The Newtown Tragedy: A Reflection & A Response

I woke up on Friday morning, December 14^th, to the sounds of my wife gasping as she found out that an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut had been shot up. For the next several hours we sat, mouths open, watching the news.

We cried.

We were angry.

We vented.

We thought of that being our children.

We thought of the parents.

We saw for the first time in our lifetime a President cry on national TV.

We prayed.

We told our children, and then hugged them tight.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting is not the first school shooting, nor will it be the last. It is not the first national tragedy, nor will it be the last. There are mass murders of children, young folk, and innocent bystanders everyday in US low-income neighborhoods and in others countries. The only difference is they don’t get as much publicity as this recent tragedy. But that is not a reason to minimalize the Newtown tragedy. Twenty young lives were lost. Eight adult lives were lost (school staff, the gunman, and his mother). This is ample enough reason to be upset and saddened.

The victims and their families

It’s hard to think of dead children. Well, at least it is for me. I have three children. My two youngest are 7 and 5. That’s around the same ages of the kids who died at Sandy Hook Elementary. Thinking of never seeing my kids again makes my heart hurt. I can feel the pain deep in my chest. My children are my offspring. They are mini-mes. So I can only imagine what those parents must be going through. Or to lose my wife, who went to work only never to return. My state of shock and sense of loss would be paralyzing. Next to Jesus, my wife is my life. She is my rib. So I can only imagine what the spouses must be enduring. The pain.

Loss is the greatest knock-the-wind-out-of-your-chest blow. Loss has a way of K-O’ing us. Why? Because when God created us, He hardwired us for relationships and purpose (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:15, 18). Therefore, losing something we dearly love and dearly value never to have it again is the hardest thing for human beings to cope with. It’s the reason why depression and anxiety are so common and deadly. We have a hard time dealing with loss or the thought of loss. All of us then can empathize with these families, and we should. So weep with them and grieve with them. But let not their loss be in vain. Cherish the treasures that matter most: faith, family, and friends. And let not the heroism of the teachers and staff to put others before themselves be in vain. Fight selflessly for what matters most. Let us keep that in mind.

Reflection of a villain

I was humbled. This tragedy is a reminder for us…a reminder for me. As much as we may not want to admit it, this tragedy is nothing more than another confirmation of how mankind’s depravity has no limits. John Piper wrote about this as well,

“…the murders of Newtown are a warning to me — and you. Not a warning to see our schools as defenseless, but to see our souls as depraved. To see our need for a Savior. To humble ourselves in repentance for the God-diminishing bitterness of our hearts. To turn to Christ in desperate need, and to treasure his forgiveness, his transforming, and his friendship.”

If any of us believe that we are somehow different than Adam Lanza (the shooter), we have lost sight of our own depravity. If we remove Jesus from our life, we are no different. All we have to do is read passages like Ephesians 2:1-3, Titus 3:3, Colossians 3:5-9, and Galatians 5:19-21.

I can say personally I was Adam Lanza before Jesus rescued me. I murdered innocent lives with abortion, rape, drug dealing, and street violence…oh and I can’t forget the lives I’ve took with my selfishness, arrogance, deception, rage, and manipulation. I took innocence. I corrupted young minds. I terrorized families. I abused women and children. Adam Lanza is nothing more than a mirror of my old self. And that shook me, because my egregious sins have never been publicized like his. The lives I destroyed have never been nationally prayed for or comforted or mourned. I caused Newtown like tragedies for 16 years, and that’s just before Jesus. That’s not counting tragedies I’ve caused bearing the name of Christ. This is why I was humbled.

What about you? How many tragedies are accredited to your sin and selfishness? Have you forgotten your reflection as a villain before Christ and at times since being in Christ?

What can we do?

The Apostle Peter told us that “the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers” (1Pet. 4:7, NKJV). We have to pray saints! Pray for those affected by the Sandy Hook school shooting. They need it. But also pray for everyone affected by sin and its effects. The voiceless. The unattended. The disadvantaged. And so on. My wife has a saying, “There is no such thing as a victimless sin.” How true! Sin rampages all of us in some way or another. And as we continue to get closer to “the end of all things”, sin will rampage all the more. Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. Beseech the God of all Creation and watch Him work.

