Another Political Post: Because Everything Seems Political These Days

I came across an article on a Christian Magazine site I visit that was written in 2015. The article wrestles with an incident that happened on a Christian college campus. It was after the San Bernardino shooting. The president of the university is quoted to have said these words, “If more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in and killed them…”[1] After which the student body applauded.

The article wrestles with Jesus’ words about violence (“love your enemies and do good to those that hurt you,” “blessed are the peacemakers,” “turn the other cheek,” etc.) and what the president of this university said. The author of the article acknowledges that the Bible as a whole seems to have some nuanced positions on violence and therefore the biblical argument for pacifism is not entirely clear cut. However, the author still suggests that:

“…at the absolute least, we should be able to recognize that when Jesus told His followers to turn the other cheek, they lived in the same dangerous world we live in today. They had enemies. Jesus told them to love. They were being threatened. Jesus told them to seek peace. They were being beaten. Jesus told them to keep it up… So even if the argument could be made that Jesus might have made qualifications for ‘turning the other cheek’ when it comes to self-defense, it’s difficult to imagine Him reveling in it very much… The death of anyone—even those trying to do us wrong—does not add to our joy. “[2]

The reason I bring this up is because my heart has been consistently unsettled by the divisive issues plaguing our country right now. Specifically, the way in which a number of Christians respond to these issues. As a pastor, part of my calling is to call people to follow Jesus. Even if following him means forsaking things in this life that would get in the way of that. Yet, anytime I have wanted to raise questions about how American Christians in particular should view Muslims, violence, refugees, immigrants (illegal or otherwise), racial reconciliation, the poor, or any other hot button issue of our current time, I get a significant amount of push back. I think some people have even just labeled me as a progressive, liberal, democrat or something. Which, in some Christian circles is like a cardinal sin. I have received push back from good people who claim Christ. I have thought that maybe the way I bring stuff up is not helpful. Maybe I am just being divisive. The problem is that I just can’t shake the tension. The unsettled feeling in my spirit that something in Christ’s Bride needs to be called out. Most of my unsettled feelings revolve around a few questions:

1. As Christ followers, should not our allegiance to Christ force us to reinterpret how we view the world and others (and even our American identity)?

2. If we can’t talk about the tension of living as a Christ-follower in a broken world in the Church, then where can we talk about it? If there is not a tension at all, are you/we really taking Jesus’ words seriously enough?

3. Why are we so dogmatic about some Scriptures, but tag exceptions and addendums to others? Who decides there are exceptions to the Scripture’s words about violence, welcoming the stranger/foreigner/sojourner, and social justice but there are not exceptions to others?

4. Why are so many self-proclaimed Christians so militant and borderline hateful (particularly on social media platforms) with their passionate views about guns, immigration, Muslims, the poor, and racial justice?

Even if their political position is the most logical and it is the best possible view from a national/political standpoint, how can anyone justify speaking about other people in the ways some do? An illegal immigrant is a person that God loves. A progressive, liberal, democrat is a person that God loves. God loves Muslims. God loves the people in the LGBQT community. God loves the person that would intend harm to our “way of life.” God loves those who threaten our values. While there is no easy way to address how we should stand up for our values and beliefs without compromising the call to love, one thing is certain: we cannot dehumanize, demean, diminish, or detract from the value of other human beings. This means not sharing, posting, typing, propagating, or speaking things that reduce a person to a political issue about which we can say any hateful thing we want so long as it aligns with our position. Why? Because God loves them. And, he has called us to do the same. In fact, our calling to love people is like (equal in weightiness) to our calling to love God.[3]

[1] https://relevantmagazine.com/current/nation/trouble-jerry-falwell-jrs-words-violence

[2] https://relevantmagazine.com/current/nation/trouble-jerry-falwell-jrs-words-violence

[3] See Matthew 22:37-40

Vantage Point (Part 2)

[Note: This was originally intended to be a single post, but due to length I separated it into two parts. Please read part 1 here before part 2. Context is important.]

Hot Button Issues

With the ideas I have shared about cultural awareness and the danger of a single story in mind, I want to address three specific issues that I feel very passionately troubled about. I am passionate about the intersection of the gospel with life. The gospel interprets how we live. I am trouble by how I have seen Christians, primarily on social media platforms, address the following issues. I am sharing the following ideas for two purposes: 1.) adding dimension to the background and theology of my current views on such topics, and 2.) to challenge believers to at least think about issues from a different vantage point. If we claim to follow Christ, then our entire way of seeing the world is reinterpreted through the lens of the Kingdom.

