 Family
The most basic structure of interpersonal relationships in the human experience is the family. Even friendships which can at times supersede familial relationships are necessarily second to the family. This is because the existence and care of the family members is rooted in the primary relationship which is the marriage between the husband and the wife. Of course, in a fallen world still dealing with the effects of sin and judgment, individual families may not reflect this ideal, but the exceptions in this case prove the rule. Marriage At the center of the family, as designed by God before sin marred His good creation, is the marriage of man and woman (Genesis 2:18-25). Since this is the case, this is also the point that is most critical in both individual and societal development. So goes the phrase “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” It is true that marriage and forming families is the most important foundation in cultural edification. This is why marriage has always been the point of attack from the world, the flesh, and the devil. The corruption of marriage and perversion of children is a direct attack against the image and glory of God in this world. This means that to see the promotion and proclamation of the kingdom of God it must first and fundamentally come to the family home before the chambers of the political capitals of the nations. Godly men loving their wives as Christ does the church and godly women respecting and submitting to their husbands as the church does to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33) is far more formidable against the principalities and powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:11-12) than any decision from any congress, court, or caesar! Children Children are a blessing from the Lord for parents, churchess and communities (Psalm 127:3-5). Today, many societies and nations, especially among the developed world are in a demographic crisis because for far too long these nations, including our own, have not valued kids as the blessing that they are. The problem in our world is not a swelling population but rather an aging population. We need more children, not less. The secular world has considered children either a luxury for those who want them or a liability to be discarded on the altar of convenience. This claim is easily established by even a cursory look at abortion statistics are the ongoing debate over something that should not only be illegal but unthinkable. Our children are the most direct, important and receptive opportunities that we will ever have to advance and extend the kingdom of God in the world. Through the evangelization and discipleship of our children and children the Lord providentially brings under our care and influence we can not only advance the kingdom numerically and geographically but chronologically into the future. This has always been key to God’s intention to spread His kingdom through the catechesis and education (Deuteronomy 6:7-9) of believing children for the building of believing communities. So as individual people become truly transformed believers as we saw last week, they form godly families that are crucial to the advancement of God’s glory and kingdom in the world which cannot be thwarted by any political regime. Next week, we see how these families should commit to one another in healthy Biblical churches.
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 Autonomy
In our exercise to understand the right relationship between our faith in Christ and the sovereign reign of Christ over all things, I want to begin with the smallest realm of authority and work our way out. Jesus is Lord and He has all authority (Matthew 28:18). I am not conceding the idea of Christ as the ruler of all things at all. But rather, arguing that the application of Christ’s rule works its way out from the smallest to the largest jurisdiction. It must be noted that while this article deals with the smallest unit, it is the most crucial and foundational to the rule of Christ in every sense. In this post we are dealing with individual or self government. The term “autonomy” refers to self-government, or the right of self government. This is probably on a popular level what most of us think about when we think about liberty or freedom. However, our self rule still means that the self is being governed. This is not anarchy. Each one of us, even those under regimes that attempt to destroy human agency and freedom are still autonomous at least in that our thoughts and beliefs cannot be controlled regardless of what is done to our bodies. Your Bad Self But the issue at hand in a fallen world is that left to ourselves we are sinners. This means that the acting governor over our hearts is our own sin (Titus 3:3). In this text Paul calls this state of governance slavery. It is ironic that the more humans rebel in sin, thinking that we are exercising our liberty, in reality we are only becoming more enslaved to those very passions and pleasures. We must remember that our sinful self rule is illegitimate. All humans are fully under the reality of all authority being subject to Christ, this includes our self authority. So while still in sin it is not only the sinful actions that are sinful but our rebellious self governance that is sinful. This is why in the quintessential passage (Exodus 34:5-7) about God’s character we are told by the LORD Himself that He forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. Transgression is rebellion. If God would not forgive rebellion then no one would be saved because our every sinful action and attitude is rebellion. This is the bad news that we are dead in trespasses and sins (Colossians 2:13). If God would only deal with us upon the condition of our own righteousness then we are justly to be utterly condemned and doomed. A New You But God does not just