Unashamed

Today the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) has already ruled, and will be ruling further, on cases brought to it concerning same-sex marriage in the United States.  Back in March I shared some articles that I thought would be particularly helpful for Christians trying to understand the Biblical framework for marriage and sex, so if you haven’t read those articles already, here’s the link.

In a ruling already handed down this morning, SCOTUS struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, which was enacted by Congress in 1996.  This ruling simply means that the federal government will have to recognize same sex marriages with regards to federal benefits.  SCOTUS refused to rule on California’s Proposition 8, indicating that it is likely to continue to allow states to define marriage according to the democratic process. 

What it all means now, and in the future, is anybody’s guess.  But it does show us that cultural views about marriage and sexuality – not just American culture, but western culture in general – are rapidly changing.  So what has changed for The Church of Jesus Christ?  What changes for Christians today?

Not much really.  As Ed Stetzer says over on his blog today, “We must realize that believing what the Bible says about sexuality will increasingly put us at odds with our culture.”

Truth is, it always has. And not just in regards to sexual behavior, but in regards to all human behavior.

It was as true for the Apostle Paul when he wrote these words in Romans 1:16 (our Bible reading for today) 2,000 years ago as it is today: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

I don’t know where the idea comes from that somehow cultural moral drift today is any worse than it has been in previous generations.  Sin, and the consequences of sin, have always been there.  Maybe the only difference is that now sin has become more culturally acceptable and less something that should be done in private.

When Paul was writing to Christians in Rome, he was writing to Christians in a culture full of all kinds of darkness and twisted practices.  But there he was, right in the midst of it, standing up and expressing his confidence in the power of the Gospel to change lives for eternity.  Paul understood that the way to change a culture began with confidence in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and continued with a bold proclamation of what Christ has done for the entire world.  Like Paul, our public conversation and engagement does not begin with shouting down those we see as the opposition, but in loving and walking along side of those who are walking in darkness. 

Although the rest of Romans 1 seems like some of the most harsh and hopeless words of Scripture, the reality of sin’s bondage and stranglehold on our lives sets the table for us to experience the incredible grace of Jesus Christ.  In v.v. 18-32, Paul talks about the reality of sin and the spiritual reality of those who reject God and reject the grace that He has generously and kindly shown to us in Jesus Christ.  In v.18, he talks about the reality of unrepentant sin and how it brings God’s wrath against us.  In v.v. 19-25 he talks about the foolishness of worshipping the creation instead of our creator.  And in v.v. 26-32, he talks about the fruit of that disobedience. 

Despite that incredibly dark and depressing description of the effects of sin in our lives, Romans is a book of incredible grace!  Paul was a man who understood and experienced this incredible grace, and as a recipient of grace he knew that his calling in life was to be a merchant of grace.

Although Paul’s understanding of grace, and our need for the grace of Jesus, put him at odds with his cultural surroundings, he stood as one who was unashamed of that grace, and the power of the Gospel.  While Paul was disturbed by the cultural decay and rot that he witnessed around him, his ministry was not fueled by disgust or hatred.  His ministry was fueled by grace and by incredible confidence in the power of Christ to break every stronghold and stranglehold of sin in people’s lives.  We know that in many of Paul’s other letters, and in Acts, that Paul’s confidence in the Gospel caused great personal trouble for him.  He was arrested multiple times; imprisoned; beaten; and the cause of riots.  But we also know that Paul’s confidence in the Gospel changed thousands of lives during his days on earth, and hundreds of millions of lives since God used him to write these words to us. 

We have before us today the same opportunities and challenges that Paul faced as he lived out God’s calling on his life.  The opportunity to love people with incredible grace.  The opportunity to share the truth of sin and what life is like without Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 

It doesn’t help us to speak and act in ways that demean others and dishonor Christ.  But it also doesn’t help us, or help others, to capitulate to the culture.  As Christians, we must remain focused on our mission to be The Church of Jesus Christ, having great confidence in and being unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ while at the same time loving and showing grace to those who need Jesus the most. 

Despite what our culture, or our Supreme Court, says, Jesus is still the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  The Word of God is still living and active, and sharper than any two edged sword.  The holy and righteous demands of God have not changed.  Our mandate as The Church to love others as we love ourselves, and to preach the Good News to the ends of the earth has not changed.  As Ed Stetzer said today, “We can either get furious at them . . . or we can respond like Jesus.  After all we can’t hate a people and reach a people at the same time.” 

Jesus lived this out.  Paul lived this out.  The question now, for The Church today, is will we live this out?  We will continue to be unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the power of salvation and will we continue to love people like Jesus loved people?  This is why The Church exists – to show the world the love of Jesus and to share unashamedly with the world the truth of Jesus Christ. 

What Grace Looks Like in Real Life

Go take 3 minutes and watch this video of one of my favorite guys in the world, Willy Robertson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K058jdOpvAI

As we've been walking through our daily readings in Acts the past week or so, we've seen God preparing and calling his apostles to preach the Good News to the Gentiles.  I've talked about what a monumental shift this was in thinking for men like Paul and Peter.  I've talked about how difficult it would have been for these Jews to not only associate with Gentiles, but to share a message with them that would include them in the family of God.

