Politics and Poverty

As followers of Christ, we should want the word of God to inform our political views, and when we try to do that, one of the first things we are faced with is that there is no political party who gets it all right. Last time we looked at some things the Bible doesn't say. This time, let's look at what it does say and wrestle a bit with how we apply that in our world.

Lewis on the Dangers of a Christian Political Party

CS Lewis' work is so timeless it's perpetually timely. When I read him, I frequently find myself saying, "This had to be written last year, not in the 1940s." I'd like to share one of his lesser-known essays that has a lot to say about our era.

A Lived Faith

I came across an off-hand comment on a blog that grabbed me: "the average Christian’s faith doesn’t touch the sides of their life." He went on to say that most Christians' lives are "largely indistinguishable" from those around us. He's not wrong. It's so easy to live as an average Westerner, to go with the flow the same as our neighbors.

What does it look like when our faith shines through every part of our life?

Making It Right

If it hasn’t happened already, it will soon enough: someone will do you wrong. They may take advantage of you, steal from you, even physically harm you. And they’ll get away with it. Maybe the law won’t catch up with them; maybe the law won’t even care. When that happens, you’re going to long for justice. And when that day comes, you’ll find you love something about God that tends to be very unpopular.

What Do We Do About False Teachers?

The problem of false teachers comes up in several New Testament books. Christ predicted them, and they quickly became a plague on the early church. One book gives very practical guidance on how to respond to this situation, but it can be easy to get lost in the weeds and not really see what we’re getting.

When we talk about Bible study, I think we usually picture digging deep into the text, looking at the minutia like verb tenses or repeated terms or doing a word study. Taking a microscope to scripture is important. But so is getting a macro view. I recently shared several resources that talked about outlining. Outlining is not cool, and you don’t need high powered tools to do it. But I want to share an example of how it can open up a passage to us.

The Value of Persecution

Dear friends,

Every life has its troubles. Painful toil, disobedient children, health problems, or the sinful actions of other humans can bring hardship into our lives. But sometimes it is granted to us to suffer because of Christ. When that happens, rejoice!

A Compass and a Weathervane

I live in the same town where I grew up. When I was young, I could tell you which way was north anywhere in town and still can. But I was surprised, years later, to find out that ended pretty much at the edge of town. The neighboring towns that I thought were west and east of us are actually almost north and south. The road heads off to the west and east then gradually curves. Before long you’re going a direction you didn’t expect. I only realized this years later when looking at a map.

Turns out it’s not just roads. People who hike off trails tend to go in circles. They think they’re going straight, but their path slowly veers to one side. But there’s a bit of ancient knowledge that can solve this problem. A compass has exactly one purpose: To point to the north. With this seemingly magical device, you can tell when roads (or your feet) curve. As long as you can tell where true north is, you can travel in a straight line.

Be Like Jude

We live in a generation with a lot of questions, a lot of doubts. There’s a lot of cynicism, especially where religion is concerned. How do we help people answer those questions or soothe those doubts? How do we, like Pascal said, make Christianity attractive so that good people wish it were true?

One thing we can do is become Jude 3 apologists.

The End of the Matter

We’ve spent the last few months trying to learn from the trials and tribulations of Daniel and the other faithful Jews in Babylon. It’s pretty heavy stuff. When trials come, we’re going to have to take a stand. It won’t be popular, and we’ll find ourselves isolated as we try to serve God in a world that is against everything we stand for. How do we stand strong through that?

For our final Lesson from Babylon, we’ll look at one last recurring theme in Daniel that can help us persevere through the hard times.

When Enough is Enough

“Will this ever end?” When we’re undergoing God’s discipline — whether it’s punishment for our behavior or boot camp before better things — we may wonder if the trials will last forever. They won’t.

God puts up with a lot from the wicked. The history of Israel shows that God will use the wicked deeds that evil people do to discipline his people. The actions of Assyria and Babylon were sometimes just as bad as, if not worse than, what Israel did. The same may be the case when we are taken to task. When God’s people suffer, they wonder if there will ever be justice for the wrongs inflicted on them.

For our next Lesson from Babylon, we’ll look at how God brought those he used to punish Israel to justice for their own evil.

Enemies and Friends

We talked about the need for Christians to be the best they can be at what they do. That’s always true, but doubly so when living in Babylon. The truth is, though, it’s not going to help us avoid persecution. Our Lord deserves and requires that we serve him by doing our best in everything. Anything less than our best will dishonor the gospel and draw criticism from people who disapprove of us. But being our best may also draw attacks.

