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What is Man? (Advent #2) (CC Downtown)
Christ Church on December 20, 2024
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Immigration in Clown World (Politics in the Pulpit #3) (CC Downtown)

Lindsey Gardner on

INTRODUCTION

Perhaps you’ve noticed with relief as the political signs suddenly disappear around town. But I noticed one sign has, so far, stubbornly stayed in the front yard with a defiant slogan. The slogan? “We’re all from here.” The postmodern mind wants all cultures to be simultaneously celebrated and indistinguishable. I presume that the owner of the sign would not be keen to have us all ask to be put on the deed to their home, nor would they be interested in any of us moving into the spare bedroom.

 

THE TEXT

And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:33-34

 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

As we consider this issue, we must remember that love is the center pillar of the law. Love to God flows out in love to neighbor. As Paul taught, love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:11). The immigration and assimilation laws of a Christian nation must be governed by the law of love. However, love shouldn’t be confused with saccharine permissiveness.

This law before us in this text demands that in the commonwealth of Israel a non-native who came to dwell in and amongst Israel was not to be vexed. The word vex indicates brutal oppression, particularly by the sword. In other words, ethnic persecution is off the table. But this shouldn’t be confused as a contradiction with the other commandments to entirely drive out the Canaanites, sparing none. The latter is dealing with the conquest, the former is what to do once Israel had settled in their rest.

Also, bear in mind that it was not just Hebrews who followed Moses in the Exodus, there were other families who simply attached themselves to Israel as they left Egypt (Ex. 12:38). Such strangers were to be treated as one native born, and thus the obligations of the neighbor love outlined in the rest of the Law was applicable. This manner of treating strangers is set in contrast to the cruelty which the Hebrews endured during their Egypt enslavement. Hovering over this and every other Law of Moses was the divine authority of the Lord their God.

So then, God’s sovereignty over us and His deliverance of us from bondage should shape everything. This includes how we construct our laws pertaining to immigration.

 

MORE RAW MATERIALS

We need to recognize that in thinking about this issue we are dealing with some of the ugly offspring of Enlightenment thinking. The modern idea of nations has largely been shaped by the individualism which emerged from the Enlightenment. It views people as utterly independent marbles who just so happen to live within the lines on the map. But this neglects the covenantal and familial nature of tribes and nations as found in Scripture.

For instance, strangers who decided to dwell in Israel were required to abide by Israel’s covenant laws. In one case, a half-Israelite man blasphemed the Lord; so Moses, after seeking the Lord’s will, ruled he must be put to death (Lev. 24:10-16). This episode was followed by the introduction of the principle that non-natives must abide by the covenant laws of Israel: Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God (Lev. 24:22).

So then, this would include the prohibition against tampering with boundary lines. “Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof (Job 24:2). Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set (Pr. 22:28). Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen (Deu. 27:17).” Meaning, it would be unlawful for an individual or group of foreigners to come into Israel and erase settled boundary markers. Additionally, a stranger was not allowed to break the Sabbath (Lev. 25:6); if he wanted to observe Passover he would need to fulfill certain legal requirements (Cf. Num 9:14 & Ex. 12:48). One other application is that the Leviticus 24 passage indicates that a stranger could be sentenced to death for blasphemy, and, by implication, any other capital crimes described in the Mosaic law.

 

BLACKMAILING HOSPITALITY

What our nation has been faced with since the 1960s was a system of immigration law that is effectively lawless. Immigration, as envisioned by a general equity of the OT law would provide us a framework where immigrants would need to be committed to abide by our laws (including reasonable immigration requirements), not interfere or undermine the Christian faith, and be committed to working for their own welfare.

The United States has been a desired destination for immigrants nearly since our founding. The appeal was the fact that we were a Christian nation, there was ample opportunity, and unrivaled freedom. This has been supplanted by the offer of partaking of a welfare State if you can simply get here by nook or by crook. This is simply a form of theft, taking the taxes from citizens and giving it to those who have not worked for it. This is State-sanctioned lawlessness. This is jack-booted charity.

Now, this ought to do nothing to curtail the compassion and mercy-ministry of the church. Poverty is a grievous thing, and Christ commands us to take compassion on the impoverished. But that compassion, generally speaking, is expressed in Scripture through opportunity to work (as seen in the gleaning laws). God’s compassion on us is free grace, but it is free grace that raises us up into true worship and service.

