William Wilberforce, A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes of This Country Contrasted With Real Christianity (1797). The book is available in its entirety at the link. Here is a three-page pdf file of this excerpt plus surrounding text. Note that, as was common in his day, when Wilberforce uses the word “religion,” he most often is referring solely to Christianity.

In Romans 14, Paul discusses a specific issue: Should Christians have concerns about whether or not the meat that they eat has been killed according to Old Testament regulations? Paul does believe one side is right in this disagreement. But he emphasizes that loving our brothers and following our convictions are both much more important than being on the right side.

Today, the way animals are killed is not an issue many Christians worry about. But, as usual, Paul resolves the issue by looking at bedrock principles of who we are in Christ, and what motivations should underlie all that we do. His argument in this chapter is thus helpful for every issue not fundamentally related to salvation on which Christians may disagree.

What follows is a reworking of Romans 14, replacing Paul’s specific discussion of food issues with present-day, American political issues. I’ve arbitrarily labeled one side Democrat and the other Republican – feel free to reverse the labels if you wish. Verse 14 moves furthest from the original text, while verses 7-13, 18, and 19 are all unchanged.

The central point in Paul’s discussion is found in verses 7 to 9: We are not to live to ourselves. We are not to live aiming to increase our own comfort or status. All we do– from our seemingly trivial decisions like what we eat to our political decisions – should be focused on giving God honor, on glorifying Him.

So I encourage you: Read Romans 14, then read over this reworking of the chapter. See if this helps you to take to heart the lessons Paul is teaching. Ask yourself if my reworking is true to the basic principles Paul lays out. And then ensure that whatever you do  – eating, drinking, or political advocacy – you do all to the glory of God.

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions, or to convince him of your opinion.  ² One person believes he should vote Democrat, while another votes Republican.  ³ Let not the one who votes Democrat despise the one who votes Republican, and let not the one who votes Republican pass judgment on the one who votes Democrat, for God has welcomed him.  ⁴ Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵ One person esteems one party as better than another, while another esteems all parties alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.  ⁶ The one who supports a party, supports it in honor of the Lord. The one who votes Democrat, votes in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who votes Republican, votes in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.  ⁷ For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.  ⁸ For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.  ⁹ For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰ Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;  ¹¹ for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”  ¹² So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

¹³ Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.  ¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that one party is better than the other, but it would be wrong for another believer to support that party to please me if he is convinced otherwise. ¹⁵ For if your brother is grieved by your political advocacy, you are no longer walking in love. By political advocacy, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.  ¹⁶ So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.  ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of political advocacy but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  ¹⁸ Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.  ¹⁹ So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.  ²⁰ Do not, for the sake of politics, destroy the work of God. One party is indeed better than the other, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by political advocacy.  ²¹ It is good not to support a political party – or to do anything else – if that causes your brother to stumble.

(These related blog posts examine similar issues: Christians and Politics, How Should a Christian Vote?)

How can we respond to such a tragedy?

The Bible is our guide in all matters. In His Word, God tells us who He is, who we are, how He rules the world, and how we should respond to Him. He tells us what we could never learn on our own, what we would grope after and never find apart from His revelation.

So what guidance does the Bible give us?

First, we must weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15). Our Lord wept over the coming judgment on Jerusalem (Luke 19:41); He wept at the grave of His friend, even though He was about to raise him from the dead (John 11:35). Ultimately, all sorrow and pain in this world is the result of sin – God’s initial creation was very good (Genesis 1:31). So let us weep over sin and its impact.

Second, we must pray. God works through prayer to bring about His purposes at all times (2 Corinthians 1:11), and so He exhorts us to pray about all our needs (Philippians 4:6).

Third, we must do what we can to help those in need (Luke 12:33). In so doing, we honor God (Proverbs 14:31), who has compassion on the poor and needy (Psalm 72:13). Now, in such situations we can do more harm than good – our attempts to help can hurt, as we noted earlier. So let us give to organizations that are cognizant of these dangers, who are working with local institutions, considering both the urgent relief needs and the longer term rehabilitation and development needs. Some suggestions (among many possibilities): Food for the Hungry, Child Hope International, and Water Missions International.

Fourth, we must take note of Jesus’ warning to those around Him as they considered a local tragedy:

“Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:4-5

Some people evidently were explaining the fall of the tower as God’s judgment on those eighteen people, saying that they deserved to die, and others (like themselves) did not. Jesus says, “Don’t think that way – but take the occasion of these deaths to examine yourself!” God’s judgment will come on all who do not repent (Romans 2:4-5) – and it will be much more terrible than the fall of the tower of Siloam, much more terrible than the Haiti earthquake, much more terrible than the Aceh tsunami (Revelation 6:15-17).

