Linkage: Can a Christian be a Libertarian?

Norman Horn, who has the website Libertarian Christian, has an article at the Washington Post website explaining how a person can be both a libertarian and a Christian, since many people find the two positions to be incompatible.  Here is a small excerpt:

Christians in American politics have argued for years that God endorses the political agenda of Republicans or Democrats, but is there a third way to think about the relationship between God and government? 

Christians from the left and the right are increasingly turning to libertarianism not because it is a “middle ground,” but because it is an entirely different way of thinking about government and power. 

The core of libertarianism is the non-aggression principle: that the initiation of force against person and property is immoral, and it is in many respects a kind of political corollary to the Golden Rule. Thus, Christian libertarians think that government power should be limited, sound money and truly free markets should return, aggressive war must cease and civil liberties must be preserved.

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Daily Thought: It is Something to be Learned

"If you want to make music, you have to learn how to play an instrument.  And in the beginning, it doesn't sound too good—all the squawks and squeaks and bad timing.  You really are on your way to making music.  It just sounds like you're strangling a pig.  If you stick with it, something beautiful begins to emerge.  Or how about snowboarding—learning to do that is really awkward at first.  You fall down a lot.  You feel like an idiot.  But if you hang in there, you come to enjoy it.  You get better.  It starts to feel natural.  That's  when it becomes fun.  This hold true for anything in life.

"Including our walk with God.  It takes time and practice.  It's awkward at first, and sometimes we feel stupid.  But if we hang in there, we do begin to get it, and as it becomes more and more natural, our lives are filled with his presence and all the joy and beauty and pleasure that come with it.

"It is something to be learned.

"And it is worth learning." ~ John Eldredge, Walking with God, p. 17

Who is Your King?

{Judges 17:6; ESV}

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. 

In the book of Judges we are able to read the story of the nation of Israel and the settling of the Promised Land. The recurring problem this young nation dealt with was the unwillingness to surrender to God’s rule. As long as God provided them with a leader: Moses, Joshua, and the various Judges the people seemed to do what was right, but once these leaders were gone the people seemed to always follow the religious practices of the kingdoms around them.

This unwillingness on Israel’s part to accept God’s rule led to the consequence of invasions by other kings. There was no Israelite king who ruled Israel, but they were kings ruling Israel. These kings were cruel and they devastated the nation and kept the Israelites in bondage. Because they would not accept God’s invitation to be King, God allowed the invasions to occur.

The Old Testament often gives us a picture of what historically happened as a metaphor of what happens to us spiritually. Just as Israel needed to surrender to God lordship, we too need to surrender to God's rule.

We may think we don’t need a king in our lives, we may think that we are free to do whatever we please, and we may think that we are not bound by the chains of a tyrant. But that would be an illusion of the Evil One. The reality is that you are chained and enslaved. The habits you cannot break are not the result of your weakness, but are slave chains given to us by a cruel master. The lust, selfishness, and greed of your heart are the chains in which you have been bound. “I am free,” you yell, and then you fall back into whatever addictions you have that bring you so much comfort.

The reason you get drunk, high, and pursue sexual pleasure is not because you are free to do so, but because you have been enslaved by the promise that these are the things which will bring you happiness. Even though you have discovered that they are source of pain, and not happiness, you are powerless to break free. You are the slave of a cruel tyrant and he is out to make your life hell.

My King on the other hand did not come to enslave but to free. He does not steal life, but gives a life that is beyond our imagination. He invites everyone to accept His Kingship, and He promises to help us throw off the chains that have us weighed down. He promises to give us hope and purpose. He offers a relationship that is worth more than the life which we live.

While Jesus is offering all people the opportunity to accept His Kingship there will come a day when this invitation will cease. Jesus is preparing to return and on that day no one will be able to stand against Him. Everyone will bow before Him, either in absolute terror or in absolute love, and worship the King of kings. Now is the time for you to defect from the kingdom of this world and become part of the Kingdom of Heaven. The day is coming soon when there will only be one King left standing, and on that day I want to be on His side.

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” (Isaiah 35:3-4; ESV).

