Speaking and living the truth in love
By Rob ChambersWhile in high school my typing teacher had her students type repeatedly the following phrase: “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.” The general emphasis of this phrase is to call people to action. It is a summons that affords people the opportunity to step forward and prove their goodness and loyalty.
Does the Bible issue a similar summons for Christians to rise up and demonstrate their goodness and loyalty? Have Christians received the call to exemplify, speak, and preserve truth as it relates to moral issues beyond the confines of the church?
Jesus, in Matt 5:13-16, called his followers to preserve what is true and to live exemplary lives of the Christian faith. Furthermore, Jesus told them to go, without bias, and make disciples of people from every nation and to teach them to do everything he had taught them (Matt 28:18-20).
Acts 17 records Paul fleshing out what Jesus has called all believers to do. In this chapter, Paul seeks to make disciples of non-believers in Athens. Paul reasons with them, dispelling the myth that there are many gods, and reasserts that the Hebrew God is the sole creator of everything. As a result, many of them believed in God.
Now is the time for all Christians to speak the truth in love by teaching and declaring that there is one God and that the only way to heaven is through Christ. Christians are to also speak the truth in love that God abhors sin, such as, abortion, homosexuality, gluttony, adultery, and drunkenness. Also, now is the time for all Christians to live the truth in love by feeding those who hunger, ministering to those considering abortion, and counseling those in bondage to sexual immorality, for example.
Unfortunately, a new day has been dawning in America where a Christian, public witness is vigorously opposed. The rising sun of secularism and socialism in and around the current political climate seeks to roast the Christian faith.
But don’t be fooled that Mississippi is a giant shade tree providing shelter from such a secular, anti-Christian machine. Three recent incidents in Mississippi support this.
First is the quest for normalizing sinful, homosexual behavior within the church. According to news media accounts, the MS United Methodist Conference in Jackson gave credence to two homosexual women who unashamedly spoke of their same-sex “relationship” before conferees. The report also stated that the same-sex couple also encouraged other churches, like theirs at Parkway Hills Methodist in Madison, to welcome unrepentant, same-sex couples living in the sin of homosexuality.
The Bible, however, does not excuse Christians from reaching out to those in bondage to the sin of homosexuality. The church’s communication on this must come across in a way that their love for the sinner is much grater than their hatred of their sin. The church must do this without condoning sinful behavior.
The second incident involves a youth minister in central Mississippi who sought to reserve a city park for a “See You at the Pole” youth rally. It was reported that a city official told the youth minister the city park could be used for the event as long as there was no preaching. Our U.S. Constitution guarantees such rights as freedom of assembly, religion, and speech.
The third incident took place on July 4 when a young Christian man attended a firework display in Clinton. After the event was over, he stood up on a small table he brought and began to preach as spectators were leaving. A policeman approached the young man and told him to get down. He refused to stop preaching and the police officer placed him under arrest. The Alliance Defense Fund sponsored his defense and at his court hearing the court threw the case out. Yes, the case was dismissed, but the legs that supported him in his preaching - freedom of speech and religion – were initially chopped off beneath him.
I close with a quote from Richard Land: “Whether or not America has a future worth having doesn’t depend on what happens in Washington, D.C., or what happens in the Supreme Court or in the Congress. It depends on what happens with you, and people just like you; and your family, and families just like yours; and your church, and churches just like yours, with godly pastors after God’s heart and church members thirsting for God’s Word.”
Now is the time . . .