Response: God Deals Corporately and Individually
Posted on June 8, 2007
Filed Under Worldview |
To “Joe” who wrote in response to my “When God Abandons a People” (sorry for excerpting you):
“I heard this message from John Macarthur it and it was extremely legalistic and moralistic…Moralism… judges others solely based on specific behaviors…much like the Pharisees judged others. It typically condemns rather than reaches out. It expects unbelievers to act as righteous as believers…In addition to the tendency of feeding self-righteousness, one of the key dangers of moralism is that it can cause us to miss the bigger picture…by not deeply believing the Gospel and trying to earn God’s acceptance, individually or as a nation…[it] is the main cause of fear and pride in our hearts (moralism and legalism)because we act on the idea of “I obey therefore I am accepted” (religion) rather than “I am accepted so I obey” (Gospel).”
I am so glad you wrote, because it gives me a chance to clear up a common misunderstanding regarding how God deals with corporate entities versus individual souls. (I am using the word “corporate” not in the common business sense but in the formal sense, coming from the Latin root “corpus” (body). Here “corporate” means “relating to or involving a group as a whole” as in “we come together on Sunday for corporate worship.”)
First of all, God deals corporately.
–He speaks corporately, delivering oracles to Babylon, to Moab, to Damascus, to Egypt, and so forth. He sent messengers like Jonah to corporate bodies such as Nineveh. He sent countless messages to Israel. In some cases these messages were proclamations of a coming judgment for evil deeds with no way out. In others, an opportunity was given to repent of their evil deeds and forestall the impending calamity.
–He acts corporately. He blesses corporate entities and He judges corporate entities. If non-believers are present, they partake in the corporate blessings. If believers are present, they often suffer under the judgments. Daniel was taken captive to Babylon along with everyone else.
Secondly, God deals individually. He speaks to individuals and He acts individually. He sends a personal message to David regarding his sin with Bathsheba and He acts in judgment against him regarding his immoral deeds.
But this leads us to the greatest action of all, and that concerns salvation. This is an act which is highly individual. We have nothing in the Scripture that implies Jesus died for cities or nations or corporate groups, but that His death was for individuals. Yes, those individuals then make up the corporate Body of Christ, the Bride, but the blood of Christ is applied to the lintels and the doorposts of an individual soul. This is the great and wonderful reality of Christianity. We have a personal relationship with God. We are called sons. We are known individually. We are not lost in a sea of nameless faces.
For those who are covered with the blood of Christ, the wrath of God has been expended upon Jesus. God now deals with us as a Father deals with his children. When discipline is warranted, He extends it, as He should. But we are spared from destruction at the final judgment.
Therefore, one must be careful not to blur the distinctions between how God deals with individual believers and how He deals with corporate bodies. When we call a nation to task for its moral failures and propose that God’s judgment could be upon us corporately because of those sins, it is wrong to then assume we are talking about notions of earning or losing salvation by moral actions.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus dictated letters to the churches. Although He does address some individuals in those letters, Jesus is primarily dealing with corporate bodies. In several of those letters, He charges them with wrongs and threatens punishment if they do not repent. To the church at Ephesus, He states the following:
“Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place–unless you repent.” Rev 2:5
One may call this “moralistic” or “legalistic”, but it is the words of our Lord and it is consistent with His nature and character to call out wickedness and depravity. He is Holy and He remains Holy, even in the midst of His great and unfathomable Grace. To do so does not question the assurance of salvation, nor does it promote salvation by works.
Thank you for your comment. May the Lord bless you as we together seek His face.
Comments
8 Responses to “Response: God Deals Corporately and Individually”
Leave a Reply
Comments are moderated and will not appear on deltackett.com until they've been approved. While we are eager to facilitate conversation by publishing most comments, we may withhold one from time to time if we deem it offensive, vulgar, overly personal, cynical, disrespectful, irrelevant, redundant or unnecessarily contentious. While we encourage you not to make others' misspellings and grammatical mistakes an issue of debate, please do your best to double-check your spelling, use correct capitalization, and use proper grammar.
