Anything You Can Do I Can Do Worser; I Can Do Anything…

Worser than you. This is not, of course, reason to boast, but is reason for shame. The worst shame, however, comes when I forget this truth. We find it all too easy to sit in judgment of others. Now I’m not suggesting, like the world would have us believe, that we ought to make no judgments at all. Nor am I suggesting that others don’t do things that are wrong. What I’m saying is that our judgments are usually not merely, “What you did is wrong” but are instead, “You are a much worse person than I am.”

I have, as I suspect is true of all of us, been on both sides of this equation. I have been guilty of thinking about someone else’s sin, “That person is so much worse than I am.” I’ve also been the guilty one of whom others think, “That person is so much worse than I am.”

Two truths ought to keep us well clear of this error. First, while it is certainly true that some people are better than others, the difference between two people is minuscule compared to how far we all fall short. Second, any difference there is must be credited to the grace of God and nothing in each of us. It’s like the disciples, sitting beside the only man ever to live a perfect life, arguing with each other about which of them will be greatest in His kingdom.

Those scenes ought to remind us of us. Instead, we show we are just like them by shaking our heads at their folly and patting ourselves on the back that we would never have done such a thing.

It may never get worse with us than when it comes to politics. Just as with every other right and wrong, politically there is right and wrong. Some policies are terrible. Others are merely bad. A rare few are good. But all the ones proposing or opposing the good or the bad are bad. Just like us. There’s nothing in the water inside the Washington beltway that creates dishonest, dishonorable men out of angels. Rather it is simply power that reveals what was already there.

The Muslim terrorist isn’t evil because he is Muslim but because he is human. Islam and terrorism are just expressions of his fallen nature. The Chinese communist isn’t evil because he is a communist, much less because he is Chinese but because he is human. Communism is just an expression of his fallen nature. There, however, but for the grace of God, go we all. The idea that there are two kinds of people, nice ones and monsters is just our inner monster lying to ourselves.

Which is why we ought to always give thanks to God for His grace. Both that grace by which He restrains the evil of those outside the kingdom. And the grace by which He forgives the evil of those inside the kingdom. He is a good God. And in His grace, and by His power He not only declares evil people like us to be good, but He is remaking us into the image of His Son, the one good man.

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Is there any benefit in studying philosophy?

I certainly hope so. Among my many callings is to teach classes in philosophy. A few semesters ago I taught Introduction to Ethics, leading my students in understanding the thought of Socrates, John Stuart Mill, Camus and more. Why would I do that if I thought there was no value in it?

It is, however, precisely in answering that question that we run into the realm of philosophy. When I was in a graduate program at Ole Miss years ago, studying English, I ran into philosophy on just this question. One professor, stuck in the mire of post-modernism, told us students, “A laundry list is as much literature as Shakespeare.” My response was less outrage at such folly, more pity for the man. He was essentially confessing that he was devoting his life to the study of laundry lists. How, I wondered, could he get out of bed each morning with such a paltry reason for being?

It was Tertullian who first asked, “What hath Athens to do with Jerusalem?’ Despite my calling, I concur with his assessment. His point was rather simple. True lovers of wisdom know where to find it, in God’s Word, not the fruitless thoughts of men. I do not teach philosophy as part of a greater search for higher truth. Rather I teach it to expose error. Not just the error of the philosophers, but the error in all of us who have been influenced by philosophers.

Contra John Locke we do not enter this world as tabula rasa, blank slates on which information is recorded. Rather we enter the world with hearts and minds caught in the grip of sin. We, Paul tells us, know the truth, but suppress that truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1). Not content with erasing what we know, we replace it with what we want to believe. We worship the creature rather than the Creator, exchanging the truth for a lie.

The study of philosophy is the study of those lies. Oh it’s true enough that even the blind squirrels that philosophers are, find a nut every now and again. I often find myself praising Plato’s notion of the Forms, the Ideal Realm as a not-too-bad approximation of how the mind of God might relate to reality. But Plato in coming up with that idea wasn’t searching for the living God, but fleeing from Him. And through his influence over the centuries he has taught billions to do the same.

In, however, seeking to understand the structure, the appeal and the trajectory of those lies we are better able to see how they have shaped our own thinking. We learn better how to tear down strongholds, every lofty idea that exalts itself against Christ. We become more faithful soldiers of our King, and by His grace, set to flight those enemies that have become entrenched in our own thinking. Studying philosophy as a substitute for seeking the wisdom of God is pure folly. Studying philosophy as seeking the folly of the world that we might better hear and heed the Master’s voice is pure wisdom.

