A culture of political correctness
There can be no reasonable denial
that those of us who live in America live in arguably the most politically
correct society on earth. One example is the young man who was not allowed to
fill out his profile on Xbox as being from Fort Gay, WV. Yes, it is a real place.
I am from Chapmanville WV. But according to Microsoft, the name is offensive.
In Sydney Australia there was a dust up over the Santa Clause laugh, “ho ho ho”
because it could frighten children and offend women. The Maine Human Rights Act
banned ANY gender division in public schools because it offended a 12 year old
boy who wanted to be a girl. In 2008, a Carmel, Indiana, school bus driver,
Betty Campbell, overheard little Rachel Zimmer saying that she couldn’t vote
for presidential candidate Barak Obama because of his positions on abortion and
gay marriage. That led to unsubstantiated allegations that she said that other
students would go to Hell, which Zimmer strongly denies. When Campbell heard
the allegations (again, unsubstantiated) she stopped the bus and delivered a
politically correct sermon on tolerance to her captive audience, who probably
just wanted to go home and play Xbox before their moms and dads came home.
The security camera caught it all on tape, including Campbell’s
conversations with another student. She probed this student for racist
allegations, threatening to “eat Zimmer alive” and calling her “a stupid little
bigot”. It gets worse. After dropping Zimmer at home, Campbell completed her
route and then RETURNED to the Zimmer home, ordering Zimmer and her sister back
into the EMPTY school bus (without parental knowledge or consent) for more
browbeating. She again lectured Zimmer about her opinions on gay marriage and
reduced the girl to tears. After seeing the tape, Zimmer’s parents went
ballistic, saying: “That’s not someone looking out for someone. That’s someone
out to get somebody.” Carmel Clay Schools refused to fire or even discipline
Campbell, stating that she was working within “the scope of her employment.”
The family has since filed a civil lawsuit.
The new way to hate is to speak
things that are offensive
As it turns out, the most common
way to hate people, even in evangelical churches in our hyper-politically
correct culture is to tell them the truth. In other words, professing
Christians are accusing other professing Christians that they are guilty of
hate just for believing and quoting the Bible. For example, oppose gay sex, and
even to many professing Christians, you are a hater and a bigot. Embrace male
leadership in the church and oppose female leadership and you are a misogynist.
The same is true if you dare affirm the biblical teaching of wives submitting
to their husbands. If you dare to identify heresy for what it is, the heretic
is likely to call you a hater. Political correctness empowers autonomy by
rejecting the idea that we should ever be called to give an account for our
behavior or our beliefs. The way to love people is simply to accept them for
who and what they are. Anything less than that, and you are a hater. Now, I
want you to think about how such thinking might impact the Christian doctrine
of repentance. Not so funny is it! What bugs me the most about this is how some
of leaders are unwittingly influenced by this behavior. It is indeed the
product of the fear and intimidation of man. I will say more about that in a
moment.
What is an elder
The elder is an overseer of the
church. The elder is charged with the care and spiritual well-being of his community.
His interest is solely focused on the spiritual health of his people. This
interest is driven by his greater concern to please God by faithfully executing
his calling. 1 Peter 5:2 commands the elders to lead, guide, care for, and
assist the flock of God among you. Then he adds, exercising oversight, or, in
other words, taking responsibility for the flock. Moreover, Peter says that
elder is to take do these things according to God, or to the will of God. In
other words, the care and oversight is to be carried out with a single eye to
the will of God for that flock. God’s concern, God’s will, God’s word, God’s
directive must be the single driving consideration for the elder.
What is truth
Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. Jesus also said that God’s word is truth. God’s word is
our only source of spiritual nutrition. If we are to be healthy, we must desire
the sincere milk and eventually, meat of the Word of God. The Word of God
sanctifies the believer. The Word of God frees the believer. The Word of God
brings true knowledge so that the believer is transformed more and more into
one who honors and glorifies God with every part of his life. The elder is to
dispense the Word of God so that our souls might be rich, nurtured, strong,
vibrant. This raises the question why would an elder have trouble being direct
and honest when it comes to basic doctrines of the church and of his local
community? The Word of God is a light unto our path, a lamp for our feet. It
provides the Christian with precise what we need in order to be the light God
has called us to be. Why do some pastors/elders feel like they have to walk on
eggshells when it comes to certain biblical truths? For example, why would an
elder stammer in his attempt to defend particular redemption, or total
depravity, or predestination? Why would he stammer when he is asked a question
about submission and male leadership? Part of the reason can be blamed on the
fact that we are influenced, to one degree or another, by our culture. Part of
the process of being transformed into the image of Christ means that we become
less and less like the culture, less and less influenced by cultural thinking.
Christian dogma needs no apologies. Christian dogma is not embarrassing.
Christian dogma, is however, offensive. It is inherently offensive. It is
naturally offensive. It is necessarily offensive to any unregenerate mind.
Scripture is, by its very nature, offensive to an unregenerate mind because of
what it is by its very nature. So, Mr. Elder, please stop stammering around
issues that you know the world finds offensive. Show us that you have some
backbone. Demonstrate for us that you are not influenced by the culture.
Thunder God’s truth without reservation, without trepidation, and without
apology.
Why this matters
The reason this matters is because
God matters. The reason this matters is because Christian truth matters. God
has purposely chosen the passionate, convicted preaching of the gospel without
apology, to save the lost. The Word of Lord needs no softening. God’s truth
needs no chaser. God’s medicine works its miracle of regeneration just as it
is. We need men who are more concerned with what God thinks than with what men
think. We need men who are not afraid if certain types of people leave his
church, or reject his leadership. We need men who follow God and His truth
without reservation and who rally the rest of us to do the same. “I know that
after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
and from among your own selves men
will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. “Therefore
be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I
did not cease to admonish each one with tears.”
It matters because what God has to
say about us, to us, and through us ALWAYS MATTERS. And it matters more than
all the opinions on this earth matter. It matters more than what these
God-hating, arrogant, materialistic, narcissistic Americans think. Thunder
away, Pastor!
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