The Gospel and Politics (Part 4)
June 13th, 2008
(By John MacArthur)
This concludes our mini-series on Christians and a right perspective on politics.
THE REAL BATTLE
We can’t protect or expand the cause of Christ by human political and social activism, no matter how great or sincere the efforts. Ours is a spiritual battle waged against worldly ideologies and dogmas arrayed against God, and we achieve victory over them only with the weapon of Scripture. The apostle Paul writes: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
We must reject all that is ungodly and false and never compromise God’s standards of righteousness. We can do that in part by desiring the improvement of society’s moral standards and by approving of measures that would conform government more toward righteousness. We do grieve over the rampant indecency, vulgarity, lack of courtesy and respect for others, deceitfulness, self-indulgent materialism, and violence that is corroding society. But in our efforts to support what is good and wholesome, reject what is evil and corrupt, and make a profoundly positive impact on our culture, we must use God’s methods and maintain scriptural priorities.
God is not calling us to wage a culture war that would seek to transform our countries into “Christian nations.” To devote all, or even most, of our time, energy, money, and strategy to putting a façade of morality on the world or over our governmental and political institutions is to badly misunderstand our roles as Christians in a spiritually lost world.
God has above all else called the church to bring sinful people to salvation through Jesus Christ. Even as the apostle Paul described his mission to unbelievers, so it is the primary task of all Christians to reach out to the lost “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me [Christ]” (Acts 26:18; cf. Ex. 19:6; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9). If we do not evangelize the lost and make disciples of new converts, nothing else we do for people—no matter how beneficial it seems—is of any eternal consequence. Whether a person is an atheist or a theist, a criminal or a model citizen, sexually promiscuous and perverse or strictly moral and virtuous, a greedy materialist or a gracious philanthropist—if he does not have a saving relationship to Christ, he is going to hell. It makes no difference if an unsaved person is for or against abortion, a political liberal or a conservative, a prostitute or a police officer, he will spend eternity apart from God unless he repents and believes the gospel.
When the church takes a stance that emphasizes political activism and social moralizing, it always diverts energy and resources away from evangelization. Such an antagonistic position toward the established secular culture invariably leads believers to feel hostile not only to unsaved government leaders with whom they disagree, but also antagonistic toward the unsaved residents of that culture—neighbors and fellow citizens they ought to love, pray for, and share the gospel with. To me it is unthinkable that we become enemies of the very people we seek to win to Christ, our potential brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Author John Seel pens words that apply in principle to Christians everywhere and summarize well the believer’s perspective on political involvement:
A politicized faith not only blurs our priorities, but weakens our loyalties. Our primary citizenship is not on earth but in heaven. … Though few evangelicals would deny this truth in theory, the language of our spiritual citizenship frequently gets wrapped in the red, white and blue. Rather than acting as resident aliens of a heavenly kingdom, too often we sound [and act] like resident apologists for a Christian America. … Unless we reject the false reliance on the illusion of Christian America, evangelicalism will continue to distort the gospel and thwart a genuine biblical identity…..
American evangelicalism is now covered by layers and layers of historically shaped attitudes that obscure our original biblical core. (The Evangelical Pulpit [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993], 106-7)
By means of faithful preaching and godly living, believers are to be the conscience of whatever nation they reside in. You can confront the culture not with the political and social activism of man’s wisdom, but with the spiritual power of God’s Word. Using temporal methods to promote legislative and judicial change, and resorting to external efforts of lobbying and intimidation to achieve some sort of “Christian morality” in society is not our calling—and has no eternal value. Only the gospel rescues sinners from sin, death, and hell.
I think I agree with Mr. MacArthur here. As the Gospel of Jesus Christ goes forth in the world, I believe, we as Christians should come to expect it’s influence to impact the social and cultural norms of society.
So, though we cannot transform a social or political climate apart from – or outside of – the proclamation of the Gospel message, the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and lives of born-again people should begin to impact their homes, families, workplaces, etc.
