Then there’s the one a few minutes ago. It was one of those calls that started off pretty well, actually. I was being offered a $100 gift card I supposedly could use anywhere online and a pharmacy “lifetime discount card” in exchange for trying out sample products. I asked, “What’s the catch?” and was told there was no catch, it was totally free. All I had to do was try out the products, keep them if I liked them, and send back a brief review of what I thought of them. Simple enough. The word “free” was repeated often, and my little cautionary antenna started going up. Then we started down the path of verification, and getting my address…and learning that this was only going to cost me a small “shipping and handling fee” for every sample they would send to me. That’s when I hung up. They didn’t get my address, or any other information. I didn’t even say “Goodbye,” or “No thank you,” or point out that their pitch was a lie. I just hung up. And I don’t feel badly about it at all.

Sin (the breaking of God’s rules) is just like that phone call. There are lots of temptations out there to avoid doing things the way they’re supposed to be done: shortcuts and substitutions we make up rather than submitting to our Creator’s holy will. Instead of working, we think stealing would easier; instead of purity, we think adultery will be more fun; instead of accepting the Lord’s reality in our lives, we lie to create our own version of reality. You get the idea. It’s all a bunch of lies. This sort of thing started shortly after creation, in the Garden of Eden. You can read it for yourself in Genesis 3:1: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”?’” That’s the appeal of sin: it just seems like we’re missing out on something great if we obey God. But the results of Adam’s sin in the garden were disastrous for all of us. All the pain and suffering that has ever plagued this world is an outgrowth of that sin of discontent and deceit.

A couple of passages in the Gospels come to mind, where Jesus is teaching the disciples through the use of parables. In Matthew 13 he likens the hearts of men to different kinds of soils. Verse twenty-two reads, “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” When you put your priorities above the Lord’s priorities, it may seem like a good idea at the time. You want that pleasure, that prosperity, and are willing to do anything to get it. Where’s the harm in that? Luke’s gospel records another parable where Jesus tells them what the harm is in startling terms:

And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21)

Clearly, there’s no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to ignoring or rebelling against your Maker. The other night I spent the graveyard shift riding shotgun in a police cruiser to observe and learn about police work in preparation for some upcoming chaplaincy training I’ll be doing. It was a terrific night. Among other things we had a rather high speed pursuit of some known drug dealers. They managed to elude us eventually, much to our disappointment. The officer’s attitude was great, though. He said, “These guys have to get lucky every single time; we only have to get lucky once.” He went on to talk about the foolishness of the criminal mind that thinks it’s easier to get rich by breaking the law, yet never seeming to figure out that the constant jail time, fines, always looking over your shoulder that comes with the territory never really pays off like they think it will. All three of the young men in that car we were chasing had spent more of their lives in jail than out of it, and yet the leader is known to be arrogantly boasting that he will never be caught. Believing himself to be smarter than anyone else, he does stupidly wicked things thinking he is invincible. The writer of the book of Hebrews warns, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (3:12, 13)

So don’t hesitate to hang up on those “telemarketers” in your life: friends who lure you into wickedness; entertainments that dull your sensitivity to the things God hates; desires for comforts, position, and pleasures that become your chief passion instead of your Lord; false saviors and mediators that try to take the place of the Lord Jesus Christ as the object of your faith. No matter how good the pitch sounds, no matter how much they cry out that there’s no cost to you, it’s a lie. The cost is not just your present happiness; it’s your eternal life. Rather, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and its righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Anyway, all of these things lead me to the problem with “nutshell” definitions of important truths. They might be easy to carry around and share, but are often less than satisfying, and can even be downright dangerous. A prime example is the way folks understand and talk about the Bible’s teaching concerning God’s grace. Oh sure, the nutshell definition “undeserved favor” has its usefulness, and it is true enough. But that definition just doesn’t go either deep or broad enough. We’re usually willing to acknowledge that we have received Christ’s favor without any merit on our part, but then inexplicably live as if our happiness and freedom from shame are dependent upon our performance. If we really serve enough, if we really suffer enough, if we really prove somehow that we’ve really gotten the message, then we’ll feel good about that grace. But that attitude betrays that we actually don’t understand what grace is, and what it implies. At our fallen core we still want to be the hero that saves ourselves, all the while nobly nodding in God’s direction with appreciation that he has given us a break. Fooling ourselves with this nutshell version only enslaves our hearts to our weakness, rather than providing the freedom we have been promised through the power of Christ.

What does living with a true understanding a grace look like? I can think of no better example than King David. Here you have a man who had God’s Spirit poured into him, a man set in high places, gifted, clever, capable, even handsome. It’s easy for such a person to understand grace as just those blessings that he was enjoying. But David’s understanding of grace is shown to be much deeper when he sins, and sins badly (2 Samuel 11, 12; Psalm 51). Upon repentance, he was forgiven. Disciplined, he was not crushed. Experiencing the consequences that inevitably accompanied his sinful acts, he nonetheless managed to live in freedom and joy, as if the sin had never happened (at least, as far as it affected his relationship with God is concerned). His psalms overflow with that joy and confidence.  It’s amazing! How could he do that? Didn’t he know that mere repentance isn’t enough? That discipline doesn’t cut it? That you really have to suffer a long time before God’s full restoration kicks in? (Not sure how long that’s supposed to be, but somehow we’ll know when it’s time.) What right did he have to be happy in his walk with God, or in life at all? Maybe there’s something to that purgatory thing after all.

Actually, there’s nothing biblical about that kind of thinking. Christ bore the shame of our sin, paid our debt, and told us that in him we are “free indeed” (John 8:36). And when we sin again and again, he points to that payment again and again, and restores us to full fellowship immediately with no reservations: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Even when appropriate discipline and consequences follow that are hard to walk through, there is still freedom and joy in our relationship with him as we see those difficulties as simply tools in the loving hand of our Savior to further refine us. After we’re forgiven he doesn’t put us on the rack, so to speak, just to make sure we get the message so we can do something else that really satisfies our holy God. The debt is satisfied by him. THAT is what grace is all about, and that is truly liberating. Not only is it liberating to our souls, it also means that God continues to bless us in our lives, too, and bring glory to himself in spite of our sins. Back to David: though his sins regarding Uriah and Bathsheba were utterly reprehensible, and numerous dire consequences necessarily followed, his relationship with God was restored when he repented and cast himself upon God’s mercy. God continued to use David in mighty ways as David corrected his behavior and righted wrongs, and Solomon was the result…not to mention a long while later, our Lord Jesus Christ the eternal Davidic king who fulfills all of God’s promises. I would hasten to add that I am not condoning sinning “that grace may abound!” (Romans 6:1) I am urging that we rest in his grace and not pretend that somehow we’ll be happier if we just continue to wallow in a false self-abasement that insults Christ’s finished work of redemption upon the cross.

