Wisdom in an Age of Terror

We are living in an age of terror. Our news reports are filled with violence: school shootings, road rage, mass murders at schools, parades, malls, churches… nowhere seems to be safe.

Proverb 6:17 tells us that “God hates hands that shed innocent blood.” Don’t we all? I know I do.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, I supported the voices that called for war. I signed up for the National Guard. We demanded justice for the nearly 3000 lives lost. Ironically, our desire for payback cost the lives of 2500 more Americans in Afghanistan as the longest war in US history dragged on. Twenty years later we would leave, and Afghanistan would quickly revert to Taliban control. Perhaps, war was not the answer.

Following the 9/11 attacks, the world was on our side. Even Yassar Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), denounced the attacks. Democrats and Republicans gathered in front of the Capitol and sang “God Bless America.” That seems like such a long time ago. Partisan politics rules the day once more and we squandered our global good will. Perhaps, war was not the answer.

What if we had responded differently? What if we had not gone to war? Was there a better way? What does God do about hands that shed innocent blood?

Adam and Eve's son, Cain was the first to shed innocent blood. He killed his brother in a jealous rage. God reached out to Cain and offered Cain an opportunity to confess his guilt and show remorse and repent. When Cain rejected God’s grace and therefore received judgment, God still extended the mercy of protection on him.

In 2006 five girls were killed and six injured in a school shooting in an Amish community. The father of one of the girls urged against hatred. He said about the shooter, “He had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he's standing before a just God".

An Amish midwife who had helped birth several of the girls murdered by the shooter reported that they were planning to take food over to his family’s house. She said, "This is possible if you have Christ in your heart."

The victim’s families forgave the shooter and invited his wife to their funeral. Resist the thoughts of violence and terror! Let self-control and love for God and the sanctity of life rule in your hearts. Surrender to God and let His power deal with your pain, your bitterness, your thoughts of revenge, your hatred.

Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Come near to God
and He will come near to you.
James 4:7

Accountability Mixed with Grace

A few days before Christmas one year, I delivered children's gifts to a family who had requested help. These families, I was told, were unable to provide gifts for their children. I did not know the children but purchased age and gender appropriate gifts and wrapped in bright paper.

I placed the gifts under the tree with the many other gifts already there. Although I did not know this families circumstances; I did walk away with the feeling that a lack of Christmas presents was not their problem.

I was recently told of a woman who converted a spare bedroom into a large pantry that included a freezer filled with turkeys. The room served as a clandestine convenience store for her neighbors. She patiently waited in food pantry lines to restock her shelves. “You can't steal what's free,” she probably reasoned.

Stories like these can be discouraging. We want to help those in need but we don't want to facilitate abuse. We want to empower rather than enable.

Familiarity is one factor that limits abuse. The Bible tells us that the early church would support members in need. Familiarity made this easier. There were no strangers in the early church. If a person lied, they were easily caught.

When churches help their own (as we see in the book of Acts), the results both honor God and lead to spiritual fulfillment. Sadly, churches can wind up enabling people in their deceit in a rush to bring help.

The Bible teaches us three important principles:

1. People ought to work for their food.
2. There will always be poor.
3. We identify with Jesus when we serve the poor

We must use discernment to determine when and how to act. Discernment allows us to mix grace with accountability; a formula that leads to spiritual success for both the helper and the person receiving aid.

The Lord of the Sabbath

Mark 2:23-28

The religious establishment believed that they could please God by developing and following a strict set of rules. This caused them to, not only, miss the true intent of God's law but, also, led to conflict with Jesus and his disciples. One clash occurred when the hungry disciples picked and ate some grain on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-24). Old Testament law prohibited working on the Sabbath but that did not extend to picking a handful of grain to satisfy immediate hunger.

The Pharisees were very religious people whose strong desire to keep the law led them to build a hedge around the law. Deciding that it was best to err on the side caution to prevent Sabbath breaking, They banned 1500 acts on the Sabbath.

Rules seem to make life easier but they short-circuit thinking and, sometimes, lead to bad decisions. A deacon told me that he had once approached a young man in church and told him to remove his ball cap or leave. The young man felt humiliated and left. The deacon later learned that the young man was undergoing treatment for cancer and had lost most of his hair. He regretted enforcing that rule.

