Daniel Darling's Blog, page 77

What You Don’t Like About Your Church (And why that’s good)

I have this conversation quite often with members of my church and with believers outside of my church. It is usually sparked by a discussion of something this person doesn’t like about our church or about the church they attend.

Now, let’s assume the disagreement is not related to doctrinal purity, moral integrity, authoritarian abuse (issues I believe are grounds for leaving a church). Let’s also assume this is a gospel-preaching, Word-saturated, bible-believing church. Let’s also assume the disagreement is not over a 2nd-tier issue that is not orthodoxy, but valid reason when choosing a church (mode of baptism, denomination, etc). So we’re dealing with issues of preference.

This is what I tell people who tell me there is something about our church they don’t like or about their church they don’t like: “Good.”

It’s good that you’re involved with a local body of believers with whom you have disagreements and varying preferences. Why? Because that is the whole idea of God calling out and gathering together His local body. We come together, not because we agree on everything and have the same preferences, but because, despite our disagreements, we are united in Christ.

I often say to people and have preached in messages before this statement, “I don’t like everything in our church. And this is good, because if everything here was geared to what I like, it would be great for me, but not-so-great for the other members.” And so it is with you.

Chances are there is something on Sunday mornings you’d like to see differently. Perhaps you like danishes instead of donuts. Or you’d rather sing hymns than songs written since 1990. Perhaps you’re more of an organ person than a guitar person. Or you really hate the color of the lobby walls.

Good! A resounding, spirit-filled good! You’re continued presence at this church indicates you’re willing to lay aside your preferences, sacrifices your pet peeves for the good of Christ’s body. And it proves that you’re not simply going to church to have all of your senses tickled, but to use your gifts to serve God’s people.

When leadership structures a church in such a way that it meets all the pastor’s preferences, it creates a personality-driven church. But when the pastor is willing to lay aside some of his preferences for the good of the people he serves, God is glorified and the people are blessed.

When the people who attend a church stomp their feet and demand certain things at church be their way, it sows division in the church, hurts the pastor, and ultimately undermines the gospel mission to the community. But when people come to church and get involved, even though there are very real things at church they don’t like, they are making a profound statement that God’s work and God’s people are more important than their preferences.

This must be an intentional attitude, because we live in a culture of American consumerism. We can pick and choose churches, not based on anything important but our own pet likes and dislikes. I’m not discounting the importance of church culture, family atmosphere, etc. But ultimately, our role as a Christian is to participate in the local body of believers, to serve with our gifts, and to glorify Christ corporately. When we make our church choices based on personal preferences, we idolize what is unimportant and marginalize gospel witness.

It strikes me that these choices would be irrelevant in many places around the world. I was in Eastern Europe this year where there are very few, gospel-preaching evangelical churches. So if you are a missionary or a Christian in that area, you’re choices are few and you suddenly aren’t as concerned about the coffee and the guitar and the color of the walls. You’re just happy to find people of faith nearby with whom you can fellowship and serve.

So, if there is something about your church you dislike, consider it an opportunity to sacrifice for the greater good of the body.

The Lincoln Movie and the Importance of Racial Reconciliation

I’m not a critic, so you won’t often mind substantive, intelligent movie reviews. I do enjoy cinema, however and occassionally a movie comes along that is more than something to pass time while eating popcorn. Movies like this are conversation starters. “Did you see it? If not, you must!” Movies like this stay with you long after you’ve viewed them. They make you think.

Lincoln, by Stephen Spielberg, is such a movie. I had the chance to see it last week and was profoundly moved.

What’s so interesting about viewing a movie about our 16th President is that we already know so much about him. In a sense, Lincoln is an icon, he’s a caricature, he’s a mythical figure. Towns and streets across the country bear his name. Volumes upon volumes have been written about him. He’s on our currency. His historical greatness is so enshrined in our conciousness that there is virtually no movement anywhere that would not hesitate to attach their cause to him.

And yet, it is something to actually see a human Abraham Lincoln. This is what Spielberg’s movie has given us. Of course there have been many film adaptations of his life and Lincoln impersonators are as easy to find as Elvis ones. And yet nothing has come as close to portraying for us, in the flesh, the real Abraham Lincoln as Daniel Day Lewis’ brilliant role. The cinematography  the dialogue, the music, the poignant scenes make the movie-goer feel as if he is really experiencing the life and times of this great man.