Nationalism

I love America. I love living in America. I believe there are a lot of great things about this nation. I value and appreciate the blood that has been shed in order to protect the people and the freedoms of this nation. However, my patriotic identity and my patriotic allegiance does not even come close to my allegiance to Jesus. It just doesn’t. For many of us, it seems that our allegiance is divided equally between God and country. Personally, I have been convicted of the nationalism in my own life. Nationalism is characterized by a mentality of superiority. A mindset that views other countries and other people groups as inferior. I have heard people literally say that our country is better than other countries. The implication was that America is superior.

What is the problem with this? The problem is that God loves the world. The problem is that this superiority complex can cultivate in us a naivety. We can naively begin to believe that God favors our nation over others, we can think that we are always the “good guys” in a international conflict, and we can naively think that America is somehow more Christian than any other nation. Viewing history through this lens of patriotic Christianity we neglect to acknowledge the evils of imperialism and racism from our past. This lens can hinder our love for the world. If the primary way we view the world is through a lens of superiority then we cannot possibly see the world through the lens of sacrificial love—the lens through which God sees the world through. This was most clearly evidenced for me by how passionate people were, specifically Christian people, over the NFL National Anthem debacle. Regardless of where you stand… or kneel… the intensity of emotions and the things that were said surrounding the issue were at times out of line for Christ-followers.

The problem with nationalism is that it is unbiblical. The entire book of Jonah is about God’s love for Israel’s enemy—Assyria. Jonah was so angry with God’s forgiveness because he was a racist. In the New Testament Jesus addresses Jewish nationalism frequently. The Jewish religious leaders are often offended that the people he interacts with are not only sinners, but Gentiles. Tax collectors were hated because they were unpatriotic. They collaborated with Rome and essentially exploited their own flesh and blood. Jesus interacted with a Samaritan woman (John 4:1-46) and told a parable on which a Samaritan was the hero (Luke 10:25–37). A large part of Acts deals with the inclusion of Gentiles into this new movement based on faith in the Jewish Messiah. “The original believers were largely Jews, and The Way was considered a sect under the umbrella of Judaism. As such, many of their expectations were colored by their Jewish nationalism…[The Jewish believer’s] assumptions had to be radically reconsidered.”[1]

Further, much of Paul’s letters deal with the ethnic and racial issues of the time. Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians: “Here there is no Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (3:11). In Christ, our national, racial, economic, ethnic, and even denominational boundaries really do not mean anything. Patriotism is not necessarily a bad thing, but when our Patriotic identity is so syncretized with our Christian faith that it is somehow a Christian virtue to be patriotic, something has gone awry. When our patriotic identity fuels us with a sense of superiority, there might be some idolatry and sinful pride present.

The Least of These

Sometimes the way Christians talk about the least of these is heartbreaking. The evangelical community is really good at speaking up about the injustice of abortion, but sometimes we oversimplify the issues such as racial injustice, the refugee crisis, and poverty. Sometimes I have heard Christians make judgmental assumptions about people who are poor or who are on government assistance. I have seen Christians minimize the issues surrounding racial injustice. Some patriotic Christians accused me of advocating for open boarders when I proclaimed we should have compassion for the Syrian refugees. I know we are not going to agree on every point of tension, however, my heart is grieved that we are sometimes very quick to defend our perspective and very slow to listen to the story of someone else.

The Bible is abundantly clear that God cares a lot about the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized. “The prophets in turn deal out warnings aplenty about Israel’s breaking of the covenant and the law. The people’s sins of idolatry and lack of mercy toward the poor and needy are the focus of the prophet’s concern.”[2] Here is just a sampling from the Scriptures:

1. If in any of the towns in the land that the Lord your God is giving you there is a fellow-Israelite in need, then do not be selfish and refuse to help him. Instead, be generous and lend him as much as he needs. (Deuteronomy 15:7-8)

2. Learn to do right. See that justice is done — help those who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and defend widows. (Isaiah 1:17)

3. I, the Lord, command you to do what is just and right. Protect the person who is being cheated from the one who is cheating him. Do not ill-treat or oppress foreigners, orphans, or widows; and do not kill innocent people in this holy place. (Jeremiah 22:3)

