Recently, I have been asked
a lot of political questions. I have been encouraged to be more
political in my messages - to preach against or for issues, to encourage people
towards
information that would help them to get more involved politically, to stand up
for their rights, to recognize the doom that could come to their American dream
and to speak openly against political parties.
Let me explain why this is not on my Sunday morning agenda.
In the 1950 & 1960’s a
dramatic change took place in many of the southern black churches in
America. At one time, they were an ethnic group whose
churches most capably laid out an example of what true Christianity and the
true gospel entailed, but in the face of great mistreatment and
injustice, they were derailed. How did it happen? It came in
the face of deep and hateful persecution and injustice. While
slavery had ended, a landscape of racism still clearly marked the culture,
sadly even the religious culture. The Black
community was not treated humanely or given any sense of the dignity that a
person created in God’s image should receive. This injustice
clearly deserved action, but the action that was taken erroneously moved from the
community halls to the church buildings.
What happened next was
unfortunate. Sunday in some black churches slowly digressed from being a
time for equipping people to live in this world - with all its unfairness, all
its trials and all its persecution - in a way that would allow the light
of Jesus to shine out of darkness. No longer was the day centered
on the worship of a sovereign God “Who’s got the whole world in his Hands” and
Who could be trusted to cause the rise and fall of kingdoms as best met his
loving and divine purposes. The proclaimed purpose of believers shifted
from rescuing lost and unrepentant sinners from eternal bondage and punishment
for sin, to “let’s free ourselves from social injustice.” Clearly, many
of those unrepentant and unsaved sinners that needed saved could be found
filling the racist religious gatherings down the road who were fueling the
injustice. As a regretful response, compassion was replaced with
self-preservation.
The change sent the church
down a slippery slope. Rather than being
infused with love for their enemies, churches began to breed the bitterness
that their enemies were pouring out on them. Rather than lifting up Jesus’
right to reign in hearts, parishioners were told to focus on their
rights. Sunday became a time to strategize, to motivate and to move
people against the injustices of this world. It became a time when
liberation from injustice - right now, today, on this planet became the
objective. When this took place, the mission of the church was undermined
and generations were infected with a mindset that thwarted their spiritual
growth and disregarded the mind and heart of God.
Here is the problem. While Christians should be
concerned about social injustice, while they should be good citizens and vote
and while they should be proactive in their communities, this should not be
what obsesses them. Most importantly this should not be the focus of their
Sunday worship.
The focus of our corporate gathering is to worship the
God Who is constant and Who transcends this world. As we gather, we are
to recognize that this God might have injustice on tap for us as He did for His
Son, in order to help more vividly shine His love through us against the
backdrop of our own persecution. The body of Christ, formed
from those of every nation, ethnicity, tribe and tongue, all have one thing in
common, we have a heavenly citizenship and a heavenly mission. The changing of
society is not God’s primary goal here and now. In fact, this world is promised
to be dark, unfair and unruly. Fairness and or ease for ourselves is not to be
our focus at all, and certainly not in church body gatherings.
Instead, our focus as we gather is to be equipping one another to shine the light of the
gospel and share the truth of the gospel into the darkest and most hateful
corners of our communities. It is to encourage each other to
the mind of Jesus as we relate to a world that increasingly hates us, not to
breed bitterness against that world, the government or its enemies.
If we lose focus on what God has in mind for us, what
will happen? The gospel by which we are saved - and for which we
are to be ambassadors - will be lost. What we talk about will be
us, our freedom in this life, our dreams and goals for the here and now. In its wake the gospel of Jesus will be lost
and the fruit of the spirit will disappear. Don’t be
fooled! The product of an overly
politicalized church is not nearly as divine as one might initially think. Let’s be the best citizens we can be. Let’s pray much for our nation. Let’s follow our political conscience as
framed by biblical principles. BUT,
let’s not lose sight of the goal as given to us by Jesus. Let’s make spiritual disciples our primary
goal not political ones. If we lose focus, the game will be lost.
