The Great Commission.11

"Be warned: there will be those who will attempt to silence your witness of me. You will be summoned to court, and dealt with unfairly, and imprisoned on behalf of me. Because of my words, you will be asked to testify before those who do not believe, before rulers, governors, and kings."

--Jesus

Warned

   Follower of Jesus do you consider your witness of the Master a thing so potent that you must be a target of aggression?  Better yet, is not this a good measure of our witness?  If we are feeble and barely make a ripple on the waters of the conscience of those around us, should we not be more alarmed at that then the possibility of persecution for a bold and steady call to repentance?  Recall the scene in "Saving Private Ryan" when Corporal Upham sat paralyzed in fear heedless of the dying cries of his comrade in the room next to him.  Having completed his death match, the Nazi walked on past with sneering disregard for the miserable mass of cowardice sniveling on the steps. 

Silenced

    The silence is deafening as the world casts a deaf ear to the influence of Christianity -- from removing prayer in schools, to Roe v Wade, to the sterile world of leftism's love affair with science and reason marginalizing people of faith.
    

Summoned
By definition a summons is to call or notify to appear at a specified place, especially before a court.  It is usually followed by apprehension, dread or fear by the summoned.  But as Jesus' followers it ought to be seen as our commission by the One who chooses and strategically appoints us to our tasks for the Kingdom.  In my day job I have been chosen to train new field reps.  I recently was "summoned" to go on a training mission.  Not only did I represent my company but also my King as the rep and I had memorable conversations about the perfecting love of God in Jesus.

    

Dealt With Unfairly

   If we ever need to be reminded that we are not yet in the Kingdom whose King is love, it is only to have to deal with this world's system.  Daily we are reminded by news stories that this world is not our home and we ought to carefully guard our hearts from expecting true justice and "fairness" in our dealings.

Imprisoned

    I had dream that I went to prison for opting out of social security for my work as a pastor.  I was greatly troubled by the dream.  Not for going to prison as much as the reason.  The founder's of our faith, the apostles, considered it a privilege to suffer for the King.  But they also warned that our persecution should rest on righteousness not bumbling badness.

Testify
    If we are the followers of God's Logos and trust Him daily to teach us the meaning of His words by living in obedience to his great heart, then surely we can trust him to give us His words, full of His meaning, at the right time!  Notice the progression:

• those who don't believe
• rulers
• governors
• Kings

What a thrill that His words--lived out in our lives--are so full of potency that we must give an account to and potentially change the hearts of people in power who, themselves, will one day give an account to the King of Kings!

On a Fruitful Life.4

"Once a man planted a fig tree within the walls of his vineyard. For three years he waited for it to bear fruit, but none came. At last he called the chief gardener: "Three years I have walked here, each year expecting to find fruit from this fig tree; and still it is barren. Why should it take up space on my grounds any longer? Cut it down."

To this the gardener replied: "Give the tree one more season. I will fertilize its roots and give it special attention. Perhaps then, it will bear fruit. If not, you do right in cutting it down." -- Jesus

There is an intense debate going on in our society today on the "fairness" of wealth distribution.  The conversation has shifted dramatically in favor of Government confiscation of private property.  Is it fair to be reminded that government doesn't own anything, create anything, produce anything?  Is it fair to persuade people that only individuals own, create, innovate and improve property?  Is it fair to point out that without a "firm reliance on Divine Providence" and commitment to faith, hope and charity we are left with a fearful choice between tyranny and anarchy?  Is it fair to demonstrate through the teachings of Jesus himself, that God expects individuals to be productive and fruitful, for that was his very intention when he gave man "dominion over the earth?"

Once again we must bring the conversation back to the understanding of the Founders -- men immersed in the teachings of Scripture, history and principle.  Relying on men like John Locke they understood the intention of the British crown to confiscate the property of the colonies through redistributive taxation and set about creating a governing document that would limit, for generations of Americans, the ability of government to confiscate private property thus freeing the American people to become the most innovative, industrious and generous people on earth.

"John Locke pointed out that the human family originally received the planet earth as a common gift and that mankind was given the capacity and responsibility to improve it. Said he:  "God, who hath given the world to men in common, hath also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life and convenience." Then Locke pointed out that man received the commandment from his Creator to "subdue" the earth and "have dominion" over it. But because dominion means control, and control requires exclusiveness, private rights in property became an inescapable necessity or an inherent aspect of subduing the earth and bringing it under dominion.    It is obvious that if there were no such thing as "ownership" in property, which means legally protected exclusiveness [bold italics added], there would be no subduing or extensive development of the resources of the earth. Without private "rights" in developed or improved property, it would be perfectly lawful for a lazy, covetous neighbor to move in as soon as the improvements were completed and take possession of the fruits of his industrious neighbor. And even the covetous neighbor would not be secure, because someone stronger than he could take it away from him." (Cleon Skousen, The Five Thousand Year Leap)

Skousen continues: "Note that if property rights did not exist, four things would occur which would completely frustrate the Creator's command to multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and bring it under dominion:  

1. One experience like the above (covetous men confiscating property) would tend to completely destroy the incentive of an industrious person to develop and improve any more property.
2.  The industrious individual would also be deprived of the fruits of his labor.
3.  Marauding bands would even be tempted to go about the country confiscating by force and violence the good things which others had frugally and painstakingly provided.
4. Mankind would be impelled to remain on a bare subsistence level of hand-to-mouth survival because the accumulation of anything would invite attack. 

Another interesting point made by Locke is the fact that all property is an extension of a person's life, energy, and ingenuity. Therefore, to destroy or confiscate such property is, in reality, an attack on the essence of life itself.    The person who has worked to cultivate a farm, obtained food by hunting, carved a beautiful statue, or secured a wage by his labor, has projected his very being -- the very essence of his life -- into that labor. This is why Locke maintained that a threat to that property is a threat to the essence of life itself. Here is his reasoning:    "Though the earth and all inferior creatures be common [as the gift from God] to all men, yet every man has a "property" in his own "person." This, nobody has any right to but himself. The "labor" of his body and the "work" of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever, then, he removes out of the state that Nature hath provided and left it in, he hath mixed his labor with it, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property"....(ibid pg 167)

"...One of the worst sins of government, according to the Founders, was the exercise of its coercive taxing powers to take property from one group  and give it to another. In our own day, when the government has imposed a multi-hundred-billion-dollar budget on the American people with about one half being "transfer payments" from the tax-paying public to the wards of the government, the following words of James Madison may sound strange:    "Government is instituted to protect property of every sort.... This being the end of government, that alone is not a just government, ... nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has in his personal safety and personal liberty is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest."" (Ibid, pg 175)

We may disagree with the founders on property rights, it is our responsibility to debate and choose for ourselves what kind of America we want to leave for posterity.  But let us at least be clear on what they intended, what it has produced to this point and what we are leaving behind if we choose another course of governance.