BE STILL:  A Christian Response to an Olympic Offense

• In writing this article I humbly confess that, just like those who participated in the ceremony, I am a sinner in need of a Saviour.  I also seek to use my experiences as a Sports Science student who studied the Olympic Games as one of my main subjects and as someone who actually attended an Olympic Games on an outreach and witnessed the dedication of the athletes and the incredible witness of the Christian athletes.  To this I add my more than 40 years of serving the persecuted Church, my time at various Bible schools and my walk with Christ for more than half a century who transformed my thinking into a new Christ consciousness.
• I also need to add that, as a disclaimer, this article is written for those who observe events with transformed minds.  Those who observed the opening simply as Christians who still adhere to the patterns of the world will not understand the power of being transformed into the consciousness of Christ.  So, if it doesn’t make sense, pray for a transformational encounter with a crucified Christ.

My friend and ministry partner for the past 3 decades wrote me a message responding to my Facebook posts after the Olympic Games opening ceremony with the following request: “Mike, you’ve been telling us what NOT to do on Facebook, now tell us what to do”.

That’s quite a legitimate question.  And even though this question cannot be comprehensibly addressed in one article, I hope my answer will contribute to a more calculated and less knee-jerk reaction than what we saw.

So, Bennie, brace yourself brother, this is not for the fainthearted …

Let me start by saying that my answer stems from nearly 50 years of serving the persecuted Church.  The lessons of sharing the cross of Christ, enduring hardship and holding their witness more valuable than their freedom shaped my understanding of a crucified Christ in a secular society.  I know how they respond to Christ being blasphemed and crucified daily in their communities.  And this will be their response too.

Secondly, it is important to note that simply responding spiritually is not sufficient.  There needs to be both a practical and a spiritual response that will contribute to integrity and transparency in a world saturated with cynics and sceptics.  Our witness is on the line and making claims should be substantiated and supported.  The church needs to be recognized as a community who not only react emotionally but factually and accurately.  This unfortunately was not the case during the Olympic Games.

So how should we respond?

SPIRITUALLY

Spiritually there are three guidelines.

1. Add an AND
2. WWJS
3. Mission impossible: show some respect.

1. ADD AN AND

Psalm 46:9-10  He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.  He says, “Be still, AND know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 

BE STILL.  One of the forgotten arts within the Christian faith is the virtue of being still.  We try to fill every open space with noise: with worship, with prayer, with missions, with teaching and with conferences.  These are all good and virtuous activities but there are times when we just need to BE STILL.  When we are challenged with scenes that seem to mock our faith and we have never learned the value of being still, we fill our hearts with noise:  with opinions, with righteous anger, with attacks and with unkind defense.

The right thing to do when we are confronted with injustice or blaspheme is to BE STILL.  Why are we offended?  Why did the scene urge us to respond so harshly, so unkindly and so aggressively?  We have to turn our indignation into reflection as we quietly observe our own position before God.  Be still and acknowledge that we are all sinners, and we all fall short of the glory of God.  Stillness before God and self-examination will never lead to anger but to anguish.  Always anguish.  We can disapprove with all our hearts in what we observe, but the lost souls of those in front of us will lead to anguish.

Now add the AND

AND know that He is God.  HE is God, not you.  In your quiet reflection you need to embrace the knowledge that if He is God, He needs no one to fight on His behalf.

In the Gospels, we read of three occasions where Jesus rebuked His disciples, and all three occasions were where the disciples tried to defend Jesus.  Think about that.

There was the incident where Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.  (Matthew 16:21)  Peter then takes Him aside and proclaims his loyalty “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”  The response of Jesus is not a word of gratitude but a rebuke:  “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

WOW!

Then there was the incident in the garden of Gethsemane where Peter drew his sword to protect his Saviour and chopped off the ear of Malchus (John 18:10).  For risking his life and his bravery, he is rebuked.  “Put your sword away Peter! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” Jesus responded.

WOW!

But maybe more applicable to the Olympic Games is the occasion where James and John tried to defend the honour of Jesus in Luke 9:51.  Loyal beyond dispute, like most of us who witnessed the opening ceremony in Paris, the two brothers took offense on behalf of Jesus and were rebuked by the one who came to establish a culture of grace and not a religion of condemnation.

