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Soul War and Submission

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The Text

“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” (1 Peter 2:11-17)

Introduction

Up to this point, Peter has primarily focused on the people of God as the people of God. You are the children of the Father so be like your Father and love your brothers (but there’s no mention about the Gentile neighbor kids). You are God’s house and this is what it looks like from the inside, but how does it look from the outside? Now the front door of the house is opened up and the children of the Father are about to enter the world. But Peter warns that the world is a war zone––a war within you that has consequences for the world. And this war must be fought by those who fully submitted to the Lord.

“Beloved”  (vs. 11)

Peter begins with a pleading admonition, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul.” He wants them to know that they share their identity with Jesus, the Beloved Son of God (Mt. 3:17, 17:5). What did Jesus do as the Beloved? After his baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, and then the Beloved of God battled Satan. After his transformation, Jesus moves toward Jerusalem where he tells his disciples that he’s going to make war and must suffer and die and be raised from the dead. So when Peter calls us “Beloved” it means more than a mom’s parting words, “Stay safe and make good choices.” The beloved are filled with Spirit and on the mission of the Father.

Soul Warfare (vs. 11)

The beloved as sojourners and pilgrims are to “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul” (vs. 11). Within each of us rages a war whether Jesus will rule as king or not. You align with Christ or against Christ. And your life and heart and words are all skirmishes.  This should cause fear, but not despair. Fear, because this is of chief importance, but not despair because if you are with Christ and Christ is with you, you are on the victorious side.

Gentiles Glorify God (vs. 12)

The impact of your fight is not just for your soul but the salvation of unbelievers. Abstain from sin and have honorable conduct among the Gentiles so that “when they speak against you as evil doers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” Those who give glory to God are the good guys. That means that bad guys become the good guys, and this is initiated by how Christians live. God’s people are not only on the defensive, repelling the attacks of our sinful desires, but on the advance through your obedience. Tell us, Peter, how we can do this?

Submit for the Lord’s Sake (vs. 13-14)

“Therefore, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” Our reaction should be to submit to Peter’s command to submit. The test of submission is when you are required to do something you don’t want to do, but is required of you. You can only submit to man’s authority once you have submitted to God’s exhaustive sovereignty. “Submit for the Lord’s sake.” Jesus is Lord and his Lordship is over all and he has established all those in authority (Romans 13:1). That means that Donald Trump is the Lord’s ruler. Barak Obama is the Lord’s ruler. Caesar Augustus and Nero and Pilate are the Lord’s ruler. Any government from the Roman Empire to US Senate to the Moscow Board of Adjusters has been established by Jesus. And so we submit because our obedience is before God.

“But Peter, what if the government commands us to do what God commands us to do something to disobey God?” We have a very clear, and simple word from Scripture––obey God.

“But Peter, you didn’t live in a world like ours. You didn’t have a corrupt government like us.” Yes he did. We don’t submit to the government because it’s godly. We submit to the government in order for it to become godly. We demand the government to submit to God, but we have failed God’s commands to submit to our government. The fact that the world still looks like world is a failure of Christians to look like and live like Christ.

Free to be a Slave (vs. 15-17)

Your submission to kings is a powerful weapon for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom. “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” Your good life and good conduct will silence those who deny God. Peter says you have been set free, set free to be the slaves of God. And God commands you “Beloved, abstain from fleshly desires. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.”

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1 Peter 2:1-10

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Introduction:
Besides the introduction to the book of 1 Peter, Ty has covered three important themes in the first chapter. The first was our identity as chosen by God as one of His children. The second was the fact that this includes a magnificent inheritance that is guarded for us in heaven. And, what follows from this as the necessary expectation that we live as obedient children before our God who saved us in Christ. Finally, chapter one ends on the assurance that this salvation and inheritance is not a passing fancy. It is fixed securely on the fact that we were born again by God’s incorruptible, eternal word, when we believed the gospel — and what is that Gospel? That all our sins, past, present and future we paid for in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Therefore — get rid of sin:
You’ve been born again by God, therefore as his child purify your soul by getting rid of all malice. What is malice? A simple definition is: the desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another. Proverbs warns against this. In Proverbs 24:17 it reads: Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.

You’ve been born again by God, therefore as his child purify your soul by getting rid of all deceit. What is deceit? This problem is so common that we have all sorts of synonyms for it. Let me share just a few: lying, false witness, falsehoods, shading the truth, cheating, all of which can be connected to the hypocrisy of trying to make yourself “look” better than you really are.

