Stand for Compassion, Part 2

In writing today's blog I'm writing to myself as much as to anyone else. I recently took a friend's word for granted and posted something on Facebook related to John Stossell leaving ABC that contained both truth and error because I got caught up in the heat of the moment, trusted a friend, and didn't do due diligence. Something in our nature causes us to see opponents as enemies--bad guys (and of course, we're always the good guys, at least in our eyes). In reality we should not see every opponent as an enemy. Sometimes an opponent is simply someone who differs from us in some point of belief or practice. But they enemy or opponent, we, as Christians, should treat them with the same compassion. Somehow we forget that in the heat of political debates. Right now there is a major political debate in the United States over whether we will remain a free republic that values and honors the rights of the people and the states or become a socialist state where everything is made subservient to a centralized government. To be sure, such a transformation would not be done all at once. How could it? But the general direction of our federal government has been in this direction since the administration of Franklin Roosevelt.

My purpose here is not to debate the political developments themselves but to look at how Christians should demonstrate compassion toward their political opponents in this kind of cultural environment. The political left stands against virtually everything that most Evangelicals believe is both biblical and right. They stand against traditional marriage. They stand against the rights of parents to discipline their children and raise them as they see fit. They stand against life, preferring the culture of death with their support of euthanasia and abortion. They stand against smaller, limited government and individual freedom. They stand against the full and free public exercise of religion, at least traditional Christianity. How ought Christians respond to this?

Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, as was noted in yesterday's blog. Paul, in 1 Timothy 2: 2 enjoined the believers of his day to pray for the king. Who was the king? He was a Roman emperor and a pagan. He was an enemy of the faith. Christians need to engage their human enemies first by praying for them, realizing that those who oppose the faith are under the control of the true Enemy from whom they need to be set free. Pray first that God will open their eyes to the truth. Pray that God's will for the nation will prevail over the evil intentions of sinful men. Then, with genuine and unselfish love engage them in informed and meaningful debate on the issues of the day, but always do so with respect. Never engage them in a vindictive spirit. Above all remember that they are fallen human beings in need of God's mercy and grace every bit as much as you are. Only God's grace separates you from them. Pray that God's grace will bring them to where you are. Pray for their conversion and for God to open their eyes. In so doing you will take a stand for genuine Christian compassion.

Stand for Christian Compassion

How do you respond to someone who maliciously attacks you? How do you respond to someone you believe is a danger or threat to society? How do you respond to a drug addict or someone addicted to pornography or gambling? Most of us, sadly, do not respond to these situations and persons in a way that is biblical. Often we strike back at those who hurt us. Those whom we see as a threat to society we want to see removed from power or locked up, and we leave it at that. In short, we fall victim ourselves to a judgmental attitude. But how ought we to respond?

Jesus said, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you" (Matt 5: 44, ESV). Where does Christian compassion begin? How can you and I find it in ourselves to model before the world the heart of God toward the lost and enslaved in sin a winsome compassion that draws them to Christ?

Many years ago, while preparing a sermon on John 11: 35, "Jesus wept," I came across a definition of compassion somewhere that went like this: "Pity moved to action." It's one thing to pity someone in a terrible plight. It's another to do something about it. Down here in the South we often say "Bless his heart," which is just another way of saying "poor thing". It's an expression of pity. But it's not compassionate. This week I'm going to look at ways you and I can show compassion to those who would seek to do us harm and those who are trapped in bondage and need the liberty that only Christ can give. I'm going to look at ways to see others as Christ sees them and as he saw us in our need of salvation. I'm going to look at ways to treat others as Christ treated us and continues to treat us--with undeserved love. This week I want to explore what it means to stand for compassion--pity moved to action.

Take a Stand for True Liberty, Part 5

So what makes liberty work is the disciplined, responsible exercise of freedom. Why is that so hard for us? It requires a Christian worldview for that kind of liberty to flourish. Without the proper worldview liberty will degenerate into the selfish, me centered licentiousness we are seeing in American society today.

We're having trouble maintaining liberty today and tottering on the brink of totalitarianism precisely because we, as a nation, have lost our moral compass. We've given up the biblical concept of human sinfulness that must be curbed with God-ordained laws because they seem to us to be restrictive to our desires, and we've exchanged it for a concept that says we're all moving toward becoming better and better people by virtue of some kind of biological and social evolution. The problem is that evolution has no basis for an objective ethic beyond what benefits the self. This reinforces a certain selfish tendency in our fallen human nature and feeds the further deterioration of the fabric of society. When that happens people begin to feel insecure, and history is replete with stories of whole nations selling themselves into servitude in exchange for security.

What has been called the "American Experiment" is on the verge of failure because our nation's political and intellectual leaders in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries cut us loose from the worldview that made that experiment viable. For the most part our churches are so compromised and infected with the worldview of our surrounding society that we're not even in a position to try to call the nation back. What is needed is a repentance in the churches on a massive scale. God's people must forsake every vestige of the prevailing worldview and live their lives before God and the world as a counter-cultural revolution of devotion to him and his will before we can even begin to think of calling the nation back. "Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12: 2, ESV). Forsake the selfish way of "me" first and embrace God's way as revealed in the Bible and take a stand for true liberty.

Take a Stand for True Liberty, Part 4

If the difference between liberty and freedom is the difference between disciplined responsibility and licentiousness, then how can Christians tap in and reinforce disciplined responsibility in their own lives and in the lives of their children?

