January 31, 2024 • 46 mins
Welcome to an exciting episode of "Current Events and Christian Expectations," in which we deep dive into the concept of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) through the lens of Holy Scriptures. In an era where DEI is rapidly gaining momentum in corporate America, we explore its significant implications within the principles of individual capability and merit.
This thought-provoking episode guides you through time, quoting various influences including Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, and tech tycoon Elon Musk, all expressing concerns about the DEI trend. Witness an interesting blend of biblical guidance, historical accounts, and modern perspectives to grasp the age-old human struggle between the desire for freedom and equality.
Expand your understanding of hierarchies in the divine arrangement, commencing with the Trinitarian hierarchy - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The discourse transitions into exploring hierarchies within mankind, angels, and the animal kingdom, illustrated through biblical representations and enriched with enlightening verses from numerous books in the Bible.
Divine Equality and Hierarchy in God's CreationDelve into the concept of divine equality wherein unique roles are assigned to each of us, just as distinct roles exist within the divine Trinity. Drawing parallels between God's divine design and the organization of the New Testament Church, the episode emphasizes the beauty and significance of each role, irrespective of its hierarchical level.
Our in-depth scriptural exploration elucidates the significance of accepting and excelling in our unique capacities. It reinforces the joy of flourishing in the roles assigned to us by God and the blessing of hearing the divine commendation, "Well done, good and faithful servant".
Whether you are a seeker, a scholar, or someone intrigued by the mysteries of the divine realm, our comprehensive analysis of biblical hierarchies will deepen your comprehension and appreciation of the intricate designs within God's divine realm and His creation. Join us on this enlightening journey of understanding God's divine plan for each of us in His Kingdom.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:07):
Good day to you, brothers, sisters, friends, and new faces, and welcome to Current
Events and Christian Expectations.
And today in this podcast, we're going to be talking about DEI.
We'll lead off with 1 Corinthians 8, verses 5 through 6, and we'll have several
other scriptures that we reference and read today, and we'll put those in the overview.
(00:29):
But with diversity, equity, and inclusion
under the influence of the Holy Scriptures, Let's just dig right in.
Right. Good evening out there in podcast land, or morning. I don't know when you're listening.
Whatever area of the world you're in. Whatever area of the world,
because we go around the world, apparently. We do. We do. It's good.
(00:50):
It's a world-reaching podcast. It's a world-reaching. Yeah. Absolutely.
Diversity, equity, and inclusivity. What is that all about? It's the DEI that's
in the news a lot these days.
Diversity, meaning if you have a group, whatever the policies or formulations
of law that brought it to pass, it's first thing first, first priority is not
(01:13):
the mission or the competency of people to do it, but you got to be diverse.
Yeah, it's the word of the day for corporate America is diversity,
equity, and inclusion, for sure.
Absolutely. And equity just means fairness.
And inclusivity, of course, means you got to include everybody regardless of
their abilities or et cetera.
Everything must be fair the way we define fairness.
(01:37):
That's how the DEI people come across. It's not about qualifications.
We're going to look at 1 Corinthians 8, 5, and 6, and listen carefully because
you may think, what has this got to do with the topic at hand?
For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth,
as indeed there are many many gods and many lords.
(01:58):
Yet for us, there is one God, the Father, from whom all things and for whom
we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.
Through him are all things and through whom we exist.
So let me emphasize what Randy's read.
There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.
(02:21):
And that never changes. And one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom,
meaning He is the means, the medium, are all things and through whom we exist.
Here's another one, 1 Corinthians 12, 4 through 6.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties
of service, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities,
(02:44):
but it is the same God who empowers them all in every one.
And again, as you have picked up on this, this is another Trinitarian reference.
Variety of gifts comes from the same Spirit. Spirit, varieties of service from
the Lord, Lord Jesus, varieties of activities, but it's the same God who empowers them all and everyone.
(03:05):
So, what does the Trinity have to do with DEI?
We will shortly pursue that, but first, here are some quotes,
and we hope not to bore you, but we've got a few of them here.
CBS News, January 4th of this year, from the reporter Megan Reagan Cerullo,
quote, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a ringleader in the campaign
(03:27):
to oust former Harvard University president Claudine Gay,
is fixing his sights on another target that he says has facilitated racism at
universities and in corporate America,
diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Ackman penned a 4,000-word takedown of DEI programs, which he posted on social
(03:49):
media platform X following the departure of Gay.
Who resigned over controversial testimony at a Capitol Hill hearing on anti-Semitism
on college campuses, along with allegations of plagiarism.
The Harvard alumnus and major donor to the university said that while he believes
(04:10):
in true diversity within organizations,
DEI initiatives in higher education and business are a political advocacy movement
on behalf of certain groups that are deemed oppressed under DEI's own methodology.
End of quote. We might also add Ackman derided the DEI initiatives as misguided
(04:34):
because they look to achieve,
and here I'll quote him, equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity. He also wrote this,
Oh.
(05:01):
My goodness. Yes. Yes.
Now, Elon Musk, who's always quotable, says the following, quote,
this is from the Epoch Times, and we quote from the Epoch Times,
Elon Musk said that he believes diversity, equity, and inclusion,
DEI policies, inherently involve discrimination and are fundamentally anti-Semitic.
(05:24):
This is not the first time the tech billionaire has raised concerns over DEI
initiatives. On January the 11th, Mr.
Musk questioned DEI hiring in the airline industry in response to a series of
tweets by author James Lindsay that detailed the various DEI policies implemented by Boeing.
(05:45):
Elon Musk said, do you want to fly in an airplane where they have prioritized
DEI hiring over your safety?
That is actually happening. People will die due to DEI. I don't think he meant to rhyme that.
That's the way it came out. And he was referring to the recent mid-air.
Your dyslexia could get in there too.
Well, that's true. I've been watching that because I do that now and then.
(06:10):
People will die due to DEI. Referring to the recent mid-air accident involving
Alaska Airlines Boeing airplane.
Now, because I love history and thought it, here are some quotes that come from about 183 years ago.
And again, you'll say, well, we start with the Trinity. Now we're going back
to quotes that have no relevance for the modern life, and I beg to differ.
(06:32):
These are quotes from a fellow named Alexis de Tocqueville.
You say, who is he? Well, he was a fellow who came to America in the early part
of the 19th century, 1830s and 40s, and he was a student of philosophy and politics.
He was an aristocrat, believed in the aristocracy view of things,
which is hierarchical, and did what most historians believe is the best book
(06:58):
you can read on what was democracy like in America in the first part of the 19th century.
You read this book. It used to be in my library, but I've given my library away
two, three times now, so that's gone too.
But he wrote about freedom versus equality in America.
I hear that. He wrote about freedom versus equality in America.
(07:20):
This is from his book, Democracy in America, printed 1840.
This is volume two, book two, chapter one, for those who really want to look
this up and verify my quote.
Here's what he says, quote, I think that democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom.
Left to themselves, they will seek it, cherish it, and view any privation of it with regret.
(07:45):
But for equality, their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible.
They call for equality and freedom. And if they cannot obtain that,
they still call for equality and slavery. Now, he was being ironic and sarcastic
there. So let me repeat that.
Democratic peoples want equality
(08:05):
and freedom. And if they cannot have that, they want it in slavery.
This is exactly where DEI would lead us.
So what's the point of his quote? Quote, well, as others have clearly pointed
out, he feared that the desire to be equal was of more importance to the American people than freedom.
If you know your Old Testament, you know where we're heading,
(08:27):
because this was the problem of Israel.
So this is endemic and humanity that has fallen. It's in our blood. It's in our blood.
The DEI is in our DNA. Yeah, there we go. Write it down. It's a quote.
You know, how to go copyright that. Yeah, somewhere. Does indeed the thirst
(08:47):
for equality outstrip the thirst for freedom?
Currently, we see it as so, and the seeds were apparently planted long ago.
Now, if you heard our last podcast, you know that we believe that this country
was founded on the Judaic Christian tradition.
And as we quoted two well-known people, Adams and Eisenhower,
that it doesn't work any other way. That's right.
(09:08):
And that tradition has been eroded and corrupted.
Listen to this, though. While the Judaic Christian tradition is the best,
I think, to found a constitutional republic on, it is open to corruption,
as surely as was Israel, and as surely as the churches of the New Testament.
So why this unhealthy thirst for equality over freedom?
(09:28):
Because in this world, given over to Satan, 1 John 5, John says the whole world
is in the embrace of the evil one.
2 Corinthians 4, Paul says the God of this age has blinded those who don't believe.
In this world given over to Satan, equality is viewed as the greatest virtue
since freedom allows for inequities to arise.
(09:50):
Inequalities in all areas of life. And these inequities, this unequal balance
is then seen as bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
You know, you're no better than me. It's that kind of thing,
kind of attitude. Right.
