Day 2714 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

1 Chronicles 15:29 NIV

I want to share with you one of the rules that I live by: This world will judge you anyway, so give them something to judge.

You see, the church today is seeking to make itself seem appealing and accepting and loving, as it should, but I’m terrified that we’re starting to go about it the wrong way. We’ve all seemingly become scared of offending people and being judged for sticking to the Word of God that is never going to be popular in this world. And so we’re starting to see little concessions being made in this effort to avoid coming across as the staunch and brazen soldiers of faith that we’re truly called to be. We just don’t want to turn people away from faith, but if we allow ourselves to resort to sharing lies or covering the truth in order to achieve that goal, then we’re doing more harm than good.

It's one thing to be curious as to what other people may say about us or what they may think about the choices we make. We’ve all done that to some extent in our lives. But it's a completely different issue when we allow those worries to seep in and alter our choices and determine our actions and dictate our words. These days it seems as though everyone is in this frantic rush to please people so that they feel liked and accepted. Or maybe even simpler than that, many are just looking to avoid the hatred that comes from sharing the truth in a world that enjoys lies. And so many will do whatever it takes to reach that level of worldly comfort, even if it means keeping their true opinions and beliefs to themselves and only putting on this show that keeps the fans showing up and clapping their hands in approval.

The willingness to look foolish or be hated and laughed at for believing in something is growing increasingly rare. Anymore, most folks are just trying to find ways to blend in and bide their time amongst the masses until Christ returns. They’re pouring themselves into this effort to carve out some meager existence of shallow faith that gives them the sense of following Christ without actually having to go against the grain of a truly wicked society. People are living in this sheepish fear that has them far more concerned about what others may think than about what God thinks. What we’re seeing is the body of faith taking something truly magnificent and fashioning it into something measured and careful and scared.

Yesterday we discussed how as Christians we’re called to follow Christ, serve God’s will, and devote our lives to doing what He put us here to do. We’re here to spend our lives striving to know Christ and make Him known in this place. We’re here to reflect His light into a dark world by showing those around us just how truly amazing our faith is and how much joy we’ve found in our Savior. We’re here to build one another up and push each other toward Jesus and to absolutely refuse to abide any wickedness because wickedness separates us from Him. We’re here to rejoice in this gift we’ve been given and help others find that same joyous hope in the promise of Heaven.

But so much of what we’re seeing and hearing from the realm of faith these days seems to be seeking worldly approval instead. We are terrified of being judged, ridiculed, rebuked, laughed at, mocked, and persecuted by those who simply refuse to accept the truth of God’s Word. And so messages are being crafted to please the ears of those who we’re actually meant to be reaching out to with the truth. Sermons are being preached that leave people comfortable in their sins and appease the brokenness of man rather than encouraging the flock to grow in righteousness through the repentance of those sins.

All of this modern religious nonsense is coming close to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. What we're seeing in many places is this terrified willingness to completely avoid the truth of God's word in order to peddle a message that placates the preferences of a fallen world. So many false and shameful 'gospels' have sprung up around us that it's becoming quite the challenge to find someone who simply preaches from God's word unafraid and unashamed of what others may think. All because we know that this message of ours will not be accepted by the masses, and those who don’t like it and won’t listen will fight against us.

Yet, that's exactly what we're called to do. We're called to share the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. We're called to point people to the cross and try to help them understand the monumental significance of what was done there. We're called to encourage one another toward sanctification. We're called to build one another up in the Word and in our faith and in Christ. But that all becomes rather impossible when we avoid the wisdom and guidance that God breathed out through man to help lead us along the narrow path we're called to follow.

Proverbs 29:25 tells us that the fear of man will prove be a snare. It's something that will hold us back from boldly going where God has called us to go. It will lead us to altering what we say out of fear of offending the masses. It will mean distorting God's word in this effort to shy away from things that we know will not go over well. Fearing man will cause us to seek out a more sin-friendly story to tell as calling things sinful and pointing to the death they deserve isn't widely welcome in this place where sin is king and the people are simply slaves of their selfish laziness that keeps them lost in the dark.

