Christianly Thinking – Acceptance of Authority

We have now explored three of Harry Blamires’ “Marks of the Christian Mind”: Its supernatural orientation, awareness of evil, and conception of truth. With three more to go, it would do us good to pause here and ask ourselves a few questions:

·        Have I humbly considered my conformity to secular thinking?

·        Have I begun to think differently?

·        Have I committed to the Holy Spirit’s renewal of my mind?

There is literally no better time than now to make such a commitment. The storms and chaos we have yet to face will force a Romans 12:2 decision: more conformity with the world, or supernatural transformation with the freedom and eternal security it ensures.

As we have discovered, we can no longer afford to be of the world; and the world will in no way condescend to Christianly thinking. The chasm is simply too vast for compromise – our next mark being a prime example.

The Authority of God, Scripture, and the Church

Our age is in revolt against the very notions of authority that are crucial to Christian thinking and acting (Blamires, 1963).

Mankind’s rebellion against authority began millennia ago, in the Garden of Eden; and has remained an integral part of our nature ever since. Societally, our rebellious nature has waxed and waned, from contentment with institutions and their ideologies, to outright revolution against them.

As Blamires suggests, this age seems to be particularly rebellious – and particularly so with God, His truth, and the Church. Since the Enlightenment’s rejection of Christianity as the source of meaning and purpose for mankind, Western civilization has determinably progressed toward dystopian anarchy. Man is god, the truth is what each individual determines, and the Church is distrusted as hypocritically authoritarian and increasingly perceived as dangerous to cherished freedoms of expression.

Western Civilization’s growing animosity with the Church has pressured many into the closets once inhabited by those who no longer fear God, the light of His truth, and the instrument of His message and action in the world. Consequently, even those who consider themselves Christian are forced to face the challenge of Romans 12:2.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The will of God is good, acceptable, and perfect; we – individual Christians and the Church collectively – are commanded to prove it so. Our conformity with the world has left us compromised. We now stand between an angry world and a potentially wrathful God. There is no sideline for our retreat, and the middle ground has narrowed considerably. Our next move is a decidedly important one.

God allows chaos for a number of reasons. In our case, He is using the storms and chaos of this decade to force not only a decision, but determined steps in one direction or the other. Loitering around at the gate is no longer an option.

Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Luke 13:24

Christianity is a followers religion; attempting to encourage, coerce, or drive others through the gate from the outside is not God’s way. We were created and saved to lead others into the kingdom and authority of God.

For the Church carries the institutional authority of a Body established by God and guaranteed by our Lord as his own Body, the vehicle of his continuing life in time. The Church carries the intellectual authority of a truth given to men in divine revelation, warranted and witnessed to in miracle and martyrdom. And the Church carries the moral authority of a way of life divinely ordered and involving defined disciplines and practices. Moreover the Church carries the spiritual authority of a divinely granted commission to heal and teach, to baptize and forgive, to bless and eat the bread and wine. The Christian mind, aware of all this, is dominated by a demand for submission and obedience (Blamires, 1963).

Our Father in heaven, through His Son Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has delegated institutional, intellectual, moral, and spiritual authority to the ambassadors of His kingdom.

Jesus came to this earth in large part to show us how to exercise that authority. He taught (Mark 10:42-45) and demonstrated (John 13:1-17) authority is for, not over. This fusion of authority and love is exactly what makes Christianity done right both attractive and confusing for the world.

So far is modern man from thinking christianly that he has the acutest difficulty in trying to combine together in his mind the two vital concepts of God-- the concept of love and the concept of power-laden authority (Blamires, 1963).

Regrettably, we have failed our Lord on both counts: the most authoritarian Christian leaders abusing their power in the most horrendous ways, while the rest have refused to exercise the authority for the discipline of leaders and the flock. In the process, we have taught the world and our congregants that kingdom authority lacks both love and power.

How Did We Get Here?

We allowed ourselves to be conformed to the world, and we refused to discipline ourselves in love, with the institutional, intellectual, moral, and spiritual authority God entrusted to our keeping and exercise.

How Do We Recover?

