Lots of issues hold space on America’s table. Immigration. Sex and gender identity. Men in women’s sports. Identity politics. Globalism. Racism and Kinism. Antisemitism. Eugenics and human life. Assisted suicide. The economy and the national debt. Bridging our widening divide. Power and authority. The role of the church in society.
My head is spinning. Yours?
The Scriptures instruct Christ followers to “avoid foolish controversies” (Titus 3:9). I interpret that as a call to discern as you and I form various and sundry positions on various and sundry subjects under the sun. Moreover, it’s a call to be wise in what we say and how we say it.
For us, some conversations – whether in-person or online – are unprofitable at best. At worst, they impair our witness for Christ, fuel unnecessary fires of conflict, and damage relationships with our fellow image bearers.
So we proceed with humble caution.
But, as we do so, I want to make sure that we’re not leaving our Bible on the shelf.
It is such a temptation in these days of instant access to endless information to get our cues from everyone other than God. That would be a tragic mistake, and it’s one that we can fall into without recognizing it. After all, we’ve read the Bible before … but this riveting new post on social media really catches our eye! I’m sure you know what I mean.
The Bible is our perpetual reminder that God has spoken! God. Has. Spoken.
God’s Word is not always given to me to prop up whatever I already believe to be true. Sometimes the Spirit uses it to stop me in my tracks. To show me the error of my ways – my sin. To convict me in regard to just how deeply wrong I’ve been on this subject or that.
Such spiritual challenge – deep within my soul – is a great gift from our gracious Lord. But it won’t be mine if I don’t take the Bible seriously. The Bible is my ultimate authority, you see. If I fail to protect that loyalty, my preferences or politics or proclivities will steadily make their way into the place of prominence that was supposed to be reserved for the Word of God.
Since “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17), this principle is all-important. You and I are on a battlefield of ideas, every day. We’re never off-duty. Paul reminds us that our critical spiritual armor includes “the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16). Think about it. When the Bible – in regard to the issues of the day – isn’t prominent in our thinking and reasoning, we’re trying to hold up a shield with holes in it! A defective shield. We’re ill-equipped for life’s challenges, our defenses are weakened, and we’re vulnerable to satanic deception.
The Bible is the authority by which every other claimed “authority” stands or falls.
Sadly, what I see on the broad landscape of American evangelicalism is disturbing. It is alarming. It is unnerving. People who claim to be God’s people are abandoning our infallible supply of needed strength. Bailing on our rightful authority. Perhaps not intentionally or even consciously, they’re more often siding with the truth claims of the world. If you ask me, it’s a less obvious clone of the same monster that ate the mainline denominations alive within my own lifetime.
I want to say one more thing about the war for truth. It’s the war that you and I are in, Beloved – whether we like it or not. Yes, we’re consigned. But the war for truth is also the war for love. You see, friends, truth and love aren’t at odds with each other. Love and truth aren’t enemies. The very nature of our risen Christ proves this unquestionably, as He came to each one of us “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
We will never win to the cause of our God of truth a world that we despise. Never. You and I must love broadly and indiscriminately – just as we have been fully loved. This is the way.
And it’s the only way.
“What is truth?” asked Pontius Pilate (John 18:38). It’s a question God already answered.
Pastor Charles
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