You’ve been born again by God, therefore as his child purify your soul by getting rid of all envy. What is envy? On the surface, it is wanting other people’s stuff. But, it would also including everything that others’ might represent in terms of popularity, looks, gifts, intelligence, relationships. Now, this seems somewhat less serious (in terms of sin) than malice and deceit, but don’t deceive yourself! Paul in Colossians 3:5 identifies covetousness (envy) with idolatry: Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

You’ve been born again by God, therefore as his child purify your soul by getting rid of all evil speaking. We don’t need a definition for evil speaking, but we may need help in identifying when we are doing this. Criticizing others, putting them down, passing on gossip comes so easily that I confess that most of the time we may not be seeing our words in this light. From Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.only speak encouraging words.”

Therefore … grow:
“as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,”

God is not just concerned about cleaning house by getting rid of stuff. We don’t want the house cleaned but empty inviting 7 spirits worse than the original to return. We want to put off and then put on. Here, the command is to desire more of the word of God. And, this expectation is built on verse 3 that asks the hypothetical question — IF you have tasted or know that God is gracious!

Cornerstone:
1 Peter 2:4-5 echoes Paul in Ephesians 2:19-22. In both the Peter and Paul passages, the message is clear. Jesus is the cornerstone, chosen by God. What is a cornerstone? What does that “picture” represent? It is the first stone laid in the building. From it every other stone is measured and aligned and fitted. Everything hangs on Him. Hear the echo in Colossians 1:15: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion, A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

Peter is quoting from Psalm 118. Jesus too is recorded as quoting this passage in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke 20:17) when asked about his authority, and Jesus turns the question of the religious leaders on them asking about John the Baptist. Did you believe him? Jesus challenged them with this question about John and then told them a parable about the wicked vine dressers who rejected the son of the owner when he came to collect the rent. It was here that Jesus quotes Ps 118 connecting his calling and authority from the Father with their unbelief. And for Peter this is not the first time that he has used it. Peter and John testify to the truth of this Psalm when they are called before the council in Jerusalem because they continued to preach Jesus’ resurrection from the dead as the sign of Jesus identity and authority.

Outcome of Belief or Unbelief:
In 1 Peter 2:7-8, God confirms that Jesus is His chosen cornerstone and that this stone not only forms the foundation for those who believe but also stumbles those who don’t believe. This verse was an important junction in my road of understanding this doctrine. It is clear, unambiguous, direct. This all in the context of Peter telling us that God’s salvation was also planned from before the foundation of the world in Chapter 1.

God’s sovereignty messes with our desire to be in control — as it should. And, it messes with our sense of fair play. Many argue that it is simply unfair or capricious on God’s part. Or, they would add that it makes us out to be robots so don’t worry about anything as you don’t have any say in the matter. But, to go here is wrong headed. As for being fair, if God was totally fair, we would all be lost. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. And, the wages of sin are death. This applies to everyone. So, in giving salvation to anyone, God is not being fair and THANK GOD that is so.

Now, having addressed those who deny Christ, what about those who believe?

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

As Ty taught from Chapter 1, Peter emphasizes the election/choosing of both Christ for His role in the salvation of the world and also our election in Christ.

Christ’s role is to be that Cornerstone, the key to everything that follows. And what follows is a reaffirmation of our identity in Christ. Like Christ, we are chosen. Like Christ, our role is given in a picture. Instead of the cornerstone or foundation, we are pictured as living stones of a temple and as the King’s priests. God’s own. And as a result we have a purpose. In chapter 1, we have the link of children of God and Holiness in imitation of our Father. Here, we are royal priests, people of God called to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness, and that sound like a straightforward mission.

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Life with Our Holy Father

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The Text

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;  as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all yourconduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’ . . .” (1 Peter 1:13-25)

Introduction

Peter writes to the people of God who need to know their identity and their mission in the world. Their identity as the children of God is bundled up with Jesus, the Son of God. You are the elect of God, just like Jesus is God’s elect. Because of the Father’s abundant mercy, you to be born again to a living hope––a hope of life. This happened through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And so your salvation is union with Christ. His suffering is your suffering. His life, your life. His Father, your Father. His inheritance, your inheritance. This is the good news that the Spirit has prepared by the prophets and has been preached to you. God has made you his children. He has treated you as his children. Therefore, as his children, be like your holy Father.

