So what changed my mind? I'll tell you. Today, I'm angry. Maybe angry isn't quite the right word. I'm disappointed, heartbroken, outraged. With everything that's going on with ISIS and the attacks on Paris, it's easy to understand. The attacks on France were a tragedy, and I feel overwhelmed with sadness for the people affected, but my anger isn't directed where you would think. I'm not angry at the people who did these things. I'm not angry at God for letting them happen. I'm not even angry at the devil for the evil he stirs up. No. I'm angry at the church.
I've seen several posts today on social media about why America should close its borders and not allow Syrian refugees in, why Obama has failed us all, and how, if he continues to fail, our country is doomed.
Our country...
Here's my first problem. I'm so grateful to live in this country, to enjoy the freedoms I have. I owe a debt I can never repay to every man and woman who has sacrificed so much, sometimes their lives, to protect me and my family, to ensure that freedom. But, and this is where I will lose some of you, my primary allegiance is to the kingdom of God, and they are NOT the same thing. Not even close.
Why don't you want Syrian refugees to come to our country? Because terrorists may come with them. Yes. They likely will. So we need our president to say 'no' to refugees, to protect us. We need our country to take a stand against evil, right?
This past Sunday, my pastor had another perfectly timed word from God. He preached about the demon possessed man in Mark chapter 5. It goes something like this:
1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
And I can hear the people in the town crying, "Kill him! Don't let him live in those tombs right by our town! What if he comes into the town in the night and kills our children?"
I found myself wondering who it was who went out and chained him. My guess is the leaders of the town, because of the cries of the people. It was their duty to protect their town, right? But what did they really accomplish? The chains held the man, and everyone was safe for all time, right?
Oh, wait, I just read it again. It said the chains could NOT hold him. "NO ONE was strong enough to subdue him." And I ask myself, who is strong enough to subdue ISIS? Who is strong enough to subdue the shooters across America? Is the answer what most people think: Give us guns and send away the refugees? Of course that isn't the answer. "No one was strong enough to hold him." So let's read more:
6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
My pastor said it best, so I'll steal from him. He said, we are called to do as Jesus did, to deal with the people who no one else will go near. To heal the leper, to touch the unclean, to love the unlovable. Everyone in town fled from this man, but Jesus knew the power of the Most High God was in Him, and He had nothing to fear, because the power in Him was greater than the power in that man. So he went toward this man. He didn't run away. And this is how it ended:
15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons,sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
So, Jesus healed the man and the whole town rose up in a great cheer and put on a parade in Jesus' honor. Oh, wrong again. Jesus restored this man to his right mind, dealt with the threat that no one else could. saved a life no one else cared to save, and they were still afraid? So wait, nothing changed? Now, instead of fearing the power of this man, they feared the power of Jesus?
If I'm reading this right, the kind of people who cry out for the man to be sent away and killed will live in fear their entire lives, because even when one threat is finally dealt with, another will take its place. The lost will always be afraid, because there is so much to fear. But what have we to fear?
Psalm 27
Of David.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
Or do we open our arms and our hearts as God has called us to do? Do we walk toward the violent, broken people of this world. Do we stand in the face of evil and say 'My God is bigger!' Maybe common sense says we take care of our own nation, fight for our freedom, our safety. But as for me? I am not afraid. Let the refugees come. Let them live in my state, in my city, in my neighborhood. Let them move in next door, and open an opportunity, Lord, for me to reach the unreachable, to love the broken, to speak in power and see lives healed, demons flee in the name of Jesus! My allegiance is to the kingdom of God above all else, and my duty is to love with an open heart and open arms, trusting my God for the rest.
