Still Point

I enjoy LBC’s Independence Day celebration each year as much as almost anything else we do. The focus on how God has blessed our nation and our response as faithful believers as well as loyal citizens is always a personal challenge. But more than that, our nation’s history itself is always an inspiration. Last Sunday’s “Homeland,” presented so well by our Music Ministry, was over the top, and I found myself so engaged in the presentation, so inspired by the music, and the realities of divine guidance of the United States down through our history, that I came away from the services with an even greater appreciation of God and country.

I’ve found myself thinking since then about how we as followers of Jesus are to respond to the on-going political situation in our nation today. Many believers feel at odds with the government. From legalized abortion to no-fault divorce to re-defining marriage to laws which seem to restrict the freedom of Christians in expressing our faith, there are any number of threats to what we hold to be true. In addition, what is clearly an encroachment of political and economic freedom has helped create a situation where the historical Christian lifestyle seems to many to be an endangered species.

So what are we to do? One of the great Christian thinkers of a previous generation laid out a framework for understanding all this, that is still current and practical. His name was Richard Neibuhr and his book “Christ and Culture” is a classic work that lays out the best way I know of for putting all this into perspective.

Neibuhr says that, essentially, there are five ways Christians have historically related to the culture (which includes politics!) around them. Christ against Culture is the way some believers position themselves as completely separated from the culture around them. They withdraw from the world in order to better maintain their own definition of spiritual purity. The Amish, for instance, strictly follow this approach. Christ of Culture is the opposite extreme, in which certain Christians believe that culture itself is the arena in which Christ reveals Himself, and the church best fulfills its mission by complete engagement with the world. Many liberal denominations follow this approach. Christ above Culture envisions the Lord guiding all history in such a way that culture itself, along with the Church, reason and human events, are all moving in the same direction. Christ and culture in paradox positions the church and the world as two separate spheres, with each doing what it does in its own sphere. They are separate but equal.

Finally, Christ transforming culture is the approach that says the Lord is over and above all that we do here on earth, but desires for us as His people to be about the business of transforming culture toward a closer resemblance to the His Kingdom. We do that through prayer, political engagement, and the willingness to serve in positions of leadership in the political system.

Ultimately, though, we must recognize that every political system is imperfect (as an aside, I love what Winston Churchill once said: “Democracy is the worst form of government ever invented. Except for all the others.”). Our hope rests finally in another direction altogether, in the return of Jesus Christ as He brings about the fulfillment of His Kingdom. Revelation 11:15 says it best, in the King James Version, of course:  “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”