Everyone had to go back to their own city and register for the census so Joseph, who was from the was living in Galilee in the small city of Nazareth, had to go back to province of Judea to Bethlehem, which is the city of David—who was his family—in order to register along with Mary, his pregnant fiancée.

While they were there she came to term and gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

It was in this same area that some shepherds who were out in the fields and watching their flock by night were surprised and horrendously frightened by the sudden appearance of an angel of the Lord, shining in glory and brightness.

“Don’t be afraid” the angel said to them “For I bring you good news of great joy which will be for everyone; today, in the city of David, there has been born for all of you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Then suddenly there appeared a multitude of heavenly beings praising God and saying “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom God is pleased!”

After the angels had disappeared, the shepherds quickly decided what they had to do: “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has revealed to us.”

So they came in a hurry and found their way to Bethlehem, to a stable outside of an inn, and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger—the very sign they were told to look for. When they saw this they related the story to the parents and all those nearby who were all perplexed and astounded by the story the shepherds told them.

And although Mary kept these things in her heart and thought about them for many years, that evening the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God aloud for all that they had heard and seen, just as they had been told by God.

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All these things that we do with an expectation of a return; we do it just right, we get a cosmic ‘Attaboy.

Of course, as a Christian, we don’t expect that the fates or the cosmos are doing anything like that—we push that up to God. We preach the right message, God will give an ‘attaboy: people will get saved. We make the right choices, the ones by the soft still voice, then God will give an ‘attaboy and prosper us, maybe not physically but definitely spiritually.

By the way, if you’re not picking up my sarcasm, I think this is false.

Oh, someone might say: we know, we know; spiritual blessings will definitely come in the next world. But we really know that Christ’s blessings come today, in general, when we do the right thing. We can point out Christian heroes that this worked out exactly this way. George Mueller prayed the right way, rested on the Lord the right way and the Lord rewarded him by providing for him in just the right way. You see—God prospered him because he relied on God! God is no man’s debtor; judge nothing before its time but know that in general God will reward today!

Ah, but if blessings come for doing the right thing how about all those Saints (the majority) that haven’t been rewarded in the here and now for anything they did? Maybe the end of their good work was a bloody death?

When Paul said “judge nothing before its time” it was right after he had said that he doesn’t know the quality of his own work and won’t even judge himself: let the Lord judge (1 Cor 4). Oh sure, at the point where he’s arrived at what he thought was the end of his life he sits back and says that yeah, he ran the good race and fought the good fight—but what did he have to show for it? He wrote to Timothy asking for him to bring Mark and a coat because he’s been mistreated by some and abandoned by others (2 Tim 4). He did as much as he could but wasn’t looking for a reward in general now—he was standing confident before the Lord for the judgment later on because of what Christ has done; not anything he had done.

Or what about Peter. Sure he could lead his wife about (that’s good) as he preached here and there (that’s good too, right?) but eventually he’d come to a point in his life where it all looks like it’s over. Christians are lighting up the town; Paul imprisoned and beheaded on the side of a road; he, Peter, expecting to be crucified like His master. No reward in the now.

How about all the disciples with all their good acts forgotten by history although the Kingdom spread—by which names or whose sacrifices, we won’t know on this side of eternity. How about the thousands of believers who have died in some country where no one remembers them, much less the message they preached? How about the preachers, right now, doing a good work in undisclosed locations—do you think God is rewarding them all in general right now? Even the ones in the reddest parts of China or the darkest parts of the Sudan?

Yeah, this idea of God rewarding you right now, or even giving you a pat on the back right now, is false teaching. It’s only obvious when an obnoxious person like me highlights it and makes everyone uncomfortable by saying this stuff; making everyone wonder if what they’re doing is right or wrong.

Here’s the promise of God: Christ has conquered already, trust Him (not your actions) and you will be saved. Trust Him (not your actions) and He will continue to save others. Hold on to Him, grip to Him and act in emulation of Him. Stop looking for the divine ‘attaboy in your day to day, you’ve seen Christ take up His cross—you do the same: rely on the promises of God which are yes and amen only because Christ has been raised from the dead.

That’s huge people. God rescued Christ from the dead—that’s where the hope is. Not in God scratching me (or you) behind the ears with a paycheck or a pat. When it happens, don’t take it as the reward for you doing something; take it as the care by your heavenly Father who has more concern for people than he does for flowers and birds. But not an ‘attaboy.

