Two words right upfront: pipe down.

Seriously, before you start flooding my inbox and comment box with what a jerk I am for pointing out anything negative about what could arguably be the most popular animated movie to ever come out of the Disney camp, let me give you a few disclaimers.

Disclaimer #1:  I like to have fun.  I’m not THAT Christian.  You know, the one who makes it his mission in life to rain on every parade possible no matter how many people are enjoying the floats and catching the candy getting thrown from them.

Disclaimer #2:  I like Disney movies.  In all honestly, I like them A LOT MORE now that Pixar is around, because the Pixar guys really raised the bar, and when Disney realized that and brought them on board, it’s upped their animation game tremendously.

Disclaimer #3:  I liked Frozen.  A lot.  I didn’t want to, because everyone else did and so I didn’t want to be THAT guy, either.  You know, the kook-aid drinking guy.  But, I was already liking the movie by the time we met Olaf, and then I was as close to being the creepy 48-year-old man who wears matching Olaf socks and slippers as you can be without actually doing it.  Thankfully, I didn’t become that guy.

So, after all the hype on social media about how great the movie was and how awesome the song “Let it Go” was, I think it’s safe to say that I had my “don’t get that ONE SONG stuck in your brain” guard up as I watched it with my kids.  And yet, for days afterwards, I’d wake up singing it, I’d make coffee singing it, I’d post stuff on Facebook about it.  Heck, in a moment that I’d like to forget, I even choreographed some of my own moves for it.  Wait, I’ve shared too much.

But the longer I’d sing it, or hear others sing it, I’d be lying to you if I didn’t start to feel like there was something that just wasn’t quite right about it (and I don’t mean my choreography!).  Something about this song – sung with amazing talent by many on YouTube and without amazing talent by many, many more on YouTube – just wasn’t adding up, and then, like getting smacked in the face with a snowball from a sneaky little Olaf, it hit me.

The theme song from Frozen is the exact opposite message of the Gospel.

There isn’t anything intrinsically evil about the phrase “let it go.”  In fact, you could almost make the case (as I’m sure someone will later in the comments) that Paul wrote about letting it go when he penned his letter to the Philippians.

“But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on…” (Philippians 3:13-14)

But here’s the critical truth (and yes, I know that by pointing this out, I’m running the risk of ruining the Oscar award-winning hit song forever for a whole host of kids and their videoing parents):

Christ followers let go of rights for the sake of relationships.  Queen Elsa let go of relationships for the sake of rights.  It sounds so subtle, but it makes all the difference in the world.

Wait, didn’t Jesus “Let it Go,” too?

In that same letter to the believers in Philippi, Paul wrote about Jesus making a decision to let something go.  Paul said that even though Jesus was equal with God, “He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:7).  In other words, Jesus let it go, but in the EXACT OPPOSITE way that Queen Elsa did.

When she let it go, she turned her back on the very people who needed her the most and walked further from them.  She turned away and slammed the door and made a decision to let the storm rage on.  Bottom line?  As she sang her signature song about letting her responsibilities go and finally finding the freedom to be who she was, she not only ended up living in a prison of one, she left an entire city captive in her wake.

It sounds worse now then when your kids are belting it out in their royal robes, doesn’t it?

But look at what a different picture the Gospel paints.  Jesus let his equality with God go so that he could walk closer to us.  Elsa walked up a hill away from the hurting, but Jesus stepped down from heaven closer to the hurting.  If anyone had the right to stand off at a distance, it was probably Jesus, but the Bible is clear that He lived as a servant Who was constantly trying to see how close He could get to those whom others deemed untouchable.

Queen Elsa slammed the door to escape the storm.  Jesus opened the door to calm it.

So, what does this look like in everyday life?

I’d say it looks a lot like Sister Frayer.  She was an elderly lady with thinning white hair that attended one of the first churches where I served as a youth pastor.  She might have stood a little over 5 feet if she wasn’t so stooped over by age, but time had left her with a bit of a hump in her back and eyesight that needed very thick glasses.  What I remember the most about Sister Frayer was that she would cry every time we talked, because she had lived long enough to say more goodbyes than hellos, and she couldn’t wait to leave this life and start the next one with Jesus.