Simply put, all the struggles of the apostles in the Gentile world were a struggle to understand grace.  What Willy Robertson said in 3 minutes is what took men like Peter and Paul years to understand.  What Willy Robertson explained is what grace looks like in real life.  

In today's reading from Acts 15, we see God's plan for adopting the Gentiles into his family continue to unfold.  In Jerusalem, as Jesus' Church was growing, their was constant conflict about what to do with the Gentiles.  Some of the Jews who were leading the church were telling the Gentiles that they had to be circumcised (and circumcision was EVERYTHING to a Jew) in order to be a part of God's family.  V2. tells us, "This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question."

And then Paul swallows what remnants of his Jewish pride that may have remained and made it clear that salvation and membership in the family of God isn't about circumcision or what we do externally.  It's about grace - about what Jesus does in our hearts.  Look at v.v. 8-10

 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.  He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?   No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” 

This is incredibly liberating and freeing news - in Jesus Christ, the gates of heaven have been thrown open to all who would call on his name for salvation.  Heritage, race and nationality didn't matter.  What mattered was faith in this grace that has been revealed.

One of the things that I love about Duck Dynasty is the emphasis on faith and living for God's glory.  Every time I see snippets of talks or speeches that Willy, Jase and Phil provide, I love that God has elevated these men to the position in our culture that they occupy.  Are they perfect?  Absolutely not, and they'd be the first to tell you that.  But they get it!  They get grace.

In the video link above, we see the reality of what grace looks like in real life.  When Willy says, "He's bi-racial, he doesn't look like us . . . That's what God did with us, he took us in . . .
I can look at my 2 sons I have and literally see the New Testament unfolded right there;" he's describing what every single follower of Jesus Christ has experienced because of his grace.

God doesn't hang an unbearable yoke around our necks.  He invites us, by faith, to come and trust what he's done for us through his precious son Jesus Christ.  We don't look like Jesus before he saves us - far from it!  But he saves us anyway.  He takes us in to the family of God, and adopts us not just as children but of heirs of the riches of heaven.  

Sometimes it's difficult in the times we live in to look at different people and think that God wants them to be a part of his family.  They don't look like us.  They don't act like us.  They don't have the same values that we have.  But that is where the beauty of grace comes in - it's not about the outside, it's about the heart.  It's about the fact that every person, from the moment of conception, has been made in the image of God and has infinite worth and value in God's sight.  

The next time you're tempted to look scornfully on people who are different than you, remember Willy Robertson and remember Paul's words here in Acts 15 about what grace looks like in real life. 

What the World Needs the Most

In today’s reading from Acts 13, we find Paul and his companions in the city of Pisidian Antioch.  Pisidian Antioch was a melting pot of many different cultures and it’s the first place that Paul preached the Good News to a Gentile audience. 

Paul began his ministry here, as became his pattern in later chapters of Acts, by first going to the Jewish synagogue and reading from the Law and the Prophets.  V.15 tells us that after he read from the Law and Prophets,  “ . . . the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, ‘Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.’”

“If you have a message of encouragement.” 

I’m a big believer in the fact that people today need encouragement.  Encouragement literally means to give courage to somebody.  Who doesn’t want somebody to give them courage? 

Here’s where it gets tricky though for the follower of Jesus.  The greatest encouragement we can give to people is the Good News of Jesus Christ.  This is not the encouragement that most people want to hear, and it is not the encouragement that most people think they need.  But what the world needs the most is the kind of encouragement that Paul gave to the people gathered on that day in Antioch. 

Given the green light to share encouragement with the people gathered before him by the leaders of the synagogue, Paul explains how all of the Old Testament Law and Prophets point to the greatness of Jesus.  In v.v. 38&39, Paul makes the ultimate point of his discourse: "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.”

What the world needs the most is to know that forgiveness for sins and reconciliation with God is available to them through the person and work of Jesus Christ.  The world doesn't need encouragement to keep on walking in darkness.  The world doesn't need encouragement to seek satisfaction and meaning through their work or leisure.  The world doesn't need encouragement to manage their sin on their own.  The greatest encouragement that Paul could give, and that we can give today, is that everything in life is about becoming a follower of Jesus and being justified with God through what Jesus has done for us in his death and resurrection. 

Paul and Barnabas continued their work in this city for a few weeks further, and in v.44 we’re told that “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.”  The whole city didn’t gather because the apostles were performing signs and wonders in that place.  The whole city didn’t gather because the apostles were giving away free stuff.  The whole city didn’t gather because the apostles were offering self-help or mealy-mouthed, politically correct personal motivation.  The whole city gathered because the apostles were preaching what they really needed to hear: the life-changing, world-tilting message of the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

As the Word of God was faithfully preached with authority and boldness, lives were changed because the people were getting what they needed the most.  In v.48 we’re told that the Gentiles who heard the Good News – the people who were the furthest from God – “were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.” 

Do you really want to see lives changed for eternity?  Do you really want to see God do a revolutionary thing in your home, your neighborhood, your community and your city?  Then preach the Good News without apology and without shame.  Give people what they need the most – The Good News of Jesus Christ.