Drippings from the Honeycomb
More to be desired are [the rules of the Lord] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:10)
Imagine the scene:
Houses were empty. A certain book had disappeared off of the bookshelves in shops and online inventories. Sales of certain illicit substances and content had plummeted forcing companies to close. Where had all the people gone? What with these mysteries? Imagine they had all flocked to local faithful Gospel churches! Why? Because they’d heard that Jesus was coming. What began as possibly even a fear of judgement, turned to a genuine fear of the Lord and remorse for their sins, and through faith in the Gospel, their mourning had turned to an eternal joy, and they waited. Matthew 24:44 says, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Not to trivialize our present crisis, but it is ironic that there is a far greater crisis that is pending—the Second Coming of Jesus Christ—and yet people shrug it off. Yet, tell the world that Covid-19 is coming and people rush to get supplies and self-isolate and close borders so that they are ready if/when it comes. During a plague in Cyprian’s day (c.252, Bishop of Carthage) he thought Jesus’ return was imminent.[1] Plagues have come and plagues have gone and so it would be hasty to say that our present disease was any different than those of the past as a signal of the Lord’s return, however, it ought to be a reminder to us to be ready, that there is an even greater arrival to be ready for and it is not Covid-19 (as ready as we need to be for that), but the coming of Christ from glory to “judge the living and the dead.” [1] Cyprian, On Mortality, Treatise VII.2. In a previous blog, “the Plague of Cyprian”, we considered how Covid-19 is teaching us about our own mortality and fear. In this blog we’ll consider how it is reminding us that we’re not in charge.
In by-gone days there was an old and wise Christian man out tending his front garden by the road when a farmer passed by with his flock of sheep. The old man hailed, “Friend, where are you off to today.” The farmer replied, “I’m taking my sheep to market, they are going to fetch a handsome price. Then I’m going to go and buy a new implement and a fancy dress for my wife.” The old man replied, “God-willing!” Not too long afterwards the farmer walked past the old wise Christian man’s garden, this time by himself, and looking dishevelled and beaten up. The old man asked, “Friend, what happened to you?” The farmer replied, “When I was on the way to the market I was attacked by sheep thieves. They stole my sheep and beat me up and left me for dead.” The old man asked, “What are you going to do now?” The farmer replied, “I’m going to go home and secure my sheep and farm, and breed more sheep, and sell others at the market on this date, and return to this market next year, etc.” The old man cut him off, “God-willing!” In a passage which warns against boasting about tomorrow, James 5:13–16 says this: 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”-- 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. From this passage comes the Christian saying, “God-willing” or DV (Latin. Deo volente, if God wills it). While this saying can be over used its sentiment can also be underappreciated. Truly, nothing can happen unless God wills it. We need to remember that He is on the throne and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven—not ours! Corona Virus is teaching us, not only of our mortality, but how little we actually have control over our lives. We must depend upon the Lord and seek His will. We all have had plans change, trips cancelled, meetings postponed, because of Covid-19. May this be a reminder to us of the wisdom of James 5 and teach us to humbly say, in our heart of hearts, DV! Whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. (Ro 14:8b) In AD 252 there was a mysterious illness that broke out in Carthage, North Africa. It, indeed, swept the entire Roman Empire. Some have likened it to small pox or the measles. It was called the Plague of Cyprian after the North African bishop who had so graphically recounted its effects.[1] (The previous century had also witnessed the Antonine Plague, which equally ravage the Empire.[2]). Those who contracted the disease were cut off from society, alienated, left to die. Indeed, in Rome 5000 people a day were said to have perished. The population in Alexandria, Egypt, declined some 62%. Out of compassion for the sick, out of an intense desire to offer a cup of water to those in need, Christians came to help those abandoned by the culture, to care for them, to sit with the dying. As a result many Christians died. This plague also coincided with a renewed persecution of Christians under Decius (Cyprian himself was martyred under the Emperor Valerian in AD 258). Together their simple humble acts and their witness to their faith led to a great revival which saw Christianity further spread to become a major religion in the Empire. I tell that story to remind us that disease is nothing new to the human existence since the Fall, and as the last enemy to be defeated is physical/bodily death, disease makes no differentiation between Christians and non-Christians. Our response as Christians can also bear witness to our faith. Cyprian reminded his listeners of the first point: It disturbs some that this mortality is common to us with others; and yet what is there in this world which is not common to us with others, so long as this flesh of ours still remains, according to the law of our first birth, common to us with them? So long as we are here in the world, we are associated with the human race in fleshly equality, but are separated in spirit. (Cyprian, On Mortality, 8[3]). Today the number one news item is the Corona Virus, or Covid-19, a respiratory disease initially picked up from animals. Authorities, media and specialists are all noting it is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent times, not since the Spanish Influenza after WWI, have we seen a pandemic quite like this (though it remains to be seen how severe its spread and effect will be). With globalization and modern media we’re witnessing its spread, and this in turn is stoking fear and concern. As such we need to be diligent to know the medical facts. If public gatherings are suspended we may have to worship at home and I’ll preach through the internet and we’ll encourage one another through email or telephone or text. For now we can thank the Lord that this is not the case. We wait upon the Lord with each new day. What should the Christian response be? · respect the communications of the government and medical authorities · though there were no such authorities in Roman days and so Christians bridged the gap in offering aid; today we must respect the authorities’ public restraints, yet also still find ways in which to minister compassionately in a crisis, perhaps by bringing food to quarantined homes; perhaps by joining Health Unit emergency teams and bringing Christ’s light this way, and certainly through prayer. o We must not test the Lord by presuming that we, simply because we are Christians, will be exempt from the disease. We must still take reasonable precautions, like washing our hands, etc. But the biggest way we can make a difference is not to worry, not to fear; it is by setting the example of faith. Fear reigns in the world, it has since the Fall. We are slaves to fear because we are slaves to sin and sin is to distrust God and be under His just sentence. In his address Cyprian spoke to his congregation many helpful words on the subject of trust and assurance in the face of the plague, yet these words stand out: Who, in the midst of these things, is trembling and sad, except he who is without hope and faith? For it is for him to fear death who is not willing to go to Christ. (Cyprian, On Mortality, 2). He recognized the truth of passages like Romans 14:8. That if we are in Christ we have nothing to fear, not even death, because we have a proper biblical perspective of the subject and of the hope of the Gospel. As a result, even in the midst of the Cyprian Plague or Covid-19 we can bear witness to our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and the assurance that comes through believing in the Gospel and lead others to faith in Him by example of our resolute hope in the face of adversity and worldwide fear. May the Lord increase our faith, for our good and His glory! [1] https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/the-cyprian-plague/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/solving-the-mystery-of-an-ancient-roman-plague/543528/ [2] https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/43/2/18 [3] Cyprian, On Mortality, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5., Treatise 7, p. 469. Online access: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050707.htm This might sound like a very perplexing statement but I believe it is true; allow me to explain.
The Church, made up of baptized believers in Jesus Christ, ought to be an inclusive welcoming community, yet it is at the same time an exclusive, or distinct, body. Too often Christians fail to appreciate this paradox and opt for one extreme (inclusivity) or the other (exclusivity). Let’s see how this paradox is true, and ought to naturally flow from who we are, taking as our example the teachings of Jesus: INCLUSIVE Jesus was inclusive, if by that definition we mean welcoming or not embracing a judgementalism. He didn’t care if the person was the vilest sinner, He sought to be inclusive of everyone, for He had come as the Saviour of the world (in fact He said that He came to save not the “self-righteous” but sinners, Lk 5:32):
EXCLUSIVE Yet, just as Jesus met people where they were, He didn’t desire them to stay there. In fact in the same breadth in which He displayed an inclusive spirit He made some very exclusive statements. His inclusivity serves to build trust for He wants us to exclusively trust in and follow him and there find true inclusion in the exclusive body of Christ, an entry that can only come through trusting in Him alone:
In an age that champion’s unbridled inclusivity this paradox is a paradox indeed. In an age where Christian writers speak of people needing to “belong before they believe” the call to “believe before you belong” sounds harsh. Yet when it is matched by the inclusive spirit Jesus displayed, the latter loses much of its apparent harshness. We do need to help people feel like they belong, but through that honest welcome, to help them see they must believe if they are to truly belong, belong to Christ and be members of the local body. That is the paradox of the Church and it is the paradox of her Lord. Someone recently told my wife how someone had said this to her. “I’ll see for coffee on Wednesday so long as something better doesn’t come along.” It warms your heart to know people value and are committed to you so much they’ll still keep their appointment with you so long as “something better” doesn’t come along!