And yet every month when our youth group would have youth night, there was Sister Frayer.  She’d shuffle in wearing white shoes, white pants, and our white Crossfire youth group tee-shirt (which had big crosshairs on the back that perfectly encircled the hump in her back!).  As a twenty something youth pastor who constantly dealt with parents who wanted me to cater to the needs of their teens, I was curious why an elderly woman with no stake in teenagers would venture out to youth night proudly sporting a youth tee-shirt, and so I asked her why she came so faithfully to something that was probably too loud, too long and too late for her.

Her response is something I’ve never forgotten…

“I’ve had my time.”

If Sister Frayer had the energy (and wasn’t more gracious than me), she’d probably punch Queen Elsa in the throat for singing so beautifully about something so ugly: our eagerness to let responsibility go in order to feel free even though Jesus showed us that freedom comes in laying our lives down for others.

Will your kids still sing the song?  Probably.  But when they do, I hope you’ll think of it differently, and perhaps even share with your kids why letting go isn’t a bad thing as long as we’re letting go of the selfish tendencies that so often keep us from moving closer to a world that desperately needs to see Jesus.

If you’ve spent any time at all in a church anywhere in America (especially at the end when the music is playing and the emotions are flowing), then you’ve heard somebody tell you that you need to make Jesus the Lord of your life.  Heck, forget church.  If any of the following apply to you, you’ve probably heard it, too:

• You spend time flipping through religious cable programming early in the morning or late at night, or
• You attend festivals with large crowds where people hold signs and hand out religious pamphlets like they’re giving away candy, or
• You have a church-going Grandma.

And while I’m not knocking any of those situations (especially church-going Grandmas), I do want to tell you the 1 obvious reason why you and I can’t make Jesus Lord. My guess is that it’s so simple, you’ve missed it.  The reason?

He already is.

That may surprise you, and before you go running down the road ahead of me warning everyone who may read this that I’m guilty of heresy, allow me to walk you through a couple of mental gymnastics and then share with you why I think this is so critical.

It’s always good to start with the Bible

As I’ve been researching this idea, I’ve realized something.  Nowhere in the Bible are people told to make Jesus Lord.  But there are plenty of places in the Bible where people are told that Jesus is Lord.  A few that come to mind are:

Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Luke 6:5 – emphasis added)

They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings–and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers. (Revelation 17:14 – emphasis added)

On His robe and on His thigh He has this name written: King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:16 – emphasis added)

Here’s one last passage that really drives this home:

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:9-11 – emphasis added)

What is clear from these verses is that Jesus isn’t waiting around for you or me to make Him Lord of anything because God has already made Him Lord of everything.  Is Jesus any less Lord if you or I don’t say He is?  Of course not, any more than I would cease to be my children’s dad even if they stopped telling people I was.

Wait, so you’re saying we all go to heaven?

Absolutely not.  What I am saying is that I’m not sure we fully understand the absoluteness of Jesus’ Lordship.  Towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shocked His listeners when He told them that not everyone who said “Lord, Lord” would actually be saved (Matthew 7:21-23).  But He did tell them who would be saved: “he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

So what is God’s will?  What can we do that will give us 100% certainty that we won’t be kicked out of heaven at the last-minute like the poor dudes in Jesus’ sermon?

Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work (think, will) of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”  (John 6:28-29)

Basically, these men asked Jesus the same thing we are: what’s the one thing I can do that will guarantee me salvation?  Jesus’ answer wasn’t “make me your Lord.”  It was “believe in Me.”  Now, to us, believing in Jesus is the same as “give Him an hour on Sunday and if you really love Him, maybe even Wednesday.”  But in the Bible, believing was the same as “accepting and acknowledging in such a way that actions would change to match” whatever was being believed.

I can believe a chair exists, but I don’t believe in that chair until I sit in it. Believing biblically assumes action.  A lot of people “make Jesus Lord” in the same way.  They believe He lived and died for their sins.  They even believe that He rose again.  But their lives don’t reflect that He IS Lord because they’re still doing whatever THEY want.

If everything hinges on you and me “making” Jesus Lord, then that might change some things.  But if Jesus already IS Lord, well, that changes everything, and that might be the biggest reason why we bristle at it.

