Handling cultural controversy in a God-honoring way shouldn’t be a challenge for believers. But in today’s super-charged climate, it certainly has become a problem. Christians have a responsibility to be a part of our culture and to be aware of controversial issues. But we have to go about this awareness and dialogue in a God-honoring way.
Recently, we have been surrounded by so many layers of issues and opinions and thoughts (viruses, race and riots, rigged elections, storming the Capital) that at times it can seem overwhelming.
And depending on which side of these issues you fell on dictated whether you could continue to have harmonious relationships with extended family, friends, even people living under your roof.
And Christians were not benign from the discussion and impact. In many ways, we were swept right in. But what did that and does it mean for us Christians?
For the Christian, the approach to dealing with controversy and controversial issues has to look radically different from how the non-Christian deals with these issues. How? There should be a peace and a biblical process that the believer takes that is very different from the rest of society.
Jesus was involved in controversial subjects and discussions. We should be able to learn something from His approach that we can apply to our scenarios of controversy.
We find one such issue in Mark 10:1-11, where Jesus is confronted with a highly controversial subject of His time: divorce and remarriage. The issue wasn’t a simple subject, because there were both political and religious overtones to the question that Jesus was asked.
Jesus is seen handling cultural controversy in a God-honoring way. What about us?
When Handling Cultural Controversy in a God-Honoring Way:
Be prepared to gracefully talk about controversial issues (Mark 10:2-3)
The Pharisees are not commended by Mark for their approach with Jesus. What does the text say? “The Pharisees came up in order to test him.” They weren’t interested in hearing great Bible teaching coming from the mouth of Christ. They wanted to trap him in his words and get him to say something. They wanted to take a controversial subject of their day and stir the pot, get a reaction.
Thankfully, Jesus took their selfishness and turned it into a platform to share Biblical truth.
And these situations are all around us. We need to be prepared to take the issues of today and use them to advance the cause of Christ. Not my cause. Not my opinions. Not my beliefs. But the cause of Christ.
Even though Jesus sometimes referenced political and social issues of His day, He wasn’t obsessed with it.
Should we be obsessed with controversial subjects? Absolutely not. The Scripture is clear on what our approach as New Testament believers should be when it comes to our approach with potentially divisive issues:
“But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” Titus 3:9-11
“Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 2:23-25
“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer, or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.” 1 Timothy 1:3-4
“If someone spreads false teachings and does not agree with sound words (that is, those of our Lord Jesus Christ) and with the teaching that accords with godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in controversies and verbal disputes. This gives rise to envy, dissension, slanders, evil suspicions, and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a way of making a profit.” 1 Timothy 6:3-5
A few of these passages are directed towards the character of the false teacher, but even still, believers should not be characterized by the actions of false teachers. What were the actions of the people Paul rebuked?
- They embrace foolish, ignorant controversies and dissensions.
- They breed quarrels.
- They stir up division.
- They spread false teaching.
- They’re occupied with myths.
- They promote useless speculations.
- They are conceited and lack understanding.
- They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and verbal disputes.
- Their perspectives give rise to envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant bickering.
But Paul said we as God’s children are to be characterized by the following:
- We’re not quarrelsome.
- We’re kind to everyone.
- We’re able to share truth from the Scripture.
- We patiently endure evil.
- We’re willing to warn people that live this way.
- We correct our opponents with gentleness.
In your approach to controversial subjects, which list of characteristics do you gravitate towards?
In today’s climate, the vitriol and volume seem out of control, and that’s even among Christians.
Thoughts for application:
- Are you prepared to talk about issues, but gracefully, leaving room for other people’s opinions and thoughts?
- Are you consumed with talking about controversial issues, where you cannot have one conversation without bringing up the latest cultural ‘injustice’?
Run life’s circumstances through the contextual grid of Scripture (10:7-8)
In the religious community of Jesus’ time, there was a lot of debate about this controversial subject of divorce and remarriage. Much of their thinking centered around what their preferential Rabbi said.
But Jesus was not interested primarily in what a Rabbi said, He was interested primarily in what God’s Word says.
So, what does Jesus do in Mark 10? He takes them to the Word of God – not the opinions of the Rabbi’s Hillel or Shammai. It wasn’t a sign of disrespect, it was a sign of the supremacy of God’s Word. It’s almost like Jesus was reminding them: you need a paradigm shift with how you’re processing this issue. Your starting point, your foundation is wrong – it cannot be what this person/Rabbi says or what direction this person is taking – the starting point has to be the authority of Scripture.
In the flesh, that can be a hard thing to do. In the flesh, we are constantly trying to validate our opinions with people’s opinions, instead of what the Word of God says. It’s almost like we treat the main course as man’s opinions and the seasoning as the Word of God.
