I was putting my final thoughts together on this article when Pastor Charles L. Worley’s rant against gays and lesbians went viral on the Internet.  Collective outrage and censure rightly followed his merciless rhetoric. 

Worley’s words have aggravated a conversation that was already shrill between gay activists and those who oppose them.  Pastor Worley’s comments have not been helpful in lifting the hate-filled stereotypes leveled against evangelicals by gay activism.

The gay agenda in America has been an incredible success story if gauged by advances in acceptability and influence.  Gay activists Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen reveal the simplicity of their strategy when they wrote ,  “Almost any behavior begins to look normal if you are exposed to enough of it.”

Gay activism has been relentless in pressing the issues throughout culture, and gay ideologies now have permeated virtually every fabric of American life. What is remarkable is how over the last forty years 2 percent of the American population has been able to dictate its agenda on the rest of the nation and virtually marginalize opposition. Yes, it is quite a success story.

Erwin Lutzer was not exaggerating when he wrote, “We cannot list…all of the advances of the gay agenda, except to say that virtually everything they have wanted has come to pass.”

The issue of same-sex marriage is yet another plank in the homosexual agenda, and it is well on its way to national legitimacy.

In the face of these developments, the Church of Jesus Christ has been given a prophetic role in this world which means that we are to stand on biblical authority and proclaim the good news of a crucified and risen redeemer. 

We are also to declare with compassion and conviction that homosexuality, along with adultery, fornication, and all sexual expression outside of monogamous marriage is sinful behavior from which we are to repent.

The advances of the gay agenda, and in particular the same-sex marriage initiative, should be a tremendous wake-up call for the Church. We have a great need to look into the mirror and come to terms with our own sin which has made our witness anything but powerful.

We must admit the gay community has a point when they charge us with hypocrisy as we put on battle regalia against homosexuality and virtually ignore adultery, fornication, pornography, and divorce in the ranks.

The Church’s paralysis by her own immoralities is a call for us to repent first. In 1965, Billy Graham wrote with prophetic insight in World Aflame, “If America does not repent, God will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. When Sodom and Gomorrah became guilty of the same sins that we commit, God judged them with fire and brimstone….we cannot claim to be God’s pets.”

The church, broken over her sin and reliant on the grace of Christ, should respond to the gay agenda with the following biblical strategy:

Compassion

God’s people are to be a redemptive people who have never forgotten how much God has forgiven us. (Luke 7:40-50) We, like the Corinthians before us, have been washed from our sins, and we are called to go and sin no more. (I Corinthians 6:9-11)

Our mission as the Church is not to fix anyone, let alone homosexuals. Our mission is centered in Gospel proclamation.  Christ is the One who redeems our lives from destruction and crowns us with lovingkindness and tender mercy.

Should we not respond with compassion when we learn that 80% of all lesbians have been molested or otherwise mistreated by men?  Should we not have some understanding that through the humiliation and shame brought about by sexual abuse and destructive behaviors that such hurt has fostered same-sex attractions?  Should we not sympathize with those who battle with their sin nature in ways that are different than ours?

The media portrays the homosexual life as a care-free existence, but such is not the case.  Many men and women are trapped in the lifestyle and battle hopelessness in whether there is any way out. Isn’t this an opportunity for the church to extend compassion and hope? May it never be said of us that we have to choose between compassion to homosexuals and opposing same-sex marriage 

Conviction

The church should also show conviction as a part of her prophetic calling.  God’s people must enter into this issue and be informed, and the first order of business is a study of what the Bible actually says about homosexuality.  This is not conviction based upon emotion or what seems right to us. We must be rooted and grounded biblically. True prophets speak God’s word.

Presently, there seems to be a majority of Americans who oppose same-sex marriage, but that should offer little comfort to the church because such support is tepid. We should have no reason to believe that such opposition is driven by biblical conviction, and if it is not anchored there, then public opinion will blow with the wind.

The gay agenda is one of the strongest movements in America, and it is not going away.  A  church without biblical conviction must awaken to her calling.

Courage

And finally, we must have courage to fulfill our prophetic role.  We are on a cultural trajectory that is taking us to a place that we have not gone in the history of our nation.  With the same-sex marriage debate, we are facing the loss of religious freedoms that we have enjoyed from the founding of our country.

We are headed to a place where the church may face lawsuits, fines, or loss of tax exemption status for declaring a biblical message about homosexuality.  However, we must remember that a prophet’s life has always been in danger for speaking truth.

