Distractions
are weeds which choke the vitality of our faith, the quest for riches and worldly
power are snares which trap us and rob our faith of its vitality. Our vocation
or calling is to be enduring Christian warriors, bearing testimony to the
truth, proclaiming light and life to a dying world even though like Isaiah our
words will (for the most part) fall on ears which refuse to hear the message.
But take
hope. Satan is bound (Mat 12, Rev 20) and can no longer deceive the nations. He
is the god of this world or age and though he's a roaring lion seeking to
devour whom he may, he cannot stop the progress of God's Kingdom. Even when it
looks like the Church has all but been eradicated it lives on.
Likewise an
athlete cannot win the race (be crowned) except he competes according to the
rules. The Christian life contains no shortcuts. There are no tricks. Enduring
and sharing in the suffering are how we run the race. If you're not interested
then you've not understood the gospel message. You are unwilling to follow the
lamb whithersoever he goes. As we've said before there is nothing about the
Christian life that would appeal to the ears of a so-called 'seeker'. There's
nothing about the gospel that is marketable to the world. Those that do this
are false prophets and agents of the enemy, the spiritual descendants of those
whom Paul waged battle with.
What are the
rules? The rules are a Christian life of endurance and suffering and yet being
strong (2.1) and finding strength in God's grace.
Perhaps the
most difficult of Paul's examples to relate is that of the farmer. Again many
believe the idea that the farmer must partake of the crops refers to payment
for services. 1 Cor 9.7 does indeed present such an analogy, but that's not at
all what Paul is talking about here. The three examples are all related to his
exhortation regarding endurance. What Paul is talking about is that the farmer
doesn't see the harvest unless he goes out and does the work. Often a thankless
job, and one involving long hours of toil, the farmer must be patient (endure)
because the many hours of work do not bear fruit until the end. The farmer has
to be the one to get out there and do the work. He has to endure the hot sun,
the shifts in the weather, blight and insects and the hosts of other troubles
that go along with being a farmer. He has to be hands on, to partake of the
crops. Receiving payment for services rendered or some kind of ministerial
support has nothing to do with enduring and sharing in the suffering that's
been a primary theme thus far.
Paul pauses
and tells Timothy to consider his words and prays the Lord gives him
understanding in all things. There are a host of applications that can be
extrapolated from this series of ideas. They are also subject to abuse as
indeed they often have been throughout the history of the Church.
These ideas
are joined by Paul to the facts of 'his' gospel, the true gospel that has been
entrusted to him. He tells Timothy to remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of
David was raised from the dead. Why is it specifically mentioned that Jesus is
of the seed of David?
Nowhere in
the epistles are we given a breakdown of what the false teachers were
promoting. In fact it would seem there was a mix of groups, some we might call
Judaizing, trying to integrate Old Testament law with the life and practice of
the Church and others we might call Hellenistic or Gnostic.
The Gnostics
had syncretized (mixed) the doctrines of Scripture with Greek philosophy and in
other cases with ideas flowing from the Hellenistic world, a potpourri of
Greek, Egyptian, Middle Eastern and even Asian religious currents. For many of
them there were philosophical problems with the idea that the Messiah would be
of human descent and that he would have taken on a human body (the
Incarnation). Even more problematic, as Paul encountered on Mars Hill in Acts
17 was the notion of Resurrection.
These groups
were in some way either explaining these things away or reinterpreting them to
divorce them from historical reality. Paul is adamant that the true gospel
cannot be separated from the historical facts surrounding the Incarnation and
Resurrection. In addition it might be that Paul was referring to elements of
promise and predictive prophecy. The promise made to David some thousand years
earlier was fulfilled in history by the Incarnate Christ both truly God and yet
at the same a descendant of David and Solomon and the fulfillment of the
promise that one would sit on the throne of David for all eternity. To some of
these heretical groups of the 1st century these notions would have
been philosophically problematic. In truth they rejected the gospel message and
instead sought a form of cultural accommodation, a gospel which fit in with the
milieu of the day. It would seem some things never change. In truth, there is
nothing new under the sun.