Posted in 10 Commandments, apologetics, Ask RC, Education, ethics, philosophy, post-modernism, RC Sproul JR, wisdom | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Priorities, Emphases and the Lord Who Sets Them

There are, when we disagree, almost always two disagreements. Most of the time the smaller disagreement is the bigger one. Consider election. There are some in the church who believe that God chooses who will believe His gospel. There are others who believe God sees beforehand who will believe. This, on the surface, seems to be the root of the loss of peace between these two groups. The second disagreement, however, is over this question: just how important an issue is this?

Though there are surely exceptions, by and large we don’t find those who don’t believe in election to zealously, aggressively not believe in election. Most don’t meet a new Christian and seek to steer the conversation to election. Those of us who do believe in election, on the other hand, believe it to be an issue of great importance. Did we not so believe, were we able to believe in it silently, in the quiet of our own minds, we might be able to get along better with others.

When, therefore, we seek to rightly draw lines, the issue is almost never the issue. The challenge is in knowing not just what’s right and wrong, but how important something is. Each of us thinks we’ve mastered this art, and can’t understand why others don’t just get in line. Intellectually speaking, we are driving down the highway frustrated with those poky drivers and irritated by those crazy drivers who whiz by us. We consider those who are more forgiving of the first error to be latitudinarian, slippery. We consider those who are less forgiving to be judgmental, lacking grace.

That we disagree on where to draw lines, however, doesn’t mean there are no correct answers. It simply means that we have a hard time agreeing on the answers. We disagree about when Jesus is coming back, which says nothing at all about the glorious truth that He is coming back. He knows when He is coming back, and that is the most important thing.

Our calling is to get our priorities in line with the one Man who always had them right: Jesus. Let Him who is without sin cast our vision. When we begin to look at things through His eyes, honestly, without recasting Him in our own image, we find not just the right answers but the right priorities. We find that instead of arguing over tithing, we ought actually to be tithing our mint and our cummin while never losing sight of the weightier matters of the Law, such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matt. 23:23).

We learn here also this important truth: that this truth is more important than that truth doesn’t mean that truth is unimportant. Jesus didn’t say, “Why are you tithing your mint instead of pursuing justice? Why are you carefully weighing out your cummin instead of showing mercy?” Instead He said, “These things you ought to have done.”

Being right about the more important things no more excuses being wrong about the less important things than not being guilty of murder proves that you are not a tax-cheat. Majoring on the minors, shouting where God has whispered, those are bad things. Neglecting the minors or being silent where God has whispered, those are bad things, too.

Our priorities on what the truly important issues are tend to be determined by what is important to us rather than what is important to Jesus. That is why Jesus warned us. In the Sermon on the Mount, He rightly exposed our selfish ways, noting that we fret and worry about what we will eat and what we will drink. He pointed out that such worries ought to describe only those outside the kingdom.

We have a different set of priorities. We are to be about the business of pursuing His kingdom. That means, of course, that we need to be about the King’s business. We have no business of our own. We have been purchased by the King. His agenda is to be ours, His goals ours. How often, I wonder, do we draw lines not because we are called to but because we are setting up the boundaries of our own little fiefdoms? Having drawn our lines in the sand, we next build our sand castles, forgetting that the wind and the waves obey only Him.

Our folly in not pursuing the kingdom, then, drives us to pursue the one solution, His righteousness. We stand firm when we ought to bend, we roll over when we ought to stand. Not Jesus. He alone stands, righteous before His Father. And He bends down to lift us up, that we might stand in His arms. Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you: gratitude, peace, courage, grace. And the wisdom to know and to love as He knows and loves. Who could ask for anything more?

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When You Love the CEO But Hate Middle Management

It’s not often that a bumper sticker sticks with me. Rarer still is when I not only remember one, but actually like it. Still more rare is when one that I like comes from a Christian perspective. My boss is a Jewish carpenter hit all three the first time I saw it. Now I’m only beginning to have a few doubts.

When we took this job, face down in the dust, tears turning dust to mud, heart pummeled by twin earthquakes, gratitude and fear, we knew then what we were agreeing to. Whatever You ask of me, I will give. Wherever You call me, I will follow. Whatever You command, I will obey. But we have grown accustomed to His grace. Gratitude has given way to attitude, and fear is no where near. Our prayers are no longer paeans to thanksgiving, but thinly veiled labor grievances. We think we have a Jewish carpenter on our payroll; we think He works for us.

