Stand and Deliver

It is impossible for us to know the way that we might change the destiny (if there is such a thing) of one person, should we choose to stand up to the injustices of this world. Perhaps that is God's greatest gift to us to not be able to know the influence we do and do not have over evil in this world. Perhaps is a curse which will lead us into eternal damnation. Perhaps knowing right and not choosing to stand for it is the ultimate sin. Perhaps it is not the choice for our own sake but it is in  the choosing to ignore the injustice to others that condemns us most of all. 

When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. "But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life Ezekiel 33:8-9

Dietrich Bonhoffer has been quoted as saying “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”  

In 1925, Hitler gave his first public speech as a member of the Nazi Party. The first Jews were transported to concentration camps in 1941. Approximately 36 million eligible voters resided in the regions of Germany at the time of the elections that propelled Hitler into his highest power. 5 million voters stood between 6 million Jews, 47 million soldiers, another 6 million civilians and unnecessary horror. In simpler and maybe more realistic terms, every one of the voters who did not vote against Hitler could have saved 11 human beings. 

I do not know about you, but when you look at it in that light, it is humbling to think that one person could have so much influence. 

Now, please do not misconstrue my meaning, I am by no means equating the small injustices in life  to the Holocaust or to the enormity of the human plight itself, but suppose, just maybe suppose, that one person, willing to say the hard things, willing to make someone mad, willing to lose a friend for the sake of saving his eternal soul,  could have made a difference. 

I am willing to be that one. 

A conversation was had yesterday between my self and a friend. She stated to me that that a family member was celebrating a life event and she was conflicted not knowing how to feel about it. Of course, I couldn't tell her how to feel, and I have lots of words and opinions but I had to refer back to the Word of God for this one.

I reminded her that God will never approve of something that His word speaks against and also that the Holy Spirit will never speak to us to do something that is contrary to the Word of God. God is not one way and then another. He does not tell us in one place that something is a sin and then permit it later on. If we are call ourselves Christians then we are held to a higher standard. Yes, I know, all have sinned and fall short, but it is what we do with our redemption that matters most. 

I am aware that there is a movement right now to preach grace only. It makes us feel good to hear that grace covers our sin and I do not discount that in any way. Yet wisdom says that after grace, there is a requirement of Holy living.

 The very definition of repentance includes the turning from the sin, without the turning, its just an apology. When Jesus rescued the adulterous woman, his words to her, after her accusers fled were, "go and sin no more" He did not say it was okay for her to keep on sinning. He required a turning. I believe that line he drew in the sand, was his line where he stood and said no more. No more to the sins of the accusers and no more to the sins of the woman. The metaphor drawing a line in the sand,  is regarded as a point beyond which, once the decision to go beyond it is made, the decision and its resulting consequences are permanently decided and irreversible.. Jesus, in drawing that line, is calling us out!  Without our turning from that sin, the blood of Christ would then be wasted. 

Hebrews 6:6
and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Hebrews 10:26
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left

Over this journey God has taught me one thing, taking responsibility is hard. It hurts. It is not easy to have our greatest sins exposed. Even if we are the one to expose them. I am grateful for the people that held my feet to the fire and would not let me make excuses for my behavior. It was only in the facing of my own demons that I was able to find the assurance that my heavenly father will take care of me. 

Another friend came by tonight. She herself going through a terrible divorce after years of begging her husband to give up the other woman and try to save their family, she now has resigned to the fact that he is not willing to turn from his sin. The apology came, the other woman turned away temporarily, then the realization that the other woman was never very far away. She came to talk, she came to apologize. "I should have tried harder, I should have said something more. I just didn't know what to say"  I get this, really I do. How many times have I sat back secretly condemning an action yet never saying a word?

Her face drawn, her eyes rimmed with tears, she then says "never will I ever sit back again and not say something or do something" "I've learned that silence is the same thing as approval in the mind of the person doing wrong"   

Have truer words ever been spoken?  Hitler had convinced himself that his madness was the thing that was right. The people liked the young charismatic personality and while most of his ideologies were valiant on the surface, the darkness of his soul was very soon uncovered. However, despite considering themselves a Christian nation, the German people were willing to overlook and ignore small red flags that just did not seem quite right. 

