July 2006 - Elder's Corner - Events & News - Evangelical Free Church of Huntington Beach

Elder's Corner for July 2006

Author’s note. As with many of our other elder activity, there was no coordination between my article and Keith’s sermon series. But we will both be well pleased if our combined thoughts take the congregation to a greater awareness of the sovereignty of God and his Holy Demands.

This is the fourth in a continuing series drawn from Blamires, The Christian Mind. As we have already learned, our renewed minds understand that there is a supernatural element to life, we are aware of evil, and we acknowledge absolute truth. Another defining characteristic of the Christian mind is acceptance of authority. Some of you are immediately saying WHOA, I need to go over to the Sports and Potluck sections of the news letter. But if I can ask it, hang with me for a while.

To begin at the beginning, why even consider how a Christian should think; The simple answer is found in Scripture multiple times. What is in your head (or heart) becomes your life. We have slightly different terms for mapping the thought process from the Biblical writers, but the concept is identical.

Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

Matthew 15:19 (NKJV)
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

Now that we’ve established why we think about what we think about, we turn our thoughts onto thinking about today’s subject of authority. The concept of authority ties directly to kingship, addressing who is the authority, and to citizenship, addressing who is under authority. I’ll try to give a few words to frame our thinking on both areas.
Kingship is largely unknown in our egalitarian culture. Still there are pockets of unquestioned, absolute authority which come to mind. Most of us, from our earliest recollection, remember the influence and discipline of our parents. Many of us remember a principal or nun who wielded sway over our destiny through words, letters to parents, and a paddle across our back side. Some who spent time in the military remember a charming individual, complete with “Smokey-the-bear-hat”, whose task was to transform snotty nosed kids into trainable killers.
These entities come and go in our lives. But what do these rulers have to do with this God-guy? Many people today, including a large number of Christians have a distorted perspective. They see God mostly as Loving, Kind, Merciful, Gentle, etc with little more than a dash of Omniscient, Omnipotent, Righteous, and Judgmental. These latter characteristics are often only referenced to make sure we aren’t being too sentimental and to account for His seeming “misbehavior” in the Old Testament. Unfortunately, this western-cultural icon god is a lie, and we are perpetuating this lie to ourselves if we do not bring all the traits of God into a biblically defined balance. It is not a grammatical oddity that God uses “Father” to describe himself. Indeed, the Biblical definitions of fatherhood seamlessly combine all the traits of love, mercy, and righteous judgment. Do not allow the world’s trite portrayal of a bumbling benevolent dufus or tyrannical kill-joy to confuse our temporal or eternal concept of fatherhood and authority in general. The God of the Bible knows all, can do all, hates sin, and plans to do something about it.

As a final thought, when it is all said and done, how we react to Gods authority depends upon a distinction between intellectual acquiescence and consuming passion about the God-ness of God. Do we trust God to place those over us who will work according to His will and our good?

Proverbs 21:1 (NKJV)
The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.

Romans 13:1-2 (NKJV)
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

Now how do define our citizenship? Obviously, as long as I stay in the US, I’m exempt from other country’s laws. I feel no compulsion to obey the laws of Peru or Saudi Arabia because I don’t live there. That definition of citizenship is simple. Because we are complex people, we simultaneously exist in multiple jurisdictions within a common geographic area: family, employment, clubs, etc. You obey the laws of that domain either locally (uniforms and safety equipment at work) or more generally (faithfulness to your mate away from home). However, Christians are alive in Christ and People of God. We are citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven, even while walking around Huntington Beach (Philippians 3:20, NKJV). Unlike in our geographical nationalities, there is nowhere in the created universe where the Kingdom of God doesn’t extend. Therefore, the privileges and obligations of this citizenship extend universally across the physical, as well as spiritual, universe. And, good news for us, this heavenly citizenship under the Kingship of God helps straighten out the responsibilities He has given us in all the areas of our ongoing sanctification in this life

How then shall we live? Whom shall we submit to? Our attitude is in the forefront, The Fear of God is only opposed by the Godless. How far should this attitude change go? Some acknowledge God’s sovereignty but through apathy, avoidance and ignorance, haven’t had a burning bush experience in a while. They feel just fine about living any way they want and as we found before, their life follows this thinking. A reverence for God’s Word, authoritative and final (II Timothy 3:14-17), is His remedy for this problem.

Psalm 119:104-106 (NKJV)

104 Through Your precepts I get understanding;
         Therefore I hate every false way.
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
         And a light to my path.
106 I have sworn and confirmed
         That I will keep Your righteous judgments.

Occasionally, when God’s word doesn’t speak on a subject, we look to the Church, to which also God has granted authority (Matthew 18:17, NKJV). What has been the prevailing orthodoxy on an issue for the last 2000 years? In the end, remember that all but God’s Kingdom perishes, God wins, and evil doesn’t even place. Place your bets, and yield your thoughts, attitudes, feelings, and all, to the authority of God.