Grasping the enormous truth of God’s grace, however, goes beyond what God exercises towards us. We get some hints that more is involved in the concept in such passages as Christ’s instructions about prayer when he tells us to pray “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Do we really comprehend what we’re praying for with that request? I wonder sometimes what would happen to us if the Lord’s grace went down to the standard of our grace toward others. The thought is not comforting. The Lord’s words to the Ephesian church in Revelation 2:2-5 ought to send chills up our spines as we think about how we too often treat others who are caught by the snares of sin:

“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

This passage is often interpreted to mean that the Ephesians had ceased to love Christ. But to me that doesn’t make any sense in the context. Christ commended them for their zeal for him and his truth! But they were apparently beating up on each other, using discipline as a club. They had become so zealous for their understanding of truth that they had forgotten about their obligation, and former love, toward their brethren. They were disciplining, alright, but without compassion, holding sinners to a graceless standard. They were damaging tender souls who certainly needed to be corrected, but who also needed restoration and the love of the body. They had forgotten their own fallen state from which they had been delivered, and were in danger of the Lord disciplining them in turn by removing their testimony from the world. Seeing what happened subsequently in history to the church and the entire city of Ephesus ought to make us sit up and take sober notice.

When asked by Peter how many times he should forgive those who wronged him, Jesus’ answer was stunning, “I say not seven times, but countless (literally, seventy seven) times” (Matthew 18:22). This was in contrast to the Jewish limitation of seven times, reflecting the attitude that at some point we should say, “Enough already!” and refuse to show grace and mercy to others who harm us. Jesus’ grace is better, don’t you think?

Consider Paul’s instructions in 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 concerning the disciplined sinner in their midst. He writes, “Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you.” No question about it, sin hurts the entire body, and that particular man’s sin was disgusting and perverse. But note what follows: “For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.” Paul goes on to say that this is a matter of obedience to thwart Satan’s devices aimed at destroying souls. Yet in spite of a passage like this one that is so clear that no explanation is really necessary, talking about discipline in most American evangelical churches these days will usually get you a shudder, or a horror story about how someone was run out on a rail rather than shown true godly grace and restored to full, unconditional fellowship. No wonder so many churches just don’t discipline anymore. The damage to the Church and its testimony is incalculable, in part because we’ve been content with a nutshell definition of grace.

So let’s not slip and fall on nutshells. Even in this fairly long post, I’ve really just found a bigger nutshell to put these thoughts in, I realize! This is just a beginning. Let’s pursue and embrace the full definition, rejoicing in the grace that God has shown to us and its freedom, and demonstrating that grace to one another with love, humility, and patience. It won’t fit in a nutshell, but it will sure be satisfying.

I do have some favorites, though. For instance, in the candy bar category dark chocolate Three Musketeers bars rank high on my list, and so do Snickers bars. I have noticed, however, that it takes quite a few 3M’s to satisfy me (and then I have a roaring sugar buzz to work through). A Snickers bar, on the other hand, “really satisfies you.” With all those peanuts in there, I’m generally good with one.

So what does all of this have to do with magnifying Christ? I’m thinking of the Apostle Paul’s words to the Philippian church (1:20) when he declares, “so may also Christ be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.” That word magnify is the key. It means to make heavy, or to show worth. Paul is saying the objective of his existence is to exalt the weight or worth of Christ to all around him; to demonstrate by his life the reality and substance of the Savior. Paul speaks at length of that substance in his epistle to the Colossian church as he insists in chapter one that Christ is preeminent in all things (verses 15-29).

You see, Three Musketeers bars are tasty and sweet, no doubt. They’re also mostly air. Not much substance there at all. It takes a lot of them to sort of fill you up, and to obtain that goal will cost you. In the end, though they promise a satisfying experience, they can’t do it because they have no substance, no weight, no real worth. And while I readily acknowledge that Snickers bars hardly qualify for health food status, they at least have weight, and some protein, and they do fill you up without the buzz. They have solid content through and through, which is the point of the analogy.

Too many believers want to focus on the “light” version of the Lord Jesus Christ: His sweetness, His love, His kindness, His innocence as a baby, and so on. There are lots of worship songs out there that elevate those things exclusively, and for many this is the only Christ they know. Thinking they are praising Him as He desires, they really are trying to fill up on a partial understanding of Who He really is. It’s no wonder that the largest number of converts to cult religions are evangelical Protestants who are basically “Three Musketeer bar” Christians who don’t really know the substantial, weighty Christ. They are defenseless against the subtle deceits of the Adversary.

Christ is “sweet,” no doubt. He is full of love, kindness, and tenderness. But He also is just, holy, a righteous Judge, infinite, eternal, one with the Father, full of grace and truth. He is first in all things, and will not tolerate being one idol among many in our hearts. He is solid through and through, of worth and deserving of our highest praise, our earnest seeking out of every facet of His character, of our declaration of Him to the world in fullness (not just the parts we’re most comfortable with). To magnify Him means that we make it our burning desire to help others to see Him as He reveals Himself in the Word. Toward the end of his letter to the Colossian church, Paul commends his fellow laborer, Epaphras, as one who manifests this attitude: “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis” (4:12, 13; compare with 1:29). Epaphras was a Snickers bar Christian, and wanted others to have the same genuine satisfaction in Christ that he himself had experienced, whatever it cost him. So may it be with us.

And now, for some reason, I feel strangely hungry. Time to go raid the snack drawer….

Owning an old two-wheel drive myself, I could commiserate to a certain degree. The last couple of winters, even with a lot of weight in the back, the truck couldn’t really even get out of the driveway. I ignored the balding tires when the weather was nice. But my old tires were just too worn to have much traction, and I didn’t have the money to buy a new set. There were times that I felt pretty much like my Midwestern friend feels about his truck. Hearing of my sad state of vehicular affairs, one of our members here remembered that she had a set of barely used snow tires she no longer needed that just might fit my truck. Sure enough, they fit, and now, even with the bed empty, snow presents little challenge to my forward progress.

It occurs to me that church planting can be a lot like a two-wheel drive truck with lousy tires in snow. At times it can feel like all you are doing is sitting there spinning your wheels, going nowhere fast. The difficulties pile up around you, further impeding your progress, and you can spend a lot of time adding weight, or shoveling, or pushing, or even whining, all to no avail because if you don’t have traction, you don’t have action.

There’s a place for proper “weight,” of course; sound theology, strong teaching, good governmental structure, and physical presence in a community are all things that you must pursue. And there’s no doubt that sometimes “shoveling” is necessary in the various discipleship and outreach programs that keep you connected with your congregants and neighbors. The “pushing” of both preemptive and corrective discipline has to be done, no question. (Whining is just out, no matter what!)

Nevertheless, without “traction” you cannot establish a church (or maintain an existing one, for that matter). That traction is your connection with the Lord Himself. Habakkuk 3:19 reads, “God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” The idea, naturally, is that the deer have traction, being sure-footed in difficult places. Without the Lord’s strength you will never keep your ministry firmly upon the “road” He has set before you. Everything may look great — engine running, transmission in gear, cargo full loaded, even extra hands to push — but without a good grip, you’re not going anywhere. So, grip tightly to Him in prayer. Hold fast to Him in meditation upon His Word. Be tenacious in grasping His fellowship among the saints. Look to the Lord  to make up your lack of grip (those old bald tires of self reliance, poor prayer, and poorer devotion have to go) with a renewal of His grace, and rejoice when He does so. And then, no matter what the weather looks like outside your door, you’ll make some progress because the rubber truly is meeting the road.