The unseen danger of pride

If you’ve stayed with me this far, your head is probably spinning.  It would be so easy to simply say that this is all just semantics and not waste another minute on whether we should make Jesus Lord or accept that He already is.  But let me try to clarify this in such a way that allows us to see the insidious nature of pride and how it can blind us to our real need of Jesus.

Consider this quote from A. W. Tozer:

Christianity today is man-centered, not God-centered. God is made to wait patiently, even respectfully, on the whims of men. The image of God currently popular is that of a distracted Father, struggling in heartbroken desperation to get people to accept a Savior of whom they feel no need and in whom they have very little interest. To persuade these self-sufficient souls to respond to His generous offers God will do almost anything, even using salesmanship methods and talking down to them in the chummiest way imaginable.

This view of things is, of course, a kind of religious romanticism which, while it often uses flattering and sometimes embarrassing terms in praise of God, manages nevertheless to make man the star of the show. (from Man: The Dwelling Place of God, p. 27 – emphasis added)

In an irony to beat all ironies, our sudden decision to “make Jesus Lord” still leaves room for us to take pride in having the wisdom to make that decision.  We call our friends and tell them that we just walked the aisle at church and that we made Jesus Lord.  But if we choose to make Him Lord today, then couldn’t we just as easily choose to make ourselves lord tomorrow?

“Many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord…”

But what if salvation had less to do with you and me making Jesus anything and had more to do with you and me accepting who Jesus already is?  What if instead of us coming to Jesus, it was more about Jesus coming to us?  Then, wouldn’t salvation be so much more about God’s faithfulness instead of our brilliance in picking Jesus?  And wouldn’t that make the foundation of our hope more secure when our feelings about that choice change the next day, or hour, or even second?  Of course it would.

This could easily leave all of us wondering what hope any of us have for being saved?  Our hope comes from the simple fact that God has been seeking us even when we weren’t seeking Him (Psalm 14:2), that He didn’t stop seeking us even when it meant sending His own Son on a deadly rescue mission (Luke 19:10), and that He is committed to bringing everyone who believes in that Son into life with Him (John 3:16).  What do we bring to the table?  Nothing.  Just a heart full of sin that acknowledges His lordship, and a life full of trust that acknowledges that biblically believing in Him means obediently walking with him (see Romans 10:9; John 15:5; Acts 16:31).

JESUS IS LORD.

Those 3 words change everything, and every one who has ever lived, is living, or ever will live will do so in repentance or rebellion because of them.

But none of us will ever have the ability to make Him anything less.

A couple of weeks ago, my blog blew up.  I wish that I could tell you that I masterminded it, but I didn’t.  In fact, as Exhibit A in the “I had no idea that 52,000 people were gonna read that post” category, you’ll notice the lack of banner ads or any other obnoxious pay-per-click ads anywhere on the blog.  I’d been experimenting with a lot of those but after earning all of one penny (yep, that’s actually true), I decided to pull them exactly one week before the day that I went viral.

I say all of that to help you understand that when I say that I post on this blog every Thursday as a personal exercise to become a better writer, I mean it.  If you and my wife read it, awesome.  If you, my wife and half of the eastern seaboard read it, well, awesome.  But my main reader is God, and this once-a-week exercise in blogging is much more about me and him than it’ll probably ever be about me and anyone else.

So when I posted about my response to a whole bunch of chatter about Steven Furtick, Elevation Church and why most of the talking heads should probably just shut up, I was pretty surprised when I logged back on later that afternoon and saw how many people had read it.  I was even more surprised the day after it posted as the blog traffic kept climbing, quadrupling my record for most visits in a day.  (I’m not gonna lie, I was kicking myself for pulling those Google ads.  I’m pretty sure I would have made at least a quarter that day.)

But while I was surprised at the volume of readers, I wasn’t surprised at the responses, which could basically be lumped into 2 groups: one group that thanked me for defending a fellow pastor (especially from people who attend or are affiliated with Elevation) and a second group that asked the question, “If we’re all supposed to just shut up, is there EVER a time when we should speak up?”

To the first group, you’re welcome, although I wasn’t writing to defend Furtick as much as to examine myself.

And to the second group, yes, sometimes there is a need to speak up.

