Responding To The Outrage
What Would Jesus Do?
As we addressed one of the more touchy subjects earlier this week, I wanted to take some more time and make a continuation of that post. Last week we discussed what gender roles played in Christianity and as you can imagine, the world does not like these roles one bit. Our society and culture today wreaks of pride, brokenness, and just flat-out sin when it comes to our identity. And instead of just answering how Christians should live in the identity that God has given them, I want to take it a step further and answer how we should live when others don’t. Now I know that this month is dedicated to anthropology, but I would argue that knowing how the human race is supposed to respond and communicate with one another is just as much of a vital study as knowing what our identity is. The sad truth is, oftentimes Christians know who they are called to be, but they throw how they are supposed to act by the wayside. We would much rather live our lives by calling out the wrongs we see in other people while totally missing the wrongs that we are committing right in front of our eyes.
One of the biggest reasons for this is the political agenda in the U.S. We have allowed politics to create tribalism all throughout our nation, and where Christians should be following Christ more than a political leader, we find more comfort in belonging to a political team rather than the family of God. We think everyone who struggles with identity is a woke liberal and everyone who even believes God exists is just a far-right extremist. This ideology has not just taken over the country, it’s become more of a priority in our hearts. We ought to care much less about someone’s political views and way more about their biblical ones. We should be much less worried about someone’s gender identity and much more concerned about their identity in Christ. As we seek God’s Word through this and look at how we should respond in these hard times, I want to humbly remind you all, that before you are anything, you are a child of God. And I hope you live that way.
Remain Holy
To start, I want to first look at 1 Peter 2:9 “9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”. As discussed last week, we are called to be a holy people, which means ‘set apart’ for our Lord. When holiness is met with unholiness, how should we react? Do we say whatever we want and be whoever we want to be since we all feel like the world is going to hell in a handbasket? By no means!! What does Peter tell us right here? We are a royal priesthood, and we must act that way. This is a very ‘others may but I may not’ type of attitude. It doesn’t matter if you think living in a holy matter will change anything or not, what matters is that this is how God has called you to live. What’s fascinating though is Peter’s reason for this. Why are we to remain holy even when others aren’t? So that we may proclaim the excellencies of God. I could talk about this one passage for hours. How different would the church look today if instead of losing hope for this world, we praised God for still being in control of this world? We have allowed our leaders to replace God in our minds and have become absolutely defeated that any change can take place in this lost nation. And while I know you are aware that God is still on His throne, this is not how we are living. Our attitude and lifestyles as a majority show that we fear and respect political figures way more than we do our God. It’s time we start declaring God’s Word not just over this world, but ourselves. It’s time we live holy lives like we were designed for, and proclaim the excellencies of our Lord like He is still in control, because He most certainly is.
Pray For The Lost
The second aspect I want to address is not just how we respond to ourselves, but how we respond to the lost. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “14 But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” It’s crazy how many times I personally need to remind myself of this. Every time I see a lost soul living outside of the ways of God, I wonder why they haven’t found comfort and purpose in the ways of God. This passage humbly reminds me that the lost do not view God’s Word as I do. Not only do lost people not view God’s Word as holy, but they view it as the exact opposite. The Bible is foolishness to those who are not saved and when we realize that, we can understand why just reading a passage of scripture won’t fix every person who hears it. We must be praying for these souls to find Christ. Which leads perfectly to my last point. In Matthew 5:43-45 our Lord says, “43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” If we truly want to remain holy in such a fallen and sinful land, then we must be devoted to prayer. Not just for ourselves, but the souls who need Christ.
At the end of the day, there is no political leader that can save a lost soul, there is no amount of preaching that can make foolishness seem wise, there is only a God who can soften a heart and lead it toward repentance. This is what we must be praying for. Allow me to close with this question. When was the last time you didn’t just pray for a certain leader or political agenda but actually prayed for the lost? Would it pain you to pray for someone struggling with their identity? What about praying for Joe Biden? Donald Trump? If you were honest with yourself and you can’t see any scenario where you would pray for these people, I would humbly assume that you are not as set apart from this world as God wants you to be. Our response as Christ followers should not be one of desperation as we see so often, but rather, we must be a people dedicated to remaining holy for the glory of God and praying for the lost so that God’s life-giving word is no longer foolishness to them, but the truth that they so desperately need.
Sources
[1] “Access Your Bible from Anywhere.” BibleGateway.Com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., www.biblegateway.com/. Accessed 2023.
Comments