leave all of humanity to the judgment of our own self rule. In the sovereign purpose of God Jesus comes as the good Shepherd (John 10:11-14) and the righteous King (1 Timothy 6:13-16) to bring us under His good government. We must therefore be born again and regenerated so that we are set free from the tyranny of our sinful self governance to true citizenship under the reign of Christ (Philippians 3:20)! God explained to us through the Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:33-34) that this new government would not by the external means of legislation and enforcement but by the eternal means of a changed heart. Upon this new heart is written the good and righteous law of God, and dwelling in this new heart is the very presence of the Holy Spirit of God! So, the most relevant question at this point should be how do we move from our bad self to a new you? The answer is that we must trust in this gracious sovereign King and humbly by His power repent of our rebellion, while confessing truly and honestly that He is Lord (Romans 10:8-13)! If you have not yet been born again then I implore you to look to Christ and plead for Him to rescue you right now!  The Covenantal Commission
Matthew 28:18-20 is the passage usually referred to as the Great Commission. In this text, Jesus tells the disciples about His authority over everything, both heavenly and earthly, as well as their role in heralding this reality to the world. The New Covenant is fundamentally different from what has come before and so news of the kingdom must go forth, announcing the victory and reign of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:15-16). However, Jesus not only tells them to proclaim the good news of salvation and His kingdom, but also to teach or instruct about obedience to Him. The question that must be considered is who are the Apostles told to instruct? This is such a straightforward passage that I think many of us read it almost too casually, assuming that we understand the full meaning. In the course of this article I want to lay out the distinction between the way many in the Christian nationalist and Theonomic camps would understand the text, with the way I understand the text. Disciples of All Nations This is the issue of contention. When you read the phrase “make disciples of all nations” how do you understand it? Before you read on, spend some time thinking about the phrase. What seems to be the most natural and plain way to understand Jesus' words. There seems to be two ways that it is understood. First, it seems that many read that the “nations,” as whole entities, are supposed to be made disciples. This would obviously mean that the individual nations (political entities) would need to be taught how to obey Christ. This would also mean that it is the nations that are to be baptized according to the trinitarian formula. If this is the correct understanding of the phrase then we should all be Theonomists, at least, and maybe even Christian nationalists. The other alternative is that Jesus is telling the Apostles to make disciples “of'' or “from” all the nations. This would mean that it is not the nations as political entities that are supposed to be taught obedience to Christ, but rather individual believers from that national group. This would also make sense of the command to baptize the disciples that are being made, not the national entity. I believe that this interpretation is strengthened by the fact that the word translated as “nations” has a much broader semantic and theological range than just geopolitical nation states. The term is “ethnos” and generally refers to the gentiles or the nations. But these can and often should be taken as referring to the people group not the political group. In this interpretation Jesus is calling for disciples to be made from every kind of person in the world. Regardless of distinction every type or kind of person must be represented among the disciples of Christ. I also think that we see this reflected in the glorious culmination of the kingdom of Christ revealed in heaven. We are told in Revelation 7:9 that there will be gathered before the throne of God and the Lamb a great multitude “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” If this text is the sovereign fruit of the great commission then it would seem clear that the disciples being made and taught to obey Christ are individuals who hear the good news of salvation and through the convicting and converting work of the Holy Spirit are born again (Titus 3:5). In this case, while we should expect good fruit from more and more people being saved as the gospel goes forth and flourishes in a culture, a nation or all nations cannot be made disciples because that designation belongs to individual image bearers of God who belong to Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20) and are those zealous to do His will (Titus 2:14). And these are citizens of Christ’s Kingdom (Philippians 3:20-21) and members of His body, the church (1 Corinthians 12:27)! Now with this scriptural basis, in the weeks to come I want to argue for Christian Localism in the areas of personal holiness, family discipleship, local church commitment, and faithful community engagement.  The Christian State
