Social Justice Gospel? Hold Up.

I see a lot of pastors and Christians these days talking about social justice and about racism in general and using the words of Jesus to justify their positions and I'm here to say - the Gospel may have something to say about Social Justice, but it is not primarily about Justice or Social Justice, on this side of Heaven. In fact, the only true justice that the Bible speaks of, is the justice that Jesus will oversee when he returns in Glory and sits on his throne, judging the living and the dead, in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2). I think Christians and Pastors walk a dangerous line when they make statements like, "if you call yourself a Christian and don't have a social justice mindset, you might be following the wrong Jesus". That's a paraphrase of sentiments I've heard and read lately and to me, it's a slippery slope that confuses the true message of the Gospel.

Let me be clear - do my statements above suggest that I don't think Social Justice is an important issue? No. By no means. I will explain further where I believe the nuance lies, but I am not dismissing the history of oppression and marginalization that blacks, Native Americans and others have suffered in the United States, over it's history. I am not saying that anyone is free to wipe their hands from doing hard work related to racial reconciliation; that is important work that needs to be done, of that there is no question.

Jesus makes many statements in the Gospels about what our attitude, as disciples, should be towards the poor, the widowed, the sick, the prisoner, etc. Matthew 25 comes to mind, "whatever you did for the least of these brother and sisters of mine, you did for me." Luke 4 also comes to mind - the scroll that Jesus reads when he emerges from the wilderness, which is a quote of Isaiah 61, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Others for consideration: James 1:27, Galatians 2:9-10, Matthew 6:1-4, Proverbs 14:31)

In talking about Luke 4, there is some nuance, and the nuance lies in the 'when' - if you are a Kingdom Now type of person - what evidence do you have to point to that Jesus' Kingdom is being established right now? Do we have any less strife now, on nearly any level you want to talk about, than we did 500 years ago? To boil it down all the way, was Jesus saying that he came to proclaim freedom for the prisoner, now? Was he saying that he came (the first time) to reverse oppression, now? I would argue that the unequivocal answer is no. I think what Jesus is saying in Luke 4 is that He came to give hope - to proclaim that there is a day coming when the prisoner will be free, when the oppressed will no longer be oppressed - when the blind will see and the lame will walk. In other words, Jesus came to tell us exactly what his Kingdom will be like, to show us glimpses of what His Kingdom is like (with miracles) and to tell us how to we can be a part of it. Most the miracles that Jesus performed during his ministry were related to provision and healing - the 'first fruits' of what His kingdom will be like - a window, if you will, into what is to come. Were those miracles performed in order to suggest that we can have all of that now...no, it was to say, "hey guys, I'm going to do what I've said, all along, that I'm going to do and it's worth persevering in your faith to see that happen, whether in your earthly lifetime or not."

And what about the suffering that Jesus PROMISES to those who follow him (Matt 10:38, Matt 24:9, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23)? How much social justice will Christians feel when the tide of public opinion turns against them (which it most certainly will at some point) and they are shouted down, beaten and killed for faith in Jesus?

I think it is more than fine to preach messages about how we are to care for our fellow man - but if that message is not paired with the Gospel - we are only shallowly teaching people to save others from suffering in this world, and potentially delivering them to an eternity of suffering in Hell. Let me say that again in a different way - if anything that we do in the service of others, as Christians, is not paired with the eternal hope of Salvation that can be had by trusting and believing in Jesus' sinless death on the cross, then we are simply alleviating temporary suffering on this side of His return and potentially damning people to eternity of suffering in hell. The true message of the Gospel, which Jesus preached, is "repent and believe" - it is the same message that John the Baptist preached and the same message taught by the Prophets in the Old Testament. There are certainly ways we can emulate the life of Jesus in caring for the poor, sick, widowed, imprisoned and oppressed, but none of what Jesus did in those efforts was ever devoid of telling people the Truth about the coming Kingdom.

Paul is very clear that in this world - our problems will continue on until Jesus returns. Sickness, death, and suffering will all be present right up until Jesus restores everything. At the end of 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says

"But we have treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. [...] So we do not lose heart. Through our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (7-12, 16-18)

Paul and the disciples were not suffering beatings, imprisonment and death because they were going around caring for the poor/widowed/imprisoned and healing people. No, they were suffering because of the truth about the Kingdom - for the message they carried that says that in order to inherit the Kingdom, we have to submit ourselves and our very lives to His authority; that we have to take up our crosses with Him and follow Him.