I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching (2 Timothy 4:1-2; NLT).

Daily Thought: Remember God's Grace

"When rains come and the flood waters rise, remember your position in God's grace.  Your sin is not too dark, your failures not too great, your mistakes not too overwhelming for God's grace.  Reach out to him.  No matter how big the waves or how furious the wind, God will support you." ~ Jud Wilhite, Faith that Goes the Distance, p. 82

Daily Thought: In the Image of God

"The 'image of God' had no reference to man's physical frame. Man bears the image of God because he is a rational, intelligent, and creative personality. It is the spirit, not the clay dwelling of the spirit, which bears the imprint of the divine image. When man was created, God declared that it was not good for man to be alone. By his very nature man is a social being. His personality develops best by association with others of his own kind. So God made a helpmeet worthy of man and presented her to him as a companion." ~ W. Carl Ketcherside, The Death of the Custodian, Kindle Version

Daily Thought: A Beautiful Transparency

"To be alive is to be broken.  And to be broken is to stand in need of grace.  Honesty keeps us in touch with our neediness and the truth that we are saved sinners.  There is a beautiful transparency to be honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are." ~ Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, p. 85

Daily Thought: The Power of Jesus' Blood

"For the Jew as well as the Gentile, there was only one means of deliverance from the power of sin.  It is still the one power that brings about daily deliverance for sinners.  How could it be otherwise? The blood that availed so powerfully in heaven and over hell is all-powerful in a sinner's heart, too.  It is impossible for us to think too highly of, or to expect too much from, the power of Jesus' blood." ~ Andrew Murray, The Power of the Blood of Christ, p. 33

Daily Thought: In the Light of History

"Everything depends, of course, on whether you believe that the living God could, or would, act like that.  Some say he couldn't ('miracles don't happen'); others that he wouldn't ('if he did that, why doesn't he intervene to stop genocide?').  Some say Joseph, and others at the time, didn't know the scientific laws of nature the way we do—though this story gives the lie to that, since if Joseph hadn't known how babies were normally made he wouldn't have had a problem with Mary's unexpected pregnancy.

"But Matthew and Luke don't ask us to take the story all by itself.  They ask us to see in in the light of the entire history of Israel—in which God was always present and at work, often in very surprising ways—and, more particularly of the subsequent story of Jesus himself.  Does the rest of the story, and the impact of Jesus on the world and countless individuals within it ever since, make it more or less likely that he was indeed conceived by a special act of the holy spirit?"~ N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone: Part One; p. 7

Daily Thought: God's Perfect Revelation

"The Bible, or the Old and New Testaments, in Hebrew and Greek, contains a full and perfect revelation of God and his will, adapted to man as he now is.  It speaks of man as he was, and also as he will be hereafter be; but it dwells on man as he is, and as he ought to be, as its peculiar and appropriate theme.  It is not, then, a treatise on man as he was, nor on man as he will be; but on man as he is; and as he ought to be; not as he is physically, astronomically, geologically, politically, or metaphysically; but as he is and ought to be, morally and religiously." ~ Alexander Campbell, The Christian System, p. 3

Daily Thought: God Must Incline the Heart

"Do not be surprised to see simple people believe without reasoning about it: God makes them love him and hate themselves; he inclines their heart to believe.  We will never believe with an effective belief based on faith unless God inclines our heart.  And we will believe as soon as he inclines it." ~ Blaise Pascal, Pensées, p. 107

Daily Thought: Vigorously Do God's Will

"'Thy will be done.' But a great deal of it is to be done by God's creatures; including me.  The petition, then, is not merely that I may patiently suffer God's will but also that I may vigorously do it.  I must be an agent as well as a patient.  I am asking that I may be enabled to do it.  In the long run I am asking to be given 'the same mind which was also in Christ.'" ~ C. S. Lewis; The Joyful Christian, p. 87

The Freedom to Do What is Right

The goal of faith in Christ Jesus is not heaven but Christlikeness.  Heaven, which is being in the presence of the Triune God, is the result of our commitment to be like Christ Jesus.  The apostle John reminds us that; “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did” (1 John 2:6; NLT).  We can’t be with God if we are not on the road towards Christlikeness.

