Charlie Kirk and the Great Divider

It’s been a rough week for the people of the United States. It’s actually been a pretty rough month or so.

Lives have been lost and injured in unusual and high-profile ways.

• Assassination of Charlie Kirk
• School shootings
  • Annunciation Catholic School
  • Evergreen High School
• Charlotte rail stabbing of Iryna Zarutska
• Augusta custody battle murders
• Ongoing violence in our larger cities

The United States is exhibit A of the problem in our world and that problem is sin. The further our society drifts from the truth, the more truth is perceived as hate.

Often in the aftermath of horrific events, we hear calls to unite, and while the thought behind that sentiment is often good, uniting behind anything other than Jesus Christ will fail us again and again. Like him or not, Charlie Kirk sought to share the gospel with people who would have otherwise never heard it. He chose to go into their college campuses and into their social media channels to challenge their beliefs. Who else was going to do that?

Kirk helped free a generation of young people, especially young men, from the muzzle that society has successfully placed on many of them for decades. He taught them to seek truth and think for themselves instead of accepting the lies of our culture. There is only one standard of truth, and that is found in the pages of the Bible.

The culture is anti-Christ

The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.” That statement, along with supporting Scripture is countercultural. Notice it doesn’t say the chief end of man is to glorify man. Christ followers cannot unite with a culture that is moving in an opposite direction from glorifying God by glorifying the individual. Christ followers cannot and will not unite with those who are overjoyed by any of the recent tragedies.

Whether you agree with Kirk’s statements or tactics in communicating his beliefs, it is clear he was trying to redirect the prevailing culture.

Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

Unity in the aftermath of these recent terrible events will only be sustainable if it is based in God’s Word. Nothing else will do. We can’t be unified while a large percentage of Americans choose to reject the truth. The state of our union reminds me of the pattern of the Israelites in the Old Testament. They trusted God in one generation and quickly fell away from him — time and time again. Sometimes their ebb and flow toward and away from God happened within days or weeks!

Jesus is both love and justice

God loves you. Jesus loves you. He loves you so much that He willingly gave his life on the cross for you and me. Whether you realize it or not, we all need Jesus. He’s alive and already has won the victory (John 16:33). Congruent with his love, Jesus is the Judge. Yes, the Jesus you may think of as lowly, meek, and mild, full of peace, is simultaneously the ultimate Judge (John 5:22-23). A judge seeks to divide right from wrong.

Division is inevitable

Many people say that Charlie Kirk divided people. They say his words were hateful. Yes, his words divided people. So did the words and actions of Jesus. Jesus said himself that he is the Divider. In Luke 12, Jesus said he came to earth to “bring fire” and not peace:

“Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Division comes because many refuse to acknowledge Jesus Christ for who He is. In a 2004 sermon entitled “Jesus, The Great Divider”, the late John MacArthur once said “Certainly there was every reason [for the Jews] to anticipate that the arrival of Messiah would produce a time of peace. They looked at it as a national peace.” He goes on to say “There cannot be world peace, there cannot even be Jewish peace, there can be no kingdom at all on this earth until He reigns in the individuals’ hearts. There will be no national peace until there’s personal peace…”

The people who put Jesus on the cross hated him. They hated the truth. They had made God in their own image, causing a sinless, innocent Jesus to suffer a horrific, violent death because he dared to challenge the culture around Him. His death is what we deserve, but Jesus was the propitiation for our sin.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12, NIV)

Get off the fence

Do you have that personal peace? Have you repented of your sin and given your life to Jesus Christ? Do you truly know who Jesus is? Folks, it’s past time to get serious about Jesus. No longer can we be on the fence. If you are sitting on the fence today — you might even be a fan of the Jesus you’ve created in your mind — do you really know Him? Are you praying for national peace without first praying for the Prince of Peace to rule your soul? To the Christian and non-Christian alike, it is time to commit to being all in for Jesus. I am convinced the reason our world is in such chaos is because fewer and fewer people take Him seriously. On His way to the cross, people spat on Him. Today, many joyfully mock the thought of Him. But make no mistake, every knee will bow at the foot of Jesus (Philippians 2:10). Your choice is whether you bow willingly now or bow later when it’s too late.

Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Satan is behind the murders of Charlie Kirk and others. Satan is cheering on those that are joyful over Kirk’s demise. Don’t be on his side. Choose life. Choose the Giver of Life. Unless we are united in Jesus Christ, our world will continue to devolve until He returns.

Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk’s wife, two young girls, and his parents. No one should lose their life for what they say. And if you’re not already part of a Bible believing, teaching, and preaching church, get to one as soon as possible.