By Pastor Jon
As this day was in my internal preparation, I did not plan to write these words.
In fact, because of the way we have rushed through a heinously tragic time for so many people in New Zealand, with lives forever marked by evil, this communicative navigation has seemed rather profane. I have tried to step back from every detail, as the insatiable appetite for a new angle inevitably leads commentary to speak beyond, for the click before.
While the Bible affirms that Job’s friends got many things wrong, their initial silence with corporate personal solidarity over a week was not one of those things.
In our rush to say everything, we run the risk of losing the more important, which is around lives anchored by grief, and in a most publicly painful way.
To be sure, I am well aware we all can be guilty (me very much included) in this modern mediated world to rush through life at a break-neck speed, where everyone thinks it normative to be first. I believe when we consider our way, our internals know this is not as it should be, especially when faced with such a tragedy.
Therefore, let it be said today that, one week on, we grieve and mourn for the lives taken; about the evil that was forced on those made Imago Dei, and the remaining community doing their best to put the broken shards of meaning into some sort of memorial puzzle.
We weep with those who weep, whose lives have been forever changed.
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One of the important cultural engagements that this modern time continues to damage is a true sense of tolerance and civility.
You either agree with everyone, or you go to war. These are your two modern options. We see this actioned everyday as you change the channel. This is not the way any society can not only aim at a type of flourishing when there is pluralism, but realistically locate. What is the answer? Certainly not to subvert people’s ability to search for truth, and then peaceably live in light. Nor the opposite, which is a type of totalitarian thought structure that demands this is the only way, which may be fine if you are politically on top, but doesn’t appear so swell when you’re out in the cold.
I believe the answer is actually a combination of the aforementioned tolerance and civility, but through a good dose of humility.
And, as Christians, we actually are given the entire set-up to enact, in and through, the Gospel.
The Bible teaches that we are fundamentally and foundationally broken; that we not only need help, but that we need saving. If this is the case about ourselves, then it makes sense that this saving must also come from outside. How can you carry a bucket of water through life if the bucket has a huge hole at the bottom? It will leak. We leak everyday, and we see the ugliness through innumerable headlines. Our issue in New Zealand is that most of these happen on another Continent, far outside of our white-picket view. We can handle this translation because we don’t have to engage. But when it is in our very home? We have no other choice. And our lack of global insight into the suffering on this planet means we have no real-world perspective when it does transpire, which only increases our dystopian shock.
If you assume the biblical specifics about our situation, you can say, because of our hole in this bucket, our condition is not only dire, it will prove fatal.
I would say that even at a surface level, this should underscore why the Gospel story makes sense of reality. We know we have a problem. But only the story of Jesus offers a viable solution, where God through Christ, not only initiated the means, but went about the entire process. The result is that because of the work of Jesus, Christianity’s claim is that who Christians are, has no fundamental connection with what they have done, to gain this standing.
It is entirely of God’s grace!
If this is so, where is boasting? Where is pride? It is dead and buried with the old man!
And this should change the way every Christian approaches every other person on the planet. We don’t go as Conqueror, but as broken; conquered by the highest expression of real love, which changes the way we interact with those of another, and especially those on the outside.
That, my friends, positively changes everything.
And it does not lead to power, but sacrifice.
Yes, this is following Jesus, who did not come to be served, but to serve, giving His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; John 13:1-17)!
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This may read like the scenic route to events around today’s national call to prayer happening around Aotearoa, but welcome to my brain. These words were also intended to positively set the stage for how Christians should be most loving when engaging the demand to speak the truth, even after the painful events one week ago.
We should be reminded of Peter’s words in Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than men.”
This underscores the point that you can not shelve truth from any conversation. Why? Because a counter truth-claim will automatically fill that void.
Let me illustrate with some contrasts between Islam and Christianity.
-One faith claims Jesus is only a prophet.
-The other affirms Jesus is much more than a prophet, but very God incarnate.
-One faith claims God has no son.
-The other confirms Jesus as that incarnated Son of God, eternal Second-Person of the Trinity.
There are plenty more that create a conceptual and belief chasm we can not bridge with our sentiment; right-headed, as many may claim otherwise. And, in fact, it is arrogant for any others to assert their own designs on what each religion teaches, instead of letting these define what they stand for, and whether each best reflects ultimate reality. Therefore, and in light, both can’t be true!
To be clear, the Bible states that you won’t get the true Trinitarian – the only God – if you get the question of Jesus wrong.
John 14:6 – “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’.”
Acts 4:12 – “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
1 Timothy 2:5 – “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
1 John 5:12 – “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Therefore, the most loving thing you can do at an appropriate time with another person is to winsomely and irenically share the Gospel, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 is solid short-hand: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
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Let’s not make a love-truth either/or after Christchurch, because you actually don’t get one without the other.
The challenge for Christians is to incarnate more faithfully and fruitfully following the example of Jesus who was not only able to live both, but would lay down His life because He was convinced there was no other way to gain reconciliation with God, than through His sacrifice on behalf.
If salvation is not conditioned on Jesus, you have to ask what was His point?
And therefore, what is ours?
In fact, Paul would agree with the structure of this argument through the historicity of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19:
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But, he does not end there, and neither should we, in verses 20-22:
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
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Therefore, what should be our response at 1:30pm, and every moment thereafter?
We should use the moments of silence reflecting upon what has taken place in Christchurch, and Yes, remember the lives lost, but also pray that the Gospel would become locational for all those grieving, because this reflects truth, and is so, most loving!
Why? Because, ultimately, Islam and Christianity do not worship the same God. They prove this through the message in their own core documents. This means as they crucially contradict, only one can be right! Well, maybe you think both are wrong, which I would respectfully disagree, while defending your right to dissent.
And every Christian has put their life on Christ, because they are, in Christ.
Therefore, as much as you can appreciate the sensitivity of New Zealand’s Prime Minister at this tragic season, the decision around the call to prayer puts every Christian at a cross-section. Our actions must reflect previously quoted words by Peter:
“We must obey God rather than men.”
But, these shouldn’t stop there.
At this time of searching inside New Zealand, we must become more aware of our story, and our cultural context to more missionally connect with a world looking for answers. As Peter also affirms in 1 Peter 3:15, Christians should…
always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect
Or, to paraphrase, Christians should always be ready to give a reason for the hope they have, especially in the face of evil, terror, and suffering because as painful as our moments will be, we know the end of the story, and the best is yet to come!
What Say You?
For the Fame of His Name