And weep; its okay to weep. Weep when the problems arrive. Shiver when it is cold. Cry when the bills can’t be paid. Weeping, not as if it is the end, but as a person who is living on the edge of a future which we know is better. Shiver, not as if it is the end of the world, but as a person who is living on the edge of a future which we know is better. Allow these soul wrenching things to carry the weight of sorrow that they are due but give Christ’s victory the overwhelming weight that it is due. Join the choir of the saints: “How long, O’ Lord? How long?”( Revelation 6:10)

It’s so easy, to point out what’s a false teaching when the thing is on television. There’s the tele-evangelist, clapping his hands and saying that God is no man’s debtor; that God rewards those who respond to His will; that although we should “judge nothing before its time” we do know that God prospers a man according to what he gives. Give more to the Lord and He will give more to you. Yes, says the preacher, this is a message for the future but this is a message for today—a promise we can lay hold on, as the Word of God says “the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ”! Easy peasy; the guy looks like he’s teaching error. He’s sporting the shining ring. He’s flashing the UV brightened smile.

It’s harder to point out the false teaching when it’s sincerely and softly spoken from the pulpit or the pastor or the pal. Point it out we must. By doing so we unshackle the people: the people who are listening and noticing that their situation sucks, that all they have are tears, that their preaching seems unfruitful, that their loss is great—these people realize that the expectation for ‘attaboys is false but the expectation in God’s promises are sure because Christ reigns; the people who are preaching this stuff, so that they can stop and realize that they’ve stepped off of their only true foundation and instead are standing on their situations—and that is a very shaky place to stand.

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This doesn’t only apply to clothing. There’s nothing in Scripture against movies (well, certain kinds of movies anyway) but movies can also fall under the usage I plan to explain here. There’s nothing in Scripture against cell phones, iPods, video game systems, cartoons or cheerios either—but all of these will fall underneath the same header: Things that can one can use to illustrate the Gospel.

Right about now I envision millions of Christian teens frenetically planning how they’re going to use their movie-going freedom to illustrate the Gospel. I Watch Movies For Christ, emblazoned on tee-shirts.

That’s not what I’m talking about at all. Sidebar: look at the apostle Paul.

This guy preached the Gospel twenty four-seven. He went on several missionary journeys, on foot and boat, and suffered beatings, stonings, lashes, and imprisonment. The dude’s situation was so bad that he had a doctor as part of his entourage, and even then he would admit that the marks of Christ on his body were visible.

Not only that, God was in this guy’s corner. The Lord had already established a pattern in the Old Testament that those who work are to be fed; more so a prophet of God. Heck, one of God’s prophets stays at a poor widow’s house during a famine, demands food (which she provides), and makes himself at home.  All of the Lord’s ministers have this right (not an optional benefit, a right), to be supported in their ministry as they work preaching the Gospel.

Knowing his right Paul could go into an area, preach, and accept monetary gifts from the people.

Yet Paul rejected his rights.

When he was in Corinth he refused to accept money, and instead took a job making sails and tents. Not only that, he supported his missionary team with the money he made, refusing to let the Corinthians cover their expenses.

He took his freedom, threw it away, and illustrated the Gospel.

This is the way Christ loved: He, who was the omnipotent and sovereign God, became weak, under the Law, so that he might save the weak that were condemned by the Law.

Let it sink in. Total freedom to do what they wanted, abrogated and repacked to show the amount of love they have for others.

Back to clothing (and cell phones, movies, video game systems, cartoons and cheerios): even though we have the complete right to do what we want with them, we shouldn’t see them as chance to satisfy our temporary desires. We don’t need more tracts to hand out; we don’t need more verses to quote; we don’t need more Hallmark cards to hand out to each other: we can use our freedom in life to illustrate the Gospel to others.

Run off and print out a badge “I Can Wear What I Want; But I Don’t Because I Love You.”

