Author: Silva

White Paper #1: Our Approach to our Gender Confused Culture

Silva

A Forsaken Moment?  Psalm 10:1-11

Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.” His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

The writer didn’t understand God’s absence from his experience.  In this lament, he records situation after situation where it appeared the wicked was unhindered in his evil.  One poignant reference is “…in hiding places [the wicked] murders the innocent.  His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless…”

It’s true: when righteousness wanes and wickedness waxes, the righteous can be bewildered.  Let’s jump ahead: rampant sexual immorality flows through our culture unchecked, unhindered.  The Bible is clear in its condemnation of the behavior while holding out hope in Christ for those who perpetrate it.  Let’s call it what it is: evil.  

In this social-media saturated environment, it certainly seems that we are in our own version of a forsaken moment.  Where is God in this confusing cultural moment?  How do we live in the “forsaken-ness” of it? 

Preliminary Principles

The goal of this White Paper isn’t yet to lay out our moment, but rather our approach to it.  Unless we are certain ofhow to approach our moment, we may certainly not live in it as we should before the Lord.  Here are a few preliminary principles.

First, only the kingdom of this world—common to all mankind—is in decline.  Even as immorality seems to be running the place, it has not and will not penetrate the redemptive kingdom.  That is not to say the church is immune for we are not; simply, the gates of sexual hell will not prevail against the church.

Second, when God made the covenant with Noah, He did not promise to save the common kingdom but to preserve it until the return of Christ.  As we see in the steady circular movements of history John records in the Revelation, we inch closer and closer to the return of the Lord.  In other words, the degradation is part of the birth pains the Lord promised (Matt. 24:8).

Third, for a long time in the West, Christendom influenced the cultures of the West—there was a shared sense of morality.  This is a large topic that is beyond the scope of this paper.  As Aaron Renn wrote recently in First Things, (“The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism,” Feb. 2022) and as Carl Trueman has written in his latest book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, the trappings of Christendom that had given the Western world a common moral lexicon, is dimmed.

Fourth, the influence of Christianity over culture is declining but its power to grow the redemptive kingdom is not—the power of the gospel to save is not weakened.  This might seem like a contradiction.  But the more Christendom is stripped from our culture, the more the real thing will shine.  We don’t need to lose hope that things are beyond the reach of God and the gospel—indeed, they are not.  

Lastly, sexual brokenness is not new.  Our cultural moment is new to us but as we see from the Scriptures, sexual brokenness seems to define every age in some way.  

Governing our Approach: Jesus with the Samaritan Woman

These preliminary principles lay out some of the landscape of our approach.  Still, we have to be careful and compassionate upon those who are lost or wayward as seen in their sexual choices.  Dr. Gary Yagel, in his book, Anchoring your child in God’s Truth in a Gender Confused Culture, began his study very helpfully in John 4:7-26, the Samaritan woman.  Some of what follows will resemble his work.

What we see with the Lord’s interaction with the Samaritan woman is at least five things that should mark our approach to the sexually broken.

First, His willingness to engage her (John 4:7).  He didn’t turn away from her but took the initiative to engage her.  It is quite likely this took her by surprise given what she said about the standard interactions between the Jews and the Samaritans, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”

Second, His willingness gave way to His interest: He spoke to her.  In speaking to her, He dignified her—he treated her as an image-bearer worthy of the Lord’s interest.  Indeed, by speaking to her He transgressed a number of cultural taboos that John even mentioned (John 4:27).

Third, His discipling: He cared for her soul.  It was evident very quickly that He was prepared to present to her living water even if she didn’t quite grasp the concept (John 4:10, 13).  He preached the good news to her before addressing her sexual sin and situation in life.

Fourth was His honesty: called her out for her failure to live by the law of God: she had five husbands and the one she was with was not her husband (John 4:16).  He didn’t do it to win points or prove Himself but because her sin was enslaving.  He accepted her with an agenda.

Fifth, His commitment was her true worship.  He didn’t ask her to leave the man she was living with but rather leave the false religion she was committed to.  All of the sexual brokenness will come to an end if she turned to embrace the gospel.  It might not come to an end in her lifetime—like Gomer the harlot, she may return to sin again and again—but its grip on her, broken by the gospel, will be weakened over time by the Spirit.

