The Primacy of Worship and Who/What the Political Parties Worship

The primacy of worship and who and what the political parties worship. That is the topic we'll discuss today right here on the Christian Real View radio program where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

I'm David Wheaton, the host. The Christian Real View is a listener-supported radio ministry. Thank you for your notes of encouragement, financial support, and lifting us up in prayer. You can connect with us by visiting our website, thechristianrealview.org, and the rest of our contact information will be given throughout the program today. There is no more important issue in pursuit than worshiping God.

It's more important than who will be our next president, more important than world peace, more important than your health, financial security, and whatever else we treasure. Scripture makes the primacy of worship clear. King David prayed, Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth.

Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and you exalt yourself as head over all. That's from 1 Chronicles 29-11. Paul wrote, Whether then you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10 31. King Solomon exhorted, The conclusion, when all has been heard, is, Fear God, reverence, have awe for him, and keep his commandments, because this applies to every person. That's Ecclesiastes 12 13. Psalms, the songbook of Scripture, closes this way, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

Psalm 150 verse 6. God created man as a worshipful being. We can see this because everyone worships someone or something. If God isn't worshiped, a false god will be substituted.

A person, pleasure, possessions, position, popularity, power, to name just a few. God, as creator, sustainer, savior, and sovereign over all, He deserves our worship. Our peace, purpose, and pleasure in life is directly proportional to how rightly and authentically we worship the Creator. Our guest this weekend is Scott Annual, Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of G3 Ministries.

G3, which stands for Gospel, Grace, and Glory, is a Christian organization that aims to strengthen the local church through conferences, resources, online articles, podcasts, biblical worship workshops, and local church-based curriculum for Sunday school and small groups. Scott Annual joins us today to discuss the primacy of worship. He explains in a recent five-part column series corresponding to each of the five solos of the Reformation that worship is even more important than salvation, for salvation is the entry point to proper worship of God. This program aims to be helpful for individual Christians and also the church, for worship includes but is far more encompassing than music alone.

And since its election season with the Democratic National Convention having just concluded in Chicago, we will discuss what is being worshiped by both parties and how to think about voting for imperfect candidates. Let's get to the first segment of the interview with Scott Annual of G3 Ministries. Scott, thank you so much for coming on the Christian RealView radio program today as we talk about the primacy of worship, and you've written several columns on this.

Very good, highly recommended, and they're linked at our website, thechristianrealview.org, in addition to where they appear on the G3 website. Let's start out with something you wrote on your column on worshiping according to Scripture alone. You say, Calvin said that there are two principal things upon which Christianity stands and from which flow the whole substance of Christianity.

And you quote Calvin here. First, the mode in which God is duly worshiped, and second, the source from which salvation is to be obtained. You said, remarkably, in listing what he, John Calvin, believed to be the most important aspects of biblical Christianity, Calvin listed worship first and salvation second.

For Calvin, salvation is important, but salvation is ultimately a means toward the end of rightly worshiping God. So Scott, expound further on the primacy of worship and how it really is the purpose for which each person was created by God to be a worshiper of him. If you look at how Scripture portrays God and his intent in all things, in all things that he ordains, he is doing all things for his own glory, and that includes the creation of all things, it includes the creation of man, and so that's the purpose for which we were created, is to bring him honor and glory, which is the essence of worship. To worship is to rightly adore and magnify the greatness of God, and that was God's intent all the way back in the garden.

God created Adam and Eve within the garden, which very interestingly, there are a lot of parallels between how Moses describes the Garden of Eden and how he later describes the tabernacle that God instructs Israel to build, and I think that was intentional by God because Eden was meant to be a sanctuary of God's presence in which his people would worship him rightly, and of course Adam and Eve failed in that by sinning in Genesis chapter 3, and yet God's intent still stands. He wants the people that he has created to bring him the glory that he deserves, and really the plan of redemption is not for its own sake then. The plan of redemption, the whole purpose of that, is to bring to fruition what God originally intended in the garden, and that is to create worshipers for his own glory, and so that's kind of what Calvin meant there.

