Joy in Christendom

The Well-Educated Child

It's funny how hard it was for me to get these things written down.  We sort of just assumed them but there is a danger in just assuming things.  In the hopes of staying true to the Goal and the charter set before us, here are the things that my wife and I seek to achieve in the education of our children:

1. To know that they are a sinner saved by King Jesus.  And that every area of life is to be lifted up in submission to His Good Will;
2. A thoroughly Christian worldview and epistemology;
3. An active lifestyle of reading, understanding, and praying with and through the Scriptures;
4. An understanding of place and an appreciation for Land;
5. Thinking, writing and speaking well, in that order;
6. A solid grasp of History - this is the principle study;
7. A personal sense of belonging to a people;
8. A thorough admiration for the Western Culture - more specifically in language, art, music, philosophy and literature;
9. An understanding of the profitable household;
10. A strong sense of Dominion, a love for reading, a hunger for discovery and a Godly attitude towards stewardship;
11. A rest in God's Sovereignty: to be hopeful in the coming consummation and victory of the Gospel;
12. A boldness for Proclamation of a Large Gospel; and finally,
13. A life-long attitude of self-denial in service to others for His Kingdom purposes.

"Lord, may our family continue to put your purposes for our family above our own; may we delight in your Word and praise your name in all things.  Worthy are you, Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.   To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God forever and ever. Amen."

The Gracious Covenant of Works

What are we to make of the Creation Covenant, or what is commonly referred to the Covenant of Works?  There is much confusion today within the Church on the basic nature of this Covenant, which, I believe, being only a few degrees off on this one, gets us into strange territory, miles away from orthodoxy on the very nature of Redemption, the Work of the Holy Spirit, the Second Adam and God Himself.  We need to dispense with the idea that human works can merit anything from God, even before the Fall.

Firstly, Adam's obedience was never the grounds for eternal life.  For what can Man ever earn from God (see Belgic Confession Article 24, Galatians 5:6, 2 Cor 5:17).  Every breath that Adam took was a delightful gift from the Lord.  We should therefore, likewise never speak of man earning wages paid out by God.  Grace is not antithesis to the Covenant of Works, but the embodiment of it.

Adam's own inherent righteousness would not have been meritorious in nature; Adam was a son, not a "laborer".  The Edenic Covenant was not a contract and therefore Eternal life could never have been earned in such a way.  It was, in total, a gift of God, and man would obtain it in the way of covenantal obedience.  By way of contrast, we can say that unbelief was at the heart of Man's fall (see Gen 1:18-23 and Romans 4:20).

Secondly, we must remember that we are always indebted to God for the good works we do, and not He to us, since it is for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil 2:13). We do grave error to assume that this confession only applies to the dispensation of "grace".  The creation of man as the image of God was the very fruit of God's favor.

Legislating Morality

We hear this phrase a lot, and we most often hear it in a negative sense:  "well, you can't legislate morality".  This line of reasoning has confused me ever since I heard it from my 11th-grade American history teacher describing the attempts to outlaw alcohol in the earlier part of the 20th century. Broadening the topic a bit to the concept of Law, we must understand that all Law is "legislating morality" - it's, again, one of those inescapable categories. 

".. All law is enacted morality and presupposes a moral system, a moral law, and all morality presupposes a religion as its foundation.  Law rests on morality, and morality on religion.  Whenever and wherever you weaken the religious foundations of a country or people, you then weaken the morality also, and you take away the foundations of its law.  The result is the progressive collapse of law and order and the breakdown of society."

Furthermore,

"They tell us, as they strike down laws resting upon Biblical foundations, that morality cannot be legislated, but what they offer is not only legislated morality but salvation by law, and no Christian can accept this.  Wherever we look now, whether with respect to poverty, education, civil rights, human rights, peace, and all things else, we see laws passed designed to save man.  Supposedly, these laws are going to give us a society free of prejudice, ignorance, disease, poverty, crime, war, and all other things considered to be evil.  These legislative programs add up to one thing:  salvation by law." - J. Rushdoony, Law and Liberty

This is why humanists (atheists, agnostics, etc) will always be frustrated with consistent Christians, especially politically.  For laws grounded on the Bible do not attempt to save man or usher in Utopia (world peace, disease-free and poverty-free population, or other ideals).  The purpose of Law is to punish and restrain evil (Rom 13:1-4), and to protect life and property, and to provide justice for all people.  The Biblically-based Law does not seek to save, change or reform man.

