David Bahn – Reflections

I heard a prayer this morning on The World and Everything In It podcast, and it’s worth sharing.

Father, You are kind to remind us that rain falls to the right and to the left, and that the sun shines on both sides of every aisle. I am hopeful Lord Jesus of how you are working in the world. Thank you that even though we would not have chosen you as our King, you have chosen us as your people. Thank you for ruling us wisely, kindly, and patiently. Please teach us to better reflect your character, starting with me, and starting today. In Jesus name. Amen.

I emphasized the words that were particularly impactful to me. As Paul proclaims the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus, he was exercising how God chooses us. He does this through the gospel. Paul writes, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).

Paul and his contemporaries had no control over Caesar and his policies. But his focus was not on Caesar’s unfairness or demagoguery, his persecution of Christians or self-serving exercise of power. His focus was on God’s kingdom – God’s reign and rule – and on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Much of Paul’s teaching would be on Jesus’ fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and God’s ultimate goal of gathering a people to himself who love him and love one another in perfect holiness goodness, faithfulness and righteousness.

I suppose that is the reason I never really comment on politics, or even call for us to pray that our country should return to its biblical foundations as “One Nation Under God.” Truth is all nations are under God. And efforts to build communities, cities, or nations which express that outwardly always fail. Think Geneva, Switzerland under Calvin’s influence (see below for a commentary on the problems there).

But I regularly point people to Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of all the hopes of Israel and the Savior and Redeemer of mankind. The salvation of God has been sent. It is sent by God through people like Paul, Luther, me and you. As one Lutheran author has said it, we are Loved and Sent. And as Texas District President Michael Newman so beautifully reminded us recently:

As Christians, we are not on this earth to join the divisive and anxious narrative of the world. We are here to set the tone of the Gospel: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). 

Salvation has been sent. Let your light shine for Jesus!

A Commentary on John Calvin’s Geneva

In John Calvin’s Geneva, Calvin aimed to establish a city governed by strict adherence to Christian principles and ecclesiastical discipline. His reforms included the creation of the *Consistory*, a council of pastors and elders responsible for overseeing the community’s moral and religious conduct. This body enforced rigid social norms, requiring citizens to attend church, maintain pious lifestyles, and adhere to Calvinist doctrine. Those who deviated faced penalties, which ranged from public admonishments to, in some cases, exile. Geneva under Calvin functioned as a theocratic state where church and civic authorities collaborated to enforce a unified moral and religious vision, but it also led to a stifling environment that restricted personal freedoms and dissenting beliefs. We have been set free by Christ from the condemnation of the Law, and from coercive manipulations toward outward obedience.

This control over both private and public life has been criticized as overly authoritarian. Calvin’s governance shaped Geneva into a disciplined, industrious city, yet some historians argue that the rigidity and strict punishments, including for minor infractions, limited citizens’ autonomy and created a tense, surveilled atmosphere. His theocratic approach also imposed a sense of collective accountability, as all citizens were expected to uphold Calvin’s moral and spiritual laws, resulting in a controversial legacy.

I don’t like hard words – except when they result in a change for the better. Think a doctor telling you, “If you don’t…you’ll die.” Or, “Unless you take a different route, you’ll be stuck in traffic for 2 hours.” And what about Jesus’ words to the Jews of his day, “Unless you, too, repent, you will likewise perish” (Luke 13:3-5).

I can recall two times when I’ve delivered such hard words. On one occasion, a man was hospitalized, likely near death from lung cancer. I had visited him on several occasions, and he always seemed more concerned about getting over his cough than hearing anything about God. I finally told him, “You seem more worried about your cough than you do about your eternal wellbeing.” He immediately choked up. I discovered that he believed he had done things for which he could never be forgiven. What a joy to be able to share the gospel with him, and see the Holy Spirit work in his heart. I assured him that Jesus died for all our sins. It calmed his heart.

The second time was similar. When I was visiting a man who was near death, he was relying on his good deeds to save him. I asked him, “Are you sure that’s enough?” He started crying. I shared Bible passages about sin and grace, the uselessness of our works and the completeness of God’s grace – as many as I could remember. I officiated at his funeral a few days later, with the confidence of God’s mercy and the Holy Spirit’s work in his heart. He repented and confessed his faith before he died.

This situation, however, seems far worse when Paul quotes from Isaiah 6 with the hard edge of condemnation for their unbelief. Paul wasn’t the first to quote this passage from Isaiah. Jesus spoke these words to his disciples when they asked him why he spoke to the people in parables. He explained that the parables served to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy that people would hear but not hear, and would not repent and believe in him.

Stubborn unyielding willful people, refusing to acknowledge their failure to understand, and their need for God, will be eternally flummoxed. Worst than that, they will be eternally condemned.

I love to teach people the Lutheran answer to difficult questions: I don’t know. In other words, there are things we just do not know. There are things we cannot cram into our puny minds. That God took on human flesh. That Jesus died to save us from death and hell. That Jesus rose from the dead. How does that work??? How is that possible? I don’t know. 

Paul has written about hope was that his people (the Jews) would come to faith (Romans 9-10). Apart from the first Jewish converts that was not the case. But God used this rejection to launch of the mission fully to the gentiles. I’m happy to admit that I don’t know everything. But I do know that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises throughout the Old Testament, and I believe in him.

