Vote as if you were not

I just read some of the best teachings on politics by a Christian author I’ve head recently. It the classic style of John Piper, it makes little of politics and much of Christ. An except:

“So it is with voting. We should do it. But only as if we were not doing it. Its outcomes do not give us the greatest joy when they go our way, and they do not demoralize us when they don’t. Political life is for making much of Christ whether the world falls apart or holds together…

We deal with the system. We deal with the news. We deal with the candidates. We deal with the issues. But we deal with it all as if not dealing with it. It does not have our fullest attention. It is not the great thing in our lives. Christ is. And Christ will be ruling over his people with perfect supremacy no matter who is elected and no matter what government stands or falls. So we vote as though not voting.”

Answer #1 – I am corrupt

As soon as I turned away, I grabbed Piper’s book When I don’t desire God – how to fight for joy. I’ve read parts of it before, and I can’t stay up any later tonight reading more of it or the Bible. But the couple sentences I just read answered part of my questions.

Related to the question of how do I get a God-sized view of God that sustains joy in Him is the question, why don’t I already view God that way? God is infinitely beautiful and perfect and holy and worthy. I know that, but why don’t I know that? Answer? Because I am corrupt.

Delighting in God is a command (Ps. 37:4). I don’t do it enough because I don’t see his worth clearly enough. And I don’t see his worth because I am corrupt, blind. The part I see clearly is a gift from Him, grace to me. Only He can help me see more clearly, and only seeing more clearly will result in me delighting in Him in that way that sustains me, glorifies Him, and brings others into the knowledge of His greatness.

Alas, I begin anew

I want to start journaling more (again), and I might as well post my thoughts here. Hopefully, it’ll become a new part of my devotional routine.

My intention is to use writing as a way of mediating on God and His Word. I’ve taught a couple times recently at our young adults group at church, largely inspired by materials written by John Piper. The way he thinks about and writes about God sets my soul on fire with a different kind of passion. He is, in many ways, my C.S. Lewis. My hope is mediating on God’s great worth will help me better understand his value, bring him more glory, and bring more people into the enjoyment of knowing Him for who he really is.

I’m reading Piper’s Taste and See devotional these days. Today, the entry is about how Puritans, in contrast to evangelicals, put great importance on communing with God. Evangelicals discuss the work we are doing for God; Puritans discuss how they spend time with Him and how good he truly is. I never want to stop doing the work of a Martha, but I do want to become more like Mary, dwelling on the goodness of God instead of just doing work for Him.

I have ideas of things I want to teach at our young adult meetings, but the real message is beyond me because I don’t spend enough time really studying and mediating on God’s goodness. I don’t just want to teach a good lesson; I want to live a life that demonstrates what it means to enjoy God and bring Him glory in everything. God is good, and I want that to be the clear testimony of life, in word and deed, day in and day out. I want to have a reputation as someone who is… I don’t know what to call it. I want my heart to be completed captured by a love for God, and I want it to be apparent to everyone that he is my Source, my Light, My Joy. I want the message of God’s Supremacy to resound in my life like in does in Piper’s words. And, I want it not for myself, but so others will see God’s great worth – bringing Him glory and them great joy.

But how? How does that become the reality of my life? That’s the lesson I want to teach at church and in life. I’ve done having a passion for God’s glory and enjoying God lately, but they were messages focused on showing why it’s essential to have passion for God and to enjoy Him. But I can’t tell people how to become so caught up with amazement concerning God that they can’t help but display passion and joy in Him, because I haven’t found that all-encompassing joy in knowing Him yet either.

And yet, I know it begins with the inspiration from God to want to know him more. I’ve gotten a taste of how good He is, and I want more. I can give that to others. I know more comes from studying, meditating, and praying. I can engage in those actions more so my love of and understanding of God increases, and then I’ll have more to give others for His glory.

I’m loosely planning on teaching about “Fighting for a God-sized view of God” soon. I need to just write out my thoughts on that subject here, searching the Bible and meditating on what I find. Forget about teaching others – how do I get a God-sized view of God?

Why I didn’t see the Biblical basis for missions sooner

In my last post, I wrote about my question concerning how premillennialistic beliefs effect missions involvement. Having studied some more, I’ve come to a surprising realization. When I first read John Piper’s book, Let the Nations be Glad, I was stunned to discover a Biblical rationale for missions that went beyond saving souls or simply obeying God (both good, of course). I was stunned to find a way of looking at the Bible that made the Bible seem like it was oozing missions from every verse. The whole Bible testifies to God’s plan to save the nations, yet I’d rarely been presented with anything other than the Great Commission as a rationale for missions, making it seem like an afterthought. My belief in a Bible that was all about God’s desire to redeem the nations was reinforced when I took the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement class a couple years later.