What sayeth the scripture? The following. There is only freedom in hierarchy,
and indeed, the quest for equality over freedom leads to slavery.
(10:13):
Now, we're going to be looking at the approach of this podcast,
which is God has arranged all of life
in a hierarchy, and we'll show the scripture and explain why it is so.
A hierarchy is where you have someone at the top who has the authority,
and there's then someone under that person with not as much authority,
but more than the person under them, and so forth and so on. John.
Listen to this quote from John by Jesus as well.
(10:37):
A summary of the bad ways of Israel. John 8, 31 through 33.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word,
you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
They answered him, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. one.
How is it that you say you will become free? Yes.
(11:01):
Listen to them say, we've never been enslaved. I ain't talking about freedom here. Freedom.
Well, Israel has always had trouble with freedom that comes with submission to God.
They prefer the equality of slavery, believe it or not.
Listen to this from Exodus 16, the first three verses.
(11:21):
They set out for Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came
to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth
day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.
And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and
Aaron in the wilderness.
And the people of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of
(11:45):
the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to
the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Yes. Listen to their words. They've been set free, but now they got problems.
They had a kind of equality in slavery. They got to eat. Yeah.
(12:07):
Apparently it was provided by the Egyptians.
What has happened to their thirst for freedom? Listen to Psalm 44, verses 1 and 2.
O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us,
what deed you performed in their days, in the days of old.
You with your own hand drove out the nations, but then you planted.
(12:27):
You afflicted the peoples, but then you set free.
You set them free. Well, isn't this what they prayed for in their days of oppression?
Back in Exodus chapter 3, the Lord says to Moses, I've heard the cries of my people.
I've heard them, and I will deliver them. They're crying for freedom.
Again, once they got it, how did that turn out? Numbers 11, verse 4 verses.
(12:51):
And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes.
And when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled.
And the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.
Then the people cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.
So the name of that place was called Tibera, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.
(13:14):
Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving, and the people People
of Israel also wept again and said, oh, that we had meat to eat.
Oh, that we had meat to eat.
They're being disciplined by God because of their rowdiness.
But oh, that we had meat to eat. And they go on to say, we remember the fish
we ate in Egypt that cost nothing.
Yeah. There you go. And the cucumbers and the leeks. The cucumbers,
(13:36):
the melons, the leeks. And hey, I like leeks. Yeah. And onions.
I like onions. And garlic. Until
I got COVID, now my tongue doesn't like garlic. But normally I did. did.
But now they say our strength is dried up and there's nothing at all but this
manna. So what are they saying?
They didn't have freedom, but they had equality back in Egypt.
They didn't have freedom, but they had equality.
(13:58):
It's funny how whole people can change in their attitude about, we want freedom.
And then when they got to earn the freedom, live it out, they find it too difficult.
Well, now that they're no longer slaves, they have to provide meat for themselves.
And that's a lot of work. That's a lot of work. And God provided them some free
food, the manna, and they were tired of that. Yeah. Yeah.
(14:19):
Eventually, the rebellion sets in when you got that kind of an attitude.
So, selling out to freedom so they're going to have free meals and slavery back in Egypt.
Remember what they said here, Exodus 14, verse 11.
They said to Moses, it is because there are no graves in Egypt that you have
taken us away to die in the wilderness.
What have you done to us in bringing us out to Egypt? Yes.
(14:43):
Remember their complaints when enslaved and how they wanted their freedom.
God offers them a new quality of life.
But they come to prefer the equality they found in slavery.
Let me give you an example of a revelation I had decades ago when I first got into public education.
And I was thinking about this, the public school system.
(15:04):
And we had a podcast a while back on crisis in education, J.
Graham Mecham, and a book he wrote 100 years ago where he said the public education
system is a great way of doing education as long as the liberals don't get a hold of it.
And if they do, they'll ruin it. Well, I was thinking about things like this,
and it struck me, what is the aim of public school system, at least in my experience in Cincinnati?
(15:28):
And it was equality over quality.
You can't have both. If you want quality, there's going to be an equalness.
If you want equality and force it, fine, but you're going to end up with mediocre stuff eventually.
Well, you also see that in the items produced from socialist countries.
Yes. You get one car, and it's all the same. That's it.
(15:52):
You go. Yeah. There's no other cars. There's one car, one auto manufacturer, and there's no variety.
Yep. And there's no quality.
No quality in management. No quality control there. They don't want it.
They don't need it. Yeah. Yeah.
So quality arises out of freedom in hierarchy, as we're going to show. show.
But in a society that makes equality the goal, those who rise above the others,
(16:17):
in their pursuits are seen as enemies of the social fabric.
And again, we did a podcast on meritocracy versus mediocrity.
So if you haven't heard that, you might want to go back and check that out.
It covers, in a sense, some of the few things we're doing here,
but this is a totally different direction.
So we're going to start with a trinity that is a hierarchy.
(16:38):
God's image. God God exists in a hierarchy within himself.
And therefore, the life that flows from God, whether it goes to man or to angels
or to the animal kingdom, is always in a hierarchical arrangement.
We will see that man, of course, first Adam, then Eve, obviously a hierarchy.
The angels, we're going to spend some little time on that. And of course,
(17:00):
in the animal kingdom, the lion is the king of the beasts and mice aren't.
It's a hierarchy. And it never changes. That's the point we're going to drive
home. No, mice don't become lions. Lions don't become mice.
Listen to this, 2 Corinthians 13, 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
There you go. Another reference to the Trinity. Grace of Jesus,
(17:23):
love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit.
Father, Son, and Spirit. From the early church fathers to this very day,
the Trinity is the bedrock of Christianity.
Now, note well.
The Father always stays the Father. He never becomes the Son.
Nor does the Son desire to be promoted to fatherhood.
(17:44):
He only aspires to be the Son and that fully. And the Holy Spirit desires only
to glorify the Son and that fully.
John 16, verses 13 and 14. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you
into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority,
but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.
(18:06):
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
The Holy Spirit, who is fully God, doesn't speak on his own authority.
I mean, that's astounding. That's why some people just can't get a hold of the truth of the Trinity.
But it's like so many things that, for instance, C.S. Lewis says,
once you accept the premise and understand it, it explains everything else.
(18:27):
Everything falls into place. Everything falls into place.
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine, says Jesus,
and declare it to you. And so all the glory will rebound eventually back to
the Father by the Spirit through the Son, Philippians 2, 8 through 11.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on a cross.
(18:48):
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under
the earth, And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Every tongue at some point, and every knee bows in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
(19:13):
Every means every. Every means, yeah, every, everyone. Everything that's ever
been in existence from Adam and Eve on down.
We'll confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to what? To the glory of God the Father.
All the glory, everything flows from him, and all the glory comes back eventually
from from us, through the Spirit, by way of Jesus, back to God the Father.
(19:34):
He who is the source of all receives eventually all the glory due to him.
And the glory doesn't stop with the Spirit or the Son, but all glory goes back to the Father.
Because God exists in a Trinitarian hierarchy.
Ephesians 4, 4-7 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to
the one hope that belongs to your call.
(19:55):
One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Right. There is one Spirit, there is one Lord, and one God and Father of all,
once again, who is over all and through all and in all.
(20:17):
Are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all equal? Yes and no.
Each is the person of the Trinity as God. Each person of the Trinity is fully God. equality.
And yet, and this is a big yet, each person stays the person he is and lives
according to his eternal character and the mission for humanity.
(20:38):
And that differs from father to son to spirit.
And note well, the father has no desire to cease being the source of all.
The son desires not to be the father and the spirit desires not to be the son,
but to serve is glorifying the Son, and the Son glorifying the Father.
And we have this extraordinary verse from 1 Corinthians 15, verse 28.
(21:00):
When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected
to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
Yes, just the couple of three verses previous there, Paul was saying that a
time is coming when all the rebellious authorities, principalities,
(21:20):
powers, and et cetera, will be submitted to Christ.
And people don't realize that eventually Christ will surrender the throne back to God.
Eventually, that's exactly what Paul is saying. Yeah. And when all things are
subjected to him then, meaning the Son, then the Son himself will also be subjected
to him, meaning God the Father, who put all things in subjection under him, the Son.
(21:42):
The goal being that God may be all in all. all.
So all of life on planet earth proceeds from this arrangement.
Participation in the same life created life. Participation according to what
we are in the hierarchy of life.
Let's take a look at angels to begin with.
Angels, when were they created? Listen to Job 38, 4 through 7.
(22:02):
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars
sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Sons of God, as all are agreed upon, refer to the angels.
(22:27):
Morning stars, of course, a metaphorical way of speaking of them.
Jesus talks about the stars of the churches and stars as angels in the book of Revelation.
The angels were clearly created before Adam and Eve. They were created en masse.
They are the army of heaven. and they belong to that invisible realm of creation.
Listen to Colossians 1, verses 15 and 16.
(22:49):
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
All things were created through him and for him.
