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The "thin blue line" covered by the blood of Christ. |
Fellow
Sheepdogs (servant-warriors)
& Supporters:
This week's Bible study puts a front sight focus on our police calling in light of God's command that we love our enemies. Are they at odds with our God-ordained SERVANT-warrior/sheepdog ethos? Scroll down to
Love Our Enemies??.
Nationally, our multi-ministry FCPO Police Week Mission Team will be gathering in Washington, DC in less than a month! We hope to see some of you there (look for us in Tent City) while at the same time asking you to join us in praying for God-ordained appointments to share the hope we have in Christ with the lost and hurting in our God-ordained profession. You can also support our outreach efforts financially (we all raise our own funds for travel, lodging and outreach materials) by sending a check to: The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry (or just FCPO-217), P.O. Box 630854, Littleton, CO 80163. All donations are tax deductible through our association with FCPO-USA. If you wish to specify that your donation go towards this mission, just write "Police Week" on the bottom left of your checks.
Here on the local front -- "front" being the Colorado Front Range -- our twice-monthly Centurion/FCPO chapter #217 meetings (a time of
iron sharpens iron
fellowship, corporate prayer and Bible study) have now moved to the
1st and 3rd Tuesdays
of each month in Highlands Ranch
starting at 7 PM. Our first meeting in the new venue, and the start of a new Bible study series, is set for Tuesday,
April 17th
. As always, this "cop church" fellowship is for current, past and future officers and their spouses (who are strongly encouraged to attend with their LEO). It is also how you can get our famous Centurion LE Ministry t-shirts -- for FREE!
Email me
for the address and other 411 (and stay tuned for more details).
Let's stay safe on the street but radically bold in Christ!
MC
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RESOURCES
PRAYER REQUESTS
(1) Again, p
lease be in prayer for our
Police Week 2018 FCPO Mission Team
and our outreach in general. We will be gathering in DC from May 12-16 to minister to our own and the need is very great.
(2) Pray for me as I share and minister to my own at an upcoming conference in Durango (CO) May 3-6.
(3) Pray for an officer (Bob) who goes in for testing this morning for kidney issues (healing, strength to stay the course in Christ).
Have a prayer request or announcement you would like included here? Need prayer?
Email me
! I also post prayer requests on my Facebook page ("friend" me).
UPCOMING EVENTS
(1) If you're in the Denver metro area and not planted in a Rock solid men's fellowship, we invite you to join us this Saturday, April 21st at 8 AM at Tommie's house -- 4732 S. Bannock St., Englewood, CO 80110. I will be teaching the 3rd segment on our 4-part series on Courageous Manhood.
(2) As I shared above,
Police Week 2018
is fast approaching (May 12-16) and we seek your prayers as we again pray and plan for this year's national outreach in DC where we will be ministering to/sharing Christ with our own. Hope you'll stop by and see us at our space in Tent City!
(3) Colorado Springs PD Officer Nick Ryland is hosting the 2018 First Responder Retreat this coming June 13-16 in the mountains near Wheatland, WY. Sweet!
(5) FCPO-Canada is hosting their 2018 National Conference in Newfoundland & Labrador on August 3-5. You'll get to see a special part of Canada while hanging out with a great group of brother and sister servant-warriors.
(6) The Sheepdog Seminars put on by my friends Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Officer/Minister Jimmy Meeks and fellow church safety expert Carl Chinn are outstanding and highly recommended!
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The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
is a national, FCPO-affiliated, evangelical Christian outreach to our own in law enforcement. These newsletters and Bible studies are part of this effort and past editions can be found on our
website
and our social media
(
Facebook
and
Twitter
) feeds. As always, feel free to adapt these messages for your own individual or group use and please share them with others.
The Centurion Ministry is lead by Police Officer and Chaplain/Evangelist Michael "MC" Williams, a 30-year law enforcement veteran and sought-after instructor and speaker at churches [including the well-received Centurion Church Security Seminar], retreats and both law enforcement and civilian conferences and seminars around the country. Contact MC via email for more.
