Prince George Alexander Louis!! The masses burst into a jubilant praise. Not only was the princes birth of obsessive interest to multitudes - the announcement of his name was met with euphoric exultation. I get it, the birth signifies a very real stability for the constitutional monarchy and consequently brings a sense of national pride. And I agree a child being born is worthy of note and celebration.
Those concessions being made, though, such celebratory praise also signifies something much more. At the very least it signifies a warped gradation of the valuation life. With the prevalence of abortion, infanticide, infrantricide representing a basic and abominable devaluing or degradation of life-and it indubitably does- the grandiose celebration of a prince being born betokens a selectivity of valuing life. The disproportionate attention given to such a birth in relation to other births - magnified by the disregard of the countless unborn - evinces this selectively along with the great pains taken to acknowledge that life by multitudes. {The economic boost by hundreds of millions of dollars(monies by the way that could go toward adoption), businesses closing, trans-global media coverage (more concentrated coverage of this birth has been given in comparison to, say, the violence done to children in countries like Democratic Republic of Congo & Chad where guerrilla soldiers abduct and use them for evil ends or the children in many countries who are sold into slavery or prostitution. Not to forget about the children used in the drug wars throughout the streets of the U.S)} Moreover, the inordinate attention given to the birth of celebrity children, by and large, underscores this.
Admittedly, there are many other factors that contribute to such amplified coverage and interest such as the aforementioned media concentration, et al, yet, such disproportionate interest does intimate an underlying systemic problem related to the valuation of life and worth.
Admittedly, there are many other factors that contribute to such amplified coverage and interest such as the aforementioned media concentration, et al, yet, such disproportionate interest does intimate an underlying systemic problem related to the valuation of life and worth.
This should not be! Or better, this celebratory posture should be extended to all births! Indeed, Prince George has arrived...so have many others. All life carries the same intrinsic worth. A child born in the ghettos of Los Angeles is no less worthy of celebration than a prince being born across the pond. A child being born in communist China is no less valuable than a child being born in a tribal province of the middle east. You get the picture. All life is worthy to be celebrated- and should be. This is true in two senses.
First of all, Scripture and nature reveal that all of life is vested with a particular and inherent worth. Naturally, the 'pain/s' of death and suffering evince that the cessation or lessening of the quality of life is negative on all accounts. Scripturally, we learn that all human life is made 'in the image and after the likeness of God',(Gen.1:26-27, James 3:9) the Creator of life. This being true all life possesses an inborn value and intrinsic worth due to the fingerprints it bears and the image it portrays; though that image is marred due to sin. Every child born is a creature of the Creator. This creatureliness carries a universal worth/value. This value extends to all human life. To this end and in this sense the local church I help pastor celebrates the birth of all children equally. They are gifts of Father God and worth celebrating. So at Sovereign Grace Church of Lagrange we celebrate the lives of all children who have been born and will be born! We delight in the lives of all our little ones. There isn't a single one we celebrate more than another. There is no sliding scale of value that merits more attention.
Secondly, no child is worthy of royal aggrandizement outside of Christ (Matt.2:2;Luke 1:32). (although within certain governmental constructs a child may be born into 'royalty') And every child of God in Christ is considered a 'king and priest' (Rev.1:6; I Peter 2:9; cf. Ex.19:6,) and thereby should be celebrated in a royal manner! The only lives that receive royal prestige are those who live for Christ and that, solely because of His royalty being conferred upon us by the Father. Royal worth extends only to those who are adopted by Father God, as His children in Jesus Christ, by grace through faith.!!(Rom.8:14-17; I Peter 2:9) This royal status as children carries a particular value. This value extends to those born again and re-created, as it were.
John, the disciple of Christ, wrote, 'let what you heard from the beginning abide(remain) in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides(remains) in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father."
(I John 2:24).
John was writing to a cluster of churches in Asia minor; present day Turkey. The recipient was arguably the church at Ephesus. John was compelled to write due to a noxious heresy that was being propagated.
This false teaching was conceivably being peddled by some who were apart of the Ephesian church, who had formerly heard the message of the gospel that was delivered at the beginning, but had since then abandoned the truths of the gospel; (cf.1:1-3,5,2:19) even denying the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. The doctrine that Christ, the second person of the God-head, assumed a human nature while remaining fully God.
However many false teachers there were is unknown. Regardless of their number these aptly called 'anti-christs' and 'false prophets'(1:18,4:1,3) were not satisfied with the bare knuckled gospel message. They 'cut and carved' the message as it suited their insatiable pallets. They weren't content nor satisfied with the profundity of truth/s that the gospel message comprised!
The fact that John chooses to employ the word 'abide' -which means to remain - in relation to the gospel message underscores the fact they these gospel detractors failed to do so themselves. Moreover, John describes these gainsayers as 'trying to deceive' those abiding in the gospel message.(2:26) The word 'deceive'(= roam or stray in the Greek) means that they were attempting to cause others to 'roam' or 'stray' from the gospel they 'roamed' and 'strayed' from.
It is additionally clear from how John identifies and counteracts their teaching/s (1:1-10, 2:22 et al) that their was an early proto-gnostic nuance to their heresy. One that separated mind from matter and spirituality from physicality. It boasted a 'secretive wisdom' that involved special 'oil anointing' ceremonies as a right of passage, so to speak.The gospel message simply was inadequate and insufficient for them! Wow. Really?
John's recourse was to contend with these anti-gospel heralds and to counteract what they had promulgated in and around the church at Ephesus.
He does so throughout 1,2,3 John by developing the gospel reality of 'abide'. Remaining in the gospel of Jesus Christ is paramount. There is no justifiable grounds, nor will there ever be such grounds, for abandoning the gospel message that has been posthumously delivered by Christ and then by his commissioned apostolic heralds fait a compli! The dye has been cast.
We Christians are to vigilantly remain in the gospel message! There is no substitute...no new enlightened version...no fantastical experience that will ever displace what was originally delivered. In our day and age new vistas of experience are sought to transform our lives instead of turning to Christ. In our day and age entertainment value within the local church has diminished how one personally values the gospel in and of itself. In our day and age materialism in the guise of a 'prosperity gospel' has located hope in wealth and success beyond the actual promises of the gospel.
The GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST is glorious! It is the mystery of the ages now revealed! It is the good news established in eternity past that will carry us into that eternity where Jesus Christ is in glory!
For John it is THE ONLY MESSAGE worth dwelling on...contemplating...rejoicing in...boasting in...living in...remaining in. Which is why at the end of his life, as he writes this epistle, he is still glorying in the same gospel he had received 'from the beginning',(1:1-4) some 50-60 years later!
The gospel is ageless. Its value and veracity does not change from age to age. It remains the same! We are to revel in its truthfulness and immutability(changeless-ness). Our appreciation and understanding of the gospel may increase as WE age but the gospel itself does not change as WE age.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
