If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Romans 12:18

Fahrenheit 451, Avian Style

Gainesville has been in quite an uproar lately. And it has nothing to do with football (shocking, I know).

Instead, it’s all about a local church and their Qur’an burning escapades. For those of you who haven’t heard, Dove World Outreach had been planning on commemorating September 11th with a massive bonfire, full of Qur’ans.

Thankfully, in the midst of writing this, Terry Jones, their pastor, decided to cancel it, as a sort-of quid pro quo for Imam Rauf’s decision to move his planned mosque in New York.

This is a good thing, as everyone is quick to agree.

The Missing Question

The question though, is, why is it a good thing?

That is a question no one seems to be asking.

The answer lies in Romans 12:18.

Buried smack dab in the middle of a section typically entitled something along the lines of “The Marks of a True Christian” is the injunction: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

Burning Qur’ans on September 11th clearly is not an attempt at peaceful living.

We could stop there and be satisfied, having answered our original question.

But there is another question.

That is also a question no one seems to be asking.

Why ought we to live peaceably with all?

Everyone Knows That

Thankfully, this too is a question with an answer. It’s even a pretty popular answer today. And that answer is…

Love.

Love for your neighbor.

A few verses later in Romans we find this juicy statement:

For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Romans 13:9

Paul, mimicking Jesus, reminds us here that all of the Law of God is fulfilled in love for our neighbors. That’s a pretty big deal, especially when we remember 1 John 4:8 and the whole God is love thing.

Everyone knows mass burnings of the Qur’an is bad, because today it clearly is a symbol of Hate.

Clearly then, we should all join sides with the loving masses of people loving Muslims by lovingly telling them how God loves them just as they are, and just ignore all those loony Fundamentalists, because that’s loving.

Or not.

Fundamental Love

Umm… what?

Didn’t Jesus just say “Love your neighbor”, and now you’re telling me that I shouldn’t join sides with the loving people lovingly affirming Muslims  about how God loves them just as they are?

That’s correct.

The reason is that those loving people aren’t actually loving Muslims at all.

Paul, the one who commands us to love our neighbors, is also the one who tells his neighbors this:

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising Jesus from the dead.

Acts 17:30-31

The reason why affirming postmodern christians don’t love Muslims is because they no longer call them to repent. And we know, from the Word of God, that all who do not repent will be judged, and cast into the fiery pit from which there is no end of torment.

Jesus Himself (!) described hell as a place of gnashing of the teeth (Matthew 13:41-42) and where the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48). Jesus is also the one who said “No one comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6). Why then are people  telling us to love like Jesus did, but they’re not telling us to tell people the things Jesus told people?

Loving people don’t tell people they’re ok when they’re not.

What would we think of a doctor, who would not tell a man literally eating himself to death that he was going to die from terminal obesity, because he didn’t want to offend the man by calling him fat?

Instead, Christians must call Muslims, along with Atheists, Pagans, Buddhists,  nominal christians, Agnostics, and all others to repentance, as Jesus Himself did. We must join Jesus in saying with Him:

“He is the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Him.”

We do not do this because we hate them; we do this because we love them, and fear the judgment that is coming upon them, the same judgment that was once coming upon us. When we call them to repent, we must not act as Dove World Outreach acts, full of hatred, bile, condemnation, and disgust. Instead, we call them to to repent in a manner that, so far as it depends upon us, allows us to live with them in peace, like the dove Dove World Outreach takes their name from.

We must not hate like Dove World Outreach, but neither can we love like the Beetles. Instead, we must love like Jesus Himself did.

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

2 Timothy 2:8-10

Tragically, many Christians abuse the doctrine of election to relieve themselves of vital responsibility.

How many times have we heard someone say (or thought to ourselves): “If he’s one of God’s elect, then God’s going to save him anyhow, so why should I do anything?” Is this what Paul told Timothy? Of course not! Paul was willing to endure anything for the sake of God’s elect, and demonstrated this by the way he lived… and died.

Unlike us today, Paul knew that the doctrine of election enables our responsibility.

The Great Commission

The difference is that Paul understood the Great Commission:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

Christians today do not understand their responsibility because they do not understand their Bibles. Jesus does not claim that, since He has all authority, the disciples are useless. Instead, He tells his disciples to go and make disciples because of his authority. There is no explanation, only the command. Jesus will not do it himself; his disciples must. We work in his power according to his will, but we do the work.

This is a monumental task.

No man could bear the weight of the Great Commission by himself if he understood what was at sake. Madness swiftly descends at the thought of men’s salvation depending on our ability. Did I try hard enough? What did I say wrong? Will that person be in Hell tomorrow? Each death is a sinner that you. didn’t. save.

Stronger than a Giant

Paul knew that the promises of election transform the Great Commission from a nightmarish weight into a shoulderable responsibility. Jesus tells us in John 6:44 that no one can come to the Father unless the Father draws him, yet previously he said, in verse 37, that all those the Father gives to Him will come. No one who the Father has not elected will believe (for we were all lost in our sin), yet neither will any of His elect be lost by His disciples’ bumbling incompetence. We have this assurance precisely because of the authority given to Jesus.

Without the power of God, we might as well have Atlas’s responsibility of holding the world on our shoulders. Atlas could bear the weight of the world because of his massive strength; Jesus’ upholds the weight of the entire universe by His very word. It is this strength that enables and guarantees the completion of the work necessary to bring in God’s elect.

Paul knew this strength full well; It is why he cried: “The word of God is not bound!” This was his hope in the midst of his chains. Paul knew that because of the power of God and the work of the Holy Spirit, the word which he preached could not be bound by men’s hatred or our weakness. The knowledge that the gospel cannot be hindered gave him strength to endure the cost required to deliver that word to God’s elect. We should be ashamed at the worldliness masked behind our feeble excuses; we are not willing to pay the cost, because we have lost sight of the power of the gospel.

The Great Reward

The cost required is indeed great, yet for those who trust in the power of the gospel, the reward is greater. What awaited the elect saved through Paul’s gospel presentation was the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Because of this Paul scorned the treasures of the world, counting them all as loss, for the sake of God’s elect.

Ephesians 2:7 tells us that we were raised with Christ so that he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. What is to be compared with the treasure of salvation?! Nothing in heaven or earth can compare with a gift such as this! How greatly is the glory of God displayed in such lavish blessing! How can we shirk back from delivering the Gospel to the world when such great things are at stake? We have lost sight of the immeasurable worth of the glory of God, blinded by our own comfort and security…

We cannot abuse election to excuse us of the task Jesus laid on our shoulders. Instead, election confirms its feasibility; the power of God will ensure that his elect are saved through our proclamation of the gospel. Election is not a reason to let evangelism to roll off our backs, it is the reason we shoulder it without going mad.

For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home.

Matthew 9:5-7

It is in times of sickness and sorrow that men seek miracles from God, and sometimes find them. Yet far more often they are disappointed; disputes lead to families torn asunder, mistakes lead to ruin, and sickness leads to death. Has God forgotten His people? Has the world spun out of His control? Is He unable to answer men’s pleas?

Not at all!

The Purpose of Miracles

Jesus makes it plain that God is in control in Matthew 10:29-30: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” If God takes concern for even the smallest of things, how much more attention will he give to greater things? If He has power to ensure that not even a hair can fall from your head, how much more control does he have over your health and family? Surely men are not disappointed because God does not hear their pleas.

Men are disappointed because they have forgotten the purpose of miracles.

If miracles simply serve to heal and rejuvenate, then miracles are entirely superfluous; God is more than capable of preventing sickness in the first place. If He can heal sickness, how much more can He stop the sickness before it begins!? No, miracles cannot simply serve the purpose of healing. Instead, as Jesus tells us here, miracles serve a greater purpose: that men would know the power and authority of God.

Purpose Beyond Healing

It is an easy thing to claim to forgive sins; who can prove your wrong? The Pharisees scoffed at Jesus’ claim to forgive sins, so He gave them a display that they could not scoff at: healing that man’s lameness.

Healing was not the purpose of this miracle; Jesus healed the man so that the people would know that the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins. Similarly, in John 9:3, we see that Jesus gave sight to the blind man to display the works of God in him. Again, the miracle served a greater purpose than mere healing.

A man’s spiritual state is far more important to God than his physical, for a man’s spiritual state affects him for eternity, while his physical state will soon pass away.

Jesus knew what this paralytic needed most.

Forgiveness from sin.

Being lame would not damn him for all eternity; his sins would.

Healing in Suffering

Miracles heal the soul as well as the body. The lame man and the blind man both rejoiced and praised God. The blind man believed and worshiped Christ, as the lame man likely did as well. The miracle healed their illness, but more importantly it served to turn them away from their sin.

Far more often though, God heals the soul through the sickness and suffering. Many are the children of God who will tell you how their faith blossomed because of suffering; in their cases, God would have been cruel had he given them the miracles they sought and left them in their sin.

Paul understood this well; in Romans 8:28 he tells us “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.” All things, even suffering, work together for the good of those who love God.

How can this possibly be? How can suffering and pain work together for good? What about suffering that culminates in death? What good can there be then?

The Greatest Good

The next verse gives us our answer: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

This conformity to Christ is the good Paul spoke of in Romans 8:28. All things work together to conform us to Christ’s image, which is our ultimate good. It is in this conformity to Christ that the sons of God are brought to eternal glory.

This is why God can cause a child to be born with Down Syndrome.

This is why God can cause a teenager to struggle with suicidal depression.

This is why God can cause a man to watch his wife die a slow and agonizing death.

Miracles can open our eyes and make us see God’s glory; suffering can often open our eyes even better. God gives those who love Him whichever is best. God thought it fitting that Christ be perfected through suffering (Hebrews 2:10); it is fitting that we be conformed to Christ in the same way.

The greatest Miracle of all is for our poor and wretched hearts to be remade into the image of the perfect and holy Christ. Often God never gives us the miracle we want, so He can give us this Miracle that we desperately need.