The Church
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.
–Matthew 7:24-27
Take a rock and divide it in half using a tool, take each half and divide those in half; continue this process and before you know it, you will have a heap of sand.
It is discouraging when churches become involved in social activism (a campaign to bring about political or social change). Is this really the calling of a church? And as a churches take on social issues, people will fall away at a time when churches can ill afford to lose members. If this has not occurred at your place of worship, be grateful and guard against it.
Those who support activism by the church will eventually need to justify their position by saying that Jesus was also an activist; as-if to elude that Jesus is on their side. By doing so, they are trying to serve two masters: The world’s way and Christ’s way.
The following Bible verse may be used to support activism within a church:
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.
–Matthew 21:12-13
Yes, Jesus was upset and He drove people from the church, but this was not activism, this was Jesus expelling people from His Father’s house which was being used as a place of business.
So let us look at a time when Jesus was on Earth and how He dealt with the type of injustice that we may see in our society today. Jesus did not command His followers to rise-up against the great injustices of the Roman empire; instead Jesus healed a child of a Roman soldier. And when a soldier came to arrest Jesus, a great injustice, Jesus commanded his disciple to put away his sword. Jesus did not rise up nor did He raise His fist in the air and march in protest for social justice. Jesus came to Earth for individual souls to save them from destruction and to lead them to life. Simply stated, Jesus’ mission is to save you and me from drowning in our sin.
Further, God gave Jesus the following titles: Teacher, Savior, Son of Man, The Word, King of Kings, Light of the World, and Lamb of God. So the church, as a representative of Christ, should not be adding to this list of titles.
It’s tempting for church leaders to justify moving towards social activism. However, what one person sees as a clear-cut issue, another may see as a misguided and self-righteous position; very seldom does a constructive dialogue occur. These social issues are far more complex than what some may want to acknowledge, or don’t care to acknowledge. If the boundary of the church is not carefully reflected on, then the church will divide and eventually become powerless like a divided rock turned into sand.
Instead of activism, a church needs to offer something which encompasses all by bringing all together under a common goal. A church has a place within it called a sanctuary; a sanctuary is a place of refuge and protection. Figuratively speaking, the world is to be outside the walls of a church. If the world is in the church, then attending church becomes unappealing and discouraging soon followed by apathy. And it doesn’t take much after that to watch members leave and not come back.
For me personally, and I am sure others as well, we seek sanctuary from the world. We are looking for something different than the world; a place that offers hope of a better place. We are there to gain a glimpse into what God’s place must be like, a place where Christ's teachings reign and the world’s way is greatly diminished. A place of unity with focus on Christ and His love for us.
Why do I say these things? Because we are to remain with Christs’ teachings which teaches us that if we are called to rise up against hunger, then we are to feed the poor without condemning the wealthy. If we are called to heal the injured, then we are to do so without condemning the offender. If we are called to rise up against racism, then counsel the one that is being persecuted and pray for the racist. Jesus spent His time with sinners, tax collectors, and even those who nailed Him to the cross; yet He never condemned.
We are to serve all as Christ commands because all of us share the one label God gave us, “Dirty Rag”. By serving all then there is no division among His children; we remain steadfast in our faith in Christ. We are called as individuals to reject our own personal sin and allow Jesus to deal with the ills of the world because only He is qualified to do so. By leading many individuals to the word of God through the church, this leads them to Christ and only then can society as a whole be changed. We are not to try to make change by condemning the offender; we are to counter their actions through the love of Christ.
But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
–Matthew 5:39
In the above passage, Jesus is providing an alternative to the idea of "an eye for an eye". He is calling us to respond to evil with love, not retaliation. We are to be generous and humble in the face of wrongdoing.
Don’t be consumed by what you are seeing in the world as it will overwhelm the soul. Our command is to reject the world’s way. As Christians, we are to stay close to our brothers and sisters in Christ together as one family. And once a church is on a solid rock, then it will be better prepared to move forward with seeking change in the world.