4. No, the Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God. (Micah 6:8)

5. Rich people who see a brother or sister in need, yet close their hearts against them, cannot claim that they love God. (1 John 3:17)

6. Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don’t have enough to eat. What good is there in your saying to them, “God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!” – if you don’t give them the necessities of life? (James 2:15-16)

7. Share your belongings with your needy fellow Christians, and open your homes to strangers. (Romans 12:13)

We get extremely passionate about calling out the sexual sins of our culture. To be clear, I have a conservative view on sexuality, but sometimes I wonder if we should be more concerned with how God is going to deal with our overindulgence of material luxuries and negligence in regards to global poverty than how God feels about society’s acceptance of same-sex marriage. Ezekiel 16:49 states, “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” I don’t know about you, but that sounds somewhat applicable to Americans. People from other countries often view Americans as arrogant, we are one of the most obese nations in the world, and we sometimes seem unconcerned with the poor and needy.

Some Christians debate about the importance of social justice versus evangelism. The argument is that people’s eternal souls matter more than their present circumstances. While this is true, we cannot separate the call to care about injustice from the message of the gospel. Jesus himself included social justice in his declaration of his mission:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.” Luke 4:18-19

Social justice and evangelism go hand in hand. We are called to be lights in the darkness—to be ambassadors for the Kingdom. To proclaim the gospel in word and deed. N. T. Wright suggests,

“The resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit mean that we are called to bring real and effective signs of God’s renewed creation to birth even in the midst of the present age…We cannot get off the hook of present responsibility, as many Christians try to do, …by declaring that the world is currently in such a mess and there’s nothing that can be done about it until the Lord returns. That is classic dualism.”[3]

If we are going to be Jesus followers, if we are going to be biblical, then we have to care about others. We have to care about sex trafficking, abortion, poverty, racial injustice, refugee crises, oppression, etc. We are light in the darkness. It is part of our identity as Jesus people.

Violence

I love action movies. I actually like movies that are quite violent. I know some will likely disagree with my movie standards, but that is for another discussion. Gladiator with Russel Crowe is still one of my top ten favorite movies. The Dark Knight trilogy is in the top five. Something in me feels a sense of justice and vindication when Denzel Washington unloads a can of… when Denzel beats the living tar out of the bad guys. I almost enjoy when justice is exacted through violence

I remember when 9/11 happened. I was in seventh grade. I remember there being a resurgence of patriotism. People would make comments about “Blowing the terrorists off the map,” and about enlisting so that they could “kill a bunch of towel heads.” I resonated with these comments because they sounded just and patriotic. The terrorists deserved to die. Even today the way people talk about war, terrorism, and guns edges near the line of blood thirsty. I have met people who seem almost eager to unload their side arm on an evil doer. Somehow their sentiments sound just, patriotic, and almost heroic.

I have a friend who is a member of the Brethren in Christ which is an Anabaptist denomination. The Anabaptists are pacifists who believe that Jesus’ teaching, specifically from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, calls Kingdom people to nonviolence. My friend and I have had a number of conversations in which we debated the logic and “reasonableness” of his nonviolent position.

I do not fully identify with pacifism. I do believe there are times when standing up for the weak may require the use of force. I believe national militaries and public servants also fall into different categories. However, the conversations with my friend forced me to take a serious look at the words of Jesus. When I looked at Scripture I had to admit that my friend’s argument was quite convincing:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.” “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” –Matthew 5:9; 38-45

I was also forced to acknowledge that my justification for violence was about the reasonableness of Jesus’ command. Then I realized that nothing about Jesus’ calling to follow him is “reasonable” in a human sense. The way of the cross isn’t about how reasonable grace and love and salvation is to the human mind.

Greg Boyd writes on Isaiah 2:4 and nonviolence:

“And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.”

“This is God’s vision for humanity, and it begins to be realized in the Kingdom Jesus inaugurated. We are to be in the present what the world will become in the future. We are “the eschatological community.” Since there will be no violence when the Kingdom is fully come, there should be no violence practiced by Kingdom people now.”[4]

You may not agree with my convictions, and that is ok. However, I think we should take seriously the calling to be Kingdom people who are working to see the Kingdom come and God’s will be done on earth as in heaven. I believe our Kingdom identity should be considered when we enter conversations about violence. I believe we should never desire for war. We should never hope for someone’s destruction. Jesus died for sinners—which includes all of us.

