Most humans don't like risk. Instead, they like simple, safe, easy, calculated choices with practically guaranteed results of success and comfort. A healthy aversion to risk is blessing. It helps us survive. It helps us succeed. Yet, taking healthy risks is a blessing; to be used along with wisdom, in order live a life that is abundant and pleasing to God. NO RISK IT NO BISCUIT Bruce Arians, the Super Bowl Champion coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had a saying he liked to use with his quarterbacks: "No risk it, no biscuit". In essence, his philosophy was in order to make big plays and win big games (the biscuit) , a quarterback must be willing to take risks with the football. The bigger the risk, the bigger the payout; if it works. However, what Arians discovered is that this philosophy only works with the right man taking the right risks. THE RIGHT MAN (THE WRONG RISKS) In other news, last week Pastor Alistair Begg sent the faith community into a mighty uproar because of a response he gave to a question he was asked in a recent interview on his radio show Truth for Life. I'll be honest, I was shocked by the response myself—and very few things shock me anymore when it comes to Christianity in America. “We field questions all the time that go along the lines of ‘My grandson is about to be married to a transgender person, and I don’t know what to do about this, and I’m calling to ask you to tell me what to do’—which is a huge responsibility", said Begg. Begg went on to describe his interaction with the Troubled Tranny's Granny. In his initial spiritual counseling triage, he asked her if her grandson understood her belief in Jesus and that her faith means she can’t countenance in any affirming way the choices that he has made in life? Her answer to both questions was a decisive, yes. “I said, ‘Well then, okay", continued Begg. "As long as he knows that, then I suggest that you do go to the ceremony. And I suggest that you buy them a gift" And then came the portion of his comment which hit me as both confusing and predictable. Referencing his advice, Begg continued, “We’re going to have to take that risk a lot more if we want to build bridges into the hearts and lives of those who don’t understand Jesus and don’t understand that he is a King.” If you came to me and told me you heard an awesome sermon from Alistair Begg, I would immediately assume you were fed some sound biblical doctrine. I've cherished this man's teaching for many years and I hope to do so for many more years to come. All this to say, Pastor Alistair Begg is usually the right man, but on this one, he's dead wrong. NOT EVERYTHING THAT SEEMS RISKY IS RISKY There is a point to all my rambling and I suppose it's time for me to get to it. So here goes. Not everything that feels like a risk, is a risk. Let me say it one more time, for full effect. Not everything that feels like a risk, is a risk. Nobody wants to feel like a coward, especially pastors. They've been called by God, as shepherds, and have been given the responsibility of keeping watch over God's people. Scripture is clear that one day they will given an account for every soul under their care (Heb. 13:17). This is a very humbling reality. Now, pair that with the reality of American culture. A culture which God, in his divine justice, is giving up to dishonorable passions; all of which is occurring even faster than Taylor Swift is taking over the NFL. A Christian doesn't have to look very hard to see how rapidly, nonsense has been normalized in America. Things which once would've been clearly intolerable are now celebrated. Things which the church would've unapologetically condemned in the past, are now being treated as if they are nuanced, ambiguous, and confusing. This too is part of God's judgment as the American Church has suppressed the truth in exchange for unrighteousness. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. | Romans 1:26-27 This is also why many American pastors find it difficult to rightly discern and distinguish, truth from error and risk from relevance. In his recent blog post titled, Alistair Beggs the Question, pastor Douglas Wilson weighed in on this controversy. He began by rightly affirming Begg's faithfulness to the scriptures and the godly work of Begg's ministry over the years. He then made the effort to try to help his readers understand that not everything that feels like a risk, is a risk. "Despite the fact that Alistair thought that his advice was risk-taking for the sake of building bridges to those who don’t understand that Jesus is a King, what he was really doing was avoiding the risk of angering the cool kids and the power brokers behind them." | Douglas Wilson What Wilson is suggesting is that there is a form of risk taking, which really isn't taking a risk at all. It's more like, risk mediation and moral compromise, for the sake of cultural relevance. You see, in this specific example, as Alistair Begg assessed the risk of conviction over compromise, it became clear to him that even though it might be "risky" to encourage the confused tranny's granny to go to his so-called wedding ceremony, it was even riskier to tell her to avoid it. Why? Because the scorn, judgment, and retribution from the transgender mafia and their allies is far worse than the scorn of godly Christian grandma, who knows far too much about the character of Christ to ever cause a scene. And herein lies the problem. This type of compromise, to avoid the judgment and scorn from unbelievers, isn't a risk. It's a reward. Yet, it does come with a cost because Christ is King (not a king) and any efforts we make to "make peace" with those who hate him and reject his good and perfect edicts, is groveling not gallantry. "If Jesus is a King, and He is, then we must do what He says, and we must not care about or respond to the censures of those who will sneer and say we are being judgmental, critical, unprepared to countenance anything." | Douglas Wilson PRETENTIOUS PANDERING Here's the question we need to ask ourselves, when receiving feeble pastoral counsel like Begg's: What happens when we swap out the sin? Assuming a Christian understands that a trans-wedding is sin, what other sin would we condemn, and then make actual and tangible countenance to (in the name of loving unbelievers) by attending a ceremony established specifically for the purpose of celebrating it? Would Alistair Begg ever encourage a grandmother to attend her grandson's Proud Boy rally, as long as she was convinced he clearly understood her opposition to his nationalism or western chauvinism? Would Begg feel so sure of the wisdom of his counsel, that he would encourage her to wear a Fred Perry t-shirt and sing along as her grandson leads his alt-right fraternity in singing, Proud of Your Boy? I think we already know the answer to this question, don't we? It's unequivocally and