinthians, and some of the Corinthians were tempted to be bitter against Paul. Which one are you? Are you generally tempted to just throw your hands up in despair or are you desperately trying to hold everything together and tempted to blow up at anyone who steps out of line? Both kinds of temptations need to hear this: Christ is risen (2 Cor. 4:14). And what trouble, difficulty, sin, brokenness can stand against that power?

The Gideon Plan
From the beginning, God has determined to run all of His plays from positions of physical, human weakness. Even where the odds seemed better – like say when David was king – God allowed numerous weaknesses to hamper David. Why? In order to cause “thanksgiving to abound” (2 Cor. 4:15). That’s the plan. The plan is to maximize thanksgiving. But God wants our thanksgiving to go all the way down to our bones. He wants to give us something that only thanksgiving can give (an eternal weight of glory), but in order to do that, He has to give us the kind of trouble that breaks it out of our selfish hearts. 

So call it the “Gideon Plan,” which is another great example of fighting from a position of weakness, starting with an army of 32,000, reduced down to 300 (Jdg. 7). Then Gideon divided the three hundred into three even smaller parties. And their main weapons were torches inside of earthenware pitchers in the dark. The plan was to blow trumpets and break the earthen vessels open. And so, this is still the battle plan. We have the light of Christ in our hearts, and we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that as we are struck by trouble, the light of Christ might shine. This is what it means to be pressed but not crushed, etc. So that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us, in order to cause thanksgiving to abound among many.

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Forgiveness is a Promise

What is forgiveness? Forgiveness is not a feeling. Forgiveness is a promise. Forgiveness is a vow. Forgiveness is an oath. Forgiveness is a promise not to hold a wrong against someone. Forgiveness acknowledges that a wrong was done, harm was done, and forgiveness is an act of grace, a gift, completely undeserved, swearing to release the debtor from his or her personal debt to you and never bring it up again as an obstacle to fellowship. There may be restitution still owed, and trust may not be immediately restored, and feelings may still be raw, but the debt of the personal harm and animosity is erased. 

This table, in the first instance is actually God’s promise to us. Here, every week, He renews His promise to us not to hold our sins against us for the sake of Christ alone. This isn’t because His promise will ever run out, but because we are the kind of people who need to be reminded. When we say that our worship is a covenant renewal, this is part of what we mean. The Word of reconciliation is proclaimed in the Sermon and then we come to this Table where the word of reconciliation is sealed to us in the bread and the wine. In the ancient world peace treaties were almost always sealed with meals. And here God is assuring us that through the sacrifice of Christ, He is at peace with us. He is determined to bless us and hold none of our sins against us. He promises to remember our sins no more.

So as you come, see this table, this bread, this wine, as God’s everlasting oath, His promise, sealed in the blood of His own Son, that He will not hold your sins against you, that your debts are paid in full. This is like the rainbow after the flood, applied specifically to you and your sins. This is like the blood over our doors at the Passover. Here God reminds you that He has removed your sins as far as the east is from the west. He paid the debt you and I could never pay.

As you share this meal, as you pass the bread and the wine down the rows, you are sharing that promise with one another. If you are trusting God’s promise for your sin, then you cannot help but offer the same promise to everyone around you. There’s plenty to go around.

Here, you are eating and drinking an oath, a promise, a vow that cannot be broken. It is the promise of forgiveness for our sins. And if you have been forgiven, how can you not forgive? If the bread has been shared with you, how can you not share it with others? If the wine has been shared freely with you, how can you not freely share it with your wife, your husband, your children, your dad, your mom, your former employer, employee, neighbor, or whoever has harmed you or done you wrong? 

So come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

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How to Be a Man: Do It Myself

Introduction
No one ever needed to teach their three year old boy to say the words, “Do it myself.”

We chuckle. We take pictures. Maybe he’s got dad’s keys and he’s trying to reach the front door, still six inches well beyond his pudgy fingers, with his pamper diaper puffed out down below. I’m no expert in these things, but it’s probably cute enough for a Facebook or Instagram post, maybe two. And sometimes the same instinct needs to be corrected. He toddles by with a pair of scissors, off on some other mission of do-gooding and exploration and warfare, and loving hands intervene despite his good intentions. Toddling with scissors never did seem safe. 

But then again, men and boys have a lot higher tolerance for danger. And this is good and right and healthy and Christian. But God did not make boys, strictly speaking, in order for them to be safe.

I’ve recently written that the Christian Church and many Christian families in the church have essentially created a Gay Greenhouse. We are growing soft, effeminate men, insisting that Christian piety be expressed in primarily feminine tropes, and then we wonder when some of them announce that they are gay. Maybe some of them won’t practice homosexuality, but many of them will, many of them have, and the rest will squander their masculine gifts in aimless apathy and fear. 

The obvious follow up question is: What does it mean to raise masculine boys? What does it mean to rejoice in manhood again? What would it look like to see a generation of men leading the church? 

The Right Kind of Independence
Well, there’s a great deal more to it than can be sketched in a brief blog article, but for starters, we should want to see a lot more of the right kind of independence in our boys. Boys must not be needy. Independent men create free and independent and successful families, businesses, churches, schools, and nations. Needy men create Marxist and oppressive families, businesses, churches, schools, and nations. 