All things visible, we know about that, and invisible.
And what are those invisible things? Kings, thrones, dominions,
(23:12):
rulers, authorities, referring first and foremost to the angels,
the elect angels for sure, but also to the angels who fell. They still hold power, as we will see.
And angels, like a military unit, have ranks. They have ranks, absolutely.
There is not equality among the angelic community.
(23:32):
No equality there. Nope, everybody's under orders.
Angels, as Randy says, are in a hierarchy. Now, to illustrate that,
let's just take one example.
We'll use another one, too. But first, let's start with Michael. Excuse me.
Michael is an archangel. Jude chapter 9.
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about
(23:53):
the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment,
but said, The Lord rebuke you.
Now, this is an incident not recorded in the Old Testament. It's recorded outside
the Bible, but it's still true. A lot of true things are outside the Bible.
Yes. Jim Goble is true. Yeah. A real person. And he's not mentioned in the Bible, right? Yeah.
(24:14):
Michael here is called an archangel. And there came a time when Moses had died
that the devil came to take the body of Moses and who knows do what with it,
but obviously something idolatrous.
And who shows up to take care of this and make sure the body of Moses is taken
care of? The archangel Michael.
Not a whole lot of angels, but just this one angel, Michael.
(24:36):
This is the beginning of leave no one behind.
So Michael came to claim the body and said, it's ours. You don't get it.
Yeah. Yeah. The Lord rebuke you.
He is Israel's archangel. And we're going to see he's also the archangel of
Christians, Jews and Gentiles together. Listen to Daniel 12, verse 1.
At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.
(24:59):
And there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.
But at that time, your people shall be delivered. Everyone whose name shall
be found written in the book.
Right. Right here, he's called the great prince, but everybody concedes that means archangel.
And notice, in charge of your people. He's talking to Daniel,
Daniel's people of Christ, Jews, the Israelites.
(25:22):
He's in charge of them. Notice that. That's his job. It's not Michael and somebody else. It's Michael.
That's why he's an archangel. Not a committee. Not a committee. One entity. One entity.
And note the chronology. We start with Moses' time. He's deaf,
and there is Michael, an archangel.
You move ahead many, many centuries, and there he's involved with Daniel and
(25:45):
what's going on with Daniel's life.
And then in the ascension, a thousand years later, he's in the ascension.
He's even there. And we're going to look at Revelation chapter 12 here, verses 7 and 8.
But the background is Jesus is ascended and on the throne of heaven.
And Satan now, that's post-crucifixion, post-resurrection, he's enthroned in heaven.
(26:06):
Satan has been excluded. And he doesn't like that. He wants access to the throne
of God to communicate or do whatever he was doing previously.
And some of that's found in Job chapter 1 and 2.
But he's violent now. And so what happens? How is this dealt with when Satan
with his angels storms, as it were, heaven? Verse 7 and 8.
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon,
(26:30):
and the dragon and his angels fought back.
But he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
Right. The throne down to earth and woe to earth, says the words in Revelation.
Michael and his angels. Notice it's Michael and his angels. That's all the angels
that are left that are good.
And he's the leader. Boom. That's how it works. And Satan, of course, has his.
(26:54):
Michael not only oversees God's people, Old and New Testament,
as we will see, but the angels as well. Michael does that.
And the angels who stuck with Michael clearly progressed better than the ones with Satan.
Better spiritual soldiers. So question, did Michael rise through the ranks to
become an archangel, or was he created that way to start?
(27:14):
We have to conclude he was an archangel from the start because Colossians 1,
as Randy read, points out all the hierarchies, thrones, principalities, powers,
their arrangements, and who does what with whom and over whom and under whom
were created at the beginning through Christ.
Angels in service to Michael will never replace Michael. He's still the archangel when Jesus returns.
(27:37):
Listen to this, 1 Thessalonians 4, 16.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command,
with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Right. This is the second coming. The Lord descends from heaven with a cry of
command, and the voice of an archangel calling all his angels together,
(27:59):
because he's the one in charge of protecting God's people.
And Satan's not going to be able to mess with anybody when this great rapture,
as it's referred to, comes, because that's the job of Michael,
to form a safe passage from earth to where they're going.
We want to point out one thing here, and I hate to be pedantic here,
(28:20):
but I think it helps to explain something.
The voice of an archangel and archangels, does that mean that there are other archangels?
Well, if you read the translation of the NIV, Christian Standard Bible,
the New American Standard Bible, the NLT, they all have with the voice of the archangel.
So it's ambiguous in the Greek. So when translations vary, I always go with the pattern of truth.
(28:42):
Daniel is the archangel, but hold on. We got a few more things to say about that.
Daniel 12, verse 1 of the subject says again, at that time shall arise Michael,
the great prince, the archangel, who is charged of your people.
Now, but listen, if you go to Daniel 10.13, we're told there that Michael is
one of the archangels, and presumably then Gabriel would be another.
(29:08):
What has happened here is that Gabriel got stopped coming to answer a prayer
that Daniel had sent up, and he got delayed three weeks.
And he says that he was delayed by the prince of Persia, which is an angel on
the satanic side of things, spiritual warfare out in the invisible realm.
And he had to wait for Michael to come and take that over. So he'd come and
(29:31):
deliver the message he had to Daniel.
So how's that work out? Yeah. Well, just based on my opinion,
studying it, I believe this.
Michael is the archangel for spiritual warfare because when he shows up,
that's what he's doing. He's having warfare with Satan, getting back the body of Moses.
He's fighting the prince of Persia. So Gabriel, who as we will see is the archangel
(29:54):
of messengers, because that's what he does in the Bible.
He delivers a message, can get his message through to Daniel.
Now you can find all that in Daniel 8, 9, and 10.
If you want to go back and read all that background, we didn't want to have
to to delve into all that in this particular podcast.
So, Gabriel is the archangel of messengers and of messages, which is why Michael
(30:15):
came to help Gabriel so he'd get the message through to Daniel.
It says here at verse I'm referring to, Daniel 10, 13, the prince of the kingdom
of Persia withstood me, this is Gabriel talking, 21 days, but Michael,
one of the chief princes, and that's consistent in all the translations.
One of the chief princes come to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia.
(30:37):
So there's an archangel for messages, and that's Gabriel.
And just remember, he comes to Daniel, and he's got two or three long pronouncements
of prophecy to give to Daniel.
We go to the New Testament, and who shows up to tell Zechariah about John the
Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus? Gabriel.
Who's the one later then in Luke chapter one? Goes to to marry,
to tell her about she's going to be the blessed one to deliver the Messiah. It's Gabriel.
(31:03):
And in Luke 2, when an angel comes to the shepherds, he's not named,
but it wouldn't surprise me if it's Gabriel.
In other words, the pattern of truth is consistent. Gabriel delivers the messages.
Michael, the archangel, is involved in spiritual warfare and protects God's
people, Old Testament and New.
So it would appear that Gabriel's not after Michael's job, and neither is Michael
after Gabriel's. They help each other do their jobs well.
(31:27):
So, Michael leaves the angels in Jesus' return, protecting God's people then,
just as he's been the protector of God's people before the incarnation.
Angels are to bloom as created within the hierarchy that they've been positioned by God.
The same is true now with Adam and Eve.
They're made equal. They're in God's image. But like Father,
(31:47):
Son, and Holy Spirit, they function in different ways from each other,
and that from the beginning. The best Adam can aim for is to be the best Adam possible.
Not the best Bruce or Norman.
Best Adam. And...
He can't be the best Eve. That's not available. That's not on the table.
The best Eve can aim for is to be the best Eve possible, and that's so for all of us.
(32:10):
We can only be the best of what God has made us and granted us to be and the
gifts he has given us. There are no trading places in the Trinity.
There are no trading places with angels or with the saints now,
and this is really important because God exists in Trinity.
We're made in his image. So this Trinitarian hierarchy relationship goes all
(32:32):
the way down, as I said, clearly into the animal kingdom.
But let's start now and just look at how does this work out in the New Testament church?
1 Corinthians 12, 14 through 19. One of my favorite verses, by the way,
or sections of Scripture. Oh, good, good.
For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.
If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,
(32:55):
that would would not make it any less a part of the body.
And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,
that would not make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?
If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He he chose.
(33:21):
If all were a single member, where would the body be?
God arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose.
If you're in a body of Christ today, you're there. God has arranged it, put you there.
He chooses that. But what gave him the right? What gave him the right?
Well, that's a good question. We could probably pursue that one.
(33:44):
But the right is always where God says, who made people blind,
who gives people hearing, and not need to tell that to Moses.
I'm the one who does it, yeah.
It's God who orders the organic hierarchy.
That's a term I coined, but it makes sense. Organic hierarchy. Different from angels.
We're going to trademark that along with the DEI. DEI is the DNA.
Yeah, that's right. We'll come to it. Yeah.
