SCOTUS: What should the Church have expected? How should the Church react?
0 comments Posted by Russell Tusing at 2:03 PMAs the church, our reactions need to be conditioned by this expectation as we have, do and should respond. Unlike the following expectation based reaction of: “emotional and mental suffering,” “acute loss of confidence,” “doubt,” “excessive sleep,” “felt mentally raped, dirty and shameful,” “high blood pressure,” “impaired digestion,” “loss of appetite,” “migraine headaches,” “pale and sick at home after work,” “resumption of smoking habit,” “shock,” “stunned,” “surprise,” “uncertainty,” “weight gain,” and “worry.” This was actually what a homosexual "couple" described in a law suit as their reaction to an Oregon bakery declining to provide them with a wedding cake. This sort of expectation based reaction will be commonplace among homosexuals and the sinful culture we live among. Peter writes the church about this sort of reaction from a sinful culture (practicing such things as homosexuality) as a reaction they and we should expect, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you" (1 Peter 4:12). Moreover, just prior to that statement he taught that the church should have a mind to suffer as Christ did and be maligned by those among a lasts days sinful culture who practice such sins as homosexuality. In our reactions and responses we need to guard against responding to a fool according to their folly (Prov.26:4) unless we become like them in their sinful passions or reactions! Their reactions toward the church shouldn't be our reactions toward them. Their expectation based reactions are governed by sinful turpitude. Our expectation based reactions are governed by the gospel and Scriptural precedent.
What does homosexuality being legally viable mean for the church then? It means that we need to be busy pleading the gospel of Jesus Christ to a sinful culture as our priority instead of pleading for Congress or the Judiciary to change sinful culture. Please don't misread the above paragraph. I'm not saying the above mentioned actions are out of bounds or are to be shrugged off. Not at all. As responsible Christian citizens we should be culturally engaged. However, legislation, political action, Christian Coalitions, statements of faith, separation of governmental powers and even the Constitution didn't prevent the recent SCOTUS fallout or the present cultural reality.
"What is his name?". It has been a joy of late and recent leading (along with other leaders) Sovereign Grace Church of Lagrange through the names of God each Sunday and in our Care Groups. I am who I am is the name God revealed to Moses, Pharaoh and the Hebrews Pharaoh enslaved as God was promising the Hebrews that He was going to set them free from Egyptian captivity (Ex.3). This marked a water shed moment in the life and history of the Hebrew people; aka the Israelites. From the moment the Lord their God, I am who I am, set them free from captivity their lives became indelibly marked by their knowledge of Him. As they lived as God's people they continued to discover who the Lord their God is in greater ways as they experience the reality of His presence in their lives in accordance with 1) who He revealed himself to be to them and 2) how he revealed himself in their varying situations.
We find the Father making Himself known in, by and through Jesus Christ who identified Himself as the great 'I am (who I am)' (John 8:58). When Phillip asked Jesus to show he and the disciples the Father Christ replied, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say 'Show us the Father'? Do you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?" (John 14:8-11). How then are we able to personally grow in our knowledge of our Father?
their call for the people to hear)
3) Speak to others who know Father God and hear from them about the Father. (Job 32:10,33:1; Heb.13:7; 1 John 4:6; 1 Cor.3:21-22)
To be, or not to be, that is the question...As Shakespeare questioned in Hamlet. Well, for Paul that is in fact the question too. It is a truism for Paul - as well as the rest of Scripture - that salvation brings about an inward change by way of regeneration that is expressed outwardly in our behavior or how we conduct ourselves. From the word go we are continually undergoing a process of transformation that unfolds throughout life. Having been saved we are being changed. Having been set free from sin we are being, “transformed. . .from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Cor.3:18) as a result of God the Father who, “has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col.1:13-14) The Pauline ethic is not merely a matter of do’s and do nots, though we do find such ethical imperatives in Paul. His ethics are more a matter of who we are in Christ and how who we are in Christ transforms our present life.
