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Preachin's Blog A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way. |
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![]() Tuesday, September 21, 2004 On Evangelicals Seeking a KingI have been doing some studies in the book of Judges recently and have been blessed. One of my recent readings has taken me to Judges 9:7-21. The text is below from the Holman Christian Standard: 7 When they told Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and called to them: Listen to me, lords of Shechem, and may God listen to you: 8 The trees set out to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, "Reign over us." 9 But the olive tree said to them, "Should I stop giving my oil that honors both God and man, and rule over the trees?" 10 Then the trees said to the fig tree, "Come and reign over us." 11 But the fig tree said to them, "Should I stop giving my sweetness and my good fruit, and rule over trees?" 12 Later, the trees said to the grapevine, "Come and reign over us." 13 But the grapevine said to them, "Should I stop giving my wine that cheers both God and man, and rule over trees?" 14 Finally, all the trees said to the bramble, "Come and reign over us." 15 The bramble said to the trees, "If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon." 16 "Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have rewarded him appropriately for what he did-- 17 for my father fought for you, risked his life, and delivered you from the hand of Midian, 18 and now you have attacked my father's house today, killed his 70 sons on top of a large stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his slave, king over the lords of Shechem because he is your brother 19 if then, you have acted faithfully and honestly with Jerubbaal and his house this day, rejoice in Abimelech and may he also rejoice in you. 20 But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the lords of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the lords of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech." Now this is found immediately after the Gideon narrative where Gideon had been asked by the Nation of Israel to become their king and rule over them. (Judges 8:22) Gideon had, rightly, rejected their offer and rejected for his sons (since it was common practice to have a son rule after the father.) Gideon rebuked the Nation of Israel and told them that only God should rule over them (Judges 8:23). This, of course, did not satisfy the Israelites and they continued their quest to find a king. A quest that would ultimately be satisfied in Saul. Abimelech was one of the sons of Gideon; Israel had approached Abimelech and asked him to be their king and he obliged their request. In the process he hired some foolish men and they ended killing his 70 brothers, making Abimelech the only heir to the throne (Judges 9:4). Now in examining this text one things stands out clearly, the trees ask the olive tree, who rejects them, and then finally work their way down to a bramble (which is a thorn bush.) This is interesting for they start with a tree that produces a valued commodity and is a source of strength then they have to go to a lesser tree, the fig tree. After these two have rejected the trees they are forced to go to the grapevine, which isn't a tree. Then finally they must go to the bramble, a thorn bush, which will choke the trees and encumber them. There is a pattern of degradation in quality of their choice as they seek to place one over them. (BTW: This is the pattern of Israel, they asked the greater first and finally settled for the worst i.e. Saul) Now what am I getting at here? Well I have been greatly disturbed by the recent trends in evangelicalism to allow a particular political party to court and be intricately involved with aspects of the church that it has no reason to be participating. I have mentioned else where in my blog that I am disturbed by the two-faced use of evangelicals during a political convention to attempt to curry their many votes. We are seeing a modern day choice by certain evangelical leaders to place over us a leader that is not of God and is a poor choice at best. Politics has no place in the Kingdom of God nor within Christ's bride. It is foolish to suggest, as has been done by some leaders of evangelicalism, that it is our moral and Christian obligation to vote for a particular candidate. We are leading ourselves down a pathway where Christianity will be used and abused by politicians until it isn't useful, and then it will be cast aside on the road of life. We are the Church, we are the Bride of Christ, we have no place in bringing glad-handing politicos into our sanctuaries to promote their causes. Our purity as the Bride is at stake when we allow pandering political profligates to invade our holy places and worship times to promise us foolish mammon. Some of our pastors and leaders in evangelicalism have become so enfranchised with the possibility of political power that they will sell the Bride wholesale to the lowest, and quickest bidder to get their fix satisfied. I weep at the prospect that our credibility as the Church is lost when our leaders attempt to use Christianity as a cruel fulcrum to leverage their political muscle. We have allowed some of the holy men among us to lead us astray. We need to refute these actions and act like the Bride ought to act. Am I saying we shouldn't be involved in the society at large? Of course not, for we certainly should be. Yet it is clear that when we do act in our society it must be under the most holy and purest of pretenses. We hold large rallies for placing the Ten Commandments in public places yet when we ask for volunteers to aid the soup kitchen we are shorthanded. We see long lines of protestors against "gay days" and other reprehensible moral activity, but forget that we are turning away the ones Christ came to minister to. We must remember that we cannot require non-Christians to act Christianly. When we as the Church act it must be done with the clearest of intentions towards holiness. We don't need Christian politicians, we need politicians that are Christians. I know many good Christian people that are Democrats but are afraid to tell anyone in their local church this for fear of reprisal and marginalization. Being an evangelical doesn't mean you have to be a Republican! The Republican platform fails at certain points in light of the Gospel, just as the Democratic platform fails at certain points. Also, both of these parties' platforms carry various aspects that are more in line with the Gospel than the other. Have we gone to the bramble in our attempt to convert the culture and asked it to encumber us so we might get our wills accomplished faster? I believe we have. Our recourse of the Church is not to legislate against people to force a change, it is to reach people with the Gospel and convert them to show them why they need to change. Legislative Christianity has never been as affecting to a culture as soul-winning Christianity. Look at the history of our nation after the various awakenings, because Christ was preached and souls converted moral and social change took place. The activities of a changed soul drastically affect more positive impact for the Gospel than a forced legislative solution ever will. We are the Bride, we need not sell ourselves out to the bramble. Don't forget that soon after both Abimelech and Israel were punished for their actions. Abimelech grew power hungry and during a stage of conquest was mortally wounded by a woman (a humiliating way to die for a Hebrew) and had his armor-bearer kill him. Abimelech died in humiliation and defeat. Israel would again be under judgment from God. In an attempt to satisfy their desires for power and fame some of our evangelical leaders have sold out the Bride and embraced a schema that leads us all down a poor path. They have forgotten that they are called to something better and higher than wallowing in the filth of this world and leaving their pearls before the swine. They have forgotten that converting one soul brings more reward than getting blue laws passed or banning a particular activity from our society. They have lost the passion for the souls of the pagan, and have embraced the false passion of recognition and acceptance by certain members in our society. Christianity is not about accomodation regardless of political credo, it is about being separate from the world and acting rightly regardless of popular vote. Have hope and believe that Christ's way is better than our quick, fast fixes. If our culture does degrade to the point where Christianity it illegal does that mean the Bride will sully herself in order to make it comfortable for those in the assembly? We are to act rightly and live holy. We should not be satisfied with selling ourselves to the bramble. posted by Preachin Jesus | 9:10 AM | |
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