What I should have said a long time ago
I guess I just assumed
A while back I had the privilege of being a guest on my friend Marco Arroyo’s show In Between Sundays (go subscribe!). Marco led off by giving me the chance to explain why I and my colleagues at Focus Press put so much emphasis on the intersection of Christ and cultural issues.
“Because Christ is Lord,” I began my reply as simply as I knew how. As I finished my response to the question, Marco remarked that he had never heard me put it that way. He wasn’t criticizing, just saying he had not heard me sum up my purpose as such.
It was at that point that I realized I’ve made a misstep along the way in this work.
In everything you read here and every podcast I help produce, I’ve started by assuming that point. But in communicating things of this importance you can never just assume the foundational points.
To that end, I thought it would be good to uncover the assumptions. Why “Church Reset?” Why culture war? Why go toe-to-toe with bad ideas instead of “live and let live?”
There are two foundational points underlying everything I write or say:
First, God is.
There is a God. Of course, if you’re reading a Christian site you probably take that assumption for granted, too. But it’s not just that a god exists. It is the existence of a specific God, the one true God, and His character, that we must properly grasp.
We serve an all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect, holy God who watches and judges everything we do. These characteristics should give us the fearful reverence to never settle for “good enough” or give token measures of faithfulness without engaging our hearts, minds, and souls.
We cannot assume “it’s probably fine” about the offerings we make to Him. A proper estimation of His greatness makes us realize we owe it to Him to spend every day calculating every decision in light of who He is. Our lack of proper fear of God is the fount from which all of our other problems flow.
Second, God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
He is absolutely a fearful God. At the same time, He is a loving God who cares for us and has not called us to mindlessly perform arbitrary, arduous tasks just because. Everything He tells us to do comes from His love for us, and “His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3b).
Unsurprisingly, the world mocks when Christians insist things like pride month, the practice of vapid sexual freedom, and other modern values make for a sad, wasteful life. We are an aroma from death to death among them (2 Corinthians 2:16). To them these commandments are not joyful but burdensome and stupid.
But sadly, among worldly Christians who worship the god of self, Biblical teaching bears that same intolerable stench. They believe their way will make them happier.
So, I write contra the world and the world-soaked Christian to persuade as many as I can to taste and see the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). Soft-pedaled compromise to get the world to like us never gives them that taste. Refusing to touch the idols the people in our church buildings like never gives them that taste. Only applying God’s wisdom to the day’s most pressing battles can give people God’s goodness where they most need to taste it.
So, all of the discussion of hot-button, divisive issues is not chasing controversy for the sake of clicks, as some have accused. It is fighting today’s battle at its most pivotal points in the belief that God is watching and has given mankind a better way and it is our job to teach and demonstrate it. All of the criticisms of what the church has become are not cynical potshots, but a desire to see us bow before the Almighty and trust His guidance rather than our own.
It is not my attempt to win arguments that brings me here. It is my desire to daily enjoy more of God’s goodness for myself and to bring as many along with me as I can. Christ is Lord. He loves you. He died for you. He rose again and is coming back for you. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Notes
Remember you can catch these articles in audio edition, along with the audio from my weekly Cultural Breakdown videos, on the Church Reset podcast feed! (Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or any other podcast app.)
I’ve also got a cool project related to Sunday School Catch-Up coming soon, so keep an eye out!