The label “Christian Nationalism” is popular these days both among Christians and unbelievers. One of the challenges in commenting on this issue is that there are almost as many different definitions of this term as there are people. The term can mean anything from a God and country flavored Christian patriotism to a call for a Christian political state. The spectrum between these views allows for much misunderstanding, confusion, and miscommunication. For the purpose of this series of articles, I am going to be responding to “Christian Nationalism” as a perspective believing that the theonomic application of God’s law should be the rule for the state as well as the church. By using the term theonomic, I am meaning the equitable application of those principles contained in the Old Testament law to our modern practices. Many would call this general equity theonomy. While I agree with the general application of wisdom from God’s law to our practices today, we must not forget that we live as New Covenant believers from the standpoint of the fulfillment of all the law of God in the covenant keeper, our Lord Jesus Christ. It is my view that church history is clear that the mingling of church and state is fraught with danger not only for heretics but for true Christian brothers with dissenting opinions. However, the issue is what is consistent with Scripture. If the Bible teaches that we should be implementing the general equity of God’s law and the Lordship of Christ through the laws of the state then we should do that. However, I am going to argue in this series that this is not what the Scriptures teach about the role of the government or the church. Biblical Baptist From the outset I want to be clear that I am not writing from a neutral position. I am a biblical Baptist and therefore I am going to make my argument from this perspective. In the Scripture God has laid out for us certain necessary realms of governmental authority. We often think of government only in terms of the political sphere such as local municipalities, state governments and the federal government. But the church is also a realm of governmental authority under the headship of Christ (Colossian 1:18). Also, the family is a realm of governing authority under the headship of the husband/father. Even each individual must learn to govern his/her own actions. Of course, each person should submit to Christ in their self governance. My intention in this series is not to exhaustively critique the Christian Nationalist movement but to instead make a positive argument for what I am calling “Christian Localism”. I believe that this is the most consistent way to understand the Lordship of Christ over all realms of authority while maintaining the biblical distinctions and discontinuity between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Simple Thesis Jesus has all authority on earth and in heaven and He is plundering the enemy’s house (Luke 11:14-23) through the proclamation of the gospel and the regeneration of individuals, which cannot and will not be accomplished through the implementation of governmental mandates or edicts. My simple thesis is that the kingdom of God and Christ does not come as a top down imposition on the nations but rather a bottom up transformation of individual hearts through regeneration (Titus 3:4-7). The text at the root of contention is the Great Commission from Matthew 28:18-20 so we will deal with that text specifically in next week’s post.  Celebration
Many people are probably excited this time of year, looking forward to a summer full of freedom and fun. School is out and vacations are planned. Those folks who adore the summer heat and swimming or other water sports have been waiting for just this time of year. Maybe you enjoy the summer festivities. My own hometown has the annual homecoming festival this weekend, full of fun for the whole family. Most of all, it is an opportunity to see people that we haven’t seen, maybe, since last year. You may be looking forward to the firework fun of the fourth of July or summer cookouts in the backyard. For those of us who love life, this June marks the one year anniversary of the overturning of Roe V. Wade decision. This is certainly something worth celebrating. Of course, the holocaust of abortion has not been totally ended and we pray for that day. However, we are thankful that many babies are alive today that would have been aborted if the law had stayed the same for another year. We, as Christians, should remember that we do have something to be thankful for as we celebrate Life month, as I saw Dr. Owen Strachan labeled it on (twitter). Haughty But we must acknowledge that our sinsick, secular culture also has something that they desire to celebrate. They call it Pride month. The idea is to celebrate all forms of aberrant sexuality and gender confusion. Yet, it should be obvious to those with a biblical worldview that pride and arrogance are equal opportunity when it comes to celebrating sin. If you fancy yourself as moral and upright because you do not support the secular agenda including homosexuality and gender confusion while you continue in your own unrepentant sin, then you are also captured by your own pride and hubris. The Scripture is clear that pride is at the heart of our sin (1 John 2:16) and pride in our heart will result in our sure destruction (Proverbs 16:18). Christians cannot continue in sin and think themselves more holy just because their sin is of a different kind or classification. I do not dispute that there are classifications of sin, however, the most damaging aspect is the light of truth being sinned against (Matthew 11:20-24). For Christians it should be unthinkable that we would continue in sin any longer when we have received grace from God (Romans 6). The secular world will have to answer for their rebellion against all the clear communication given by God in nature. They are not only fools, but living in willful ignorance of the obvious nature of God’s world and truth (Romans 1:18-32). Humble So what should our Christian response to the overt pride and rebellion of our culture be? I would like to encourage our response to be contrite humility before the Lord. The Bible does not only condemn pride but it also praises humility (Proverbs 18:12). It is humility that marks the Christian becoming more like Christ (Philippians 2:3-5). As we grow in our sanctification we inevitably must grow less prideful and more humble. This is because we understand even more the failings of our own sinfulness and our great need for God’s amazing grace! The contrast that our world needs to see is not that we can match them toe to toe in shouting down the other side, but rather that we excel in humility before the Lord of Glory. I am not saying that we should be passive and quiet referring to sin or the proclamation of the gospel but only that we should do both from a posture of humble pleading and loving persuasion not judgmental and angry condescension (2 Corinthians 5:11-15). Brethren, this is the ministry of reconciliation that we have been given by our Lord and King and it begins with humility that gives us boldness to proclaim the glorious good news of the gospel. This good news is the only true cure for the evil culture cancer of our day.  Love & Hate
