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WHAT A SAVIOR! #16
GIVING AMERICA BACK TO JESUS
It’s one of the most wretched stories you’ll ever find, and it falls under the category of “God showed me.” Best-selling author Jon Krakauer – we’ve gotten Everest stories from him before – recently penned the book, Under the Banner of Heaven, with this chilling subtitle: “A Story of Violent Faith.” A couple of renegade fundamentalist Mormons named Dan and Ron Lafferty decided that they had received a message from God. In March of 1984, Ron began to pick up on what he was sure were “revelations”; the most deadly one he wrote out “on a sheet of yellow legal paper.” And the voice in his head seemed to be telling him to kill his own sister-in-law, Brenda, and also her little baby, Erica. Four months later, the two boys did exactly that. Slipping into their own brother’s house while he was away, they slit the baby’s throat, and then went into the kitchen and methodically did the same to the infant’s mother. For the crime, Utah authorities sent Dan Lafferty to prison for the rest of his life and sentenced Ron to death by firing squad. More than 21 years later, he still languishes on death row for the crime of trying to do what he tragically thought was God’s will.
We’ve spent three weeks now studying together in God’s inspired Word about the personhood and the Deity and the pure, sinless nature of Jesus. And today, it seems well to grapple with a monumental dilemma. If you’re a Christian, you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. You accept Him as the ruler of your life. What He says, you do. Where He sends, you go. When you become convinced that it’s His express will for you to change or alter something in your life, you’re willing to make that change. We call that process sanctification, or discipleship, or simply a willingness to let the Lord BE the Lord!
But here’s the rub. The followers of Jesus also believe that Jesus is destined to rule over ALL. We have songs that go: “Lord of all, Of all seen and unseen things.” The Bible describes Jesus as being ruler over the heavens above and the earth below, of having authority over “all things.” And so we look around at America and we think to ourselves: “I must help work so that Jesus will rule over all of this. I want Him to have ascendancy and authority over all things. So how shall I vote this November?” Have you ever sensed that feeling welling up in yourself? Or heard it said on Christian radio?
There’s a wonderful essay to be found in John Stott’s great book, The Contemporary Christian . . . and it caught our eye right at this juncture. See what you think:
“We long that He who is Lord,” Stott writes to his fellow believers, “should be acknowledged AS Lord; this is our evangelistic task. But even in a society which does not specifically acknowledge His lordship, we are still concerned that His values will prevail, that human rights and human dignity be accorded to people of all races and religions, that honor be given to women and children, that justice be secured for the oppressed, that society become more just, compassionate, peaceful and free. Why? Why do we care about these things? Because Jesus is Lord of society by right, and because He cares about them.” Then this writer sagely adds: “This is not to resurrect the old ‘social gospel’ of theological liberalism, which made the mistake of identifying a caring society with the kingdom of God. It is rather to take seriously the truth that Jesus is Lord of society and therefore to seek to make it more pleasing to Him.”
And right here, it is often commented, is where Christianity 101 gets to be hard! Because it clashes violently with Democracy 101, which is actually another upper-division course. Friend, I’ll be very frank with you. I really want for you to be a Christian. I wish every listener to this station was a Christian. I wish all of the listeners to the other stations on your dial – talk radio, rock, rap, hip-hop, country, NPR – were all Christians. Why? Because Jesus is Lord!
What’s more, I wish America and the former Soviet Union and Canada and North Korea and Iraq were all, somehow, “Christian nations.” That’s a huge debate for another time, and I’ll be the first to say I am glad for the doctrine of separation of church and state. But the believer part of me asserts that Jesus is Lord over all. This world is His. Kingdoms and principalities are there because He ordains and permits them to be. And I really want to work and pray and vote for things that will enable my Lord to establish and realize His lordship.
Having said that, I live in a world where Democracy 101 and Christianity 101 co-exist and collide.
It was interesting to read something in Chuck Colson’s book, Kingdoms in Conflict – and what a perfect title for our Bible study today! Most of you listeners know that Mr. Colson is a praying man. He believes in prayer. He came to Jesus Christ on a hot, steamy night where he wept and prayed in the car outside his friend Tom Phillips’ house: August 12, 1973. He prayed in prison as he served out his Watergate sentence. He prays today as he directs the worldwide Prison Fellowship ministry. This man believes in prayer, loves to pray, proclaims the power of prayer.
It’s rather surprising, then, to read in his book, Kingdoms in Conflict, that he opposes the instituting of organized prayer in America’s public schools. It’s right there on page 115 – he calls the issue a “Trojan horse.” Why? Because you can’t make Jesus Lord by coercing innocent third-graders and having them recite a prayer “in Jesus’ name.”
“I for one don’t want my grandchildren,” he writes, “reciting prayers determined by government officials.”
And even though everything in me, as a Christian preacher, wants to stand outside some public school and carry a banner and go “Pray! Pray! Pray!,” I have to bow my head and ask God to give me wisdom in working for the Lordship of my Lord and Master.
Colson goes on to suggest that we will never be able to reform the world, or make people into disciples, or exalt Jesus to His throne by simply passing laws. However, it IS incumbent upon Christians do all that we can to help our world edge toward the loving Eden model that Jesus desires for the universe He created.
“As citizens of the Kingdom of God,” he adds, “[Christians] are to bring God’s standards of righteousness and justice to bear on the kingdoms of this world.”
And of course, that’s where the Democracy 101 debates really get lively. That’s all right. It’s a good and an appropriate discussion. Well-meaning people can disagree and still love one another. No, you cannot force other people to be good, but we can work to protect the least among us and keep them safe. Keep them fed. Keep them clothed and educated. Keep them on the receiving end of the list of gifts Jesus Himself describes in Matthew 25 as going to “the least of these My brethren.”
There’s a nice little story later in this very scholarly book by Colson and his writing partner, Ellen Santilli Vaughn. A Philadelphia kid named Trevor, 11 years old, probably wasn’t astute enough to sort out the issue of having “under God” in our Pledge of Allegiance. I don’t know that he would have been equipped to deal with DOMA and the prickly arguments of same-sex marriage and our U.S. Constitution. The nuances of the endless pro-life, pro-choice debate would probably have sailed right past this kid. But young Mr. Farrell, watching TV one night, saw a news report about the homeless people living on the mean streets of the City of Brotherly Love. And somehow this innocent boy just sensed that in a world where Jesus is Lord, people shouldn’t be sleeping in the cold. People shouldn’t need to find sidewalk grates in order to find a bit of warmth. So he took a blanket out of the linen closet in his parents’ upscale suburban home, and his parents drove him down to the ghetto part of town. Trevor Farrell gave that blanket to the first emaciated sufferer he found. A few nights later the family returned with more blankets. Then clothing and some peanut-butter sandwiches. Pretty soon somebody donated a van and TV cameras began to take notice. Colson observes that young Trevor found himself explaining to the likes of Merv Griffin, Mother Teresa, and President Ronald Reagan what “Trevor’s Campaign” was all about. And what WAS it about? Twelve simple words:
“It’s Jesus inside of me,” he confessed to a watching world, “that makes me want to do this.”
In Jesus’ perfect world, no one is cold. Give a blanket. No one is hungry. Prepare and share a meal. No one is abused. Vote to protect the dignity of all people. The flames of religious liberty can still burn as brightly while we work to truly make this Jesus’ world.
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