Stealth Insurgence, page 16
Chapter 14
It was the first young adult meeting in our own home. The gang walked through the house and our oversized yard, looking, oohing, aahing, and pointing.
“I see a volleyball net here next summer!” Diego enthused.
Maybe, I thought. But probably not.
DCC’s incoming associate pastor would arrive in a few weeks. We wouldn’t be hosting the young adult group any longer, and they wouldn’t be our “peeps,” our crew. I didn’t much like what was coming, but Baby Cruz would change life for us, too.
We settled in the living room with snacks, and Zander placed his chair in the mouth of the bedroom hallway, straddled it, and took up where we’d left off last week.
“How many of you searched your Bibles after our study last week?”
Nearly every hand went up. Sandra’s hand remained up.
“Yes, Sandra?”
“I want to say, Pastor Zander, that some of what you said resonated in me. After I got over the initial shock, I mean.”
“Right?” Josh exclaimed. “Todd and I have been using some of those study tool apps you talked about to look up words and study them out like we did with confusion. And, boy—”
“I wasn’t finished, Josh,” Sandra said quietly.
Zander sent Josh a mild reproving glance, and Josh sighed. “Sandra, I apologize. Please continue.”
“Thanks. What I was going to say is that I have more questions. I’m hoping we’ll get to them tonight.”
Zander nodded. “Let’s plan on it. I’d like to refresh the topics we covered last week, then move on. I’m hoping, in fact, that I’ll address some of your questions as we go along. Everyone have their Bibles and notebooks? Yes? Okay.
“So, last week my main points were that first God created all humans in his image and likeness, and he placed us over his creation to govern and steward it. The next point was that God chose a people from out of humanity to call his own, his treasured possession, his chosen people. The question is why. Why did the Lord divide humanity into two populations, what he called Jew or ‘my people,’ and Gentile, ‘not my people’?
“Anyone want to take a stab at the reasons the Lord needed ‘a chosen people’? Here’s a hint: I can think of at least four reasons.”
Cali spoke up. “To give the world the Ten Commandments?”
“Spot on. That’s one of the reasons. Anyone else?”
“A way . . . to bring Jesus into the world?” Nance offered.
“Absolutely. That’s two. Anyone else?”
When no one offered, Zander said, “Like I mentioned, I believe the Bible gives us four reasons to answer the big question of why God desired a chosen people. The first reason is that the Lord wanted the world to know about him—to know who he really was.
“So. Reason one, God chose a people to receive that information about himself—his name, his unfailing character, his eternal power, his majesty, goodness, faithfulness, mercy, and love. When the Lord brought the Hebrew people out of Egypt, he demonstrated those characteristics not only to his people, but also to the entire watching world. He demonstrated his power by bringing the seven plagues on the Egyptians and by parting the Red Sea; he demonstrated his goodness and mercy by providing manna in the wilderness, clothes that didn’t wear out, and water from a rock, to name a few ways he showed himself to them.
“Reason two, he desired his people to stand before the world as a holy nation, a living, breathing example of what a relationship between humanity and the Creator looked like. Thus, the Lord gave his people his righteous decrees, the commandments and the Law. In other words, God defined sin so that his people—and through his people, the world—would know what was right and what was wrong. Psalm 147:19-20 says it this way:
“He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his laws and decrees to Israel.
He has not done this for any other nation;
they do not know his laws.
Praise the Lord.
“We have a responsibility to keep God’s standards in front of the world. How will unbelievers know what sin is if we shut up, if we stop telling them, if we remove the Ten Commandments from every public arena?”
Josh whispered. “Wow. I never thought about it that way.”
“That’s right, Josh. We have a duty to declare God’s righteous decrees throughout the world, to proclaim Jesus as the Savior God sent to take away our sins, and to preach repentance as the heart’s condition for receiving Christ. Jesus himself preached repentance in Matthew 4:17.
“From that time on
Jesus began to preach,
‘Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven has come near.’
“See, God’s chosen people were supposed to recognize and enter into his holiness through the Law. Funny thing, though? None of them had the ability to live fully or perfectly by the Lord’s decrees. The problem wasn’t with God’s commandments, however. Nothing is wrong with the Law—the problem was and is in us.
“Which brings us to reason three. The Jews’ inability to live righteous lives according to the law served to point out how badly they (and we) needed redemption, that is, payment for their sins. So, the Lord gave his people ordinances concerning sacrifices, particularly blood sacrifice to cover their sins. However, the blood sacrifices had to be repeated over and over because the blood of animals could not remove sin. Rather, those rituals demonstrated the need for a better sacrifice.
“Enter Jesus, the Savior humanity desperately needed. The blood sacrifices of the Law pointed toward the fourth and most important reason why God chose a people for himself: to prepare the way for the Messiah. The Jewish nation gave birth to the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Jesus became the blood sacrifice that, once and for all, satisfied every demand of the Law and cleansed those who came to him of every sin, past, present, and future. No further sacrifice was needed. And, of course, God had made certain that everything the Jews and any seeking Gentile needed in order to recognize the coming Messiah could be found in both the Law and the Prophets.
