Why the Church Must Stop Echoing DJ Khaled

The martial artist Bruce Lee has also been known for his passion for philosophy. The philosopher Bruce Lee made this pregnant statement to a student while training in Chinatown who grew overly concerned with winning every drill and coming out on top: "Like everyone else, you want to learn the way to win! But never to accept the way to lose."

The Church in America has struggled to free itself from American ideals and pursuits for quite some time. Ever since the Evangelicals and Fundamentalists were the John Pipers' and Mark Driscolls' of their time, being center stage speakers on platforms, Richard Land for example, the history of America has moved from the stage right position to right in front of the pulpit. Adding to it are the visible American flags positioned in sanctuaries without requiring the unison pledge of allegiance.

Politicians replacing preachers around election time. Preachers strongly encouraging pew sitters to vote a certain way. Sanctity of Life Sundays becoming commonplace for churches from West to East. And preachers have used the Bible less and less to call out the evils and ills of donkeys and elephants more and more.

"To learn to die is to be liberated from it."

Where has all of this gotten us? To a place of less unity and weakened witness. The place that's supposed to be a fellowship ground for born-again believers is only the case is homoethnic churches. Most white churches lack diversity ethnically across the denominational board, and yet the unity that should be enjoyed is often assumed by many. While the differences are best left unspoken. Most black churches also lack ethnic diversity, but seem to speak to issues the white churches ignore altogether.

Bruce was right. Mainly because he called for the same thing the New Testament called people to. Die! Pick up your cross and die. Learn to die. To live a life in Jesus is to deal with persecution. The fear of not winning has caused more fear. It's prompted more ridiculous charges of slippery slopes. It's drummed up a hardening to the American ideals over and often against what Jesus said.

"You must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying."

How can the place that's said to be the strongest militarily be okay with defeat? How can the place that's said to be the land of opportunity be okay with being disadvantaged? The saddest part of it all is the impact it has on those who see the hypocrisy of the church. Our witness is gone down the drain. People rarely want to talk about Jesus people because we've not looked, sounded, or acted like Jesus people.

And we continue to align ourselves with politicians and social media influencers to the detriment of doctrine that most tend to agree on: we are in union with the Messiah, hidden in him, letting every man be a lie and God be true. Oddly enough, the church in America sounds like the Jewish believers in Acts 1 asking Jesus when he's going to make them a powerhouse for the whole world to see. Then God poured his Spirit over a variety of people groups causing men and women to prophesy and the old and young to dream dreams.

The kingdom of God is not about power and winning. DJ Khaled makes some good songs that become anthems for certain things. Let it no longer be an anthem for the church in America. Our witness and worship can't keep taking hits.