Finding the Property Lines
Imagine a young man taking a long walk through his father’s estate grounds. The youth’s father is quite wealthy and has procured a vast amount of land, including fields, forests, and lakes. By virtue of being his father’s son, this young man has the rights and privileges of going wherever he’d like. He’s free to explore. He might climb a mountain for the sake of enjoying the view from the summit. He might cast his pole into a hidden pond, looking for a bite from a fish.
In his wanderings, he hears voices conversing. Following the sound, he creeps through the brush and peers into a clearing in the woods. There he observes a tent pitched and two men sitting around a fire roasting some small game they’d recently poached.
The young man would like to alert his father immediately and see swift justice brought to these men, but he knows his father is away on a voyage and won’t return for some time. Justice can be brought to them, but not immediately.
The young man emerges into the clearing. After engaging the two ruffians in brief conversation, a few things become clear. First, these men refuse to acknowledge the father’s ownership of the land. Second, they are not interested in hearing about the father’s rules and regulations for how his own land is to be treated. Third, they are weary of being confronted and becoming increasingly belligerent.
At this point, the young man has two options. He could cower, apologize for trying to tell these men “how to live,” and back away from their presence, allowing them to continue in their wicked disregard for the landowner and his rule. In short, he could tolerate their rebellion, thus despising his father and doing them no favors by allowing them to continue in their lawbreaking. The other option is that this young man could stand his ground and insist that the trespassers fall in line with the respect owed to his father; that they stop their lawbreaking and confess to the father what they’ve done and seek his pardon. The son is certain the father will be forgiving and even bless them. He knows saying these things will likely invite some form of violence from them. What should the young man do?
I am, of course, using this story to draw attention to something else. The young man in the story is today’s Christian. The lawbreaking men are people living in rebellion against God today. They take many forms. I’ll mention a few representations.
They are the legislators and influencers telling us that Christianity had a good run in America but that we ought to give Islam a try.
They are the anti-authoritarian, unemployed mobs who destroy neighborhoods when they get their corrupt feelings hurt.
They are the intentionally-androgynous being at work whose hair color changes week to week and who holds the whole office hostage with emotions. They want to talk to HR for the third time this quarter because the mere presence of men makes them “feel unsafe.”
They are those who are murdering their children, many of whom make videos on social media boasting about it and counting the “likes.”
I am well aware that sin exists in myriad forms not mentioned here, and if it seems like I am picking on a certain dynamic of the culture, I am. It’s intentional. I am highlighting the pervasive and edge-pushing, public sins that occur in our nation’s land every day while many Christians remain silent. Or, just as bad, Christians resign themselves to the ill-found comfort of statements like these:
“We aren’t called to change the world, so what the world does is not our concern.”
“Jesus is likely coming back next Tuesday, so the best thing we can do now is hunker down.”
“Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world, so we are only concerned with what happens within our homes and churches.”
“I don’t agree with that person’s sin, but you know… that’s between God and them.”
“Jesus wants us to love everyone, and I don’t feel that calling that person to change would be very loving.”
These are all awful and unbiblical thoughts when used as excuses to retreat from the the depravity and debauchery around us. Christians can and must stand up and speak out regarding sin in the land.
“Shouldn’t Christians worry about their own sin and the lives of those in their immediate sphere of influence?” Yes, absolutely. That’s where we start. That must continually be in place. No argument here. I would argue that we also have a larger obligation to speak firmly and biblically about the culturally-widespread sins that are shaping the ethos of our people on a larger scale. Why do I believe we have this duty? And here I come to the punchline…
Genesis 1:1
[1] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (ESV)
Come full circle with me. Our Father owns it all. He owns it all because he made it all. Like the landowner in my story, God Almighty claims ownership of every distant horizon. It’s his. You know what that means for anything that exists in his universe? It’s all accountable to him. This is, in fact, where the gospel message begins.
The gospel does not begin with Jesus died for your sins. The gospel begins with the fact that there is a God to whom we are all accountable. We come to the cross eventually, but only after understanding that God made us, we are his, and that by our sin we are alienated from him and in need of rescue.
Everyone who exists, even the vilest of sinners, exists in God’s arena. We have found the property lines of the Father’s land. We are in his world, and thus subject to his rules. His grand plan and desire is that all people in his domain either submit to him fully or be cast out. There is no third option.
