Christ Church

The Remarkable Inner Man (Eph. 3)

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

In this chapter, human language almost collapses—even though it is inspired human language—under the weight of glory that God has prepared for His children. We see this at the beginning of the chapter, where Paul starts with “I, Paul” in the nominative, and he never gets to a verb that goes with that beginning. This is no mistake in Scripture, but rather what it looks like when you put infinite glory in a finite container. This is what perfection looks like.

The Text

“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words . . .” (Eph. 3:1-21).

Summary of the Text

The glories described in the first two chapters now come down to the ministry of Paul, a prisoner for the sake of the Gentiles (v. 1). He was given the administration of God’s grace to the Gentiles (v. 2). An unveiled mystery had been given to Paul by revelation, which he had written about previously (v. 3). This might refer to a previous letter, or it might refer to the first two chapters. He calls what he had written “the mystery of Christ” and if the Ephesians read it, they will understand Paul’s knowledge of it. Previous ages did not know this, but the Spirit has now revealed it to the apostles and prophets (v. 5). That mystery was that the Gentiles were to be fully included in all the promises (v. 6). Paul was given this mystery, and was made a minister of this mystery (v. 7). He was not worthy of the honor, but was given the tremendous privilege of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles (v. 8). This would make all men see the nature of this fellowship, which was the whole point from the very first (v. 9). When this happened, then even the principalities and powers in the heavenly places would see the manifold wisdom of God (v. 10). This was His eternal point in Christ (v. 11).

This being the case, we have boldness in our access through faith into His presence (v. 12). This puts tribulation for Christ’s sake into a completely different light—it is glory (v. 13). This is why Paul bows the knee before the Father (v. 14), from whom all fatherhood derives its name (v. 15). Paul asks that God would grant, according to His riches, that we—I include us with the Ephesians here (v. 18)—be strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man (v. 16), in order that Christ might dwell in us by faith, rooting us deeply in His love (v. 17), and that we might be able to comprehend the incomprehensible (v. 18), to know the unknowable (v. 19), and to be filled with all the fullness of God (v. 19). And if that were not enough, Paul asks the benediction in the name of the one who can do a whole lot more than that (v. 20)—and may He have glory in the church, through Christ Jesus, unto a piled- up eternity of ages (v. 21). And then he says amen to that (v. 21).

Jew and Gentile

God is the unfolder of great surprises. What He continually does is invite us to take a step back, and use the zoom out feature. Now, see? We thought the task of the godly was to keep our candle lit in a blustery night. The candle was all the purposes of God, and the overarching night was the inexorable power of worldliness. But zoom out. The sun is rising. The night is done, gone, over. Christ has risen, and He will never set. The time of night is long past, and so Christians ought to quit seeking out dark corners of basements in order be able to play their pessimistic game of “night time.” The first great move was from Jew to Jew and Gentile together. The next was Christian and unbeliever. Just as Gentiles came into Israel through Christ, so also unbelievers will come into Christ . . . through Christ.

Tall Order

This section of Scripture does not just contain big words, but rather immense words. He refers to the “unsearchable riches” of Christ (v. 8). He wants all men to see what God hid from the beginning of the world (v. 9). He wants crushed glory here to be bold before the throne of God (vv. 12-13). Notice the juxtaposition of “boldness” and “bow.” He wants us to be strengthened with might, according to His riches, not according to our capacity (v. 16). He wants us to comprehend, along with all the saints, the length, breadth, depth and height (v. 18). He wants us to know what can’t be known (v. 19). He wants us to be filled with the fullness of God (v. 19), and he wants us to learn how to think of all these things as the first page of the first chapter of the first book in a library filled with an infinite number of volumes. Think of this. Christ is always the infinite wisdom of God, and you, by His grace, are going to live forever.

The Remarkable Inner Man

In verse 16, Paul speaks of the inner man being strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit. The strengthening of this inner man is such that all the staggering gifts in the verses that follow might be possible. This inner man is not referring the soul as opposed to the body, and it is not contrasting the innards with the epidermis. Paul here is speaking of the regenerate man—the man within that has been brought to life. He is speaking of the new heart, the principle of new life which is able to “get” what he is talking about here. He speaks the same way in 2 Cor. 4:16-17. “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”This is the same thing. Being born again is not just becoming a nice person instead of a nasty one (although that is involved). Being born again means being fitted out for glory, and the tribulations you go through now are simply God’s way of stress-testing the rivets.

