Making The Good Confession

This week we're considering American civil religion , a phrase coined to describe the unique role that religion plays in America. The question before us is how does a committed Christian bear witness to his faith in that pluralistic context, how does he make the good confession?

The Apostle Paul writes the following words to young pastor Timothy about his calling to bear witness to his faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as his one and only Savior.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . - 1Tim 6:12-14 ESV

Note the phrase the good confession used twice by the Apostle. What is that? Paul explains what he means by referring to the Apostle John's record of what happened when Jesus was tried by Pontius Pilate, Prefect of the Roman province of Judea, after the Jews accused Jesus of doing evil by claiming to be the Jewish Messiah, i.e. king of the Jews (John 18-19). Pilate told them to make their own judgments. He didn't want to be involved. However, they said Jesus deserved to die because of his claims. Since Roman law forbad them from carrying out capital punishment, they wanted Pilate to do it. This led Pilate to call Jesus to stand for a trial before him.

So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 

Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”   

Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”   

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” 

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him." - John 18:33-38 ESV

Jesus openly accepted the title of 'king' before Pilate. This was why he was born. This was why he came into the world. But—and this is critical—his kingdom was not of this world. Here we come smack up against the Jesus' teaching of the two kingdoms. I wrote in detail about this in a series of blogs last August:

• Let Us Start To Talk About The Two Kingdoms 
• The Authority Of Secular Government
• Thank God For Good Government

As noted, Jesus was a king, but not a worldly king. However, Pilate was, with authority ultimately derived from above, from God (John 19:11). Jesus teaches that good governments must be respected. Good governments are God's gifts to preserve order and justice in a world that is ultimately under the rule of Satan, the god of this world (John 12:31,14:30; 2 Cor. 4:4).

Pilate at that moment represented such a government of law and order. The Jewish Sanhedrin on the other hand was operating contrary to its own nation's laws. The members of that worldly government—for that is what it was—were driven by greed, a desire for personal power, wealth and hate. As such Jesus' servants would be within their rights to resist that government's decisions, even with force if necessary.

So we come again to the question of how does a Christian make the good confession in a two-kingdoms world, a world that defies and despises Christ? Christ's followers are ever to bear witness to their faith in Jesus, the Christ, just as Jesus told his disciples after his resurrection.

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. - Luk 24:45-48 ESV

The Apostle Peter encourages us in the same way.

. . . in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, - 1Pe 3:15 ESV

But how do we do that in a pluralistic country like the United States where believers and unbelievers are mixed? Certainly we believers are prepared to work hand in hand with unbelievers to maintain the good and oppose moral evils such as drug abuse, abortion, euthanasia, pornography, child abuse and many other deviant sexual behaviors. There is, after all, such a thing as "civil righteousness," based upon the natural knowledge of God that comes through conscience and human reason. Civil righteousness recognizes the importance of obeying parents and rulers, honoring marriage, protecting all from harm and murder, and punishing those who steal and rob. We Christians join with unbelievers to promote and sustain such righteous acts.

Further we offer prayer for the well being of all, for our rulers and legislators, police and armed forces and all in authority. We even pray for our enemies. And we pray outside the context of the fellowship of believers. As we pray, we make it plain that we pray to the one true God. We confess openly that there is none other even as we pray.

However, there are times and contexts outside the fellowship of believers when public prayer may not be appropriate. More about that next time.

Who Wants To Throw The First Stone?

As noted previously, the Old Testament has a wide variety of crimes that may be punishable by the death penalty. To some modern thinkers many of those laws seem grossly extreme and harsh. Therefore they reject and condemn them as the self-centered and narrow-minded ideas of heartless rulers. For instance, how could a rational person in 21st century America support the idea of the death sentence for a rebellious son who is a glutton and a drunkard (cf. Deut. 21:18-21)? The same thinking applies to that woman caught in adultery in the story found in John 8.

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women (Lev. 20:10). So what do you say?" - Jhn 8:2-5 ESV

Of course the whole thing was a trap by the scribes and Pharisees. They wanted to discredit this so-called Rabbi-Teacher who talked so much about the love and mercy of God. So what do you say? What does any follower of Jesus say about such laws? No doubt we need to do some sorting. Let's start by reviewing some basic assumptions about God's revelation of Himself and His will in Holy Scripture.

