Lynn Mitchell is a husband of one wife, a father to five children, and a faithful member of Faith Baptist Church in Youngsville NC where he lives while pursuing a PhD from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. His PhD focus is in missions and specifically how Christian missions is more than evangelism. Lynn loves to teach and preach specifically in the areas of mission mobilization and men’s ministry. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lynn.mitchell.984 and Twitter: @MLynnMitchellJr
To the amazement of many, myself included, the election Tuesday went to Obama. The obvious question is, what happened? Can the people of this country not see that employment is higher than when Obama started? Can the not see that debt is bad and puts America in shackles? Can they not understand that Obama’s policies are morally bankrupt? He supports the murder of unborn babies and the redefining of marriage away from between a man and a woman. Can the people of this country not see these things and more? No! No they can’t. Masses are blind.
This article is not meant to blast Obama necessarily because frankly the state of the union today is no better off than it would have been if Romney had been elected. Neither of these men is the hope for America and despite what Romney’s commercial claimed this country is not nor ever will be the great hope of the world.
The problem with both political parties and candidates happens to also be the same problem the Church has in dealing with our social, economic, and moral issues. Each are addressing an anthropological problem with epistemological answers. The problem is original sin and the fallenness of mankind. These people do not need education and enlightenment, they need revelation and illumination. Lost people act lost. They support lost things. The scriptures say that there is a way that seems right to a man but the end of that way is the way of death . They are blind and need the bread of life.
Luke 24 illustrates my point. The disciples were blind to who Jesus was and what he was doing. They also thought along the epistemological categories that they had and expected Jesus’ rule to be political and saw His dying on the cross as Him failing to redeem the way they understood redemption. The passage continues that their eyes were finally opened in the breaking of bread and they saw Jesus Himself, His message, and His mission.
Today many Christians are just like those disciples and are blinded to the truth of who Jesus is, what His message is, and what His mission is. If many Christians are blind to this then imagine why lost humanity can’t see it. Illumination will only come through the breaking of the bread. Jesus is the bread of life and the gospel proclaims that He was broken for the sins of the world that though they are blind they may see.
The great hope for America and the world is the encounter of the gospel with the entirety of culture. The great issue today is that lost humanity is bound in original sin and is in desperate need of revelation. The result of this revelation will be an authority found outside man’s own autonomy and an ability to see the man, the message, and the mission of Jesus.