Joy and Sorrow

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Abortion

Our family has returned from a lovely vacation, refreshed but overwhelmed with the realization that the locals in our resident area have been pulling the wool over our eyes for the past few years.  You see, we had a splendid time in the Fort Walton Beach, FL area, soaking up the sun on the beach, leaping in the emerald waters, and listening to the crash of the waves.  We have now returned to Pontoon Beach, IL.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something is missing.

However, the joy of relaxing in the beauty of God’s creation must meet against the sorrow of the human destruction of creation.  This is a manifold tragedy, one aspect of which I am reminded of today.

Today or tomorrow, the Illinois senate will vote on whether or not to ratify SB 25, the Reproductive Health Act–a blue state response to the abortion-denouncing legislation that has been going forward in red states lately.  This heinous piece of legislation, if passed, will greatly expand the slaughter of the most helpless, the killing of innocents in the womb.

Say a prayer for Illinois today.

And Maranatha–our Lord, come!

Growing in the New Life

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1 Peter, Sanctification, Spiritual Growth

The new life in Christ has ethical ramifications.  Being born again means that you should cast off certain behaviors and earnestly seek God’s righteousness.  This is the two-faceted exhortation which begins 1 Peter 2.

On the one hand, those who have been given new and everlasting life by the word of God must, “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind” (1 Pet. 2:1).  Like other NT ‘vice lists’ this is a representative group, not exhaustive–that is, the apostle surely would want believers to throw off greed and lust as well, though he doesn’t mention them.  It is also a list that focuses more on the attitudes of the heart than on the external actions that emerge from these attitudes.  And it is a list of sins that particularly would disrupt the brotherly love that Peter has called for Christians to show one another.

But Christian ethics isn’t just about what you cast off; it’s also about what you take on.  “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (vv.2-3).  The sinful attitudes of the heart are to be replaced with the goodness of God, with His Word and the spiritual growth brought by the Spirit.  Peter is not suggesting here that the believers he’s writing to are immature, but he’s using the image of the new birth to urge believers to seek spiritual growth as earnestly as babies crave the milk that helps them grow.

All of this is predicated upon the work of God in the life of the Christian.  God is good, the source of all goodness and life.  You have tasted God’s goodness; let that taste drive you to more and more fulness in Him.

The Technocracy Is Not Your Friend

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Censorship, Social Media, Truth

Recently, Pulpit and Pen posted about how a Christian is trying to organize others to get them censored on Facebook.  Now, I can understand why someone would be concerned about Pulpit and Pen, and my point is not to defend them.  But I think it is a mistake to appeal to the technocracy to silence voices we find objectionable.

Facebook, Twitter, and so on, the social media platforms I am here referring to as ‘the technocracy’, are all too willing to silence voices they don’t approve of–troublingly so.  They will suspend accounts for things like saying men aren’t women or linking to sermons they find disagreeable.  They’ve established themselves as valuable networking tools, and use their influence to shut down Christian and conservative views, and even liberals who don’t toe the line.  This is disturbing, not laudable.

Now, I don’t mean to make this bigger than it is.  Having your Facebook account cancelled is hardly persecution.  But it’s not fearmongering to say that this sort of practice forebodes worse things to come.

To Christians, and to anyone who’s not lock-step with the spirit of the age I say this: the technocracy is not your friend.  They don’t need any encouragement in their censorship program.  Appeal to them at your peril.  You could easily be next.

Imperishable

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1 Peter, God, Gospel, Truth

The gospel message may seem small compared to the powers of this world.  American culture loves the display of grandiose wealth and extravagance by the elite figures of the entertainment industry, the wonders of technology, the allure of power.  When we look with the eyes of the world, the church (or at least the average church) may seem insignificant and out of touch, a relic of the past.

But appearance does not always equal reality.  Peter reminds Christians that their spiritual new birth is the mighty work of God, which grows from the seed of His word: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23, NIV).

This stands in start contrast to the pomp and prestige of the world: “For, ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’  And this is the word that was preached to you” (vv.24-25).

The splendor of the world passes away, but the word of God does not.  The glitz of Hollywood and the power of technocrats is dust, but the word of God endures.  God is eternal, and the gospel of God imparts everlasting life.

The church has a treasure the world cannot buy and cannot compete with–the gift of the word of God.

A Beating Heart

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Abortion, Law, Truth

Babies with beating hearts should be protected–even if they are still in their mothers’ wombs.  So thinks the state of Georgia; and they should be applauded.  None of the social issues in America today are more important than standing up to the wickedness of the abortion industry.

It took some courage to make this stand.  Certain parties in Hollywood have threatened them with a boycott if Georgia stands up for the most vulnerable.  Hollywood is powerful, and Mammon is one of the chief gods in their pantheon, greed is one of their defining languages; it makes sense that they would expect Georgia to shrink before the coercive arm of Mammon.

Georgia’s Governor Kemp did not feel that way.  “We protect the innocent, we champion, the vulnerable.  We stand up and speak for those unable to speak for themselves,” he said.

Of course, Georgia could have had a different governor.  Stacey Abrams, who lost the gubernatorial race to Kemp, has her own view of Georgia’s pro-life legislation: she called it “an abominable and evil bill”.

What can we say to such a morally bankrupt statement?

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20, NIV)

It’s not evil to protect a beating heart.  It’s not abominable to shelter the precious life of a baby.  Hollywood elites and liberal legislators may threaten and fume, and they get their way often enough–but the truth will stand.

A beating heart is worth protecting.

From the Heart

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1 Peter, Church, Faith, Love

One of the great tragedies of the history of Christianity is our division–within local churches, denominations, and the faith as a whole.  Truth matters, and we need to make a stand for the truth; yet divisions are hardly a good witness for the gospel.  After all, one of the repeated messages of the New Testament is the call for believers to love one another.

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22, NIV).

Love for the family of faith comes from the gospel.  God’s sanctifying work, which we receive by faith, gives us that love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  As usual, the apostle Peter takes this redemptive reality and shows the ethical force: God has given you love for the church, so love the church.

And this love is not simply a matter of outward appearance.  God cares not only about behavior, but about our hearts.  He desires to form in us a heart-holiness, a heart-love that we then live out.

Love is the ethic of faith, the sign and witness of the work of God.  It begins at home, with the family of faith.  Christians, love one another.