Conclusion

I hope I have been clear that I am not intending to incite an argument or even a debate. I am simply explaining my theological perspectives that guide my views on other life issues. My hope is that maybe some others would be seriously willing to reevaluate their own perspectives like I have. To reflect on how their own perspectives align with Jesus.

“I do not believe a person can take two issues from Scripture, those being abortion and gay marriage, and adhere to them as sins, then neglect much of the rest and call himself a fundamentalist or even a conservative. The person who believes the sum of his morality involves gay marriage and abortion alone, and neglects health care and world trade and the environment and loving his neighbor and feeding the poor is, by definition, a theological liberal, because he takes what he wants from Scripture and ignores the rest.”  ― Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What

[1] Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch. ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church. (p. 79)

[2] Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung. Glittering Vices. (p. 128)

[3] N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope. (p. 209, 213)

[4] http://reknew.org/2008/01/does-the-bible-teach-total-non-violence/

Vacations, Culture, and Churchy-ology

Vacation Experiences Our experiences, upbringing, personal preferences, and surrounding context influence our opinions about pretty much everything. For example, if we were to talk about the word “vacation” there would be a plethora of opinions and mental images connected to the word. A vacation is defined as a “personal trip or journey usually for the purpose of recreation or tourism.” When I think about vacation, I think about palm trees, sunshine, relaxation, and my wife enjoying it by my side. For others, they may think about Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, and an RV. Others may think about hiking, a campsite, and the great outdoors. The core purpose of a vacation is not compromised, but rather experienced and outworked through a variety means.

While all illustrations break down at some point, this illustration relates someting that is also true about the Church. For some of us, we think about a red-faced shouting preacher, choir robes, and pews. For others, (like myself) we think of a large gathering, a full band (with drums), and a conversational style sermon. Still others, (like the service I attended in Haiti and Guatemala) we may think of loud, dynamic singing with creative clapping and a long narrative sermon.

I fully understand that there are some theologically dangerous expressions of worship. I fully understand that distorting the truth to accommodate people’s or your own desires is wrong. However, I have seen a LOT of debating over mostly peripheral issues. The purpose of the Church is to incarnationally reflect the coming Kingdom to a lost and dark world. “We are committed to describing the world not just as it should be, not just as it is, but as — by God’s grace alone! — one day it will be.” (N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope) That is why the Church exists–which should not be confused with the corporate worship gatherings that happen in our local buildings we call “churches.”

The purpose of corporate worship is to proclaim the worth of the resurrected Jesus! In proclaiming his worth we both 1) Encourage and edify one another by reminding one another that Jesus has conquered death and we are raised with him and 2) we proclaim to a world that the grave is defeated and hope, love, grace, and mercy can be experientially known through a relationship with the resurrected Jesus!

The means through which we communicate this should not be dull, boring, irrelevant, disconnected or difficult to understand for the surrounding world that we should be seeking to point towards Jesus. That brings me to a brief thought on culture.

Culture War I read an article recently that talked about how the Church should stop trying to imitate the culture around her and stop being worried about being “churchy.” I understand that we are not to imitate the sinful aspects of our culture, but culture in and of itself is not bad. Culture can be quite beautiful. (We also need to distinguish the difference between culture and pop culture.) Culture has to do with a society or people group’s expression of it’s unique identity through art, language, literature, music, attire, and, my favorite, food. All of which can be appreciated as diverse expressions of God’s creativity inherent in Creation itself.

When we demonize culture and demand that our style or expression of music, art, language, etc. is holy and others are not, we vastly underestimate the value of reflecting the image of the Creator through creativity. Can culture be twisted or corrupted? Absolutely. So can sex, but that does not mean sex is inherently evil. It is actually quite beautiful inside the context of marriage — a committed relationship in which two people know and are known intimately and possess the potential to participate in the creation of new life through procreation.

I once listened to a sermon by a man who was part of a ministry that ministered to Native Americans. he noted that one of the tragedies in evangelizing the Native Americas was the tendency throughout history of the “white man” to insist that their cultural expression (music, dancing, and language) had to be abandoned in order for salvation to be attainable. This man advocates the use and appreciation of their culture and argues that their expressions can be redeemed and used for worship. This is true in a number of contexts. You do not go to another country and demand that they read an English Bible because the KJV is the only authoritative translation.

