Christ Church

God and Government

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Introduction

Consistent Christian are not anarchists or scofflaws. We are gathered together today in this particular way precisely because we are not scofflaws. Every Christian who reads his Bible knows and understands that we are supposed to submit to the authorities that God has placed over us. What every Christian does not know, however, is that there are various understandings of how we are to do this. So yes, this is what we are to do. But how are we to do it? Are there different approaches to this assigned task?

The Text

“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king” (1 Peter 2:13–17).

Summary of the Text

In this passage from 1 Peter, we are told that we do whatever it is we do for the Lord’s sake. We obey magistrates in the Lord’s name, and we are not to obey them in their name (v. 13). In Romans 13, a similar passage, we are told a number of times that the authorities are God’s servants (deacons). This starts with the king, who is supreme. It then moves down to governors, and Peter again says the same thing that Paul does in Romans 13. The magistrate is to punish evildoers, and is to praise those who do well (v. 14). This is God’s will for us, so that we might through our lives silence the slander of ignorant men (v. 15), presumably those who accuse us of being lawbreakers. We are slavers or servants of God, which is what makes us free (v. 16). We are not to use the liberty we have as present possession as a cloak for malice or wrongdoing. And so we are to honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the king (v. 17).

The problem is that these kinds of passages are often cherry-picked in way to make them say that our submission to the civil magistrate is to be absolute. God put them there, so shut your mouth. The problem with this is that you have been taught a basic interpretive principle. Interpret any particular passage of Scripture in the light of all Scripture. And so I would remind you that the man who wrote these words for us was soon to be executed by the magistrate as someone who was a grave threat to their civil order (John 21:18-19). This was the same man who was broken out of jail by an angel, and who disappeared from the book of Acts as a wanted man (Acts 12:10, 17). The guards who lost him were executed because of his disappearance (Acts 12:19). This was the man who was in jail in the first place because he was a leader of the Christians (Acts 12:3), and who earlier had told the Sanhedrin that he wouldn’t quit preaching (Acts 5:29). And he was the man who was writing this letter to prepare law-abiding Christians for the time of persecution that was coming, in which time they would be accused of being scofflaws (1 Pet. 4:7, 13-16). So whatever his words in chapter 2 mean, they have to be consistent with the life of the one who wrote them.

Three Governments

Among the governments that exist among men, three of them were created directly by God. And none of them can function smoothly without the foundational government of self-government, or self-control. Men who cannot control themselves are incapable of living within the context of free institutions. These three governments are family government, created by God in the Garden (Gen. 2:22; Matt. 19:6), civil government, also established by God (Rom. 13:1-5), and the government of the church, which was a gift to us from Christ (Eph. 4:10-12).

Other governments that exist are creations of men—political parties, service organizations, chess clubs, and so on. The three above were all three created by God directly, and He wrote the by-laws for all of them.

Now Arrange Them All in the Right Order

If you have been a Christian for more than ten minutes, you know that there are different doctrinal positions on all kinds of stuff. On eschatology, there is premill, postmill, and amill. On baptism, there is paedo and credo. On polity, there is independent, presbyterian, and episcopal. On soteriology, there is Calvinist and Arminian. We know the different positions, and usually we have a rough idea of what kind of church we belong to.

Now here is the surprise for some. Christians disagree about the right relationship of the church to the state. Some believe that the church is and ought to be the supreme government on earth (this is the Roman Catholic position), in authority over the civil magistrates. The second position is called Erastianism (after Thomas Erastus, a 16th century Swiss physician and theologian). This position holds that the state is supreme over the church. The default position of many Christians today is Erastian. The third position, which is a classic Reformed position, is that these various government are in a “checks and balances” position, on a horizontal plane, not stacked in a vertical hierarchy. And this is the view that Christ Church holds.

On Paper

Having all of this sketched out on paper can help resolve any number of intellectual tensions. But you still have practical problems to solve. It might help you to know that a mugger with a gun taking your wallet doesn’t “get to” do that, but at the same time, it should be recognized that he is doing that. So the first level is to understand that we are talking about how things ought to be. We are talking about the ideal. In the meantime, on the way from here to there, you will at times have to do a cost/benefit analysis—just like with the mugger.

But in the meantime, whether you are under constraint or not, whether you are having to deal with restrictions or not, remember than you are free in Christ. Remember this line from our text: “As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.”

The Father is good to us, all the time. Christ is Christ for us, all the time. The Spirit is with us, all the time.

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A Message for the Mayor and City Council of Moscow

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The Text

“Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:31-32).