This was much of the contention & desires of the Puritans. They sought to live in such a manner that the Gospel touched every aspect of life. Kind of an all of Scripture for all of life mentality. As a result, the culture of Europe slowly began to change and the acceptance of God’s Word, his truth, gradually permeated into most areas of society.
I would agree it is useless to attempt an “end around”, where Christians try to instigate moral change exclusivly through social or political activism – and apart from God’s ordained means of true reformation. Yet, I firmly believe, as Paul and the other apostles went forth into the world, preaching the Gospel of repentance and faith – they too firmly believed that the Lord’s message of hope and salvation would have far reaching implications and would really and truly transform, not only the hearts and minds of individuals, but as the indivduals apply God’s truth in their own lives – the power of God’s Word would transform cultures and nations as well.
Amen! Very well said! The following statement summarized all 4 parts for me.
“God is not calling us to wage a culture war that would seek to transform our countries into “Christian nations.” To devote all, or even most, of our time, energy, money, and strategy to putting a façade of morality on the world or over our governmental and political institutions is to badly misunderstand our roles as Christians in a spiritually lost world.”
Its good to have the clear Biblical understanding on our Christian call and do accordingly lest we hear the Lord say, I don’t know you when we see Him face to face.
What John MacArthur is saying is that an eternal perspective is our highest priority. The Gospel of salvation from the consequences of our sins through faith in Jesus Christ and His saving work is the only thing that affects where we will spend eternity. With that in mind, our highest priority can only be to preach the Gospel to the world. It is true that as more people are truly saved from their sins that this will affect how they live, but this is a secondary result to the primary purpose of the evangelization of the world. It is too easy to focus on what is here on earth and the difficulties we must endure here as Christians. Rather, we should do as Paul commands in Colossians 3:1-4. ” Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” If we love unbelievers as Christ, then we must preach the Gospel to them so that for eternity we can all join with Christ “in glory.”
“If we do not evangelize the lost and make disciples of new converts, nothing else we do for people—no matter how beneficial it seems—is of any eternal consequence.”
I can’t convince myself to agree with the conclusion in the above quote. Everything a christian does to or for another human being has eternal consequences to either or both the other person and the christian himself. A christian will account before God for everything he or she did in life. The life of another human being may be influenced for all eternity by a christian person without the latter having necessarily preached the gospel to that other human being. For example, a born-again christian legislator may have caused passage of an education law that allowed a poor kid to go to college. That kid was led to Christ through a student ministry and was saved. Here we see how a non-evangelizing, non-preaching act of the christian legislator affected the life of the poor kid for all eternity.
The article may be addressed to full-time preachers, evangelists and church workers. But the dualist secular-spiritual approach to christian service always fail to capture the richness and potential “revolutionary” nature of Christianity.
Very well said, Dr, MacArthur! The body of Christ, as a whole, is not in the business of politics; its business is the souls of men. The politician appeals to men to win their votes. The Christian appeals to men to win their souls to Christ. Christ came to save that which was lost. We must do the same. The only way we can change the heart of a nation is through the “foolishness of the preaching” of Christ and Him crucified.
The Bible says, “Bless is the nation whose God is the Lord. Unrighteous men are not going to honor God by making godly laws. Only righteous men will do that, therefore, we must be fishers of men.
I am not saying individual believers can’t be politicians. What I am saying is that it is not the calling of the body of Christ as a whole. The calling of the collective body is to win people to Christ (through word and deed) and to present them to Him at His coming.
Thanks to Pastor MacArthur for this. It has been an encouragement. With “Christian” radio programs begging us to continually spend our time calling our congressmen, it’s sometimes hard to remember where we should be investing our time.
*IF* this country is to be rescued, it will only be through an obedient Church, returning to its first love and presenting the Gospel to a lost culture.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen comments on blogs that say that “the gospel is not enough”. . .in so many words.
Brothers and Sisters, the Gospel is not only enough, it is all we have!