Cultural Crusaders

The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.
(Romans 2:24 – ESV)

In the Christian world today some leaders have an undying passion, but it is the wrong order of things. They have a passion for the temporal results of Jesus put before the eternal relationship with Jesus. What we are taking about are those Christians who are on a moral crusade, out to fulfill some so called cultural mandate, seeing it as part of, and by extension coming before the Great Commission. They want to reclaim the city, town, or country for Christ. They don’t realize that it starts one heart at a time. We could have the most moral society we can imagine, and all its citizens on the road to hell.

We ought to have a passion for the lost, which results in a moral and ethical society, rather than a passion for a moral and ethical society, which results in a passion against the lost. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t use our votes to try and change the political landscape; it means that we need to be realistic, and spiritually minded as to what ultimately are the most important things. What is more important, the Ten Commandments and prayer in schools, or going out and witnessing to someone, and living the gospel yourself? Yes, we need to preach sin, judgment, hell, and all that, and this is indeed what Paul is doing, but amidst the bad news, we must also give the good news of the gospel, which is where Paul started and where Paul is headed.

Yes, Paul sure does spend a lot of time on why we are all so bad, but he will spend much more time on why Christ is so good. You know, don’t you just get sick and tired of people who point out all the problems of society but don’t give any answers they just blame “the other guy”? Well that is what Paul is saying not to do, don’t be like these Jews and moralists, and those like them today that just point out the evil, point them to the good, and it isn’t you, it is Jesus. Lets not be like the rest of the world, lets not just point at the problem without offering a solution, and the ultimate solution, and indeed, the only solution for your salvation is Jesus Christ.

As Christians we are often the same way they were. Trying to change society without changing men’s hearts is hypocrisy. Most just talk about how good we are and how bad society is, or just talk about how bad society is, which is still implying the same thing, that we are not. Well what do you expect them to do, they may have common grace, so it is not as bad as it could be, but they do not have saving grace, they are not regenerated, they are not born again, and that is what they need. We don’t need reformation we need transformation. Efforts at social harmony should not neglect the importance of changing human hearts. Trying to change society without renewing our own minds is hypocrisy as well. Don’t fool yourself.