Introduction

There is a long tradition in the Christian Church in which ministers of the gospel delivered sermons that were directed to kings and governors and judges. Moses preached to Pharaoh. Jeremiah was called by God to preach to nations and kingdoms. Paul preached to a number of Roman Governors. John Calvin dedicated his Institutes of the Christian Religion to the King France. And you can read whole collections of sermons from early American preachers full of messages to the governors of the colonies.

So, Mayor Lambert, Counsellors Bettge, Kelly, Laflin, Sullivan, Taruscio, and Zabala, this message is respectfully for you. The Bible is clear that Christians owe magistrates honor and obedience in the Lord. And the Bible is equally clear that we are to pray for all who are in authority, and this is with the goal that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty. I have had the pleasure of meeting only three of you, but I want you to know that you have all been in my prayers, especially recently.

An Ocean of Opinions & Feelings

My message for you today is fairly simple, but it has enormous ramifications. It’s sort of like gravity – once understood and formulated, you realize it affects everything. And the message is based on a question that I believe has been pressed upon you all in recent days. It’s a question many rulers and officials have asked over the centuries, especially in moments of uncertainty and crisis. In fact, it’s inscribed in the Bible, in the mouth of the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate when Jesus was on trial before him and a mob had gathered. The question is, “What is truth?” I imagine you all have been asking yourselves and one another that same question in the midst of this coronavirus crisis. We all have. What is truth? Are the data models being circulated true? How bad is the virus? How quickly does the virus spread? Are the numbers we are seeing true? Can it be treated? Can it overload our hospitals? What is truth?

I can only imagine what you have been through over the last number of weeks. I can only imagine that you have received more input from your constituents than ever before. No doubt, you have received advice, counsel, pleas, denunciations, theories, angry outbursts, maybe even worse. And my message for you is that the only way forward, the only way out of this mess is the truth. Jesus said, “if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:32).

But in order for truth to set you free, you must know what truth is. And unless the answer to that question is something firm and fixed, something that does not change, something that goes all the way down and reaches all the way up through all of reality, you will always be adrift in a story sea of opinions and preferences and emotions.

Bedrock Truth

For the last fifty years or so, our culture and universities have declared that truth is whatever you want it to be. Whatever is true for you, is true for you, and whatever is true for me is true for me. We call this relativism or subjectivism. Everyone is their own sun, and their truth, their story, their reality is whatever they choose to make revolve around themselves.

But what you are finding is that this theory simply doesn’t work in the real world. No doubt you have been bombarded with many truth claims in recent days. Many citizens have no doubt been sharing their realities with you – with varying degrees of correspondence. But what you are no doubt finding is that these various claims to truth are competing and in many cases in direct contradiction. The pressure is on you, and the fact of the matter is that you cannot make everyone happy. Right now you have many business owners and freedom loving citizens upset, and when the isolation orders are lifted you will no doubt have many who are upset because the threat is still in their opinion very grave. But the fact of the matter is that the coronavirus cannot be both likely to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans and likely to only kill tens of thousands of Americans. The coronavirus cannot be likely to overrun hospitals and not likely to overrun hospitals. One of those is true and one is false. Or some other fact is true and both are false. You have been and are being forced to take sides, to choose which claims you find more plausible, more likely to be true. And this is because truth is by its very nature fixed, firm, immoveable.

Truth does not vary from day to day. Truth does not change. It is the same on Monday and Wednesday and Friday. It is the same this year and next year. Our understanding of truth can certainly change. We change. But truth does not change. Two plus two is four all of the time.

But in order for truth to be true there must be a bedrock that it rests on. That bedrock is what we call reality. This is why we say that someone who denies basic arithmetic or gravity is in the process of denying reality. And this is why we say that reality doesn’t care about our feelings. Reality doesn’t care what we believe. You can believe you can fly with all your might, but flapping your arms wildly and jumping off the roof of your house cannot change reality. Gravity doesn’t care.

But you cannot insist on these bedrock facts without also insisting on their origin. Where do bedrock facts come from? Where does truth come from? One of the root causes of our relativism – claiming that truth is whatever you want it to be is the theory of evolution. You cannot hold that absolutely everything in the universe accidentally came from nothing, and then by millions of years accidentally mutated and adapted into being andhold simultaneously that truth is fixed and changeless. You cannot hold that everything has changed and then arbitrarily decide that something cannot change.

If evolution is true then “might makes right” and “survival of the fittest” really is the only law. To say we evolved into caring about the weak or caring about truth doesn’t matter. Who cares? Maybe one of the more enlightened protoplasm once thought that they were the height of evolution too. But if evolution is the law, evolution doesn’t care. Mutation doesn’t ask for permission. Mutation doesn’t care about love or justice or mercy. It really is random and arbitrary, mindless and heartless.

Is There a Law-Giver?

So this is my message for you. And it is in the form of a question: What is truth?

