An Opportunity to Advance

The newspaper and news sources in general can be depressing reading these days. No matter who wins in November, America and the world are in for uncertain times. Instead of ruminating over the negative possibilities, Christians should see all of what will be coming as opportunities. It's in uncertain times that Jesus entered the world. Israel was a captive nation with no political power. The church was birthed when Rome controlled nations from Great Britain to the coast of Africa and everything in between. The newly formed Church went about doing its job to bring the gospel to the nations. In time, Rome collapsed under its own fragile moral center, and the Church expanded, setting the moral agenda for the then-known world that is still impacting today's world.

While things look grave for our nation, there is not much comparison to what these early Christians faced. We still have the freedom to make changes at all levels of society. We only lack the will. There are millions of Christians who have taken a position similar to that of popular Bible teacher John MacArthur who states that "‘Reclaiming' the culture is a pointless, futile exercise."[1] He comes to this conclusion based on an eschatological reading of 2 Timothy 3. He quotes selective verses (vv. 1-5, and 13) in an effort to support his belief that Paul is describing the inevitable triumph of evil prior to the "rapture." These verses, cut off from their immediate context, could lead almost anyone to come to the same conclusion as MacArthur does at any point in history. A study of the entire passage, however, shows that Paul's message is not about the inevitability of evil over good. Paul compares the supposed progress of the ungodly in Timothy's day, the "last days" of Old Covenant Judaism (Heb. 1:1-2; 1 Cor. 10:11), to the overthrow of Jannes and Jambres in Moses' day (Ex. 7:11): "But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, as also that of those two [Jannes and Jambres] came to be" (2 Tim. 3:9).

Paul is forthright in encouraging Timothy that those who exhibit the deeds of wickedness will suffer the same fate as the two Egyptian sorcerers who served in Pharaoh's court, the most powerful kingdom of the day. Paul backs up his claim of optimism not with a treatise on end-time speculation but from an incident from the Old Testament that shows that God's people, through His providential care, triumph over wickedness:

Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs (Ex. 7:11-12).[2]

While it is true there is an attempt by the ungodly to dominate culture, and some are successful for a season, the fact is, that over time "they will not make further progress"; their fling with ungodliness is only temporary (cf. Rom. 1:18-32). Christians can be optimistic even if the actions of the ungodly increase in their own day. If Christians remain faithful in preaching the gospel and applying a biblical worldview to every area of life, the world can be changed. History and God's providential care are on our side.[3]

Paul, however, does not allow Christians to remain passive as the ungodly self‑destruct. Timothy has followed Paul's "teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, [and] sufferings" (2 Tim. 3:10-11), and he calls on us to do the same. While the ungodly expend capital from their contrary and corrupted worldview on present‑oriented living, the Christian is to develop future‑oriented spiritual capital to replace the bankrupt culture of secularism, humanism, materialism, relativism, and hedonism.

Notice that the characteristics of the ungodly are all self‑directed and short‑lived, summarized by the phrase "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Tim. 3:4). Sin is pleasurable for a time: "He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not become rich" (Prov. 21:17). The love of pleasure is no investment in the future.

The characteristics of the godly are future directed, foregoing the lure of present pleasures for the benefit of future productivity. Teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love and perseverance take time and energy from the present but result in future rewards. Moreover, even persecutions and sufferings should not deter future‑oriented Christians because "out of them all the Lord" delivers us (2 Tim. 3:11).

The ungodly are involved in a game of self-deception, so that even they are "being deceived" when they think their worldview will ultimately prevail. We also must remember the previous words of Paul: "But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all." While the ungodly burn themselves out on present-oriented living, the faithful steadily influence their world: "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of" (2 Tim. 3:14). In time, faithfulness will be rewarded: "And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary" (Gal. 6:9).

