Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, are you ready for a wave of church shootings? Now, this is prompted by an article I read in the New York Times about a story that's been in the news lately. Thomas Jacob Sanford, a 40 year old man with actually active military experience, uh, walked into a Mormon church in Grand Blank Township, Michigan, uh, lighting the building on fire, potentially using some explosive devices and an assault rifle, killing, at least at the time of this recording, four, and injuring another eight before himself being killed by police. He drove into the building, set it on fire, and then used a rifle as people were looking to leave. The FBI is calling it a targeted act of violence that was aimed at a church of about 150 members. Now, I want to say two things right off the top. First, uh, it's an important distinction here for me, at least theologically, that you know, that Mormonism is not, I believe, a form of Christianity. It's an entirely different religion. So when I use the word church, I'm not in any way legitimizing Mormonism as an expression of Christianity. Now, having said that, uh, I mourn the people who were lost and I grieve with the people that were in the building when this shooting took place, no matter what their religion is. I do think this shooting, unfortunately, is probably an indication, along with a few others that have happened recently, of the next wave of shootings. Of course, we've all gotten a little too familiar with, uh, a school shooting where someone targets children in an educational environment for violence. And it, I think it might just be that the next wave of public mass shootings is happening in churches. Man, I hate to say that, but unfortunately that looks like the direction that we're going. It's what I want to do, uh, other than just acknowledging how horrific this situation was and grieving with those people in Michigan, is to start to push us to think theologically about how we should process church shootings. But because of course, they bring up a whole host of questions about God and whether he's protecting us and how we think through questions of faith. So let me offer you kind of five things to think as we step into an unknown future potentially full of church shootings. Here's the first one. Violence against the church. At least the Christian church is not new. Uh, the Bible is full of instances where God's people are in danger. I think particularly of Acts chapter seven. Uh, the church is exploding in growth all over, uh, Jerusalem and the surrounding region. And Stephen, a guy was appointed as a deacon, is taken into captivity and later publicly executed for his faith. And that will kickstart a whole wave of persecution in Acts 7 and 8, which will actually spread the church outside of just Jerusalem itself. And the story of Stephen just shows us that in the very beginning of the church, when the Holy Spirit was moving like crazy, signs and wonders are being done. God is so evidently with the church, violence is still part of the story. Uh, I'll say this, too. This is kind of my second point, is that culture, cultural hostility to the sacred is growing. Jesus says this in John chapter one, verse five. Uh, the darkness has not overcome the light. What he's saying is that, uh, Satan has an agenda. And his agenda is to stamp out the gospel wherever it is preached, wherever it is believed. Now, he has a lot of tools at his disposal, and violence is one of those. And sometimes it can feel, when there's a violent act, particularly at a church, that Satan has one or is winning. And that's why we have to make sure we hold on to what Jesus saying in the Gospel of John. Darkness does oppose the light of the gospel, but it cannot and it will not overcome it. I'll say this, too. This is my third point. Uh, God is our refuge. Uh, we're gonna have to relearn some passages of scripture that maybe we didn't feel like we needed 20 years ago. Of course, we did need them, but we didn't feel like it. In Psalm 46:1, we're told, for example, God is our refuge and our strength. That word refuge means he's our safe place in times of danger. Well, for a while, living in America, maybe the world didn't seem so dangerous. That's not true anymore. So if you need a refuge, and I think you do, and so do I, the Bible tells us the time to go running to God is now. Not just in the time of disaster, to find him to be a safe place for us to pour out our heart, to pour out our emotions, to confess our, uh, fear and anxiety and our weakness. And I'll just say this. The fourth thing is that fearless worship is gonna require a deeper level of discipleship. You know, in 1 John 4, we're told perfect love casts out fear. It is going to potentially get increasingly scary to live out your faith, to even gather in public for worship. We're already in anxious culture, and stories like this one in Michigan aren't going to help us. The way we continue to push through with our faith despite our fear is to become more and more acquainted with the God who loves us, with the God who's sovereign, with the God who's writing in eternal story that transcends our lives and our deaths. The reality is that for some of us, it might be that our faith is a little too thin for difficult times. Well, the time to build up that muscle is now. And I'll just say this, this is my last point. Uh, this particularly falls on pastors to acknowledge the fear, to acknowledge the anxiety, and to lead through. Anyways, the Apostle Paul says to the leaders of the the Corinthian Church and 1 Corinthians 16 to be watchful and to stand firm. Pastors have to continue to preach the gospel, continue to love people, continue to teach the truth, despite their own fear and their own anxiety. Listen, the rest of the church around the world has been living this reality for a long time. We're now stepping into it. It may not always be safe to follow Jesus to gather as a church, but it will always be worth it. The time to grow is now, so that the time to move forward ENC courage will be there when we need it. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

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