For me, the most powerful message of this movie is the idea of racial reconciliation. It’s hard to believe now, but 150 or so years ago, people in this country were enslaved, considered half-human simply because of the color of their skin. And Lincoln stood against this when it wasn’t popular, when it inequality was more passe than equality. Lincoln didn’t come to the anti-slavery position as a matter of political pragmatism. It was a deeply held belief, one that he felt deep in his heart and soul. And he pushed hard to defeat slavery, both with the passage of the 13th Amendment and in defeating the South in the Civil War.

When I watched this movie, I was struck by two things: First, it seems God raises up men of courage for certain times. Lincoln was clearly one of these men. It seems he was put on this earth to both hold together the United States as a country and to liberate generations of people previously enslaved. Of course he didn’t see full civil rights accomplished, but the 13 amendement became the Constitutional basis by which future gains were achieved. And then, his life was taken prematurely. It’s as if he finished his work and then passed from the earth. Historians disagree on the exact nature of his faith–some think he may have become more evangelical in the White House. Others disagree. Regardless, his life is an example for believers in that Lincoln possessed both the courage of his convictions and the moderate temperament to make a difference.

Secondly, the film reminded me just how far America has come in terms of racial reconciliation. There is still much work to do, of course, but consider that 150 years later, we have sitting in the White House an African American president. That’s no small thing and something even those who disagree with the President’s policies should celebrate. Racial reconciliation is as much at the heart of God as any other cultural issue. When the races come together it’s a porthole into Heaven. Revelation 21-22 describes the Kingdom as every race, tribe, and tongue gathering to worship Jesus. Churches should be at the forefront of this work and in their congregations should model in part what the Kingdom will eventually be.

I highly recommend Spielberg’s Lincoln. It’s a beautiful, historic, inspiring movie all Americans should see. And for Christians, a good reminder that God’s people should always be on the side of justice, regardless of the success of our efforts.

Three Pitfalls for Young Evangelical Leaders

I’m young. I’m an evangelical. And I’m a leader (at least of my family, my church, and in some disconnected sense, to my small audience of readers). It’s exciting to be a leader, but it’s also sobering and carries many responsibilities.

As I interact and read some of the work of the evangelicals in my generation I’m noticing some tendencies. I notice them in my own leadership and in the leadership of others. Here are the three that concern me most:

1) The tendency to caricature those with whom we disagree.

Tim Keller has a saying that goes something like this, “The way to charitably argue with someone is to present their argument in the best possible light.” I’m not sure I got that quote right, but it’s close. The point is this. If you disagree with someone, its best to disagree with the actual substance of their argument, not a straw man we can easily knock down. One of the temptations of young leaders is to lazily run with the caricature of someone with whom we disagree. It happens in all kinds of arguments.

We do this for two reasons: 1) It makes our argument look more reasonable and 2) It makes for a cheap applause line. But there are long-term ramifications of the straw man. For one thing, it promotes intellectual laziness. We end up training a generation of people who believe things, not because they are true, worthy, and right, but because they were taught that the opposing argument is unreasonable or scary. Secondly, it promotes disunity in the Church. Mockery and ad-hominem attacks don’t convince anyone except the converted and only sow divisions in Christ’s body. We ought to be able to present our case without having to tear down the opposing person or movement. Otherwise we may not be as firm in our position as we thought we were.

2) The tendency to think “we are the rising movement that will correct all errors.”

There is a sense of triumphalism that hurts the work of young evangelical leaders. It’s this sense that our parents’ generation was totally out to lunch, that they were backward, intolerant, and unthinking. Thankfully, the world has us, who will finally patch all the holes (or supposed holes) in Christianity. This sounds arrogant, but a form of this idea is appearing in more and more books I’m reading. So you have a new theological idea and instead of just presenting the case, it is presented like this, “Most of the Church believes this, but they have really been wrong for 2,000 years. Finally we have this.” Or you have a new methodological idea and rather than presenting some creative new approach, it has be like this, “Most churches are doing church this way and it’s inffective. We need to do it this way . . .” There is a certain hubris that thinks it is “our generation” that will finally get things right. I read in Scripture something different, where God says He “resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, “(James 4:16; 1 Peter 1:5; Proverbs 3:34).

