Gregory Scott

Work Is Great, Beer Is Good And People Are Crazy

“I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.” These are purportedly Leonardo DaVinci’s last words. Five hundred years of art critics would disagree with DaVinci’s assessment of his work, but that is not the point here.

What is intriguing is DaVinci, perhaps the greatest painter who ever lived, had such a high standard of excellence, he believed what he produced was offensive to God. It would be easy to write-off DaVinci’s statement as false humility, but I think there is more here.

DaVinci would not have thought his effort offensive to God unless he believed God saw work as something sacred that demanded excellence. On this point he was right. The first two chapters of Genesis record God working (“…and by the seventh day God completed His work…”) and then commenting on the quality of His work (“…God saw all that He had made and behold it was very good.”). (Gen. 2:2).

When religious leaders criticized Jesus for working on the Sabbath Jesus said, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” (John 5:17). That must mean God was working from the time of creation until the time of Jesus, and I suspect He has continued to work since then. If God has been working continuously there must be something right about it.

And then there are numerous admonitions in the Bible about hard work and excellence like, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” (Eccl. 9:10), “Whatever you do, do your work with all your heart, as for the Lord and not for men…” (Col. 3:23) and “Do you see a man skilled in his work, he will stand before kings” (Prov. 22:29). Even after the kingdom of God has transformed the earth, people will be working, building houses and planting vineyards. (Isaiah 65:21). God has a very high view of labor.

It’s man who has denigrated and despised labor. We live for the weekends and look forward to the holidays. We can’t wait until five o’clock so we can leave the office. We work and save and work and save so we can retire as soon as possible. We act as if work is a necessary evil and that the higher calling is rest and relaxation. We have it backwards. In this respect we are the ones who are crazy. Rest is essential and holidays like Labor Day are nice, i.e. “beer is good.” Even God rested after He had worked. (Gen. 2:2). But rest is not the highest calling.

So, have a great Labor Day–if I haven’t ruined it for you–but look forward to getting back to work on Tuesday where you can please God with your hard work and excellence. GS

The One Question I Would Ask The Apostle John

Tomb of the Apostle, John — 2010 © Gregory Scott

A few weeks ago I was in Ephesus and saw the tomb of the disciple, John, author of the Gospel of John, the Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. As I stood there I entertained the obvious thought, “Wow, I’m just a few feet away from the remains of a person who walked with Jesus.”

But I also had a burning question, the one question I would ask John if I could only ask him one question: “When did you write the Book of Revelation?” The question is not just an academic one but one with profound consequences. If John wrote the Book of Revelation in the early 90s A.D. then futurists–those who believe much of what is written in Revelation, including the Great Tribulation, is in the future–probably have the better argument.

If, however, John wrote Revelation in the early 60’s A.D. before Emperor Nero’s persecution of Christians, which followed the great fire in Rome in 64 A.D., the postmillennialist view actually makes more sense. And instead of cowering in fear of a coming Great Tribulation and living in a timid expectation the kingdom of God will fail on earth, Christians can go forth confidently building the kingdom, knowing it will continue to permeate the earth like leaven.

I am firmly in the second group, believing Revelation was written in the early 60s A.D., before Nero’s persecution and before the destruction of Jerusalem. The best book I’ve seen on the dating of the Revelation is Dr. Kenneth Gentry’s book, The Beast of Revelation. There are arguments of course for a later dating of Revelation, but I believe the more convincing case is for an early dating.

Too bad though we can’t just ask John. GS

4 Misconceptions About The Kingdom

Jesus said Christians are to “seek first the kingdom.” (Matt. 6:33). To seek the Kingdom first, we should have a proper understanding of what the Kingdom is and what it is not. With that in mind, here are 4 common misconceptions about the kingdom of God:

1. That the kingdom of God is the same thing as heaven. As I addressed in another post, while the kingdom of God includes heaven, it is broader than that, also encompassing people, places and things on earth under the delegated authority of Jesus.

2. That the kingdom of God is the same thing as the Church. As I also addressed in a previous post, while the kingdom of God includes the Church, i.e. Christians, it is broader than that. Jesus made this clear in explaining the Parable of the Wheat and Tares, when He said that at the end the wicked (tares) would be gathered “out of His kingdom.” (Matt. 13:41). This doesn’t mean non-Christians will go to heaven; only the righteous (those covered by the blood of King Jesus) inherit the Kingdom.

