In this episode, Pastor Joel Webin is joined by David Reese, CEO of Armored Republic and a local Presbyterian pastor, to talk about the role of the Law of God in the household and how it applies to every facet of our lives.
00:00:16.720And the guy knows a lot when it comes to the law of God, its applications, covenant theology.
00:00:24.200And I've been blessed by him, learning a lot from him and with him.
00:00:27.740And so today we're going to be talking about the law of God, particularly as it pertains to the household and how the household is the sphere that God has sovereignly instituted, not only for welfare and training up children, but ultimately to be productive.
00:00:42.160The household is where you have business, where you have production, where wealth is generated.
00:00:47.780And so those are the things that we're talking about today, how to be productive, how to generate wealth by applying the law of God.
00:00:53.920And for anybody who would charge us of it being, oh, well, that sounds like the prosperity gospel, obedience to God, you should listen to the episode because you're absolutely wrong.
00:02:38.780and then our more recent forefathers inherited that thing and squandered the whole thing
00:02:44.440and started eating food that was meant for pigs. And now we're going, how do we fix this?
00:02:49.840Yep. Amen. So why don't you do this, Mr. Reese, if you would. Let's begin by you giving our
00:02:55.060listeners just a brief recap of last time we talked. Absolutely. So last time we talked about
00:02:59.620the law of God. And we started with the law of God because the law of God is the instruction
00:03:04.180manual for how to exercise dominion, right? So the law of God teaches us what we're supposed to do,
00:03:10.260and it also teaches us because it talks about blessings and curses that are attached. And so
00:03:15.160it teaches us the blessings show us the nature of reality and the way that God providentially
00:03:21.120blesses in his creation. And the curses show us about the nature of reality and the way in which
00:03:26.900he providentially brings harm to the misuse. And so we talked about the law of God, and we had all
00:03:33.460sorts of kind of these key things that are sort of like things like the three uses or the three
00:03:37.740parts or, you know, the levels of the law. And so we talked about all of that together. And so the
00:03:43.780law of God gives us instruction, and there's all sorts of useful organization of the law.
00:03:48.640But in short, we have the idea that there's the two great commandments, love God, love neighbor,
00:03:53.180that the 10 commandments are organized in two tables. So there's the first table, the first
00:03:57.600four commandments teach us how to love God, and then the last six teach us how to love our neighbor.
00:04:01.900and then we've got all the case laws that you organize underneath there and then you've got
00:04:07.100like approved examples and disapproved examples and those give us all the detail so between all
00:04:12.000of that we have this full spectrum view of the good life being taught to us by the law of god
00:04:18.220and so in we in seeing that we can see how dominion is supposed to be exercised and so can i comment
00:04:24.680on that just real quick i think that's so important because what you're saying and and i want to give
00:04:29.760you a chance to address this also one of the regular objections that i'll get um you know with
00:04:35.000with a few of the professional trolls on twitter and youtube that come in the comments um is it
00:04:39.900must pay well i mean there's a lot of them there are a lot of them you're right and so but a lot
00:04:43.720of times one of the things they'll say is they'll try to and sadly this comes from evangelicals and
00:04:48.140i'm and many of them are i'm sure are legitimate brothers and sisters in christ who mean well
00:04:52.420but they just they have no theological category to separate what you and i are talking about from
00:04:57.140the prosperity gospel, which really is a heresy that really does damn millions of souls to hell.