No one knows that better than Alan Chambers who was named “Daniel of the Year” by World magazine last December. This award is bestowed upon a Christian who stands for Christ against ungodly trends.

Chambers is a former homosexual who helps others struggling with same-sex attraction through the ministry of Exodus International.  Through years of an active gay lifestyle, he was gripped by biblical conviction that his behavior was wrong and that Jesus Christ could change his life by helping him overcome the sinful patterns of homosexuality. 

Chambers has now been married for 13 years, and he and his wife have two adopted children.  He has demonstrated great courage in proclaiming that homosexuals can actually change.  In his book Leaving Homosexuality, Chambers wrote, “the opposite of homosexuality isn’t heterosexuality. It’s holiness.”

May God raise up his church for such a time as this and may we assume our prophetic role with tears, conviction, and courage.

(Article to be published in Baptist Message, June 2012)

Some years ago a British farmer bought a large painting from a neighboring farmer for less than four dollars.  He stored it temporarily in his barn. After collecting cobwebs for a number of years it was noticed by his tax consultant who wondered if it might be worth something.  A photograph of the painting was taken and sent to Christie’s, a respected London auction firm.  Surprisingly, he learned that the painting was the work of Thomas Daniell, a highly acclaimed 19^th century artist. The critics had been aware of its existence but its whereabouts had been a mystery for over a century.  The farmer sold that four-dollar painting at an auction for more than $90,000.

Imagine finding something that valuable in a barn?  And yet, we find something of infinitely greater value in the Christmas story.  Jesus Christ was born in a barn and placed in a manger. He is the most valuable gift ever given to humanity.  As he lay in the manger almost no one recognized his worth.

His value is found in that He came to do for us what we could never do for ourselves.  Upon His birth, it was announced that Mary would bear a son and His name would be called “Jesus” (Savior), for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

Alfred Edersheim, Jewish historian and author wrote, “If Jesus Christ did not live, and He was not the Son of God and He is not the Messiah, then there never has been a Messiah and there never will be.”  It has been said of the impact of Jesus Christ that “All armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affect the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.”

Maybe you are struggling to the see the value or the impact of Christ’s birth?  Why is he so valuable and vital to one living in the 21^st century?  The answer is centered on what he did when he came. Through his life, death and resurrection, he has built the only bridge for a wayward, rebellious humanity to be reconciled with our Creator. (I Timothy 2:5)

In him, we come to know God.  Jesus prayed in the final hours of his life, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)  He gives to those who come by faith in him, forgiveness and rescue, peace and purpose, abundance and joy.

The most important gift you could ever receive this Christmas is not anything that may be placed under a tree, but rather what was given long ago and has never been received by many. In Jesus Christ, we find that the greatest gift in the universe—–eternal life, which carries promise of joy now, and forevermore. O come, let us adore Him.

It was G. K. Chesterton who said, “The saddest moment in an atheist’s life comes when they have something for which to be thankful and no one to thank.”  Indeed, God’s blessings are poured out before us in ten thousand ways if we would have eyes to see them.  From the rain to the sun, to the food and water that sustain us, to the loving relationships of our life, all bearing witness to the common grace God bestows on His creation.

It has been observed that if you can read, you possess an ability not known by 1.2 billion of this world’s population. If you woke up with more health than sickness, you are certainly better off than one million people in this world who won’t make it through the week. If you have food, clothes, a roof over your head, and 20 dollars in your pocket, then you are richer than 80% of world.  And, if you own a Bible, you are more blessed than a third of the world who has no access to one.

However, instead of being thankful to God, we tend to be the opposite.  When we have an interruption, an inconvenience, or an irritation, we put God on the witness stand calling into question His goodness.

Even when suffering comes and our world is turned upside down, still we have much for which to be thankful.  The biblical story of Job is breathtaking as we try to absorb his suffering. In the span of a single day, he lost his wealth and all ten of his children.  Job’s words are moving in the wake of his sorrow, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

In the Bible, we find a continued call to cultivate a thankful heart:

Psalm 50:14,23- “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High…He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me.”

Psalm 69:30- “I will praise the name of God with song, and shall magnify Him with thanksgiving.”

Psalm 95:2- “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving.”

