In recent years, I cannot remember seeing a single article
praising the Church, especially the mostly white evangelical church. While I
have my own issues with the Church, after my 43 years of navigating through its
sanctuaries, the criticism seems to be way over-the-top. The new refrain is
that Christians are so foolish, even racist, because we voted for Donald Trump
and believe in an array of “conspiracy theories.” Here is the latest article
promoting Christian gullibility:
·
A new study by the Nashville-based Lifeway
Research of 1,007 U.S. Protestant pastors with a sampling error of plus or
minus 3.4 percentage points found that 49% of church leaders agreed with the
phrase, “I frequently hear members of my congregation repeating conspiracy
theories they have heard about why something is happening in our country.” https://www.christianpost.com/news/half-of-us-pastors-hear-members-repeat-conspiracy-theories-poll.html
I wonder how these studies and pastors are able to determine
“conspiracy theories” from truth? Is there any authoritative measure to
distinguish the two? There is good reason to suspect that even the
“fact-checkers” and the mainstream media are committed to a left-leaning
agenda. I’ve observed this many times myself. To the conservative eye, the
signs are unmistakable. However, to those on the opposite side of the tracks,
we are fools if we don’t agree with the statements of the accepted pundits.
What then do we take as truth? We are left in uncertainty
and a crisis of trust, skepticism, and unbelief. The sources that Christians
tend to trust are regarded as “fake news” and it also works the other way. The
crisis has left us divided and without the bridge of a common “language” to
re-connect. It’s also a pervasive crisis of character.
In this present crisis of believe and information, it seems that we need to return to the basics, what we can accept as truth - the Bible and the fundamentals of the Christian Faith and life - to rebuild what remains. This doesn’t mean that we have to remain silent about controversial subjects, especially those that are tearing apart the Church and taking us into an unbiblical direction. However, we have to stick to chapter and verse as we attempt to reclaim the Church for our Lord:
In this present crisis of believe and information, it seems that we need to return to the basics, what we can accept as truth - the Bible and the fundamentals of the Christian Faith and life - to rebuild what remains. This doesn’t mean that we have to remain silent about controversial subjects, especially those that are tearing apart the Church and taking us into an unbiblical direction. However, we have to stick to chapter and verse as we attempt to reclaim the Church for our Lord:
·
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to
you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you
to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For
certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this
condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality
and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 3–4 (ESV)
Love isn’t a matter of keeping peace at the price of allowing
false doctrine. When we do so, we incur the displeasure of our Lord:
·
But I have this against you, that you tolerate
that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing
my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her
I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works. (Revelation
2:20–22)
Sometimes love must confront rather than indulge. To our
discredit, we have tolerated in our midst things that we should not. As our
brothers’ keepers, we too must call them to repentance as Jesus had:
·
“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will
all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and
killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others
who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all
likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3–5)
Jesus also required us to be a light to the world, even
exposing its sins (Ephesians 5:11). As justifiably frustrated and fearful as we
might be, we must not resort to violence:
·
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in
harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought
to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends
on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it
to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says
the Lord.” (Romans 12:14–19)
Especially during these times, we must resist the urge to
seek revenge, but to show that we live according to God’s teachings. This will
show that our treasure is not in this world but in eternity. This is what our
Lord wants of us (2 Corinthians 4:7-11).
Joseph had lived as a slave and a prisoner for many years.
He could have become embittered after his brothers had sold him as a slave to a
caravan. Joseph was entirely devoted to the Lord that he served his Egyptian
taskmaster with such faithfulness that he entrusted his entire household into
Joseph’s hands. More importantly, it seems that the Lord was also pleased with
Joseph’s faithfulness:
·
From the time that he [Potiphar] made him
overseer in his house and over all that he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s
house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had, in
house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of
him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. (Genesis 39:5–6)
Joseph also resisted the sexual overtures of Potiphar’s wife,
who afterwards falsely accused Joseph of trying to seduce her. Consequently,
Joseph spent 17 years in prison, suffering one injustice after another. He
could easily have decided that since God had “failed” him, he had had enough of
God, but he didn’t.
·
But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him
steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And
the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in
the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of
the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because
the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed. (Genesis
39:21–23)
The Lord hadn’t failed Joseph. Despite his many years of
suffering, God was preparing him to play a glorious role in the salvation of
nations. When his brothers expressed their fears to him that he might now take
revenge for what they had done to him, he answered with godly wisdom:
·
“Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As
for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it
about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear;
I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke
kindly to them. (Genesis 50:19–21)
Joseph did not gloss over their evil deeds but pointed them to
Someone far more important. This is the One to whom we must look as we
experience the unjust wrath of this evil world as we care for their needs. God
allows their evil to serve His good purposes for our benefit. And as Joseph
continued in kindness to them, we too must continue in this manner towards our
oppressors. We must also rejoice in oppression as a testimony to the One who
loves us and gave His life for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment