As we pause on the 4th of July to remember and celebrate how our nation began, we should also be mindful of where it is going. Those who have trusted in Jesus, and in turn committed our lives to Him, should especially take stock of what this means for us. In an age where the West is nearly totally relativistic, where truth exists only for the individual, we need to be careful that the solutions we propose to repair what is broken are not equally defined by individualism, relativism and pragmatism. However, we also need to guard against being defined by ideological concerns or assuming that our forefathers and forbearers have provided a mandate for an authoritative imposition of the Decalogue. We also need to be aware of the constant clash of Western relativism against the tribal and ideologically driven way of life in the East. As our world becomes smaller these clashes are likely to increase. Perhaps to fulfill the biblical role of being men and women of peace, a possible national and political repair would be to renew a balanced way of living together that (to quote Os Guinness) is defined neither as the Sacred Public Square, or the Naked Public Square. We live under a rare governmental system which generally reflects the will of the people. Should our goal as Christians be merely to turn the tide of the majority to support our way of thinking? If you think this is the case, then you must also decide what methods of changing minds are even legitimate options for a Christian. How we as local churches think about and behave toward those who are least represented, oppressed, or in need, no matter their political stances, says more about our faith in Jesus than a thousand laws designed to protect our own way of life. One is motivated out of fear of impurity, the other by compassion for those who don’t maintain God’s standards of purity.
This is neither a call for passivism, nor compromise. In our lives as church communities, as well as in our families and our individual lives, we must remain faithful to the principles of Christ, living wisely and alertly. Living this way may cause us to face rejection from time to time. However, my guess is that this rejection would be mostly limited to an individual basis if we as families and churches significantly fulfilled our calling to benefit our cities and communities. As local church communities and as families, we should be having significant impact in our cities, to such as degree that the good we do there cannot go unnoticed, eventually creating a reputation for good works and well-lived lives among those around us. These good works must be done with authenticity and out of generosity (often requiring great sacrifice of time & resources), with thought for creating opportunities for the gospel message to be explained, but realizing that those opportunities to speak of Jesus come only after we have lived together as His family, and our good deeds have created interest in those around us. Too often our reputation is defined by terms such as adversary, bigot or hypocrite; when instead our reputation should be defined by terms such as benefactor and servant.