The grace and love of God flow down the channels of authority established by God, through the leaders He appoints, themselves rightly submitted and aligned to His will, for the benefit and blessing of His people. Consequently, our first step in recovery is our return to the authority structures and ways of exercising authority given to us in Scripture. These being well documented and this article already quite long, I will not address them here.

What must be communicated is this: Our return to God’s way for authority must be the most counter-cultural thing we will do in this season of our lives and the church. Blamires has two significant comments in this regard.

For in this respect secularism's attack upon the Christian mind is an emotively powerful one, and Churchmen readily succumb to it. By an easy, but false, transference, the democratic rejection of tyranny and privilege in the political and social set-up is metamorphosed into an anarchic rejection of intellectual, moral, and spiritual authority within the Christian Church (Blamires, 1963).

Keep in mind: Blamires recognized this battle for the mind of the church in 1963. Nothing has changed to reverse the trend. As we argued previously, the Western church has largely turned the training of our minds over to the secular humanists. Recovery will require unusually brave men and women, empowered by the Holy Spirit, who will trust the Lord in the face of external and internal mocking, reviling, and persecution. It is important and encouraging to recognize that this is exactly how Jesus Christ birthed His church.

The fusion of God’s love and authority, with love at the fore, is of paramount importance. However, we must not repeat past mistakes regarding the exercise of authority. Christ’s vision for the church (Ephesians 4:11-16) includes speaking the truth in love (v. 15). Encouraging young Timothy in the exercise of his leadership gifts, Paul encourages us, “God has not given us a spirit of fear (timidity, cowardice), but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2Timothy 1:7).” The order is important: Fear, timidity, and cowardice must be set aside, that power, love, and a sound mind would rule our relationships.

Blamires goes on to say:

In so far as twentieth-century activities are grounded in the spirit of human self-sufficiency and directed towards the establishment of human mastery over the universe, they are equally remote in themselves from christianly directed activities rooted in the sense of human creatureliness (Blamires, 1963).

Looking back on Blamires twentieth-century, we see the utopian promises of the Enlightenment and Modernity incredibly unfulfilled. The bloodbath of two world wars and the murder of hundreds-of-millions of innocent citizens under the envisioned utopian governments have left us with a crisis of meaning and purpose. The authority of science and human reason is, like the church, no longer trusted. The experts have failed us, and the institutions are more obviously corrupt. The chaos and confusion provide an opportunity for Christianity to once again become the source of meaning and purpose for Western culture. Can we get our act together in time to make a difference for our children and our legacy?

Of course, the spirit of secular humanism will not go quietly. Western elites, less affected by the destruction secular humanism has wrought on most peoples of the earth, continue to embrace the spirit of human self-sufficiency and mastery of the universe. Conspiracies abound – some theory and some quite real and obvious.

One would have to be thoroughly deceived not to recognize the dangers of soft-totalitarianism being exercised through woke-ism, but the bigger threat appears to be the pursuit of Artificial Intelligence by the technological elite, who openly admit they are attempting to create a new god for humankind.

And so, the race is on! Will the loving Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ become our authority for our good and the good of mankind, or will authority be entrusted to the god of a vastly different spirit and purpose?

The responsibility thrust upon us may feel overwhelming and burdensome. Again, brave men and women, and the power of the Holy Spirit, under the reign of our Good King, will overcome. It is our destiny! The LORD is a careful orchestrator, and He has determined to put us on the face of the Earth at this providential time.

Be encouraged! Have faith! Discover your role and responsibility – through conversation with God and your church fellowship – in this great adventure! Contrary to growing opinion, it is a great time to be alive and subject to the King.

And the Church likewise is the only vehicle of eternal life in time. It is the Body of Christ on earth. Men and women are at liberty to become members of it or to detach themselves from it. But they are not at liberty to suggest it be changed into something else. There is nothing else to change it into. For it… fulfils its purpose only by being exactly what it is (Blamires, 1963).

God bless you with love, power, and a sound mind to become Christ’s vision for the church.

Have a strong day in the Lord,

Rob

#iamjustthepen

Blamires, H. (1963). The Christian Mind. Regent College Publishing; Vancouver, BC.