Several great organizations are available for Christians to become involved with that will help. Of course, you will always want to start with a solid, Bible believing and Christ following church. I'm not talking about a group of people who get together and "play" church on Sunday with a little singing, a little prayer, and a vacuous sermon devoid of any real meat. I'm talking about a church that takes discipleship seriously and lives the Great Commission as well as the Great Commandment. If your church isn't focused on the glory of God through worship, evangelism, and spiritual growth, then become an agent of change in the place where God has planted you or look for another church. The kind of church that makes a difference is a church that has a heart for God and humanity. It is a church where church discipline matters. At the same time, it is a church that is not legalistic but compassionate, helping fallen human beings become more Christlike.

Another great place to plug in is with the Boy Scouts of America. Here is an organization that focuses on duty to God and country, others, and one's self. The BSA recognizes, along with its founder, Lord Baden-Powell, that it is impossible to instill moral virtue in young people without a belief in God. What is needed is more committed Christians involved in Boy Scouts, bringing a Christian perspective to the Scouting experiences of young people. Yes, there is a place for young ladies in Scouting. The BSA has two organizations that are coed, Venturing Crews and Explorer Scouts. For more information on how you can be involved contact your local Scout council (to find your local council visit http://www.scouting.org). You may also want to visit the Association of Baptists for Scouting website at http://www.baptistscouters.org.

Yet another great organization just for young ladies is the American Heritage Girls. This organization, which now has a formal relationship with the Boy Scouts of America, is a Christian organization intent on raising up young women of virtue, trained in traditional family values and a Christian worldview. AHG provides programming for girls from kindergarten through senior high school. For more information about AHG visit http://www.ahgonline.org.

Take a Stand for True Liberty, Part 3

Yesterday I wrote about the importance, the necessity of legislating morality. Today I want to address the issue of taking responsibility. Freedom without responsibility is not liberty. It is license. What seems to be lacking most in our culture today in regard to personal conduct is a sense of moral responsibility for our choices and our actions. Everyone is looking for someone else to blame for why he or she did this or that. If you can't find someone to blame, then simply say, "It's none of your business what I do." At any rate the sense of personal responsibility, of accepting the consequences for our actions, seems lost on people today.

Responsibility requires discipline, and discipline is something we don't like. Discipline means curbing our natural desires and wants for the good of others around us. Our society has been told for a generation or more that you can "have it your way." It is the mantra of advertising. It was the choice method of child-rearing for a generation. Negotiate with that child. Work out a deal. The harsh reality is that actions have consequences. If you raise a generation of undisciplined children you will reap an adult generation of undisciplined whiners and cheats. And that is what seems to have happened in our nation. Our whole society has become dysfunctional as a result of abandoning time proven methods of rearing children in a way that built an orderly, cohesive society.

It is time for Christians to get back to fundamentals for living. The first thing that needs to be stressed is moral responsibility for one's actions. Churches need to hold members accountable when they sin or imbibe heresy. Parents need to discipline children and teach them the benefits of hard work, solid study, and careful thinking. Christians need to do more than believe the right things. We need to do the right things, modeling for society what liberty looks like. By living responsible, disciplined lives you will take a stand for liberty.

Take a Stand for True Liberty, Part 2

In our area we had a very prominent political figure and recently elected mayor convicted of sixty counts of receiving bribes and corruption. This was a Bible quoting mayor, too. I commented on it hearing the announcement on the radio in our car and my son said, "Is bribery wrong Dad?" I said, "Yes, son, it is." That set me to thinking about where our concept that bribery is wrong came from. It didn't come from Roman Law, as did much of our legal inheritance, for the ancient Romans were notorious as rulers for accepting bribes. One case in point comes from the New Testament itself, in Acts 24: 26, where Felix was noted as hoping to receive a "gift" from Paul in exchange for his freedom.

So where does the Western legal system's criminalization of bribery come from? Exodus 23: 8 says, "You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just" (NASB). The notion that bribery is wrong comes to our legal system by way of the Hebrew Scriptures. The logic of it is clear: Bribery undermines trust in the legal system and makes it possible for those with means to get their way against those who have less.

Does this somehow establish a joining of "church and state" because the origins of our proscription of bribery derives from the Bible? No, because there is no implicit endorsement of any one religion in it. Is the forbidding of bribery an attempt to legislate morality? Yes. Laws, when at their best, are legislating morality, whether in the form of forbidding murder, theft, bribery, prostitution, etc. Without such laws society would descend rapidly into sheer anarchy. Christians should never shrink from engaging the foolishness of the catch-phrase of our day--"you can't legislate morality". Engage that kind of thinking with keen logic and show the logical conclusion of a society without objective moral foundations. In so doing you will take a stand for true liberty.

Take a Stand for True Liberty, Part 1

Liberty and freedom are key terms in the American experience and the American consciousness. Everyone thinks they know what these words mean. Many people seem to think the words are interchangeable, too. It seems to me, however, that there is a nuanced difference between the two words. In my mind, when I think of "freedom", I think of the raw power of choice to do this or that. But when I think of "liberty" I think of the responsible use of freedom--choices bounded by a moral compass or a legal code that is supported by an objective morality. Of course, this runs counter to most current thought today. The Enlightenment helped create the American ethos of liberty and freedom, but it contained within it the germ of its own demise. Freedom without an object morality is acidic, and over time it will destroy the worldview fabric that holds a people together. The Founding Fathers of the United States understood this and understood the need for a biblical morality as a basis for social conduct. Morality, to them, was not merely a social contract to behave a certain way.

This week I want to explore the importance of a biblically informed ethic as foundational to a healthy society. This does not mean a joining of church and state, as some think. It does mean legislating morality, but that is what laws are actually intended to do anyway. Those who cry against such a thing are simply asking for social and moral anarchy and a schizophrenic legal code that makes no sense.

I will also explore ways that Christians, everyday believers, can impact society in a positive way with a biblically informed ethic. The question if not "How should we do it?" or "Can we do it?" but "Will we do it?" Will you take a stand for true liberty?