Christ Church

Romans 6:1-14

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The Text

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? . . .” Romans 6:1-14

Not Under Law

You, no doubt, have at some point in your Christian life heard the last verse from this passage quoted at you completely out of context. “You are not under law, but under grace.” This is usually extracted from the text, without regard to what went before, in order to free you from legalism. But I’d like to argue that it is intended to do something far better. It’s intended to free you from sin.

Sin That Grace May Abound?

First, we should note the question that Paul is trying to answer. Does God’s grace free us to live in sin? Paul’s answer to this has to do with the nature of our salvation. We were saved by being united with Christ (v. 5). This union was declared in our baptism.

Dead to Death, Alive to Life

Paul describes here what our pre-Christ self was like. He was an old man, a slave to death itself. When death spoke, the old man jumped. The power of death is sin, via the law (1 Cor. 15:56). But God’s great victory came when he took that old man’s strength and used it against him, conquering the old man with the death of Christ. And when Christ conquered death, he brought all who were united to him to new life.

Not Under Sin, But Under Grace

With death dead, the power of the old man is gone. The power of the law, which once drove us to sin, is gone. We now live a new life, in the new man. And this new man has no business returning to the grave of the dead man for orders. Because of the conquest of death, on that first Easter morning, you now have the right to walk out of this church as a living man, a free man, free of the chains of sin, free of the fear of death.

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The Politics of Sodomy III: Has It Come to That?

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Introduction

Often we confront problems in our individual lives, or in our families, and after we have exhausted all the possibilities in our hunt for a solution, we ask others to pray for us. “Oh,” some might be tempted to think. “Has it come to that?” We must learn to begin where we are sometimes tempted to end.

The Text

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

Summary of the Text

We walk in the flesh, Paul says. We have bodies. But our warfare is not pursued after the flesh (v. 3). We do not war after the flesh. The reason for this is that our weapons are not carnal (sarkikos, fleshly), but rather are mighty through God in the pulling down of strongholds (v. 4). Empowered by God in this way, our weapons are capable of accomplishing three things. First, they cast down imaginations. Second, they cast down every high thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And third, our weapons capture every thought in order to make them obedient to Christ (v. 5). They cast down, they cast down, they capture.

A Quick Review

We have learned thus far that our cultural degradation is following the pattern described in the Scriptures, and it is following that pattern exactly. We have refused to honor God as God, and refused to give Him thanks. Therefore, the wrath of God is being exhibited against us. The end result of this is necessarily sodomy in the public square. We have also learned that there is no neutrality in the war between light and darkness. Either one is with Christ or one is against Him. You must either gather or scatter. But one of the devices noted for evading the total claims of Christ was the device of creating a two-tier universe, spiritual and material. We then crown Jesus the Lord of all that is spiritual, and think we have given Him great glory. But this is disobedience, and we come now to see how this skews a right understanding of the text before us this morning.

What is Carnal?

In the grip of unbiblical assumptions, we tend to think that spiritual means ethereal, rather thanequipped and empowered by the Spirit. And we think that unspiritual means physical, instead ofdisobedient to the Spirit. Now there is a divide, right down the middle of human history, but it is not a divide between physical and ethereal. It is the divide between Spirit-empowered obedience and Spirit-resistant disobedience. The divide is ethical. Now test yourself. When Paul says here that our weapons are not carnal, what do we immediately tend to think? We translate this to “not physical” and we retreat further into our gnostic fortress.

But what does the Bible tell us? “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens” (Heb. 11: 32-34). The point here is not one of shallow triumphalism; we read in the same context of those who were martyred and (in the eyes of some) defeated, and they also lived by faith. They also died very physical deaths. Faith always has an incarnate form.

King David was one of those who, according to this passage, turned the armies of aliens to flight. And he gives the glory to God. “Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war,and my fingers to fight” (Ps. 144:1). This means that David’s weapons were not carnal either. He did what he did through faith. Physicality is inescapable—it is not whether, but which. And when you have selected your physical weapon, the question of faith is before you. Will you be carnal or not?