Paul does not deny "persecutions" and "sufferings" (2 Tim. 3:11). In fact, his words echo those of Jesus: "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Even so, Paul tells Timothy, "out of them all the Lord delivered me!" (2 Tim. 3:11). If God delivered Paul and the Christian church of the first century from Jewish persecution and Roman tyranny, what leads us to believe that God cannot and will not do the same today? A belief in the inevitability of certain prophetic events, the belief that we are the terminal generation, can lead to a spirit of malaise, indifference, and despair.

It's been said repeatedly that ideas have consequences. What a person believes about the future impacts how he lives in the present and plans for the days and years to come. We often look at present circumstances and see them as the standard to evaluate where we are in the world. Of course, we're not the first generation to do this (Num. 13-14), but it seems that we're the first to make it an article of faith.

Josef Tson, a Christian leader from Romania, was challenged in 1977 by a friend to help set up an organization that would expose communism. Pastor Tson's response was startling given the oppressive regime that dominated his country. He assured his Christian friend that "Communism is an experiment that has failed. It wasn't able to fulfill any of its promises and nobody believes in it any more. Because of this, it will one day collapse on its own. Now, why should I fight something that is finished? I believe that our task is a different one. When communism collapses, somebody has to be there to rebuild society! I believe our job as Christian teachers is to train leaders so that they will be ready and capable to rebuild our society on a Christian basis." Who could conceive of such a future scenario given the seemingly indestructible nature and advance of Communism and the claimed inevitability of apocalyptic doom?

Pastor Tson's friend challenged him by claiming that "Communism will triumph all over the world, because that is the movement of the Antichrist. And when the communists take over in the United States, they will then kill all the Christians. We have only one job to do: to alert the world and make ready to die." Eventually, both men were forced to leave Romania. Pastor Tson started a training program for Christian leaders who remained in Romania. His friend, as Pastor Tson tells the story, "has not done anything for Romania. He simply waited for the final triumph of communism and the annihilation of Christianity." Contrary to his friend's expectations, neither event came to pass.

The Communist regime in Romania fell, and President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were captured, tried, and found guilty of genocide. They were executed on December 25, 1989. The remaining Communists were swept from power in later elections. Pastor Tson trained more than a thousand people all over Romania. Today, these people are the leaders in churches in evangelical denominations and in key Christian ministries. Who could have imagined such a development? Certainly not prophecy writers who had assured us that Communism was the inevitable end-time movement to usher in the antichrist. Pastor Tson understood that eschatology matters: "You see, the way you look to the future determines your planning and your actions. It is the way you understand the times that determines what you are going to do."

[1] John F. MacArthur, Jr., The Vanishing Conscience: Drawing the Line in a No-Fault, Guilt-Free World (Dallas, TX: Word Publishing, 1994), 12.

[2] For a study of the "magic" used by the Egyptians, see Gary DeMar, Thinking Straight in a Crooked World: A Christian Defense Manual (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2001), 252-254.

[3] Francis Herbert Stead, The Story of Social Christianity, 2 vols. (London: James Clarke & Co., Limited, 1924) and Phillips Brooks, The Influence of Jesus (New York: Dutton, 1980) and J. Wesley Bready, England: Before and After Wesley-The Evangelical Revival and Social Reform (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1939).

“..there is not much comparison to what these early Christians faced.”

We know that the early Christians faced many hardships because of persecutions by Romans and others. What does not seem to be understood by modern day Christians is that the degree of persecution in the 20th century and today was and is more severe than in the first centuries in the Christian era.

Start counting how many Christians were martyred during the Boxer Rebellion in China, during WWII by Stalin and Hitler, by Mao Tse Tung and now by Muslims and Hindus, and you’ll find out that things have not changed much during the past 19 centuries. Then think how Christianity is being maligned in Europe and right here at home.

And what all these persecutors never understood is that Christians were probably their best and most loyal citizens. The Christian’s only demand has always been that their beliefs, traditions, moral values and right to worship God, as they see fit, was not denied.

What does not seem to be understood by modern day Christians is that the degree of persecution in the 20th century and today was and is more severe than in the first centuries in the Christian era....

