Christianity in a Foreign Land
How the Church is Failing to Influence Culture by "Living the Gospel" Rather than Preaching the Gospel
Introduction
In Psalm 137, the exiled
psalmist asks, "How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?"
(v. 4, ESV). Crosby (2009) observes that, "our spiritual lives often
become disconnected from the rest of our lives so that even though the gospel
creates a love for Jesus and ethical behavior, it is irrelevant to the world
around us" (p. 3). At least, many Christians today can act in a manner in
which the gospel seems irrelevant to
the world around us. Dan Merchant's (2008) documentary, Lord, Save Us from Your Followers, demonstrates how Christians today
are transforming the gospel into a political agenda to be pushed on everyone
else in the civil sphere. For more and more professing believers, Christianity
is reserved for Sunday morning worship services, and the rest of the week is
reserved for living in the real world apart from our Christian faith.
Paul explains that the
gospel is, "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes"
(Rom. 1:16, ESV). Later in his epistle to the Romans, Paul explains that the
gospel message is not merely a way a life, but that it is primarily a message
to be preached. Paul asks, "How then will they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never
heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Rom. 10:14).
Merchant (2008) mentions Francis of Assisi's quote towards the end of his
documentary: Preach the gospel always, if necessary use words. However, Paul
does not ask the Romans, How are they to
believe in him of whom they have never seen represented by your good deeds?
Overall, Christianity's lack of influence on culture today does not stem from
the misuse, abuse, political contortion, or the poor example of gospel living,
but it stems primarily from a complete lack of the proclamation of the gospel
on the lips of those saved by it.
In this paper, I hope to
answer the psalmist's question and review what the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
teaches His church about interacting with an unbelieving world. First, I will
examine what the Bible teaches about singing the Lord's song in a foreign land,
and how that relates to proclaiming the good news. In light of what Scripture
teaches, I will unfold how the church is to be in the world but not of the
world, and how the church is called to be a new society that testifies verbally
of another kingdom not of this world. I will then examine Dan Merchant's
documentary and explain why I believe 21st-century believers have withdrawn
from the culture and reduced the gospel to a protest movement or moralism.
Finally, I will endeavor to explain how the church can be a better influence on
the arts, business, academia, and other culture-forging institutions of our day
by proclaiming the gospel rather than living the gospel.
Sing the Lord's Song
In Psalm 137, the psalmist in exile asks exiled Israel how
they can even utter the Lord's song in a land that is not their own, a land
without promise, a land without a temple, and a land seemingly forsaken by God.
The psalmist reminds his fellow Israelites that they are exiles and sojourners,
but a time must come where they can once again sing the Lord's song in the
Promised Land. In 2 Peter 2, Peter describes believers as "God's
people" (v. 10) and "sojourners and exiles" (v. 11). Therefore,
Christians today can relate to the rest of God's people as sojourners and
exiles in a foreign land. Christians have been delivered from sin and the sting
of death through Christ's mediatorial work on the cross, but we are still
sojourners and exiles in a land tainted by sin, death, and suffering. Should
we, then, hang up our lyers on the willow trees and pray imprecations against
the world that surrounds us?
Crosby (2008) explains that, "Christian community is a
means of making Christ known to the world, but it also plays a significant role
in how we are to live our life with God and in response to God" (p. 5). What
we do as Christians does matter. We need to sing the Lord's song in a foreign
land, and we need to act appropriately in response to its proclamation. In the
Great Commission, Jesus teaches His disciples to go throughout all nations,
baptizing and teaching them to observe all that Christ had commanded. Herein,
we see Christ calling the church to proclaim and teach all that He has
commanded, therefore, this requires words and deeds.
Paul, writing to the
church in Rome, testifies that, "I make it my ambition to preach the
gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's
foundation, but as it is written, 'Those who have never been told of him will
see, and those who have never heard will understand'" (Rom. 15:20-21).
Paul demonstrates that his mission is to preach the gospel to those who have
never been told of Christ or heard of Him. Therefore, as Paul's mission was to
preach the gospel to the unreached people's of the world, it is the church's
mission to carry on the work he started and continue to preach the gospel to
those who have never been told of Christ or heard what He has accomplished for
man's salvation.
