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Southern Baptist deacon Robert Bentley has been elected governor of Alabama. While speaking (preaching actually) at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Church in Birmingham, he made some comments that set off a windy outrage. During his message he said, “Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior?you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother,” during a Martin Luther King Day service.
We recognize what he was saying. Maybe it’s unexpected to have a politician, especially a Southern Baptist one, give an invitation during his speech but we understand exactly what he meant. He was expressing spiritual unity with his fellow Christians without regard to race or age or any other external characteristic. He was inviting lost listeners to accept Jesus as Savior. It was a commendable message of unity and openness that was appropriate on that day and in that place.
You’d think he’d said it on the floor of the state house. Unbelievers of all stripes pulled out their canned responses to any evangelical comment and affected grief. The head of the Birmingham Islamic Society said, “We don’t want evangelical politicians.” A spokesman for the Jewish Anti-Defamation League accused the governor of treading dangerously close to a violation of the First Amendment, which prohibits establishment of a state church. Former Forth Worth pastor and Southwestern Seminary professor Welton Gaddy, who now leads The Interfaith Alliance and mocks things he formerly professed, warned Gov. Bentley that his title is “governor,” not “reverend.” This for a comment well in the center of his own faith tradition, delivered in a church, during a sermon.
Well, blah, blah, blah. Let’s ignore the silliness for a minute and look at this whole brother/not-brother thing. There is a difference between our relationship with our spiritual kin and those who are our neighbors.
It is a privilege to be the neighbor of a maturing Christian. Jesus set a pretty high standard for that relationship in the story of the Good Samaritan. Paul drew a clear distinction between believers and non-believers in matters of marriage, behavior, and legal actions, but also described himself as a servant to all so that he might gain a hearing for the life-giving gospel. He expended his life in an effort to tell unbelievers the best and truest thing he knew. Paul did this for God but to the benefit of his neighbors and his brothers. Many others have followed his example in doing the most compassionate thing they know to do for those who are not yet brethren. It seems to follow that unbelievers have nothing to fear from a public official who knows God and follows Jesus.
I have a blood brother who is also a brother in Christ. Our relationship is unlike that I have with any other person. We listen to advice from one another, confident that only help and no harm is part of the agenda. We’ve rebuked one another a few times. He’s been a good example to me in many ways. I feel responsible for and to him in a way I’d not feel for strangers. It’s never occurred to me that this special relationship implies that I should treat others as lesser humans.
Tens of millions of us across the U.S. understand what those who professionally despise Mr. Bentley’s personal faith will not hear?a person submitted to one he considers the Lord of all will try to do his best at anything he’s given to do. Such a person will reflect God’s love to those around without regard to race, political affiliation, religion, or demeanor. If he doesn’t, his spiritual brethren will call him out whether the legal authorities do or not.
I thought of that brother/not-brother relationship as I passed a Euless traffic cop today. He was sitting beside the road with a radar gun. If he had pulled me over and I recognized him as a believer, I’d expect him to think of me differently than others he might meet today. I’d expect him to hold me to higher standards of courtesy, respect for the law he represents, honesty, and general behavior. I’d also expect him to write me a ticket if I was guilty of a traffic violation. He wouldn’t apply the law differently to me but he would be a brother who expects the best of me, as I would of him. If he pulls over someone he knows to be an unbeliever, I’d expect him to exalt Christ in the way he handles that contact. Not to preach to him as he writes a speeding ticket but to be an exemplary police officer to the glory of God. What sincere person should be threatened by that?
Gov. Bentley later delivered an “I meant no offense” kind of apology. I wish he hadn’t but I understand his desire to clarify. I was happy to note that he did not apologize for his beliefs, as would be the preference of some.
Jesus called us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. He called on us to show the miraculous power of God in the way we love our spiritual brothers and sisters. He left us with a commission to win, baptize, and teach new brothers and sisters. That call applies to governors as well as preachers, and it applies every moment of every day.
