Why are you anti-______?

I drove for quite a few hours today, which gave me the chance to listen to some CD's. Not music. Sermons.

I guess most people don't listen to sermons as they're traveling, but there are some that are worth listening to. Like pretty much anything from John MacArthur.

A friend from church lent me an entire library of 54 CD's of sermons. With all of the driving I'm doing, they've been great!

The one I listened to today was so good I listened to it twice. I had to make sure I had it down pat. It's by John MacArthur, and it's titled, "The Deadly Dangers of Moralism."

I had no clue what that was going to mean, so I popped the CD in and started listening. He quickly started talking about politics, which got my attention. I always like to hear the perspective of Christians I look up to on politics.

He talked about the danger of "cultural morality." It's the practice of trying to make our society moral through political and social action. We're against homosexuality, so we form a political coalition against it. The same goes for abortion, euthanasia, and a whole host of issues. The problem is we get so caught up in making sure we win on the issue that we forget about Christ. Christ is elminated from the equation completely.

The causes are worthy. However, we cannot expect God to look favorably on America simply because we ban nude beaches or abortion or gay marriage.

MacArthur went so far as to associate the Christian right with the pharisees of the New Testament. I think he's right. Many in the "Christian right" really aren't doing what they're doing because they want to honor Christ. They want to live up to their moral standard. These people see a photo of a half-naked woman and turn away because it violates their morals. It has nothing to do with the fact that it's sin that they're turning from. They're turning away from something that would compromise their moral high ground.

I'm not going to re-preach the sermon, because I can't. I will say that it caused me to re-think why I believe what I believe politically. It made me re-think how I advocate for the causes in which I believe. It made me wonder, "Do I abhor sin? Is sin actually sinful to me? Is sin exceedingly sinful? Is sin bad? Or is this 'sin' thing really just anything that falls below my moral compass that makes me better than those without the same moral compass as mine?"

That's what it made me think. Hopefully that thinking goes past the brain and into my heart.

Oh, and one other thing. Once the sermon got done the second time and I'd finished calling and talking to my dad about it, I turned on the radio and one of the first songs was the new Todd Agnew song, "My Jesus." I wasn't crazy about the song the first time I heard it. The tune wasn't that great. However, the more I listened to the words, the more I realized that Todd Agnew didn't write the song for a good melody. I dont think he was worried about that too much. He was trying to get a message across.

There certainly couldn't have been a much better song to fit the thoughts that were going through my head. Here are the lyrics.


Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?

'Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?

Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand

'Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?

Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side
Or fall down and worship at His holy feet

Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part?
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him

'Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?

'Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet would stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despised the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud

I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!

Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus
'Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like my Jesus