How should the Christian Community Respond to the Chic-Fil-A controversy?

How are Christians to respond to the Chick-Fil-A controversy?

The controversy all stared Earlier this week in a radio interview on the “Ken Colemen Show,“ Dan Cathy, president of Chick-Fil-A stated that he believed “we’re inviting God’s judgment on our nation” when it comes to the discussion in our nation regarding what constitutes marriage.

Cathy went on to say in the radio interview “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say ‘we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage’ and I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”

Cathy concluded his remarks with: “We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that.”  

Of course any position on same-sex marriage is going to bring about strong opposition in  in our current culture. One such response came from Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign which supports same-sex-marriage, he said in a statement that Chick-fil-A “has finally come clean” after keeping it’s official position hidden for many years.

 

Griffin continued, “While they may have been in neutral, kicking this fight into overdrive now allows fair-minded consumers to make up their own minds whether they want to support an openly discriminatory company.”

On the other side of the controversy the  Rev. William Owens of the Coalition of African American Pastors said that ,“Some people are saying that because of the position that Chick-fil-A is taking, they don’t want them in their cities. It is a disgrace. It is the same thing that happened when I was marching for civil rights, when they didn’t want a black to come into their restaurant," he told a press conference in Washington, DC.

In addition Mike Huckabee made a nationwide call — not to protest or picket — but for people to eat at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday. 

So as I thought about this culture crises I pondered; how should followers of Christ "think" and "act" concerning cultural hot topics? Should we ignore cultural hot topics? blog about them? write op-eds? protest? show support for our side, as in the case with Chic-Fil-A and follow the advice of the former Governor of Arkansas and eat at Chic-Fil-A ? 

Should we engage the opposition with dialog? Should we pray and stay inside the walls of our churches? Should we resurrect Jerry Falwell and remake the moral majority---to save our culture? Are we as the body of Christ even called to save our culture?

Many in the Christian Community would say right on to a quote that is often attributed to Martin Luther:

 “If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle-field besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point.”

We live in a culture that is dark and depraved; Ephesians chapter two verse two tell us, "Satan is the "prince of the power of the air."We are admonished by John in his Epistle not to love the world (1 John 2:15). 

The Scriptures admonish the Church to walk in "wisdom" toward those outside of the body of Christ; making the most of every opportunity ( Colossians 4:5). 

Peter tells his readers, "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).

Blog readers, here is my answer to the question how the Church to respond to the Chic-Fil-A controversy.

First, we as the Church should respond. We should respond with wisdom, which means thinking hard through the issue without reacting form the gut. Making the most of every opportunity means that we use the present controversy to share the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. 

As followers of Christ we should be marked with gentleness and respect. No, no, no, not being spineless; but proclaiming the "truth" with boldness that is mixed with humility.

May God be glorified as we seek to bring His gospel to our culture!

YAHWEH IS NEAR

Here is something to get excited about:

 Psalm 145: 18 tells us that "the LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth."

Do you notice that LORD is in all caps? The “LORD” is in all capital letters  more than 6000 times in the Old Testament.

Why is this important?

To find the beginning of the answer we have to travel back to Moses and the Burning Bush.  (Exodus 3:1-4:17).   God speaks to Moses. God tells Moses he is to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses asks God for God’s name:  God says his name is “I am.”  In Hebrew this is “Yahweh.”

 Moses was probably thinking, “I am what?”  Moses might have been waiting on God to finish the sentence.  He might have thought, “Is that the best God can do?  I am?  What kind of name is that?”  But what was God trying to show with that name?  Try this:  make a sentence with action without using the verb “to be.”  Examples:  I am running, we are eating, they are reading.  The verb “to be” is foundational to language.  What God was showing was that He is foundational to existence.  God is not a name, He Is and that is all.  Nothing else needs to be added.(©2007 Mark Nickens)

 It is this LORD, this I am, YAHWEH; who is near to all who call on him. The source of all life. The foundation to all that is. The creator of all things, yes, it is this God who is near to the humble believer who calls on him in truth.

WOW! tell me that isn't exciting? It makes me want to call on God and trust him more than I feebly do now. 

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I know that at times God seems so very far away, all mature Christians relate to this experience. Read any of the autobiographies of the giants of the faith and you'll hear that at times in their journey with God, God to them seemed very distant.

