Response to Dr. Russell Moore ERLC #MLK50

The Gospel Coalition Snippet and the Plan to Respond

I saw the Gospel Coalition post a snippet of Dr. Russell Moore's message at the Martin Luther King 50 Conference. And actually, they posted this. Obviously, they're very proud of this snippet. They agree with this part of the sermon.

And actually, this is one of the parts of the sermon that I thought was the most perplexing. And so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna play the part that they decided to highlight and respond to it as it goes, and we'll see where this takes us.

Why can we not respond in repentance and faith in freedom? We're free to love each other. We're free to listen to each other. We're free to be led by one another. We're free to serve one another. We're free to be the church of Jesus Christ.

And if we have to change our worship styles, let's crucify our worship styles.

All right, if we have to change our worship styles, let's crucify our worship styles. Now, a couple of points on this one that I thought was interesting. First thing I thought of when I saw this was that, wow, Russell Moore really owes these attractional church model people a real big apology because he is talking about changing how your church worships in order to attract people to the Gospel message.

The Gospel is not enough. The preached word is not enough. We need to make it attractive in all these other ways so that people will come. And so, you know, Perry Noble, Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, you guys are owed a huge apology for all of the bluster about your attractional church model because at the end of the day, you've won.

You've won. The attractional church model, I suppose, is the exact way to go forward. It just depends on what you're trying to attract. That was the first kind of snarkier response that I thought of, but it's actually true.

The second response I thought of is, change our worship styles? Okay, change them to what? What should we change them to? And I wanna know specifically, Dr. Russell Moore, what you think we should change our worship styles to.

If we wanna attract more Latinos like me, what do we gotta do? It's an honest question, right? Because I don't know the answer to that. I mean, you think we should play more salsa music at church? What exactly are you asking these churches to do?

They wanna change their worship styles. What is it about their worship styles that are unbiblical? What is it about their worship styles that are repelling Latinos or black people? I'd like to know specifically, though, what they are.

Because the problem with that question is it's a gotcha question. It's a trap question. Because the minute that Dr. Russell Moore starts to say, oh yeah, we need more salsa music, or oh yeah, we need more African tribal music, then you start to sound like a racist, right?

So there's no answer to that question. How do we change our worship styles? Well, I don't know. I mean, maybe Dr. Russell Moore can tell us. Another thing I wanted to think about with this one is why should we change them?

Why should any church change their worship styles? I think there's one reason why a church should change their worship style. And that's to make it more biblical. More biblical according to the standards of the Bible.

So my question to Dr. Russell Moore is, what is the standard that you're going to use to change the worship style? And here's the thing. There are people who have a standard. The Reformed Presbyterians, they would say, look, we only should sing psalms because that's the standard the Bible sets.

And I don't necessarily agree with them, although we do sing psalms at Redemption Church. But I don't think Dr. Russell Moore has a biblical standard. I mean, if he does, maybe he can elaborate on what he means.

But if he doesn't have a biblical standard that he can point to the scripture, chapter and verse, what our worship should look like, then all he's doing is say, change your worship styles because I say so.

And frankly, Dr. Russell Moore, I'm not surprised that a lot of people are pushing back because the answer is no. Just because you think we should change our worship style does not mean we should. And in fact, I would argue that you should only change your worship styles to make them more informed by the Bible, more according to scripture.

That's the only way, time, you should change your worship style to make them more biblical. And so unless that's your standard, then I'm not really sure what you're asking us to do.

Political Alliances, the Gospel, and Cross-Reconciliation

If God's way upsets our political alliances, let's crucify our political alliances.

Now he's getting a lot of applause here because everyone knows what he's signaling here. And actually, I do agree with Dr. Russell Moore here. If God's way does not conform with our political alliances, we need to crucify our political alliances.

Amen, absolutely. But, but we all know what Dr. Russell Moore is talking about here. He's not talking about the millions upon millions of black Christians who voted for Hillary Clinton. He's talking about the white evangelicals who voted for Donald Trump.

Now, I would say that those white evangelicals should not have voted for Donald Trump. Absolutely, I would say that. I would agree with Russell Moore on that. But I would also say that the thousands of black Christians that voted for Doug Jones down in the Senate election with Roy Moore, they should be called out for the same thing.

They need to crucify their democratic political alliances, absolutely. Because what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Because a lot of these speakers are going to, you kind of push this narrative that white evangelicals are complicit in the racism of the nation because Trump is supposedly this big racist and they voted for Trump.

Well, you know what? If that's true, which I don't buy, don't get me wrong. Don't hear me saying that I buy that. But if that's true, then every black person who voted for Hillary Clinton, every white person who voted for Hillary Clinton is complicit in the abortion holocaust.

