\tBut you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\tThe Holy Spirit is said to empower the Christian to act as a witness of Jesus (John 15:26-27 and 5:6-9). One of the Holy Spirit\u2019s primary roles on the planet is to refer people to Jesus. Jesus is the focus of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus is the focus of the Church (Acts 4:33, 10:42-43, 23:11 and Matthew 28:18-20).<\/p>\n
\tJesus receives all authority in heaven and earth. But to his disciples, he gives a simple command: make more disciples. Again, the job of the Christian, the mission he has been given, is one of simple evangelism, followed by the training of those who have been evangelized. Notice the order: first, make disciples; second baptize them; third, teach them to obey. <\/p>\n
\tObedience cannot precede conversion; obedience\u2014that is, doing good, is the result of salvation, not the cause. \t<\/p>\n
\tOver and over again, the reader of the New Testament sees Paul and others concerned with proclaiming the gospel, with telling everyone they meet about the gospel (Romans 15:20, 1 Corinthians 1:17, 23, Ephesians 6:19-20, and Philippians 1:12-18).<\/p>\n
\tNotice that Paul suffered severe persecution for proclaiming the gospel, even to the point of being in chains, yet he viewed such persecution more as an opportunity than a hindrance. We never see him railing against the authorities, or encouraging the churches to march on his behalf or\u2014for that matter\u2014on behalf of anyone. There are no letter writing campaigns, no petitions, no banners, no lobbying those in authority. Paul just preached the gospel and encouraged others around him to do the same and even to be encouraged by his plight (see 1 Corinthians 9:16, 2 Corinthians 4:5, Galatians 1:6-9, and 2 Corinthians 11:3-4).<\/p>\n
\tPaul is quite harsh against those who would dare to proclaim a gospel other than the gospel of Jesus Christ. He would argue that such people are eternally condemned (see Ephesians 3:8 and 2 Timothy 4:2).<\/p>\n
\tRepeatedly Paul explains his mission in life, and repeatedly in the book of Acts the reader can see how forcefully he pursued that mission. Paul\u2019s sole concern was with proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He criticizes those who preached a \u201cdifferent\u201d Gospel, a Gospel of works in place of a Gospel of grace. Paul stresses the nature of his message in Romans 1:15- 17 and then writes a summary of the message he\u2019s been proclaiming in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8. <\/p>\n
\tAnd what is his Gospel message? It is the good news of Jesus Christ, and his finished work on the cross. It has nothing to do with good deeds. Yet, as simple a thing as the Gospel is, it is remarkable how easily it becomes confused in everyone\u2019s minds.<\/p>\n
\tInvolving the church in attempts to pass laws or prevent people from doing things that Christians find reprehensible, confuses the mission of the church and confuses what its message is. Non-believers too easily get the mistaken notion that the message of the church is simply to be good for God.<\/p>\n
\tBeing good for God, or encouraging other, non-Christians to be good, is not the gospel. Paul made the comment that those who came preaching a different gospel should be eternally condemned. How do those who push political agendas avoid being charged with doing precisely that: turning the gospel message into a message of works and do-goodism?<\/p>\n
\tThe message that comes through from political activism by the church is simply that of good works; worse, it presents the church in the following way: we are good, and you, not of the church, are bad, and if you don\u2019t change and join us, you should be hated. Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.<\/p>\n
\tThe attitude of non-Christians to Christian politicizing is, \u201cWho are they to shove their beliefs down my throat? What gives them the right to decide what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong?\u201d The protest that \u201cwe\u2019re only teaching what the Bible says\u201d falls on deaf ears. Why? Because they aren\u2019t convinced the Church knows what the Bible says, and they wonder whether the church might not just be interpreting it to fit their own agenda. Beyond that, the appeal to the Bible is a meaningless appeal to authority and in the mind of the non-Christian does not answer the objection he has raised: \u201cWho are you?…\u201d <\/p>\n
\tWhat some churches do in politics or in speaking against sin stands in sharp contrast to the approaches one sees in the New Testament. <\/p>\n
\tPaul and the other Christians of the first century\u2014what did they preach? What sort of society did they live in? Did they try to change the laws of Rome through protests and political acts\u2014or did they try to change men\u2019s hearts one by one? Recall that in Philippians 1:12-18 Paul speaks of being in chains for Christ, but he does not speak out against the laws of Rome that had put him there. When he stood before the crowd in Acts 21:37-22:21 he spoke the message of the Gospel by beginning to give his own personal testimony. \t<\/p>\n
\tNotice Paul\u2019s approach in Athens in Acts 17. He did not berate them about the fact they worshipped idols. He did not talk to them about their bisexuality or homosexuality. Instead, he presented the gospel in a way that they could understand it, using an idol and Greek poets to illustrate his sermon.<\/p>\n
\tThe relationship between the church and the world according to the Bible is not particularly cordial (notice 1 John 3:13, 4:5-6). In fact, we are informed repeatedly that the church and its members are likely to be hated.<\/p>\n
\tThe Christian is not really a part of the world. He or she walks around in it, but he or she is essentially a stranger and is alienated from it; he or she no longer fits (see 1 Peter 1:1, 17, and 2:11).<\/p>\n
\tThe writers of the New Testament point out that the world\u2019s methods, the world\u2019s attitudes and even the world\u2019s sin are something Christians should not be a part of (2 Corinthians 10:2-4). Jesus tells Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).<\/p>\n
\tNotice the interesting point that Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 5:12, when he asks the question, \u201cwhat business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?\u201d Yet, oddly enough, the church has been doing precisely that off and on for hundreds and hundreds of years. The church has its own agenda, its own citizenship; the world is passing away and so are the things in the world. Therefore, the focus of the church must be on the eternal kingdom, not the temporal issues at hand. The church\u2019s sole agenda is to bring more people into itself. Sin in the world around us is not an issue\u2014after all, Jesus died for the sins of the world.<\/p>\n
You want to fix the world? Fix a life, fill an empty belly, bind a wound. There\u2019s a whole world in every life you salvage. Love your neighbor as yourself. When you fix the lives of individuals\u2014it tends to add up, and even multiply in unexpected ways. Within three hundred years of Paul, the Roman Empire\u2014and the world–was radically transformed, and not through petitions or lobbying, but by proclaiming the gospel and helping the helpless one by one. Expecting the government to somehow save you or fix the problems in society that annoy you is putting your trust in a false and failed deity. Why would you expect the government to do the work of the church? That’s not the government’s job.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/plugins\/send-to-kindle\/media\/white-15.png\")
Send to Kindle<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many years ago an associate pastor at a small church mentioned that there was a petition on the back table for FOCA\u2014the Freedom of Choice Act; he explained that the members might want to check it out \u201cfor your information.\u201d … Continue reading