Democrats Must Learn Some Respect... Lessons for the Church???

Here are my thoughts on this article: Democrats Must Learn Some Respect, by Clive Crook

I find Mr. Crook's observations to be very interesting and generally accurate. While it would be easy to simply blast liberalism, I think to do so would miss a very important teaching opportunity.

Is it possible that American Evangelicals could suffer from the same afflicition of arrogance and entitlement that the author points out in regard to liberals and the media?

Within much of the evangelical world, we have a tendency to be extremely harsh and shrill in our criticism of the world around us. We don't hear ourselves very well. As we criticize homosexuals, liberals in politics or academics, abortion rights advocates, or anyone else that we deem to be opposed to our Biblical worldview, we come across frequently as arrogant and judgmental. Our message is largely lost, because of the tone and mode of how we convey it. As a result, we end up preaching only to those who already share our views, and the rest of the world tunes us out as bigots and hate-mongers.

Please understand that I do not disagree with most of the content of these messages! However, many of our chief spokes-people are doing more harm than good to the cause of Christ. Here are some ways that we have not been good followers of Jesus' example as we engage the culture around us:

1. Jesus clearly distinguished between this earthly kingdom and His kingdom. When asked about his kingdom by Pilate, Jesus responded that his kingdom was not of this world. (John 18:36) Jesus paid taxes, obeyed the laws, and otherwise submitted to the authority of this world so long as it did not directly contradict the greater authority of his own kingdom. Ultimately, he expressed this proper perspective between kingdoms in Matthew 22:21 -- "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." We must remember that our true citizenship is in Jesus' kingdom and that we are simply ambassadors and aliens to the kingdoms of this world. Therefore, we obey and honor the laws, but recognize our first allegiance to our true King.

2. Jesus clearly modeled an authority structure based on service, rather than perks and privilege. (See Mark 10:42-45) Jesus exemplified leadership by pouring out his life in loving service not only to his followers, but also to his enemies. We need to serve the very people who we are tempted to hate. Good examples of this include many of the pregnancy centers that take care of pregnant women and their unborn children. We need more of this type of service to those with addictions, homosexuals and AIDS victims, and the poor.

3. Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for the religious people! Jesus repeatedly goes after those who have great head knowledge about God, but whose lives are not consistent with the scriptures. Jesus repeatedly offers forgiveness to wretched people who are humble, but continually opposes religiously proud people. In many of our churches, we have reversed this! We give in to the most religiously proud people and heap condemnation on the broken. We should be very careful about condemning homosexuals, addicts, abortion rights people, etc., if we are tolerating heterosexual adultery, pornography, divorce, greed, materialism, and pride in our own people and even in our LEADERS!

4. Jesus stayed on message. Jesus purpose was to preach "good news." This is also frequently stated as the "gospel of the kingdom." We are called to be ambassadors of this gospel (good news) of the kingdom. We must stay on message with the Gospel as well. As we observe and interact with the culture around us, we must always return to the message that Jesus commissioned us to carry. We must resolve to preach the truth that Jesus died on the cross as a substitute for sinners, to satisfy the wrath of God against our rebellion, and that he rose again to give us hope of a new life as subjects of His Kingdom. We need to continually remind everyone we meet that the kingdoms of this world are about to be destroyed by the rightful King who is offering amnesty in advance of final destruction.

Will this message still be heard by many to be harsh and shrill? Probably. But we need to let the CROSS offend people, rather than our arrogance or our methods.