Forty years ago a new battle broke out within the dispensational camp. Two professors at Dallas Theological Seminary, Charles Ryrie and Zane Hodges, argued one could enter God’s kingdom having made no commitment to submitting to the Lordship of Christ. We could embrace Christ as our savior, and pass Him over as Lord. John MacArthur rode in on a white horse, reminding us of the gospel according to Jesus, who called us to pick up our cross. MacArthur won the battle, but who is winning the war?

The church has moved from affirming that some tongues need not confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to some tongues confessing that Jesus Christ isn’t Lord. Open theism, the poison fruit of the Pelagian tree, may require that the wind and the waves obey Him, but everything else is up in the air. He is the alpha, but we’ll have to wait and see if He will end up the omega.

Aren’t we, heirs of the Reformation, safe from this kind of rebellion? If Reformed means anything, it must mean knowing our own sin. Every sin we commit is, as one wise Reformed theologian put it, cosmic treason. He commands me to love Him with all that I am. All day, every day, I not only fail to do so, but in failing cry out that I will not have Him to rule over me. Affirming that Lordship salvation is the only salvation we yet reject His Lordship. That’s why we need to be saved. We strive, buffet and mortify. And we rebel. We prefer giving orders to taking them.

With each day we are made more like Him. Each day the dead rebel within us dies still more. Our boss not only directs us, but leads our steps toward eternity, preparing us for a place. But this too we forget. We who affirm His absolute sovereignty fall into a trap. Because we recognize that God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass, we become practical deists. He wrote the grand play, but now He sits in the stands, munching celestial popcorn. We think He has written no part for Himself.

God, speaking from the burning bush, gave Moses two names. He spoke, to be sure, His exalted name, I AM THAT I AM. Here He affirmed that He is above all things, that He rules all things, that He alone is independent and eternal. He likewise told Moses that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Here He speaks of His imminence, a closeness that comes complete with covenant love. In Christ, we are at peace with the source of all things. And in Christ we are called out, loved, by name. Which in turn helps us understand the hardship He sends our way.

Because He is exalted and lifted up, He sends hardship to us for His purpose, to glorify His name. He loves us by name, and sends hardship for our purpose, that we might be more like His Son. Because He is exalted and lifted up, everything that comes our way are orders from on high. My Boss, the Jewish carpenter, leaves a post-it-note on my desk- “I want you to lose your job.” He sends the congregation a bulletin- “Please confront this sin, and when repentance comes, forgive the offenders.” He sends a family a memo- “I want you to care for My servant with special needs. She needs loving attention.”

Even this, we can manage to accept. Our Boss has shown Himself to be faithful. He hasn’t given us any assignments that He hasn’t first taken on. His love for us is as evident as the backs of His hands. We glory in our Boss, precisely because He is the perfect combination of absolute power, and tender care.

What we tend to bristle under, however, is this hard truth, more often than not, the Jewish carpenter isn’t our immediate boss. Truth be told, my boss is a tax collecting (re)-publican. My boss is my editor, who has been given the authority to make sure I hit my deadlines. My boss is the elders at my church who will give an account for my soul (Hebrews 13).

All of these men are sinners. They have their own selfish agendas. They don’t know me and my weaknesses, nor even my strengths. These bosses are, as hard as this may be to believe, almost as corrupt as I am. Their sin, of course, isn’t in some discreet and quarantined place where I can’t be harmed. Instead their orders are sometimes given for their own pleasure. They sometimes flow out of their own foolishness. And so we seem to have gone back to Egypt.

Years ago I found myself in various venues across the country teaching on the family. Everybody loves the family, and so this calling seemed like light duty. The trouble is, everywhere I went I spent some of my time exegeting Ephesians 5:22, “Wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.” That’s not an easy sell, even in conservative churches.

Paul helps us understand the respective callings of husband and wife by way of analogy to Jesus and His church. Husbands are to love wives as Christ loves the church, wives are to submit their husbands as the church is to submit to Jesus. Invariably someone brought this complaint, “I’d be happy to submit to my husband, if my husband were Jesus.” To which I invariably replied, “Congratulations! That is exactly your circumstance. You must submit to your earthly, flawed, sinful husband precisely because your heavenly, flawless, sinless Husband commands you so to do.”