So stop! Stop crying out to the government to save you! Stop reaching for your guns and locking your doors tight! All this fear says one thing, your God isn't big enough. His power is insufficient. Why else would you flee? Why else would you tremble in the face of evil? So stand, people of God! Be so full of the Spirit of God that the demons tremble. Walk toward the darkness, and command it to flee. Live by faith, as we are called to do. If you don't know how, or feel you aren't there yet, then find someone who is there and learn from them. Read the word of God, fast, pray, do whatever it takes, because this is a war, but not against flesh and blood, and we are, each of us, soldiers. So take up your sword and shield and stand! Because "No one is strong enough to subdue him." But the power of God is more than enough. Because the government will not save us. Jesus came to save us. Because the power in us is the ONLY thing that will change this world, that will save the lost, the broken, the violent, the lonely, the hurting. We are the only ones with the answer.
Awesome message. A hard one to preach in this day and age but right on the mark. And so true that whatever fear we use to justify turning our back on the lost and broken will only be replaced by a new fear if that one is vanquished.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty neutral on the larger issue, but I disagree with a lot of this.
ReplyDeleteWe can help Syrian refugees, and Sierra Leonan orphans, and Japanese widows, and South Sudanese children, and the whole wide world in need and in pain, in a number of different ways. There is no choice between (a) inviting tens of thousands of unknown individuals into our country and (b) abandoning the needy. It's not fair to pretend that there is. And it's not fair to imply that those who question the wisdom of the former are all doing so out of fear, doubt, or selfishness.
It's not necessary for me to personally feed every homeless person on the streets of my city in order for me to help them. It's certainly not necessary for me to invite each of them (or even one of them!) into my sons' rooms to sleep. God created life to exist within boundaries, and an absence of respect for healthy boundaries destroys that life. See here. Do you have a lock on your door? Do you have a door on your bedroom? Do you allow anyone who asks to come into your house and sleep there, eat there, or use your resources? Why not take all of this a step farther and move to eastern Syria and open up a footwashing stand to minister to ISIS?
The fact that your primary allegiance is to the kingdom of God shouldn't lead you to ignore the consequences of what you do. Your allegiance is to God over your family too, yet you shouldn't invite a paroled rapist to live in your home. This isn't because the power of God is insufficient to protect you or your family; it's because it's not necessary to try to prove your faith in that power by taking stupid risks that endanger those you're called -- above all others -- to shepherd. (Note that I'm not saying these situations are equivalent.) God is not a magic cloak that keeps you and those you love from harm. He gave us brains for a reason. And when you say your "duty is to love with an open heart and open arms, trusting my God for the rest," that doesn't and shouldn't mean that you give up the right to agree to how you put that love into practice, just because someone asks you for something.
ReplyDelete"Do we do what is best for our country and turn those refugees away? Do we protect our people, our families, our children?"
The first question isn't really fair (and I don't have an answer), so I'm going to ignore it.
The second question, on the other hand, is yes, yes, one thousand times yes. Protecting the innocent is one of the highest callings we have as Christians and as humans. And what you seem to miss is that we are called to DO BOTH -- to protect your family AND to love the poor and destitute. How do we do that? Well, it's different for everyone, but if we want it to be successful, it had better include clear, healthy, and wise boundaries. We have to be able to say no sometimes, and we have to understand that doing so is not an abrogation of our duty to love or our trust in God -- sometimes it's the best way to put our love into practice.
We have limited resources, and we are finite creatures. We can't do it all. And we're not required to do all that is asked of us. One sign that we probably shouldn't do a particular thing that is asked of us is when it puts at risk one of our fundamental jobs. If my job demands that I miss dinner with my children or weekends at home, then I should question whether that job is right for me. If my church wants me out every night in "ministry," but the result is neglecting my primary mission field in the home, something is wrong. And when the poor and needy, however innocent, need help, I can choose to help them in a way that doesn't put my country or family at risk -- without being lectured for my insensitivity and faithlessness.
Whether to admit these refugees is a complicated question, and I respect some of the reasoning on both sides. What I can't abide is the idea that the Gospel somehow obligates us to do whatever people ask of us, on the theory that God will take care of us, so we shouldn't worry about "common sense" or taking care of our safety. That's not Biblical and it's not right.