Some Men Trust in Chariots

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God” (Ps. 20:7). The issue is trust—David, who wrote this psalm, did not go out on to the battle field to perform the martial arts equivalent of air guitar. He had material weapons, just as his enemies did. But he had faith in God and they did not.

But because we are so prone to place our trust in the means God has provided (which is idolatry), there are times when God requires an amputation. The rich young ruler is told to give away his wealth (Mk. 10:21)—but his life after doing so would have been just as material as it was before. He was told to give away money, not to evaporate. Jehoshaphat decided to send the choir out in the vanguard of the army (2 Chron. 20:21), but the choir was every bit as physical as the army was.

Remember the Name of the Lord

Now the question before us is not whether we will oppose the current corruption, or whether we will use physical means in order to oppose the advancing politics of Sodom. We are material creatures; we must do so. Our worship here is just as physical as writing our congressman. And moreover, the one to whom we pray is not on the take.

Why do we not throw ourselves into what is called “activism?” Our view is that American Christians are idolatrously addicted to politics—and not as ordinary means which they by faith ask the triune God to bless. Rather, our approach to politics as a secular activity positively excludes the Lord Jesus Christ—and this is normal for most activist Christians. We test for this idolatry by noting how our potent opposition is interpreted by Christians. “But you are doing nothing!” Worship and prayer are treated as though they were the civil equivalent of a Hail Mary pass.

The call is to worship God through Christ. But in order to do this rightly, the Baals must come down first. What might that mean in our modern circumstance? Our modern form of disobedience is the secularist Mammon State. What would happen in a particular community if the public schools had to close because of all the Christians choosing the various forms of Christian education? Right—there would be a very physical confrontation, but it would be for very spiritual reasons.

What would happen if North Korea and Saudi Arabia allowed complete freedom of worship? Anybody could attend church or Bible study as they desired, with no repercussions. With no guns, no armies, no legislation, their regimes would not last a year. They know something that many Christians in the West do not.

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The Politics of Sodomy I: The Real Sin of Sodom

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Introduction

What could possibly be meant by the phrase, “the real sin of Sodom?” Isn’t it obvious? The sin of homosexual behavior draws its name from Sodom. What could be more obvious? And shouldn’t we be suspicious of any attempt to draw our attention elsewhere? As always, the answer to such questions is, “It depends.”

The Text

“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good” (Eze. 16:49-50).

Background

The prophet Ezekiel is speaking the word of the Lord against the city of Jerusalem. In the course of his prophetic rebuke, he says that Samaria is Jerusalem’s older sister, and that Sodom is Jerusalem’s younger sister (v. 46). Samaria dwells at Jerusalem’s left hand and Sodom at her right. Moreover, the prophet denounces Jerusalem as far exceeding the sins of both these cities. Compared to Jerusalem, both these wicked cities seem righteous in comparison (v. 52).

Individual Sin

We are addressing the politics of sodomy, and consequently we are addressing the corporate nature of a certain form of sin. But it should be acknowledged at the outset that the rejection of individualism does not mean that individual sin and rebellion somehow disappear. They do not disappear at all—rather, they are placed in their proper context. But so that we may know what we are placing in context, it is true that the sin that was being attempted at Lot’s house was the sin of homosexual rape (Gen. 19:5). Lest any sophists snatch at this and say that the only problem was the rape part, the Bible says that it is wrong for men to desire men sexually (Rom. 1:27), as well as for women to desire women (Rom. 1:26). The Scriptures say that individuals who live this way will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9). This includes both sodomites and catamites, the two aspects of homosexuality mentioned here. All this is to say that by addressing the root cultural problems, we are seeking to understand individual behavior, and not to excuse it.

But Sodom Was a City

When Ezekiel mentions the sin of Sodom in an aside, many conservative Christians might be surprised at where he starts. Sodom was a degraded city, and they had gotten to the point where the rape of visitors was something that a number of people thought should be allowed in the public square. But how did they get there?