 

As a result of everything I have just said, the Church has an extremely difficult job. If taken too far, the issues of the world become distractions that take us away from truly following Jesus. As my pastor likes to say, the gospel is Jesus + Nothing = Salvation. In very emotionally heated times, it can become easy to get caught up in a good cause, without remembering that the only cause that will ultimately matter is that of the Gospel. Does this abdicate anyone from responsibility? No - but that is the difficulty. How do Christians be in the world but not of it? To truly care for our fellow man is to sit with them in their suffering, yes, but also to share the hope of something better - to share with them the hope that one day the King is going to return and set everything right. It is an acknowledgement, inherently, that everything in this world, good and bad alike, is temporary. It is an acknowledgement that try as we might, without Jesus, nothing will truly be fixed - that suffering, injustice, sickness and death are a part of this fallen world until He returns.

So how are we counseling people? Are we pointing them to Jesus - are we most concerned about their souls, with everything else coming second? Are we willing to sit with someone in their suffering and deliver a true message of hope?

The Racial Conversation is Broken

Let me preface this by saying, I'm not getting into the particulars of the George Floyd killing. The video makes it clear what happened and while there is certainly reason to question why it took so long to bring charges against the main officer who had his knee on Floyd's neck or why the other officers involved in that incident weren't also charged, that is for the wheels of justice to sort out. This post is meant to take a broad look at things, which I feel is especially fitting given that fact that so much of the 'race' narrative in this country is about painting with as broad of a brush as you can. To start, here are some statements:

Statement: Some white people like Nickelback, so therefore most white people must like Nickelback.

Statement: Some black people like fried chicken, so therefore most black people must like fried chicken.

Statement: Some white people think that Corvettes are cool, therefore most white people must think that Corvettes are cool.

Statement: Some black people think that Michael Jackson is the greatest singer of all time, so most black people must think that Michael Jackson is the greatest singer of all time.

Statement: Some white people come from rich families and have more access so therefore most white people must come from well-to-do backgrounds and have more access.

One can easily see the ridiculousness of the first 4 statements. People, of all races and colors, are complex. Just because some white people like Nickelback doesn't mean most do, and it certainly doesn't mean that you have to be white to like Nickelback. Nickelback sucks - on that fact, most of us can agree! Similarly, just because some black people like fried chicken, doesn't mean that every black person likes fried chicken or that you have to be black in order to enjoy fried chicken. Some people like Corvettes while others like Mustangs and still others like Cadillacs. Some people who like Cadillacs would never buy a Corvette, they just don't like them. A lot of people, from a lot of different backgrounds believe Michael Jackson to be one of the greatest artists of all-time - but some people don't like his music. Some people like old-school rap, or they like metal, or they like hip-hop or even classical (gasp!).

Why is it so easy to see how ridiculous the first 4 statements are but not see how ridiculous the last one is? And this is the broad brush I'm talking about. I grew up in suburban Minneapolis - Brooklyn Park, just northwest of Minneapolis. My high-school, Park Center, used to have a nickname, "Dark Center". It was a racial moniker that told the story of how diverse the student population was (and still is, as far as I know). The population surrounding that school was solidly middle and lower-middle class. It was easy to see how some kids came from stable families and other kids came from broken homes, but that divide wasn't necessarily along racial lines - I knew plenty of white kids who were fatherless or who had been abused growing up.

My parents taught me and my siblings to respect everyone, no matter their station or color of their skin. My neighborhood itself, about 2 miles from the school, was as diverse as you'll see in the suburbs. From an early age, the mix of kids that one would find on any given summer day consisted of several races and colors.

When I was in 7th grade, I was walking home from school after track practice and I saw two older kids behind me but could tell from the way they were eyeing me that something was up - it was like they were watching me. I switched sides of the road, they switched sides of the road. I did it again, they did it again - finally, I stopped, turned around and asked them what they wanted. They said they wanted my money and I said, "I'm in 7th grade, I don't have any money!" - they asked about my Casio Ironman watch I was wearing and I said, "you can have it, just leave me alone!" Naturally, this incident rattled me some as a 13-year-old kid. The two kids happened to be black, but I didn't harbor any resentment against all black people because of this incident. I understood that these two kids likely came from a home that didn't look like my own, that they didn't have parents looking after them and caring for them like mine did, and that their actions were their own.

