What We Must Do

Fellow Christians. We know God, so we should have no reason to panic when something bad happens.

It is harder to have that reaction - not panicking - when we are in isolation. That's why community is important. We are to encourage each other. We are to give each other courage. Instead of offering your friends a platitude or a meaningless debate over your favorite sports team or a bag of rotting pessimism, may your tongue be filled with words of life. That will happen when we read the Word. That will happen when we pray in faith.

The world does not accept our view of marriage. We should accept that and ask what to do next. We should shed a tear, acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, and then ask what we are called to do next. We were born for such a time as this, God has put us here for a reason, and that's what we should be about.

Look at the big picture. We are alive and not yet with Christ because there is work to do. First, we are to grow in our faith and knowledge of Christ. Knowing Christ in Heaven should be a natural extension of a process that has begun here. We are to become like Christ by knowing Christ. Second, we are to love and help others. Primarily, that means leading them to their greatest good - Jesus Christ. If we are becoming like Christ, that means we will be moving towards others in sacrificial love, loving the whole person - body, mind, and soul. We will speak the truth in love and hold loosely to all our resources so that they may be given in service of something greater than ourselves.

The Church is the Body of Christ. It is God's plan to see the nations discipled, to see people come to know Christ, to see the world filled with the love of Christ. God loves his church, and there is no Plan B as to accomplishing his goals here. God is sovereign, he will accomplish his purposes, and he has decided to do so through a People, whom he has given a Book and the Holy Spirit. Let us hang together, fellow Christians.

A few more thoughts. I think that, as cultural and nominal Christianity begins to crumble under the weight of the world's pressure, those who stay faithful to Christ and his Word will be seen as increasingly weird and backwards. I think that the world has changed its mind about homosexual people partly by getting to know some of them and seeing that, sinners though they are, they are still real people, they can still be good friends, and they are even like-able. Something similar must happen with us. "Look, I have this friend, and I think he's off his rocker. He actually believes Jesus lived and died and rose from the dead. Really rose from the dead. And he really believes in hell. He even told me that he believes I will go there if I don't repent. Wacko nut job. But I like him. He seems to really care about me. He always asks about me. And when I was in a pinch, he was someone I knew I could turn to. He wasn't too busy to help."

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is going to be polarizing. There is no doubt about that. Scripture teaches that. No surprise. We don't preach in order to give offense. But we know that in preaching it that we will give offense. And parts of it are strange to the human mind. But salvation ultimately depends on God. It is a supernatural thing, for someone to be born again. And thank God, that he brings dead hearts to life. He saves the ones that you wouldn't predict. Think of Paul.

So I think we should die to the desire to be politically powerful. I think we should die to the desire to be seen as normal people. I think ultimately that means we must die to the desire to live a comfortable life. That means we must die to the desire to be in control of our lives. That means we must submit to God being in control of our lives. And I don't think most of us - myself included - have fully undergone that process. We breath in the air of the American Dream and we imbibe vain ambition and desire for a nice comfortable life, almost without even thinking about it.

So I think we ought to accept our role as the weirdos who are the glue in our communities. And here's the thing - truth will win out. You get a choice between building your life - or your society, for example - on the sand or on the rock. We must choose the latter. Our world has chosen the former. And storms will come. Houses will crumble. Will we be the sort of people who will invite our lost friends over to our houses, so that they know well the way, so that when the storms come their panic will turn into a glorious realization of where they ought to turn, so that they will know where the solid houses are? Let us be prepared for the storms. Let us build our houses in the expectation that we will at some point have some broken-down visitors.

Friends, let's not panic. Let us not give up the Gospel. Let us turn to God. And let us love deeply all that we meet. That's all.