Read Full Article

The Glory and Grace of New Birth (Eph. 2)

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

This chapter can be understood in three basic segments. The first describes the condition of man prior to regeneration (vv. 1-3). The second is a treatment of how God’s grace works in such people, and the nature of the change accomplished in them (vv. 4-6). And the third is a description of the design God had in working such a transformation in them (vv. 7-22). All of it results—if we are paying attention—in a hymn of praise to the free grace and kindness of the most sovereign God.

The Text

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others . . .” (Eph. 2:1-22).

Summary of the Text

The Ephesian Gentiles were dead in their trespasses and sin, and God made them alive again (v. 1). They had been the walking dead, under the dominion of the prince of evil, and in line with the world’s way of doing things (v. 2). Everybody has been in this condition (“we all”), and were therefore children of wrath by nature, walking in accordance with that nature (v. 3).

But God, motivated by the richness of His mercy and the greatness of His love toward us (v. 4), quickened us together with Christ (v. 5). This is the meaning of grace. He has joined us to the resurrection of Jesus, and to His ascension (v. 6).

The reason He did this was to put on a show for the coming ages (v. 7)—a fireworks display of mercy, grace and kindness. The Ephesians were saved by grace through faith, and not from themselves (v. 8). It is not by works— contextually, anything autonomous, anything from ourselves (v. 9). For we are God’s project, fashioned for good works (v. 10). We are saved to good works, not by them. So the Ephesians should remember that they used to be called Uncircumcision, Gentiles according to the flesh (v. 11), and at that time they were utter outsiders (v. 12). But now in Christ they are brought close to all those things they were far away from before (v. 13). So the blood of Christ has made them citizens of Israel, friends of the covenants of promise, full of hope, and possessors of God in the world. Christ is our peace, making one new man (Christian) out of the two men before (Jew and Gentile), and He did this by breaking down the middle wall of partition (v. 14). He did this by abolishing the laws of separation contained in the Mosaic law (v. 15), and in this He reconciled both unto God (v. 16). And so He preached peace to those who were far away from salvation, and those standing right next to it (v. 17). Through Jesus, everyone has access by one Spirit, to the Father (v. 18). The Ephesian Gentiles are therefore no longer aliens, but rather are fellow citizens with the saints, and full members of God’s household (v. 19). Jesus is the cornerstone, the apostles and prophets are the foundation stones, and we are all being built on that (v. 20). With that foundation, the whole Temple (an organic Temple) grows, as we are being shaped and fashioned (v. 21). The whole point is to make a dwelling place for God (v. 22).

Three Prepositions

In verse 18, we are given a glorious picture of the Trinitarian nature of prayer and the approach to God. Paul says “we both,” meaning Jews and Gentiles alike. Another way of saying this is “everybody.” He uses three prepositions to make his point—through, by, and to. We come to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. This is why, when we pray, we address the Father, and not Jesus. This is why, when we close, we pray in Jesus’ name, and not in the Father’s name. And this is why the Spirit moves us to pray. Think of it this way—all three Persons are members of the Godhead, of course. But the Father is the city we are driving to, the Son is the road, and the Spirit is the car.

A Living Temple for God

The apostle Peter uses a similar image, when he says that we are all living stones—stones for a Temple, and all the stones are alive (1 Pet. 2:4-5). Here Paul says that the Temple is being worked on (“fitly framed,” and “builded together”), but he also says that the building grows. Given the quarry of death we were all brought from, it is striking that God uses us to build a Temple that is entirely alive. Dead stones are made—by regeneration—into living stones.

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil

Our condition apart from the efficacious grace of God (by which I mean the new birth) is absolutely hopeless. Notice first the familiar triad of the “world, the flesh, and the devil.” First, the world—he says the Ephesians walked “according to the course of this world” (v. 2). He says that they did this in accordance with their own nature (“by nature children of wrath” (v. 3)). In this condition they pursued the desires of both flesh and mind. And then, he says that this was under the prince of the power of the air, who exercises dominion over the children of disobedience (v. 2). There you have it—the world, the flesh, and the devil. Are you going to escape on your own? Not a chance.

Notice also that covenants, ceremonies, circumcisions, incense, Scriptures, sacrifices, and membership in Israel do not fix this problem. Saul had been “blameless” when it came to the law (Phil. 3:6), and yet here he includes himself in this mess that original sin created—we all were by nature children of wrath (v. 3).

The Glory and Grace of the New Birth

Dead means dead. And this means also that there is no salvation apart from resurrection. If Christ is raised from the dead, and if that resurrection is imparted to you, then you are alive in Him. If not, then not. And you can be without this life even though you are a learned teacher in Israel, as Nicodemus was.

