I Will Lay Down

I came into my office Monday, and there on my desk was the most recent Baptist Messenger publication laid open. Curious as to why, my co-worker pointed my attention to an article titled “Rite of Passage: I Will Stand” written by Walker Moore of Awe Star Ministries. I read it, and then re-read it a few more times to be sure of what I was reading. Now, I want to offer a response challenging many of the points he made. I want to respond using the same sub-points he used, but instead of “I will stand” I will use “I will lay down.”

I will lay down because respect comes from one’s character

Moore argues in this section that respect comes from character, and then in the same section he disrespects many with his broad generalizations and assumptions. He assumes that “those who don’t respect the flag” most likely do not respect “parents, senior adults, policemen, government officials, teachers, clergy, military personnel and those behind the grocery-store counter.” In a sense, if you take a knee during the national anthem you lack respect, thus you lack character. Yet this fails miserably to understand why people are kneeling in the first place. They are kneeling to call attention to the disrespect that is shown consistently to people of color in our country: particularly, police brutality and racial injustices.

The irony in all this is that Moore points to Jesus’ respect toward the woman at the well, the blind man, and the beggar to justify his remarks. Each of these were men and women who received no respect from the religious leaders and government leaders of their day. So, Jesus figuratively “took a knee” to serve those that were oppressed and disadvantaged. He did what was culturally unacceptable and downright scandalous at times to serve these “lesser” people.

Jesus was about the Kingdom of God. He was a threat to Jewish patriotism/nationalism. Their anger raged when Jesus entered the Temple in Mark 11:15-19 and began to protest what they were doing. He didn’t take a knee, he destroyed their whole evil practice. Did Jesus respect those in power in that moment? No, because he was more concerned with the glory of God than the glory of any man or nation. The Jewish people were exploiting the Gentiles in the court of the Gentiles and making it impossible for them to worship God. Thus, they had turned God’s house into a den of robbers, and not a house of prayer open for all nations. Jesus was angry at the dishonor and disrespect shown to God in how the Jewish people were treating the Gentiles who desired to worship God.

Our flag is a hindrance to the gospel for many people, both here and abroad. It’s a hindrance not because of its colors or the material that it is made from, but because of what has been done under that banner. It would be wise of Christians not to elevate the flag (or any flag) to god-like status or be unwilling to lay it down for the sake of the gospel. There have been many evils done by America in this world, as well as many goods. She is not God’s Kingdom, and we must be very clear about this. We are a Kingdom of God people first and foremost if we are in Christ. So, when America acts unjustly, or does evil, or oppresses people, or exploits them, or anything else that does not honor God we do not stand with her. We stand with Christ alone, and seek and pray for God’s Kingdom to come and will to be done in America as it is in heaven.

I will lay down because I was taught to do so

In this section, Moore says he will stand for the flag and anthem because he was taught to do so in school. He says that “little school ingrained in me that certain things deserved respect.” Then he lists a few of those things: the flag, teachers, and the rules already in place. Seems innocent, but again I want to challenge this.

When I visited a school in China, the kids stood each day and recited, “There is no god, there is no god, believe in yourself, there is no god.” This entered the schools with the cultural revolution of Mao Zedong in the 1960s. The revolution got rid of all religion for the most part. Temples and churches were torn down. The ruling belief of the day is dependence on the government. Rules have been established that make it illegal for churches to meet, unless they are registered with the government. Those registered are often told what they can and cannot say from the pulpit. This means that in most cases the gospel is not being preached, thus the house church movement in China.

Why point this out? Many Christian children go to these schools, and based on Moore’s logic these children should show respect for China, recite the creed that there is no god, and obey the rules already put in place…so no church. Now, I believe Moore would agree this is ridiculous. But why? Because we submit to Christ over country. When “rules” are made that hinder our worship of God, we disobey those rules and follow God. Schools teach us lots of things, some good and some bad, but as a Kingdom people we submit first and foremost to Christ. And what did Christ teach us?

Jesus taught us that if we would be his disciples he must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow him (Matthew 16:24-25, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23). Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord our God with all out heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength. And the second was like it, which is to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-38, Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:27). All throughout the New Testament we read that Christ loved us by laying down his life for us. 1 John 3:16 says, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” There are two different words used here for life. The life Jesus laid down is his whole life for salvation purposes. However, the “lives” we are to lay down are not salvific. The word for our “lives” refers to our livelihood. We are to lay down our livelihood for our brothers. We lay down our resources, our privileges, our power, our rights for the sake of our brothers and sisters. But not just our brothers and sisters in Christ, because we follow Christ who gave himself up for us all.

