Reticence to align

By Jim Killebrew

[January 14, 2015]  Our world is full of unrest. Terrorists around the world are attacking Christians; the Jewish nation is being attacked on a daily basis and in America we are falling in line with politically correct sentiments. Christians and church people are being asked to understand a point of view that leads us to accepting Grace and Truth as our relational tool when encountering our journey into the “modern” or “post-modern” world-view reality of our own society. I think through our national debate we established we recognize that world is crumbling around our heads as we live each day. Like the baker who refused to "bake a cake" for the wedding of the couple who practiced the "alternative life-style," we are being asked as Christians to "bake a cake" of Grace and Truth for those whose world view is not just different toward Christians, but indeed, sometimes hostile toward them.

I believe our society has been crumbling since God prophesized His answer to a couple who stood naked in the Garden of Eden, de-clothed of Grace, light and glory because of their sin against Him. His words reverberated to the slithering serpent as well with a warning and proclamation that one day his head would be crushed. Perhaps that was the cake God baked for them, a prophesy of one day hanging on a cross He would be having His cake and eating it too, but He did not join them in their quest to gain the knowledge of good and evil by aligning Himself with the serpent as they had done. No, he banned them from the garden and threw them out also banning them from the tree of life.

Now, when He became flesh and lived among us, He imparted all the Grace and Truth and love He could give. But even in the incarnate Jesus, He continued to show contempt for sin. Yes, He is filled with Grace and love; He speaks Truth to sin and invites people to the Kingdom of God. He went all the way to the cross and gave Himself up to redeem each of us by the shedding of His own blood. It seems, however, we sometimes forget to look at the complete Jesus.

We consider Jesus and the Samaritan woman who had multiple husbands and Jesus didn’t condemn her for that. Yet when one reads the account it was a confrontation between Jesus and the woman. Jesus never actually joined with her in her life-style. Even when she brought it around to the subject of worship with the Samaritan people worshipping on the mountain where Jacob had dug the well as opposed to the Jew who worshipped in Jerusalem, Jesus never joined her or them in their organization of worship. In fact He said that both the Samaritans and Jews would be worshipping in spirit and truth someday in His kingdom.

Jesus continually warned against the Pharisees and Sadducees and referred to their teaching as “yeast” that would sow into His message something He didn’t want. He spoke to them the Truth of His Kingdom, but he never affiliated their organizational structures with His Kingdom message. Was He acting the part of a “Pharisee” by not aligning Himself with them in order to win them over? No, He didn’t hate the Pharisee as a person, nor was he a “Phariseephobic” for his referring to them as white-washed graves filled with dead men’s bones. He just didn’t join into a relationship with their organization as a method to win others over to His Kingdom cause.

In fact, Jesus actually chose a Pharisee, Saul (Paul) for perhaps the most important job of all for the building of His Church. He opened the door to Paul to be an Apostle who established churches all over the known world and used him as a vessel to write much of the New Testament we have today. But Jesus did not join himself to the organization of the Pharisees in order to spread the work of the Church.

Finally, we see the other side Jesus a couple of times as He is engaged in his preaching and teaching, healing and casting out demons, one day pausing to take a trip to the Temple. As he approached the “House of God” or His “Father’s House of Worship,” He likely picked up a few flexible branches as He walked along through the booths of commerce in progress as the money changers were doing business. As he wove those branches into a make-shift whip, He began turning over the tables and driving the money changers out of the Temple area. His charge was they had turned His Father’s House into a den of thieves. There is no record he baked a cake for the money changers and associated with their money-changing union or organization, He drove them out.

So, I wonder if when we are considering for whom we will bake a cake, and are looking to Jesus as our example, we should study all facets of Jesus’ ministry and actions and consider how He confronted sin and sinners from all sides as well.

I believe we all should approach those who disagree with us with Grace and Truth. However, I wonder if the if those who urge "tolerance" and "political correctness" are doing what so many do in our modern theological society? Could it be they are only considering the part of Jesus’ ministry that relates to dispensing Grace and Truth; while neglecting to recognize that Jesus is Sovereign and does not hesitate to separate the sheep from the wolves? I believe we should examine the actions of Jesus and try to model those actions as much as we can. But I also believe as much as we try to model the Grace and Truth of Jesus, we must also keep in mind that even though He ate with sinners and mingled with sinners, He never aligned Himself or His message with the structure of their sin. Many things that were considered sin in His society often were related to the rabbinical rules and laws established more as traditions or outright perversions of the spirit of the laws from God.

He allowed His disciples to “harvest” grain on the Sabbath as they walked through the fields. Likewise, He never told them to “stop their sinning” relative to that “harvest” behavior as he did with the woman who was caught in adultery and brought to Him for judgment. He didn’t condemn her; He simply said to her to go and sin no more. He didn’t align Himself with her as a partner in her sinful life; neither did He align Himself with her accusers. He simply shamed them into retreat and told her to go and sin no more.

I believe it is important we keep in tune with the Sacred Scriptures and not align ourselves with organizations that oppose those Scriptures with practices they accept. I believe our issue throughout our discussion of this matter is the following:

We all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God.

When we accept Christ we turn from our sin and ask Jesus to grow us in His Spirit.

Our attitude turns from our sin as we yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit to help us break the bonds of our sin.

If someone is sinning and does not want to leave that sin, we must confront with Grace and Truth.

If the person has an attitude of persisting in that sin we must pray, teach and continue to confront with Grace and Truth.

If the person refuses to give up the sin and wants to maintain association with the church and continue to live in the sin, we must follow the Sacred Scriptures for guidance for Christians who prefer their sin.

This process is personal, relational, loving, and supportive. It is not built on rejection, judgment or condemnation.

If the person finally yields to Jesus and lives with the Holy Spirit in his heart, he has totally free association with any community of Christians.

[By JIM KILLEBREW]