“According to 1 John 2:1-2, Jesus not only died for the sins of the Jewish nation, he also atoned for the sins of the whole world.
“But if anybody does sin, we have
an advocate with the Father—
Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
and not only for ours but also
for the sins of the whole world
“Furthermore, when Jesus died for the sins of the world—when, according to John 3:15-16, he offered salvation to whoever believes in him—he broke the barrier between Jew and Gentile. God still ordains only two divisions in humanity, ‘my people,’ and ‘not my people,’ but through faith in Jesus, anyone can be accepted into God’s kingdom and become part of his people, his family.’
“All right. That’s where we are in our study on ‘division.’ We have one human race comprised of two and only two people groups.”
He lifted his chin toward Sandra. “Is this a good place for you to ask your questions, Sandra?”
“It’s perfect, Pastor Zander. See, I’m wondering how we reconcile not teaching on racial inequality and the Lord’s admonitions to us to defend or relieve the oppressed, as found in Isaiah 1:17.”
“That’s a great question. Let me ask the group, if any of you witnessed an act of oppression, what would you do? Would you keep quiet? Would you stand by passively, taking video of the act?”
“No!” Nance, Izzie, and Todd said together. The other young adults echoed them or shook their heads.
Sandra’s hand shot up. “Pastor Zander, acts of oppression can be covert. Even unconscious.”
Zander weighed his response. “I think you’ve actually made two distinct statements. Are both true? What does Scripture say?”
Nance’s hand went up. “The Bible talks about secret or covert sin. In 1 Corinthians 4:5 Paul says the Lord will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.”
“Good example. Anyone else want to comment on secret or hidden sin?”
When no one answered, he asked, “How about 2 Corinthians, 4:1-2?”
Therefore seeing we have this ministry,
. . . we faint not;
But have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling
the word of God deceitfully;
but by manifestation of the truth
commending ourselves
to every man’s conscience
in the sight of God.
Sandra nodded. “Doesn’t that prove my point? We are supposed to renounce hidden sin, covert sin.”
“I agree—we are supposed to renounce our sins, hidden or not. However, in this passage, is Paul referring to conscious or unconscious sin? Is dishonesty unconscious? Is craftiness unconscious? Can these things be ‘unconscious’ if we’ve taken the time and effort to hide them?”
Sandra frowned. “Huh.”
“What I’m getting at, Sandra, is that in order for covert sin to be sin, we have to recognize that it is sin when we commit it—otherwise, why would we bother to hide it? Unconscious sin, on the other hand, we don’t hide, because we don’t even recognize it as sin at the time. Yes, the Holy Spirit can convince us that a behavior is wrong after the fact, but until he does, we are unaware of our transgression.”
“That’s what I’m saying! Critical Race Theory teaches us that racism is often unconscious, as is white privilege.”
“But how do unconscious bias and ‘privilege’ differ from other unconscious acts of unloving behavior? Of the greatest importance, how does the Bible teach us to deal with unloving behavior?”
“By teaching on bias, privilege, and racism, Pastor Zander.”
“Hmm. That may be how the world wants us to go about dealing with these things, but what is the Bible’s method of dealing with them?”
No one answered him.
“All right. We need to revisit a passage we read last time, Colossians 3:12-14. Everyone turn there, please. We’re going to reread the several admonitions in this passage on how God’s chosen people are to treat each another.”
He read the passage aloud.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people,
holy and dearly loved,
clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness and patience.
Bear with each other and
forgive one another
if any of you has a grievance
against someone.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
And over all these virtues
put on love, which binds them
all together in perfect unity.
“Our instructions are clearly lined out. We are to clothe ourselves, that is, put on and wear, the following behaviors: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. These are loving behaviors. Moreover, they are the Lord’s behaviors. This is how he treats us. Let’s go on.
“Bear with each other and
forgive one another
if any of you has a grievance
against someone.
“Sandra, according to this passage, when do we forgive one another?”
“Um, if any of you has a grievance against someone . . . oh. I see what you’re doing.”
“What am I doing?”
She huffed. “You’re trying to undermine the idea of unconscious bias or privilege!”
“No, I believe I’m showing, through Scripture, that ‘a grievance’ or a sin of offense against another individual has to be an actual behavior—not a unconscious thought or intention, but something visible that can be called out.”
“You’re saying thoughts and intentions can’t be sin?”
“Not at all—the Lord is well able to chastise us for our thoughts and intentions. What I am saying is that until a thought or intention bears visible fruit, an observable and definable behavior, we Christians cannot, biblically, accuse someone of sin—but that is exactly what Critical Race Theory does.
“The first problem with CRT is that it sorts people by color—divisions God did not ordain. The second problem is that CRT accuses individuals of ‘thought crimes.’ It furthermore finds whole ‘people groups’ guilty—not of demonstrable crimes, and not of personal guilt—but culpable based on the actions of those who are dead, and on the erroneous supposition that those living today are responsible for our ancestors’ behaviors and guilty of benefitting from the results of their crimes.