(34:04):
The organic hierarchy of the church. And just as an ear cannot become an eye,
so it is with the body of Christ.
If we're a big toe in the body, what we aim for is to be the best big toe ever.
Yeah. And people say, well, that's sort of nasty. But let me tell you something.
You don't have your big toe. You got issues.
Kind of like Sergeant Hulka in Stripes, if you're the big toe. Yeah.
(34:26):
Right. And so if you're a big toe, if you're an eye, same thing with the eye.
Paul makes this hierarchy in the church very clear as he closes out this chapter
from 1 Corinthians 12, verses 27 through 31.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets,
(34:48):
third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping,
administrating in various kinds of tongues.
Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all work miracles,
do all possess gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret,
but earnestly desire the higher gifts?
(35:09):
And I will show you still a more excellent way.
Yeah, diversity. God decides what the diversity will be in the church,
because that's the kind of God he is.
And if we understood it, You would see it play out across the world,
but we have a problem with that because of the work of Satan and people who
(35:30):
want diversity to serve their particular agenda, which is never God's.
So are all apostles? No. You know, I was born in the wrong era. I can't be an apostle.
Randy can't. You people out there listening, you can't be because you born in the wrong time.
Are all prophets? I still think there are prophets today, people who are unusually
blessed with the word of God to speak it.
(35:52):
Sometimes people say, well, that's a preacher.
Well, I think a prophet can be a preacher, but not all preachers are prophets.
That's true. That's the way I see it.
Someday maybe we'll address that. Are all teachers? Well, we're not talking
about your regular teachers, teachers who probably are those who are recognized
as such and do a lot of that.
And it goes all the way down this hierarchy and earnestly want the higher gifts.
(36:15):
Obviously, chapter 13 that follows is the love chapter.
Everything's got to be done in love. And then chapter 14, he says,
so follow the way of love and desire the better gifts, which first and foremost
is to prophesy, which really means just God lays his word on your heart to speak at a certain time,
maybe in a Sunday school class, maybe to a neighbor, maybe in the congregation
(36:35):
when people are called on, you know, to give their requests to the prayer people
or whatever it is and so forth, so on.
It's a hierarchy. So...
How does this work out? Romans 12, 4 through 8 gives a very good idea of how
this hierarchical arrangement of gifts and we who are in the church,
be we eye, ear, or big toe, works out.
(36:56):
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the
same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.
If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving,
(37:18):
the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation,
the one who contributes in generosity,
the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.
Exactly. Again, the diversity, the equity, the inclusion, God does this in the
church, and we follow God, and God knows how to do it right.
(37:42):
So though there are many of us and members individually of one another,
we do have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.
And therefore, where God has placed us in and how he has placed us and what
he has given us, we should therefore serve him in that way.
Notice it says, if prophecy, for example, is your gift, in proportion to our
(38:02):
faith, meaning if you're a five, don't try to be a six.
But the beauty of this is, if you're faithful to what you are at that stage,
you can grow. We see this all through scripture.
You can become a 10, be a 10. And I'd rather be a 10 of what I'm supposed to
be doing than struggle being a four and hardly make it that's something I wasn't
(38:22):
given by God to do. Amen to that.
Yeah, so here's my testimony. And this is not to put me in any good light.
I'm just, it's honestly, it's true.
When we were at our ministry church years ago in Glanchester, Ohio,
Sunday morning, getting ready for church, and I had the TV on,
and they were doing a retrospect on Billy Graham or something.
And the announcer said, you know, Billy Graham in one day speaks to more people
(38:45):
and preaches more people than most preachers do in a lifetime.
And I was listening to that, and immediately this word came to me.
Well, Goble, what do you think about that?
And I'm happy to say, I said, I am fine with that.
Because from early on in doing this kind of ministerial work,
whatever reason, God made made it clear to me, you're going to be working with smaller groups.
(39:07):
So I've never had a problem with that. Yeah. I had an opportunity to go to a
church. Which you were made for. Yeah, it's what I was made for. And it's where I thrive.
I'm not interested in pastoring a church of 500. Never was.
I just am blessed in doing what I do and I thank God for it.
And the thing is, it saves you from the frustration of envy.
How many people in ministry have been frustrated because they didn't get to
(39:29):
be a Bill Heibel or name your favorite, you know, Chuck Swindoll, something like that.
Or you're trying to be something that you weren't made to be.
Trying to be what you were. You know, you're not living out of your purpose.
You're not living out of your identity.
You're doing it for someone else. Yes, exactly.
Now let's be clear in matters of salvation, access to God, we are all equal.
(39:53):
Listen to this from Galatians 3, 26 through 29.
Another good one. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith,
for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor free, there is neither slave nor free,
there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
(40:13):
And if you are in Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Salvation fully enjoyed by all. As to our relationship to the Lord,
men do not have an access to him that women don't. Right.
Women have access to him just like men. They are equal in that.
God doesn't favor men over women in matters of grace, salvation, or wisdom.
(40:36):
And speaking of wisdom, sometimes we lean to the fairer sex for wisdom when
men get stupid. Yeah. It happens frequently.
The slave doesn't have to wait on the free man to approach the Lord.
Freeman doesn't have a corner on the market. And this is really good.
And Paul, though he was an apostle extraordinaire, doesn't have a corner on
the salvation market with the Lord either.
(40:57):
Otherwise, he wouldn't ask for prayers of the saints of the churches to which
he writes for the help he needs.
In Ephesians 6, he said, please pray for me so that my mouth can boldly proclaim.
Paul says, I'll fail. I got to have prayer. Colossians 4, again, asks for prayers.
Pray that I'll get an open door to preach.
(41:17):
And then 2 Thessalonians 3 says, please pray for me because not everybody has
the faith and I'm suffering with persecution.
Paul asked normal everyday people who were illiterate for the most part,
except for maybe a few Jews and special Gentiles who were governor officials.
Literacy was high in the early church. And some of them were slaves there themselves.
(41:38):
And Paul says, I covet your prayers.
You know, that's a kind of everybody comes down to the same level.
The kind of equality that God blesses it in. them.
So, however, the distinctions, of course, of gender, gifts, they continue.
Hierarchies continue until the Lord returns. In the church of the Lord,
everybody's a class A citizen, has full rights of that citizenship.
(41:59):
And God, as we have seen, decides how to work out that citizenship.
He's got his own DEI going and not the world's.
God's people should not be complaining that life is not fair or that laws should
be changed to make sure that there are are equal outcomes for everybody.
Life doesn't work that way, and certainly not the kingdom of God.
(42:20):
So we're going to close with this encouragement to all of us.
If God was fair and just, where would all of us be?
If God decides to bless others the way he never blessed us, what should we do?
Praise God for how he has blessed us in our experience and grow in that that blessing as best we can.
(42:41):
Bloom where you're planted. Now, we're going to close out with this great parable
of the vineyard from Jesus in Matthew 20.
Let me paraphrase the first six verses. A man, the master, has a vineyard.
He rises up in the morning early and goes to the village square to see who's there to work.
He sees a few people and agrees to pay him a drachma, a piece,
(43:03):
for the the day's work, and they go out to the field.
So then he goes out three hours later, the third hour, and does the same thing
with whoever's there. He does it the sixth hour. He does it the ninth hour.
And finally, the 11th hour, there's still a few stragglers who came in late,
and then they got nothing. And he says, well, I'll hire you for a drop-net apiece.
(43:23):
So he contracts to pay these people a drachma each. Now we come to the drama
of it. Randy is going to read Matthew 20, 8 through 16.
And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first.
And when those hired about the eleventh hour came in, each of them received a drachma.
(43:46):
Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more,
but each of them also received a drachma.
And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house,
saying, These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us
who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
But he replied to one of them, Friend, I am doing you no wrong.
(44:07):
Did you not agree with me for a drachma?
Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me,
or do you begrudge my generosity?
Generosity so the last will be first and the
first last right drachma denarius
basically the same pay for everybody and so
(44:30):
he says call the laborers and pay them their wages beginning with the last up
to the first so everyone's going to see what's happening and clearly the ones
who were hard first oh they get excited oh they thought they would receive more
man we're really gonna get if these guys came in they get well we're going to
get 10 drachmas a piece and they listen to this.
(44:50):
You've made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day.
It's not right. We deserve more.
And the master says, I'm doing you no wrong. Didn't I agree?
Didn't you agree for just one coin, a drachma?
Take what belongs to you. I choose to give to this last worker as I gave to
you. That's how I do things.
(45:11):
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to to me.
Or do you begrudge my generosity?
So, Jesus says, the last will be first and the first last.
Life's not fair. And we could say in the kingdom of God, you can get an evil
eye and see it that way too.
I'm not being blessed like the other fellow over here is. The plan,
(45:34):
as Jesus taught his disciples in Luke 17, 10, we are at best unprofitable servants.