I Thessalonians 5:16-18- “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

At the center of biblical thanksgiving is what God has done through Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection stand at the top of the list of all of God’s blessings. For only in Him do we come to know forgiveness and salvation. Little wonder the Apostle Paul declared of Jesus, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Eric Hoffer once said, “The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.”  This Thanksgiving season, would you do an inventory of your blessings? Would you count them one-by-one? Would you take a journey with thanksgiving? I promise you will not be the same, and those around you will notice the difference.

Some attitudes of the heart are so devastating that the Bible goes on record to sound warnings that only a fool would ignore. One such warning concerns the sin of bitterness.  The writer of Hebrews makes this arresting statement, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.” (Heb. 12:15)

Bitterness is a settled anger that refuses to let go of an offense suffered. Such a mindset makes forgiveness and reconciliation unattainable because the offense is nursed and kept warm. With a refusal to forgive, living in peace and harmony with God and others becomes mission impossible.

These noxious weeds of bitterness spring up from the wounds of life, and usually come unannounced: the parent who abused; the teacher who slighted; the business partner who bailed and defrauded; the spouse who betrayed.  Such examples provide fertile ground for bitterness to flourish.

Left unattended, bitterness eats like an acid upon a person’s soul. So tenacious is this root that a bitter person becomes a prisoner of their own making.  They exist in a cell of anger, discouragement, depression, and deception.

Often bitterness champions excuses and justification for the smoldering rage. I was deeply moved some years ago to read the honest confession of one woman who caught her husband in marital unfaithfulness.

“He swore it would never happen again. He begged me to forgive him, but I could not—I would not. I was so bitter and so incapable of swallowing my pride that I could think of nothing but revenge. I was going to make him pay and pay dearly. I’d have my pound of flesh. I filed for divorce, even though my children begged me not to. Even after the divorce, my husband tried for two years to win me back. I refused to have anything to do with him.  All I wanted was to make him pay.  Finally, he gave up and married a lovely young widow with a couple of small children. He began rebuilding his life—without me. I see them occasionally, and he looks so happy. They all do. And here I am—a lonely, miserable woman who allowed her selfish pride and foolish stubbornness to ruin her life.”

Adultery is wrong, and revenge is too.  But without forgiveness, bitterness is all that is left.

What is our hope to live free of the noxious weeds of bitterness?

God’s grace is our hope. We are told in Hebrews, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God.” We must allow God’s gracious scalpel to cut out bitterness and for His love to cauterize our hearts.  The way He works that out is through the power of what Jesus Christ has accomplished through His life, death, and resurrection.

The New Testament continually points us to the One who spoke bitter-free words from the wooden beams of His cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) God’s gracious counsel to us is to, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger….be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

To know Him is to be free indeed!

Jerry Springer has become the buzzword in our culture for trashy, raunchy television. It is a program in which the producers troll the culture for the most deviant behavior, and then bring these shameful, hurtful situations to the television screen showcasing them as entertainment.

Some time ago during a scheduled oil change for my car, I was in the waiting room and caught a brief excerpt of the show.  The topic of the program was twisted, profane and without shame as the theme seemed to capitalize on the ignorance of the guests and the foolishness of the audience.

The Jerry Springer Show represents a genre of television that thrives in our culture. At one time, Mr. Springer’s salary was $6 million a year to host the hour-long anarchy. Such programming seems to flesh out the devastating progression of sin described in Romans 1.

However, let me be clear, my purpose in bringing this up is not to throw rocks at Jerry Springer, or those of his ilk.  I’m not railing against the culture.  As John Piper has wisely stated, “Salt doesn’t mock rotting meat.” They are what they are, and believers are called to be light and salt in a world careening out of control in a downward spiral to destruction.

That being said, my issue is when The Jerry Springer Show comes to the Church of Jesus Christ and takes up residence as acceptable behavior.  My sorrow is when sinful behavior is undisciplined by the Church, even when her Savior has given specific instruction on how sin is to be dealt with among God’s people (Matthew 18:15-20).

We know this is not new. We only need to turn to I Corinthians to see such neglect.

In this letter, the Apostle Paul’s response to the Corinthians was one of indignation.  He takes this congregation to task for their allowance of known and unrepentant immorality, arrogance, and selfishness.

He describes sin in the Corinthian Church as a “leaven” which threatened to permeate the entire batch of dough (I Corinthians 5:6-8).  In speaking to an issue of immorality so out-of-bounds that even the pagan world thought it was horrid, Paul calls this congregation to deal with it lest it spread further.

