(You can backtrack this series thread from here.)
Studies 1-6 explained that we are now living in a
kingdom age. Jesus confirmed that many times. Just before His ascension, we
read this in Matt. 28:18-20: “Then Jesus came to them and said,
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the
age."
Is there any indication in that quote which might
lead us to believe that we will fail in this mission? Moreover, is Christ
expecting us to fail in a commission He has given us? Where is the biblical
evidence?
Why do so many Christians believe in a failed
mission and to whose advantage is that?
If you still have doubts about our dominion
commission, please review the past studies and ask God prayerfully to enable
you to see it clearly. I know whereof I speak. I’ve been there!
Assuming we’re on board with the kingdom
commission, what next? What are we going to do with it?
The next segment of our CAP will cover the
instruments that God uses to accomplish His mission. We are part of that
process.
Much of what you will be reading you have rarely
heard preached, if ever. Is it any wonder why we are ineffective as
Christians?
· A
Christian society should be different from others. How so? Decentralized
· Only
Jesus is sovereign – no human institution has that authority.
· The
only three institutions authorized by God – family, church, and state
· A
pyramid societal structure is Satanic
· Covenantalism
– responsible men under God
The following is from Gary North’s “Unconditional
Surrender” Attachment is for your files.
Part Two - INSTITUTIONS
INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO
If Christianity presents us
with a unique view of society's crucial foundations - God, man, law, judgment, and time
- then we should expect to see important
differences between Christianity's view of social institutions and rival
religions' view of these same institutions. We should expect to see
these institutions constructed on different philosophical foundations. We
should also expect to see vast differences in the efficiency of these
institutions, depending on whether they are found in a Christian society or a
pagan society.
One of the most important
features of Christian social theory, or at least Protestant social theory, is the absence of any totally sovereign human
institution. No institution is granted final
authority, for no human institution is free from the destructive effects of
sin. Only Jesus Christ can
claim total sovereignty in time and on earth. Jesus Christ alone is the link
between man and God. His revealed word, the Bible, is the final
authority for man, not the pronouncements of committees, bureaucrats, or
religious leaders. Three institutions are covenantal by nature. Covenantal
institutions are established by an oath before God. Only three institutions are covenantal: family,
church, and state.
The source of social order is God. Specifically, it is the Holy Spirit, who was
sent to comfort the church (John 16:7). The Holy Spirit came to guide men into
all truth: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall
hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come" (John
16:13). And we know that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty" (II Corinthians 3:17b). It
is God's sovereign power over the creation that holds all things together, and
we know that the established relationship between Cod's law and external
blessings guarantees the preservation of social order for those societies that
strive to conform themselves to the revealed law-order of God.
Biblical social theory
therefore affirms the order-producing effects of a decentralized system
of competing, yet ideally cooperating, institutions. No single institution needs to provide
this social order. Indeed, no single institution can, since the concentration
of power involved in such an attempt is self-defeating and in total opposition
to biblical social order. Freedom and
order are achieved only when men throughout a society are striving to
reconstruct all their social institutions along the lines outlined in the
Bible.
Whenever we see a social
theory that proclaims the validity of a pyramid structure of
institutions, with some institutions at the bottom, and a
single institution at the top, we are facing the society of Satan. The pyramid structure, both in social theory and architecture,
was basic to pagan antiquity. It is also the reigning social theory
of modern socialism and communism. It places men at the base of the pyramid,
and it places the state at the top.
The Bible proclaims the
existence of multiple sovereignties, multiple institutions that bear lawful authority. Human
institutions possess legitimate sovereignty, but all such sovereignty is limited
and derivative. God alone possesses
absolute sovereignty. Any attempt by any institution to command final authority is
demonic. All institutions
are under God and governed by God's law. No single institution commands
permanent authority over all the others.
What the Bible proclaims as binding is
this: responsible men under God, but
never autonomous men under God. Neither the one (state,
church, family) nor the many (individuals) can claim absolute
sovereignty. Neither collectivism nor individualism is valid as an exclusive
principle of social order. What the Bible proclaims is covenantalism: individuals
and institutions under God and under God's applicable laws.
