Why Are We Surprised?

This is the face of the Christian these days, as the world sees it. 

I wish I were wrong. I wish I were overreacting, and that it's only in personal experience. The fact is, it's been a long time since someone accused me to my face of coming across this way (so I pray there aren't a bunch of people silently thinking it!). It's what you hear in the media. It's what you can see in the responses of non-Christians or non-spiritual types on social media platforms, when they rant and rave against our attitudes, judgments, and airs of superiority that come out in rantings and ravings of our own.

Look, I get it. I have been the chief of sinners, of the overly indignant and righteously angry variety, many many times. I have been the Matt Walsh-esque ranter and raver over the atrocities of our godless society, and have found justification in the manner of delivery because many others will yell "Here, here!" and "Amen!" along with me. 

And hey, I get it... I've seen the headlines. I've witnessed the manifestations of leftist living in my communities, and have shaken my head quietly to myself. Probably in the not too distant past my own Facebook page has occasionally had more frustrated posts shared that just bemoaned the loss of Christian values along with more popular outspoken Christians like the Robertsons of "Duck Dynasty" (and don't get me wrong, I love the show, love the values, love the family). 

The point is, what good are we doing by being so shocked at the horrible deeds of murderous ISIS members? What's accomplished by public outrage over the Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage nationally? Are we fixing anything or getting anywhere when we rant and rave piously about how the government isn't kicking down the door of Planned Parenthood? 

Why all the ruckus? Why all the clamor and commotion in righteous wrath? Why are we so surprised at the way the world is living and operating today?

I say this not to discredit the evils in all these things. Rather, I want to encourage us all to wake up and smell the coffee. This is ALL - all of it - to be expected....IF we understand the times in which we live.

"The person without the Spirit does not

accept the things that come from the Spirit

of God but considers them foolishness, 

and cannot understand them because they are

discerned only through the Spirit. The person

with the Spirit makes judgments about all 

things, but such a person is not subject

to merely human judgments, for,

'Who has known the mind of the Lord

so as to instruct him?'

But we have the mind of Christ."

- 1 Corinthians 2:14-16

Americans today have lost the culture. It's a simple fact of the times. Every dominant civilization throughout the course of history has ridden the same roller coaster of morality in their own national history. Everywhere the gospel has thrived at one time has eventually turned its back on God's Word and kicked it to the curb. That may very well be what's happening, historically, before our very eyes as the 20th century has transitioned into the 21st and the new parameters of enlightenment are qualified by just how unChristian they can be. We are continually becoming a nation of "persons without the Spirit." And St. Paul says in the above portion of his letter to Corinthian believers that wherever there's an absence of the Spirit, there's an absence of wisdom. There's an absence of discretion and ability to make proper judgments. 

It's just such a sad thing to see happening, though. That's why we all get so worked up. Maybe at the center of it there is often a truly righteous zeal for God's Word to be protected and abided by, and although we may have said, like Joshua in ancient times, "As for me and my house, WE WILL serve the Lord," we're grieved in our souls to watch as so many other millions of people or families just have abandoned him, or never really knew him to begin with. 

But if you're like me, all this supposedly righteous anger and stern indignance comes out in its frowny-faced, index-finger-wagging form because we believe the lie that we're actually better than others. 

We forget that the sins we each commit every Sunday afternoon, barely hours removed from church fellowship, are every bit as damning as the ones committed by Muslim extremists, abortionists selling baby parts, crooked politicians, homosexuals, or criminals whose acts reported in the evening news make our blood boil.

If you're not a committed follower of Jesus, this message isn't for you. I pray for you, and hope that you'll find the peace and amazing promise of a heaven free of charge, thanks to Jesus Christ, that has been mercifully given to me and all true Christians. I pray that you'll understand we don't mean to be so.....mean...We're just upset that we look around in our world and feel sometimes, culturally, like it's all closing in on us and the values we hold dear. Frankly, we're proud of ourselves and the stand we want to make, and we just get - well, defensive! If we take it out on non-Christians like you and judge too harshly, when we should be focusing on our own problems and lives, we're very sorry. It's NOT how Jesus lived, nor how he wants us to live and represent him. Seriously.

But brothers and sisters in the faith we share in Christ, this message IS for you, and for me. 

We need to chill out. 

We need to stop believing the lie that A) we're better than the ones we think are ruining the culture, and we should shame them all back into line, and B) that this world's salvation is about us. 

This is our Father's world. The wisdom that comes through his Holy Spirit, that we're privileged to possess, comes only from one place, and when and where it's found, that's literally a miracle. By nature, every last one of us, including the pastors, including the life-long Lutherans, including the faithful Baptists, including the born-again Methodists, including the spiritually passionate and the ones who know every Bible verse hands-down...we were ALL born diametrically opposed to God and his will. If it weren't for his act of mercy, to reach into our lives, just as we wish he would with those in the headlines, we'd be JUST as lost. We'd be JUST as despicable looking to the pious ones. 

And as for the fate of our society, our culture, and our nation.... All we can do about that is live how Jesus lived, and pray about the results. 

Jesus' M.O. was not all about the table-flipping in the temple bazaar. It was love-centric. It was hope for redemption cloaked warmly in acceptance of the person, and value of their humanity and their eternal soul. It was sacrifice, humility, and a courageous willingness to lay himself down for another, no matter the personal cost. It was a submission to God's will at the expense of personal comfort or agenda. It was never about appearances and pedigree, and ALWAYS about what's on the inside, the heart of man. 

God doesn't call us to be judges up on high pedestals. We can speak his truth and convey his wisdom and reason with people who don't have his Spirit yet...but when the situation allows it, and with tact, with gentleness, and with a love and concern for their spiritual welfare, not with the selfish desire to be right or to be vindicated. 

God calls us to be faithful. What was Jesus' image of faithfulness? Did he get dragged to his crucifixion, kicking and screaming, frothing at the mouth with furious condemnations of his accusers and executioners? Did he rant and rave about how they'd get their just desserts in the flames of hell for treating him, God's own son, like that? 

Nope. He was silent, like a lamb before the shearers. As he was led to his own physical slaughter, he quietly bled, and prayed, and yearned inside for there to be room in heaven for all those he would save with his blood. And upon the cross, as the spikes pulled through the flesh of his wrists, and the jeers of his fellow Jews and Roman soldiers seared in his ears, he prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

They know not. Remember that. Because they don't have the Spirit, like we do.

Is it in stark opposition to God's ways? Yes. Is it the kind of living that will earn hell? Perhaps. 

But we'll pray them and love them into heaven long before we'll finger-wag them there. 

And when they stand next to us in eternal paradise at the foot of Jesus' throne, we'll look exactly the same to our Savior who loved us all.