This vivid illustration of sin teaches us that believers are not allowed to “bury their heads in the sand” and hope sin issues in the Body just go away. Sin doesn’t just go away.  Rather, it spreads like gangrene and causes greater problems and a weakened testimony of God’s saving work through Jesus Christ.

Paul calls the Corinthians to discipline in accord with the teachings of their Savior.  The call is no different for us. The New Testament is not silent regarding church discipline: I Corinthians 5:1-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:11-15; I Timothy 1:18-20; I Timothy 5:19,20; Titus 3:9-11.

If there is clarity, then what is the problem?  Why does there appear to be a slow acceptance by God’s people to these stated truths? Perhaps our hesitancy is the result of being more nourished by the teachings of Dr. Benjamin Spock than the teachings of the New Testament? Maybe we have resigned ourselves to just believing that we’re all sinners and who are we to judge?

Maybe we have ruled out church discipline in Baptist life because of known abuses that have tainted the whole subject in our minds? We remember reading “The Scarlett Letter” in high school and were outraged by how Hester Prynne was treated.

But this rationale flies in the face of New Testament instruction, in that a believer is to be a lifelong repenter. A believer is to understand that our Savior’s dying prayer was that we would sin no more.  Yes, there is a fountain of grace that is greater than all of our sin. However, there is no provision to presume on such amazing grace. The message to every sinner in the New Testament is to turn to Christ and sin no more.

And when that does not happen, we must come to terms with the fact that it is the church’s duty to address it with redemption and restoration as the goal. Unless we are able to declare behavior sinful, and discipline it accordingly, our ability to be light and salt to a world that feeds on Jerry Springer will be minimal indeed.

In fact, left unchecked, “Jerry Springer Show” type behavior will come to church and like the adulterous woman described in Proverbs 30 will say with no shame, “I have done nothing wrong.”

How can we call the culture to repentance if we live with utter disregard for upholding God’s holiness?  We must remember whose we are and that our Lord walks among His lampstand, the Church.  He has called us to be holy, as He is holy.

The Apostle John with striking apocalyptic language speaks of the living, resurrected, enthroned Christ as One whose head and hair are white like wool, like snow, and whose eyes are like a flame of fire. (Revelation 1:14)  He is a holy Savior, and with penetrating gaze He looks into His church and sees everything.

John Dagg, a respected voice in Baptist history once wrote, “When discipline leaves a church, Christ goes with it.” For some that may be just fine, but not for those who see the church as the Bride and Body of Christ.

Recently, I read on the internet that one can get a fake doctor’s excuse for absences.  “Want a day off from work?  No problem.  Want to avoid a test at school?  We’ve got you covered.  Want to avoid a legal proceeding? No sweat. For $15 you can receive your genuine doctor’s excuse that you can print right off of your computer.”  One website made this incredible offer, “We will assign to you a Personal Alibi Specialist available 24 hours a day who will assist you throughout your case.”  A personal alibi coach? What do they do, help you keep your story straight?

As we look around us, we see a colossal slide of integrity in every aspect of life.  From the government, to the corporate world, to the institution of marriage, and even within the ranks of the church, we are witnessing an integrity crisis.

Not surprisingly, the Scripture has much to say about “integrity.”  The word itself is mentioned over twenty-five times in the Old Testament.  The Hebrew word means “wholeness” or “completeness”.  We understand the thrust of the word when we look to mathematics and see that an integer is a whole number, as opposed to a fraction.

This idea emerges from the Bible in that God calls us to integrity, to wholeness. In fact, only those who live in integrity abide in God’s presence and with God’s blessing (Psalm 15:1,2). However, this poses a problem for us, namely, we all face our own integrity crises.  We don’t keep our own resolutions, let alone God’s commands.  Honestly, we are all shot through with integrity breaches.

King David, whose sins of murder and adultery are showcased on the pages of the Bible, was nevertheless a man who pursued integrity even though he had failed miserably at times in his life. In Psalm 101, David declared, “I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.” He further stated that he would set no worthless thing before his eyes and that he would possess a zero tolerance for perversion and deception within the walls of his house.

How do we find our way back when we seem to have lost our way? How do we come to terms with our own failures and lack of integrity?  Nothing seems to drag more stubbornly than a sack of failures. In wrestling with that reality, I find incredible encouragement in John 5 as Jesus Christ said to a man who was crippled, “Do you want to be made whole?”

