Sin is a serious matter. To break the commandments of Jehovah means His wrath will come down upon you. Here we see why it is when we are discussing this question of paganism and how the church is to respond that we take seriously what it is we are doing. This isn’t a philosophical competition between different ideas on what works. We are telling the pagans to give up their false gods, to destroy their ancient landmarks, and come to the place of safety and rest. For if they don’t? Then they will face the same end as the cows of Bashan.

Paganism as a word comes from a Latin term which roughly translates to redneck. It was a way for the city folk to sound superior to the great unwashed out in the country. The history of how it became known as a way to describe those men and women who believe not in the God of the Bible is a little convoluted. However, it will be worth our time to learn a bit of it as it teaches us much about the worth of continuing to use it for our purposes today.
Early Christianity was a faith which began to spread first in the cities of the Mediterranean, as told to us in the Book of Acts. The main reason was because that is where the synagogues were. As Paul notes the gospel was for the Jews first, and then the Greeks. As the community of faith grew it was largely confined in the population centers as the folks out in the hollers surrounding Ephesus held on to the old ways. Partly that came from the fact for many there was such a tight connection between Jupiter and Mars and their identity as Romans. To attack the strong gods was to delegitimize the patriotic spirit of the nation. The cult was the culture. Ties to the past matter, at least they should matter. In our talk on the eighth commandment last Thursday there was commentary on the warning given in Proverbs 22:28 about the removing of ancient landmarks. Our fathers placed monuments to help their grandchildren to remember the hard-fought victories of the past and to honor the sacrifices of those who came before.
For a “new” religion to come and try and overthrow what these people had received as an inheritance was no small ask. It is central to why care and consideration, to listen, to what the unbeliever has to say is important in the work of evangelism. To make pagans into Christians is desiring not just that a person would go from one belief system to another, but to move them to abandon everything which made them who they were before. Those of us born into the faith can sometimes underestimate the totality of what Jesus asks in Luke 9:62. Even for the Jews of the first century that meant giving up the ceremonies of which they had grown accustomed, yet they had an advantage on the pagans in that they were keeping the same God. The first commandment is complete in its ask. The reason why this is important to understanding the word pagan is that when we use it, we are not attempting to belittle or be rude in any way. It is a helpful way to honor that as those who rest in body and soul we are bringing to bare not a competing way of thinking, but an entirely different world and life view.
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The importance of the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son can never be understated. If God has promised to redeem a people for Himself through the obedience, sacrifice, and mediation of the Son from all of eternity, then we should have the strongest confidence in the perfection of the Son’s work. Believers should take great comfort in knowing that all the Father gave the Son will come to Him since the Son did everything that He contracted with His Father to do for their redemption. 