...what all these persecutors never understood is that Christians were probably their best and most loyal citizens. The Christian’s only demand has always been that their beliefs, traditions, moral values and right to worship God, as they see fit, was not denied.

Rome was cruel, and its cruelty can perhaps be best pictured by the events which took place in the arena in Rome itself. People seated above the arena floor watched gladiator contests and Christians thrown to the beasts. Let us not forget why the Christians were killed. They were not killed because they worshiped Jesus....Nobody cared who worshiped whom so long as the worshiper did not disrupt the unity of the state, centered in the formal worship of Caesar....First, we can say [the Christians] worshiped Jesus as God and they worshiped the infinite-personal God only. The Caesars would not tolerate this worshiping of the one God only. It was counted as treason. Thus, they worship became a special threat to the unity of the state...If they had worshiped Jesus and Caesar, they would have gone unharmed...
Francis A. Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?, pp 24, 26

As far as which century(1st or 20th century)has been the worst century for Christians to live in I would have to say the 1st Century was probably the worst century to live in as far as Christianity is concerned. My comment is based on the observation that persecutions in the 20th have been Isolated to small pockets around the world. Mostly small political empires that don't last very long, As far as servility of persecutions in either century I think that would be debatable but as far as % of Christians world wide I would have to say the % of Christians persecution during the 1st century was a lot greater then the 20th century, but then again the numbers of Christians during the 1st century was a lot less and more isolated to the middle east area.

And may I also add as technology of things like the Internet increase around the world, these small pockets of ungodly governments and ungodly religions seem to have a shorter life to them.

Amen, brother!

GOD'S PLAN FOR VICTORY IN THE WORLD

Matthew 28:19, after His resurrection, but before His ascension, the Lord Jesus announces that “all authority” has been given to Him, both in heaven and on earth.
1 Corinthians 15:25, Hebrews 1:13, the Lord Jesus reigns over the earth and must continue to reign until “all His enemies are placed under His feet.”
Matthew 28:19-20, the Lord Jesus commands His people to “disciple the nations” teaching them to submit to the reign of King Jesus
Philippians 2:9-11, God has exalted the name of Jesus and commands that “every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on the earth and under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father…”
Conclusion; the promises of God in the Old Testament are BEING fulfilled right now, in time, not just the future. We therefore ought to expect the Kingdom of God, though troubled, persecuted and infiltrated by the Enemy, to prosper and be victorious in the world, BEFORE the eternal state!...

While I strongly believe the church to be victorious, I do not believe that necessarily translates into social conditions. The fact remains that our Lord Jesus will return to a world where He will dispense judgment. The Biblical history of mankind is devolution-not evolution. We saw it in the garden. We saw it before the flood. We saw it with Israel and again with Judah. And, if we’re honest, we can see it in church history with the corruption of the Church and the Reformation. God light shines forth and mankind corrupts it. The Reformation (Protestantism) has been corrupted.

I don’t wish to rain on anyone’s parade and sound like a downer, but society will continue to devolve into corruption. Christians are not suppose to worry about such things. Whatever happens, God just calls on us to be faithful to Him. This world is not our home.

The curse was broken; Christ paid the penalty. However, we still go back into the ashes from where we came. We do not live forever in this form. At some point in time we will become the physical new creatures Christ has promised us and we will live forever. But not yet. To say that everything is perfect and correct as it was in the garden because the curse is broken just is not supported by the facts around us.

What Christ DID do when He broke the curse is to give us the Holy Spirit who dwells inside us. He saved us spiritually and we have become new creatures in Christ. I think Christians cannot fully appreciate the Holy Spirit indwelling our lives or what that means. God's Spirit guides and directs us. This is unlike anything that ever took place in the Old Testament except in a few instances. David was filled with the Holy Spirit all the days of his life and people constantly refer to him as a wonderful and powerful king. Now we have LOTS of people running around with the Holy Spirit like David. We simply don't appreciate the Spirit work simply because it is so common.