The racial conversation in this country is broken. People talk about 'white privilege' as if they can even define what that is in a country of 330 million people. What does it mean for someone like me? That because I have good parents who raised me well, that's white privilege? What about the black kids I knew who had good families growing up? Do they have privilege? Do all kids who have supportive parents turn out great? Did I have any inherent advantage because of my white-ness? If I did, would there be any way to quantify that? Would there by any way to quantify someone else's disadvantage? I went to a college where being a white male meant that I had the lowest chance of getting accepted (preference was given to women and people of color). I have a job that doesn't require a degree of any kind and for which the entry barriers are low, anyone could do what I do and be good at it if they put their mind to it. White privilege doesn't cause the silence of three police officers (two of whom weren't white!) against their colleague...no, that's just people of low character...that and a culture of fear, which has been perpetuated within the police force of this country, that promotes protectionism.

The fact is, there are bad people in this world, and that is a story as old as Cain killing Abel. In my opinion, the real problem, or at least one that is something we could actually make great strides toward fixing, is the issue of protectionism that exists within the police force. They need to do a better job of looking at each other objectively and better at rooting out the bad ones from within. I say 'they' because you and me, regular Joe, don't typically have many interactions with the police. We don't know who the goods ones are vs. the bad ones. If I'm a bad dude, and I'm just some Joe Schmoe IT guy or a plumber or accountant, my opportunity to actually hurt (much less kill) someone is not very high. If, however, I have a gun and the weight of the law behind me and I'm a bad dude, the chances of that leading to a situation where someone loses their life become much higher. Are there regular-guy nut-jobs out there who are raving racists? Absolutely, no question. But does that describe your typical person? By no means. 'Racism' is too big a problem to tackle - which isn't to say we shouldn't be working to eliminate it, but it will take longer that we have in our lifetimes. We need to focus on solvable problems. To stand there and scream that everyone that doesn't look like you is racist against you just turns off every reasonable person you're trying to reach. Similarly, shouting that everyone else that doesn't look like you must have some inherent advantage also causes reasonable people to stop listening. For some of those people it may be true, but for a majority of us, we don't see the evidence of that in real life.

My silence is not complicity - me adding my voice at this moment, will help nothing. George Floyd's death is a tragedy on a number of levels. Period. The voice I raise is with my children - by teaching them to respect all people, no matter their background, and to teach them of the sanctity of human life. It means being introspective about my feelings and attitudes towards other people and being honest with myself in asking if I treat other people well, no matter their background or status. It means speaking up in a situation where I can have direct influence - if someone is either a) espousing a racist attitude to me or around me or b) treating someone else unfairly or unjustly in my presence.

I have no problem with peaceful protesting - people have a 1st amendment right to speak up and quite honestly, the Minneapolis Police Department deserves every bit of criticism they are facing right now. The looting and rioting though? Don't call that a protest - don't give those people the dignity of such a label. They are animals - whether white, black or whatever - anyone who would destroy another person's property or hurt someone else because they are angry, is acting like an animal. Being angry is no excuse. Besides, they are distracting from the fact that an innocent man was killed. The anger is understandable - but it is not an excuse to perpetrate crime.

We need to be taking a serious look at the culture of law enforcement in this country. If protectionism exists, how do we reduce it or get rid of it? How do we promote a culture of high character and accountability? How do we make sure that people who shouldn't have a gun and a badge don't ever get one? We could ask that about a number of levels of government while we're at it. Until we start to ask these questions - I predict this parade of tragedies will continue. Raving about white privilege will not fix anything because if it does indeed exists, it's too pervasive, it's a mountain of a problem. Some of the toxic elements within the culture of law enforcement? To me that seems like a smaller problem to tackle - still large, but a more feasible thing to fix.

A Prayer of the Heart

Lord Jesus - I feel such a heaviness lately...a weariness with the on-going pandemic, an angst for friends and family that I know whose livelihoods are being threatened in a variety of ways, and all the while a deep desire to return to something that more closely resembles 'normal life', we we can interact together face-to-face without the need of masks and distance. Father, my heart also hurts for the racial division in this country. First - that a man lost his life at the hands of another whose job it was to protect it. Second for the open wound of racism in this country and for the pain that it continues to cause day after day. Third, for the small business owners and employees whose storefronts and livelihoods have been caught in the crossfire of anger. Lord, have mercy on us Father - please remember us in our time of need, as a nation.