Gird Up to Fully Rest (vs. 13)

Because all this is true, Peter exhorts, “Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind…” and prepare for a great action. This charge would recall biblical examples like Elijah (1Kings 18:46), and Jeremiah (Jer. 1:17), and the nation of Israel, who ate the Passover meal with their loins girded, their shoes on, their staff in hand because the Lord was about to deliver them. Those prepared for warfare, for a God-given message, for a great delivery need to gird up the loins.

Peter adds, “and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the reveleation of Jesus Christ.” Gird up the loins and rest on the grace. Is this a contradiction, like one foot on the gas and the other on the brake? Paul says in Phillipians 2 after exalting Christ’s work on the cross that saves, “Therefore, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you.” (Phil. 2:12-13). You gird up for the work while resting on Jesus Christ.

As Obedient Children Be Holy (vs. 14-16)

Here’s what the girded mind needs to know––you are children of a holy God. God is holy, and so his people are also holy (Lev. 11:45). The rallying call is not try harder, do better, attempt more righteous actions––as if you are capable of producing holiness. Your hope for holiness is that your Father is holy, and you are his child, . This is not legalism, but family resemblance.

Holiness has to do with your ability to be in the presence of God. Isaiah had to be made holy because he was in the presence of the Holy God (Is. 6:4). Israel had to be a holy people like Yahweh because He was in their presence (Duet. 23:14). Hebrews 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Do you want to see the Lord? Do you want to be in His presence? Do you want Him to be in your presence? Then pursue holiness in all your conduct.

Redeemed with Passover Blood (vs. 17-21)

If you call on God as your Father, Peter exhorts the church “to conduct yourselves in fear” knowing that God will judge you as His children. God’s judgement of His children is not at odds with his abundant mercy, grace, and love for His children but demonstrates how much He values us. As children you have been redeemed through the “precious blood of Christ” who is the new Passover Lamb (Ex. 12:2-13). The blood of the lamb identitied God’s chosen people Israel. Peter say you have been marked, identified, redeemed by the blood of Jesus. And this causes a great response in His blood-bought people.

Identity and Obedience

Leave Egypt! Grab your staff, fasten your sandals, gird your loins because we are going to the Promise Land. Just as Israel could not remain in slavery after the Passover, so God’s people can not remain in their slavery to sin. You have been identified and have been delievered by the blood of Jesus. You are free to obey, and you must obey. Obedience is a matter of life and death. If you remain in your sin, in the land of slavery and hard-hearts and hatred for God, you will die.

Born Again to Love Your Family (vs. 22-25)

Now Peter looks at the redeemed people and assumes they are already trekking out of Egypt with a pure soul, obeying the truth, fervently loving the brothers (vs 22), and they should keep it up. This is all possible because they “have been born again through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”

This word is the gospel preached that is able to deliver a nation, turn sinners into children, bring life from death, and gives the identity to the people of God. You are obedient children who have been born again through the Word of God. You are a holy nation that lives a holy life and provides access to your Holy Father. You are the redeemed Passover people, always offering and displaying the blood of the lamb who has delivered you. So gird up your mind, be sober, set your hope fully on the grace of the Jesus Christ, and live as obedient children with your holy Father.

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The Meaning of Love and Justice (State of the Church 2018 #4)

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Introduction

The central difficulty with the great idol of the collective, the false god of statism, is that we have wanted to substitute the word of man for the Word of God. We want to define love according to our own lights. We have wanted to define justice without reference to biblical law, and this then makes us choose between individualism and collectivism. And then, because we have been thrown into a realm where might determines right, the collective wins.

But we are individuals saved by grace, bound together in a mystical body. This has been done in accordance with the Scriptures, which means that love and justice are defined from outside the world.

The Text

“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:8–10).

Summary of the Text

A community like ours should be bound together by love. Sounds great, but what do we mean exactly? Our bonds to one another need to be stronger than the bonds of debtor/creditor (v. 8). If we love the other, then that means we have fulfilled the law. Paul then mentions the seventh, sixth, eighth, ninth, and tenth commandments, in that order, and says that they are all comprehended in this one commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). The word rendered as comprehended is a verb that comes from the root kephale, meaning head (v. 9). Paul then tells us why. Love works no evil to its neighbor, and this is why love is the fulfillment of the law (v. 10). Love, in short, refuses to perpetrate injustice, and justice is defined by the law of God, which in turn is shaped by the character of God Himself—and remember that God is love (1 Jn. 4:8). Put all these together, and meditate on these identities.