As we face the prospect of a program of deporting illegal immigrants en masse we must also be cautious to not become lawless or cruel in carrying out this duty of justice. The enemies of truth will delight to blackmail the Christian duty of hospitality to advance the lawless program of socialistic governmental maternalism. The State broods over everything, insisting on caring for us all, and therefore it cannot imagine turning any away from its nest. It wants its nest to contain the whole world. Biblically thinking Christians need to recognize two things: first, the breaking of our immigration laws should be met with justice; and, secondly, we need to refuse to have our biblical duty of generous hospitality weaponized against us.

We’re commanded in Hebrews: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares (Heb. 13:2).” This is not a mandate to the State but to Christian households. Hospitality to immigrants means to treat them with the love of Christ, summoning them to join us here in the courts of Jehovah, and not oppressing them. Our civic rulers are tasked with not showing pity to the lawless (Lev. 24:16). However, not showing pity is not the same thing as administering cruelty. Mobs are wicked, even mobs who think they are moving in a righteous direction.

 

LOVE GOD, HATE SIN

In this season of political opportunity we must be ever mindful that our Christian duty is to love what God loves, and to hate what God hates. God hates the slop of globalist gobbledygook which the propagandists tell us is our strength. False gods and those who serve them are not our strength (and that holds true for citizens and non-citizens). God also hates ethnic vainglory and inhospitality. So in thinking this through, don’t forget that either.

All nations are included in our mandate of global discipleship. But you can’t disciple the nations if you are not walking by faith and obedience to all of Christ’s commands. A Christian nation which gladly watches its borders erased, its God blasphemed, and its property stolen will no longer be in a position to teach the nations anything, let alone disciple them in the ways of the Lord. Freedom only comes to a nation through the forgiveness we receive through Christ. Forgiveness assumes two things: a law which was broken, and a promise to no longer reckon it against us. We do great evil to grace by neutering the force of the law. Our aim must be the endgame of all nations enjoying the freedom which Christianity ushers in to a culture.

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Fearing God & Honoring Parents (Workbench of Practical Christianity) (King’s Cross)

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION

We live in a land that has no fear of God before their eyes, and right on schedule, neither do we honor our parents. If it is not going well for us in the land, this is one of the main things we must recover: the fifth commandment is the first command with a promise of blessing. The fear of the Lord and true justice go together (Ps. 19:9).  

The Text: “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:32).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

In this brief case law, based on the Fifth Commandment, God instructs His people to fear Him, and to do so by acts of honor, respect, and reverence for fathers and mothers, the elderly, and all in authority.

FEAR OF THE LORD

The fear of God is obedient to God (Dt. 6:2). Abraham feared the Lord and was obedient to the command to sacrifice his son (Gen. 22:12). The midwives feared God and did not obey the king’s command to kill the baby boys (Ex. 1:17). Obadiah feared the Lord and hid the prophets from Ahab (1 Kgs. 18:3). The fear of God is merciful (Lev. 25:43, Dt. 25:18). The fear of God puts away idols and false worship (Josh. 24:14). The eye of the Lord is on them that fear Him (Ps. 33:18), and He hears the prayers and delivers those who fear Him, setting His angel round about him (Ps. 34:4, 7). God’s judgments and wrath teach His fear, but God is also merciful and forgives, so that He may be feared (Ps. 90:11, Ps. 103:11, 13, Ps. 130:4). In all of these ways, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom (Prov. 1:7). Thus, by the fear of the Lord are riches, honor, and life (Prov. 22:4). The fear of the Lord is strong because it trusts in God’s justice and goodness (Is. 35:4). The fear of God is His covenant gift, so that we and our children will not depart from Him (Jer. 32:40-41). 

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

The Shorter Catechism says that the fifth commandment “requireth the preserving the honor and performing the duties to every one, in their several places and relations, as superior, inferior, or equals” (WSC LXIV). Likewise, the Heidelberg says that the fifth commandment requires, “That I show all honor, love, and fidelity to my father and mother, and to all in authority over me; submit myself with due obedience to their good instruction and correction; and also bear patiently with their weaknesses and shortcomings, since it pleases God to govern us by their hand” (Q. 104). 