Fifth, we must remind ourselves of the Gospel. No one is righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10-12). We all deserve God’s condemnation, His wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3). Yet God sent His Son to live the perfect life that we should have lived, loving God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength every minute of every day, loving His neighbor as Himself (Hebrews 4:15; Matthew 22:36-40); He sent Him to the cross to suffer and die, taking on Himself the penalty we deserve (2 Corinthians 5:21); and He raised Him from the dead, showing that the penalty was sufficient (Acts 2:24). We who believe in Him (John 1:12), valuing Him above all else (Matthew 13:44), receive the benefits of this death, and are united with Him for all eternity (Romans 6:4-5, 23).

Finally, we can rejoice that God is sovereign over all affairs of men. He is the Almighty One, who not only knows the number of hairs on my head (Matthew 10:30), but watches over and superintends all the events of my life, and of all the lives of those who are united in His Son (Psalm 1:6). So we can pray with the psalmist, “When my spirit faints within me, you know my way!” (Psalm 142:3). May our hurting brothers and sisters in Haiti know this truth, and lean on our Rock and our Refuge (Psalm 61:2-3).

May we, by His grace, be as He is in this world (1 John 4:17) – and thus, knowing our sinfulness, knowing our weakness, serve humbly as conduits of His mercy, His compassion, and His Word to the downtrodden and the needy.

If you should ask me to state in one phrase what I regard as the greatest defect in most Christian lives I would say that it is our failure to know God as our Father. . . . Ah yes, we say; we do know that and believe it. But do we know it in our daily life and living? Is it something of which we are always conscious? If only we got hold of this, we could smile in the face of every possibility and eventuality that lies ahead of us.

How then are we to know this? It is certainly not something based on the notion of the ‘universal Fatherhood of God’. . . . That is not biblical. Our Lord says something here that ridicules that and proves such an idea to be nonsense. He says, ‘If ye then, being evil’. You see the significance? . . . ‘Ye being evil’ means that we not only do things which are evil, but that we are evil. Our natures are corrupt and evil, and those who are essentially corrupt and evil are not the children of God. . . . No; by nature we are all the children of wrath; . . . by nature we are not His children. . . . God is your Father only when you satisfy certain conditions. He is not the Father of any one of us as we are by nature.

How then does God become my Father? According to the Scriptures it is like this. Christ ‘came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power (i.e., authority) to become the sons of God’ (John 1:11, 12). You become a child of God only when you are born again. . . . Believing in [Christ], we receive a new life and nature and we become children of God. Then we can know that God is our Father; but not until then. He will also give us His Holy Spirit, ‘the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father’; and the moment we know this we can be certain that God as our Father adopts a specific attitude with respect to us. It means that, as my Father, He is interested in me, that He is concerned about me, that He is watching over me, that He has a plan and purpose with respect to me, that He is desirous always to bless and to help me. Lay hold of that; take a firm grasp of that. Whatever may happen to you, God is your Father. . . .

But that does not exhaust the statement. There is a very interesting negative addition. Because God is your Father He will never give you anything that is evil. He will give you only that which is good. ‘What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?’ Multiply that by infinity and that is God’s attitude towards His child. In our folly we are apt to think that God is against us when something unpleasant happens to us. But God is our Father; and as our Father he will never give us anything that is evil. Never; it is impossible.

[Another] principle is this. God, being God, never makes a mistake. He knows the difference between good and evil in a way that no-one else does. . . . The earthly father at his best sometimes thinks at the moment that he is acting for the good of his child, but discovers later that it was bad. Your Father who is in heaven never makes such a mistake. He will never give you anything which will turn out to be harmful to you, but which at first seemed to be good. This is one of the most wonderful things we can ever realize. . . . If we but knew we were in the hands of such a Father, our outlook upon the future would be entirely transformed.

Lastly, we must remember increasingly the good gifts which He has for us. ‘How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?’ This is the theme of the whole Bible. What are the good things? Our Lord has given us the answer in that passage in Luke 11. . . . ‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?’ That is it. And in giving the Holy Spirit He gives us everything; every fitness we require, every grace, every gift. They are all given to us in Him. . . . You see now why we should thank God that asking, and seeking and knocking, do not just mean that if we ask for anything we like we shall get it. Of course not. What it means is this. Ask for any one of these things that is good for you, that is for the salvation of your soul, your ultimate perfection, anything that brings you nearer to God and enlarges your life and is thoroughly good for you, and He will give it you. He will not give you things that are bad for you. You may think they are good but He knows they are bad. . . .

