2.19.26
Hey, Calvary Fremont –
Here’s how to turn friends into enemies. Two days ago I blogged about how our culture has ideologically fragmented into various tribes that battle one another for cultural dominance. But the thing is – the greater the cultural fragmentation, the smaller the fragments. Here’s what I mean. The ushers get to church early and get things ready for service. One of their tasks is to prepare communion. (We celebrate the Ordinance of Redemption every week.) To make sure we have enough communion crackers for everyone, they take a whole matzoh cracker and break it in two. And then they take the two halves and break them in two. Then they take the four quarters and break them in two. Then they take the eight eighths…you get the point. The greater the fragmentation, the smaller the pieces.
Apply this to your ideology. You are for Trump; moreover you are for Israel. This distinguishes you from those who are for Trump, yet are not for Israel. You are pro-Trump, pro-Israel, and pro-gay marriage. This distinguishes you from someone who is pro-Trump, pro-Israel, and anti-gay marriage. It also distinguishes you from someone who is anti-Trump, anti-Israel, and pro-gay marriage. Now add to this ideological salad reparations for slavery and abortion rights and theological concerns and gender issues and racial issues and voter rights and free speech and gun control and women’s ordination, and…ad nauseum. Do the math – as you define and locate yourself on all the issues of the day, your fragment gets smaller and smaller in that fewer and fewer people align with your complete ideology.
Now here’s the problem – you judge others by the fragment you stand on. This is how you turn friends into enemies. Anymore, it doesn’t matter that you’re a Christian. What matters is that you are pro-Trump, pro-Israel, and pro-gay marriage. Or that you are pro-Trump, anti-Israel, and anti-gay marriage. Or that you are pro-Trump, pro-Israel, anti-gay marriage, anti-gun control, pro-voter ID, anti-reparations, pro-DEI, anti-trans, anti-men in women’s sports, pro-vaccinations, anti-Christian nationalism – blah, blah, blah, on and on. Your world is very small and very few people fit into it.
I am not going to judge anyone by where they stand, but by where they sit. The Bible says that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. If you are seated in Christ – it doesn’t matter where you stand – you are my brother and my sister. The most important thing about you isn’t where you stand on earth, but where you sit in heaven. The devil is working overtime to get us to define one another ideologically and not Christologically. Unfortunately, the Church hasn’t saturated the world resulting in Christian unity, but the world has permeated the Church resulting in ideological division. We no longer look at one another through the lens of the love of Christ, but through the prism of politics and cultural philosophy. Someone’s theological friend can also be their ideological enemy – because the devil has taught us that what’s more important than someone’s theology is their ideology. This breeds division and not unity because we judge one another governed by the cultural fragment on which we stand and not by the fullness of Christ in whom we sit.
Your fragmented ideology makes it hard to find a church with which to identify. The church you are visiting is orthodox in every theological category, and it appears that the politics of the people neatly align with yours. Moreover, the people are loving and your children are responding positively to the youth ministries. But the pastor said something about immigration that TICKS you off and so you and your family stand up and walk out. Yikes! Where you stand ideologically has such a small footprint that few people stand there with you. Yes, there are a few single issue ideologies that rise to the level of heresy, but to infuse every issue with a live-or-die importance is foolishness. Let’s not judge each other by where we stand, but by where we sit. Don’t put your ideology above your theology. Don’t put your causes above Christ. Where you stand can shift over time; where you sit is eternal.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
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