I was going to add a caveat to my statement but am not sure if this will be misconstrued as some sort of legalism. It is not meant to be and there is a lot behind this statement. History shows where the people of God are faithful to God, God blesses the society around them and they have peace. When God's people are not faithful, society becomes distorted and oppression takes place. Essentially, oppression is the result of God's people being unfaithful. It is not the forces of the world because God controls the unbelievers as much as the believers. Oppression occurs because of the failing of God's people and it is His way of calling them to repentance which can manifest itself over hundreds of years.

Harley,

I'm trying to reconcile these two statements:

While I strongly believe the church to be victorious, I do not believe that necessarily translates into social conditions.

and

History shows where the people of God are faithful to God, God blesses the society around them and they have peace. When God's people are not faithful, society becomes distorted and oppression takes place. Essentially, oppression is the result of God's people being unfaithful.

If a faithful people of God brings blessing to the society, how is that not considered social improvement?

Further, if a faithful people of God comes to be the predominant segment of a society, how can that not lead to the possibility of even great social improvement?

I would define faithful people of God as being controlled and guided by the Holy Spirit, a sort of collective sanctification. I would further define conditions since the time of Christ and giving of the Holy Spirit in great abundance as vastly superior to conditions from the fall until the time of Christ's first coming.

I'm trying to reconcile these two statements:

That is one of the reasons I hesitated to bring it up on a forum like this; its a very difficult piece of theology but one that I believe to be correct. OP said many times this world is the Christians' training ground. I think that is a brilliant observation. We are here to suffer in Christ's death (Rom 8:17).

Scriptures repeatedly shows us that when times get good, believers get complacent. The only way Christians can grow is through adversity in which God chastens us. Consequently, throughout history God brings great challenges to His people, hiding His face and bringing us back to Him. It's like great peaks and valleys; waves of history if you will. History shows this throughout the Old and New Testament. It is no different in the Christian realm then it was for the Jews. Social improvement that we see is temporary, at the crest of one of these "waves".

I would define faithful people of God as being controlled and guided by the Holy Spirit, a sort of collective sanctification.

With all due respect TC, this is a very Catholic definition. God's Spirit is put in every believer and God guides that person individually. Every Christian is sealed with God's Spirit, individually. Every believer, if we were perfectly attuned to God's Spirit, would walk as Christ walked. However, we're not that attuned to the things above in our fallen state. Some are more attuned than others simply by the grace of God, to execute His will.

With all due respect TC, this is a very Catholic definition. God's Spirit is put in every believer and God guides that person individually.

There is really nothing “Catholic” about it if you understand the views of the Reformation-era churches. I’m afraid it may sound foreign to many because of our common American evangelical heritage of rugged fundamentalist individualism.

It’s very plain from the Bible that God guides the Church collectively (cf. Matt. 18:20; John 16:13; 20:22,23; 1 Cor. 14:29; ). That should seem obvious since the Church is, by definition, a collective entity. Under Christ’s headship, it is governed by groups of men (Acts 15:; 20:17; Eph. 4:11)

It is the responsibility of the leaders to guide the flock into all truth. This includes the truth of righteous living. It is the rugged individualism in us that often turns our back on the collective wisdom of God’s people, esp. the leadership, and the result is self-induced suffering (1 Peter 4:15).

While I don’t dispute the motion that God’s people can be strengthened during times of legitimate suffering, I certainly not convinced from Scripture that that is to be the expected norm for us as we move forward in human history.

1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2)

Paul tells Timothy that we are to pray for our civil leaders and for a peaceful society for two reasons; 1) to that things might go well with us and our children to enjoy a quiet and peaceable life, and 2) that the gospel may advance freely and that men might come to the knowledge of the Savior.

I believe this is what the Scriptures outlines as the normal course for a society that is governed privately and corporately by the Law-Word of God. Will it ever be perfect this side of eternity? Absolutely not. But there is no reason for us to view as normal the aberration we saw in places like the Judges with Israel was without the benefit of the full dispensation of the Holy Spirit. And I also do not believe that the condition of the 1st century Church as a small persecuted minority was ever intended by the apostles as a model for all future generations of believers.