This was the sin of Sodom—pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, neglect of the poor, haughtiness, and abominations. At the end of that list we find what caused Sodom to become a household word. But consider what went before, and ask yourself how America got to the place where the folly from our federal courts is taken even halfway seriously.

Trampling the Courts

To this we may add the word of the prophet Isaiah. The point here has to do with the combination of worship with iniquity, and the central point here is not liturgical form. We must guard against any form which seeks to make room for iniquity.

“Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah . . . When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? . . . And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Is. 1:9-10, 12, 15).

So Therefore . . .

In our corporate capacity as a nation, why are we dealing (very unsuccessfully) with this sin at the very end of Ezekiel’s list? The answer is that we have long since given way to the sins mentioned earlier. Not only have we succumbed to these sins, some of them are our pride and glory.

Corrupt worship: across our nation, worship is not understood rightly, as holy covenant renewal with a holy God. Every Lord’s Day, millions of Americans cry out to God. Why does He not hear?

Pride: our pride can be seen clearly, even in how traditionalists oppose these recent legal developments. We want salvation, and we want it although we refuse to acknowledge the only Savior, Jesus Christ (Matt. 28: 17-20; Ps. 2:12). Traditionalists point to certain verses in Romans 1, verses that ignore the overarching context. Who does not honor God as God? Who does not give Him thanks?

Fullness of bread: do we really need to say anything here? But remember, the problem is not the wealth in itself, the problem is forgetting God in that wealth (Dt. 8:17-18).

Abundance of idleness: a recreational mentality, demanding entertainment in everything, has crept into everything, including worship and study.
Haughtiness: how is this different from pride? Haughtiness is pride manifested, superciliousness. Haughtiness is seen in daughters of Zion, strutting their wares at the mall (Is. 3:16).

Neglect of the poor: this is one of the areas where our wickedness is great, precisely because of the hypocritical posturing of those who defend the welfare state. Judas was concerned for the poor, because he kept the money bag (Jn. 12:4-6; 13:29).

Homosexual abominations: and so, here we are.

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The David Chronicles 10: Samuel and Saul

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Introduction

We are now introduced to the first king over all Israel, a man who began well and ended poorly. There are signs of trouble from the very beginning, but there is also grace from God that is clearly present. The fact that we know there will be a fall does not prevent the goodness bestowed from being true goodness. God showed great favor to Saul.

The Text

“Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people . . .” (1 Sam. 9:1-27.

Summary of the Text

Kish, the father of Saul, was a great man (v. 1) in a tiny tribe. This man Kish had a son named Saul, who was both handsome and strong (v. 2). Now a herd of donkeys belonging to Kish were lost, and Kish told Saul to take a servant and to go and find them (v. 3). They obeyed, making a wide circuit without locating the donkeys (v. 4). Saul suggested returning before his father started worrying about them instead of the donkeys (v. 5). But the servant responded by saying that there was a man of God (Samuel) in the city were they now were, and perhaps they could ask him about the donkeys (v. 6). Saul’s only objection was that they had nothing to offer the man of God (v. 7). The servant had a quarter of a shekel of silver, which was sufficient (v. 8). In the old days, prophets used to be called seers (v. 9). And so Saul agreed (v. 10).

As they approached Ramah, they met maidens who came to draw water, and asked after the seer (v. 11). They replied yes, he was ahead of them, approaching to bless the sacrifice in the high place (v. 12). The maidens say where to find him, because the people will wait for his blessing (v. 13). And when they came to the city, they ran into Samuel (v. 14). Now God had prepared Samuel for this the day before (v. 15). God had heard the prayers of Israel and was going to answer them through Saul (v. 16). And when Samuel first set eyes on Saul, the Lord spoke to him again. This is the man (v. 17).