There is something wonderful about new ideas, new arguments, new approaches. But let’s not, as a generation, be so arrogant to think that we have something our fathers didn’t have. The truth is that the generation after us will probably have it’s list of errors our generation of the Church made. Instead, let’s respect and honor the generations before us, even as we adapt and adjust our ministry to the 21st Century.

3) The overuse of the “haters gonna hate” meme.

Nobody likes to receive criticism and even the most thick-skinned leader is wounded by it. And the more successful you are, the more criticism will be lofted your way. Thankfully, I’ve not had to endure what many more gifted and prominent leaders have in terms of public and stinging rebukes. I’m not sure how I’d handle those. It seems, though, that there is a tendnecy among some young, successful, evangelicals leaders to shut out all criticism. Perhaps they’ve been wounded by the trolls and nasty people who offer less than gracious rebuke. But I think it’s a mistake to shut it all out and to adopt a finger-in-the-ear response. Sometimes there is value in the criticism we are hearing. Sometimes the person issuing it is not a “hater”, but a lover, who wishes to see our ministry grow and prosper and for peoples’ lives to be changed. Furthermore, establishing an echo-chamber of leadership will, over the long haul, lead to a dangerous church culture. There does need to be a filter and not all voices need to be heeded, but we also need to be as wise as King David, who had the temerity to listen when the prophet Nathan pointed the finger at him and said, “You are the man.” I wonder how many evangelical leaders have men in their lives who have the authority to say that to them. Or would they respond, “Well, haters gonna hate. I’m serving Jesus”?

What We Really Should Be Teaching Our Kids

Last Thursday, during the Thanksgiving meal we hosted at our house, my son, Daniel Jr (age 4) had an epic meltdown over a superheros costume. My brother, Tim, was the recipient of much of this. After dealing with Daniel’s tantrum, we both went our way, sharing times with our family members, eating more pie, and watching football. About 30 minutes later, something wonderful happened. My son, Daniel voluntarily walked up to my brother, Tim and said, “Uncle Tim, I’m sorry for my attitude before. Will you forgive me?”

Nobody forced Daniel to do this. He just did it. For me, it was a proud moment as a father. Because it tells me that Daniel is learning one of most important lessons in life: How to apologize when you have wronged someone.

It seems to me that Christian parenting can often be so caught up in behavior modification that we forget to instill in our kids the real and important things they will need to live a healthy spiritual life. The tools for dealing with their own sin. Because, brace yourrself parents, our kids will sin. They will sin today and they will sin for the rest of their lives. Hopefully they will come to faith in Christ and experience His sanctifying work so that they sin less. But as fallen creatures, they will sin.

Sadly, much of our parenting techniques miss this important point. We parent as if we can actually iron out sin, as if we could just stumble onto the right system so that we’ll produce perfect little angels. In doing this, we rob our children of the most important truths they will need to succeed: the reality of the gospel.

You see, it is good that we have rules and laws in our homes. After all the law was originally given by God as an act of grace toward his children. And good parents demonstrate their love for their own children by having laws. Not running in the street is a pretty good law that protects their welfare.

However, if we are only about law and talk and model and enforce nothing of the gospel, we are crippling our children. We are giving them no mechanism for dealing with the inevitability of their own sin. I think much of this is the due to the tragic misapplication of Proverbs 22:6 (Train up a child in the way he should go . . . ) which is a proverb of wisdom, not a promise of perfection for kids.

We must, as parents, embed the gospel in our parenting. We must first evangelize them so they come to Jesus in repentance and faith. Then, we must teach them to apply the gospel in their lives: the vital cycle of repentance and forgiveness. In other words, we must teach them to live life as it really is, not as we often wish it would be.

We all know the dangers of a lawless, boundary-less household. But we seldom think about the impact on kids of a childhood that sees no grace. Parenting simply fixated on behavior modification–with  no gospel-based mechanism for dealing with sin, failure, and weakness–has two equally devastating effects. Kids either reject the legalism of the law and live a miserable life with no boundaries or they embrace a lethal mixture of Phariseeism and perfectionism, holding themselves to an impossible standard and thumbing their nose at anyone who doesn’t live up to their standard.In both cases, you have children who are shocked by their ability to sin and have no idea where to go with it.

The point is this. We are not simply training our kids to be good kids. We are modeling for them the relationship God has with us. We’re introducing them to Christ, who is their sin-bearer, the champion has defeated sin and death, and their only way of victory over sin.

