On February 12, Americans and lovers of truth and liberty across the globe celebrate the 200th birthday of the man who must be considered the most beloved President in American history, Abraham Lincoln. Many historians have said in so many words that the rebellion of the mid-19th century was defeated less by General Grant’s artillery than by President Lincoln’s goodness.
Given one month before his death at the hands of an assassin, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address is the most theologically mature faith statement given in a political speech before or since. Consider the conclusion of what has been called Lincoln’s “Sermon on the Mount.”
Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us not judge, that we be not judged.
The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
After his murder on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, ministers across the nation made deifying comparisons between Lincoln and Christ. In the 14 decades since Lincoln’s death he has been claimed by nearly every stripe of nearly every religious body active on American soil.
But Lincoln himself affirmed that he was not a member of any “Christian church.” Though he occasionally attended services, and though he sought counseling from the pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church at the death of his sons, there is no evidence of Abraham Lincoln ever making a public profession of faith.
It could be that Lincoln was not a “joiner,” and it could be that he held a faith in Christ but, like many of us today, was horrified by the fire-and-brimstone vocabulary of the fundamentalists that so misrepresent the sanctifying and redeeming God of the Bible.
Whatever his application of doctrinal faith in his personal life, it is clear that Lincoln the man held a high level of Biblical literacy and that Lincoln the President applied that literacy in the execution of his leadership of the nation. It is also clear that he eschewed the religious buzzwords of his time for the still small voice of God that spoke to his heart, and through that heart to the liberation of millions in his day and beyond.
If only each of us at the dawn of the 21st century would lay aside the cacophony of bumper-sticker theology and amplified populist proclamation to find that still small voice of God.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
Friday, February 13, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Receivers, Not Achievers
While watching the news the other day, I saw the coverage of a paparazzi photograph of one of America’s recent Olympic heros smoking marijuana through a pipe. The story on the news show was followed by a panel discussion around the expected issue of the disappointment that will be experienced by many Americans, especially young people, over the public failure of a highly visible role model.
As the conversation among the talking heads went on, the young man’s statement of apology was flashed on the screen and quoted by the host. Though such things are subjective, to me the words of repentance released by the young athlete had an unusual ring of sincerity to them.
After hearing the public apology, a member of the panel made the statement, “I don’t know that [the young man] can be forgiven for this...He will have to do something spectacular to put this behind him.”
Forgiveness.
In all of the hustle and bustle of the life of the modern Church, and in all of the seminars, methodologies, meetings, long-range-planning events, and mission statements, the work we should be about...the work we MUST be about...is plain and simple forgiveness.
Can the young man be forgiven for using drugs while serving as a role model? The answer from our God is YES. What will he have to do to “put this matter behind him?” The answer from our God is NOTHING. All that is required to be cleansed from any sin, no matter how grievous, no matter how persistent, is to surrender in repentance to the arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Not only is the sin forgiven, but full usefulness is restored.
Some of the most useful servants described in the Biblical narrative were among the most vile of sinners. King David sent a man into battle and certain death that he might claim the soldier’s wife for himself. Paul was one of the worst persecutors of Christians before he was knocked off his horse and placed in the service of Christ. The apostles themselves were a motley collection of swindlers. According to the witness of the Gospels, Jesus Himself was quickly and fully forgiving of the sins of the flesh. In each and every case the restored sinner was immediately entrusted with the work of God’s kingdom.
Of course, this doesn’t make any sense to me. I doubt it makes any sense to you. Shouldn’t these people have gone through some sort of “restoration” process under the guidance of the Church? Shouldn’t there be a 12-step program to help them come to grips with their sin? Shouldn’t there be some sort of periodic evaluation by church leaders to insure that the repentance and forgiveness was complete? Shouldn’t there be some means of documenting the sinful actions so that the record might be cross-referenced in the event of a recurrence?
The answer from the world is yes. The answer from God is no.