Christians are the heralds of these set terms, and we must pray for courage and consistency as we confront lawbreakers, even the loud and scary ones.
“Excuse me, but you’re on my father’s land.”
In his wanderings, he hears voices conversing. Following the sound, he creeps through the brush and peers into a clearing in the woods. There he observes a tent pitched and two men sitting around a fire roasting some small game they’d recently poached.
The young man would like to alert his father immediately and see swift justice brought to these men, but he knows his father is away on a voyage and won’t return for some time. Justice can be brought to them, but not immediately.
The young man emerges into the clearing. After engaging the two ruffians in brief conversation, a few things become clear. First, these men refuse to acknowledge the father’s ownership of the land. Second, they are not interested in hearing about the father’s rules and regulations for how his own land is to be treated. Third, they are weary of being confronted and becoming increasingly belligerent.
At this point, the young man has two options. He could cower, apologize for trying to tell these men “how to live,” and back away from their presence, allowing them to continue in their wicked disregard for the landowner and his rule. In short, he could tolerate their rebellion, thus despising his father and doing them no favors by allowing them to continue in their lawbreaking. The other option is that this young man could stand his ground and insist that the trespassers fall in line with the respect owed to his father; that they stop their lawbreaking and confess to the father what they’ve done and seek his pardon. The son is certain the father will be forgiving and even bless them. He knows saying these things will likely invite some form of violence from them. What should the young man do?
I am, of course, using this story to draw attention to something else. The young man in the story is today’s Christian. The lawbreaking men are people living in rebellion against God today. They take many forms. I’ll mention a few representations.
They are the legislators and influencers telling us that Christianity had a good run in America but that we ought to give Islam a try.
They are the anti-authoritarian, unemployed mobs who destroy neighborhoods when they get their corrupt feelings hurt.
They are the intentionally-androgynous being at work whose hair color changes week to week and who holds the whole office hostage with emotions. They want to talk to HR for the third time this quarter because the mere presence of men makes them “feel unsafe.”
They are those who are murdering their children, many of whom make videos on social media boasting about it and counting the “likes.”
I am well aware that sin exists in myriad forms not mentioned here, and if it seems like I am picking on a certain dynamic of the culture, I am. It’s intentional. I am highlighting the pervasive and edge-pushing, public sins that occur in our nation’s land every day while many Christians remain silent. Or, just as bad, Christians resign themselves to the ill-found comfort of statements like these:
“We aren’t called to change the world, so what the world does is not our concern.”
“Jesus is likely coming back next Tuesday, so the best thing we can do now is hunker down.”
“Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world, so we are only concerned with what happens within our homes and churches.”
“I don’t agree with that person’s sin, but you know… that’s between God and them.”
“Jesus wants us to love everyone, and I don’t feel that calling that person to change would be very loving.”
These are all awful and unbiblical thoughts when used as excuses to retreat from the the depravity and debauchery around us. Christians can and must stand up and speak out regarding sin in the land.
“Shouldn’t Christians worry about their own sin and the lives of those in their immediate sphere of influence?” Yes, absolutely. That’s where we start. That must continually be in place. No argument here. I would argue that we also have a larger obligation to speak firmly and biblically about the culturally-widespread sins that are shaping the ethos of our people on a larger scale. Why do I believe we have this duty? And here I come to the punchline…
Genesis 1:1
[1] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (ESV)
Come full circle with me. Our Father owns it all. He owns it all because he made it all. Like the landowner in my story, God Almighty claims ownership of every distant horizon. It’s his. You know what that means for anything that exists in his universe? It’s all accountable to him. This is, in fact, where the gospel message begins.
The gospel does not begin with Jesus died for your sins. The gospel begins with the fact that there is a God to whom we are all accountable. We come to the cross eventually, but only after understanding that God made us, we are his, and that by our sin we are alienated from him and in need of rescue.
Everyone who exists, even the vilest of sinners, exists in God’s arena. We have found the property lines of the Father’s land. We are in his world, and thus subject to his rules. His grand plan and desire is that all people in his domain either submit to him fully or be cast out. There is no third option.
Christians are the heralds of these set terms, and we must pray for courage and consistency as we confront lawbreakers, even the loud and scary ones.
“Excuse me, but you’re on my father’s land.”
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