Sometimes It’s Healthy to Be Known for What You Are Against
Abraham Kuyper didn’t like the depraved Dutch political system, and so, he did something about it….He started a new political party. He united different groups. He started newspapers, a college, and eventually became the Prime Minister. We can learn a lot from seeing somebody not just being a theorist but an actual doer.
“Christians should be known for what they are for rather than what they are against” is about as bad as other folk-Christianity sayings like “God helps those who help themselves.”
Sometime I think “winsome” is a get-out-of-jail free card that releases the Christian. Folks like Luther and Kuyper were intense, often a little rude and a bit bombastic, but everyone knew exactly where they stood. Having drawn their lines in the sand they brought about actual change because there was a clear call to action. Indeed, we all need to draw lines. Without a clear target we will miss every-time.
Friendship with the world is enmity with God (and, though you might not be a spiritual “adulterer” fornicating with the spirit of the age and wokeism, many of us are guilty of “innocent flirting” by allowing the woke masses to rub up against us, and instead of holding up our wedding rings we instead offer up a little smile and giggle with passive-approval).
Abraham Kuyper didn’t like the depraved Dutch political system, and so, he did something about it. Not only did he do something about it, but he was pro active. He started a new political party. He united different groups. He started newspapers, a college, and eventually became the Prime Minister. Kuyper was very clear with his program, in fact, he wrote a book that outlined in detail his program. I share a selection from it here because:
1. We can learn a lot from seeing somebody not just being a theorist but an actual doer.
2. We see that his situation was not much unlike our own.
3. He didn’t cave to the myth or “winsome” and failed to repeat the tired old phrase “Christians should be known for what they are for rather than what they are against.”
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3 Things Our Desire for Revenge Reveals about Our Faith
According to Paul, we should not take matters into our own hands. It’s not that there’s not justice to be served; there very well might be. But it’s not for you or I to administer it because we aren’t capable of doing so in a true and good and noble way. This belongs to the Lord. When we execute our own sense of vengeance, whether big or small, we are expressing our lack of faith that God can and will do it on His own.
We are, I believe, living in a day of revenge. The desire for and execution of vengeance is at the heart, down below the surface, of many of the things we do as a culture right now.
You see it everywhere. You see political groups taking aim at one another in retribution for this thing or that. You see people taking their revenge on social media through their reviews and critiques. You see grudges being held from top to bottom, and then all of us looking for ways to give someone else what we perceive is coming to them.
Of course, Christians are meant to live above the culture. This is part of what it means to be salt and light – that we are those who, though we live in the midst of a culture, influence that culture rather than being influenced by it.
“Sure thing,” you might say. “I’ve got no problems with that. I’m not plotting in my evil lair to wreak havoc on anyone’s life.” Well I’m not either, and yet the spirit of vengeance still lurks within my heart. I know it’s there when I read tweets and Facebook updates from people and pick them apart knowing their lives can’t be as good as they purport them to be. I know it’s there because I take the smallest level of delight in seeing something unfortunate happen to someone else. I know it’s there when I don’t receive the service I think I deserve and look for a way to lash out. I know it’s there when I do something kind or generous for another and then hold a subtle and internal sense of superiority over them expecting them to pay me back in some way.
The desire for revenge is in us, and that desire reveals something about our faith. Of course, the most basic thing it reveals is our lack of faith. Notice how Paul addresses the subject of revenge for the Christian:
“Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19).
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The First Works
Here is good news: The Lord is committed to guarding the rose. He has given us a new heart, a holy heart; and he has told us that he will watch over it with all of his heart. He has sealed it for himself. He has said, “I am a jealous God.” The triune God of the Bible has sworn: Though dark, secret loves beckon and entice my children and my Bride, they will not prevail.
But I have this against you: You have left your first love.So then: Remember the place from which you have fallen,and repent and do the first works.(Revelation 2:3-4)
This word arrived as a gut punch to the Ephesians. It can do the same when we read it today.
