And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
John1:14-18
In non-Christian nations, the gospel has always been the outsider point of view on almost any topic. It has been a controversial message. It has always upset the prevailing worldview. It has had an economic impact on some who were committed to their idolatry, such as the silversmiths in Athens, whose livelihood was challenged by the gospel. People stopped purchasing idols created by silversmiths in favor of the invisible God of creation. Paul was at the center of the controversy.
Today in America, we are once again trouble makers. The gospel is counter to the prevailing worldview. The Biblical worldview is counter to the LGBTQ worldview; it is counter to what is the new worldview overtaking America known as Critical Theory, which is actually a rework of Marxism, something most Americans thought could never happen. Critical Theory is now being taught under the guise of diversity in most of our government agencies and taken as “gospel.” Anyone unwilling to accept the premises of Critical Theory can kiss their career goodbye.
What American’s need to understand is that Critical Theory is heresy to the Constitution and Bill of Rights as well as Scripture. It is godless Marxism/Communism under a different guise, and Americans are swallowing it hook, line, and sinker. Even many churches are buying into the tenants of Critical Theory, especially in its Critical Race Theory form. Critical Race Theory shows up profoundly in the Black Lives Matter movement.
So, how does a Christian address issues like the LGBTQ message, the Black Lives Matter message, the Critical Theory message, and any other controversial message of the day?
Jesus Christ is our message. Through him came grace and truth. Our message, regardless of the counter-message, is a message of grace and truth. Jesus did not bring a message of condemnation, but of grace. He did make it clear that there would be an eternal judgment and that sin will be judged, and the price of sin will be paid in the second death. He did make clear that sin is sin and that we are required by divine justice to repent from our sin and receive God’s mercy and grace. Without that repentance, there is nothing to look forward to but divine judgment.
Many Christians struggle with how to relate to someone who is part of the LGBTQ community, especially when that person is one of their children. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. I think the word order is telling. Grace comes before truth. What does that look like in everyday life? We must first see our LGBTQ children and friends as human beings created in the image of God and treat them as such. They are deserving of treatment with dignity, not because they are gay or not, but because God made them in his image. The same is true of how we view people of color. There was a time in our history when we, by law, did not recognize black people as fully human. That is sin, and fortunately, many churches have formally repented of their historical treatment of black people. Non-blacks, and specifically white people, are required by Scripture to recognize all black people as created in the image of God, precisely as we are. Let me be perfectly clear, all racism is sin! What is difficult is that most of our society does not submit to the authority of Scripture and so correcting this on a societal basis will be very difficult until the gospel has penetrated our culture deeply.
The same principle is true of our relationships with the oppressed and oppressors. We are not to look upon a white person as the oppressor, but as a human created in the image of God. Critical Theory only sees people as part of a group that is either oppressed or oppressor. There is no room for the image of God in this godless worldview. How does a Christian view people who are captured by this doctrine of demons? As human beings created in the image of God and treat them with appropriate dignity.
But what about the truth of Scripture that is being countered by this other message? Do we just ignore it? Not at all. Jesus did say, “I am the…truth.” By Jesus came grace and truth. So, addressing those who oppose the gospel with grace alone is not sufficient, but it does come first. From the context of grace comes the declaration of the truth of Scripture. We can and must love people and extend grace to them without compromising our own commitment to the truth of Scripture. We are designed by God to be bearers of good news, not bad news. The extension of God’s love and grace has to set the table for the declaration of truth.
The only people whom Jesus seemed to approach harshly were the profoundly religious people, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. Everyone else discovered God’s grace and power first, and then the refrain to go and sin no more.
Jesus simplified what it means to walk and please God, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). Similarly, he said, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12)
Is this kind of living easy? No. It’s not. However, we are called to do the impossible and manifest the fruit of the Spirit in real-time in real relationships. That is a supernatural happening. That kind of love and patience does not naturally flow from the human heart; it is a product of being made new and abiding in Christ. It means that we have to do with our sin what we want others to do with their sin, admit it, i.e., confess our sin and forsake it and receive God’s forgiveness in Christ. We partake of grace first then extend it to those held captive by the devil to do his will.
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:24-26