Yes, salvation is important and obviously it is central to the storyline of scripture, but it serves a greater end, and that is that God would be glorified through the worship of a redeemed people, and so that's where all of history is progressing toward, and it's important that we then, as redeemed people, understand that that is our purpose. We are created to glorify God, we are created to worship, and so it's very important that we think biblically about the nature of worship and how we ought to be approaching God in worship. Well, I thought that was such an excellent point in the column you wrote there, and something that we all need to know, and so we can order our lives around worship, and there's something even more important than salvation, that that leads us to being able to properly worship God. Scott Annual is our guest today here on the Christian Real View, the Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief at G3 Ministries.

Their website is g3min.org. Continue with this subject, this issue of worship. You say also in that same column, going from the primacy of worship, that's why we are here to worship God, to what worship must be regulated by. You say, acceptable worship must be regulated by Scripture alone.

This is why the Reformers, during the time of the Reformation, believed that worship regulated by the Word was the most significant expression of the doctrine of sola scriptura. John Knox, one of the great Reformers in Scotland, said, quote, All worshiping, honoring, or service invented by the brain of man in the religion of God without his own express commandment is idolatry. And you go on to say, the only acceptable worship is that which he himself has commanded.

That's God himself. Anything not commanded in Scripture for worship is forbidden. And you get into this column, what is termed the Regulative Principle of Worship.

Could you explain what that is? Really, what you just quoted is a pretty succinct definition. The Regulative Principle says, whatever is not prescribed in Scripture for worship is therefore prohibited. And this principle flows naturally from the previous principle of the primacy of worship and the intent that God would be glorified in all things, including his worship. If that's God's goal, if he is doing all things for his own glory, and that if our purpose is to worship him, then it follows that he has the right and the prerogative to determine how he wants to be worshiped. We don't get to come up with our own ways of worship or decide worship in ways that please us best, but rather because it is all for God's glory, we ought to want to please God through our worship, according to what he has prescribed. And so that's the Regulative Principle, which historically came up during the Reformation and some of the debates between reformers, is contrasted with what is sometimes now called the Normative Principle of Worship, which says, whatever is not forbidden for worship is permitted.

So you can see the contrast there. And men like Luther, especially his followers, or Cranmer and the Anglican Church, followed more of a normative principle, which is why they retained lighting of incense and lighting of candles and priestly vestments and some of those things from the Roman Catholic Church. But Calvin and the Reformed wing of the Reformation, and then later Puritans and Baptists in England, all held to this Regulative Principle, insisting that if worship is going to bring God the glory that he deserves, then we need to limit ourselves to only that which God has prescribed in his word. That's very good, and we see that in churches all over the place today, that this isn't followed the Regulative Principle of what Scripture prescribes for worship.

I'm going to ask you more about that in a second, but just one more quote from that column. You say, Calvin noted, all men have a vague general veneration of God, but very few really reverence him. We ought to comport ourselves in corporate worship in a way that manifests reverence and awe. The way we dress for worship ought to manifest reverence and awe. The way we read Scripture publicly and pray and preach ought to be performed in a manner that exhibits reverence and awe. How we pray, how we preach, how we conduct ourselves, how we dress, and how we sing. The manner of worship is not culturally neutral or mere preference. No, there is a manner of worship that pleases our flesh, and there is a manner of worship that gives glory to God alone.

So perhaps you could talk about, Scott, what you see as the required or requisite elements of a corporate worship service. Very simply, if we're committed to, again, what has been called the Regulative Principle of worship, then we need to look to Scripture to determine what elements God has prescribed for our worship. And specifically, since we're talking about the New Testament Church, then we ought to find these prescriptions in the New Testament. Not that there's no value to the Old Testament, there certainly is, and there's a lot of overlap, of course, between worship in Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church, but there are changes. The book of Hebrews, for example, deals with this.

There are certain aspects of Old Testament worship that were mere shadows, and now that Christ has come, the shadows have passed away. So that's why it's important, and Baptists in particular have emphasized this, that we need to look to the New Testament. What does the New Testament prescribe for corporate worship?

