2.25.26
Hey, Calvary Fremont –
According to some, if you are a Republican who supports the policies of President Trump, you are not a Christian. According to others, if you are a Democrat who doesn’t support the policies of President Trump, you are not a Christian. I’m not making this stuff up! It’s no longer your theology and its implications that has eternal consequences – it’s your ideology that will take you to heaven or hell. When you die and stand before God, He won’t ask you if you have repented of your sin and put your faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. All that matters to Him is how you voted in the 2024 election! That’s all He needs to know! Don’t bother Him with such petty concerns as faith in Christ and repentance of sins and love for God.
Here’s a Republican confessing Christ as Lord and Savior, sacrificially giving of her resources to support the work of the church, missions, benevolence, and evangelism. Yet because she supports President Trump and his policies – she is outside the boundaries of the Christian faith! Here’s a Democrat confessing Christ as Lord and Savior, sacrificially giving of his resources to support the work of the church, missions, benevolence, and evangelism. Yet because he is anti-President Trump and his policies – he is outside the boundaries of the Christian faith!
We used to judge one another by whether we baptized by immersion or sprinkling; by infant or adult baptism; by whether you were a Calvinist or otherwise; whether you were pre-millennial, post-millennial, a-millennial, or pan-millennial. We used to judge one another by whether you spoke in tongues, used guitars in worship, or believed that the bread of communion actually became the flesh of Christ. Now we judge one another by whether we are pro- or anti-ICE; pro- or anti-Israel. O, for the good old days of wrangling over once-saved-always-saved!
We have given temporal matters the importance of eternal matters. And in doing this, we have diluted eternal matters. The Golden Mantra these days is, “This is a Gospel matter.” What is the Gospel? According to 1 Corinthians 15, it is the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus, and the invitation to trust Him. Paul in Romans put it this way, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead – you shall be saved.” That’s it! That’s the simple Gospel! But like a slick Jurassic Park franchise sequel – people keep adding to the essence of the Gospel. “Racism is a Gospel issue.” Implication – if you don’t get this right (and, by the way, if you don’t see it the way I see it – you’ve got it wrong), you don’t really believe the Gospel. Or “Israel is a Gospel issue.” Implication – if you don’t get this right (and, by the way, if you don’t see it the way I see it – you’ve got it wrong), you don’t really believe the Gospel. Or “Immigration is a Gospel issue.” Implication…you get the point.
Once, when we didn’t have enough grape juice for communion, I added water to the grape juice bottle, and we had enough for communion that morning. But by adding the water, I diluted the grape juice. When we add to the Gospel, we dilute the Gospel. I think that the root problem isn’t what we believe about race, Israel, immigration, Venezuela, or trans, etc. The problem is that we’ve added to the Gospel. Keep the Gospel the Gospel. Get your ideological hands off the Gospel!! These are Biblical issues, no doubt, but not Gospel issues. Believe what you will about race and Israel and immigration, etc., but don’t make them Gospel issues. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ – it’s not through being right about all the issues of the day. The Gospel should be in your politics – but your politics should not be in the Gospel.
When we discuss and debate the issues of the day, let’s take heaven and hell off the table. I can think you’re wrong without thinking you’re false and barred from heaven. I believe Jesus is coming back to rapture the Church before the Great Tribulation, but you think otherwise. I don’t think you’re false; I think you’re wrong – and you think I’m wrong. OK – I can live with that. But if you think that I am a false arch-heretic because I don’t believe what you do about immigration and since this is a Gospel issue – I’m going to hell – YIKES! Let’s dial it back a bit. Don’t make your ideology a Gospel issue. Your theology should influence your ideology and not the other way around. Keep the Gospel the Gospel! Don’t dilute it with your ideology.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
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