Somewhere in the last 10 years or so, I stumbled upon a deeper appreciation and understanding of Martin Luther’s explanation to the Second Article of the Apostle’s Creed:

     I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord,

     who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death,

     that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom [emphasis mine] and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness,

     just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.

     This is most certainly true.

Learning that the Kingdom of God is best understood as the reign and rule of God rather than an equivalent to an earthly kingdom or nation further illuminated my grasp of this reality. It was then that I also gained a deeper appreciation for the classic Lutheran definition of the Kingdom of God: the gracious reign of Christ in the heart of the believer through faith. God’s kingdom is personal. It is established in the hearts of believers through faith, as the Holy Spirit works to bring people to trust in and follow Christ.

I recall, also that there are three ways of understanding God’s reign and rule: His kingdom of power, kingdom of grace, and kingdom of glory. All people live under God’s kingdom of power. He reigns and rules over all things. Not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father (cf. Matthew 10:29). God reigns in the hearts of believers by faith in the kingdom of grace. His rule is one of undeserved kindness and mercy. It has been made possible by Jesus’ redemptive work. One glorious day we who believe in Jesus will see the hope of Israel and the fullness of God’s reign and rule realized in heaven – his kingdom of glory. This is the future fulfillment of God’s reign when Christ returns, and God’s rule will be fully realized in the New Heaven and New Earth.

The kingdom of glory is the true hope of Israel, and the true hope of all believers. Sometimes we hope for that day urgently. Sometimes we forget it. Sometimes we despise that hope. For that reason we rejoice in God’s grace to us. We remember that we belong to Christ, and repent and believe, living under him in his kingdom. He rules over all things, and the glory of his kingdom to come is more glorious than we can ever imagine.

“Elections are a reflection of society, not a shaper of society.” That was the opinion of John Stonestreet on a recent World and Everything In It podcast. I think he is correct. The issues that concern me have to do with extreme pro-abortion policies, LGBTQ++ mainstreaming, and a general anti-Christian bias that our present culture seems to celebrate. We’re a long way from the days of Father Knows Best, or Leave it to Beaver.

But those days were not perfect, either. For even in those days Christmas was about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and angels getting their wings every time a bell rings. These are not as obviously evil and pervasively-immoral as today’s offerings (such as Amazon Prime’s animated 2024 depraved musical set in Hell). That said, notice anything missing from those good old days Christmas specials? Where is Jesus? Where is the Christ Child? Thank God for Charlie Brown’s Christmas special where Linus recites the Christmas story from Luke and tells Charlie, “That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.”

Today the Charlie Brown Christmas special is more of a nostalgic curiosity – not a mainstream Christmas staple. All this is to say whatever the results of the election, I don’t see much of the Christian agenda (read “Jesus’ gift of salvation and call to repentance and faith”) coming through. In either case.

I’m reminded of this in light of the comments of the Jewish leaders, “with regard to this sect [the message of Jesus] we know that everywhere it is spoken against.” This isn’t the first time that the Christian Church and Jesus’ followers have been held in low esteem. There is nothing new under the sun. And whether it’s gay rights, sexual promiscuity, unbridled greed, or discarding of traditional biblical values, we’ve been here before. 

This does not stop Paul from sharing the Gospel. It did not stop the spread of Christianity. It has not thwarted the message of Jesus being shared around the world. In other words, God’s got this. Our post-Christian Church culture is much like the earliest days of the spread of the Christian faith and growth of the Christian Church. It didn’t stop Paul from witnessing to the hope of Israel fully realized in Jesus Christ.

While I do pray that our nation turns back to God’s ways and values, I pray even more that the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon the Christian Church today, and that true revival would spring forth and more and more people’s hearts would be turned back to God in repentant faith, and the Kingdom of God would come among us all. God needs no election win. He much more desires to win our hearts.

I’m pretty much ready for the election campaigns to be ended. Especially the ads. I get 50 texts a day from this candidate or that one. Today I even had a voicemail on my phone from one of the candidates. Claims. Counter claims. Accusations fly back and forth. By all counts it’s worse than it’s ever been. More money spent. More ads aired. More noise. I’ve had enough.

It’s quite another matter in Rome when Paul arrives there and meets with the Jewish leaders. He offers a brief overview of his saga with the Jews in Jerusalem and his appeal to Caesar. He makes no bones about the fact that the Jews in Jerusalem were not pleased with him. He is there and in chains because of the hope of Israel, he says. He will not back away from the message of Jesus. And he wants to share the gospel with these Jewish leaders in Rome.

Their response is reminiscent of the Jewish people in Berea. They, Luke tells us, “studied the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul was saying was true.” (Acts 17:11) They actually want to hear what Paul has to say before determining how to relate to him. They do say they want to hear from him because, “with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.” He is not starting with a totally clean slate, but neither is he facing a preconceived conclusion of his disfavor. 

It seems to me that fear is behind much of the political posturing, accusations, and vitriol. It’s not only a matter of fear mongering either. Fear is gripping people on every side of the political spectrum. People believe that if their candidate loses the future of America is at stake. That renders reasonable discourse impossible.

Of course it takes two. Not only do we need to be ready to listen. Those who speak must be willing to speak the truth. We’ve lost so much of that today. Thank God for those who do listen respectfully and  those who speak truthfully. Best we all seek to get to the truth of the matter. And Jesus is the embodiment of truth.