 In essence, that is the message extended to every one of us through the Gospel.  Like Humpty-dump, we have had a great fall.  But the heart of the Gospel is that God, in His grace, takes our fractured lives, and through the work of His Son begins to rebuild our broken world.

Warren Wiersbe once quipped, “In order to understand integrity, we must first realize that two forces are at work in the world today: 1. God is putting things together, and  2. Sin is tearing things apart.  God wants to make integers, Satan want to make fractions.”

 Which will you be?

Over the last twenty-five years, I am grateful for what seems to me to be a recovery of the foundational truths in Genesis 1-11. Through works as varied as Michael Behe’s Darwin’s Black Box and Ken Ham’s The Lie: Evolution, the evangelical community has experienced a fresh conversation about the historicity and accuracy of the Genesis account.

Obviously in reading Genesis, we are presented with a diametric message to the dogma of Darwinian evolution.  We read of a creation that is not chaotic, but orderly. We discover that Adam and Eve were not accidents emerging from some primordial struggle but were created by the hand of God and in the image of God. We are presented with an historical account of temptation, and the subsequent fall that catapulted the human race into struggle, disease, sorrow and death.  In these foundations, we find our roots as human beings, and we are faced with the reality that we are accountable to our Creator.

These truths presented in Genesis are fundamental to a right understanding of the Gospel and have been jettisoned in the last century for a humanistic, atheistic, evolutionary scheme that does not save and does not deliver.

In processing the story line of Genesis, I find a parallel between Cain’s story in Genesis 4 and the drift of the church and our culture. The account of the first brothers, Cain and Abel, comes as a shock factor because of the close proximity to their parent’s fall. Cain is born with such promise.  It is hard to miss Eve’s expression of hope that this first born son could actually be the promised deliverer of Genesis 3:15, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord,” (4:1)

However, Cain was not the deliverer. In fact, instead of redeeming the race, he committed the first murder and was the first unbeliever. Cain was not persuaded to leave his sinful rage even though God Himself was the evangelist.  Sin does not need rehearsal to be catastrophic, and its pernicious tentacles run deep and fast.  Cain’s life is a sobering reminder to us all that sin is crouching at the door of our lives and that we are responsible before God for how we live.

In this, Cain serves as a portrait of the unbeliever: he offered unacceptable worship; he resented the godly witness of his brother; he rejected God’s counsel and fulfilled the sinful desires of his heart; and he tried to deny his sin before the God who sees everything (Psalm 139).

The text gives one of the saddest commentaries on the tragedy of depravity, “Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.” (4:16) From Cain’s lineage we witness the secular bent of the human heart.  With great humanistic pride, Cain started a family, built a city, and watched his descendents develop into a thriving culture.

Cain’s family line is not a pack of Neanderthals grunting at each other. On the contrary, they are a picture of God’s common grace, God’s goodness even to those who spurn and ignore Him.  Cain and his descendants experienced the joy of a newborn babies. (Genesis 4:17) They enjoyed the conveniences brought about from their creativity and invention. They were moved by the melodies produced by Jubal. (Genesis 4:20-22) They were a developing people making great advances, but without God at the center of their culture, life carried with it a hollow tone and perplexing problems. The cloud that covered them was a manifest pride that would one day bring a worldwide flood.

When God is out, everyone does what is right in his own eyes. The marital pattern established by God between one man and one woman for a lifetime is dismissed for a couple of wives and the introduction of unspeakable problems because of polygamy (Genesis 4:19).

Eventually from Cain’s line we are introduced to Lamech who was the first Gangsta rapper as he boasts of killing a man for wounding him and killing a boy for striking him (Genesis 4:23).  When sin abounds, retaliation goes off the chart. Instead of an eye for an eye, it is an eye for a head.

Cain’s culture sounds all too familiar as we read of the rapid political gains for those wanting to redefine marriage to include homosexual partners.  We also see it in the dishonor of marriage through living together outside of the covenant commitment of marriage (Hebrews 13:4).

With regard to violence, I read of a man last week who killed a priest on the Mississippi gulf coast, stole the priest’s car, and then drove his wife and kids to Disney World for a vacation!  I also read on Twitter of a man overhearing a conversation at a fast food restaurant in which the two in an adjacent booth were discussing which soft drink would be best to use if you were going to poison someone.

