What Truth Should We Speak To Power?

Did Bishop Mariann Budde get it right?

I wrote this article prior to watching the full sermon from Bishop Mariann Budde. After watching I decided I would move forward with publishing this article.

In all honesty, I could write three or four articles addressing various components of the sermon. I don’t want to be overly critical, so I likely will not write those articles. However, I do believe it’s necessary to say that her overall plea for unity can only happen by the power of Christ and His unifying Spirit.

She did not point us to Jesus and did not even mention His name. That’s one area I believe missed the mark.

However, this article only addresses the final few minutes that went viral on social media.

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My classes last week were filled with opinionated conversation. Along with seemingly everyone else in the United States, we were discussing the viral clip that featured Bishop Mariann Budde’s plea to President Donald Trump.

Many of our conversations last week landed on this question, “What is mercy?”

Ultimately, God is the one who defines mercy and humans need to fall in line with His vision for it. We can argue night and day about the Bishop’s definition of mercy and what her intentions were in the sermon but truthfully, all of us are inevitably going to miss the mark on how we understand and implement mercy because we are not God.

To outrage over what she calls mercy and accuse her of missing the mark on the matter is short-sided because we, too, are missing the mark.

None of that is what I want to talk about, though. What I want to do is talk about the opportunity she missed out on.

I’m not gonna lie; I got lost in the weeds, too.

It dawned on me after reading this reflection from Rev. David Roseberry that I was focusing on the wrong thing altogether.

Like everyone else, I was focused on what she did say—not what she didn’t say. I was focused on immigration, treatment of individuals in the LGBTQ+ community, and the overall impact of the policies our new President will push forward. Was she right? Was she wrong? Was she out of line?¹

But those really aren’t the questions we should be asking after her sermon. But, of course, that’s where the conversation is going because that’s what she wanted. It’s not until we take a look at what she didn’t say that we realize she made a grave error in her appeal (regardless of where you land politically) and that we’re missing out on a national conversation that could actually change the nation.

There are two things I’m going to focus on for the rest of this (hopefully) brief article.

First, a Biblical example of speaking truth to power.
Second, the ridiculous power of the Gospel message.

Let’s start with Paul in front of King Agrippa II.

Paul is a real straight-shooter. I was reading Acts 16 this morning, and it contains the story of the Philippian jailer who was converted after an earthquake shook the prison and gave the prisoners an opportunity to escape.

Paul and Silas are locked up when God sends an earthquake to shake the prison doors open. When the guard woke up and realized all the doors were wide open, he lamented and took steps toward ending his life. Paul quickly yelled out to the guard to ensure that the prisoners had not left the prison but were still in their cells.

The guard is so surprised that his first question is, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” He is converted, and so is the rest of his household that evening.

The next day, the magistrates sent the police to the jailer and said, “You can let Paul and Silas go.”

The way Paul responded to this was not what I expected. I’ve read the story, but I forgot how much of a gangster Paul was. He basically says, “Nah fam, you beat us in public and made a public spectacle of us—tell the magistrates they’re going to come down here and lead us out of this jail themselves.” (My translation of Acts 16:37)

Paul is not one to back down from a fight, and he’s so smart he can put folks in a mental spin cycle with his arguments.

Yet a few chapters later in the narrative, when he has an opportunity to speak to one of the more influential and powerful people in his day, he doesn’t take the same route our Bishop took a few days ago.

King Agrippa II was the son of King Agrippa I. Agrippa I was responsible for throwing Peter in prison and killing the Apostle James. He was struck dead by God after giving a speech and not giving God any glory for the praise he was receiving from the people. (Acts 12) Agrippa II would have certainly been following in his father’s footsteps and not showing favor to the church. We’re not talking about the most God-honoring folks here. So, what does Paul do?

In Acts 26, Paul outlines three primary things:

1. His own sinfulness

2. The revelation He had of Christ

3. His radical transformation and resulting missionary efforts

He doesn’t say anything to Agrippa about the King’s behaviors, policies, practices, or shortcomings. He points solely to the power and work of Christ.

As I was reflecting on this, it hit me: Paul knew the only way for people to change was by the powerful work of Jesus Christ.

Paul was confident in the ridiculous power of Jesus Christ and the Gospel

Paul was there in Thessalonica when the apostles were referred to as men who “turned the world upside down” because of the Gospel message. (Acts 17). He was there in Ephesus when idol worshippers were burning their gods, sorcerers were burning their textbooks, and millions upon millions of dollars were forfeited by people willing to give up everything to follow after Jesus. (Acts 19)

Not only that, Paul had seen in his own life that it was a radical encounter with Christ that transformed him from a murderer who hated Christians and Jesus Christ to someone who loved Him and His people.

When it comes to convincing people to change their behavior, anything short of the Gospel message is useless. Paul knew that.

Far too often, we do not know that.

We’ve lost confidence in the power of Christ. The message of the Gospel doesn’t seem practical enough to us. That’s why we feel we have to reason with people or appeal to them in unique ways to get them to change their ways. Let’s say, hypothetically, everything our Bishop assumes to be true about President Trump is true. Will it be a kind-hearted plea that will change his mind? Will he trade his ideology for another one on a moment’s notice because it sounds nice? Of course not. It’s going to be a radical encounter with the resurrected Christ. It’s always going to be a radical encounter with the resurrected Christ.

