Introduction
It’s a tale that’s been told at sundry times and diverse manners…perhaps a tale as old as
time…like beauty and the beast…Though the tale didn’t originate with Hans Christian Anderson, The Emperor Has No Clothes was certainly popularized by him.
It’s a tale of a vain, consumptive king who cares much more for stuff and things and things stuff than he does for governing or the good of his people…You could put a D or an R in front of his name but the result would be the same.
This vain kings desire to cover all of his insecurities made him suspectable to two lobbyist, I mean swindlers, that made their way through the kings city…these swindlers made it known that they were weavers…and weavers as they were, they only weaved with the most magnificent of cloths…cloths so magnificent and so uncommonly awesome that when they weaved these cloths by their hands they would appear to be invisible to anyone who was unusually stupid or unfit for office…
This would be perfect for the king…not only would he be clothed in the awesome attire which his awesomeness deserved but he would also be able to see at once who was unfit for their office and who were the idiots in his kingdom…Win-Win…so the king passed an executive order and bank-rolled the project right away. Obviously, a wonderful investment for the kingdom.
So the weavers got to work with their weaving…and like any good government project they needed more resources along the way…the king, being no fool after all…sent honest men to check on his investment from time to time – as these honest men beheld the non-existent clothes they feared being found a fool or unfit, so being as honest as they were they reported back the king of the overwhelming beauty/glory/splendor of the emperor’s new clothes
The day finally came for the emperor to get gussied up…and to clothe his awesomeness with an equally awesome outfit…to the king’s surprise – he couldn’t see the clothing either, but knowing himself to quit awesome/worthy/fit and intelligent…he kept this one to himself…stripped down to his skimpy’s and had these fine weavers clothe him in clothes that were fit for such a king…
As all the king’s noble men gazed at the king’s junk (knowing themselves to
fit/intelligent)…they told the king how amazing he looked in his majestic new clothing…it was now time for the emperor to parade through the streets so that all of his subjects behold his majesty
As the king made his way through the streets in triumphal procession with a full crack in the back and a full monty in the front…Everyone, being afraid to be thought the village idiot or to thought unfit oowd and awed, at the results of the election (this was the most popular king the kingdom had ever known)…
Until it came to one child, who was not aware of the towns evangelical sensibilities and
proclivities towards niceness at all costs…blurted out, “He’s not wearing anything all.” Even though he was sternly warned to keep quiet, I fancy that he was laughing pretty hard as he said it a couple more times…All it took was one truth to be told to spread through the crowd like brushfire…to not only expose the vanity, self-deception and stupidity of the king and nobles but to also expose the rank weakness and cowardice of the towns people for fear of being canceled and called a fool.
I’m sure not everyone in the town and amongst the intelligentsia was happy about said
exposure…after all, were told, it’s vulgar to point out ones vulgarity in such a vulgar way…and who gave that boy permission to talk about politics away? I’m also sure that some were so upset they labeled this troubled boy a troublemaker.
It was Orwell that said,
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
As Christians, we are not revolutionaries, but we are reformers seeking to take back everything that belongs to our King, which is everything…you mean everything everything?…Yes! We mean everything everything!
As we run into the town filled with bloated bureaucrats bragging about their baubles and fawning evangelicals townspeople desiring the attention and affection of said bureaucrats with their balls hanging out, we find ourselves like little children declaring the truth that Jesus is Lord while exposing their idolatry for what it is – vulgar…as we do so, we joyfully run the risk of being called a troubler of Israel knowing full well, that the very sensible evangelicals amongst will protest that we aren’t acting very much like Jesus…and incensed as they are, it should be noted that said incitement comes from the use of the word balls not the fact that said balls are swinging low sweet chariot all the way through the halls of a government building.
Godly Troublemaking is Biblical
Let me just start by twisting all you nibblets into a bunch of jibblets by saying that Godly
troublemaking is not only Biblical but it’s necessary for obedience to Christ and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Nobody likes conflict and evangelicals, in particular, especially hate it. In fact, they will do
almost anything in their power to avoid it, regardless of how many doctrines they have to
compromise or how many pronouns they have to use to find favor at the cool kids table. But here in lies the problem, as long as they maintain holding on to the title “Christian” they will never be accepted at that table. Because the cool kids understand something that the evangellyfish do not – Christ demands everything…you can sit at the table of demons or the table of Christ, but you can’t do both.
So they will never ever be liked by the cool kids but now the cool kids can’t even try and respect them because there is nothing respectable about them…They’ve become like a wet blanket over a warm turd, but enough about Russel Moore. My point being, that a little bit of compromise on the front end (couched in doublespeak…or if you prefer, the evangelical speak), never ends well, in the rear end. If you begin with compromise, you are only going to end up with a lot more compromise.
