In this video, https://video.foxnews.com/v/6199606162001#sp=news-clips, John MacArthur, a popular California pastor, points our that the rate of covid-19 infection in California, at .000015%, is ridiculously low and not a reason to call off church. He said that they have been holding church services as they normally do. His church holds 8,000 on a Sunday and the church has been packed. No one wares masks or social distances. But he reports that for the last 7 months no one has gotten sick from covid. No one!
When asked why the government insists on the lock-down of churches in California, but permits BLM marches and riots, he stated simply that they favor one over the other. And he also insists that the constitution favors religious freedom; and that is why he feels that he is right in allowing his church to continue meeting as usual.
I’m not sure that I would be as bold as MacArthur, but I’m impressed by his stance. I heard him say one time that if the government puts him in jail, he will accept it as God’s will. He said that he always wanted to have a prison ministry.
You may not be too familiar with this term. I wasn’t, until I read Sean Hannity’s book, Live Free or Die. Let me just reflect on what he wrote about identity politics.
He said, “[It] permeates every policy idea they [Democrats] have.”
Biden is one of worst at this. He said, “I’ll appoint the first black woman to the court,” and “I commit that I’ll pick a woman to be vice president.” And he has made so many other identity comments.
To me, the group Black Lives Matter is also using identity politics. It is playing the victim card and separating an entire race of people from everyone else. To me, the way to help a group of suffering people is not to keep drawing attention to their past suffering and to demand reparations; but instead, to treat them as equals and give them the same opportunities as everyone else. And also, just to love them as everyone else.
As Hannity points out, “Instead of unifying us as a people, it [identity politics] divides us as oppressors and oppressed, whites’ verses minorities, gays verses straights, and men verses women.
Unity and peace demand that we treat everyone the same and look past their skin color and ethnicity and sex. We are all of equal importance and value in the eyes of God. And so, whenever we choose someone for an important position, we ought not regard anything about a person except their qualification for that position. And when we are choosing a friend, let us regard all people and try to befriend them all. Friendship sees no color or race; it sees only a person worthy of love.
After writing my last blog post on Overtaxing the Rich, I began thinking about what Jesus would do. So here it is…
In Luke 19:11-26 Jesus teaches His disciples about His kingdom in a parable. As you read the parable, it is not about taxation but more about investing in the kingdom. However, I think we can draw some similar principles. Here is the story:
Luke 19:11-26
While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. 12 He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘
Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’
14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
15 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
16 “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’
17 “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’
18 “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’
19 “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’
20 “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’
22 “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’
24 “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
25 “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’
26 “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.
So, if we were to draw a parallel teaching from this text to a teaching on taxation…
What Would Jesus Say About Overtaxing the Rich? That is, what would He say about Joe Biden and most Democrats appeal to place most of the taxes on the rich?
1. First of all, if they are wise investors and not criminals, as many are, he would praise them more than those who have not invested wisely.
2. He would rebuke the unwise investors.
3. I’m not sure what He would say about the whole idea of taxation, but He would definitely not be in favor of taxing the rich (who are wise investors) more that anyone else. According to this parable, if He taxed anyone more, He would tax all those who are lazy, even if they are poor, and give it to those wise investors—even if they are rich, because they are wiser investors.
Conclusion
Jesus certainly would not tax the honest rich more than anyone else. He may even tax the poor and give that money to the honest rich to invest, in order to build the economy. Jesus would not at all be in favor of an income equality system. He would be more in favor of an equal opportunity system, and also a system where there would be freedom to make as much money as you want without being penalized for it. In fact, He would be in favor of a system where the high earner would be praised and even rewarded for his work and thriftiness. Also, I think he would shine a light on the high earner as being good examples for the low earner.
As you will see in this video, over-taxing the rich is always a bad idea. I think it is basically the government stealing money from the hard working businessman. Most of those who are rich worked very hard to get there. They deserve what they earn. And when the government takes it away, it never has a good outcome. Businesses will move out of country to avoid taxes; they will loose all incentive to work; their businesses will end up making less money, thus they have less incentive to keep the business going. Entrepreneurship decreases, because new businessmen have less hope of making it work.
And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same (Matt. 5:47)?
Jesus, in this verse, in the context of verses 44 through 48, is saying to us that we are to be different. The Christian is to be different than the non-Christian. We are to love our enemies (v. 44), not just our friends. And here in verses 46 and 47, He says that if we love and greet our brethren only, what good is that? Everyone does that. Rather, we are to be perfect, just as our Father in heaven is perfect (v. 48). And we can do that because we are His children (v. 45).