It is more clear than ever that the very core of man is sinful. Our earthly bodies and minds are continuously ravaged by a desire to make ourselves the center of existence. Lord, we are not worthy to call ourselves your sons or daughters, and yet you love us anyway. In your lovingkindness, Father, you have made a way for us to know you and relate to you. Help us to remember that we were once lost Lord, that we were once your very enemy, but that you were so generous, loving and kind to us and didn't stop pursuing us. Help us to remember this when we want to lash out at others in anger, either in deed or in word. Help us to see the best in others, even when their teeth are gritted and tensions are high. Help us to see other people as you see them Lord, as literal creations of the God Most High, endowed with the very likeness of you Lord. Help us to remember that you said, "greater love has no one than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends." To love one another is to love you Lord Jesus.

Father, my cry is "Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus"! I feel the brokenness in myself and I see it in others. Lord, I confess that I am weak and that I am easily distracted by the cares and concerns of this life. That I quickly lose sight of how unsurpassingly great and powerful you are and begin to doubt. Like Peter with one foot out of the boat, I start to think about the waves all around me and lose sight of where I am going...to take the very hand of God. Lord, please use this time of worldwide upheaval to strengthen my faith and the faith of those around me, to ground us and root us in your truth and promises. Give us boldness to proclaim with our mouths all that you have done for us.

Lord, I pray for your people Israel as well - Lord, that you would hasten the bringing in of the fullness of the Gentiles and that you would begin to turn the hearts of your people Israel back to you. Lord, if there is something I can do, send me, I'm willing.

Father - please be merciful to us; help us to see what you are doing around us and give us a willing spirit to join in with that work. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on your return and Lord, give us revelation and guidance through your Holy Spirit to keep us on the narrow path that leads to righteousness. In Jesus name, Amen.

The Father of Lies

I was thinking about how people are led astray (with my own self very much in view) - and how subtle it typically is. If Satan came around the corner with bright flashing lights and huge warning signs, a serious disciple would see it a mile away and take steps to resist... We don't give Satan enough credit - he is called the 'father of lies' for a reason.

I think about the sin in my own life and it's etiology almost always has its roots in a) something good or b) something small. When I think about how wayward theology is adopted, the same two dynamics are also often at play. Let's take the 'Prosperity Gospel' for example. You can find many origin stories for the Prosperity Gospel, but whether it started in the late-1800s, 1950s or the 1970s, the basic framework is the same - the story is that it started with healing and the idea that one could be divinely healed. In an of itself, there is nothing wrong with that, that is a very Biblical idea. Then others came along and built upon that the teachings of "ask and you shall receive" and "give and it will be given back to you" and slowly the focus became on the things of this life, rather than on the things of God. Where exactly things went off the rails can be debated, but the core of it is, people started putting far too much of their focus on the blessings of God, rather than on who God is and what the totality of Scripture says about how a disciple is to live. The subtlety is that while the blessings of God are good, no doubt about it, they are not everything.

How about small things? My dad had an object lesson for me one time (he says he doesn't remember this, btw). I had told a small lie and he had caught me in it. He took my arm and the eraser end of a No. 2 pencil, and he started oh-so-gently rubbing a spot on my forearm with it. At first, you could barely feel it - it certainly wasn't painful. After a few minutes of this however, it started to burn a little bit and turn red and if he would have kept it up, I'm sure that it would have turned into an open sore. This is exactly the idea that Satan uses in 'small things'. He whispers into your ear, "oh come on, it's not that bad, it's just a little _____, no one will know." Or, he will say, "come on, you deserve this, you had a really hard week and you need to take care of yourself." Or, he will say, "you had a good reason for doing it, so-and-so has been so annoying lately and I needed someone to talk about it with - they'll never find out I was talking about them behind their back". For me, he will say something like, "you are sooo tired, you should just stay in bed this morning, get an extra hour of sleep - you can read your Bible and pray later today when you get a break." Folks, I've struggled with smoking for over 10 years - I didn't start out with any addiction to it - it started out as something I did here and there, socially. I've actually quit two different times for over a year. I'm not here to say that I think smoking in sinful (though there may be a case to be made there). My point is, what is at best a very bad habit started out small. Same with pornography. We are lulled to sleep by the things of this world. Pretty soon, we start to justify our actions and behaviors and in those justifications, are the very lies of Satan himself. Here's a quote from the "Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis that speaks to this:

[one demon teaching another demon on how to be effective]

"You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out in the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."

