Tag: Scripture

Whoever Wins The Election Should Be Served With Excellence

On October 20, 2008

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” – Romans 13:1-7

In 15 days, a new President will be elected and as a result, about half of the country will be disappointed with the results, one way or the other. Things are favoring Obama at the moment and so it appears he will be our next President, though of course, you really never can tell what the results will be until people actually start pulling the lever. The pollsters can say whatever they want right now. Many elections in the past have proved that point.

Regardless, whoever the next President is should be served with excellence, from whatever political vantage point you are coming from as a believer in Jesus. I do not endorse Obama because of his policies on abortion, economics, social issues, and a host of other things. However, as a believer who submits to the verses as cited above, if Obama is President, he should be served with excellence by those he oversees as the Commander in Chief. To not serve him with excellence, but instead serve him merely out of duty with bitterness in your heart, is to rebel against God’s authority which is then ultimately a personal issue between you and the God of the universe, (which all rebelling, in any form, is exactly that).

Many self-professed conservative Christians will be tempted to rebel and revolt in either small ways (within their hearts through a form of bitterness or grumbling) or in bigger ways (through external, unlawful means). But to do so is ultimately to rebel against our Creator. For whoever is President did not get there by luck or chance, but only got there because God would have it so in His permissive will and over-arching plan. Just as Jesus said to Pilate before He was crucified for us who believe, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above,” (John 19:11) so also no President or leader in any position over us is able to make it to that office unless the Lord would have it so. Nothing catches God by surprise and nothing is apart from His will.

Even more than that, even if things were to get terribly ugly in this country and people become so polarized so as to rebel in a violent way, as John Hendryx from Monergism.com has been keen to point out in an interview he did a number of years ago, the Gospel is not chained because of a political regime that is in power over us. In fact, the Lord uses those things we see as hindrances many times as the very instrument He will use to bring the Gospel to those who are wrath-bound. Just ask the Christians in China. The Communist government there sought to squelch Christianity by humiliating believers through forcing them to go door-to-door and collect residents trash. What wound up happening was the exact opposite of what was intended: the Christians began spreading Christianity by going door-to-door, and now the Gospel is spreading like a wild-fire throughout the country. God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise (1 Corinthians 1-2). And is that not a perfect picture of that?

Now I do not believe things will get to the point of Chinese communist oppression with Obama in power (though the Fairness Doctrine is definitely a start down that road) and conservatives who think so need to get out more and have a few conversations with the opposing political side. I’m simply making the point that even if our candidate of choice doesn’t make it (whoever that may be), as believers, we should know and remember first and foremost, that no governing authority can squelch God’s power to save and change people.

That does not mean that we should be uninvolved in the political process and not support our perspective for what we believe is best for the country, for a democracy doesn’t work unless the people are involved. But it does mean that even if things do not go the way we envision or think they should go, we should know that it is all within God’s sovereign, ordained plan and power to have it so.

Therefore, we should trust Him that He knows what He is doing in decreeing whoever the President will be. So if Obama is voted into power in 15 days, conservative Christians should submit to God and serve “President” Obama with excellence, to the glory of God, as the One who has instituted him as a leader over us. And if McCain is voted into power, liberal Christians should submit to God and serve “President” McCain with excellence, to the glory of God, as the One who has set him up as a leader over us. And we all, as believers in Jesus, should live in unity under the all-encompassing power of the Gospel to save the lost. Is that not our ultimate hope in every way to begin with, even moreso than a political regime that is temporal and fading as soon as it is instituted?

This is Just One of the Forms of Persecution the Church Faces

By David Westerfield

On April 30, 2008

In Culture, Theology

Christian Ministry Fined $23,000 in Gay Discrimination Case

Much can be said about where the modern notion of “tolerance” is headed in our society: the legal exclusion of those who are religiously and morally exclusive. More and more of these cases are starting to spring up in Europe and North America, not merely homosexual cases, but cases in which a ministry or church takes a stand on morality. We would be wise to pay attention and consider the cost of holding fast to our doctrinal convictions concerning the Gospel and its implications in our lives. Persecution is always good for purifying the church. Unfortunately, we need it, for we have become polluted by the world.

Stirring Each Other Up By Way of Reminder

By David Westerfield

On July 7, 2006

In Theology

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
>2 Peter 1:12-15

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.
> 2 Peter 3:1

Man naturally has no inclination or will to have anything to do with God. Man is a rebel against God by nature. Once a natural, sinful, wicked man is converted by God’s grace through the cross of Christ, there are then within the man two competing wills, one that wills to sin still, and the other which wills to have Christ as his all. Living in a day to day reality where the winds of the world, the grind of our daily lives, or sin, wickedness, and all forms of unrighteousness (some our own, some the sin of others) all comes over us like constant waves in an ocean. Nothing can stop the movement of the water that overwhelms us, almost to the point of drowning. If you do not make an effort to stay above the waves, you will indeed be carried away by them and covered up.

As believers, we have been called out of the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. Because the waves of life come over us constantly, if we neglect time in His word (actually studying them and ever learning them), in prayer, and fellowship with other believers, we will surely forget all of God’s grace’s to us in Christ and inevitably fall back into the sin which so easily entangles us, and we thus become miserable. What I love about the verse above is that it’s such a great illustration of genuine fellowship. “I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.” Peter’s intent was to not tell them anything they did not already know, but to give them a reiteration of those Gospel-truths that are the source of their life in Christ. Peter knew that the minds of his readers were inclined naturally toward evil, that worldliness and loathsome sin is constantly washing over their souls, like all men. And so, in love, he reminds them of those truths that are so precious to all of God’s people, that Christ, the King, has purchased their souls with His own blood and is now alive in heaven reigning over all things. Peter’s intent was to prod them on in their faith so as to give them encouragement that whatever evil befalls them, they are rich in Christ.

The only reason I bring this up is because there are many times I have personally had this thought in dealing with a fellow brother in Christ (attempting to stir them up “by way of reminder”), and when I attempt to remind them of core truths they may be forgetting in the midst of their despairing, they are offended and think I think they don’t know those things at all. That’s not the point. I need reminders of these truths on a constant basis, and the only reason I reiterate them to them is for encouragement. We all need to remind ourselves and our brothers and sisters in Christ of Gospel-truths over and over again, on a moment by moment basis because we are all so prone to falling into sin and forgetting the grace given us in Christ. I believe Peter has left a great example for us here, in that his main goal was to prod his fellow brothers on to Christ, that they may be full in Him, treasuring Him, and that they may not fall by the way side in sin.

Thoughts on Psalm 32:1-7

By David Westerfield

On October 14, 2005

In Scripture, Theology

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” – Psalm 32:1-7 (ESV)

So many times in my relationship with Christ, I find myself parched, famished, dehydrated spiritually to the point where I experience utter misery in my soul and a total lack of trust in, focus on, and giving honor to God in my life. I keep silent in my heart and my mouth is closed about my sin, not going and confessing the wrong I’ve done to Him and others, not giving Him praise for who He is and what He’s done. At these times I echo the words above, in particular, “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer”.