Seeking Common Ground

"People react to fear, not love; they don't teach that in Sunday School, but it's true."

                                                                              ~ President Richard M. Nixon

There is a lot of truth in the above quote by the late-President Nixon; many do react in fear rather than love.

Yet, it is the overarching love of God for His Creation which compels each person within the Church, to actually BE the Church instead of simply attending a Church.


Rather than the Ten Commandments, which are part of God's perfect Law, Jesus preached the ideal to His followers in what we now call, 'The Sermon on the Mount.'
As He spoke, Jesus Himself gave extremely high standards for us to follow.


Have you ever committed adultery? No.
But that is not the standard anymore; instead, have you lusted in your heart?
Probably.


Have you ever murdered anyone? No.
But have you hated?
Most likely.


Unattainable?
Only by human standards, in God's grace all things are indeed possible to overcome.


A prostitute. A thief. A man considered a murderer. A follower who commits treason.
These were Jesus' original followers; yet, there was one thing each of them had which caused their lives to be transformed.
There is one thing which is the common ground among them all, although they came from different walks of life.
That one thing is God's Grace.


Sadly, many of Jesus' followers today take the extreme opposite approach and have great difficulty in trying to communicate grace to those who need it.
Some churches lower the ideal given by Jesus; accommodating the culture with a downgrade of values based on the ever-evolving social and cultural norms.
To do so, cheapens grace; for, when you tolerate all things, there is no standard.

Still others go to the extreme opposite, seemingly and practically barring grace.
In this case, faith becomes a religion of 'do's' and 'don'ts;' as a result, those who are in the most need of grace are turned away unwelcomed and empty-handed.


Seriously?
How in the world does a Christian fail in seeking to give the same grace we have received?
Simple.
We become interested in our own Kingdoms rather than the Kingdom of God.


In American Churches, especially among Evangelical circles, there is a constant call toward the culture to 'try' to get society to return to a more 'spiritual' time in our heritage.
I often wonder exactly what time they are referring to; is it the 1950's? Might it be the Victorian Age or antebellum South?
Or could it be as far back as the Puritans, where civil law and religious doctrine blended?


The truth is that American pastors are not the same as the prophets who proclaimed God's message in Jerusalem so long ago.
No, we are to be dispensers of grace which light the way to the One who gives grace.


Instead of preaching to those of their failure in morality, indifference toward Truth and ethical errors like the Prophets of old once did; the Body of Christ should reflect more the approach of the Apostle Paul on Mars Hill.
We live in a society that is not only post-modern, but also post-Christian; as a result, there is a divide between the believer's understanding and that of a person engulfed within the culture.
Therefore, Paul's approach in our time would work; he simply looked for Common Ground and then once established, made the proclamation that there was One God who bridges the gap between society's understanding and the Christian's understanding.


Don't misunderstand, there are definitely times when a Christian MUST confront wrong in society and culture; but these must be true wrongs, not preferences we believe is wrong simply because it effects us in an adverse way.
When the Christian does this, we as the Church, can certainly bring clarity to moral and ethical issues; but only if we truly live what we say we believe.


There have been times when the Church has embraced fully the trends in culture; only to our own detriment.

Francis Galton

An Englishman, Sir Francis Galton was a cousin to the infamous Charles Darwin; he applied his

cousins evolutionary principles to humanity through social philosophy.
In the course of his work, he set forth the idea that by removing, 'inferior' or 'defective' humans from the gene pool, the survival would only be of the fittest and a greater humanity would emerge.


Sound familiar?


This same argument is now used by abortionists to justify 'eliminating', 'unwanted' children before they are born.
But this isn't a new idea to our generation.


The result in Galton's time was that everybody from scientists to politicians supported the movement.
No less than the esteemed Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt thought this was a splendid idea to inflict upon society.
Yet, no one could ever state who would determine what it meant to be 'inferior' or 'defective' other than society-at-large; which simply translates into 'government' or worse, those financially supporting those in government.


And what began to happen was that 'Fitter Families' began to appear at State Fairs across the nation; these put on display families, but only those with 'desirable' traits.
Again, who is qualified to determine that which is desirable as opposed to 'undesirable?'


Soon, state legislatures across the South began to forbid interracial marriages.
Others began to enact legislation that forbid the marriage of those considered 'undesirable,' such as, 'morons,' 'idiots,' and 'retarded' persons.
Then, when taken further, the next step was to begin to enact legislation which required the sterilization of criminals, of unwed mothers and the mentally ill.
Some countries even began the sterilization or even 'eliminate' altogether those considered to be part of 'degenerate' groups, such as the poor, homosexuals, gypsies and promiscuous women.


The formal name of this idea for humanity was called Eugenics.
As you can trace the lineage above, one can see the slippery slope involved; yet, one took Eugenics to its logical conclusion.
His name was Adolph Hitler, and had the support of Germany's State Church.


You see, when the Church begins to mesh or support ideas or policies which clearly run counter to Biblical morality and ethics, only moral confusion results.


The appeal of the Church in our time is to seek Common Ground with those who do not share our faith, our morality or our belief.
What one believes about humanity, matters; this is the key theological issue, for it is THE issue of the Gospel.


Does one forfeit their right to live because they are born differently?
In other words, by birth is it OK for society to determine your end; whether you are a baby or elderly?
No, of course not.


The dignity of a human life is our common ground; which is purely a Christian ideal - all life matters.


In the past, Churches have railed against homosexuals.
The result is that homosexuals were vilified, turned away and segregated from the rest of 'normal' people. All the Church did was further alienate and hurt human beings who were already disowned, disavowed, alienated and hurting.
While Biblically, homosexuality is a sin; it is no more or no less a sin than any other sexual sin given to us in Scripture - which means, the person who engages in this is in just as much need of God's grace as any other person.


As Christians, we cannot receive God's grace and redemption for our sin and then refuse to demonstrate God's grace to a person who sins differently than we do.

In the past, there were churches who vilified races who were of a different race than the congregation.
This has been true throughout the history of the church; black, white, Hispanic, Asian...etc. We tend to worship and want to worship with those who are like us, mostly like our skin color rather than the importance being on our theological beliefs.
One has even said that the most segregated time in the week is on Sunday morning between 10:00 AM and Noon.


I believe that this is still true.


One of the greatest times I ever had as a minister was standing in front of a 'Gospel' congregation while deployed overseas.
You see, though nobody would ever admit it, 'Gospel' is a code word for 'black'.
Honestly, it was one of the most fulfilling, spiritually-charged, loving congregations I have ever ministered within; if I ever had the opportunity, I would jump at the chance to do so again.
But I digress.


The point of it all is whether we are different races or engage in different sins, the one Common Ground issue with society and culture is the dignity and value of human life.
The Apostles recognized this because Jesus demonstrated it in His time on earth; as a result, the Early Church and first generation of Christians embraced the Gospel mandate of 'all tribes, tongues, people and nations.'
Only then can the Common Factor among us within the Church be God's grace.


On second thought, maybe the doom & gloom preachers of our modern era are right; maybe we do need to proclaim that society and the Church needs to return to a time of yesteryear.
But instead of it being the 1950's, or the Victorian Age; the Body of Christ needs to set its clock back 2,000 years, to the first century, and embrace the Gospel mission of the Early Church.


Until next time, go win one for the good guys.