Saul approached Samuel in the gate and asked where the seer lived (v. 18). Samuel identifies himself, and tells Saul to ascend up to the high place ahead of him (v. 19). As for the donkeys, they are found (v. 20). When Samuel says that Saul is the desire of Israel (v. 20), Saul responds modestly (v. 21). Samuel took Saul, and seated him prominently among about 30 men (v. 22). And Samuel told the cook to give Saul a choice portion which Samuel had set aside previously (v. 23). So Saul was given a shoulder portion and ate it (v. 24). They came back down from the high place and talked on the top of Samuel’s house (v. 25). Saul spent the night there (v. 26). They walked together to the outskirts of the city (v. 27), where Samuel had the servant go on ahead. And then he anointed Saul as a prince (10:1).

Let God Sort it Out

The text makes it clear that establishing a king like the other nations was going to be a bad deal (1 Sam. 8). In asking for a king the way they did, they were rejecting God (1 Sam. 8:7). This is one of the great themes of the whole book. In the very first chapter, Hannah asks for a son (1 Sam. 1:20). She later says that she named him Samuel because she had asked for him (1 Sam. 1:27-28). But Samuel means “His name is El,” and not “asked for.” The word for ask is sha’al, from which we get Saul. Hannah had Sauled for Samuel. Samuel was all the Saul that Israel needed, and we are told this on the first page of the book. And of course, Samuel labors to keep the king from being a disobedient king (Dt. 17:15-16).

But at the same time, Samuel anoints Saul and kisses him (10:1). He doesn’t say, “take your stupid monarchy.” He gives him a choice portion of the sacrifice, thus adopting him (v. 24; Lev. 22:10-16). That portion was probably for the priest and the priest’s family (Ex. 29:27), but in any case was a portion of high honor. And the text explicitly says that God was giving them Saul “to save my people out of the hand of the Philistines.” God says that “their cry is coming unto me” (v. 16). Saul begins with manifest princely virtues (v. 2), and in genuine humility (v. 21). What is coming is a fall.

A Foreshadowed Trouble

When Saul asks the maidens drawing water about the seer, the way they answer is interesting. They tell Saul where Samuel will be found, at the high place (v. 12), but they also add the information that the people will wait for Samuel, not partaking until he has arrived (v. 13). But this is precisely the way in which Saul failed as a king. He did not wait for Samuel to come to bless his sacrifice (1 Sam. 13:8-10)

In the Midst of Sin

Samuel labored for grace in the midst of sin. God showed grace in the midst of sin. Sin can be individual, and sin can be corporate. When the godly are placed in the midst of corporate sin, what do they do? They do not have the option of a “do over,” going back to the point of failure and making the right choice this time. We have to start making right choices in the very middle of very bad downstream consequences. God does not call us all to make the same choices, or to take the same stand. Ehud was called to assassinate Eglon in a way that Obadiah was not called to assassinate Ahab. When Nehemiah’s men were told to surrender their arms, their right response amounted to “come and take them.” But Jeremiah required the people to surrender to the Babylonians. But we are all called to take the same kind of stand, responding faithfully to the Word of God.

Counter-cultural obedience is not a “one size fits all” sort of thing. But it is a “one heart fits all” sort of thing. But make special note of this. “The heart must be right” is not intended to be an all-purpose excuse for whatever it was you already wanted to do.

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The David Chronicles 5: Ichabod

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Introduction

The sign that had been given to Eli about the fall of his house was the fact that his two sons would die on the same day. He heard this news just seconds before he himself died. He had also heard the news that disaster for his house was disaster for all of Israel as well—the ark of the covenant was taken by a heathen army. The glory departed from Israel, and it was left desolate.

The Text

“And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men . . .” (1 Sam. 4:1-22).

