Co-exist?
Our Pastor was taking a little time off to refresh himself, and one of the elders preached in his place. It was a wonderful sermon on Truth. It was what I like to call, a great, nerdy message (which is very appealing to me).
Curtis (the elder), was teaching on the first half of Mark, chapter 15. I remember him stating that it was straightforward, so he was using the framing in John to highlight “truth” to explore.
“And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” And the chief priests accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.” - Mark 15:1-5 ESV
“So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.” - John 18:33-38
Curtis was discussing the concept and source of truth and comparing it to the world’s definition of truth based on social relevance- or society determined - truth. One of his minor examples he gave was the co-exist bumper stickers that some people put on their cars. He used it to emphasize that Jesus is The Way and The Truth, and not a truth as determined by the whims of man.
But that is not what this is about. It reminded me of a discussion I had with someone recently where they said that they had to go to some kind of toleration training at work. My question to this person was “what was meant by toleration?”
You see, in my mind, if I am being asked to be able to tolerate someone, that is something I should be more than willing to do. You know, hate the sin, love the sinner type of concept. Since we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, my brand of sin is no better and no worse than anyone else’s. It is all viewed by God as sin, and thus we all must understand the reality that sin has a penalty if not paid for… Hell.
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” - Romans 3:23-26
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” - Matthew 5:43-48
But that’s usually not what is meant by inclusion training or the co-exist bumper sticker. Usually, in my opinion, what they mean is that they want you to accept and approve of whatever it is about them that you don’t agree with. That is not including or co-existing, that is approving of their choices. Some would even call that indoctrination. As Christian’s, we need to be careful to not let the world determine our values (as Curtis emphasized), but to let what God tells us in the Bible define truth.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” - Romans 12:1-2
So, my encouragement to you, the next time you have to go to inclusion training or DEI training (or any other kind of indoctrination training), or even if you see a co-exist bumper sticker, is to let the people know you love them without reservation but disagree with their values because your source of truth is a sovereign God and no amount of indoctrination is going to change that.
