Category: Christianity (Page 5 of 23)

Gospel Hurts

Does the Gospel Hurt People?

March 27, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Does the Gospel hurt us? Is that its intent? In order to answer that, we need to understand what the message of the good news is.

What is the Gospel Message?

John 3:16 – 17 sums up the whole of the gospel. That passage starts, “For God so loved…” That shows the message of the Gospel begins with God’s love. God’s love is the foundation on which the good news is built; personified in Christ, realized at the cross, and magnified in His resurrection. The first reality we must grasp is that any attempt to separate or minimize the Gospel from this truth causes it to cease being the Gospel that God, Himself, delivered to us. A gospel message initiated by anything other than love, is not good news.

A gospel message initiated by anything other than love, is not good news.
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If then, God’s love initiates and substantiates the Gospel, what should we understand about the intent of it with regard to the possibility of it hurting us? Because God’s message of reconciliation to us focuses on His love for us, the only acceptable response to it is love. Jesus punctuates this idea by declaring the greatest command and attaching to it the second command, which He describes as “like it.”  And if loving our neighbor is like loving God, isn’t it likely that the tangible expression of our love for God is played out in the love we show for our neighbor? Not only are these the two most important commands, Jesus says that this love thing encompasses the entirety of the law and the prophets.

Love and Our Neighbor

So, does the love we show our neighbor hurt them? Romans 13:10 says, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” So no, our love does not hurt our neighbor. And, if our love of God and our neighbor is a mirror response to the love that God initiated His good news with, shouldn’t it be that His love does not hurt us?

If then the Gospel message is wrapped up in God's love for humanity, it cannot hurt humanity.
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1 Cor 13 explains this clearly. It tells us, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Love does not create an environment where hurt can exist. If then the Gospel message is wrapped up in God’s love for humanity, it cannot hurt humanity.

The Offensiveness of the Gospel

But what of the offensiveness of the Gospel. This offensiveness is wrapped up in the fact that the love of the Gospel message always moves toward the truth of true righteousness. And, true righteousness comes against our human idea of righteousness. Man’s sense of righteousness always focuses on self. The Gospel means to undo that view by focusing righteousness toward God and others, through love. This may be offensive to our sense of righteousness, but is still separate from the good news of the message.

True righteousness comes against our human idea of righteousness.
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It is also offensive because it seeks to separate you from the sin you so desperately want to hold to. It calls you out of what offends God and into His view of righteousness, which again causes offense to your “sensibility.” But still, these are responses to the Gospel and not the Gospel itself. Likewise, any other feelings you have about the Gospel or any reaction to the Gospel is not the Gospel. And, while conviction initiates from the Holy Spirit, as a result of the hearing the truth of the Gospel, and may even cause us pain, that again is simply a feeling caused by the Gospel and not actually the Gospel.

Two Men, One Message

Consider this. Two men of similar circumstance receive the same Gospel message. One man, being far less emotional, receives the message as logical and surrenders himself to God. For him it the most rational decision he could make. The other man, receives the Gospel message and is completely undone by it. He resists it and struggles with what accepting that truth will require of him. It causes him agony and he likely experiences pain. He reluctantly surrenders himself to God. In either situation, was the message the same? Yes. Did it intend to hurt either man? No. But one was hurt and one was not. Why? Was it because of the message or the man’s view of it?

The Gospel is not a product of your feelings, it's a product of God's love. And love does no wrong.
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The Gospel is not a product of your feelings, it’s a product of God’s love. And love does no wrong.

 

photo: flickr/submerged~

Gay Lefou

How Disney Played Christians like Gaston Played the Villagers

March 20, 2017 / / 10 Comments

Gay LeFou

This past weekend Disney debuted their live-action version of the timeless classic, Beauty and the Beast, in theaters across the globe. The movie was so highly anticipated that it smashed the record for a March opening night with a staggering $170 million coming out… er, uh I mean, debut. And that’s to say nothing of the $350 million the movie earned worldwide (and, to be fair, I’m writing this on a Sunday afternoon, so that amount doesn’t even account for the whole weekend). And all that in the midst of a call by Evangelical Christian leaders, well one in particular, for Christians to kill the Beast.

