(In)Equality

Introduction

The Bible is clear that human life is sacred and holds intrinsic value because all humans are created in the image of God!

Genesis 1:27 CSB

27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

As a result of this, every life matters from the womb to the tomb. This includes people that disagree with us. Jesus had some strong words regarding how we should live and act towards people who disagree with us. As we talked about this morning, lots of people think that if someone disagrees with you, you don’t have to respect them and you can fight fire with fire. Jesus gave a different approach in the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:43–48 CSB

43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This is quite the task! Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.

How, then, should we respond whenever there is something wrong going on in our world? This is a relevant question for us today because we look around and we see much wrong. We see people being mistreated, hated, persecuted, and chewed out not because they’ve done something wrong but because they don’t think the way that other people do. This should not be the response of the church of Jesus Christ because we are called to love our enemies. We don’t react this way… We pray for those who persecute us. Is this a natural human response? Absolutely not. Why does Jesus call us to do this? Because we are called to be in the world and not of the world. If we are a new creation, we should act differently than other people around us. This certainly includes how we act with people whom we disagree with!

For those who might not have heard, there is a bill that has been passed in the House of Representatives and will be voted on shortly in the Senate. The bill is called the Equality Act. As Christians, we know that we are all equally created in the image of God and that life is sacred. This bill, though, does much more than the name implies. Several trusted Christian leaders have condemned this bill and the president of the Southern Baptist Convention said this, “In our lifetime, there has not been such a significant attack on religious liberty.” These thoughts were echoed by Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “This bill would represent the greatest threat to religious liberty in imaginable decades in American public life.” He said that it would be nearly impossible for a Christian college or ministry to operate and uphold traditional Christian doctrine if such a bill is passed.

You can look up the specifics of this bill for yourself and I invite you to do so this evening and next week as well. This evening, what I’d love to do, and what many Christian leaders have asked churches around the nation to do, is to pray.

Friends, I believe with every fiber in my being that God is sovereign and in control of this very situation. Looking at the situation and the specifics of it, my heart immediately goes to Daniel 3 whenever Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were forced to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue or face the fiery furnace and they said this, “We know that our God can save us, we believe He will, but even if He chooses not to, we will do what He commands of us and we aren’t going to go against His Word.” To quote Peter coming up in the book of Acts

Acts 5:29 CSB

29 Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.

This is our calling as individuals and as a church. We are to obey God and His Word. This means that we are serious whenever we talk about the power of prayer. We know that God is able to do whatever He desires, we believe that He has a plan that is for our good and for His glory, and even if things don’t go our way or the way that we think they should go, we trust in Him because He is God. One Christian leader put it like this, “It’s important that we remember to obey God, not man, and that God is sovereign over everything. So while we will do what we can to stop this terrible legislation and pray that God will preserve religious freedom, we know that, if it passes, we will continue to do what God has called us to do: speak the truth in love, contend for the faith, be salt and light, share the gospel, and defend the faith.”

This evening, I would love for us, as a congregation, to spend some time in prayer. Even though there are people in government whom we strongly disagree with, I would like for us to pray for them. To pray that God would change their heart, as we sung about this morning, and work in their life in such a way that they see how this bill and others like it, are dangerous as they threaten religious liberty, not just of Christians but of Jews, Muslims, and others who hold to marriage being between one man and one woman.

Let’s spend some time praying first, for God’s will to be done, and second, if that means that this passes, that we would remain obedient to what we are called to do. Speak the truth in love, share the Gospel, be salt and light. I’ve said this often, we are the anomaly in the history of Christianity in that we haven’t experienced persecution by and large in the United States. Other Christians, as we speak, are risking their very lives just to gather and study the Bible. Other Christians, as we speak, are taking the Gospel to remote villages where they could be killed if it is discovered that they have Bibles in their possession. Persecution will come to us - it’s not a matter of if, it is a matter of when. For some people this concerns them greatly, and it should to an extent for all of us, but the greatest comfort for myself in this uncertain time is knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has a plan and that He is working all things together for the good of those who love Him. This doesn’t mean that this bill is “good” it is everything but “good” - but somehow, God can work this for good if it means that more people come to know Jesus as Lord and the Gospel is proclaimed like never before.

If you look in the history books, the moments where revival was the brightest, were often in times of intense persecution. To quote the early Church father, Polycarp, a pupil of John, ““86 years have I have served Christ, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”

When persecution comes, how will you respond? Many people will water down the message to make friends and save face. We’ve seen this throughout the years already! This is not what we are called to do. As Paul instructed Timothy in 2 Timothy 4

2 Timothy 4:2 CSB

2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.

In good times and bad times, preach the Word. Paul wrote this from prison, by the way. Preaching for centuries led straight to prison cells. If that’s where it takes us in the generations to come, so be it. We’ll start the largest prison ministry the world has ever known!

Take some moments now to pray.

Pray for 5 key things:

God’s will would be done

Religious liberty is protected

People come to Christ as a result

We remain faithful to our Savior

That we would love our enemies - regardless of how things end up going