And we can very quickly and easily find explicit prescriptions of elements for worship, such as the reading of Scripture. Paul says in 1 Timothy 4-13, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture. We find similar commands given to the church in Colossae and 1 Thessalonians, and also in that same text in 1 Timothy chapter 4, Paul commands Timothy to devote himself to exhortation and teaching, and then in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2, he commands Timothy to preach the Word.

So we have the public reading of Scripture prescribed, we have the preaching of Scripture prescribed. In 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1, Paul commands that supplications and prayers and intercessions be made, so prayers in Colossians 4-2 continue steadfastly in prayer. Ephesians 6-18 commands prayer, so we have a third biblically prescribed element of prayer. And then the fourth biblically prescribed element we find in Ephesians 5-19 and Colossians 3-16, where Paul commands believers who are gathered to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, so we have a command to sing there. And then fifth, in the Great Commission, in which Christ is commissioning his apostles as the founders of the church to make disciples of all nations, we find a command there to baptize them, and so baptism being a biblically prescribed element.

And then finally, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul told the Corinthian church that he was passing on the Lord's Supper to them, having received it from the Lord Himself. So these are the clear prescribed elements of corporate worship. Reading the Word, preaching the Word, prayer, singing, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. These are what the New Testament prescribes, and again, historically, and I would argue biblically as well, to add or subtract from these God-ordained elements of worship would in essence be to distrust the sufficiency of God's Word, and we would fail to bring God the glory he deserves because he has the prerogative to tell us what elements he wants in our worship. Okay, very good.

That is helpful. The things prescribed for worship. Number one, the public reading of Scripture. Number two, the preaching of Scripture. Number three, prayer. Four, singing. Five, baptism.

And number six, remembering the Lord's death and resurrection, the Lord's Supper, and performing these elements with an attitude of reverence and awe for the God who created us. Scott Annual is our guest today here on The Christian Real View of G3 Ministries. We have these columns linked at our website, thechristianrealview.org. Also, we are offering the first month free of a subscription to G3+, where you can access unlimited video and audiobooks and ebooks and much more from G3 Ministries.