In Luke 9, when the Samaritans did not welcome Jesus because he was heading for Jerusalem, James and John asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?””

Many followers of Christ are echoing those exact sentiments on social media today. “Lord, do you want us to call fire from heaven on Paris?  Do you want us to stop watching this pagan feast?”

“But Jesus turned and rebuked them.” (Verse 55)

God is God.  He is unfazed and ever-forgiving, Christ lived by a different set of rules. He came as an expression of grace. So, be careful how you, as a recipient of grace, respond. You might just evoke a rebuke from God by seeking revenge. Allow the Lord to deal with His own offenses. All we need to do is be conduits of grace, not cul de sacs.

BUT, even though He does not need our defence, He does need us to witness about Him.  Every act of blasphemy needs to be pursued with two actions by Christians:

• Surrender the anger to God and let Him deal with it in a way that He sees fit.
• Witness about a loving God that came to embrace mockers, save sinners, and forgive transgressors.

2. WWJS

The question “What would Jesus do?”, often abbreviated to WWJD?, took the world by storm in the 1990’s as it turned into a wristband that became an item of identity for many Christians.  (this is for the older generation)

It was the brainchild of Janie Tinklenberg, a youth leader at Calvary Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan, after reading the book: ‘IN HIS STEPS: WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?’ by Charles Sheldon.   Tinkleberg talked to her youth group about printing T-shirts bearing the slogan, but at the time friendship bracelets were all the rage, so she got a local company to print 300. She opted for the abbreviation WWJD?  Tinklenberg asked the group to wear them for 30 days, they caught on locally, and more were needed.  The bracelet soon turned into an international trend and the rest is history.

To obtain a more transformed answer to how we should respond to circumstances equal to the Olympic Games opening ceremony, it will be of more value to ask a different question:

What Would Jesus See? – WWJS?.

Can we look through the redeeming lenses of Christ and SEE what He sees?  Can we discover His heart for those who seem so disconnected from a God who loves them, died for them, and desires to spend eternity with them?

• When we observe people mocking our Saviour – WWJS?: Objects to punish or objects of the cross?  After all, He came to seek and save the lost.
• When we listen to blasphemy and feel the holiness of God under attack – WWJS?: Souls who are lost or people who deserve eternal hell?  After all, He did come to set the captives free.
• When we contemplate the insults and arrogance – WWJS?: Speaking condemnation or speaking forgiveness.  After all, when He was mocked, ridiculed, beaten, and crucified the only words he could utter was “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

We need to look from an angle of redemption if we desire to see the full image of how God looks at things.  His vantage point is not our vantage point, and we should therefore realign to understand WWJS.

But there is another WWJS;  What would Jesus say?

This is not speculation.  Scripture provides the answer.  We know exactly what Jesus would say to those who mocked him:  “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.

These are the only words that can escape our lips as we watch scenes of mockery and blasphemy:  “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.

3. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: SHOW SOME RESPECT

Now this is the near impossible response and only those who are aligned with the heart of God, filled with the love of Christ and saturated by the Spirit of God, will understand it.

We need to show RESPECT.  Yes, you read that correctly, but don’t stop here.

1 Peter 2:17  Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honour the emperor.

Since virtues are all about an outward display of an inner belief, it only makes sense that we display the God of love to the people who display an attitude of hate.   Respect is the foundational stone upon which all virtues are built.  Kindness flows from respect.  Tolerance is built on respect.  Friendliness cannot exist without respect.  We must start here.

But what is respect?

Firstly, it is important to discern between revering God and respecting people.  Revering God is a structural virtue.  Our faith is built on our deep reverence, honour, and obedience to the God we serve.  But showing proper respect to everyone (please note the words of Peter – EVERYONE) is a decorative virtue.  This is how we portray the God we revere to the world out there.  We need to reveal the God that we revere, by respecting the people that He redeemed.

Hold on to this thought.

But, before exploring this foundational virtue, we need to address the white elephant in the room:  Is respect earned, deserved, or given?  The people who participated in the so-called blasphemous scene do not deserve my respect you say.  Well, according to human reasoning, you are correct – respect is earned.  You earn my respect by acting in a way that satisfies my understanding of what is acceptable.  If your definition of acceptable differs from mine, then you do not earn my respect.  You must earn it before I give it.  If you don’t deserve it, you won’t get it.  That settles it.