Late spring and summer studies will include a class on the life of Jesus Christ. Please watch for updates, or call the office, for requirements and schedule information.

The format of our classes is guided discussion. There will be no charge for taking the classes, though you may need to purchase a text or two for reading and discussion purposes. Students high school age and up are welcome to take part, and the public is welcome. Currently we intend to eventually develop the curriculum into a one-year certificate in various areas of biblical studies, apologetics, and worldview studies. We have an arrangement with Western Reformed Seminary in Tacoma, Washington, to accept our classes for credit for students that wish to pursue their studies on the graduate seminary level.

Please call the church office at 208-267-3327 for more information!

Besides the New Covenant, no historic, biblical covenant has more importance for our faith than does the covenant God made with Adam (recorded in Genesis 1-3). God’s dealings with Adam had eternal implications for the destiny of Adam’s progeny. Here we find the pattern set for the administration of God’s grace through all time and eternity future. It may seem strange to begin our discussion of a Christian ecology with a little covenant theology, but I think you will see that it really is the only place to properly begin.

Genesis 1:26 reads, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (ESV) See also Genesis 2:15-16, 18.

Second, God instructs Adam to subdue the earth through what is usually called the “creation mandate” found in Genesis 1:28-30 and 2:18-24. This facet of the covenant establishes the pattern that God expects man to act authoritatively in the creation as God’s agent for good, and is the foundation of a Christian ecological perspective.

Enter Mother Earth

Sadly, Adam abused his leadership and that sin affected every relationship he had. Even his wife, though still a helper fit for him, began the shift to being an adversary (or, at least, a fit helper not fulfilling her role). I don’t think it is any accident that a world that doesn’t want to acknowledge the authority of the Father goes looking for a substitute in the more tender (as it seems) arms of a mother. Let’s look a little at the history of “Mother Earth.” We’ll start with a useful summary of various articles on the subject found on wikipedia.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Nature):

Mother Nature is a common anthropomorphized representation of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing features of nature by embodying it in the form of the mother. Images of women representing mother earth, and mother nature, are timeless. In prehistoric times, goddesses were worshipped for their association with fertility, fecundity, and agricultural bounty. … Priestesses have held dominion over aspects of religions for millennia on every continent. … Algonquin legend says that “beneath the clouds lives the Earth-Mother from whom is derived the Water of Life, who at her bosom feeds plants, animals and men” (Larousse 428). The word “nature” comes from the Latin word, natura, meaning birth or character. In English its first recorded use, in the sense of the entirety of the phenomena of the world, was very late in history in 1662; however natura, and the personification of Mother Nature, was widely popular in the Middle Ages and can be traced to Ancient Greece in origin.

In short, “in ancient and modern non-literate religions, Mother Earth is an eternally fruitful source of everything” (Encyclopedia Britannica Online, http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9031727/Earth-Mother). Nothing is seen as separate from her. All things supposedly come from her, return to her, and are bound together by her. Sounds a lot like the description of Christ in Colossians 1:17, doesn’t it?

When Mankind Reverses God’s Order of Things

I would be delighted to tell you that such thinking is the stuff of legend and the grist of long dead religions, but such is not the case. Romans 1:21-23 is still a true statement: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” Outright worship of Mother Earth (“Pachamama”) continues in the remnants of the old Inca religions in the countries that straddle the Andes mountains. Wiccan practitioners continue the tradition of witchcraft seeking to tie in to the earth’s alleged mystical and intrinsic powers. Many native peoples continue their worship of the creation in various ways, some doing so for cultural preservation, others out of absolute faith that these things are so, still others for material gains through tourist dollars or land acquisition/reclamation. More subtle worship continues in the near deification of the earth by environmentalists, political leaders, ecological activists, scientists, and others, who all pursue their agendas for varying individual, political, and social purposes. Filmmakers present the assumption of a mother earth and mystical power in creation as fact, basing entertainment for the masses upon such assumptions. It makes for great storytelling, but for many viewers the line between fact and fiction has long been obscured. Some believers are well-meaning, others opportunistic, all sadly missing the point.

According to the prevailing “wisdom,” any or all of the following are not only looming over us threatening to utterly destroy us, but they also are all man’s fault!

• Global warming (or, as it was claimed a generation ago, the next ice age!)
• Loss of rain forest acreage (causing global warming, above)
• The extinction of animal species (humanity, for some, is the only creature earth worshippers wouldn’t mind seeing go extinct)
• Massive earthquakes (while talking with one fork of the tongue about the millions of years it took for the earth’s supercontinent to break up and drift into its current positions, they talk with the other fork about the need to make huge changes politically and socially now before the earth is sent into oblivion in the next generation or two, blaming the shifting of the earth’s crust on all of our drilling for fossil fuels, warheads, global warming – so much for uniformitarianism! I guess that a cataclysmic view of history isn’t so far-fetched after all.)
• Depletion of the ozone layer (haven’t heard that one lately, as it lost its selling power when all the dire predictions didn’t take place),
• Air pollution (not fun, but the earth recovers nicely given time.)
• Ground water pollution (ever watched a herd of cows getting a drink?)
• Radiation from nuclear power (the sun’s rays are far more destructive)
• An asteroid impact (not sure how, but we’re to blame for this, too, maybe just because we deserve it for being so cruel to the rest of creation)

The astonishing thing is that these same people also believe in the religion of evolution and uniformitarianism, yet somehow manage to suspend that belief when it comes to what man is able to do in a shorter amount of time. What makes this even more ridiculous is that these same people are the ones who look to the earth as the mother and healer of everything, the object they consciously or unconsciously revere, and yet is somehow inexplicably helpless in the face of man’s activities. Man, then, is the ultimate god over creation. Romans 8:1-23 makes it plain that man’s misplaced devotion has had disastrous consequences upon the environment in which many people live. Verses 19-22 read,

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Error never gets very far unless there is an element of truth in it, and so we need to face up to man’s guilt in failing to live up to our covenantal responsibilities. “Smog,” especially in urban areas, can make breathing difficult and seeing into the distance impossible. There are many causes of air pollution, though; some are man-made, some naturally occur. (Trees are the worst culprits!) Irresponsible mining techniques during the gold rush days denuded entire hillsides of forest in central California, altering watersheds and destroying habitat for wildlife. The mining companies of the day did not usually give any thought to their actions beyond what they could take from the land. Today, the forests have returned and recovered the landscape for the most part, and the land is beautiful again. Still, such practices as strip mining are controversial for the scars they can leave on the land. Nuclear waste can be mishandled and improperly stored or buried, and neighborhoods built on top of the landfills. Sickness and birth defects abound in such areas for years to come. Heavy use of DDT as an herbicide, and other chemicals used as pesticides can certainly taint a water supply if mishandled. However, since the banning of many such substances, the growth of the insect population (and with it, the multiplication and distribution of life-threatening disease) has been staggering. The old logging practice of stripping a piece of land completely of every stick that was growing made the vast old-growth forests of yesterday a memory and caused a lot of problems for habitat, land management, more frequent fires, etc., in the world’s forests. However, many of those problems have now been corrected, and man is learning that he doesn’t know everything there is to know about forest management yet. The raging wildfires in Yellowstone National Park a number of years ago are a typical example of how man’s brilliant ideas of fire suppression were really a huge mistake. Fires are a part of God’s design for keeping forests clean and healthy. But nobody likes to see a burned-over landscape, or an apparently lifeless dirt hill, and so we are faced with a dilemma: how do we properly care for the earth?

