God’s
Election
Electing
God
Electing
Church Leaders
Electing
Civil Leaders
The
Church of Christ at Wakulla
Sunday: Bible Study 9:30 am, Morning Worship 10:30 am,
Afternoon Worship 5:00 pm and Wednesday: Bible Study 7:00 pm
To schedule a study, get information concerning the
church, or add someone to the prayer list, please contact Lawrence Wells at
850-766-0081 or email at lawandheather@hotmail.com
850-766-0081 or email at lawandheather@hotmail.com
Web address: churchofchristatwakulla.cofcpages.org
Online, Email or Mail Bible Courses:
“Introduction to God and His Revelation” (One lesson)
“Let’s Study Our Bible” (Four lessons)
God’s
Election
Ephesians 1: 1-12 “Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful
in Christ Jesus: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in
love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He
made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us
the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in
Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on
earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined
according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel
of His will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His
glory.”
Before the foundation of
the world, which means before Adam and Eve sinned, God chose us to have
redemption through Jesus Christ the Beloved. Paul includes
himself in the “us” along with all who are in Christ Jesus. By inspiration Paul is teaching God’s
predestined redemption that would come through Jesus His Only Begotten (One and
Only) Son making those who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus adopted sons. God did this according to His will and His
time (fullness of times) and nothing can prevent His will from being accomplished.
1 Thessalonians 1: 1-5 "Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in
God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We give thanks to God always for you
all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your
work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in
the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by
God. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in
the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were
among you for your sake.”
Those
who have put on Christ (Galatians 3:26-29) have been elected by God to receive eternal
blessings, because of their “work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.”
Paul tells us God manifested His word through preaching. God’s elect are those who have “faith” in God’s word. As Paul wrote in Romans 10: 17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The elect are those who chose to believe the word of God when they heard it, and to live a life of godliness.
1 Peter 1: 1-2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace be multiplied.”
Peter by inspiration reveals three things that make a person one of the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. First, one is “sanctified” (set apart, made holy) by the “Spirit” (Holy Spirit, Spirit of God), which means being made acceptable for God’s use. Second, one does this for “obedience” to God. The elect have been obedient to God to become the elect and have determined to remain obedient to God. Third, the “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” takes us back to when Moses sprinkled the Israelites with the blood of calves and goats to signify their acceptance of the Old Testament (Old Covenant) God gave them at Mount Sinai. By inspiration these words concerning the dedication by blood of the covenants were written in Hebrews 9: 13-20.
The elect have been spiritually sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ by committing to live according to the New Testament (New Covenant) of God revealed through Jesus His Son (Matthew 17: 1-6, Hebrews 1: 1-4). Jesus made this truth clear when He was teaching the apostles His communion that they were to keep in His remembrance. Matthew 26: 27-28 “Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
I hope we see from these passages and others that God predestined how people would become His children. He did not predestine who, apart from his or her own will, would be saved or would be condemned. Let’s keep in mind what Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3: 9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” God wants to save everyone! In the next section we will examine how we can choose to be part of God’s elect!
Electing
God
Matthew 28: 18-20 “And Jesus came and
spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and
on earth. Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age." Amen.”
The apostles, having been baptized by
the Holy Spirit to be divinely guided by God (Acts 1: 1-9, 2: 1-4) preached the
first message about redemption in Jesus Christ the Son of God on the day of
Pentecost. We have Peter’s sermon
recorded and at the end we have this statement about his preaching in Acts 2:
40 “And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be
saved from this perverse generation."
He is telling them to make a
choice to be saved. If we can make a
choice then God is putting part of our salvation in our court. We can choose to be saved (accept His gift)
or we can choose to be lost (refuse His gift).
Peter’s sermon in Acts chapter 2: 14-40
proves from the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus was the promised Messiah
(Christ, Anointed One) that was resurrected from the dead. Peter wraps up his sermon in verses 36. But take special note of their reaction to
his message in verse 37. “Therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter
and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we
do?"
Peter proclaimed Jesus to be the authority
through which God would rule them, and they believed. Not only did they believe, but they were
ready to submit to the authority of Jesus.
These people were electing God to
be their God who they would follow and obey as disciples of Jesus. They asked Peter what they should do. Peter replies in vs. 38-39 “Then Peter said
to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you
and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God
will call." Peter tells them to
repent, to change direction to become obedient to God, and he commands them to
be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission (forgiveness) of sins.
Those
who accepted these words of truth from God acted upon them so God could elect
them as adopted sons in vs. 41
“Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about
three thousand souls were added to them.”