Otherwise, we who thought we should be first will in fact be last.
And those who are last will go to the head of the line.
Why? Because God chooses who and how and when and where He will bless accordingly.
He's got His own DEI program going, and we need to be happy with it.
(45:57):
Let us rejoice for the graces God gives us and not fall into the sin of envy
because we didn't get what someone else did, or because we are not as smart
or as talented or as popular as somebody else.
We are servants, and what we should want to hear on that day is simply,
well done, good and faithful servant. and that's the Christian expectation.
(46:19):
Well, thanks, Jim. You've given
us a lot to think about and you may have questions and comments on it.
And if you have questions or comments, feel free to comment on the podcast or
if you prefer, send us an email at eventsandexpectations, that's eventsandexpectations,
all one word, at gmail.com.
This has been Current Events and Christian Expectations.
(46:42):
Music.
Music.
(00:07):
Good day to you, brothers, sisters, friends, and new faces, and welcome to Current
Events and Christian Expectations.
And today in this podcast, we're going to be talking about DEI.
We'll lead off with 1 Corinthians 8, verses 5 through 6, and we'll have several
other scriptures that we reference and read today, and we'll put those in the overview.
(00:29):
But with diversity, equity, and inclusion
under the influence of the Holy Scriptures, Let's just dig right in.
Right. Good evening out there in podcast land, or morning. I don't know when you're listening.
Whatever area of the world you're in. Whatever area of the world,
because we go around the world, apparently. We do. We do. It's good.
(00:50):
It's a world-reaching podcast. It's a world-reaching. Yeah. Absolutely.
Diversity, equity, and inclusivity. What is that all about? It's the DEI that's
in the news a lot these days.
Diversity, meaning if you have a group, whatever the policies or formulations
of law that brought it to pass, it's first thing first, first priority is not
(01:13):
the mission or the competency of people to do it, but you got to be diverse.
Yeah, it's the word of the day for corporate America is diversity,
equity, and inclusion, for sure.
Absolutely. And equity just means fairness.
And inclusivity, of course, means you got to include everybody regardless of
their abilities or et cetera.
Everything must be fair the way we define fairness.
(01:37):
That's how the DEI people come across. It's not about qualifications.
We're going to look at 1 Corinthians 8, 5, and 6, and listen carefully because
you may think, what has this got to do with the topic at hand?
For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth,
as indeed there are many many gods and many lords.
(01:58):
Yet for us, there is one God, the Father, from whom all things and for whom
we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.
Through him are all things and through whom we exist.
So let me emphasize what Randy's read.
There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.
(02:21):
And that never changes. And one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom,
meaning He is the means, the medium, are all things and through whom we exist.
Here's another one, 1 Corinthians 12, 4 through 6.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties
of service, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities,
(02:44):
but it is the same God who empowers them all in every one.
And again, as you have picked up on this, this is another Trinitarian reference.
Variety of gifts comes from the same Spirit. Spirit, varieties of service from
the Lord, Lord Jesus, varieties of activities, but it's the same God who empowers them all and everyone.
(03:05):
So, what does the Trinity have to do with DEI?
We will shortly pursue that, but first, here are some quotes,
and we hope not to bore you, but we've got a few of them here.
CBS News, January 4th of this year, from the reporter Megan Reagan Cerullo,
quote, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a ringleader in the campaign
(03:27):
to oust former Harvard University president Claudine Gay,
is fixing his sights on another target that he says has facilitated racism at
universities and in corporate America,
diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Ackman penned a 4,000-word takedown of DEI programs, which he posted on social
(03:49):
media platform X following the departure of Gay.
Who resigned over controversial testimony at a Capitol Hill hearing on anti-Semitism
on college campuses, along with allegations of plagiarism.
The Harvard alumnus and major donor to the university said that while he believes
(04:10):
in true diversity within organizations,
DEI initiatives in higher education and business are a political advocacy movement
on behalf of certain groups that are deemed oppressed under DEI's own methodology.
End of quote. We might also add Ackman derided the DEI initiatives as misguided
(04:34):
because they look to achieve,
and here I'll quote him, equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity. He also wrote this,
Oh.
(05:01):
My goodness. Yes. Yes.
Now, Elon Musk, who's always quotable, says the following, quote,
this is from the Epoch Times, and we quote from the Epoch Times,
Elon Musk said that he believes diversity, equity, and inclusion,
DEI policies, inherently involve discrimination and are fundamentally anti-Semitic.
(05:24):
This is not the first time the tech billionaire has raised concerns over DEI
initiatives. On January the 11th, Mr.
Musk questioned DEI hiring in the airline industry in response to a series of
tweets by author James Lindsay that detailed the various DEI policies implemented by Boeing.
(05:45):
Elon Musk said, do you want to fly in an airplane where they have prioritized
DEI hiring over your safety?
That is actually happening. People will die due to DEI. I don't think he meant to rhyme that.
That's the way it came out. And he was referring to the recent mid-air.
Your dyslexia could get in there too.
Well, that's true. I've been watching that because I do that now and then.
(06:10):
People will die due to DEI. Referring to the recent mid-air accident involving
Alaska Airlines Boeing airplane.
Now, because I love history and thought it, here are some quotes that come from about 183 years ago.
And again, you'll say, well, we start with the Trinity. Now we're going back
to quotes that have no relevance for the modern life, and I beg to differ.
(06:32):
These are quotes from a fellow named Alexis de Tocqueville.
You say, who is he? Well, he was a fellow who came to America in the early part
of the 19th century, 1830s and 40s, and he was a student of philosophy and politics.
He was an aristocrat, believed in the aristocracy view of things,
which is hierarchical, and did what most historians believe is the best book
(06:58):
you can read on what was democracy like in America in the first part of the 19th century.
You read this book. It used to be in my library, but I've given my library away
two, three times now, so that's gone too.
But he wrote about freedom versus equality in America.
I hear that. He wrote about freedom versus equality in America.
(07:20):
This is from his book, Democracy in America, printed 1840.
This is volume two, book two, chapter one, for those who really want to look
this up and verify my quote.
Here's what he says, quote, I think that democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom.
Left to themselves, they will seek it, cherish it, and view any privation of it with regret.
(07:45):
But for equality, their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible.
They call for equality and freedom. And if they cannot obtain that,
they still call for equality and slavery. Now, he was being ironic and sarcastic
there. So let me repeat that.
Democratic peoples want equality
(08:05):
and freedom. And if they cannot have that, they want it in slavery.
This is exactly where DEI would lead us.
So what's the point of his quote? Quote, well, as others have clearly pointed
out, he feared that the desire to be equal was of more importance to the American people than freedom.
If you know your Old Testament, you know where we're heading,
(08:27):
because this was the problem of Israel.
So this is endemic and humanity that has fallen. It's in our blood. It's in our blood.
The DEI is in our DNA. Yeah, there we go. Write it down. It's a quote.
You know, how to go copyright that. Yeah, somewhere. Does indeed the thirst
(08:47):
for equality outstrip the thirst for freedom?
Currently, we see it as so, and the seeds were apparently planted long ago.
Now, if you heard our last podcast, you know that we believe that this country
was founded on the Judaic Christian tradition.
And as we quoted two well-known people, Adams and Eisenhower,
that it doesn't work any other way. That's right.
(09:08):
And that tradition has been eroded and corrupted.
Listen to this, though. While the Judaic Christian tradition is the best,
I think, to found a constitutional republic on, it is open to corruption,
as surely as was Israel, and as surely as the churches of the New Testament.
So why this unhealthy thirst for equality over freedom?
(09:28):
Because in this world, given over to Satan, 1 John 5, John says the whole world
is in the embrace of the evil one.
2 Corinthians 4, Paul says the God of this age has blinded those who don't believe.
In this world given over to Satan, equality is viewed as the greatest virtue
since freedom allows for inequities to arise.
(09:50):
Inequalities in all areas of life. And these inequities, this unequal balance
is then seen as bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
You know, you're no better than me. It's that kind of thing,
kind of attitude. Right.
What sayeth the scripture? The following. There is only freedom in hierarchy,
and indeed, the quest for equality over freedom leads to slavery.
(10:13):
Now, we're going to be looking at the approach of this podcast,
which is God has arranged all of life
in a hierarchy, and we'll show the scripture and explain why it is so.
A hierarchy is where you have someone at the top who has the authority,
and there's then someone under that person with not as much authority,
but more than the person under them, and so forth and so on. John.
Listen to this quote from John by Jesus as well.
(10:37):
A summary of the bad ways of Israel. John 8, 31 through 33.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word,
you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
They answered him, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. one.
How is it that you say you will become free? Yes.
(11:01):
Listen to them say, we've never been enslaved. I ain't talking about freedom here. Freedom.
Well, Israel has always had trouble with freedom that comes with submission to God.
They prefer the equality of slavery, believe it or not.