And there really are only two options. Either there is no such thing as truth. Everything evolved, and therefore everything is an accident and meaningless mutation. Or else there is such a thing as truth because this world was created. It was designed. And therefore, it has meaning because it was meant. There are laws of nature because nature has a law-Giver.

And this is not something that is a particularly religious opinion. This fact, this truth was permanently etched on the history of our nation in the Declaration of Independence, which states that sometimes it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve political bands and to assume a separate and equal station, which the “laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” entitle them to. The Declaration of Independence acknowledges that Nature has laws and that Nature has a God. That was part of the basis for America deciding to declare independence from Great Britain. The same document closes by stating, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

And so the question that ought to occur to us occasionally is: What were the founders of our nation actually relying on? When they risked their lives in declaring independence from Great Britain, were they actually relying on a real and true thing, the “Protection of Divine Providence,” or would it have been just as true for them to say they were relying on cotton candy, pink balloons, or the Easter Bunny? Is what they wrote true? And if you say it was true for them, then you might as well say it wasn’t true at all. It doesn’t matter if they had warm fuzzies in their belly when they wrote it, if it isn’t really true. It doesn’t matter if they felt deeply about it, if it isn’t really true. Remember the one who believes very deeply that he can fly by waving his arms wildly while jumping of his roof. Reality doesn’t care about our feelings. It only cares about what is real, what is true. So again, I ask you, what is truth?

The Truth-Teller Meddles

Logic and sound reason say that truth, for it to be true, must actually correspond to reality and must be as firm and unchanging as reality, and therefore, reality must have an intelligent and intentional origin. If there are laws of nature that are true, then nature must have a law-Giver. Or, if there is truth that is firm and fixed, then there must be an ultimate Truth-Teller.

And so we come to point: the only way through the fog of human opinion, the only way through the storm of prejudice and preference and paralyzing fear is with the truth. If everything is just flux and mutation and change, then everything is just emotion, opinion, and it doesn’t matter. But if truth – true truth really does correspond to reality, then truth really does out. Truth really does matter. There may be a storm, there may be uncertainty, but it really does pay to be as close to the truth as possible. The truth really does set you free.

But this really is the terrifying thing about truth. Truth is not arbitrary or selective, and truth cannot be cordoned off in a special room for special circumstances. If you decide to embrace Truth, not just true-for you, scratch-and-sniff truth, but true truth, you should be prepared for the fallout. And it really is a wonderful fallout, but it’s also quite bracing. It’s the only safe place to be, but it will not stop with Covid-19 or the laws of nature. And what I mean is that if you embrace Truth, you must be willing to tell the truth everywhere, and in everything. And this really is the central offense of truth. It’s why people, for all their lip service to truth, really don’t prefer it at all. Everyone is fine with truth-telling so long as is it doesn’t get personal, so long as the Truth doesn’t get to meddling. But the Truth does get to meddling.

How can you say you believe in truth when it comes to gravity or mathematics or logic, but when it comes to whether you have always told the truth, you won’t have it? But there it is anyway. Have you always told the truth? To your parents, to your employers, to your spouse, to your children? Will you embrace the Truth or not? Or how can you say that you want to know the truth about Covid-19, but you do not want to know the truth about whether an unborn baby is really a human being? How can you say that you want to know the truth, but you are not really interested in knowing anything about the Maker of the Universe, the Creator God?

The Jesus who said that truth sets us free, is the same One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me.” It really is an extraordinary claim, an exclusive claim. Many people say that they think Jesus was a good, moral teacher, but very few of them wrestle with this claim – that He is the truth, and that He is the Way, the only Way to God. That same Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross for all our lies. He was betrayed for all of our betrayals. And He rose from the dead in order to make all things new.

Conclusion

George Washington once said “It is the duty of nations and as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God … and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.” George Washington said nations are only blessed that acknowledge God.

The preamble to the Idaho State Constitution says, “We, the people of the State of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare do establish this Constitution.”

If this is true of nations and states it is no doubt true of cities – cities like our wonderful Moscow, Idaho. But that is the question. Is it true? Is it really true? Do we need God’s blessing on the city of Moscow in order for Moscow to thrive? Do we need His help in this time of crisis? And if so, have we asked Him? Have you formally, publicly acknowledged this truth?

You have our prayers.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

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Artillery Sermon 2019

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Introduction

First a word on the curious title for the sermon. In the American colonial era, ministers used to preach sermons to prepare congregants for their civic duties at election time, and these sermons were called artillery sermons. The custom may have begun (back in England) with messages that were preached to artillery companies prior to their election of officers. But the term broadened, and here we are.

What I would like to do this morning is declare an authoritative word to you in the light of our current political season. Given the inflamed state of our postmodern politics, it might seem that we are always in a political season, and that is actually part of our dilemma.