They were the first ones to begin the fulfillment of the prophecy of
Joel quoted by Peter in vs. 21 “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on
the name of the Lord Shall be saved.” They
called upon the name of the Lord by acknowledging Him and obeying His will, by
believing, repenting and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of
their sins. God gave them the gift (not
gifts) of the Holy Spirit to dwell with them.
This is not the same as the gifts of miraculous manifestations the early
church received through the apostles for the revealing of the New Testament,
but it is the gift of becoming “adopted sons of God”.
Paul writes about this adoption that
takes place in Romans 8: 12-17. “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to
the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the
Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage
again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out,
"Abba, Father." The Spirit
Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if
children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we
suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
God
has chosen each one of us (John 3:16) but He has also given us the free will to
choose Him back…or reject Him. We must elect God so that He can elect us
through the redemption of the blood of His Son that He predestined before the
foundation of the world. This message
did not change throughout the revealing of the New Testament and it is still
the message of God that leads one to salvation today, to become elected by God
by electing to follow God. Consider
these passages below that teach about being baptized (washed) so our sins can
be forgiven.
Mark 16:15-16 – “…He who believes and is
baptized will be saved…”
Acts 10:44-48 – “…And
he commanded them to be baptized in
the name of the Lord….”
Romans 6: 1-7 –
“…Or do you not know that as many of us as were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into His death?...”
1 Corinthians
6: 9-11 – “Do
you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not
be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified,
but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our
God.”
We must hear the message of salvation
through Jesus Christ, believe with a faith that convicts us to repent of our
past and be willing to become a disciple of Jesus, and be baptized in His Name
for the remission of sins. That is how
we become an adopted son of God; that is how we are born again as Jesus said to
Nicodemus in John 3: 3-8. We must become the elect of God to be saved
and we must choose to remain the
elect of God to be saved. The following passages teach us about
many of the things that need to be true of us for us to become and remain the
elect of God through Jesus Christ His Son.
Jesus
John 3: 16 |
Jesus’ blood,
death, resurrection & life
Romans 5: 7-11 |
Intercession of
Jesus
Hebrews 7: 25 |
Justified by faith
Romans 5: 1-2 |
Hope
Romans 8: 23-25 |
The Gospel
1 Corinthians 15: 1-8 |
Grace-Faith
Ephesians 2: 8-9 |
Justified by works
James
2: 21-24 |
Baptism
1 Peter 3: 18-22 |
Confess-Endure
2 Timothy 2: 11-13, Revelation 2: 10 |
Faith, Repentance,
Baptism, the gift of the Spirit & Ourselves
Acts 2: 37-40 |
Forgive Others
Matthew 6: 12 |
The Fruit of the
Spirit
Galatians 5: 22-23 |
The Unity of the
Spirit
Ephesians 4: 1-7
|
The Intercession of
the Spirit
Romans 8: 26-27
|
The Word
Ephesians
6: 17, James 1: 17-20 |
Please read 1 Peter 1: 13-21 and Colossians
3: 12-15 where the elect are called upon to choose to be more like Jesus. The
elect must be active in their obedience to be more like Christ.
2 Peter 1: 5-11 “But also for this very reason, giving
all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge
self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to
godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these
things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is
shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from
his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and
election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an
entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Indeed,
our obedience to the Father through Jesus makes our election sure, but if we do
not pursue these virtues we put our election in danger.
2 Timothy 2: 11-13 “This is a faithful saying: For if we
died with Him, We shall also live with Him.
If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will
deny us. If we are faithless, He remains
faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
We
must remain faithful to the end which tells us we can choose to turn away from
being a disciple of God.
One of the most haunting passages in all of scripture are the words of
Jesus from His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7: 21-23 "Not everyone who
says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does
the will of My Father in heaven. Many
will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name,
cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew
you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'”
These people will not be trying to deceive God, but these
are Christians who at some time in their life had the Holy Spirit working
miraculous manifestations through them.
Still, they did not make their election sure, and ended up being
unelected by God to be sent to the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20: 11-15).
Electing
Spiritual Leaders
Acts 14: 23 “So when they had appointed elders in every
church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they
had believed.”
Electing spiritual leaders is an important task. What a blessing that God has given us
direction in how to complete this task to His glory and to our benefit. Let’s examine this verse more closely.
1. Who are the “they” who appointed the
elders? In Acts 14: 19-22 we learn
the “they” are Paul and Barnabas. Their
journey of preaching the gospel for the first time to these cities ended at
Derbe, and from there they reversed course to revisit and appoint elders in
these new churches.
2. What
does “appointed” mean?
