I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land. (Ezekiel 22:30)
Yesterday’s podcast, entitled “Social Pariahs,” focused on modern-day social pariahs in the church, those who refuse to conform to expectations that have nothing to do with faith in Christ.
This was precisely the problem in Galatia. The Gentile Christians there were being pressured to conform to Jewish culture and covenant laws that had nothing to do with a living, ongoing relationship with Jesus. By submitting to circumcision, they were in danger of allowing a yoke to be placed upon them that would effectively neuter their faith in Christ.
Paul urges them to say “no” to these expectations and to “stand firm.” “For in Christ Jesus,” he says, “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
We are living in days of what I call “camp Christianity.” And as is the case in most “camps,” extremism rules. Those of us living in the United States in these days are painfully aware of the great divide between the Left and the Right. It’s easy to be caught up in the war raging for what some have called the “soul of our nation.” Policies, laws, political candidates, Supreme Court justices, all these things, as important as they may be, will not solve our problems. And yet, evangelical Christians have so identified themselves with these things that those outside the faith can’t see us in any other light.
Jesus calls us to be peacemakers and mercy givers. We are, in the words of Ezekiel, to stand in the gap on behalf of the land as a witness to the healing and salvation found only in Christ.
Standing in the gap and serving as a peacemaker between the extreme Left and Right is not easy. Those in the middle tend to get hit with stones thrown from both sides of the divide.
Jesus was once asked a highly charged political question by the religious leaders in his day - should we pay taxes to Caesar? “Show me a coin,” he asked. Then, referring to the image of Caesar on that coin, he said to these religious, political animals, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
Our Lord steadfastly refused to tie the message of God’s kingdom together with worldly ways and politics. He understood that to do so was to mix the leaven of the world with his message to repent (literally, the word means “to change your way of thinking”) for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
In these days of division and turmoil, both in and out of the church, God is seeking those men and women with the courage to resist defining their faith by anything other than a blood-stained cross where the Son of God stood in the gap between heaven and earth. As more of God’s children do just that, we can be certain that the power of Jesus’s resurrection life will also be seen in our lives, our churches, and our nation.
In Christ,
Dan
Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.
A few pieces of wisdom there Dan, thank you, for what is indeed a very divided time. 🙏