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Mid-Term Elections

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” Psalm 20:7


Mid-term election season is just a few weeks away. I begin this article with Psalm 20:7 because the overarching issue that we must never lose sight of during election cycles is that nations do not rise and fall related to politicians, war, or economics. Nations rise and fall according to their fear of the Lord, or lack thereof. In all of this, the Kingdom of God is coming. This kingdom was inaugurated by the ministry of Jesus, continues to unfold now, and will be completed in the second coming of Jesus. The purposes of God cannot be derailed by the sinfulness of humanity (Psalm 2). I say that to put election season in perspective. Political involvement as a citizen is important, but of secondary importance to the Christian’s citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20).

Election season always gets a little crazy, and when emotions and anxieties rise it’s important to focus on fundamental truths. I want to remind us, as Christians, about some of these fundamentals. First, it is an unusual privilege historically that citizens have a peaceful way to participate in the direction of their government. We should be thankful for this opportunity. Our voting process is not perfect, and is always being pushed, pulled, and refined as a part of the political process itself. But no system of people is perfect or static – meaning unchanging over time. This can be compared to our justice system, which is also flawed as a system devised and directed by sinful human beings. However, I would rather cast a vote or go to court in the United States than in any other country in the world. This system is held accountable and continually refined through the engagement of citizens. The most basic form of civic engagement is voting. I encourage you to make an informed decision and vote in the upcoming November 8 midterm election.

Engagement in the political process through voting is the honest effort as a Christian to see progress made publicly toward a more just, free, equitable, and virtuous society. As Christians, we believe the roots of all these good things are found in the character of the Lord God. Therefore, we seek honorable, virtuous, and courageous people of Christian character to hold public office. We seek progress not completion. No election will ‘win the day.’ No election is ‘the most important in our lifetime.’ Each election is an indication of the direction of the hearts of the people in the nation. I encourage you to be an engaged, virtuous, courageous, and peaceful Christian.

Second, casting a vote for a candidate is not a wholesale endorsement of everything that person has ever done or will do. Every ballot has a very limited number of candidates on it. Casting a vote relates to supporting the candidate who is most likely to act toward justice, freedom, virtue, and equality. I think the only time we would be justified in not voting would be if there were only candidates that did not meet any of these criteria. Thankfully, we are not in a time like that yet. Apathy or ‘being tired of the process’ is not an excuse for a Christian to withdraw and choose to not be involved with the world around them. If all the hype is too much for you, then turn off TV news, change your internet habits, and go to trusted sources when you need to, so you can cast an informed vote. Twenty-four-hour news organizations have a major financial motive to present every news story as a crisis emergency. They want you to leave the TV on forever to make sure you don’t miss any breaking crisis and they make millions of dollars. In reality, every day is not a crisis and those who choose to live this way are robbed of much of the joy of living a peaceful and fruitful Christian life. I believe this is particularly a temptation for our seniors who have more discretionary time on their hands and can be drawn into this cycle of living in ‘Newsstand Crisis Mode.’

The next three fundamentals relate to how a Christian should vote. I will cover one this week and two more next week.

The first issue that should be in sight for Christians voting next month relates to sexual ethics. There are many lists of sin in the Old and New Testaments and nearly every one of them recognize sexual immorality. The bottom line is that the Bible clearly places how we conduct ourselves sexually in the moral category. Sexual actions are not neutral. Sexual actions are not just a matter of personal taste. Sexual actions are either according to the will of God and blessed, or against the will of God and sinful. The Bible is abundantly clear that from the creation of the world to this day God created the sexual relationship to only exist between a biological man and a biological woman within the covenant relationship of marriage. This is biblical sexual morality. Every other conceivable sexual union is out of bounds and is sinful.

Sexuality is blessed, joyful, binding, and life producing only within the design of marriage. In any other context this emotionally powerful and biologically important (producing children, transmitting disease, etc.) action produces anxiety, separation, economic hardship, disease, and even death. People argue that this is terribly narrow because they do not really believe the sexual relationship is designed by God. No one argues that a gasoline engine is restrictive. It was designed to run on gasoline and will only run on gasoline. If you pour diesel, kerosene, cooking oil, water, pancake syrup, or any other liquid in the fuel tank it will not run. So it is with marriage. God’s design cannot be altered.

It goes without saying that biblical sexuality is under a full aggressive assault from almost every corner of society. If this nation abandons biblical sexuality, it speaks to the soul of our nation. God has never, and will never, bless a sexually depraved and decadent nation. As Christians, we know that how we conduct ourselves sexually matters. We should also hold our leaders to this moral standard. As Christians, it’s not enough to be fiscally conservative. What we primarily stand for as Christians is moral holiness. In voting we must stand against, and vote against, the onslaught of LGBTQ positions and platforms. This is not a political matter, or a matter of phobia, or a matter of anger – this is a matter of being faithful to biblical Christian morality. A Christian cannot vote to support, fund, or praise what God has declared to be sinful.