Thayer’s
Greek Definitions:
a)
to vote by stretching out the hand
b)
to create or appoint by vote: one to have charge of some office or
duty
duty
c)
to elect, create, appoint
3. How did Paul and Barnabas do this? The process is not stated in this verse, but
shows that Paul and Barnabas enacted a process to appoint these elders.
Please take note that “elders” as in a plurality of
“elders” was appointed in “every church”, and throughout the scriptures where
elders are mentioned in relation to a church there is always a plurality (Acts
15: 4-6, Acts 20: 17, Philippians 1: 1).
God never intended for one man to
be “the elder” of any church.
In our efforts to learn from the New Testament what the
appointing process is consider Acts 6: 1-5a “Now in those days, when the number
of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews
by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily
distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said,
“It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full
of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we
will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole
multitude.” Notice that the apostles
gave inspired instructions for the characteristics the men appointed to this
work needed to have, the church sought out among themselves seven men who met
these characteristics, and brought them before the apostles to appoint them for
this work.
Also
consider Acts 11: 29-30, 15: 22, 1 Corinthians 16: 3-4, and 2 Corinthians 8: 19
to show the involvement of the whole church, not just the apostles and/or
elders already appointed, but the whole autonomous local church does this
according to its’ needs.
The scriptures show us the whole church appoints men for these reasons: elders
for shepherding the church, deacons for taking care of important tasks for the
church, men who might not be qualified to be deacons but are qualified to take
care of certain limited tasks that in the scriptures included taking care of
the Hellenistic widows who were members of the local church in Jerusalem,
evangelistic missions, and visiting other churches to present a gift, letter,
etc. as a representative of the church where he is a member.
What
about women? Can
they serve in ministry? Paul writes in
Romans 16: 1-2 “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the
church in Cenchrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of
the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed
she has been a helper of many and of myself also.” Though Phoebe’s task was not spelled out this
passage indicates women can be involved in the ministry as representatives of
their local church. Their roles would be
to complete a task of delivering something to a church or going to a
congregation to aid and assist the work.
They would not occupy any role of authority over men in the church
including Elder (1 Timothy 3: 2), Deacon (1 Timothy 3: 12) or Evangelist (1 Corinthians 14: 26-35, 1
Timothy 2: 11-15). Being an evangelist
in the church is a position of authority and is different from one evangelizing
by teaching those around them (Acts 8: 4, 18: 24-26, and 2 Timothy 2: 1-2 where
“men” is the word for humans, people, male and female).
Paul writes these words to the evangelist Timothy (see 2
Timothy 4: 5) in Timothy 3: 14-15 “These things I write to you, though I hope
to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how
you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the
living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” These things Paul wrote include 1 Timothy 3:
1-13 about the characteristics overseers (bishops) and deacons must have to be
pleasing to God in this work. Also, Paul
writes these words to the evangelist Titus 1: 5 “For this reason I left you in
Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint
elders in every city as I commanded you—", and they are followed in verses
6-9 by the inspired characteristics for one to be an elder.
It
is clear that Timothy and Titus appointed these men the same way as Paul and
Barnabas with the consent of the whole church in a local area, and so we are
able to follow this example today to determine if anyone is qualified to be an
elder and how to appoint them. The evangelist would be recognized as the
primary (not only) preacher/teacher in a congregation who would take on the
responsibility of leading the whole church in identifying and appointing
qualified men.
Notice, Timothy was working with the church in Ephesus (1
Timothy 1: 1-5), and Titus was to appoint elders in the church in every city on
the island of Crete.
4. Who can be an elder? 1 Timothy 3: 1-7 “This is a faithful saying:
If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop
then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of
good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not
greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his
own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a
man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the
church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the
same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among
those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”
Titus 1: 5-9 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that
you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in
every city as I commanded you— if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife,
having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. For a
bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not
quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but
hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled,
holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by
sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.”
There are several things that are evident when we read
these passages, and one of them is that an elder must be a man, specifically
the husband of one wife and a father of offspring (one or more children). This husband must be one who leads his family
according to the will of God by the convictions of his faith, the righteousness
of his character, and the leadership of his conduct that is an example to all
who know him. He cannot be a she. The role God has for godly women in the
church family and in the family ruled by her husband is equally important in
the eyes of God, but it is a different role.
5. Why did God reveal the need for them? Reading the qualifications given by the Holy
Spirit through Paul we also see their primary work. Elders are to be hospitable to church
brethren and strangers, exhibit godly character, take care of the church
(overseer), teach the members of the church (primarily individually though
publicly is also important in this work of spiritually feeding the sheep as a
shepherd), and “holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he
may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who
contradict.” These individuals needing
to be exhorted and convicted are members caught up in false teaching who are
troubling the church and those outside the church who have not become
Christians.