That’s what changed me.
And that’s what can change you—if it hasn’t happened yet.

That’s the only option for real change. Everything in behavior and ideology change is downstream from heart change.

Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins and resurrected three days later to overcome sin and death. Anyone who comes to Him in faith and repentance can have their sins forgiven (literally wiped away). They’ll be given a new heart and a new spirit. They are given the power to live a godly life (the Holy Spirit) and the privilege of living forever in eternity with God. Everything about us is changed in a moment.

So when it comes to speaking truth to power, we don’t need preachers who placate government officials with kind-hearted and compassionate pleas. We don’t need that type of preaching because we don’t need government officials who give into whatever ideology sounds “right” in the moment. We don’t need government officials who can be persuaded from one moment to the next by seemingly “good” ideas—or whatever is going to get them more power. We need government officials who have been radically transformed by the power of Jesus Christ and find their wisdom in the leadership of the Holy Spirit and the counsel of other godly men and women. Therefore, we need men and women who will unapologetically point those government officials to Jesus Christ and Him crucified and resurrected—not men and women who plug their worldview as “gospel.”

But we missed out on that conversation.

We missed out on that conversation because another leader has gotten lost in the weeds of our cultural ecosystem.

I had a pastor, friend, and mentor give me this piece of advice:

“Don’t be the guy who gets so focused on one thing that he misses the bigger thing, which is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
—Matthew Stewart

Everything good in this world comes from the Father in heaven. This means if people are going to do good in this world, it won’t be because they’ve reasoned themselves there—or been reasoned there. It will be because the Father in Heaven has transformed them and empowered them to do good. Does that mean we shouldn’t advocate for the vulnerable people in our communities? That’s absolutely not what I’m saying.²

I’m saying that the entire world could have heard one of the world’s most powerful men called to repentance and faith in Christ. A call to behold the glory of the risen King, King Jesus.

Imagine the questions we could be asking…

Do you really think that Jesus can change us like that?
How do you think President Trump is processing the Gospel?
Do you think he’s starting to realize that he wasn’t saved to Make America Great Again but to receive Christ?

Instead, we’re all losing our minds over policies, and many people are doubling down on their already chosen views.

If we’re going to see any change in the world, it’s going to be because we’re doing two things.

1. Unapologetically sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ

2. Making Disciples who love God, His Word, and people

Passionate pleas to leaders to “change their ways” sounds nice, but it’s actually mostly antithetical to the change we want to see in the world. Sure, it’s part of our process in the United States, and it works at times³, but if we look at the early church in Rome, we can learn something.

We see very few, if any, pleas to the leaders of Rome in the Bible. Why? Because they would have been killed. Yet, Rome was considered a Christian nation in just a few centuries. Why? Because the early church unapologetically preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ and made disciples who love God, His Word, and people. The church was leading the way in caring for the orphan, the widow, and the outcast—it was not necessarily the policymakers.⁴

If we allow ourselves to sit with this reality, we realize something about God:

He is fully capable of instituting the necessary changes in a country—with or without the backing of government officials.

Until we believe He’s capable, we’ll always settle for the moments we saw last week—cheap ideals and viral clips but very little transforming power of the Gospel message.⁵

Have a great week,

—Brandon

Photo from America Magazine. Which, ironically, I suppose. Disagrees with me in the title of their article. But hey, it’s a great photo!

1. I do want to say I think she’s right in the idea that she’s calling for mercy. God loves mercy. He is mercy. I believe our President is responsible for caring for everyone on American soil. This probably means getting some people out of our country who have come here illegally. It also probably means helping some people here illegally go through the process without fear of deportation. It also means enacting policies to protect children from transgender ideologies that do nothing but harm to them. When we consider “mercy” and that driving policies, we need to acknowledge that the definition and implications of the characteristic are far more nuanced than we would like to admit. No President has gotten this 100% correct, and it’s unfair to President Trump to hold him more accountable to this ideal than any other President in recent history.

2. Coming soon is an article titled “Good Religion Is This…” In it, I will be detailing how our aversion to the word “Religion” keeps us from loving our neighbors well.

3. We’ve obviously seen radical advancements in social and civil liberties for people in the last 100-200 years. Typically, those advancements are met with joy on one side and extreme frustration (ie. hatred and rage) on the other. Though they can benefit many, laws aren’t powerful enough to change popular opinion. We cannot legislate heart change, but the Gospel can. At the same time, I believe it’s crucial to legislate morality and justice to whatever degree possible.

4. I also don’t want to overlook the fact that, at times, folks who call themselves Christians have caused more harm than good in social dialogue and action. When I say “Christians” here, I mean people who are committed to the practices of Jesus and have been transformed by the Holy Spirit. I’m not talking about people who call themselves Christians yet reflect very little, if anything, of Christ.

5. I want to say as a final word—I know this is an incredibly nuanced conversation and I don’t want to pretend to know all the facts surrounding the entire ceremony, the Bishop’s intentions, or how President Trump’s policies are going to play out. I simply want us to lift high the power of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection.