The Wrong Battle

During the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, many landing crafts beached miles away from their destination at Omaha Beach. The boats apparently had difficulty navigating in the rough seas that night. Often doors dropped down to reveal little or no resistance, while other doors dropped to an assault that was overwhelming. Many died on that day beacuse they showed up to the wrong battle.


For many years of my Christian life, I fought the same wrong battle. Filling my crosshairs on most occassions was the world of politics. "If we can just get the right people in office, we would change the country." That was my battle cry. Write your legislators. Call their office. Sign the petition. Outlaw this. Ban that. Pass a law. Commands were given. Orders were followed. I thought that this was my Christian duty. I wanted to honor the Lord. That was my motivation. Seemed right. I mean our country continued to fall off the mountain of morality. Economic policy was no better. Just listen to the Christians. We got the answers. Listen to us, I begged.


Needless to say, no one listened. What am I doing wrong, Lord? Why does no one get it? My patience began to vanish. Maybe I'll try harder. Nothing changed. Even my own party beagn to disappoint. We became the spenders. Our morality at times was no better. We lied. We stole. We nominated a moderate. I could no longer defend them. What was wrong? As always the Bible provided the answer.


When we look in the life of Christ in the New Testament, one thing seemed to be missing. Certainly, God's chosen writers had forgotten to include it. It has got to be there. Read. Reread. Can't find it. Where in the Scriptures did Jesus lead his followers to Rome? I mean, they must have went there to protest the policies of Caesar. Taxes were outrageous in that day. What? No tea parties from the disciples. No letter writing campaigns? No petitions? Are you kidding me? Actually the words of Jesus would ruffle the feathers of even Christian conservatives today. "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21) Render to Obama? No way. Let's protest. That's our motto. Paul reinforced Jesus' teaching in Romans 13:1-7. He urged submission to all government. Peter wrote about submission to government in 1 Peter 2:13-16 in spite of the fact that Peter would die at the hands of his government.



Graciuosly, the Lord began to show me my error. The church was never called to that battle. Oh sure, we had marching orders. Clear instructions and clear battle lines were before us, but I had failed to understand. Soon, I realized many believers were in the same boat. Jesus had left the church with one battle, one mission and one clear enemy. The church's mission was to go with the gospel and make disciples. Nothing more and certainly nothing less. Wow. Too simple. Can't be that easy. Can it?



Well if you look at many churches and Christian organizations, you would certainly not see that singular focus that Jesus commanded. They seem to believe that Jesus commanded so much more. Feed the hungry, house the homeless, cure AIDS, and many other 'causes' become the rallying cries. Effort, time and money are directed toward these efforts often in the absence of the gospel. "We need to meet their needs first," some say. May I say for the record....There is no greater NEED in a person's life than the truth of the gospel and the eternal life it offers.



That all leads to the motivation behind the post. Focus on the Family garnered must attention leading up to the Super Bowl with its 30 second spot starring Tim Tebow and his mom. Christians cheered, "Way to go. We need a voice. Nice job." The news articles abounded. People lined up on both sides. I was on neither one. You see, Focus on the Family is one of the organizations that fights the wrong battle. For years, their battle has been the political world. Their resources are spent on the culture war. Abortion, homosexual marriage, drug issues, and the like are the focus. And yes, before you stone me, I detest these evils as well. The damage they inflict runs throughout our society. But you must understand, these issues arise from one source- sin. And the only cure for sin is the gospel, not the political process.



So when I learned that Focus on the Family was sponsoring a Super Bowl ad, I was not as excited as most. I questioned the content and certainly doubted the gospel would even be a part of the commercial. I mean if you plan to spend 3 million dollars, surely you would share the glorious good news that your sins can be forgiven. So I checked out what Focus on the Family had to say prior to the commercial being aired. This quote by their CEO, Jim Daly, struck me. "Focus on the Family is about ... strengthening families by empowering them with the tools they need to live lives rooted in morals and values." Let me be clear here. A strong family is a wonderful testimony for a Christian. It should be an attraction to a lost world. There is no doubt about that, and in the lives of Christians, close families are a by-product of walking with the Lord and obeying His Word. However, when you think that families with strong morals becomes the objective of the Christian walk, the lines gets blurred. Let's say a Mormon or a Jehovah Witness or even a Muslim hears that quote. They think, "Well my family is strong and moral, so I must be pleasing to God." Wow. Imagine that. They leave and never realize they are under the condemnation of God. What a disservice has been done to these unbelievers! Not only do they not hear the true gospel, but they actually are encouraged in their unbelief!

So the Super Bowl ad finally aired with much amazement from both sides. Nothing controversial was said. Just a brief moment with Tebow and his mom. No pro-life slogans. Even no bible verses under his eyes. And certainly no gospel. Just the short message....Celebrate Families. Celebrate Life. And then an encouragement to see the Tebow Story at the Focus on the Family website. I was not shocked. Par for the course for Focus on the Family. However, I visited the site with anticipation that I would finally hear the gospel message and salvage some hope in the company. I watched the entire Tebow story. Touching story. Nice family. Much sacrifice. But no gospel message. For the record, I know the Tebows share my passion for the gospel because their entire lives have been built around that central truth. I'm also certain Tim Tebow embraces the message because his ministry has been well documented. However, in this instance, Focus on the Family chose not to share the greatest news in the history of mankind. What a stage they had. What an incredible amount of money had been spent. What an opportunity passed by.

Again let me stress, I would love to see no abortions. I would love to see families strong. How do we get there? Through the glorious gospel, not through good government.

Celebrate Family. Celebrate Life. That is not the gospel. In fact Jesus said, "“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." Pretty stunning words in light of what Focus on the Family promotes.

There is only one life to celebrate and it belongs to Jesus Christ. It is the perfect life that he lived to satisfy God the Father and it is the perfect sacrifice for sin that he offered through His death. We celebrate because that perfect life can be credited to our account when we repent and place our trust in Jesus life, death and resurrection. Celebrate that life and that life alone.

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor 5:21