Peter Witkowski Apologetics

Would Jesus Protest Cities Church?

The videos of protesters storming into Cities Church in Minneapolis with whistles, curses, and chants of “Ice Out” has raised all kinds of legal questions and one important theological question: would Jesus approve of this church storming?

Scriptural Support?

Seeking to justify the actions of the protesters, several social media theologians and personalities have referenced the time when Jesus’ flipped over tables in the temple. The gospel of Matthew provides the following summary of that event: “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. (21:12).” These commentators equate the protesters’ belligerence that left children in tears with Jesus’ smashing of pigeon cages.

Were the Protesters Justified?

While Jesus’ actions in the temple were unquestionably disruptive and angered the self-righteous leaders of the temple, thoughtful readers will look beyond the action in an effort to discern their purpose. Jesus did not advocate for disruption for disruption’s sake. He had more non-violent interactions with the temple and other places of worship (shaped by dialogue, Scripture readings, and sermons) than violent.  When Jesus did breakout the whip, he did so not to prevent worship but to prevent others from preventing worship. Jesus offers the following commentary on his actions, “He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers (Matt 21:13).” He cleansed the temple because he longed for the temple to proclaim the glory of the Lord so that all the nations might worship him and spirit and truth. Any spiritual practice that runs contrary to the worship of Jesus (even if profitable and sanctioned by someone with reverend before his or her name) was to be purged from places of worship.  

Even if you grant that one cannot be an ICE Agent and a Christian (which I do not – the Scriptures permit men to defend the state – see Lk 3:14), the one thing he would need most would be the worship of this church which transforms people more into God’s image.

In other words, Jesus would not have joined these protesters as they brought and end to true worship for the sake of a political point. Jesus would have support those who shared his vision for spiritual worship and were “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Col 3:16).”

In short, Matthew 21:12-13 condemns the protesters’ harassment of Cities Church. And the passage will also condemn any future protest of a local church that seeks to worship the one true, and triune God in accordance with Jesus’ teaching.

I share the pastor of Cities Church – Jonathan Parnell- assessment of the protest: “This is shameful.”

Peter Witkowski Christmas

Christmas and the Blessing of Motherhood

One of the more striking and yet glorious wrinkles of the Christmas story occurs in the Judean countryside far away from the gold doors, the ornate costumes, and the roasting meats of the Jewish temple. In her home under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Mary’s cousin Elizabeth bursts forth into praise declaring, “Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me (Lk 1:42)?” Then a few moments later, Mary the mother of Jesus a sings out, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant (Lk 1:46-47). In recording the first songs of Christmas, Luke reveals that mothers and motherhood are not secondary to but rather an essential component of the salvation narrative.

Faithfulness at Home

Though Catholics misconstrue the scene at Elizabeth’s house to be confirmation of Mary’s inexplicable sinlessness, the Greek text clearly denotes the opposite. In other words, God does not redeem only those who have attained some holiness on their own prior to salvation. Rather, the father saves and utilizes the humble, the worthless, and the broken. Mary was not inherently worthy of the honor given to her by God. What makes Mary worthy of praise is her faith. After rejoicing in God’s gracious and unmerited selection of Mary, Elizabeth notes,“blessed is she who believed. (Lk 1:45).” Mary not only heard the words of God, she acted on them and went to see Elizabeth. Similarly, when one of Jesus’s followers sought to magnify Mary’s physical connection to the Messiah, Jesus redirected the praise away from the passivity of Mary’s womb to one’s faith, declaring, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it (Lk 11:28)!” In other words, Mary is worthy of our praise not because she was sinless but because God chose her in her humility, and she was faithful to God’s word. And because of her faith and the faith of Elizabeth in the home, God was glorified, and Scripture was made.

Though many Christians equate spiritual greatness with what happens outside the home on stages, social media platforms, and podcast channels, God never ties his power and glory to human success. He just as assuredly works through a mom counseling her friend while her two-year-old decorates his face with applesauce as he does through the women’s conference speaker talking to a 10,000-seat auditorium. What matters is not the size and location of one’s ministry but one’s faithfulness in that ministry…one’s consistency in listening to and obeying the word of God. Because Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, initially disbelieved the message of the Lord and became mute while Elizabeth and Mary believed the testimony of the angel, these homemakers knew far more about the plans of God than those worshiping at the temple. In other words, the Christmas story reveals that our God is just as assuredly with the faithful and yet exhausted mother (and by extension the faithful and yet bedbound brother and the faithful and yet unvisited grandmother) as he is with the faithful and well-known conference speaker. God works through the temple and the home.

Final Encouragements

Dear sisters, when you are tempted to embrace the lie that your work in the home is a waste of your energy and gifting because the days are hard, trying, and exhausting, remember the testimony of Elizabeth and Mary. Your faithfulness to care for your children, to love your husband, and to care for your neighbors this Christmas season glorifies the Lord. Your faithfulness is not worthless or ancillary but rather essential to the advancement of the gospel. Press on for the glory of God!