That is the way to face the future. Find out from the Scriptures what these good things are and seek them. The thing that matters supremely, the best thing for all of us, is to know God, ‘the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom (he) hath sent’; and if we seek that above everything else, if we ‘seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness’, then we have the word of the Son of God . . . that all these other things shall be added unto us. God will give them to us with a bounty that we cannot even imagine. ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.’

[Studies in the Sermon on the Mount Volume 2 (Eerdmans, 1960), p. 202-205.]

In many ways, I am impressed with the Great Commission Resurgence document, and believe the SBC should move in the direction it lays out. Here are some of the axioms that clearly resonate with our theology, vision, and values:

1: We call upon all Southern Baptists to submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ in all things at the personal, local church, and denominational levels.

2: We call upon all Southern Baptists to make the gospel of Jesus Christ central in our lives, our churches, and our convention ministries.

3: We call upon all Southern Baptists to recommit to the priority of the Great Commandments in every aspect of our lives. . . .

4: We call upon all Southern Baptists to unite around a firm conviction in the full truthfulness and complete sufficiency of Christian Scripture in all matters of faith and practice.

6: We call upon all Southern Baptists to focus on building local churches that are thoroughly orthodox, distinctively Baptist, and passionately committed to the Great Commission.

7: We call upon all Southern Baptists to affirm and expect a pastoral ministry that is characterized by faithful biblical preaching that teaches both the content of the Scriptures and the theology embedded in the Scriptures.

10: We call upon all Southern Baptists to build gospel-saturated homes that see children as a gift from God and as our first and primary mission field.

Number 5 highlights the need for the confessional standards encapsulated in the Baptist Faith and Message, as revised nine years ago. While that is not a perfect document, it plays a necessary and valuable role in defining what those sent out by our cooperating agencies must believe.

Number 9 has led to the most controversy; it calls upon the denomination to “evaluate our Convention structures and priorities so that we can maximize our energy and resources for the health of our local churches and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.” The explanatory comments include these sentences:

We believe that North American church planting, pioneer missions around the globe, and theological education are three priorities around which Southern Baptists will unite. Our Convention must be examined at every level to facilitate a more effective pursuit of these priorities.

While this is simply a logical implication of the other axioms, some have seen this as an attack on much of what denominational employees do.

Axiom 8 rightly argues that there are many subcultures in North America, and if we are to reach them all effectively, our churches must look and feel different from each other, even while they are all Gospel-centered and Bible-saturated.

So for all ten axioms, I can either shout a hearty “Amen!” or at least say, “Sure, that sounds ok.” The website provides an opportunity to sign the document. Almost 3000 people have done so already.

But not me. Not yet, anyway.

Why am I reluctant to sign the document?

The problem is not really about what the document says, but about what it doesn’t say. It calls for a “Great Commission Resurgence” – but it never defines the Great Commission. And that lack of definition keeps the document from serving what could be a pivotal role.

Thirty-five years after Ralph Winter coined the phrase “people blindness,” and 20+ years after the Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB) reoriented the agency to focus on unreached people groups, most Southern Baptists still have no idea what the Great Commission means. Too many think it means something like, “I should share the Gospel with my neighbor and give $25 each year to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.”

What does the Great Commission mean?

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are to disciple all nations. That is, Christ’s church must reach every culture with the Gospel, every people group, every language; that’s the biblical definition of “nation.” God’s design and command is for His church to plant a thriving, evangelizing church in every people group of the world. And after 2000 years, we can complete this task in this generation.

The Great Commission is thus a cross-cultural commission. We must reach those like us with the Gospel. That is a biblical mandate. But that is not fulfilling the Great Commission. Were all Christians to be fully mobilized and wonderfully effective in evangelizing those like themselves, a large percentage of the globe would still be without Christ. The Great Commission commands Christ’s entire church to mobilize herself, to pray, to send, and to go so that every culture has an effective witness to Christ within it.

Could we not use this moment in SBC history to have a genuine resurgence in the SBC, formulated around completing the very achievable task (and the IMB’s goal!) of planting multiplying churches in every remaining unreached people group in this generation? Could this in and of itself not serve to help explain to our churches why we must reorient our priorities and streamline our bureaucracies? Would this not act to unite us and to mobilize us?

There are a few other details that I find unhelpful in the document. Contact me if you’re interested. But if it included a solid definition of the Great Commission, similar to that given three paragraphs above, I would sign it with no other changes. Absent such a definition, I think it misses a unique opportunity to at long last communicate this central biblical principle to the SBC, and to rally the convention to the primary remaining task we must complete before Christ returns.

[See also this sermon on Romans 15:9-24, "Where Christ Has Not Been Named."]

Do you listen? How is your hearing?

Jesus thinks listening is vital: He says, “Whoever has ears to hear had better listen!” (Mark 4:9 NET).