Bottom Line: Wearing a tie to Church is a complete non-issue. You can do it or you can’t do it; yet here’s a person (be it a pastor, an elder, a teacher or a friend) who thinks that not-wearing a tie is sinful or blasphemous or a bad example. You can tell them face to face that not only is it not-sinful, it is a non-issue and because it is a non-issue you will wear a tie because you love them. Say it and mean it. Don’t merely capitulate and let them wallow in weakness; wear the tie and say “It hurts my neck, but I’ll wear it because I love you.”

Timothy went and got himself circumcised¹ because he loved; wearing a tie is easy.

Therefore realize that our freedoms aren’t merely there to satisfy forty five minutes of our time on earth, but are actually God granted packets of eternity; moments where we can exemplify the love of God to others.

The verses that influenced my thinking are 1 Corinthians 9 (on Paul); Acts 16:1-3; 1 Kings 17; 1 Corinthians 8 (on Freedom); Rom 15

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Death is often stated (from the Pulpit) as an individual punishment (Heb 9:27) due to Adam’s sin (Romans 5). Sometimes this point is defined by Adam being a federal head of the human race which sinned in him (cf Hebrew 7). Another way this point is defined is that Adam’s sin brought a fatal weakness by which all then sin (not all have sinned). Either way, it was the day that Adam ate of the tree that he “died” in some sense but was ultimately to die (Gen 3) and was repulsed from the Garden (for fear of the expectation that he might be able to live). Now the important death listed here is the separation from God—not so much the physical death.

Some Full Preterists further the argument by stating that we need saving from Adam’s Death—not Abel’s Death. Here, they raise the point that Abel died before Adam and if it was a physical resurrection to save from physical death then we are only addressing Abelian Death, not Adamic death. Now, ignoring the logical problem of the argument (specifically that Abel was the Son of Adam and therefore his death would be an evidential marker of what was already happening in Adam, even if it had not culminated in physical death yet^[1]) I think that Full Preterists, and some Pulpit speakers, have made a mistake in ignoring how fatal (ahem)Death—including Physical Death actually is.

A Nazarite (Num 6) would take a vow where he would commit his service to the Lord for a specific amount of time. During that time he would ensure that his hair remained unshorn—unless he touched a corpse. In that case, the Nazarite would have to cut his hair and start over again. The same restriction (about touching corpses) was laid at the feet of the Levites (Lev 22). An individual who touched a corpse was considered defiled (Num 19:11). The overnight hanging of a corpse would not only condemn the punished but would defile the land (Deut 21:23)

Now, all this sounds horrendously pagan until one notes how God does in fact purify when He punishes on his own. The violence that ran rampant within humanity (Gen 6) was enough to grieve the heart of God, but even in the midst of all that God finds it necessary to purge the land by wiping out people (Gen 7-9). Now, ignoring any debate if the flood with local or universal, the point is that God’s method of cleaning the slate was not only by ending the lives of the people—but by outright removing the corpses with water. The flood purified, as it were, the place where God would deal with people.

Likewise, the Law stipulates that the corpses are not offered to God on their own; they are cut up and laid on the altar and consumed by fire (Lev 1). Here you have individuals dealing with corpses all the time yet not falling under the same sort of restrictions regarding corpses (Lev 22) because of what they’re doing with them. The national individuals who were defiled by touching a corpse, had several days to become purified lest they get cut off from the covenantal community (Num 19:13).

It seems, then that Death is not only a defiler—it is Antithetical to the Living God (who was, and is, and is to be) known also as The God of the Living (Matt 22:32) ^[2]. Death is the epitomizing of a realm that stands over and against God—not in the dualistic sense of Two Spheres of God’s operation, but in the sense of an enemy that had no natural existence when everything was naturally attached to God. So Death is not merely Spiritual with Repercussions; it is a system that is completely antithetical with a sphere of separation at every level, epitomized in the Physical expression. God hates death at every level—it always defiles.

Therefore, even though Abel died before Adam, the fact that Abel died (and Adam was in the process of dying), was only part (a major part) of the pollution that Adam had embraced^[3]. By no longer being under the purview and operation of God, he cut himself, and his progeny off from Life and finds himself embracing death^[4] at every level. The Death that God is worried about is not only Spiritual; it is Relational, Operational and it is Physical^[5]. Man, not only dies, but he is judged on the eternal scale in comparison to God (Rom 3:23). Man not only sins unto death apart from God^[6] , he does good apart from God and that is all him screaming the his enmity (Isaiah 64:6; Col 1:21; Eph 2:5) ^[7].