Peter doesn’t end his point with a call to only be intentional in prayer. He ends it with a call to be intentional in love. 

“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’” (1Pet. 4:8, NKJV)

Our greatest witness to a depraved and dying world is exhibiting God’s fervent, life-giving, sacrificial, undeserving love (Luke 6:27-36). We are to love the victims and the perpetrators. We are to love the abused and the abusers. We are to love sinners and saints. Why? Because we all were once victims, perps, abused, abusers, and sinners guilty before God, and it was His fervent, life-giving, sacrificial, undeserving love that drew us to Himself. Thus, it will be His love through us that will draw another to Himself. It will be His love through us that will help heal and mend the hurt and the broken. It will be His love through us that will help soften the hard-hearted, help settle the angry, help accept and embrace the misunderstood, help possibly rescue another Adam Lanza, or Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (shooters of Columbine), or Seung-Hui Cho (the Virginia Tech shooter). His love rescued me, and I was a killer before these killers.

We’ve all been tossed around, world flipped upside down from the rampages of sin and selfishness---whether that be of our own doing or someone else’s. And those of us who are born-again, who’ve been rescued from sin’s penalty and freed from sin’s enslavement, we therefore have also experienced the comfort of God. Hence, the reason why Paul writes in 2Corinthians 1:3-4 (NLT),

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”

As Christians, we’ve been on both sides of tragedies, the pain and the comfort! So we can come alongside those who are victimized and visited with tragedies and flood them with the same comfort we received from God. We can shower them with the fruit of the Spirit---which should sum up our loving manner of interaction, demeanor, and posture when around them. We can, at the right time and in a gentle and gracious manner, share with them the all-satisfying and eternal joy of the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Finally, even though we are not wrong to desire justice to be served when an injustice is present, we cannot forget to remember that our sin and injustices require justice as well. So as God forgave us of ours, so are we to forgive others of theirs. It’s not easy, but it is beneficial to all involved and a reflection of our Savior (and not the old villain in us). We have to forgive Adam Lanza, and any other Adam Lanza’s in our life too.

I hope my reflection and response will be of some help in some way during this time.

“The Lord is a safe place for the oppressed—a safe place in difficult times. Those who know your name trust you because you have not abandoned any who seek you, Lord.” (Ps. 9:9-10, CEB) 

“¹⁸ …God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹ For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.²⁰ So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”” (2Cor. 5:18-20, NLT) 

12/19/12

See No Need To Become A Member? Pt. 2

"Chris, don't you think your last blog on this topic was pretty harsh?" 
To some it may have been. But that was not my intent. My intent was to show that those Christians I described who see no need or are not seeking to become a member of a local church and think they’re walking in obedience doing it are deceiving themselves and are in defiance of authority (rebellion). Allow me to also clear up my use of the term rebellion. I did not mean in using “rebellion” (in my previous blog or in this one) as in “full-fledge rebellion back into the old sinful life”, but simply “rebellion” as in “defiance of authority”. Also, it was not a directive towards all, just those who are guilty of it. (See Pt. 1 for context).

So what then is this “authority” I am speaking of, and why are we to be submitted to it, and is it really necessary to become a member of a local church?

1. The authority I'm speaking of is the authority of the local church and its leaders to hold its members (leaders included) accountable and when necessary administer correction (i.e. rebuking, admonishments, and consequences), according to the Scriptures (Tit. chs. 1-2, 1Pet. 5:1-3, Matt. 18:15-20, 1Cor. ch. 5, 2Tim. 4:1-2).

2. Why are we to be submitted to it? Because God said so or displayed so (Acts 16:4-5, Heb. 13:7, 17, 1Thess. 5:12-13, 1Tim. 5:17, 1Pet. 5:5; also every N.T. Letter is to a "local church(es)"). It's for our benefit that we obey how God has set-up the local church to lead His sheep. Why? Because God knows us infinitely better than we could ever know ourselves. He knows exactly what we need and how we need to be led. We just have to trust and follow His leading, His guidance, and His sovereign plan.

