The world shouts, “you must be better and do better.” The Gospel whispers, “you must be made new.”
What does “better” even mean, in a world that knows not up from down, right from left? What do words mean at all in a post-modern world deprived of value, where Truth has been dumped in the trash—and as a replacement, feelings have been called ‘true’ and every person is told ‘stay true’ to you; well, unless I don’t like what your feelings lead you to say and to do. There’s the clash.
I’ve watched many people say this is not the time for your religiosity, and it is not. Yet I offer you no religiosity; I aim to share the clearest reality through faith in Jesus, through the world view of the Scriptures, which reborn Christians believe to be ultimately True. I will use words to lay that out as best as I am able.
It is an essential Christian understanding that faith without works is completely dead. Likewise, it is a core Christian value that works without faith are completely dead. Yet Christians speak of life (life abundant, life eternal, a life of joy even in the midst of various trials) so we will look at where that comes from.
It is the highest calling on every human being and a right Biblical command to love the living God with your all (for He is all in all) and love your neighbor, even the stranger and your enemy, as you love yourself. ‘God is Love,’ is frequently distorted as it is removed from the context of the whole Book and from every other attribute of God.
We must be reminded to walk in step with the Spirit (not of the ages, not of any given movement, but of the Lord our God) as we speak the Truth in love—there is no Christian alternative. This is a complete impossibility apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ (the only source by which ‘life’ is found, or by whom life is delivered).
We as believers need the full counsel of God, always. Social emphasis can and should be dialed in where any injustice is observed. Genuine Christians must care, be present, and seek to show love. The love that is shown, however, to be true love, must not call anything good that is evil or anything evil that is good. Christians must observe justice through the lens of Scripture: we identify thoughts, words, and actions as just or unjust in accord with all that the Maker of the heavens and the earth has laid out in His divine will.
In all of life Christians call people to examine why they have a notion of good and evil, and a deep desire for justice at all (specifically concerning others). We likewise admit our love of justice concerning those who wrong us. Yet, this is still worldly—benefitting self.
We must preach Christ. I must confess my sin—my personal depravity—and utter brokenness. I must honestly share that if God was just with me, apart from Christ, I would be damned. We like when justice is served concerning others, yet concerning ourselves we prefer mercy. The ‘if’ statement above is a terrible one, for it implies God could act unjustly, though He never has, does, nor will He, for He is the Author of Justice and He is the rightful Judge. Yet, God truly is loving. God maintains perfect love and justice.
He entered the world He created, fractured by the sin (no small thing) of man (Adam) who thought his own ways were higher than God’s (or, desiring himself to be equal to God), in order to rescue that man and so many other rebel sinners—like Greg Helms. This is called grace. The incarnation of Jesus (entering this world and taking on flesh), his perfect (sinless) life, the authoritative words, the compassionate love, the false trial, the crushing death, and the resurrection, have delivered up unmerited reconciliation with God (by grace through faith). There is an exclusive element to this inclusive message. Any who call on Jesus will be saved. Jesus has made clear He alone is the way. God desires that none would perish, yet He has not made man as a machine. Many live and die in bold rejection and sure defiance of God and His love.
God has, in Christ, finished the work necessary to bring broken man near—to be clear, the person who receives the gospel is brought into the family of God (not all persons are children of God, though every human being bears His mark from the dawn of creation—children are those adopted, brought into the family—an important focus and one that is largely misunderstood). When we try to re-accomplish the work of Christ in ourselves, in societal brokenness, without ever mentioning the Gospel—we are bound to fail miserably. We cannot do what Christ has done, for only He could do it. Now we follow Him. We speak and live as He lived by the strength and humility He supplies, as the Spirit fills us and as we are washed by the Word. Christ alone can make man holy. True reconciliation is found only in Jesus. The Gospel alone places a new heart in man—it is not one option, or one facet, or one point of discussion among many.
Man has 0 strength to accomplish goodness, rightness, True love and justice simultaneously, apart from the gospel of Christ Jesus. We need Emmanuel. We need God with us. Even as the world hates Him and the ‘dreaded Book’ that does not seem to fit the times. (The times have despised goodness and mercy, repentance and belief, true faith). You or I can claim to seek justice and love mercy and walk humbly…but if this is sought apart from God, detached from all He is as ‘I Am,’ we will utterly fail as we strive in the flesh to accomplish temporarily what Christ died to accomplish in our hearts and minds and for eternity.
In the midst of global shock, turmoil, and brokenness, I will continue to proclaim Christ. This is not dismissive of reality, but bold proclamation of a greater unseen, and perhaps too softly song, reality. The hashtags I use, and prayerfully my words and my living (though also, always, a work in progress until that glorious day), will proclaim Christ.
The single banner I am called to wave, whether we speak professionally or at the ball field casually, in social or intellectual discussions at university or town hall or on the streets, at home or abroad, and over dinner or coffee with a good friend or a total stranger, with the admired and well-known as with the homeless friend, is {solely the gospel of Christ Jesus and the power therein.} This message concerns every happening on this earth.
This message is not proclaimed from a heart seeking self-advantage, but from a heavenly longing for humans to be fully human—hearts remade, minds renewed, sins covered by the shed blood of my Savior, the Servant-King.
I foresee the message I proclaim will always be disdained by the masses, yet I carry on praying for revival. I foresee the gospel being thrown in with the lot as ‘hate speech,’ all the more in days to come. The Love of the Father displayed in Christ Jesus does not appeal to those who hate God and his Word, suppressing the Truth day by day. This is common even among many still gripping after the label “Christian,” while the Lord Jesus has no grip on their heart, mind, or conscience. We pray for the eyes of hearts to be opened and to see. We pray for ears to hear.
Christians are sent out as sheep among wolves. I am a simple sheep. Yet I am glad. The Shepherd knows me. His voice, I love. He has me.
Whose voice are you listening to today? Who, and what, do you align yourself with most—now, and always? Many discussions that are taking place should (and will) continue; my urgent plea is that the believer not neglect the whole Truth, the message that the world needs above, in, and through all.
If I were to feed every starving person on this planet, and deny them the gospel message—of peace now and forever with God, through faith in Jesus—as I showed them some fabricated compassion I had labeled ‘love,’ not one of those persons would be better off eternally.
Let us pray for wisdom, discernment, salvation, and peace. Let us pray for right actions as we seek to live sacrificially, listen well, and respond with true grace. Don’t fall for the Screwtape effect. Don’t seek justice so much that you neglect grace, truth, and love—not seeing the forest for the trees. To paraphrase Ravi Zacharias: we need the hand of God, not one finger of our choosing.
Brothers and sisters: don’t neglect to pray and open the Scriptures daily. Don’t hate, while claiming to love. Be patient, gentle, persevering, compassionate. Have a genuine concern for the person in front of you.
Set your eyes on Jesus, your desperate need of His grace daily, offered through God’s love and His total humiliation in order to rescue you—while an enemy. Jesus didn’t come only as an example, He came sacrificially, as substitution in our stead to make right our every wrong, conquering sin and death and absorbing (at the cross) God’s wrath which belonged to me for eternity. Nothing else will satisfy.
To try and be near to our fellow man while hating God is foolish—quite a ‘manly’ endeavor. There’s no substance.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. The counterfeits won’t suffice. We need substance. Eat this bread. Drink this blood. The Gospel is what your soul is longing for. Be filled. There is a living hope.
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