Again, just go to our website to find out more about that. And when you're at thechristianrealview.org, be sure to take advantage of our August sale, where everything in the store is 20% or more off right now, including recent resource offerings like Shepherds for Sale by Megan Basham, or Woke Free Church by recent guest Jeff Klewer, or Who Am I? by Martin Iles of Answers in Genesis, or the always popular 15-part Theo animated video series. All right, much more coming up with Scott Annual of G3 Ministries and the Primacy of Worship. I'm David Wheaton, and you are listening to The Christian Real View radio program. You have a left-wing foundation that realizes it has a problem advancing its political goals because of evangelicals. And so they will think, okay, what we need to do is find some mechanism by which we can change evangelical minds. They will then recruit well-known organizations like the National Association of Evangelicals, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, and denominational organizations. That was recent guest Megan Basham talking about how evangelical leaders traded the truth for a leftist agenda, which is the subtitle of her best-selling book, Shepherds for Sale. For a limited time, you can order Shepherds for Sale for 20% off by visiting thechristianworldview.org, calling toll-free 1-888-646-2233, or by writing to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Theo is a 15-episode animated cartoon series that features high-quality production and sound biblical teaching. Here's an excerpt from the episode on salvation. salvation is based on what jesus christ accomplished on the cross not something that can be earned how can we be saved let's take a look at the roman's road in our shoebox bible theater other topics include forgiveness obedience and more you and your children or grandchildren will love the cast of characters and learn the great doctrines of the faith you can order the five dvd set which contains all 15 theo episodes for a donation of fifty dollars or more or you can order one dvd that includes three episodes for a donation of any amount order by phone at one triple eight six four six twenty two thirty three by mail at box four zero one excelsior minnesota five five three three one or online at thechristianworldview.org welcome back to the christian world view i'm david wheaton be sure to visit our website thechristianworldview.org where you can subscribe to our free weekly email and annual print letter order resources for adults and children and support the ministry our topic today is the primacy of worship and our guest is scott annual the executive vice president and editor in chief of g3 ministries several of your columns if i read them correctly were based on hebrews chapter 12 and specifically toward the end of that chapter and starting verse 28 it says therefore since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken let us show gratitude by which we may offer to god and acceptable service with reverence and awe for our god is a consuming fire that's from hebrews chapter 12 verses 28 and 29 and you write in that column you say worship is not something we initiate we do not invite god down to us in worship we do not perform for god in worship no worship is a response to something that we are receiving from god by grace alone we are to be grateful we ought to worship because we are receiving something that we did not earn or merit and that is grace so there's an issue you right here scott with regard to gratefulness as being the motivation or what inspires us to worship god can you explain that how we can grow in gratefulness to god so that we worship with the right heart and motivation i truly believe that gratefulness thanksgiving really is at the center of true worship and yes this whole series was sort of an exposition of that passage at the end of hebrews chapter 12 and i think what's very instructive is that even the word for thanksgiving or gratefulness eucharistia has embedded in it the word chorus which is grace there's an integral connection between the two and what it emphasizes is that our worship is a response of gratitude to the person and work of god and i'm explicitly responding to what has become sort of the dominant expectation in corporate worship today largely because of the pentecostalization of worship and modern evangelicalism where the expectation is we praise god so that he will come down and meet with us praise they believe is the way in which we experience the presence of god and it becomes very much something that we do a work by which we then experience whatever we define to be the presence of god and what i'm arguing here from hebrews chapter 12 and there are many more passages that could flesh this out is that worship is not something in which we do something in order to gain approval with god or to call him down or to experience his presence rather worship is a response to the person and nature of god and so how do we grow in that we grow in that by continually immersing ourselves in the scriptures reminding ourselves of the greatness of god his character his nature reminding ourselves of his marvelous works and hopefully that leads us then to a humility particularly when we recognize our own sinfulness and we come then with a humility that says i am not here because i am worthy i am not here to somehow invite god to come to me no rather god in his grace and mercy has called me to come to him and he has provided the means for that to happen therefore i come with humility yes praise also contrition over my sin ultimately really centering on this gratefulness that we find here in hebrews chapter 12 this thanksgiving in response to the marvelous grace of god yeah it's very well said a heart attitude of gratefulness is so key to rightly worshiping god scott annual of g3 ministries is our guest today here on the christian real view your answer to that question segues well into the next one in that how do we draw near to god in worship the scripture says in james 4 8 draw near to god and he will draw near to you but you write in your column this idea of drawing near to god permeates the storyline of scripture it is what adam and eve enjoyed as they walked with god in the cool of the day and you give other examples in scripture you conclude that section by saying to draw near to god is to enter into his very presence to bask in his glory to have perfect communion with him in his presence