Jesus taught that God's law must be applied with compassion and reminded the Pharisees that King David once took sacred bread that was to be eaten only by the priests and gave it to his men (I Samuel 21:1-6). David was justified because his need for food was greater than keeping the ceremonial law.

Meeting human need and compassion takes precedence over custom, ritual, ceremony and tradition. God says, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6).

The Sabbath is God’s idea. God created everything in six days, and he rested on the seventh, and made it holy. (Genesis 2:2) God didn’t need to rest because he was tired. He rested because he was done.

“Sabbath” means rest. God created us to need rest for our bodies and refreshment for our spirits every seven days. The Law prohibited menial work but the Pharisees prohibited all work; even good work. The Sabbath was not meant to restrict necessities. The Sabbath was made to serve man not for man to serve the day. (Mark 2:27) The day had become a burden instead of the blessing it was meant to be.

The wrong question to ask is “What is allowed or not allowed on the Sabbath? – Can you eat out? go to the movies? watch or play sports?”

That question makes Sabbath rules more important than the Sabbath itself. Don’t worship the day or “rules;” worship the Lord of the Sabbath.

The Lord of the Sabbath offers true rest to whosoever comes to Him.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30 

 

Ownership

Today a colleague related an incident that is common in urban ministry. One of the youth in her ministry painted gang-related graffiti on several areas of the ministry’s campus. The staff was at once hurt, offended and angry.

These acts of “tagging” feel like a betrayal to those of us who pour our lives into troubled youth. On the one hand, it represents the cultural differences between those who offer help and those who are in need. On the other, it is indicative of the high recidivism rate of the people whose lives have been damaged by sin.

The issue must be addressed, the question is how?

One option is to call the police. The problem is that these particular youth are part of a juvenile offenders program. They have had the police called on them before. Justice might be served but it is not a redemptive act.

Another option is to inform the parents. This can cause shame and embarrassment for the parents and the youth. Again, it is not redemptive.

A third option is to relay to the youth how hurtful the action was, appealing to their sense of decency. This addresses the problem directly, which is a definite plus, but it sets up an "us against them" attitude.

In confronting the youth, it is important to make them understand that the ministry’s buildings belong to them. Ask them how the situation ought to be rectified. By taking ownership, the youth can become part of the solution.

Ideally a team of youth and adult volunteers will remove the graffiti together without assigning blame. This is both redemptive and restorative, turning a bad situation into an opportunity for grace.

GOT GRACE?

When Jeffrey Dahmer, the infamous serial killer, turned his heart to Jesus and was baptized, many people were skeptical; some Christians were outraged. Is it just that a man so vile can gain entry into heaven so easily? It is if you believe in salvation by grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast (Eph 2:8-9 NIV).”

To say that one sinner is more worthy of hell than another is to argue that some people are more worthy of heaven; and that our worthiness (or righteousness) comes from something that we did or did not do (works!). Salvation is the gift of God. We cannot boast about it nor can we argue the injustice of another’s salvation.

In Luke 15, Jesus tells of a young man who squandered his inheritance on the fast life. He was immature and wanted nothing more than to indulge his lusts, no matter how expensive. He shamed himself, humiliated his family and embarrassed his community. After having lost everything, he decided to return home. There was no “I told you so” lecture. There were no tests of loyalty. His father welcomed him with open arms and celebrated his return. All his rights as a son were restored. John 1:12 tells us that, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (NIV).”

The elder brother felt this was unfair and was livid. He had been faithful and loyal and believed himself to be deserving of the attention that his brother was attracting. Unfortunately, this is the mind-set of some Christians when one our own falls into sin and returns to the church. They don’t rejoice with the angels. They react as if they had been cheated. They want to put a limit to God’s love and grace.

Consider the woman caught committing adultery in John 8 who was going to be stoned to death. Jesus did not disagree with the woman’s guilt or her death sentence. Jesus confronted the mob with their own sin and need for grace. When the crowd left, Jesus told her to go and sin no more. The woman did not ask for forgiveness and there is no evidence of her repenting or coming to faith in Christ. We don’t even know if she said thank-you. Jesus showed that woman grace, even though she did not deserve it. That is an example of how we are to treat the lost. “…While we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NIV)”

Lost people matter to God and they ought to matter to us. “The Lord…is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9 NIV).” Church ought to be a place where the lost can encounter God’s grace and where Christian’s who have lost their way can come back home.