New Life: Be what you are in Christ
The above is new life for Paul. We are no longer in bondage to our formerly depraved natures but have been made alive (Eph.2). This new life was, “ created in Christ Jesus for good works. . .that we should walk in them” (Eph.2:10). Implicit within this ontologically salvific statement is the causal will of God. Throughout the bible we see the ethical life couched in the reality and purpose of God’s will. It is His salvific intent. IN his epistle to the Philippians Paul writes for the church to, "work out your salvation...for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." (Phil.2:12d-13). This 'will' and 'work' is the elsewhere spoken of as sanctification. This is effect of salvation or new life that our God has purposed. Sanctification precipitating from this new life, for instance, is to be worked out and attended to precisely because it is God’s will. Paul touches on this when he promulgates, “. . . brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification...” (1 Thess.4:1-3).This ethical life is brought about through instructional means according to the purposes of God as result of being re-born.. This is commonplace as, “The New Testament generally and the apostle (Paul) in particular consistently urge those who have experienced God’s gracious redemption to lead holy and godly lives.” We are, thereby, taught to do this or that or not to do this or that. Paul often rebukes or exhorts the church to live according to the Christian ethic salvation has brought about vis a vis new life (cf. Eph.4,5; Col.3). Again, Paul writes the Thessalonians, “we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory”(1 Thess.2:12).
Paul can specifically inculcate the ethical life because of the underlying assumption found in any Pauline ethical paranesis, namely, that Christ’s death and resurrection envelopes us in new life. New life that can be instructed to live accordingly. The “central focus”, of Paul’s ethical instruction is, “that the moral life is the consequence of a new creation effected by Christ’s death and resurrection.”
This redemptive historical nuance underlies the warp and woof of Paul’s ethical expectations throughout his writings. “It means a real inclusion within the reality of the divine act of redemption”. We have already been ‘created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph.2:10) yet, we will be walking in them. Paul elsewhere says, even more emphatically, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the, new has come.”(2 Cor.5:17). The tense of the red highlighted words is indicative of what has already been realized in Christ historically and expressed or lived out presently, as it were. One will be able to do good works and live out a Christian ethic because of what they already are in Christ for, “the new life of believers receives its specific character in what ‘once’ took place with Christ.” Moreover, the prepositional phrase, “in Christ” (above in red) locates the activity and reality of the new creation with, in and through Jesus Himself. It speaks to the antecedent union with Jesus necessary for practicing the Christian life. The surrounding context in Ephesians substantiates this meaning (1:4,2:6,7,12a). Jesus is the proximate location of the new creation. As John Murray put it, “It is in Christ that the people of God are created anew.” Apart from being united to Him in His death and resurrection (Rom.6) we could not and would not walk in good works (Eph.2:10d) because, “good works necessarily follow from the union of believers with Christ. . .What Christ effects in his people is in a sense a replica or reproduction of what took place in Him.”
So, Paul can command an ethical life only because of what has already been established fait accompli in, by and through Jesus Christ. Ethical imperatives are always couched in salvific indicatives. As Ridderbos posits, “...the new life in its moral manifestation is at one time proclaimed and posited as the fruit of the redemptive work of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit - the indicative; elsewhere, however, it is put with no less force as a categorical demand - the imperative.”
