Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone, thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up podcast. 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, should we mourn Charlie Kirk? Now, I was going to tell you, this was prompted by an article, the New York Times, which was looking at the different ways that people have responded. Some celebrating Charlie's death, some mourning, some being frustrated with other people not mourning enough. But the truth is, I don't need the New York Times. I have an email inbox, and I've heard from a lot of people. In fact, I've been called everything from a Christian nationalist to, uh, a cowardly liberal. Still trying to figure out how I can be both of those things. I get it. People are frustrated, they're angry, they're hurt, and they don't know where to go for leadership. And unfortunately, they're going to a lot of the wrong places. So let me take this opportunity to offer some pastoral and biblical counsel for how we ought to think about the death of Charlie Kirk and how we ought to respond to it. In fact, I have seven things for you. Here you go. Here's number one. Mourning is not a political endorsement, and it's not limited to people that we agree with. Hear this verse. Ezekiel 33, verse 11. God says, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Now, uh, I'm not calling Charlie wicked. I'm just making the point that you can pick the worst possible person in the world who dies. And God says, not me. Not the social media influencer or political person you're listening to on the radio or podcast, but God. God says that he mourns their death. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Murder is wrong. I never thought I would have to argue that, but of course, I remember when we did an episode on the murder of the United Healthcare CEO. Still the episode I've gotten more negative feedback on than any other episode we've done. Because some people think if they deem a person wicked, it's okay to kill them. Well, it isn't. And if you're celebrating the death of anyone, you are on the opposite side of God. And I think you ought to take a really hard look at who you think God is and what you think God is about. We mourn people here on Wake Up. Look Up. The second thing is that gospel proclamation is what's ultimate to me. Let me just own this in front of you. Uh, people who share the Gospel of Jesus Christ they're on my team. That is my team. The apostle Paul says it this way in Philippians 1, verse 18, right after saying, some people preach Christ for this reason, and this reason, some preach him for gain. Paul says, hey, look, I rejoice in this, that Christ is proclaimed. In other words, Paul says, I don't know the motives of every person out there preaching Jesus. I don't know their character, and I don't know them personally. Paul didn't have TikTok or Instagram or Facebook and even those of you that do, you don't really know the people on those videos. But what Paul says is anyone holding out the idea that we are saved through faith alone, by grace alone in Christ alone, is someone he's happy to be hearing talk about Jesus. And me too. Charlie Kirk went to college campuses and among other things, I'll get to those in a second, preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was unapologetic about the idea that his salvation was in the finished work of Christ. He was unapologetic about calling college students to take a look at Jesus. And for that reason, he was on my team because my team is made up of people who preached the gospel. Now let me say this, this is my third point. No gospel witness is perfect. None of us. Not Charlie Kirk and not me. By the way, the New Testament tells us that Apollos, a preacher in the book of Acts leading hundreds of people to Christ, has to be pulled aside by an older couple to be corrected on something he's saying. The apostle Paul refuses to give John Mark, who wrote the Gospel of Mark, by the way, a second chance. And for that reason, he and Barnabas have a falling out and don't do ministry together anymore. Paul in the book of Galatians says he had to call Peter out in public for sitting with the Gentiles and then when the Jews got up leaving the table and going to sit with them. My point is, Paul, Peter, Apollos, not perfect. Zach Weihrauch, not perfect. Charlie Kirk, not perfect. Do I agree with everything that Charlie Kirk said? No. You know how you know that? I do a daily news podcast where we talk about all these things. Go check out those episodes. I have disagreed with the viewpoint of Charlie Kirk on a number of things, but no gospel witnesses perfect. Do we want to apply that standard to Martin Luther, who is one of the major reasons we're protestants because he was anti Semitic? This idea that we have to apply this ideological purity test to someone before we can agree with them on anything or celebrate them at all means the Only person we would ever agree with is Jesus Christ. I do a daily news podcast, five episodes a week, 52 weeks of the year. You're not going to agree with me about a lot of things. I'm not going to agree with me in the end about some things. No gospel witness is perfect, and I simply refuse to hold them to that standard. Here's the fourth thing I want to say. Be wary of worldly labels. Uh, you know, people label people all the time on this podcast. I teach and believe there are only two genders. To some, that makes me transphobic. I believe the only appropriate expression of human sexuality is heterosexuality within the context of a monogamous marriage. To some people, that makes me homophobic. I believe the country would be a better place if every elected official was born again and had the Bible as their authority. To some, that makes me a Christian nationalist. I don't care about labels because I don't know what they mean and I don't know who gets to decide them. But I do know this. In Matthew 11, Jesus says people called him a drunkard and a glutton, and it didn't stop him from eating or drinking because those labels were false. I'm not worried about being attached to someone to whom other people attach a label. Who gave them the authority to do that? I'll tell you what else. Here's the fifth thing. My job is not to please people. It feels increasingly like people are showing up to church with a bingo card and they're saying, if my pastor doesn't say, in this case, Charlie Kirk, or if my pastor does say Charlie Kirk, I'm, um, leaving the church. Well, let me just let you in on this. Uh, I only have one bingo card, and it belongs to the Lord God Almighty. Whatever he has told me to preach and say, that's what I'm gonna preach and say. Because it's him ultimately that I'm pleasing. Not me, not you, and not anyone else. And that's what any pastor worth his salt is going to say. It's what the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 1:10 when he said, am I now seeking the approval of men or the approval of God? And here's the sixth thing. Challenge is part of my job. You should at times feel uncomfortable when your pastor says some things. That's called being prophetic. It is actually the job of a pastor to challenge your thinking. We have to get out of this idea that we want to exist in an ideological bubble, and no one from outside the bubble can come in. Proverbs 27:17 says iron sharpens iron. Do you know how it does that? By banging up against each other. That's the point. Dialogue and debate. By the way, that's something I respected about Charlie. He didn't run from people he disagreed with. He ran to them. He invited the conversation. And then lastly, I'll say this. This is my seventh point. Charlie Kirk is not our shibboleth. He is not the true test of orthodoxy or the true test of a godly pastor. I see this online. If your church didn't do this, or if your church did this, you should leave. Listen, uh, the New Testament was written in large part under the reign of Nero, an emperor who lit Christians on fire to light his parties. And the Apostle Paul never once says that. A church is only a church if it decries the actions of Nero. The Apostle Paul said what the church has said for 2000 years and what I believe to be true. A church is a church when it preaches Christ and him crucified. If you want to know that we stand for something. If you want to know that we stand for someone, we stand for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the person of Jesus. Does he have things to say about our world? Absolutely. And we say those things five times a week here on Wake Up, Look Up. But we preach him and him crucified. Guys, listen to me. The people you're listening to online are not for you. They're building a platform off of you. Be wary of who you look to for spiritual guidance. 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.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!