As we continue our Lessons from Babylon, we’ll look at how being the best drew targets on Daniel and the other faithful Jews.

Ten Times Better

When I was younger my favorite comics were the X-Men comics. Their mission was to “defend a world that fears and hates them.” Because they were an unpopular minority — “mutants” — the X-Men had to hold themselves to higher standards. They wouldn’t be given the same slack as other heroes. Any mistakes they made would not only affect them but how the public viewed all mutants.

Christians in Babylon will find themselves in a similar situation. Our mission is to save a world that fears and hates us. And any mistakes will not only be given no grace, they will color how everyone who knows you views Christians. For our next Lesson from Babylon, let’s look at how Daniel responded to that situation.

Bearing Bad News

No one likes being the bearer of bad news. When everything seems to be going well, bringing bad news is not going to make you popular. When you’re already unpopular, the natural inclination is to just keep your head down and try not to be noticed. You don’t want to stand out. You don’t want to attract attention to yourself. You certainly don’t want to tell people something they don’t want to hear. But sometimes we have to.

For our next Lesson from Babylon, let’s look at the time when Daniel had to bring bad news to a king who was on top of the world.

But If Not

We all love a story where the hero shows up in the nick of time to rescue his beloved from danger. What if he doesn’t though? That story is usually less fun.

One danger of studying the book of Daniel is we may get the idea that God promises to rescue us from any danger. He doesn’t. For our next Lesson from Babylon, we’ll see what the book has to teach us about facing the times when he doesn’t swoop in and save the day.

Just a Pinch of Incense

We know God sees the heart. He looks beyond our actions to our motives. That means he sees the sin at the heart of our sin, but it also means he knows when we really do mean well. Because of that, when persecution comes, some people will suggest we do whatever it takes to save our skin because God knows our heart. Should we compromise a little, knowing God will know we don’t really mean it?

For our next Lesson from Babylon, let’s explore how Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah answered that question.

Serving God in Babylon

God is in control. Therefore, if you find yourself living in Babylon, you know it is God’s will. God has chosen this for you. God has chosen you for this. Now what will you do?

Jeremiah brought a message from the Lord:

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jer 29:4-7 ESV)

For our next Lesson from Babylon, let’s look at how Daniel and company lived that out.

We The Few

They say character is what you do when no one is looking, but sometimes the hardest thing is to do what’s right when everyone is looking. It’s easy to go along with the crowd. It’s like riding the current of a river — you really don’t have to put any effort into it at all. What’s hard is going against the crowd, against that current. It takes physical, emotional, and moral effort, and not many people do it.

Daniel and company found themselves having to do just that. So as we continue our Lessons from Babylon, let’s look closer at their experience and see whether that was an oddity or the norm.

This Far, No Further

What planet is this? Not that long ago, Christian morals were seen as good and enshrined in law. Today we are increasingly being told that our morals are the problem, that what we believe is not just misguided but backward and harmful. We’re beginning to find ourselves pressed to behave in ways that we see as not only wrong but bizarre and illogical. As Stephen McAlpine put it in Being the Bad Guys, “The cultural, political and legal guns that Christianity once held are now trained on us—and it’s happened quickly.”

We woke up one day and found ourselves in a foreign culture that was pressing us to conform, so it’s worth looking at Biblical characters who experienced a similar problem. For our next Lesson from Babylon, let’s look at when and how our heroes said “no.”

Who’s in Charge Here?

When everything’s going well, we don’t ask too many questions. Why rock the boat? When things aren’t going our way, we ask lots of questions. Why me? How long will this last? Is anybody running this thing? The book of Daniel addresses this last one thoroughly.

As we continue our Lessons from Babylon, recurring themes from the book of Daniel, let’s look at what seems to be the overarching theme of the entire book. Every chapter of Daniel is written to convey one message over all others:

Brave Old World

Everything old is new again. Fashion is cyclical, that's why men never throw anything out — they fully expect that leisure suit to come back into style again.

Ideas do the same thing. Especially errors. And so we find ourselves in a place that seems kind of familiar. Many people look at the world today and see parallels to the situation of the faithful Hebrews in Babylon. I think that’s fair, so I intend to mine the book of Daniel for insight into our situation.

This is the beginning of a series of Lessons from Babylon. Rather than digging into an expository study of the book, I intend to highlight some repeated themes or messages we see.