Or, as it was expressed by Isaac Watts:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

There is really nothing “Catholic” about it ...It is the responsibility of the leaders to guide the flock into all truth.

Without a doubt there is truth to the fact that there is a church hierarchical structure, outlined in scripture. We, as Protestants, rely upon the traditions hand down in the creeds and writings. But what makes up the "church" and it's leaders certainly can be argued. Some would say the Pope is the leader while others would say Joel Osteem or Rick Warren. I'm sure we would not agree with any of this.

We are exhorted by our Protestant fathers to search the scriptures; after all that is what sola scriptura is all about. We "know" people by their fruit. The ONLY way we can have the wisdom to "know" is through the work of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives. We compared things around us to the holy scriptures of God. The Bereans didn't take the apostles word for it but they searched the scriptures to compare what the apostles were telling them with what the scriptures stated. But it is the Holy Spirit that helps us in our understanding. After all is said and done, each of us is responsible for our own actions before God; including our obedience to church leaders.

But there is no reason for us to view as normal the aberration we saw in places like the Judges with Israel was without the benefit of the full dispensation of the Holy Spirit.

Consequently, I don't view Judges as an aberration. It is exactly like everything else in scripture. God led the people, and when they transgressed against His rule, He chasten them with other nations. When they cried for help, He sent a judge to bring them back to Him. This is the way God works in our lives to help us to see that we need to rely upon Him and what stiff necked people we are.

This was the way it was in Judges until the people asked the last judge, Samuel, to appoint for them a king. God pointedly told the people that the path they were choosing was to rejected God as their King over them. Instead they wanted what everyone else had. He gave them what they wanted much to their demised but this is exactly the way we are. I would suggest the church (Church) is much that same way as the people in Judges. Instead of the church relying upon God to be their King and Lord, we desire rulers to rule over us.

The Holy Spirit was given to us so that we can rely upon God being our King again. Yet, we would like other rulers.

I don't wish to offend because I have a great admiration for you and your knowledge of scripture (no flattery intended). Please note what you've stated. This is the very same argument we get from our Catholic friends about their magisterium.

Either you do not understand what I'm saying or you do not understand the concept of the magisterium, or both.

The magisterial Reformers, apart from any RC influences, clearly had a concept of Christendom which they drew directly from the Bible. Calvin’s Geneva was a perfect example. The Puritan and Presbyterian colonies of the New World were another. They believed in godly spiritual leadership extended to society that did not in any way coerce the individual liberty purchased for us by Christ. They also believe in a confessional approach to church theology and polity that safeguarded the integrity of the both the collective and the individual.

Now, unless you are arguing for the right of individual to espouse heresy or sinful/criminal behavior, I do not see how anything I wrote would oppose your ideas.

You just do not advance enough from the old covenant people (“a church under age” according to the Westminster Confession) to the fuller redemption of Jesus Christ and pouring forth of the Holy Spirit. The Church is not a monolith in time. Conditions have change. Advancements have been made. The gospel has been made clearer to a greater number of people who have had a greater influence on their societies.

Unless you wish to deny the place of the Resurrection and Pentecost in Church history you cannot sustain the argument that the condition of Israel under the Judges was ever intended to document a normative state for the Church in all ages.

I note that you ignored my reference and commentary on 1 Timothy 2:1-4. I believe that is a critical text if we are going to explore the idea of gospel progress within society.

There will always be rulers in any society, civil or ecclesiastical. That is that way God has ordained things. God appointed elders and priests in Israel to govern the state and the church respectively. The failure of Israel was that the wanted a king like all the other (pagan) nations. God said that He would be their king with the administration left to vice-regents (priests and elders). Similarly, we have no king in the Church (the concept of a single pope is unbiblical). Rule is by vice-regents, undershepherds, the elders of the Church.

To propose we be free of rulers is unbiblical anarchy.

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