The church must sing the
Lord's song, and we must make Christ known to the world by proclaiming the
gospel verbally. Throughout the book of Acts, we see the church growing by the
preaching of the gospel. Hardly any emphasis is placed on how Paul and Barnabas
acted before the Jews and Gentiles, but the words they spoke and the message
they preached is emphasized over and over. In Acts 14, the manner in which Paul
and Barnabas lived is not even mentioned, but the words they preached and the
message they boldly spoke receive the utmost attention from Luke. If the church
today wants to have greater influence on the culture that surrounds it, then
they should recognize that they must sing
the Lord's song and not merely hum it or dance to it.
Church: The New Society
Lyons (2012) argues that the linchpin of cultural influence
requires the church to, "recapture the historical gospel that 'Christians
are called to redeem entire cultures, not just individuals.'" However,
Lyons' argument would assume that Christians are actually called by God to
redeem entire cultures and that it is within the church's ability to do so.
Crosby (2009) explains that, "In response to God's call we first devote
ourselves totally to him and then, as a result of our devotion we attempt to
answer the question 'What am I to do in the world in which I live'" (p.
5). Crosby (2009) goes on to explain that, "All work is intended to create
or restore shalom" (p. 6) by promoting human flourishing.
I find both Crosby and
Lyons' views on cultural influence lacking a pivotal piece of the puzzle: How
do we seek to redeem cultures by restoring shalom without proclaiming the
gospel message? Promoting human flourishing is important, but many other
religions in the world today also promote human flourishing. Therefore, this is
not a way that the Christian church can uniquely influence the surrounding
culture. Lyons (2012) challenges the church to, "become connoisseurs of
good culture, recognizing and celebrating the good, true and beautiful to the
glory of God." Is Lyons, therefore, explaining that the culture has
already redeemed itself and the church merely needs to emphasize the good parts
of the culture and downplay the bad parts?
Kevin DeYoung and Ted
Kluck (2008) explain that for many in the modern church today, "Being a
Christian...is less about faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ as the
only access to God the Father and the only atonement for sins before a wrathful
God, and more about living the life that Jesus lived and walking in His
way" (p. 120). Christians do not influence the culture by living a life
that seemingly mirrors the love of Christ, but rather, Christians are to
influence the culture by making the church a society completely unlike the
world; a city set on a hill. The church is to be a society and a community that
is in this world but completely unlike it. The church is not called to
influence the world to become more church-like or more Christ-like, but rather,
the church is called to proclaim the good news and draw men and women out of
the cultures of this world and into the community of Christ our Lord.
Jesus prays, "I
have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of
the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:14). This prayer speaks
volumes on the subject of the church's cultural influence. Jesus gave the
church the Word of God, that the church may be sanctified by truth in this
fallen world (v. 17). Jesus prays that the church would be sanctified by the
Word, and He also prays, "for those who will believe in me through their
(the church's) word, that they may all be one...so that the world may believe
that you have sent me" (John 17:20-21). Jesus' prayer clearly demonstrates
that the world shall believe that He is the Son of God because the church is a
church of the Word and united by its truth.
Jesus' mission was not
to sanctify the entire world or redeem entire cultures, as Lyons argues. Jesus
clearly prays to the Father, "I am praying for them. I am not praying for
the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours" (John
17:9). The church's mission is not to redeem cultures, but to remain set apart,
holy, and grow in sanctification by the Word of truth. The church is called to
influence culture by being completely separated from the world, other-worldly,
and proclaiming a message that promises salvation from sin in this world and
the world to come. Therefore, Christians are not called to merely promote human
flourishing, but to promote a holy kingdom represented by the church now but
also a kingdom yet to come to full consummation in Christ's return.
21st-Century Believers
Dan Merchant's documentary clearly portrays that there is a
section of the modern church that has largely withdrawn from the culture and
reduced the gospel to a protest movement or mere moralism. Merchant (2008)
demonstrates that more and more Christians are getting involved in the
political spectrum, making Christianity more about how Christ would vote rather
than focusing on the mediatorial work of Christ as the sacrificial Lamb.
Christians are quick to fight for prayer in schools, the public display of the
Ten Commandments in courthouses and capital buildings, and against the cultural
acceptance of gay marriage, but they are slow to pray in school, read the Ten
Commandments, and confess sin in their own lives. Many in the church today are
quick to point the finger, proclaim anathemas, and fight against our culture's
prevalent sins, but those same Christians are slow to forgive, slow to love,
and slow to proclaim the gospel that they cling to for forgiveness themselves.