Dr. Del Tackett is president of the Focus on the Family Institute and Senior Vice President to Focus on the Family. He is also the architect and chief spokesperson for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project--a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
Subscribe in a reader
© 2008 Focus on the Family. All rights reserved.
I love the movie “Time Changer”. It really revealed to me that moralism in that if we just tell a youngster something is wrong and not why then we are going to start having relativism. I saw it at the Christian Film festival a few years ago and was really blessed by it. If you haven’t seen try to rent it!
Del Tackett, I just completed the Truth Project and absolutely enjoyed it! You’ve inspired me to strive to be a bonded servant. I am going to be a prayer warrior and make an impact for Christ at work. I loved the sphere on work- after hearing that and reading Charles Stanley’s Life Principle #4 (that the The awareness of God’s presence energizes us for our work) it has inspired me to continue to work hard even when I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think this is a great tool for young singles like me that are in besides just families. Thanks for being such a blessing to my life.
Dear Dr. Tackett,
After tonight’s humble meal perhaps, as you say,
“the blood of Christ is applied to the lentils and the doorposts of an individual soul.”
On any other day, however, you would want to type “lintels.” I so enjoyed this little goof, and truly it made me smile. I usually can’t spell for beans.
Consider yourself one of my daily news providers amongst Alistair Begg, Matt Drudge, and Joel Rosenberg.
Virginia Leinart
Port Angeles, WA
Thank you, Dr. Tackett, for explaining that. I have come to realize in my study of the Bible, that God sees His people corporately in one city - Jerusalem.
O Lord, I pray You, according to all Your righteousness let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. Because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a curse to all those who are around us. And now, O our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his holy desires, and cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. O my God, bow down Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and behold our ruins, and the city which is called by Your name. For we do not present our prayers before You on account of our righteousnesses, but because of Your great mercies. O Jehovah, hear; O Jehovah, forgive; O Jehovah, listen and do. Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God; for Your city and Your people are called by Your name. (Dan 9:16-19 MKJV)
As Christians, we are supposed to be citizens of the Heavenly or New Jerusalem, but instead of living in freedom, we have chosen instead to live in the earthly Jerusalem - a house of bondage.
For it is written: Abraham had two sons, the one out of the slave-woman, and one out of the free woman. But, indeed, he out of the slave-woman has been born according to flesh, and he out of the free woman through the promise; which things are being allegorized; for these are the two covenants, one indeed from Mount Sinai bringing forth to slavery, which is Hagar. For Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem from above is free, who is the mother of us all. For it is written, “Rejoice, barren one not bearing; break forth and shout, you not travailing; for more are the children of the desolate than she having the husband.” But brothers, we, like Isaac, are children of promise. But then even as he born according to flesh persecuted him born according to the Spirit, so it is also now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave-woman and her son; for in no way shall the son of the slave-woman inherit with the son of the free woman.” Then, brothers, we are not children of a slave-woman, but of the free woman. (Gal 4:22-31 MKJV)
Jerusalem has become divided again, into two sisters, just like during the reign of King Solomon. Part of her has gone back into captivity by the king of Babylon. In order to bring the two sisters back together again, He will have to purge and refine them by bringing judgement upon them. His wrath is that of a jealous Husband. King Jesus is coming again to claim His Bride!
There are still many prophecies in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel about Jerusalem and Babylon that have not been fulfilled yet. Now is the time to go back and study them. When we understand how we are connected to Jerusalem and how we are neighbors in that city, then we will be more prepared for the judgement that is coming and we will reach out to each other more in love. It is the love of Jesus that will protect us and strengthen us in the times that are ahead.
Please read this, this and this.
Thanks!
I have been “out of the loop” for a while and see that I have much to catch up on. Your blog is a bright spot in my morning and I have truley missed it these past few weeks. With a busy summer ahead I hope I don’t get to far behind. We are on our way to Colorado Springs this week, every time we are there I am reminded to pray for you and the institute, it is such a pleasure to do so. God Bless you.
