how to engage a culture of hate

But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Luke 6:27-28

Jesus turns our natural dispositions completely around with this teaching. Our internal sense of self bristles against these commands. We are wired to hate enemies, retaliate against others who hurt us, curse those who don’t like us, and pray against those who are against us. But Jesus calls us to a radical love in radical obedience to Him. He loves His enemies enough to die for them. As a former enemy of Christ, every Christian has experienced that undeserved love. He gives grace to those who by their own actions against Him should not deserve it. Jesus blesses those who don’t really want His blessing.

But we are called to love as Jesus loves, so we HAVE to do this. And that means that we love those who are against us. How? We have to love them in Christ’s love, which means we share the love of Christ for sinners and share the gospel freely and without reservation. We don’t hate them because they hate Jesus. We love them enough to keep showing them the grace of Jesus, proclaiming Him in the gospel in both words and in actions.

And we are called to do good to those who don’t do good to us. We don’t name call, hate, and villainize them. We must do good, even if our enemies are in control of political and cultural power. We pay taxes, we vote our consciences, we keep laws that are not in conflict with God’s Law, and we should be known as the best, kindest, most compassionate, most people loving, most generous of citizens as a result. After all, in Jesus, we DO possess the higher ground!

We bless when we are cursed. Yes, it will be the case that Christian values will become more and more hated in this world, particularly in the area of sexual ethics and morality. We will continue to be punch lines and punching bags. That is really nothing new. But we do not retaliate in the same vein. We bless when cursed, and don’t curse back!

And we pray. God help us to pray! We must truly and passionately intercede for the salvation of those who rage against God and us. We should pray for the cross to transform lives and key leaders. STOP PRAYING FOR CULTURAL CHANGE! Pray for gospel permeation and salvation of men and women! If God can turn Saul around, a killer of Christians, and turn him into an apostle of Christ, He can surely change even our culture by the power of the resurrected King!

why we do it

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:14

Christians live for so much more. Life isn’t about a lucrative career, or a comfortable house with a two-car garage, or a perfect family portrait, or Instagram influencer status. Christians live far beyond all that superficiality.

Christians have a bigger goal. It isn’t found in this current time frame. It extends beyond today, tomorrow, or even next year. We are looking to our Lord for the big picture and that extends the time frame for achievement into eternity. Christians live for an everlasting, eternal reward.

Christians prize something much more substantial. It doesn’t gather dust in a trophy case. It isn’t a certificate to take up wall space. It isn’t a recognition or human honor at all. And it beats all other recognitions, medals, or moments human beings might give to one another. Christians prize the “well done” of their Master.

Christians have a different viewpoint for success. It isn’t earthbound. It doesn’t look down at where we are or what our hands may have done. Instead, it always looks up, into the face of our Savior, longing to be with Him, waiting for His appearing, serving until we are with Him. Christians succeed only in and by the power of Christ, Who will reward us one day, judging our work, welcoming His faithful ones home, and sharing in the joy of the Lord!

Watches of the Night

My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,

that I may meditate on your promise.

Psalm 119:148

With a burdened heart

I cannot rest

yet I know and believe

God will do the best

If I cannot sleep

I will pray

calling out to my God

at the end of my day

Throughout the night

with open eyes

I cry to my Lord

Who hears my sighs

I pour out my heart

to the God Who is there

for I know by faith

He hears all my prayer

I seek peace when I pray

I long for His touch

to comfort my heart

that God loves so much

And I find a small echo

returns again to me

a comforting word that

I soon begin to see

God promises to hear me

He has power to save

and I believe this truth

and the answer He gave

I then trust in His promise

with all of my might

as He has called me close to Him

in the watches of the night

investing for eternity

Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Philippians 2:17-18

Investing life in disciple making is a life well spent. It is worth it. Investments in people are eternal. Investing together while obeying and understanding the Word of God lasts forever. It is the only way to ensure that what you do and who are always continues. And even though the investment here and now may involve some sacrifice, the reward are definitely worth it. We should rejoice in the impact that serving, loving, and worshiping Christ together has for eternity.

When I wasn’t quite yet 20 years old, I was challenged with this statement: “You will never regret truly serving someone like Jesus did.” Given that Paul has already reminded the Philippian Church to love one another humbly with the servant’s mind of Jesus (Philippians 2:3-4), it would make sense for him to illustrate that from their own experiences. One very real outcome was his current satisfaction. He was in prison for the gospel, yet the gospel thrived in Philippi and every church Paul reached. And other believers also rejoiced in Jesus. So Paul was happy too because his sacrifice was paying huge dividends forever. It was thus no longer a sacrifice!