Options

I see the following general options facing us as human beings:

1. Return to a purely agrarian lifestyle, minimizing cities and industry as much and as quickly as possible. The push for the United Nations’ Agenda 21 initiative in recent years is the embodiment of this thinking. Be vegetarians as a matter of “ethical” principle, limit human reproduction, let “natural” forces take the world wherever it wants to and adjust as necessary. No religion (except, of course, worshipping the earth itself and its “gods” or “force”), no government, no “society,” no interference in the natural order. Only existence with as light a footprint as possible so that those coming after us (not many, due to limiting reproduction) will not even know we were here.

Problems: take a look at any agrarian society anywhere, and it doesn’t take long to see that (1) the impact upon the whole land is much greater, as erosion-preventing vegetation disappears under the plow (perhaps you remember reading about the “dust bowl” of the 1930s in the American Midwest(2) disease is more prevalent and life expectancy is shorter (evolutionists call this “natural selection” and are not concerned about it – or shouldn’t be if they are consistent); (3) ground water pollution can be just as great or greater than in mixed economies; (4) famine and water shortages are much more devastating to all living things than in mixed economies; (5) population explosion of other animal species, natural selection or not, leads to less healthy populations overall; and (6) does not prevent the wickedness of human hearts from abusing others and the land anyway.

2. Allow government (preferably, world government) absolute control of all means of food production, human population growth, industry, and land management. Did I mention Agenda 21? This is also part of the world governance plan. No private property, no opportunity for individuals to gain any advantage or wealth over another (except for the government officials who run the whole show). Universals controls to prevent abuses of the land and use all for the “good” of the state.

Problems: the worst polluters in the history of mankind have been governments, especially godless Marxist states. Such is still the case, as China amply demonstrates. This doesn’t work, for so many reasons. Governments don’t know how to manage natural disasters in prevention, prediction, or preparation (think of the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, or Hurricane Katrina in the United States). Governments can’t control population growth (again, China is a prime example), especially in any ethical way. Some governments, like Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia, Mao Tse-Tung’s China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Hussein’s Iraq, the Russians invading eastern Poland, not to mention legalized abortion in countries around the world, have tried to eliminate competing populations, but have to do so through murder and unimaginable destruction. There is no remedy in civil government guided only by its own principles. Governments, as George Washington once said, are dangerous servants, and fearful masters. To make their negative impact smaller, we must make government smaller, not larger.

3. Covenantal faithfulness to the terms of Adamic covenant, with all of the implications of that covenant for government and civilian life, is the third option. Let’s turn our thinking again to the covenant made with Adam and pay a little more attention to the terms of the covenant, especially as they impact the question of how we are care for the earth God has given his creatures in which to live.

A Christian Ecology

Adam was given specific duties to fulfill as he demonstrated his faith in his Creator. First, he was responsible to “fill the earth” with offspring (Genesis 1:28; compare 9:1-7). “Fill” means to fill up or satisfy (compare 2:5) the earth. God’s command stands in stark contrast to the world’s current depopulation trends of birth control, abortion, euthenasia, genocide, and homosexuality. Instead of being “satisfied,” the earth groans under man’s rebellion (Romans 8:19-22).

Second, Adam and his progeny were to rule the earth as God’s image (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15). The word “image” means a representative or likeness (compare 9:6), and has nothing to do with physical appearance. Paul uses the term ambassador in 1 Corinthians 5 to describe the relationship between God and His minister, and the analogy is appropriate in Eden as well. Adam was to fulfill his ambassadorship in two ways: “subdue” and “work” the earth.

The word “subdue” (1:28; 2:19, 20) literally means to tread upon, but its usual connotation is to impose rule upon. This means that Man, as God’s representative, is to know his Master’s mind concerning what the flora and fauna should be producing and take steps to ensure that the Master’s will is carried out. Man is to act as the divinely appointed authority in the earth. He is not to allow nature itself to dictate a course of action. The role of science is not to seek to erect another god in Yahweh’s place (man’s reason), but to seek out what Yahweh has done so that we can more fully glorify and praise him and be better stewards of the “garden” we have been commissioned to tend. A simple example of what I mean by stewardship is the practice of crop rotation. Once it was realized that planting the same crop on the same field season after season depleted the land of its nutrients, the very sensible practice of rotating carefully planned crops which would replenish the land was begun. Another example is thinking about how a building project will impact the flora and fauna in the midst of which it will sit, and trying to make it complementary to the surrounding environment. Doing so is good stewardship.

Adam was also commanded to work or cultivate the earth in Genesis 2:5, 15. “Work” comes from the Hebrew for serve, which puts a check upon man’s methods of subjugation. Authority does not equal license; mankind is to view himself as God’s servant laboring for the benefit of creation, nurturing it to bring about the Master’s will. The Hebrew terms for dress and keep found in Genesis 2:15 (“And the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it”), are used together in the Scriptures more than forty times. They seem to make up two parts of a whole idea. The idea of the two words together seems to be diligent, humble service through guarding and nurturing. Here is the foundation for biblical environmentalism.

Third, the most familiar condition put upon Adam was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16, 17). This covenant term is the specific test of Adam’s faithful obedience. Adam’s trouble was that he really didn’t believe God. This test has been failed every single day by every single human being ever to walk this earth, and we can see the scars on the earth to prove it. Man ravages the environment around him according to his own wisdom, never seeking what God would have him to do, thinking only of what he will gain out of it. Man is essentially like the spoiled child who is given a room full of wonderful toys to play with, only to destroy the toys in a rage that is determined to show the giver who really is in charge. How foolish can we be? So in the fall of Man the seeds were laid for mankind to look to some other authority than what was ordained. This is where government steps in; why man is willing to surrender his liberties on the basis of pseudo-science and fear; and where the Church must challenge the wisdom of the world’s rebellious rulers (themselves stewards of delegated authority – Romans 13) to return to acting as God’s servants, not competitors. It is time to repent of this wickedness and submit to do doing things God’s way in the world.

Finally, God provides a mediator as part of this covenant (Genesis 3:15; compare Hebrews 9:16ff and Genesis 3:21), the Lord Jesus Christ. This provision, of course, was no afterthought, but part of God’s eternal plan for His creation (Ephesians 1:4). God is operating in and through His grace from beginning to end in this federal covenant with Adam. This indeed is man’s only hope for survival in this life and the next, so badly has he failed in his stewardship of the earth.