We dishonor and disrespect God when we’re more interested in respect being shown to a flag than we are respect and honor being shown to those created in the image of God. All throughout history kneeling has been viewed as a sign of honor and respect. Rather than seeing this form of protest as a respectful plea for justice for image bearers, many have turned this into an issue of respect for a flag and an anthem. This completely misses the point and disrespects millions who are tired of being less honored than the flag itself. Respect does come from character, but so do humility, compassion, and love, which are taught to us and modeled for us by Christ.

I will lay down because I see the whole, not the part

Moore acknowledges there are things wrong with our country, our society, and our culture, but to him these are “just parts of the whole.” This is easy to say when you are a white male in America. But if your heritage is that your people were brought here in ships against your will to be sold as property, then these are not just parts of the whole. This is your whole. Your entire existence in America has been a fight to just be accepted as an actual human. Your ancestors labored and toiled to build a country for a people who loved and cared for their animals better than you. I am not saying here that Moore is intentionally trying to be racist, don’t hear me saying that. If he is, the Lord knows. But what he is implying is racist.

When our Declaration of Independence was signed, and the Constitution ratified, black slaves were not a part of it. They were only 3/5ths human at that time. Native Americans were not included, as they were “savages.” Women had little to no rights at all. The entire framework of our country was established by and for white protestant men. If you do not fall into that category, then the “parts” are your “whole.” However, when we see the “whole” from the perspective Moore offers, then we are able to strongly and confidently say with Moore, “Yes, we do have the freedom to protest things we consider wrong, but there is a time and a place for that.”

But who gets to determine the right time and place to protest what is wrong? Evangelicals posted to their heart’s content when Planned Parenthood was exposed for selling baby parts. However, the videos were obtained under false pretenses. They lied about who they were to get the secret videos. I am thankful these videos exposed Planned Parenthoods practice of selling baby parts. However, when Colin Kaepernick takes a knee (at the request of a Green Beret who told him this was a respectful way to protest) because of police brutality and racial injustices still prevalent in our society, evangelicals in large part attacked him and became enraged at his lack of respect for our country and flag. Martin Luther King Jr. was repeatedly told that there is a right time and place for protests, and that his protests were the wrong time and place. So back to my question: Who gets to determine the right time and place to protest what is wrong?

I will lay down my privileged position in this country as a white male to bear the weight of this burden for brothers and sisters of color. Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” The law of Christ is that we love one another, as Jesus has loved us (John 13:34). Here Paul says we love one another when we carry the burdens of others. Brothers and sisters of color in our country have carried a heavy burden mostly by themselves for many centuries in America. Most white Americans don’t know what it’s like to fight for our basic humanity. The white church in America has spent many years being complicit in burdening people of color. The Southern Baptist Convention split so that we could continue to keep slaves. This is evil, and it made the burden even heavier. I lay down because I see the whole, not the part. The “whole” is God’s Kingdom covering the earth, and America is merely a “part” of that. When the “whole” (Kingdom of God) is affected by the policies, beliefs, norms, and practices of the “part” (America), we don’t become proud and stand. No, we lower ourselves and serve, carry the burdens of others, seek to be reconciled with those we have wronged, and work together to see the Kingdom of God established in all the earth.

Every nation is under God, whether they acknowledge it or not. This doesn’t make America different. What makes America different, is that she claims to be under God, and yet there are many things we have done and are doing that God would call evil, unjust, and immoral. Maybe instead of trying to determine the right time and place for a protest, we should listen to what the protest is about, repent of our pride and ethnocentrism, and begin to load the burdens of others onto our backs and help carry those burdens with them and for them.

I will lay down because I want to be a role model for the next generation

I have four small children, and my wife and I work daily to keep Christ front and center in our family’s life. One of the ways we are working to keep Christ central is in matters of honor and respect. From the time they were little we taught them that God made them and all things. We taught them that we want to honor God with our words, our actions, our thoughts, etc. We taught them that one way we do this is by honoring and respecting those God has made. So, when my oldest hits his sister, I pull him aside and I ask him, “Who made your sister?” He replies, “God did.” I ask, “Does it honor God when we hit our sister?” He replies, “No.” I reply, “Correct. It doesn’t honor God, because it doesn’t honor what God made. When you hit your sister, or speak rudely to her, or scream at her, you are not treating her with dignity and honor.”