to draw near to god is the essence of worship another really important big statement there scott but of course the problem is we're sinners and how do we draw near to god how does that practically take place when we're sinners and the god we are worshiping and approaching is perfectly holy this is the core of the gospel which is the core of worship and it's a message we can find throughout scripture and i just love the book of hebrews in our church we as elders just finished preaching through this book and this is one of the central messages of that book in chapter 10 in verse 22 the author says let us draw near so there's that concept if you find that phrase in either the older new testament it's referring to drawing near to the presence of god for communion and worship as you mentioned sin prevents that so how do we draw near let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water so worship is essentially drawing near to communion with god through the sacrificial atonement of jesus christ by faith so you can see there the essence of what it means for god's people to worship him really is the same as the gospel itself and this goes back to the very first discussion we had and calvin's comment that salvation is toward the end of creating worshippers the purpose of the gospel is to provide a means by which people can draw near to god and worship by faith so that's the only way we can't come in our own merits because we're sinners we have to come through christ we do so by faith with confident expectation of the promises of god and when we do that when we draw nearby faith we can be confident that we are in god's presence that's what hebrews chapter 12 tells us we have come to mount zion the city of the living god of the heavenly jerusalem we don't see or feel that we shouldn't expect the presence of god to be some sort of somehow tangibly experienced no we accept it by faith which is the conviction of things hoped for the assurance of things not seen and so we draw nearby faith and we are confident that if we do so drawing nearby faith according to the means that god has prescribed in his word then we can know that we are in the presence of god that we are fellowshipping with him and we are bringing him the glory that he deserves scott annual is our guest today from g3 ministries and we're talking about the primacy of worship such an important topic and just a couple more questions for you on this issue of worship scott you say in another in your series of columns on worship worship for the glory of god alone you say so many evangelicals today say they believe in sola scriptura but their worship betrays their enslavement to the authority of culture and of self they say that they believe in justification by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone but their worship betrays a works righteousness in which somehow what we do ushers us into god's presence you've touched on that already they say they believe in the glory of god alone but their worship betrays the glory of self oh how we need a fresh reformation of worship today worship that embodies the great solas of the reformation worship that is deeply rooted in the authority of scripture worship that renews us in the gospel of jesus christ worship that truly pleases god that was sort of a summary statement i believe on the series of columns that you have written that we have linked at our website and also at g3min.org for people to read for themselves what is your exhortation then scott to those who are church leaders pastors elders listening today to evaluate their corporate worship well ultimately it really has to stem from the very first point we made and that is going to scripture it is how we are worshiping what god has intended what god has commanded in his word because we can't assume that we are bringing him the glory that he deserves we can't assume that we are worshiping with gratitude if we're just doing it on our own we can't assume that we are coming by faith if we are simply creating our own means of worship if we're inventing our own way in which we come into the presence of god so i would just urge any believer period especially those in leadership pastors and others to go to the word study the word what does the word say about the nature of worship what does the scripture command regarding our worship in the new testament church and then let's be satisfied with that let's not be chasing after experiences or some sort of emotional euphoria let's not be allowing the culture to influence how we worship or certainly unbelievers and what they will like and make them comfortable and not even believers not even designing our worship based on what christians want we ought to be designing our worship leading our worship and participating in worship on the basis of what god has prescribed in his sufficient word very well said and just finally on this issue of worship you've talked about church worship public corporate worship today but what about other types of worship the individual worship that should be taking place in the believer's life as we read and pray and memorize god's word on a daily basis maybe you could call that private individual worship and then also family worship time as well that i know that you do with your family tell us how you order your individual worship with the lord and also oversee or lead your family worship well you know the elements of worship that god has prescribed sometimes referred to as the ordinary means of grace are the same when it comes to corporate worship as they are for individual worship and family worship with two exceptions and that of course is baptism and the lord's supper because they are inherently tied to and commanded for local gatherings of churches those two are reserved for the public gatherings of the church but the other elements the reading of scripture the explanation and exhortation that comes from scripture singing prayer these things ought to be part of our daily practices so as an individual we ought to be reading the word we ought to be praying to the lord good books that help to expound the word or admonish us with the word are helpful for our spiritual walk we ought to be singing it's a good practice even as an individual to sing unto the lord and so these are things that are glorifying to god but also are forming us and sanctifying us because they are all filled with the word of god and then yes family worship is so important