The other day, (the last day of July 2012), I was sitting outside under a beautiful blue sky with big puffy white clouds. From time to time the wind would blow one of those huge white clouds in front of the sun, and for a short time the sun would be hidden. 

This reminded me that God is still near us even when we do not experience his presence. Remember Christian, we walk by faith, not by sight or feelings (11 Cor. 5:7).

So be excited today that Yahweh is close to you, and be encouraged!

How we inform our minds to God is important

Take the time to read as short excerpt from J.R. Miller. From time to time I'll post thoughts from others that to me really standout, and this jumped up and hit me right between the eyes.

James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 – July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.

"Avoid every kind of evil!" 1 Thessalonians 5:22

Much is said in commendation of books. But, as in other matters, there is need for wise discrimination in what one reads. Not all books are worth reading.

There are many which are utterly empty of anything that is noble or worthy. One might read them continually all one's life--and yet be no wiser and no better. A hundred of them do not contain a dozen sentences that it is worthwhile to keep in one's memory, or that can be of any help or cheer or strength in one's life.

Then, there are books which are most pernicious in their influence. There are all grades and degrees of evil in this class. Some of them carry a subtle poison in their atmosphere which is noxious to those who breathe it. We need to keep most careful watch over our heart, so that nothing shall ever tarnish its purity. Any corrupt thought, dallied with even for a moment, leaves a stain upon the mind which may never be effaced.

If we would keep the tender joy of our heart experiences unbroken, we must hold rigid watch over our reading, conscientiously excluding not only whatever is obviously impure--but all in which lurks even a suggestion of evil.

A writer says: "Never read a book which is not worth reading, for some noble end, beyond the short-lived pleasure of a little excitement."

When we think of the influence which our reading has upon our lives, we see at once the importance of selecting only books that are worthwhile. At the best, none of us can read one book in a thousand of those which are within our reach. Surely then, this one book ought to be the best in all the thousand.

Every year, a flood of really worthless publications is poured over the country. People go into ecstasies over trivial works which please or excite them for a day--and are then old and forgotten; while books in every way admirable, are passed by unnoticed.

No book is really worth reading, which does not either impart valuable knowledge; or set before us some ideal of beauty, strength, or nobility of character.

There are enough great books to occupy us during all our short and busy years. If we are wise, we will resolutely avoid all but the richest and the best.

(Editor's note: Reading was the primary media in J.R. Miller's day. The above standards apply to all media today--TV, internet, etc.)

God' is serious about sin in the Church.

A thought from 1 Corinthians 5. There was a gross immorality taking place within the Corinthian fellowship at Corinth, a sin that was even a reproach to the pagan culture that surrounded the Church (5:1).

Paul's remedy for this unrepentant sin is the excommunication of the sinning person (5:13). Paul's highest motive was the purity of the body of Christ and the glory of God. The church was instructed not to fellowship with those who were living in sin, and he lists specific sins (vv. 9-11).

But here is the thought that I would like you to take away form the 1 Corinthian's 5 text---it was not the unsaved (those in the world) that the Church was instructed to stay away from, no, it was those who would profess Christ and then continue in sin (v.11).

The reason the Church is to discipline a professing believer is the fact that sin spreads and grows (v.6). We are not instructed to take ourselves out of the world, we live in the world, but we are to separate from those who would name the name of Christ and continue to live a life that is unrepentant (v.9).

Christian read 1 Corinthians 5 and let the thought of God's holiness penetrate and sink deep into your soul. Our God is holy and He desires His Church, His bride to remain chaste for His return.

Jesus tells us, do not be like the hypocrites!

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matthew 6:6).

I'm struck with the contrast in Jesus' teaching on prayer in Matthew 6: 5-8.

The contrast is "don't be like the hypocrites" and "don't be like the gentiles" (6:5,7). But do your religious acts in secret---the secret places of your inner sanctuary, don't do your religious deeds to be "seen of men."

Jesus tells us that the hypocrite loves to "be seen," standing in public places, and praying in the religious buildings (synagogues).

They pray using "empty words." They pray thinking that the more words they use the better.
The main idea here is not hard to understand, it is that we are to be sincere in our religious duties, we are to live our lives naked and open before our Father in heaven. Our religion is not to promote ourselves, but in so many respects our religion is a private matter between God and ourselves.