Conclusion

Thankfully, the Creator designed the earth to self-heal over time, and the earth is much more resilient than the fear mongers pretend. A prime example is what happened in the years following the Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption in the state of Washington in the US back in 1980. In the visitors center perched on a ridge 5 miles away from the open gash on the north side of the mountain, you may read there the dire predictions of the leading scientists of the day regarding how long it would take the land to recover. Many conclusions were that it would never recover completely. The nearby lakes, filled with volcanic matter, would be dead for a hundred years or more. Forests would take equally as long to come back (if they ever did), and as for wildlife, there would be none of any size for a generation or more. As I read those signs, only a few years after the eruption, I could not help marvel at the reality that only season later, less than a year, the lake waters were clear again and fish were flourishing in them (signs in the next display area described how it happened!). I could look out the window and see the trees growing again, and green sprouting up everywhere. With binoculars, you could look across the mudflow areas and see birds, deer, elk, and other large wildlife moving across at leisure. In short, though it was happening before their eyes, atheist man was determined not to see it, so sure they were of their evolutionary principles. Those principles were being shown a lie even before they posted their signs!

Heating and cooling are cyclical, no matter how red in the face Mother Nature worshippers get when they shout that there’s no science to prove it. The glaciers will return, the sea is not going to drown the coastlines of the world, and California is not going to slide off into the ocean – yet. That the earth’s ecosystem has within it the latent power to do all of these things, there is no doubt. However, this power is held in check (Hebrews 1) until the day when the Lord brings his final judgment to bear upon his fallen creation. Then, the elements will melt with fervent heat, the oceans will swim with blood and death, and the old creation will be made new. 2 Peter 3:10-13 reads:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

God the Father decides when that will be, not an impersonal, non-existent “mother” concept which is at the mercy of her wayward “children.”

God made Adam to be His representative in the earth. Adam was to govern the earth and its creatures, walking in obedience to God’s commands. Adam’s obedience would secure God’s blessings eternally for himself, his posterity (compare James 2:18), and upon the earth; disobedience would result in God’s curse being poured out on everything man touches. We have seen the curse when mankind abandons the compassionate rule of the living Father God for the terrible arms of a fictional “Mother Earth.” Let us be better, faithful stewards, and know God’s blessings.

© 2011. Permission is granted to reprint, repost, or otherwise distribute this article provided that no part its content is modified or omitted, including authorship information and this copyright notice.

Introduction

Romans 1:15-17, ‘So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.’ 

The Reformation has been claimed to be over or obsolete by some liberal and neo-evangelicals over these recent years. Others have said that it is an anachronism and that it is totally irrelevant today after almost five centuries.

Truth is stranger than fiction. There is never a greater need than now in the post modern era to stand up for the propagation and defense of the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3-4).

There are several good reasons for this historic event of the church that brought in the greatest spiritual awakening of all times (since the revival of Acts 2).

This God initiated occasion of some 495 years is absolutely relevant and needed today. What is so significant about the Reformation that redeemed men should never forget? The 16th century Reformation was God sent and ordained for a high purpose, that men be delivered from the spiritual darkness of Rome and be brought back once again into the marvelous light of the true and pure Gospel of Jesus Christ during the Dark Ages. Today we stand beholden to the Reformers for all that we inherited, namely the Reformed Faith and the glorious truths that they stand for. Though we are reformed we are still yet reforming.

Has the Reformation any doctrinal relevance today for the church? The following are valid reasons why all Protestants should continue to remember and carry on the historic Protestant Reformation of the 16^th century into the post modern era.

Reformation and the Right Doctrine of Soteriology

Is salvation by works or by faith alone? That is an important question. It is not through man made rites and rituals or doing good works that we can earn our salvation. Spurgeon said if he had to contribute a stitch to the garment of salvation, he would be lost. It was solely the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit that saves and not we ourselves.

Martin Luther was greatly used of God to spark off the spiritual fire of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk, a very learned and devout priest who was well taught in the Roman traditions and doctrines, but yet he experienced no real peace in his life. He tried all that he could in religious asceticism. He even walked on his knees on the stairs of the Church of Lateran, which is supposed to accord the forgiveness of sins but yet there was no deliverance for his troubled soul. Peace for him came when the light of the Gospel shone from heaven into his distressed heart: “the just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17). This struck Luther like a thunderbolt from heaven. He finally found the true way of salvation, not by works of righteousness but by grace through faith alone. He studied the Scriptures and the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit shone light into his soul by God’s sovereign will.

In the 16^th century, the Roman Church needed money to rebuild St. Peter’s Church and Pope Leo X commissioned a Dominican monk named Johann Tetzel to sell indulgences (i.e. forgiveness tickets) in order to raise the money. Tetzel did this gladly and came to Germany where Luther was. When Luther came to hear about this, he was greatly exercised in his heart and denounced the corrupt practices of the monk, and later wrote the famed 95 theses and posted them on the walls of Wittenberg Church just before All Saints’ Day, which is 1 November (i.e. a day when people come to church to worship relics). This spelt the genesis of a God inspired movement that would deliver true believers out of the Roman yoke of bondage and brought them to the true and unadulterated gospel of Christ.

Sola scriptura, soli deo Gloria, solus Christos, sola fide and sola gratia were the impassioned cry of Martin Luther and the other magisterial reformers. Perhaps one significant event we must not forget was the Diet of Worms in April 1521, where Luther made a clear defense for the faith before Charles V and the august assembly of prelates and dignitaries and did not compromise his writings and his teaching concerning Christ as the Only True Saviour. His faith and courage were honoured by God who preserved his life for this glorious cause of the Reformation.

The Reformation and the Bible in the Language of the People

2 Timothy 2:15 says, ‘Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’ When the Reformation fairly began, nothing alarmed and enraged the Romish priesthood so much as the spread of the translation of the Bible in the vernacular languages of the people. The key issue of the Reformation is the absolute authority of the Scriptures versus the authority of the church at Rome.

The Bible then was available only in Latin translated by Jerome of the 4th century  and only the priests could read and understand and not the common people, It was John Wycliffe, professor at Oxford, a pre-reformer, who started this holy task of translating the Bible into English from the Latin Vulgate. It was later done also by the English Reformer, William Tyndale, in 1525 (NT first from reliable Greek manuscripts), which cost him his life. He was burned at the stake in 1536 because he translated the Scriptures into English. The contents of the Bible spread through the land like wild fire; and from that time onwards, the Roman power had lost its influence. The leaders of the medieval church realized the power of the Scriptures that is able to make man wise unto salvation (2 Tim 3:15). God opened the eyes of King Henry VIII and answered the prayers of dying Tyndale before he was strangled and burnt in Antwerp betrayed by a friend Philip. All who hold an English Bible (or any language bible) in their hands now owe it to the Reformation for such a great privilege, for it was not so before the Reformation. Sola Scriptura, that was the cry of the Reformers and no church tradition is to be superior to the 66 books of canonical Scriptures (not mystical experiences). The canonicity, authority, inspiration and sufficiency of Scriptures must be defended today against those who believe in extra-biblical revelations in dreams and visions, the apocrypha, the book of Mormons, the gnostic gospels and others.

