1995 issue 1 - how many times can a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn't see? - counsel of...

8/12/2019 1995 Issue 1 - How Many Times Can a Man Turn His Head and Pretend He Just Doesn't See? - Counsel of Chalced

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Two Sennons Preached by

. Dr. Cireg Bahnsen at the

1994

A.c.T.S. Conference

REviEWED BY CHRIS

STREVEL

Introduction

With this intriguing question,

taken

from

a

popular

ballad of the

19605, Oteg Bahnsen began two

messages

which

profoundly

affected

all

who heard

them.

Hearts were

melted,

tears flowed,

and

sins

were

confessed. It

was

the fervent desire of

all

present

that the

Lord

Jesus Christ would

powerfully use these sennons o

.prune away the dead

branches

of

his church,

heal her of schism,

confonnher to his Word, and

make her a light

to

the nations.

Dr.

Bahnsen

taught us

that a

school

of thought,

no

less than an

individual, is known by its

fruits

(Luke 6:44).

Worldviews

which

have roots

deeply

planted in the

living vine,

Jesus Christ,

have

always

produced

much

fruit

unto

the honor and glory of Ood. They

have done so because they have

remained consistent

to

his revealed

will

in

the

Bible.

Those

Systems

'that have departed from the Word

of

Ood become dead

wood,

fruitless

branches, and have

been

cut off by Almighty

Ood,

the

Sovereign Vinedresser,

Nowhere

is

this more clearly

illuslri ted than in the modem

theonomy

debate.

One

group

of the Mosaic

polity

as a blueprint

advocates the nonnativity

and for

civil governments, these

applicability of

all

of Ood's law to theologians have denied that the

all

walks

of life.

The other

group

Bible's judicial

laws

are

binding

considers such an outlook as on modem man. Emphasizing the

dangerous,

deceived,

and

out

of heart,

Spirit,

and love, these men,

step

with

the

historic confessions churches, and schools have

of the Refonned

faith.

Dr.

suspended

the

law

of

Ood,

Bahnsen encouraged

us

to evaluate rejected the Refonnalion, and

both

schools

by their respective have engulfed the world in the

fruits. Simply

put, . et's visit one

cultural and ethical darkness,

another's neighborhood. decay, and destruction that t is

.

.

xperiencing

today.

The

results

were not exactly .

what we expected. '

Dr. Bahnsen

(

nVl

ted us to take

a walk with him through

the

How's t

GOing

in the Other evangelical neighborhood. How's

Guys' Neighborhoodl

it

going with those who have

, The majority of churches, repudiated

the

law of Ood

seminaries,

and

pastors

in our

land

.

contained in the

Old and New

d v ~ t e

a grace

that is

freed from Testaments What is the fruit of

the

restrictive; authoritarian

codes their commitment to

a

lawless

of the law of Ood. They

stress

the

gracel

In all honesty, their

liberty that believers have in the

neighborhood

looked

like a war

Holy

Spirit.

Driving a wedge

zone.

between

the

Old and New

Testaments, or between

the

theocracy of Old Testament Israel

and the

spiritual,

non-national

church in

the New

Testament,

they reject

the civil

polity that Ood

revealed to his people under the

Old

Testament. Accordingly,

they have vehemently criticized

the Reconstructionists for their

belief in the law of Ood as the

model for political institutions.

We are

under

grace,

they say, not

law.

. More specifically,

these

groups

have

abandoned

the historic

.

position of the Church of Jesus

Christ

with

respect to

the

nonnativity

of the

Mosaic polity.

Whereas the fathers of the

church

early and often

affinned

the

hannony of the law and the

gospel,

and

the binding authority

.

Devastation,

'relativity,

confusion,

and ethical darkness

surrounded us wherever we

turned. Our

once great

land,

which

our Puritan forefathers

intended

as

a model

of

what a

society

based upon Ood's law

could

be, is little

more

than a

suburb

of

hell. Psychology

and

education have

erased

the

categories

of

right

and wrong.

Individuals, govemments, and

judicial

bodies

are free to make up

their own laws,

irrespective

of the

revealed

decrees

of man's only

Lawgiver. Crime and sexual

perversion are nonnal in our

society.

The churches,

which

should

be citadels full

of light,

examples of

righteousness,

justice,

and

wisdom,

give

an

unclear

sound. But they can give no

other sound. Denying the

12

THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon January 1995


2/3

all-sufficiency

of (jod's Word

for

men and

nations, the churches in

America have no

message

that

will resist the

spirit of

autonomy

that is

ravaging

our

land.

