Written by Charles L. Jacob |
Thursday, May 30, 2024
As we vote this year, let’s turn down the anxiety and frenzy. Billions of dollars and man-hours are being spent to call this the most important election of your lifetime. I’m 61 years old. I’ve been told this every four years. I no longer buy it. Instead, let’s humbly seek the Lord’s will, consider the issues and candidates, and confer together as “iron sharpens iron” (Prov. 27:17). Then let’s vote lovingly and respectfully, knowing Jesus’s kingdom isn’t ultimately dependent on the election’s outcome.

In 1984, two of my Christian friends lived together in Washington, DC, as summer interns. One worked full-time to elect Walter Mondale and Democrats. The other worked full-time to elect Ronald Reagan and Republicans. In August, as they returned to California for their last year of college, they laughed that each probably canceled out the efforts of the other.
How many Christian friends would enjoy the same kind of summer together in 2024?
Way too many of us care way too much about who’ll win this year’s presidential election. Though the partisan fires didn’t burn as hot 40 years ago, Richard Lovelace observed a similar spirit then:
Every four years the American people elect a new president with the hope that somehow this will make things better. Economic downturns, crop failures, moral declines and worsening international conditions are all blamed on presidents—who in most cases have little control over events. In the hearts of the people is a groping, inarticulate conviction that if the right ruler would only come along, the world would be healed of all its wounds.
If I’m honest, presidential elections have meant way too much to me. I spent the first decade of my adult life in Washington, DC, including a six-year stint as a political lobbyist for Apple Inc. I know what it is to live and breathe politics as a Christian. During the 1992 election, the Lord began to proportion my political energies with the gospel message revealed in Daniel 2. I’ve returned to the book of Daniel every election year since.
Political History’s Kingdom Climax
In Judah’s exile to Babylon, Daniel sees God’s people suffer on a massive scale. He later sees the Babylonian empire vanquished by the Persians. For Daniel, the question that surfaces is whether the rise of global empires rendered God’s kingdom moot. Despite all the bloodshed and appearances to the contrary, the Book of Daniel’s answer is an emphatic no.
In Daniel 2, the prophet interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, where an uncut stone struck and destroyed a great statue representing the world’s mighty empires. Daniel tells us that stone represents God’s kingdom, and he sees God’s kingdom as the climax of all political history: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed. . . . It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms [our world’s successive empires] and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever” (v. 44).
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Written by Jason G. Duesing |
Friday, September 29, 2023
By keeping the grand end in view, William Carey changed the evangelical world and launched the modern missions movement. At his death, as an indication of his sole focus, he requested only a line for his tombstone from one of his favorite hymns by Isaac Watts, “A wretched, poor, and helpless worm, on thy kind arms I fall.” Despite earthly fame and historic legacy, Carey departed in faithfulness, keeping Jesus in view.

Four years after having sent William Carey (1761-1834) to India, the Baptist Missionary Society sent John Fountain to aid Carey and send a report of what he found. Here’s part of his report, dated November 1796:

[Carey] labours in the translation of the Scriptures, and has nearly finished the New Testament, being somewhere around the middle of Revelations. [sic] He keeps the grand end in view, which first induced him to leave his country, and those Christian friends he still dearly loves.

William Carey, a modern missionary pioneer who endured much hardship, persevered in faithfulness until the age of 73. His life and ministry would change the modern world.
How did he manage faithfulness in the Christian life in challenging times—and at a time when few had crossed-cultures to reach the unreached?
From his earliest days of missionary activity until the end of his life Carey kept the grand end in view. So, what is this grand end?
The Grand End
While it is right to say that the entire Bible points to and reveals the grand end, I believe there is one verse that sums it up well.
In Galatians 3:8, the apostle Paul says, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’”
Here, Paul explains that God has always had the salvation of the nations in mind. From the beginning, he conveyed to Abraham his plan.
In what is often called the centerpiece of the first five books of the Bible, God says to Abraham,

Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

(Genesis 12:1-3

At the age of 75, Abraham obeyed God, and he and his wife left their country.
After a period of travel and time, God met with Abraham, took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And [Abraham] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as After a period of travel and time, God met with Abraham, took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And [Abraham] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:5-6). God then made a covenant with him promising that he would be “the father of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 17:5).
In this event, Paul tells us in Galatians 3:8, the gospel was preached to Abraham.
Yet, we might think, “How is this possible, as the name of Jesus Christ is not mentioned?” In short, the gospel preached to Abraham was God’s promise to him that through Abraham and his offspring, all the nations would be blessed. Or, simply that Gentiles, non-Israelites, will be justified by faith.
In Romans 4, Paul explains that “the purpose was to make him [Abraham] the father of all who believe” and that “the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:11, 23-25).
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Written by J. V. Fesko |
Friday, October 15, 2021
Yes, in the present day widows often have greater financial resources at hand—they have insurance policies, retirement savings, and the like. Many don’t need the financial support of the church. But caring for widows is not merely about financial support. Think about it: if you have a woman who was married for forty or fifty years and then her husband dies, her life has taken a dramatic turn. There are so many little things in life that she now has to do herself—take care of her home, car, or handle household administrative affairs, for example. She may, or may not, be able to handle these things on her own.

Within any decent-sized congregation there are bound to be some who are widows, usually those that are older, but in some cases there might be younger widows as well. In the world outside the church, many might look upon widows as a regular part of life. Death is common, and thus widows don’t necessarily merit any undue attention. But such should never be the case within the church.
The Bible has a number of things to say about widows. God instructed Israel not to mistreat widows (Exod. 22:22). The book of Ruth showcases the undying love of a woman for her widowed mother-in-law and God’s greater love through his providential care for both widows, Ruth and Naomi.
The Psalmist tells us that God is a “father to the fatherless and protector of widows” (Ps. 68:5). And the New Testament has a number of passages dedicated to the instruction and care for widows, but James’s words stand out most prominently to me:

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. (1:27; cf. Acts 6:1ff; 1 Cor. 7:8; 1 Tim. 5:3ff)

If you want to see pure Christianity in action, you can witness it in the care for widows and orphans.
For churches, therefore, caring for widows and widowers is of vital importance.
I dare say that the quality of care for its widows and widowers is a barometer of the spiritual health and maturity of a church. If a church neglects its widows, then something is definitely amiss.
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