We say this when our kids disrespect a teacher, myself or my wife, grandparents, etc. We talk about this when we see others being dishonorable to others. We have openly talked to our kids about unarmed, black men who have been murdered in the streets at the hands of police. We speak of honoring people of all colors, and to value the different colors God has given us. We speak of honoring police as image bearers as well.

We want our kids to understand deep down that all men and women were made in the image of God no matter their ethnicity, their socioeconomic status, their sex, their abilities or lack thereof, their religion, their political views, and much more. All are image bearers of God (Genesis 1:26-27).

We want our kids to know that all men and women are broken, rebellious sinners who have distorted the image of God in the world. We want them to know that things do not work as they should. People have done and continue to do very evil things. We want them to know that there is not a country or a people or an individual on this planet who has not offended God. All have fallen short of his glory (Romans 3:23).

We want our kids to know that because of our sin and rebellion against God, we all stand rightfully condemned. Not because we haven’t heard about Jesus, but because at our core we are rebellious sinners wanting nothing to do with God. We want them to understand that we are all deeply flawed, and in need of a Savior. We need to be delivered from this body of death (Romans 7:24).

We want our kids to know the Savior, Jesus Christ. We want them to know that He lived a sinless life, died a gruesome death on a cross, was buried, and was raised to life three days later. We want them to know that Jesus has conquered Satan, sin, and death once for all. We want them to know that we are made alive in Christ by grace through faith, and not by any works (Ephesians 2:8-9). We also want them to know that we have been redeemed so that we may fulfill the good works we were created for (Ephesians 2:10). We want them to trust Christ and submit to Christ in all their ways. We want them to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and love others as Christ as loved us (1 John 3:23). We want them to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) who is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), so that God’s image will be finally and fully restored on the earth (Habakuk 2:14).

Finally, we want our kids to know that “here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). We want them to know that in Christ we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession (1 Peter 2:9), and that we are sojourners and exiles (1 Peter 2:11) in this land. We want our kids to know that God and America are divisible. God’s promises are not to America, but to His Church. And we want our kids to know that His Church, when all is said and done, will be a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb according to Revelation 7:9.

We will lay down because we are the blessed

Moore’s article ended with a very familiar phrase, “God bless the USA.” For years, I said this phrase, and never had an issue with it. What can be wrong with it, right? We want God to bless our country, but what does this even mean? We use verses like Psalm 33:12 which says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…” to communicate that we want God to be the Lord of America. We claim our problems as a country stem from kicking God out of our schools, and removing the Ten Commandments from courthouses. I was raised being told that as long as we stood with Israel as a country, God would bless us.

Yet a full reading of this Psalm 33:12 shows that this has nothing to do with a country, but a people. It says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.” This is speaking directly of Israel, but ultimately of the Church (see 1 Peter 2:9). It has nothing to do with America. This matters because there are many in our country who want nothing to do with “God” if this is what his blessings look like. It is important that we know and understand that God blesses his church. Yes, there is common grace for all peoples everywhere, but the blessings of God are poured out on his people.

Why does this matter? It matters because as those who received the promised blessings of God we have a responsibility to in turn be a blessing to others. This is the promise of Genesis 12:2-3 that God makes with Abram. He says, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all families of the earth shall be blessed.” This is the gospel right here! In Galatians 3:8, Paul writes, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying ‘In you shall all nations be blessed.” Paul continues in verses 13-14, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’ — so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Anyone, then, who is in Christ Jesus has been blessed with the blessing of Abraham. Christ laid down his life for us, becoming the curse for on our behalf, so that by faith alone in Christ alone we receive the promised blessing of Abraham. And now that we, the Church, are in Christ, we too lay down our lives to be a blessing to others.

We lay down our lives because we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3). We lay down our lives so that we may become all things to all people that by all means we might save some. We do so for the sake of the gospel that we may share the blessings with them (1 Corinthians 9:22-23). We lay down our lives because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). We lay down our lives because we are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). We lay down our lives because we are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14), which is not America. We lay down our lives because we are built on the solid rock foundation of Jesus Christ Himself, and the gates of hell will never prevail against us (Matthew 16:18). We lay down our lives not so God will bless America, but so we will bless America. And this we will do when we align our lives with Christ and his Kingdom agenda, not any patriotic, nationalistic agenda.

I pray we will lay down our lives so we may lift up Jesus’ name that many more will receive the promised blessing of Abraham by faith alone in Christ alone.