Getting Back Our Voice

On my way back home this morning I was listening to NJ talk radio on FM 101.5. This particular talk radio program is beneficial to listen to if you desire to get a feel for how residents of NJ perceive the world. The topic this morning was about the teacher who resigned from her job because it was discovered that she had posted anti-gay information on her facebook page. The host I believe held a fair view of the issue and was advocating for the 1^st Ammendment rights of this teacher. One caller called in and suggested that the issue was really more about an intolerance to white Christians in the Senate than anything else. I am not getting all of the details right in my recollection here but the point I want to make came in the host’s reply to this comment. The host replied,

“It seems to me that Christians don’t stand up for themselves and the voice goes in the opposite direction by default more than anything else. Christians just lie down and let the opposing voice do what they want.”

I was actually grateful to the host for his comment. I thought it was dead on in many respects. But here is what I exited my vehicle to ponder on the rest of the day; How does it happen in society that a minority voice becomes a majority voice? Conversely, how does it happen that a once majority voice becomes a minority voice? It is this question that I would like to talk about today.

There have been various times and various places in history where the Gospel of Jesus Christ had minority status. The easiest place to point to would be those first decades after Christ rose from the dead. The Gospel (good news) of Jesus was spreading fast throughout the then known world. In fact just in Paul’s lifetime the Gospel spread all the way from Jerusalem to Rome. But Christians during this time were still considered a small sect of disruptive people. They were by no means the majority voice in town.

A couple things would be necessary (maybe more) over the next 500 years to bring the teachings of Christ and His transforming Gospel to every Western mind. To begin, each Christian would need to unite together with other Christians in the strong bonds of Christian love. These united bands of people would begin as small home groups and eventually grow through small villages, towns and into the cities. As the glue of the Holy Spirit (love) bound each believer with other believers, strength was gained. Each individual Christian was strengthened by the unity of the whole church such that when persecution arose against one the many entered into prayer and fasting for him/her (see Acts 12:12ff). It is unlikely in any time period that individuals will stick their neck out for an unpopular belief if there is not some assurance that someone, some group, some family of people will be there to back them up if ever they fall. Martin Luther King Jr. would not have had the influence he had if his family and church did not back him. There is strength in numbers. Solomon said, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up… Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Eccl.4:9-12).

However it is not enough to know that there are other Christians in the area who believe what we believe. We must also have some confidence that those fellow believers will cover our backs if ever we fall. My community might be 40% Christian by statistic, but I do not thereby expect those 40% to walk with me down dangerous social roads. To walk down dangerous roads requires I know those people personally. It requires that the ligaments of love be so strong between us that I can be assured of their prayers and their defense if ever in jail as Peter was (see Acts 12).

In the same way, homosexual persons prior to the mid to late 1990’s were hesitant to stand up for what they believed in because they had not yet acquired a substantial “family” of homosexuals who would back them when lash-back came. The tables have turned now and homosexuals are loud and proud primarily because they have more backing.  As the homosexual bonds of (perverted) love increased in America in the 1980’s & 90’s, the bonds of Christian love between followers of Christ continued to weaken and even sever.

During the 1980’s and early 90’s church on TV became an alternative expression of faith. Many justified their lack of involvement in a church family by saying, “I don’t go to church but I still pray, read my Bible and watch TBN”. Furthermore, although mega-churches grew in rapid number in those years, the bonds of Christian love did not. Mega-churches blessed Christian people with encouragement, opportunities to serve and biblical education, but they did not effectively provide Christians with a band of Christian support capable of sustaining them in the face of persecution. Ironically many Christians even today gather with hundreds of other Christians on a weekly basis but would not dare count on those people to back them in social, financial or psychological breakdown. Even though the Gospel of Jesus Christ reached many people in these years, those who were won to Christ rarely risked their necks for their faith because they did not have a strong cord of Christian community to support them if they did. As a result the Christian majority voice became softer and softer as the bonds of Christian brotherhood became weaker and weaker.

A second thing necessary to bring the teachings of Christ and His transforming message to every Western mind was a complete reorientation of life by every Christian. When someone became a Christian in the 1^st Century everything changed for them. They changed the way they thought. They changed who they associated with. They changed what they talked about and what they valued. They may have changed where they lived particularly if their family rejected them for their new beliefs. They even changed why they did what they did. If before they were a Christian they worked in order to make money, now they worked in order to glorify God. If before they used to steal, now they must steal no longer but "work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need" (Eph.4:28).To follow Christ for the 1^st Century Christian required a complete reorientation of life and those who were not willing to make complete changes were encouraged not to follow Christ at all (see Luke 14:25ff).

Sadly the homosexual population has done reorientation well. When a person decides to live his life as a homosexual a complete change occurs. He changes the way he thinks about the world. He changes who he associates with. He changes what he talks about and what he values. He may change where he lives-often moving to where his lifestyle is more accepted. He changes why he does what he does. When his life gets wrapped up in the sin of homosexuality everything in his life begins to revolve around that sin. There is not an aspect of his life that is not affected by it. This is true with any sin that takes hold of us- just look at the alcoholic.

But Christians today do not reorient their entire life around Jesus when they are baptized. They baptize parts of their lives but not every part of their life. Christ does not usually get thrust into the center of every aspect of life when a person chooses Him as their Lord. Rather, He gets thrust in the center of some aspects of life. We go to church but we still center the rest of the week around making money. We go shopping but not in order to have things to give to people who are in need in our family and church. We sit at home at night and watch TV but do not open our home to our homeless neighbor. We setup direct deposit but do not use that money to deduct the debts of our Christian brothers and sisters. We go to work but not to glorify God by it. We do not think about our jobs in this way because we have secularized our jobs to the point where we think Jesus has nothing to do with them. It is terribly hard to center 40-60 hours of my week around Jesus if I think those 40-60 hours have nothing to do with Jesus.

It is my belief that Christians have lost their majority voice in America because,

1. They have been weakened by the lack of support available in the church for each individual Christian. The bonds of love have been loosened in our churches and consequently our collective strength is weakened. And,
2. We have not reoriented our entire lives around our first love- Jesus Christ.

On the other hand the homosexual population has gained such a strong voice in America because,

1. They have been strengthened by the support now available to each individual homosexual in the homosexual community, and
2. They have reoriented their entire lives around their first love- sexual sin.

If we believe Jesus is for all and all are lost without Him; if we truly believe Christ’s voice is the supreme voice; if we truly believe that we are “a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because [we] have in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth” (Rom.2:19-20), then each of us must fight hard in our churches to strengthen the bonds of genuine Christian love between ourselves and reorient every aspect of our lives around Jesus.

This may require bold steps for some of us. I am pleased to announce that one of our members recently quit her job because she was no longer willing to run after the money. She now spends all of her time helping those who need help both in the church and in the community. As she does this God is financially providing for her through the people she serves.

I envision a day when the voice of Truth again has majority in America. Until then we must work to rebuild our weakened churches. What will you do today to build life around Jesus in your church?