Well, whether you like it or not, this is not the scriptural definition.

According to the Bible the words “show respect to everyone” and “honour the emperor” in 1 Peter 2:17, are both the same word and translated from the Greek word tim-ah’-o which literally means to “fix a valuation upon; by implication to revere: – honour, and value.”  A more literal translation of this text can therefore read as follows: “Place a proper value on every soul you encounter, even the emperor”.

I find this profound.  Respect therefore refers to the value of a soul and not the evaluation of a person.  And if we want to place a value on every soul we encounter, we need to calibrate it according to the value system of the One we represent.

Scripture provides the answer in this regard:  In 1 Timothy 2:1  we are urged to petition, pray, intercede, and give thanks for ALL people — for this is good, and pleases God our Saviour,  who wants ALL people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

We show respect to EVERYONE, not because they deserve it but because they are valued by God.  The emperor was as much an object of the cross as we were.  Because God fixed a value on souls, to the extent that He sent His Son to redeem us, we understand that respect should be given to all people, without any strings attached.

When we show proper respect to everyone, we can become agents of change.

So, we show respect to people even though we might not respect their actions because God wants all to be saved.  In our respect, we will either be a building block or a stumbling block for God to achieve His purposes when people recognise the redeeming Christ in us.

This is quite serious.

We respect because redemption is our calling, we honour because Christ is our example.  It is as simple and as difficult as that.  Remember, your greatest enemy was one of the reasons Jesus was crucified.  He has value.

PRACTICALLY

1. Use your common sense.

It seems like Christians really have an overinflated image of who we really are.  No, the whole world is not against us.  And no, there is no way that the French Olympic Committee will use the greatest sporting event in their modern history to simply ridicule Christians.  Common sense will tell us that the so-called blasphemous portrayal of the Last Supper must have something to do with the ancient Greek world and French history.  Isn’t this what this is all about?

Well, the twelve great gods and goddesses of the Greeks were referred to as the Olympian Gods, or the Twelve Olympians. The name of this powerful group of gods comes from MOUNT OLYMPUS, where the council of 12 met to discuss matters and holding a feast.  Olympian gods…Olympics… get it?

We really need to start thinking what we are thinking about.

2. Consult the right sources.

The trick here is to consult legitimate sources.  Don’t consult pastor John Doe to find out what happened.  Consult the website of the Olympic Committee.  The organisers did respond officially and made it very clear that there was no connection between the Last Supper and the offensive scene.  Why do it and then lie about it?  That should be sufficient for anybody who pursues the truth.  And as Christians we do:  https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/olympic-organisers-apologise-for-drag-queen-last-supper-parody-at-opening-ceremony/ar-BB1qLGGg?ocid=BingNewsSerp

3. Critically analyse the source

Don’t believe everything you think.  My friend Pastor Richard Baird says that “Our eyes have a knack for seeing what our heart wants to hear”.  Be careful of confirmation bias.    The major reason the default responses of so many Christians are always in attack mode or defense mode and less in compassionate mode has everything to do with a deep-rooted CONFIRMATION BIAS – a well-established prejudice that pre-existed even before the games began.

4. Be contextual.

When evaluating news always make sure you place it in the context of the actual event.  The event had nothing to do with faith, religion or Christianity.  The context is both sport and France.  If we placed everything in the context of the actual event, we most probably would have asked different questions.  Not, “is that the last supper?”  But, “what in the world does that have to do with sport?”

No, it was not mocking the Christian faith in any way. Yes, I still regard it as vulgar, very distasteful and inappropriate but at least it was not about the last days of the life of Christ.   Anybody who knows the history of the Olympics and the history of France would have been able to put 2 and 2 together and not get 5.

5. Ask some journalistic questions.

Ask people who are non-bias for more information.  Sadly, the only exercise many Christians get is by jumping to conclusions.  Be well informed by consulting well informed people.  Those who are well informed in theology might not always be the ones well informed in global events, cultural differences and conflicting worldviews.  Consult them for a Biblical perspective but investigate the contextual event with a journalist attitude.

For a good read get a copy of the book DECEPTION by Andrew Richards.