Del,
Thanks for the reply to my post on “God Abandoning a Nation.” I agree with you that there are definitely dealings of God throughout the Bible that are corporate and individual. That is not so much my point. It is rather the solution to both…or the option given in the talk that John Macarthur gave.
Here below are some of the specifics (from the transcript) that Macarthur brings up that are at issue. I am showing these because he gives many examples of sin management, sin abatement, sin recognition in the greater society (unsaved) yet gives absolutely no solution other than obedience.
There is no method of dealing with all of this sin other than through our obedience whether this is corporately of individually in this talk. This is works based righteouness.
In short, there is no Jesus. No putting on the righteousness of Christ. This may seem picky but it is very serious about whose righteousness we are going to look to.
Macarthur-
“The key, listen to Me. Walk in My ways. The only hope for this or any other society is to hear the Word of the Lord and obey it…to hear the Word of the Lord and obey it. And I would suggest that this is not a good time for weak men preaching weak messages in weak churches. This is a time for bold and powerful, strong biblical ministry that calls people to hear the Word of the Lord and respond. This is the only hope for any people for any individual”
- End Macarthur
So this is the end of the sermon, his call to repentance? To, “hear the Word of the Lord and obey it.”
I assume and hope he means that we are to put our faith and trust in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and that only His righteousness can bring about obedience. But Macarthur does never specifically says it here. He only brings up the need for obedience and he does not classify this for a believer or a non-believer.
If you were a non-believer and you heard this message, how would you separate it from any other religious teaching in the world? Is it a gospel message? Does this set you free like the gospel should? Is this good news, that God expects and demands our obedience? Whose righteousness is that based on? Our own?
This is also a danger in the church too though. Even if Macarthur was preaching to already Christians he is still calling people to ” hear the word of the Lord and obey” and then God will bless the land. That is not grace.
There are many out there that have accepted salvation by grace + something else to get to santification + something else to get God’s blessing in my life. It can be very subtle but there it is.
We think we can trust God to save our souls from hell by grace, but we can’t trust God to save this world through grace. When it comes to operating in the world we all default back to “works” and how “works” operates. Now a part of that is understandable, Jonathan Edwards draws this out in his preaching on common virtue and true virtue.
Common virtue is part of common grace and it is a “works” way of restraining evil in this world. Pride, fear, guilt, greed all are employed to keep things from being as bad here as they might. What happens, however, when we employ these things in the church as tools for trying to build the church and advance God’s kingdom?
Believing in grace at church means NOT appealing to fear, pride, or greed in the church in order to achieve short term compliance and morality. THAT is something we don’t hear much about.
We need Jesus. He is the only way for us to be obedient, to be righteous to turn from sin. Yet where is this in this message?
This is the sin managment I am concerned about that leads to moralism and self-righteousness. Separating the world up into “us” (the good people who obey) and “them” (the bad people who sin).
The resulting conclusion is that if these sinners would stop behaving this way, then God would start blessing us or our country again. This is works based righteousness. We behave good again and God owes us a good life, a good country and blessings.
You are right we need the salvation of Jesus, individually and corporately.
-Joe
God’s blessings be upon you, sir.
God also sometimes deals with individuals for the purpose of furthering a corporate effect such as the fear of the Lord, which Isaiah 33:6 declares is a key to treasure.
Consider that it is by God’s grace we understand the heinous nature of our sins and God’s holiness and justice that will demand an accounting from us. If we did not have the fear of the Lord, would any of us have thrown ourselves down at the foot of the cross and embraced life through Christ Jesus?
In the Old Testament, we have the story of Uzzah to consider (2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13). Uzzah reached out and steadied the Ark of the Covenant with his hand when the oxen stumbled, and God’s anger burned against him for this irreverent act. God smote him and he died. Now I would not presume that Uzzah was damned for this act, but believe that God made of him a public object lesson. God was saying that He is holy and mighty and will be dealt with according to the terms He has revealed to His people (God had clear directions on how to move the ark, and you weren’t to touch it). The effect on those who learned of Uzzah’s fate? They feared God! (Precisely God’s intention.)