“Do it myself” may be close to the center of what it means to be a man. And, because it’s near the center, sin has dutifully infected it with demon flesh. What is often meant by “do it myself” is pride and selfishness and vainglory. But one of the worst things you can do is discipline that instinct out of a boy. The instinct is right and good and holy, even if the motivations and actions can be sloppy and sinful. 

But by itself, the instinct is one of getting the job done and taking responsibility for the difficulty involved. Someone might point out that this is often connected to rewards and glory – men delight in getting things done and not needing help (or asking for directions) – for the glory of the accomplishment. And that person would be entirely correct. Which is why competition and rewards and glory are also good, essential to the health of a culture and society led by men, and even built into the way God intends to save the whole world. There will be a great awards assembly at the end of time, and there will be crowns and rewards handed out – all by His grace, all gift, and yet somehow, truly won – something the Apostle Paul was particularly looking forward to: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7-8).

A man was made to compete, made for straining for the glory of accomplishment, victory, creativity, but more fundamental than that is the instinct to be able to help, to be able to serve, to be ready, to be prepared for as much as possible, and to able to solve problems, to save from difficulties, to sacrifice for the good of others. This is why boys love survival kits, camping, tools, swiss army knives, rope, and weapons of every sort. We aim to be ready, as prepared as possible for whatever we might face. And we want to do it ourselves because it may be that we will have to do it ourselves and/or others may not be able to. If we can’t do it ourselves, we aren’t prepared, we aren’t able to serve, we aren’t able to take responsibility for those around us and our situation. All of this is why the Do-It-Yourself instinct should be entirely encouraged in boys and men. 

Men tend to be intensely practical and utilitarian and focused on practical problems and practical results: fixing things, building things, hunting/fishing, sports, self-defense, but Christian men must also be prepared spiritually, intellectually, and academically. This need not be done in a way that despises all the other preparation; school need not neuter a boy (as has often been done in the last number of decades). But a boy who can read and think is better prepared to change the transmission on his truck, solve a plumbing problem, or defend his family from a home intruder. And a boy who can hunt and fish and shoot and camp in the wilderness ought to be a boy who can appreciate Homer’s Odyssey, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and David’s Psalms.  

Taking Risks & Tenacity
The “Do it Myself” instinct is also related to danger. As it turns out, the mortality rate is a lot higher when you “do it yourself.” Toddling with scissors really is a health risk. But living is a health risk, and living as a male, as a man, is an even higher health risk by design, on purpose. As Pastor Doug wrote recently, quoting the title of an expensive book: eggs are expensive, sperm is cheap. As far as human civilization is concerned, men are more expendable than women. So it is natural, right, and good for men to be less afraid of danger. They need to be less afraid of danger, because they need to get hurt and face danger and die before others. This is manhood. This is sacrifice. This is masculine love. And “do it myself” is an instinctive – if sometimes dense – practice of taking responsibility, being ready to serve, help, solve problems, and lay our lives down. 

But remember even part of the denseness – dense as it appears to finite man – is actually glorious. A certain kind of stubborn dense is what led the Wright brothers to keep trying to get a big hunk of wood and metal into the air. Dense is what got us light bulbs and a certain form of dense is what has always driven men to be missionaries, pastors, and martyrs. What I mean is a certain kind of stubborn, a certain kind of tenacity, courage in the face of danger, hope in the face of despair, resolution in the face of mockery, faith in the promises of God and a certain kind of imagination that just won’t quit. Boys who are encouraged to do things for themselves will fall down, fail, mess up, and they must be cheered on to get back up, to be tough, to take their knocks and bruises bravely, and to be undeterred from good goals. And some of those boys will die in battle, some of those boys will die in a foreign mission field, and some of them will die of unexplained cancer. God is the Lord of all.

And so it is that the gospel must be at the center of all of this. The center of all human history is the story of a man come to do it Himself because no one else could, because there was no other way to save our fallen race. So He laid His life down, and when He had satisfied the demands of justice, He took His life back up again, all by Himself, because He could, because death could not hold Him. And having broken the curse of sin and death, He began to make all things new, including men and women, boys and girls. And those who have been made new serve their Lord with joy and courage. What can separate them from the love of God? All things must work together for good, all things must serve Him, and then we rise again.

Boys who have been made new practice the right kind of independence by regularly confessing their own sins and making things right without being asked. But these same boys also refuse to ask for forgiveness for anything that isn’t a sin, no matter who tries to convince them to. Boys who are learning to “do it themselves” must be relatively unconcerned about what people think of them. They care about what God thinks of them, and they honor their fathers and elders, but there should also be a deep streak of holy independence burning in their chests. They have the Bible, their sins are forgiven, the Spirit is in their hearts, and they are on the winning side of a Great War, fighting for the King of the Universe. The whole thing makes Christian men the right kind of rowdy. And so boys need to learn to think for themselves, and have a deep independence in forming opinions, generally critical of fads and trends and whatever is considered cool, all informed and checked by God’s Word. Boys who are afraid of how things look or seem to others do not understand the gospel of Jesus and will therefore rarely do anything of much use. The fear of man and the guilt of sin will always hold them back. They will be followers, not leaders. 