Much of what we find in the letters of the apostle Paul are about this reality.  Over and over again we find Paul urging his readers to take off the old way of living and put on the new life.  To actually clothe ourselves with Christ. For this reason Paul writes:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8; ESV).

Jesus could have clung to His rights as God and remained in heaven but instead He put those rights to the side and obediently serves humankind out of the love He has for the Father and the love He has for His creation.  Part of becoming like Christ, according to Paul, is to adopt humility as a way of life.

How do we imitate this attitude of humility?  I think it begins by recognizing that God has given us certain rights.  I have the right to pursue a self-centered life, that doesn’t mean that is the best decision to make, but it is a choice God has allowed me to freely make.  The nature of freedom is that there is more than one option open to us.  While I have the right to pursue a self-centered lifestyle I also have the right to put others ahead of myself.  For example, in the evening I have the right to sit on the couch and “unwind” while watching television.  Couch sitting and television watching is an option open to me if I want to do it.  Yet, another option is to take my dog Barkley for a walk since he has been in his kennel all day long.  I much rather “unwind,” but Barkley needs to be walked, and I am free to choose to go for walk and not live a life that is totally about me.

If we are going to be like Jesus requires that we don’t focus simply on what we desire the most in the moment, but to do what is right.  Adam and Eve were free to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but that wasn’t the right choice.  God told the couple not to eat from that tree and that there would be negative consequences if they did.  The right choice was to freely eat of any of the other trees that populated the garden.

Ananias and Sapphira were free to use their land, and the money, anyway they wanted to use it, but giving only part of the money and lying about it wasn’t the right choice.  Freedom is a dangerous responsibility because people have the ability to choose the wrong thing.  If we are going to be like Christ Jesus we need to discover the right choice and then commit our lives to doing it.

The apostle Paul said that Jesus chose to obey the Father.  In our freedom how do we know what right option is?  The right choice is what lines up with God’s will.  If we just base this choice off of feelings we will often choose wrong because more often than not our feelings are contrary to God’s will, and therefore we will end up living a life of disobedience rather than a life of obedience.

The apostle Paul also wrote; Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (ESV). In order to know God's will and be able to make the right choice, we have to submit to God as He transforms our minds.  That requires the humility to admit that we don't know what is best, and trust God to do the right thing.

We make the best use of our freedom, not through indulging every little desire that we have, but by choosing to serve people.  When we demand that people acknowledge our rights we push people away from us, but when we choose to love we open up an opportunity for people to see God.  Christ chose to serve His followers and we must make the same choice.

Daily Thought: Tolerance and Freedom

"A free man must be able to endure it when his fellow men act and live otherwise than he considers proper.  He must free himself from the habit, just as soon as something does not please him, of calling for the police." ~ Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism: The Classical Tradition, p. 33

Daily Thought: Spiritual Amnesia

"There is an epidemic of spiritual amnesia going around, and none of us is immune.  No matter how many fascinating details we learn about God's creation, no matter how many pictures we see of His galaxies, and no matter how many sunsets we watch we still forget.

"Most of us know that we are supposed to love and fear God; that we are supposed to read our Bibles and pray so that we can get to know Him better; that we are supposed to worship Him with out lives.  But actually living it out is challenging.

"It confuses us when loving God is hard.  Shouldn't it be easy to love a God so wonderful?  When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead  of genuinely loving out or our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is.  Our amnesia is flaring up again." ~ Francis Chan, Crazy Love, p. 29

Linkage: A Promise Kept

As Christmas approaches and we are distracted with gift buying, parties, travel plans, and even a presidential election it is important to take some time and reflect on why the importance of Christmas.  Here is a link to a Christmas Devotion I wrote a few years ago.  I hope that it helps guides you in a time of quite reflection.