6. How are elders of a church referred to in
the New Testament? Ephesians 4: 11-12 “And He personally gave
some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and
teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up
the body of Christ,” Pastors are
mentioned separate from evangelists and teachers. It is interesting that elders are not mentioned,
but then again, if you look carefully, they are mentioned. “To Pastor” is to shepherd and
describes the work of the elders. In
Acts 20: 17 Paul calls the elders together and in Acts 20: 28 he describes them
as “overseers who shepherd (pastor)” the church of God. Acts 20: 28 and 1 Peter 5: 2 “to shepherd,
feed the flock, tend the flock” use the same word that is a form of the word
pastor meaning the same person in the same work. Elders,
pastors (shepherds), overseers (bishops) and the presbytery (eldership, council
of elders) all refer to the same men in the same position doing the same work
over a local church. 1 Peter 5: 1-4
“The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be
revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers,
not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as
being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and
when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does
not fade away.” Peter describing the
elders among them makes it clear that they are not to submit to the elders who
are not among them in regards to the decisions of the local church. Nowhere in the New Testament is one or more
men authorized to lead over more than one church, and as already stated,
nowhere is only one man to lead a local church as an elder.
Some will go to Acts 15 as an example of one church
(Jerusalem) having authority to pronounce decisions to all of the other
churches and so it should be today. Acts
15: 1-2 states the reason for the gathering was to put an end to these false
teachers of circumcision who were creating havoc among the Gentile churches,
not to decide what was the truth from God (this was already known by all of the
apostles), and Acts 15: 22-29 was the letter sent to show these false teachers
were not from the church at Jerusalem.
So much more can be said about the spiritual leaders elected in a church
so please visit this link to our website for more teaching
churchofchristatwakulla.cofcpages.org/ topics/jesus/his-church/.
Electing
Civil Leaders
Deuteronomy 17: 14-20 “When you come to the land which
the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I
will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall
surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your
brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you,
who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor
cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said
to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives
for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and
gold for himself. Also it shall be, when
he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of
this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall
be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn
to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law
and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that
he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left,
and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the
midst of Israel.”
We
don’t have kings in our land, but there are principles in this passage that
teach us how to identify godly leaders.
Does
God appoint specific leaders for nations? Whoever is in a position to become the leader
of a nation and most closely follows godly principles is who God wants in that
position. Again, there may be situations
where God providentially raises up a pagan tyrant like Nebuchadnezzar to
execute judgment in this world, but we should never feel justified to vote for
such a person.
It is interesting that God tells them to not set a
foreigner over them. The foreign nations
around them were mostly or wholly influenced by pagan ideals and the worship of
false gods. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians
10: 19-20 “What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered
to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they
sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship
with demons.”
A foreigner or someone with foreign concepts of governance
might be insincere in their oath of allegiance, might not share the same view
of God that this country was founded upon, or maybe not even believe in God,
and as a result not appreciate Providence for America.
Hosea 4: 6-7 “My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest
for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your
children. “The more they increased, the
more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.”
Proverbs 14: 34 “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin
is a reproach to any people.”
These
passages tell us we need to have knowledge of God and His righteousness as a
people and so should our leaders. The kings were to write a copy of the law of
God and to know and follow it. Our
leaders need to have the same diligence in knowing the bible, and to have the
integrity to follow the Constitution according to their oath. Finding this type of leader has been more and
more difficult as time has gone on, but we must seek the leader who most
closely embodies these principles.
We
need leaders who understand that we have indeed been created in the image of
God (Genesis 1:26-27). From
this understanding should spring a noble desire and duty to protect life – both
at its start and near its end.
Job 3: 16 “Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn
child, like infants who never saw light?”
Babies that die before birth are called "infants" that never
saw light. This is exactly like babies that are aborted. This word (Heb. OLEL)
always and without exception refers to human individuals (cf. Hosea 13:16;
Psalm 8:2; Joel 2:16). We ourselves and
our leaders need to respect and protect God’s creation of human life at whatever
stage that life may be. This includes
the baby whose life begins at conception in the womb or one who is greatly
advanced in age. Leviticus 19: 31 “You
shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and
fear your God: I am the Lord.” Paul by
inspiration writes these words for us to learn how to relate to one another
honorably in the church. 1 Timothy 5:
1-3 “Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as
brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all
purity. Honor widows who are really
widows.”