Kill the Beast

The call to boycott the film came after Disney’s announcement of the inclusion of an “exclusively gay moment” involving Gaston’s sidekick, LeFou, played by Josh Gad. And what was this “gay” moment? Well, I haven’t seen the movie, yet, but my wife has. So, I know what it is and don’t want to spoil the surprise. I will say that the big gay moment was so subtle and quick, that if you leaned over to grab some of your neighbor’s popcorn, you would have missed it. But, that didn’t stop Christians from taking up pitchforks against the “happiest place on earth.” For me, the call to boycott, though I think it silly, isn’t the issue. My issue has to do with when the boycott was called for.

The announcement about LeFou’s moment was made on March 1st and the boycott was called for on March 3rd, more than two weeks before the movie opened. That is my issue. Christian leaders called for us to boycott a movie they had not seen and based on a, likely deliberately, vague announcement. When the movie premiered, this “moment” was literally a moment and so subtle that most of our kids wouldn’t have picked up on it. And, even though I have a huge problem with this latest “fall on our sword worthy” fight against Disney obviously trying to “corrupt” our children; the hypocrisy of that isn’t even the point of this post. If you want to read a great article in that vein, check out the one Jonathan Merritt wrote for USA Today.

We Got Played

Instead, I’d like to go another way and suggest that Disney played Christians, for their benefit, and we took the bait. What I mean is, Disney already had a ton of hype surrounding the release of this movie. A whole generation of adults could not wait to see their beloved cartoon brought to real life. They also couldn’t wait to share it with their children in a way that they never dreamed possible. People were going to see it no matter what. There was no reason Disney had to reveal any information about the “special moment.” They could have let it be surprise. Likely most people wouldn’t have noticed it. Those who did, without a Disney confirmation, would have just been stretching. So Disney didn’t need to release that, but they did. Why? Obviously I don’t know for sure, but based on Christians history, it is easy to speculate.

I think an obvious part of it is likely that they want the LBGTQ community to know they support them. I also think, based on how Christians have historically reacted to this type of news, Disney knew this would cause a firestorm and ignite a huge public debate. My news feed was certainly consumed with the movie tagged in statuses, news articles and blogs. To me it seemed as if Disney put out this vague announcement about some sort of “gay” moment and then sat back and watched the internet lose it. And the discussion spanned the whole spectrum, with people both praising and demonizing Disney for “normalizing” the lifestyle. But, while there were a lot of people happy to hear about the scene, the loudest voices came from Christians who were angry about it.

Boy, Oh Boy…cott

And that’s the point I want to make. We, as Christians, have become so predictable about how and what we will respond to negatively that we were played. And whether Disney did it on purpose or not doesn’t matter. In today’s social media driven culture everyone knows that any publicity is good publicity. Companies know that if you can get people talking about their product, most times it is a good thing. So Disney put out some vague statement and sat back and watched everyone talk about it. Ultimately the boycott did nothing. In fact, I actually heard people say that one of the reasons they wanted to see it more than they did before was to “see how far” Disney went with the scene. Then, when the movie premiered, the scene was so subtle it made Christians look ridiculous and the boycott even more so.

The world will continue to move toward worldly things and we are not called to stop it.
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The truth is, the world will continue to move toward worldly things and we are not called to stop it. Jesus will when He returns. Our job, while we are here, is to be His witness to people, not governments or corporations. We are called to make individual disciples, not reorient constitutions and business strategy. Introducing people to Him changes heart and that will be what ushers in the Kingdom of God. I’m not saying not to boycott or protest, do it if you want to. I am saying it is a waste of time and energy if you want to follow Jesus the way He called us to. He called us to love and serve others in hopes that they may know and come to Him.

