Selected Scriptures

October 11, 2020

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

The sermon starts around 17:30 in the audio file.

Or, Or, A Contest of Gifts

Series: Centers and Circumferences Part 8

I have missed preaching about economics twice now; the first time was in March due to virus-lockdowns, and then it was rescheduled for last Sunday night, but I was laying flat on the floor. It’s part of our Centers and Circumferences series, concentrating on how Christ’s lordship ought to be the focus (center) and full-scope (circumferences) of every sphere of life.

I’m sure we could have moved some things around and found another evening for this message, but I’m tired of holding new wine in old wineskins, or, as my dad used to say, it’s like cash burning a hole in my pocket. I also think that this provides a providential excuse to talk about one of the defining dispositions of TEC. We see the errors of, and have come to repent from, dualism.

I haven’t used that word in a while. It’s not meant to scare anyone with academic sounding vocabulary. It refers to a wrong-headed evaluation of spiritual things over earthly things, an improper division between mind and matter. It refers especially to Christians who love the Bible but who ironically misread the Bible in order to defend their incorrect understanding of the Bible’s teaching about earthly things. Paul wrote that we are to think about Christ, not “on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1-2), and then he defined the earthly things as things such as sexual immorality, covetousness, anger, and lies. Then he gave instruction for how those who are richly indwelt by the Word (3:16) will behave as spouses, parents, masters and slaves (3:18-4:1). Apparently we “seek the things that are above” on earth in our relationships and responsibilities by doing “everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (3:17).

When I got serious about theology I got serious about how much more important it was to read theology than to make dinner. The only thing that could be better than studying the Bible was studying the Bible longer. The point of church was to gather up truth, as we line up in our pews like beakers in a lab, all trying to get our truth-tubes filled. That’s false.

While we love truth, we learn from Scripture that the collection of truth is only as good as our transformation by truth. Bible reading and study makes men obedient and fruitful.

A convenient nickname for this anti-dualism is Kuyperianism. Abraham Kuyper died 100 years ago; he taught and embodied with star-like energy the reality that Jesus is Lord of all, including all the things that so many Christians claim (or live like) are just secular or neutral, as if Jesus has no interest in those things. It turns out that a big reason that Christians, and their churches, have been so lost and tossed about in the last six months is because their theology never needed to be public before, certainly not political. We’ve been, as a flock, trying to pick up a three-dimensional worldview with our opposable thumbs, and economics is the next issue on the table.

I have some things to say about economics because I’ve had to learn on purpose. My message this morning is not primarily about household budgets, or cash envelope systems, though I enjoy Dave Ramsey as much as the next person with a burdensome monthly car payment. This is not about tithes or tariffs or pivot tables. I’ve never excelled at Excel. I think Solomon once wrote, “of the making of many spreadsheets there is no end, and much study of tax codes is weariness of the flesh” (think Ecclesiastes 12:12). But while we seek first the kingdom of God, what do we do when He adds “all these (other) things” to us, like Jesus says (Matthew 6:33)? Mature disciples are not the ones who think that the promise part of the verse never comes true.

Economics is the sphere of stuff and services, of producers and p[...]