A Peculiar Kind of Sadness

It’s been a sad day for me.  As I struggle to finalize the sermon I’ll deliver to Village Community Church this week my mind continues to be captured by recent events.  Over the past ten days we’ve seen a racist gunman sit through an hour of bible study and then murder the people that had welcomed him into the study.  In the city I live we saw a police officer shot in the street by a 21 year old that wanted to commit suicide by cop.  These two incidents weigh heavily on my heart imagining the loss the families are suffering tonight.  Like all violence, it’s senseless and I struggle to not become desensitized to what seems to be normal reports of human hatred. 

Growing up I remember preachers using current events like these to remind us that “time was winding up” and that God’s judgment was “nigh”.  The implication was that human sin had reached its pinnacle and a line had been crossed.  Unfortunately, that line of morality seems to be continually moving and humans continue to step over it.  The truth is, this is not new.  Throughout history man has shown himself capable of horrific atrocities, all deserving of God’s final judgment.   Don’t get me wrong, things are bad.  We live in culture that has devalued life while at the same time making individual needs the center of the universe.   We’ve rewritten centuries of orthodoxy in favor of relevant truths that tickle our ears and satisfy personal opinion.  We’re smarter than ever and further from the truth.   

This leads me to the other source of my sadness.  Just yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a landmark decision that redefines marriage in our society.  The court, and public opinion, has ruled saying that this is an issue of equal rights.  If fairness and equality are our driving values then the court may have the standing to do what it has done.  If the rights of individuals supersede the created order then the court has acted properly.  If however, you possess a different view of God’s plan, one based on the scriptures, this is a decision that opposes our belief system.  A belief system that has now taken a back seat to a belief that individual choice trumps everything.  I’m offended by this decision and hold disagreement but not at all surprised.  This is the predictable progression of a culture set on centering all truth on individual rights.  It’s unfortunate but inevitable.  This makes me sad but it isn’t all that makes me sad.

What also makes me sad as I write is the response from Christians to this decision.   It’s not that I don’t understand the frustration and hold a similar view of scripture but I’m taken back by the vitriol and fear that this has caused.   It seems we’ve forgotten that the same scriptures that define marriage also define our response to a culture hostile to our belief system.   We seem to be concerned that God is perplexed by this court decision and wonder if He’s really in control.  We respond to His lack of movement on the issue with our own attempts to set the record straight using catchy phrases, snippets of scripture and social media campaigns.  Thank God he has us to straighten this whole mess out for Him. 

I can hear my critics now.  “Kevin we can’t just stand by and…”, “It’s our right to speak up…”, “The next thing you know they’ll be taking away the tax deductibility of our offerings.”  Don’t get me wrong, I believe we do have to stand for something.  I do believe we should speak up.  I appreciate the deduction from Uncle Sam but it's not why I give.   What I also believe is that we should stand up for is the true religion (worship) that the Apostle James asks of us when he said:

 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:26-27 NIV)

James was speaking to fellow Jews that had been displaced from their homeland, presumably because of their new found Christian belief.  In other words, their belief system cost them their Jewish rights and for this they were being persecuted.  James warns them that “friendship with the world is hatred toward God”  (4:4) so while he underlines our need to live by God’s standard he also defines true worship as watching our words, helping the helpless and not being negatively influenced by culture.  This prohibition against cultural influence is certainly moral but it’s also political.  Remember these are Christians that had given up their partisan and cultural standings as Jews to follow this new thing called “The Way”.  This “Way” also costs me.  It asks me to stand in opposition to cultural norms, not with strong words, but with quiet kindness.  Trusting that God is in control and that He’ll reconcile all things.  I’m involved but it is still His plan.  And while I’m short on ideas on how to make “those” people see things my way, I’ll continue to love them through my personal views that are sometimes obstructed by the log in my own eye.   I believe I'll preach on love this week.