Christ Church

Older Children and Honoring Parents (Practical Christianity #7) (King’s Cross)
Christ Church on May 14, 2025
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A Fortified City (CC Downtown)

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION

John Bunyan, in his book Holy War, once typified our personal battle against sin, the devil, and the world as a warfare against a city. He took the various attributes of both the body and soul and represented them as a city besieged by an array of threats. I want to attempt something similar, but applied to the life and work of the church. As is commonly said, the story of Scripture began in a garden, but it will end in a garden city that fills the whole earth.

THE TEXT

Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Psalm 87:3

CITY WALLS

The church is not an amorphous entity with indefinite boundaries. The liberal wants the walls of the city of God to be all-encompassing. The hidebound legalist wants the city walls to be just big enough for the handful of people they agree with…for now. But the Bible defines for us where the city walls are for the Church.

These walls require us to look at them as they are at present and then look in faith to when they will encompass the whole world. Jeremiah describes what will one day be true of the entire globe: “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jer 31:34).” The liberal wants the city walls to be universal right now; the purist wants to hold off on any expansion plans until the final trump shall sound.

City walls are essential. They serve two functions: keeping in and keeping out. That wonderful line from Tolkien comes to mind, “I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” Walls surround the citizens so they know where they belong. Within these walls is your home.

The walls of this city are the Word and Sacraments. Or to put it another way, we dwell in Christ. The Apostle John uses the language of a dwelling place: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit (1Jo 4:13).” The walls of this city are Christ. His Word and His signs. Those who have heard His Word and received it by faith dwell in Him, for He places His covenant sign of water upon them, and He feeds them with Himself. We dwell in Him, while He dwells in us.

But the secondary function of a city’s walls reveals something which is offensive to many. The walls keep out. Our culture is drunk on the cheap wine of inclusion. The walls of the Gospel of Christ make it plain that the only salvation to be found is within the walls of this City, which is Christ, and the signs of citizenship. Throughout the story of the Church’s history, these walls of God’s commandments surround God’s people, and expel the enemies of these divine truths (Deu. 6:16-18, Acts 20:29, 1 Co. 5:11). There are only two types of people, and Scripture bears this out in a number of different figures: sheep and goats, wheat and tares, elect and reprobate, sons of God and sons of the devil.

One temptation we face is to mistake the lesser walls within the cities which mark out the different neighborhoods as the city walls themselves. The city walls are not our confessions of faith, or our books of procedures, or denominational lines. The City walls are the Word of Christ, and those who trust in Him as He is proclaimed in Scripture find refuge within those everlasting bulwarks of His righteousness. This is what Jesus teaches when He said, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out (Jhn 6:37).”

CITY GATES

After the erection of city walls, the next most important feature of city fortifications is the gate. In the ancient world, the gate functioned as the gathering place, the market place, and most obviously, the access point. A city gate is where it is most vulnerable. It can have impressive walls, but if the gate is compromised the city will be overrun by its enemies.

Continuing our analogy, for those who enter by faith, the gate is baptism. For those who prove to be enemies of the cross of Christ, the gates are church discipline. The WCF describes the stages of church discipline this way: admonition, suspension from the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for a season; and by excommunication from the Church (WCF XXX.4). This follows the pattern Jesus laid out in Matthew 18. We also see an OT example of this principle acted out by Nehemiah breaking up the Sabbath market which had shown up in Jerusalem’s gates.

Those who come through the gate of baptism are not the exact same group of those who will dwell forever in the City of God when it’s full glory is revealed. This is what we commonly refer to as the visible vs invisible church. Too often believers recognize the significance of the church’s duty to welcome new saints (whether in infancy or in conversion) through the gates of baptism, but neglect that the church is also tasked with expelling false sons and barring the gates to apostates. There will be those who weep outside the city gates for all eternity gnashing their teeth, clawing out their eyes, and despairing. Some of those will have been baptized at one point, and their everlasting despair will be all the worse for having tasted the goodness of the Lord, only to fall away, hearing His words of judgement, “Depart from me, for I never knew you.”

Nevertheless, these city gates are not feeble cardboard. Baptism is not a gate from Wish or Temu. Baptism is a mighty gate, which really does mark the entrance out of the world and into the church. And if John’s vision is any indication, these gates are not only strong but they are beautiful. Your baptism really is a strong glory; therefore to apostatize, to walk out of those gates in high handed rebellion is a also a shameful horror.