My point? Culture is redeemable. Culture is not inherently bad. Culture is actually a beautiful thing that can glorify God. The Western Church has a culture. Whether we want to admit it or not, our suits, choirs, pews, Bible translations, Sunday Schools, and even our lingo is cultural in nature. You only have to experience church in another country to realize that your idea of Church is in fact not universal. Like our experiences of vacation.

What happens though when our culture fails to connect, reflect, and communicate to the surrounding context of our local community of believers? What happens when our gatherings become what some have called “churchy.” This brings me to that dirty term “seeker friendly” and a word I made up –“churchy-ology.”

Churchy-ology Before I go any further I want to clearly say that, I believe the Bible is our authority for all matters of faith and practice, I strive to be theologically responsible and consistent (though I am a young student of theology), and I believe the hope for humanity is found through a reconciled relationship with the resurrected Jesus. When some talk about the Church needing to not be churchy, they may mean that the church should avoid all possible points of tension with the world around us. They may mean that we should “water-down” the truth. However, there are others, arguably more so, who mean that the Church should not, like the Pharisees, keep God on the top shelf but rather imitate the Incarnation and communicate who God is in a language people can understand.

I do not have the space here to go into all the specifics, but there are things about our churches that are churchy and biblical. BUT, there are also things that are just churchy. They are neither theologically nor biblically grounded. Rather, they are completely based on opinion and preference. I know some will vehemently disagree with me, but I can find no real reason why it makes a difference whether Scripture is read from an iPad or a Bible. I prefer the Bible when I preach, but the text is the same. Once upon a time, the mass production of the printed word was a new development and was a result of technological advancements.

When people talk about not being churchy, most are talking about not allowing our personal preferences and expressions to get in the way of reaching lost people. This is EXTREMELY biblical. If Peter would have adhered to his Jewish understanding of clean and unclean he never would have stepped foot in Cornelius’s home and the story of the Gospel reaching Gentiles would be a lot different (Acts 10). Paul’s primary concern for the orderliness of worship when writing the church at Corinth had to do with the “unbeliever or outsider [that] enters” (1 Cor 14: 23). Paul believed in incarnational ministry which is evident by his evangelizing the people in Athens. He used poetry from their own culture to argue for the existence of the one true God (Acts 17:28). Jesus was constantly teaching people about the Kingdom of God and he used elements that were familiar to their cultural context (farmers, seeds, widows, betrothed young women, prodigal sons).

Seekers and Friendlyness 

Jesus, to some degree was also seeker friendly (which in reality is different from seeker sensitive). Again, some would adamantly argue against this, but the gospels are full of passages that talk about “crowds” and “multitudes” of people gathering to be healed and hear this Master Teacher preach. There were times, and there is a time and place for this, that Jesus drew a line in the sand and clarified what discipleship entailed. But, by and large, he doesn’t call out the self-seeking desires of those longing to be healed or the entertainment-seeking intentions of those gathering to watch the show. Rather, he offered hope through healing and truth through preaching. Most of the “offensive” things Jesus says are directed at religious people. That should give us pause.

I believe it is possible to be relevant to the culture around us. In fact, I believe it is not only possible, but necessary. When I preach, a great deal of my preparation is reflecting on the audience I will be speaking to and discerning what the community needs to hear from God. I also spend a great deal of time trying to compose a message that contains language that most of my audience can connect with. This audience includes the reality that there may be people new to church present as well as people familiar with church and “churchy” language. I believe it is irresponsible for preachers to lazily fashion a sermon without seeking to connect to the audience. Andy Stanley says it well, “As a leader it is your job to protect the missional integrity of the Jesus gathering to which you have been called. It is your responsibility to see to it that the church under your care continues as a gathering of people in process’ a place where the curious, the unconvinced, the sceptical, the used-to-believe and the broken, as well as the committed, informed and sold-out come together around Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Deep and Wide)

I do not want to compromise truth for the sake of making the gospel palatable. But in the words of James the brother of Jesus, “we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19). I want to do all I can to creatively and responsibly communicate who Jesus is to people in a language they understand. If that means preaching in jeans with an iPad because it will help people drop their defenses or feel that I am more relatable, then I will do it. Jesus left the glories of heaven and wore flesh to communicate who God is to humanity. I think I could sacrifice some of my preferences too.