Speak Up
Brett Larson
The more I study God’s word, whether personally or academically, the more I’m awestruck at the levels of complexity and layers of magnificence the Bible contains. This collection of 66 books, that are Christian canon or standard, are God’s transcendent revelation to us. Written over thousands of years by writers whom God breathed into, the Bible shares the redemption plan of a creator who deeply loved his human creation from the beginning. Right after Adam and Eve sinned, God immediately promised to provide a way to restore all mankind back to him through the seed of Eve.
God’s redemptive story crescendos with Jesus’ work on the cross and defeating of sin and death through the resurrection. It is a gracious plan whereby we have the opportunity to be restored to our creator through his grace plan. Our surrender to his love allows us to experience life without the bondage of a sin nature. Let me explain, Oswald Chambers said “there is no criminal who is half so bad in actuality as you know yourself to be in possibility.” That reality…that you have untold evil potential, is due to your sin nature, the very element of sin in us. Romans 7 records Paul writing that in his sin nature there is no good that dwells in him, and he has no power to do the good that he wants to do. However, in Chapter 8 Paul brings some good news that Jesus’ work on the cross totally eliminated the strangle of sin as the righteous requirements of God’s law are now met in Jesus. We are free from that evil potential, we can live in victory and we no longer have to live in sin’s chains.
See, sometimes it’s really hard to grasp that reality…that we are free to not sin anymore. It almost sounds like something is missing. We, perhaps in our pride, want to grab ahold of our issues and own them, do something. Thinking, “it can’t be this simple.” Or, sometimes we misconstrue the beautiful message and water it down so people don’t abuse it or think grace ignores our behavior. Others, downplay our responsibility to live, truly live, out our gracious salvation by honoring God with our behavior. See here’s the truth, the beautiful biblical truth, grace empowers our behavior, grace empowers our ability to do what’s right. It’s because of grace that we are able to live out or work out our salvation as we read in the letter to the Philippians.
So, you might think, “Brett land the plane, what’s the point of this?” Here it is. With all of this back and forth amongst Christians about should we/shouldn’t we speak to social issues, to sin, to morality in the world, there is one simple and biblical answer. Yes! Just yes. But, share the grace message, share that fact that people need Jesus…call out sin? You betcha…but never, never, without giving the grace message right along with it. Confronting is about the “how” far more than the “what.” Approach with loving intent, you might even use Oswald Chamber’s approach which roots in what Paul says…something like “hey I’m capable of much worse than you could ever imagine, but because I live in God’s redemptive grace, I live free, I actually am free not to let sin destroy me and I want the very same for you.” In other words, “I’m against what you’re doing because it will destroy you.” Then. Then, you are not just yelling to make yourself feel better, you are standing for the cause of the gospel.