Summary of the Text

The word of Samuel came to all Israel (v. 1). In this time, Israel pitched near Ebenezer and the Philistines in Aphek (v. 1). The two armies arrayed against one another, and battle was joined. Israel got the worst of it (v. 2). As a result, the elders of Israel called for the ark of the covenant to be brought up from Shiloh (v. 3). This they did, and Hophni and Phineas came with the ark (v. 5). When the ark came into the camp, Israel shouted so that the earth shook (v. 6). The noise, and the reason for it, rattled the Philistines (v. 7). The Philistines came to the conclusion that they were done for (vv. 7-8). But they were in desperate straits, so they encouraged one another to the fight (v. 9). The battle was joined again, and Israel was utterly routed (v. 10). On top of that disaster, the ark of the covenant was captured and the two worthless sons of Eli were killed (v. 11).

A messenger from the tribe of Benjamin came to Shiloh, his clothes torn and earth on his head (v. 12). Eli was waiting by the road for news about the ark, and when the messenger came, the whole city cried out (v. 13). Eli asked about the tumult, and the messenger came and told him the news (v. 14). Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes were dim—he could not see (v. 15). The messenger identified himself (v. 16), and told Eli of the defeat, the death of his sons, and the capture of the ark (v. 17). At this Eli fell over backward and broke his neck and died. He had been judge for 40 years (v. 18).

The wife of Phinehas was pregnant, and when she heard about the ark, and that her father-in-law and husband were dead, she went into labor, and then she died (v. 20). But before she died she named Eli’s grandson Ichabod, which means “the glory is departed.” She did this because of the ark, and because of Eli and Phinehas (vv. 21-22).

The Sanctuary Violated

We sometimes think that God is not careful enough with His holy things. God Himself is going to desecrate this holy place. But God is Himself holy, and He would never do such a thing unjustly. The ark of the covenant is captured in battle, which means that the holiest object in Israel’s possession was in the hands of the Philistines— and God was the one who did that. But why?

As we have seen, the Lord’s sacrifices were being polluted by Hophni and Phinehas. Phinehas was named after a faithful man who had speared a fornicating couple in the time of Moses (Num. 25:1-9). By contrast, this Phinehas was immoral with the women who were serving at the tabernacle, uncovering their nakedness. As Peter Leithart has observed, this was tantamount to “ripping down the curtains of the tabernacle.” In short, when God desecrates His own holy things, it is because they have already been desecrated. On top of everything else the ark of the covenant was taken out onto the battlefield as though it were a sort of talisman. No prophet had commanded this, and yet the Israelites thought that God could be whistled up through their manipulation of a sacred object. But it doesn’t work that way.

His Eye Was Dim

Right before Samuel hears the word of the Lord for the first time, we are told that Eli’s eyes were dim (1 Sam. 3:2). In this he was not like Moses, who at 120 was still vigorous, and his eyes undimmed (Dt. 34:7). The same thing is repeated here in this text (v. 15), which is quite striking. We are told that Eli could not see right before Samuel saw the Lord, and was given the prophetic word by Him. And here we are told the same thing again, just before the events foretold by Samuel are reported to Eli as accomplished.

The Weight of Glory

We are told that Eli was a heavy man, a fat man (v. 18). We were told earlier by the nameless prophet that Eli had (indirectly) made himself fat through the best offerings of the people (1 Sam. 2:29). The word for heavy here is kebed. The word for glory is kabod (which you can hear in the name Ichabod). One is a true glory and the other is a counterfeit glory—and both kinds of weight depart from Israel in judgment.

What it is to Hear the Lord

We see in this passage a culmination of themes. Eli heard about the loss of the ark, and the death of his sons because he had not heard the previous warnings the way he ought to have. Samuel had heard the Lord speak in a time of Israel’s history when very few heard the word of the Lord. When Eli did admonish his sons, they did not listen to him (1 Sam. 2:25). And why? Because it was the Lord’s purpose to destroy them—it was past the time for listening.

Someone has wisely said that the course of the kingdom of God is a series of great triumphs cleverly disguised as disasters. In the midst of this chaos, Samuel is growing up into a faithful prophet, ministering as a holy young man in the precincts of a doomed temple.

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