Despondent times. Whether it’s the news or just life in our community at the moment. I know through conversations that we flirt with despondency and hopelessness these days and then hopefulness returns when we get our thinking in check. It may fluctuate every ten minutes. It may be a swing of days.
In wrestling with this, I found this quote that really spoke to me.
Ronald Wallace, back in in 1999, in Elijah and Elisha describes our situation
with the following:
We need not despair when we see great movements of evil achieving spectacular success on this earth, for we may be sure that God, in unexpected places, has already secretly prepared His counter-movement...Therefore the situation is never hopeless where God is concerned. Whenever evil flourishes, it is always a superficial flourish, for at the height of the triumph of evil God will be there, ready with His man and His movement and His plans to ensure that His own cause will never fail.When everything looks dark; when all hope seems to be lost; when the plan of God in this world seems almost forgotten, God steps in.
This was the example we see in Jesus.
The Apostle Paul wrote that at just the right time, God sent his
Son. God’s solution was wrapping his divinity with humanity in the person of
Jesus.
God knew humanity had strayed. He wanted us back.
God wanted to restore things to the way they used to be. When God created, God
loved it all. He declared it good. Life was perfect in the Garden
of Eden. We were in a perfect relationship with God and one another. We had
perfect purpose. Perfect provision. Perfect protection from anything bad. It
was even perfect in that we had a choice to keep it that way.
But humanity
chose poorly then, and we continue to choose poorly now.
At this moment, we're starting from a fallen state,
yet God still wants to set it right. That’s the process of restoration. And
that is the goal of God coming in the flesh through Jesus—for God to reconcile
people back to Himself. To take us out of the darkness. To show us what it
means to really live—free from fear, free from slavery to sin, free from hate. God
coming in the flesh is a story of suffering and hope.
Jesus took on flesh so
that people could see God as he really is and see how God wants us to live.
God is still doing the same thing through you,
through me, and through all who believe and follow the divine story.
And this happens through us living differently than
the world around us.
Let me repeat that because I think it is important for these times. God wants
to show all of humanity how he wants us to live and this happens through us
living differently than the world around us. This can only happen when we live
differently than the world around us.
Love the other. The person who disagrees with you. The person who opposes you.
The person who hates you.
That is about the most countercultural, radical yet totally faithful thing we
can do right now as followers of Jesus. It is how we join in on Jesus’ great
work.
Jesus taught:
You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48 (NLT)
That’s about as clear as a biblical teaching can
get.
And that is how we will be a witness – a sweet alluring aroma to a different
way of living. We can choose to live a life that goes against the grain of hate
in our society. A life of love.
As AW Tozer said,
We cannot pray in love and live in hate and still think we are worshipping God.Now, I want to move this idea into how we are living. Possibly a dangerous thought, but I’m not going to apologize for going here. I feel it is my responsibility to address this. Probably one of the more prevailing fights in our society at the moment.
The conversation in our society has moved beyond whether one should get vaccinated or not. I want to be 100% clear. I would never speak from pulpit to give anyone medical advice because that is not my field. That’s a conversation for you to have with your doctor. So this is not me talking about whether you should or shouldn’t get vaccinated. I am deeply convicted addressing that is not my role as a pastor. The conversation in society around us has shifted beyond that to now be about whether we will oppress those who disagree with us.
Now it doesn’t have to just be this issue. We can be filled with hate towards others on a lot of different views. It’s just that this one is new and vastly prevalent at the moment. So prevalent that hate in this context has almost become okay in our society.
As a pastor, I do have a role here. To teach that as Christians we should adamantly oppose oppression - people losing their livelihoods and means to support their family over a personal medical decision. Even if we disagree adamantly with people not being vaccinated, which we are all at liberty to do, we are called to love our enemies. That is one of the key elements that make us who we are as followers of Jesus.
Jesus taught:
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. John 13:34-35 (NLT)
Love.
Love should be our defining trait. And that
love will make us so much different than the world around us.
We may not be sure of the science - although maybe
some are - but the idea that we are to love the downtrodden and oppressed is
something that we can be assured of. That is in our field. That should be one
of our specialties. That should be what we are known for.
So now is the time. Speak up for the people around
us who are at risk of losing their livelihoods. Even if it means you will lose friends
or influence. You were called to your role for this time. To be a voice for
love in the wilderness of hate.
I have heard friends couch the whole medical choice issue in the language of you need
to do it my way or you’re not loving others. Even if that is the truth, we are
still left with this.
What do you do to people who choose to not love you or others the way you think
they should love you or others? Do we make them lose their livelihoods,
careers, and ability to feed their family? Or do we take a different approach?
There are so many things in the current situation, but in life in general too,
that we are probably wrong on. This should free us up to being gracious to one
another. But I propose this idea. We should not go along with our society
taking away people’s livelihoods or ability to feed their family.
Look at it this way. I can’t control whether
someone is vaccinated or unvaccinated. No matter how passionate on the subject I
am, I cannot control that. You cannot either.
But we can control whether we love people who are vaccinated and unvaccinated. We
can always control that. We can always choose love.
What is more obvious than ever is that many people
are following the wrong story at a crucial time in our history. Let that not be
us. Let’s follow the right story.