Being born male, however, doesn’t change the situation. When we grouse under the sundry authorities over us, when we long for the return of the King that we might delight under His rule, we are actually bucking under His rule. Lo He is with us always. This is His gentle and tender command to us, that we would obey those tyrants that rule over us, who do so because He put them there.

We scoff at those theological liberals who are altogether happy to embrace the teaching of Jesus, but can’t stand that horrible Paul. Then we turn around and do just the same, only worse. Paul’s commission and authority, while real, are not nearly as clear as these words from his pen, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13: 1-2).

Two things come through here loud and clear- 1. We are to obey because 2. God established the authorities.

Our Master warned us we could only serve one. But we rebel against Him, and try time and again to moonlight. The freedom we enjoy in Christ isn’t having no masters, but having only one. But that one has established boundaries all about us; He has built fences for the sheep of His flock. The Lord of lords has given us lords that sometimes lord it over us.

We obey them in obedience to Him. We demonstrate that He is Lord of our lives by submitting to the lords in our lives. No bucking, no bristling, but giving our obedience as unto the Lord. We serve one master, but serve Him with all that we are, and all that we have. We will follow wherever He leads, even when He leads us through the valley of the shadow of death, even when He leads us to hired hands.

Beware of the leaven of the rebels. May our King permit us to live in peace and quietness with all men. May we be known the world around as a fiercely submissive people.

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Sacred Marriage, Esther; Rainbow Baseball; Ashamed of God

This week we have a strong theme running through our segments. Each deals with the intersection of the believer and the unbelieving world. Which shapes which? If that sounds like something that could help, and it should, maybe tune in and share it with your friends.

This week’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

Posted in 10 Commandments, Biblical Doctrines, Big Eva, church, Devil's Arsenal, Good News, Jesus Changes Everything, kingdom, Lisa Sproul, persecution, politics, RC Sproul JR, repentance, Sacred Marriage, scandal, sexual confusion, sport, theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Christ’s Body: How We Miss the We-ness of Us All

Humans are curious creatures. Just as we struggle to get our minds around both the one-ness and the three-ness of the godhead, so we struggle to understand ourselves. We are alone with our thoughts, alone in our skins. We will face the judgment seat one at a time.

But God did not make us to be alone. The woman came forth from the man, even as all men come forth from a woman. Husband and wife become one flesh. Our connectedness, however, doesn’t end there. God promises that He puts the solitary into families (Psalm 68:6). He makes of us, in our local churches, one body, and in the universal church yet again one body.

All this is a mystery too wonderful to grasp. Our calling, however, is less to understand the mystery, more to enter into it, and to live in light of it. When we lose our identity to the larger group, when we think we are in the kingdom because we are close with those who are, when we forget that He not only calls us but loves us by name, one at a time, we have lost sight of the fact that we are discreet souls.

Our greater danger, however, is when we lose sight of our we-ness. When our places of worship become spectacles, theaters we go to to take in, whether it be frothy entertainment or heady information, we forget that it is we who gather to worship the Triune God. When we fail to mourn with those who mourn, and dance with those who dance, in our families, in our communities, in our churches, we cut ourselves off from the we-ness that we are. Or, when we leave the widow and the orphan in their trouble, thinking ourselves secure, we manifest our insecurity.

Years ago a friend and sheep in my flock asked to meet with me for lunch. Over our burgers and fries he asked, “RC, why don’t you trust us to pray?” Most of the time I am asked a question I less formulate, more retrieve the answer. I have a file in my head with the answers to questions I am asked. I had no file for this question. All I could do was give a question in answer- “What do you mean? Why do you think I don’t trust you to pray?” “Well,” my friend explained, “so many of the prayers in our service are read prayers. You know, because you’re afraid we might pray wrong.”

I explained to my friend that a lack of trust had nothing to do with it. Rather, we pray together so that WE might pray TOGETHER. I went on to suggest not only are we praying together, the saints of that body, but the prayers we read are the ancient prayers of the church, and so the we extends beyond our local assembly, to the saints around the world, and even to the souls of just men made perfect. We are together one body, redeemed by one Lord.

It is a glorious gospel truth that the Spirit remakes us into the image of the Son. It is also a glorious gospel truth that He knits us together into the body of the Son. I pray for my I-ness, that I would daily see more our we-ness, to live in light of it, to be fed by it, and to serve the body.

