the basic message # E57
Galatians 4:4-5
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
Christians are making more and more noise about “their rights”. Here in the southern United States, high-school football is back, and with it comes the controversy of prayer before the game. I read in our local paper that Christians are exercising “their rights” to pray before a game, and have been praying loudly in defiance of laws that ban prayer before the game. I grew up in a time when there was still prayer in schools. Did that make us a more holy people? I don’t think so. I fail to see how the banning of prayer in school has corrupted our children. I believe that our children’s problems begin at home, but since very few parents are willing to take the blame for their own shortcomings, issues like school prayer become our scapegoat. Does a pupil’s silent prayer not reach God? Does God only recognize “official” prayers coming out of schools? We do have truly important rights as Christians, the most important of which is to invite Christ into our hearts, and then allow him to change our hearts.
Matthew 20:25-28
Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
As long as I’m making people mad, let me address the issue of posting the Ten Commandments on the walls of our courthouses. Christian activists have applauded judges who refuse to remove the Ten Commandments from their courtrooms. Why? What percentage of Christians can even recite all 10 commandments? Of the ones we can recite, how many do we even remotely try to uphold? The passage above clearly illustrates how Jesus felt about lording authority over people. One of the great founding principles of America was religious freedom, yet many lovers of our Constitution are really religious tyrants.
I’ll get plenty of hate mail this week, but I really don’t care. I’ve been hearing how fed-up Christians are about losing their “rights”, and I’m fed-up with their frustrations. Want to pray before the football game? How about this: pray in the quiet of your car in the parking lot. Turn on your park lights as a sign that you’re praying. After a while, the parking lot should be full of cars with park lights on and people praying. By the way, I’m wondering how many “good” Christians pray before the game, yet curse the game officials that make a call they don’t agree with. How many “good” Christians are sneaking in alcoholic beverages, or blow cigarette smoke on non-smokers around them?
Only a few people are still reading this message by now, but read this closely- As Christians, we are able to commune with God at any time and in any place. We don’t need permission or laws to grant us that blessing. We don’t need the Ten Commandments posted in the courthouse to remind us of our responsibilities to God. Besides, Jesus shortened them to Two Commandments anyway, but few Christians have ever read that in Matthew. One last question: should a Christian couple getting a divorce want a courthouse that has the Ten commandments on the wall?