Normalizing Heaven

One of the greatest wars being waged today is over our conception of "normal". What's normal for us becomes the foundation of what our children build upon. The "normal" receives far less scrutiny than the abnormal. That's why there is a war being waged to convince us that genital mutilation, same-sex marriages, rebellion against parents, and government as god are all normal.

One of the most fundamental Christian teachings is that the world is not normal. And before we can talk about normal we should talk about norms. When I say normal, what I really mean is Normal. There exists a Norm, a Standard that defines the way things ought to be. There exists an objective Norm we can weigh our experiences, our actions, our desires against. That Norm is the Nature and Word of God. And that Norm tells us our world is broken, marred by sin, enslaved to evil. Our world is not the way it ought to be.

One of the great benefits of studying history is that it often suggests to us that what we find normal today was not always so. Sending your child for 8 hours every day to a government run school was not always considered normal. And it is in fact a step towards the ab-Normal. Slaughtering your children for the false promise of wealth was not always considered normal (though the worshipers of Molech certainly thought it was). It is in fact ab-Normal.

Many of the good societal values we have today would have been considered radical once upon a time. It was Christianity that brought to earth the Norm of Heaven. In his book Dominion, historian Tom Holland thoroughly documents that our belief that human beings have rights, our belief that the weak and poor are worthy of dignity, our pursuit of science, our practice of marrying for love, our emphasis on education, our establishment of universities and hospitals, are all a result of Christianity turning the world upside down. None of these values were considered normal in the pre-Christian world.

When we turn to the earliest history of the world, what we find is a picture of the Norm, the way the world was supposed to be. Man and woman in right relationship with God. The prescriptions given to Adam and Eve were rooted not in a Critical Theory concocted in the Frankfurt School. Nor were they rooted in Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire. Rather, the prescriptions given to Adam and Eve were rooted in the Words of God.

The prescriptions that govern us, the laws that govern us, ought to be based on this Norm: the Word of God. Sin is what wrecked the world. Jesus is the antidote. What this means that brokenness we experience today can in some way be traced back to our original brokenness or our refusal to swallow the antidote of His blood.

If we want to flourish to the maximum potential allotted to us, we need Jesus. If we want our marriages to flourish to the maximum potential allotted to us, we need Jesus. In fact, Jesus is necessary for the maximal flourishing of all individuals, marriages, families, and nations. A nation that refuses to bow the knee to Jesus is a nation that will not flourish to its maximum capacity. Every time we say no to Jesus, in any sphere of life, we leave joy on the table.

This means loving our neighbor means wanting them to love and submit to Jesus; not only personally, but in the way they conduct their marriages, in the way they conduct their families, in their civic expression. "You have your truth; I have mine" is not loving your neighbor. It's robbing Him of the joy of living life to the fullest according to God's design.

We ought to strive to see God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We ought to normalize heavenly ethics. We ought to normalize holy marriages. We ought to normalize heavenly families. We ought to normalize heavenly government. We ought struggle against the powers and principalities to see Jesus' rule and reign brought to fruition over every sphere of our lives.

The good news is that while we strive to see heaven on earth, this desire will not go unfulfilled for too long. The One who has the government upon his shoulder (Isaiah 9:6) will bring all things in subjection to Himself (Hebrews 2:5-9).

Jesus is coming to make all things New. Jesus is coming to make all things Normal again. Until then let's keep up the good fight and make heaven on earth Normal.

"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,the Spirit of counsel and might,the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see,or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze;their young shall lie down together;and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

Comfort in a Casket

Comfort is the enemy of sacrifice. Anyone who has tried getting out of bed after sleeping in can attest this is true. Men have least desire for war when tranquilized by the luxuries that pamper them. It is men deprived of comforts, whether willingly or unwillingly, that have the greatest hunger for a fight.

It's because of this that we have been like sedated sheep strolling to the slaughterhouse. We have no desire to fight for Truth when we're lounging in a townhome at a perfect 72°F watching Netflix. Your truth, my truth? Sure. Spin a wheel, pick your gender? Sure. Turn my kid into a Marxist at a government school? Sure. We're too busy living the American dream to care. All our lives we've been trying to amass comforts, why give any of them up for war?