Identifying and rooting out lies, sin and deception in our lives takes a lot of introspection and self-examination (and most likely other people to help us along the way). We have to be willing to look deeply into the motivations behind the things we are doing and into what we believe. Before the last year of theology I studied, I had no idea I was a Supersessionist (someone who believes God has transferred the promises made to Israel, to the Church). Furthermore, I had no idea what the implications of that were in the way I was reading the Bible, in my concept of who God is...none of that, I had no clue. It wasn't until I was willing to deconstruct what I had learned that the Truth became evident to me. Was it sinful to believe what I had believed before? No, I don't think so - but the subtlety was that Supersessionism was affecting how I viewed God and how real and grounded my faith was.

As one example, I was prone to presuming upon Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. I had no idea how seriously God takes sin. I had been fed a steady diet of 'grace' without hearing enough about His 'wrath'. I thought to myself, "eh, God loves me, He will cover my sin, he knows I'm only human." Friends, make no mistake, God is indeed gracious but that type of thinking is a complete lie. In Hebrews 10:26-27, we read that there is no covering for intentional sin. That is to say, there can be no forgiveness for sin that isn't repented of. How can I repent properly if my attitude is flippant towards Jesus' death for my sin? We know that Grace itself wasn't cheap - that it cost Jesus, the Son of the Living God, his very life. Satan has been telling us a lie - getting us to overemphasize God's grace while simultaneously down-playing God's wrath and coming judgement. We should be holding both in the same hand - God is both loving AND just. He is the very embodiment of righteousness and because of that fact, he cannot call something that is evil good. And yet, because of his mercy and goodness, he gives us every moment up until our death or His return to turn, to repent and believe. After that point, however, there are no more chances. The period of amnesty is up and if we did not bend the knee, then we are an enemy of God - you stand accused like everyone else, but with no sacrifice to pay the penalty for your sin. It's either Jesus life, or your life - a price must be paid in order for justice to be served.

As a final example of subtlety - I was considering the question, "how could a good God send people to Hell" and it occurred to me, that it's the wrong question! "Goodness" is a relative term - the question we should be asking is "how can a righteous God allow unrighteousness into his Heavenly Kingdom?" God is good precisely BECAUSE he is righteous. He has been telling us since the beginning of human history that we are neither good nor righteous, and that nothing we can do will make us righteous in His eyes. The only hope we have for righteousness is to put our faith and hope in the one thing that can cover us and make us righteous in God's sight - the blood of His son Jesus. The Good News is that there is a way to be saved! Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life - no one comes to the father except through me." (John 14:6) Jesus is the way - but that also necessarily means that all other paths lead to death.

"The Messiah, you see, while we were still helpless, at the appointed time died for the sake of the ungodly. It is hard enough to imagine someone dying for an upright person; for a good person, maybe, someone might just stir up enough courage to die. God, however, shows the depth of his love for us in the fact that the Messiah himself died for us when? While we were still sinners!" (Romans 5:6-8 BHT)

Another thing that occurred to me was that whether a person lived in 1200BC or 2020AD, we are all fundamentally putting our hope and trust in the same thing. Hear me out - that person who lived in 1200BC was putting their hope in something not seen, but ultimately in God. What is said of Abraham in Genesis 15? "Abraham believed the Lord, and God credited it to him as righteousness." What did he believe God about? That God was going to do for Abraham what He had promised. Abraham put his trust in God, but the key part is that it was God who credited it - it was God who deemed that trust/faith to be righteous. We know a little more history here in 2020AD, but fundamentally, we are in the same boat as Abraham. John 3:16 - a verse memorized by millions reads, "for God so loved the World that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life." We are trusting God that our trust in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross will ultimately be credited to us as righteousness. We are counting on Him to follow through on his promise in that regard, even though we didn't see any of this play out with our own eyes (just as Abraham did not ultimately see the fulfillment of God's promises to him).

I got off the rails a little there - my main point is just a reminder, to both myself and anyone who reads this, that Satan is not new to this game. In fact, he's one of the oldest players in the game and he has mastered the art of subtlety...using things that aren't necessarily bad in and of themselves, and slowly turning them on us in ways that lead to sin.

Forced to Face Mortality

I came across an excellent opinion piece today, authored by an anthropology professor at Wheaton College (my alma mater). She talks about how one of the major things that this pandemic is forcing Western culture to face, is death. I was just thinking about this topic this morning, in a quiet moment of reflection, that most of what I see happening, is an overreaction meant to stave off suffering and/or death...two things which we talk very little about in our culture...neither of which we will ever be successful in preventing or eradicating this side of Jesus' return.

