As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that I’m the only person in the world who reads through back issues of the Ann Arbor Baptist, a periodical from the late 1800s. But periodicals like that were the blogs of their era and within their pages I find such interesting articles and poems.” - Challies
“The American Bible Society released Chapter 3 of its State of the Bible 2023 report Thursday, titled ‘Flourishing and Hope.’” - CPost
Read the series.
Now we have to tackle the issue of identity. This is where we get down to brass tacks. Our first two principles taught us that (1) there are two kingdoms, Babylon and Jerusalem, and Babylon will lose, and also that (2) God’s kingdom is distinct from every nation state. So far, so abstract—what are Christians supposed to do with this information?
“Conspiracy theories, as unbelievable and problematic as they can be, provide adherents with both a sense of control and community.” - Kainos
“The first biblical principle is to ‘choose love not hate, as [our] posture’…. Second, we must ‘choose the Bible, not culture, as [our] authority.’” - Breakpoint
There are a lot of sins in the Bible. We don’t feel the same way about all of them, though, do we? Some sins trigger strong righteous indignation or an intense “ick” response. Others we barely notice.
We’re not entirely wrong to feel that way. Though there are not really any small sins, some are bigger than others. (See Bob Gonzales’ excellent study on that topic: The Greater Sin: Are There Degrees of Sin?).
But this range of reactions to different sins should prompt us to ask some questions.
Read the series.
In the last article, we discussed the most basic principle to rightly understand the “church v. state” conundrum. That principle was this—there are two kingdoms, Babylon and Jerusalem. Babylon will lose. Now we’ll build on this foundation and introduce the next building block:
Principle no. 2: God’s kingdom is distinct from every nation state.
“The internal peace we experience now has been directly connected to the following three shifts in our parenting: • train up, not tell up • should go, not shouldn’t go • old, not young” - Desiring God
“Such whole-life training, as extended preparation for healthy adulthood, is our calling as Christian parents, training both the outer person and behaviors as well as pressing through to the heart” - Desiring God
“…the oldest churchgoers (those over the age of 65) are the most likely to say they participated in any type of volunteer work in the previous year (40%).” - Lifeway
Discussion