Arthur Guiterman wrote,

"First dentistry was painless. Then bicycles were chainless, Carriages were horseless, And many laws enforceless. Next cookery was fireless, Telegraphy was wireless, Cigars were nicotineless, And coffee caffeineless. Soon oranges were seedless, The putting green was weedless, The college boy was hatless, The proper diet fatless. New motor roads are dustless, The latest steel is rustless, Our tennis courts are sodless, Our new religion--godless."

We have been trying to drive out discomfort and inconvenience out of every part of our lives. Unfortunately, religion included. The issue is that a comfortable religion is no religion at all. Christianity without suffering is not Christianity at all. The very focal point of Christianity is a Suffering Savior. A God who gave up comfort--who suffered--in order to save.

If our model is Jesus, we should be willing suffer in order to save. We should be willing to war to win. It's Jesus who says,

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Self-denial is a prerequisite to following Jesus and it is those who deny the self that find the salvation yearn for. Following Jesus brings more conflict not less. Anyone looking for the easy life shouldn't be following Jesus. Jesus puts into conflict with our flesh, the powers and principalities of this world. Listen to Jesus' words in Matthew 10:34-39:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Following Jesus costs us. It may cost us relationships. It may cost us the applause of the world. It may cost us jobs. It may cost us time. It may cost us money. It may cost us sleep. It will definitely cost us comfort and it will certainly cost us our life, which Jesus tells us is the only way to find our life.

What is comfort holding you back from? Having another child? Staying home with your child to make sure they get a proper Christian education? Speaking the truth in love to your coworker? Killing sin?

Speak up and you may have something to lose. Don't speak up and you'll have even more to lose. A casket is comfortable but it's also.. a casket. You can choose to die comfortably in a cushion-padded casket or you can rest your comfort in a casket. And it's when we rest our comfort in a casket that we find true Comfort in Christ.

^"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too."

Spiritual Obesity

There are two serious conditions that plague the Church. If left untreated, they both can be terminal.

The first condition is spiritual anorexia. It is a condition, much like the church in Laodicea suffered (Revelation 3:17), where one thinks their spiritual condition is far fuller than a mirror would objectively suggest. It is the condition where one thinks they are right with God despite them never thinking about God. It is the condition where one thinks they have feasted despite neglecting the delicacies found in fellowship. It is the condition that has left many feeling gorged despite them never even nibbling on the Word of God. It is an utter neglect of the spiritual disciplines.

Much of the church in America suffers from this first condition. Bible reading and church attendance statistics paint a generally grim picture. If that describes you, stop reading this article and bulk up. Grab your Bible and start reading. Start a Bible reading plan. Join and attend a solid church that loves and submits to Jesus. Fill your mind with sermons, music, and podcasts that draw you closer in submission to Jesus.

The second condition is spiritual obesity. Spiritual obesity much like spiritual anorexia shows its symptoms in the gut but is caused by a mind in rebellion to God's commands. The spiritually obese person is a connoisseur of theological delicacies. He attends a church with immaculately orthodox teaching. He gorges on the rich sermons, songs of praise, and fellowship. Yet, despite all his intake of calories, he has a movement problem.

The spiritually obese person detests that one tiny word spoken by Jesus in Matthew 28:19: "Go". The spiritually obese person will tell you they are not saved by their works and correct they are. But where they will begin to protest is upon learning that they are saved for something: good works. Read Ephesians 2:8-10 carefully:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

By grace, for good works. Now my suggestion to the spiritually obese person is not necessarily that they reduce their caloric intake. The marathon runner needs every last calorie he can get if he's to complete the race. It's when you're not running a marathon--maybe not even running to the restaurant (thank you DoorDash)--that things start to become a problem.

We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We are to proclaim the truth loudly, unapologetically, in places where people can hear it. We are to sacrifice. We are to have children. We are to raise them in fear of the Lord. We are to be generous. We are to be engaged with culture. We are to be effective in politics.

There is much work to be done but many dudes are plopped on their couches (Matthew 9:37). Don't throw out your orthodoxy but pick up orthopraxy. Live out the Faith without apathy. Work out what God has worked into your life (Philippians 2:12) and long to hear the words of Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant.".