Selected Scriptures

September 3, 2017

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 15:05 in the audio file.

Or, Why a Kuyperian Dispensationalist Is Preoccupied with the Future

A popular book in Christian circles came out earlier this year titled The Benedict Option. It’s a book that observes many of our current cultural problems in the West, our moral failings and fallings as a society. We have serious issues at every level: individual, family, church, city, nation. Things are bad and seem to be getting worse as people become less connected to each other, to history, and to God.

The Benedict Option is named after St. Benedict who organized a system of rules for monks. Benedict emphasized order both for the soul and for living together in community. The author of the book urges Christians to get out of the public fight, which he says the conservatives have basically lost anyway, and focus on building our churches and schools and other institutions so that when the modern experiment against reality collapses we’ll have survived. He claims that as long as we have religious liberty we should us it to make sure that we are strong.

I’ve read or listened to a variety of responses to the Benedict Option. On one side are those who want a more prophetic, aggressive, warlike fight to take over culture; one called it the Boniface Option after St. Boniface who cut down a idol with an axe in front of a hostile crowd. On the other side are those who don’t think we have any other cultural responsibility than to evangelize. Maybe we could call this the Bunker Option. Groups such as the church, family, schools, are just platforms to speak the gospel. These groups exist, and fine, but we need not worry about building them.

Our current series, The Kuyperian Dispensationalist, is an attempt to both understand the cultural questions and to provide an answer. What are we here on earth to do? What are Christians saved for? As Premillennial Dispensationalists we not only see culture getting worse in ebbs and flows over centuries, we also see that darkness hates the light and will put up a serious fight until the end. We aren’t surprised by apostasy and idolatry, by unbelief and immorality. But what are we supposed to do? Run away and hide? Just stick it out until the rapture?

Throughout history most Dispensationalists have retreated, and we haven’t done much in our caves except complain (it’s like the Archie Bunker Option). The Benedict Option at least encourages us to build, even if it’s more of a compound tucked away from trouble. But we’ve seen that this is a failure to read the parts of the Bible where God says that His creation is good, it’s a gift, and that we’re to receive it with thanks and stewardship and industry. He made the world and all who love Him will hate the things of earth in one way so that they will be better image-bearers on earth for His glory. We believe His Word, His Son, and expect the fruit of our faith to be abundant and obvious in public view. The fruit of faith will provoke others—the Jews, especially in the end-to jealously. They will want what we have from God in Christ.

Let’s call this the Blessing Option. From our faith we worship the Lord and seek His blessing on our obedience and good works. His blessings may not always be how we would define them. Blessings include wisdom gleaned from trouble, joy in pain, as well as things such as profit and increasing influence. But others will see our God-given blessings and want in.

This will be the last message in the series for now. Lord willing we’ll start 1 Corinthians next Sunday. But my heart still burns, like the hearts of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as it did at the beginning of the series. This Bible reading and Bible obeying project is one that connects truths, orients perspective, and motivates our work. It is an eschatology with train tracks that don’t run out.

Defining Terms

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