Years ago, I heard a speaker recount how he taught the players on a college football team for which he was the chaplain to answer the prompt “love God” with the reply to “hate sin” or vice versa. The point is that the two things are in complete contradiction. If one loves God then he must also hate sin. This is because God and sin are diametrically opposed. Sin is, by definition, anything that is not in line with God’s character, anything that is not done in faith (Romans 14:22-23), or anything that misses the mark of God’s holiness and righteousness (Romans 3:20-23). It is impossible to love God and love sin at the same time! Sinful Hatred However, while it would be accurate to say that love for God necessitates hatred for sin, it does not follow that hatred for some particular sin is always proof or evidence of love for God. Just this week I encountered some graffiti on a bridge in my hometown. It was the combination of a course expletive with a hateful slur against homosexuals. I, of course, believe that homosexuality, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the practice or relationship, is sinful. But, the person that wrote this horrible attack is not on the side of God. It seems obvious to me that this person is angry, but not over the offenses against the nature of God and His good intentions as the creator. Instead, this person is filled with personal animus against something that their own sinful flesh finds appalling. My point is simple: it is possible to hate sin in a sinful way. Sin demolishes trust and relationships. The Apostle Paul wrote to Titus (Titus 3:3) describing the kind of people we all are while still in sin. Here Paul says that we passed our days in malice and envy hated by others and hating one another. In sin, we are prone to find things to hate because hate is reigning in our stony hearts. There is no honor among thieves nor fellowship in the darkness. Partners in crime become enemies when their greed and evil desires entice them (James 1:14-15) to double cross one another. This reality means that we as believers cannot rely on the hope that the enemy of our enemy will be our friend. Just because another person or group agrees with us on an issue does not mean that their reason and motivation is coming from the right place. As Bob King shared with me earlier today, we must be seeking to, “Do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way.” Hate Sin! It is not enough to hate the sins that offend our cultural sensibilities or our family traditions or our personal preferences. As believers, seeking to rightly bear the image of God we must hate and detest all iniquity, transgression, and sin (Isaiah 59:12-13). Starting with our own wickedness and sin. If a heterosexual man is engaging in sexual immorality with his girlfriend, but detests the evil of homosexuality, he doesn’t love the righteous and holy standard of God’s law. If a man is cheating on his taxes, but hates the thief that stole his lawnmower he is not a lover of goodness. Rather, if we are to judge righteously we must heed the instruction of the Lord and remove the beam from our own eye so that we can judge correctly (Matthew 7:1-5). As God’s people, we must remember that judgment begins at the household of God (1 Peter 4:17-19). Remember as Christians we do have holy hatred for sin in our own lives and in the world but that hatred is superseded by an even greater motivation in our love for our Father, our affection for our Savior, and our adoration for the Holy Spirit.  A Rose
What is the meaning of a name? William Shakespeare considered this age old question in his portrayal of the two star crossed lovers named Montague and Capulet. Probably, better known to most of us as Romeo and Juliet. The point of the question is, does a name really make a difference? It is something that every couple awaiting the delivery of a precious bundle of joy must consider. How will the name given to this child affect the treatment or experiences this precious image bearer of God will have? Of course, we cannot see the future or pick a name according to every possible contingency. However, as another great deceased poet (Johnny Cash) has taught us, life can be very difficult for a boy named Sue. The names are an issue because of the realities that they represent. The issue with Romeo and Juliet is the animosity between their respective families, not the syllables of their surnames. Names are labels that identify who we are and to whom we belong. The reason that our names are passed down in our families and from husband to wife is to identify relationships. Sometimes this notifies us of the relationships between other people or even the relationship to ourselves. Suitable Sue Brother Cash used the name “Sue” to point out that the culturally defined feminine name is not well suited to a boy in our society. While there are many things that could be commented on about the change in our culture from the 1960’s to today, the point that I want to focus on in this post is that the prevalence of inappropriate names