In the New Testament, the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) conveys the same message. They owned some property, sold it, and gave the proceeds to the church. But they misrepresented the selling price, withholding some of the money for themselves. Consequently, God slew them both. Result? News of this judgment increased the fear of the Lord. (Acts 5:11 “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.”)
In Ezekiel 9, God commands judgment on Jerusalem, and calls 7 “guards of the city” to Himself. Six are armed with dangerous weapons. Another has a writing kit and is commanded to go through the city and mark the heads of all who grieve and lament over the detestable things (sins) done in the city. When the marking was accomplished, the 6 armed angels were dispatched to kill and slay without mercy and compassion both young and old, men, women, and children - all except those who bore the mark given those who grieved and lamented over the sin in Jerusalem.
Observation: The righteous should be secure in Christ, but nonetheless shoulder a burden for the great sin in our land and cry out to the Lord for mercy and revival. We are the ones with God’s ear, and an understanding of His judgments. We are the ones who are aware of His holiness and justice which demand a response to sin. We should not assume that we and our descendants will not feel the weight and pain of God’s judgment for the sins of our nation. Those who grieved and lamented over the sins of Jerusalem were spared death, but they suffered greatly even as they were the remnant through which God would preserve the nation and restore it (in God’s timing).
I pray we see both an individual and corporate grieving and lamenting, a brokeness and humility before our awesome and holy Lord for the many and terrible sins we have committed against Him. This is, I believe, a rightful response both individually and corporately.
May the Church today seek to embrace the fear of the Lord as a treasure well worth seeking and, perhaps, as a key to repentance and revival in this great land.
David Gilmore
P.S. I openly confess my envy of those going to the Truth Project training conference in Hawaii.
Dr. Tackett,
Good day, sir. May the Lord bless and keep you.
I believe that we, the church, do not keep the holiness of God in the forefront of our thoughts and teaching. Linked closely to that is the fear of the Lord, a concept also not widely taught or meditated upon.
God’s holiness demands that sinful behavior be addressed. God doesn’t/can’t/won’t ignore sin. He is a God of justice and does mete it out. To what degree is He serious about sin? When you consider the torn, battered, and lifeless body of His Son on the cross, you begin to see.
It is easy for us to feel comfortable in the grace and mercy we have in Jesus, and to forget the divine displeasure and holy, consuming fire that compels justice. This same zeal is active and real today. It should preserve in us a rightful uneasiness about being casual in our relationship with God or in consideration of sin.
God is judge over both nations and individuals. He disciplines corporately and individually. When sin is done in such a way that His name - His reputation, character, and nature - is maligned or called into question, we should especially tremble. For great is His holy name, and He oft does move for His name’s sake. He does not want believers or unbelievers to think that He is either overlooks (winks at) sin, or is impotent to act. He is gracious and slow to anger, but He does not withhold His anger forever. Therefore we should not presume that the absence of His immediate wrath is tantamount to apathy or indifference to sin. We do well to consider that the cup of His wrath does sometimes fill to its full measure, and then He pours it out with a ferocity that humbles the most prideful of men or nations.
It offends our prideful nature to consider the absolute power and authority of God over us. We don’t like it that we don’t make the rules and must live under them. Yet He is the Lord Most Holy, and our blessing is to be humble before Him, giving firm allegiance and assent to the command “Be thou holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.”
Look around at this great nation. Consider the sin that we see at a glance. Consider the blood of the tens of million innocents crying out from our soil. Consider the embracement and championing of sexual immorality and perversion, and the indoctrination of our innocent sons and daughters in the same both in schools and through the media. Consider that those who do such things are lauded and those who oppose them are vilified and castigated.
It is a good time to be repentant for our sins and that of our nation. It is a good time to be broken and silent before Him in His majesty and power. It is good time to say, as did Isaiah, “Here I am, send me.”
David Gilmore
I understand what you are saying Sir.Lets say you have a church and not all of the members of your church are tithing. Can a few members who are not tithing have an affect on the blessings of the church corparatly?
Thanks