00:05:02.000It really is a big deal. But I feel like what we're trying to say when we say the law, like
00:05:07.020one of the first statements you made that I think is so good, you said the law of God,
00:05:10.580it's fruit or one of its purposes is giving us a roadmap for exercising dominion in the created
00:05:19.100world. And right there, they would have a problem with that because they would read that as obedience
00:05:23.300means you get stuff if i obey then god will give me a ferrari and and i just i want to say first
00:05:29.140the prosperity gospel is not obedience bearing fruit the prosperity gospel is actually in the
00:05:35.340absence of obedience you can simply have wishful thinking and faith faith not even in christ as
00:05:41.340the object of your faith but faith in your own faith the strength of your faith rather than the
00:05:45.480object of your faith a power of positivity a manifesting a person who doesn't they're not a
00:05:51.760doer of the word, but a mere hearer and then speaker trying to speak things into existence,
00:05:57.120ex nihilo, that's a damnable heresy. But if we're training our sons and daughters and our
00:06:03.220children's children saying that if you obey God, yes, he's sovereign. And sometimes you obey God
00:06:08.380and you get hit by a truck. That happens. That's tragic, but that's real. And let God be true in
00:06:13.680every man a liar. He's still just, he's good. All of his purposes are holy and good. But ordinarily,
00:06:19.320So not as a guarantee, but ordinarily, when you live by God's rules, things go well in God's
00:06:26.240world. What we're doing is we're not advocating for the prosperity gospel. We're actually pushing
00:06:31.840back against some well-meaning evangelicals who would render the law of God as arbitrary
00:06:37.100and capricious. Would you add anything to that? Absolutely. And I think what you just said was
00:06:42.680just so, absolutely. And I think, but in addition to that, even when we don't get the blessings in
00:06:48.660this life, every time you seek to glorify God in faith by doing what he commands, there is always
00:06:56.800a reward on the day of judgment. So all of the elect who do every small, Christ won't forget a
00:07:03.860single one of the small good works that he causes us to do by his Holy Spirit through the use of his
00:07:09.660word in our hearts, none of those are going to be forgotten. They're all going to be rewarded,
00:07:13.500not as a covenant of works, but graciously, those works are going to be accepted through
00:07:18.700the mediation of Christ and be rewarded. So that idea that, like you said, the idea that there's
00:07:24.540a providential blessing that God generally brings, but there's also a providential blessing that he
00:07:29.700always brings at the day of judgment. Amen. All right. So go ahead and just take us into
00:07:35.240our conversation for today. Sure. So just to finalize on this idea of law, I want to emphasize
00:07:40.080this again for people who didn't hear the last time. The three uses of the law are very
00:07:43.440important. We need to remember the law is not for justification. That's an illegal use of the law.
00:07:48.100We don't say our good works make it so that we are righteous before God. We are guilty in Adam.
00:07:52.420We're guilty because of the corruption of our nature from conception, and we are breakers of
00:07:56.080the law and all sorts of particular points. So that being the case, what we realize is that the
00:08:01.040law, first of all, shows us our need of a savior. It's a mirror. Secondly, it's a chain that binds
00:08:06.360and restrains the wickedness of men. And then thirdly, it's a lamp unto our feet. So we're
00:08:11.280going to be talking about the lamp unto our feet portion, the usage of the law. And that's going to
00:08:16.080have an effect on the rest of the culture, the unbelieving elements of the culture to restrain
00:08:20.460the evil there and to cause them to consider their mortality and their need for salvation.
00:08:25.700And so those first two uses there. But as Christians, if we're saved, what we need to do
00:08:30.040now is we need to figure out how do we live? How now shall we live? That's Schaeffer's famous
00:08:34.180you know famous question so as we go into this the first thing is we need to be careful to not
00:08:41.500forget the goal right it's the law of god doesn't just tell us how to use power in sort of a like
00:08:47.260here's a bunch of instructions for different machines and then that's it he tells us the goal
00:08:51.400we're supposed to use the machines for right so we we use life we use all the stuff here we use
00:08:56.620all the things and all the institutions for a goal and so the goal is the glory of god god is
00:09:02.420the definer of good. God is the good. We're trying to fill the earth with the knowledge of God as
00:09:06.440the waters cover the sea. We do that by knowing God and we do that by showing the knowledge of
00:09:10.880God to other people, both with our words and with our actions, the double witness of words and
00:09:14.960actions. So as we do that, we're filling the earth with the knowledge of God. And that happens by the
00:09:20.240church being increased by people coming to faith, them increasing in their faith, and then the
00:09:26.660projection out with the cultural things that are made there. So there's an external filling and
00:09:31.720there's also this internal filling of individuals as they know God. So the goal there is to fill
00:09:37.580the earth with the knowledge of God. So that accords with human nature. God designed us to be
00:09:43.720rational creatures, and we're designed to know God. We are the image of God. And the image of
00:09:49.600God is also perfectly present in Christ incarnate. And so we are to be renewed after the image of
00:09:56.620God. And in being renewed after the image of God, we increase in wisdom, which is knowledge of God,
00:10:03.120knowledge of the good and of his law, right? Wisdom is the knowledge of what's good and how
00:10:07.160to get it, right? So God is the good. His law teaches us how to live in such a way as to
00:10:11.940encourage and increase with the knowledge of God, both for ourselves and others. And then on top of
00:10:16.800that, there's this idea that, okay, fine, our purposes, our affections, our loyalties are going
00:10:21.740to be rightly built out. So we're going to become more holy, that holiness aspect. And then we are
00:10:27.760going to make better choices, righteousness. So that idea of rationality being designed so that
00:10:33.460when it's properly used, what we're doing is we're having wisdom, holiness, and righteousness
00:10:37.300increased. And we've been given this command, this mandate to go out to fill the earth and to
00:10:43.500subdue the earth. And so that work, that work of the positive construction and then the preserving
00:10:50.740of what has been advanced, what has been made, is the two sides of that, the working and keeping.
00:10:56.640And we have, as individuals, we're all given the offices of prophet, priest, and king,
00:11:01.900which is prophets are using their wisdom to teach and correct. We have priests who are seeking to
00:11:08.340be holy, and they're doing that in praying down blessing to get, and they are sacrificing to
00:11:15.920preserve. And kings provide and they protect. They provide a sphere where good work can be done in
00:11:23.020and they protect that so that the good work that others do is preserved there. So the individual
00:11:28.120on a basic level is supposed to use those offices to do the work of glorifying God by knowing him
00:11:35.020and showing him. And that's sort of the goal. And that results in the filling of the earth with the
00:11:39.020knowledge of God. So that goal, that's what we're really striving for.
00:11:42.620That's awesome. Great recap. All right. So today, power, Christian power.
00:11:50.400So the individual is given power, right? And you don't have any power. You are a slave0.98
00:11:55.340unless you know the truth or unless you know the gospel. So, you know, the response that we find
00:11:59.980when Jesus says that to the Jews, they go, we weren't, we were never born slaves. You know,
00:12:03.240we're, we're children of Abraham and all that. Well, you know, I'll tell you what, I don't care
00:12:06.560what, how great your church is. I don't care how Christian your family is. If you do not believe
00:12:10.940the gospel, you're a slave to sin and to save into the world. And so the knowledge of the gospel,
00:12:17.380the knowledge of the fact that Jesus Christ paid for the sins of his elect and provided a perfect
00:12:21.860righteousness for them is necessary for you to be free. So the knowledge of Christ is that which
00:12:28.180sets a man free. And if he's free, now he has liberty. And that liberty is for the purpose
00:12:33.520of exercising power to do what's good. Augustine defined liberty as the ability to do what's good.
00:12:40.000And so that idea that we are not just free to do whatever we want, but we are free to do what's good.
00:12:46.080So that's the empowerment of the individual.
00:12:48.520And as the individual is given that power by God, there's a grant of authority in the dominion mandate.
00:12:54.580And in being given the knowledge of the gospel, there's an empowering of the soul so that you can now make your body into an instrument, a weapon of righteousness.
00:13:04.080and so what we want to do as individuals is to exercise power so that our bodies are tools
00:13:11.260they're they're they're instruments they're weapons of righteousness and so we are swords
00:13:15.460and trowels and we use the word of god to construct to build and to guard now if that's the case as an
00:13:22.320individual and we think about that and we work together right the individual can work but the
00:13:27.660working together with others is far more powerful there's a division of labor principle the church
00:13:32.300itself is even made for that, but the household is made for that, and friendship is for that.
00:13:36.540And so this idea of, we just talked about the knowledge of God being the good and the law
00:13:40.900being the instruction manual of how to get what's good. And so a friend is somebody who's committed
00:13:46.920to what's good, and he's committed to your good, and he knows the means to use. So you can't walk
00:13:53.860together unless you're agreed. So this idea of true friendship. So the idea that a friend is
00:14:00.420somebody who has this mutual commitment to what's good means you can't be friends with anybody unless1.00
00:14:04.160they're a Christian. It's just not possible. I'm not saying you're not authorized. I mean,1.00
00:14:08.500frankly, you're not authorized. But in addition to that, you can't. You can pretend like you're
00:14:14.740friends, but if they're not committed to your good, then really they're your enemies.
00:14:18.280Right. You can be friendly. You can be cordial. You can be respectful. But yeah.
00:19:06.320And their self-deception makes it so they're seeking your destruction.
00:19:09.760so they're your enemy and you should love them you should love them by applying the law and by
00:19:14.540teaching them truth amen like we said before that's going to result in them either coming to
00:19:18.700love the same god that you do or they're going to hate you amen so that that's so helpful and it's
00:19:23.420relevant even with you know things that are going on right now in our world and in our nation and
00:19:27.660in my case in my state uh of texas i mean you constantly are hearing you know um the usual it's
00:19:35.040usual suspects you know the beth moore types the russell moore anymore right you know michael moore
00:19:39.760russ russ moore uh beth moore the all three you know three peas in a pot uh there's not much
00:19:44.320difference these days between them but um one of the things that you hear is that the rhetoric
00:19:48.800the rhetoric of constant you know it's just constantly punching down on blue collar salt
00:19:53.360of the earth christians uh evangelical christians you know and uh and one of the things you'll hear
00:19:58.240as it pertains to politics and as it pertains to our border right so some of the things right now
00:20:03.120taking place is you know how how could you claim to be a christian aren't you ashamed of yourself
00:20:08.540christian how could you claim to be a christian and not love your neighbor um your your uh
00:20:14.080immigrant neighbor who's you know who's trying to uh better themselves and just provide a you know
00:20:19.620a future for their child and and is getting cut up and razor wire you know like you're you're0.97
00:20:24.580slashing uh uh mothers and babies and you and it's just i mean it's such a wrong you know perverse
00:20:31.700twisted framing of what's going on um but but the point is saying love your neighbor love your
00:20:38.540neighbor but uh but what becomes so quickly um obvious and apparent is uh love is uh completely
00:20:45.820you know malleable it's it's whatever the person wants to define love at at any given moment and so
00:20:52.320if love is breaking the law if love is uh they can just shape it any way they want and also what
00:20:59.180I was going to say is, I think it's helpful, one, to like, what is love? By what standard? But then
00:21:03.680also to be able to speak in categories, right? Like when I'm reading the Beatitudes in Matthew
00:21:08.8005, you know, blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. Does that mean that in the
00:21:14.160civil realm that every judicial judge should pardon every single time an individual is found
00:21:20.280guilty of a crime? You know, that there's somebody who's guilty of rape and all right, we found you
00:21:25.220guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, and all charges have been dropped, you're
00:21:31.720free to go. If he's a Christian judge, does that, because he's trying to obey the words of Christ
00:21:37.480in Matthew 5, you know, blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy, or are there actual
00:21:43.180hermeneutical categories? I feel like that's something that Christians can't think in
00:21:49.000categories anymore. Do you have anything to add about that? Yeah, I think the two examples you1.00
00:21:53.940just laid side by side are actually great when you think about immigration and the idea of the
00:21:57.220love of the immigrant everybody's thinking about welfare programs right right and it's like let's
00:22:01.300use the state to coercively extract money from people and then let's give that to somebody else0.61
00:22:06.440how generous right it's it's it's like it's like walking up to somebody with a gun telling them to
00:22:11.360give you their wallet and then you give their wallet to somebody else you're like see how
00:22:14.460generous i am i am am i not merciful you know and so this this sort of like ridiculous idea that you
00:22:21.280can be merciful with somebody else's rights you can be merciful with somebody else's property
00:22:25.900and it's a joke it's a disgusting thing and so um the the the example of giving you know welfare0.98
00:22:33.460money to people who are who are immigrants who are arriving illegally through extreme you know
00:22:39.120the course of extraction by taxation is one thing on the other side a judge also you know it's not0.86
00:22:43.960merciful for the judge to fail to punish it's merciful if the victim chooses to not give the
00:22:50.580maximum penalty. And so in the Bible, in the law, in the principles of general equity, you have this
00:22:56.320idea of there's a maximum penalty that the victim has a right to extract. And it's the job of the
00:23:01.840civil magistrate to make sure to get that right for the victim. At the other side, the victim can
00:23:09.440choose to take less or to take nothing, but there are some crimes that there's an obligation for the
00:23:14.640state to administer a minimum penalty for, for example, murder. And so the idea that the victim
00:23:21.000has a right to choose a lesser penalty, that is mercy on their part. But it's not always a
00:23:27.160requirement to give people mercy. God is not one who gives mercy to everybody. He has zero mercy
00:23:33.340to the demons, zero. And it was totally just, righteous, glorious, and holy for the Lord God
00:23:41.220Almighty to give zero mercy to the demons. And so when we think about the reality that God has
00:23:47.780the right to do that, and he also doesn't command us to give mercy in every instance.
00:23:53.860And instead, in fact, some people don't have a right to grant mercy. I think that's the
00:23:58.340important thing. So those are the categories I would want to give people.
00:24:01.700Yeah. So are you in the position to grant the mercy? Do you have a right? Is it your mercy to
00:24:05.740give, but, and super helpful, uh, categories and, uh, and whether you're mandated to show mercy or
00:24:11.440whether it's an option that the Lord is leaving to you to show mercy. And then one other category
00:24:15.680is just think, uh, that, that I'd like to add is just thinking in terms of, um, who is the object
00:24:20.220of mercy, not just who has a right to administer it, but who is the object of, of receiving that
00:24:24.380mercy. Um, and sometimes we're just too narrow in our thinking. So it's, I'm going to have mercy
00:24:29.480on a murderer but is that if he's an unrepentant murderer is that merciful to society to let this
00:24:38.140murderer loose who very likely is going to murder again you could argue that it's actually i'm
00:24:43.780showing mercy to one person but at the cost of cruelty to many others and and so keeping you
00:24:49.800know there's just a lot of moving pieces that's brilliant and i think sometimes it's wicked to
00:24:55.220show mercy, right? Exactly. So this idea of, you know, if you have a child who is in rebellion
00:25:01.080against a parent and the parent says, I'm just going to show them mercy and not discipline for
00:25:04.440this thing when I explicitly told them and they didn't hear, if you don't swat that kid, you hate
00:25:08.760him, right? Like the mercy of not disciplining a child when you have a responsibility to discipline
00:25:15.300them, that's an act of hatred. And so we have to understand that there are times when there's a
00:25:19.960duty to do it. So a worthy recipient of the mercy. And the category that we typically, like we
00:25:25.040typically are like worthy recipients of mercy isn't the whole point of mercy that nobody's
00:25:28.700worthy you know and and so but the reality is that there are different categories of mercy right so
00:25:33.080the mercy of god and saving us of course nobody's worthy but we have it on the basis of the worthiness
00:25:37.700of christ and then the idea that you know for example in um in the church you have the you have
00:25:44.360you know the mercy ministry the diaconal ministry and that diaconal ministry involves giving cash
00:25:49.140money to people sometimes right and so if you just give money to anybody who wants it like you're
00:25:53.700going to squander it. And there might be people who are, you know, but for a little bit of cash,
00:25:58.440they can't get their house in order. They can't reform. And if they had a little bit, they might
00:26:02.480be able to see things, you know, properly put into order. And so this idea of a worthy recipient,
00:26:06.720where there's a person who is desirous of doing good, they do not have the means to do it. And
00:26:11.620so they are of character such that you believe is not going to be a waste of the money. That's
00:26:15.820one example. There's a similar type of thing for the worthy recipients of pardons or of mercy or
00:26:21.420clemency in the civil sphere or in the household. And so we need to realize that there are things,
00:26:27.380there are biblical criteria and thoughts to be considered for the extension of mercy by those
00:26:32.360different authorities in those different spheres. So the object of mercy, absolutely.
00:26:37.020That's good. I think some people, without trying to be disrespectful, I think it's a helpful
00:26:43.020description, but some people are, because of sin and because of the rebellion against God,
00:26:48.500uh they they are they're a black hole you can you know and that's how welfare has been um for you
00:26:54.180know decades now you know uh it's just oh well maybe if we throw more money at it that's how the
00:27:00.600public education system has been for decades you know maybe if we just um and it's just it doesn't
00:27:04.880matter how many billions it's just it's just a black hole it's just uh whereas you know and what
00:27:10.480it makes me think of is when jesus says um you'll always have the poor and i remember thinking about
00:27:15.360that years ago you'll always have the poor with you but you will not always have me you know as0.58
00:27:19.420he's talking to you know judas who's like oh we could use this for the poor which of course you0.90
00:27:23.980know he took charge of the money bag and he wanted to be able to skim from the top and take it for0.82
00:27:27.720himself so he didn't care about jesus or the poor right but jesus says you always have the poor
00:27:31.560um and i thought about like why why why are we always going to have the poor and uh the reason
00:27:37.740why is until christ's final return we'll always have the poor with us because we'll always have
00:27:41.660sin and that's not to say that every poor person that it's uh that it's directly due to their
00:27:47.700individual sin um but often it is so so an individual person is poor because of their
00:27:53.840sinful choices or in some cases like north korea there's probably a lot of people who are poor
00:28:00.620and it's not because of their individual choices but it's still because of sin somebody else's sin
00:28:06.100is depriving them of opportunity but there is no scenario where someone is poor and it's not
00:28:12.600directly correlated to someone's sin um and and and to believe anything else and i know that some
00:28:18.260people say oh that's oversimplified or that's too uh too you know they don't like it but but the
00:28:23.820reason why i think it matters is because to say anything otherwise is still saying that poverty
00:28:28.860is um because of someone's sin but namely uh god's it's to indict god it's to say that god
00:28:37.220created a instead of a god created a zero-sum game god god is capricious he's cruel he uh the
00:28:44.920very commandment that he gave us uh he knew would ultimately be our very demise be fruitful and
00:28:50.880multiply but he put us in a context where multiplication overpopulation would ultimately
00:28:56.020And he's sitting in the heavens, look at those obedient creatures, you know, sealing their own.
00:29:02.100I mean, what kind of view of God do you have to have to think that, no, I just reject that entirely.
00:29:08.440I think that the world that God has created has more than enough, not only that everybody could have what they need,
00:29:14.460but that everybody could be wealthy and have a great deal of dominion.
00:29:20.000There would still be hierarchy, even in a prelapsed area without a fall, still hierarchy.
00:29:23.760But one of the things that you know when God is Israel's God, one of the things that shows off Yahweh and his infinite wisdom, the queen of Sheba comes to Solomon in his kingdom.
00:29:37.780So when you see a kingdom where even on the lowest rung of the ladder of hierarchy, even they're doing really, really well.
00:29:45.080where the servants are richer than some of the completely free CEOs of another society.
00:29:54.240And so I believe that in terms of God's law and God's creation, what he's provided, there's plenty.
00:30:00.620And so I have to believe when Jesus says the poor, you always have the poor with you.
00:30:04.160It's not because of some pessimistic, nihilistic view of the way God made the earth
00:30:09.160and that things just are going to get worse and worse and worse until Jesus comes back.
00:30:12.320Now, the poor we're always going to have with us in some capacity because we will always have sin with us in some capacity.
00:30:18.160However, as a post-millennial, I do believe that the overall trajectory is up and that when Christ does return, I think poverty will be mostly abolished.
00:30:28.060But even then, I think the poor will still be with us in a lesser capacity because sin, I think there's a direct link.
00:30:36.920And I think what you just said is backed up by when Proverbs says, for example, that there's much grain, you know, in the fallow ground of the poor, for example, right?
00:30:46.560So the tyranny, communism, you know, envy, covetousness, you know, exalted and put into law restrains the poor from working because you go, if I work, somebody's going to take it.
00:46:18.320Oxen cause a mess in the barn, but much grain comes by the strength of an ox.
00:46:23.000A lot of mess comes from hospitality, but so much glorious fruit comes from hospitality.
00:46:29.300And so you just gave a beautiful explanation of that proverb, honestly, as you were explaining what you did with your wife there.
00:46:36.400But I think this idea, the household, the household has work to be done, productivity to be made, capital to be done, give work to your children.
00:46:45.320When children are small, you were just talking about this, right?
00:46:47.500This idea that the small children, you don't really save time initially.
00:46:52.240by giving them work to do right supervising them is more work than doing by involving them
00:46:57.160right but it's good for their soul it's good for your soul and they become competent right and so
00:47:05.960that and and it it accustoms you to delegate i i've met a lot of really competent men who do
00:47:13.200not have the presence of command because they haven't practiced command with their wife and
00:47:18.960children. We feel awkward commanding our wives to do anything. And so husbands, if you haven't0.81
00:47:23.980commanded your wife to do anything, are you exercising authority? And so this idea that
00:47:28.360there's work to be done, and then there's the same with the children. And so a lot of that
00:47:33.580training should be done by the wife. So if you haven't given your wife any commands that you0.98
00:47:37.160can remember recently, here, men, I would encourage you to command your wife to help to train your0.89
00:47:41.620children to do some sort of chore, even if it's a waste of time, apparently, because it will turn
00:47:46.740them into useful. And it will also help you men to become accustomed to command. And I hold the
00:47:52.020line on that. And get used to the idea of giving commands when people don't want to receive
00:47:55.840commands, even if your wife pushes back. Right. And if you're cringing as you're1.00
00:47:59.180listening to this, first, you're probably, the feminism runs deep in you. The feminism is strong1.00
00:48:05.500with that one. But then two, right, it's your suppressed feminism that you're not aware of,1.00
00:48:10.160you know, but it's there. But then two, you're imputing something that Mr. Reese did not say.
00:48:16.120he did not say rudely, command your wife. The word command does not necessarily dictate that
00:48:24.360it's rude or that it's harsh or any of that, but it is a command. It could be the most kindly
00:48:30.400spoken word you can imagine, but it is a command not because it's mean instead of kind, but because
00:48:38.020it's a command instead of a suggestion. It comes not from meanness, but it does come from very real
00:48:42.720authority. And I'll use this kind of language and I'll go viral on YouTube and everybody will hate
00:48:47.280me. Mostly Christians. Mostly Christians will be the offended ones. It's sad. You feel like you're1.00
00:48:52.940on the same team, but they're the ones that they can't believe that I would say X, Y, and Z. But
00:48:58.320that should, not only are some men not giving commands, issuing commands in their household
00:49:03.840to their wife and to their children, but they're so, that's so foreign to them. Just even listening
00:49:10.760to you tell them to do that is making them cringe you know anything that you would say to a guy like
00:49:17.500that or or even perhaps a woman who's listening is like so to the to the people that are cringing
00:49:21.960my goal in every time i speak is to make you cringe um now my what i want to say is yeah
00:49:29.560you know joel i think i think what you said is fantastic that you know that's that's that's
00:49:33.500feminism there right if you believe in biblical patriarchy or you want to call it complementarianism
00:49:38.740whatever soft word you want to use that means the husband has authority over the wife if you
00:49:43.440believe what the bible says about that then you know guess what authority includes get the authority
00:49:48.180includes the ability to give a command to the person under authority right if you cannot give
00:49:51.900a command to somebody if there are no commands they're lawful for you to give and that person's1.00
00:49:55.480obligated to obey you you have zero authority that's right right so so either you're a feminist1.00
00:49:59.900or you believe in the biblical order of the husband being the one in authority in the marriage0.98
00:50:05.880And if you do believe that, then a part of the way a husband loves his wife is by giving her
00:50:10.760work worth doing and helping to coordinate the division of labor.
00:50:15.420Lazy husbands don't command anything, and they expect their wife to do everything.0.73
00:50:20.720Hard-working husbands that seek to love their wives distribute the work.
00:55:43.340But then there's also the use of the sword to punish criminals, to stop ongoing criminal activity as the night watchman, so to speak, and then the waging of just warfare.
00:55:53.740And so these exercises of authority, when you think about the mandate of these various institutions, which are the ones that build the most culture?
00:56:02.120The individual does it in friendship, in covenanted relationship, in the household, and the church creates a place where the truth is taught so that that can be manifested in terms of the beauty of the household.
00:56:14.620And then the state is helping to hack off the worst cancerous elements of society and to use the sword.
00:56:52.040uh whereas you know a christian prince you know if you're constantine you're over a lot of people
00:56:57.360um and you know and then within the church you know you could have you could be over a few hundred
00:57:01.740people depending on the size of your church and then if you you know depending what church polity
00:57:05.300you would prescribe to whether it's you know uh regional presbyteries or even a national level
00:57:10.100if you know like depending on different positions or if you happen to be i would disagree with the
00:57:13.660polity but have an episcopal uh episcopal polity you know um with you know bishops and and things
00:57:19.060like that so but my point is in in both the state and the church realm uh those spheres you can you
00:57:24.680can have a very very broad scope in terms of numbers of people that are under your authority
00:57:31.040but in terms of um not people but in terms of realms i don't know exactly what word or or just
00:57:38.460um a subject matter topics or um super the depth of the influence exactly the state is get bad guys
00:57:45.960And the church, it's word, sacrament, but in both cases, it's fairly narrow in terms of the subject matter, but could be broad in terms of the number of people under your command.
00:57:57.100In the household, you may only be over five people, right?
00:58:00.460You may have a wife and four kids, but in terms of the breadth of what you're doing, you're talking about schools, education, markets, the economy,
00:58:12.040like building roads and house like construction and i mean it's uh art and i mean it's like that's
00:58:20.280all that little household is building the world so that's absolutely right and that that idea that
00:58:27.960there's so much that can be done and the law of god commands all that stuff to be done anybody
00:58:33.480who's bored um you know they they don't understand what we're commanded to do and you know you can0.99
00:58:39.560You can go try to amuse yourself to death, and you can try to go study stupid or worthless0.99
01:00:24.140Any final thoughts or things that you really want to hit in this episode as we land the plane?
01:00:28.420i think that that idea of dominion that dominion is for the glory of god and it's so that you can
01:00:35.700put the word of god on the doorpost right deuteronomy 6 teaches us that we should put the
01:00:40.180word of god on the doorpost of our house so the household is to be ruled by it and then we have
01:00:45.080the gate as well right the idea of the public institution is supposed to be ruled by the word
01:00:49.220of god but when it goes into the household it talks about the idea of of you know putting the
01:00:54.180word on your forehead, which symbolizes your thoughts being governed on your right hand.