Listen to this from Exodus 16, the first three verses.
(11:21):
They set out for Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came
to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth
day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.
And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and
Aaron in the wilderness.
And the people of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of
(11:45):
the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to
the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Yes. Listen to their words. They've been set free, but now they got problems.
They had a kind of equality in slavery. They got to eat. Yeah.
(12:07):
Apparently it was provided by the Egyptians.
What has happened to their thirst for freedom? Listen to Psalm 44, verses 1 and 2.
O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us,
what deed you performed in their days, in the days of old.
You with your own hand drove out the nations, but then you planted.
(12:27):
You afflicted the peoples, but then you set free.
You set them free. Well, isn't this what they prayed for in their days of oppression?
Back in Exodus chapter 3, the Lord says to Moses, I've heard the cries of my people.
I've heard them, and I will deliver them. They're crying for freedom.
Again, once they got it, how did that turn out? Numbers 11, verse 4 verses.
(12:51):
And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes.
And when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled.
And the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.
Then the people cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.
So the name of that place was called Tibera, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.
(13:14):
Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving, and the people People
of Israel also wept again and said, oh, that we had meat to eat.
Oh, that we had meat to eat.
They're being disciplined by God because of their rowdiness.
But oh, that we had meat to eat. And they go on to say, we remember the fish
we ate in Egypt that cost nothing.
Yeah. There you go. And the cucumbers and the leeks. The cucumbers,
(13:36):
the melons, the leeks. And hey, I like leeks. Yeah. And onions.
I like onions. And garlic. Until
I got COVID, now my tongue doesn't like garlic. But normally I did. did.
But now they say our strength is dried up and there's nothing at all but this
manna. So what are they saying?
They didn't have freedom, but they had equality back in Egypt.
They didn't have freedom, but they had equality.
(13:58):
It's funny how whole people can change in their attitude about, we want freedom.
And then when they got to earn the freedom, live it out, they find it too difficult.
Well, now that they're no longer slaves, they have to provide meat for themselves.
And that's a lot of work. That's a lot of work. And God provided them some free
food, the manna, and they were tired of that. Yeah. Yeah.
(14:19):
Eventually, the rebellion sets in when you got that kind of an attitude.
So, selling out to freedom so they're going to have free meals and slavery back in Egypt.
Remember what they said here, Exodus 14, verse 11.
They said to Moses, it is because there are no graves in Egypt that you have
taken us away to die in the wilderness.
What have you done to us in bringing us out to Egypt? Yes.
(14:43):
Remember their complaints when enslaved and how they wanted their freedom.
God offers them a new quality of life.
But they come to prefer the equality they found in slavery.
Let me give you an example of a revelation I had decades ago when I first got into public education.
And I was thinking about this, the public school system.
(15:04):
And we had a podcast a while back on crisis in education, J.
Graham Mecham, and a book he wrote 100 years ago where he said the public education
system is a great way of doing education as long as the liberals don't get a hold of it.
And if they do, they'll ruin it. Well, I was thinking about things like this,
and it struck me, what is the aim of public school system, at least in my experience in Cincinnati?
(15:28):
And it was equality over quality.
You can't have both. If you want quality, there's going to be an equalness.
If you want equality and force it, fine, but you're going to end up with mediocre stuff eventually.
Well, you also see that in the items produced from socialist countries.
Yes. You get one car, and it's all the same. That's it.
(15:52):
You go. Yeah. There's no other cars. There's one car, one auto manufacturer, and there's no variety.
Yep. And there's no quality.
No quality in management. No quality control there. They don't want it.
They don't need it. Yeah. Yeah.
So quality arises out of freedom in hierarchy, as we're going to show. show.
But in a society that makes equality the goal, those who rise above the others,
(16:17):
in their pursuits are seen as enemies of the social fabric.
And again, we did a podcast on meritocracy versus mediocrity.
So if you haven't heard that, you might want to go back and check that out.
It covers, in a sense, some of the few things we're doing here,
but this is a totally different direction.
So we're going to start with a trinity that is a hierarchy.
(16:38):
God's image. God God exists in a hierarchy within himself.
And therefore, the life that flows from God, whether it goes to man or to angels
or to the animal kingdom, is always in a hierarchical arrangement.
We will see that man, of course, first Adam, then Eve, obviously a hierarchy.
The angels, we're going to spend some little time on that. And of course,
(17:00):
in the animal kingdom, the lion is the king of the beasts and mice aren't.
It's a hierarchy. And it never changes. That's the point we're going to drive
home. No, mice don't become lions. Lions don't become mice.
Listen to this, 2 Corinthians 13, 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
There you go. Another reference to the Trinity. Grace of Jesus,
(17:23):
love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit.
Father, Son, and Spirit. From the early church fathers to this very day,
the Trinity is the bedrock of Christianity.
Now, note well.
The Father always stays the Father. He never becomes the Son.
Nor does the Son desire to be promoted to fatherhood.
(17:44):
He only aspires to be the Son and that fully. And the Holy Spirit desires only
to glorify the Son and that fully.
John 16, verses 13 and 14. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you
into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority,
but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.
(18:06):
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
The Holy Spirit, who is fully God, doesn't speak on his own authority.
I mean, that's astounding. That's why some people just can't get a hold of the truth of the Trinity.
But it's like so many things that, for instance, C.S. Lewis says,
once you accept the premise and understand it, it explains everything else.
(18:27):
Everything falls into place. Everything falls into place.
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine, says Jesus,
and declare it to you. And so all the glory will rebound eventually back to
the Father by the Spirit through the Son, Philippians 2, 8 through 11.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on a cross.
(18:48):
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under
the earth, And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Every tongue at some point, and every knee bows in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
(19:13):
Every means every. Every means, yeah, every, everyone. Everything that's ever
been in existence from Adam and Eve on down.
We'll confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to what? To the glory of God the Father.
All the glory, everything flows from him, and all the glory comes back eventually
from from us, through the Spirit, by way of Jesus, back to God the Father.
(19:34):
He who is the source of all receives eventually all the glory due to him.
And the glory doesn't stop with the Spirit or the Son, but all glory goes back to the Father.
Because God exists in a Trinitarian hierarchy.
Ephesians 4, 4-7 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to
the one hope that belongs to your call.
(19:55):
One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Right. There is one Spirit, there is one Lord, and one God and Father of all,
once again, who is over all and through all and in all.
(20:17):
Are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all equal? Yes and no.
Each is the person of the Trinity as God. Each person of the Trinity is fully God. equality.
And yet, and this is a big yet, each person stays the person he is and lives
according to his eternal character and the mission for humanity.
(20:38):
And that differs from father to son to spirit.
And note well, the father has no desire to cease being the source of all.
The son desires not to be the father and the spirit desires not to be the son,
but to serve is glorifying the Son, and the Son glorifying the Father.
And we have this extraordinary verse from 1 Corinthians 15, verse 28.
(21:00):
When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected
to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
Yes, just the couple of three verses previous there, Paul was saying that a
time is coming when all the rebellious authorities, principalities,
(21:20):
powers, and et cetera, will be submitted to Christ.
And people don't realize that eventually Christ will surrender the throne back to God.
Eventually, that's exactly what Paul is saying. Yeah. And when all things are
subjected to him then, meaning the Son, then the Son himself will also be subjected
to him, meaning God the Father, who put all things in subjection under him, the Son.
(21:42):
The goal being that God may be all in all. all.
So all of life on planet earth proceeds from this arrangement.
Participation in the same life created life. Participation according to what
we are in the hierarchy of life.
Let's take a look at angels to begin with.
Angels, when were they created? Listen to Job 38, 4 through 7.
(22:02):
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars
sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Sons of God, as all are agreed upon, refer to the angels.
(22:27):
Morning stars, of course, a metaphorical way of speaking of them.
Jesus talks about the stars of the churches and stars as angels in the book of Revelation.
The angels were clearly created before Adam and Eve. They were created en masse.
They are the army of heaven. and they belong to that invisible realm of creation.
Listen to Colossians 1, verses 15 and 16.
(22:49):
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
All things were created through him and for him.
All things visible, we know about that, and invisible.
And what are those invisible things? Kings, thrones, dominions,
(23:12):
rulers, authorities, referring first and foremost to the angels,
the elect angels for sure, but also to the angels who fell. They still hold power, as we will see.
And angels, like a military unit, have ranks. They have ranks, absolutely.
There is not equality among the angelic community.
(23:32):
No equality there. Nope, everybody's under orders.
Angels, as Randy says, are in a hierarchy. Now, to illustrate that,
let's just take one example.
We'll use another one, too. But first, let's start with Michael. Excuse me.
Michael is an archangel. Jude chapter 9.
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about
(23:53):
the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment,
but said, The Lord rebuke you.
Now, this is an incident not recorded in the Old Testament. It's recorded outside
the Bible, but it's still true. A lot of true things are outside the Bible.