What I want everyone to understand is that it's okay to be hated. It's okay to be persecuted. In fact, if we're hated and persecuted for boldly living out our faith standing upon the truth of God's Word, then we're in some truly amazing company! It's not something that we should run away from or try everything our power to avoid. It's actually something we should seek! The way I've come to see it is that in a world such as this where everything wicked is praised, we should be desperate to be hated. If a world that loves evil and hates righteousness and responsibility hates us, then we must be doing something right!

I’ve been reading through 1 Chronicles for a few nights and this one stopped me for a minute or two. David's wife sees him dancing, celebrating, and praising God as the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the City of David. He's rejoicing over the fact that God's earthly throne is being brought to the fulfillment of the promise that the people of Israel had spent so long wandering through the desert to finally reach. He’s displaying the radical joy that his faith brings him, completely unworried about what anyone may think of this king acting like a little child. And yet, the evil and wickedness in Michal's heart led her to despise her husband for being so bold in his celebration of such a special event.

It's gonna happen to us too. This world is so broken that people have simply accepted being miserable and unhappy. They've chosen to follow their fallen hearts into a world of lies and have found nothing but despair and discontent among the shadows of sinful indulgence. And you know the worst part? They want to drag everyone else down into their misery as well. They say that misery loves company, and the shame and guilt that a life of sin brings needs as much company as possible. So the wicked are hitting the streets in droves with a whole arsenal of anger, hatred, threats of violence, and even displays of wanton disregard for the sanctity of those who are different. All in this effort to silence our message, stop our celebrating of faith, and quench the fire that God sparked inside of us when we finally surrendered to His calling in our lives because they just don’t want us to cause any more problems in brazenly going against the chosen path of the wicked.

But we've been given a chance to take part in something truly special. We each have a chance to tell others about Jesus and share the inerrant word of God. We have the opportunity to dance before our King in joyful expectation of the glory that's still to be revealed. We’ve been given this time to spend celebrating our faith for all the world to see, completely unashamed of the joy and peace that we've found in Christ and His eternal promise. Please don't trade that for some measured hope that allows you to remain comfortable while you're here. Don't trade this chance to boldly live out your faith because while many will despise you for it, our faith in Christ means something to God!

And people need to see just how much our faith means to us as well. But if we're willing to compromise this message then what are we saying about its worth? If we're willing to distort the word of God to appease the violent mob that's growing outside our door then what are we telling the world about just how important this Gospel really is to us? If we bend and twist and cave and cater to the world then who is it that we're serving? If we're living in fear of man then how can we convince ourselves that we're living in reverent fear of our Father?

Friends, have the courage to be hated. Be willing to look foolish. Be crazy about this faith we have because there are countless people who are looking for something different than what this broken world has to offer. And if we don't show them just how different, just how special, just how joyous our faith really is, then we've missed a chance to make a difference that would have really stood out from the crowd. The bottom line is that this broken and miserable world wants everyone to accept a life at rock bottom where they too are broken and miserable. And it’s on us to stand in the gap and tell the whole world that there’s a far better way to live out in the light of God’s mercy.

So dance. Praise. Celebrate. Rejoice at the chance to tell others about the hope you’ve found in Jesus. And do it all knowing that while many will hate you for it, it’s only through boldly expressing our faith and leaning fully upon God’s Word that we can testify to just how powerful our faith really is just how much it means to us. As David put it, “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.” So if the world thinks we look like idiots now, wait till they see what we do next as we grow in this courage to throw off the reigns of a warped society and live boldly in the light of our Savior! They ain’t seen nothing yet!

Again, this world will judge you anyway, so give them something to judge. Give the wicked a show they can’t stand! Give this fallen world that absolutely loves to hate those who are different something that they can hate and mock and ridicule. After all, we’re not doing this for them. We’re doing it all for God and His glory!

#LeaveNoSoulUntold