When we stand firm for the Gospel in our society, we should expect certain responses. On the one hand, we should expect a spirit of encouragement and solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the faith, who are themselves standing firm for the truth of God’s Word. On the other hand, though, we should expect a certain amount of backlash from the society that remains in bondage to sin and under the influence of the prince of this world system, Satan. Name-calling, marginalization, and even being ostracized from friends and family are all some of the potential consequences that can accompany such stands.
An example of this kind of reaction occurred earlier this week, when the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, issued a tweet aimed at Dr. Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. As you might imagine, being president of such an entity necessarily entails taking stands that will be deemed controversial within society, yet are required in light of Gospel fidelity. Sometimes, that means speaking truth to power even when the power is ostensibly linked to your worldview (that Evangelical Christianity has had a decades-long, albeit uneasy, relationship with the Republican Party is a matter of historical fact). So it was that on CBS’s Face the Nation program this past weekend, Moore offered a strong critique of both Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, saying that they together represented “an embrace of the very kind of moral and cultural decadence that conservatives have been saying for a long time is the problem.” The following morning, Trump issued his response via his Twitter account: “Russell Moore is truly a terrible representative of Evangelicals and all of the good they stand for. A nasty guy with no heart!”
How many of us have been in this very situation? Well, maybe not in the situation of critiquing the presidential frontrunners on a nationally televised political talk show, but of speaking the truth in love and being attacked personally for it. Maybe it has been your support of the Biblical definition of marriage as between one man and one woman for life, or maybe it has been your defense of the exclusivity of Christ for salvation. Immediately the ad hominem attacks fly: you’re a narrow-minded bigot, a religious fanatic, or, the worst of all, intolerant. In those moments, our feelings can be hurt, especially if the attacks come from someone close to us whom we care about deeply. Our natural reaction in such cases is to reply in kind, lobbing an even larger verbal hand grenade back. The war of words escalates until the nuclear option is employed, and the result is a realization of the Cold War doctrine known as MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction.
So, how did Moore respond to Trump’s attack? He said, “I am a nasty guy with no heart, which is why I need forgiveness of sins and redemption through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Rather than escalate, he made a beeline for the cross, as Spurgeon phrased it. Each one of us is as the great hymn says, wretches in need of amazing grace. We have it through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So the next time someone attacks you on account of Jesus Christ, recognize it as an opportunity to introduce them to Him. Just something to think about…
0 Comments