Within the past year I’ve told God I’ll say anything he wants me to say, no matter how scary or counter-cultural, as long as I know it’s from him.
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know I write about a lot of (what some might call) “gutsy” things for a pastor such as homosexuality, racism, or even, gutsy in this day and age, God’s sovereignty as well as the exclusivity of Jesus for salvation.
Recently God has been pushing me hard to lead our church to becoming a multiracial church as he is also casting a vision for me to help coordinate the starting of new multiracial churches around Michigan.
All of this for the most part is well and good and from the safety of my computer keyboard, doesn’t feel very gutsy or courageous. I figure whoever doesn’t want to read these posts can tune them out pretty easily while some choose to give push back, which is fine and welcome and typically constructive.
There are Sunday morning sermons though where “gutsyness” leaves me feeling afraid. Today was one of those days.
Not necessarily afraid of what other people think of me / my views, but afraid of if I’m right or not. Afraid of if I’m truly saying what God wants me to say.
And if I’m truly honest with you, afraid people will simply leave my church or not want me around as pastor if I keep “beating this drum.” (And yes I know, “Let them leave, keep preaching truth.” I will, hence the “gutsy” label. But the fear comes from the fact that these are relationships and friendships, not just random people in cyberspace.) It was apt timing that my primary text today was Joshua 1:5-9 because I need that message, and I’m also living how hard it is to truly apply that Joshua truth when God takes you to uncomfortable and uncertain places of obedience.
When it comes to saying “gutsy” things, there’s a fine line where you sometimes wonder if you are adding things to the gospel of grace. I know in my heart I’m trying to be true to all of what Scripture says and trying to cast light on uncomfortable and convicting commands in Scripture that American Christianity has applied a thick culturally-biased glaze to. It feels like we Christians all agree that it’s good to highlight certain commands in the Bible and no one is going to accuse you of adding to the gospel of grace: don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, etc. But what about things like racial inequity, racial injustice, economic injustice, etc.? Now you’re stepping on toes. And honestly, I truly mean this: I sincerely apologize if anyone reading my blog or listening to my sermons has ever felt like I was being self-righteous about these things. By “self-righteous,” I mean I truly apologize if it ever feels like I’ve communicating that you aren’t qualified (“good enough”) as a Christian if you aren’t engaged in these things.
It’s honestly just a really hard line to walk as a teacher and pastor. I want to say what God tells me to say and frankly, if I’m saying that, I really don’t care what you or anyone thinks of me (See Galatians 1:10, Acts 5:29, 1 Cor. 4:3-4). But I’m not an Old Testament prophet; I honestly don’t know 100% if the things I’m calling American Christians out for are 100% from God. God isn’t audibly speaking to me like he did to Isaiah or Jeremiah and asking me to relay his commands about justice to his people, about the contemporary, every day injustices the people were ignoring and worse, that they were culpable for.
I am doing my best to listen to his voice and discern his will via the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit, and doing my best to have as honest and unbiased approach as possible–always starting with Scripture and doing my best to never deviate from Scripture.
So as I do this, I ask that you please forgive me when I’m wrong. I also ask that truly do allow God to speak to you though–to convict you–and to show you the things you were taught about what it means to be a Christian in America that just aren’t of God. And I then ask you to have the courage to shed these things and to do God’s will, no matter how counter-cultural, scary, or uncomfortable it may be.
I’m always convicted when I read about the interactions between the Old Testament prophets and kings. The prophets will show the king an injustice that the king is to do something about, but it’s too inconvenient for the king, or more accurately, it’s simply too normal to just continue doing things as they’ve always been done and as everyone else is doing them. It’s easy as American Christians to point self-righteous and condemning fingers at these Old Testament kings and at the people following them, yet never ask God what the injustices are in our land and in our lives that we’ve never noticed and that his Scriptures call us to radical action on.
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Stay humble Noah. Follow your conscience. Preach the truth with courage and gentleness. It is up to us to listen.
I really appreciate your humility, Noah. The fact that you are genuinely doing your best to stay faithful to God’s word means a lot. Okay, this might be a slightly off topic tangent, but here are my thoughts. I’m really just thinking as I write, so please correct me if I say something crazy or wrong.
When we look at the different churches and church history, it’s scary how many discrepancies there are. For instance, we can look back at the Crusades and wonder, “how in the world did they think that was what God asked them to do?” (I know that’s an extreme example.) However, we can also look at churches today and see people preach opposing views. So how on earth do we figure out what’s right and stay faithful to God’s word?