On any particular subject, it can be very easy and subtle to suddenly replace the Bible with John MacArthur’s thoughts, or James White, or Matt Chandler or Andy Stanley. We’re suddenly finding ourselves taking their words as equal with God. That’s a scenario that Paul said should never happen in a church (see 1 Corinthians 3:4-5).
But importantly, we must run our circumstances through the contextual grid of Scripture!
What does that mean? It means we allow the Scripture to speak for itself, independent of my ideas, based on the intended meaning to the original audience.
Here, the Pharisees were passionate about an exception clause granted by Moses to allow for a practice to continue that had already been happening for who knows how long. The Pharisees kept going back to that exception – and Jesus had to remind them that the exception was not the original intent of Scripture.
When we’re passionate about an issue – we can make the Scripture say a lot of things that it is not saying. We all have likely been guilty of that at some point. We need to study the Scriptures well and get good, sound counsel to make sure we don’t fall victim to that.
Christians need to have as the starting point in their life the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the primary source of our thinking, philosophy, our opinions – not your favorite news program, not your favorite website, not your favorite YouTuber…the Scripture.
That means you have to bathe your mind in Scripture. In a world where you are subtly and not so subtly being fed anti-God thinking and living, you have to counter that – not with man’s opinions, but the Scripture. Because it impacts how you live.
Consider fictional person Jesse. He is really into alpacas:
- He has a membership to alpacas.com.
- He is a part of the Reddit alpaca group.
- He gets Alpaca magazine.
Expectedly, Jesse spends a lot of his day thinking and talking about alpacas. What do you think Jesse is generally known for? Alpacas!
Or consider fictional person Veronica:
- Veronica spends most of her day on news websites and cable news.
- She subscribes to a major national newspaper.
- She listens to news and political podcasts for hours a day.
Expectedly, she spends a lot of her day talking about news and politics. What do you think Veronica is generally known for? News and politics!
Christian, what about you? What you:
- think about
- listen to
- spend your time doing
- saturate yourself with
…eventually becomes who you are and what you are known for.
The question begs to be asked: What do you want to be known for?…
a) Someone who is consumed with the issues of this life, and here and there make disciples of Christ – or
b) Someone who is consumed with making disciples of Christ and is knowledgeable of the issues of this life?
I can tell you which side Jesus was on.
Thoughts for application:
- Are the Scriptures the primary source of your thinking, philosophy, opinions – or your favorite news program, website, YouTuber?
- Are you talking more about politics and controversy, or what God is teaching you in His Word, and asking people what they need prayer for?
Be willing to realign your views with God’s (Mark 10:10, Matthew 19:10)
Jesus took a strict view of divorce and remarriage. It’s not stated here but in the parallel passage in Matthew 19 divorce was permitted and thus remarriage was assumed because of adultery. How did the disciples of Jesus respond to that?
“The disciples said to him, ‘If this is the case of a husband with a wife, it is better not to marry!’” (Matthew 19:10).
This indicates that they were of the view that divorce could happen for any reason. Jesus taught that was not the case. Confronted with that reality, the disciples had to shift their thinking to better align with the Word of God.
Is there a possibility that your perspective, which you are really passionate about, may need to change at some point to be more aligned with God’s view on the subject? Hopefully, we’d all be able to give a hearty “Yes!” To that.
Among the disciples, there were lots of different perspectives on likely a whole assortment of issues because they all came from different walks of life and upbringings. That’s ok. Jesus didn’t expect them all to become opinionless robots. But Jesus did expect them to handle those issues with love. A different perspective never means we toss love. Do you know how many different perspectives there are in Christianity today? Thousands. But does your perspective that is different from mine mean we can’t have coffee together?
The only areas of life that we should not be willing to change are the issues that are clearly defined in Scripture. In the areas of life that are clearly, specifically mentioned in Scripture, we need to obey the Scripture.
In areas that are not clearly defined, God gives us other guidance, like submitting to our authorities, and putting fellow Christians first.
Thoughts for application:
- What areas of your life are potential blind spots, that need a fresh address from the Scriptures?
- Are you open and willing to change, even if it means a radical departure from a current way of thinking and living?
Handling cultural controversy in a God-honoring way. It is possible. A summary of the application points above may serve as a good checklist:
- Are you prepared to talk about issues, but gracefully, leaving room for other people’s opinions and thoughts?
- Are you consumed with talking about controversial issues, where you cannot have one conversation without bringing up the latest cultural ‘injustice’?
- Are the Scriptures the primary source of your thinking, philosophy, opinions – or your favorite news program, website, YouTuber?
- Are you talking more about politics and controversy, or what God is teaching you in His Word, and asking people what they need prayer for?
- What areas of your life are potential blind spots, that need a fresh address from the Scriptures?
- Are you open and willing to change, even if it means a radical departure from a current way of thinking and living?