Sin is Therefore Lovelessness

The apostle John defines sin for us in a very succinct way. “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4, ESV). Sin is lawlessness. That’s it; that’s the heart of it. But what is to keep the law from the heart? Scripture describes that as love. And so what does it mean to love someone? It means to treat them lawfully from the heart. Note that this excludes a mere ticking of boxes. The emphasis needs to be on the heart.

Jesus teaches us this explicitly. “Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also” (Matt. 23:26). Cleansing the outside of the cup doesn’t get the inside clean. But when the inside is clean, what happens? Jesus says “that the outside may be clean also.”

The Great Clash

In the first message of this series, I said that one of the great enemies of our day is “relativism, subjectivism, the despotism of feelings.” And by this I meant “the idea that the world of facts is not the controlling reality. Reality, in other words, is optional.” We have been taught—ad nauseam we have been taught—that love is what you feel. When the feeling wanes or goes away, as the theory goes, so has the love. This has been the source of untold misery in the world. In a biblical framework, your feelings start to wander off, and love looks up with a sharp maternal gleam in her eye and says, “Get back here.”

In a biblical framework, you and all your feeling are like a first-grade teacher taking her whole class to some busy downtown museum, and every last one of them is on a neon-colored leash.

Covenant Bonds

As we talk about true Christian community, which is based on koinonia fellowship, we have to begin with the nature of covenant commitments. This applies to marriage and family, it applies to membership in the church, and it applies to the rest of life also. I am going to ask you to bear with a few illustrations, but they all line up with what a wise Puritan once said about marriage. “First he chooses his love, and then he loves his choice.”

If you go down in the basement of a house, you will likely be able to find cold concrete in straight lines. Let us call it cold covenant concrete—a bunch of unsentimental concrete. Then go up into the living room, and you will there see curtains, warm colors, cushions, sofas, carpet, and so on. This is where you live, but it cannot be the foundation of the house. Roll up the carpet, mound the cushions, throw curtains on top of it, and then try to situate a stud wall on top of that.

Or imagine you discipline your emotions the same way some folks discipline their kids (or not). Some people are so disordered in this that they have come to believe that if someone’s “children” are not unruly hellions, then this must mean that they don’t even have no kids. No, they have kids, but their kids mind. We like to describe self-controlled people as “unemotional,” but what we really mean is that their emotions are not half-civilized yard apes on a sugar rush. And by the way, before the wrong people start commending themselves for how “unemotional” they are, I would remind them that anger is an emotion.

Recall the three governments mentioned in an earlier message—the family is the ministry of health, education and welfare. The church is the ministry of grace and peace. The civil magistrate is the ministry of justice. The non-institutional government that supports and makes possible all three of these is self-government.

Put On Your Jesus Coat

Because we are forgiven by God through Christ (Eph. 4:32), so it is possible for us to be exhorted to imitate Christ (1 Pet. 2:21). But we are to imitate the whole process. Jesus did what He did for the joy that was set before Him (Heb. 12:2), and because of His obedience true joy is a possibility. But Jesus did not go to the cross on an emotional high. The greatest act of love that was ever offered up to God was the death of Christ on the cross (Rom. 5:8). And Jesus tried to get out of it (Matt. 26:39). But His house was not built on the cushions, and so it is that we are saved. His love for you had a more sure foundation than that.

So put on Christ (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27). Put on your Jesus coat. Make sure you put your arms through both sleeves.

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Membership, Like-mindedness, and Loyalty (State of the Church 2018 #3)

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Introduction

As we build these new city walls in the midst of a ruined and ruinous old order, we will be attacked in ways that seek to divide us. We will be accused of being cultic, in thrall to charismatic “leaders.” But the Scriptures do require us to cultivate like-mindedness, and also require us to maintain a solid distinction between things of first importance, things of secondary importance, and things indifferent.

One of the things that modern Christians have a hard time doing right is loyalty. We don’t know how loyalty is supposed to work. We don’t understand the spiritual requirement of personal allegiance to your church and its leadership, and in addition we have a very poor understanding of what disloyalty actually smells like.

The Text

“Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits” (Rom. 12:16).

As you study this topic, please keep in mind the fact that we are told this same kind of thing often (Rom. 15:5-6; 2 Cor. 13:11; Phil. 1:27; 2:2; 1 Pet. 3:8; Phil. 2:20).

