The American-Christian Tension

We must obey God rather than human beings!          

—Acts 5:29b

I still love America. Over the past month, many people have either celebrated or condemned the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage. Whether you agree or disagree with the ruling, we can still thank God for and pray for the United States of America.

After being away for a few weekends, I returned to Oakland Church to worship, pray, and celebrate the greatness of our God and His Son, Jesus Christ. I exercised my freedom to worship as I saw fit, and in November, I will exercise my freedom to vote for the candidate of my choice.

After the last Presidential election, Rev. Franklin Graham told many in the Christian community who were unhappy with the results that we only had ourselves to blame. Out of the 80 million evangelical Christian adults eligible to vote, less than half voted.  

The early Church was born into a world ruled by the Roman Empire. Living under an antagonistic government, Christians were urged to be subject to that government and acknowledge its authority. “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1). They lived within the tension of being subjects of two kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the Roman Empire.

Two passages illustrate this tension of being subject to the governing authorities and being obedient to God. The apostles in the book of Acts were instructed by the Sanhedrin Council not to teach in the name of Jesus, but they continued teaching and preaching in Jesus’ name and were arrested. Upon examination, Peter and the apostles responded, “We must obey God rather than human beings!” (Acts 5:29)

In the book of Daniel, a law was passed that no one should pray to any god or man except to King Darius for thirty days. Daniel, the man of God, continued his life of faith and obeyed God rather than human law. “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (6:10).

Daniel was not protesting, criticizing, or fighting against the government. He was an obedient, faithful subject, as much as he could be as a Jewish man exiled in a foreign land. After spending a night in the lions’ den, Daniel responded to King Darius, “My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty” (6:22).

American Christians, today, live within a similar tension. We are citizens of a country designed to be ruled by its people and also citizens of heaven sojourning in a land on earth that we also love. We have the opportunity and privilege to be faithful citizens of the United States of America to the point it does not contradict our obedience to Jesus Christ. We are urged in Scripture to go the extra mile, pray for our leaders, and remain subject to the governing authorities. We also know we must obey God in all things rather than humans. We live in the tension of being in this world but not of this world. God bless America, but Jesus is Lord!

Randy Bain is the Senior Pastor of Oakland UM Church located at 1504 Bedford Street in Johnstown. You may reach him through the church website www.oaklandumc.com.

Seeing Potential In Others

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.    —Matthew 16:18

During a recent Father’s Day message at Oakland, the preacher asked the question, “As a child, who did your parents or family say you were?” We were challenged to fill in the blank, “I was the ____ child.” Although I have a pretty good self-image today, the message really hit home for me in this point. You see, I could have filled in the blank, “I was the fat child.” “I was the middle child.” Or, “I was the blamed for everything child.”

The speaker went on to say, “You are not who your parents and family say you are; in God’s eyes, you are special, chosen, capable, and God’s own child full of potential.” Many of us today still live with the labels and judgments of others rather than our blessed potential in Christ.

The Apostle Simon was renamed “Peter” by Jesus meaning bedrock. Jesus said, “On this rock, I will build my church” (16:18). Jesus knew everything God planned to do in and through Peter’s life. Jesus also knew all Peter’s weaknesses and every failure that was ahead. Jesus named Peter based on his current profession and future potential. Only if we would be so positive and supportive of ourselves and others.

If Peter would have been listening with me to the Father’s Day sermon, he might have filled in his blank, “Peter is the ___ child” with “denier, impulsive, bold, unbelieving, critical, or violent.” Jesus did not judge Peter based upon his weaknesses but on his potential as a child of God transformed by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus came as a nobody, was born in a barn, and lived His early life as a country bumpkin in obscurity. When selecting the Disciples, He called fisherman, revolutionaries, tax collectors, and uneducated men. Jesus spent time with the poor not because He pitied them but because He saw their potential. Paul, also, describes this kingdom attitude and discernment, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view” (2 Corinthians 5:16).

According to the Lord’s Prayer, our forgiveness is partially based upon how we forgive others (Matthew 6:12). Jesus taught us, “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). Judging is the negative side of seeing others only in their brokenness and human weakness. Seeing the potential in others is the positive side of living, thinking, and seeing with the eyes of Jesus Christ.

When is the last time you based your opinion of someone according to their potential rather than on their mistakes and failures? Are you living and behaving today based on what people said or are saying about you or based upon who you are and who you can be in Christ?

In Christ, all the promises of God are ours. We can do and be anything God calls us to. The labels of our past do not define us. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:17). God sees and knows our great potential in Jesus. Let us walk and see others in light of that potential. 