The saddest and most

frightening

element

of

this

visit

consisted

in

the realization that

35

of

Americans claim

to

be

evangelical Christians.

Having

abandoned (jod's law, however,

having sold their heritage of

submission to

(jod's law

in

all

areas of life for

a mess

of

respectability and

pluralistic

porridge, this huge segment

of

our

population

is causing (jod's name

to be

blasphemed

among

the

heathen. Our

culture, you

see,

is

following

the lead of the church.

We

are

free from (jod's law,

modern theologians

say.

Hallelujah, shouts

modern man.

Now we can get

to

work,

building

our modem-day

towers of

Babel

In

the face

of

this social

decay,

Dr.

Bahnsen asked

the

question,

How many

times can

a man tum

his head and

pretend

he just

doesn't

seel"

The

problem in

the

other

guys' camp

is not

simply that

their system

has

born no

fruit, but

that

they

refuse

to

admit the

problems within their system.

Rather than returning

to

(jod's

law as the answer

to

our society's

problems, they attack us . They

criticize, misrepresent, and slander

those

of

us

that

are

seeking

to

call

men

back

to (jod's Word as the

only rule

of

faith and obedience .

They

tum

their heads to the decay

and

darkness

surrounding

them.

Rather than seeking

to

reconstruct

their

neighborhood

by the Word

of jod, they waste their time

hying

to

defend

an unbiblical

ethical system

that has produced

the

bloodiest

and most

immoral

century the world

has

ever

seen.

The other guys'

neighborhood

was worse than we anticipated.

Not

only

is

there

no fruit

on the

tr

ee, but

the tree

itself

is

diseased,

rotten

to the

core. The salt has

lost

its saltiness. There

is no light

left on the hill.

Those

who

insist

on a lawless grace are a disgrace

to

the

Lord

Jesus Christ and

his law.

s this part

of

the tour

came to

an end, we were saddened over

the state

of

the church in 1994.

We were

also

gratified,

th

ankful,

and

excited.

For

we

recognized

that out of his

love

and grace,

Almighty (jod

had

preserved a .

faithful remnant in his church that

is

seeking

to

call

men

back

to the

law of (jod.

It was

now time

for

a trip through

our

own

neighborhood.

ows It (joing in

OUf

wn

Neighborhoodl

Reconstructionists

expect

their

neighborhood to be significantly

better

than

the

other

guys. In

a

sense, this

is

true. We

are

advocating the law of (jod as the

only answer to man's cultural and

political problems,

Our

churches

are giving a

certain sound from

their

pulpits,

which

are devoted

to

preaching

the

whole

counsel

of

jod.

If men will

turn

in faith and

repentance

to

the

Lord Jesus

Christ, and follow the principles of

(jod's law that we are

advocating

,

society

can be

restored and

restructured

in a way that has

been commanded by and

will

glorify (jod.

Dr.

Bahnsen pOinted out,

however,

that the law is

not

enough.

Wisdom is needed to

apply (jod's law correctly. In

(jod's Word, law and wisdom

go

hand in hand. The law of jod

makes us wise

(Deut.

4:6), and

wisdom

leads

us to (jod's law

(Prov.

10:8,

28

:

7).

The law,

however, in

the hand

of

fools is an

ugly thing. While the

Reconstructionists

have (jod's

law, they lack wi

sdom.

They

have not leamed how

to

apply

(jod's law in a loving, attractive,

and wise manner. In short, we

have used the

law like

children.

We

have uglied ourselves

through

our foolish wielding of (jod's law.

At

this point, we swallowed

hard.

We

could see

where

Dr.

Bahnsen's second message was

gOing. After touring the other

guys' neighborhood, and

finding

it

devastated, we expected our own

to

reveal

substantially

more fruit.

We anticipated a city full of life

and light,

a bastion of wisdom for

all the

world to

see.

Through our

foolishness,

however, through

our

lack of wisdom in living

out the

requirements

of (jod's law among

ourselves,

our own neighborhood

is

'devastated as well.

Because

of

our

foolishness, the world has

tumed its back on the

answers we

have to

give.

Our own

foolishness in handling (jod's law

has

allowed our enemies to

use

ad

hominem

arguments against

our

position.

The arguments

are

invalid, the criticisms

are just

What did Dr. Bahnsen mean

when he called us foolish in our

application

of

(jod's law? Simply

this.

An

intellectual

understanding of (jod's law is

insufficient and

destructive

if we

January,

1995 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 13


3/3

lack

the

skill to mold our

daily

lives by

its precepts; If

a man

does

not remember the weightier

matters of the law,

justice, mercy,

and faith, his understanding ofthe

finer points of the law

is us'eless.

