Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
~The Apostle Paul
Would you be satisfied to go to heaven, have everybody there in your family that you want there, have all the health and restoration of your prime, and everything you disliked about yourself fixed, have every recreation you've ever dreamed available to you, and have infinite resources and money to spend, would you be satisfied... If God weren't there?
Would you be satisfied if God weren't there?
That's a question that hits most people right between the eyes, myself included. Perhaps a different way of phrasing it is would you be satisfied if only God were there?
Most today would not be able to answer these questions as we ought. Do we love God as we ought, or do we love ourselves, our families, our money, our health more than our Creator?
God's love is such that through the death of His own Son, He works in us by His Spirit so that we no longer feel loved by our self deification that makes much of us. We come to realize that such is a cheap imitation of love. We then start feeling loved in the way we were created to feel loved, by glorifying God and making much of Him in all we do forever.
Is God enough? Ought we to answer as the Psalmist did?
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. - Psalm 73:25-26
Such should be the prayer of our hearts; that we might say that without God I am never be satisfied and only with Him am I whole! Jesus is my portion! Jesus is my all! My strength will fail me. My heart will deceive me. My friends and family may abandon me. I will be laughed at and scorned by men yet I am more than conqueror through Him who loves me! God is my strength and portion! Christ is my life! So long as He enables me I will glorify Him because He is worthy!
How does the Bible instruct us to pray for “all who are in high positions”? It says,
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2:1-4).
A few observations:
1. Giving thanks “for kings” is hard when they are evil.
And, as Calvin said on this passage, “All the magistrates of that time were sworn enemies of Christ.” This shows us that anarchy is a horrible alternative to almost any ruler.
We should give thanks for rulers because “non-rule” would unleash on us utterly unbridled evil with no recourse whatever.
Again Calvin: “Unless they restrained the boldness of wicked men, the whole world would be full of robberies and murders.” The better we understand the seething evil of the human heart that is ready to break out where there is no restraint, the more thankful we will be for government.
2. The effect we pray for is “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly, and dignified in every way.”
Dignified means “serious and reverent,” not stuffy. I suspect what Paul means is not that we can’t live godly and serious lives during times of anarchy. We can. I suspect he means that peaceful and quiet lives, which are the opposite of anarchy, are often wasted in ungodly and frivolous actions.
So he is praying for a government that would give peace and quiet (not anarchy), and that Christians would not fritter away their peaceful lives with the world, but would be radically godly and serious about the lost condition of the world and how to change it.
3. Using our peace for radical godliness and serious action will lead to more effective evangelism and world missions.
This last observation is confirmed by the hoped-for outcome Paul mentions. Paul says that the reason God delights in such peaceful, Godward, serious action is that he “desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
More people will be saved if our government restrains the horrors of anarchy, and if Christians use this peace not to waste their lives on endless entertainment, but seriously give their lives to making God known.
A Sip of Wine or a Shot of Grape Juice (PDF) is brief paper by Tyler A. Ervin on the culturally imposed sin of abstentionism and the historical roots within the Southern Baptist culture. You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart. - Psalm 104:14-15 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. - Deuteronomy 14:24-26 PDF File of A Sip of Wine or a Shot of Grape Juice Used with permission.
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