Is It Fair?

Day Eight                      Is It Fair?                       Genesis 28:10-22

In our increasingly secular world, some commentators attempt to blur the differences between orthodox Christianity and popular culture by showing common points of reference. For example, most people believe in the concept of fairness. This is expressed in the desire that everyone should be treated equally. As a result, governments have enshrined into law the idea that discrimination, for almost any reason, is bad. In fact you can quickly fall foul of the law in many Western, liberal democracies if you fail to subscribe to this commonly held belief in fairness. And, of course, Christian values also include an emphasis upon fairness. We don’t believe that the law should be arbitrary; we don’t believe that people should be treated differently on the basis of unimportant differences. God is the Great Leveler. It should not matter whether you live in a palace or the poor house; you are still a sinner in need of grace.

The problem, in recent years, has been that the church has failed to differentiate between a commonly held principle and biblical theology. At times, it’s been difficult to discern any real difference between the values of the world and the values of the Kingdom of God. We have adopted so many of the world’s slogans that we find it hard to work out exactly why we believe what we do. So, whenever a conflict arises, the church is unable to articulate why it doesn’t agree. If we are all committed to fairness, then what are we to do when the Bible tells us that certain types of discrimination are essential? So, for instance, when the world tells us that a fair god would let everyone into his heaven, we are unable to raise the matter of saving faith because to do so would make us appear unfair. Increasingly, the church follows society’s lead. As compromise deepens we become less and less relevant. Why bother with Jesus, if all you need is to be fair?

When competing values push us towards compromise we have to remember that, essentially, Christianity is not a matter of principles and philosophy. Christianity is about a person. The words we use to express our faith may be broken down into principles; but the Word became a person. We fall, too easily, for the lie that our efforts are like ladders ascending to heaven. We tell ourselves that our secular friends are just using a different ladder and that we will all end up in the same place in the end. Yet, the Bible makes it clear – if there is a ladder up to heaven it is not so that we may ascend, but so that Christ may descend to us. The Word did not become words, He became flesh. Nothing less can save us.

Forgive us, Lord, for our easy compromises, for claiming peace where there is none. Forgive us, when we make the sacrifice of Christ into a philosophy to be discussed, instead of a fact to be believed. Keep us faithful to the Gospel, for the sake of Christ our Lord. Amen.