I think it's good to have to face death, to have to think about it and wrestle with it. Death, and thoughts about the finite-ness of our lives, has a way of reminding us to focus on what is important. If you're over the age of 15, chances are good that you have attended at least one funeral and likely many more than one. Some funerals are incredibly sad - especially the ones where people died younger, and you have this sense that they missed out on some life that was left to be lived. Also, you feel intensely for their families, who have to deal with the incredible sense of loss they will feel. Some are more joyous, when the person has lived a long life and are now free of the suffering they had to endure at the end. But whether you are attending the funeral of that younger person, or it is of the ladder kind, a funeral naturally forces you to focus, even if only for a moment, on your own eventual death and if you're an introspective type, that leads you to some self-evaluation.

I dare say we need to think about death more, perhaps much more, than we do. I think one of the big reasons that older people seem so much wiser, aside from years of experience, is that as they have gotten older, they realize they are closer to the end. That realization, I think, helps them put things in perspective. Things that used to seem like a big deal, aren't as much, because their sense of what truly matters has been reoriented. Obviously this doesn't apply to all older folks - some only get more crotchety and rough, but that doesn't seem to describe most.

I enjoyed Dr. Jeske's thoughts on how youth obsessed and how production-obsessed our culture is. I have seen myself get wrapped up in the productivity side of things. It is a very easy trap to fall into. "If some is good, more is better." -- and our culture is only too happy to encourage that type of thinking. Anyway - very good thoughts from Dr. Jeske; alot to think about and consider.

Biblical Fear

When I was growing up, I was taught that the "fear of the Lord" was akin to 'a healthy respect for' or 'reverence for', but I'm starting to question that. The other night, it occurred to me that there are two types of fear mentioned in the Bible; there is a fear which talks about how we relate to God and there is a fear/worry/anxiety about this world or regarding the things of this world. Here are some relevant Scriptures to help me illustrate this:

Matthew 10:28

"Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (NIV)

This, to me, is the clearest passage that distinguishes the difference. Jesus is clearly saying here - do not fear this world because the worst it can do is destroy your physical body, but after that it has no power. God, however, has the power to send you to eternal torment and punishment in hell. If we aren't found in Him on the day when Jesus returns, then we will face His wrath - which certainly merits fear...actual fear.

1 John 4:18-19

"Where there is love there is no reason to be afraid; indeed, love that is blameless drive fear away. Fear, after all, anticipates what? Punishment. If someone fears punishment, he still hasn't been made blameless in love. We love because he first loved us." (Blessed Hope Translation**)

I used to think this was one of those passages that was saying I shouldn't be afraid of God because, "God is love". In reality however, I think it is saying the opposite. I think this is saying that if we live in the Messiah's love, and by that I mean live it out, then we have nothing to fear. But to the one who builds his own Kingdom - to the one who walks around with this "I am awesome" mentality; that person has reason to fear. The verses immediately prior to the passage I quoted highlights this, "Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement..." (1 John 4:16-17) Implied in verse 16 is that if you do not live in love, you do not live in God and God does not live in you. If love is not made complete in you (verse 17), then you do not have reason for confidence on the day of judgement. Jesus even goes on, a few chapters later, to explain what it means to love him. He says, "On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me." (John 14:20-21, Berean Study Bible)

Hebrews 10:26-27

"If we go on sinning deliberately, you see, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice being held in reserve to atone for sins. No, the only thing held in store now is a terrifying dread of judgement and of fire a blazing fury, a fire which is ready God's foes to devour." (Blessed Hope Translation)

"If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, but only a fearful expectation of judgement and raging fire that will consume all adversaries." (NIV)

To me, this verse couples well with Matthew 12:30 - "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters." If we are living in God's love, obeying his commandments and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us holy - then we have nothing to fear, we are "co-heirs with Messiah" (Romans 8:17). If we are being disobedient, however, we are enemies of God and we have only "a terrifying dread of judgement".

Matthew 6:25-27

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?" (NASB)

The things Jesus lists here, food, drink, clothing - they are all things of this world. "Do not fear a lack of basic needs, or make this life all about the things of this world" is basically what he is saying. His summary statement after this is "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and ALL THESE THINGS will be added to you."

Hebrews 13:5-6

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?"

Implied here again is that the world and the things it can do to us; we are not to be afraid of these things.