Notice that the Bible teaches that we have different kinds of fathers and mothers: magistrates are fathers and mothers (Is. 49:23), the elderly are community fathers and mothers (Lev. 19:32), ministers of the gospel are fathers (1 Cor. 4:15), and then of course heads of households are fathers and mothers, including both biological parents as well as masters and by extension employers (Eph. 6:1, 5ff). 

It is the fear of God that teaches us to honor those in authority, who must also rule in the fear of God (Ex. 18:21, Eph. 6:9), which means obedience to His written word (Dt. 17:19). The fear of God establishes true authority and its limits. 

GENERATIONAL CURSES

In the Second Commandment, idolatry is prohibited with the warning that God is jealous, “visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Ex. 20:5-6). We know from elsewhere that God does not automatically hold children guilty for the sins of their parents (Ez. 18:20), so this means that the curse of generational sin is simply that children tend to imitate the sins of their parents and become guilty that way. And frequently it happens through generational animosity and resentment. 

This is why our Old Testament ends with the promise of God turning the heart of fathers to children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest He come and strike the earth with a curse (Mal. 4:6). Jesus came to fulfill this prophecy (Lk. 1:17), and the central way He does this is by providing forgiveness for the sins of parents and children. Sins extend for three and four generations, but God’s mercy is available and extends to thousands of generations (Ex. 20:6). 

APPLICATIONS

First, get your heart right toward your parents. This may require you to get your heart right with God first. Turning your heart toward you parents means repenting of all your bitterness and resentment before God and them. Having forgiveness for them is a decision and a promise, not a feeling. If you are still under your parents’ authority, you must obey them cheerfully. 

Second, if things have been particularly rocky, strained, or distant, do everything you can to make it clear that your heart is turned toward them. You are open to a better relationship. And do that first by communicating love and respect for them. Despite major failures or flaws there is almost always something to admire or be grateful for. 

Third, the fear of God teaches us not to fear man, since the fear of man is a snare (Prov. 29:25). This includes fearing your parents. You are to honor them but not fear them, and this means that your honor is to be governed by God’s Word (just like their authority), not by whims, feelings, or unbiblical demands. When a man leaves and marries, a new household is formed, and those responsibilities must be honored as well. Honor is thoughtful and strategic about visits, vacations, time spent together, and tries to anticipate and mitigate challenges. 

Finally, commit yourself to honoring parents and fearing God in word and deed. Sometimes this means covering the sins/nakedness of your fathers, bearing with their weaknesses patiently, remembering their frame (Gen. 9:23, Ps. 103:14). Fear God and reject all mockery and disdain of parents; remember that there is rich gospel blessing in this work. 

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Covenant Vows (King’s Cross)

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION

This chapter closes Leviticus by underlining the true covenant between God and His people through vows. Not only does God take His Word, and the obedience (or disobedience) of His people seriously (cf. Lev. 26), God takes the words of His people seriously. This is why Jesus cautions us against thoughtless vows. God keeps covenant, and His people are to be people of their word.

THE TEXT

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying speaking unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by thy estimation…” (Lev. 27).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

When Israel swore vows to the Lord, they would promise to dedicate people or beasts to the service of the Lord or give an offering of equivalent value plus twenty percent (Lev. 26:1-13). Likewise, if a house or land were dedicated to the Lord, it would be considered holy to the Lord, and its value would be reckoned from the year of Jubilee with the fixed value of the tabernacle shekel (Lev. 26:14-25). Only the firstborn of animals could not be redeemed, along with those things devoted to the Lord (Lev. 26:16-34).

VOWS THAT HELP & HURT

Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people worshipped Him through paying vows (Dt. 12:6ff, Ps. 50:14, 61:8, 66:13, 116:14, Jon. 1:16, Nah. 1:15). These were promises of offerings in response to particular answers to prayer. Jacob vowed to give tithes to the Lord if the Lord kept him safe and brought him home again safely (Gen. 28:20-22). One infamous example is when Jephthah vowed to sacrifice whatever came out to meet him when he returned from battle in peace, and his daughter was the first to greet him (Jdg. 11:30-40). The context of Jephthah’s vow indicates that his daughter was dedicated to service in the tabernacle as a virgin (cf. Jdg. 11:39), not literally sacrificed, but it was still a great grief to the family.