Paul
suffered as a result of this testimony, even to the point of being labeled a
criminal. The gospel will mean that at times we will be treated as criminals.
That's our calling. But it's not just the world. Even those who profess to
follow the God of Scripture will hate and persecute the true believers. Jesus
of course predicted this (John 16) that the time would come that those who
persecuted believers would think their actions glorified God. When I read that
passage I think more in terms of the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages,
but being labeled as 'evildoers' or enemies of society, whatever the context...
that too is part of our calling, our vocation. Christianity is always going to
be counter-cultural. If we're 'in-line' with the mainstream or Establishment
then something is amiss. This of course flies in the face of virtually all
Evangelical and even Confessional preaching we hear these days.
But the word
of God is not chained. We may be snuffed out but someone else takes up the
torch. God is in control of history and even if his people are imprisoned and
suffering His name is being glorified and to those who have eyes to see, the
testimony of the gospel is being furthered.
We read in 1
Peter 4:
If you are
reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and
of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is
glorified.
But let none
of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other
people's matters.
Yet if
anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God
in this matter.
For the time
has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us
first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Now if the
righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Therefore
let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in
doing good, as to a faithful Creator.
(1 Pet
4.14-19)
Peter
essentially echoes what Paul is saying and this also ties in with the notion of
disentanglement. We are not called to meddle in the affairs of 'others' but to
live quiet lives, working with our hands, doing our own business... which is
the work of the gospel.
This idea
that we encounter so frequently today that as Christians we must stand up for
the government, it's our 'duty' to fight its wars, when our civil 'rights' are
trampled we must for liberty's sake sue those who offend us... these ideas are
all foreign to the New Testament and its ethics. They are the child of
Constantine the great shift that took place under his rule and the emperors
which followed them.
This is
largely why passages such as the one before us are so completely misunderstood
today if not ignored. Paul's doctrine is simply incompatible with their notions
and presuppositions.
Paul endures
all things for the elect's sake. Elect here is not necessarily being used to
refer to the predestined. Paul often uses the term generically to refer to the
Church at large or a specific congregation. This in no way negates the truth of
predestination but Paul is more 'fluid' in how he uses this and other terms.
He's not writing a systematic theology and the way doctrine is presented to us
in the Bible is in itself informative.
Some would
insist that that the elect which have yet to obtain salvation refers to the
predestined who have not yet heard and embraced the gospel. But even this
reading must ring a somewhat unsatisfactory note to many a Calvinist. Paul's
language of enduring all things so that the elect 'may obtain' doesn't sound
like decretal language and indeed it's not.
This also
points to the nature of the Spiritual War. On the one hand God is indeed in
control. Reality is not the dualism so often presented in fantasy stories of a
good force vs. and evil force and they are somehow equal in power. No, they are
not equal and yet on some level even though the victory is accomplished and
sure, the war nevertheless is very real. This is something that is beyond our
understanding and is not reconcilable in terms of some kind of logical system.
If God is fully in control then the war is to some degree artificial, a stage
play as it were. If the war is real then God's absolute sovereignty is somehow
brought into question. For it to be real there has to be the possibility of
defeat.
We cannot
reconcile these truths but suffice it to say according to the Scripture God is
in control and the battle cannot be lost but at the same time the war, the
battle for souls is very real. There are ways we can attempt to explain this
but in the end they are largely works of speculation.
The
salvation the elect obtain is 'in' Christ Jesus. This preposition commonly used
throughout the New Testament gets to the heart of salvation. Yes, we are
Justified, that is reckoned or declared righteous due to the righteousness of
Christ being applied or imputed to us. Yet, it is being 'in' Christ, united to
Him, being in a state of Union that more often than not encapsulates what
salvation is. Salvation is believing in the person and work of Christ and
through that faith we are brought into a relationship, we are reconciled to
Him, we share in the fellowship of the Spirit, we know the riches of His wisdom
and the peace and joy resulting from walking with Him. Through this union we
partake in His work, his sufferings, death and resurrection, or as Paul puts it
here, His eternal glory.