For me the issue is that 911 changed us in a lot of ways, some good and some bad. One bad way that it changed us is that many Christians who were Christians first and Americans second have flipped and now put their allegiance and connections to this world above the Kingdom of God. Under the impulse of patriotism and fueled by a fear for our own safety and security we appear to have completely thrown away the Bible in how we deal with these threats. I love Rachel's reasoning from that text that when the power of God does vanquish the threat we just run off screaming that the sky is falling over the next threat. And incidentally, being this last outbreak comes from the Paris incident, how many of those attackers were Syrian? Any? Not that I have heard.
ReplyDeleteI am not as comfortable as you assigning motivations to people who disagree with me. As I have tried to show, someone could disagree with your opinion on this issue without being controlled by fear, drunk on patriotism, or ignorant of the Bible.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, one of the Paris attackers had a Syrian passport and had recently emigrated through Greece. It doesn't have much to do with my point though.
I am not assigning motivations to people who disagree with me I'm commenting on how I see Christians acting with a complete disregard for whether they agree with me or not. If people identify as Christian I think they should at least make an effort to stop in the midst of this mad mob rushing to kill every Muslim and close our borders to every refugee and ask "Should I be part of this?" You're a good man and a Christian and I think somehow you interpret my comments as being directed to you, which they are not. When I scroll through my news feed and see professing Christians tallying up the States that have banned refugees (50%at last count) and advocating the death of all Muslims- not an exaggeration- I can't help but wonder where this all leads. Are we here to fight with bombs and guns to establish the Kingdom of God? No. Is it OK to leave that calling to run after the mob who wants to do those things in the name of patriotism? Not for me, no.
ReplyDeleteI'm just curious. What does your news feed look like? Is it not filled with posts that seem filled with fear and rage from professing Christians? If so, does that not seem strange to you? Maybe we just have a significantly different group of friends on FB.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I'm not seeing those sorts of posts at all. Today I've seen two posts in support of taking refugees from liberal atheist friends, and three posts (counting yours that led me here) in support of taking refugees from Christians. The only post I recall that spoke against it was from a distant acquaintance, religion unknown, who shared a news story about Bobby Jindal's executive order in Louisiana.
ReplyDeleteMy news feed is also filled with fear and hatred, and that is where this comes from. Should we throw all caution to the wind and invite all unsavory types into our homes? No. But should we live in fear that those unsavory types might live next door and thus make choices based solely on those fears? Also no. I stand by my words. All I see is people afraid, placing their Allegiance to the government above their allegiance to God, but if that hasn't been your experience, than I'm glad! It means there are still plenty of people out there with the right perspective. And if God tells me to invite those unsavory types into my home, I most certainly will obey and trust Him. I never want to be so afraid that I don't heed His voice. Discernment is important, but maintaining an open heart and a love for the world is also important.
ReplyDeleteOkay. I'm at my computer now with a bit more time, and I wanted to elaborate a little. In fairness, this was a hastily written post with frequent interruptions from a cranky toddler, so I'm sure it could have been worded better. I think the real issue is that I was covering two topics at once. The first was that fear is dangerous. Nothing earthly can ever vanquish our fear, and regardless of what our government decides to do about the refugees, shooters across the country, violence against police, or any other threat that raises its head, we should walk in faith, not fear. I think we can all agree to that.
ReplyDeleteThe second point, which I fully expect you and many others to disagree with, is that the church has integrated far too much with the nation of America. I am always careful to make it known that I am grateful for our country, but it's like being a guest in someone's home. It's not my home. I am only there for a little while. Let's say you are staying with a stranger who opened their home to you for a while, and they decide to remodel. Maybe you have lived there a long time, maybe decades. Maybe you feel like you should have a say in the remodel, so you start making suggestions, you get angry when they decide to take a few inches from the closet in your room for the home theater. But, it's not really your room, right? I'm not saying take no part in this government, but in the grand scheme of things, it's their house. I couldn't care less what they do with it. I will absolutely oppose abortion to the bitter end, for example, but I also understand that it is not the government's job to reach the lost. It's mine. I'd much rather find one woman in need and offer her help and the Gospel.