Daily Thought: A Denial of Jesus

"Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system.  It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian 'conception' of God.  An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins.  The Church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto a part in that grace. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin.  Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 43

Linkage: Getting the Most from Revelation

Revelation is a book that is difficult to understand.  So we tend to either ignore it or comb through it looking for "signs of the times."  In the process we miss out on the wonderful blessing it can be in our lives.  In part one of a two part article Matt Procter explains why we should take the time to read this wonderful book.

At first I steered clear of this perplexing book. But then a seminary class showed me that no Bible book offers greater help or relevance for Christians today. 

When I interviewed for my first preaching ministry at age 23, I told the pulpit committee I absolutely believed in the power of God’s Word to transform lives. I told them I was convinced “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). I affirmed for them my commitment to proclaim “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27, English Standard Version).

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Daily Thought: An Act of Divine Grace

"God's covenants with man are always acts of divine grace. They stem from the fact that God is love, and it is the nature of this love to be ever active and outgoing toward its object. There is no obligation owed to sinful man to compel the Creator to continue to act toward him in such a manner as to promote his welfare. The covenants of God grow out of the nature of God, and not out of the nature of man." ~ Ketcherside, W. Carl, The Death of the Custodian (Kindle Locations 115-117), SCM e-Prints. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: Redemption is God's Work

"We preach our own experiences and people are interested, but no sense of need is awakened by it.  If once Jesus Christ is lifted up, the Spirit of God will create a conscious need of Him.  Behind the preaching of the God is the creative Redemption of God at work in the souls of men.  It is never personal testimony that saves men." ~ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, p. 352

Daily Thought: The Mind Is Essential

"The goal is God's new creation, and the full human maturity and dignity which will ultimately be celebrated in the resurrection. The pathway to that goal is the complete set of learned habits of life—of heart and body and especially mind. Straight, clear, sharp thinking not only grasps the goal and the pathway but is itself part of that maturity of which Paul speaks. To put it the other way around, if the mind is downgraded, one will be less than fully human, partly because one will not grasp the goal or the path and thus wander off course, but even more so because one part of the fully human makeup will not be in operation, and will not therefore be integrated with everything else." ~ N. T. Wright, After You Believe, pp. 172-73

Daily Thought: Peacemaking is Divine Work

"Now peacemaking is a divine work.  For peace means reconciliation, and God is the author of peace and reconciliation.  Indeed, the very same verb which is used in this beatitude of us it applied by the apostle Paul to what God has done through Christ...It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the particular blessing which is attached to peacemakers is that 'they shall be called sons of God'. For they are seeking to do what their Father has done, loving people with his love, as  Jesus is soon to make explicit." ~ John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, p. 50

A Nativity Dragon?

This is a picture of my nativity set.  My wife has some very beautiful nativities that are up around the house, but this one is mine.  Last year I bought the red dragon to be a part of the scene.  Why did I think it was necessary to have a dragon part of the nativity?  It comes from the cryptic telling of Jesus' birth in Revelation 12:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.  His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days (verses 1-6; ESV).

While it isn't the easiest thing to understand one thing we can know: there is more going on that first Christmas than the birth of Jesus. There is a spiritual reality that we miss. The shepherds saw a glimpse of it when they were visited by the angelic army, but that is the closest we come to it.

The reason why it is important to remember the Dragon at Christmas is to be reminded that there was a specific reason Jesus came to earth in the first place.  It was to end the rebellion against God that the Dragon began and that we have joined.  That is done by defeating the Dragon, sin, and death and rescuing us from the Dominion of Darkness and bringing us into the Kingdom of Light.

The Dragon reminds us that there is darkness and evil in this world, and therefore God's light and love and shine all the more brightly.  There is a Dragon who wants to steal, kill, and destroy God's wonderful creation and Christmas is the declaration that God is fighting back, and that God will have the victory and and His creation will be rescued.

The ironic thing is that this victory ultimately comes, not through the might God's power and army, but through His love.  It is the helpless baby in the manger that finally slays the dragon and brings freedom and life to people.  This has all the makings of a mythic story, and it is a story that we are still caught up in today.

