Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. On a Saturday morning in 2012, sitting on my porch reading an actual newspaper, I first learned about a Denver baker named Jack Phillips, a gay couple having been quote unquote married in a different state. asked Jack, the owner of Masterpiece Cake Shop, to custom design a cake for their so-called same-sex wedding. Jack offered them service and any cake in his store that was already made.
What he could not do, he said, was use his creative talent to say a message that violated his conscience, something he knew to be untrue.
Well, to say that a lot happened in the years since is to put it mildly an understatement. He was harassed by the state of Colorado, especially the Civil Rights Commission, for years. He was slandered online. He was subjected to death threats, not only against him, but also his family. He was sued not just by the state, but also by a man who claimed to be a woman and repeatedly asked him to bake perverted and disgusting cakes.
In the end, his case was pivotal in advancing the rights of conscience, suppressing state hostility to religion, and, yes, a beautiful part of the story, attracting many people to Christ. But I also remember back then a whole chorus of voices, many even Christian leaders, telling Jack to just bake the cake.
Some of them even said Jesus would have baked the cake. Jack was accused of hate, intolerance, and bigotry, but he stood instead courageously, even in the face of great criticism, not just from the state of Colorado, but from his own brothers and sisters in Christ. And thank God he did. Recently, at an event that was hosted by Colorado Christian University and featured the brilliant Ayan Hirsi Ali, one of those who was inspired by Jack's story, I asked Jack Phillips and Kristen Wagoner, his longtime attorney and now CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom. What do he thinks now as he looks back to then when so many people told him to bake the cake?
Here's how Jack responded. God tells us to live by truth. He says, we need to know the truth, and the truth will set us free, and Jesus is the truth. We just have to know him. We get to know him better and more clearly.
through his word, through good teaching. by spending time with him. And when the more time you spend with him, the better you know him and you don't want to disappoint somebody you know well. And it would have been a huge disappointment. to him if I'd have done that.
when He's given us the power to live by what He says. And people want good news. Mm. There are Tons of people that I talk to who have been encouraged by this story. And I think if I would have made the cake, I don't know.
Because we've had So many things that have just happened that have been so good. Christian is one of them. I then asked Christian Wagoner a similar question, and she added even more context. In Jack's situation, as in all of these situations, he modeled tolerance and the other side did not. And so it's not about refusing to serve because Jack serves everyone.
Everybody. But when the government can compel you to speak messages and affirm lies that violate your conscience, then there is no limit to the government's power.
So that's really what that was about: the message that he was being asked to communicate. And I can tell you, having talked to hundreds of people over the last 10 years, that they have said that courage begets courage. And they've modeled that because they heard of Jack's story. And it caused them to consider Christ and come to salvation, but it also caused them to be courageous in their moment. One example that comes to mind is Sherry Laurie from Downtown Hope Center.
who runs a homeless shelter in Alaska. And a man who identifies as a woman wanted to come into that shelter sleeping three feet away from the women in the shelter. And She, as she's coming down the stairs, she knows that the man is at the door wanting to come in. And that he has a reputation that would suggest that would not be a good thing, even aside from the fact that he's a man, the violent tendencies and things like that. What goes through her mind is Remember the baker.
Yes.
So she gives that man cab money to go to the hospital to get his wounds because he was in a fight cared for, but she does not let him. She keeps that safe space for those women.
So that's what I think of, is all the people that it has inspired as well.
Well, praise God. That entire conversation that featured Jack Phillips and Kristen Wagner and was preceded by a stunning and brilliant speech by Ion Hirsi Ali is now available on YouTube. And of course, the stories of Jack Phillips and Ion Hirsi Ali are both told in Truth Rising the Study and in the Truth Rising documentary. Learn more by going to colsoncenter.org slash truth. That's colsoncenter.org slash truth.
For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. For more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to colsoncenter.org slash radio. Hey, John Stone Street here.
So many people tell us that Breakpoint has shaped how they think about the world. Praise God. The Bible is clear that God has put us in this time and in this place in human history. And that means we need to understand what's going on in the world around us. But it's not enough to just understand a Christian worldview.
We're called to live it out. And that's what Truth Rising, the study, is for. This free four-part small group study is the follow-up to the Truth Rising documentary. It walks through God's game plan for engaging this civilizational moment with a big enough worldview centered on the essential aspects of a courageous faith. Hope, truth, identity, and calling.
Each part of the study features both a teaching segment and a story of courage. Join the thousands committed to cultivating a courageous faith by going through Truth Rising the study. You can access it for free today at colsoncenter.org slash study. That's colsoncenter.org/slash study.