Is Jesus Enough?

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.     —2 Corinthians 12:9

This past week, I heard two statements that got into my head upsetting my spirit. Difficult questions stalked me for days. Is there hope? One person, alienated from friends, family, children, and a productive life in general, asked the question, “Is there hope?” Is hope something that drives you with a passion to get through anything or is hope a carrot dangled in the face of the desperate?

A second person, after years of leading the life of the prodigal son, ruining his life, body, and prospects for a future, hopes that God will show him a way to a new life and independence. Is there hope for him? Is there hope for you and me?

We all face trials and challenges; some never seem to go away. When will my children grow up and become responsible adults? Will this depression and anxiety ever leave me? Will I survive the cancer that seeks to destroy my body? I need a job. Does anyone care? Is there hope amid these questions? Is Jesus enough?

The missionary and evangelist, Paul, asked the Lord three times to remove a thorn in the flesh. This fleshly thorn may have been some physical challenge, disease, or emotional scar. Scripture does not tell us, but Paul prayed to God for deliverance. Our Lord’s response was not what we would expect. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God responded by saying, “No. I am not going to remove this burden, but I am enough for you.”

Paul, who gave up everything to travel the world proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ received the message and lived it. He responded, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

To Paul, Jesus was enough. He gave up everything for the sake of gaining Christ. He goes on to write, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11).

According to Paul and Christians down through the ages, Jesus is enough. Jesus gives grace and strength to cope with the trials of this present life. His grace is sufficient. Jesus, as the firstborn again from the dead, also promises to give us life with Him for all eternity. We live in hope for this life into the next. Jesus is enough, we can trust Him.

We can’t compare our life to others’. To some, hope is rewarded in this life with miraculous deliverance. To others, God says, “Trust me in this. I am the same yesterday, today and forever. I will be with you now and forever.” We may never receive the same job, health, family, or peace that the person next door has, but Jesus is enough. Enough for this life and enough for all eternity. 

Safe In God's Hands

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.    —Philippians 3:12

Over the past ten years I have had numerous folks give me wonderful words of encouragement.  Many have spoken words of prophecy over me that God will accomplish great things in my life and ministry. The future is wide open. A super abundant outpouring of God’s anointing is about to happen. I hear these words so frequently that now I tend to smile and simply say, “Bring it on, Lord.” This past week I shared with a colleague another word that came my way. He responded in a text message, “He’s just getting started…hold on tight!”

I responded, “I’m hanging loose. He’ll [God] have to hang on tight to me; I’m resting in Him.” I wasn’t disagreeing with the wording of my friend’s encouragement; but rather, I was trying to describe my feeling and faith. Have you ever had promises spoken over you that have not yet come to pass? You may even wonder if they will ever happen. Have you had expectations placed upon you by parents, children, spouse, or even a boss that seem beyond your grasp? I cannot depend upon myself to hang on tightly to all God’s promises for me because my grip is not that strong compared to my body mass.

A few years ago, while visiting my brother’s lake house in South Carolina, we took the family to an area of the lake with a rope swing. I had never swung on a rope into the lake but had seen others do it. It looked so easy and fun. My niece went first; she slipped off the rope very near the bank but appeared to enjoy it and was not injured. My older brother, in his sixties, went next. Nicely done! He hung on tightly and swung high into the air before releasing into the lake.

Since I was the athletic type and not afraid of heights, I climbed higher into the tree to begin my swing. I didn’t realize how firmly one must grasp the rope to complete the swing out over the lake. As the rope hit the lowest part of the arc, my hands slipped, and I plunged directly into the lake just beyond the rocky shore. Embarrassed and shaken, fortunately only my pride was injured. I will not soon try that again—probably never.

Thinking about the promises of God, I feel unable to hang on in my own spiritual strength alone. After all, they are God’s promises and calling, not mine. The One who makes the promises is the One who has to keep them. Paul says that he had not already obtained everything that God had in store for him, but he does one thing, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” I am inspired by the phrase, “for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

Can you imagine a small child needing pulled out of the water or up over a mountain ledge? If two hands meet, a small child’s and a stronger adult’s, who is hanging on to whom? We may say to the child, “Hang on tight;” but, in fact, whose grip is stronger? The child can rest in the fact that his/her parent will never let them slip.

Friend, we can claim all the promises God has spoken over us. He will never fail us. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6). “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (I Thessalonians 5:24). Rest safe in God’s hands.