So, along those lines, let me share some practical guidelines about what to do when you feel like it’s time to speak up.

Speak in love or sit in silence

Of all the writers in the New Testament, James was the least likely to win the award for tact.  He wasn’t subtle, and he wasn’t afraid to speak (write) his mind.  He wrote to the church and called them out for whining in hard times, playing favorites, acting religious but not acting with mercy, saying one thing and doing another, having too much pride, and using riches as power over those who had less.

I’d say James had a pretty good handle on speaking up about bad things in church.  But he also gave this little nugget of wisdom at the beginning of his letter:

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (James 1:19-20)

James had a lot to say to the church, but James also understood the importance of listening and understanding before speaking.  Of course, people who don’t care about the church and leaders with whom they may disagree won’t want to take any time to listen.  Too often, we just want to climb on the soapbox and spout our wisdom because we want to feel good about who we are and what we have to say.

Listening is so important, because it allows us to hear another person’s heart.  And that’s huge.  Even then, before we respond to that person, it’s wise to understand God’s heart on the matter, which is why Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6 that we should make our requests known to God.  It’s always good to ask ourselves whether we’ve prayed about what we’re getting ready to speak about.

When I was in India last year I got to spend time with a pastor there who is a giant in the faith.  Humble, yet powerful.  A servant to the poor and to Jesus.  The kind of man we’d all like to be.  I asked him about his prayer life and why he gets up so early everyday to spend time with the Lord.  His answer was simple and I have yet to be able to shake it: “I want to talk to God before I talk to men.  I want to see His face before I see the face of men.”

If you’re keeping up, you’re seeing a progression.  First, listen before you speak.  Second, talk to God about it before you talk to men about it.  And then, ask yourself one final question: am I speaking up out of love for Jesus, His church, and the person I’m correcting?

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)

A big part of how God plans to mature the church is by the church speaking the truth to each other.  But it isn’t just about speaking truth, it’s about how we’re speaking truth.  Until we can say that we’re speaking truth based in love for the church and the person, I still say we’d be better to just shut up. If we can’t speak in love, we’d be better off to sit in silence until we can.

No more doctrinal drive-bys

But there will be times when we’ve stopped at each of those checkpoints and gotten the green light.  There will be times when our motives are pure and our motivation is godly.  What do we do then?  We speak up, and we have conversations.

Too many times our blogs are confrontational instead of conversational.  We spew truth in a way that is religious but not relational.  We picket instead of pray, and run the risk of driving away the lost who need the love of Jesus because they don’t see the bride of Jesus acting very loving.

What’s interesting to me is that, more than likely, all of the people who responded to my first post on Furtick and Elevation actually love Jesus.  The problem is that most of us haven’t learned how to love each other.  It would be like one of my sons loving me but hating his brother.  Umm, we’d have a problem, yes?

Does God want all of us to agree on everything?  No.  Does He want us to love each other in every disagreement? Yes.  And so all through scripture when godly people disagreed with other godly people, they understood the need for confrontation based in conversation.

Matthew 18:15-17 is clear that we should point out error and sin, and yet every step is in relationship with a hope to restore.  Even when Paul disagreed with Peter (2 huge names in the days of the early church), Galatians 2:11 says that he rebuked him face to face.  Paul didn’t write a blog on a scroll and blast it to everyone in the world.  He sat down with a brother and had a conversation about his concerns.

I can hear you out there saying that you’ll never have the chance to sit face to face with Steven Furtick, and you’re probably right.  I’m not gonna lie, I’d love to sit down face to face with him, too, because there are some real concerns that I would love to talk through with him.  I’d love to ask questions, to listen before speaking (or writing, as may be the case) and to honestly pray with and for him.  I need that, and so does he.  We all need people in our corner who aren’t afraid to tell us the hard things, even when the words sting.  A wiser man than I am said it like this:

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. (Proverbs 27:5-6)

But there is a way to openly correct in a conversational manner, and I’d like to think that this post – as well as the first one that blew up my blog for a couple of days – is written less like a doctrinal drive-by shooting and more like a conversation between friends and brothers who love the same Father.  Because when we love Jesus and love each other, the best thing we can do is speak up, because when we speak up, all of us can grow up.