Another interesting story to consider is that of Adam & Eve. After they ate the forbidden fruit, we read this: "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." (Genesis 3:8-10)
Adam knew that he had broken God's law and he was afraid...and not just a 'reverential fear', but a fear that caused him to literally hide from God. We don't hide from things that we don't have an actual fear of.


I think the bottom-line is that my view of God has been too small. Francis Chan talks about this some in his book "Crazy Love", but that's really is what is comes down to. It makes me think about Job, who sat there and demanded God to give him audience and then God shows up and this is what God says, "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct me! Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? Since you know."" (Job 38:1-5, NASB) Job's response is perfect, he says, "Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to you? I lay my hand on my mouth. Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; even twice, and I will add nothing more." (Job 40:4-5) His breath is literally taken away and you can tell from his response that he now has an appropriate concept of who God is and how unsurpassably great and awesome He is. I need to work on this.

I think fear gets a bad rap - especially spiritual fear. People say that fear is a bad motivator, or that things done out of fear don't last. I don't think that's wrong - but I think fear can be an excellent catalyst for change. I think God's ultimate aim is that we come to love and adore Him and that love will be what motivates our on-going walk with Him (see John 4 above)...but for a lot of people, myself included, the thing that got me on that path towards loving Him was a healthy dose of fear...a kick in the rear, a fire under my butt. It was God saying, "Adam, if you continue in the direction you are going, you will not grow up, you will not mature and the seed of Truth that was planted in you will get choked out and die." It was the 'fearful expectation of judgement' and the realization that I was on a road to destruction.

**A man named Tim Miller, who I have learned a great deal from, recently finished and published his own translation of the New Testament (from the original Greek) and you can access that translation by going to his website, blessedhope.life. He sought to put together a faithful, fully transparent translation and the end result is fantastic, I highly recommend it.

What Are Our Modern Idols?

This whole pandemic situation has left me quite introspective and as normal life has been put on hold and the normal busyness of life has subsided in the wake of social-distancing and shelter-in-place, it has been easier to self examine. Initially, I was quite angry - angry at what I felt (and still feel) was hyperventilation and overreaction, but I couldn't stay in that mode for very long, so my initial feelings of anger subsided into something like acceptance. It's not an idle acceptance, but it is a realization that I cannot change much on my own, so I need to stop being so frustrated by it all. One side-effect of all of this though has been some rarefied mental clarity. I find myself able to think about the big picture of things much more clearly.

The other day, I started thinking about modern idols. Obviously most of us are not walking around making physical idols for ourselves, cast out of some precious material, as in the days of old. No, today's idols are much more subtle, but every bit as misguided. Here are three that I've come up with:

The Idol of Safety
There is no denying, especially now, that we live in a culture that is obsessed with 'safety'. My best evidence of this is the fact that in neighborhoods all across Illinois, they dug up the last square of sidewalk concrete at every intersection to install a "pad" with raised bumps on it in order to prevent people from slipping as they came to stop to wait for traffic to pass...at least I think that's what it intended for. Regardless, the financial cost of doing this had to be incredible while the incidence of injury or death that is saves has to be incalculably small.

The response to COVID-19 has also revealed just how much of an idol safety is. If this is a novel virus (meaning new) which there is no reason to doubt, then everyone is going to get it at some point. All of the social-distancing efforts and shelter-in-place orders were sold as a way to "slow the spread" or "save lives", when in fact, this is a stretch, at best. I see the benefit in not overwhelming hospitals, but this virus will kill exactly as many people as it will kill. That may seem like a tautology, but we do not have cures for viruses - and any vaccine that is developed will likely be fairly ineffective on a broad scale, just as the flu-vaccine is (typically 10-20% effectiveness). We can treat people with viruses, and that may indeed 'save' some small number of lives, but typically, the people who die from viruses are people with co-morbidities or the very old/very young. This virus has been no different - and once the "low-hanging fruit", as one scientist described it, have had the virus, death numbers will drop significantly as the virus encounters healthier people whose immune systems will prove quite formidable. But, I digress. My point is, you aren't any safer in your home than you are outside - and that is true whether you are talking about this virus, or regular daily life. If  you get into a car, you aren't safe. If you're walking down the street, you are not safe - no matter what you do, there are hundreds of things that can kill you - maybe not immediately, but at some point. As the trite saying goes, the death-rate for humanity is 100%. Illness, accident, or evil, something is going to get you. A fear of death and suffering has led to making an idol out of safety - even if that idol is a complete mirage. At the end of the day, it's about control - convincing ourselves that if only we have enough control, we can stop bad things, perhaps even death itself, from happening. It's false. It's empty. It's an idol.

