Council Grove Christian Church

Servants of God,

“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you;
 he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”
-Psalm 55:22

 
I am certain you have had the experience of having a problem with a vehicle that is beyond your level of expertise. That is when you take the car to a competent mechanic who diagnoses that issue and hopefully, repairs what is wrong. Most Americans know that our nation has massive issues. Once in a while someone comes along who can clearly discern a problem and then offers a workable solution.
 
Many conservative Americans, even American Christians are rejoicing that the billionaire Elon Musk of Tesla fame, has purchased Twitter. Twitter needs massive change, but Elon Musk will not save us. He may help with the “free speech” issue in the short term, but without curing the underlying problems that have caused free speech to be endangered, it is just a matter of time before we have an equal or greater danger knocking on our door. We already have a perfect savior in Jesus, the Messiah of God. Christians must not discount the providential working of God through a person like Musk, but we must never place the trust we owe God in a mere human being. Our issues are above even Elon’s pay grade.
 
In his book Broken-Down House Paul Tripp reminds the reader that because of sin, our human condition is like a house that is falling apart because it is not being properly maintained. When we receive salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, Emmanuel (God with us) becomes a reality. God is not merely near us—he lives in us. God is renovating our life from the inside out. The Christian life is a life of ever-increasing sanctification. We are being changed daily by God and his glorious grace.
 
A person who claims to be a Christian must ask at least one question daily: “Am I going toward God and his will or away from him and it?” It is a good diagnostic. The scripture offers us an elegant and effective diagnostic tool. Hebrews 4:12 teaches us that it cuts into our life and gets to the root of the problem. We have soul issues that show up as speech and behavioral issues. Out of the abundance of our hearts, our mouths speak. The evil and destructive words in our culture and the disrespectful and hurtful behaviors are rooted in our hearts. Unless we receive healing at that level, we will never be healthy, and our culture will never be safe for human flourishing.
 
Where do you turn when you have a problem. Too much of my life I rushed to act in a way that seemed right to me. That is a prescription for death. Since I have come to realize that there is only one place to cast my burdens and only one Savior who can cleanse me from sin and fill me with divine guidance I have been on a grand adventure. It is the pilgrim’s progress, and it is the only path that is both helpful and hopeful.
 
Christians should be concerned about free speech, but we must be more concerned about the glory of God and living by faith as we trust in Jesus. We must trust him not just for forgiveness but for every moment of life as we live to honor him. That involves an ongoing renovation of the “house” we are living in. We are living in the midst of the sawdust and paint of God’s reclamation and that involves our cooperation with the Holy Spirit as he moves walls and runs new wiring.
Christians must realize that God, in his mercy, pours out his “common grace” through people like Elon Musk and even the mentally declining president. That must not be our primary focus. We must proclaim the gospel truth that true help for human sin, sadness and decline is found only in the risen Jesus.
 
Blessings,
 
Pastor John
 
Coram Deo