We are Getting Close to the Cross at North Mecklenburg High

We are Getting Close to the Cross at North Mecklenburg High
by Flip Benham
March 9, 2005

This picture represents, better than any other, our “God is Going Back to School” campaign.  We have a brother, Joel Crumpon from Fire School of Ministry, who actually brings a cross to the schools with us.  It is an awesome picture of the love God has for us and for each one of the students and teachers in the school.  It is also an awesome picture of theology becoming biography in this world.  Jesus came to this sin sick world to save it, but the world thought He came only to condemn it (John 3:16 -21).  Those He came to save thought He hated them, because He exposed their wicked deeds.  Little did they know that He loved them enough to tell them the truth.  “The wounds of a friend are faithful.” Proverbs 27:6.

In our New Testament Bible reading yesterday, Mark 11:27-12:12 , we find Jesus getting very near the cross that He will be nailed to, and where He will ultimately give up His life.  It is after His triumphal entry from the Mount of Olives, the parabolic cursing of the fig tree, and His turning over of the tables of the money changers in the temple of God that he makes this very revealing statement :  “…Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?'  But you have made it a den of robbers.”  Mark 11:17.   You can rest assured that when one makes a statement like this to the religious folks of the day, he is about ready to get nailed.  It exposed their sin and they were having none of it.

God's house was to be a house where all nations could come and pray to Him, find forgiveness of sins, and freedom in the only One who can truly make them free.  But it was, nevertheless, God's house.  It belonged to Him and Him alone.  It was not to be shared with other false gods.  He alone makes the rules.  He alone is the way.  He alone is the truth.  He alone is the life.  Pretty intolerant, isn't He?  And yet, He longed for His house to be a house of prayer for all nations.  How can this be?

God loves the nations – all of them.  He loves you and He loves me.  He desires that all (everybody and every nation) come to Him, but they must come in His way – not the way that seems best to them.  Unfortunately for the nation Israel , and all of the rest of the nations during Jesus' time, the temple of God had become a place of merchant trafficking, pharisaic rule making, and a den of robbers.  It was highly unlikely that anyone could find the “Living God” in the midst of all of this mess.  God's people had failed miserably in rightly representing the heart and love of God for all the nations.  Thus, when God Himself came to His own house in the person of Jesus, He condemned it.  Ouch!

I wonder what His reception would be like if He showed up at one of our church services today?  What would we say to Him if He came in acting all judgmental, and began turning tables over in our own sanctuary?  What if He dared to show up at our own high school and said things like:  “Abortion is Murder, Homosexuality is a Sin, and Islam is a Lie.”   Now mind you, those of us outside Mecklenburg High School are not Jesus, we are simply friends of His, saved by His grace and mercy.  But we are His instruments, as foolish as we appear, to bring His message of truth and love to you.   

How would we respond?  More than likely we would respond in the same way that the chief priests, teachers of the Law, and elders responded to Him when He showed up at their own temple in Jerusalem :  “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked.  “And who gave you the authority to do this?”  Mark 11:28 .   You see, they forgot that the temple did not belong to them.  It belonged to God.  They were worshiping God in the way they saw fit, and who was He to tell them what to do?  Pretty arrogant, huh?

Amazing that this was exactly the same question asked of me by the kids writing for the school newspaper at North Mecklenburg High School today.  “Who gave you the authority to do this?  Who gave you the right to judge?”  Rather than asking about the content of our message and attacking that, they went right for the jugular and made us – not the message - the object of their consternation and wrath.  This is a dangerous path indeed. 

“Who gives you the right to call homosexuality sin, to call Islam a lie, and to call abortion murder,” was their cry.  These are very good questions that have very specific answers, but those asking the questions had no desire to understand.  You see, the argument had moved from content to form.  No longer concerned with the content of the message, the argument moved to the form of the message which simply means, “You have no right to interfere with my personal peace.  If you continue, I have every right to swear, lie, throw stuff at you, beat you, and kill you.”  Whenever this occurs, you can be sure that the cross is not far away.  Kill the messenger!

“They looked for a way to arrest Him because they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left Him and went away.”  Mark 12:12    

Yes, in Jesus day, they hated Him, even though He so loved them.  Jesus told his earthly brothers, who had no real understanding of what He was saying until after His death and resurrection, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify that what it does is evil,”  John 7:7.   Perfect love, hated by the world?  Go figure.

We have brought the truth to North Mecklenburg High School and are hated for it.  Why?  What is it about the Jesus that dug us out of the pit that so offends and vexes the folks at North Mecklenburg High?  When the theology of the church house becomes biography in the streets of our cities, you can be sure that there is going to be a cataclysmic clash between those who bring the Gospel of life in Christ and those who love death.  If you can't deal with the message, you can always go after the messenger. 

The apostle Paul said it well, “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?”  Galatians 4:16.