We are drifting as Christians. The world around us is tumultuous, and strong influences tell us that we need to side with either the social unrest in the streets or the law and order rhetoric of our politics. But if I were handed a blank piece of paper and told to draw where I believe the church belonged, I’d draw a line right down the middle of the sheet.
We cannot join with the lawlessness gripping our streets and destroying lives and property in what is increasingly being identified as a movement against just police authority but all authority. The push to cast off existing authority is driven by a desire to entrench a new authority made in the image of those advocating for change. The advocacy is a good indication of the kind of authority they would replace the status quo with. Since God is a God of order and peace, those whom His Spirit indwells cannot give themselves to this way of thinking.
On the other side of the issue are those who rally under the banner of “law and order.” This approach will not solve or end the current cultural moment we find ourselves in. Consider that in 1970 only 1 in 400 Americans were incarcerated. That number has jumped to 1 in 100 over the last 40 years and increased both awareness of inequalities in our justice system and increased calls for justice reform. The law and order banner looks at mercy and grace as signs of weakness, so tough-on-crime initiatives are passed, and infractions that were misdemeanors a generation ago are now charged as felonies.
Lawlessness and gracelessness… there must be a better option for the church to align itself with. It just so happens that there is. Christians advocate for societal change through personal transformation. The object of our evangelism is the unbeliever who may encompass the ardent antifa member to the alt-right ideologue. We believe that society and culture are a reflection of the human condition, not a creator of it. Therefore if we want to change the culture, we need to change the hearts of the people who make up that culture. We do that through the means of the Gospel and compelling witness.
If I had a sheet of paper, I’d draw a line right down the middle of it and say that’s where the church belongs; that’s where it will be most effective. The church should stand between the warring factions of our fractured society and point everyone to the way of Jesus Christ.
After all, we know the world can be changed through coercive fear. We also see the world can be changed by legislative fiat. Despite the changes wrought by outside forces, we find that people remain the same; their hearts are unchanged, and the new realities will inevitably become as corrupt as the old realities they replaced.
We must go after individual people if we want genuine lasting social change. We must be in the world but not of it. And the way we retain our distinctive identity is to fully identify with Jesus, His message, and His methods. Because in 2020, if Jesus were to walk our streets, he’d walk right down the middle too.
Christians recognize that institutional change can happen through the coercive power of fear. Oddly both camps are philosophically rooted in the same soil. Fear motivates action, and fear of authority leads to rejection of authority and rioting in the street. Fear of anarchy and lawlessness drives gun sales, the prepper-culture, and political activity. Fear, fear, fear. Christians are called to fear not.