I don’t really have a solid answer to this, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and I’m comforted by a few thoughts. Although it’s tempting to focus on our disagreements, and many of us do, I think that Christians agree on most things. It seems like often times different types of churches highlight differing aspects of God’s truth without necessarily disagreeing with each other, and I think that’s a beautiful thing. It seems like some of the things you say highlight truth that many Christians would agree with if they studied it in scripture. However, many people are not talking about these things.
It also seems like in most generations of the church, people have believed some sort of lie that was, in reality, opposite of God’s heart. We’ve seen God’s people justify things such as materialism in the early Roman Catholic church, the crusades, slavery in America, and the list goes on. I’m comforted by the fact that God has raised up people within the church to show that those things were not okay. These people had to be bold, and they were often met with criticism. After all, it’s not comfortable for the church to hear what they’ve been doing wrong, but it is absolutely necessary. Racism and social injustices are things the church has tolerated and even supported in America, but I think many Christians are starting to see that these things are not okay. I truly appreciate your boldness in standing up to these things.
We can look forward to a time when Jesus returns and perfects these things, right?. Until then, God’s people need to be diligent in hearing what God has brought to light and responding in obedience.
That is really helpful, thanks Sarah! I think I get tired of the many cliche cornball sermons we hear in church over and over again, meanwhile there are things that would step on people’s toes that we never talk about.
I’m glad you…uh wait…there is an ad on the right for small business insurance from a company called “Hiscox”…how am I not supposed to find that humorous. Anyway, I’m glad you wrote this. I haven’t ever thought that you were accusatory when you’ve spoken about issues that aren’t on my radar. There are so many issues and I don’t think that God calls us to respond to every single one of them.
Haha, those ads are pretty random I know. I think they cater them to the person reading the site, not to the person who made the site. It’s Google reading your mind. So laugh all you want I guess…
Thanks for the encouragement Jim. I know we don’t see eye to eye on some things so honestly it’s very freeing to know that you (and assumingly many others) are mature enough to be able to handle disagreement and even respect the conviction the other person’s side comes from, without if affecting relationship / friendship / community.
Read your post then listened to the message and had this disconnect as to why you are troubled. What came out of the message is to listen and have courage to obey God in whatever He calls you to. After reading, I was expecting the message to be a challenge for your church to march against racism in Lansing. What you said was spot on, and if you start giving messages that make people comfortable in themselves, then you will need to write a post questioning yourself. Growth in Christ both as body and individuals means to go on and forward in faith and have a fighting spirit of advance.
Not sure where to go with your focus on racism. Have learned from being with brothers and sisters from different places in the world that in Christ there is truly only one body and absolutely anything that seeks to separate must be challenged and fought. That includes more than racism, but I learned the evil of racism from fellowship. In terms of social issues, human trafficking seems more vile and domestic abuse seems more violent and closer to home, poverty seems more prevalent. A few years ago, went to New York City to protest in front of the Chinese embassy against the repatriation of North Korean refugees who will be sent to prison camps, most likely to face death. . . not an issue for most, but critical for many NKs.
Always have a tension about social issues being the focus. On one hand, admire a Wilberforce for his stand against slavery that accomplished so much. On the other, amazed that living under Roman oppression, Jesus never spoke out against it, and the NT has little about fighting the ills in society other than the all-inclusive revolutionary call to love. Even the fight against personal ills/sins is the call to put on Christ and walk by the Spirit, the promise being that in Christ there is no fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. . . that the fight is the fight of faith to trust that the power of the Spirit is what changes things. The tension for me comes from a question, for all the good that a Wilberforce does, was there an increase of Christ in lives?
There is a need for pastors to speak out and challenge. Being counter-cultural may have become a necessity not just in terms of society but also church. . . may just be my perception but as Christian church here became so associated with right wing Republican both inside and outside the church, more and more American Christianity seems like an oxymoron and church has lost its vitality. Certainly brothers and sisters oversees are being harmed more than helped by the assumption that Christianity is synonymous with America. People may react badly when challenged but even the greatest challenges to the hardest things give life and produce hope if from God and given in love. Pastors need faith too in speaking.
Hi Alan. Yeah you point out the irony I was feeling — I just preached God’s word on “do not be afraid” and meanwhile I’m feeling afraid. Not afraid to where I would step back, because I won’t, but just feeling very exposed. God is good in how he uses those trying times to grow and strengthen me though.
Hey maybe your greatest fear in leading is your church’s greatest comfort in being led. Used to have this crazy feeling/fear of falling with the Lord, kinda failing without nets, but glad for it now as it may have been the best way for me to know He’s always there. Bible’s true, suffering produces endurance.