March 15, 2023
Leadership Notes
I’ve started working on the April 2, Palm Sunday, message. We’ll be up to James 4 then. In the ESV translation, the fourth chapter has the heading, WARNING AGAINST WORLDLINESS. How do we live in the world without being of the world? How far should we “go along to get along?” When do we push back? What does pushing back look like? Upon what grounds do we push back against a wicked and corrupt culture? These are important questions.
The answer is easily apparent with some issues. In an abortion-friendly culture, we are a Right-to-Life church in a Right-to-Life denomination. It was unfathomable to me how we could do so much to protect people from Covid-19, yet treat the unborn so cavalierly. To quote the late, great R.C. Sproul, “What is wrong with you people?”
To paraphrase the Bible, we are strangers living in a strange land. While I’d never take the Amish route, sometimes it feels mighty tempting. School districts in large metropolitan regions are doing away with heteronormative examples in teaching while embracing a non-binary worldview. I’m still trying to wrap my wee little brain around the alphabet of sexual preferences and practices we’re supposed welcome. It seems like something new pops up every week. Am I sounding old and cranky?
In celebrating women’s lives and achievements, our culture is now including men who identify as women. One competitive weightlifting tournament will probably have to allow people with “XY” chromosomes to compete in the women’s division. I guess our most recent Supreme Court justice was right…who can say what a woman is? Strange times, indeed.
What about money and investments? The Bible says, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” Sorry, Pink Floyd, money isn’t the root, but love of money. Jesus never condemned money or earning money or spending money. The Bible only has a problem with money when we idolize it rather than see it as a tool for serving God. Yet, here we are, sometimes driven by a culture of consumerism and materialism. Tough sledding, indeed.
Related to that, in a not so distant way, is politics. I cannot even begin to picture what a proposed $6.8 trillion budget looks like. Politicians and bureaucrats have lost their minds. But what can we do? Can we refuse to participate in their madness? We are in the world, and the IRS demands that we also be of the world. Avoidable? Yes, but, if that, then with consequences.
Putting all cynicism aside {which is not a spiritual gift…I checked}, I see politics as an organized criminal enterprise. When I see the massive proposed budget – cue money printing presses – I think again about R.C. Sproul. The thing is, it’s not that we don’t pay enough taxes. It’s that the government spends too much money. And they hold a proverbial gun to taxpayers bank accounts. Who knows what future generations will face?
How do we think about these things? Where do we find the reasonable and rational spaces in which to live our lives?
Clifton Duncan is an actor and early non-adopter of Covid mandates, lockdowns, and vaccines. Here’s something he said that I keep handy whenever I need to maintain perspective:
“I didn’t vote for Trump, but was perturbed when people wished
for him to catch the virus {and, presumably, die}.”
“I didn’t vote for Biden, but when he came down with the virus I
was concerned, because his age is a real problem.”
“DON’T LET POLITICS USURP YOUR HUMANITY.”
Sometimes it feels like the world is moving too fast. That’s when I thank God for this church in one of the finest states of the Union, filled with people who love God, love Jesus, love the Holy Spirit, and express that love through honest worship, loving each other, and helping people in our community. I couldn’t ask for a better place through which to live out my Christian faith.
With Much Love and Affection,
Richard