One of the monsters that we as followers of Christ will always wrestle with is the ugly monster of pride. Pride has such a loud voice and is always yelling and screaming "look at me," "look at my knowledge of the Bible," "look at how holy I'm," "look at me, me, me!











Believer, follow the wise teaching of our Savior when He tells us,  "But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you... (Matthew 6:6, NLT).

Habits of the Mind.

Today's post will be somewhat different. In staying with our theme of the cultivation of the mind I'll list a few habits of the mind that I found extremely practical and rewarding in the book Think by John Piper.

The habits of the mind that I'll list apply to all objects in the world but most importantly to our study of the Bible.

I'll list several habits of the mind with a brief description of each.

Let my preface this list with these thoughts: All of our learning must be for the glory of God. We are to love God with all our minds. When our learning is not for God's glory it becomes an instrument of pride and human exaltation.

So the habits of the mind are:

• Observation:

Learn to read slowly and observe rigorously and comprehensively always spending time on the details. Remember quick reading of many books will lead to bad habits of the mind. So read with rigorous observation and reflection.

• Understanding:

The goal of reading is to understand what has been observed. Understanding is the discipline of thinking. In the understanding process the mind will wrestle with the traits and features of what has been observed. When we read the Bible our goal is to understand the mind of God through what the author's of the Bible intended to say. Our goal is to be able to say, " I understand what the author meant." We want his, not our thoughts and ideas."

• Evaluating:

The basis for evaluating is certainly our own worldview---we as Christians believe that there is such a thing as truth and that truth can be known. So we evaluate fairly but we are not afraid to make judgements about the truth based on careful observation and understanding.

• Feeling:

We as Christians need to feel properly about the things we learn from the world and in particular from the pages of the Bible. As Piper notes, " If [we] observed and understood a terrible reality like hell, [our] feelings should be fear and horror and compassion. If [we] observed and understood a wonderful reality like heaven, then [our] feelings should be joy and hope and longing."

• Applying:

Applying what we have observed and understood and evaluated makes all learning practical. We need wisdom to be able to apply knowledge to our everyday living. As believers we can't grow in our life with God if we don't apply the truths we learned to our lives.

• Expressing:

As piper notes, " we aim to enable and to motivate the student to express in speech and writing and deeds what he has seen, understood, evaluated, and felt, and applied." It is absolutely essential that we as believers develop the ability to communicate on all levels. Communication is the medium through which we get out the message of the Gospel to the world, it is also how we work to build up the body of Christ.

Christian work to build these habits of the mind into your life for the glory of God.

Man's wisdom is foolishness with God

In chapter eleven of John Piper's book Think he introduces us to two kinds of wisdom, the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man.

The main idea or thought that Piper tries to convey in this chapter of the book is that there are two kinds of wisdom spoken about throughout the Bible. It is of utmost importance that we understand the difference between the two. By understanding the difference we can fight against any thoughts or ideas that promote anti-intellectualism in the christian community. Also we can distinguish between the wisdom that saves a sinner and reconciles him with God and a wisdom that is proud and will send a sinner to an eternity without God.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:21 that the world by its wisdom can't know God. However, in 1 Corinthians 1:24 Paul tells us that the preaching of Christ crucified is " the wisdom of God."

This is the thought or idea that is covered by Piper---there are two kinds of wisdom, a wisdom from God and a wisdom of this world or a human wisdom. I'll just spend a little time on the difference between the two.

Take the time to think on this thought: Jesus told us in Luke 10:21 that God has hidden his truth form the wise, but has revealed it to the little children.  Again Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:21 says that the wise of this world do not know God.

Since I like to get to the point, here it is---Piper notes that "The Cross is the continental divide between human wisdom and divine wisdom.

God's wisdom will always exalt the cross while human wisdom will always be offended by what the cross stands for.

Here is a very succinct definition given by Piper on the ultimate difference between God's wisdom and man's wisdom:

"God's wisdom makes the glory of God's grace our supreme treasure. But man's wisdom delights in seeing himself as resourceful, self-sufficient, self-determining, and not utterly dependent of God's free grace."

Thus God's wisdom promotes humility and brings us to the foot of the cross---while man's wisdom will always do things his way, man's wisdom will not submit to God's plan. All of the religions of this world are built on man's wisdom, and only Christianity is built on the wisdom of God, where the cross is lifted up and exalted.

Take the time to read 1 Corinthians 1:1-3  and see how these two types of wisdom are contrasted.