Most of us have the physical equipment to hear. And yet so often we fail to listen.

Listening is never easy, is it? All of us are so easily distracted – even in church. For example, when someone gets up during a service, perhaps to go to the bathroom, at least one-third of the eyes in the sanctuary follow the person out the door – making sure, I suppose, that the person doesn’t fall down.

Sometimes we listen, but don’t really hear. This was the case with Ezekiel. God tells His prophet that to the people of Israel:

you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. (Ezekiel 33:32 NIV)

Ezekiel had become an attraction, an amusement. And note that the people responded to his preaching! They expressed devotion, but their actions belied their words. So Ezekiel was to them a performer, a maestro, fun to listen to but having no impact on their lives. They responded aesthetically – but they did not really hear him.

In Mark 4, Jesus emphasizes again and again the importance of truly hearing Him.

• Verse 3: His first word to the crowds is, “Listen!”
• Verse 9: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
• Verse 23: “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”
• Verse 24: “Consider carefully what you hear!”
• Verse 33: “Jesus spoke the word to them, [literally] as much as they could hear.”

In this chapter, He relates the parable of the farmer who sows seed on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns, and on good soil. The seed on the path is eaten by birds; the seed on the rocky soil and among the thorns initially springs up, but dies; the seed on good soil bears a hundredfold more seed.

We frequently understand this parable as referring to evangelism: the evangelist spreads the word; some people never respond; some people appear to respond, yet fall away eventually; others respond and bear fruit. That interpretation states an important truth.

But in context in Mark, I believe it preferable to think of the different grounds as yourself at different times. Ask yourself: How am I responding to the word I hear right now? What barriers prevent me from hearing the word and putting it into practice?

We all want to be like that good soil, multiplying the seed of the word, bearing fruit, giving to others God’s love and life. What does this parable teach us about overcoming barriers to hearing – so that we might be that good soil?

Let’s consider the three bad types of ground in turn:

The Road

Jesus explains that Satan is like the birds eating the seed; he takes away the word before it has a chance to germinate.

For us, this corresponds to having the word go in one ear and out the other. It never even registers in our brain. We are distracted while we are listening, or have preconceived ideas that do not allow us to hear the truths being stated.

This happens to all of us to some extent. We might be in church, supposedly listening to a sermon, perhaps even looking at the preacher – but suddenly notice that for the last five minutes we’ve been thinking about our plans for the afternoon and haven’t heard a word he has said.

What are your barriers? Are you rejecting the word outright? Or are you feeding on it, allowing it to permeate you and change you?

The Rocky Soil

Many of us have heard sermons or read the Bible and responded in our hearts: “Yes, yes, that is true. I agree with that. I will change my life to reflect that.” Unlike the soil beside the road, in this case we do hear the word, and we mentally assent to its truth. But then we fail to act on it consistently and persistently, so that there is no fruit. In those cases, we are that rocky soil.

The Thorns

When we are like the thorny ground, we hear initially, and agree. Our understanding of the truth deepens. So far, so good.

But then we are confronted with a decision. Obedience to the Word will cost us something: Respect. Success. Health. Financial Security. And so we reject the truth. We acknowledge it. We may even proclaim it. But we don’t live it. We instead love the world.

Once again, I propose that all of us act this way at times. We may have a good, solid grasp of biblical truth – but then say:

• “Let’s be practical. Surely God doesn’t mean for me to do that! I might lose my job!”
• “Yes, I can obey God in that area – after I make enough money and attain financial security.”
• “Wow, that’s such a noble sentiment – but it’s simply not practical. Maybe people 2000 years ago could act that way, but it doesn’t work at the dawn of the 21st century.”

Have you responded to God’s truth in this way at times? I certainly have. We can all come up with a zillion reasons why living according to God’s word is not practical. But “the righteous one shall live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4). Living by faith means we obey God whether or not that obedience makes sense from a human point of view. Living by faith means we find our security, our satisfaction, our accomplishment, and our self-worth in God alone.

So how can we avoid being bad listeners? How can we instead become like that good soil?

First, we surely must depend on the Holy Spirit, confessing our inadequacies, our sinful hearts, and our desperate need for His help.

Second, we must spend time and energy trying to understand. This is what Jesus tells the disciples in Mark 4:24-25. We can paraphrase these verses:

You have ears; you have used them to hear; now see what you hear! Perceive it, contemplate it, mull it over, understand it thoroughly! How deeply are you digging into the bag of the word of God? Pick a big scoop! Gather as much seed as you possibly can, and then even more will be given to you! He who grabs hold, who really latches onto what is there, will receive even more. If you don’t take hold, you’ll find you don’t have even what you think you have.

