2 Timothy 4:1-5
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
While on social media I heard a young brother bring up a very significant issue. He asked the audience to name several black civil rights heroes from the past. Of course we can all rattle off a dozen or more people we’ve heard of, studied and have come to admire. Then he asked how many white civil rights activists did we know. And he knew everyone watching didn’t have a clue. But the truth is there were many white people that fought, sacrificed and died to champion civil rights in America. As much as I thought I understood about the civil rights era, I truly learned something this week. The experience broadened my understanding, perspective and appreciation for those that stood in the gap for me. And the only thing that changed was me being exposed to more truth. Incomplete information is dangerous and stagnating.
These additional facts have changed how I process the events of those times. And they will make a big difference in how I’ll tell the story going forward. I’ve always considered racism to be a black problem. Now I can more clearly see it’s an American sickness. Racism seeks to hide behind half truths, innuendos, insults and misinformation. Racism is strengthened by lies and false narratives. The hate is so vicious that to perpetuate the myth of black inferiority, racist will even cancel and kill their own children.
Please understand the impetus for all this carnage is not the color of one’s skin. The force that perpetuates hatred, evil and death is sin. On the outside it may appear that the origin of the pain is solely the brainchild of sick, demented people on a mission to exterminate us. But in truth what we are facing is the plot and plan of Satan to kill, steal and destroy humanity. What we’ve experienced is only half the story. The Enemy is not finished. But neither is God.
This morning I just want to remind us that there is great allowed danger in misappropriating the Word of God. God’s Word should never be used to promote culture, race, gender or creed. The truth is not for sale. There is no such thing as relative truth. The truth is absolute. And everything else is a lie.
The Apostle Paul made an emphatic plea to his young protégé to preach the unadulterated Gospel with the power and conviction it was delivered to him. Paul was insightful enough to recognize that times would change, and folk’s appetite for truth would wane, but the Word of God will remain. God’s Word will never fail. But it must be presented in its entirety. Half the truth is a whole lie.
The child of God that believes God to be a healer must also embrace God’s sovereignty. The teacher that boast of abundance, must preach grace during the famine. Preaching half a gospel is no gospel at all. Here are a few summary verses I found that neatly summarizes the Gospel for us:
- Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (Heb. 9:28)
- He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed (Peter 2:24)
- Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God (1 Peter 3:18)
- This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:10)
God Bless