New Life: Become what you will be in Christ
Beyond bringing about a distinctly Christian life by way of instructional means based upon the eschatological reality of what Christ has done previously there is another eschatological appeal Paul employ’s to encourage Christian living. Paul looks to the reality of what God has already achieved in Christ for us in eternity - but nevertheless in Him - as cause to live the Christian life, or better, to grow into who we already are in Christ. “Because of the historic event of the resurrection of Christ, the church is controlled by the risen Christ (i.e. in heaven), but the process by which the risen life of Christ manifests itself is on earth. . .” In locating our new life in union with Christ or more precisely in union with his fully resurrected life who is raised from the dead and seated in heavenly places (Eph.1:20) Paul understands that we are striving toward that end or reaching forward to what has been fully achieved there - where Christ is. Paul finds much motivation in knowing the risen and exalted Christ and the ‘power of his resurrection’ (Phil.3:10) he exerts himself, “to press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind an straining forward to what lies ahead” (3:12-13). Paul envisions the perfected new man where Christ is and suitably recognizes that his goal is to attain the full realization of that new life already achieved by Christ historically but now being lived out completely in eternity. Paul himself embodies an eschatological ethic that compels him to look ahead to the full realization of new life. He is motivated to work out a distinctly Christian life because of what awaits him as he affirms when saying, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”(3:14). This is underscored in what he concludes in this section of Philippians. He brings to mind our heavenly citizenship and how we await Christ’s return as Savior to transform our physicality. With this anticipation of future fulfillment he then exhorts his readers to, “Therefore...stand firm”(3:20-4:1). Paul finds great incentive in living out the Christian life and fostering a distinctly Christian ethic in what awaits him and them. He throws out an ethical imperative on the grounds of future promise. Paul looks forward to eternal life as incentive of sorts. Unlike the Johannine literature, that treats eternal life as a present reality, Paul treats eternal life as a future inheritance. For the apostle this is a bona fide reason to continue conducting ourselves as Christians.A man should have a strong desire for pastoral ministry. If a man is called to ministry there will be an inner aspiration to this ministerial post (1 Tim. 3:1). This is a compulsion born out of an innate awareness rooted deep within the fiber of a man. An inner compulsion and resolve, to be sure, that brought Paul to say, "...necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel."(I Cor.9:16). Now, aspiration is not always without reservation or inhibition. While serving as an elder/pastor at Ephesus Paul writes Timothy about the young pastors inhibitions as a pastor(1 Tim. 4:12a, 2 Tim.1:6-7, 2:1-13). Moses was reticent and doubtful (Ex.3) as was Jeremiah (Jer.1:6)...not to mention Jonah. Reservation does not disqualify. On the other side of the coin, aspiration without reservation does not disqualify. Isaiah was quick to respond to the Lord's call to ministry (Is.6:8). Paul also had an unabashed aspiration (Acts 9:20,26-30). Some men need pushed while others push themselves. Either way aspiration will be present. With that being said, aspiration without qualification (#2) ends before it begins. Aspiration will not stand on its own.
Again, aspiration will not stand on its own. Without qualification aspiration will spend itself of its own resources. Without qualification the flame of aspiration will burn its own oxygen and die out. Immediately after affirming aspiration Paul conditions aspiration saying, "Therefore, an overseer (pastor/elder) must be...(1 Tim.3:1-7;Titus 1:5-9). He than proceeds to list a number of traits for men called to pastoral ministry. Aspiration devoid of those qualifications is vacuous. Bear in mind that Paul is writing a personal letter to Pastor Timothy at Ephesus. Timothy was to use the qualifications as a template to gauge bona fide pastoral calling. Those Timothy might be considering arguably would not have seen this list. We can infer that men who are called will already be exemplifying the qualifications on some level without the prospect of ordination. A man who is called will show himself qualified without a list to accomplish. This is important because an ambitious man with aspiration will mechanically work through the list Timothy was given without genuinely being qualified. How do pastor's differentiate? A pastoral candidate will be doing the work of a pastor without being told or without it being demanded. This doesn't negate the need for encouragement or giving such men direction. It simply means that those called to pastor will exude the quality of a pastoral heart and mind without being commanded.
Qualification ensures that a man will have the character and quality to endure the pressures and anxieties of ministry lest he stumble. A man must have the character to endure the high points and benefits of the pastoral ministry as well, lest he stumble. Pastoral ministry comes with a serious gravity and weight (Acts 3:11-16,20:28-32; Rom.16:17-18; 1 Cor.1:10-17; Eph.4:11-12; 1 Tim.4:11-16, 5:17-22; James 3:1, et al.) that qualification reveals a man to be able to honestly handle and carry. This doesn't mean pastors will handle their calling perfectly but that they will handle their calling faithfully.