Years ago, I pastored a church in a small community. One of the favorite pastimes in that church was gossip.
I asked one of my church members why gossip was so rampant, and her response was, “We live in a small town, and there’s not much else to do but talk about one another.” For her, it made perfect sense that a person living in that town would talk about other people. Never mind that the Bible speaks strongly against gossip. For her (and others in the church), it was the accepted thing to do since they all lived in the small town.
It raised a question for me that still rummages around in my mind periodically. The question is this:
Should the church conform to society, or should the church seek to transform society?
It’s a question that we need to consider, because it has major ramifications on how we are seen as a church and as a society.
If the church adopts the world’s ways, then the lines between the church and society begin to blur. The longer the conformity takes place, the more blurred the lines become, until eventually there are no lines at all.
Is this what God intended for His Church and for His people? I don’t think so. A verse that pops to mind is Romans 12:2: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Over the past few decades, since the late 1970’s, there has been a rise in conservative churches becoming more and more involved in the political arena. Ostensibly, the purpose of this involvement is to transform the political dialogue and interject the message of God. The idea was to bring about God’s will through the legislative process.
In reality, just the opposite has occurred. As the evangelical movement has embraced more and more the political message of one party over the other, the Church’s voice has become so diluted and so co-opted, the Church has begun to lose its voice to a large part of society. There are many who are turning away from the message of the Church because they identify it more with a political message that does not resonate with what they understand of the Bible and of God.
By tying ourselves to one political party or another, and, lately, to one particular candidate over any and all others, we are forfeiting our right to speak truth to power and to share the full message of God.
Why is this so? Why shouldn’t the message of God be inserted into the world of politics? Why shouldn’t God’s truth be brought into the world of politics and social change?
Why Politics and Religion Don’t Mix
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is writing about the validity of the resurrection to those who question whether or not there is life after death. Most of his argument is that there is no hope if there is no eternal life. Without the promise of life after death and the rewards that come with following Christ, then life as we know it is meaningless.
In the middle of this discussion, Paul inserts two statements. One fits what he’s saying, and the other still puzzles me to this day. The statements go back to back, and they are, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ Do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:32b-33a). The first part—eat and drink—fits Paul’s argument about why there is a resurrection. But for the life of me, I don’t know why he included that next part about bad company.
Having said that, I agree wholeheartedly with what Paul wrote. Bad company does corrupt good character. I had a friend years ago who befriended someone that was not really living a Christian life. In fact, these two young women were going to move in together and share an apartment. I expressed my concerns to my friend. I knew the other woman, and I asked my friend if she really thought it was a good idea. She assured me it was, and assured me that she believed she could be a good influence on the other one. I accepted her explanation (there really wasn’t much else I could do) and wished her well.
A few months passed, and I was invited over to their home to play a game with dominoes. I went over there, and there had been a change, all right. My friend was much more like the other woman, instead of the other way around. The bad company had corrupted the good character.
The same is true of politics. We may enter the arena with the best of intentions—we want to bring about change that is more consistent with God’s ways. But we forget that politics is a field that demands compromise, both between parties and with politicians. The politician we may choose to back may talk a good game, but he’s also having to talk a good game to other constituents, some of whom may not and do not have the same goals and desires we have. Promises are made that cannot or will not be kept, and we suddenly find ourselves having to hold our noses as we support Candidate A over Candidate B, because at least Candidate A has said he or she will try to push forth our agenda.
When the Word of God is compromised, when it is allowed to be affiliated with half-truths and flat out lies, then the message is no longer valid. “If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men” (Matthew 5:13).
An Abdication of Responsibility
When God gave the laws to Moses, He repeatedly told Moses and the nation of Israel, “Be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45, among other verses found in Leviticus). The reason God continued to stress His holiness and the expectation that His people were to be holy is because God had a plan for His people and the land they were to occupy.
God’s plan was to transform the nation of Israel in such a way that they would become a shining beacon on a hill, a symbol of how devotion to God brings blessing and peace. In order to do that, though, God’s people were expected to live according to His ways and His laws. By this way would God transform His people and, ultimately, the world.
When Moses gathered the people around Mount Sinai to hear the voice of God, they were offered a rare opportunity to experience God in a new and more intimate way. When God spoke to them, He gave them the Ten Commandments. One might think that such an event was one of those spiritual highs for the nation. To hear the voice of God must have been a thrill.
Not so. When they heard God’s voice and experienced God’s presence, they were terrified. “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die” (Exodus 20:18-19). Moses assured them that it was all okay. “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning” (Exodus 20:20).
Moses remained on the mountain for another 40 days while the people went home to their tents in the desert. As God continued to speak to Moses, the people below became restless. They began to question whether Moses was still alive up there on that mountain. They began to think that something had gone wrong. They approached Aaron, Moses’ brother and spokesman. They demanded that Aaron create an idol for them to worship, since they hadn’t heard from Moses in quite a while. The idols had seemed to work for Egypt, so an idol might work for them. Never mind that God had defeated Egypt with ease, and that the Israelites, slaves up to the point of their liberation, marched out of Egypt as a conquering army.