And this is exactly where we find ourselves, decades upon decades of compromise within the church. As the Emperor of secularism/statism struts down the street with his balls hanging low swinging from side to side Evangelicals are fawning all over themselves telling the Emperor how wonderful and amazing and amazingly wonderful he looks…It’s Grotesque (just like government education)
The last thing they would ever want to do is to create trouble…and given Romans 13 and all, we should close our churches as to not get a cold…and it’s painfully obvious from the pages of sacred writ that Jesus would have you masked up and quadruple vaxed…It’s about science and love you jerk…“Don’t you love your neighbor you racist?”
So as the Emperor struts his stuff teaching the merits of anal sex to 5 year olds in government schools and evangelicals gravel away as the parade moves on (though they occasionally attend a school board meeting or two) one can’t help but get the overwhelming impression that it’s not the trouble, in principle, that they have the trouble with, but rather it’s object.
As is the case with worship so too with trouble. It’s not a matter of whether but which. It’s not matter of whether or not you will worship, but which god you find yourself worshipping. It’s not a matter of whether or not you are going to cause trouble, but whether or not that troublemaking is Godly.
In an ungodly world the pursuit of godliness is always going to cause trouble to those who want to persist in their ungodliness. If someone is in a deep sleep and would prefer to remain that way and you shine a spotlight in their face they don’t say, Thank you – that was awesome and you’re very winsome winning me with your winsomeness
Unfortunately, when you remove the fear of God from the equation the fear of man looms
large…
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Gal. 1:10
Because we cared more about how people receive what we said than about the content of what we actually said…we have found ourselves friends with the world and enemies of God and we’re completely unaware of it.
We would prefer to go along with the mob regardless of how remarkably stupid or grotesque it is, in full view of our children, than have those same people think us a fool or unfit all the while confirming our foolishness and unfitness as we try not to look below the Emperor’s waist.
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” G.K. Chesterton
“One of the greatest problems in the Church today is that we do not understand that for those who hate God, love for God is arrogance. For those who love God, hatred of God is arrogance. These are not what we may call reconcilable definitions. The nonnegotiable standard is the standard given to us by Scripture. When we commit ourselves to this standard, a priori, and are determined to resist all ungodly attempts to define arrogance, a strange thing happens. Much of what we have previously assumed as arrogant is suddenly seen as humility, and vice versa. This brings us to the place where we can recognize that we had been seduced to an unbiblical definition of sin. And Isaiah pronounces a woe on those who call evil good, and good evil (Is. 5:20).” Doug Wilson, A Serrated Edge, pg. 24
When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” And he answered,
“I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.” 1 Kings 18:17-19
Before Elijah slaughtered the false prophets at the Brook Kishon, he made sure to mock them and their gods,
“And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 1 Kings 18:27
Both Elijah and Ahab considered the other a troublemaker and so they were, but only one was Godly…that is to be our aim. Not troublemaking, but godliness. And in the pursuit of godliness we will cause trouble in an ungodly world.
It’s not hard to imagine someone responding to this example…with a, “that’s nice, but that’s the Old Testament”…with some accusation of misogamy and racism thrown in for good measure…and don’t you know that Christianity is a religion of love not hate?
As far as gentle Jesus meek and mild, fully equipped with skinny jeans and man bun is
concerned – the only place that Jesus exists is on a poster in Russel Moore’s house right next to his life-sized poster of Barak Obama…or maybe that’s his poster of Tristan, world-renowned male super-model, either way, there was no greater troubler of Israel than Jesus – who was God incarnate. For those who hate God those who speak truth look like troublemakers…
“The Pharisees openly recognized and feared that ‘You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth’ (Mk. 12:14, NKJV). He didn’t care about their opinions. He had a reputation of refusing to kiss up to the cultural elites. In fact, he regularly mocked them. And this brave faithfulness was perceived as ‘authority’ (not bravado) – ‘the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes’ (Mt. 7:28-29). His disrespect of the surrounding idolatries produced fear and conflict and ultimately seduced the whole Mediterranean.” Douglas Jones, A Serrated Edge, pg. 122
Jesus regularly mocked the cultural elites. He called them a brood of vipers, whitewashed tombs, mocked the way they prayed and tithed, and said they were children of the devil…He used every form of verbal weaponry at His disposal: satire, hyperbole, generalization, metaphor, parable, mockery, name calling and the like…this was not peace-keeping, but it certainly was peace-making because it exposed all of their ungodliness and idolatry
You may say, Well, that was Jesus! That’s my point exactly! – Jesus showed us how to do it and who to do it to. This is not a green light to be an obstinate jerk, or to fly off willy-nilly at anyone you disagree with. However, this is a green light to pursue a godliness that bits…and to fearlessly proclaim the word of the Lord and the glories of His gospel knowing full well that this will incite provocation in some and certainly vexation in others…praise God that their emotional disposition is not your destination or your aim…godliness and faithfulness are!
“For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 2:15-17
Conclusion
If we’re not willing to endure the onslaught of the mob it’s probably because we’re a part of it and most likely find ourselves opposing God…But it doesn’t have to remain this way. God is gracious and merciful and receives every repentant sinner that turns to Him. All it takes is the faith of child to stand up and speak the truth. Your idols are exposed and foolish – repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and your will be saved.
“Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Psalm 2:10-12
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