It

is obvious, Dr.

Bahnsen

pointed

out, that Reconstructibnistslack

wisdom. They

have spent

thousands of hours

applying

the

finer points of God s law, but they

have neglected

to

apply

the

weightier matters of the law to

their own relationships with

each

other.

True wisdom

is

pure,

peaceable,

gentle, and

easy to

understand. Reconstructionists

do

not have the reputation

of making

peace among themselves. Our

own

hO\Jse is

filled with

strife.

While we repudiate and

condemn

human autonomy

in

ethics, we

have been content toallow it in

our interpersonal

relationships.

This

is

sinful and will

incur

God s

wrath if

it

continues.

If

the

Christian

Reconstructionists

are

going

to

impact the

future,

if their

goal of

societal transformation

based upon the Word

of

God

is to

be achieved, they

must make

peace.among themselves now.

The schism among many of its

leaders

is

downright

shameful.

While all of

us

need

to

repent of

our failures to love

one

another

and resolve differences

in

a biblical

manner, the autonomous attitude

of many of the leading adherents

of theonomy will

bring Clod's

judgment down

upon

us.

Our

house

is

divided, brothers. We

must

confess

our

sins

and

beseech

Clod

for

wisdom

in resolVing these

decades-old

rivalries.

True

Wisdom tames the tongue.

Clossip,

stahder, and

the

sowing of

-discord among brothers are par for

the

course

among

many

segments

of the. Reconstructionists.

If we

cannot

control our tongues, James

says,. we

cannot call ourselves

Christians He writes that

our

religion is useless,

vain,worthless

if we cannot

speak in

a

loving

way.

Many within

our

movement slander others behind

their

backs. They lie. They

repeat

falsehoods

as

if

true,

and refuse to

confront

the

supposedly

wayward

brother. Sadly, it seems to be

the

pastime

of

some

to spread

rumors.

True wisdom demonstrates a

teachable ilttitude. Sadly,

whenever

some attempts toward

reconciliation have been

made,

the

offending

party refuses to listen.

Proverbs teaches

us,

however,

that

it

is

a fool that

refuses to

listen

to

what

others

say

by

way

of

correction

and

instruction.

s Dr. Bahnsen's second

sermon

drew

to

a

close, we

r e ~ l i z e that

our

neighborhood

looked like

a war

zone

as well.

While

our theory is great,

our

practice is often abominable.

When we

fail to apply Clod's law

in

a wise manner, we

ugly

ourselves,

pervert

Clod's Word,

and

become

hypocrites in the

eyes

of the

world. Where

is

the

fruit

among

the Reconstructionists

which

gives

us

any hope that we

are truly

united

to Jesus

Christl

Where is the love,

resolved

interpersonal conflicts, and

kindness that proves

we

take

Clod's

law

seriously Do we really

love

our

neighbor as

ourselves

Dr.

Bahnsen

cut us

badly

on

H

THE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon January 1995

that Sundaymoming.

Each f us

bears the blame.

We

take sides

without

verifying our information.

We

d() not pray for wisdom for

ourselVes

and

for our leaders.

Because of

our

lack of wisdom, we

are giving the enemies of Clod's

law a

reason,

invalid though

it

may logically

be,

to

repudiate

Clod's

law. After

all,

they

say,

a

tree is

known by

its fruits. Look at

your neighborhood.

While

you

criticize ours,

your own

is little

better.

What

can

we do to remedy

the

situationl We

must

humble

ourselves before

Clod and

repent of

our

foolish

handling

of his

law.

We must fear the

Lord. This is

the

beginning of wisdom. We

must mediate upon Clod's

character.

We

must ask Clod for

wisdom. He will not tum us

away

Brothers,

we

must

tum

our

head to the

problems

in our own

neighborhood. By

Clod's grace,

we have

the

tools by

which we

may

resolve

them and reconstruct

our

ownlleighborhood

for

the

glory

of

Clod If

we

refuse to hear

wisdom as

she

cries

in the streets,

our intramural

problems

will

continue.

And

sadly, the

criticisms of other

Christians and

unbelievers alike

will

obscure the

real issue.

Do we

really

waht our

personal character to be the reason

why this generation

does

not

listen to our vital

messagel

Dr.

Bahnsen's

initial

question

must be answered by Christians

on both

sides

of

the

theonomy

issue.

How many times

can

a

man

tum

hiS head

and

pretend

he

just

doesn t see

Q

1995 issue 1 - how many times can a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn't see? - counsel of...

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