Choosing Our Battles
Jesus’ parable of the vineyards – about latecomers getting the same reward as early risers. And the one about the son who says No at first, but eventually does the will of his father, compared to the one who says Yes, then does not do the father’s will.
Both lead me to be thinking about how Jesus judges people. He clearly indicates that one way of thinking and acting is at least better than another way of thinking and acting. Jesus is judgmental, and these are a couple of MILD examples.
G.K. Chesteron
"Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions." Now THAT is something to think about in our postmodern, relativistic society. ( You need to read some of his writing - right up there with CSLewis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.)
But how can we LIVE both Jesus’ love and acceptance of sinners and His condemnation of sin. Liberal Christians. Conservative Christians. Same Lord. Same Word. Way different emphasis.
Then there’s the total lack of tolerance for the conservative Christian perspectives that today’s proponents of tolerance continually display.
You’re with me so far, but now the twist: Is it possible that we conservative Christians are so focused on manifestations of depravity in our society (abortion, homosexuality, etc) and we work so diligently to address them politically and socially, that we let this focus define our faith for the world around us? Maybe, it would be better if we let it go a bit, and trust God to convict people in his own way and time, while we prioritize proclaiming His love and the hope and promise we have in Christ. Billy Graham and Luis Palau seem to be able to reflect and reveal the Lord in our postmodern age without getting nailed as right-wing, religious, intolerant fanatics. I wonder why. Perhaps it’s because they don’t let a few depravity issues define their faith. Or as the saying goes, they choose their battles differently.
posted by Roy B. @ 4:29 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
I've been thinking a lot about this topic lately. I often feel as though we tend to address symptoms (or, as you put it, manifestations) and not the root cause. I'm also in the process of forming my own opinion on how Christianity relates to politics (is it better to affect lawmakers or strive to become heart-changers). But that's a topic for another day.
I heard a simple sermon one time in college and it's always stuck with me.
The Bible says "where there is light there cannot be darkness". What happens when you turn on a light in a room? Boom darkness vanishes.
Too many Christians are focusing on removing darkness rather than shining in light. Stop swearing, smoking, gambling, lying, cheating, etc...
Without realizing it, they're sending a message that says "fix yourself and then come".
This is more of a 12 step approach and lacks the power of the Gospel. It's the indwelling light of the Holy Spirit that will chase the darkness away. We need to shine Christ's light in, so that His power will cause them to "come and be fixed".
Living lives of light-shining will have a much more powerful effect, and you are still on the money when you say Jesus did judge. He didn't stop at shining light, He then said "Go and sin no more", but it was the light that allowed them to conquer sin!
Thanks for adding your own reflections Jim and Eric. I know that my good Christian friends at George Fox have had an impact on my understanding about being a Christian and it sounds like you two have been influenced in some of the same ways. Corban's emphasis is a little different, focusing on looking at everything through the lens of our Biblical Worldview, and that too has been very good for me. I think both persptives shine through as I look back on my blog posts.
Going back to the tolerance issue (and this will sound like I am on the right edge of those conservative Christians), I too find it ironic that the world values tolerance of all things save the person who chooses to be intolerant of anything. I heard Anne Graham Lott (BIlly's daughter) was interviewed and someone asked her how a loving God could let something like Katrina/Sept11/tsunami happen. She said something along the lines of...well, Americans have been telling God to get out of their courthouses, their schools and their government for the last few decades...how come they only want him around when they need help?
It seems like throughout Jesus' ministry, he only judged those who ACTED like they knew God's Word. However, those who were not strongly educated about God were simply loved by Christ, not judged.
Christians in our society get nailed for judging everyone because they often do not go out of their way to love like Jesus. The Church should be able to discuss the shortcomings of certain denominations as Paul's many letters did in the New Testament.
Those such as the aforementioned Billy Graham and Luis Palau ARE NOT nailed because they DO show Christ's love more than they judge. The Church often needs to be able to judge the Christians within it, but the judging should always be outweighed by Christ's love.
This, of course, is another thing that I need work on.
Okay, so my wife informed me that the term "judge" in my last paragraph may not be the term I was looking for. More like "teaching/correcting biblical misinterpretations".
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