01:00:59.800And think about the mark of the beast, right? The forehead and the hand. Well, this is the
01:01:02.680mark of God when the law of God governs your thoughts and governs your actions. And so this
01:01:06.800idea of the word of God governing yourself, and then you teach your children, everybody under
01:01:11.800your authority, the word of God at the set times of morning and evening, and you teach them as you
01:01:16.220walk by the way and as you're just kind of going about the day. And those things, that idea that
01:01:21.340you're looking for opportunity whether it's in the handbook for your company or whether it's while
01:01:25.020you're going through whatever and you're whatever meeting and you start the meeting with prayer and
01:01:28.400you know maybe go through a little bit of the scriptures and proverb or whatever by the way
01:01:31.340proverbs is a great book if you're if you're trying to figure out how to teach your employees
01:01:34.640the word of god at all the book of proverbs is just going to be amazing for you the law of god
01:01:38.280also everybody's afraid of you know like you're like well i'm gonna get up and just tell them the
01:01:42.000gospel every time like the law of god is a part of discipleship that's what you do this is all
01:01:45.900applications so i want people to realize deuteronomy 6 with that that the the shema the
01:01:51.780famous text about hero israel it's telling us to apply the word of god in all of these things and
01:01:57.380we're told to teach our children these things remember the fifth commandment honor your father
01:02:01.780and mother it doesn't just apply to your literal father and mother it also applies to people in
01:02:06.780authority in all the covenant spheres and children commands that apply to children when you think
01:02:10.860about this idea of teaching they apply to everybody in all the covenant spheres that are under
01:02:14.580authority with that real quick that's so good i would just as a practical resource recommendation
01:02:20.100beyond this episode i would recommend thomas watson uh the ten commandments and i think
01:02:24.240he he lists a few different categories but he says you know there's familial fathers there's
01:02:28.440ancient fathers uh so so guys who aren't just the generation immediately preceding but you know
01:02:33.540looking back to athanasius as a father you know and um but then there's also of course spiritual
01:02:38.940fathers um you know ecclesiastical fathers within the realm of the church and then civil fathers
01:02:43.540And this shows you how much our revisionist history of, you know, moderns and soft evangelicalism has just absolutely castrated us.
01:02:54.340But Thomas Watson, who is not that long ago, chronologically, in terms of time, he cites Constantine as his example of a, and it's a raving endorsement of him as a civil, good example of a civil father.
01:03:08.300And he says, and Constantine was a nurturing father, you know, and he says, uh, uh, as
01:03:13.520such a nurturing father that he, uh, with great vigilance, uh, he, you know, attacked
01:03:18.140those who attacked the church, you know, and, you know, and so he's just like talking about
01:03:22.160how wonderful Constantine and I'm like, yeah, I like Constantine, you know?
01:03:25.880And so, uh, so anyways, but I just say that to echo what you're saying that, um, the Puritans
01:03:30.740certainly thought in those terms and Thomas Watson being one of them that I, and that
01:03:34.480book is so helpful because he goes through the 10 commandments, exegeting the commandments
01:03:37.560themselves but then what the puritans did so well that so many modern even within the reformed camp
01:03:42.680modern theologians will not do today and i don't think it's because they just can't i think it's
01:03:47.480i think part of it is a lack of courage to be frank um but they they won't provide application
01:03:52.900but the puritans they'll give the exegesis um but then they'll say and now to application and so
01:03:58.400what does it mean to honor your father on a tuesday afternoon at 3 23 p.m you know and and it's just
01:04:03.820and that's what people hate about the puritans they're like that's where you said well they're
01:04:07.440puritanical it's like but today and maybe some of their applications were were a little bit off
01:04:12.280they're fallible but but today uh guys they don't have the courage to offer any any practical
01:04:17.740application at all they'll give you the theory here's god's law here's the theory of what it
01:04:22.560might look like in a very general you know a very vague sense to be obedient to god's law
01:04:27.820um and then and then you say okay and then what would it look like to issue a command from a place
01:04:32.720of authority in your home to your wife they'll be like uh no comment you know because they don't
01:04:38.740want to you know and but uh the puritans that was a generation where um where they weren't so um
01:04:44.520dominated by uh this you know the spirit of the age and feminism and actually the men um had not
01:04:50.160yet been castrated and uh and had the courage to actually answer questions like that so all that
01:04:54.860being said the ten commandments by thomas watson absolutely says exactly what uh what david's
01:04:58.860in terms of many different kinds of fathers,
01:05:01.840not just your biological father and mother,
01:05:04.440and that that honor is a lifelong command