In light of this, we can only then properly understand what was happening on the cross. It was not only that Christ was atoning (with whatever meaning people want to insert into that theological term) but that Christ, the Lord’s Anointed, physically died. Even though Jesus Christ was likely reminding himself of the victory in God by citing that portion of Psalm 22, there was a very real sense where God, of necessity, had to push Him away as He died.

I don’t think we’ll ever understand the scope of what occurred there.

But I think we can safely say some things about why a physical resurrection, is of the first order, necessary. For Christ to die willingly and according to the plan of God, makes God taking death into the picture to rob it of its destructive power. The Living God died; waited under Death’s grip, and then got up.

Theologically speaking, a submission to a physical death and separation must of necessity result in a physical resurrection and vindication to be a real victory. A victory that only answers the second portion (via vindication) without addressing the public and physical is only a hollow victory. Theologically speaking, Death must be addressed at every single level to be finally declared conquered (1 Cor 15:57).

This is why believers can properly rejoice even in death (or falling asleep); we know that our ultimate end is not to become Spirit, but to await a physically resurrected body (2 Cor 5:1-5). Christians can properly rejoice knowing that Christ’s victory has been secured^[8] and ours is definitely insured…not that we don’t get sick, but that ultimate death has no holds^[9].

At this point, I think that John including the story of the resurrection of Lazarus is significant to his Gospel account and to the point of John 11’s discussion with Martha specifically. Both bodies lain within a tomb. Both draped in funeral cloth. Both the cause of much sorrow. Both tomb stones rolled away; one by people, the other by unknown hands. Both clothes removed; one by people, one by unseen hands. Both stepping out of the tomb; one of his own volition, the other predicated on the voice of Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25). Both physical resurrections; one with a body that can be plotted against (John 12:10); one with a body that would never die again (John 20:27). And then, Paul states that it is this resurrection of Christ that is the first-fruits (1 Cor 15:20).

Therefore, Christians should understand that there is absolutely no theological reason to expect a resurrection different in operation from Christ’s own resurrection; that is, our resurrection must also address the relational, operational, spiritual and physical. Christians have a real theological expectation to be rescued from Adam’s death en-toto^[10]. Christ will tell us to Get Up, just as He told Lazarus (1 Thes 4:13-18). Death, at every level, becomes the last enemy by which Christ has already conquered^[11], allowing us presently to conquer in our spiritual lives^[12] and will most definitely be ultimately conquered physically and permanently (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).

^[2]Dallas Theological Seminary. (1988; 2002). Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 145 (145:408). Dallas Theological Seminary.

^[3]Dunn, J. D. G. (2002). Vol. 38A: Word Biblical Commentary : Romans 1-8. Word Biblical Commentary (273). “As in the broader sweep of Jewish thought also, there is no suggestion of a distinction between “spiritual” and “physical” death: human weakness (5:6), the corruptibility of the flesh (see on 1:3 and 7:5), and death are all of a piece in that they characterize the whole sweep of creaturely alienation from the Creator (cf. Kuss; against Schmidt). “Sin” and “death,” appearing here for the first time as interdependent categories, will largely dominate the discussion for the next three chapters (“sin” 42 times between 5:12 and 8:10; “death” 19 times between 5:12 and 8:6; together—5:12, 21; 6:16, 23; 7:5, 13; 8:2; see further chaps. 6–8 Introductio).”

^[4]Dunn, J. D. G. (2002). Vol. 38A: Word Biblical Commentary : Romans 1-8. Word Biblical Commentary (397).” It is equally obvious that “this death” refers back to the death brought about by the machinations of sin (Rom 7:10–13); see on 5:12 and 8:10. That physical death is included within the phrase is obvious, even if the idea of a corporate belonging to the age of Adam (Rom 5:12–21) is also very much in view. It is the final outworking and end of death’s rule over this age, and so defeat of the last enemy (1 Cor 15:26), for which Paul longs here.”

