In a Dark Land
Have your eyes adjusted to the darkness?
When the Lights Go On
It’s been a busy week for ministry.
Friday night I got a text asking if I was going to the Pride Parade in Ashland. I was tired. I think I ended up falling asleep on the couch. But, with a mild and gentle encouragement I was convinced. I was going to go.
I am so, so very glad I did.
Going to a pride parade does something to you. Similar to going to Planned Parenthood, it turns the lights on. It opens your eyes. It shatters the comfortable Christian lives we build for ourselves (knowingly or unknowingly) where we minimize encountering the darkest parts of our society. If we don’t have to look at it, we don’t have to deal with it. We absolve ourselves of responsibility.
Now I’ve been on college campus being sworn at by students and faculty, flipped off, etc. It’s no sweat off my back. I don’t say these things to generate any kind of sympathy. Not for me at least, certainly for them. But, it hits differently when a child is using such vile language that you can’t ignore the darkness that is devouring people in broad daylight.
So what did I experience? Well the most immediate and self-evident thing was that the people of tolerance are, in fact, intolerant. No surprise there. We were not welcome. People were waiting for us when we arrived, they unfurled trans flags, powered up their boombox, and starting blowing their whistles. I got to play fun games like Simon Says with a man (Torren) who was trying to block my signs with his flag. This is the same man who maced one of our guys last year. What it meant for me was that this man, and the many others who chased us around would hear the Gospel over and over again. Thankfully there were enough of us that they couldn’t block all of us the whole time.
It wasn’t just the counter-protestor types who disliked us. It was everyone. Professionals representing their businesses at the parade, parents, children, participants and voyeurs alike. Some of the saddest were those who claimed Christ while clapping and cheering, attempting to shame us. Many, many people expressed a middle-finger or profanity laced “drive-by” comment as they passed us. Not because we screamed that God hated them or threw tomatoes at them. Simply because we were sharing the Gospel and our signs called out their sin.
These things didn’t make me angry or discouraged, they grieved me. But even more than the offensive and sometimes aggressive behavior, was the fact that amongst the celebration and display of sexual perversion was the number of children there. Infants to teenagers, a shocking amount of kids likely 4-12. Not just watching with their families, but in the floats. In between half-dressed male exotic dancers on the bed of a truck and men in drag were children. Children in garish makeup, surrounded by men in fishnets amongst the occasional topless woman. I felt the dread of Jesus’ warning against those who cause His little ones to stumble if they didn’t repent (Lk. 17:2). In the moment, I had a job to do. But it hit me when I got home. Those children were being abused while people cheered, children the same ages as my own. All in the name of pride.
They have no shot, apart from the grace of God delivering them. But, that’s the reality we all find ourselves in apart from divine intervention. That’s what I was contributing to, divine intervention.
Was it successful?
This is always the question. Successful, productive. Did we accomplish anything? Is this the most productive way of evangelizing?
What if we asked those same questions to Jeremiah or Ezekiel? Or even Jesus, who lost most of His following He accumulated. What if we sought to dissuade them from prophesying because nobody would listen anyway?
I remember a few people telling me they were just there to have fun and didn’t want to see us. Another gentleman (pictured above waving the flag in my face) argued that there were probably better methods or contexts to accomplish our task.
Let me ask you this, is it the timing or context that is offensive or is it the message? When does a person ever want to hear that they are a sinner in need of a Savior? I’m gonna take a wild guess here and say never. Our efficiency-productivity brains are by default anchored in metrics that validate our actions. Not so with God. Somewhere along the way we were convinced that the best (maybe even only justifiable) way of evangelism is deep relationship evangelism. Once we’ve done the groundwork to have audience with them. We don’t want to be offensive and we think this mitigates our offense. I call it gentle evangelism, akin to gentle parenting. The latter isn’t working, and I think we are suffering from the former as well. As the exclusive method anyways.
