Today's Scripture Reading (March 22, 2024): 2 Thessalonians 1 & 2
Can I begin by asking a few questions?
Do we believe that God is righteous and moral? Maybe more to the point, do you believe
God expects the Christian Church to be righteous and moral? Or are other strategies
or policies more important to him, like the economy and immigration? What is it
that the Christian Church believes?
There is a reason I ask these
questions. Once upon a time, back in the olden days,
which I remember because I am olden, there was a President named Bill Clinton.
Bill Clinton did many good things during the eight years he was President. But
I am willing to bet that you remember very few of those things. But I know what
you do remember. If I asked you what speech you remember about John F. Kennedy,
it is probably the Man on the Moon speech, "We choose to go to the Moon in
this decade and do the other things, not because they are
easy, but because they are hard" (John F. Kennedy). It was a great
speech that we still remember decades later. I couldn't even read when Kennedy
gave the speech, yet we still remember Kennedy's words. If I asked you what
speech you remember from Martin Luther King, most likely your answer is, "I have a dream that my four little children will one
day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin
but by the content of their character" (Martin Luther King). So, which Bill Clinton speech do you
remember? I know which one I remember. "I did not have sex with that
woman." I am not saying that
Bill Clinton did no good when he was in the White House, but that is what I
remember. As Christians, we, including me, came down hard against Clinton for
what we saw as a moral lapse. It was important to us, and I think it should
have been. One of the results of Clinton's behavior turned into a very public
discussion about the definition of sex.
In 2018, a
different President sat in the White House. I listened to Franklin Graham
talking about the benefits of the economy and the help that the recent tax
revision would give businesses. And yes, I heard him declare that the
President, who was on his third marriage and has had numerous affairs, was a
changed man. But at the same time, the President even called certain nations of
Africa, as someone translated at the time, poo-poo houses. At the time, the
occupant of the White House had a struggle with the truth that was far beyond
the struggle that most politicians seem to have with what is true. And I began
to wonder, does the church stand up for what is morally right all the time, or
does that only work when a Democrat occupies the White House?
I remember another
Franklin Graham interview, this one was with Don Lemon when Lemon was still
with CNN, and after being bullied by Lemon, who was quoting more scripture that
he remembered from his Baptist Sunday School days than the celebrated
evangelist, Graham argued that the President was a changed man. Still, the
problem is that we weren't seeing the change.
The day after
the Franklin Graham Interview, I began compiling my notes for an upcoming
speaking opportunity. I wrote about a church that had turned its back on
economic growth and had suffered because it had decided to follow a morality
that flowed out of the Character of Jesus Christ. It didn't matter that
following Jesus meant even that following would cost them economically and
politically. The content of the character was of prime importance. It is the
story of the early church.
It is not
that I do not believe in mercy. But God will not be mocked. We believe that the
day is coming when God will separate the sheep and the goats, and goats in
sheep's clothing will still be goats. There must be a fundamental shift in the
content of our character in Christ. I am no longer who I once was. I am someone
who knows he needs God's forgiveness and mercy. My righteousness is not enough.
I get that this is an uncomfortable truth. But a day will come, as Jesus
described in the "Sermon on the Mount."
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom
of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name
perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I
never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matthew 7:21-23)
Sometimes,
what we seem to lose in the translation is that Christianity is more than a
prayer. It is more than simply asking to receive Jesus into our hearts. And I
get that that is hard for some of you to hear, but if Christ is truly in your
life, you will become a different person. He will change the content of your
character.
As I read
these words of Paul, I was reminded that he was once the one who had caused
harm to the Christian Community, that he had been the author of the persecution
like what was now being visited on the Thessalonian Church. And if things had
remained unchanged, he would have been on the wrong side of God's wrath. But
Paul knew God's mercy.
What I wish
Franklin Graham had done a little more forcibly in his interview was to ignore
the economic and political gains and maybe more forcibly declare the church to
be a moral institution. We do not believe that having an affair is a positive
moment in your life. We believe that promiscuity is dangerous. And when we are
talking about immigration, we are not speaking about whether the immigrant
comes from Norway or a poo-poo house nation. We stand with Martin Luther King
and believe that the content of our character is more important than the color
of our skin every time. And we serve a just God who is more concerned with our
character than any political or economic stand that we might want to take.
Tomorrow's Scripture
Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3
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