^[5]Wuest, K. S. (1997, c1984). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (Ro 6:2). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.” Death means separation. Physical death is the separation of a person from his body, spiritual death, the separation of the person from God. There is a preposition prefixed to the verb (apo (ἀπο)) which means “off, away from,” and is used with the ablative case whose root meaning is separation. This teaches us that there was a cleavage consummated between the individual and his evil nature. God used His surgical knife to cut the believing sinner loose from his evil nature. This occurred potentially in the mind and purpose of God when that believing sinner, elected to salvation before the universe was created, was identified with the Lord Jesus in His death on the Cross (vv. 3–7), and actually, the moment he placed his faith in Him as Saviour. Now, while God separated the believing sinner from the evil nature, yet He did not take it out of him, but left it in his inner being. John in his first letter (1:8) is most careful to tell us that this evil nature remains in the Christian throughout his earthly life and is not eradicated until that Christian dies or is glorified. This is what he says in his Greek; “If we say that sin we are not constantly having, ourselves we are deceiving (nobody else), and the truth is not in us.” Sin here is the nature, not the act, and for two reasons; the word is without the article, and such a construction in Greek emphasizes nature, quality, and because the word is singular. The word “ourselves” is in the emphatic position, John’s thought being that any person who holds the theory that the sinful nature is eradicated at a certain point in the Christian’s experience is only deceiving himself. Others are not deceived, for they can see sin sticking out all over his life. Let us therefore hold to this, that while there is a definite cleavage between the believer and the sinful nature, yet that nature remains in him until he dies or is glorified.”

^[6]Harris III, W. H. (2003; 2003). 1, 2, 3 John – Comfort and Counsel for a Church in Crisis (230). “The meaning of the “sin resulting in death“ (μαρτία πρς θάνατον, hamartia pros thanaton) in 5:16. This concept is a notorious crux interpretum. The concept of sin resulting in death occurs occasionally in the Old Testament (Num 18:22; Deut 22:26; Isa 22:14) and the Jewish intertestamental literature (Jub. 21:22; 26:34; 33:13, 18; T. Iss. 7:1). In all these instances the concept involves physical death as a consequence of sin. Sin resulting in sickness or death is also mentioned a number of times in the New Testament (Acts 5:1–11; 1 Cor 5:5; 11:29–30; cf. also 1 Tim 1:20; Jas 5:15; Rev 2:23) although here too the reference appears to be primarily to physical sickness or death.”

^[7]Thiselton, A. C. (2000). The First Epistle to the Corinthians : A commentary on the Greek text (1228). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. “For, as 2 Cor 5:20–21 makes explicit, Christ’s becoming one with human sin in the sense of identification entailed his death being “not … merely physical death,” but also a participation in the emptiness of the “eschatological death” which reigns from Adam onward. Moltmann wrote in his classic study Theology of Hope, “Because God and his promise are life, the real bitterness of death lies not merely in the loss of life, but also in the loss of God, as in god-forsakenness….” The proper context for hope (we might add, in contrast to notions of “spirituality” at Corinth) is the “undisguised harshness [of] the deadlines of death as compared with the promised life, received from the promise of God … a wholehearted, unrestricted … assent to life … the victory of praise and therewith of life over death … as a conquest of the deadlines of death.” This is “a new totality which annihilates the total nihil. The two experiences stand in a radical contradiction to each other … death and life, nothing and everything, godlessness and the divinity of God.”

^[8]Jewett, R., Kotansky, R. D., & Epp, E. J. (2006). Romans : A commentary. Hermeneia–a critical and historical commentary on the Bible (406). “Knowing with certainty that Christ had been raised from the dead, it follows that Christ “dies no longer” (οκέτιποθνσκει). The same adverb occurs in the next clause, “death no longer (οκέτι) has lordship over him,” which lends emphasis to the uni-directionality of resurrection life that pertains both for Christ and for his people. Since the parallel between believers and Christ is not complete, inasmuch as they must still face their own physical deaths, the wording of this verse remains concentrated on Christ’s closure with death. The power of death referred to in 5:14* and 17* has been broken by Christ, which implies that those who are “with him” are also no longer subject to that power. The implication is that the “life eternal” mentioned in 5:21* is shared by Christ and his followers, which provides a firm foundation for the inference of v. 8b* concerning faith that all believers share in continuing to “co-dwell” with him.”

^[9]Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. (1988; 2002). Trinity Journal Volume 9 (9:204). Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. “This being the case, and the effects of Christ’s death being applied to people through a process of time, it is specious to claim that the believer must have deliverance from sickness in the same way and to the same extent that he or she has deliverance from sin. The atoning death of Christ provides for the healing of all our diseases — but nothing in Matthew or in the NT implies that this healing will take place in this life. Indeed, as we have seen, the NT gives reason to think that triumph over physical disease, like triumph over physical death, will not come for most believers until the future “redemption of the body.”

^[10]Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition. Rev. ed. of: The new Bible commentary. 3rd ed. / edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970. (4th ed.) (Ge 3:21). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.” 3:21–24 Judgment. Expulsion from the garden proved the hollowness of the serpent’s promise that they would not die (4). For though Adam and Eve continued some sort of life outside the garden, it was a shadow of the fulness of life inside Eden, where they had enjoyed intimate fellowship with God. Now the full cost of sin is apparent. It is not just an unquiet conscience (7–8), squabbles with one’s dearest spouse (12), pain (16) or the drudgery of daily toil (17–19) but separation from the presence of God and ultimately physical death (Rom. 6:23).”

^[11]Hughes, R. B., & Laney, J. C. (2001). Tyndale concise Bible commentary. Rev. ed. of: New Bible companion. 1990.; Includes index. The Tyndale reference library (691). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.”In 3:18 Peter reminded the believers of the suffering of Christ and what it accomplished. Christ’s death for sins constituted a substitutionary judgment on behalf of sinners. His death prepared the way for the reconciliation of sinners with God (“bring us safely home to God,” cf. 2 Cor. 5:18). But Christ’s death was not a defeat. Having “suffered physical death,” he was “raised to life in the Spirit.” The two participles (“suffered physical death” and “raised to life”) define the main verb “died.” There is a balance and correlation between the two terms “physical” and “Spirit.” Both terms emphasize quality and denote two contrasting modes of Christ’s existence—his earthly sphere of existence as a man (“physical”) and his heavenly sphere of existence as divine Spirit (“Spirit”). The point of 3:18 is that Christ’s death was not a defeat but a triumph. While Christ died to his earthly sphere of existence, by resurrection (“raised to life”) he entered into a fuller life and was liberated for greater ministry (Matt. 28:20; John 14:12).”

^[12]Schreiner, T. R. (1998). Vol. 6: Romans. Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament (272). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books. “Some scholars have restricted death here to physical death (Sanday and Headlam 1902: 132–33; Murray 1959: 181–82; Ziesler 1989: 145). This is a mistake, for the context clarifies that death is both spiritual and physical (cf. Beker 1980: 224).The death introduced by Adam is conjoined with “condemnation” (vv. 16, 18), and it is also contrasted with “eternal life” (v. 21). Thus it can hardly be restricted to physical death. Indeed, Paul is likely reflecting on the threat of Gen. 2:17, where Adam is warned that he will die on the very day he transgresses God’s command. When Adam sins, however, physical death does not immediately follow. We should not conclude from this that Adam continued to live after his sin. The account in Gen. 3 reveals that Adam died when he sinned, for upon sinning he was immediately separated from God. Adam’s hiding from God and his expulsion from the garden signal his spiritual separation from God. I am not suggesting that physical death and spiritual death can ultimately be separated, for the former is the culmination and outworking of the latter. Nonetheless, the account in Genesis indicates that death is fundamentally separation from God, and this alienation from God entered the world through Adam’s sin. It is also vital to understand that sin and death are twin powers that entered the world when Adam transgressed. That sin and death are powers is borne out in the subsequent context, where Paul speaks of sin and death as reigning, of unbelievers as being slaves to sin, and of the wages sin exacts from its subjects: “death reigned” (Rom. 5:14, 17); “sinned reigned in death” (Rom 5:21); believers “have died to sin” (Rom 6:2), implying that it is a power ruling over them; believers “are no longer slaves of sin” (Rom 6:6); “death no longer rules over” Christ (Rom 6:9); believers “should not let sin reign” (Rom 6:12); “sin shall not rule over you” (Rom 6:14); presenting oneself to sin as a slave results in death (Rom 6:16); “you were slaves of sin” (Rom 6:17); “you were set free from sin” (Rom 6:18); “when you were slaves to sin” (Rom 6:20); “having been set free from sin” (Rom 6:22); “for the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).”

