Let’s begin with good news you wouldn’t think to be news: a Christian club in Michigan can legally require its leaders to be Christians.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is a student ministry that provides community and Bible studies on college and university campuses. It has been part of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, for seventy-five years. The club is open to all students, but it requires its leaders to agree with the organization’s statement of faith. 

As the Becket Fund noted, Wayne State “rightly allows fraternities to have only male leaders, female athletic clubs to have only female members, and African-American clubs to have only African-American leaders.” However, it claimed that a Christian club should not be able to have only Christian leaders, deeming InterVarsity’s leadership policies “discriminatory” and de-registering the club in 2017. 

Judge Robert H. Cleland of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled last week that the university’s actions “strike at the heart” of the First Amendment and are “obviously odious to the Constitution.” He added that the school’s attempts to dictate the club’s leadership are “categorically barred by the Constitution.” 

Prince Philip’s “wonderful knowledge of the Bible” 

This is not the only good news in the news. Premier Christian News is reporting that Prince Philip encouraged Queen Elizabeth II to talk more about her Christian faith ahead of her Christmas broadcast in 2000. Those who knew him well were not surprised. 

The Rev. Prof. Ian Bradley has preached where the queen attends services when staying at Balmoral, her estate in Scotland. He told Premier that Prince Philip “would note down all the details of the sermon.” He added that Philip “had a wonderful knowledge of the Bible, and then he would sort of quiz you at lunchtime, ask you about your sermon and really put you on your mettle.”

Rev. Bradley stated: “I was amazed at his biblical knowledge. I mean, we sat up one evening, talked almost far into the night about biblical references to the environment, his great interest, of course. He was very well steeped in the Bible.” 

Many of us were unfamiliar with Prince Philip’s faith or Judge Cleland’s decision in favor of religious freedom. But our lack of knowledge makes these stories no less real. We serve a God who “sees in secret” (Matthew 6:6) and “will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness” (1 Corinthians 4:5). 

In other words, God is working to advance his kingdom in ways we may not see. We should never judge his omniscience by our fallen minds (Isaiah 55:8–9) or his omnipotence by our finitude (Matthew 19:26). 

The power of God and a personal confession 

In recent days, I have been suggesting a case for Christian optimism based in the fact that it is always too soon to give up on God and that the risen Christ can still do anything he has ever done before. Our problem is that we tend to measure God’s capacities by ours, assuming that we are experiencing all that he is doing. 

Ernst Troeltsch, a nineteenth-century liberal Protestant theologian, famously argued by his “principle of analogy” that there is “an essential similarity between our humanity and the humanity of the past period.” This approach to historiography examines reports of the past through the prism of the present. If people don’t walk on water today, Jesus and Peter did not walk on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 14:22–33). If bodies don’t rise from the dead today, Jesus did not rise from the dead. 

This mindset affects biblical Christians more than we might think. 

In the first church I pastored, a woman came to our Wednesday night prayer meeting with the news that she had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. We prayed fervently for her healing. She returned in three weeks with the news that the cancer was gone. I will confess to you my first thought: I was glad the doctors got it wrong. 

A young pastor complained to Charles Spurgeon that people were not responding to his sermons. Spurgeon said, “You don’t expect them to respond every time you preach, do you?” The young man assured the great preacher that he did not. Spurgeon replied, “That’s why they do not.” 

“I began to suspect that life itself has a plot” 

With God, we often get what we expect. Not because our faith limits God in any way, but because our faith limits our capacity to receive all that God intends to give. 

It is hard to pray for miracles if we don’t expect miracles. It is hard to obey the word of God if we don’t expect God to keep his word. 

Oswald Chambers was right: “Thank God it is gloriously and majestically true that the Holy Ghost can work in us the very nature of Jesus if we will obey him.” But we must obey him. 

Chambers added: “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.” If the second phrase is true for us, the first is irrelevant. 

The Secret Service agent who saved a president 

Jerry Parr was nine years old when he saw the 1939 film, Code of the Secret Service. The actor playing agent Brass Bancroft was a young man named Ronald Reagan. At that moment, Parr dreamed of becoming a Secret Service agent. 

Parr went on to achieve his dream. Reagan went on to become president of the United States. 

On March 30, 1981, Parr was escorting Reagan to his limousine outside the Washington Hilton hotel when an assailant opened fire. After shoving the president into the car, Parr made the decision to take him to George Washington University Hospital. First Lady Nancy Reagan later credited Parr with saving her husband’s life. 