Next week, I will discuss the connection of sexual morality to abortion and matters of limited government.

May the Lord make us wise and help us to be light in darkness,
Pastor Vic

The Connected Parent

“The Connected Parent: Real Life Strategies for Building Trust and Attachment”
By Karyn Purvis, PhD. & Lisa Qualls


I highly recommend that you read “The Connected Parent.” This book was specifically written to help adoptive and foster parents care for traumatized children, but it is filled with excellent, biblically sound, practical advice for how to connect with the hearts of children. This compassionate and practical advice is helpful for parents with children of any age and would also be helpful to any grandparent in their interaction with grandchildren. As we parent, it’s wise to regularly read new resources to freshen up our outlook on parenting. Regularly reading new material will cause you to re-examine blind spots in your habits and perhaps give you new possible solutions to particular points of struggle.

This book is written as a two-part conversation between Dr. Purvis and Lisa Smith. This book represents the culmination of Dr. Purvis’ remarkable life and work, but it was not completed by Lisa Qualls until after Dr. Purvis’ death from cancer. Dr. Purvis cites and explains the scientific research-based reasons for each of her conclusions, while Qualls explains the practical outworking of each principle in a busy home.

The entire book focuses on ‘Trust-Based Relational Intervention.’ The important focus that jumps off the pages to me as having been so essentially true in raising our children, is the vital need for connection with your children. As parents and grandparents, we must authentically connect with the hearts of our children. As we care for, train, educate, and direct our children, along the way our heart as a parent must truly connect with the hearts of our children. This is difficult to quantify, but every parent or grandparent knows what distance or nearness feels like. Dr. Purvis instructs the reader in a clear, compelling, and personally experienced way how to make these connections with traumatized and struggling children. However, the advice she gives is also generally helpful to parenting, even if you are not raising a particularly traumatized child. 

The authors write about:

  1. Empowering: They begin by speaking to the basic science of nutrition, hydration, food, and sensory input. If a child’s nutrition, hydration, and stimulation are all wrong, the parent is fighting an uphill battle in connecting with their child and correcting problem behavior. Simple steps are given to help correct some of these major imbalances.
  2. Connecting: Parents meet the connection needs of their child by focusing on the relationship in every interaction. The goal is not behavior modification in the child, but first establishing authentic relationship between parent and child so further parenting guidance is possible.
  3. Correcting: This part of the book is specifically focused on traumatized children. Standard parental discipline is both ineffective and inappropriate in the lives of most traumatized children. Dr. Purvis speaks to the fear and detachment of children that are trying to protect themselves from further hurt. Disarming this fear is vital, so the child can develop trust with the parent and through relationship enjoy a balanced childhood.

You may not be parenting a traumatized child, but many in our church are. We want to be a church that constantly is working to care for orphaned children. We want to demonstrate the sacrificial love of Jesus by helping the weakest and outcast of our society. This will involve everyone at Redeemer grasping these concepts to a certain extent. Everyone needs to read a book like this to develop compassion for traumatized children and to take even a few small steps toward knowing how to care for and react to children with these needs.

This book does not cover traditional aspects of discipline. It’s not an all-encompassing parenting book, but it’s extremely valuable for those that feel detachment from their children and are struggling with how to bridge that gap.

“And calling to Him a child He put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea … So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” —Matthew 18:2-6, 14


May the Lord help us as parents to love our children well that they may each come to salvation,
Pastor Vic

Forgive

Church,            
Periodically it’s important that we all be reminded of Jesus’ mandate to forgive each other. In Christ we have been forgiven all our sins by grace through faith. Because of the grace shown to us, we must also be willing to forgive those around us. The forgiveness of a Christian is supposed to follow after the incredible mercy of Jesus. We are required to forgive others over and over again, because we ourselves have been forgiven much more by Jesus.

In this teaching there is no room for bearing grudges. There is no place for conditional love – “if you do this for me, I’ll do that for you.” Instead, it’s very clear. You have been forgiven, so you must forgive others. If you refuse to forgive another person, and instead choose to remain in anger, nurse hopes of retribution, or simply cut the person off from your life, you are not displaying the love of Christ. If this goes on for a long time it should give you grave concern over the condition of your soul (v.35).

No passage better teaches this than Jesus’ ‘Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.’ I hope you will read this parable and consider if it describes any aspect of your life. Take seriously the final warning in verse 35. By the work of the Holy Spirit in you, you must forgive – from the heart.

