Because I Don’t Answer to You – That’s Why

First, to my fellow believers,

It’s incredibly tempting to take the bait.

We’re like hungry trout. Always hungry.

Relentless appetites for acceptance, belonging, meaning, security, attention, and comfort. We crave peace. We’re designed for unity, community, and worship.

All these things can be ours in Christ.

He accepts and receives us. Through Him, we belong to God and have a place in His family where we find meaning, eternal (if not temporal) comfort and security, and we know we are seen. Christ secured our peace with God on the cross, a peace the world can’t give. We are one, united in Christ and when we walk in the light, we experience rich, diverse community.

He made His disciples fishers of men. What they offer is freedom and life in Christ. But they aren’t the only ones with hooks in the sea.

The people screaming at us on social media offer counterfeits that temporarily easy the hunger pangs of our souls but don’t satisfy. They clone belonging, meaning, peace, and unity in their social labs, offered to those who worship what they worship, to all who align with ever-shifting community standards, and to those willing to swallow only their bait and renounce all others.

“Speak out against this, and you’re one of us – for now.”

“Agree with the right words and we can be united, we’ll even expand your platform. Otherwise, we’ll silence you. Your ideas disrupt unity because they speak of another truth.”

Jesus described this generation when He said, “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” Luke 7:31-35 ESV

He said this to warn us that it’s dangerous and unproductive to play to the demands of the crowd. This isn’t unloving to acknowledge.

Jesus was perfect in love, but He acted according to God’s agenda, not the demands of the crowd. Yielding to the crowd doesn’t serve God and isn’t, in the long run, beneficial to the crowd. Love doesn’t pander. Love doesn’t compromise truth.

To Speak or Not to Speak – And When?

In the past weeks, I’ve seen Christians openly baited in numerous ways. One that particularly galls me is the taunt that “silence makes you complicit.” This is often accompanied by a reference to the silence of German citizens during the Nazi regime.

It’s a deft ploy because it’s not all wrong, but it’s wildly misapplied to an ever-expanding range of situations. We succumb because who wants to silently support a new wave of atrocities? Not I.

So, for instance, like lemmings, following the events at the Capitol on January 6^th, those of us who communicate for Christ, no matter what our political affiliation, made certain to state somewhere on social media that we condemned the violence that occurred that day. (Which we do. It was wrong.)

Never mind that we’ve never acted violently, preached violence from our pulpits, or promoted it in our work. Never mind, that we teach Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, and sacrificial living. Never mind we weren’t anywhere near the Capitol and it would never dawn on us to take it by force. None of that mattered when the crowd demanded, “If you don’t condemn this violence, you support it. And use the words we use, or you are dog whistling in code for the ‘other side.’”

In today’s tense social climate, if we’re silent on a trending topic, we’re suspect. If we agree too vehemently, we’re “virtue-signaling.” If we disagree, we’re cancelled.

But, dear brothers and sisters, we waste time blaming the crowd. The crowd does what crowds have always done. They’re victims of group-think, fear, unchallenged bias, and biblical illiteracy.

Instead, we must take responsibility for falling prey to their baiting. We can’t operate on their matrix because we are citizens of another kingdom.

Here’s the biblical truth. Jesus does call us to speak out against evil – boldly, courageously, and publicly. He also calls us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

So, the command of Christ isn’t to add your voice to the mob cry before the dust settles and the facts are sorted. It’s not a command to condemn on demand. We must marry those biblical commands and speak truth when the facts are clear and with the timing and tone of love.

Jesus was silent sometimes. Ecclesiastes says there is a time for everything – a time to keep silence and a time to speak. And the demanding crowd doesn’t get to determine when it’s time for Christians to speak or stay silent – the wisdom of the Holy Spirit rules. Period.

To Whom Do We Answer?

Christians don’t answer to the angry crowd. We aren’t accountable to those who don’t know Jesus. We answer only to Him and that’s why we mustn’t be knee-jerk in our reactions to public outcry, to opinion polls on the church, to fear of what we look like to unbelievers.

If our actions stem from the heart and mind of Christ, if they’re grounded in biblical truth, and timed to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, then we are being faithful children of God. And the crowd will do what it does.

When any of us need to be corrected, we should apply correction, in the manner prescribed in the Bible, not by popular opinion.

Each of these public events is a test. Don’t waste the opportunity to learn. We fail them all the time, but we can learn, and prepare for the next.

To my unbelieving friends:

I love you and have compassion for your understanding of our times. But, I don’t answer to you.

You tell me how you expect a Christian to act based on the incomplete outline you have of Jesus. You skim the surface of my faith and think you can judge my brothers and sisters with authority. But what you have are the spiritual equivalent of headlines, tweets, and slogans that are of no substance for determining my biblical response to complex and dynamic times.

If you care about me, be curious about my God. I won’t post a status update at your demand, but I’ll gladly meet you for coffee over Zoom to have a genuine dialog.

The God I follow is a respecter of life because He is the Author of it. He respects, not only the unborn, but those of every age, culture, ethnicity, nationality, economic status, political belief, and ability. From this respect for life, this culture of life, flows truth that is freeing, civil, and healing.

He has taught me to be slow to anger. To be discerning, wise, and not to judge. His way is one of peace, of reasoning, and sacrifice. He is a God of righteousness, holiness, faithfulness, mercy, grace, and love. And He is patient. He tarries His return – for which I long – to give you the opportunity to acknowledge Jesus as the only way to salvation.

You threaten to cancel and silence me based on misinformation, generalization, and a shallow understanding of how I operate in the name of Christ. Sometimes I’m tempted, out of caring what you think or fear of retribution, to dance to your tune, but the love, truth, and compassion of Christ constrains me to follow His voice alone.

Jesus gave everything for me, and I am surrendered to Him. If some days that puts me at odds with you, so be it. If my life doesn’t always satisfy you or demonstrate who you believe Jesus is, it may be that your understanding falls short of what is real.

There are false representatives of my faith, to be sure. They are wolves dressed as sheep. I can’t stop them from counterfeiting what I hold dear. But if you wish to discern the forgery from the genuine, I welcome you to take a closer look than you can get through social media. We don’t stop believing in art because there are forgers. We don’t dismiss the sparkle of diamonds because there are fakes. We learn through studying the authentic to discern the genuine article from the lie.

I do fall short of representing Jesus and so do others who are sincere followers. And we need correction but that comes from within the family of God. No offense, but you’re not qualified to instruct me here just as I would never be called to coach a team for the World Cup because I’ve no idea how soccer works.

The times aren’t only dangerous for Christians – they’re dangerous for you, too. The difference is that we see the danger. If you silence the doctor warning you of a dangerous virus, you’re not only harming him, are you?

And the voices that are truly spouting dangerous ideas, do we want to muzzle them into the dark corners and secret places? Banishing them from public life will only send them into hiding and, believe me, deception flourishes in darkness.

I don’t need you to be quiet. The truth will out. My faith will stand. Deception and wrong ideas will eventually be revealed for what they are. But you need me to keep speaking, even if you don’t understand why.

This has been a test, people. Let’s learn from it, because there are more to come.

This is not a simulation. We’re in this and it’s time for people of faith to get real, to listen to God, to speak truth plainly, and to apply wisdom in every moment.

(**My apologies, I know this post is longer than usual. It’s an accumulation of meditation and prayer over the past few weeks. I wanted to write it all in one post.)

Love and speaking truth in the time of cancel culture https://t.co/MycTgtilHY #CancelCulture #Jesus

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) January 24, 2021