San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Sam Coonrod made headlines last week when, for the west coast opener of this year’s abbreviated baseball season, he alone did not kneel during a planned video presentation from Morgan Freeman about the racial strife the nation is going through. Sam explained that he had no desire to offend anyone but that his Christian faith precludes him from kneeling before anyone but Jesus. Such has not and will not satisfy the woke.
Nor is this the first time such has happened. Roughly thirty years ago the Giants baseball club determined to play a game bedecked in a red ribbon that symbolized solidarity with AIDS victims, one Christian, a relief pitcher, Mark Dewey refused, though he eventually wore the ribbon, sideways, so that it looked like the ICHTHUS fish. Such did not satisfy the woke.
Before we boldly take our stand like a bevy of Martin Luthers we would be wise to remember a painful lesson Timothy had to learn. Even after the Jerusalem Council ruled that Gentile believers need not be circumcised, indeed after Paul insisted that the Gentile believer Titus must not be circumcised, Paul encouraged Timothy to be circumcised. Timothy was born of a Jewish mother and Gentile father. His circumcision, please note, wasn’t done for the sake of Jewish believers, but for the sake of Jewish non-believers. Timothy went through this excruciating procedure simply to ensure that the message of Jesus not get lost in a needless offense unbelievers might have taken.
“All things to all men” means something. It is not a craven sell-out to worldliness. It means a deep, God-honoring desire to see the elect brought in. Which ought to inform our thinking. It, in fact, gives us our first principle- in adiaphorous matters, embrace away. Adiaphorous matters are those which do not touch on matters of morality. When Hudson Taylor made the then radical decision to dress as the Chinese he was ministering to dressed, and to style his hair the same way, he didn’t break, nor bend, nor step close to the law of God.
The second principle, however, is this- in matters of clear moral import, have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness. When Daniel was pressured to not pray to the living God he not only didn’t obey those in authority, he didn’t hide his disobedience. Daniel did not know God would deliver him from the lions. He did know what his duty was, and he followed it.
Which leaves us with the messy middle. Consider how narrow the line is between these two comments, “I believe black lives matter” and “I support Black Lives Matter.” All Christians should be eager to affirm the first and reluctant to affirm the second. It is not immoral to affirm that black lives matter because it is not in any way a denial that all lives, blue lives, baby lives matter. In fact, it is a subset of the truth that all lives matter. It is immoral to affirm the latter because the organization Black Lives Matter is anti-Christian.
The solution, it seems to me, is just what Sam Coonrod and Mark Dewey did. They didn’t rant and rave and froth at the mouth. They didn’t cave either. They simply, gently, respectfully affirmed their own convictions. That didn’t keep them from being hated. It just kept them from misrepresenting their heavenly Father. The heat is coming fast. May He give us the courage, the wisdom, the grace to be sure that the only offense we give is the offense of the gospel.
No, Hudson Taylor broke the law of God when he wore long hair. God may have blessed his ministry anyway, but he wasn’t perfect there.