Daily Thought: Private Property is the Soil of Freedom

"All those in positions of political power, all governments, all kings, and all republican authorities have always looked askance at private property.  There is an inherent tendency in all governmental power to recognize no restraints on its operation and to extend the sphere of its dominion as much as possible.  To control everything, to leave no room for anything to happen of tis own accord without the interference of the authorities—this is the goal for which every ruler secretly strives.  If only private property did not stand in the way!  Private property creates for the individual a sphere in which he is free of the state.  It sets limits to the operation of the authoritarian will.  It allows other forces to arise side by side with and in opposition to political power.  It thus becomes the basis of all those activities that are free from the violent interference on the part of the state.  It is the soil in which the seeds of freedom are nurtured and in which the autonomy of the individual and ultimately all intellectual and material progress are rooted." ~ Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism: The Classical Tradition, pp. 43-44

Daily Thought: Stop Destroying Each Other

"As traumatic as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis may be, they are not the cause of the violence that tears our souls most deeply.  What tears at us the most, what leaves us shattered and broken, is what we do to each other.  A tidal wave has no moral compass, no capacity to feel deeply.  Nature isn't supposed to care about anything, but we are.  We want God to stop nature from wreaking havoc on us, and God is trying to get us to stop destroying each other." ~ Erwin McManus, Soul Cravings

Video: The Lesser of Two Evils Fallacy

Remember the lesser of two evils is still evil.  That is why I will never vote for a person again who I doesn't measure up to my worldview, even if it means not voting at all.

Daily Thought: Teaching Won't Make Us Moral

"Teaching points out the value of morality, but it can't in itself make us moral.  It's like a mirror: It can show you if your face is dirty, but the mirror can't wash your face." ~ Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods: Youth Edition; p. 76

Daily Thought: A New Chapter Has Begun

"The New Testament writers speak as if Christ's achievement is rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe.  He is the 'first fruits,' the 'pioneer of life.' He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man.  He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death.  Everything is different because He has done so.  This the beginning of the New Creation: a new chapter in cosmic history has opened." ~ C. S. Lewis, The Joyful Christian, p. 65

Daily Thought: Two Ploys of the Enemy

"The evil one has basically two ploys.  If he cannot get us to kill our hearts and bury our desire, then he is delighted to seduce our desire into a trap.  Once we give our desire for life to any object other than God, we become ensnared.  Think of the phrase, 'She's a slave to fashion.' We become slaves to any number of things, which at the outset we thought would serve us." ~ John Eldredge, The Journey of Desire, p. 84

Covenants are Important

As one studies the Bible one word that is easily overlooked is the word covenant.  Since we live in a society that is not based on covenants (rather we live in a world based on contracts) it can be difficult to understand exactly what a covenant is.  The man who taught me about the importance of covenants, Chuck McCoy (one of my professors in college), writes this about covenants; "In the ancient Middle East and Biblical world, a 'covenant' was a solemn, blood-sealed agreement between parties that both establishes and regulates a relationship between them and is made binding by an oath."
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One of the very important implications of the covenants we discover in the Bible is that God (YHWH) is different from the gods of the pagans.  People imagined these gods to be fickle, cruel, mean, and unreliable.  They could not be trusted, for they were really nothing  more than super humans using people as pawns in their sadistic games.  YHWH, the covenant making God of the Bible, is different.  He can be trusted and He has a desire for people to succeed.  Think about that reality for a moment.  When we have a covenant relationship with God He has a great desire for us to succeed!  We don't have to be fearful that God is looking for a reason to punish us, rather we can go boldly go to our Father in Heaven and ask for the wisdom, the strength, and the support we need to live the life He created us to live.  Ultimately knowing that we are in a covenant relationship with God means we can trust God to help along the way.
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Another very important implication of covenants is that in them we discover the expectations God has for people.  In other words we discover what it looks like to be faithful.  To be faithful doesn't mean that I will continue to have a belief that God exists, but rather that I remain true to who God is.  My marriage is based, not on the fact I believe my wife exists, but my love, loyalty, and service to her.  To be in a covenant relationship with God means that He has clearly explained, in the terms of the covenant, what is looks like to be faithful to Him.  We don't have to guess what we have to do.
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A third important implication of covenants, and especially in being in a covenant relationship with God, is that we can be secure and confident in that relationship. A covenant relationship reaffirms that our salvation is not based on what we do, but is based on God lovingkindness.  He is the one that took the initiative to save us, and He has promised to help us along the way.
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Covenants are not incidental to our theology, but they are at the very foundation of it.  Yes we have a personal relationship with God, but that personal relationship is based on covenant.  I think the more we understand about covenants, especially the New Covenant God established through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the more confident and hopeful we will be in our relationship with Him.