A parenting model that focuses only on right behaviors, at the expense of the gospel, is a parenting model that treats every offense as Armageddon, that is horrified and surprised when their little angels commit sin. It’s a parenting model that ruins parents with dangerous introspection (what did I do wrong). It’s a parenting model based on fear, not faith.

But, a parenting model that features a mix of grace and law looks much different. It applies and enforces God’s law in the home, but introduces the concepts of grace, repentance, and sanctification. And what it celebrates is not necessarily little Johnny’s ability to not throw tantrums, but little Johnny’s voluntary expressions of remorse and repentance afterword.

Celebrating 10 Great Years

Ten years ago, today, I held hands and looked into the eyes of a beautiful girl from Texas named Angela Sullivan.  I didn’t know much, but I knew I was in love with this girl. I fell in love with her beauty, her vivacious, sweet spirit, her love for the Lord and her zest for life. I thought I knew what marriages would be like, but I didn’t have a clue, really.

It’s been ten years, ten of the best, richest, most satisfying years of my life. This girl I married, Angela, has enriched my life in so many ways. She’s taught me how to be a good husband. She’s pushed me to be a good father. She’s given me four beautiful children.

We’ve been through some gut-wrenching trials together. We’ve endured the loss of loved ones. We’ve been betrayed by close and trusted friends. We’ve hurt so deeply we didn’t know if we could go on.We’ve endured excruciating health crises.

We’ve seen the Lord work in incredible ways. We’ve grown together. We’ve witnessed miracles.

We’ve wept together. We’ve laughed together. We’ve created many memories together.

The Bible describes marriage as a mystery. And it truly is. Two vastly different people, hearts knit together in love. I honestly say that today I’m more in love with Angela than I was the day we said our vows and became man and wife. These years have been rich, they’ve been wonderful. I thank God for the gift of my wife. I’m a better man for the ten years I’ve spent with Angela.

My prayer is for another ten years with her. And then another ten and another ten and another ten until we are both so old we can’t hardly move and our teeth are gone. When she is not present in the room, I feel like a part of me is missing. Her faith, her courage, her giftedness was exactly what God knew I needed.

In 2002, we spent our first Thanksgiving in clueless bliss at an Italian restaurant in a lighthouse in Aruba. Ten years later, we’ll spend it with a houseful of children. Who knows what the next ten years will bring. By God’s grace, it will be with Angela by my side. Thank you God, for this beautiful gift I don’t deserve.

Twenty Random Things I’m Thankful For in 2012

I love Thanksgiving. Here are twenty random things in no certain order that I’m thankful for:

1)     I’m thankful for Angela, my beautiful wife of ten years (tomorrow is my anniversary). I’m the luckiest man alive. But more on that tomorrow.

2)    I’m thankful for my four children, Grace, Daniel, Emma, Lily. Each is so uniquely different and yet so precious.

3)    I’m thankful for my family: parents who raised me in the Lord and have always loved me, my brother Tim, my sister Laura and how they have enriched my life.

4)    I’m thankful for Billy Graham, whose ministry helped bring my father to Christ.

5)    I’m thankful for the Church. I’m thankful for my church. I’m thankful to serve as a pastor.

6)    I’m thankful to live in the 21st Century with technology like my iPhone, my Macbook, Twitter, GPS, and other such things. I don’t pine to live in some other era like the 1950′s. God put me in this age at this time. And so I like it.

7)    I’m grateful for good, deep, rich, wonderful friendships that last the test of time.

8)    I’m grateful for annoying people, trials, and character-building things I hate but that God sends for my sanctification.

9)    I’m grateful for coffee, for the delightful Mexican restaurant near our house: Grande Jakes, for Netflix, for Frasier, and for thrift shops where I can buy quality shirts for $3.00.

10)  I’m grateful for good books, for a love of reading, for men like Tim Keller, Mark Buchanan, Randy Newman, Max Lucado, D.A. Carson and other Christian leaders and authors who have inspired me.

11)  I’m grateful for Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where I’m studying for an Mdiv.

12)  I’m grateful for my assistant pastor, Jay Lovelace and his wife Cheyenne.

13)  I’m grateful for Amazon.com and especially Amazon Prime.

14)  I’m grateful for Ginger Kolbaba, who published my very first piece of published work, for Andrea Mullins, who published my first four books, for the guys at Crosswalk.com who continue to give me a platform, and for anyone who has ever published a piece of my writing.