And dear husbands, pastors, and elders, we should never lose sight of what God is accomplishing through the faithful witness of godly women in the home. We should cherish and praise our sisters as they faithfully raise the next generation, encourage the hurting, and tend to the needy. Like Paul in 1 Timothy 2:15, we should recognize that God brings about the salvation of sinners through the creation of and caring for children in the home. And we should not forget that the Holy Spirit is just as present with our moms (and anyone living faithfully at home) as he is with any pastor and speaker faithfully taking to the stage. This is not to say that we should redefine pastoral ministry or the role of the husband in marriage. Rather, we affirm that the Holy Spirit advance this gospel through both men and women. Just like the authors of Scripture, men should realize that that Holy Spirit can and does gift moms insights that can encourage, instruct, and bless the church. In short, we should see our faithful sisters this advent season as Christ sees them.  

The witness of the Christmas story is clear: God is glorified by faithful moms!

Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Dante, Culture Wars, & The Church: Understanding Jesus’s View Judgement

The idea of placing one’s political enemies in the deepest and darkest depths of hell is neither a particularly modern nor even a post-post-modern concept. In 1314, the poet and theologian, Dante, spoke of how the inner ring of hell was reserved for Judas and Brutus, the greatest traitors in human history. Those with a Christian worldview can easily understand the placement of Judas. But why Brutus; why place the guy who stabbed Julius Caesar in the back next to guy who betrayed Jesus? Dante made such a placement because in addition to thinking about farting demons he also possessed a fascination with the Roman empire. In the third volume of his trilogy, Dante cast heaven into the shape of the Roman eagle. In other words, Brutus destroyed the very political and cultural system that Dante looked to for safety and security.

Most Christians today no longer seek to objectify and excoriate roman politicians who died a few thousand years ago. But at times, we do publicly express our deep resentment for those who voted ‘the wrong way’ and for those who promote sexual perversion of our culture. It’s not uncommon to find evangelical social media post condemning those dressed up as drag queens as being the worst human beings of all time…hanging out in the lowest levels of hell if you will. But, will they be?  

Who is the Worst Sinner?

To begin with, I want to clearly state that such acts are sinful. The ever-increasing acceptance of homosexuality and materialism within Western culture evidences the withdrawal of God’s blessing and the surety of his judgement (Rom 1:26-27). As the apostle Paul tells the Ephesians, “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” The consequence of sin both individually and corporately will be divine judgement. That is not in doubt.

But what is in doubt in the quality of such sins. Though many evangelicals believe that the darkest rings of hell will be reserved for those who openly undermine our vision for society, Jesus reserves God’s most severe judgment for another class of sinners: those who reject the clear proclamation of the gospel.

When Jesus sends out the twelve disciples on their first missionary journey in Matthew 10, he offers this warning to those that reject their message: “Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town (Mt 10:15).” Then the next chapter over in Matthew 11:23-24, Jesus condemns the town of Capernaum with these words, “But I tell you it will be more tolerable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Jesus’s first audience understood Sodom’s prevailing sin (though the culture was also associated with many other sins such as covetousness) to be that of homosexuality. As the story of Lot and the angels makes clear, the men of Sodom wanted to sleep with the male messengers and not Lot’s unwed daughters (Gen 13:13; Gen 19:1-24). To be associated with Sodom was to be associated with great sin and the eternal judgement of God.

But according to Jesus, a greater sin than even homosexuality exists: the sin of rejecting the gospel. The old British Pastor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, expanded upon this idea when he wrote,

The height of sin is not to feel any need of the grace of God…final self-sufficiency, and self-satisfaction, and self-righteousness is the sin of sins.

Undoubtedly many men and women leading the sexual revolution have heard and rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ. But so have countless numbers of nice moral guys who spend their weekend hunting and so have many kind women who walked their kids to the park this Sunday morning instead of church. Despite what we might imagine, the deepest and darkest spots in hell will not be reserved for Brutus nor drag queens but for those who have witnessed the glories of Jesus and politely said, “No thanks, I’m good; I’ll take it from here.”  In other words, God’s fury burns most hotly against those who once heard the gospel and then rejected it for either Sunday brunch or the baseball diamond. Those content to live content to live without grace will surely be consumed by fire.

What Do We Do?

What does such knowledge mean for us and our churches? First, we should evangelize those on the leading edge of the sexual revolution. We should call drag queens and those fighting to expand the rights and privileges of gay marriage to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Stated differently, we should engage the public square with the truth of the gospel, longing to see sinners saved and culture redeemed. We have truth; we have light; and we should share it with our lost and dying world.

But we should also engage those in the parks, in the hunting cabins, and at the sports complexes who used to attend our churches. We should be concerned about those who can interact with Jesus and then live as if He never came than about those who voted the wrong way. Love demands that we call both those who never heard a sermon and those who heard hundreds and yet never followed Jesus to repentance…to worship the one true God.

The Real Problem?

The famous British pastor, John Stott, aptly said several years ago, “If society deteriorates and its standards decline, till it becomes like a dark night or stinking fish, there is no sense in blaming society; that is what happen when… human selfish is unchecked. The question to ask is, ‘Where is the church?” What shocking is not that the world tolerates the rejection of Jesus, but that countless manifestations of the local church that do, allowing members who never worship Jesus to stay on their roles and to shape their ethos…to dilute the light of the gospel. I suspect what the church needs today is less people like Dante who can creatively imagine Brutus in hell and more people like Stott who rightfully wonder where the church has gone. The next time you see a news story the portends the doom of your cultural ideals,