When God forgives us in Jesus Christ, the sin is gone as if it were never there. No process is required because no sin is present. Psalm 103:12 tells us, “As far as the east is from the west, so has He removed our transgressions from us.”
This is bad news for all of the hucksters selling books, videos, and study guides in “Christian” bookstores. There is really not much need for all of that junk. There is not much need for committees of long-faced modern Pharisees meeting in Sunday School rooms to determine some ridiculous “process.” God has finished the work by saying the Word and healing His servant.
You see, we are receivers of grace. We are achievers of nothing.
When we are in Christ, our feeble, sinful self is exchanged for the perfect love of Jesus. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave His life for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
The forgiveness of God, like the love of God, is a radical and preposterous thing. The idea that love could be unmerited and unconditional, and the idea that forgiveness could also be complete and unconditional just doesn’t make sense to the human mind.
But, thankfully, in the mind and heart of God, it is His gift to us in Jesus Christ. Our job in the Church is to proclaim that gift and bring others to a saving knowledge of it.
Plain and simple. Radical and preposterous.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
As the conversation among the talking heads went on, the young man’s statement of apology was flashed on the screen and quoted by the host. Though such things are subjective, to me the words of repentance released by the young athlete had an unusual ring of sincerity to them.
After hearing the public apology, a member of the panel made the statement, “I don’t know that [the young man] can be forgiven for this...He will have to do something spectacular to put this behind him.”
Forgiveness.
In all of the hustle and bustle of the life of the modern Church, and in all of the seminars, methodologies, meetings, long-range-planning events, and mission statements, the work we should be about...the work we MUST be about...is plain and simple forgiveness.
Can the young man be forgiven for using drugs while serving as a role model? The answer from our God is YES. What will he have to do to “put this matter behind him?” The answer from our God is NOTHING. All that is required to be cleansed from any sin, no matter how grievous, no matter how persistent, is to surrender in repentance to the arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Not only is the sin forgiven, but full usefulness is restored.
Some of the most useful servants described in the Biblical narrative were among the most vile of sinners. King David sent a man into battle and certain death that he might claim the soldier’s wife for himself. Paul was one of the worst persecutors of Christians before he was knocked off his horse and placed in the service of Christ. The apostles themselves were a motley collection of swindlers. According to the witness of the Gospels, Jesus Himself was quickly and fully forgiving of the sins of the flesh. In each and every case the restored sinner was immediately entrusted with the work of God’s kingdom.
Of course, this doesn’t make any sense to me. I doubt it makes any sense to you. Shouldn’t these people have gone through some sort of “restoration” process under the guidance of the Church? Shouldn’t there be a 12-step program to help them come to grips with their sin? Shouldn’t there be some sort of periodic evaluation by church leaders to insure that the repentance and forgiveness was complete? Shouldn’t there be some means of documenting the sinful actions so that the record might be cross-referenced in the event of a recurrence?
The answer from the world is yes. The answer from God is no.
When God forgives us in Jesus Christ, the sin is gone as if it were never there. No process is required because no sin is present. Psalm 103:12 tells us, “As far as the east is from the west, so has He removed our transgressions from us.”
This is bad news for all of the hucksters selling books, videos, and study guides in “Christian” bookstores. There is really not much need for all of that junk. There is not much need for committees of long-faced modern Pharisees meeting in Sunday School rooms to determine some ridiculous “process.” God has finished the work by saying the Word and healing His servant.
You see, we are receivers of grace. We are achievers of nothing.
When we are in Christ, our feeble, sinful self is exchanged for the perfect love of Jesus. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave His life for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
The forgiveness of God, like the love of God, is a radical and preposterous thing. The idea that love could be unmerited and unconditional, and the idea that forgiveness could also be complete and unconditional just doesn’t make sense to the human mind.
But, thankfully, in the mind and heart of God, it is His gift to us in Jesus Christ. Our job in the Church is to proclaim that gift and bring others to a saving knowledge of it.
Plain and simple. Radical and preposterous.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill
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