Matthew 18:21-35 — The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’  So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’  He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.  When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

May the Lord give us authentic love for each other, a love that will forgive like Christ,
Pastor Vic

Walking in Unity

Walking in Unity
Ephesians 4:1-3In the book of Ephesians, Paul writes about the believer’s position and practice. The first three chapters of Ephesians speak of the believer’s position and the last three chapters speak of the believer’s practice. Both are required to be understood to walk in obedience to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I want to share with you about walking in unity, Ephesians 4:1-3.

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

In verse 1, we are told how important it is to “walk in a manner worthy of our calling.” Paul is imploring us to live our lives in a manner that illustrates our obedience to the Word of God. Our daily walk “manner of living” should mimic that of Christ and correspond to our position as children of God. Walking worthy means that we are to balance our behavior with our position. God has “adopted us as sons through Jesus Christ in Himself” and we should live as someone who has been adopted by God’s great mercy.

We are also to walk in “all humility.” Humility is one of the key foundations of Christian living. Humility must permeate our lives and influence all we do. The word means to think or judge with lowliness and to have lowliness of mind. In Romans 12:3 we are reminded to not think more highly of ourselves but to think of ourselves with sound judgment based on the measure of faith God has given us. Paul, in Philippians 2:7-8, reminds us of how Christ humbled Himself even to death on the cross. He is our example.

When we are walking in a manner worthy of our calling, and in humility, we are to do so with gentleness and patience. Meekness and forbearance are some of the signs of a person who is humble. Many in our culture view meekness as a sign of weakness, someone who is a pushover, or lacks courage. This is not true of a Christian; this word means to be mild-spirited or self-controlled. King David was a great example of this type of inner spirit when he refused to kill Saul even though he had the opportunity. We should forbear in God’s love based on His graciousness and kindness toward us to achieve unity.

Lastly, we are to work “diligently” to preserve unity. This is not talking about ecumenical unity among different religions. This speaks of inner unity and unity within the body of Christ. We as Christians are to strive to be unified with other followers of Christ. We are to wrap ourselves in the “bond of peace” to glorify God in attitude and practice. Peaceful unity can be achieved by exegetically (the process of discovering the original and intended meaning of a passage of scripture) studying and meditating on the Word of God and applying the precepts of His Word. I pray your Christian walk will be with humility, patience, unity, and gentleness.

Rodney

Revival

Revival Follows The Honoring, Reading, and Obedience to the Word of God

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” Hosea 4:6 ESV


These words are prophetic words given by the minor prophet Hosea. Hosea was called to a prophetic ministry in a time of rebellion described earlier in the chapter under the reign of the wicked king Jeroboam II. The people of Judah were described as faithless and without an enduring love in verse 1. Throughout the chapter, Judah’s culture is described as a land full of “… swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed” (verse 2). After reading this, one can’t help but think of how this describes our nation today.
 

Israel was chosen by God as a special people, chosen above all the nations of the earth (Deuteronomy 7:6). “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:4-5). God passed over every other mighty nation, full of all the world’s wisdom and military might, and chose a small nation to reveal Himself. It was to the Israelites, and them alone, whom God chose to reveal His ways. It’s important to note that God was not obligated to have this kind of mercy on any nation, but, in His love, He chose Israel.
 

Let’s fast forward about a century after the utterances of Hosea, to the reign of King Josiah. Please read the full account of Josiah’s reign and reformation in 2 Kings, chapters 22 and 23. To summarize, during the reign of Josiah, the law of the Lord was recovered after a century of the raging rebellion described above. After Josiah read the Book of the Law, likely the book of Deuteronomy or another book from the Torah, he tore his clothes in anguish and did away with the idolatrous practices. This was arguably the greatest reform done by any king in Israel. In fact, he was the first king who ordered Judah to keep the Passover described in the law since the time of Israel’s judges (at least 400 years).
 

Today, we find ourselves in a nation and culture very similar to ancient Israel. Our churches are being shuttered because of an epidemic of moral failures that comes from a disregard of God’s word and His law. We’ve been blessed with affordable and accessible bibles, as well as, arguably, the greatest Christian writings from people like Jonathan Edwards. God doesn’t owe America, or any nation the gift of having accessible bibles. Study the history of the middle ages, when having a Bible was unheard of, and to be found with one was a death sentence. Because God doesn’t owe us His mercy, and He is not a respecter of persons, we must take heed to the prophecy “since you have forgotten the law of the Lord your God, I will also forget your children.” Jesus said to whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48).
 

I believe God is calling those who have reverence and adherence to His word to sound the alarm like Hosea did. God has blessed us with a church that exalts the Word of God above everything else. My prayer is that this letter would move us to gratitude for the blessing of our church, and we would be moved to pray for Redeemer Bible Church, other local churches, and our nation to remain standing on the Word of God; and if not, to repent and not take for granted what we’ve been given, lest it be taken from us and our children. 

Jacob