Jesus taught his
disciples that, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:17).
One day, Christ will return to condemn the world and cast out the unbelievers
to the fires of Hell, but that day has not yet come. Therefore, the church's
mission is not to judge the wicked to hellfire, but to provide the gospel
message of hope, forgiveness of sins, and love to all peoples. Many churches
and Christian organizations have held such a harsh position on gay marriage and
homosexuality that the American culture's understanding of the Christian
position on the subject has grown quite negative. Merchant (2008) reviewed how
a large Christian youth rally in San Francisco was ill-received by the
homosexual population in the city, and many of the homosexuals responded with a
semi-violent protest across the street from the rally. To a certain degree, the
world will always react to the gospel message negatively in some respects (e.g.
nobody likes to be called a sinner), but a large portion of the culture's
animosity towards Christianity is due to the church's poor record of practicing
what they preach.
Crosby (2009) argues
that, "If we are to live effective lives we must understand what it is
that Jesus expects, in contrast to what it is that those people around us, who
live according to the world system, expect" (p. 21). In regards to the
homosexual movement in our culture, the church today must understand that
homosexuals expect the gospel to be applicable to them just as they are because
they reject the notion that homosexuality is a sin. Scripture, however, clearly
teaches us that homosexuality is sexual immorality and that professing
believers must, "Flee from sexual immorality" (1 Cor. 6:18).
Therefore, homosexuality is a sin and Jesus expects the church to minister to
sinners in and by His name, but He also expects believers to put off sexual
sins.
The message, therefore,
that the church should proclaim is that Jesus' mediatorial work can atone for
the sins of homosexuals, rather than the message that seems to come across:
homosexuals have no place in the Christian church. On the other hand, some
Christians give the homosexual community exactly what they expect from Christ,
and provide the message that Jesus loves them just the way they are, and that
they can continue living in sin. Newman (2011) explains that, "This kind
of message may sound good at first, but ultimately, it may inoculate people
against the gospel" (loc. 1304). Overall, we must include homosexuals in
the gospel message, but not so far as to render the gospel message superfluous by
failing to reveal what they need salvation from. Homosexuals need the
forgiveness of real sin just as much as every member in the church before them
has as well.
How Do We Influence Culture?
Greer (2003) explains that, "As the Creator of the
heavens and the earth, Jesus Christ is the personification of truth par
excellence, the One who is to be loved and known, but never mastered" (p.
217). Merchant (2008) clearly demonstrates in his documentary that the American
culture resonates with Jesus, but they hate His followers. The church is
focusing on What Would Jesus Do,
living the gospel, and walking in Jesus' footsteps, but the culture apparently
feels that Christians are giving Christ a bad name. Therefore, it would appear
that the American culture is vying to know Christ, but the church is so busy
trying to act like him—and doing such a poor job of it, I might add—that the
culture is left hungering and thirsting for gospel truth. Merchant's
documentary shows that the American culture knows there is more to Jesus than
the church is representing, and they want to know who Jesus truly is despite
how the church tries to influence them.
The church today is
doing a great disservice to Christianity by over-emphasizing works and
under-emphasizing words. Too many Christians are trying to change the arts,
business, academia and other culture-forging institutions by acting like good,
moralistic, pious people. All that the church has accomplished is demonstrating
that Christians can be the most hypocritical, sinful, unloving, and judgmental
people on the face of the planet. Historically, the emphasis has always been on
the preaching of the gospel by spoken word to influence culture, but lately the
church has turned to works without words. Schaff (2011) quotes John Wyclif
teaching that, "A priest should live holily, in prayer, in desires and
thought, in godly conversation and honest teaching, having God's commandments
and His Gospel ever on his lips" because, "When the Gospel was
preached, as in Apostolic times, the Church grew" (loc. 65261).
Overall, we cannot influence
culture by living the gospel or by preaching the gospel at all times and only
using words if necessary. The gospel message is that, "while we were still
weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6). How can
Christians simply act this truth out without proclaiming it verbally? Without
words, the world is only receiving half of the gospel. It is not enough for the
church to merely seek to influence culture by trying their best to follow
Christ's example and be moral people. Ultimately, the church will fail
miserably to demonstrate Christ's love for sinners if we only act the gospel
out like a game of charades. Rather than opening our mouths and proclaiming Biblical
truth that is infallible, the church seeks to represent the gospel by
demonstrating it with their own fallible and still sinful lives.