is more common than we might think. I don’t mean that people have inappropriate “given” names or legal names. Neither am I referring to people with inappropriate or vulgar nicknames (although, this is probably more common). Rather, I want to discuss the suitability of social labels, specifically religious labels. Christian Just today I was speaking with a missionary and pastor living in Nepal who has visited and preached in dozens of countries and he expressed the reality that people really are the same everywhere that you go. Everywhere you go you find people who are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) for that is the only kind of people that exist. These image bearers are also sinners because all people regardless of society or status have sinned against the righteous standard of God’s own perfect character (Romans 3:21-23). These two realities means that everywhere you go you find that everyone is in need of the same glorious good news that they can be saved through the gospel of Jesus Christ! Jesus came to display perfectly the image of God that Adam and all his children have failed to show accurately (Genesis 3). In living this perfect life, He, in full humanity and deity, fulfilled all the righteous demands of the law of God (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Through this perfect, active obedience, He who had no sin was the rightful inheritor of life. Yet, He became sin so that through His death on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21) He could pay the sin debt of guilty sinners who had earned death (Romans 6:23). Then, in victorious resurrection, His victory was made manifest and those who through faith are His people were eternally saved! The problem is that this missionary and pastor shared with me the heartbreaking reality that nominal faith is not only a reality here among the professing church but also there. What I mean by nominal faith is simply the fact that so many people who wear the title of “christian” or who would self identify as “saved” or as “believing in Jesus” have no visible evidence of true faith. They are Christians in name only. I think that often we think that this is only a problem in the Bible belt, but in truth there are false believers everywhere. I also must report that there are false believers in the false religions. The heart of sinners is fickle and it is saddening to realize just how dead and deceived the lost world truly is. So let me urge you not to be Christian in name only, but rather turn from your sin and trust in your Savior and go after Him with your whole life and leave no confusion about your soul!  Questions?!
So in the title I put a question mark after “baby dedications.” The reason is that this can be a controversial subject. You may be thinking, “how could baby dedication be a controversial subject?” But it comes down to a couple of doctrinal positions. Now, our church has had baby dedications in the past and we will be again this Sunday, so I would like to point out the doctrinal issues that some people would have with having them, and why I think they are permissible and can be helpful. Dry Baptisms? The first doctrinal issue that could be raised in regards to baby dedications deals with our understanding of the doctrine of inclusion in the New Covenant. For our Paedobaptist brothers, it would seem as if we are trying to do what they do through the practice of “infant baptism.” Paedo is referring to the practices of baptizing infants or very young children who are not born again believers. The Presbyterian view of infant baptism is that the child of believing parents is baptized in the New Covenant community. The child is therefore a member of the visible church and the New Covenant, even though they are not yet a believer. They would regard this as an act of faith believing that the child will be a believer. They do not believe that baptism makes the child regenerate or "saved," however they do consider the child a “christian” in a strictly outward sense. So, they would say that we are doing the same thing with baby dedications. However, we are not including our infants or small children in any way into the New Covenant. In distinction, we identify our child as unregenerate until they come to have faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. This being the case, the child dedication is less about dedicating the child to the Lord and more about the parents and church dedicating themselves to the evangelization and discipleship of these children in the biblical knowledge of the Lord so that they can be saved through the proclamation of the gospel. So while the practice of child dedications and paedobaptism may have some practical and liturgical similarities, this does not mean that they are related in terms of belief or practice. Biblical Precedent? The practice of child dedication as opposed to infant baptism is a relatively recent invention. I am not sure of the origins of the practice, but I am quite certain that it did not exist before the modern period. Which brings us to the other possible controversy. We would say that we want to be obedient to the Bible and conform our worship practices as much as possible to the commands and examples of the New Testament. This is usually referred to as the regulative principle of worship. This principle states that the church should only do those things that scripture instructs us to do in the corporate worship gathering. The opposing principle is the normative principle which states that the church is free to do anything that the scripture doesn’t specifically forbid. For example, a church practicing the regulative principle probably wouldn’t have plays or skits during the worship service, because there wouldn’t be a positive example of this in the Bible. However, the normative church might include the skit, claiming that there is