Good Monday morning...

 

… and the reverberating truth that should be ringing in the ears of everyone of us, especially after all the Sunday morning gatherings of believers, is that hatred must be stopped and Christ must be exalted, lifted high as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  There is never room for violence and killing in the name of Jesus.  This life is not a video game!  People are not “enemies to be eliminated.”

As much as I disagree with the rhetoric of the far right, I disagree with the killing of people even more.  When an opponent is winning, the answer is not to shoot them!  We were reminded of the senselessness of such killing in the play ‘Hamilton’ and the dual that ended the life of Alexander Hamilton at the hand of Aaron Burr.  Let history remind us of the valuable lessons it has taught us.

Even more than history, let our Lord Jesus teach us what it is to stand firm in Him without killing our opponents, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  In John Stott’s brilliant work on the Sermon on the Mount, referring to this beatitude of Christian character, and the difficulty we have in living up to it, he wrote, “we may not be personally involved in a dispute, but we may find ourselves struggling to reconcile to each other two people or groups who are estranged and at variance with each other.  In this case there will be the pain of listening, of ridding ourselves of prejudice, of striving sympathetically to understand both the opposing points of view, and of risking misunderstanding, ingratitude or failure.”

Democrats and Republicans have a long-standing reputation for opposing each other.  It has deepened so much that many Christians that I know and respect have left the parties and identified as Independents or other political affiliations that are freed from the division.  As Christ followers, the business of reconciliation is our family business.  The twelve that Jesus chose and taught to teach His way of life, have all encouraged our faithfulness to the family business of reconciling the world to God through the finished work of Christ on the cross.  We must endure the pain of listening, rid ourselves of prejudice, strive to understand the opposing views and be involved in the reconciling work needed to restore our democracy to a civil state of functioning.

I believe with all my heart that Christians have the answer to the world’s woes.  Peacemaking is no small part of the answer we bring.  Please, in the name of Jesus, stand firm in His way of life, and listen to one another, love one another, do not judge one another, but seek to understand one another in a way that serves His mission to bring reconciliation.  Violence and hatred must be opposed for it is not His way of life… and He is coming back!

For His glory,

Pastor Mike