Having no Opinion

HAVING NO OPINION

Do you care about how the Church of Satan conducts its business? Are you concerned with the by-laws of the Jehovah’s Witnesses? What is your opinion as to where the Mormon Church holds its 2013 convention? What is your conviction as to the parliamentary procedures in North Korea? How do you feel about who is the head of your neighborhood Buddhist temple? But, you say, I don’t really have an opinion about those things. I do not belong to the institutions you mentioned and I do not care about how they run their business. They are not a part of me.

And therein lies a great and piercing principle. Let the dead bury the dead. If you care about how a fallen institution runs its business then you are invested in such an institution. Now that engenders some remarkable and probing questions. Of course if it is your company and you own it then you must desire integrity and fairness. But what if you belong to a giant company and that company is not treating its employees fairly as it concerns salary, benefits, vacations, and other issues?

As a believer should you participate in grumbling and complaining and ultimately openly protesting? Isn’t the believer called to a higher and more self denying standard? Does not God’s Word command us to suffer ourselves to be defrauded for Christ’s sake? Think about that. How easily we are drawn into earthly battles and inadvertently compromise the cause of Christ not only through our words and attitudes, but through an unholy alliance with unbelievers.

This is not some finer point of doctrine. This is a basic element of what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. How often have we read these words:

Col.3: If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Again, how often have we read those words and yet went away with the same earthly views and perspectives? Do they even have any practical meaning for followers of Christ or are they some airy doctrinal goals which create a momentary imagination which dissipates as quickly as it is read? We are called, exhorted, and commanded to live in the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ. This is no compartment within a greater western existence. This is meant to be a call to discipleship which is sometimes volatile, sometimes excruciating, but always humble and always rewarding. The life that seeks nothing but Christ and His will is incongruous with the goings on by the fallen souls of this temporal world.

So in light of this highest calling how is it we have so many opinions about how the kingdom of darkness conducts their business? Is it because we have taken our eyes off Christ and cast them upon this world? Is it because we worship morals more than we worship the Redeemer? Is it because we wish a more comfortable existence while on this pilgrimage that leads to the Gates of Splendor? It is all of those and more. When we are consumed with Christ, and when we have met with Him daily in all His glory, of what concern is it how the fallen believe? After bowing before His majesty is it not obvious how fallen they are and how deep is their need? And yet how many engage in the affairs of this life while neglecting the affairs of Christ?

So how should we feel about which laws are passed in the kingdom of the wicked one? What should be our opinion on taxes? On gay rights? On foreign policy? In truth, we should have an opinion on moral issues within the church but no opinion as to the kingdom of darkness. The problem is that we do not see two distinct kingdoms that are separated by a spiritual gulf which has no bridge but the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been blinded by the affairs of this present world and in them we spend our time, thoughts, and much of our speech.

The pilgrims of Christ have no resting place here on earth. We have no investment in this which shall pass away. We have no place at a round table which includes all religions. We have no fellowship with those who do not serve Christ. They are in dire need of salvation and we cannot, we must not, be deterred by useless conversations about economics and politics and legislating morality. There are souls in the balance and eternity looms large. And what can we do with these words:

Matt.16: 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

If we could change the entire world to be a place of peace and prosperity and even morality and yet leave men’s souls unredeemed, then just what have we done? Of what eternal value is it when believers expend all kinds of energy and opinions attempting to clean the outside of men’s cups while leaving their souls fallen and without the hope of eternity? Did Christ come to seek and save that which was lost, or did He come to seek souls part time but also set up earthly kingdoms? Is the Holy Spirit’s ministry to both change men’s souls from the inside or is it to change men's behavior without changing their hearts?

As a believer and a follower of Jesus, we should have no opinion as to how the fallen systems of man operate and believe. How many conversations did Jesus have with His disciples over how the Roman government was conducting their business? Did they ever muse over how many people Rome was murdering? And even when Christ was asked about the unfair nature of taxes He directed us to pay them without complaining. Didn’t Jesus know just how unfair they were and that Rome was using those taxes for unrighteous endeavors? Of course He did, but Jesus knew that attacking the earthly problems was a fool’s errand and only the everlasting gospel message could change a heart.

Oh how we have left Christ and gone fishing for that which has no power. The church has lost the blinding vision of the Risen Christ in all His glory! When the first martyr, Stephen, draws close to death He sees the Christ and asks that God forgives his executioners. What a picture! Today the church calls down divine wrath on all kinds of sinners and instead of seeking people’s souls the church joins with the unbelievers to defend a nation filled with idolatry and wickedness. Muslims are spoken of as enemies and without the love with which we are commanded to exhibit.

A mosque is built in our neighborhood and instead of praying and fasting for their souls the evangelical community attends meetings of protest. Just what kind of religion have we built? Earthly freedoms are more precious to us than eternal souls. Let us face it, the church no longer believes in eternal souls, and judging by our lives, we must believe that this life is all there truly is. We are walking dead men, swallowed up in religion and earthly culture. We no longer have salt or light, and we have so many opinions as to how the fallen should act. Why? Because we now walk in their kingdom and embrace their affairs.

But where are those who are so filled with Christ that their lives are incandescent epistles that give off the light of something far different than most will ever know? We should be so filled with the love of God that sinners move us to tears and elicit outstretched hands which bear the wounds of Him who bore our sins. Do we see what once was us in them, or do we see cultural and moral miscreants who aggravate our moral sensibilities and higher religious convictions? Do we see Calvary or do we see Washington D.C.? Do we see Jesus the Christ or do we see Thomas Jefferson? Do we see conservatives or do we see lost souls? Are our opinions tethered to earthly matters or do we have an eternal opinion concerning the cross of Christ? All our opinions should be anchored in God’s word. We should have convictions, not opinions, about Jesus and His offer of grace. And this should not just be written convictions. Jesus should be our very lives and with Him we live or die! Do we live and serve the Lord Jesus so deeply and observably that no one even thinks to call us a "conservative"?

And we cannot serve two masters. We only have One Master. Let others concern themselves with earthly matters, our lives await us in an eternal world of glory and from that journey we must not be distracted. Do we build on sinking sand or on the Rock? I know, it seems so esoteric and untethered to reality. But it depends in which reality you now live.