15)  I’m grateful for Tamela Hancock Murray, my literary agent who has helped me get published.

16)  I’m grateful for insurance companies, good health care, air conditioning, and Diet Mountain Dew Red.

17)  I’m grateful for email, texting, podcasting, and fantasy football.

18)  I’m grateful to live in Chicago, to live in the United States of America, and for the opportunity to travel to other countries and see the world as it really is.

19)  I’m grateful for Trevin Wax, Tim Challies, Kevin DeYoung, the Gospel Coalition, Aaron Armstrong, Michael Hyatt, Paul Tautges, and the host of other blogs I follow.

Shouldn’t Gratitude Should Be Our First Language?

Yeah, yeah, of course we’re supposed to be thankful on Thanksgiving. But it occurs to me that we’re not very good at this. By we, I don’t mean the editorial “we” by which I’m pointing the finger at the rest of Americans for being ungrateful while I ignore my own ingratitude. By we I don’t mean the “Church” by which I think the problem is the rest of those ungrateful brothers and sisters in the Lord while I silently pretend I’m not full of unhealthy entitlement.

No, I’m talking about me and my own ingratitude. And of all people, shouldn’t it be me that’s the most thankful? Whose first language is one of thanksgiving? After all, it’s me who was sovereignly chosen to salvation, who was brought from death to life by the mercy of God at the cross. It’s me who is the recipient of God’s resurrection power, giving me new life, endowing me with the Holy Spirit, gifting me to serve God, and securing a beautiful eternal city where I’ll dwell with God forever.

It occurs to me that, of all who should be grateful, Christians are at the front of the line. And yet it is us–it is me–who are the least grateful. We belly ache about the state of our country, posting our beefs on Facebook and Twitter, muttering them at the coffee shop and the water cooler. We complain about our jobs, our marriages, our children, our in-laws. We rail against the faults of the Church worldwide, the church local, and that cranky old neighbor next door. When we’ve exhausted these complaints, we moan about the weather.

But our lips should resound with praise. Of all people, we who have been touched by the gospel, should know the depths from which we were rescued. We, of all people should recognize the simple gifts of beauty from a gracious God. Sunlight, oxygen, green grass, rows of harvested corn, breath, blood, life, and community. We, of all people, should enjoy the fruits of American prosperity: political stability, food, order, money, iPhones, clean shirts, education, books, coffee, and a warm coat.

God’s people should speak first the language of gratitude. We should treasure, rather than bemoan, our closest relationships. We should overlook rather than highlight the flaws of those we love. We should embrace, rather than run away from, hard work and accomplishment and purpose.

I wonder the effect on our culture if Christians first simply expressed the unadulterated joy of a man in prison: The Apostle Paul. Where others would complain, he said, “Rejoice.” Where others would give up hope, he said, “I’m content.” Where others would rail at God, he said, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”

Imagine the impact if this attitude prevailed among God’s people. Imagine the impact if it simply prevailed in me.

The careless soul receives the Father’s gifts as if it were a way things had of dropping into his hand yet is he ever complaining, as if someone were accountable for the checks which meet him at every turn. For the good that comes to him, he gives no thanks—who is there to thank? At the disappointments that befall him he grumbles—there must be someone to blame!- George MacDonald

The Gospel Versus Nostalgia

This summer I had the privilege of travelling to Eastern Europe to attend my brother’s wedding. His wife, Annette, is a native of Krakow, Poland. After the wedding, I continued on to Slovakia to visit missionaries we support near Bratislavia. Jason and Adele Rice and their three young boys have just got to the field and are busy learning the language and culture of Slovakia.

There is something about the mindset of an overseas missionary that would be good for us American Christians to learn. It struck me that missionaries don’t go into a country and try to change the entire governmental structure all at once. That’s not even on their agenda.Over time, their work may lead to positive changes in the country’s culture (See Hudson Taylor, William Carey, Adoniram Judson). But missionaries don’t complain about a country’s culture, but seek to minister in it as it is.

I wonder if American Christians need to start thinking of themselves as missionaries in their own cultures. We’ve had the privilege of growing up in a country that at least acknowledged Christianity even if it was in a national, generalist, fuzzy form. In other words, in America, we generally have gotten back pats and attaboy’s for being Christians. We are accustomed to that so much that when the greeter at Walmart doesn’t automatically belt out a rendition of “Silent Night” after scanning our items, we throw up our hands in horror at the new “War on Christmas.” Most of the Right’s “War on Christmas” meme is hyperbole. But it acknowledges a reality we must get used to if we are going to take the Great Commission seriously: we are missionaries in a culture that is less supportive of biblical Christianity.