The Text

“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).

Summary of the Text

What we have in this text is a very succinct definition of what have come to be known as sins of omission. A sin of commission is committed when someone does the evil thing. He does it, and he is the sinner. A sin of omission is when an evil is about to happen, and someone who has the means to prevent it does not prevent it. He doesn’t do anything, and hence he is the sinner.

The context of this verse in James has to do with entrepreneurs who boast in their conceit about their ability to go here and there, do this and do that, and make a pile of money. But, James responds, your life is a little wisp of fog rising off an obscure creek. For such a one to boast is evil. But James hastens to add that it is not enough to avoid the evil—one must also do the good that is before you.

Immediate Application

This coming Tuesday, our city is holding elections for city council. There are three open seats, and there are six candidates running. Each registered voter gets to cast up to three votes in this election. The election is a city-wide horse race, meaning that the top three vote-getters will take office and, if you follow me closely, the other three will not. If you are interested in narrowing your options down, three of the candidates used what can only be called “a drag show fail” to drum up support. They apparently did not know what would appeal to you.

So the immediate point of application is this—followed by a brief explanation, and followed a bit later with some general observations. Here is the charge: anyone who lives here in Moscow, and who is qualified to vote in this election, must vote in this election. It would be a sin not to. Sitting this one out is not an option. This is an election that will have significant repercussions for a number of individuals in our community, and for a number of institutions. This includes entities like Logos, NSA, Christ Church, and so on, not to mention numerous individuals. And so this means that if you do not vote, and a year from now we find ourselves getting hassled by a city council that is now hostile to us (surprise!), and your lack of participation in the election was the reason for it, then you will have a great deal of trouble praying with us for a successful outcome of the upcoming hearing which will determine whether NSA students have to park their cars on top of the other students’ cars. To save room.

Yeah, But What About . . .?

Perhaps some of you have been in conversations with co-workers or neighbors about your involvement with “that church.” And so is this an instance of us “flexing?” Is this an instance of us finally “making our move?” I want to provide you with a few things that you can say in such conversations, and say with confidence. You can say these things with confidence because they are true.

Political, Not Partisan

We believe, and have taught for years, that the Christian church is inherently political. At the same time, we have diligently avoided partisan politics, and will continue to do so. Here is the difference. Politics is not our savior, but politics will most certainly be saved. We therefore avoid every form of “vote for Murphy” partisanship. Christ Church never wants to fit in with the old jibe about the Episcopalians, which was that they were the Republican Party at prayer. That was a century ago, as they are now the Democratic Party at a séance. At the same time, we recognize that the resurrection of Jesus most certainly has an agenda for our earthly political system.

Repenting of Cynicism

Any thoughtful person who watches our clown-car-parade of a culture, a pandemonium that is punctuated at regular intervals by elections, is going to be tempted to become cynical. He will tell his wife that if God had wanted us to vote He would have given us candidates. He will tell his children that they shouldn’t vote because “it only encourages them.” He might be prevailed upon to vote in a hot presidential election, but for the most part he is lethargic. But, as we can tell from the huge turnout in presidential elections, compared to the small turnout for local elections, people really have their priorities upside down. Local is important, and cynicism cannot wave that reality away.

A Decisive Point

Our local progressives have made a great deal out of the fact that we want to “take Moscow” for Christ. And this is quite true, we do. But we want this in the sense intended by the Lord Jesus in His Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), and in the sense that is desired by every evangelical Christian church. The means we intend to use to accomplish this will be Word and water, bread and wine. We intend to labor quietly with our hands and minds. We are resolved to show hospitality. We intend to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, providing them with a thoroughgoing Christian education. Sounds pretty scary, doesn’t it?

In my father’s application of the principles of war to evangelism, he has taught for years that a decisive point is one that is simultaneously strategic and feasible. If we took New York City for Jesus that would certainly be strategic, but how feasible is it? If we took Bovill, Idaho for Jesus, we could do that in three weeks, but how strategic would it be? Small towns with major universities (like Moscow and Pullman, eight miles apart) are decisive points. But all of this is to be accomplished without any coercion, through the power of love, good works, true community, good work, and persuasion.

An Agenda?

So our agenda for Moscow is to be the right kind of left alone. Our interest in this particular city council election is entirely defensive.

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1–4).

We are not interested in meddling with the affairs of others. We are not going to make the Moscow Food Coop sell Doritos.

Conclusion

One of the big reasons why Calvin was enabled to become the influential force that he became throughout Reformation Europe was because of the city council elections in Geneva in 1555. You may never have heard of those elections, but you also might be living here in Moscow because of them. Never underrate the power of Christ in your immediate surroundings.

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