Daily Thought: The Feast of Salvation

"Jesus's salvation is a feast, and therefore when we believe in and rest in his work for us, through the Holy Spirit he becomes real to our hearts.  His love is like honey, or like wine.  Rather than only believing that he is loving, we can come to sense the reality, the beauty, and the power of his love.  His love can become more real to you than the love anyone else.  It can delight, galvanize, and console you.  That will lift you up and free you from fear like nothing else.

"This makes all the difference.  If you are filled with shame and guilt, you do not merely need to believe in the abstract concept of God's mercy.  You must sense on the palate of the heart, as it were, the sweetness of his mercy.  Then you will know you are accepted.  If you are filled with worry and anxiety, you do not only need to believe that God is in control of history.  You must see, with eyes of the heart, his dazzling majesty.  Then you will know he has things in hand." ~ Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God, pp. 108-09

Video: Teddy Roosevelt, Barack Obama, and Newt Gingrich

President Obama and Republican front runner Newt Gingrich both identify with the original big government Republican. Things wouldn't be all that different with President Gingrich as they are with President Obama. Don't get fooled again America, support real change. Support Ron Paul for president.

Daily Thought: Life is Headed Somewhere

"We have always to remember that the Christian ethic is an ethic which looks to the beyond.  It remembers that there is a world to come.  That does not mean that it offers pie in the sky; it does not mean that it is so concerned with heaven that earth is a desert drear.  But it does mean that the Christian knows that life is going somewhere; that this life is the first chapter of a continued story; and that what happens after death is affected deeply by the kind of life that we live here." ~ William Barclay, Christian Ethics for Today, p. 39

Entering into a Covenant Relationship

"All the great blessings of God are finished and complete, but they are not mine until I enter into relationship with Him on the basis of His covenant." ~ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, p. 341

On Sunday as worship was beginning I was asked if I would read 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 before Communion.  I agreed to do read, but I also decided to take the opportunity to talk about Communion as Covenant Renewal.  Afterwards, including last night at small group, I was not only thanked for my words, but was also told, "I had never heard that about communion."

I think we have tended to overlook Covenant when it comes to our relationship with God. This means that we have talked about "getting saved" or "having a personal relationship with God," but have missed out on why we can be secure in those things.  Our security comes from the commitment that is founded on God's New Covenant that was ushered in through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So if the security of our salvation as well as the promises and blessings that God has for us is found in a Covenantal relationship, then it is very important for us to ask: "How do I enter into a covenant relationship with God?"  The fact that many people haven't heard that communion is a time of covenant relationship renewal means that many people have never heard how to enter into a covenant relationship with God.

Some time in the next week I want to write a post devoted to Covenant, but right now I want to throw out that it is through baptism that we enter into a Covenant Relationship.  I will make the case for this later on, but for now I want to point out two very important passages.

The first is Matthew 28:18-20:

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (ESV).

Regardless of your feelings on baptism we discover that according to Jesus baptism is part of the disciple making process.  Jesus establishes baptism as the moment when people are set apart from the world in order that they may follow Jesus.

The second is Romans 6:1-4:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (ESV).

According to the apostle Paul it is through baptism that we are united with Jesus.  It is the moment that we declare ourselves dead to sin and to the patterns of this world and discover that we now possess the life of Christ in our lives.

What I would invite you to do is to take some time and look at all the references to baptism in the New Testament, read the context of the passages, and identify the things of which baptism is a part.  Things like being set apart as a disciple and being united with Christ.  Perhaps that will lay the foundation of why I say that baptism is the way in which we enter into this great Covenant God has established with humankind.