So will you commit yourself to using those ears of yours? Will you commit yourself to seeing what you hear?

Our small groups are beginning a season of discussing and applying the previous Sunday’s sermon. Here are some guidelines for sermon listening that will help us to see what we hear – and thus will help us to become good soil, making those discussions profitable:

• Take the teaching of God’s word seriously. God’s word is more important than anything you learn in school; it is more important than anything you read in newspapers; it is more important than anything your boss tells you in a staff meeting. Give at least as much effort to understanding the sermon as you would to what you hear in these other contexts. This includes preparing yourself for worship: Going to bed early enough on Saturday night that you are alert in church, and preparing your heart Sunday morning.
• Pay attention. Taking notes is often helpful here. Note taking forces you to focus on the speaker, and keeps some of the seed from falling beside the road where the birds eat it. It also requires you to do some thinking and reflecting even while the pastor speaks.
• Realize you won’t catch everything, but be sure to pick one or two thoughts from the sermon, reflect on them, and apply them! When we lose focus, Satan is apt to accuse us: “You lost focus and missed the last few minutes; you might as well stop listening now.” Don’t yield to that temptation. No one will catch everything. Simply resume listening, and ask God to open up the rest to you. Then focus on the specific message that you need to apply in your life.
• Ask good questions about the sermon and its text. What is the intended message of the writer? Does the sermon capture the main point of the text? What doctrinal truth is emphasized here? How is that truth consistent with the rest of Scripture? What promise is given? Have I been leaning on that promise? What errors or sins does this passage warn against, which I easily fall prey to? How can I use this passage to fight against such sins? Are there duties and responsibilities in this passage that I am neglecting? How does this passage feed my joy in Christ? How can I use this sermon to increase my joy this week?
• Resist the urge to be like the music critic at the concert. Don’t evaluate the sermon, trying to give it a grade of A, B, C (or worse!). Instead, listen for what God is saying through His Word. The sermon may be poorly organized and poorly delivered – but, if the word is preached truly, there will still be a message for you. And when you speak to any preacher after the sermon, try to avoid a blanket statement about the quality of the sermon. Fred and I would much prefer to hear you say, “What you said about X really hit me. I’ll meditate on that this week, and try to put it into practice. Pray for me.” Or, “I didn’t understand what you said about Y. Can we talk about that later?” Or, “I hear what you were saying, but doesn’t this other Scripture contradict that point?”

So engage the word! Listen to it! Work hard at hearing it!

All of you have ears. May you hear, and may the word of God dwell in you richly.

[Parts of this devotion are excerpted from my sermon on Mark 4. You can read that in its entirety here. - Coty]

Gyrations in the stock market. Banks losing billions. Dire predictions unless Congress does X. Congress does X, yet the situation deteriorates.

What does it all mean? How should Bible-believing Christians respond?

We should respond by trusting in God and in His Word.

Paul tells Timothy to know that hard times are ahead (in his case, from persecution and evil deceivers), but to “continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-15).

Just so for us. Remain steadfast. Remind yourself and others of the truths of Scripture. God does not change. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His Word is our anchor; His promise is our hope, a “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:19).

His promise includes these words:

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:31-33).

Our God will give us everything that we need to fulfill His purposes for us, to enable us to accomplish the task He assigns us. At the right time – indeed, at the perfect time – He will take us to Himself, to His eternal kingdom, to our great joy. So do not be anxious.

But while we are trusting in His sovereign rule, what should we think about the turmoil around us?

First: God often uses stress and hardship to expand His kingdom.
Remember the persecution of believers in Jerusalem after the murder of Stephen (Acts 8:1). Our brothers and sisters suffered much in those days. But God used that very persecution to advance His kingdom. In the last sixty years, we have seen something similar in China. Who would have thought that the terrible persecution that followed the Communist takeover of China would in the end result in the phenomenal growth of the church? So pray for the suffering – and pray that God, once again, will use hard times for His good and wise purposes.

Second: All men are sinners – even government regulators.

Some analysts speak as if the solution to this upheaval is increased government regulation. There are indeed areas of additional regulation that will make sense. But too often analysts speak as if government regulators are the good guys and private agents in the financial sector are the bad guys. The Bible tells us that, yes, those private agents are sinners, but so are those government regulators. They too are subject to greed, to pride, to lust for power. Indeed, in the development of the present crisis, failure of existing regulators played an important role.

Third: All men are sinners – even politicians (of both parties).

Particularly in the middle of a campaign, politicians of both parties face tremendous temptations to distort reality when discussing such turmoil. They all are tempted to blame their opponent (or their opponent’s party) for the problems; they all are tempted to say that they know exactly what to do and if you will only elect them (and their fellow party members), all will improve. Furthermore, those holding office at present have a strong incentive to claim that apart from the legislation they’ve passed, the country would be ruined.

