It’s time to stand

Sitting here

Sitting here I came to the realisation that it is time to take a stand.

God once told me that you can't sit here anymore for I have taken away all the chairs. The seat I was sitting on was made of marble but had cracked from the weight, the wait.

Tolerance or watering down the truth?

The Devil is preaching the gospel of tolerance. God speaks the truth and it is devisive. I remember the story in Exodus where the Israelites had to make a choice. Which side of the line were they to stand on? One side was for God the other was against Him. There was no tolerant middle ground. Those against him were consumed by the ground, for without God as the solid rock, with no truth, the facade of pretence ultimately crumbles away and there is no where to stand.

Why can't we just be our authentic selves? To me this tolerance gospel is really a conformance gospel. Be conformed to the way the world thinks, tolerate what the world considers true. If you fail to align you will be burned at the stake.

I was shocked recently when I came out of men's church conference to be confronted by this tolerance gospel head on! We had just heard from a leading USA Pastor who spoke on Jesus over turning the tables in the temple. 90% of the men there went down the front in support of his call to make a stand. He had spoken out against the local government's desire to establish a school for gays, he had spoken out against the Mayor who had issued subpoenas for sermons on the basis that they may have been inciting violence against gays. He was taking a stand for the truth, he was preaching the gospel of grace and truth. Truth that God loves the sinner but hates the sin. Grace to the people, but not a watering down of the truth.

After this sermon, I asked the question of our men's group, what have you got out of the sessions so far? Innocent enough question I thought. After the response in church I was expecting a positive, let's be our authentic selves and take a stand response. What I got was anything but. Men with status saying that this sermon was not bible based, others saying they didn't like his stand against gay people who can't help but be they way God created them and then a lot of fence sitters. Out of a dozen men there were but a few of us who were prepared to take the stand. What the heck!

Gospel of Grace vs Religious Rule book

God values us uniquely, created us uniquely, but wants is to be conformed to the image of his son Jesus. Through religious glasses this becomes a rigid conformance with rules and traditions that stifles uniqueness and creativity and restricts impact. Again those who step outside these rules are subject to ridicule and shaming and judgement.

Jesus said to Peter who do you say that I am? His answer was not a formula, or a set of rules, or a list of attributes or characteristics. “You are the Christ the son of the living God”. What does this mean? John speaks of Jesus as the way the truth and the life, the word, the one who in whom all things hold together and have there being. Surely to be like Christ is to become what we were truly created to be, to move beyond boundaries, limited thinking, imposed rules and formulas. In fact Christ broke the rules when he healed people on the Sabbath.

It's time to Elevate the truth of the Word

I'm tired of being put in a box. It's time to break free, to burst forth. To celebrate the freedom, to break the yoke of oppressive tolerance, conformity to what the world considers truth, to rise up and elevate Christ and his word as the basis for all things.

The real challenge is to model Grace but to speak the truth in love. This is the gospel, this is being a follower of Christ. I am just as opposed to the intolerant, judgemental, self righteous as to the tolerant of any self serving behaviour mentality. Grace without truth has no power. Truth without Grace is judgment.