CITY STOREHOUSE

The Word of God makes provision for the propagation and continuation of the Church. It does this in a few ways. First, the life of the Christian family, dwelling within the walls of Christendom fill the Heavenly Jerusalem with the next generation of worshippers. This is the family’s primary task, to raise up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Mal. 2:15).  Godly men, as Solomon teaches, make every effort to provide for future generations: A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children (Pro 13:22a). This should be taken in both the material and spiritual sense.

Additionally, we see numerous instances of generational thinking. The Patriarchs blessing their sons. Moses handing things off to Joshua. David commissioning Solomon to build the temple. Paul telling Timothy to “commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also (2 Tim. 2:12).” The city of God has a storehouse which faithful saints are to fill with the treasures of wisdom, the legacy of applying the Bible to all contexts of human life, and David’s burnished shields and spears of joyful Psalm-singing.

Where one generation neglects to fill the storehouse with good things, the following generation is poorly positioned to weather a siege by the enemies of error, sin, and compromise. Judah’s King Asa once plundered the treasury of the temple to pay the pagan Syrian king to go to war with his brethren in Israel; this significantly weakened Judah. Asa’s own health reflects this weakened state, as he ends his days with diseased feet, unable to go forth to plant his feet in conquest. All because he grew fearful of his circumstances, and instead of walking by faith decided to empty the storehouse for a foolish project.

CITY FORTIFICATIONS

One of the besetting follies of conquerers is to think that once peace is established the work is done. Many a victory has turned into a route because the would be victors became drunk on the spoil. The armor of God includes the need to have our feet shod with the Gospel of peace. This implies that the peace envisioned by the Gospel is not insular, retreat-ist, or communal.

Rather, once peace has been established the city must begin to think about expanding its footprint. This, like Israel of old, will be done bit by bit. While Christendom largely expanded North and West from Israel, we must not forget that there have been Christian churches found which date back to the 700s as far Northeast as Beijing. Missionaries have shed their bled in far off frontiers, and while their bones have long since turned to dust, the blood they shed for the Gospel is a seed which will, in future centuries turned into a glorious Gospel harvest bringing in once pagan nations into the newly expanded city walls of Christ’s global governance.

The Gospel Word, while we have been comparing it to city walls, is likened in Scripture to leaven expanding a lump of dough, or a mustard seed growing into a glorious tree, or a small stone turning into a global mountain. The City Walls are intended to be expanded to encompass the entire world. The universalist wants to tear down the walls in order to pretend that that somehow fulfills the Great Commission…tada no walls, now everyone is in the city! No, the walls must never be torn down, but they are to be steadily expanded by faithful application to every new hill, each new valley, each river and sea.

CONCLUSION

Walls, gates, storehouse, and fortifications for future expansion. That is the life the Church. The Word begets us and defines where the City is. The gates welcome repentant sinners into the life of the Glorious City of our God. The storehouses must be continually filled with the virtues of grace, the blessings of faithfulness, and the foresight for generational prosperity. The citizens must not rest until every hill and distant island is circumferenced by the strong walls of Christ our Lord. Indeed, glorious things of thee are spoken, oh city of our God.

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State of the Church 2025 (CC Downtown)

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION

Many passages of Scripture require us to have a sort of double vision. The problems of heresies and schisms arise when one group sees the text one way, while another group sees it another way. Meanwhile, when viewed with the right sort of double vision both aspects fit together perfectly with no contradiction or violence to the distinctions between them. Our task is to receive such texts humbly with both hands.

THE TEXT

That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace: That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD. (Psa 144:12-15 KJV)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This Psalm is a prayer for deliverance from enemies (vv1-11). There are echoes of the prayers found in several prior Psalms. The second part, which we are considering, is the reason David gives to God for why the Lord should grant a gracious deliverance. Why should God condescend and consider man (v3)? The reason David gives to the Lord for why God should answer this prayer is so that the sons of Israel might become stately cedars, and the daughters of Israel may become ornate pillars of a stable civilization (v12). Additionally, David reasons with God that this deliverance from “strange children” will allow Israel to enjoy barns full of grain and grapes, innumerable herds (v13), strong oxen for next year’s sowing and harvesting (v14a), and streets that are quiet and undisturbed by warfare (v14b).