for fathers to lead their family lead their children lead their wife regularly in these practices as well our children and our wives need to have the word read regularly hopefully as the kids are growing older they're having personal times of devotion with the lord themselves but as a family we're gathering together i'm reading the word to them explaining the word we sing together we pray together all of these elements i know because the word says so are what my family needs to lead them to christ to conform them into his image and to sanctify them so these things ought to be a regular pattern in our lives as individuals and families and then really the climax of it all should be the faithful gathering of god's people on the lord's day where we do this corporately together well as we head into this break it's a perfect time to mention that we actually carry a book by scott in our store on family worship is titled let the little children come family worship on sunday and the other six days too and i'll just read the description of the book in let the little children come scott annual strives to convince church leaders and parents that children best grow into faithful mature worshipers of jesus christ when they are led to jesus by their parents in the context of intergenerational church gatherings and in daily worship at home just go to our store at thechristianworldview.org to order let the little children come and is 20 off as part of our august sale so be sure to take advantage of that all right we'll take a brief pause to tell you about some other ministry resources but coming up we're going to change gears from the primacy of worship in the context of the church the family and individually into how worship is manifested in the political arena you want to stay tuned for that i'm david wheaton and you are listening to the christian world view radio program this kind of world view about identity has exploded where people come along and say if it's all about you you need to actually work out who you are it's actually immunizing a generation against the gospel because the gospel comes into the picture and says well who are you you're actually a sinner it's a negative answer to the question you need a savior look the cross of jesus christ who did he die for if you're so good if you're so worthy if you have to pursue yourself as a good foundation for how to live that was recent guest martin isles executive ceo of answers in genesis and author of who am i solving the identity puzzle endorsed by ken ham john macarthur and ray comfort who am i is a 208 page hardcover that retails for 19.99 for a limited time you can order it for a donation of any amount to the christian world view go to thechristianworldview.org call 1-888-646-2233 or write to box 401 excelsior minnesota 55331 the overcomer foundation cup is the new name of our annual golf event and this year's event will be held at hazeltine national golf club in chaska minnesota monday september 16th hazeltine hosts many of golf's major championships such as the rider cup us open and us amateur your registration includes 18 holes with cart full use of hazeltine's facilities three meals and beverages golfer gift and more there are lots of sponsor options and non-golfers are welcome to attend the post golf meal and message from wherever you are in the country you are invited to bring colleagues or clients to experience a unique day at hazeltine and discover how the overcomer foundation the non-profit organization that directs the christian real view radio program is impacting lives again the date is monday september 16th at hazeltine in chaska minnesota to find out more and to register go to thechristianrealview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 welcome back to the christian real view i'm david wheaton be sure to visit our website thechristianrealview.org where you can subscribe to our free weekly email and annual print letter order resources for adults and children and support the ministry our topic today is the primacy of worship and our guest is scott annual the executive vice president and editor in chief of g3 ministries and in this final segment we're going to get into how worship relates to politics and how christians should think about casting their vote scott with the democratic national convention just having concluded one particular sound bite that came out from a white house correspondent named april ryan she was speaking about some of the leaders of the democrat party specifically barack and michelle obama and here's what she had to say she's she's looked like an everyday woman instead of being this iconic woman that you could see in vogue she stays the same she cares about people and that's why people listen to her and then with her husband i mean i joke about this but there's jesus hbcu and then there's barack obama it may change it may change a little bit you know kamala harris becomes president but you know these are two people people want to hear from especially nicole right now as we've heard so much about um this tension if you will these conversations about how to save the democracy that ultimately um led to president biden saying i'm going to step aside for the sake of the democracy to make sure that we can keep the republic okay again that was a white house correspondent named april ryan being interviewed on a cable news channel talking about the obamas barack and michelle obama and that she said something to the effect that there is jesus and then there are the historically black colleges and universities and then there are the obamas and then kamala harris would be up there as well i mean this is clearly a worshiping situation if i've ever heard one these are the people they worship as you've watched the conventions both democrat convention the republican conventions who or what would you say scott is being worshipped and then second part of that question is how would you frame what's at stake watching these conventions what's at stake for the country and for christians unfortunately politics in this country have i was just thinking this morning i mean it's just become all theater there's little substance on either side and there's a lot of celebrity worship on both sides and it's unfortunate we live in a sin-cursed world we've in some ways become spoiled as christians in our country because we've enjoyed freedom for so long but we can't be blind to the fact that even in the past when