nothing forbidding such a practice in the Bible. You can see how both churches would understand themselves to be operating according to the Bible but based on different principles. All churches are probably operating on a spectrum, and two churches claiming to use the same regulative principle might still disagree on if something is permissible according to their interpretation of Scripture. We do not see any New Testament examples of something like child dedication in the Bible. Also, the examples that could be pulled from the Old Testament, such as Samuel, must be interpreted in the unique purpose in which God was working in them. We also must remember that those Old Testament examples were under a system where unbelieving children were included in the (old) covenant people through infant circumcision. Child dedication does not in any way bring the child into the new covenant community in our Baptist view. Maybe it would be best to understand that in the child dedication we are acknowledging the responsibility of the parents and the church to instruct the child in the things of God but this does make the child a member of the church until they become believers. So why is it ok to do parent/child dedications? The instruction for believing parents to raise their children to follow and honor God and for children to obey and honor their parents is consistent throughout scripture. Beginning in the Mosaic Law (Exodus 20:12), and extending into the New Covenant, Paul’s instructions to the Colossians about the responsibility of Christian children and parents (Colossians 3:20-21). I also think that it is a very helpful reminder to the whole church that we have a covenantal responsibility to pray for each other, love one another, and help everyone in our church to grow toward holiness and maturity in the Lord. Once again, the commitments being made are not so much about what the infant will be or do, but rather what we (the church and the parents) (Ephesians 6:1-4) will faithfully strive to do for the good of our children and the glory of our God!  Graduation Season
It’s that time of year when the students and teachers are eager for the school year to come to a close, and the tenured senior class is on the brink of graduation. These students will complete the school year for the final time. It is the end of their basic educational journey. Whether these are public, private, or homeschool students the next chapter of their lives will be something different and new from what has come before for them. This is usually associated with a mixture of emotion for everyone involved. Joy, fear, nostalgia, and excitement can easily fill our hearts as we experience these moments of transition in our lives. Maybe it is a relief for many that this chapter is finally over. For others, maybe there is fear about the changes and challenges that are coming next. In either case, this milestone, while it is a marker on the road, is not the ultimate finish line. To some degree, this is a good lesson for us that ends are not full stops, but only the transition that moves us forward. Endings There are many different types of endings that we will face in life. Some that we are eagerly anticipating and some that we wish would tarry forever. I’m sure we have all experienced those moments when we wish that we could just hit pause and linger in that moment. On the other hand, there are many times that we might want to push fast forward and get past a particularly difficult season. As we age, I’m sure almost everyone longs for the opportunity to hit rewind or get a do over. However, time just keeps going and so each ending of one thing leads to the beginning of another. Oftentimes, endings can leave us with a feeling of accomplishment and at other times we are left with a hunger for more. In either case we know that endings are sure to come. In our temporal experience, we have only understood things from the perspective of beginnings and endings. Try to imagine eternity. It is very difficult, if not completely impossible, because we only experience beginnings and endings. Some religions have tried to satisfy the God given longing of every human heart for eternity through appealing to some mystical, cyclical explanation but in the scripture it is God who reigns over time and eternity (Exodus 15:17-18). Finish Well Given the reality that we all will face the end of many things in our lives and ultimately the end of this physical life then we ought to live in light of that ending. To some degree, even an empty culture such as the one we live in understands this with the YOLO mindset. But what I am postulating is that we should live and act with humility and virtue, so that in each ending we are finishing well. The reality is that the end is coming. We can be found fallen or failed or we can strive to finish well. This was the desire that the Apostle Paul exhibited when he wrote to his young colleague Timothy concerning the end of not only his ministry but his life for the sake of the gospel (2 Timothy 4:6-8). In the text, Paul tells Timothy how he has “fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith.” Looking with Spiritual insight into the sureness of his soon death he was able to point out to Timothy that he had finished well. We must realize that finishing well is not as much a matter of being successful or accomplished, but rather, a matter of being faithful. In the end, there will be many who despite being blessed with many talents, advantages, and even prosperity will ultimately not finish well because of a lack of integrity and faithfulness. At the same time, many who have not had those same privileges will be found having fought hard and finished well, because they simply proceeded in faithful obedience to the clear commands of Christ. This kind of faithfulness is the essence of truly saving and transforming faith.  A.I.