Posted in Apostles' Creed, assurance, Biblical Doctrines, church, communion, Devil's Arsenal, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, prayer, RC Sproul JR, worship | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What is the theology of glory and the theology of the cross?

We feel an appropriate tension in the relationship between Christians and the world. We serve a Lord who came to bring life abundant (John 10:10), who has overcome the world (John 16:33). Jesus is bringing all things under subjection (Ephesians 1:22). He will see every knee bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of the Father (Philippians 2:10).

Jesus is the last Adam succeeding where the first Adam failed, not only in obeying God’s law perfectly, not only atoning for our failure to keep the law, but in fulfilling the dominion mandate. The church, which is the last Eve, or bride of the last Adam, is a help suitable to Jesus in fulfilling that calling. We are in union with Him, bone of His bone. We are to be about the business of pressing the crown rights of King Jesus.

Trouble is, we, like the disciples before us, are often zealous more for our own success, our own power, our own glory than we are for the kingdom. They wanted to know who would be first in the kingdom. We are often much the same. The notion of “the theology of glory” is a means to warn us against this temptation.

Rooted in Lutheran thinking, this warning reminds us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (II Corinthians 2:10), that the first shall be last and the last first (Matthew 20:16). We are more called to die for our enemies than to kill them, to give freely than to take from them, to turn the other cheek, even to live in peace and quietness with all men, as much as is possible. This, Lutherans wisely call “the theology of the cross.” We are to live lives of sacrifice.

The prosperity Gospel presents an unbalanced picture on the glory side. This heresy teaches that it is God’s will that we all enjoy great health and wealth, that as children of the King we all ought to be living like princes. The ascetic heresy presents an unbalanced picture on the cross side- don’t eat, don’t drink, don’t touch. Here we frown on God’s blessings, seeing then as a sign of worldliness rather than gifts from God’s hand. Poverty becomes a virtue in itself. Worse still this perspective can degenerate to a denial of the reign of Christ over all things.

Our calling is not to pursue our own comfort, far less our own glory. Rather we are called to make known the glory of our King. We are to make visible the invisible kingdom of God. We do this, however, through rather ordinary means. As we work faithfully, rather than claw our way up the financial ladder, as we change diapers, rather than count our gold, as He is exalted and we are laid low, we are not eschewing glory in order to embrace the cross, but are instead embracing the glory of the cross. We live by dying, win by losing. We conquer by retreating and boast in our weakness.

Jesus reigns. But we His subjects are not many wise, not many powerful, not many noble. Therefore let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. The more we manifest Christ and Him crucified, the more we manifest His sovereign reign.

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The Absolute Fullness of the Great Commission

It is false to say that what we don’t know can’t hurt us, especially when it comes to the Bible. If ever there were anything we need to know, it is the very Word of God. That said, what is in all likelihood worse than what we don’t know about the Bible is what we do know that just isn’t so. Consider the Great Commission.

We ought to be familiar with this. These are not just the words of Jesus, as if that weren’t enough, but the “last” words of Jesus. His parting command just before He ascends to His heavenly throne. He commands that which is of eternal consequence. Jesus doesn’t tell the disciples to wash behind their ears or to remember to send thank-you cards after Christmas. No, Jesus tells His disciples to bring in the lost, to go to the four corners of the world.

And that’s where we stop. It is not only true, but a vital truth, that the Great Commission includes the call to preach the good news, to tell others about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, to call all men everywhere to repent. It is also vitally true that this is not at all the whole of the Great Commission.

Perhaps because we are selfish, or because we live in an era of cultural decline, too many in the church have adopted a narrow view of the gospel. Jesus, I am told, came to save my soul. Once that is accomplished, He calls me solely to be used by Him to seek the salvation of others. If God should bless, He calls these believers to have as their sole calling the winning of more souls. The good news, under this perspective under this perspective, is that Jesus came to save sinners.

Jesus came to save sinners. However, He did not come just to save souls. He came to save bodies, to save families, communities, nations. To save, to redeem, to remake the whole groaning creation. He calls us, the church, His bride, to be the Eve to His Adam, a help suitable to Him in the great work of dominion.

We need not leave the Great Commission to see this. The command, along with the fullness of the gospel, is there already. He calls us here to make disciples of the nations. Some argue this still focuses on soul winning. “Nations,” in this view, isn’t the political or cultural institutions. Instead, it refers to the need to take the message to the outermost parts of the world. We are not to sit on our haunches, but we are to cross land and sea, seeking by the Spirit to make children of hell into the children of God.

