Five Gospel Tips for Lives that Matter

Woke up after a bad dream and watched all the rioting videos taken in Milwaukee over the weekend. Then finally went back and actually read that Gospel Coalition piece in which a white woman comes to grips with the fact of her daughter marrying a black man. Want to retreat into a baffled silence, but this is the Internet after all, the land of unsolicited opinion and commentary. I only have one schtick here and that’s the gospel. So here’s five thoughts about this mess.

1. Has anyone noticed? By using certain words in the correct order, you can let people know whose side you’re on and that you have the right beliefs and feelings. The lady in the TGC piece committed the terrible error of not properly articulating the issues she is dealing with. Indeed, the fact that she is “dealing” is a grave offense. But flip it around and talk about Blue Lives and you run into the same problem. Offense everywhere. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that, for Christians, Virtue Signaling is not the same as preaching the gospel. Using the correct words in the correct order–either for #blacklivesmatter or #bluelivesmatter–is not the same as saying the gospel with words. You may have bits and pieces of the gospel in your tweet, or your blog post, but if you’re trying to virtue signal either way, all you’re signaling is your politics and not the gospel.
2. So what is the gospel? I’ll say it again since no one is listening. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This all includes every single person, race, tribe and nation. There is nothing we can do in ourselves to help ourselves. We fall into hatred and sin because that’s who we are–both black and white. There is only one remedy for sin and hatred and that is the blood of Jesus who absorbs the wrath of the Father in himself to bring about the salvation of all those who repent and believe.
3. The gospel is the only remedy and that’s because it includes absorbing the hatred and evil that surrounds you, whatever color you are, and forgiving your enemy. If the other person isn’t looking to be forgiven, it means forgiving them anyway and letting them go free. Vengeance is not the property of human people. If you have been wronged, you need to put that wrong into the hands of God who repays everyone according to his perfect justice. For some he has mercy, and absorbs their just penalty in himself. For some he has wrath and let’s them suffer the consequences of their sin forever.
4. If you are a Christian of some kind of skin color, the gospel is all you have in these treacherous times and it is enough. It may not feel like enough but how would we know because we’re not saying it that much. We’re saying a lot of things, but not really the gospel. My first thought, reading that poor woman’s TGC piece (which has been taken down) is that she can’t win and nobody can win. She is trying to be brave, but she has probably had mediocre Christian teaching at best. If Christians are going to deal, the bible has to be seriously, faithfully, and methodically exegeted in every single church by every single pastor from this next Sunday until kingdom come. Having said that, it’s not really helpful that TGC would take the piece down. Does the Christian black community really want dialogue the way they say they do? Then they should be charitable towards the bumbling, halting efforts of the white community.
5. Speaking of which, there should be no Christian “white” and “black” communities or churches any more. These are troubling and desperate times. The gospel is not for division. Churches need to be desperately–like the Unjust Steward in Luke–throwing over everything for the sake of the gospel. It’s not about politics, it’s about rushing out to rescue individual people from the terrible fires of hell.
And on that note, I will take up the other great consolation we have that we don’t make enough use of–prayer. May God have mercy, may he everywhere have mercy.