If you and I will stay faithful to the last word we heard from God and open to the next, he will use us in ways we may never anticipate. We cannot measure the eternal significance of present faithfulness. 

Will you judge God’s capacity to use you by your abilities or by his?

Denison Forum

Buckingham Palace announced Friday that Prince Philip had died at the age of ninety-nine.

His story is truly remarkable. He was born on the Greek island of Corfu, the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg. His uncle, King Constantine I of Greece, was forced to abdicate the throne in 1922. The family fled just ahead of a riotous mob, smuggling the eighteen-month-old prince out of Greece in an orange crate they converted into a makeshift crib. 

Philip and the future Queen Elizabeth II first met as children at the wedding of his cousin in 1934. They met again at Dartmouth Royal Naval College and began corresponding while he served in the Mediterranean and Pacific Fleets during World War II. 

The two were married when she turned twenty-one. He served his adopted country for more than seventy-five years. By the time of his death, he had undertaken 22,191 solo engagements, delivered 5,493 speeches, and served as the patron of 800 charitable organizations. 

The queen has described being left with a “huge void in her life” after his death, their son Andrew said yesterday. Prince Philip’s funeral is planned for next Saturday at Windsor Castle. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the ceremony will be limited to thirty mourners with no public processions or viewings. 

“Did not our hearts burn within us?” 

I have been an Anglophile for many years. I have visited Westminster Abbey numerous times, the church where Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth were married in 1947. I have visited their homes at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. I have even watched every episode of every season of The Crown. But I never had the privilege of knowing Prince Philip personally. 

The same can happen for us with Jesus. Two people who met the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus knew all about him—that he was “a prophet mighty in deed and word” (Luke 24:19), that he had been crucified (v. 20), and that many had hoped he would be their Messiah (v. 21). They had even heard the report that he was alive (v. 23). However, they did not know him (v. 16). 

But when Jesus “interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (v. 27) and led them in prayer and worship (v. 30), “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (v. 31). Then they told each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (v. 32). 

Their story is in God’s word because it can be our story. It is possible to know Jesus in the same way I knew Prince Philip—familiar with the facts of his life and respectful of his influence in the world. But knowing about someone is not the same as knowing them. 

Do you remember a time when you asked Jesus to forgive your sins and become your Savior and Lord? That was the time you established a personal, saving relationship with him. If you don’t remember making such a commitment, I urge you to do so today. (For more, please see my website article, “Why Jesus?“) 

If you have established a personal relationship with Jesus, how would he describe that relationship today? To draw closer to him, do what these two did: listen to him in his word and meet with him in worship. Ask his Spirit to show you anything that is blocking your relationship with him and confess what comes to your thoughts. Then ask Jesus to make himself more real to you than ever before, knowing that he wants such intimacy with you even more than you do with him. 

“The Bible says to take strength from weakness” 

Last Friday, I offered a case for Christian optimism based on the fact that none of us knows when our Lord will return. If we give up on our culture, our pessimism will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. As a result, we must believe, pray, and work for the spiritual awakening our culture so desperately needs while leaving the results and the timing of God’s judgment to him. 

Today, let’s add this fact: All that Jesus has ever done, he can still do. As a result, all that his followers have ever done, his followers can still do.

If Jesus could transform Peter from a despondent failure into the preacher of Pentecost, he can transform any life. If his followers, empowered by his Spirit, “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6 KJV), we can do the same.

The chaplain of the House of Representatives recently followed the example of the apostles before the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:29–32). When the House approved a coronavirus relief package almost entirely on party lines, she prayed in their presence: “Forgive them, all of them. For when called upon to respond to a once-in-a-century pandemic that has rocked our country, upended its economy and widened the chasm of partisan opinion, they have missed the opportunity to step above the fray and unite to attend to this national crisis.” 

A street preacher in Brazil has been following the apostolic example in praying for the sick with passion and compassion (cf. Acts 9:36–41; 28:7–9). He is leading his people in ministry to COVID-19 patients by standing outside their hospitals while lifting their voices in worship and intercession. “The Bible says to take strength from weakness,” he explains. “We sing and pray because our voice can bring assurance of the love of God to those taking their last breaths.” 

A predominantly white congregation in St. Louis recently followed the inclusive example of early Christians (cf. Galatians 3:28). After his church made a $100,000 contribution to a predominantly Black congregation, the pastor explained: “Any time you begin to do life together with somebody who’s different than you, you get different perspectives. You get different histories and you begin to create a shared history together.” 