**great verse I thought of after the fact: Matthew 6:27, "Who of you by worrying, can add a single hour to his life?" (BSB)

The Idol of Open Options
I can't claim credit for this one - I first read about it a few months ago in a Gospel Coalition article - but since then, I have seen it over and over. Read the article if you want a full explanation, but in a nutshell, it is this idea that we love not having to commit to anything. The author of the article uses some fairly banal examples - replying 'maybe' to party invitations, always looking for better conversations than the one we're in, etc - but there are some very serious real-life ways in which this plays out, particularly in the life of someone following Messiah Jesus. For example - do we read the Bible and not take some of it's commands at face-value? Let's take 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 which reads, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, not drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." I used to read that and think to myself, "that cannot possibly mean what it says  because I look at pornography every once in awhile and if I'm reading this right, it says that will disqualify me from entering the Kingdom of God" (Heaven). That was me, bowing down to the Idol of Open Options. It very clearly DOES say that people who don't obey what Jesus commanded WILL NOT enter with Him into his Kingdom...and yet my flesh didn't like that and so it sought another way, another option.
Jesus very clearly says, three times in John 14, "If you love me, you will keep My commandments" (verse 15), "whoever has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me" (verse 21) and "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him" (verse 23). There is no "if you feel like it" or "if you keep them most of the time" - it's all or nothing. As Christians, we need to first count the cost (Luke 14:28), and then either decide to be 'all-in' or not in at all. There is no middle, there is no having your cake and eating it too. God's primary commandment is "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength." (Matt. 22:37) There is no alternative. "Having options" is false. It's empty. It's an idol.

The Idol of Community
This could alternatively be called "The Idol of Technology", but most of what our technology centers around today is having or building a sense of community, or connected-ness. I have talked with many parents who have older kids (middle and/or high-school) during this pandemic and they tell me that their kids are 'living' on their cell phones, desperately trying to stay in touch with their friends. I see it in adults too, we can't go out with each other right now, and so we've resorted to endless video calls and the like. Don't get me wrong, humans are relational creatures, and we were created to be in relationship with each other, but I think it has become idol-like in the way, and to the degree which we pursue relationship. I'm not railing so much on actual, messy, real-life relationship, but how we have become obsessed, with the advent of social media, with being 'in the know' about the lives of others without really being involved. There are two sides to this coin, hear me out:

The Observer - I confess, I fall into this category. For me, social media isn't so much about staying 'connected' as much as it is an easy, typically effort-free way of knowing what people are up to. There are many others (usually introverts) like me. I am easily exhausted with having to be "on" in-person, and social media allows me to not have to put forth actual real effort. I can be in touch with someone's life without really having to make much effort.

The Sharer - This is the type of person who uses social media as a means of deriving some kind of self-worth from sharing their lives on Instagram/Facebook/etc. They share the good moments, or they make moments look better than they actually are. This isn't necessarily intentional because, afterall, how lame would social media be if we shared a bunch of mediocre (or sad, bad, depressing) moments every day? But it can lead to a false sense of what life is really like, or it can mask the true feelings of the person sharing. Even more insidiously, the sharer can become dependent on "being seen" (likes, feedback, etc) by his or her community - which substitutes for real relationship. If they receive a lackluster response to something, they begin to feel depressed or less-than.

Some people are combinations of the two types, but those two categories seems to describe most people. Someone cynical once told me, "everyone you know is going to disappoint you at some point". It's true - no human-to-human relationship is flawless or perfect; people are always going to let us down. Either they won't do something we want them to, or they will do something we don't want them to do. When we put human relationships on an inappropriate level, we are substituting the value that God says He has given us and that we have in Him, for false value derived from the acceptance and love of others. It's false. It's empty. It's an idol.


I would love to hear from you if you can think of other modern idols. Some are fairly obvious - we in the West are professional idolaters of entertainment and escapism. I could probably write a book on that, with evidence from my own life. But what are some of the less obvious ones? Things that we perhaps even subconsciously bow down to? In 2 Corinthians 13, Paul calls the believers in Corinth to consistently examine themselves to see if they are "in the faith". In Romans 2, he says that believers should "not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the reviewing of [our] mind." Here is my encouragement to be in regular self-examination of what you are giving yourself to. As John Calvin once said, "The human mind is, so to speak, a perpetual forge of idols."