America was rocked by the assassination of Turning Point founder, Charlie Kirk on Wednesday. Kirk’s brand of conversation, debate, and Christian witness raised conservative views on college campuses and provided a platform for gospel witness.

As a pastor and follower of Jesus, I knew of Charlie Kirk’s organization and had watched snippets and pieces of his debates with students and faculty on college campuses. He was controversial because he took the biblical worldview and its implications for policies and philosophy to institutions of higher education that are largely leftist in ideology. In their book, The Coddling of the American Mind, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt (who are not conservatives) note the decreasing lack of ideological diversity on college and university campuses. Universities in the US over the past 50-60 years have nearly always leaned left politically and ideologically. But Lukianoff and Haidt point out that departments with a minority of conservative (or ideologically divergent viewpoints) keep progressive viewpoints honest. However, they point out in their research that many universities and colleges lack even the token conservatives. The vacuum created by this lack of ideological diversity created space for someone like Charlie Kirk to bring his brand of Christian conservatism to the public square.

We don’t know the exact motivation of his assassin, but the vitriol and anger around his death have been real. Many on the right have lamented in grief and sadness. Others have expressed concerns that this marks “the death of free speech” (Jay Leno). Some on the fringe left have essentially celebrated his death. And others have been fired for their inappropriate comments about the assassination. Charlie Kirk’s assassination is squarely in the public eye.

As Americans, our founding was based upon divergent ideas and the opportunities for freedoms of speech, religion, and the press. We are at our best as a country when those values are honored and defended. We should lament how events like Kirk’s murder endanger free speech.

As Christians, however, we have a deeper viewpoint that provides both context and clarity for an event like this. Since the first century, Christians have been martyred for their speech by religious zealots (Stephen in Acts 7) and politicians looking to curry favor with the people (James in Acts 12:1-4). For the past two thousand years, Christians have faced dismissal, denunciation, persecution, and death for spreading the gospel into the public square. Biblical Christianity is a faith predicated on an an announcement. First, Christians announced the gospel (the good news about Jesus Christ who came to redeem sinners) Second, and this is the political implication of the gospel, Christians echoed Jesus’ announcement of his inaugurated kingdom (Mt. 4:17) and his claim of authority as the now and forever king (Matthew 28:18-20). To be a follower of Jesus is to spread this news and to make these announcements to those around us.

In my devotions today, I was struck by Paul’s description of the gospel’s effect on those who believe and those who don’t. It is an appropriate and clarifying text helping us make sense of Kirk’s assassination. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:14-6: “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.  For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,  to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?”

Charlie Kirk might still be alive if he had kept his Christian faith in the church, but he took it public. He took it to the places where people needed to be confronted by it. Paul’s affirmation here encourages us to view the assassination of Charlie Kirk through the lens of a Biblical worldview.

• In Christ, followers of Jesus triumph. The message of the gospel is not merely about individual redemption or personal salvation. It is the declaration of a kingdom that Christ inaugurated when announced “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 4:17). The reason Christians live and spread the gospel is because Jesus triumphs. He is the now and forever king. When we follow him in acts devotion, service, love, and even taking the gospel to the public square, we are following Jesus procession of triumph to bring salvation and rescue to people for whom he died.
• In Christ, followers of Jesus spread the fragrance of the gospel. The power of fragrance is real. Certain smells comfort. As I write, we have a cinnamon pumpkin candle burning that is bringing the smell of fall to our house. After being away for a while, a certain smell of clothing can bring the smell of home to our minds. Horrid smells are also powerful. The smell of a dead animal in our basement walls several years ago was overpowering for a number of weeks. Paul illustrates the gospel as a fragrance of life or death depending on who hears it. For believers, the gospel is a beautiful comfort–a fragrance of life. But don’t forget this. The gospel to the perishing is often a fragrance of death. The gospel offends for it tells us we are sinners. The gospel insults for it tells us that we are not good enough to save ourselves. Make no mistake. It was the offense and insult of the gospel (with its political implications that Charlie Kirk proclaimed) that aroused such hate and vitriol around his message and cause.
• In Christ, followers of Jesus have life now and life forever. One reason that followers of Jesus will continue to spread the gospel in the public square even in the face of persecution and suffering is because the gospel is not merely about this life. Charlie Kirk did not merely want college students to change their minds, to become conservative, or even to become pro-life so a baby’s life would be rescued. The gospel he proclaimed has implications for eternity. If we lose our lives for the sake of the gospel, then we gain Christ and life forever (Mt. 16:24-27). The martyrs of Revelation 12:11 acknowledge the kingdom and authority of Jesus as Lord and the eternal life he brings. The reason Christians (martyrs) can die with hope is that eternal life through Christ awaits those who follow Jesus.
• In Christ, followers of Jesus can make sense of tragedy and suffering. There are many tragedies of this assassination. We can lament the hate and vitriol in our political atmosphere. We can bemoan the fact that acts like this endanger free speech. We can and will speculate regarding the motivations of the shooter. But one of the deepest tragedies is that Charlie Kirk leaves behind a widow and two young children. Their grief is real. In a moment, an act of evil shattered their world. May God comfort and strengthen them as they walk this unanticipated path through the valley of the shadow of death. The Bible never minimizes grief, death, and sorrow, but it does offer us aid in making sense of it. Jesus’ death and resurrection teach us the value of life (he lived, died, and lives again), the value of the body (he was resurrected in a glorified, but real human body), and the value of hope in something beyond this life. Suffering, death, and sadness are real, but they are not forever. Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings posed this question at the end of the story, “Is everything sad going to come untrue?” The Bible’s answer is, “Yes.” God is going to remake the world and bring hope and life to the broken and sad. This is one reason why followers of Jesus will continue to proclaim the gospel, continue to invade the public square with truth, continue to challenge false ideologies, and continue to challenge people to think. There is hope that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Christian, let’s not be silenced by those who hate and reject the gospel. Let’s not live in fear of what might happen to us. May we have the courage of millions of brothers and sisters who have gone before to spread the aroma of Christ, the glory of his gospel to our neighbors and to the nations. May we take the gospel and its implications to the public square. May we rest our hope in the now and forever King at whose throne we will one day worship.

Photo by Mike Labrum on Unsplash