I have been blogging from the book, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Today I will relay briefly what he says on this text. Lloyd-Jones starts out by bringing to us Christ’s command that we are to be perfect, even as our Father is perfect. And we may discern that this command seems impossible; but yet, at the same time, by the very fact that we are commanded to be such, implies that it is possible. It is impossible to the natural man, but very possible for the Christian man, the spiritual man.
Why is that so? What makes the Christian so different? So unique? So powerful? It has to be because we are the children of our Father in heaven, and because we have in us the characteristics of God Himself. We have in our new nature things that are never found in the non-Christian.
Here, from Lloyd-Jones’ book, are nine unique qualities that the true Christian has in contrast to the non-Christian.
1. In His attitude toward the law. The natural man may observe the law and be moral in his behavior, but he never goes beyond it. The Christian is more concerned with the spirit than with mere obedience. And he always delights in the law of God in his inner self.
2.His attitude toward morality. The natural man’s attitude about morality is generally negative in that he is focused on not doing certain things. In contrast, the Christian’s attitude is more positive; he hungers and thirsts to be righteous like God.
3. His attitude toward sin. The natural man thinks of sin in terms of things that are done or not done. The Christian is more interested in his heart—whether he is right with God or not.
4. His attitude toward himself. The natural man admits his sin, but he will never morn over it. Yet the Christian is always sorry for his sin.
5. His attitude toward other sinners. The natural man may regard others with tolerance and pity. But the Christian goes beyond that and sees them as victims of sin and held captive by Satan.
6. His view of God. The natural man may see God as someone to be obeyed and feared. But the Christian loves God because he has come to know Him.
7. His motive for a living. The natural man may desire to do good, but generally like to keep a record of it. The true Christian gives without counting the cost and does it sacrificially.
8. How he faces trials. The natural man may face trials without complaining, and powers through them with an iron will. But the Christian deep down knows that all things work together for good to them that love God. And he even rejoices in trials.
9. His attitude toward his enemies. The natural man may know how to resist striking or expressing anger toward his enemies, but he cannot love them. The Christian, however, by the Spirit of God, can indeed love his enemies genuinely, and even pray for them.
So, we see that the Christian is unique and different than the natural man. He is different because of what God has done in his heart and life. He has made him a new person with a new nature. He indeed has been changed by the work of the gospel; and he understands the gospel: that he is utterly sinful, but that God sent His only Son to die for our sins, and thus bring His forgiveness to us, and a new life. And we live now with hope for a bright future. And His Spirit lives in us, filling us, teaching us His will, even guiding us along the way. And He, from day to day empowers us to love all the people we meet and have dealings with, even our enemies.
There are so many people with so many needs, which require us to spend much time in prayer. But, as Wesley Duewel has said, “We will never have enough time for prayer unless we deliberately plan for it…The time we give to prayer by deliberately planning is the measure of our value of prayer. It is the truest measure of our love for Jesus.”5
I urge you to follow our Lord’s example in praying at night and in the early morning. If the Lord is calling you to get up early in the morning to pray, if you want to be powerfully used by God and if you want to really know Him, you must immediately get up when He wakes you. As E. M. Bounds has said, “No man gets God who does not follow hard after Him.”6
So wake your lazy bones up and get going with God (I’m talking to myself)! If you are prone to be lazy and want to sleep in, I urge you to instead follow the desire to pray. That holy desire will provide for you a great blessing when you heed its call. And when you have decided that you are going to rise early to pray, that decision, backed up with action, will break all your self-indulgent chains, giving you greater and greater strength and desire for God.
Besides morning and evening prayers, Sunday afternoon is a great time to spend an hour or two in prayer. What better time to use for prayer than the Lord’s Day.
If you are planning to pray long, don’t be discouraged if the first few minutes are especially difficult. It seems, at least for me, that after twenty minutes or so of struggling in prayer, the rest of the time is more enjoyable and less of a struggle. That is because it often takes that long to enter into that heavenly realm where you are in awe of God.
When you get to that place in your prayers, you will almost forget that you are on earth struggling in the flesh; you will be more conscious that you are with God in the heavenly places. That is, you will be so taken up with God that you will forget all about your earthly affairs. In that blissful time, your thoughts will be more with God’s thoughts; therefore, you won’t be concerned with all of your worries; you will be more concerned for the will of God. During that sweet time of prayer, you won’t be thinking about what you could be doing or what you should be doing; rather, you will be so overcome with desire for God that all you will want to do is to drink and imbibe deeply of His love.
I challenge you to extend your prayer time for longer than twenty minutes. It will be less of a struggle from then on. And the blessings that follow will be tremendous!
5 Wesley Duewel, Mighty Prevailing Prayer (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Francis Asbury Press, of Zondervan Publishing House, 1990), p. 160.
6 E. M. Bounds, Power through Prayer, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House), 1979, p. 58.
Stephen Nielsen 