Some have given the title “culture of death” to modern day America, but
the America created and envisioned in our founding documents can only exist as a
culture of life.
Hosea 8: 4-5 “They set up kings, but not by Me; they made
princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
From their silver and gold they made idols for themselves—that they
might be cut off.” God spoke these words
through the prophet Hosea to the northern kingdom of Israel a few decades
before they were destroyed as a nation by the Assyrian Empire and the land was
largely depopulated. They had exalted
leaders that God did not approve of, and they worshiped idols representing
mythological gods, gods of the depraved human imagination that came from the
Gentile nations around them (Romans 1: 16-32).
Jeremiah 18: 5-10 “Then the word of the Lord came to me,
saying: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the
Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O
house of Israel! The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a
kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against
whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I
thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and
concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so
that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with
which I said I would benefit it.”
We need to recognize that some of our Presidents and
other leaders were indeed leaders who helped advance the cause of God through
Jesus Christ in our society and the world by their acknowledgment of Him and
their efforts to pass moral and just laws.
Others have ruled in ways that God did not approve of, and brought great
harm upon this nation and even the world.
We need to recognize these
principles and understand that how we exercise our civil liberties as
Christians either helps promote God’s truths or the failed wisdom of humanism.
Romans 13: 1-7 “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. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil.
Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have
praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do
evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s
minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you
must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For
because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending
continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to
whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom
honor.”
As
we read in Romans 13 we are indeed to be subject to the authorities, but we do
not have to recognize every leader as being appointed directly by or approved
of by God. This is another
area where God allows humans freewill.
Even today we must believe God through His Providence to accomplish His
purpose will bring to power someone like a Nebuchadnezzar to execute judgment
or a Cyrus who removes barriers to our freedoms. We seek leaders who indeed are not a terror to good
works, and will not impede the preaching and teaching of the gospel. A society is more secure when leaders
implement justice. Regardless of whether we believe the individual in authority is who God
would desire to be there or not, we are to be subject to their authority with
all due honor. The authority is from
God regardless of who is occupying the position.
Our first desire from and prayer for our leaders should
not be for them to rule in a way that grants us more blessings of material
wealth and ease, but that which Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2: 1-7 “Therefore I
exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one
Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom
for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and
an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the
Gentiles in faith and truth.” In regards
to rulers in civil government, Paul by inspiration is praying for them to be
wise enough to not try to stop, restrict, interfere or take control of the
preaching of the gospel. In other words,
civil government needs to stand aside on religious matters that do not
physically endanger the societies they are ruling over. This
prayer needs to be our petition as well.
Throughout history there have been those who have persecuted Christians
like the Roman Emperor Nero and the leaders of some Muslim and communist countries
today. Others have restricted the
preaching of certain tenants of Christianity like the governments of Sweden (http://www.soulwinning.info/rights/ criminalizing.htm)
and Canada (http://www.citizenlink.com /2010/07/15/canadian-pastor-fined-after-speaking-against-homosexuality/). Our own government has started to interfere
with the preaching of the kingdom of God through the faith based initiatives
that tempt churches to take government money, and focus their efforts on
everything from rehabilitating victims of society to initiatives concerning
climate change (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ofbnp-council-final-report.pdf).
Whenever you read of a collection of money in the New
Testament it is the church members giving of their own money voluntarily to
help other Christians or those preaching in places where they needed financial
help. The scriptures do not permit a
church to solicit money from anyone who is not in fellowship with the
work. We need to pray that these
initiatives do not change from voluntary to mandatory participation for
religious organizations in an attempt to control Christianity like Roman
Emperor Constantine, the King of England Henry VIII, and the Catholic Popes tried
to do.
Above all, let us remember who rules this universe, and
following His supreme law must be first, even before the laws of any nation on
earth. When the preaching of the gospel
had caused the apostles to be put on trial we read their response in Acts 5: 29
“But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God
rather than men.” If society continues
to become more secular and humanistic so will many so-called Christian
churches. The blessing of these sad
circumstances will be the glorious obedience of true Christians to their God
being more visible to society. Society
may choose to try to interfere, restrict, control and maybe even persecute
Christians. It was under periods of very
dire circumstances that true disciples were born again all over the Roman
Empire and beyond in the early centuries of the church.
Our earthly citizenship only has a bearing in this world
and this life. Philippians 3: 20-21 “For
our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be
conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able
even to subdue all things to Himself.” Only the elect of God can lay claim to this
citizenship, this gift from God who is love, full of grace and mercy, and who
planned a way for us to be redeemed through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ
before the foundation of the world. What
God has preordained has come about for those who elect Him. Amen!
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