3. That the kingdom of God is purely a future phenomenon. Jesus told his followers the Kingdom was in their midst (Luke 17:21), and if He cast out demons the Kingdom had come upon them (Luke 11:20)– He did, therefore, it had. And, Daniel prophesied that the kingdom of God would be set up during the days of the Roman Empire (Daniel 2:36-45). Jesus planted the flag of the kingdom of God on the earth and the Kingdom has been for 2,000 years.

4. That the kingdom of God will be unsuccessful on earth until Jesus comes back to jump-start it. Once established on earth (see misconception #3), the kingdom of God will “never be destroyed”, “will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms”, and “it will endure forever.” (Dan. 2:44). Jesus describes the growth of the Kingdom as steady and progressive, not dormant or latent. (Matt. 13:33).

Have you embraced any of these misconceptions? GS

Righteousness & Competence

In the United States we’ve had some seemingly good Christian men who were not good Presidents, and we’ve had some seemingly bad men who were very good Presidents. Having just finished reading several books on the Byzantine Empire I think it would be easy to prove the same point there, as it would be in the market place, the arts, athletics and just about any other field.

Some of you reading this post may be thinking, “Yeah, so what? What does one have to do with the other?” Others of you understand why this perplexes me as a Christian.

If righteousness is the act of being and acting rightly, i.e in accordance with Truth, then it seems that should translate into success or excellence for Christians in their earthly endeavors. The reality is that a different common denominator is found in those who tend to succeed in earthly endeavors–competence. It seems that competence trumps righteousness.

In fact, I think one can confidently say that all other things being equal, competence is probably the best indicator of whether one will be successful in life. And yet competence is not righteousness. Or is it?

We think of righteousness as being limited to morality, i.e. acting right morally. But why should it be so limited? Why shouldn’t righteousness extend to areas of our lives other than ethics? To put it another way, maybe everything is moral. And if everything is moral, then competence is righteousness.

I don’t mean to suggest being excellent at what you do is your pass to heaven. I do mean to suggest that competence is part of righteousness in the same way that temperance, discretion, kindness and selflessness are constituent elements of righteousness.

In the Parable of Talents, Jesus commended the competence of those servants who took their master’s money and turned it into more money. He did more than commend, He called the servant who failed with his masters money–who was incompetent–“wicked.” (Matthew 25:14-30). If I am correct, it shouldn’t surprise us then that Jesus’ followers said of Him, “Behold, He does all things well.” (Mark 7:37).

I don’t know, it’s just a thought, but it makes sense to me. GS

Can An Abortion Advocate Be A Christian?

I believe abortion is the taking of a human life. I’ll spare you all the reasons because you have probably heard them before. If you don’t agree that abortion is the taking of a human life, then I won’t try to persuade you that it is, but I would challenge you to read yesterday’s post because even if you don’t believe abortion is the taking of a human life, I believe logic and the most universal of ethics demand that you be against it.

Having said that, I would like to pose a question to fellow citizens of the kingdom of God: “Can an abortion advocate really be a Christian?” It’s an important question.

I ask the question because I believe there are a fair number of Christians who would answer “No” to the question, and even those who believe it’s possible would have to admit that knowing a person sees nothing wrong with abortion would cause them to doubt that person’s faith.

But if you find yourself in one of those two groups, let me ask you a question: Do you think it’s possible to be a Christian and believe there is nothing wrong with race-based slavery? If you answer “No,” you have just eliminated most of the American South for more than 200 years. I think one has to admit that it was possible to be right about Jesus and wrong about slavery.

If Christians can be blind enough not to see that slavery is wrong, they can be blind enough not to see that abortion is wrong. And, if Christians can be wrong on these matters, I suppose they can also be wrong on issues like the role of the government in our lives and the level of taxation we should endure.

As I said above, I believe abortion is the taking of a human life, in other words, murder. I believe slavey is abhorrent. I believe, as a general rule, the less government and taxes the better. So, my point is not to assert the opposite positions here but to argue against the tendency to make one’s politics a litmus test for whether they are a citizen of the kingdom of God.

The advancement of the kingdom of God is not as dependent upon its citizens being right on political issues as it is on its citizens being righteous. Politics are are neither all-important nor unimportant. If we are to seek first the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33), then we cannot allow something less important, like politics, to separate us from fellow citizens of the kingdom of God who also desire to see it advance in the earth. GS