The words of Rich Mullins serve as good commentary on Cain’s world and ours,

“We are frail we are fearfully and wonderfully made

Forged in the fires of human passion

Choking on the fumes of selfish rage

And with these our hells and our heavens

So few inches apart

We must be awfully small

And not as strong as we think we are.”

To a humanity that has lost its way, our only hope is to call upon the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:26).  To a Cain culture, what is needed most is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Do not let it be true of you that you followed in the way of Cain.  For God has spoken to us in these last days through His Son, let us look to Him for all things.

Our country will turn 235 years old on Monday. What an amazing story the United States of America has been on the stage of world history. For those who have eyes to see, God’s providential hand has moved mightily in establishing and sustaining arguably the greatest nation in the history of the world.

When I travel internationally, in contradistinction to the anti-American sentiment which fills the media, it is amazing to see the response of many who would do anything to live and have a U.S. citizenship. It is moving and very comforting to me when returning to the U.S. to hear “Welcome Home” from the immigration officials.

Our country has served as a refuge of hope for millions.   Emma Lazarus wrote of this refuge in words found at the Statue of Liberty:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Certainly, there is a sense pride and gratitude for the blessings of this land. Only an ingrate would deny the riches of opportunity and resources that have been afforded us.  The follower of Jesus Christ should use the freedoms given to make much of the Gospel and mobilize the church to take the Good News to the ends of the earth as we were commanded to do.

As wonderful as is it is to have a United States citizenship, there is citizenship that trumps them all. We read of it from the pen of the Apostle Paul who wrote that for the believer in Jesus Christ we have entered a Kingdom that is eternal, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20)

While nations rise and fall, there is a citizenship that is eternal and comes by virtue of a new birth. Are you a citizen of heaven?  Have you come to see your true spiritual condition in that because of your sins you are estranged from the living God and therefore are under His judgment (John 3:36)?

Salvation is beautifully pictured as the turning from the dregs of one’s sin and finding refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Colossians 1:13,14)  This amazing salvation is a miraculous work of God. (John 3:1-16)

The centerpiece of this salvation is a monument that brings the greatest hope and refuge weary pilgrims could ever need. It is not the Statue of Liberty. It is the Cross where Jesus died. It was on those wooden beams that history is literally nailed together. He stretched out his arms and died willingly to redeem sinners, and through Him, and Him alone, one is delivered from the domain of darkness, and transferred with full citizenship into His Kingdom.

His power to deliver and bestow an eternal citizenship is rooted in the fact that not only did He die, but three days later He rose from the dead and He is coming to this earth again.

His call is to those who have ears to hear, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)  Come to Him by faith, trusting in His saving promises, and find rest for your soul and a hope in which there is no disappointment. (I Peter 2:6b)

Do you have an enemy? One who has expressed great hatred toward you? One who intends to bring injury to you? Like the Apostle Paul, do you have an Alexander the coppersmith in your life’s work who is committed to your misery (2 Timothy 4:14)? If you do, maybe you are struggling with what obedience to Christ looks like in the face of such adversity?

Charles H. Spurgeon once gave the following counsel, “Get a friend to tell you your faults, or better still, welcome an enemy who will watch you keenly and sting you savagely. What a blessing such an irritating critic will be to a wise man, what an intolerable nuisance to a fool! “

At first glance this doesn’t sit well.  Spurgeon sounds like a masochist who enjoys arming his enemies in order for them to inflict personal pain. This counsel seems on its head because enemies are those we want removed from our lives. We want them silenced, not mobilized. They disturb our sleep. They disrupt the equilibrium of our days. Surely, because of the pain they bring, God does not want us to have them?

However, we can mistakenly think that enemies are solely the work of the devil, when in reality they come from God’s gracious hand to show us our sin, teach us humility, and drive us to seek the face of God.  God uses enemies in a Romans 8:28 fashion for the purpose of conforming us into the image of the One who has many enemies.

Paul’s account of the thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12 is a good example. This thorn was not a little thorn found on a rose bush.  Paul is describing a wooden stake and the excruciating pain that comes from being impaled by such a sharp instrument.

He described this stake as “a messenger of Satan.”  While much speculation has been given on what the thorn was, I think the most compelling explanation is a person in the Corinthian church bent on undermining and destroying Paul’s labor in the church.

Three times he asked for relief, and the request was met with a “No” from heaven.  The comfort given to Paul was that God’s grace was sufficient for this agonizing pain, and that God intended to manifest His strength through Paul’s weakness.