In all of these ways, we see the Lord Jesus model for us how to approach those who are broken and lost in sin, specifically sexual sin.  Our mission field has changed—now our “new” cultural field is sexual.  

Sinners and Sufferers

The last part of our approach is to recognize two truths about those we may strive to serve and help.  Our attention is to people who are, at the same time, sinners and sufferers.

First, they are sinners, indeed, they know the truth and choose to suppress it (Romans 1:18ff).  As sinners they need to repent of their rebellion against God that is witnessed in their lifestyle choices and embrace freedom from sin and judgment by faith.  We have a duty to share the converting and free gospel of grace.

But secondly, they are, at the same time, sufferers.  They are blinded by the prince of the power of the air (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:1-4).  They do not know what they are doing.  They are captive to do the devil’s will (Romans 7:5-6) and so they need to be rescued.  In this way, the sexually broken and wayward are the new “widows, orphans and sojourners” who need protection from those who would subjugate them further.

In this way, they are subjects of our mercy and our interest—just as the Lord modeled with the woman of Samaria.  We cannot categorize the sexually broken and wayward as untouchable outcasts; they are not.  They are suffering at the hands of their sin and our enemy.

In a word, our approach is grace and truth (see John 1:14).  

Christians, churches and culture

Christians, churches and culture

Silva

Today is the March For Life in Washington, D.C. For 49 years Americans have been killing the unborn out of convenience. It’s no surprise our culture is a mess of contradictions and conflict. Is American culture by and large sick? Yes. Why? Perhaps because it has been growing in the blood of 60+ million abortions.

What do we do? It depends on who’s asking.

If “we” is a man or woman committed to following Jesus Christ and the Bible’s teaching that the strong must advocate for and even fight for the helpless, then vote, blog, podcast, canvas neighborhoods, run for office, call your political leaders, share the gospel, create school clubs or non-profit organizations, hold conferences, write books and pray–all for the purpose of seeing abortion end.

We happen to live in a culture (mostly) governed by the Constitution that makes all of this possible and even desirable. I’m often surprised that Christians somehow don’t believe we have power enough to effect cultural change. How did the culture get the way it is? Men and women of all political inclinations and religious persuasions have done all the things I listed above. There is no special power to change culture: it is done by the consistent use of the opportunities and freedoms we have at our finger tips.

If “we” is a local church then preach the full counsel of God’s word, eat the Lord’s Supper, pray together (all from Acts 2:42) and plead for the Lord to return and roll up the evil world like a scroll (2 Peter 3:10) delivering the New Jerusalem.

You’ll notice the scope of activity is very different than the first? The business of the church is to grow a different kingdom in a different manner. The Bible tells us the power of the Holy Spirit is not for the sake of building worldly institutions: family, school, government or culture. It is for the building up of the church, the Temple, the House of Living Stones whose Cornerstone is Christ.

Why is it that there are some in Christendom who believe there aren’t two “we’s” here? That the work of the church and the work of the Christian aren’t distinguishable? Would they have the State ordain Ministers? Then why would they have the Ministers give orders to the State? “State Church” experiments in human history have rarely produced faithful churches–they still don’t. Have “Church State” experiments fared any better?

There simply is no benefit in conflating the work of a Christian in the culture with the work of the Church in the culture. There is no greater power for the Christian if this was so; indeed, there is only the danger of the culture contaminating the church (the mainline churches who have abandoned Apostles’ Creed Christianity for some social variant is proof of this).

It is also not true that if the Church were to build its house in the ways mentioned above and stay out of political or cultural advocacy that becomes a version of isolationism. Culture changes from the inside-out, not the outside-in (education is far more effective and long lasting than litigation / legislation). Faithful churches make cultural change each Lord’s Day as the word and sacraments tinker with the souls of the redeemed to give them courage and Christlikeness. As a result, individual believers are subjectively motivated to glorify God in all we do and objectively equipped by the truth of God’s word.