unquestionably, no! Does this hypothetical example seem humorous to you, if not absurd? You might find it hard to believe, but between the counsel Begg actually gave the grandmother and the one I just raised, the most wicked of the two is actually the tranny-wedding. Hands down! While it may be true that a Proud Boys gathering is immoral, and it certainly is true that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated them as a hate group, what is even more true (from a biblical perspective) is that transgender weddings are in direct rebellion with what God has clearly defined and established as a God honoring marriage. The only clear distinction between these two things, at least as it pertains to American culture, is that one is being promoted, celebrated, and advanced while the other is being condemned, criticized, and criminalized. Do the lost boys, within the ranks of the Proud Boys need Jesus any less than the used-to-be-boys within the ranks of trangenderism? Is what we communicate to them of less significance and importance than what we communicate to our unsaved transgender grandsons? Certainly, American culture would say so, but what about you? What about pastor Alistair Begg? And even more importantly, what about God's Word? SETTLING FOR THE WORLD'S BISCUIT When pastors give their approval, to grandmothers or anyone else, to attend so-called wedding receptions in honor of perversion, it's not the risk they think it is. Instead, it's pandering to an ungodly culture. The church has allowed the godless culture to define terms, make demands, and set all the expectations for how Christians must act in order to be considered, true followers of Christ. Expectations like:
Then, if these Christians are lucky and play their cards right, they'll be tolerated in return; but never loved. This is the compromise the godless culture offers to Christians. Anything less than full affirmation will not be accepted or tolerated. Get on the team and embrace the gameplan or get no biscuit. TRUE RISK If you've been paying attention recently, for any amount of time at all, you know exactly what I'm talking about. In the game of cultural relevance and influence, there are two types of teams. The Untouchables and the Unsalvageables. The untouchables consist of those who belong to protected classes; like people of color, LGBTQ, women, and other minority groups. To make things a bit more simple, it's basically anyone who isn't a member of the unsalvageables. In the new normal, the American Church has found itself in a very peculiar place. Once deemed a city on the hill—dare I say the starting quarterback of the team—the Church now finds itself benched. And I'm not talking second string either. You know, the guy who gets called in to take a few meaningless snaps at the end of a game which has already been won. No, more like the guy on the scout team, whose primary role is to pretend to be someone else in order for the first team defense to get their licks in during the week. So, when Alistair Begg tells a third-string Christian grandma to lay her self-righteousness aside and attend her grandson's transgender wedding, what he's actually inviting her to do is to pretend. Pretend that there's actually such a thing as a transgender wedding. Pretend that convictions live in the theological realm but not in the real world. Pretend that compromise, on clear biblical issues, is somehow less offensive to God than the false accusations—from those who hate him—of being “judgmental, critical, and unprepared to countenance anything.” Then, when grandma's groveling and pandering are done, she's encouraged to have hope. Hope, that all her pretending and placating, made a difference in how the unsaved world views and embraces the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's right! The very same godless culture which we've allowed to set expectations of what Christlike conduct is and the very same people whom God gave over to the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie (Rom. 1:24-25)...these people will be won over by grandma's willingness to lay down her convictions and pretend. Because that's what the unsaved world is really after anyway. They don't really care about our kindness. Grandma was always kind. They also don't care about our tolerance. Grandma was never going to stop caring for her sweet little grandson. No, it's approval they demand. Approval and a willingness to compromise and go along with their delusion. Pilgrims, the true risk for Christians, when loving unbelievers, is not our willingness to compromise, but rather our faithfulness to our convictions when everyone else has already chosen to compromise. In Paul's letter to Romans, the same one referenced above, Paul encourages the earthy followers of Christ with these words: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” The righteous shall live by faith. Faith that God will reward the faithful. Faith that God will use our faithfulness to reach the lost, with the power of the Gospel. We have absolutely no reason to be ashamed of any aspects of the Gospel, because it alone is the power unto salvation.
Grandma, do you want to see your grandson saved? Trust in the power of the Gospel. Christians, do you want to see your life make a difference in the lives of your unsaved family and friends? Trust in the power of the Gospel. True risk comes, when despite all the odds stacked against us, we double down on God's word in faith that it will not return void. If you have faith in the mighty work of God, then at no time in your Christian life or your Christian witness should you compromise your convictions on the alter of relevance or influence. The Gospel is the power unto salvation, not our pandering, placating, or pretending. With risk, in faith, comes a supernatural reward. When we choose to stand firm in the face of intolerance of the Gospel of Christ, we choose the glory of God over the affirmation of men. There is no reward, beyond the worthless approval of men, when succumb to the demands of culture. There is no hope, for the salvation of the lost, when the Gospel is sacrificed on the alter of approval. In spite of what your pastor may attempt to convince you of, it is always better to honor Jesus than it is to settle for the semblance of peace or the approval of those who reject him. The risks we are willing to take, to make Christ known in a hostile world, might make all the difference for someone's eternity. Yet, even if they don't the rewards we will one day receive, far outweigh the risks we will be asked to take on this side of eternity. God Bless you, Pilgrims. Stay Pugnacious.
1 Comment
Jason
2/2/2024 09:22:03 am
People want to be seen as brave, even when their bravery is actually rooted in maintaining their own comfort. It's more of risk assessment and mediation than risk taking.
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