Saving Society
If you like to worry, the world offers a buffet of things to worry about. Healthcare availability and affordability, racism and social justice, college affordability and student debt, voting rights and election integrity, climate change and green energy, gun violence and gun control, poverty and homelessness, sexual abuse and human trafficking, and many, many more. Some of these issues are real, and some are not. Some are significant issues for Christians, and some are not. We live in a strange world where social issues are invented for the sake of causing chaos and controlling people.
Not all social issues need to be taken seriously. One advocacy organization listed speciesism in the top 15 most important social issues of our time. They said, “
Speciesism exists all around us: animals are used as food, amusement, and laboratory test subjects. They are frequently regarded as “less than” people, and so as worthless commodities. In actuality, they are other creatures with rights and emotions who share our world with us.
Should animals be abused? No, but nor should they be treated as sentient creatures with equal rights and emotions. Our society is beginning to look strikingly similar to the one described in Romans 1:24-25:
Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
What should we do about this broken society? Be careful because there is a real danger in getting distracted. Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:4, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” We cannot risk over-investing in things that will not pay back any eternal, spiritual rewards. I may have an opinion on the economy, but it’s not really a Christian issue. It’s not relevant to my faith or salvation. My opinion may be informed by biblical principles, and my opinion may be absolutely right, but it’s nonetheless an opinion and not a concern for the church. I may have an opinion on the affordability of college and student debt, but it’s not really a Christian issue. It’s not a church issue. It’s not relevant to our faith or our salvation. We may have well-developed positions on many social issues that are rather important from a secular perspective, but we should be careful not to make them issues of faith, fellowship, or church business.
Don’t let things that matter a little interfere with the things that matter the most. Jesus set an example for how to handle these peripheral issues. Luke 12:13-15:
Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Jesus knew the right solution to this problem, but he didn’t bother giving an answer. This issue was not his business or mission in life. Avoiding covetousness is more important than settling an estate. So it is with Christians. We may have the right answer for many secular issues, but we must not let secular issues interfere with our mission and business as Christians and as the Church.
What about the issues that do matter? When and how does a Christian stand up to the godless propaganda of wokeism? How do you resist the LGBTQ+ agenda? How do we fix a society that kills its children? Extreme views on this subject do exist. On the one hand, there’s the camp that says Christians are personally responsible to be socially engaged and that political activism is a God-given duty. I understand this feeling, but there’s a problem: If the church begins to engage in political activism or social reform, where does it stop? How does the church allocate resources? How does the church measure success and failure in these activities? Is this what Jesus had in mind? If the church advocates for the laws of the land to reflect the laws that govern Christians, where does this stop? Should we also advocate for the banning of homosexuality? What about banning immodesty and pre-marital sex? What about advocating for mandatory church attendance? Do we really want a theocracy? Investing in social change may seem virtuous, but it is possible to overstate these victories. In fact, political victories might not be victories at all.
If you really want to do something important in your community, go introduce yourself to your neighbors. Show them the love of Christ. Let them see the peace that passes understanding. Let them see your convictions. Let your light shine where you are. We can’t save society. That’s above our pay grade. But we can be an instrument in saving people from society. Acts 2:40: “Be saved from this perverse generation.”