Philosphus Rerum

Persecution or No Persecution

2009-03-05T15:16:00.000-08:00

I have been studying 1 Timothy. Today, I was on 1 Timothy 2:1-2.

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. (1 Timothy 2:1-2 NASB)

As I thought about these verses, I thought about why Paul urges Timothy to pray for the government.

First, I think the preceding context demands that we understand these "entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings" as part of gospel love for mankind. Paul urges Timothy to pray for all mankind and especially the government as a demonstration of his love for them. If the goal of his teaching is love (The Goal is Love), then he needs to have this love for all people, even sinners. Remember that God's love extended to Paul (then Saul) the foremost of all sinners. We need to pray for the salvation of all mankind, especially for those in government. We need to pray for God's work in and through them.

Second, Paul makes it clear in the verse that Timothy is to pray for government in order that believers might live a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. What does this mean? I submit that it is praying for a government that does not supress and persecute Christianity, but allows it to thrive. Pray for God's working in the lives of those in authority and pray for God's working though the government in order that persecution might cease.

Don't stop thinking yet. Notice why Paul desires such a government: "that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Under a government that gives Christianity freedom to at least exist, Christians are expected to live tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.

So often, as the history of Israel shows, we see that prosperity and freedom produce a degeneration of morality. Physical freedom acts as a hindrance to spiritual growth! However, this is not the goal that Paul intends in praying for government freedom. Freedom should foster spread of the gospel - spread of the love that is in Christ!

When I hear discussions of persecution around the globe, I often get the sense that we must be wrong for living in a country where we do not face persecution! This is not the case! Paul advocates praying that believers might not be persecuted. However, not suffering persecution does not serve as an excuse for ungodliness.

Whether under persecution (as Timothy et al were under Rome) or not (as the American churches today), believers have a responsibility to live as peaceably as is possible and to live godly lives.

Lastly, I fear that we Americans will be judged for not making full use of the "talents" entrusted to us. I don't know that we are living for Christ to the potential that our freedom allows.

Making up for yesterday.

2009-03-05T05:47:00.000-08:00

Since I only have a few minutes, I don't want to try to write a blog for today. I'll have plenty of time later today.

So, here is a thought for yesterday:

Don't believe the lie that you deserve anything better than Hell. Anything better than the righteous judgment that we do deserve is an act of God's grace.

So often, we get upset because we think we deserve things. We get angry, we fight. We need to realize that we don't deserve anything that we have.

Redemptive Presence

2009-03-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

In a workshop today, Carl Henry's book, The Uneasy Conscience of Fundamentalism, was mentioned in that Henry discusses the fact that we fundamentalists ought to have a "redemptive presence" in the world. While I have not read the book, the thought of being a redemptive presence in my spheres of influence seemed one worth sharing.

As believers, we are to be salt and light, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. As such, we are to both season or flavor our world and be set apart from the world. It seems that a danger of fundamentalism is forgetting to be salt. Yes, we set ourselves apart from the world, but we make ourselves look weird and unwelcoming! We are not a city on a hill that attracts those without who are are in darkness.

This is where the idea of being a redemptive presence comes in. As believers, we are to flavor our world. We are to have a presence in the work place, in the mall, in our schools, etc. that promotes godliness. Yes, we are to stand out, but as something beautiful - a city on a hill!

It seems that trying to stand out by dressing differently from everyone else, styling our hair differently than everyone else, and not associating with unbelievers is not the right approach. Such behavior is, perhaps, as much of isolation as the Catholic monasteries!

In my Proclaiming the Gospel class last year, my professor stressed that we don't have to look weird in order to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Our aim should not be to scare people away or make them want to avoid us.

Rather, we are to live as salt, doing what Christ has commanded us to do. As we go about our daily lives, we are to live to please him and live out what he has commanded. As we go about our daily lives, we are to show the love of Christ to a dying world. The goal is love. As she show Christ's love, we show the gospel, we share the gospel and, by it, make disciples.

The goal is love.

2009-03-02T18:22:00.000-08:00

I Timothy 1:5-7
5But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
6For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion,
7wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

I have been studying the book of I Timothy. In verse 5, I was caught off guard by something that I realized should not have seemed so novel to me. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, states that the goal of instruction is love.

Timothy was left in Ephasus to "instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines (1:3)." However, the goal of this instruction was not doctrinal purity or correction of false teaching. Rather, Paul indicates that the goal is love.

Note the source of this love: it is love that is from a pure heart and (from) a good conscience and (from) a sincere faith. While it seems understandable that sound doctrine and a correction of sin are part of this, it is clear that they are not the end. Sound doctrine and correction of sin (false teaching) are avenues by which the ultimate goal is reached.

Before I investigate what this love is, notice what the result of not seeking this goal is. When teachers forget that the point of their teaching is love, they turn to fruitless discussion. They do not understand what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

What a dangerous place this is!

I would suggest that forgetting the goal of Christian teaching within the church leads to pointless chatter and, eventually, to false doctrine. If the one who teaches does not understand what he asserts, how can anyone be certain that he asserts the truth?!

To get a sense of what this love is, I observed the rest of the chapter. In it, Paul describes the great mercy that was shown to him, the foremost of sinners. This was the application of the "glorious gospel of the blessed God (1:11)."

It seems to me, therefore, that love that is from a pure heart a good conscience and a sincere faith is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The point of teaching is to show the love of Jesus Christ. The gospel is for the ungodly, as demonstrated to Paul. The goal of teaching is to give this love.

New Blog

2009-03-02T12:31:00.000-08:00

So, I finally decided to create a blog in order to think on a keyboard about the things that drive my mind nuts after class, chapel, my personal Bible study, or any combination of the three.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to think on my keyboard right now. I am losing time to finish my homework.