Don't isolate yourself from the public square (updated) - GBC Pastoral Column #81

Micah 7:1-6 potently portrays the foolishness of placing our hopes in fellow members of humanity for salvation. In the context of the passage, physical deliverance is what the prophet has in view. He declares that “there is no one upright among mankind.” Princes, judges, great men, neighbours, friends, lovers, sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, and other house-hold members are paraded in a tragic procession of those who at some time, in some way, will let you down. In whom then should we trust? Where should our hope reside?

The answer is in verse seven: “But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”

As Christians our hope for mankind’s redemption, reconciliation, and restoration should rest in the one Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This means that if the abortion of our children will end, God will do it. If the one man/one woman/for life definition of marriage will be upheld, God will do it. If dictatorships will be destroyed, God will do it. If terrorists will be thwarted, God will do it. If persecutors will be punished, God will do it. If refugees will be protected, God will do it. And so on and so forth.

Truly we have placed all our hope in the Lord. But the Lord has sovereignly appointed governing authorities as instruments in society to reward what is good and to punish what is evil (Romans 13:1-5). This means that if in our society God will end abortion, uphold marriage, destroy dictatorships, thwart terrorists, punish persecutors, and protect refugees he will do so through government: Parliament, the Armed Forces, local councils, the police, and who-ever else is in authority. We are commanded to pray for them “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:1-2) even as everyone is to “speak the truth with his neighbour” (Ephesians 4:25).

Unfortunately, some believers have a tendency towards cultural hyper-Calvinism, a lazy and one-sided emphasis on God's sovereignty in society that has little room for human responsibility. Their hope in the Lord is quite abstract and although they protest otherwise, is concerned almost entirely with the spiritual to the neglect of the physical and material - a flashback to the early church heresy of Gnosticism. According to their deeply misguided logic, it would seem that God normatively rewards good and punishes evil quite independently of using any instruments and it is insinuated that Christians are foolishly wasting their time to be involved in any social work other than preaching the gospel. Even when it comes to preaching the gospel though, they have little tolerance for practical application and again the concern is only with spiritual regeneration not with any societal transformation. When it comes to cultural engagement and involvement, they have far more in common with Jehovah's Witnesses than with Biblical Christianity.

There are of course reasons for this imbalanced approach to Christian life in society and they vary from person to person depending on life experience, cultural context, and spiritual maturity. Two problems that seem to be ever present though are ignorance and apathy. People don't know and people don't care.

1. The problem of ignorance. Many people are utterly uninformed. Why? Because they do not read or pay attention to things going on in the world around them. Many people know what they know simply because of hearsay or perhaps something they saw on social media, and their thoughts are ill-formed and even more poorly argued. They have intellectually deprived themselves of the rich heritage they have as Christians and have practically distanced themselves from people, places, and things that would otherwise be immensely beneficial in educating them about the world in which we live. Because they are particularly ignorant of 2000 years of Christian history they are unaware of the sixteenth century Anabaptist critique of state-sponsored persecution and religiously-motivated war, the seventeenth century Early English Baptist campaign for religious liberty of conscience for all, the eighteenth and nineteenth century evangelical efforts in Parliament that abolished the slave trade and slavery across the British Empire and passed legislation reforming labour laws, the justice system, education, and healthcare, the nineteenth century Christian philanthropists who housed the destitute, cared for orphans, employed ex-convicts, and began charities still with us today such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Barnardos, and the twentieth century Christians in Germany who opposed Hitler, in the Soviet Union and China who opposed communism, and in the USA who campaigned for desegregation, ethnic equality, and racial reconciliation. Yes, the world could be much better. But in the common grace of God, with much thanks to Christians who dared to speak out on social and political issues, in many places it is not as bad as it could otherwise have been. 

2. The problem of apathy. Some people just can't be bothered. The easiest thing to do is to dress up inactivity with faux-spirituality which implies that while others are pursuing allegedly worldly agendas you are hard at work sharing Jesus with the world. For example: a couple of years ago my brother Regan's day job was being personal assistant to the general secretary of the "Keep Marriage Special" campaign. Regan is now General Secretary of KMS. Seeing as it was his work but also something of urgent importance for  the nation, it quite naturally was a subject he addressed from time to time on Facebook, Twitter, his blog ("An Everyday Evangelist"), and in preaching (when the text called for it!) and it continues to be. Over the past couple of years a few impertinent Christian youths have at times accosted him over his statements. "Why don't you preach the gospel?" "Shouldn't you be out evangelising?" "Why not tell gays about God's love in Christ instead of getting involved in politics?" He did not have to grace their foolishness with an answer as anyone who knows him would find their comments absurd in the extreme. In 2010 Regan was appointed as an evangelist by Grace Baptist Church Wood Green to support and strengthen several fledgling church plants by doing weekly door to door work, street evangelism, small group Bible studies, and expository preaching. Even as he worked for KMS, he continued to work hard at this, particularly in leading a church plant at Angel, Islington (where he remains today). Even more directly related to the insinuations of his detractors, he was for a good while employed as an evangelist by Hope Community Church in Soho, the centre of London's LGBTQ community. On the other hand, it was not at all clear what exactly his critics were doing of an intentionally evangelistic nature. At the end of the day, they were irresponsible young men who were possibly jealous of the level of trust invested in one of their peers, and likely felt guilty that they were more than a little inactive with relation to things that mattered.

Have you isolated yourself from principle-driven social and political engagement? To excuse yourself with reference to God’s sovereignty is biblically imbalanced pious narcissism. Are you sceptical of politicians and parties? Political scepticism need not produce public separation. Don't neglect your civil right to free speech, petitions, voting, Councillors and MPs surgeries, letter writing, or even if you are so led running for office. Get involved and take an interest in your communities. Even as you have been blessed, be a blessing to other people through which unbelievers can be drawn to Christ. Don't forget your Christian duty to pray for our leaders - whether you agree with all of their policies or political positions or not they have immensely difficult decisions and these are very dark days. Speak the truth - truth that does not leave the gospel but definitely goes beyond and applies it to all of life. Do these things not because God isn’t our only hope, but precisely because God is our only hope, as he works in and through us “both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

Some of the material here was printed with the same title in the worship bulletin of Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) 26/05/2013. It has now been distributed to the congregation in updated and expanded form. The original can still be read on this blog.