Let’s fight.

Or not.

There are a thousand things to get mad about in today’s world, and the almost instantaneous and twenty-four news cycles and onslaughts of social media throw these things in our face constantly.  If we’re not careful and prayerful, these controversies ignite anger, division, and broken relationships in the church.

And they harm God’s work. 

I hoped and prayed that the church would have learned during the Covid years—but we didn’t, and church life suffered.  Do you remember all the arguments just a few years ago?  Do we meet or not?  Do we mask or not?  Do we social distance or not?  Do we hug, shake hands, bump fists, touch elbows, or just nod from a distance?  Do we vaccinate or not?  Do we cooperate with doctors and scientists and governmental leaders or fight against them? 

Unfortunately, the church responded with anger and arguments.  We wrote angry articles and blogs.  We accused other brothers and sisters we disagreed with of being unbiblical.  (Unfortunately, we used very little of the Bible in doing so!)    We preached angry diatribes.  We left one church to find another that—at least on that issue—agreed with us.  Leaders left in discouragement, knowing that no matter how they led the church, people were angry and would leave if they didn’t get their way.

The work of the church suffered dramatically.  Attendance dropped.  Baptisms went down.  Discouragement set in.  The church lost focus. 

Are we beyond that?  Is all good now?

No!

The world has thrown—as it always does—a full set of things to get mad about, and the church—having not learned—is jumping in full force with arguments, accusations, and division.  We didn’t learn.  We adopted the mindset of the world—anger, hatred, division, argument—rather than the mindset of Jesus.  (See Philippians 2:5, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”)

Some of the issues we like to argue about are political, economic, or international:  Trump vs. Biden.  Israel vs. Iran.  Palestinians vs. Jews.  Trump vs. the State of New York.  Gas vs. electric.  Tax increase vs. tax decrease.  Critical Race Theory. 

Some of these issues have moral and Biblical overtones:  Are we pro-choice or pro-life?  How many limited resources should we consume?   How do we deal with homosexuality and transgenderism?  What is the proper role of women in the family, in government, and in the church?  How far do we go in enforcing our Christian morality on the world?

Some of these issues will linger as long as democracy lasts:  How much speech is free speech?  How much does the second amendment guarantee?  Is public or private education the best?  How can we be fair to people of all races, ethnicities, and faiths?

I’m not saying that any of these issues are unimportant.  On many of them, I have strong opinions, even very strong opinions.

But none of those opinions are as strong or as important to me as the basics of our faith:  God is real.  He loves us.  Jesus is His Son.  Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again.  Jesus is calling His church to be disciples and to love like Him and to make disciples who love and live like Him.

We can fight every battle and argue every cause.  Or we can make disciples of Jesus.  I don’t believe we can effectively do both. 

If you know me, you know that I have fun with sports.  (That, of course, brings up another whole list of things we could argue about.  Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers.  Wildcats vs. Sun Devils.  Suns vs. Lakers.  Raiders vs. . . . everyone.) 

But the goal of a sports team is to win the game—with honor and good sportsmanship.  I don’t care who the quarterback voted for, or whether the shortstop drives a Corvette or a Tesla, or what the point guard thinks about Iran.  Complete the pass.  Throw out the runner.  Start a pick-and-roll that leads to a basket. 

Win the game.

And for the church, we win the game by making disciples of Jesus Christ, with honor and godliness.

Let’s keep our focus.  Keep outside controversy to a minimum.  Disagree—and we will—with the love and mindset of Jesus.  And spend the great bulk of our time and energy on winning the game—making disciples of Jesus.