Why did Israel turn from God and turn to an idol? To put it simply, things weren’t going the way Israel expected it to be going. They became impatient and probably afraid, so they turned to an alternative to God. They turned to a golden calf.
When the Church decided the way to change society was to do it through the legislative process and the courts, it became very similar to the golden calf incident. For whatever reason—fear, concern, anger, doubt—turning to candidates for the changes we sought was to turn our backs on God and cast our lot with the calf. To put it with another Biblical reference, the Church, in choosing to trust in politics, sold their message for a bowl of porridge. Esau wasn’t going to die; he just convinced himself he was. So he sold his birthright or a quick meal. It didn’t end well for Esau, and the golden calf didn’t end well for Israel. It is not ending well for the Church.
But We Need to Do Something
Is society in a bad place? Yes. Is it flaunting God’s ways and God’s will? No question. Shouldn’t we do something? Anything?
The answer is to wait on the Lord. It is always to wait on the Lord.
Saul was Israel’s first king. He was a reluctant king, and he had an advisor that was not happy with the arrangement. Samuel was Saul’s spiritual advisor, but Samuel resented Israel’s rejection of his sons as his successors, and he resented that that nation would turn from God to a king. Saul didn’t want the job to begin with, but both men were stuck with the arrangement. Samuel did try to be a good advisor to Saul. Samuel was faithful to tell Saul what God expected of him.
On one particular occasion (1 Samuel 13), Saul was required to wait to go into battle until Samuel appeared to perform the sacrifices prior to battle. Samuel told Saul he would be there in seven days. When the seventh day came, there was no Samuel. The men in Israel’s army became restless after waiting seven days to go into battle. Some began to return to their homes. Saul, being insecure as the new king, watched as his men began to leave. He had to do something. He commanded the offerings to be brought to him, and Saul performed the sacrifices instead of Samuel.
Just after the sacrifices had been completed, Samuel appeared. The first thing Samuel said was, “What have you done?” (v.11). Saul explained the situation and ended his explanation with, “So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering” (v. 12b).
Samuel’s words to Saul are telling: “You acted foolishly . . .You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him leader of His people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command” (vs. 13-14).
If our nation is in need of cleansing (and I believe it is), if it is in need of healing (I believe it is), if it is in need of revival and turning back to God (I believe it is), then the answer is not to look to Donald Trump or Nancy Pelosi or Joe Biden or Mitch McConnell or anyone else. We must never feel compelled to turn to an alternative to God to get God’s will done. It never works out for the better.
The answer must be God bringing the change. And He can do it.
But there is more we can do. We can preach the Word. All of it, not just the parts that speak to our political agenda. And not ignoring the parts that disagree with our political agenda. Preach it all. Preach it well.
Live the Word. Let God’s love be evident in the way we live. Let us seek to be peacemakers, living in peace with everyone, as much as it is possible. Live out the Golden Rule—not as we normally do, but as Christ instructed us to do. Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with the Lord our God. Let the fruit of the Spirit shine forth in us. Commit ourselves to learning to be more like Christ.
Be prepared to share our faith, in season and out, seasoned with salt and sprinkled with kindness.
And be informed. If we are the children of truth, and if we truly Him who is the Truth and the Way, then we must be aware of what we are talking about. We cannot be content to see something we agree with and just assume it’s true. We need to be fully informed on matters. Recognize the source of information for what it is, and go from there. Be open to new ideas, to new challenges. The truth always wins out. All our world to be challenged, to be expanded.
Conclusion
The name “Norma McCorvey” doesn’t often ring a bell. Most people have no idea who she is. If we say “Roe v. Wade,” almost everyone knows what that is. Ms. McCorvey was the Roe in Roe v. Wade. Hers is a tragic story, but it is also one of redemption.
Ms. McCorvey had a difficult life growing up. She had been in a difficult family life, and said her happiest times were when she was in prison as a teenager. She was pregnant with her third child at the age of 21, and she decided to seek an abortion. Abortions were illegal in Texas at the time, and two pioneering attorneys were looking for a case like hers to challenge the law.
Years later, Ms. McCorvey was working with a pro-abortion agency when she encountered a group of people opposed to abortion. Through their love and commitment to Christ, she began to see that abortion was wrong. She converted to Catholicism and began a fervent anti-abortion advocate.
What changed Norma McCorvey wasn’t a piece of legislature. It wasn’t a court ruling. What changed her was the witness of Christian men and women living out their faith in front of her. It wasn’t their political stance; it was their faith-walk with Christ.
If we really want a society that comes back to God, then we need to rely on Him. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is when Jesus comes down from the mount of transfiguration and is confronted by a man whose son is possessed. The man begs Jesus, “But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Jesus’ response is, “If I can? Everything is possible for him who believes.” To which the father says, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:21b-124).
Can God transform our nation and bring it back to Him? Absolutely. We need to repent; we need to turn to Him and let Him do it His way. What changed about Ms. McCorvey was not a new law, but a new heart. If we want to change society, we must change hearts. And the only way we change hearts is by being true to the message and the Messenger. We must let God be the One who transforms our society and our world. “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
© 2019 Glynn Beaty