In Numbers 30, God says that adult males must not break their vows, but that young women who are still in their father’s house still have the protection of their father hearing and confirming or annulling their vows (Num. 30:4-5). The same protection and forgiveness is granted to a married woman (Num. 30:6-7). But the vows of a widow or divorced woman stand against her (Num. 30:9). When a man annuls the vow of someone in his household, scripture says that he bears the iniquity and it is forgiven (Num. 30:12, 15).

This is why Psalm 15 says that the man who dwells on God’s holy hill swears to his own hurt and does not change (Ps. 15:4). When people swear a vow to the Lord, they are invoking His name, and therefore Jesus warns against making vows (Mt. 5:33-37). James warns of the same danger, lest you come into condemnation (Js. 5:12). And yet Paul took a Nazirite vow, and there is no indication of sin (Acts 18:18, cf. Acts 21:23). And Hebrews says that people may swear an oath to solve matters of contention (Heb. 6:16). So we conclude that swearing vows is lawful and sometimes necessary, but vows must be taken seriously because God will hold us accountable.

CHRISTIAN VOWS

Christians have determined that where the covenant stakes are high, vows are necessary, invoking God’s name, asking God to judge the parties for loyalty or disloyalty. A business contract is one form of this in order to avoid contention. Marriage vows are some of the most important and potent. The wise woman of Proverbs 31 says that her son is the “son of her vows” (Prov. 31:2), and the adulterous woman forsakes her husband by covenant (Prov. 2:17, cf. Mal. 2:14). This is why civil and ecclesiastical leaders also swear vows to fulfill their covenant offices faithfully and why we swear membership and baptismal vows as a congregation. The word “Amen” is also a vow and pledge of loyalty to the Lord (cf. Num. 5:22, Dt. 27:15ff).

APPLICATIONS

Some are tempted to get wound tight about reading the fine print on a user agreement, but the central point is that because we are made in the image of God, our words are powerful like God’s Word. The power of life and death are in the tongue (Prov. 18:21). The tongue is a fire that sets whole worlds ablaze, full of deadly poison (Js. 3:6-9). We live in a land full of foul words, cursing, and poison, frivolous vows and many lies, and it can be easy to get used to it. You can become accustomed to speaking disrespectfully to or about your husband or wife. You can get used to biting your children with criticism, being angry at parents, or just telling lies. But you are spewing poison, and you are asking for God’s judgment.

In our wedding ceremonies, we not only swear to keep ourselves only for our spouse in sexual purity and fidelity, we also swear to “love, honor, and cherish.” Harshness, bitterness, anger, and critical spirits are not a fulfillment of your vows to the Lord. Peter warns husbands in particular that failure to honor wives as the weaker vessel and a co-heir of the grace of life hinders prayer (1 Pet. 3:7). God promises to listen to your words and honor your words as well as you listen to and honor the words of your wife. Elsewhere, God promises to forgive us as we forgive others, and Jesus says that as we do “unto the least of these” we either do or do not do unto Him (Mt. 25:31ff). What kind of words are you serving Jesus?

The wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, easily intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace (Js. 3:17-18). Yes, our culture is disintegrating in perversion and bitterness, but you cannot fight fire with fire. The only antidote to words of death and broken vows is the Word of Life and God’s covenant kindness and mercy.

Have you been harsh? Have you been critical? Have you made promises and not kept them? Some of the most potent and powerful words are words of confession and forgiveness. Forgiveness is God’s great covenant vow to us in the blood of His Son, and it is the central vow we make and keep that builds Christian culture.

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Sabbath Blessings & Curses

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION

Christians frequently fail to recognize how all of life relates to God. While we rightly reject the “prosperity gospel” that treats God like a vending machine, we must also reject various forms of Deism that assume that God is not active in the world, personally blessing and cursing. While God’s wisdom is far beyond our understanding, and the secret things belong to Him, those things that He has revealed, belong to us and to our children forever, namely the covenant, God’s personal promise of blessing for faithfulness and cursing for unfaithfulness (Dt. 29:29).

THE TEXT

“Ye shall make no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it; for I am the Lord your God…” (Lev. 26).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Having organized the Israelite economy and culture around cycles of Sabbaths, God explicitly links that way of life with the prohibition against all idolatry (Lev. 26:1-2). Idols always destroy and crush life; the Living God gives life and health and rest: you become what you worship (Ps. 115:3-9). The blessings of keeping covenant are not just “spiritual,” but they flow out into the land in real time from God personally: food, peace, safety, prosperity, fellowship (Lev. 26:3-13).