The Bible is structured by architectonic principles. Reformed theologians have, by and large, agreed that all of God’s special revelation is structured by a Covenant of Works and a Covenant of Grace. This is not to say (as many have wrongly charged) that Covenant theologians do not believe in a difference between the Old and New Covenants. Neither does it mean that they do not believe that there are distinctions between the Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New Covenant. Rather, it is to say that the biblical teaching about Adam and Christ (Rom. 5:12–21) is the structuring principle of all of God’s pre-lapsarian and post-lapsarian dealings with mankind. Prior to the fall, we were represented by Adam in the Covenant of Works. Had Adam, as federal representative, obeyed he would have secured eternal life and holiness for all his offspring. After the fall, mankind can only be saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ who obeyed for His people in the Covenant of Grace. The Adam/Christ structure of Scripture is what theologians have sometimes called the bi-covenantal structure of revelation.
However, insistence on a bi-covenantal structure of biblical revelation does not negate the reality of an eternal Covenant of Redemption (i.e., the pactum salutis). In fact, the better part of Reformed theologians have affirmed the existence of a pre-temporal intra-Trinitarian covenant in which the Father and the Son enter into a contract together on promises and obligations for the salvation. The Covenant of Redemption made before the foundation of the world is based on the agreement of the Father and the Son as to the Son’s obedience, sacrifice, and mediation. Some have considered such an arrangement to be distinct from the Covenant of Grace, while others have considered it to be the eternal aspect of the Covenant of Grace. What we can agree upon is the fact that before God created the world, the three persons of the Godhead entered into an agreement with one another for the plan of redemption.
Charles Hodge, in his Systematic Theology, set out what he believed to be the eight promises of the Father to the Son in the Covenant of Redemption. He wrote,
“The promises of the Father to the Son conditioned on the accomplishment of that work, were,
(1.) That He would prepare Him a body, fit up a tabernacle for Him, formed as was the body of Adam by the immediate agency of God, uncontaminated and without spot or blemish.
(2.) That He would give the Spirit to Him without measure, that his whole human nature should be replenished with grace and strength, and so adorned with the beauty of holiness that He should be altogether lovely.
(3.) That He would be ever at his right hand to support and comfort Him in the darkest hours of his conflict with the powers of darkness, and that He would ultimately bruise Satan under his feet.
(4.) That He would deliver Him from the power of death and exalt Him to his own right hand in heaven; and that all power in heaven and earth should be committed to Him.
(5.) That He, as the Theanthropos and head of the Church, should have the Holy Spirit to send to whom He willed, to renew their hearts, to satisfy and comfort them, and to qualify them for his service and kingdom.
(6.) That all given to Him by the Father should come to Him, and be kept by Him, so that none of them should be lost.
(7.) That a multitude whom no man can number should thus be made partakers of his redemption, and that ultimately the kingdom of the Messiah should embrace all the nations of the earth.
(8.) That through Christ, in Him, and in his ransomed Church, there should be made the highest manifestation of the divine perfections to all orders of holy intelligences throughout eternity. The Son of God was thus to see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.”1
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We are in need of being a genuine family in these difficult days. We need one another and that need will only increase over time. Let me make a simple suggestion. I don’t need to help you love those you already love, but what about those who are like the Thessalonians, those less noble. How can I help you with them?  Let me urge you to pray a specific request. Pray that your love would abound toward the ignoble brother or sister in your life (Phil. 1:9). And if you are willing, your heart will enlarge for them and others. 

What is your impression of the church? When you think about the church what comes to mind? Think about the Old Testament church, the church underage and specifically that time after the Exodus but before the Conquest of the Promised Land. By all accounts, she was not in good shape.  In fact, on one occasion God had punished the Israelites by sending serpents throughout the camp. On another occasion a plague ravaged the people. And the hardships were the result of Israel’s disobedience. But God kept His promise.
And that obviously was a cause for consternation to the surrounding nations. It also explains why Balak, king of Moab, got scared and sent for Balaam. He wanted him to conjure a spell or curse the people of God. Balaam agreed to come. But instead of cursing Israel he couldn’t help but bless them! That may be the humorous side of the story but it’s not the most surprising element.
Notice what comes out of Balaam’s mouth by way of description. He doesn’t speak of Israel’s disobedience; he says that they are like a lion. As he looks down on them, he says, “How fair are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Isreal!  Like valleys that stretch out, like gardens beside the river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters. Is that the description you would have given?
God’s perspective of the church is coming out of this unfaithful prophet and the words challenge us. How do we think of the church? How do we speak of the church? Perhaps you don’t think very well about the church, but you are repentant.  The first chapter of the letter to the Thessalonians might be a good letter to reflect on. You might start by remembering something vital.
The Church has her foundation in God.
I am quite sure that this doesn’t come as a surprise to you. Notice verse 4. Paul is speaking to the Thessalonians and this is what he says, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.” The first thing that hits us is that Paul is speaking about a local church. Notice that Paul doesn’t say to this local body, “For we know, brothers loved by God, your credible profession.” No, he roots their existence as a church in the electing love of God.
Now, this leads us to a second point. God is said to have loved these people. Paul describes them as “loved by God.” Loved when they were yet sinners. In fact, the word translated “loved” or “whom God loves” is a verb form indicating that this love was initiated in the past. Now, think of that in light of Romans 5:8. Though God loved these people in eternity His love was demonstrated for them on a Roman cross.
However, this raises a third point. God chose us. Verse 4 of first Thessalonians parallels Ephesians 1:4, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. In love He predestined us…” He chose us out of death. We were dead in our sins and transgressions, and He made us alive in Christ.
God set His love upon the undeserving Thessalonians in His eternal counsel and he displayed that love in Christ when they were unlovable. But there is a fourth and final thing I want you to notice. This love and choice of God did not lead to abstraction. It led to a local church in Thessalonica.
It is impossible to speak of loving the church in the abstract.
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