3. Is becoming a member of a local church necessary? Absolutely! Becoming a member of a local church is nothing more than being submitted to a local church's authority and leadership. Membership is saying I am making a commitment to regularly and consistently fellowship and grow with this specific group of born-again believers (Gr. ekklesia), and submit myself to this group's (i.e. local church) authority (accountability) and leadership (Acts 1:12-14; 2:42-47; 4:32-5:11; 6:1-7; 11:19-30). (And if there is a question of who are the leaders, the leadership of the local church are simply those who have been appointed to lead—e.g. pastor/elders, deacons/ deaconesses, and leaders of or in ministries). The answer above (#2) expresses to us the necessity of membership, and also why not becoming a member of a local church is disobedience to God and detrimental to us.

Allow me to paint a picture highlighting one factor of why local church membership is important. Christian X starts a war of words with Christian Y. Other believers and unbelievers see and hear this war of words. A mature believer comes and admonishes both Christian X and Y to handle this matter more Christlike. Neither of them receives the admonishment. Another believer attempts to do the same. They ignore that one as well. All the while this war of words has turned into slander, gossip, defamation of one another's character, and flat out unChristlike. Finally, a fellow believer from Christian Y's church finds out what's going on by someone who tried to admonish Christian Y. This believer sees Matthew 18 has been done and realizes that they must alert the leadership of the church. Christian Y is counseled by their pastor, and receives the correction and repents. Christian X however is not a member of a church. Therefore Christian X is not submitted to any authority. They can continuing to spew out their war of words, blatantly disregarding their witness for Christ, show hate for their brethren, and defiance of authority to be held accountable for their error and sin. How can this believer be held accountable according to Scripture if they are not under authority as Scripture states? There is no way for the accountability of Matthew 18:15-17 or 1Corinthians 5 to be fully carried out if there is no commitment and submission to a local church.

To say you're under God's authority or the Bible's authority but are not under a local church's authority is a misnomer. God says and displays in His Word that being submitted to the local church's authority and leadership is being submitted to His authority and leadership.

Maybe some of you are thinking, "Chris, what about those who have been abused by church authority or church leaders who abuse their authority?" Well, what constitutes abuse of authority? Anyone can say they have been abused by authority when it could be they just don't like to be held accountable for their actions. So how can one determine true abuse? 
Abuse is a corrupt use of authority, or excessive, or flagrant, or unwarranted, or deceitful, or manipulative, or reviling, or improper use for improper gain, and so on. Hopefully you get the picture. If the authority in question falls in one of these categories and it has been verified by more than one person, then it needs to be brought up and addressed. Also, don't automatically assume it's on purpose. Sometimes abuse of authority can happen out of ignorance; but it's still not without consequences. Abuse is a correctable action. Only if the abuse of authority is a continual issue or such an egregious act of abuse should the one guilty of abuse be removed from their authority; (the extent of the removal is a case-by-case base). (The Old Testament is full of a wide-range of stories from the Judges until Jesus about abuse of authority).

For believers who go to a church (presently) where leaders abuse their authority, here's my advice:

1. Remember to follow Matthew 18:15-17. If the situation is not biblically resolved, make the pastor aware of your concern, then give some time for the pastor to inquire and investigate your concern. If the concern is about the pastor, follow 1Timothy 5:19, and tell a trustworthy elder.

2. You can always leave. Local church membership is not an eternal covenant. Just make sure you don't leave divisively. If you have biblical grounds and evidence that there is something heretical or biblically unlawful going on, and it can and has been verified by others, yes you should warn others as you leave, but still do so in a way that is Christlike--seasoned with grace, and in decency and in order. Remember, Jesus is the Great Shepherd, the Omnipotent King, and He can take great care of His sheep whether we warn others or not and whether they receive the warning or not. Don't take on His responsibility. Commit it to Him. And be sure to get plugged in to a church where there is better transparency, accountability, and a grace-driven presence among leadership and the congregation to help guard from abuse.