Along with being blown away at how the Biblical text shows that God always intended to redeem some from every people group, I was mystified as to why I had never been taught that before. I had always been taught about the Great Commission and people’s need to hear of God, but I had never had anyone even give me a peak of what now seems like, in the words of Dumbrell, a “theological blueprint for the redemptive history of the world.” Why is it that no one had ever taught me (and I had never seen) that God has always planned to redeem some from every people group? Why aren’t we teaching people that missions is God’s heart and goal? Why is it an afterthought that’s based more on compassion for people than ensuring that God’s purpose in the world is achieved?

My stunning realization now that I’ve studied theological systems a little – I was never given the broader rationale for missions because it doesn’t exist in dispensational theology, and that’s what I’ve been exclusively exposed to in church. Dispensational theology teaches that national, physical Israel is God’s main purpose in history. The Church – and the salvation of the Gentiles, it seems – are a “parenthesis” in God’s plan that only occured because Israel rejected Jesus’ offer of an earthly kingdom, which is currently delayed as a result of their rejection. The Church is a temporary situation between God’s two dealings with national Israel. It seems as if dispensationalists believe that God didn’t always plan for the Church (and the Gentiles) to be a part of the plan of redemption; the Church and salvation of the Gentiles is a mystery (or afterthought) that occured only because of Israel’s rejection of Christ’s supposed offer of a physical Kingdom.

The broader Biblical basis for missions that I’ve come to believe in is, in contrast, influenced by covenant and new covenant theology. Covenant theology (CT) and new covenant theology (NCT) believes that God’s promises to Israel sometimes refer to a physical, national Israel, but sometimes refer to a spiritual Israel. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is. To CT and NCT proponents, Genesis 12:1-3 is a key text that shows how God has always planned to redeem some from all peoples. Abraham (and Old Testament Israel) are seen as a conduit of God’s blessings to all nations, not the only ones who God ever intended to bless (and redeem). Dispensationalists, on the other hand, interpret the passage “literally,” seeing the promise as being unto Abraham’s physical descendants. Accepting that the passage indicates God’s intention to redeem some from every nation undermines dispensational theology, since it shows the salvation of the Gentiles was as much the goal as the blessing of national Israel.

Numerous other Old Testament passages that I’ve come believe speak to God’s plan to redeem the nations have the same problem in dispensational theology – God can’t be revealing a plan to redeem all if that’s never been His intention, if the Church and the Gentiles are a parenthesis and an afterthought. And that is why I (and many, many others) have never been taught the Biblical basis for missions – because it doesn’t exist in somebody’s theological system.

Do premillennialistic beliefs lead to reduced missions involvement?

I’ve been thinking about this question since a recent Sunday school lesson. We were discussing end-times theology, and someone asked why it matters if you believe in premillennialism, postmillennialism, amillennialism, or preterism. The speaker responded that it matters since your beliefs about the end-times affects how you see the present day world and how you engage with it. His example was that since postmillennialists often believe Christians will be raptured before the tribulation, they often also believe the church will be in decline before Christ’s return. The end-times belief thus affects their view of the present day world, and it can lead to a “holding the fort” mentality that isn’t especially engaged in extending the Kingdom, whereas other end-times views can lead to a belief in a strong end-times church and greater involvement in extending the Kingdom of God around the world.

I’m curious about this since I’ve always held premillenialistic beliefs – I believe Christ will literally reign on the earth for 1,000 years after the current age has ended. Yet, I also believe in a strong end-times church. I don’t believe that the church will just continue getting weaker until God decides to rapture the few believers left and judge the lost. I believe that the church will continue to grow until the Gospel has been preached in every people group, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14).

I can understand how a belief in a strong or weak end-times church could effect the motivation to serve in missions. If you believe you are ushering in God’s Kingdom by pioneering new works among the unreached, you have a motivation for missions that people who are just trying to “hold the fort” until Jesus returns don’t have. For me, a primary motive for missions is seeing God get the glory he deserve from all the peoples he created – he’s not content to only be worshipped by some of them, and I’m not content with that either. Believing that God will find worshippers in every people group – and that the church will be victorious is being used to accomplish that – fuels both my passion for missions and my belief in a strong end-times church.

In John Piper’s words:

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

God receiving the worship of all the peoples of the world is the goal of missions. When the goal is met, missions stops, and the end will come in fulfillment of Matthew 24:14. The goal being met, however, requires a strong end-times church, since a weak church can’t reach all the nations. It doesn’t mean that every church is full of passionate believers, but that there is a viable church within every people group. And a global church – not a tribalistic one that only reaches some – is the strongest church history has ever seen, because it’s the church that fulfills God’s goal.