Scripture
23Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. 24A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. 25Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. 26Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. 2 Timothy 2:23-26
Observation
Today’s Old Testament reading in Jonah provides a timely illustration of what was going on in Timothy’s church and in today’s church. They had lost sight of God’s rescue plan as they got caught up in the injustices and evil of the culture around them. They were involved in foolish arguments rather than the sharing of the gospel. One of the most foolish arguments in all of scripture is the one where Jonah is arguing with God about showing too much mercy. Jonah felt that Nineveh was beyond saving, and with good reason. There was a long history of The Assyrians sacking Israel’s cities and taking their survivors away as slaves. Assyria was the epitome of evil and false worship and were definitely the villains of his day. It was an evil factory pushing it’s dark influence out to the rest of the world much like today’s LA, San Francisco, or New York. Like the people of Timothy’s day, and ours, the people of God in Jonah’s day were surrounded by “those who oppose the truth.” The irony is that Jonah was the one opposing God’s truth and was turning into the villain. “Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. 11But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” (Jonah 4:10-11). Jonah wanted them to get the judgment they deserved. This was a double standard as a few chapters earlier when Jonah was under the judgment of his own sin dying in the belly of a large fish he cried out, "8Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God’s mercies. 9But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”(Jonah 2:8-9) He was immediately delivered from his judgement by a God who is merciful and forgives, but could not stand the thought of the same thing happening for his enemies. Paul is reminding Timothy that the people he and his church have been called to rescue are enemies of the truth, yes, but are being held captive in “the devil’s trap.” Paul, is urging the church then and now to realize that we aren’t going to argue our enemies into the kingdom, but through kindness, patience, and gentleness “perhaps God will change those peoples hearts, and they will learn the truth.” Maybe the reason so many of us Christians come off so mean spirited to those who oppose our views, is that we, like Jonah, don’t want our enemies to be saved. We have modified God’s endless mercy to apply only to ourselves and those we like. That’s not mercy, that’s manipulation and that’s hypocrisy in it’s ugliest form. Which, is, by the way, an accurate description of a villain. Have we forgotten so quickly that we too were once held captive, we were in the devil’s trap, we opposed the truth until God used the kindness, patience, and gentleness of a believer to reach us where we were at?
Application
Please allow me to diverge from the theology to use a cinematic illustration of what we’re talking about. I’m a sucker for a good Spider Man movie. I like all of them. The original ones with Toby Maguire, the Amazing Andrew Garfield and of course the most recent in Tom Holland. “Spider Man: No Way Home” was a dream come true for me as it brought all of these Peter Parker’s together in one multi-verse mishmash along with all of their respective villains. Doc Ock, the Lizard, Electro, Sandman and Green Goblin all show up in the same place and time and Dr. Strange is ready to send them all back to die. After all, he argues, that’s what they deserve. Peter Parker, all three of them, end up believing that they can be saved and ends up fighting against his own ally, Dr. Strange, to give the villains a chance to change. Some of them did, some of them didn’t, but all of them were given a chance in this new timeline that they didn’t have in their own. At the risk of sounding super nerdy can I just say that the Christ followers of the 21st Century need to be more like Spiderman and less like Dr. Strange? Peter knew he had been given a second chance and wanted to offer that to them. Heroes become villains when we pick and choose who will get saved and who won’t. With the onslaught of so much evil being perpetuated and now legislated in America on our young people I’m definitely feeling more like Dr. Strange, more like Jonah, than I am Jesus. In the middle of our boycotts and justifiable pushback, we must remember why we are here. It’s not to win arguments, it’s to win souls. We can’t choose judgment in the name of justice when mercy is what we all desperately need.
Prayer
Jesus you said it Yourself, 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Mt. 5:43-44), and yet I keep trying to find ways around this command. I’m so thankful You loved me while I was Your enemy, yet for some reason I don’t think I need to apply that same mercy to the people who “oppose the truth” around me. This is not good. You have made us, those who follow You, Your rescue plan for a world trapped in darkness, and yet we just keep getting involved in foolish ignorant arguments that have very little to do with The Gospel and everything to do with our political stances. Forgive me for modifying Your mercy. Forgive me for being mean to my enemies rather than kind, patient, and gentle. Break my heart for the things that break Yours.
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