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Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers
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FCPO-USA exists to provide biblical support ("backup"), accountability and iron sharpens iron fellowship to Christian officers first in the U.S. and throughout the world as well. Our metro-Denver chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers -- (aka FCPO Chapter 217) -- is a Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry affiliate. We meet most 1st and 3rd Tuesday evenings starting at 7 PM in Highlands Ranch (email me for details) for profession-focused/life-focused
Bible study, prayer and servant-warrior/sheepdog fellowship (the iron sharpens iron kind). Spouses are both welcome and encouraged to attend with their LEO.
Our next meeting is set for Tuesday,
April 17th.
Hope to see you there!
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Love Our Enemies?
How does God's command to "love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) jive with our police calling to be a "terror against evil" (Romans 13:1-4)?
"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (
Matthew 5:44)
In ministering to my fellow officers -- both saved and unsaved -- there is much confusion about how our Lord's command to
love our enemies can coexist with our police calling and our
Romans 13:1-4 (among other passages) mandate that includes not only being "
ministers for good" (servants to the law abiding) but also a "
terror against evil." Some wonder how we cops can even be Christians in light of this and similar mandates. Is it at odds with our biblical servant-warrior ethos? God, through His Word (the Bible), has THE answer for us -- let's open our Bibles to
Matthew 5:43-47 and dig in!
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?" (added emphasis)
Let's break it down --
You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy"
: The Mosaic Law commanded you shall love your neighbor (
Leviticus 19:18
). Yet some teachers in the days of Jesus had taken liberties (sin) and wickedly added an opposite misapplication: an equal obligation to
hate your enemy (many Jews hated and were sinfully prejudiced against those they called "Gentiles" -- all non-Jews).
But I say to you, love your enemies
: Instead, Jesus reminds that in the sense God means it, all people are our neighbors, even our enemies. To truly fulfill this law, we must
love
,
bless
,
do good
and
pray
for our enemies and not just our friends.
Jesus, who is both the Lion (history's greatest "cop" and servant-warrior) and the lamb (
Revelation 5:5-6), freely acknowledges that we will have enemies, yet we are to respond to them in
agape (hang on to that word) love, trusting that God will protect our cause and destroy our enemies in the best way possible, by transforming them into our friends and even brothers/sisters.
But how can we do that as police officers who have to use force (including deadly force)? When there are those all around us trying to destroy us? Jesus gives us the answer in verse 48 --
be perfect! "
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." How can we even get close that being perfect? Friends, it is here that our Savior is pointing us to the cross and the transforming power found ONLY in a genuine, right relationship (not "religion") with Him! It is He who makes us "perfect," and it is the Holy Spirit, that indwells EVERY true believer, who gives us the power (and grace) to do what the world says we can't! Likewise, fulfilling this commandment to love our enemies is IMPOSSIBLE without His redeeming, transforming power!
Commenting on this, pastor and theologian David Guzik wrote, "Jesus has demonstrated that we need a righteousness that is apart from the law (
Romans 3:21-22). As Paul put it in
Romans 3:21-22:
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.
So are we to "love" members of ISIS? The
latest person who shoots up a school or church or movie theater? Who kills one of our own? Domestic terrorists who attack, threaten and vilify us? In answering these questions, consider for a moment that Jesus and His audience lived under an often cruel and oppressive
occupying Roman government. The Romans "peacekeepers" employed torture and murder to "keep the peace" (meaning keeping people in line). Everyone li
stening to Jesus talk about this "love your enemies" stuff had plenty of opportunities to experience "I hate you with every ounce of my guts" enemies in the occupying force that dominated all aspects of their lives!
Yet when Jesus looks at His executioners (again, the police and correctional officers of His day) from the cross and offers forgiveness and salvation in Him, can there be any doubt of His love for them? For us? Likewise, when
relatives of the victims in the South Carolina church shooting offered forgiveness to the young man who murdered their loved ones, could anyone doubt that they were seeking to take Jesus' words and example seriously?