We have this story of love and redemption that
Jesus brought. A story we are called to live – to play our part in. And then opposing
this story is a story of hatred and death. Division and destruction.
I see it any time there is a great act of evil, an attack,
or the like. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram reveal the true nature of
people’s hearts and shows me that many are filled with hate. People are
selling out the true story—the story of God coming in the flesh—God restoring
us and this world. Instead, they are buying into some tall tale, some fable,
some flight of fancy that somehow takes the divine image away and replaces it
with the idol of self. A story where it is more appealing to be practical than
faithful. Like Adam and Eve, we also at times buy into a story of lies causing
us to have these destructive yet timeless thoughts: “Did God really say that?
You can’t be serious. God can’t be serious. Love your enemies? Pray for those
who persecute you? That’s stupid. It won't work.”
From the beginning of time, there has been a little
voice in our head that whispers the wrong story: "You don't really need to
be holy - to be like Jesus. You actually don't have the time, and it won't work
anyway. So just go back to your own life and try to survive as best as you
can." And even when we fall prey and believe this lie at times, God is faithful
when we are not and continues to seek restoration with us.
We need to reclaim God’s story - our ultimate
story. In the midst of all that is going on, this is what will bring a better
world. The story of God coming in the flesh. The story of God in us. The story
of God coming into the world, bringing light, bringing hope, and bringing
restoration. If our story is anything other than that, if we let anything else
other than that dictate our thoughts and actions – if we join in on the hatred
of the moment, then we’ve been deceived.
We need more people like Antoine Leiris – If you
remember back to November 2015, there was a terrible terrorist attack in Paris
that killed 130 people. Antoine lost his wife Helene in the violence that shook
Paris. He penned a poignant tribute to his wife, publishing it on his Facebook
page:
On Friday night you stole the life of an exceptional being, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you won't have my hatred. If this God for which you kill indiscriminately made us in his own image, every bullet in the body of my wife will have been a wound in his heart.
So no, I don't give you the gift of hating you. You are asking for it but responding to hatred with anger would be giving in to the same ignorance that made you what you are. You want me to be afraid, to view my fellow countrymen with mistrust, to sacrifice my freedom for security. You have lost.
It seems that after almost any great
tragedy, we see this same beautiful story. It resonates in our souls. The story
of forgiveness. Of redemption. Of loving one’s enemies. It is these stories
that make our world better and prevent us from falling down the neverending
downward spiral of hate which leads only to destruction and hell.
Antoine modeled for us taking seriously Jesus’ call to love our enemies. That
is a love that goes countercultural to the way of this world. It may be the
responsibility of the elected leaders to figure out solutions, enforce laws,
keep order, and look out for the general welfare of the constituents. But it is
my job, your job, and every Christian’s job to bring the love of God to people.
To be God in the flesh to all we encounter. To love people. To pray for people.
To stand up for the oppressed and powerless. To be a light in the darkness.
Our
world desperately needs to come out of its dark thinking and neverending cycle
of hatred and violence. In this depressing, dark existence, our world needs
light--the same light that entered our world some 2000 years ago. The words of
Isaiah can be repeated about our generation: "They have no dawn." Yet
Jesus came into the world to shine a light, to bring the dawn, and he continues
to shine His light through us because we are made in the image of God.
Jesus became flesh to add
an exclamation point to His perfect, divine story that we are called to join in
on. He came to kickstart the process of reconciliation.
We have a tendency to
think of change through a top-down approach. In that framework, it is believed
that the politicians or the powers that be need to be convinced of the
change that needs to happen in our society for it to come about. But Jesus had
a different story. He brought change from a bottom-up approach. Through
humility rather the worldly instruments of power. He never once tried to grasp
earthly reins of power. Instead, he tried to change the hearts and the minds of
the people around Him.
It is all too easy to make laws or mandates and force people to be the way you
want them to be. It’s much harder to set an example of love and give the rest
up to God.
But if this world is going to be reconciled with
God. If it is going to have its heart changed, that reconciliation must start
with us. In us. The way we live. The way we express ourselves. Loving our
enemies.
Following Jesus isn't easy. Sometimes it is really difficult because the
current of the world's story is trying to pull us under. But Jesus wants us to
give Him our all. God wants to change the world and He does that by changing
the way we live our life day in and day out.
God became flesh and came to dwell among us as a
baby in a manger. God is the master of creating compelling story. Eventually
this led to the cross. He was willing to go through all of the pain and
suffering of life to reconcile this world to Himself. He was telling a
different story. Because God turns crucifixions into a resurrections. Darkness
into light. Hopelessness into hope.
Restoration is the goal of the God coming in the
flesh. Jesus wrapped himself in flesh to put an exclamation point on the story
of restoration. We then turn around and do the same in our world. To our
neighbors, to strangers, even to enemies. We let transform us. And through us,
God wraps His love around others. We exemplify a different story by the way we
live. Our humility and living the way God wants us to live is the way God
coming in the flesh becomes real today and changes our world. It's light in the
darkness. It's the broken being repaired. It's restoration. This is our story,
and the next chapter isn’t written yet! Is it going to be about faithfulness to
God or living like the world? That’s up to you.
