Matthew 20:25-28
:
"Jesus called them to Him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and that their great ones exercise authority
over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great
among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you
must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to
serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."
When the governing authorities are in disagreement with our beliefs as Christians, how do we work to bring about change? Well, the popular approach that Christians seem to have followed (at least to my eye) is to try to get more laws passed by our national authorities. In a way, we want to curb what others do by passing laws. If I wanted to be a bit more harsh-sounding, I could say that we try to enforce what we believe on others who may not necessarily agree with our beliefs.
But is that the right approach to take? This really isn't an easy question to answer. Sure, there is a great deal of benefit to passing laws that echo God's design and desire for life. In some respects, it's far easier to live in such a society. It's familiar to us. Having a society set up in such a way also tends to mean that most of us are thinking the same way. It's a lot easier to convince someone of the right thing to do if they are already thinking along similar lines as us.
However, when you read the verses above, that almost seems to go against the way that Jesus emphasizes to His followers. Forcing others to live according to the design that we see is from God is merely that; forcing them. And not very many of us respond well when we are forced to do something. We tend to rebel against it. If we enforce the kind of life that our beliefs call for onto others, we can expect to meet some resistance, especially if they don't think the same way we do, or believe the same things we do.
Passing more laws to emphasize the Christian way of life will likely not have the outcome that we might desire. Sure, there are always those who are happy to follow the rules, but there are also many who don't want to follow the rules. And passing laws, or creating rules, is not the same as creating faith in God's design and desire for life. (I think this is a very important and very understated point.). The goal of Christians is not to create a society that lives in accordance with God's laws, but to share the message of God's hope for sinful humanity.
To that end, I suggest a far different approach than working to merely pass laws or force others to live according to our beliefs. Those still may have some value, and we shouldn't necessarily just give up our efforts to influence the laws of the land. But I suggest that the Christian faith fits far better when it isn't in "control", but is under the radar, so to speak. When it's a movement, and not connected to politics. When it looks more to persuade rather than to rule or govern. In other words, it seems like Christians would be much better served to work by influence rather than by force or the power of laws. More on that in future posts.
:
"Jesus called them to Him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and that their great ones exercise authority
over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great
among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you
must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to
serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."When the governing authorities are in disagreement with our beliefs as Christians, how do we work to bring about change? Well, the popular approach that Christians seem to have followed (at least to my eye) is to try to get more laws passed by our national authorities. In a way, we want to curb what others do by passing laws. If I wanted to be a bit more harsh-sounding, I could say that we try to enforce what we believe on others who may not necessarily agree with our beliefs.
But is that the right approach to take? This really isn't an easy question to answer. Sure, there is a great deal of benefit to passing laws that echo God's design and desire for life. In some respects, it's far easier to live in such a society. It's familiar to us. Having a society set up in such a way also tends to mean that most of us are thinking the same way. It's a lot easier to convince someone of the right thing to do if they are already thinking along similar lines as us.
However, when you read the verses above, that almost seems to go against the way that Jesus emphasizes to His followers. Forcing others to live according to the design that we see is from God is merely that; forcing them. And not very many of us respond well when we are forced to do something. We tend to rebel against it. If we enforce the kind of life that our beliefs call for onto others, we can expect to meet some resistance, especially if they don't think the same way we do, or believe the same things we do.
Passing more laws to emphasize the Christian way of life will likely not have the outcome that we might desire. Sure, there are always those who are happy to follow the rules, but there are also many who don't want to follow the rules. And passing laws, or creating rules, is not the same as creating faith in God's design and desire for life. (I think this is a very important and very understated point.). The goal of Christians is not to create a society that lives in accordance with God's laws, but to share the message of God's hope for sinful humanity.
To that end, I suggest a far different approach than working to merely pass laws or force others to live according to our beliefs. Those still may have some value, and we shouldn't necessarily just give up our efforts to influence the laws of the land. But I suggest that the Christian faith fits far better when it isn't in "control", but is under the radar, so to speak. When it's a movement, and not connected to politics. When it looks more to persuade rather than to rule or govern. In other words, it seems like Christians would be much better served to work by influence rather than by force or the power of laws. More on that in future posts.
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