We can respond to this reality in two ways: a) We can operate out of fear and continue to try to “take our country back” or b) we can recognize what the Bible recognizes: followers of Christ will always be a misunderstood minority. We’re missionaries. And missionaries don’t complain about the culture they are called to serve. They simple learn the culture and get busy faithfully sharing the good news of the gospel.

What kills our witness is nostalgia. Nostalgia, I’m afraid, is against the gospel. Nostalgia says that there was once a time, maybe its the 1950′s, where we got everything right and America was golden. Nostalgia says, “This is the worst time ever. Sin has never been more rampant.” I can’t tell you how many books I read that appeal to this. There are statistics about how many marriages failed in the early 20th century compared to now, as if adultery and sexual sin are a new invention. But then I open my Bible and find that the same sins that plague us in the 21st century plagued the very first generation of humanity. There was brother-on-brother murder in the second generation. And the pages of Genesis, pre-Flood, read like a transcript of the Jerry Springer show. And consider the book of Judges. Consider the sins the book of Romans describes. Consider Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthian church.

The point is this: sin has always been rampant among humans. There was never a golden age where life was all beautiful. Why do we think this way? Personally I think there is a part of us that longs for utopia–and tries in vain to create it here on earth. Perhaps its our sorrow at being kicked out of Eden and our longing for the eternal home of Heaven.

Here’s how the gospel differs from nostalgia. The gospel instructs us to look back, but not to the Eden we’re missing or to some mythical golden era, but to the cross, where sin and death were defeated, where the enemy of our souls was crushed once and for all. The gospel is always pointing us, not backward, but forward. Hebrews reminds us that we are a people who are not looking backward, but forward to a “city whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10).”

We can learn from other eras, we should drink deeply from history, we should imbibe the best of the Reformers, the Puritans, the ancient church fathers. But we must always seek to bring the gospel to today’s world, to live missionally in the culture that is not lament a culture gone by.

Because real missionaries don’t complain about the country that isn’t, but serve the country that is.

Five Responses to President Obama’s Relection

Much has already been written and said by conservative Christians in response to President Obama’s reelection. I found the reflections of Al Mohler and Russell Moore to be among the best. Needless to say, most evangelicals are disappointed that Mitt Romney didn’t win. So where do we go from here? I’m suggesting five responses:

1) Honor and Pray for President Obama (1 Peter 2:2; 1 Timothy 2:17) 

Seriously, the command to both honor the President and pray for him is not optional for followers of Christ. The election is over. The votes have been counted (well, probably not all of them!). So now our job as believers is to pray for God to move in the heart of our President and lead us with moral conviction, courage, and grace.

2) Relax (2 Timothy 1:7)

Elections are dramatic, tense moments in American life. They’ve always been that way. And if you’re on the losing side, you fear America becoming what the grainy, ominous 30-second ads said America would be if your guy lost. Relax. God has not given us the spirit of fear. We don’t place our ultimate hope in a President, but in a King whose authority is not challenged and whose coming reign is sure. And we know that we will never find utopia on earth until the King consumates His kingdom. So relax. If Christians under Nero could trust God, you can surely trust God under a Democratic president, right? If Christians in China and Sudan and Saudi Arabia could bravely live out their faith, I’m thinking we’ll be just fine. America is still a great place to live. People are literally dying to get in here.

3) Don’t be ashamed for standing up for your principles, even if you lost (1 Corinthians 15:58)

I voted for Mitt Romney based on three issues: sanctity of life, sanctity of marriage, and free-market principles which I believe better alleviate poverty. I didn’t agree with him on every issue. But I lost. However, I don’t feel badly about voting the way I did. Christians should be wary of over-involvement in politics, but we should never be afraid to stand up for what we believe is right. This is one way we love our neighbors and our communities and our countries. In the end, if we were on the side of justice (prolife) and we lost, at least we were on the right side. I don’t believe this labor on behalf of the defenseless is in vain.