Americans today are expecting too much from the law - we are expecting nothing short of salvation of man.  We will never succeed in building this tower of Babel.  The more we build, the more we will be frustrated, and the less we will realize justice and peace.  Only when we return to the Biblical foundations for Law will we see a return to Justice and Order under law.

Ps 127:1 - Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."

Where are the Biblically-Consistent Christians?

Is it Reformed to Celebrate Christmas?

There are many working definitions of "Christmas", "Reformed" and "Celebrate", but here's what the Divines said about celebrating Christmas:

"The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear; the sound preaching, and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God with understanding, faith, and reverence; singing of psalms with grace in the heart; as, also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ; are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God: besides religious oaths, and vows, solemn fastings, and thanksgivings upon special occasion; which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy and religious manner." - WCF 21:5, Nehemiah 10:29, Esther 4:16, 9:22, Acts 2:42, 10:33, 15:21, I Cor 7:5, 11:23-29, Eph 5:19

Furthermore, Calvin says:

"Since my recall, I have pursued the moderate course of keeping Christ’s birth-day as you are wont to do." From Letter One, 1555

"I declare that a church is not to be despised or condemned, because it observes more festival days than the others." From Letter Two, 1555

There is plenty that is definitely unholy about this time of year but, as much as I hate to admit it, there is nothing in and of itself unholy about Christmas.

Hat Tip: James McDonald and Bojidar Marinov

Colonists vs. Exiles

In the modern church today, we often here that the Church, we Christians, are "exiles in Babylon" - usually this is an appeal to not care too much for this world because it will "blow away" and "burn in the end".  The strange thing is though that no where in the New Testament are we called to think of ourselves, the Church or the World in this way.  No where are we called to treat life and Kingdom as having only a short-lived, temporary value.

To be sure, there are times of retreat for the Church as she is judged for her unfaithfullness, but we do not find in the Scriptures that the Church will shrink or fail in history.  "Captivity" is not a normal mode for the Church.  Instead, what we see in the Scriptures is an overall theme of victory. Matt 13:3-23; Matt 26:51-52; Luke 17:30-31; Psa 22:27; Psa 67:7; 86:9; 102:15; Acts 2:33-35; 5:31; 7:56; Rom 8:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3, 13; 8:1 10:12; 12:2; I Pet 3:22; Rom 11:11-26; I cor 15:20-28

One point of confusion could be the 1 Peter 1:1 passage where it states, as Peter is writing to the church as "exiles".  But a quick look up of the word "parepidemos" (the Greek for 'exile' here) signifies a very different meaning then someone "who has been displaced in a negative situation and awaits to return home".  In fact, the word is more akin to "colonist", meaning someone who is from a foreign land and who has made this land his home and staked it for the Hinterland.

To the reader, this might seem like a slight jot and tittle but the ramifications of this shift in thinking are huge.  For instance, the colonist view encourages faithfulness in several positive ways:

1. It sets our priorities for Worship in Truth and Spirit in ALL (everything, all, total inclusiveness) that we do.
2. It reminds that God is not primarily our personal savior.  There are more important things outside of "saving souls" and that we come along side the work that is already underway.
3. We can proclaim the Truth with more vigor while at the same time having a prayerful attitude and a confidence that since the Lord has placed us in our particular context, we will provide plenty of opportunity to do the work.
4. Seek a more selfless attitude toward those in need.  We tend to care more about our surroundings if we believe that it is not all "throw-away". If we believe in a real, corporeal Kingdom, here and now, then all work that is done in His name, is for His glory.
5. Because this IS our home, we need to take care of it and be godly stewards of everything God has given us.
6. The Culture should be a reflection of the Kingdom reality and we seek to spread the Gospel into every nook and crany of the vestages of pagan culture.
7. And finally, we don't suffer in vain, we suffer by the and for the name of the Victor.  Our Victor is not in a lame duck session, loosing more and more territory to the forces of Darkness, rather He is Lord over all, now and forever more, and the Dominion (the Great Commission) mandate is a Good Work with very large scope indeed.

Finally, as we're reminded of this full hope in the Lord's Prayer, we pray with our Risen King that:

Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.

Thy king­dom come, Thy will be done
in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.
And for­give us our debts, as we
for­give our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever. Amen

 

 

PS: Hat Tip to Borijar Marinov for his insights and inspiration for this post.