Yes. Jim Goble is true. Yeah. A real person. And he's not mentioned in the Bible, right? Yeah.
(24:14):
Michael here is called an archangel. And there came a time when Moses had died
that the devil came to take the body of Moses and who knows do what with it,
but obviously something idolatrous.
And who shows up to take care of this and make sure the body of Moses is taken
care of? The archangel Michael.
Not a whole lot of angels, but just this one angel, Michael.
(24:36):
This is the beginning of leave no one behind.
So Michael came to claim the body and said, it's ours. You don't get it.
Yeah. Yeah. The Lord rebuke you.
He is Israel's archangel. And we're going to see he's also the archangel of
Christians, Jews and Gentiles together. Listen to Daniel 12, verse 1.
At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.
(24:59):
And there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.
But at that time, your people shall be delivered. Everyone whose name shall
be found written in the book.
Right. Right here, he's called the great prince, but everybody concedes that means archangel.
And notice, in charge of your people. He's talking to Daniel,
Daniel's people of Christ, Jews, the Israelites.
(25:22):
He's in charge of them. Notice that. That's his job. It's not Michael and somebody else. It's Michael.
That's why he's an archangel. Not a committee. Not a committee. One entity. One entity.
And note the chronology. We start with Moses' time. He's deaf,
and there is Michael, an archangel.
You move ahead many, many centuries, and there he's involved with Daniel and
(25:45):
what's going on with Daniel's life.
And then in the ascension, a thousand years later, he's in the ascension.
He's even there. And we're going to look at Revelation chapter 12 here, verses 7 and 8.
But the background is Jesus is ascended and on the throne of heaven.
And Satan now, that's post-crucifixion, post-resurrection, he's enthroned in heaven.
(26:06):
Satan has been excluded. And he doesn't like that. He wants access to the throne
of God to communicate or do whatever he was doing previously.
And some of that's found in Job chapter 1 and 2.
But he's violent now. And so what happens? How is this dealt with when Satan
with his angels storms, as it were, heaven? Verse 7 and 8.
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon,
(26:30):
and the dragon and his angels fought back.
But he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
Right. The throne down to earth and woe to earth, says the words in Revelation.
Michael and his angels. Notice it's Michael and his angels. That's all the angels
that are left that are good.
And he's the leader. Boom. That's how it works. And Satan, of course, has his.
(26:54):
Michael not only oversees God's people, Old and New Testament,
as we will see, but the angels as well. Michael does that.
And the angels who stuck with Michael clearly progressed better than the ones with Satan.
Better spiritual soldiers. So question, did Michael rise through the ranks to
become an archangel, or was he created that way to start?
(27:14):
We have to conclude he was an archangel from the start because Colossians 1,
as Randy read, points out all the hierarchies, thrones, principalities, powers,
their arrangements, and who does what with whom and over whom and under whom
were created at the beginning through Christ.
Angels in service to Michael will never replace Michael. He's still the archangel when Jesus returns.
(27:37):
Listen to this, 1 Thessalonians 4, 16.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command,
with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Right. This is the second coming. The Lord descends from heaven with a cry of
command, and the voice of an archangel calling all his angels together,
(27:59):
because he's the one in charge of protecting God's people.
And Satan's not going to be able to mess with anybody when this great rapture,
as it's referred to, comes, because that's the job of Michael,
to form a safe passage from earth to where they're going.
We want to point out one thing here, and I hate to be pedantic here,
(28:20):
but I think it helps to explain something.
The voice of an archangel and archangels, does that mean that there are other archangels?
Well, if you read the translation of the NIV, Christian Standard Bible,
the New American Standard Bible, the NLT, they all have with the voice of the archangel.
So it's ambiguous in the Greek. So when translations vary, I always go with the pattern of truth.
(28:42):
Daniel is the archangel, but hold on. We got a few more things to say about that.
Daniel 12, verse 1 of the subject says again, at that time shall arise Michael,
the great prince, the archangel, who is charged of your people.
Now, but listen, if you go to Daniel 10.13, we're told there that Michael is
one of the archangels, and presumably then Gabriel would be another.
(29:08):
What has happened here is that Gabriel got stopped coming to answer a prayer
that Daniel had sent up, and he got delayed three weeks.
And he says that he was delayed by the prince of Persia, which is an angel on
the satanic side of things, spiritual warfare out in the invisible realm.
And he had to wait for Michael to come and take that over. So he'd come and
(29:31):
deliver the message he had to Daniel.
So how's that work out? Yeah. Well, just based on my opinion,
studying it, I believe this.
Michael is the archangel for spiritual warfare because when he shows up,
that's what he's doing. He's having warfare with Satan, getting back the body of Moses.
He's fighting the prince of Persia. So Gabriel, who as we will see is the archangel
(29:54):
of messengers, because that's what he does in the Bible.
He delivers a message, can get his message through to Daniel.
Now you can find all that in Daniel 8, 9, and 10.
If you want to go back and read all that background, we didn't want to have
to to delve into all that in this particular podcast.
So, Gabriel is the archangel of messengers and of messages, which is why Michael
(30:15):
came to help Gabriel so he'd get the message through to Daniel.
It says here at verse I'm referring to, Daniel 10, 13, the prince of the kingdom
of Persia withstood me, this is Gabriel talking, 21 days, but Michael,
one of the chief princes, and that's consistent in all the translations.
One of the chief princes come to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia.
(30:37):
So there's an archangel for messages, and that's Gabriel.
And just remember, he comes to Daniel, and he's got two or three long pronouncements
of prophecy to give to Daniel.
We go to the New Testament, and who shows up to tell Zechariah about John the
Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus? Gabriel.
Who's the one later then in Luke chapter one? Goes to to marry,
to tell her about she's going to be the blessed one to deliver the Messiah. It's Gabriel.
(31:03):
And in Luke 2, when an angel comes to the shepherds, he's not named,
but it wouldn't surprise me if it's Gabriel.
In other words, the pattern of truth is consistent. Gabriel delivers the messages.
Michael, the archangel, is involved in spiritual warfare and protects God's
people, Old Testament and New.
So it would appear that Gabriel's not after Michael's job, and neither is Michael
after Gabriel's. They help each other do their jobs well.
(31:27):
So, Michael leaves the angels in Jesus' return, protecting God's people then,
just as he's been the protector of God's people before the incarnation.
Angels are to bloom as created within the hierarchy that they've been positioned by God.
The same is true now with Adam and Eve.
They're made equal. They're in God's image. But like Father,
(31:47):
Son, and Holy Spirit, they function in different ways from each other,
and that from the beginning. The best Adam can aim for is to be the best Adam possible.
Not the best Bruce or Norman.
Best Adam. And...
He can't be the best Eve. That's not available. That's not on the table.
The best Eve can aim for is to be the best Eve possible, and that's so for all of us.
(32:10):
We can only be the best of what God has made us and granted us to be and the
gifts he has given us. There are no trading places in the Trinity.
There are no trading places with angels or with the saints now,
and this is really important because God exists in Trinity.
We're made in his image. So this Trinitarian hierarchy relationship goes all
(32:32):
the way down, as I said, clearly into the animal kingdom.
But let's start now and just look at how does this work out in the New Testament church?
1 Corinthians 12, 14 through 19. One of my favorite verses, by the way,
or sections of Scripture. Oh, good, good.
For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.
If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,
(32:55):
that would would not make it any less a part of the body.
And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,
that would not make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?
If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He he chose.
(33:21):
If all were a single member, where would the body be?
God arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose.
If you're in a body of Christ today, you're there. God has arranged it, put you there.
He chooses that. But what gave him the right? What gave him the right?
Well, that's a good question. We could probably pursue that one.
(33:44):
But the right is always where God says, who made people blind,
who gives people hearing, and not need to tell that to Moses.
I'm the one who does it, yeah.
It's God who orders the organic hierarchy.
That's a term I coined, but it makes sense. Organic hierarchy. Different from angels.
We're going to trademark that along with the DEI. DEI is the DNA.
Yeah, that's right. We'll come to it. Yeah.
(34:04):
The organic hierarchy of the church. And just as an ear cannot become an eye,
so it is with the body of Christ.
If we're a big toe in the body, what we aim for is to be the best big toe ever.
Yeah. And people say, well, that's sort of nasty. But let me tell you something.
You don't have your big toe. You got issues.
Kind of like Sergeant Hulka in Stripes, if you're the big toe. Yeah.
(34:26):
Right. And so if you're a big toe, if you're an eye, same thing with the eye.
Paul makes this hierarchy in the church very clear as he closes out this chapter
from 1 Corinthians 12, verses 27 through 31.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets,
(34:48):
third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping,
administrating in various kinds of tongues.
Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all work miracles,
do all possess gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret,
but earnestly desire the higher gifts?
(35:09):
And I will show you still a more excellent way.