So, what was our goal? As I see it, it’s two-fold:
Glorify God by proclaiming His marvelous Word to the world.
Plead with those dead in their sins to turn away to Christ.
Was it successful? Without a shadow of a doubt. If we measured our success by how much love we received by those who encountered us we would be up a creek without a paddle. The world hates the message of the Gospel. The world hated the prophets before us.
“But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.”
- 2 Chronicles 36:16
If your gospel is palatable to those dead in their sins, there might be a problem with your gospel.
Just to be clear, as I said in last week’s sermon: the Gospel is offensive, we don’t have to be. So we don’t do anything but plead with them with the very words of Scripture. We share the reality of their sin and the hope of the Gospel, because we love them.
Why do you do it?
I’ve heard so much preaching on being a city on a hill, a lamp unobstructed. What does that mean? Does it mean wearing a cross necklace and maybe a Christian t-shirt if you’re feeling gutsy? Or does it mean you go to those who will face God’s just wrath, tell them about their sin, and call them to repent and trust in the Good News about Jesus Christ? Wearing a cross is fine, so too a Christian shirt. But neither of those things are evangelism.
We go because we’re commanded to.
“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
- Mark 16:15
Every Christian is commanded to go and proclaim the Gospel to the world. Not only are we commanded to do this, we are also commanded to seek to rescue those on their way to death.
“Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.”
- Proverbs 24:11
But do we have to go to such hostile places and explicitly call out their sin?
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”
- Ephesians 5:11
That’s a pretty confrontational command isn’t it? Not only do we seek to keep ourselves untainted by the wickedness of our world (Js. 1:27) but we must turn the lights on and call it what it is: sin.
I’ll share the example I shared a dozen times Saturday. Is a parent loving if they don’t intervene when their child is going to place their hand on the hot stove? Is a neighbor loving when they don’t shout and throw rocks at a house on fire to save the people asleep inside? If we love them, we will warn them of the coming judgment and beckon them to come to receive the living water from Christ.
Will I be at future pride festivals? Absolutely, and by God’s grace with even more people. Reach out if you’re interested in chatting more, I’ll buy ya coffee.
Working Together
Sunday night after church we rushed off to New Hope Creswell to join our sister churches in our local association (WVBA) for our annual meeting. We sang worship together, heard from our regional catalyst leader Tim Walker, and discussed church business together. This involved voting on a new constitution and by-laws, new budget, the leadership team (of which I’m privileged to be a part of for a second year), our church’s admission into the association, and being taken on as an official church plant for funding.
Ultimately, and I know this is the leadership team’s desire, it was the adoption of a more compelling vision for cooperating together. Our churches don’t work in isolation, that’s not the biblical model, and it takes hard work and a clear picture of where we’re going. Given the attendance and participation of this year’s meeting I am optimistic that we are continuing towards that vision. One where we labor together, serve one another, and pray for each other for God’s glory in equipping the saints and being a faithful witness in this world.
A MUST SEE DOCUMENTARY
So Sunday’s sermon got cut off about halfway through. I just checked and it wasn’t a battery issue, huzzah for 2/3 bars of battery. So I’m not entirely sure what caused the audio to stop. Just know it was probably the best sermon you’ve ever heard, it would’ve gone down in the history books with the likes of Spurgeon and Whitefield. Alas, you would had to have been there.
In lieu of the weekly sermon I strongly recommend that you watch this documentary. The work of abolishing abortion is one that is dear to my heart and needs to be more seriously considered and engaged with in the church. If this video doesn’t punch you in the gut, I don’t know what will.
“every abortion clinic should have a sign reading: "Open by permission of the church of Jesus Christ."
- Francis Schaeffer
PRAYER REQUESTS
Pray for us as we have three conferences in the next three weeks, Simeon Trust, Reformed Baptist Pastors Conference (with evangelism on our way back, and NWBC Annual Conference
Pray that the Lord gives life to the seeds of the Gospel we sowed Saturday.
