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| Whose “2 cents” worth matters? |
For my entire Christian life I have been hearing this: “we need to be more relevant to the world to draw the world to Jesus.”
Usually this is expressed as a change in style of music, style of church service, etc. “We are the ‘cool’ Christians. We’re not like those other stuffy religious bigots. Come to our church.”
Much of my ministry career has been spent involved to some degree or another with World Missions. Striving to “contextualize” the Gospel into another culture is a challenge, but a necessary one. We want to see every people group in the world hear about Jesus in a way that they can understand!
This is just as true in America. We want everyone to hear the Gospel in a way that they understand.
I remember reading in an essay on contextualizing the Gospel about how challenging it is to present the Gospel in a relevant way without compromising exactly what the Gospel is!
Here is one key element of the Gospel that seems to get missed in America: Jesus is Lord!
He is the Creator and Originator of all things. He is the boss. The head honcho. The big cheese. The final say. The judge.
What He says is true – is true. What he says is false – is false.
Jesus is Lord of all opinions of truth!
Of course, God created each of us as unique individuals, so we can like chocolate-chip-cookie-dough ice cream over fudge ice cream. This kind of opinion is valid.
We each have different styles, giftings, preferences, etc. Sometimes there is no “one right way” to do things.
But sometimes there is only ONE right way. If Jesus says so. And don’t forget, when I say Jesus, I mean God. In other words, whether the Truth is presented from the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit it is still true.
Christianity is true whether you believe in it or not!
I have often wondered why there seems to be so little interest in Biblical Worldview amongst Christians. There seems to be a satisfaction with just getting “saved,” going to church, tithing, signing up for the usher’s list (or nursery, or bake sale, or softball team) and waiting for the end of time.
And of course, don’t vote for anyone who is for “special” rights for gays or pro-choice. Well, those two used to be sacred anyways.
But Jesus is Lord of All of Life, and His Opinion is Truth!
Here is my call to the Church of Jesus: Repent of believing whatever you want to believe and preferring whatever truth you want and instead surrender your Mind to Christ!
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind! Surrender Absolutely to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over your thoughts.
Think God’s thoughts after Him.
Ethics? Philosophy? Politics? Values? Leadership Principles? Work Principles? Financial Principles? In everything it is time to lay down our weapons and surrender to the One True God in the area of our opinions.
Lord help me! Help me see the world the way You see it! Get rid of my error. Show me the Truth. Teach me the Truth!
In the end, it doesn’t matter what my opinion is and it doesn’t matter what your opinion is. It matters what God’s opinion is on every issue.
It’s very hard to have real conversations about how the Gospel applies to All of Life unless we are all surrendered to and seeing the Truth of Jesus Christ as reveled to in the Bible and testified to by the Holy Spirit.
What do conservatives say? What do liberals say? What about Fox News? What about the Huffington Post?
???
What about the Bible!
Amen.