In my opinion, politicians from both parties have heightened hysteria and made matters worse through their rhetoric. Frankly, anyone who claims to know exactly what to do to solve the present turmoil is either lying or naïve.

So don’t believe the propaganda. Understand the incentives facing politicians, take account of their sinfulness, and take all they say with several grains of salt.

Fourth: All men are sinners – even those in the news media.

Those in the news media try to attract readers and viewers. If they don’t, in the end they lose their jobs. So they face incentives to hype big stories and, not surprisingly, those incentives drive many stories. Remember that when you read the next story about this turmoil – particularly when you read nonsense telling us why the stock market moved one way or another (read carefully over several days and you will see these explanations are either tautological or contradictory); or when you read that a change in price is an unmitigated disaster (when the price goes up, it’s good for owners and bad for buyers; when the price goes down, it’s good for buyers and bad for owners); or when you read predictions of huge future price changes (if the analyst really knew such things, he could make a fortune in futures markets).

So: Believe in God, and read with discernment. God is on the throne. Trust Him. Labor for Him. He remains at your right hand – even through economic turmoil.

Is there a Christian position on the political issues facing us today?

We have seen that all in the body of Christ are exiles in this present world, citizens of another kingdom. Our primary responsibility in this period of exile is to serve as ambassadors of our King, speaking and living out His message of reconciliation.

At the same time, we are to “seek the welfare of the city” where we are in exile (Jeremiah 29:7). In a democracy, this surely implies voting; for some individual Christians, it might well mean deep involvement in the political process. But our hope is never to be in any political candidate or party; our hope is in our coming Redeemer King.

Here are some biblical principles concerning voting that I commend to you during this political maelstrom.

1) Our political involvement should include voting in a way that we believe will move our society to become more just, merciful, and moral.

God is specially concerned about the weak and powerless. Surely our voting should reflect His concern.

Zechariah 7:9-10 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Proverbs 24:11-12 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?

This has implications for numerous issues in political debate, from education to immigration, from health care in the US to the AIDS crisis around the world. As I argued last week, the abortion issue is clear, and in and of itself could disqualify a candidate from office. But on many other issues, Christians may well disagree on what public policies are more likely to help “the fatherless, the sojourner, [and] the poor.”

• Some may believe that cutting taxes on the rich will generate a more dynamic economy that will help the poor through job creation; others may believe that raising taxes on the rich and using that money to provide public services to the poor is a better option.
• Some may believe that US military power can be used constructively as a force to save lives, advance freedom, and prevent genocide around the world; others may believe that any exercise of military power will inevitably lead to abuse of power, deaths of innocent civilians, and a consequent stain on this country.
• Some may believe that the best, most humane way to deal with illegal immigration is to enforce border security while simultaneously streamlining and expanding the visa application process; others may believe that the emphasis should be on providing a clear path to citizenship for those already in this country with a track record of honest hard work.
• Some may believe that vouchers for use in any type of private or public school would improve substantially the education of children from poor families; others may believe that this would divert needed resources from public schools that already serve the vast majority of the poor, and would thereby make most of the them worse off.

These and other disagreements could well lead Christians to vote for different candidates. But surely the passages quoted above and the overall thrust of the Bible should lead all of us to vote not for our economic self-interest, but for the candidates that we think move our society towards greater justice.

2) Our political involvement should include voting for candidates who have the character to make wise decisions when facing the unexpected crises and challenges that will arise in the years ahead.

Political campaigns put a lot of emphasis on specific policy proposals to solve problems facing the country. But most politicians end up governing quite differently from the way they campaign. In some cases, this is simply deceit; the candidate says whatever he thinks will get him elected. But in very many cases, the most important decisions politicians make concern unexpected, unanticipated challenges.

Thus, when voting we need to look past specific policy proposals and to the character of each candidate. For character will be necessary when facing the unforeseen challenges ahead.

But discerning character isn’t easy. We certainly can’t listen simply to what the campaigns on either side say. Instead, we can often discern much about a candidate’s character by looking more at what he has done in the past rather than what he says. Has he displayed a heart of genuine compassion? Has she been firm when under attack?

Here’s one piece of data on character: The candidates for president and vice-president have all tried to convince us that they really care about other people. They all have many ideas about how to use taxpayer money to help the country. Question: How much of their own money do they voluntarily contribute to charitable causes? The answer is disappointing: None of the four is exemplary. From 2000 to 2004, the Obamas gave an average of less than 1% of their income to charity. From 2005 to 2007 they gave 5.5%. The Bidens were worse, giving less than one quarter of one percent of their income to charity from 2000 to 2007. The Palins gave about 2.3% of their income to charity in 2006 and 2007 (and have released no earlier returns.) While at first glance John McCain looks considerably more generous, he and his wife Cindy file returns separately, and she earns the vast majority of the couple’s income. The information released is not sufficient to calculate the McCain’s total charitable giving, but in 2006 it was definitely more than 2 percent and almost certainly less than five percent of their combined income.