Now understand the context of Scripture: loving your enemies does not mean you have to add them to your Christmas list, make them your best friend or allow them to be alone with your kids. It doesn't mean you excuse their actions or not make arrests. Nor does it mean we compromise on officer safety or refuse to use force (remember that Jesus used righteous
physical force in the Temple) -- including deadly force -- in accordance with the law and our training (again, I highly recommend police Sgt. Charlie Eipper's outstanding book,
Jesus Christ on Killing, for more on this issue).
Remember that Jesus Himself used righteous force (clearing out the offenders in the Temple) and also ordered his disciples to arm themselves with swords (the firearms of their day) for self defense (
Luke 22:36
), yet He still showed us what it means to biblically forgive, show mercy and "police" with agape love and justice in accordance with His Word and our biblicallly derived Law Enforcement
Code of Ethics
.
This said, let's dig a little deeper in terms of context and the Greek word Jesus used for "love" here:
agape.
Agape love has been described as a
sort of unconquerable benevolence or invincible goodwill. Jesus commands us to agape our enemies, no matter what they do to us, no matter how they treat us, no matter how they insult us. No matter their actions, we must never allow bitterness against them to invade our hearts. Rather, God commands us to treat them with professional, agape goodwill and mercy as we carry out our police duties.
But even when you understand all these things, and even if you read Scripture commentaries, these remain difficult -- even impossible -- things for us to hear and do. Especially for us in law enforcement, loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us is HARD...unless we're living, serving and protecting under the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us achieve the "perfection" Jesus speaks of in verse 48. Folks, this standard is impossible for sinful man to achieve! Yet t
his unattainable standard is exactly what the Law itself demanded (
James 2:10
). So how can Jesus demand the impossible? He later tells us, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (
Matthew 19:26
). That which God demands, only He can accomplish, including the demand to love (agape) our enemies. What is impossible for man becomes possible for those who give their lives to Jesus Christ and are thus empowered by the Holy Spirit that indwells every true believer. Accordingly, just imagine what God can achieve through us when we allow Him to help us police biblically!.
Do you have that power? Understand that the unsaved person does NOT have that! So again I ask -- is this you? If not, or if you're not sure, consider the following:
(1) J
esus' first recorded words in His earthly ministry were and remain: "
Repent and believe in the Good News
" (
Mark 1:15
).
To
repent
is a "180" -- a complete, radical change of mind and heart as it relates our sin. To
believe
as He intends it here is to cry out to God for your salvation and wholeheartedly
surrender in faith to Christ
in the same way we have "faith" that our body armor will do its job against the rounds it is intended to stop, that our brakes will work when running Code, or that a solider's parachute will open when it is supposed to (we stake our very lives on it)! And the "Good News" that Jesus refers to here is of course His Gospel and plan of salvation.
(2) Again, understand that you can't "earn" or otherwise "badge" your way into heaven (or out of hell) by your worldly "goodness" or by being a "good cop." Without first embracing Christ and his redeeming blood He shed for you on the cross, you can NEVER be "good" enough to make it into heaven or escape the righteous and just consequences for our crimes (sin) in a very real and inescapable place called hell. Still don't believe that? Take the "Good Person Test" and see how you do!
(3) This same concept of "
believe" (the saving kind) is further revealed in
John 3:1-21 where Jesus says, "...
you must be born again." Note our Lord's emphasis on the word "
must" (not "may" or "should"): this is ultimately the
life-saving/life-changing personal relationship with Christ that I stress here every week (see
What does it mean to be a born again Christian?).
So now then, with this "target" in place, see:
and
If you've made a decision for Christ and don't know what to do next, see, Now what?
Let's stay armored-up and front-sight focused on Christ as we step out boldly in faith to live, serve and police in the spirit of agape love.
MC
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