(Listen to this sermon online here).
To My Dearly Beloved Unbeliever,
Greetings. First of all let me say how much I love you, and miss you. There should never be any question about my affection for you. You are and always will be held dearly in my heart, and I pray for you daily. Nothing I write in this letter will compromise my love.
I
am writing today because it has been so long since we have spoken face to face,
and I felt that some correspondence was urgent. Some real dialogue. So much of
what you have to say to me, and what I have to say to you has been reduced to
the lowest forms of modern communication—Facebook posts, YouTube clips, bumper
stickers, and rally posters.
The last time we talked you mentioned to me “how much
I had changed” in recent years; that you hardly know me anymore. I think you
are right, and part of my reason for writing is to explain how that change has
happened and why even more is yet to come. If I could only explain to you how
my experience with Christ has changed my life, my thinking, my worldview, my
ethics then perhaps we could understand one another better.
Therefore I am writing this letter to you today to
respond to a few of the misconceptions that it seems you may hold about our
beliefs and convictions as Christians. I
hope (and beg you) to listen with the open-mindedness and the tolerance that
you so often accuse me of lacking.
1. First of all, you said we are ‘growing apart’ and
don’t have much in common anymore. It pains me to say it, but I completely
agree. I’m noticing it too; the gap
between us is widening daily! And I am not surprised that we both feel this way. My master the Lord Jesus Christ told us that this would happen. He said, “Do
not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to
bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34-35).
Now,
before you go off again accusing us Christians of trying to establish some kind
of ‘theocracy,’ –jamming our religion down people’s throats-- let me explain what Jesus
meant when He spoke of 'peace' and 'the sword.'
I have that peace with God now that I am a believer, and it has totally renovated my entire life. I cannot tell you how freeing it is to have my guilt, my shame, my regrets, my pain all wiped away in His blood!
2. And that leads me to answer the second question that
you posed to me in your letter, i.e. to explain why it seems that I have become
so radical these days. I think the
exact words that you used were “religious nutcase.” Or was it “Bible
thumper?” I can’t exactly remember, and in any case, I’m getting used to it
now. I’ve been hearing it more and more often lately.
Please let me explain that when Jesus saves a
man—snatches him up by the power of His irresistible grace--He intends to redeem the entire man, not just to make him “religious.” In fact, Christ makes exhaustive claims over his
life. Jesus said in this same chapter, 'And whoever does not take his cross
and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life
will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it' (Matthew
10:38-39).
Do you see how all-encompassing His claims are over me? That I cannot
just give Him a part of my life? He did not give us that option. If anything,
to my own shame, I am not yet radical enough!
Please don’t be offended when I refuse to go golfing or boating on the Lord’s Day anymore. It’s not that I don’t value our time together. I do. But I’ve found something so much greater in Christ.
And when I do unexplainable things that seem crazy to you—like give away a tenth of every paycheck before I even cash it, even if I have to drive this Chevy Prism for ten more years— it’s because I’ve come to see that I owe everything ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING to Christ!
In fact, the further I “carry the cross” of obedience, giving up the things of this world, the more joyful it becomes to me. This is the great paradox of obedience, and I can’t expect you to understand fully—yet.
And now, my Beloved Friend, let me take up a specific ethical issue that has deeply divided us. Jesus’ warning that 'A man’s enemies will be those of his own household' have proven true for us. It would seem that the chasm separating us cannot possibly be wider than here.
3. You asked me how I could possibly believe something
as ‘judgmental,’ ‘narrow,’ and ‘backward’ as I do in regard to abortion. To
my great sadness, you even called me a ‘bigot,’ and alleged that I ‘just want
to take away women’s rights to choose.’ Let's be honest: we both know that's a terrible lie.
Oh how I beg you to hear me out! How I plead
with you to set aside the media’s caricature of Christians, and listen to our
convictions for once!
If you would understand me at all, you must first see
how highly we value the Word of God. Our position on this matter, is not our
own. We believe it represents the very mind and heart of God as it is revealed in Scripture. And it is after
all, God’s view alone that truly matters as Creator of Life.
Everywhere we turn, we see the Bible underscoring the
sanctity of human life. In fact, today is a day that we Christians call
“Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.” This principle, that God created, loves, and
values human life is everywhere in the Bible:
- "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:31-32). If God values my course, graying and receding hairline, does He not value the soft tender locks of the unborn child in the womb?
- And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42). I ask you, is there any “little one” littler than the unborn child? More defenseless? Helpless?
- For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14).
- So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27).
It
was we Christians who helped to end the horror of African slavery in England and America. Can I remind you that William Wilberforce was
an evangelical, as I am? That the Quakers and Moravians--fellow Christ followers--led the charge on our own
shores to end slavery? That Martin Luther King himself was a Baptist pastor? I cannot imagine what this society would look like today without
the constant witness of the “sanctify of human life” from the mouths of
Christians.
But please don’t be mistaken. Our greatest difference
is not abortion, or homosexuality, or the films we enjoy. It is in our view of Jesus Christ. Let me close this letter with one more quotation. 'So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge
before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me
before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven' (Matthew 10:32).
Let me remind you again how dearly I love you, my
Enemy, my Friend. I have always insisted that I truly love you, and I will
plead my case again with this ink. I have wept many tears for your soul. Would
you do the same for me if you believed in such a thing?
That peace that I described in having my sins wiped
away can also be yours in Christ. The blood of Christ is sufficient to cover the
sins of the whole world (even yours). But I must remind you that it is
efficient only for those who repent and believe.
Unbeliever, I can say without hesitation that I would walk through fire for you. I would walk over broken glass for you. I
would swim the deepest sea for you if I could. But I can’t. And I don’t have to. Christ
has done all for you already on the cross.
In conclusion, if I ever stop loving you, Unbeliever, you have every
right to question everything I claim to stand for.
Sincerely and affectionately yours,
--Christian
Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville Fl.
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