we felt like maybe things were a little better perhaps things didn't seem quite as bad nevertheless even politicians claiming to be christian although there absolutely are some faithful christians in politics many politicians claim to be christians simply because they know it's going to get them votes and that's really using the lord's name in vain which is an issue of worship it's a tragedy but we have to remember that we do live in a sin-cursed world god never promised that government would be perfect god never promised that any nation would reach a state of perfection in this age we need the perfect king to come and make that happen which is jesus christ at his second coming and so we have to have a proper i believe understanding and expectation for what the purpose of government is and and to just simply do the best with what we have there is a lot at stake we see the persecution against the church rising and i believe we live in our country in our governmental system we have the privilege of being able to vote and being involved and i think we ought to do that we ought to utilize the freedoms and the privileges that we have and as much as we can hold off the growth of the grossest forms of sin and as much as we can hold off the persecution that we know is coming and so we ought to do that but with a healthy dose of reality recognizing that ultimately the answer to all problems is the gospel of jesus christ and politics is never going to solve anything ultimately it has its role in its purpose but the ultimate thing we ought to be concerned with is spreading the gospel seeing more and more people coming to faith in christ and then hopefully the more christians there are the better things are that ought to be our goal scott annual with us today here on the christian worldview i've noticed at the democrat convention and watching it that there seems to be a very intentional effort to not run away from language that is associated with the bible or god or god or scripture and so forth you might find that surprising but listen to this soundbite by rafael warnock he is the senator from georgia he was a former minister i believe in martin luther king jr's church i think in atlanta but here's what he had to say criticizing donald trump for trump having i think trump had a bible come out or something like this but he was criticizing trump but i'm more interested in the latter part of it the soundbite here is 35 seconds long where he gets into how he defines what true christianity is here's senator rafael warnock i saw him holding the bible and endorsing a bible as if it needed his endorsement he should try reading it it says do justice love kindness and walk humbly with your god he should try reading it it says love your neighbor as yourself it says in as much as you've done it unto the least of these you have done it also unto me that was senator rafael warnock from georgia talking about teachings he sees in scripture that are really true christianity in addition to that scott you've no doubt heard about this organization that was just recently formed called evangelicals for harris as in kamala harris and they said recently on twitter or x in a similar vein to what we just heard from rafael warnock quote if you want to see christ's love it was on full display last night at the democrat national convention from feeding the hungry to housing the unhoused to caring for our neighbors kamala harris and her supporters are showing us a way aligned with his as in christ's teaching these aren't just throwaway lines god there's a persuasion going on here trying to persuade people to say hey look we're not the party of anti-god we're actually the party that really is in alignment with god in scripture what is your response to this kind of persuasion from the left well i would just want to ask him how is it loving your neighbor when you're murdering the most vulnerable neighbors among us and that is pre-born children when that kind of thing is at the top of concerns for the democratic party we're talking about people who are speaking out of both sides of their mouths they're trying to use the scriptures and take passages out of context frame scripture in such a way that defends their particular policy you know decisions and things that they want to happen in this country but in essence like i said earlier all they're doing is taking the lord's name in vain and they are taking scripture in vain and again that happens on the republican side too it happened during the republican convention but the big difference is what's actually being emphasized and stressed and raised as the primary policy priorities that the two opposing candidates are going to be striving for and you look at the democratic policies and what you find is active and aggressive support of abortion active and aggressive support of transgender LGBT the whole alphabet emphases transing of kids and all of these sorts of things not to mention the increasing persecution against true conservative biblical christianity and so this is a misapplication of scripture it is taking the lord's name in vain and it is ultimately a worship of self in the name of the worship of god you'll have christians who agree with what you just said the democrat party is very radical much more promoting of that which is ungodly in the rebelling against god they see that but then they but then they look at the republican party and they look specifically at donald trump and they look at his personality mainly i think i don't think it's so much his policies although he has softened i think personally on the issue of abortion but he was the one that appointed justices that overturned roe v wade as well too so he's not making a policy on abortions just that he personally has taken that stance i think from a standpoint of he thinks that's what he has to do to win up to like 16 weeks or something like that he doesn't have a strong opposition i don't think to same-sex marriage and those kind of things but again like you just said he's not an outright aggressive advocate of these things but that being said scott you will get christians who will say well there's no biblical justification to support just the lesser of two evils where is that in scripture they'll say they'll say i'm not going to vote or i'm going to vote third party what are your thoughts on the issue of voting for quote the lesser of two evils or isn't that always our choice actually but how should