On God's Side

There is a phrase I hear occasionally, and I have never liked it.  It is a phrase often used to justify what could be called "progressive" yet is often facile and is nothing more than thinly veiled ideology.  I read the city of Sydney has outlawed installation of gas ranges in the CBD and will only allow electric cooktops to avoid "being on the wrong side of history."  This is complete silliness to me, for the vast majority of electricity production in NSW is supplied by coal.  Since natural gas is cleaner burning than coal and produces less carbon dioxide, wouldn't it be more environmentally conscious to cook with natural gas rather than electricity generated primarily by burning coal?  Should we try to impress future generations and alienate those who cook with gas as careless for the environment or clueless today?  Do we look down upon those in previous generations who cooked their food over word or charcoal?  Those who want to avoid being "on the wrong side of history" very well might be by their overweening idealism.

We live in a world where pleasing others is highly incentivised.  There isn't so much a payoff for being politically correct and progressive, but there can be a high price for sharing unpopular personal views or convictions.  Our desire to be accepted and respected, to be viewed as an ally rather than an enemy, provides selfish motivation to "go with the flow"--or to at least put on a good show for others to see.  I would put myself in the category of a natural "people pleaser," to want others to think well of me.  As followers of Jesus, we must decide if we will work to please people or choose to please God who loves and saves us.  Our motivation after coming to Christ is to change completely as Paul wrote in Colossians 3:22-24:  "Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. ²³ And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ."  We ought to put forth effort to please God above all, for a "Well done!" from God forever is better than the fickle approval of man.

Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 10:34-38:  "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; ³⁶ and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' ³⁷ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me."  To side with Jesus as being the Messiah and God in human flesh and to love Him set people opposite those who castigated Jesus as a demon-possessed disturber of the peace.  To follow Christ meant choosing His way of living, to value pleasing Him over ourselves, our parents or friends; to embrace dying to self for His sake rather than counting our lives precious to us and trying to spare ourselves suffering.  Being on the "right" or "wrong side of history" does not factor into this equation, for it is what God says that matters most.

When Jehu rode into Samaria, painted Jezebel looked down upon Jehu (literally and figuratively) and chided him for doing exactly what God commanded him to do:  to bring judgment upon Ahab's wicked house.  Jehu called out to the eunuchs who attended to the queen, "Who is on my side?  Who?"  The eunuchs he addressed needed to decide who they would please:  Queen Jezebel or Jehu who had been anointed king by God.  Their choice was required to be public and immediate, for he commanded them in 2 Kings 9:33:  "Throw her down!"  By the wisdom and discernment of God's word Christians are called in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to be "...casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ...".  As born again followers of Jesus who is our life, our call is to live to please Him.  This means casting down all the ways and wisdom of the world God calls foolishness, and to joyfully entrust ourselves to His loving care.

There is freedom in the body of Christ to have different views about the use of an electric or gas range; there is freedom to have opinions whether a council should make sweeping laws with a desire to be on the "right side of history."  But when it comes to living to please people, ourselves, or our LORD, Jesus made it clear where our priorities should lie:  that we ought to live worthy of Christ by following His example, sincerely obeying God from the heart in the fear of God.  We are not worthy, but by faith and obedience to Christ we can live in a worthy manner that fully pleases God, being fruitful in every work, and increasing in the knowledge of God (Col. 1:10).  Being on God's side ought to be our priority.