Lord,

Whatever You call me to do today, You call me to invest in people… people who have eternal destinies and eternal impact in their own relationships. And that impact does indeed last forever. Give me the long view as I serve You. I rejoice that I too can be happy with that perspective.

Amen

keep longing

My eyes long for your salvation

and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.

Psalm 119:123

All my life I have longed for the completion of my salvation. That doesn’t mean I’ve longed for death. It DOES mean I have longed for an end to struggles with sin and the evils suffered in a broken world. And only God, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, is my salvation. This isn’t pessimism. It is the ultimate realistic, optimistic, confident hope!

I’ve only know a broken world of tragedy, wickedness, and death. Every human on earth must conclude the same. This is true personally. Even as a child, I watched loved ones suffer, people make wrong choices, and some people I knew eventually died. This is a sadness that is a result of sin’s curse on humanity. And it is unavoidable. But there is also within each of us a kind of nagging nudge that confronts us with the thought that all this tragedy and death isn’t the way it SHOULD be. And that uncomfortable realization can become a seed of faith, when watered by belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ, to trust the God Who saves!

This world is currently messed up in every kind of way. And the answers it offers just make it worse. Science and technology aren’t the answer. They complicate the problem. Science might bring healing medicine in one hand, and brutal instruments of warfare in the other. The same goes for politics. In one hand democracies look promising, while authoritarian governments crush freedom. And even democratic principles, left unchecked and then twisted by sinful expressions, create cultural chaos where sins are unrestrained and are now considered freedoms any human should get to express. My conclusion: No human devised solution to the madness of personal depravity fulfills the need for eternal salvation. It can’t even temporarily save. Instead human efforts amplify depravity.

And so I keep longing… daily. I long now while watching Europe looking at war again in the 21st century after such awful 20th century conflicts. This world has been at war somewhere all my life. I long now with truth under siege in the rise of chaotic social media where anybody can say anything and it is believed. I long now with Western culture embracing personal depravity as personal freedom. I long for God to fulfill His righteous promise. I long for the gospel to go forward in an increasingly lost world so that some may be saved in Jesus. I long for the nations to repent and turn to Jesus. I long for the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! There is no other way to live, even as evil people war and rage against God and one another, I know God will still save, and in His mercies His promises and righteousness will prevail so that one day He will make all things new, holy, and glorious.

the wisdom of His ways

You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,

for their cunning is in vain.

Psalm 119:118

There are really only two paths to take in terms of how you will live your life. You can choose to believe God, His Word, His Son, and His saving gospel or you can choose to reject that for your own thoughts. You can live God’s way, or by you can live by some humanly devised cunning. You can choose to reject God, and He will reject you. You choose human philosophy and cunning and God’s promise is that it will NOT WORK for you.

There are real promises however for those who choose God’s way. He becomes their security (Psalm 119:114). He upholds them by His promise and they are ultimately never put to shame by the security of faith that comes from God’s unfailing word (Psalm 119:116). They are kept safe in their obedience to His statues (Psalm 119:117). A healthy respect for the judgment of God provides discernment to reject secular and sinful perspectives (Psalm 119:120).

Lord,

I’ve spent my life choosing Your truth, and although I am still learning it, I am convinced all the blessings of Your ways follow in my life. Help me live by and proclaim Your truth, loving the gospel, worshipping Jesus, pointing to abundant life in Him all my days. And may others that I know and love turn from their own cunning to love You as Lord and Your Word as life!

Amen

loving gospel community

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

Philippians 1:7

Shared Christian community, especially in suffering, creates intense loving companionship around the gospel. That is why Paul could confidently trust that God was still doing good things both in his ministry, and in the lives of the Philippian believers in whom He had begun His good work. Professional ministry detachment isn’t biblical! It wasn’t a thing for Paul. The opposite, in fact, was the result of authentic ministry: a deep affection for those who experience mutual ministry.

What a tender truth for Paul to write to his friends… “I hold you in my heart.” That is deep discipleship. When those who serve Christ together can say that of one another, the answer to Jesus’ own prayer in John 17 is revealed. We are one as Christ is one with the Father. Never should a community of believers be afraid to say “I hold you in my heart”.

I’m nearly 35 years into church ministry as my occupation and life. And over three and a half decades of gospel community, there have been SO MANY people God has made dear to my heart. Some of my most prized possessions are found in boxes of cards and letters sent to me by those encouraging saints Jesus has called me alongside! I partake of grace with them both in difficulties and in the delights of life. Many times their words have kept me going or lifted me from depression. There is no experience more moving than this. Some of those friends are now with Jesus. All of them are amazing stories of the grace of Christ. And this sense of loving community keeps confirming the gospel and assuring me this is a life well spent.