I know many, many Christians who are outraged daily(and that is not an exaggeration) because our nation is no longer a Christian nation. Well, that's because Jesus never came to establish a worldly kingdom. Just like the Jews who hoped Jesus would come, drive out the Romans, free them, and establish a glorious kingdom on Earth, many Christians expect America to be the kingdom of God. But it's just some stranger's house who I am grateful has taken me in for a while until I go to my real home. I don't have much invested in it, so I refuse to be disappointed when it doesn't look the way I want. Looking for America to be the kingdom of God, to legislate morality, to take care of the broken and needy so they don't have to, that is what makes me so angry.
How much (or little) you invest in our country is up to you. I firmly believe God calls Christian men and women to be politicians, to be in leadership, and I am grateful for that. But that is their calling, not the duty of all Christians. And even though they can affect good change, it will still never be a Christian nation, and shouldn't be! Show me one time in history that having a nation legislate Christianity ended well. There are much more important things for us to do, and I am tired of seeing many Christians wait around for the government to do their job. I actually heard a man once argue that he had no obligation to help the poor because some of his tax money was helping them already. Is that really the kind of heart we should have?
So there's my point. When I see Christians crying out to the government to close our borders from fear, it makes me angry. And here is where the crossroads of our faith and our patriotism comes in that I mentioned. I'm not asking you to invite a rapist into your home, or go wash the feet of ISIS members. I think it's a bit ridiculous, and frankly over dramatic for you to make such a leap. What I am talking about is the heart! Is it right for us to cry out in fear 'Turn all refugees away lest a few of them are terrorists!'? Do I have any idea what the nation of America should do? Nope, no clue, and that's not what I'm talking about. But as a Christian, I know living in fear, sending all refugees away, and hating all Muslims is wrong. As a Christian, I know I can't live in fear. And what about closing other borders? I've heard a lot of Christians rant about 'all those illegals' ruining our nation. I don't care one way or another what our nation decides about the issue. It's not my house. And I do understand the need for boundaries. We can't let them all in. But here's the crossroad! My brain says we need to limit those immigrating. Fine, let the government do that. But God says I need to have an open and loving heart. I (personally) can't focus on what the government should do, because it may conflict with what God has called me to do. He has given me, in particular, as a part of my calling, a heart for those type of people. He has spoken to me, as a command for my heart, that it is wrong to take a stand against immigration. Because my heart has to be in the right place. Now, if you are one of the men and women who have to actually make that decision, by all means focus on it! It's your job, maybe your calling, to make the hard decisions. But the idea that we should close all borders, send all those in need away, is against everything I have read in the Bible. The extreme of closing off our hearts and homes to ALL who are in need just in case one of them is a rapist or murderer is absurd! God gives us wisdom and discernment to know when we should say no. And if you are a young Christian and unsure, ask someone who is more mature in the Lord and has that discernment. So do we turn away tens of thousands of innocents in fear of the dozens who wish us harm? As a nation, I don't have that answer, but as a Christian. No! We don't turn those in need away for fear. Are we allowed to say no? Yes, and there are times we must! How you thought I was saying we never could is beyond me. Maybe you should reread my words. But this isn't the time. This is fear, not wisdom. I can tell the difference.
ReplyDeleteSo what we should actually do as a nation? I don't know. Those are tough decisions. You want to discuss and debate them, do so! I have no interest in that debate. But what should we do as Christians? Where should our hearts be? Living in faith and love, not fear and hatred as I have seen. I haven't seen discussions on what our nation should do, I have seen fearful Christians who have the wrong heart. And I am talking to those people. If that's not you, and your heart is still open, great! Keep it that way!