Christian Virtues Weaponized – King’s Cross Church
In a broadly Christian world, Christian virtues tend to get weaponized. We have seen this with concepts like justice and love and empathy, or the condemnation of being judgmental. Only a broadly Christian world says that being judgmental is wrong or that justice or love or empathy are good. But of course everything depends on definitions. When a judge vindicates the innocent and condemns the guilty, he is being judgmental in a good way. When someone finds a lost wallet and decides not to return it to its owner because the owner is an enemy, that’s unrighteous judgment. The Bible requires God’s people to be judgmental, but we are to judge with the standard of God’s word and remember that the measure we use to judge others will be used to measure us.
We are required to love everyone, but love is treating others lawfully from the heart. Love is not going along with what anyone says makes them happy or caving or compromising simply because they say what you’re doing makes them feel bad. Likewise, justice is not making everyone happy. Justice is enforcing God’s law, which primarily consists of punishing evildoers. And while God does require us to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn, we must also practice self-control, which means that we are not to be ruled by our feelings or the feelings of others but by God’s Word.
In one sense, the fact that everyone, even those who hate God, keep appealing to these Christian virtues tells you that we are not yet as far from our Christian roots as some would have you believe. Pure paganism doesn’t care about justice, love, or empathy. But of course, if we continue down this current dark path, apart from the grace of God, we will end up in a paganism that ceases to care about any virtue.
But all of this is why worship on the Lord’s Day is at the center of all that we do. In worship we renew covenant with our Lord. Romans 12:1 says that we accomplish this reasonable service as we offer our bodies as living sacrifices. And in the next verse, it says that we are not to be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of our minds. As we renew covenant in worship, God renews our minds, correcting, teaching, training, and changing us from glory to glory.
Toby Sumpter – March 10, 2024
Christ Church Troy Exhortation
“And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And, if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And, if you lend to those whom whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore, be merciful, just as you Father also is merciful.“
Luke 6:31-36
In this passage, we have Jesus giving us the golden rule — do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This isn’t just golden (the best rule) but also one of the most practical, as we all, even as young children, have a pretty good idea about how we would like to be treated without having to be taught. In other words, we have a perfect idea of what Jesus is expecting of us here.
But note that Jesus didn’t give this rule to everyone. Rather, He specifically directs it toward us as believers or His followers. How do we know? He gives us the contrast to those He calls ‘sinners’. And, to give this rule some real bite, it comes in the context of loving our enemies. Jesus explains, even sinners know how to love those who treat them well. So, the application here is to everyone — even our enemies or perhaps most specifically our enemies.
Given our rocky start as a church with some in the Troy community, it is helpful to remind ourselves of this command. And, it is important to see that it is based on our imitation of the nature of our God. God is merciful, therefore as His children, we must imitate Him and be merciful as well. When we are treated poorly, called names or the victims of legal warfare, we are commanded to rejoice and bless our enemies just like our Father in Heaven. But, let’s not stop here.
In one sense we may find it easy to love our more pugnacious Troy neighbors because their criticisms are light and mostly infrequent. However, we should also remind ourselves that this command applies equally to those closest to us: our wife or husband, child or parent, sibling or cousin, friend or classmate. From these people we EXPECT much, much more than than from our enemies and so we are more likely or at least more often to not treat them as we would be treated. This is sin. Be aware of how you are treating those closest to you.
Matt Meyer – March 10, 2024
Don’t Forget Our Mission – Christ Church Downtown Exhortation
This past weekend was our annual Missions Conference. I’d like to underscore why this event is on our church’s annual calendar. We’ve all got plenty to do, so it isn’t just another event to fill our schedule.
We believe that the church’s primary task is found in Christ’s commission to His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. This command hasn’t been rescinded. Therefore, it’s the task of the church in every age to obey our Lord and bring the glorious news of His suffering and exaltation on our behalf to all nations, tribes, and tongues.
In some quarters foreign missions has either become simply an opportunity for adventurous Christians to see far off parts of the world, or it’s contaminated with the postmodern sludge of “all cultures are equal” and have abandoned, almost entirely, the task of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ’s Kingdom.
Nevertheless, the banner of Christ will be raised over every citadel of human society: church, state, and family. But keep in mind that when the Great Commission says, “Go” it literally translates to “as you are going.” Meaning, this task of evangelizing the nations isn’t to be done as if it’s a Hail Mary desperation pass at the end of a football game. Rather, we’re to courageously and diligently seek to know Christ and make Him known to all inhabitants of the earth.
All this will take awhile, but we must not twiddle our thumbs. Spurgeon gives a fantastic reminder on this front: “If from this day for the next 10,000 years not a single soul should be converted to God by foreign missions—it would [still] be [the Church’s] duty with increasing vigor to thrust her sons forward into the mission field because her duty is not measured by the result, but by the imperial authority of Christ!”
Ben Zornes – March 10, 2024
Grace & Peace: Proverbs 25:21–22
At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
“If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee”
Proverbs 25:21–22
A common faulty assumption is that Jesus introduced a new ethic in His Sermon on the Mount. Before His day, it is assumed, the Old Testament was full of law, wrath, and a bunch of rules, and Jesus came to bring in the sweetness and light. That assumption runs aground on passages like this.
The apostle Paul quotes it at the tail end of Romans 12, and he clearly explains the context and meaning. When you have an enemy, the chances are good that he has done you wrong, and that you will want to get some of your own back. But Paul tells us not to take revenge ourselves (Rom. 12:19), not because vengeance is wrong, but rather because vengeance belongs to God. Our duty is to step aside and leave room for God to exercise the vengeance that belongs to Him. We see, just a few verses down in chapter 13, that the civil magistrate is the appointed deputy of wrath (Rom. 13:4), God’s deacon of wrath. So don’t go home and get your gun—call the cops instead.
Varied suggestions have been plentiful for what is meant by the burning coals on the head. Some say the Egyptians would carry a tray of burning coals on the head as a sign of repentance. Others say that burning coals were great for starting your hearth fire at home, and so this would be another kind gesture, helping the guy out with even more than the previous food and water you gave him. Another possible interpretation is that by you being nice to him his response becomes a matter of burning shame to him.
But in my view, the most likely one is the one that fits best with how Paul argues from this passage in Romans—your kindness to your enemy is a precursor to the wrath of God.
“As for the head of those that compass me about, Let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them: Let them be cast into the fire; Into deep pits, that they rise not up again”
Psalm 140:9–10
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