Yeah, diversity. God decides what the diversity will be in the church,
because that's the kind of God he is.
And if we understood it, You would see it play out across the world,
but we have a problem with that because of the work of Satan and people who
(35:30):
want diversity to serve their particular agenda, which is never God's.
So are all apostles? No. You know, I was born in the wrong era. I can't be an apostle.
Randy can't. You people out there listening, you can't be because you born in the wrong time.
Are all prophets? I still think there are prophets today, people who are unusually
blessed with the word of God to speak it.
(35:52):
Sometimes people say, well, that's a preacher.
Well, I think a prophet can be a preacher, but not all preachers are prophets.
That's true. That's the way I see it.
Someday maybe we'll address that. Are all teachers? Well, we're not talking
about your regular teachers, teachers who probably are those who are recognized
as such and do a lot of that.
And it goes all the way down this hierarchy and earnestly want the higher gifts.
(36:15):
Obviously, chapter 13 that follows is the love chapter.
Everything's got to be done in love. And then chapter 14, he says,
so follow the way of love and desire the better gifts, which first and foremost
is to prophesy, which really means just God lays his word on your heart to speak at a certain time,
maybe in a Sunday school class, maybe to a neighbor, maybe in the congregation
(36:35):
when people are called on, you know, to give their requests to the prayer people
or whatever it is and so forth, so on.
It's a hierarchy. So...
How does this work out? Romans 12, 4 through 8 gives a very good idea of how
this hierarchical arrangement of gifts and we who are in the church,
be we eye, ear, or big toe, works out.
(36:56):
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the
same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.
If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving,
(37:18):
the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation,
the one who contributes in generosity,
the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.
Exactly. Again, the diversity, the equity, the inclusion, God does this in the
church, and we follow God, and God knows how to do it right.
(37:42):
So though there are many of us and members individually of one another,
we do have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.
And therefore, where God has placed us in and how he has placed us and what
he has given us, we should therefore serve him in that way.
Notice it says, if prophecy, for example, is your gift, in proportion to our
(38:02):
faith, meaning if you're a five, don't try to be a six.
But the beauty of this is, if you're faithful to what you are at that stage,
you can grow. We see this all through scripture.
You can become a 10, be a 10. And I'd rather be a 10 of what I'm supposed to
be doing than struggle being a four and hardly make it that's something I wasn't
(38:22):
given by God to do. Amen to that.
Yeah, so here's my testimony. And this is not to put me in any good light.
I'm just, it's honestly, it's true.
When we were at our ministry church years ago in Glanchester, Ohio,
Sunday morning, getting ready for church, and I had the TV on,
and they were doing a retrospect on Billy Graham or something.
And the announcer said, you know, Billy Graham in one day speaks to more people
(38:45):
and preaches more people than most preachers do in a lifetime.
And I was listening to that, and immediately this word came to me.
Well, Goble, what do you think about that?
And I'm happy to say, I said, I am fine with that.
Because from early on in doing this kind of ministerial work,
whatever reason, God made made it clear to me, you're going to be working with smaller groups.
(39:07):
So I've never had a problem with that. Yeah. I had an opportunity to go to a
church. Which you were made for. Yeah, it's what I was made for. And it's where I thrive.
I'm not interested in pastoring a church of 500. Never was.
I just am blessed in doing what I do and I thank God for it.
And the thing is, it saves you from the frustration of envy.
How many people in ministry have been frustrated because they didn't get to
(39:29):
be a Bill Heibel or name your favorite, you know, Chuck Swindoll, something like that.
Or you're trying to be something that you weren't made to be.
Trying to be what you were. You know, you're not living out of your purpose.
You're not living out of your identity.
You're doing it for someone else. Yes, exactly.
Now let's be clear in matters of salvation, access to God, we are all equal.
(39:53):
Listen to this from Galatians 3, 26 through 29.
Another good one. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith,
for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor free, there is neither slave nor free,
there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
(40:13):
And if you are in Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Salvation fully enjoyed by all. As to our relationship to the Lord,
men do not have an access to him that women don't. Right.
Women have access to him just like men. They are equal in that.
God doesn't favor men over women in matters of grace, salvation, or wisdom.
(40:36):
And speaking of wisdom, sometimes we lean to the fairer sex for wisdom when
men get stupid. Yeah. It happens frequently.
The slave doesn't have to wait on the free man to approach the Lord.
Freeman doesn't have a corner on the market. And this is really good.
And Paul, though he was an apostle extraordinaire, doesn't have a corner on
the salvation market with the Lord either.
(40:57):
Otherwise, he wouldn't ask for prayers of the saints of the churches to which
he writes for the help he needs.
In Ephesians 6, he said, please pray for me so that my mouth can boldly proclaim.
Paul says, I'll fail. I got to have prayer. Colossians 4, again, asks for prayers.
Pray that I'll get an open door to preach.
(41:17):
And then 2 Thessalonians 3 says, please pray for me because not everybody has
the faith and I'm suffering with persecution.
Paul asked normal everyday people who were illiterate for the most part,
except for maybe a few Jews and special Gentiles who were governor officials.
Literacy was high in the early church. And some of them were slaves there themselves.
(41:38):
And Paul says, I covet your prayers.
You know, that's a kind of everybody comes down to the same level.
The kind of equality that God blesses it in. them.
So, however, the distinctions, of course, of gender, gifts, they continue.
Hierarchies continue until the Lord returns. In the church of the Lord,
everybody's a class A citizen, has full rights of that citizenship.
(41:59):
And God, as we have seen, decides how to work out that citizenship.
He's got his own DEI going and not the world's.
God's people should not be complaining that life is not fair or that laws should
be changed to make sure that there are are equal outcomes for everybody.
Life doesn't work that way, and certainly not the kingdom of God.
(42:20):
So we're going to close with this encouragement to all of us.
If God was fair and just, where would all of us be?
If God decides to bless others the way he never blessed us, what should we do?
Praise God for how he has blessed us in our experience and grow in that that blessing as best we can.
(42:41):
Bloom where you're planted. Now, we're going to close out with this great parable
of the vineyard from Jesus in Matthew 20.
Let me paraphrase the first six verses. A man, the master, has a vineyard.
He rises up in the morning early and goes to the village square to see who's there to work.
He sees a few people and agrees to pay him a drachma, a piece,
(43:03):
for the the day's work, and they go out to the field.
So then he goes out three hours later, the third hour, and does the same thing
with whoever's there. He does it the sixth hour. He does it the ninth hour.
And finally, the 11th hour, there's still a few stragglers who came in late,
and then they got nothing. And he says, well, I'll hire you for a drop-net apiece.
(43:23):
So he contracts to pay these people a drachma each. Now we come to the drama
of it. Randy is going to read Matthew 20, 8 through 16.
And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first.
And when those hired about the eleventh hour came in, each of them received a drachma.
(43:46):
Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more,
but each of them also received a drachma.
And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house,
saying, These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us
who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
But he replied to one of them, Friend, I am doing you no wrong.
(44:07):
Did you not agree with me for a drachma?
Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me,
or do you begrudge my generosity?
Generosity so the last will be first and the
first last right drachma denarius
basically the same pay for everybody and so
(44:30):
he says call the laborers and pay them their wages beginning with the last up
to the first so everyone's going to see what's happening and clearly the ones
who were hard first oh they get excited oh they thought they would receive more
man we're really gonna get if these guys came in they get well we're going to
get 10 drachmas a piece and they listen to this.
(44:50):
You've made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day.
It's not right. We deserve more.
And the master says, I'm doing you no wrong. Didn't I agree?
Didn't you agree for just one coin, a drachma?
Take what belongs to you. I choose to give to this last worker as I gave to
you. That's how I do things.
(45:11):
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to to me.
Or do you begrudge my generosity?
So, Jesus says, the last will be first and the first last.
Life's not fair. And we could say in the kingdom of God, you can get an evil
eye and see it that way too.
I'm not being blessed like the other fellow over here is. The plan,
(45:34):
as Jesus taught his disciples in Luke 17, 10, we are at best unprofitable servants.
Otherwise, we who thought we should be first will in fact be last.
And those who are last will go to the head of the line.
Why? Because God chooses who and how and when and where He will bless accordingly.
He's got His own DEI program going, and we need to be happy with it.
(45:57):
Let us rejoice for the graces God gives us and not fall into the sin of envy
because we didn't get what someone else did, or because we are not as smart
or as talented or as popular as somebody else.
We are servants, and what we should want to hear on that day is simply,
well done, good and faithful servant. and that's the Christian expectation.
(46:19):
Well, thanks, Jim. You've given
us a lot to think about and you may have questions and comments on it.
And if you have questions or comments, feel free to comment on the podcast or
if you prefer, send us an email at eventsandexpectations, that's eventsandexpectations,
all one word, at gmail.com.
This has been Current Events and Christian Expectations.
(46:42):
Music.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.