“The Bible has big problems with this methodology! Deuteronomy 24:16 tells us we are not to be punished for the sins of our fathers or ancestors.
“Fathers shall not be put to death
for their sons, nor shall sons
be put to death for their fathers;
everyone shall be put to death
for his own sin.
“CRT accuses all ancestors of a single people group—‘white people’—of sin. But not all white people engaged in slavery, segregation, or Jim Crow, Sandra. In fact, many white people fought and died fighting against those wicked things. So, how can Jayda, for example, be held guilty for the actions of a Ku Klux Klan member fifty years ago, someone she never knew, someone unrelated to her?”
Sandra, her dusky cheeks flushed a deep red and with tears hanging on her lashes, cried, “But we have suffered and are suffering today! Black Americans deserve compensation, reparations! Someone has to pay!”
Into the deafening silence, Zander said quietly, “Someone did pay, Sandra. His name is Jesus.”
Whoa. The power of those few soft words stole my breath away.
A stunned quiet hung on in the group until Diego spoke softly, “Are black Americans the only ones who have suffered injustices? I think that everyone experiences trouble and challenges to one degree or another. I mean, life can be hard, truly hard, and adversity comes to each of us in one form or another—but the degree to which each of us suffers is neither fair nor equitable.”
He hesitated, then added, “I also think we can always find someone with harder circumstances than our own. Some people are born black, but others are born in terrible third-world nations where they have practically nothing, not even clean water. Some suffer childhood tragedy or sickness or disease. And . . . the fact that some people suffer more than others is not generally another person or group’s fault.”
He lifted his left arm. “Like how some kids are born with defects.”
I had not noticed before . . . how the hand at the end of Diego’s arm was shriveled. Useless. Usually kept tucked into his pocket.
He added, “I had to decide a long time ago how I would live in a world where only a few kids were born deformed while most weren’t. Sure, it didn’t seem fair that, of all the kids in the world, I got stuck with a wimpy hand, but I’m grateful to the Lord that my parents taught me to ignore the bullies who made fun of me. My folks taught me not to feel sorry for myself but to instead seek the Lord’s plan for my life and focus on that.”
Nance said, “You are an awesome example, Diego.”
He grinned. “Thanks, Nance.”
She offered him a tremulous smile in return. “Then there are the kids with supposedly perfect lives—affluent, healthy, ‘privileged.’ The popular ones in school.”
She took a deep breath. “No one knows that behind the scenes, Dad is a working alcoholic. Oh, he has a good job and makes a decent living, but every night after work, he gets drunk. And when he drinks? He verbally abuses his wife and kids and sometimes . . . physically abuses them.”
Zander’s face fell into creases of concern. “Is that . . . is that your family, Nance?”
Her laugh was without humor. “Nothing better than being a fifteen-year-old with only a learner’s permit and having to drive your mom to the ER. More than once.”
Izzie squeezed Nance’s hand. “Oh, Nance! Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugged. “Like Diego said, I had to choose how to deal with it and get on with God’s plan for me. My dad crashed his car while drunk three years ago and died. Sad to say, it was . . . a relief.”
Sandra blinked at Nance and swiped at her tears. “I still think black Americans need compensation—for slavery, for Jim Crow, for ongoing oppression. We need to hold people accountable for these crimes!”
Zander nodded. “Yes, the Bible teaches that people should be held accountable, but the Bible also teaches that people are accountable only for their own actions, not the actions of others. Would anyone else in the group care to comment?”
Tian, our Chinese university student, timidly lifted her hand.
“Go ahead, Tian.”
Tian trembled as she spoke. “I want to know . . . who will pay me back for man in my country who kill my mother. Sandra, you pay me back?”
Sandra was astounded. “What?”
“This man, this black American businessman, he kill my mother. You pay me back, please. Also, same black man kill my mother . . . he rape me. He never arrested, but you black, Sandra—you pay me back! You pay me back right now!”
Our study had taken a sudden, sharp left turn.
“Holy moly!” Josh breathed.
I was certainly as flummoxed as he was . . . and Tian wasn’t finished.
“You not oppressed like you think, Sandra. I tell you oppressed! Oppressed when Chinese government kill my pastor, burn our church. Oppressed when my father disown because I love Jesus. Oppressed when he throw me and all things mine in street . . .”
Tian broke down, grief clogging her throat. Izzie and Nance moved to comfort her, but she gently shrugged them off. “Thank you. You very love me, and I thank you. But I be all right. Jesus make me all right.”
She pointed at Sandra. “Only Jesus make me be all right. He make you be all right, too.”
Sandra looked away. Studied the carpet. No one else spoke.
Finally, Zander said, “Sandra, how will you answer Tian? Will you let Jesus make you ‘be all right’? Or will you keep trying to extract from others what they cannot give you?”
“I-I guess I need to think about that.”
“Of course, but please know that we love and accept you, Sandra. You are part of this group. You belong. Like I said before, there is no ‘us’ without you.”
