FROM THE PASTOR
September 30, 2018
I have to admit that I am tempted to write about the details of the Supreme Court nominee hearing this week. Before the hearing ever started, I made a commitment to myself that I would not watch… listen… or react to the hearing. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of turning it on “just while I ate lunch” and found myself so deeply moved to prayer I ended up watching and praying until I had to leave for an Association meeting at 6:15 that evening.
No, I won’t give you my impressions concerning the accuser or defender. I won’t even comment on any individual in congress. What I will comment on though is the increasingly deep and ever widening gulf that now divides this country. I find myself deeply concerned (from a spiritual perspective for the lost) that that gulf has become so deep and so wide that neither side any longer hears what the other side is saying. All anyone sees are lips moving and arms waving. All this results in is providing opportunity for everyone to interpret according to how his or her own prejudices direct.
In disagreements (even in deep spiritual disagreements) if communication breaks down… tragedy is inevitable. In churches we see the result of diminished communication through broken families, split churches, members leaving or ceasing attendance and churches closing. If this can happen among Christians how much more inevitable is it to happen in a realm where Christ is not the center hub. You see, spiritually, there is only one correct TRUTH… the factual Truth of God’s Word. In the political world, because of the absence of that single factual Truth, there is an on-going and ever-increasing attempt to define many truths… and the gulf gets wider and deeper.
Politically, there are issues both sides can generally agree on. There are also issues that, even though there are sometimes profound differences, people of good conscience are able to find some form of compromise. But there are also irreconcilable differences that those same people will never be able to agree or find compromise on… sanctity of life… abortion… who has ultimate control of our daily lives… the list goes on.
I submit that all of the irreconcilable differences on that list can be identified as spiritual in nature. I am also confident that I can safely make that observation because, in the absence of the factual Truth of God’s Word, everyone does what is right in their own eyes. When everyone does what is right in their own eyes… there is chaos. Chaos causes division and division weakens and eventually eliminates communication. And yet communication remains necessary, even if compromise is impossible.
We need to grasp this concept because, as distasteful as it sometimes is, without communication the SINGLE FACTUAL TRUTH cannot be shared and the lost will remain eternally lost. Understand, this gulf, even though seemingly between men… is not… this is a gulf between God and man. The tragedy is evident because you and I understand that Christ the Savior is also Christ the Word (John1:1), Christ the bridge (Col 1:20), and Christ the Way, the TRUTH and therefore the Life (John 14:6). That SINGLE FACTUAL TRUTH must be communicated to a lost and dying world. That is both our duty and responsibility as Christians.
Consider this as I close… agreement is not necessary for communication… but communication is necessary for there to be even the most remote possibility of submission to the ONE FACTUAL TRUTH… CHRIST IS LORD.
Thank you for your faithfulness. Pastor Larry