The thing that’s hard for some women and all soft men to understand is that men actually work better together when they work hard at being independent. Sure, sinful rivalries can mess this design feature up, but men are generally encouraged by other men doing things well. Men are inspired by other men who worked long and hard at something, generally by themselves. And holy ambition feeds a holy competition. And this is good and godly so long as it is driven by a deep recognition of God’s grace enabling it all (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10). A well trained military outfit is based on this concept, so are sports teams. The better each man is individually, the better the team is, and while the teamwork part takes some practice, it generally figures itself out. But primarily focusing on the teamwork is a great way to discourage men or create soft men. Are you raising a man who can receive instructions and carry them to completion and rejoice in a job well done? Or are you raising an effeminate man who needs his hand held at every step and needs lots of encouragement/flattery to get anything done. 

So healthy Christian communities will be places where men are busy doing good things on their own. They will do these things with an eye to all of their responsibilities before God: providing for their families, loving and teaching their kids, building the Kingdom of God, and serving their neighbors. But there’s a certain underlying independence that allows men to have skills worth sharing. A man who works on cars can do so selfishly, but a Christian man might find joy in working in the garage on an old beater pickup and the lessons he’s learning are being passed on to his sons and/or coming in handy when the neighbor’s car won’t start. Boys who study weapons and hunting and survival skills often do so for hours, often relatively alone, trying to understand, thinking about various scenarios, and drawing conclusions about what they might find most useful and helpful. In many instances those hours will be used for blessing down the road. There are forms of isolation that are entirely unhealthy for boys, but with the right encouragement and safeguards, independence is a great strength and virtue.

Conclusion
Going back to the book of Genesis, the Bible teaches that men leave and women cleave. This is why men have generally worked outside of the home, why men are to be on the front lines of war and pastoral ministry, and why men generally need time alone to work, to think, and to study. This duty must not become an excuse for failing to perform other duties and responsibilities, but there is an underlying independence of thought and ability that allows man to serve others better. Failure to celebrate that independence is a recipe for societal, familial, and ecclesiastical disaster. 

So too, pastors must be independent men. They must be independent in prayer and in the word, knowing God for themselves, and proclaiming the gospel from an independent knowledge of its truth, not merely repeating what the commentaries and popular preachers say. Pastors must also be given to a certain measure of independent ministry. They must not be committee men, hamstrung by popular opinion or fear of man. While they must be in submission to their elder board in the Lord, they must be men on a mission, men who see the needs of the congregation, the needs of their community, and men busy with gospel work, not waiting around for someone to suggest something. Ministers are men on the move, fighting sin inside and outside the Church, guarding the flock of God, keeping their guns dry and their knives sharp, always ready to give an answer. 

We could do with a lot more Christian men with the spirit of Jonathan and his armor bearer. “Come, and let us go… it may be that the Lord will work for us; for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few” (1 Sam. 14:6). These are men of initiative, who start schools and businesses and churches; they see opportunities and take them. When others are unsure or waiting around, men see possibilities, trust the Lord, take risks, and say, “I’ll do it myself.” 

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Stitched with Thread from Your Heart

What are you making? What are you building? What are you baking? What are you creating? Some of you spend your days making food. Some of you build houses. Some of you teach. Some of you organize. Some of you design. Some of you do a little of everything. Whatever you do, you are providing goods and services to people around you, whether in your own home or outside your home. 

But the Bible teaches that whatever is in our hearts inexorably comes out of us. And it gets into whatever we are doing. If you have an anxious or bitter heart, your anxiety or bitterness will come out in what you are making. If you are full of lust and envy, whatever you are creating and providing will have your lust and envy mixed into it. If you are frustrated or angry that will get baked into the casserole you are making. And whoever wanted an angry casserole for dinner? And all of this tends to create more trouble everywhere we go.  

Our temptation is to point everywhere except our own hearts. Why am I bumping into my husband, my wife, my co-worker, my children, my parents, my siblings, my roommates? Why do we keep having arguments, disagreements, or worse? We want to point to all the external factors: food, clothing, time, words, tone, health, and these certainly can be factors, but Jesus teaches that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, out of the heart, uncleanness flows, out of our hearts, trouble comes. If you want what you’re making to be good, if you want it to be a real blessing to those around you, then your heart must be full of goodness and blessing. 

The bottom thread in a sewing machine is wound around a bobbin, and every time the needle plunges down, it catches the thread from the bobbin to make a stitch. Your heart is the bobbin of everything you do. Everything you set your hands to will be stitched with thread from your heart. 

So what are you making? What are you sewing with your hands? If you’ve been having trouble, consider whether you’ve simply had a bad attitude, a grumpy heart, an ungrateful heart. The promise of God is that there really is a very easy fix. Confess your sins, and God will wash you clean. Get clean now so you can get back to making real goods, really good things, so that God’s blessing and kindness will be stitched into everything you make.

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