Finally Paul
gives a faithful saying, a true saying, a doctrinal formula put in the form of
if-then statements... two positive and two negative.
If we died
with Him we shall also live with Him. Again this results from our being 'in'
Christ. Death in Christ means life in Christ. We immediately think of Romans 6
where this same truth is presented to us as represented in the rite of baptism.
Baptism exhibits this and for those who are truly 'in' Christ this rite becomes
effectual, the symbol demonstrating the reality. But like all aspects of
salvation it isn't something that is merely a one-time event. Our
mortification, the putting to death of the old man is something that is
continuous and ongoing (Col 3.5, Rom 8.13) and will only find its final and
ultimate fulfillment at the Day of Judgment when God will wipe away our tears
and usher us into the New Heavens and New Earth.
If we
endure, we shall reign with Him.
Once more
the exhortation to endure comes to the surface. Again this is problematic for
many as it is difficult to take this charge seriously if indeed we are saved
wholly by grace through faith or as a result or outworking of our election. How
can this call to endure be taken seriously? Does Paul really mean that if we
don't endure then we shall not reign with Him?
For those who
diligently read the New Testament this language will come as no shock or
surprise. Too often we read it through prescribed theological lenses and this text
(and many others) is what is often termed a 'problem' text. The problem isn't
the text, or even in how the words of the text sound to our ears, but the system
which struggles to incorporate them. Salvation by Grace is indeed Biblical. So
is election. But so is the exhortation to persevere and the warning against
apostasy. How do we reconcile these things? It's not our place to do so.
If we endure
we shall also reign with him. If that's not a strong enough qualifier then look
at the following.
If we deny
Him, He also will deny us.
Terrifying
to be sure and again not a little troubling, not only to fleshly presumption
but to many a system. And yet we've heard these words before. Christ Himself
uttered this in v.33 of Matthew 10.
And yet here
Paul says if 'we' deny Him. It's interesting because you could read Matthew 10
as a simple juxtaposition between the confessing believers and the unbelievers
of the world. Here the concept is reiterated but in the context of 'we',
meaning of course the Church.
Now we can
acknowledge there are those in the Church who are not members of the True
Church just as Paul said with regard to Israel (Rom 9.6). This is not an excuse
for the abuses of Christendom and certainly the doctrine of the
Visible/Invisible Church is subject to abuse. It did not originate in
Neo-Platonism influencing Augustine. It originates in Paul and of course we
could argue in Matthew 10 with Christ Himself.
This is a
sober exhortation to continue in the faith, to endure in your profession to
make your calling and election sure, to examine yourself, to work out your
salvation with fear and trembling.
Do not be
brought to the point that you deny Christ for He will deny you.
At this
point this prospect is so troubling to the integrity of many theologies that
they cannot accept what is being said and thus try to find a way out by
inverting the final clause so that it negates the threat.
What they
would say is that when God is said to remain faithful and cannot deny Himself,
that means that even if we fail in our faith and deny Him then His grace still
saves us... thus rendering the warnings empty.
In fact what
is being said is that if we fail in our faith and apostatize then our failing
in no way endangers the power and veracity, the surety of God's eternal plan.
He cannot deny the Person and Work of Christ and His plan in no way depends on
us.
Sobering to
be sure but also an exhortation to continue in the faith as we are similarly
exhorted to do so in Colossians 1. You are reconciled unto God if indeed you
continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope
of the Gospel.
If...
This is not
a cause to fear or to doubt. This does not mean that we need to waver in our
faith. God is not toying with us. He's not going to cast us aside. He knows we
are but dust. He knows we will not attain whole sanctification in this age.
That work as are all aspects of salvation are completed by Him and yet we are
still in This Age and in this time and place we must persevere, trusting in
Him, and manifest Gospel lives of repentance and belief.