One would remember that the moveable type printing press was invented by Johann Guttenberg in 1454 during the 12 – 14^th century Renaissance. The printing press revolutionized the dissemination of literature in Europe during the Renaissance. For the first time in the history of mankind, identical copies of a document could be reproduced in great numbers without having to hand copy them. It was the Lord who timed the invention of the printing machine for the printing and dissemination of the Bible and Luther’s 95 theses during the Protestant Reformation among others. Today we have the privilege to read the Bible in a language we understand and practise it for this is the very infallible, inerrant, inspired Word of God.

David Wells in his book, The Courage to be Protestant, has addressed the key issue well here :

“An authentic church is one that is God-centered in its thought and God-honoring in its proclamation and life’ (p. 242). Churches must be sola Scriptura, seeing the Word of God as authoritative and sufficient, not sola cultura. Churches must hold fast to doctrine and preaching. Churches must rightly administer the sacraments while clearly proclaiming salvation by grace alone through faith alone. Churches must exercise biblical church discipline in order to protect the purity of Christ’s church and reflect the holiness of God. Churches must not seek to replicate the culture but rather stand as an alter­native to it: If the church is to be truly successful, it must be unlike anything else we find in life.” (p. 224)

The Reformation and the Direct Access to God through Christ

How can a guilty and depraved sinner appear before a thrice Holy God? The Reformation exposed the defective practices of going through human intermediaries and participating in strange rituals before one  can reach God. The Reformation opened the way to eternal life to many by showing from Scriptures that “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5; Acts 4:12). In John 14:6, the Lord Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The Reformation brought into sharp focus this theological fact that is so vital in true salvation. Only Jesus saves and it is by faith alone! This is the truth that leads to everlasting life for anyone who believes (John 1:12; 1 John 1:9). Justification by faith and not by works is the truth of redemption from our sins (Titus 3:5; Eph 2:8, 9).

The Reformation and Biblical Elements of True Christian Worship

John 4:20-24 says, ‘Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.’ Our Lord Jesus said we are to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), not in outward, ostentatious forms or falsehood. Today we have the Protestant system of spiritual and reverential worship where the preaching of the word and public reading of scriptures takes central stage. This could be traced back to the time of the Apostles and to the 16th century Reformation. No more theatrical and mystical performances in the medieval church with lifeless rites and rituals that have no significance, but from the hearts of men rendering humble and sincere worship that will ascend to God as a sweet savour sacrifice (Heb 13:15). Cherish this form of spiritual true worship that is glorifying to God and congregate together regularly on the Lord’s Day to render true worship to Him.

The Reformation and the True Understanding of the Sacraments

The Bible teaches us the meaning and origin of the two sacraments. Before the medieval church taught that there were seven sacraments but the Reformation taught us that there are only two, namely the Lord’s Supper and Baptism according to the Scriptures. An ancient Church has it as confirmation, marriage, extreme unction, the eucharist, penance, baptism and holy orders. These are not taught in the Scriptures. The correct understanding of the Lord’s Supper is not transubstantiation as stated  at the 4^th council of Lanteran in 1215 but a spiritual memorial to remember the death of Christ till He comes, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23-30 by Paul (and not for physical recovery of a sick body as taught by someone). The Reformed view taught by Calvin holds that Christ is spiritually present with the believers, not in bodily or physical form. True communicants are spiritually nourished by partaking of the bread and the wine. The Holy Spirit brings them in close fellowship with Christ, the Head of the Church and the source of spiritual vitality for all genuine disciples. Baptism as a sacrament cannot save anyone from their sins as taught by some in baptismal regeneration.

The Reformers and the Pattern of Biblical Church Polity and Governance

Titus 1:5 says, ‘For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:’ It was to John Calvin and John Knox we trace our rich heritage of leadership by the plurality of elders in the Church today. It was John Calvin, arguably the father of Presbyterianism, who taught us the leadership of a Church by elders. This, we believe, is the Scriptural teaching of Church government (1 Tim 3:2—7 and Titus 1:6—9). This was the same teaching of the teaches Scottish reformer John Knox who reformed and revived the Scotland with the Gospel and instituted a Presbyterian form of Church polity and withstood the persecution of the Queen Mary of Scots. The Bible did not teach us that the church (1 Pet 5:1-4) is to be ruled by one man who lords over all. The episcopal system can be vulnerable to ecclesiastical abuses, with power vested in one man. The Presbyterian system, comprising elders (and deacons serving under and together with them) elected by the church, gives the best formula for the effectual advancement of the Gospel and the proper management and administration of the local church.

The Reformation and the Reformed Creeds and Confessions

We owe it to the Reformation for the revival of the teaching of the sound theology in the doctrines of grace. The five points of Calvinism that was written from 1618 – 1619 during the Synod of Dort, as a response to the Remonstrants who were Arminian in their doctrinal persuasion. The Reformation was a ripe and proper time for creeds and confessions to be written. Reformed creeds, like the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession, were written in the Netherlands in 1562. In England, God raised up godly men, 121 Calvinistic, God-fearing men from the best of the British Isles, to deliberate and formulate the Confession, together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, from 1643 to 1649. The Westminster divines were men of great, spiritual and intellectual stature in the days of the continuing 17th century English Reformation. Today, the B-P Church still adhere to this Reformed creed which is in our constitution, perhaps, one of the finest confessions ever to be written in church history. (The Baptist Confession of 1689 was patterned after this.) Read it and understand it and know that it comes from the spiritual struggles of our forefathers in the defence of the faith during the Reformation.

Martyrdom and the Case for Truth during and after the Reformation

It was said that there are more martyrs in the last century than the last 5 centuries combined. Browsing through Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, one sees the flames of faith of valiant men who stood for the truth and sealed it with their lives. As sons of the Reformation, never forget men like Latimer, Ridley, Cranmer, John Hooper, William Tyndale, John Rogers, nor events like St. Bartholomew Day of 1572 where Protestants were killed mercilessly, the Irish Massacre of 1641, the Spanish Inquisition, even the execution of the Bohemian pastor, John Hus in the Pre-reformation era in 1414. Let our hearts burn with zeal and valour and faith. When we read of such faithful men who gave their lives for the sake of truth. It was recorded that during Queen Mary’s brief reign of four years, 284 people were put to death for their faith (Henry Charles Moore, Through Flood and Flame [Sussex: Focus Christian Ministries Trust, n.d.]; 90). Never forget this historical record of these whose lives can be described by Hebrew 11:33, 34, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. May we never forget these faithful witnesses who died for their faith.

The Adversary and its Doctrine and Tactics

1 Peter 5:8 says, ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.’ There may be a change in tactics to a conciliatory strategy of good public relations but the theological content and doctrines are still the same. To get true believers confused and shipwrecked in their faith is still the aim of the accuser of the brethren. We live in momentous and hazardous times. The Reformation helps us see spiritual things in perspective. The adversary is fiercer than before with an outstretched arm of peace and unity in a compromising world, but he was exposed already in the past. Do not engage in ecumenical unity at the expense of sound doctrines and scriptural convictions. We have to be vigilant and watchful and one of the ways is to remember our Protestant Reformation and its spiritual teachings in our Christian heritage. Jeremiah 15:16 says, ‘Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.’ The pure Gospel of justification by faith alone through Christ alone is too precious to be compromised and exchanged for false peace and ecumenical unity which is popular today with a growing accommodating spirit in the church.