Could it be that the most powerful witness God wants to bring forth in our lives is through our response and treatment of an enemy?  With that question in mind, the counsel of Scripture seems clear on the treatment of an enemy:

We are to Love and Pray for Them

This is difficult when the words and actions of our critics come like a wrecking ball. It is hard to love when you know the ultimate goal of an adversary is to put you and your family on the street.  But that is precisely the calling for the Christ follower. (Matthew 5:44)

This is not a pacifist posture. Loving and praying for an enemy does not exclude rebuke,  accountability for reckless and unlawful conduct, or application of church discipline which would include removal. Neither does it exclude distancing yourself from him. (Proverbs 22:24; Prov. 14:7)

The call is to guard your heart and mind from the noxious weeds of bitterness, so that if he is hungry or thirsty you are ready to minister to him. (Romans 12:19-21) This is supernatural living because, honestly, an enemy can very easily lead us to imprecatory prayers where Psalm 139:21,22 flows freely, “I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies,” and Matthew 5:44, which instructs us to love and pray for them…. well, no so much.

Proverbs gives strong words about our attitude toward enemies, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; or the Lord will see it and be displeased, and turn His anger away from him.” (Proverbs 24:17)

Sometimes opportunities to do good breakdown because it is no longer possible to have civil conversation with an enemy.  Some things are so messy that we may have to conclude that the conflict, as much as we would like to be reconciled, will have to be worked out at the judgment seat.  Even so, as much as it depends upon us we will pursue peace and truth and love.

We are to Learn and Receive from Them

A study of King David’s life is amazing on a number of fronts. From the obscurity of a shepherd boy to national prominence through his slaying of Goliath, his life was far from dull.  He was a man of great skill, courage and warfare, and yet he was also known as the sweet poet and singer of Israel.

In his ascension to the throne of Israel, David seemed to be a magnet for enemies.  Many of the psalms express the excruciating pain inflicted by his foes and a plea for God’s deliverance.  The Lord was to David a refuge and the one who prepared a table before him in the presence of his enemies.

In 2 Samuel 16, King David with full authority could have ended the life of a man named Shimei who cursed the King severely.  Shimei said to David, “Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed, and worthless fellow!” (16:7)  In hearing this, Abishai said to David, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over now, and cut off his head.”

David’s response is remarkable, “If the Lord has told him, ‘Curse David, then who shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’…Let him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him. Perhaps the Lord will look on my affliction and return good to me instead of his cursing this day.” (16:9-12)

David made strong connection that his adversary was from the Lord, and he found comfort in trusting God with it all.  We know later that David gave instruction to Solomon regarding Shimei (1 Kings 2:8,9), but on this day David received the verbal blows of his enemy as from the Lord, and therefore it was for his good as he sought comfort in God alone.

The reality is that when an enemy dies none of Satan dies.  Oh, his day is coming for sure, but not yet. We must remember that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We daily struggle with the triumvirate of this world’s system, the devil, and our personal sin.

The call of God upon our lives is to live radically which includes loving our enemies and doing good to them.

A Father’s Day Prayer

Dr. James B. Law

June 19, 2011

Dear Heavenly Father,

In the Book of Psalms we read, “How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.” We pray on this Father’s Day that You would raise up men of God whose hearts are touched with heaven’s fire. Men who pursue what You love and flee from what You hate. Men of God,

Who know and love the Lord with all of their heart,

Who treasure Your Word and apply it to their lives;

Who love their wives as Christ loved the Church,

Who nurture their children through godly example, teaching and love;

Who glory in the Cross and Your matchless grace,

Who, when they fail they would run to You not away from you.

Who are patient and kind and generous and good, just like You;

Who model servant leadership in their homes as well as in Your church,

Who are men of integrity and live with no secrets,

Who are men of vision and courage and sacrifice;

Who mentor their children, grandchildren and younger generations to live

for Christ in this world.

Who fight the good fight and who finish the course, and on that day when they stand before You, they would hear you say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Today, O Lord, we ask that you would do such a work in the fathers and the men among us.  We pray these things in the Name that is above every name, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Psalm 112:1-10; Jeremiah 20:9; Jeremiah 9:23-24; Matthew 22:37-39; Psalm 119:9-11; Ephesians 5:25; 6:4; I Corinthians 13:4-8; Joshua 1:1-9; 2 Timothy 4:7; I John 2:15-17; Matthew 25:14-30)