Before it hit, the Lord was all commendation, praising these busy Christians for their toil, endurance, and holy intolerance of evil. After it hit, he did the same, lauding them for their hatred of the lawless works of the Nicolaitans. But in between there came a stern and urgent reproof, flashing like dark lightning against a deep blue sky. What can account for it?
When I asked myself this question, a memorable poem by William Blake came to mind:
O Rose, thou are sick.The invisible wormThat flies in the night,In the howling storm,Hath found out thy bedOf crimson joy:And his dark secret loveDoth thy life destroy.
When people looked at the Ephesian rose, all seemed well. These believers were abounding in the work of the Lord. What’s more, to judge from the King’s commendations, they were doing their works in the Spirit and power of the Lord. This should give us pause: Though the Lord may be granting us fruitful labors, it also may be that a dark and dangerous love has begun to creep, worm-like, into our bed of crimson joy: into the life of love that was purchased for the Bride of Christ by his blood.
But what exactly was the nature of that invisible worm? And how was it enticing the Ephesians to leave their first love?
Perhaps we find our answers in a story about Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38ff). The Lord had come to town. Martha invited him into her home for dinner. Her sister Mary sat herself at the Lord’s feet, listening to his words. But Martha was distracted with her many preparations.
What’s more, she was angry. With an unholy boldness that shocks the reader, it is written that she came up to the Son of God himself and said, ““Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Tell her to help me!” But the Lord, wise and gentle, answered with firmness: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is truly necessary. I’m saying this because Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken from her.”
Is this how it was with the Ephesians? Yes, their service was partly in the Spirit; but was it also partly in the flesh? Was it partly motivated by a sincere love for the Lord, but also by some “dark, secret love” that was creeping into the sacred space?
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God’s Loving Goodness to His People
In the Proverbs Solomon spends much time helping us to see that walking in the paths opened by God for us is the only means by which we can flourish. The goodness of God is what we are denying when we choose a different path. We are saying to the Creator that His plan is wrong and that we have a better idea on how to get to Point A than the one who made the map.
If we were to name the number one problem amongst all men, but especially Christians who should know better it would be: sin. Why is sin such a problem? Because we are sinners. Why are we sinners? Because Adam sinned. Why do we refuse to deal with sin? Because we love sin. Why do we love sin? Because there is no fear of God in our eyes. We are the captains of our own desires.
That little syllogism matters due to the fact that we, and obviously unbelievers, forget the reality of the subject of our Larger Catechism question and answer for today. Eternal damnation by its very definition is forever. Whatever enjoyment/blessing/gift we receive from sin will never last that long, nor will it actually provide what we desire for the time period we want. We know that, or at least we should, in our heads. So how do we keep the truth of the consequences of sin in the forefront of our mind in order that we might be wise to its pain? The Bible tells us that each and every transgression of the law is equally deserving the full and complete condemnation by God of the individual who sins. We know this, but continue to do it anyway. Why?
It is a good question, one that every human being needs to be able to give an answer to. Today’s Q/A will be taken up with providing a workable and straight-forward solution that as usual has its grounding in the Lord’s triune nature. Let’s get to it:
Q. 152. What does every sin deserve at the hands of God?
A. Every sin, even the least, being against the sovereignty, goodness, and holiness of God, and against his righteous law deserves his wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come; and cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ.
While last week we talked about the gradations of sin in regard to their heinousness we should not allow that simple fact to get in the way of how all men should revolt at the idea, let alone the act, of sin. We should hate sin with a perfect hatred. In the WLC above the first item that the writers bring up as an assistance in this matter is the concept of God’s sovereignty. How does this provide help in remembering why we should not sin? First it humbles us. Our desire to sin usually arises from our hope to organize our life according to our own wisdom, aka pride. In Ephesians 1:4 the word says, “. . . just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Notice in the construction of the verse by Paul that our divine election is the source of our obedience.
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