Consider David Wells’ insightful comment here :

“Without the holiness of God, then, there is no cross. Without the cross there is no gospel. Without the gospel there is no Christianity. Without Christianity there is no church. And without echoes of the holiness of God in those who are Christ’s, there is no recognizable church. What is it about this chain of connections that the evangelical church today is not understanding that is leading it to soft-pedal, overlook, or ignore the holiness of God? . . . If we could see more clearly God in the full blaze of his burning purity, we would not be on easy terms with all the sins that now infect our souls and breed easy compromises with the spirit of the postmodern age. This is what leads to the casual ways in which we live our lives with their blatantly wrong priorities.” (p. 129, 133. See The Journal of Modern Ministry Volume 5, Issue 3, Fall 2008.)

The past and the present are as important as the future. History often repeats itself where men of frail memory forget important past events. Remember Reformation Sunday (and not Halloween the diabolical holiday that is celebrated today by many), the day to recall soberly the greatest event in church history, second perhaps only to the Day of Pentecost. Let us not go back to ignorance, superstition and church traditions; but read our Bible and know the truth in our heart and it will surely set us free. Beware of the ecumenical movement which will reach its zenith in the last days, in its deadly alliance with those of a contrary faith. Resist the onslaught of the ungodly and worldly union with unfruitful darkness, and preach the pure and unadulterated word in season and out of season. Warn others of this spiritual danger, and zealously defend the faith that was once delivered to the saints for this is our sacred duty (Jude 3). Work both privately and publicly for the propagation, defense and contention of the truth of Jesus Christ and the maintenance of Reformation principles into the 21st century Reformation Movement. Stand only with like-minded brethren and hold fast to sound doctrines  and stand firm on the infallible, inspired truths of Holy Scripture and do not ever neglect nor forget the rich spiritual heritage of the 16th century Protestant Reformation. 

Conclusion

These perilous end times are also darkening days of great spiritual declension and ecclesiastical compromise and there is a grave need for greater vigilance and contention for the faith. Jude 3, 4 says, ‘Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The forces of darkness will attempt to corrupt and undermine the fervent purity of the faith and the soldiers of the cross need to be alert and watchful. Paul in Philippians 1:27 exhorts us, ‘Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel’ and 1 Thessalonians 2:13 says, ‘ For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.’

May the Lord give to his people spiritual courage, godly discretion and prudence to stand firm for Him in these last perilous days before His soon coming.

The Rev. Dr. Jack Sin, Maranatha Bible Presbyterian Church, Singapore

(NB. Read T.M. Lindsay, The Reformation, 2006 and David Wells, The Courage to be Protestant, 2008.)

The reality is, the duties that I refer to go far beyond just voting, funding decisions, representation, foreign and domestic policy making, and so on. Even more vital is that the ethical standards for the exercise of these duties have not been left for man to figure out on his own. The Founders of our nation acknowledged this fact time and again in their writings and speeches, pointing to the truth that this nation was founded on Christian principles for Christian people, and that if and when those principles were abandoned – primarily the principle that all people and governments are accountable to their Creator – tyranny would be the result. In those days, there was no separation of church and state nonsense as it is defined today. The only separation was that the state couldn’t dictate one’s denominational affiliation to anyone. But everyone accepted without question the right of the Christian church to actively speak to the culture, and that culture had an obligation to listen. And so for generations, beginning prior to the Revolutionary War and continuing well afterwards, the Election Day sermon tradition was carried out in villages and cities all through the colonies, especially in New England.

Inhabitants of the colonies would be incredulous at the current reticence of the Church to speak to the culture and alarmed at our culture’s rejection of the tempering role of Christianity upon society. Not only did pastors in each town preach every Sunday, but in keeping with the Calvinist conviction that all human activity falls under the jurisdiction of God’s Word, sermons were preached at significant public events such as anniversaries, thanksgiving days, fast days, and election days. Politicians often walked in procession from their offices and halls to the church, to sit and listen diligently (often for hours at a time) to sermons that urged them to the faithful discharge of their duties before the sovereign God of the Bible who  placed them in their positions. Citizens were likewise called upon to resist tyranny in all its forms, thus reminding those politicians that their power was derived and not absolute. Those sermons were also printed in newspapers for all to read, and often distributed in pamphlet form as well. In all civic actions, citizens and rulers were charged to promote virtue, suppress vice, and support people of “proven wisdom, integrity, justice, and holiness.” So effective was the preaching of the Calvinist Presbyterians and Congregationalist preachers in New England to stir Americans to action against the abuses of the English monarchy that the remark was made on the floor of Parliament that “Cousin America has run away with a Presbyterian parson.”

In short, the Church did not allow the naysayers of that time (and they were there) to relegate it to irrelevancy just because they didn’t like the demands of the gospel upon society. They preached to that society, and preached without mincing terms. In an effort to assert the rights of King Jesus here in our own time and place, PBPC will host an Election Seasons Challenge at the church on November 9, 2012, from 7-9 P.M. We have sent personal invitations to elected and appointed officials, candidates and incumbents, local through national, and challenged them to come and hear what God has to say to them about governing. And, we’re getting invitations out to the citizenry at large as well, because God’s Word has things to say to them about their obligations as citizens. I’ve invited a few other pastors in our area to participate with me, and we’ll record the sermons so that anyone who isn’t able to come (or officials who just decide not to do so) will still be able to get the message.

If you’re in the area, we hope you’ll come and support this effort. It’s non-partisan, and not a debate. We’ll have a time for refreshment and visiting after the messages are brought. We’re holding this challenge right at the church, 6530 Washington Street in Bonners Ferry. If you want to help out in some way, or just get more information, give us a call at 208-267-3327. Our prayer is that this will be a small step in the right direction of calling our country back to submission to God and His law as the ground for all good society. Please pray with us to that end.

The format of our classes will be guided discussion. Most will be approximately an hour in length. There will be no charge for taking the classes, though you may need to purchase a text or two for reading and discussion purposes. Students high school age and up are welcome to take part, and the public is welcome. Currently we intend to eventually develop the curriculum into a one-year certificate in various areas of biblical studies, apologetics, and worldview studies. We have an arrangement with Western Reformed Seminary in Tacoma, Washington, to accept our classes for credit for students that wish to pursue their studies on the graduate seminary level.

Please call the church office at 208-267-3327 for more information!

The whole point of writing a letter of recommendation, or introducing a speaker, is to answer the question, “Why should I listen to him?” The writer of Hebrews begins his epistle by “introducing” Jesus to believers who were confronted with varying views and opinions about Jesus that questioned the authority, trustworthiness, power, work, and person of the Christ. The author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, makes his case that Jesus Christ is superior in every way to any savior a fallen world can construct out of its imagination. In short, he is a better savior.