There is only death and life, and no third category in between them. Sprinkle water on a dead stone, and what you get is a wet stone, not a living one. Only life can impart life, and so baptism is only a blessing if it is done with living water. And it is only living water if it is Christ Himself. And Christ is only apprehended where there is true evangelical faith (vv. 8-9). Living faith—the gift of God, remember—transforms it all. It transforms dead faith, dead water, dead stones, dead people, dead religion, and any other dead thing we like (in our death) to carry around.

Read Full Article

One of the Central Jewels (Eph. 1)

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

Considering the book of Ephesians a chapter at a time is a little bit like taking pictures of the Rocky Mountains from outer space. There is no hope of covering everything; there is perhaps some hope of stirring up a desire in you to give yourself to a lifetime of meditating on the themes of this book. As we learn later in this epistle, the Church is the bride of Christ. As she is gloriously adorned for her husband on her wedding day, she wears a golden crown, made up of all the Scriptures. If that image be allowed, the book of Ephesians should be understood as one of the central jewels in it.

The Text

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ . . .” (Eph. 1:1-23).

Ephesus the Great

Ephesus was a harbor city on the west coast of modern Turkey It was the capital city for Proconsular Asia, and contained one of the seven wonders of the ancient world—the temple of Artemis (or Diana). It is a ruin today because the harbor silted up. But in Paul’s day, a street called the Arcadian Way ran about half a mile east from the harbor, where it connected with the cross street called Theater Street. The theater itself—where the riot occurred (Acts 19:29) was straight across the street at the intersection. The city had a population of roughly 250,000. The city was a center of great learning, as well as of great superstitions (Acts 19:19). Paul lived there from A.D. 52-54, and this letter is written about ten years later from prison in Rome.

Summary of the Text

Paul identifies himself as an apostle by the will of God, and salutes the Ephesian saints as being faithful in Christ Jesus (v. 1). He blesses them with grace and peace from the Father and the Son (v. 2). The Spirit is not mentioned by name because He is that grace and peace. A blessing is pronounced upon the Father of Jesus Christ, who is Himself the source of all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ (v. 3). The first mentioned blessing is the fact that we were chosen in Christ to be holy before the foundation of the world (v. 4). We were chosen to be holy, not because we were holy. He predestined us in love to be adopted by Jesus Christ and brought to God, and He did this because it was what He wanted (v. 5). The result of this is so that the glory of His grace would be praised, not vilified (v. 6). We have redemption through His blood, which means forgiveness for sin, according to His riches of grace (v. 7). This is a mountain of grace, but He did not just dump it on us; He showered with grace in all wisdom and prudence (v. 8). He lavishes with precision. God intended this within His own counsels for a long time past, from before when the world was made, but has now unveiled the mystery to us (v. 9). That mystery was that, when the time was finally right, God would gather everything in heaven and earth up into Christ (v. 10). In Christ, absolutely everything is recapitulated or summed up. God does everything as He wishes, and His wishes included making us His heirs (v. 11). Paul is describing himself here as inundated by the first wave of this grace (v. 12). But Gentile Ephesians not fear that this grace will run out—they also heard and believed and were sealed (v. 13). They were sealed by the Spirit, who is the earnest payment or first installment of their final inheritance (v. 14).

Ever since Paul heard of their faith in Jesus and love for the saints (v. 15), he has not stopped giving thanks for them (v. 16). His prayer for them included some remarkable requests—that the Father of glory would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in their knowledge of Christ (v. 17). He asks further that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened to the extent that they would really “get” the hope of His calling, and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (v. 18)—a real down-is-up truth. Another thing was the greatness of His power for believers (v. 19), the kind of power that was evidenced in the resurrection and ascension (v. 20). That ascension placed Christ far above all current and future authorities (v. 21). Everything was placed under His feet (v. 22), and He was made head over everything for the Church. That Church is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything (v. 23).

The True Nature of Paul’s Prayer

We are told here that Jesus was exalted to the highest imaginable place—it says that He was raised far above every other authority in the cosmos (v. 21). But this is not why Paul asks for the eyes of their hearts to be enlightened. That is not the thing that staggers us; everyone expects God to be “far above” everything. The thing that would require a special anointing from the Spirit to “get” is the coupling of this exaltation of Christ with the honoring of His bride. Consider what Paul is actually saying here. First, before the foundation of the world, God chose us (v. 4), loved us (vv. 4-5), predestined us (v. 5), blessed us (v. 6), lavished grace upon us (v. 8), and so on. Second, Paul specifically says that he is asking that the Spirit would open their eyes so that they might understand how great and glorious Christ’s inheritance is in the saints (v. 18). And third, we are told that Christ fills absolutely everything (v. 23), but in the same breath we are told that we in the Church are His fullness (v. 23). So the issue is not the exaltation of Christ; the issue is the corresponding exaltation of the Church in Christ. If we get just a portion of what Paul is talking about here, we will buckle at the knees. If we are to learn this without collapsing, God will have to do it. Your condition before conversion and your condition now can only be compared to Christ in the tomb and Christ at the right hand of Almighty God.