3) Our political involvement is no substitute for our personal involvement.

We do not discharge our responsibility to love our neighbor as ourselves by voting in an election. Nor do we do so through advocating a particular political position. By all means, contemplate the issues. By all means, inform yourself. By all means, discern what you can about the candidates’ character. By all means, vote. And by all means, display kindness and mercy personally. By all means, help the sojourner and the widow personally. By all means, spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples personally.

God is advancing His kingdom. We have a key role to play in that advance. We also have a minor but important role to play in making this country more just through our involvement in the US political process. Keep the key role in view – even while you play that minor but important role. Please vote.

(As a follow-up to last week’s devotion: Two articles written by Robert George of Princeton University this week address last week’s topic of abortion. The first helps substantiate my point 6, that Obama is the most extreme candidate on this issue ever nominated by a major political party. The second addresses Obama’s comments on abortion during the third debate.)

On November 4, we will decide who will serve as the next President of the United States. Two weeks ago, I wrote about our biblical role as citizens of the kingdom of heaven temporarily exiled in this country. Over the next couple of weeks, I will write about some important issues in this election. Today: Abortion.

Abortion is one of the clearest issues separating Obama and McCain. What does the Bible say about abortion? Where do the candidates stand? How much importance should we assign to this particular issue?

Today, I want to briefly outline answers to these issues for readers who believe the Bible is the Word of God, and thus has supreme authority. For those of you who would like to see this issue addressed without appeal to the Bible, I recommend Randy Alcorn’s book, Why Pro-Life? (available for free as a pdf file) and the Abort73.com website.

Consider these seven points:

1. Abortion is an assault on a person

John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15). He leaps in the womb when the pregnant Mary comes to visit (Luke 1:41). In that latter verse, Luke uses the same Greek word to refer to the unborn John as he later uses to refer to the newborn Jesus (Luke 2:12). Furthermore, David writes that we are sinful from the moment of conception (Psalm 51:5). A piece of tissue cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit. A piece of tissue cannot be sinful. Only a person can be sinful.

2. Abortion is an affront to God

This point is more fundamental than the true statement that if the unborn child is a person, abortion is killing a person, and God commands us not to do that. Think of it this way: God’s first and greatest commandment is to love Him, to delight in Him, to trust Him. When we abort our children, we are saying, “I don’t believe you, God! You are not sufficient for me! Unless I get rid of this pregnancy, my life will be a mess! I do not trust you to exercise your sovereign control and work this out for my good!” See my sermon and John Piper’s sermon on James 3 and 4.

3. Abortion is a central public policy issue facing our country today

There are about 1.2 million abortions annually in this country. To get an idea of the magnitude of that number, consider: How many murders were committed in the US last year? Answer: About 16,000. That is, there are 75 times as many abortions as there are murders every year. Nationwide, about one out of every four pregnancies ends in abortion; in some locations, the ratio is three out of every four. Meanwhile, couples have to wait endlessly for infants to adopt. Since the 1973 Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision, almost 50 million babies have been aborted in this country. That decision, based on the justices discovering a previously unheard of “right to privacy” in the constitution, has effectively barred states or Congress from passing almost any legislation that limits and regulates abortion. A number of legal scholars on both sides of the abortion issue believe that that decision was improperly decided. Four Supreme Court justices appear to be ready to overturn the decision.

4. The next president can have a major impact on the number of abortions performed in this country for decades into the future

With one justice who supports Roe v Wade now 88 years old, the next president almost certainly will have the opportunity to affect the majority opinion of the court. A vote to overturn Roe v Wade would not end abortion in the US, but would return control of the issue to state legislatures. Many would pass laws restricting abortion; some might ban it. The number of abortions nationwide would certainly decrease significantly – indeed, it would decrease by many multiples of the number of murders annually in this country.

5. John McCain has been consistent in his opposition to abortion

See this link. No one disputes this fact.

6. On this issue, Barack Obama is the most extreme major party candidate for president ever.

His campaign website downplays this issue, saying only that Obama “has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in that case.” But follow this link to listen to Obama himself speak on abortion before the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, July 17, 2007. Among other statements, in that speech he strongly asserts his opposition to the ban on partial birth abortions. Furthermore, consider the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which passed the US Senate 98-0. This legislation mandates that infants born alive during a botched abortion must receive medical care and be treated as any other infant. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, among others, voted for this bill. While Obama now claims that, had he been in the US Senate at the time, he would have voted in its favor, in his role as chair of the Illinois Senate Health and Human Services Committee in 2003, Obama effectively killed the identical bill (see this record from the Illinois state senate and this summary for more on the complicated history of the bill).

