A Reason for Hope

From Phil Robertson to Pope Francis to an average day in high school, confrontation is a very controversial issue. So what is an appropriate response for a Christian to the controversial trends of the modern world? For example, how do you respond to the unit in biology that directly states that God does not exist? What is your reaction to pressing moral issues such as abortion, homosexuality, drug abuse, and everything else? Where is the line?

In the words of C. S. Lewis, "Jesus Christ did not say, 'Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.'" As Christians in the world today, it is our job according to the great commission to go therefore and make disciples of all nations. But in order to do that, we need to understand where the lines are. Some people say that the majority of Christians are intolerant and unloving. This reputation comes from those who choose to say that in every aspect, "I am right and you are wrong." And they do so more often than not in a rather harsh way. As Christians we are not supposed to be tolerant, in the postmodern sense*, because tolerance is the least loving thing we could possibly do.

Imagine this: You are a doctor. A patient comes to see you and it is evident that he is deathly sick. You have the cure for his sickness, but you don't want him to be upset, so you choose not to even tell him he is sick. What is the consequence of this choice? The patient dies. That choice makes no sense. In the same way, seeing that someone you know is in desperate need of a savior (because we all are) and choosing to ignore that for the sake of not hurting feelings and staying good friends, you're missing the point of loving your neighbor.

So now say you're in the same scenario, but this time you realize your patient needs to know he is sick, so you tell him he is sick. That's all. There is no hope in that. You can make a sign with Romans 3:23 on it, and people will know they are sinners. But odds are they probably already knew that, and telling them so probably only offends them. If someone openly claims they don't believe in God, you can say they're wrong and that they will end up in Hell, but the only thing that might convince them of is that they want nothing to do with you or your faith, because saying something like that is malicious and hateful.

In this doctor scenario, the only right thing to do is to tell the patient he is sick, and to offer him the only cure. The same is true of making disciples. You are not accomplishing anything by convincing someone he or she is wrong unless you include the message of hope that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. You have to convey that, "Yes, you are a sinner. I am a sinner. Neither of us is worse than the other, and we are both so bad that Jesus had to die for each of our sins. So that's what he did. Our sins are paid for, Jesus has defeated sin and the grave, and by grace we have been saved!" You can't just give a part of the message. The message of the fall is desperate and dark, but the gospel gives us a reason for hope.

This is a decent illustration for what we need to do, but it isn't the best. Ephesians 2 does not tell us that we are deathly sick in sin; rather, it tells us that we are dead in sin. That is not something you or I can cure, and it's not something any of us can choose to fix. It's only in Christ that we are alive, and that is a point that needs to be made. I couldn't save myself, and I can't save anyone else. If people are dead in sin, only God can save them. All we can do is follow God's commandment and share the gospel. God will has rescued us, and will rescue in his perfect timing in accordance with his perfect plan.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. --Ephesians 2:1-7


* Tolerance in the classical sense means that all ideas and values may be expressed; tolerance in the postmodern sense is that all these are equally valid and must be celebrated by all.