For believers who have been abused by authority in the church, here's my word to you:

1. If there has not been a healing and restoration time, please do so. Go find a good, encouraging, and gentle-handed and honest Christian counselor to work through the scars and wounds left behind from the abuse. Trust the Holy Spirit to meet you throughout this time as you seek Him for your ultimate healing.

2. Forgiveness is an essential in your healing and moving forward from this abuse. The rest of Matthew 18 after verse 20 speaks right to why forgiveness is an essential. It's easy in our flesh to only want the abuser to be disciplined, humiliated, and some times even to repent, but how often do we desire to forgive the abuser. Jesus reminds us that we treated Him in our sin the same way as you have been abused (and worse) and He forgave you. Again, I know it may be hard, but think of what your sin did to Jesus and extend that same measure of grace and mercy to others as He extends to you. It's more beneficial for you than it is for the abuser.

3. I'll repeat my above point, don't take on God's responsibility. Commit your hurt, anger, vengeance, distrust, and so on to Him who judges righteously (1Pet. 2:21-24).

4. While it may be hard to submit to church authority again, don't group all churches (nor all leaders) in the same basket, and don't throw obeying the Scriptures out the window because of the sin of another. Regardless to what people do to us or not, it has nothing to do with us obeying the gracious and loving God who rescued us from our sin. If our obedience to Scripture is dependent upon how others obey them or not, none of us would ever obey Scripture. Don't let other sinners keep you from submitting to the authority of your Savior.

I know I haven't covered everything, and this is not a comprehensive study. However, I hope from what has been shared that I brought some clarity to membership and helped you better understand that being a member of a local church is being obedient to God's Word. I also hope that I have displayed compassion and grace-seasoned truth to those who may be reluctant to obey the Word regarding this topic because of the sin and hurt caused by others in authority in the church.

*None of what I've shared takes away brethren responsibility to hold one another accountable or correct, rebuke, admonish, counsel, encourage, and so on. I was purely focusing on the local church.

9/30/11

Evidences of True Forgiveness

I had a trial over the weekend. So, I grabbed my resources (Bible, certain Christian books that touch on what I was going through, and my spiritual journal), took a ride and talked to Jesus about what I was going through and how to deal with it. At the end of my time with Jesus I asked Him about forgiveness. I said, “Am I truly forgiving a person if I just say I forgive them, or are there signs that accompany true forgiveness?” He responded with bringing some Bible verses to my mind and then dropped into my spirit how He forgives us. From this, I came to understand what biblical forgiveness/true forgiveness really is.

Biblical forgiveness/True forgiveness means:

1. not holding the fault/offense of the person to them (Ps. 103:10, 12) 
2. not having any animosity (ill will, hatred, resentment, hostility) toward the person still (Rom. 5:8-11) 
3. being able to leave the fault/offense right where it is (the past) and move on (Rom. 6:5-6ff)

These three are based off of how Jesus forgives us. 

1. When Jesus forgives us He no longer holds our sins against Him to us. The Bible says, “He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs… And as far as sunrise is from sunset, he has separated us from our sins.” (Ps. 103:10-12, MSG). 
2. When Jesus forgives us He doesn’t have any animosity toward us. The Bible says, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” (Rom. 5:8-11, NLT). 
3. When Jesus forgives us He leaves our sins right where they are, with our old man, and He moves on to our new man. The Bible says, “If we shared in Jesus’ death by being baptized, we will be raised to life with him. We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin.” (Rom. 6:5-6, CEV).

Jesus confirmed in a parable that we are to forgive just as we have been forgiven, “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’” (Matt. 18:32-33, NIV). Thus, if our forgiveness of a person does not possess the three characteristics of how Jesus forgave us, then we have not completely forgiven that person and we need to be honest about it so to do something about it.

Hopefully what I learned during my trial has been helpful to you.

6/2009