A common false teaching among cults and other world religions is that Jesus Christ is (or, was) a created being. Rejecting Christ’s own self-introduction in the Bible, such folks think they need no introduction to One who is merely a few clicks more advanced than the rest of Creation. They may honor him to a degree, even say they believe in Him, but they do not know Him unless they receive what He has said about Himself. The book of Hebrews, chapter one, is a good beginning place to counteract this false teaching. Actually, Hebrews chapters one through five make it abundantly clear that Jesus Christ is better than all in many aspects of the faith: for my purposes here, we will limit ourselves to chapter one, and the issues of Jesus’ authority and person. With your Bible open, let’s walk through it together.

Better than Merely Human Spokesmen

False religions look to writings other than the Scriptures as God’s authoritative voice to men, inventing fantastic histories of their origin that have no basis in fact whatsoever. The writer of Hebrews asserts to those long accustomed to listening to men that Jesus is God’s supreme spokesman. In verse one the Holy Spirit reminds us that God did indeed speak through lesser voices in the past. Prior to Moses, God laid the foundation for revelation to his chosen people through direct revelation to his servants Adam and Noah; through direct revelation, angelic visitation, and theophanies to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and through visions and dreams to Joseph. Each interpreted to his family/society what God had revealed. What God desired that mankind remember is recorded in the Bible’s pages.

To Moses and after him, God revealed himself by various means in the giving of the law and application of that law. Moses, the greatest prophet of the Old Testament period, enjoyed God’s direct revelation as had Adam, Noah, and Abraham before him:  ”Then He said, ‘Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the LORD’ ” (Numbers 12:6-8). To the prophets that followed, God revealed himself and his message through the law itself, visions, dreams, and angelic visitations. All of these means are wonderful, and some even now long for them (Colossians 2:18, 19), but the author of Hebrews makes it plain that a better Spokesman is here, and that we should attend to him.

Verses two through four definitively teach that no matter who God has spoken through in the past, he speaks through Jesus now. The main verb, “has…spoken” can be translated “did speak,” and refers to a final and full revelation. There is nothing more to be said than what Jesus has already said and revealed in himself. The writer gives several reasons that add up to this truth.

One with the Godhead

First, Jesus is one with the Godhead. We understand this from the title “Son” that is applied to the Savior. A. T. Robertson comments on this verse in his Word Pictures of the New Testament, “No article or pronoun here with the preposition [en], giving the absolute sense of ‘Son.’ Here the idea is not merely what Jesus said, but what he is, God’s Son who reveals the Father (John 1:18 [‘the one who dwells in the bosom of the Father has declared him.’].” The title “Son” does not indicate a created being at all, as the Jews well knew when Jesus used the term (which is why they tried to stone him for blasphemy). Jesus put it best in John 10:30 – “I and the Father are one.” Furthermore, by the phrase “brightness of his glory” we may understand that Jesus perfectly reflects and radiates the perfections of the Godhead. Second Corinthians 4:6 reads, “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shined in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Finally, the phrase “express image of his person” (“image” coming from the Greek word translated “character”) declares that Jesus is the exact imprint of deity. God carved his name into his world, and Jesus is that name.

Agent and Inheritor

Second, Jesus is the agent and inheritor of all creation. Verse two’s use of the word “appointed” points to the reality that Jesus stands as the recipient of a timeless designation as the beneficiary of God’s plan. Paul writes in Colossians 1:16b, “All things were created through Him and for Him.” Creation came into existence through the agency of the Second Person of the Godhead, and he is the inheritor of what he created. He is the Creator, not the created.

Sustainer

Third, Jesus is the sustainer of creation. Verse three records that Jesus hold all together by his powerful declaration. This is the work of God, not a created being. Again, to find further explanation from the Apostle Paul, we read in Colossians 1: 17 that “He is before all things, and in Him all things consist [find their proper place].”

Redeemer

Fourth, Jesus is the redeemer of creation. The closing phrases of verse three reveal the precious truth that the price of redemption was paid completely by Jesus, and that the work is finished. The word “purged” speaks of a one time, purifying act in the past. This is the first time Christ’s priestly office is mentioned, and his priesthood becomes a principle focus of the book (see 7:27, for example).  The phrase “sat down” suggests that his atoning work is finished (Levitical priests were to stand always in their ministry). See also verse thirteen and Psalm 110: 1. He is in the place of both judge and intercessor now.

Though many others have spoken for God in the past (and some try to usurp the office to this day), the supreme, anointed spokesman for the Godhead has been introduced. Are you listening?

Better Than Angels

A strange situation exists in our society these days, strange beyond belief. On the one hand, there is on every level of society a growing fear or even hatred of Christian belief and practice. On the other hand, one of the most popular shows on TV in recent years was the program “Touched by an Angel”! Perhaps it’s not so strange after all. Sinful man loves signs and wonders, but when it comes to submission and commitment, they start looking for the door. Some faiths seek to reduce Jesus to a created angelic being in order to make Jesus more accessible in their minds, but doing so only reveals that they do not understand much about angels, since they think angels are less fearful beings somehow, contrary to the biblical record. Regardless of how they strike us, however, it is time for all of us to turn from fascination with created beings, and humbly gaze upon the Infinite. Jesus is superior to angels! Men and women need to be urged to look no further for their revelation, for their joy, for their redemption.

Begotten

Here in verses four through six the author fleshes out the idea of sonship. Using the word “begotten,” he indicates that by eternal decree, Jesus entered into the relationship as Son to the Father, was manifested by the incarnation, and was confirmed in his relationship by the resurrection. This begetting is not referring to any physical procreation, but expresses the nature of a covenant relationship within the Godhead in terms that accommodate this great mystery to our limited understanding. Psalm 2:7 reads, “I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’ ” Acts 13:33 rounds out this aspect of the nature of Jesus Christ by saying, ­”God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’” This does not mean that Jesus is a lesser god, or a created being. It means that he is fully God and works according to a covenantal framework of obligation and scope of activity (“decree”).

Firstborn

The phrase “firstborn of all creation” in verse six refers to Jesus as the unique preexistent Son of the heavenly Father; as the one existing before, and superior to, all creation (Psalm 89:27 – “Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth,” and Colossians 1: 15 – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation”): as the first to be resurrected from the dead (Colossians 1.18 – “And He is … the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence”); as the head of a spiritual family of “many siblings” (Romans 8:29 – ” … the firstborn among many brethren”). The title of “Son” in this sense is never applied to any angel, but only to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Heir

As the firstborn Son, Jesus is the heir of the kingdom. Verses 7-14 explain that this truth means that to him belongs the service of angels (he is not an angel himself); to him belongs eternal authority; to him belongs the absolute joy of righteousness which no other possesses; to him belongs the eternality of the Godhead; and that to him belongs the place of favor in heaven. None of these things can be said of angels, even archangels. Jesus is superior to angels in every way.

Conclusion

Apostles and prophets cannot save because they are but men. Angels, as powerful as they are, are only creatures, too. Jesus is the Creator; fully God and man (Hebrews 2 covers that truth!)—we had better all be paying attention (Hebrews 10:26-31). Jesus is a better savior, far better than the imaginations of men can devise! For those who have been deceived by false teachers and religions into explaining away or ignoring the truths of Hebrews 1, a simple walk through this wonderful passage will begin to open their eyes to the truth of Who Jesus really is.