1. All Scripture is either the Law of God or the Gospel, as John's Gospel teaches:"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."- John 1:17 ESV
2. In the Law God commands all men to obey Him in thought, word and deed. So the first and basic commandment is that you "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." The second great commandment flows from the first: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:28-32; Deut. 6:5, 10:12; Lev. 19:18). 
3. Fallen, sinful men do not and often will not accept these commands of God. Driven by their passions and self-centered desires they do whatever they want rather than submit to the will and plan of God for their lives (1 Tim. 1:8-10). 
4. To curb and control such sinful outbursts God has given us governments and rulers who make and enforce laws. These governments—when they do their work properly—are God's good gift to us all. They protect us from the chaos of sinful men and promote peace and harmony in the land. So we have the duty to support them and obey the laws that they set up (Rom. 13:1-7). 
5. Such rulers "do not bear the sword for nothing" (Rom. 13:4). Ultimately they have the God-given authority to enforce their laws by the punishment of death! 

Back then to the adulterous woman. Note that Jesus does not attempt to discredit the law that condemned adultery. Instead he turned the law back on those who were gathering stones with which to kill her. Note also that nothing is said in that story about the man with whom she had committed her crime, despite the fact that the law said both the adulteress and the adulterer were to die (Lev. 20:10). There were obviously some very self-righteous men standing there with stones in their hands.

This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. - Jhn 8:6-9 ESV

This is a vital lesson we all must learn as we prepare to condemn sinners in our midst, whether they are guilty of adultery or any of a hundred other things.

More next time on Jesus' comments to the woman left alone with him.

Thank God For Good Government

A couple months ago I found myself in the emergency room of St. Lukes Hospital, Houston, hooked to a monitor, waiting for the results of some tests. I had experienced angina pains and the doctors were concerned that I had suffered a heart attack, that my heart had been damaged. For hours I waited with my wife and children in a small room, waiting to be admitted to the hospital's cardiac care unit. Finally, shortly after midnight, they wheeled me into an elavator and up to my room where I was hooked to blinking machines and monitored throughout the night. In the morning the doctors came by to announce that I had not had a heart attack and could go home.

I mention this personal incident as an analogy of secular government. We live in a rebellious, fallen world. Satan and his minions are behind this rebellion against the good and gracious rule of our Creator and rightful King. Consequently our bodies and all of creation suffer. As the apostle says, God subjected creation to futility in hope that it will finally be set free from its bondage and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:20-21).

I was born into that rebel world. Like all mankind, I suffer from the futility the apostle Paul speaks about. I was born into sin. My very nature is to sin. And so my body, together with the rest of creation, suffers. For nearly eighty years my sinful body has been growing old and dying. One day this body will indeed die, as have all men before me.

But even in this fallen world of men, our heavenly Father provides us with an emergency room otherwise known as governments. By means of these worldly or secular governments the Father continues to preserve life. In this way He demonstrates His continued love for His creation. This is why Jesus told us that Pilate, Caesar and all governments derive their authority from God. When they  do their proper work, good governments preserve order, punish evildoers, protect citizens and provide for their well being. In this world such governments operate by means of  law and that law is enforced by the fear of punishment and rewards for those who do good.

Jesus answered (Pilate), “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” John 18:36 -ESV

The Jews had falsely delivered Jesus over to Pilate in a trumped up and illegal trial. Jesus said to Pilate that if he was indeed a king with a worldly kingdom there would have been a battle. Jesus' soldiers would have fought the Jews to protect their king and his right to rule. But he was not such a king, though king he was. Pilate, however, was a worldly ruler, with authority ultimately derived from above, from God (John 19:11). 

So Jesus teaches that good governments must be respected. Pilate at that moment represented such a government of good law and order. The Jewish Sanhedrin on the other hand was operating contrary to its own nation's laws. The members of that worldly government—for that is what it was—were driven by greed, a desire for personal power and wealth and hate. As such Jesus' servants would be within their rights to resist that government's decisions, even with force if necessary. 

It is not within the scope of this blog to spell out the details of what is and what is not good government. I must leave that task to those better equipped to study and write about natural law. Even as I write the citizens of my own nation are arguing back and forth about the election of a new president and other rulers. Voters will soon cast their votes to decide by this democratic process who these rulers will be. These rulers will pass laws and argue back and forth in the coming years about what is best for the citizens of this country.  These laws will be based upon the Law of God written into our hearts. And in this way our gracious Father will continue to provide a measure of  peace, unity and goodness within my country— but it will always be imperfect, because we live in a fallen and rebellious world, a world of men ever tempted to follow the ways of the prince of darkness and his kingdom. 

But the day approaches when our true King will return. And then all will be put right and true peace, harmony and goodness will reign forever. Meanwhile we Christians join with others in whatever ways we can to promote peace and care in love for our neighbors. And, going back to what I mentioned in an earlier blog, this is why the church I served joined Interfaith in The Woodlands, Texas, to assist in caring for the very human needs of our community.