7. Is the abortion issue alone important enough to determine your vote?

Clearly, a president’s responsibilities are far broader than the abortion issue. One might well disagree with a candidate on abortion, and yet agree with the same candidate on a host of other important issues. Obama has tried, with some success, to reach out to abortion opponents on that basis. Surely, some argue, a presidential candidate’s positions on the economy, on health care, and on foreign policy should have greater weight than abortion.

But think of it this way. A candidate’s position on any single issue should not determine your vote in his favor. But a candidate’s position on a single issue may well disqualify him from office, and thus determine that you cannot vote for him.

This is the way marriage works. A young Christian man considering potential spouses will likely consider a broad array of characteristics in the women he knows. But any woman who is not a Christian should be disqualified immediately, no matter how strong and attractive her other qualities.

Or imagine yourself in Germany in 1937. Hitler has been in power four years. You speak to a friend who supports the fuehrer. He says, “Look at all Hitler has done! In 1932, our economy was a mess, with high inflation and high unemployment. Now inflation is under control and the economy is booming! Almost every German is better off! Furthermore, no one in the world looked up to us back then, and we Germans had no pride. Now, all that is changed! We’re proud of our country, proud to be Germans. Of course, Hitler is wrong on the Jews. That’s regrettable. But Jews constitute less than one percent of our population – surely the benefits to the rest of us outweigh the costs to them!”

That friend would be wrong. Hitler’s words and actions against the Jews disqualified him from office – no matter how great the positive impact of his other policies in those first four years.

So the question for each of us is this: Do you believe that abortion is an assault on a person and an affront to God? Do you believe that it is a central public policy issue that the next president will quite likely affect? Do you believe that this issue is important enough to disqualify a candidate from office?

I will be praying for you as you answer these questions for the glory of God. May we indeed all work together for the welfare of the country where we live as exiles, as ambassadors of the kingdom.

What is the relationship of the Christian to politics?

As we move towards November’s election, what should role should Christians play?

As a church, we explicitly say in our vision and values statement: “We are not tied to any political party. We value speaking biblical truth to the issues that confront our society, regardless of what parties might be made uncomfortable by the proclamation of that truth.” Over the course of the next several weeks I will address issues facing us this election. My goal is to do just that: to bring out the ways that biblical truth sheds light on the issues discussed in this election.

But prior to looking at specific issues, we need to understand our fundamental role. To that end, consider some key biblical texts:

Peter addresses his readers as “elect exiles” (ESV), or “God’s elect, strangers in the world” (1 Peter 1:1 NIV). He later refers to them as “sojourners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11); similarly, the author of Hebrews commends Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah for realizing that they were “strangers and exiles on the earth.”

The point: This world is not our home. This country is not our homeland. Instead, we are “fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19 NIV). We are united with Christ; He defines who we are. We are truly united with all His people. Our loyalty is to Him above all. Our home, our country, ultimately is in His presence. For all our time in this world, we are ambassadors from a distant country, representing our Sovereign, proclaiming His message.

Our situation, therefore, is similar to the Jewish exiles in Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The great city of Babylon was not their home. Indeed, the Babylonian army had destroyed Jerusalem, had torn down the temple. But God had a purpose in sending them to Babylon, and He instructed them through the prophet Jeremiah: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7). So Daniel and his friends served Nebuchadnezzar faithfully, advancing in the civil service, doing all the king asked – up to the point where there was a conflict between loyalty to God and loyalty to the king. At that point, they disobeyed the king.

How do these scriptural principles apply to our role in the election?

We too should “seek the welfare of the city” where God has sent us. We too should participate in ways that will improve the lives of others in this country. Thus we should pray for this country and its leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2); we should inform ourselves of the issues, analyzing them from a Christian worldview; we should vote wisely. We may choose to campaign; we may choose to run for office.

But our hope is not in any political candidate. Our security does not rest in any political state. We know that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Daniel 4:32). We know that nations rise and fall, and that should Jesus delay His return, the United States, like other great world powers, will fall from its preeminent position.

So register to vote, if you have not yet done so. Invest some time in understanding the issues. Vote in such a way that you are seeking the welfare of this country, this state, this city.

But do not despair if your candidate loses. And do not entertain particularly high hopes if your candidate wins. God is sovereign. He is in control. He is our King. We are citizens of His country. So our hope is in Him.