Sadly, we are living in a “something better” culture, a culture wanting in commitment and a knowledge of those things that are truly excellent and valuable:
Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. (Jos 21:45; c.f. 1 Ki 8:56). God in His very being keeps His promises and is true to His word. Thankfully that means His promise of salvation and forgiveness to our “something better” culture is certain and true (and praise the Lord that this is the case otherwise our falsehoods would utterly condemn us, leaving us with no hope). But not only do the Lord’s promises in the Gospel mean He will forgive the repentant who come to Jesus in faith, He will also transform them. In Lev 19 He says, “Be holy as I am holy.” In the vein of this blog’s subject He could have equally said, “Be faithful and true as I am faithful and true.” By God’s Spirit He transforms and enables and calls us to be vastly different from the “something better” culture we live in. He calls us to be faithful and true and share in His likeness. My prayer is that as Christians are transformed by the renewing of their mind through the Word and Spirit and become less like culture and more like Christ that the world will take notice when we keep our appointments, place value on commitments and people and the Lord, His worship and ways, and that He will be glorified through us as we offer something better. The seeker sensitive movement arose in the 80s and was an attempt in the post-revival age, and a post denominational age where many were disenchanted with traditional forms of church, to reach the masses for Christ.
With so many people giving up on Christianity, what could be done to stem the tide? As with the liberal project of seeking to accommodate culture at the expense of truth (which has failed miserably), the seeker sensitive movement, while in many ways laudable, attempted to do something similar and so fell short of its desired goal. Bands, skits, videos, cool preachers, etc, cannot in themselves save and transform and save, but rather a robust presentation of the Gospel and a life lived in light of God’s Word. The Willow Creek Church did a study on their brand of being seeker sensitive about a decade ago and discovered it was, “a mile wide and an inch deep.” Lots were coming to church, perhaps even becoming disciples of Jesus and joining the church, however, a committed level of discipleship was wanting. This raises the question: what is the purpose of the gathered church in relation to the people of God (aside from glorifying God in worship)? The answer is to equip the saints (Eph 4:12) and to build up God’s people in the most holy faith (Jd 1:20). We gather as Christians to be scattered as Christians. Whilst in our gathered state should be enjoyable (which is different than entertaining) and not a strange world to a visitor who might come along (as described by Justin Martyr in the early Church) and a place where the Gospel is proclaimed, the gathered church’s purpose is nevertheless not evangelism, but discipleship. If our services seek to provide robust opportunities for worship and discipleship, primarily aimed at believers, but accessible to earnest inquirers, the result would be that our churches would not be a mile wide and an inch deep, but a mile deep… It doesn’t necessarily then mean we’d only be an inch wide (though I think even this is preferable to a breadth that may only be visibly “Christian”). What it means is the church will be so strengthened to fulfil the Great Commission that the place of evangelism and mission (not precluding evangelistic services or corporate acts of evangelism) would be in our homes and schools and neighbourhoods, and friendships as robust disciples of Jesus Christ. And THAT, is how the early Church grew so explosively. So may we take Jesus’ command to make disciples seriously, be robust to that end in all we do, and as we seek to fulfil the GC, trust that the Lord will build His Church. The Lord’s Sweetest Blessings, Chris Many people today would not identify as “religious” but rather “spiritual.” Part of this is a reaction against the nominalism and abuses of organised religion. Part of this is also due to the anti-authority climate of the day, which rejects what Divine religion may require, favouring instead the subjective notion of being “spiritual” as one personally chooses to define it. Picking up on this language shift, either consciously or unconsciously, many Christians will often respond to an unbeliever’s comment, “I’m not religious,” with a “Neither I’m I, it’s not about religion but a relationship,” or “I’m not religious, I’m a person of faith.” Now neither of those two responses, and others like them, are in themselves wrong— I’ve used them myself. However, is religion an altogether unhelpful word?
Religion means: a) of reverence to the Divine, or b) a set of beliefs, or C) to be devoted and zealous. Not that this alone sanitizes it, but it is a word we find used in the Bible: Negatively of man-made religion (Acts 25:19, 26:5; Col 2:23) or of mis-guided religion (Acts 17:22). More positively, though in a form of a warning, we find it used in James 1:26–27: 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (emphasis mine). Here James is not saying religion is bad, rather he is contrasting a worthless and a worthwhile form of religion, or true religion and false religion. Historically, to say one was religious was synonymous with saying someone was a Christian. To be non-religious or of another religion was to embrace false religion (just as being “spiritual” does not necessarily mean the “spirituality” one has embraced is positive). Though “religion” is an unpopular word, I do not think it has lost its value, if clarified. Christianity is a religion, it is a set of beliefs (divine revelation). Christianity is a religion, it is reverence and devotion to the true God. Religion is truth and anything other than the truth is a false religion. Certainly a relationship is central to the Christian religion, without it all that is left is a dead religion, however, it is still a religion and something to be proud of if asked to declare your religion—CHRISTIAN! So the next time someone derides what is actually a helpful idea, you might reply (either within the church or in apologetics and evangelism without) with one of the following responses. Person A, “I’m not religious.” Person B, “Why not?”, or “What does religion mean to you?”, etc. Something to think about. The Lord’s Sweetest Blessings, Chris |
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