Summary of the Text

As you can see in the text, like-mindedness is a function of humility. It is not necessarily a function of high intellectual attainment. If that is accompanied by pride (as it often is—1 Cor. 8:1), then the opposite of like-mindedness will occur. Never forget that the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace—which necessarily includes this like-mindedness—is in fact a work of the Spirit. And where the Spirit comes He engenders the fruit of the Spirit, which in their turn contribute to humility, grace, peace, and like-mindedness.

Membership

“Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation” (Heb. 13:7).

“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you” (Heb. 13:17).

These two verses, incidentally, taken together, provide a compelling argument for membership in a local congregation. These individuals have to know the names of the men who rule over them—you cannot obey an undefined leadership. And a body of elders cannot render an account for an undefined membership. If you don’t know who your rulers are, you cannot consider the outcome of their conduct or way of life. And if you don’t know who you are responsible for, you cannot watch over their souls. So these two verses, taken together, require two lists of names—a list of the elders and a list of the members. Obedience to Scripture at this point is impossible otherwise. Pastors and elders are not allowed to look at their flocks on a distant hillside, as painted by an impressionist at a low point in his game, and working with dirty brushes. “Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds” (Prov. 27:23). No, giving an account means counting.

How Membership Works Here

Our church has adopted the Westminster Confession. What this tells us is what doctrinal framework you can expect to hear from the pulpit. It does not tell you what you are required to affirm. You are bound to affirm nothing until you see it in the text of Scripture for yourself—but after that, of course honesty requires you to affirm it. We are a Reformed church, but this means that an Arminian charismatic dispensationalist could join. What we require of our members is a biblical confession that Jesus is Lord, and that they agree not to go downtown on the weekends to shoot out the streetlights.

No Human Authority

No human authority is absolute, and yet at the same time we are taught in Scripture that authority is genuine, and is to be honored as far as obedience to God allows. This creates a problem, but it is a problem that God wants us to have.

Let me begin by noting that—in this as in so many other situations—there is a ditch on both sides of the road. One ditch might be called the “Dear Leader” ditch, the insistence that everyone applaud like they were a spectator at a North Korean missile parade, clapping in sync with the goose-stepping soldiers. That really is cultic. But in the other ditch we find ornery cussedness, pretending to be valiant for truth, but in the last analysis they are loyal only to their own thoughts, opinions, and perspectives. These people are disrespectful, disloyal, and disruptive.

Actual Temptations

Here is a relevant observation from Screwtape. “The game is to have them all running about with fire extinguishers whenever there is a flood, and all crowding to that side of the boat which is already nearly gunwale under.”[1]

When it comes to life in our modern congregations, we think we have to guard against mindless conformity when what really threatens our spiritual health is our radical individualism. The Scriptures tell us what we should be laboring for, striving for, and praying for. We are not told to work at maintaining independence of thought. We are not told to build some ecclesiastical variant of academic freedom. We are commanded to strive for like-mindedness, to be of one mind.

Allow me the privilege of translating all of this into modern American English for you. Drink the Kool-Aid. Join the cult. Surrender your independence. Swallow the party line. Go baaa like a sheep. Strive for the nirvana of acquiescence.

Modern Christians allow the Bible to talk that way because it is their sacred book and so they are technically stuck with it. But if any Christian leader, anywhere, anytime, teaches that obedience and maintaining a teachable spirit are virtues to be cultivated by church members, then that guy is now a hazard with blinking lights all over him. He is clearly power-tripping. He must be a Diotrephes. He is Diotrephes automatically.

Pursue Christ

Now this means that members of churches have assigned duties of loyalty and obedience. But what some Christians today believe is that their membership actually requires impudent feedback when they disagree, preferably online. I have seen some behavior in that department that, as one of my daughters might put it, makes my eyeballs sweaty.

But people today are nevertheless hungry for true community, and true community is impossible apart from shared values and mores—like-mindedness, in other words. But once community actually starts to form, the attacks on the “cult” will begin. Vulnerable and sophomoric Christians in the community will be taunted—prove your independence. Whatever your leader asks for, vote no, drag your feet, raise a stink, and put some daylight between yourself and that guy. As if you could establish independence by always finding the North Star, and always sailing south by it. But that’s not independence.

Remember that unity and like-mindedness are a function being apprehended by, and apprehending, Christ. He is the one in whom every joint and ligament joins (Eph. 4:16).

[1] C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (HarperOne, 2001), 138.

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