Thinking-Christianly

Our culture thrives on upbeat, positive messages. We’re reminded that if people are to listen to what we have to say, we must enthusiastically speak words of encouragement and affirmation. Like a game show host, we must connect with a smile and avoid any topic that might be uncomfortable or distressing. Then our message will be heard. Then our impact will be the greatest.

There is some merit to this approach. We tend to avoid people who are always complaining and griping, those who scowl at life and grumble about the slightest imperfections. We are not drawn to those who belittle, who harrass, who bellyache about life.

But the gleaming teeth, say-it-with-a-smile approach is not what we need when serious issues must be discussed. We don’t want our doctor to describe a cancerous tumor as an anomoly that we sould ignore because most of our body is healthy. We don’t want the police to reassure us that the neighbors with the meth lab are harmless because they love their parents. We want accurate information so we can make an informed decision.

The prophet Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. In the seige that preceded the collapse of the city, he knew of many who died from starvation. He watched children suffer and die. He tasted the bitterness of social collapse and despair. In the book of Lamentations, God uses Jeremiah to reflect on this horrific experience.

One insight of note occurs in Lamentations 2:14, which says, “The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity.”

The diagnosis from the typical prophets in Jeremiah’s day overlooked the core problem–sin. It was a gameshow host message of optimism mixed with the wishful thinking that God was somehow obligated to rescue despite the moral rebellion of the nation.

I wonder how often this same message is the one we expect to hear today. “Don’t tell me the truth–tell me something that sounds nice.” Jeremiah’s reflection reminds you and me that God often seeks to expose sin–not to get some kind of peverse joy in this–but to prevent the destructive outcome that will inevitably follow where sin is not addressed.

Exposing sin is a dirty, unpleasant, uncomfortable, and unappreciated task. It exposes us to foul odors and stenches that make us turn our heads in disgust. It opens doors to attitudes and motives that we’d rather not acknowledge. It exposes our hidden hypocrisy and our selfishness.

But in the end it can bring healing. It can motivate us to exchange pride for confession and change. It can prevent catastrophe.

Though the result is good, few today want to be the bearer of such bad news. It’s too unpopular a task. But it’s one that we must accept, or we ourselves will end up in a captivity as desolate as the one Jeremiah wrote about.

Muzzled Christianity is a threat to no one. When followers of Christ choose to keep silent about biblical definitions of good and evil, their beliefs will likely remain unnoticed and unchallenged by the surrounding culture. But when honesty requires that a Christ follower express his biblical convictions, unpleasant consequences may result.

Jesus attended the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem prior to his arrest. Prior to that fateful week, he had a conversation with his half-brothers that is recorded in John 17. In verse 7 Jesus notes, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.”

When evil behavior, attitudes, or ideas are identified as such, the reaction will often be hatred. It may be expressed in ridicule, mockery, ostracism, or outright persecution.

We live in an era of popularity ratings, where being liked and respected because we agree with the concensus is something to be desired. This atmosthere squelches the courage required to stand against socially acceptable evil. Identifying evil can even be unpopular in evangelical circles where love is equated with doing that which offends no one.

Yet Jesus does not call us to be popular. He calls us to obedience to the truth. Sometimes the hardest part of that challenge is applying the truth to our own lives. And though we all do that imperfectly on any given day, that does not absolve us from the other obligation to speak truthfully to our culture. Jesus reminds us that there will be a price to pay. But we also note that he paid that price for us as part of his mission as our savior.

Sometimes adversity smashes our confidence. In the midst of the broken pieces we look for signs of God, and wonder where he is. In some of the most stressful situations in the Bible, God speaks with the greatest optimism.

Jeremiah was beaten and imprisoned because of his message. The rulers did not want Jeremiah telling anyone that the nation would be taken captive by Babylon. In Jeremiah 29 God predicts that a captivity of 70 years will take place. In the midst of this horrible news is an amazing promise. Jeremiah 29:13 states, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

This is not a seeking that takes place when the birds are singing, the economy is humming along well, and the lives of the Jews are tranquil. It’s a seeking that takes place when everyone has had family members die in war, or through starvation. It’s a seeking when a population has been brutalized and their oppressors have mocked the notion that the God of Israel even exists.

But in those moments, God insists that the heart that turns to him will find him. He’s not as far away as some would think. He meets us in our greatest failure and pain. And when we deserve it the least. Perhaps that’s part of what makes God’s grace amazing.

It’s increasingly popular for followers of Christ to claim that they receive direct revelation from the Lord. This is probably the result of the spirit of individualism coupled with a desire to be intimate with God. Unfortunately, this method of revelation produces as many bibles as there are believers. Each one has a list of personal truths that they receive independently from scripture that is added to their personal definition of revelation.

This practice is not new. It existed in Jeremiah’s day, where it seems every Jewish leader of note had a word from God to share with his friends. In those days, this direct revelation was called an oracle rather than a word, but he principle is the same.

