Introduction
Experiencing blessings without understanding the foundation of those blessing is to dance blindfold along the edge of a precipice. As Cotton Mather once put it, faithfulness begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother. Or as Moses put it, Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked (Dt. 32:15). Moses knew that once you are well into a blessing, it is perilously easy to take it all for granted, and simply to assume that continuation of that blessing is your irrevocable birthright (Dt. 8: 1-20). The apostle Paul saw what had happened to the Jews in this, and warned the Gentile Christians in Rome about committing the very same sin (Rom. 11:19-21). And he issued the same stern warning to the Gentile Christians at Corinth (1 Cor. 10:1-11).
“Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up: a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food; an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.”Prov, 30:21-23, (ESV)
There is a pressing temptation, whenever someone unexpectedly comes into great blessing, to react thoughtlessly and glibly, like some cracker redneck who won big at Powerball. We handle it the way a two-year-old would handle a glass of whiskey. Whatever you do, whatever you say, however you think, don’t be that guy.
The Text
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, That I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it” (Amos 8:11-12).
What Is a Minister’s Task?
The message a minister is appointed to proclaim is the basic gospel message—the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:1-4)—oriented, as it necessarily must be, to the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). This is not a message torn out of the Scriptures, but rather a message that is situated at the center of all Scripture. It is integrated together with all Scripture—it really is the whole counsel of God. The gospel is the axle and the whole counsel of God is rest of the wheel.
But the wisdom of God is not placed in our trust so that we may speak it into a void. The preacher is not supposed to learn what he is supposed to say the same way a parrot does, or an answering machine, and then say that, regardless of the circumstances. No matter who calls, the answering machine always says the same thing. This is not the commission of a minister of the Word.
No. Preachers of the gospel must also be students of the culture they are sent to. A minister must be a student of the Word, but he must also be a student of men. He must study them—not just men generally, but the men of his own era, the men to whom he is charged to bring the gospel. When the Lord speaks to each of the angels of the seven churches of Asia, the message for each church is different. Same gospel, different sins, and so different messages applying that same gospel.
And men are not to be studied so that the minister might best know how to flatter them. “For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness” (1 Thess. 2:5, ESV). Rather, they must be studied because their sins are different, their blind spots vary, and this is why their fortifications against the Spirit of God must be attacked differently.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
A man who is charged with pulling down strongholds must be a student, therefore, of two things. He must be a student of the gear he is using, and he must also be a student of the tower he is charged with toppling. He must know the gospel, and the Scripture that houses it, and he must also know the state of the current imaginations, whether those imaginations are healthy or diseased. He needs to know where to attach the ropes.
Our Culture, What Remains of It
We are in the midst of a massive religious/political/cultural transformation. But we cannot assume that this is all downside. God shakes what can be shaken so that what cannot be shaken may remain (Heb. 12:27). This turmoil is rattling things that desperately needed to be rattled, and also rattling things that needed to be understood, so that they might be defended in wisdom, and not simply maintained on cruise control.
In the meantime, speaking of traditions, there are no pacifist traditions left. All worthy traditions must be militant in order to survive this time of upheaval.
And in such a time, Christians must be conservative when it comes to everything that the Spirit has accomplished in the history of our civilization. And we must be progressive with regard to all the things He has yet to do.
The Sinful Symptoms:
It is difficult to make it through the daily news without encountering multiple examples of our contemporary follies—the blood guilt of abortion on demand, the insanity of transgenderism, the idea that more government can save us from the weather, the acceptance of socialist collectivism, the indulgence of snowflakes, the incompetence of modern educators, the epidemic of food guilt, the pandemic of father hunger, and more. The disease lies within, but the splotches on the skin are all pretty ugly.
The Disease Within:
The root of every rebellion (in every culture) must always be identified as pride, and the lust for autonomy. But this central sin manifests itself in different ways in different times, using different methods, concepts, and techniques. These are the tools that are currently being used on us. Please be aware that there are areas of overlap between these.
Secularism—the idea that a culture can be religiously neutral;
Darwinism—the idea that we somehow arrived here all by ourselves, and which makes secularism a scientifically respectable concept;
Egalitarianism—the idea that blessings for others are tantamount to oppression for me;
Value/Fact Distinction—the idea that “reality” is divisible;
Relativism, subjectivism, the despotism of feelings—the idea that the world of facts is not the controlling reality. Reality, in other words, is optional;
Admiration of the Cool Kids—the idea that what matters is copping a pose.
Some might worry that I am adding “intellectual” requirements to the simple gospel of Christ. Don’t worry—it is actually quite the reverse. You generally need a couple years of graduate school before you can really buy into any of these errors.
So keep in mind that when we answer these challenges in the way we must—in the name of Jesus Christ—we are not supplying Christ as the solution to the problems as posed by these idolatries. He does not give us answers to their questions. He gives us His answers to His questions. Christ is the one who frees us from these idolatries by toppling all six of them, burning them at the Kidron Brook, crushing them to powder, and scattering the dust on the graves of the people (2 Kings 23:6-7).
Preached at Trinity Church in Bothell, Washington (10/13/24)