When I was child the speculation was all about E.T., meaning extra terrestrials. I guess that is still a thing, however, now the rise of something much more concerning (and real) is at hand. I’m sure everyone is aware of A.I. or artificial intelligence. It is not my intention in this blog to call out that the sky is falling or that A.I. is going to ruin the world. Besides, we sinners are doing a good enough job of that on our own. But I do think we need to consider the ethics and morality surrounding this issue. A.I. is a tool, and as such it can be used rightly or wrongly. I am encouraging all of us as believers to think through the issue so that we are ready for the moral bridges that we will have to cross. How will we utilize this tool for God’s glory and our good? Research or Plagiarism I’m not a scientist, but I would like to run a little experiment to help us think through the issues of using A.I. in the future. Last week, I wrote a blog about the Spring Bride. I was specifically thinking about the church as the bride of Christ and how we should treat the church in light of her being the bride of our King. That essay was 100% my work but I also entered a prompt into chat GPT to see what kind of article it would write about the same subject. This is the prompt I entered: Write a 623 word blog article about The importance of Christians having a high view of the church because the Church is Christ’s bride. I must admit it is a really good article. In fact, it is probably better than anything I could have written, not just grammatically but also substantially. It is so good that it brings up the question of how we are going to know that what we read in the future comes from a person and not A.I.? What is going to keep students, authors, and even pastors from shortcutting their work and study with the use of this kind of technology for profit and advancement? I don’t have the answers to all of these things but I do think that we must prepare to have answers to these questions moving forward. Of course it is plagiarism to copy from the work of A.I. without acknowledgement just like it would be to copy a person’s work. So please read the following article which is Chat GPT’s response to the prompt above and I would love your feedback and perspective on this issue. (One last note: because I gave it a specific number of words it stops mid sentence at the end.) Chat GPT Content The Church is not just a building or an institution; it is a living, breathing organism made up of believers in Jesus Christ. The Bible refers to the Church as the body of Christ, with Christ as the head (Colossians 1:18). This analogy highlights the vital importance of the Church to Christ and to every believer. As Christians, we need to have a high view of the Church because it is Christ's bride. In Ephesians 5:25-27, the apostle Paul writes, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." Christ loves the Church and gave himself up for her, not just as an institution but as his beloved bride. Therefore, we must value the Church and its members as highly as Christ does. The Church is not just a gathering of believers, but it is where we find fellowship, accountability, and spiritual growth. We are called to be a part of the Church and to contribute our unique gifts and talents to build it up (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). A high view of the Church also means understanding its significance in God's redemptive plan. The Church is not an afterthought or a backup plan, but it is central to God's purpose for the world. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The Church is not just a human endeavor but is built by Christ himself. Furthermore, the Church is the means by which the Gospel is spread and lives are transformed. In Acts 2, we see the birth of the Church on the day of Pentecost, and immediately the Gospel begins to spread as people are added to the Church daily. The Church is where we are equipped to share the Gospel with the world, and it is where we find the support and encouragement we need to live out our faith. A high view of the Church also means recognizing the importance of unity among believers. The Church is made up of people from different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences, but we are all united in our faith in Jesus Christ. In John 17:21, Jesus prays, "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Unity is not just a nice idea but is essential for the Church to function as it should. When we are divided, we lose our effectiveness in reaching the lost and fulfilling God's mission. Unfortunately, the Church has often been criticized and maligned by those both inside and outside of the faith. We have seen scandals, divisions, and abuses of power that have caused many to question the relevance and integrity of the Church. However, this should not cause us to lose sight of the Church's importance or to give up on it. Instead, we must work to address these issues and strive to make the Church the holy and unified body that Christ intended. In conclusion, as Christians, we need to have a high view of the Church because it is Christ's bride. We must value the Church as highly as Christ does, understanding its significance in God's redemptive plan, recognizing the importance of unity among believers, and working to address any issues that may hinder its effectiveness. The Church is not just an institution or a building, but it is |