Jeremiah is instructed to speak out against this practice in Jeremieh 23:36. It reads: “But you must not mentioned ‘the oracle of the Lord’ again because every man’s own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the Living God, the Lord Almighty, our God.”

When every intuition and every subjective idea becomes part of the word of God, it’s impossible to hear truth through all the noise. So God says, “Stop. Enough!”

We would do well to separate our inklings, our suspicions, our private messages, our spiritual instincts from the true and eternal revelation of God. The more we rely on private revelation, the farther we drift from the unchanging truth that God has provided in his word.

Evangelicals tend to camp out on verses. We take a word or a phrase and throw a spotlight on it. It’s not unlike an editor in mass media looking through a lengthy presentation and pulling out what seems to him or her to be a great sound bite.

When someone extracts a fragment from what we say and runs with it, we can correctly object that they are missing out on the larger message. When we do this with God’s word, we are sometimes not so considerate.

This came to mind as I was reflecting on the context of John 3:16. We are right to celebrate the generosity of God and the offer of life thorugh Christ. If there ever was good news for a morally corrupt race, this is certainly it! However, the news isn’t all positive, as the context demonstrates.

Jesus adds in John 3:18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (NIV) Jesus reminds us of two things we forget when we focus only on the gracious gift of himself in verse 16. He reminds us first of all that condemnation is our normal state. We were condemned before the gospel came to us. As part of a fallen race we live all of our lives as condemned prisoners on death row. Having been judged by the perfect standards of God, we are guilty and rightly sentenced to death.

Secondly, Jesus reminds us that even if we believe in many true things, a failure to believe in the sufficiency of his work on our behalf leaves us in our doomed state. We can embrace concepts like fairness, justice, moral purity, and altruism. In the end such affirmations are powerless to rescue us. They cannot change our condition before a holy God.

I fear that we often present a message that implies that trusting in Jesus will make your life better. Though that is true, it misses the point. Becoming a Christ-follower is the only way to secure any kind of pardon at all and avoid the condemnation we deserve. Any other response on our part falls short of rescuing us from the death row on which we are born.

Injustice seems so prevalent in this age of moral shortcuts. You or I could spend our whole lives addressing one small segment of cultural decay–pornography, taxation that penalizes marriages, social laws that erode character, education without ethics, etc. It’s easier to ignore injustice than to respond.

I’m challenged by Proverbs 25:26. “Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked.” Ouch. Looks like indifference is not an option.

You’ll find a new link on my blog. It’s for Mark D. Roberts. He’s the Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church, and an author of many solid books. He writes thoughtfully about some of the cutting-edge issues that Evangelicals deal with today. His writing is extremely well documented and gives you links to many other great resourses–both books and web sites.

Mark graduated from Harvard and does some teaching at Fuller seminary. He’s engaging, and on top of many of the issues facing the church today.

Check out his site. I think you’ll find it stimulating. It’s www.markdroberts.com

An interesting page from USA Today (5/21/07) showed up in my box thanks to Ken Regan. It discusses the evangelical presence in politics and the expectation that a candidate be a Christian before evangelicals vote for him or her. The writer, Dan Gilgoff, wonders if Fred Thompson has a chance if James Dobson is uncertain as to whether or not he is a Thompson is a true Christian.

The notion that Christians should only support one of their own in politics does not seem to reflect the spirit of the Bible. Scripture acknowledges that God is sovereign over all mankind, and can use those who submit to him and those who do not. One key example is God’s prophecy about Cyrus (a Babylonian ruler) in Isaiah 44:28.

The other problem with this kind of thiking is that it fails to distinguish between a co-belligerent and an ally. An ally is someone you are fully united with, whose fate you share. Such is the bond that followers of Christ are to have with one another. But a co-belligerent is someone with whom you agree on a particular issue. You may not share identical world views, and may even disagree about who Jesus is, but on one or more issues, you stand with each other. Social issues might include taxation, gambling, the protection of unborn life, etc.

Since elected civil leaders are not called to be priests, but to carry out public policy, those who call themselves believers should not demand a religious litmus test. Being a co-belligerent on significant issues with a prospective candidate may result in a wise choice.

The other day I had an interchange with an individual who quoted an email from a woman in her early 30′s who criticized Christians for being judgmental. She asserted that Christianity is flawed because it makes moral judgments on others.

The problem with this objection is that it is self-contradictory. The author of the email is making a personal judgment call against Christians. She charges them with being judgmental, while doing the same herself. When Christians don’t meet her arbitrary standard, they receive criticism. When they offer a standard for others to consider or follow, they are to be criticized.

You can’t have it both ways. Either there are objective standards of conduct that can be discussed–and even debated–or everyone must retreat to silence, since any value judgment is flawed. But that alternative never satisifes. Even the greatest antinomian makes judgment calls because we all assess life as we live it.

In any case, the charge of judgmentalism unravels because it condemns itself.