By the same token, breaking covenant with God brings His personal opposition, beginning with sickness, sorrow, and tyranny (Lev. 26:14-17). If that doesn’t get their attention, God promises to break their pride with successive rounds of judgment and chastisement that come in “sevens” like inverted “sabbaths”: first, droughts and famines (Lev. 26:18-20), then wild animals to ravage the land (Lev. 26:21-25), then enemies, violence, and starvation (Lev. 26:26-27), then the desperate cannibalism of a military siege followed by utter destruction (Lev. 26:28-32). Ultimately, the people will end up in exile heartbroken, but this will finally give the land her sabbaths (Lev. 26:33-39).

But if God’s people confess their sins and humbly accept God’s punishments, He promises to remember His covenant and not cast them away, even in the midst of judgment (Lev. 26:40-46).

BLESSINGS & CURSES IN THE NEW COVENANT

The first and most common objection to a text like this is that it only applied to Israel, their special covenant with God, and the Promised Land. The problem is that the New Testament repeatedly contradicts that. For example, Paul tells Gentile kids in Ephesus (Asia Minor) that the Fifth Commandment is the first commandment with a promise for them, “that it may go well with you, and you may live long on the earth” (Eph. 6:2-3). Related, the apostle tells the Christians in Galatia that men reap what they sow because God is not mocked (Gal. 6:7-9).

Even Jesus said that those who have given up families and houses and lands for His sake will receive a hundredfold back in this life (with persecutions) and eternal life (Mk. 10:29-30). Likewise, Jesus proclaimed blessings and curses in His own ministry related to loyalty to Him (Mt. 5:1-11, ch. 23, Lk. 6:20-26, ch. 11), and He warned of blessings and curses in Revelation, with specific warnings to churches (Rev. 1:3, ch. 2-3, 22:14ff). The New Testament also says that judgment begins with the household of God (1 Pet. 4:17). This covenant loyalty is faith, a living faith that works by love, and that faith is a gift of God, so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:8-9).

THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S

Christians must never forget that God made this world, and therefore it matters to Him, and therefore it must matter to us. The earth is full of God’s glory, full of good things for us to find and cultivate and discover and use. In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve and commanded them to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and rule it with wisdom (Gen. 1:27-28). That task has been significantly hindered by the curse of sin, but God’s covenant was His personal promise to take away that curse and bless with fruitfulness in the earth, and this promise has always been received by faith (e.g. Lev. 26:9, cf. Gen. 15:6). Christ is the mediator of the New and Better Covenant because He has become the curse for us, so that we may get back to work under God’s potent blessing (Gal. 3:13ff). If God is for us, who can stand against us (Lev. 26:8, Rom. 8:31)? But if God is against us, who can possibly succeed (Lev. 26:17)?

But what we sometimes miss is that this includes creation itself. Creation itself is in bondage or liberty depending on the state of man, and therefore, creation itself either eagerly submits to our rule or stands against us and fights us (Rom. 8:19-22). Sometimes Christians falsely believe that “Christian work” is only doing evangelism or worship, but Christian work is all good work done under the blessing of Christ, including care for animals, forests, industry, science, water, and soils. While “climate science” is full superstition, distortions, and lies, we don’t need them to know that our culture’s covenant treachery has certainly called for famines and plagues and destruction.

CONCLUSION

We should not miss the highly personal nature of the covenant God made with Israel. Not only is God the one blessing or cursing, but the goal is for Israel to “walk” with God and for God to walk with them (Lev. 26:11-12). But if Israel walks “contrary” to God, God is promising to walk “contrary” to them. In fact, the text uses that word translated “contrary” seven times, implying a sort of anti-Sabbatarian collision (Lev. 26:21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 40, 41). There will be no rest.

Our sin is not merely “bad,” it also puts us on a collision course with the God of this world. It is a personal attack on God, and an assault on His goodness and grace. You cannot cling to your sin and have things go well for you in the land. It is certainly true that sometimes God takes righteous people through horrific trials, but it also true that He judges and chastens sinners, beginning with His own covenant people. Sometimes God is walking contrary to His people because they are walking contrary to Him. And the only way out is through the Cross of Jesus.

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