Fair enough. Even if this part of the Great Commission is focused on soul winning, what do we do with the next part — “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded”? Jesus certainly commanded that we repent, that we believe on His name. Did He not also command us to be meek, to be peacemakers, to mourn? That we should hunger and thirst for righteousness. He told us where to find righteousness, that not one jot or tittle of the law would pass. Jesus taught us to pray His kingdom would come on earth as it has in heaven. We know such is happening when His will is done here, as it is there.

Our labors, then, in instructing the found, in calling them toward godliness, in pursuing obedience, are not distractions from the Great Commission but fulfillments of it. Of course, we must seek His righteousness, that righteousness that can become ours only by the faith He must first give us. But we are called also to seek His kingdom. That kingdom, as the Lord’s Prayer demonstrates, is not just an invisible realm within the hearts of believers. Rather, it is everywhere, especially where His own joyfully confess Him.

Discipling the nations, teaching them to observe all that He has commanded, then, isn’t polishing the brass on a sinking ship. It is instead cultivating the mustard seed. A failure to disciple the nations even as we evangelize them, on the other hand, isn’t to be about the most important work. It is instead to run the ship aground.

The social gospel was all social and no gospel. Mere pietism, on the other hand, is impious. We are to proclaim the lordship of Christ over our souls, over our bodies, over our families, over our churches, over our communities, over our nations, over the whole of the groaning creation. So, let us repent and preach the good news, that the kingdom of God has come, that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of the Father, and that of the increase of His government there will be no end.

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Lessons From Fools and Those Who Fool Them

Faith means believing God. If He said it, that settles it. Wisdom begins with the fear of God. The fear of God begins with believing God. And bad things happen when we don’t. One of the things we, both inside the church and outside don’t believe God about is sexual ethics. The fool is enticed by the immoral woman. The result isn’t damaging one’s reputation. It isn’t an STD. The result is death and destruction:

Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths;
For she has cast down many wounded,
And all who were slain by her were strong men.
Her house is the way to hell,
Descending to the chambers of death.
(Proverbs 7: 26, 27).

I fear when we hear these words we think them mere metaphor. We think Solomon gave us a vivid word picture to tell us adultery is not a good thing. Instead, Solomon, under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit tells us that this pathway leads to death and to hell. In short, we think God’s kidding, that He doesn’t really mean what He says. And that may just be the most dangerous thing of all.

The church is little different from the world. I’ve had young couples, professing believers, ask me to do their pre-marital counseling. I’m happy to do it. It became apparent that this couple was living together. That didn’t shock me, sadly. What shocked me is that they asked if that was wrong. I doubt their consciences had been silent. I fear the pulpits they sat under had been.

How does that happen? Because we are so prone to separating our faith from His Word. We see this also in Proverbs 7. When the immoral woman approaches the foolish young man, she explains that she has everything already set up. Her husband would be gone for days. The sheets were washed and perfumed. Oh, and this, she said, “I have peace offerings with me. Today I have paid my vows” (verse 14). What? She is saying, in essence, “I have performed my duty before God. He and I are square. So now is a great time for some adultery.”

She thought her performance of religious ceremony freed her up to offend the living God. Her mindset was that the two had little to do with each other. Just like in our day. And just as Solomon warned, destruction comes in the wake. Real, powerful, painful destruction. Her steps lead to death.

Sometimes that death happens at the abortion mills. One out of every six people procuring an abortion is a self-professed evangelical. Not religious. Not Protestant. Evangelical. Sex trafficking, child sexual abuse, all these things begin when we stop believing God. Silence on what God has said is reckless endangerment, a failure to shepherd. We’ve succumbed to the ways of the world, and the result is rot, horror and death.
May God grant us the grace to believe His law.

Posted in 10 Commandments, abortion, Biblical Doctrines, Big Eva, church, ethics, Holy Spirit, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, proverbs, RC Sproul JR, scandal, sexual confusion, wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Teach Your Children; SBC Lady Pastors, 70s Baseball & More

You really ought to give a listen. All the cool kids do. What are ya? Yellow? Go on.

This week’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

Posted in Biblical Doctrines, church, Education, Going Homesteady, Growing Up (With) R.C., Jesus Changes Everything, Lisa Sproul, preaching, RC Sproul JR, sport, That 70s Kid, wisdom, work | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment