Author: Pastor Rich Lusk
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A Note on Social Contract Theory
Social contract theory, originating primarily with Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, is not only contrary to a biblical theology of the state, but also tells a story that is so patently absurd it is hard to believe it ever gained credence in the first place. Social contractualists, in brief, assume that men, by nature, are…
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Liturgy is the needle; Christendom is the thread it pulls through.
The kingdom of Christ is far broader than the church. But the church, in both her gathered and scattered capacities, acts as the bearer of the kingdom. The church announces the kingdom by proclaiming Jesus is Lord and celebrates the kingdom in the Eucharist. Furthermore, the church embodies the lifestyle of the kingdom in her…
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True Political Power
An X post from February: There’s a lot of talk right now about Christians (and conservatives) learning to embrace and wield political power — something we have not really done for quite some time. This is all well and good. Being afraid of power is immature and irresponsible. Christians should seek to gain political power…
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The Eschatological Life
The Christian life is an eschatological life, lived in the power of the Spirit. It is resurrection life, the life of the future already breaking into the present. We have been delivered from an uneschatological moralism. The Christian is called to Pneumatological obedience, fulfilling the law in the power of the Spirit. Note that word…
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Christian Nationalism and the Noahic Covenant
This is from an X post from October, 2024, responding to this Paul Miller talk: Paul Miller’s talk was maddening. It’s not that everything he said is false, it’s that he managed to mix error into every single sentence, even those that included hints of the truth. I’ll limit myself to commenting on one aspect…
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Church in Three Dimensions
The church exists in three dimensions — as a culture, a counter-culture, and the transformer of culture: Church as culture — gathered worship/community — priestly Church as counter-culture — mission/mercy/”holy war” — kingly Church as transformer of culture — creating a new world through word and deed — prophetic
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Nature and Grace — Again!
What is the proper relationship of grace and nature? When grace eats up nature, you end up with the antinomianism of progressivism. There is no natural order inherent in creation to which we must conform. There is no divine design embedded in reality, so anything goes. You can be whatever you want to be. You…
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What is America? Some Notes from X
We must push back against both propositionalism and race-essentialism. Both approaches are too shallow to effectively answer the question, “What is a nation?” We have to reckon with the fact that there is much about America that is unique, and thus the question, “What is America?,” or, “What is an American?,” becomes a good bit…
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The Church, Salvation and Apostasy
The Church, Salvation and Apostasy Quotes compiled by Rich Lusk Therefore he who would find Christ must first of all find the church. How would one know where Christ and his faith were, if one did not know where his believers are? And he who would know something of Christ, must not trust himself, or…
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Saul vs David, Self-Pity vs God’s Pity
I recently interrupted my preaching series on 1 Samuel to look at what I call David’s “cave psalms.” These are psalms composed by David while he was on the run from Saul, usually hiding out in caves. These psalms tell us when they were composed in their title notes (which I take to be part…
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