There are two great themes in Ephesians—the reconciliation of all things in creation to Christ, and the reconciliation of all nations in Christ. All the practical teaching is simply learning how to live as if these two great themes are true.

Read Full Article

Grace and Culture Building II

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

Last week we considered the important distinction between the qualifications for fellowship (sheer grace) and the qualifications for the various forms that leadership takes (grace manifested in and through performance). Not surprisingly, it is a topic that takes a good bit of careful thought, and hence another message on it.

The Text

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil. 2:3-4).

Summary of the Text

Paul says that nothing should be done (in our midst) through strife and vainglory (v. 3). These are sins which require the presence of other people, and the presence of others is sure to bring this temptation. The alternative to strife and vainglory is esteeming others “better than” ourselves (v. 4). Don’t hover over your “own things,” like a hen with one chick. Give a thought to how others are doing. Give a thought to the things of others. In the next verse, Paul ties the whole thing in with the express imitation of Christ. Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ (v. 5).

Now a lot rides on what it means to esteem others “better than” ourselves. Does this mean that LeBron James has to sincerely believe that an eight-year-old boy with pride problems is better at dunking than he is? Does it mean that B.B. King has to honestly think that some blues hack with sausages for fingers is better at a sweet blues lick than he is? Not at all – I believe the sense here is captured better by phrases like “more significant” (ESV), or “more important” (NASB). Remember that we are imitating Jesus here, and Jesus was not delusional.

Looking Out Your Own Eyes

Every man always thinks he is right, but the wise man knows that he is not always right. Thinking you are right is what it means to think at all. But a wise man is capable of stepping out of the immediate moment, and considering the trajectory of his life. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” (Prov. 12:15).

In Orthodoxy, Chesterton put it this way. “Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth: this has been exactly reversed.”

Mimetic Envy, Mimetic Learning

The word vainglory here is a very good transfer of the word Paul uses – kendoxia, or literally, “empty glory.” Vainglory is driven by the sly, sidelong glance – the comparison that eats away at your insides. Like a snake eating its own tail, envy tries simultaneously to imitate and deface. It is fundamentally an imitative gesture, but one that is dislocated at the center. Destructive envy tries to caress and punch at the same time.

We avoid this, not by avoiding imitation. We cannot avoid imitation – God has built an imitative race. We are all reflective mirrors, and the only choice we have is that of reflecting glory or reflecting vainglory. We are told to imitate. As dearly loved children, be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1). Imitation is consistently urged and praised (1 Cor. 4:16, 11:1, 1 Thess. 2:14, Heb. 6:12).

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good” (3 John 11). It is not whether you imitate, but which thing you imitate.

Fellowship and Leadership

So then, returning to the issue of the strong and weak, how do we decide who is who? Rock, paper, scissors? Who’s the weaker brother here? One, two, three, not it! No, the Lord shows us a more excellent way . . . “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith”(Rom. 12:1-3).

The Way of Strength

The weaker brother is one who thinks too highly of himself, or too little of himself, and, not infrequently, both at the same time. Weakness is a mass of contradictions, and strength (the real kind) is the way of liberty. It is the path of freedom out of all that.

The way to biblical strength is to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, to take your minds away from the world’s mind-press and offer them to Christ, and to think accurately in accordance with the measure of faith that God has given. This is the track – physical holiness, worldview discipleship, and then . . . a right to your own opinions, including your opinions of yourself and your abilities.

No Short Cuts

Now suppose you are no good at all at any of this. Suppose you’re an amateur porn junkie, and the only thing you know about postmodernism is that it lets you put way too much hipster gel in your hair, and so you kind of like it. Suppose you get your worldview analysis from supermarket tabloids. Suppose your soul is all tangled up in that worldliness-gunk, and you have a hard time getting through a week without getting even more on you. Are you welcome here? You are as welcome as it gets. Repent all the sins you see, and ask Jesus to deal with any other ones (1 John 1:9). Welcome. But do you want to start writing movie reviews for the church newsletter? Don’t hold your breath.

Growing Up Into Faith

Secular democracy says that you have a right to your opinion simply by having one. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes. The lazy man (including someone who is intellectually slack) is wiser in his own conceits than seven men who can offer a reason (Prov. 26:16).