David concludes his argument with God by prevailing upon the Most High to consider the happiness of those whose God is Yahweh. David echos Moses’ blessings upon Israel at the end of Deuteronomy: Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places (Deu 33:29 KJV). God delivered His people in order to bestow upon them everlasting happiness by covenant fellowship. David points at the surrounding enemies and then invites God to consider His covenant promises, calling upon God to establish the joy of His people.

SONS, DAUGHTERS, AND WEALTH

We should see this picture with double vision and both are good. Some might take this to be David being too consumed with temporal and earthly blessings of children, crops, and herds. Someone might snark that David seems to have made his family, material comfort, and happiness an idol. Others try to scrub these verses with lysol wipes of etherealism: David means metaphorical flocks and is envisioning the flock of the NT church. Still others see the promise of full barns, and get dollar signs in their eyes and conclude that earthly wealth is the top floor of the joy elevator. But both the prosperity Gospel swindler, and the thinly sliced pietist miss what is going on here.

The promise of sons that are strong as oak trees, daughters ornate as palace pillars, and flocks as numerous as the sand no the seashore is not an automatic blessing. This blessing is downstream from blessing God. David blesses God, David sings a new song to the Lord (vv1, 9-10). The legacy of healthy offspring and earthly prosperity is not automatic. But it is promised by God, and our response should be one of true faith. But here is where the double vision is needed. The reasons David gave God for delivering Israel was so that Israel could have robust sons and daughters and earthly wealth; but if you look at it rightly you can see that everything in David’s list is, in part, what is necessary to maintain the sacrificial worship of the tabernacle.

The prophet Joel portrays the inversion of these covenantal blessings, and explicitly highlights that the devastation of the locust army had consequences when it came to continuing the sacrifices which God had commanded (Joe 1:8-10 KJV). David then sees children and earthly wealth as the means whereby worship of the living God might be carried on to all generations. He is not the short-sighted hedonist, nor is he the severe exegete. David summons us to consider that sons and daughters and material blessings are the means whereby God’s kingdom is continually built up and prospered and advanced.

OUR GROWING BODY

We have been worshipping together as a distinct service for two and half years. Our aim should be that as this congregation grows, as a microcosm of the broader Moscow growth, we must get the order right. Bless God first and foremost in order for your vineyard to be well-laden with fruit. But don’t stop there. The fruit of children and the fruit of your labors are not ends in themselves, they are the continuation of God’s promise to fill the world, from one side to the other, with worshippers.

We have many young families. Our vision for what God is doing here at CCD must be that these sons will soon be running the institutions the previous generation established, these daughters will soon be raising their own brood, all your wealth will soon be handed down to your heirs. The question is, will they be steadfast in the worship of the living God? Will they love the standard? Will they be more courageous and bold than you? Will they treasure God’s Word as great spoil?

Our prayer for deliverance from enemies of woke policies, globalist tyranny, deluded sexual ethics, and vain fiscal measures must always be aimed at the intention that we and our children might worship God in all peace and quietness. But deliverance from evil is never a permission slip to longer naps, lazier work ethic, gentle parenting, or hazy Bible reading practices.

TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL HAPPINESS

All this demands three things. Do not let off the gas when it comes to teaching your family to walk in the ways of the Lord, and filling your home with joyful songs of praise, the truthful words of sincere confession, and the rejection of mindless worldly entertainment. Secondly, work hard. David’s request to God to spare Israel from the destruction of invading armies is so that next year Israel can get to work again on another season of plowing, sowing, watering and harvesting. Do not avoid hard work, find another gear, and do so for the reasons described in this Psalm: supplying the needs for the mission of God’s covenant promises to a thousand generations.

Lastly, blessing God and being made happy by God are the brackets of this Psalm. This is true living. Bless God. Receive His blessings with true faith and gladness in order to bless Him once more. But don’t fall into the trap of viewing the temporal and eternal as enemies. You are raising children who will either live forever in the bliss of heaven, or forever damned due to unbelief. You are working to bring glorious treasures into the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21:24). This is because if the Lord is your God, happiness is both your present and everlasting reality.

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What is Man? (Advent #2) (CC Downtown)

Christ Church on

PSALM 8

1 O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth,

Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have ordained strength,

Because of Your enemies,

That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

4 What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

7 All sheep and oxen—

Even the beasts of the field,

8 The birds of the air,

And the fish of the sea

That pass through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

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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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