Boycotts won't stop people from seeing the things we disagree with, but they may just stop them from seeing Jesus.
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Boycotts won’t stop people from seeing the things we disagree with, but they may just stop them from seeing Jesus.

 

 

 

photo: Flickr/(LeFou)Jeff Kern and (Flag)torbakhopper (changes made to original images)

Are We Defiling the Church?

February 6, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Defiling

In Matthew 15 Jesus addresses the Jewish tradition of hand washing as a way to prevent defiling the food you eat. The idea being if you eat with dirty hands, you defile yourself on both a physical and spiritual level. Regarding that, Jesus explained, “…it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person” (Matthew 15:11). Jesus is saying that the words we speak are important. But, not only are they important, they hold the power to taint and corrupt us on deep levels. In doing so, they cause us to become something substantially less than God intends us to be.

I know Jesus was plainly speaking to the condition of our individual souls, but what if it is farther reaching than that? As I have thought on that verse, I think it easily applies to Christians corporately, as the body of Christ, as well as individually. Specifically, what if what we say, as Christians, could defile the body of Christ? And, what if in defiling it, we cause the body to become something less than God intends for it to be?

As I scroll through my news-feed, I see a lot of words and statements that easily fall into that category. And while it is bad to say something that defiles you individually, it is altogether worse for us to collectively defile the body of Christ. Lately, it seems as if many Christians are more concerned with their agenda than with what they say and how they say it.

Of course there is ample opportunity, especially in this season, to be angry and respond out of that anger. But, my biggest concern is that instead of looking to the Holy Spirit for how to respond, many look only to their own feelings, conveying them as the “Christian” viewpoint or stance. And because Christ has called us to be His witnesses, when we do that, and we do it in an angry and hurtful way, we defile the body of Christ. In doing so, we become poor witnesses for Jesus and push people away from Him.

Good fruit is the evidence of our connection to Christ and should always inform the way we relate to others.
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Jesus was clear on the seriousness of our words and the impact they have on the fruit we produce. In Matthew 12:33-37 he said,

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

And what is that fruit? This good fruit is the evidence of our connection to Christ and should always inform the way we relate to others. That means the way we interact with others, regardless of their differing views and how they express them, should always be seasoned with love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It is these things there is no law against (Galatians 5:22). And, it is these things that elevate and bring honor to His body.

Sometimes wisdom and grace may suggest that you not respond or give an answer.
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I’m not saying that you cannot have an opinion or take a stand on an issue. There is a difference between debate and sharing facts and intentionally being malicious. How then should we respond? The Apostle Paul tells us, “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4:5-6) This passage shows us two ways that we are to respond to non-Christians.

1.  With Wisdom

Paul telling us to “walk in wisdom toward outsiders,” covers numerous areas. While it can be difficult to know what wisdom looks like in our conversations, bible commenter, Matthew Henry makes some suggestions. His first point is to be careful not to be hurt by non-Christians. Our ability to not take on the pain of others’ words is grounded in our security in Christ. The more secure we are, the less impact their words should have on us. Henry also proposes that we should be careful to not speak the way that non-Christians do. He calls it taking care to not “pick up their customs.” If you are using the same hurtful words they are, you are not using wisdom. His last insight is something I already addressed. He said, a wise response will not hurt them or give them reason to be prejudice against Christ and His Church.

Our ability to not take on the pain of others’ word is grounded in our security in Christ.
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2.  With Grace

Wisdom leads to grace-filled responses. Paul uses the example of salt to describe how grace should impact our conversations. Like salt, grace preserves the wisdom which leads to peace in our interactions with others. It should also flavor our conversations with a grace that can only come from Christ. In this way, we are prepared to give an answer to every person.

Wisdom leads to grace-filled responses.
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Sometimes wisdom and grace may suggest that you not respond or give an answer. But regardless, we ought to “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)

 

photo: Crosswalk
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