Okay, so black folks listening to Dr. Russell Moore cheering him on saying, that's right, that's right. Crucify your political alliances. Guess what? You need to do the same thing. I know he wasn't speaking to you.

I know he didn't mean to say that. But I'm telling you, if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander. I think absolutely. If God's way says you cannot support abortion, you cannot support a racist.

You know, again, if Trump is racist, you cannot support a racist, then don't vote for either. That's what I would say. That's what I did. I didn't vote for anybody for the presidential election. I just don't vote out of principle.

But that's not what Dr. Russell Moore's saying. Again, he's talking to white people here. Crucify your political alliances. Well, I agree, but you gotta do it both ways.

Conscience, Mercy, and the Charge of Social Justice

To be a gospel people means that we don't seek a cheap reconciliation, but a cross-reconciliation. It means that as gospel people, we will have consciences alive. We will have consciences that are alive, listening to the people that some would tell us ought to be invisible.

To be a gospel people means that we will groan at the wreckage of a fallen world around us, at the ways that even in our own souls and our own hearts, we decorate the tombs of the prophets while convincing ourselves, well, if I had been there, I wouldn't have been the kind of people who would silence the prophets.

No, we cry, God have mercy. Cleanse from sin. Forgive sin, but also make me whole.

Yeah, I mean, I agree with that last part. We need to have the gospel that saves us from sin, but also the gospel that sanctifies us and prepares us for good works here on earth. I agree with that, but the problem is that, and this is what a lot of these people do.

I've seen this on Facebook. I've seen this all over this conference on Twitter, everywhere. They want to attribute to people who do not agree with them this attitude of I don't care. I just don't care.

I'm not listening to you. I know that you're saying that you're getting all this racism and this institutional racism and cops are beating you like hotcakes. I know you're saying that. I see it. I just don't care.

And that's the thing. I don't see that anywhere. I don't see that anywhere. What I see people saying is, hey, you know, you're saying that there's an epidemic of cops, you know, abusing black people. Well, you know, the statistics don't really match what you're saying, so can you explain?

That's what I see. I see pushback. I see people saying, you know, I know you're saying this, but I see this other evidence over here, so can you explain further? That's what I see. I don't see people saying, I just don't care.

And Dr. Russell Moore, unfortunately, puts forward this narrative in his talk, and we're gonna, I'm gonna, you know, talk about other sections of his talk as well, but everybody on the social justice warrior side does this.

They put this attitude of like sin doesn't matter. You know, you don't have to repent of racism. You don't have to repent of these sins. That doesn't happen. That doesn't happen. Show me one example where you see a Christian saying, yeah, I know that's racist, but you don't have to repent of racism.

That doesn't happen. What you see instead is people saying, yeah, I know you're talking about this white privilege narrative. I know you're talking about this institutional racism. I don't agree with you, and here's the evidence why I don't agree.

Can you provide evidence about why it's true? And when that happens, when that question gets asked, it's never provided. The evidence is never provided. There's not even an attempt. Usually you just get called names, and you get called a hater, and that's the thing.

So, you know, again, I feel bad for white people sometimes because, you know, they're painted as if they just don't care, and that's not the reality. They just have a different idea of what's true. And so your job, if you really believe in this stuff, is to prove it.

That's your job. And I know you say, oh, I'm exhausted about showing people. Well, I'm sure you are because I've never seen the evidence myself. So I'm sure you're exhausted trying to explain, trying to prove something that I just don't think exists.

I mean, it's probably tiring to try to prove something that's not real. So step your game up. That's the thing. You can't just assume this stuff. You can't just assume institutional racism. You can't just assume all of these things and then hold people accountable for it that don't know anything about it, that don't agree with you.

It's just not the way to go. And so, look, you know, if we have to change our worship styles, show me biblically why we have to do it. Show me the sin that we're doing by not doing it. Show me, and I'll be glad to change my worship style.

I'll tell you that right now. If you can show me how to be more biblical, I will gladly look into it and I will gladly acquiesce if it's true, if it's actually there. I'm gonna be a Berean about it and I suggest all of you do the same.

Don't just change your worship style because Dr. Russell Moore and the Gospel Coalition tells you to. Don't just change your worship style because you feel sorry for somebody. Don't just change your worship style because someone who says that they're oppressed tells you to do it.

You need to go to the scriptures. You need to pour through the scriptures and say, okay, what does my worship style look like? What does the scripture command your worship style look like and how do I get closer to that?

That's the question. That's the question.