Three Estates; God's innoculation for fear

 The following is a republishing of a series of articles for a newspaper in 2020, slightly modified. Pastor Makelin

Wow. The world has gone off it’s rocker lately! Have you ever felt that things are…shall I say…unsettled? You may have felt this even before the latest crazy, but now it just seems more pronounced lately, no? All this flux can make you come away with fear and can be quite unnerving.

Want to hear something great though? God still reigns. He has established three “estates” (or orders, institutions, forever constant) of which all of us Christians live - all at the same time, where He rules. God’s order for His creation has been established by Him and will not be moved! Let me say that again in a slightly different way. God has established temporal walls of defense for our lives, ruled and governed by Him, yet in different ways…different realms under His rule. The comforting thing to know about these estates, is that no matter how much the devil, the world, or even we ourselves, fight against them, they will not be overcome! As the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah in Chapter thirty-five, verse four: Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Rage as he will, the devil will not overcome! God’s reign in these estates will always exist until the end of time.

Tragically, these defensive walls are sometimes damaged in attacks, vandalized, or one or more of them temporarily breached. When this happens, society will demand the other two estates to compensate in order to pick up the slack. Thus, chaos and fear ensue. This is what we are witnessing now. Yet, each estate is necessary - and good - in its own sphere and hierarchy – not only for a healthy society, but especially as defense against your conscience. No matter the damage, these three estates shall, in the end, exist for your protection until you rest in the grave or the Lord returns.

So, what am I talking about when I say God’s three estates? They go by different names in Scripture, but I will call them, Ecclesiastical (Ministry), Familial (Domestic), and Political (Civil). Each has its own way of keeping God’s order and its own peculiar function, and even though some functions are identical, they still operate uniquely in our lives. Two of these estates were instituted by God before the Fall, (Ecclesiastical and Familial) and the least of the three estates established (Political) is described after the Fall of mankind to sin. None the less, the Political estate is also given by God for our protection.

It is my desire, that once you know about these three estates, see how they function, and see how God has established them for your care, protection, and benefit in this life, that you will not only see His order among all this chaos but so too, that you will not fear. You will recognize the enemy, the devil, for what he is and recognize that his goal is to be constantly battering these defensive walls. This is not a teaching of what you must do, but what has been done for you as revealed in God’s Word of Holy Scripture. 

Stay tuned for the Political (civil) estate

 When someone sins against you

In the blogpost of August 20^th 2021, I promised that we would investigate what to do if someone sins against you. I made this post up, but did not ever publish it. So, here you go. Only two years late, but it still applies.

We talk a lot about repenting for sins of our own, but when in a situation of abuse, or evil attacks aimed at you, or literally someone else sinning against you, the go-to verses are Ephesians 6. This does not mean you do not forgive your attacker, and neither does it mean you may not have to seek safety from them, or that you won’t struggle to forgive, but the question is; where do we find the strength of faith to stand the blows? Sure, forgiveness is given to us by in faith, by grace, through Christ, but for us mere mortals, especially when being wronged, forgiveness is hard!

Yet, before I get into the source of our strength of faith, I must mention that God allows some things to happen to us - in His discipline - to make us pick up our cross and follow him. Remember the prophet Job? He was, by God’s account, a blameless and upright man, one who turned away from evil. Though rich in family, goods, and reputation, he did not treat others poorly or unfairly, and he even went so far as to continually offer burnt sacrifices to God for his children, just in case, they sinned and cursed. But then all that came crashing down in a day. In a day, he lost his livestock (his wealth), his servants were slaughtered, and even his family that he had sacrificed ‘just in case’, died. And through all this, lamenting and sorrowful, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. He simply said; The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (see Job Chapter 1).  

But that was not all. When he was at his lowest and saddest, so low he cursed his birth and said it would have been better to never have been born than to bear this burden, three friends came to give “counsel” – and some counsel that turned out to be! They beat him about the head with the law saying, You must have done something wrong. Admit it, and perhaps the Lord will relent. Even his wife couldn’t take it anymore and she abandoned him saying; Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. To which he replied; Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”^[a] It goes on to say; In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (See Job Chapter 2)

Yeah, that guy. How did he hold onto his faith under such horrible things? Some may speak platitudes by saying God does not give you anything more than you can handle, but that is false and not in Scripture. On the other hand, it says in James; Count it all joy, my brothers,^[b] when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness… Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. The world is a dangerous place if you are a Christian, and the devil prowls around looking to devour your faith, but much to his chagrin, through his attacks, temptations, and trials, God produces in you, a steadfastness of faith by the feeding of His Word and Sacraments.

Oops, I said it. Christ’s gift of Word and Sacraments is what Paul is describing in the imagery of Ephesians 6 as this defensive armor. Paul lists the armor given to us to withstand this evil age with; the belt of Truth (His Word is Truth which girds your loins like a weightlifter’s belt), the breastplate of righteousness (protection of wounding the heart because Christ is your righteousness), the shoes of “readiness given by the gospel of peace” (as you hear and speak the peace of Christ to others – right where your feet are pointing), the shield of faith to quench the flaming darts of the evil one (for when the devil strikes your faith with his lies, they are quickly brought to nothing), the helmet of salvation (helmets protect heads, and you know with all your mind, you are saved by the blood of Christ), and the sword of the Spirit while praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

This is where Job’s strength of faith was found. This is where your strength of faith is found, in Christ’s Word and Sacraments, for you to stand the assaults of the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places…and yes, against death itself. All this He feeds you through the Word and Sacraments of His Church into your ears and mouth. This is what I was getting at last week when I said to not receive the Sacrament is detrimental to your health, like going into battle naked. Your armor gets chinks and holes in it from the battle against those cosmic powers (because you will do battle). But you can come to Him for rest, for new armor, for strengthening of faith. There is no such thing as a lone Christian. To fight the battle without Christ to die eternally. Come. Hear Him. Come eat and drink Him as He bids you to do in His own testimony. For as long as you draw breath on this side of heaven, you need Him.

Pastor Makelin

9/2/21