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How would you go about addressing failing economy, the war, and jobs going overseas? Or how would you go about fixing the divided church, rampant error in the blogosphere and the constant temptation to become lax in your ways?

Maybe if we could implement a solid system; something really powerful to address all the weaknesses we’re dealing with. Perhaps some sort of watchers to ensure doctrinal purity in all spheres of life ; maybe remove all the garbage from the walls, error from the internet, theological mistakes, American Evangelicalism and errors with how to view God’s Word.

Something.

Look at the Church of Corinth. Messed up, right? How would you deal with them?

How does Paul deal with Corinth’s divisions? A unifying program? Going back to first century principles? A synod?

People are forming factions along various lines. People line up behind personalities stating who they enjoy the most. Others are lining up along doctrinal distinctive and looking down at their brothers and sisters. And yet there was another crowd, looking down their royal noses and saying “We are neither—we are of Christ.”

Paul stops them and asks: “what’s wrong with you?”

Crazy Corinth—dividing over personalities or doctrinal distinctives. Other churches may have these sorts of problems, following their leaders and dividing over it; but not us: we’ve got it right. Scriptural Principles. The Principles of God’s Church. We don’t follow in the names of our leaders; divide over doctrinal issues; tow the party line for whatever denomination, branch or non-denomination or movement of Christianity we belong (or once belonged) to.

We, we individually say, are of Christ.

Is Christ cut up? Did Peter die for us? Paul? Darby? Were we baptized in Paul’s Name? Luther’s Name? Rome’s Name?

Our identification is not in positions of power or theological principles (I know, labels are necessary for understanding—but that’s not the point of this post). Take this to heart: the name we were baptized in was a name that was ridiculed, scorned, rejected and killed. The message we preach is one of a bloodied man, publically humiliated and privately vindicated.

Our message is utter stupidity to those who are dying. How?

Here we are, a sovereign nation, who has been personally attacked. If you were President you would justified in launching an attack at the nation that dared raise its fist against us. Power would be enforced and their utter stupidity would be proven

In Isaiah 29, God promised to destroy the wisdom of the wise and set aside the cleverness of the clever.  God has done this very thing, states Paul (1 Cor 1). The wise man stands with his mouth stupidly hanging open. The Logician isn’t to be found. The wisdom of the world has been turned upside down and emptied. Poured out when they killed their savior.

God, in His wisdom enforced power by displaying abject weakness and a (seemingly) stupid message. Christ, the King of the Jews, the Hammer Bearer of God, the one who would destroy all principalities and powers has come and was crucified on a tree: cursed.  Trust Him. The Dead Man, who is alive now, who couldn’t save Himself will no save you. The Jews don’t have a category for a Crucified and Cursed King; the Gentiles think it’s stupid for the powerful to display weakness.

The stupidity of God, is still higher than the highest wisdom of men; the weakness of God is still stronger than the strongest of men. Let that sink in. It’s purposefully offensive (1 Cor 1:25).

A Crucified God-Man is a message to the world screaming “Not your wisdom, not your power, not your solutions. This how your world treats its salvation! ”

Look around you. Note the people who believe this message. People who have acknowledged their abject weakness, who have crumbled under the weight of realizing that they have no strength to save anyone much less themselves. People emptied of themselves clinging to their only hope.

Pitiful.

There is absolutely no reason for any of us to get proud in our power or position or presentations or planning or paraphernalia. We will not fix anything. Yes, we’re an influence of salt and light in this world—we are to expose the world of its position in all its senses. Yes, we’re to remain in the calling in which we stand; exposing the world in our situation in which we are found.

But The Ultimate Solution is not, and never has been, Our Solution.

Whereas we would use shock and awe to break a foreign power; God, sends His son to preach and die and so doing condemns the foreign nation and makes a way possible for anyone within that nation to be saved from His impending wrath. Mosquitoes don’t last beyond a fraction of a second on our royal brow; but God does whatever He pleases and He choose to suffer for us. The Gospel is altogether a message of abject weakness for the purpose of powerfully changing the entire universe.

How  do we fix things?

We pause. Realize our position and the true solution to all of this is found in God Himself. Empty our pride and note that our boast is in the Lord who proved us all foolish.

Not to Us, blessed God: but to your name be The Glory. (Psalm 115)

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