Is this not what the enemy of our soul does? He drags us subtly into sins, one small step at a time. He convinces us that others are to blame for our sin and he lures us with the promise that we are justified. He traps the bystander in the chains of silence and unfortunately, if the Holy Spirit has urged the bystander to stand for what is right and they do not, the snare is laid for the same fate to befall them as well. Perhaps this sounds a little far fetched to you. I have seen it play out. The very actions which were covered over and not formally addressed came to pass in the lives of those who chose not to take a stand. 

We should never assume that because we did not say that sin is right, that the sinner understands we know it is wrong. The sinner knows it is wrong, but the silence supports the need to believe it's okay.  

I am not saying that grace should not be applied. I do not contend that we do not need to love the person and condemn the sin. I am saying we need to be sure, in loving the person, we warn them to turn from the sin. I would question (and have on many occasions) the love of the person who is willing to let the sinner continue on a path that places them in danger of eternal damnation. I, for one, do not want to be the person that loves someone straight to Hell and take myself with them. I believe this is what the author of Ezekiel warns us against. 

'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.16'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Revelation 3:16

One might even take this act of ignoring sin as a form of lukewarmness. Francis Chan in his sermon, 17 Signs of Lukewarm Christians states "Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. They desire to fit in both at church and outside of church; they care more about what people think of their actions (like church attendance and giving) than what God thinks of their hearts and lives." I would expand this even to say the lukewarm Christians are more concerned with offending, rather than saving the sinner. 

We preach, warning every man and teaching every man … that we may present every man 

perfect [mature] in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor. (Col. 1:28-29) 

In August  of 1942 Jan Karski, a Polish journalist and freedom fighter, had himself smuggled into the Warsaw Ghetto. The Jews were herded like zoo animals into ghettos, surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled more securely than most prisons. From 1942-1945 America and its allies watched in curiosity, somehow, still not completely convinced that the atrocities were a reality. Karski, approached British foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, giving an eye witness account of the horrors he had seen.  While Eden seemed to be sympathetic, he chose to not pursue for political purposes. Karski, then took his appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States and to prominent US News tycoons, who barely batted an eye at his stories of torture and genocide. 

2000 years ago, in Pilot's court, His own people chose to turn their backs to the wrongful persecution of Christ. In not opposing the injustice, spurned the cruelty of the soldiers and made a mockery of the Son of God. Instead, choosing to shout the popular demand to release the murderer Barabbas in the place of the Savior of the World. Only one voice came to stand for justice, Pilot's wife. One voice, who in standing for the truth, may have saved her own soul from Hell that day. 

You may say that it was God's will for His son to die that day, I disagree. What kind of parent would one be to will their child to die? It was the Father's will for all to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. It was His provision for the blood of the ultimate sacrifice to cover our sins once and for all and in man's unwillingness to speak out against the sins of the world, Christ became that one voice, that one man willing to stand in the gap for all. 

I implore you, brothers and sisters, when the time comes, Stand and Deliver. Stand up against atrocities great and small. For the sinner's sake, for your own sake. Do not waste one precious drop of blood. And for those who remain faithful He gives us these promises. 

See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

‎Revelation 3:9 

Psalm 91:14
"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name

There is a scene in one of the Madea movies, that stands out to me. I can't help it, it is just hilarious.  A car cuts Cora off on the road, just as she finishes telling Madea about her WWJD bracelet. Madea, tells her to throw the bracelet at the man who had cut her off. As ludicrous as this sounds, there is inadvertently a message here.  What Would Jesus Do? Jesus came, and lived and died to right wrongs, to stand up for those who could not stand for themselves, to level the playing field, as it were. To confront sin and injustice, in what ever station he found it, whether it be the catacombs or the synagogue. We, as blood bought children of God, carry His name. Carry it well. What would Jesus do? Stand and Deliver!

In Christ,

Shannon