Joining Jesus on the way to Emmaus 

The best way to convince a skeptical culture that Christ is relevant to our challenges is for Christians to be relevant to our challenges. The best way for Christians to be relevant to others is for Christ to be relevant to us. 

I invite you to join Jesus on the road to Emmaus today. Listen to his voice in his word; spend time with him in worship; ask him to make himself real to you and then through you. 

A case for Christian optimism rests on the fact that Christ is as fully alive and as powerfully active today as when he first walked our planet. William Carey, the father of the modern missions movement, was therefore right when he encouraged his followers to “expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”

Let’s do both today, to the glory of God.

Denison Forum

I am writing today to make a case for Christian optimism.

My argument is not based on post-pandemic hopes, though the International Monetary Fund predicts a remarkable global economy this year and people are already discovering exercise routines and cosmetic procedures intended to help them look their best as they reenter society. 

Nor do I intend to ignore evidence to the contrary such as the horrific mass shootings in Bryan, Texas, and in South Carolina or the record-high violence by Islamic extremists in Africa. The CDC estimates that more people died of drug overdoses in the twelve months ending in August 2020 (the latest figures available) than ever before in a single year. The pandemic sent rates of depression and anxiety soaring. We are facing attacks on religious liberty that threaten the nature of our democracy in a time of growing secularization.

My case for Christian optimism transcends the good and bad news in the news. In brief, I want to convince you that negativism and pessimism are self-fulfilling prophecies that have no place in a biblical worldview.

“Seek the welfare of the city”

Jeremiah 29 finds the Jewish people exiled in Babylon. The Lord sends them a message that must have shocked them: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (v. 7). 

Like them, we are called to pray for our nation and her leaders, whoever they are (1 Timothy 2:1–2). Our call to “honor everyone” includes the injunction to “honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17). We are to serve Jesus by serving those in need (Matthew 25:35–40) and to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), beginning in our Jerusalem and extending to “the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). 

God calls us to pray and work for the salvation of all because he “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). 

This does not mean that all “reach repentance” or “come to the knowledge of the truth.” To the contrary, Jesus stated clearly that “whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). In the final judgment, “if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

Are we the last generation? 

We may be the last generation before judgment. We may be living in that generation that refuses to repent and return to God and is so far gone, a holy Lord has no choice but to judge us. As is often said, if God does not bring judgment against America, he owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology.

But we may not be that generation. It may not be too late. It may be that many in our nation will turn to God in repentance leading to genuine spiritual awakening.

Every spiritual awakening in American history was preceded by desperation. Perhaps the immorality and spiritual destitution of our day will turn God’s people to him with passionate humility and intercession that sparks the awakening we need.

However, if we decide beforehand that it is too late for America, obviously we will not pray and work for America to turn to God. We will not risk our social status by standing for biblical morality in our anti-Christian culture. We will not share Christ with those who are likely to reject us and our witness. We will not pay a price to take the light of Jesus to the darkness of our world (Matthew 5:14–16). 

In this case, giving up on America will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If God’s people stop sharing God’s truth and standing for God’s word, the lost culture will obviously become more lost. The light will stay under a basket while the darkness persists. 

This is not our decision. You and I have no right to tell God that our nation is too far gone and that we will no longer pray and work for the spiritual awakening America needs. No one but God knows the final “day and hour” (Matthew 24:36). Our job is to stay faithful to our kingdom calling until Jesus calls us to heaven or returns to earth.

Choosing a “culture of #JOY” 

I plan to continue this discussion on Monday. For today, let’s close with examples of God’s work demonstrating that he’s not yet finished with us. 

Churches across America baptized multitudes of new believers during last Sunday’s Easter services. So long as we can partner with the Spirit in bringing the lost to Jesus, we must. 

World Vision announced recently that its COVID-19 response reached fifty-nine million people (twenty-six million of them children) with compassionate aid and the good news of the gospel. So long as we can meet needs in Jesus’ name, we must. 

The Scottish Parliament has congratulated evangelical churches and ministries for their service supporting people and communities in need throughout the pandemic. So long as we can glorify our Lord by sharing his love, we must. 

The official Twitter account of the Baylor University men’s basketball team states: “Culture of #JOY.” Head Coach Scott Drew explained after his team won the national title last Monday: “Our joy is Jesus, Others, Yourself.”

Will you choose this “joy” today?

Denison Forum