4) Dispense with the doomsday stuff

One thing I’d like to see Christians abandon is the doomsday prediction business. Like clockwork, every time a politician who doesn’t embrace our values gets elected, we churn out lots of poorly written apocalyptic doomsday books. Want to get a good chuckle? Read one of these from the 90′s. You’ll find that most of the doomsday scenarios didn’t happen. Let’s find creative ways to engage on the issues about which we care, to write thoughtfully about vexing social problems, but retain the blessed hope of the gospel through it all. I’m not saying we should adopt Joel Olsteen’s positive gospel of nothing, but let’s also not be merchants of fear. Let’s point people to the eternal hope of the King.

5) Realize that most of the best culture-changing work happens outside of politics. 

Elections are important. Good leaders are vital for a thriving society. But politics is not the only means of affecting change. In fact, my next book will be on this very topic. Together with my friends, Dillon Burroughs and Dan King, we put together a book that addresses 12 key cultural issues (abortion, the environment, poverty, etc) and ways individual Christians and churches can make a difference. Consider abortion. I’m grieved that President Obama will likely appoint two Supreme Court justices who will likely ensure that Roe versus Wade is affirmed. I wish that heinous law was overturned yesterday. And yet, I can actually save babies from being killed by supporting my local crisis center. In fact, what if all the wasted money wealthy conservatives through at Super Pac ads was redirected at establishing more of these very effective crisis centers? We may not need new laws restricting abortion because girls would choose life. This is just one example where ordinary people of faith can get involved, right now, in their local communities. So if you are hacked off about the way the election went, roll up your sleeves, get involved in your local church and in local organizations making a difference. Christians are not called to serve the world they wish existed, but the world that is. Let’s get involved in applying the gospel to the brokenness of our very fallen world. 

 

The Sin About Which No One Will Speak

Envy is like a fly that passes all the body’s sounder parts, and dwells upon the sores. 

There is a sin that nobody in our world really wants to discuss. It’s the fashionable sin, that fuels our great social movements and has become an engine of our politics.

It’s the sin of envy. We love to talk about greed. I mean if you google the word, “greed” you’ll get a thousands sermons, news articles, political speeches, blog posts, etc. We assume that anyone who is wealthy is greedy, simply because we attach greed to success as if the poor can’t have bad attitude about money.

Now, to be sure, greed is a horrific problem. And there are some in positions of power and wealth who have money as their god. But greed’s cousin, envy, is just as powerful a master, only it is disguised in more noble clothing. Envy masquerades as populism. Just listen to some of the way we talk today. If a certain CEO makes a lot of money, we call it injustice because WE can’t have it. If a politician is in a position of power, we hate him because he is where he is and I am where I’m at. If a popular pastor gets more popular, we have to go digging for doctrinal sins so discredit him and thereby bring him to our level. We can’t abide someone else having something we don’t have.

Envy is an insidious sin. And yet we don’t preach about it. We don’t warn of it’s dangers. Instead, we let it have its reign in our culture, because it drives our economy. Watch the commercials on prime-time TV. What is at the heart of every single one? Is it not envy? Is it not the lie that “You deserve this new thing. You’ve worked hard. Why shouldn’t you have what others have?”

As followers of Jesus, we should rightly eschew greed. And we should promote justice, we should get our hands dirty and serve the poor. We should work hard to alleviate human suffering. But we must make sure envy doesn’t fuel our activism. We must ensure that we are not preaching a false gospel to the downtrodden that says: “God has been unfair to you. Others have what you don’t have. Jesus will even the score.”

The real gospel offers something richer than envy. It offers new and abundant life in Christ. It offers a hope that transcends the cheap, plastic euphoria that earthly possessions promise. It offers God Himself, in the Person of Jesus. It offers an “eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:7). When we get to Heaven, no blood-bought, ransomed sinner will every say, “Wasn’t it a shame I didn’t have as much money as Bill Gates?” No, likely, we’ll say, “Can you believe we longed for such fleeting idols?”

Let’s not stop preaching against greed. But let’s also not forget to preach against envy. Let’s be glad for the wealth God has granted to others. Let’s be thankful for what we have, whether great or small. Let’s welcome the rich into our churches without assuming they are criminals. Let’s give our money to the poor without attaching the soul-destroying bacteria of envy. Let’s find our pleasure in Jesus only. Let’s point people to that pleasure and not temporary pleasures in other’s possessions.

Yes, let’s ask the Spirit to eradicate this sin, the one about which no one will speak.