But in Christ, in the church, we are called to grow up into imitative wisdom. We grow up into having a right to our views by imitating those, without envy, who clearly have a right to theirs. Consider the outcome of their way of life (Heb. 13:7), and imitate their faith. Stop attributing it to “luck.” Their garden is not free of weeds because they are “fortunate.”

Read Full Article

Politics of Christmas

Christ Church on

Introduction

The carnal, unbelieving mind always understands political rule in a particular way. The names may change—Pharaoh, Caesar, pope, or president-for-life—but the underlying realities are always the same. These realities have to do with tyranny and coercion, and the imposition of a right-handed power, the kind of power that is necessarily suspicious of biblical liberty. This is a carnal political power that breaks the two greatest commandments—it does not love God, and it refuses to love its neighbor. This is what denial of human rights amounts to—a refusal to love.

The Texts

“When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matt. 2:3).

“Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared” (Matt. 2:7).

“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men” (Matt. 2:16).

Summary of the Texts

Jesus taught us that the children of this age are often more shrewd than the children of light are. They are often more aware of the ramification of what we say we believe than we are. When Herod heard of a king of the Jews, and of a star in the east, and of the wise men’s intent to worship Him, he was troubled (v. 3). And given his position and disposition, this was an entirely predictable and natural response. He was not imagining things. Second, Herod took the news that the magi brought seriously. He investigated their time line (v. 7), and he did so diligently. The birth of Jesus was a threat to him, and to his kind of rule, and he knew it very well. The seriousness with which he took these omens can be measured by what he was willing to do about it—which was to have the young boys in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas slain (v. 16).

From the Very Start

From the very beginning, the life of Jesus presented a potent threat to the status quo. This threat was not the result of Herod’s paranoia—Herod knew what many Christians do not. The birth of this child was intended to mean that the old way of ruling mankind was doomed. The transition from the old way of rule to the new way of rule was not going to be simple or easy, but it was going to happen. Of the increase of the Lord’s government there would be no end. But whatever it meant, Herod knew that he was against it.

Our Political Sins

But there are all kinds of workarounds that we have come up with, workarounds that enable timid Christians to rush in to assuage Herod’s fears. “There is no need to panic, no need to kill anybody, no need to do that.” But when we try to allay Herod’s fears by telling him, in effect, that Christ’s kingdom is an ethereal, spiritual, floaty-kind-of-thing, the problem is that we are bearing false witness.

Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins, and our political sins are not exempted from this salvation. Why would our political sins (which frequently have been among our foulest sins) be excluded? Jesus came as a Savior of our race. If that race was beset with seventeen different terminal diseases, why would Jesus come down only to heal two of them? And why would he leave the very worst of them untouched?

Too many Christians need to be reminded not to rob Christ of the greatness of His offered salvation.

A Bookended Life

When Jesus was born into this world, the attention of the existing rulers was drawn to that fact. The political leaders were told about it. A star appeared in the sky, and respected wise men cam on a long journey and they brought their news straight to the court. And when Jesus was condemned to die, He was condemned by the Roman governor, at the insistence of a mob stirred up by the national parliament of the Jews. The life of Jesus, from beginning to end, was a public life. He was born in poverty, but not in obscurity. Given the physical circumstances, it would have been obscure if the God of heaven had not made a point of leaving the rulers without excuse.

A New Way of Being Human

We have said many times before that Jesus came to show us a new way of being human. But this is not a lesson that we must learn “down in our hearts,” and nowhere else. No, humanity is what it is in the recesses of our hearts, and it is what it is in the public square. Mankind is what it is both within and without. It is what it is inside and outside.

If it is true that Jesus was born into this world to show us a new way of being human, this must necessarily include what we do in every place in which we find ourselves. This includes when we are alone, when we are in bed, when we are at the dinner table with our families, when we are out around town, and so forth. Of course it includes every aspect of our lives.

But it also includes every aspect of everyone’s life—from the lowest hired hand up to the CEO of the corporation, from the most obscure citizen up to the greatest political dignitaries. God wants all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth, from the king on down. The transformation that Jesus has inaugurated is no partial thing.

A Political Act

And so your celebrations are all to be conducted in the name of Jesus, of course. He is the reason for the season. But more than this, He is the Lord of the season. He is the Lord of the season because He is the Lord of the earth. He did not come down here, He was not born on this earth, in order to work out a power-sharing arrangement with Caesar.

Let your Christmas celebrations be joyful therefore. But in order for it to be the right kind of joy, those celebrations should be one of the most political things that you do. It should be the sort of thing that carnal kings worry about.

Read Full Article