Therefore, rather than
trying to enable our lives to speak the volumes that only the gospel provided
in the Scriptures can, the church needs to learn to open its mouth and preach
Christ and Him crucified. We can perfectly love our neighbors as ourselves, but
if we never proclaim the gospel, then we have failed to teach our neighbors
that faith in Christ alone is the only means of salvation. The more and more Christians
proclaim the gospel verbally to the surrounding world, the more and more we can
expect to see the gospel influence the culture that surrounds us. Culture
cannot be influenced by a mere game of charades. Christian lives—I can probably
attest to this most of all—are poor representatives of the glorious truth of
Christ's mediatorial sacrifice for the salvation of sinners. Therefore, we
change the arts, business, academia, and other culture-forging institutions by
what we say and what we do. Our deeds should reinforce the message being
proclaimed, but the church today has chosen, rather, to substitute the message
with moral deeds. The result is Christians are hated by the world, and the
world has no real sense of who Jesus really is, what He accomplished on their
behalf, or what He has commanded.
Conclusion: Preach the
Gospel!
Waltke (2007) points us to the Westminster Catechism, noting
that it, "teaches that 'the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy
him forever,' but it needs to be clarified that humanity glorifies God by
subduing the earth by words and by work" (p. 221). Waltke (2007) goes on
to explain that the cultural mandate and the Great Commission do not compete
against each other but, rather, they complement each other. The means by which
we are to subdue and have dominion over the earth is by making disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded (Matt. 28:19-20).
Therefore, the key to fulfilling the cultural mandate and the Great Commission
rests in how the church goes about making disciples of all nations. Paul,
arguing that it does not matter who receives credit for the faith of the
Corinthians, explains that, "we preach and so you believed" (1 Cor. 15:11).
The church has lost all
influence in the surrounding culture because we have abandoned the means that
God gave the church in order to fulfill the Great Commission and the cultural
mandate. The gospel is no longer preached in season or out of season (1 Tim. 4:2).
The gospel is not proclaimed on the lips of Christians in the workplace, at
home, at school, or even at church. Instead, the church has embraced the
Christian charade, and ministers teach their flocks how to better demonstrate
the Christian faith without words at work, at home, and at school. The church
expects to live holy, God-honoring and glorifying lives, and for the world to
fill in the blanks. Pastors preach more and more about ten-step programs to
healthier, more fulfilling, and more relevant Christian lives. They send their parishioners
to participate in kingdom building by living the gospel, loving their neighbors,
and by promoting human flourishing. However, they shut the author and finisher
of their faith behind closed lips.
The gospel message is
that while we were still sinners, God sent His only begotten Son to redeem
sinners and reconcile them to a right relationship with their Heavenly Father. Francis
of Assisi's famous quote, therefore, needs some added clarification. Preach the
gospel always, and if necessary use words—it is always necessary to use words!
Merchant's documentary clearly demonstrates that the lives of professing
Christians are probably the worst representations of the gospel to an
unbelieving culture. Calvin (2005) writes that, "we cause ourselves to be
despised together with the gospel, through our profane liberty of evil living"
(p. 205). Our lives as Christians are important, but they are meant to
supplement and reinforce the message that we proclaim, rather than substitute
and replace the message we are keeping quiet. If the church desires to
influence culture, then they must stop relying on their lives to proclaim the
Christian message of salvation in Christ alone and return to the Apostolic
example of proclaiming Christ and Him crucified on their lips to all peoples at
all times.
References:
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Crosby, P. (2009). Calling
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Crosby, P. (2009). Gospel of
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Crosby, P. (2009). Redemptive
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Crosby, P. (2009). The
kingdom story. A Public Faith Cirriculum , 1-20.
DeYoung, K., & Kluck, T.
(2008). Why we're not emergent: By two guys who should be. Chicago:
Moody Publishers.
Greer, R. (2003). Mapping
postmodernism: A survey of Christian options. Downers Grove, IL:
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Lyons, G. (2012). Influencing
culture: An opportunity for the Church. Retrieved July 2, 2012, from Ideas
for the common good: http://www.qideas.org/essays/influencing-culture.aspx
Merchant, D. (Director).
(2008). Lord, save us from your followers [Motion Picture].
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the gospel home: Witnessing to family members, close friends, and others who
know you well. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Schaff, P. (2011). History
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