Seek Ye First
by R.C. Sproul Jr.
There is no such thing as the "More Party." They do not run campaigns
seeking to unseat sitting officials of the "Less Party." Both "more"
and "less" need more context and less ambiguity. We need to know what
we are getting more or less of. In like manner, the question of
pluralism begs a previous question -- plural what? What is it the
pluralists want more of? On the surface it might seem that what they
want more of is religions. One religion isn't enough. We need to
construct, according to these people, a world with plenty of room for
Hindus and Hottentots, for Muslims and Mormons, for Buddhists and
Baptists. When we look deeper, however, we run headlong into an
inescapable spiritual reality, that every religion in the end is all
about authority. What they want is multiple authorities. If there is,
in the end, only one authority, and I am not that authority, then I am
under authority. But, if there are lots of authorities, which is
another way of saying there is no authority, then I am free to rule my
own world. Then there is not only room for Shintoism, but for
Sheila-ism. There is not only room for Roman Catholicism, but for R.C.
Sproulicism.
When the apostle Paul writes in Romans 1 that the natural man
suppresses the knowledge of God in unrighteousness, that he denies what
he knows, we understand that he does this so that he might continue to
sin without fear of reprisal. The natural man constructs a view of the
world wherein he never need fear facing the judgment of God. This
construct not only will actually require the facing of the judgment of
God, but is in fact already a judgment of God. It is the very
foolishness that God gives their minds over to.
But what about us? Pluralism isn't the exclusive province of the
unbeliever. We who profess the lordship of Christ, more often than not,
in turn find pluralism appealing. We who have been given new hearts
presumably are about the business of putting to death our desire for
self-rule. We ought, it would seem, to be of the "Less Party." I fear
our motives are scarcely  more honorable than our unbelieving friends'
motives. It is a different twist on the question of authority. They
will not affirm the lordship of Christ over them because they fear that
Christ will reign over them. We are fearful of affirming the lordship
of Christ over all things, including our neighbors, because we are
afraid of our neighbors ruling over us. Pluralism is a half-hearted
attempt at a compromise of convenience -- we won't condemn you if you
won't condemn us. We won't say you are wrong, if you won't say that we
are wrong. We won't find your views backwards and repugnant, if you
won't find our views backwards and repugnant. What a deal? And all it
costs us is the central and first affirmation of our own faith: Jesus
is Lord. All we have to give up to win peace with our neighbors is the
proclamation of the Gospel.
Jesus is all too aware of our fears. He knows how painful it is to be
scorned by the broader culture. He knows what its like to have a single
dominant religion find your religion to be foolish and superstitious.
He has experience in suffering under a single monolithic power. He's
entered into this reality and conquered it. And He commands of us that
we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He commands
that we put our worries away, and trust in Him.
We evangelicals make the foolish mistake of thinking that when enough
souls decide to make Jesus the Lord of their lives, that He will become
the Lord of all things. The reality is that Jesus is already Lord over
all things. His kingdom, strictly speaking, does not expand, for even
now it knows no borders. He does not, therefore, engage in some sort of
power sharing arrangement with other pretenders to His throne, whether
they be false deities, or those who falsely worship them. His lordship
is not something we accomplish. It is something we recognize and submit
to. It is not something we negotiate; it is something we proclaim.
That Jesus is Lord, however, is not some grim reality that we proclaim
with all the grace of a desert prophet. It is something we proclaim
with all the grace of joy. It was our Lord Himself, after all, who
commanded us to "Take heart; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
It's over. The kingdom is here, and Jesus has won. What fools we are to
rush off to negotiate with the enemy to save our skins.
His victory, of course, does not mean that we rush off to kill all our
enemies. It means instead that we are to love them. Our love for them
must be strong enough, however, to tell them with both passion and
compassion, that their hopes are in vain, that their gods are mute and
dumb, and that there is only one name under heaven by which a man must
be saved. Our love for them does not present the Christian Gospel as an
option. It does not lead us to argue that it's a good option that has
worked well for us. Our love instead commands all men everywhere to
repent and believe the Gospel, lest they perish. Our love calls on all
our enemies to kiss the Son, lest He be angry and they perish along the
way (Ps. 2:12).
*****
Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. is founder of the Highlands Study Center in Mendota, Virginia.
Read select Tabletalk columns from the June edition here.
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