we be considering this as we go and i'm not asking you to make an endorsement of any particular candidate at all just thinking through our framework our mental framework for casting a vote well i want to first acknowledge this is a sticky issue this is difficult it's not easy it's not black and white i respect those christians who really struggle with should i vote for trump considering his personal immorality should i vote for trump considering like you said even the softening of the gop platform on the issue of abortion i get it i understand it what i would say and i'll just explain how i've thought through this is a couple things real quick number one you mentioned where in scripture well again this is where we need to understand god's intent for government we're not voting for a pastor we're not voting for a christian prince we're not voting for the christianization of society as much as we would love that god has not promised it until jesus comes again we're voting for whatever we can do to hold back sin i mean that's ultimately the purpose of government the purpose of government is not to advance the kingdom of christ that role was never given to government no the purpose of government is to hold back sin as much as possible to provide peace and life protection until jesus comes again so i think we need to ask which choice whether it's one of the two parties or if someone's thinking about not voting or a third party what choice is going to best hold back sin as long as possible and i think one of the things we need to think about is to not put too much weight and stock in the power of the presidency we might look at trump and i think we should look at him and say he does not appear to be a true christian we need to acknowledge that but then we need to ask if he were elected what kind of other people would he be bringing with him people in the cabinet but even further down the ladder people who actually make things happen and then ask the same thing on the other side with harris and the democratic party and my conclusion is it's not even close that the kinds of people that would be put into place to make things happen if trump were elected are far more trustworthy than those who would serve under harris and would help to again hold back sin longer than if the alternative were were elected i know a ahead of a influential missions agency who i've heard say that when trump was in power the last time missionaries around the world in his agency and most of his missionaries are in very unreached and highly persecuted sort of areas he said they were far freer to spread the gospel under trump because nations around the world were afraid what would trump would do if they persecuted christians under biden persecution has ramped up and so that's just one example of how it's not really about a man or in this case a woman on the democratic side it's not really about the president it's about the policies and it's about the kind of people who will be put in other positions even really far down and kind of the bureaucracy and people who actually make things happen and there might be a day when there's absolutely no difference between the two parties but we're not there yet and i would say there are a lot more trustworthy morally sound respectable kinds of people and god-pleasing policies on the gop side than there are in the democratic side well that's very helpful scott to think through how christians should think about voting in the purpose of government so thank you for coming on the christian real view radio program today especially with regard to the primacy of worship being the chief purpose and end of man all of god's best and grace to you and your family and g3 ministries thanks so much enjoy being here again scott annual the executive vice president and editor-in-chief of g3 ministries has been our guest today when i read these columns by scott on the primacy of worship as in that is the chief purpose and duty of every person to worship god i was just convicted that we all needed to be reminded to keep first things first in our minds and in our hearts especially during a very turbulent political season where much of the attention is being focused on that if you lose track of your purpose and mission to worship glorify honor god in every aspect of life you get off track and start going down wrong roads and this is where faith comes in because the things of the world that are right there for us to see and touch that we tend to pursue because we think they will bring lasting happiness and joy whether it's relationships pleasure money some possessions position marriage children work these aren't necessarily bad things but they only provide temporal satisfaction because god created you and me primarily to know love and above all worship him and when you pursue nearness to god with a heart of worship because he is worthy of that worship that is where lasting satisfaction and joy come from and that's where the faith comes in trusting god that worshiping him is what most pleases him and brings us the most joy but like scott said the only way to properly worship god is to first be reconciled to him god is holy holy holy and yet we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god and the wages of that sin is death both physical and spiritual death separation from god for eternity in hell so just god but god in romans 5 8 demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us second corinthians 5 21 god made christ who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf that we might become the righteousness of god in him so god provided a way that we can be reconciled to him through the death and resurrection of his son jesus christ so i urge you if you have never done so obey christ's command to repent and believe in this gospel and god will forgive you and grant you eternal life and lead you into the way that you can fulfill your purpose in life to worship him and as you pursue the ordinary means of grace that scott was talking about today through individual worship and family worship and corporate worship at church you will draw nearer to god and better worship him you can find out more by going to our website thechristianworldview.org and clicking on the page what must i do to be saved just a reminder that our august sale is going on right now with 20 percent off or more on everything in our store you can order the 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