Our culture doesn’t need the church telling it how to behave–that’s not the church’s role. It needs individual Christians motivated and active in making change to unjust institutions working with men and women of all stripes.

Five Prayer Suggestions for Christians in the Mid-Term Elections

Silva

It’s 2022. I try to sample left and right wing news outlets. Mostly, I watch them fill my Twitter feed and I glance at headlines. Lately I’ve seen headlines throughout the spectrum that many believe the House of Representatives will change parties and it is thought so will the Senate. Reminds me of what happened in 1994. Such a thing fills some with dread and others with glee. I wish it wasn’t so; people either weep and gnash teeth or toast with great glee about election outcomes. Seems like elections should leave us with a bitter sweet taste in our mouths.

Lately this is driven with two Branches of Government under the control of one party often leading to one-sided feeding frenzies as if the best place to govern is either the far-right or the far-left. That’s been the case this year (though Arizona and West Virginia have been thorny for the Democrats). In the conservative wing of the nation, a swing back away from this hard-left will be viewed as a welcome event. Too welcome, I imagine.

Yet, back in 2016 when I was talking to colleagues who were eager for a Trump victory I reminded them that should he win, I predicted a rise in nationalism yet should he lose I predicted a revival in the church. Good for the nation on one hand, and good for the church on the other (if “good” for the church = hard times; think: Canada). I’m not doing a victory lap but I wasn’t wrong.

Many politically conservative Christians (and some churches) found in Trump a rescue of sorts since a thriving USA would somehow guarantee a healthy church. We are living the opposite now, I imagine. President Biden’s victory and the ensuing hurricane of efforts to transform our nation into something resembling an unnamed island in William Golding’s imagination have created huge momentum to wrestle the levers of power away from the current regime. This is not surprising but it is as dangerous as it was in 2016.

Here’s the problem. If we are not careful, we will trade one form of gridlock and acrimony for another. We’ve already started to hear the rumblings of pay-back investigations and even impeachment. It has been so tiring and embarrassing to watch the current regime ride roughshod over the opposing party but will the opposite result be any better? Progressives love this year and conservatives hate it; will next year be the reverse? And is that all we can ever expect?

I have five suggestions for prayer.

#1. Pray that if you are a conservative you won’t be too overjoyed if Congress changes color to red. Pray that if you are a progressive you won’t despair.

The ends don’t govern. They never have. Bill Clinton survived and the government did some good things because he woke up to a Republican Congress and he didn’t act the fool. Newt Gingrich was strident but respectful (mostly). Some things need to be conserved and some things need to be changed.

#2. Pray that there would be justice as needed and temperance all around.

People have lied and cheated. Agencies (e.g., FBI, DOJ, OSHA) have been used for political purposes. That needs to be stopped. But temperately. Some hate the USA but most in Congress and agencies don’t. We need honestly and humility and it can happen. The USA is still the greatest experiment in self-government in history.

#3. Pray that liars will be revealed and that people will tell the truth about things.

I’m so sick of social media fact-checkers. We need to pray that people will just tell the freakin truth. That liars will be made known and those who tell the truth will become the new heroes. Sure, health care workers in the midst of COVID were courageous–will the next heroes be those who tell the truth?

#4. Pray that politicians would stop acting like the end of the world is simply an election cycle away.

The sound bites that offer up world-ending rhetoric are ridiculous. No one is reading their Bible. Climate change, Russia-Ukraine, China-Taiwan, Keystone Pipeline, COVID–these aren’t easy but they won’t bring the end of the world. Christian: open your Bible and renew your confidence in the God who Himself upholds the world by the word of His power. This thing will end when He says so.

#5. Pray that the church would equip its members to bring salt and light to the culture.

No one but the church knows how this thing will end. The King is coming and He brings victory–victory! We who are in Him will rise and meet Him in the air and will watch as He vindicates His name and vanquishes His enemies. None will be left in defiance of the King! We don’t need to go into the culture with fear but with faith and the message of the gospel. The culture is reaching for saviors in its own image and we know they are weak. Let’s not join them in their striving but meet them instead with a message of salvation and courage.

Heaven soon.