To go along with my initial thoughts on baptism here is an essay by Greg Boyd that further explains my views on baptism: The Case for Believer's Baptism.

Daily Thought: Yield and Abide

"If Christ is to 'remain' or  'abide' in us, we must allow him to do so.  Our responsibility here is more passive than active.  We have to yield daily, freshly to his control of our lives.  We must seek to live moment by moment in total openness to him, so that his life and power flow into us as the sap rises in the tree at spring time." ~ John Stott, Life in Christ, p. 52

Daily Thought: The Seed of Heavenly Life

"True life is found only in God.  But that life cannot be imparted to us unless set before us in some shape in which we know and apprehend it.  It is in the Word of God that the Invisible Divine life takes shape, and brings itself within our reach, and becomes communicable.  The life, the thoughts, the sentiments, the power of God are embodied in His words.  And it is only through His Word that the life of God can really enter into us.  His Word is the seed of the Heavenly life." ~ Andrew Murray, The Best of Andrew Murray, p. 50

Linkage: The Case for Ron Paul

It is no secret to my regular readers that I support Ron Paul for president. There is a post over at SteveDeace.com which makes the case for supporting Dr. Paul for president.

Why should a Christian vote for Ron Paul? 

Normally the stock response to such a question by most politicians pandering to Christians is: 

“He’s 100% Pro-life.” 

Yes, of course, Ron Paul is pro-life. And while defending the lives of our (unborn) neighbors is of the utmost importance when more than one million a year are legally slaughtered, there is even more that ought to weigh heavily on the Christian’s heart. 

Pro-life is not enough.

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Daily Thought: We Must Be Ignited by Divine Fire

"Worship is our response to the overtures of love from the heart of the Father.  Its central reality is found 'in spirit and truth.' It is kindled within us only when the Spirit of God touches our human spirit.  Forms and rituals do not produce worship, nor does the disuse of forms and rituals.  We can use all the right techniques and methods, we can have the best possible liturgy, but we have not worshiped the Lord until Spirit touches spirit.  The words of the chorus, 'Set my spirit free that I may worship Thee,' reveal the basis of worship.  Until God touches and frees our spirit we cannot enter this realm.  Singing, praying, praising all may lead to worship, but worship is more than any of them.  Our spirit must be ignited by the divine fire." ~ Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, pp. 158-59

Daily Thought: He Experienced the Shame

"Jesus was not only shamed before people, he was shamed before heaven.

"Since he bore the sin of the murderer and the adulterer, he felt the shame of the murderer and adulterer.  Though he never lied, he bore the disgrace of a liar.  Though he never cheated, he felt the embarrassment of a cheater.  Since he bore the sin of the world, he felt the collective shame of the world." ~ Max Lucado, He Chose the Nails, p. 74

Daily Thought: Living the Reality

"I believe that what many of us are searching for is not simply another message reassuring us that God forgives freely.  As wonderful as it is, that information alone is not enough to enable people to grow in their experience of God's liberating forgiveness.  Many of us struggle at this point—not so much with understanding the message of forgiveness, but with living in the reality of it." ~ John Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted, p. 129

Video: What Would It Take For You to Fight for Your Liberty

This is a question I have thought about, but more specifically in a Christian context.  As a follower of Jesus how important is it to fight for our personal liberty?  I don't have an answer to that question, but it is certainly something that I have pondered.

Daily Thought: The Creation of Sinful People

"Sinful people create sinful structures, which may then take on a life of their own.  Human rebellion has spread across the planet so that every human institution—government, family, church—has been soiled.  In some ways a structure or group of people is more inclined to evil than an individual and less inclined to love." ~ Philip Yancey, Rumours of Another World, p. 107

Daily Thought: God's Dreams for Your Life

"You were created in the image and likeness of God.  As broken, damaged, and messed up as you may be, God sees extraordinary capacity in you.  He'd love to be able to inform your dreams with the future that is coming if you would follow him.  A dream needs a person to bring it to life.  What kind of person do you need to become for your dream to come to life?" ~ Erwin McManus, Wide Awake, p. 23