Recently, some evangelicals have expressed deep disappointment with the impact of the Trump administration on our society. They observe that little has changed, the country has only become more secular and Christians’ hopes for change have been dashed. The Atlantic magazine has a good article about this here.
When I look out at all the personal devastation and aimlessness of the majority of American citizens I am greatly saddened. From my youth, I always hoped that American society and its citizens could turn to Jesus and know inner peace and purpose and joy. I went through law school as a Christian, recognizing the blessings of the Christian influence on our legal system. Perhaps this could grow. In those days it seemed that evangelicals had some momentum in society.
But short of a huge calamity in America, including economic disaster, it is not realistic to think this will happen anytime in the near future. Most have turned away from Jesus’ teachings. The great majority of Americans have embraced forms of relativism and narcissism that will not just disappear in a few years. Jesus’ approach to life is now a minority belief system. Perhaps only ten percent of Americans are faithful to Jesus’ teachings. This ten percent will not be able to produce a more godly society through political means.
Yet I know that we can still bring many people into the new nation of God in Christ.
The other night I was standing outside under a full moon, impressed by the shadow of my body it was able to cast. I also remember when I was young, waiting until a full moon to go fishing at Lake Nunnaly in Eastern Washington. The full moon gave us enough light to see what we were doing at night. Perhaps it made it easier for the fish to see our lures.
The moon’s light is impressive because the moon has no light of its own. It is just rocks – no luminescence. It is only because it reflects the light of the sun that we enjoy the light of the moon. Likewise, as believers we give light to the world, but the light is the light of the glory of Jesus. We only reflect God’s goodness; we do not generate it. This is our calling to the world. We allow God to restore His image in us so that we can show the world what it means to live in the image of God.
The analogy to the moon breaks down a little because it is so much dimmer than the sun. Another analogy is a prism. Light passes through a prism then splits into many different colors, displaying the range of beauty hidden in the original light. Jesus wants his followers to be very much like that. Much of God’s goodness is hidden to the world. We are the prisms through which he wants to shine his beauty and display the entire range of his goodness. When we are clean he shines through us and produces a marvelous rainbow of qualities that attract anyone seeking wholeness or goodness.
“In other words, we live out the beatitudes and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount for the world, so that they can recognize God and His Son in us.”
After teaching the beatitudes, Jesus told his followers: “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). Search the Scriptures for yourselves, but I believe they teach that this is the principal way that we transform the world. In other words, we live out the beatitudes and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount for the world, so that they can recognize God and His Son in us. This means that we are humble, meek, thirsty for goodness, merciful, holy, peacemakers, accepting of persecution, forgiving, lovers of our enemies and focused on the next age of love and peace that God is bringing.
This means that we passionately pursue Christformation by walking in the Spirit and abiding in Christ. This will change the hearts of those who see the light of God in us. If enough people believe then we will see a change in society. If they don’t then we won’t. Either way we thank God that we can be his lights and that he is adding more citizens to the community of love with himself and his followers.
I believe that this also means that when we speak in the public square, we communicate Jesus’ values. We also try to advocate public policies that fit with Jesus’ values, without using the force of law to make people act Christian or to preclude other religions.
If there is any hope for America it is in the youth. But the youth are turned off by the way that many evangelicals have supported Trump without calling out his faults. They recognize this as hypocrisy. I believe that we have lost more ground than we have gained by anything Trump did preserve religious freedom. Many evangelicals have been willing to sell their political soul in order to gain favors from a pagan President. If we hope to win any significant percentage of our youth to Jesus we need to be transparent prisms of Jesus’ teachings.
As we move forward, here are some principles to consider:
- Whether we believe en elected official is specially chosen by God or not, we still have a responsibility in a democratic country to speak out against gross public misbehavior by elected politicians. This means that regardless of our attitude towards President Trump’s (and any other elected official’s) policies, we speak out against his name-calling, bullying, fear-mongering, half-truths, lies, softness on racism, and admiration of strongman leaders like the heads of North Korea, the Philippines, Brazil, and Russia. We should honor every President but speak out against behavior that even unbelievers recognize as wrong. Even Jesus criticized King Herod.
- We passionately pursue a more just economic system where the gap between the rich and the poor is decreasing, not increasing. The gap in America has been growing for decades. Trump’s tax changes made the gap worse. Basic human justice requires us to advocate for tax reform and other changes that reduce the concentration of wealth. See my post on this topic here.
- We reject the strategy of demonizing liberals and instead find ways to build bridges of influence. This means that we demonstrate our commitment to shared ideals such as helping the poor, fighting racism (see my post here), promoting mental health, promoting quality education for all, promoting access to affordable health care, and promoting equal opportunity for our youth. We will disagree with secular liberals on many things, but a peaceful well-functioning society requires factions to live in harmony and goodwill even if they disagree. Christians should be models of this. It is at the core of the Sermon on the Mount.
- We express more concern for the health of our environment.
- We criticize the misbehavior of corporations, especially when they mislead or take advantage of the public.
- Rejection of science denial.
- Rejection of conspiracy thinking.
- Our congregations become centers of healing and spiritual health. We are not military bases for a culture war, we are not escapists trying to keep secularism out, we are not bible worshipers with lots of knowledge but little Christformation, and we are not centers for learning how to be successful in the world. Instead, we need to become skilled in transforming people into the image of Christ so they can actually live like Christ in their daily lives. We need to learn how to lead members into the inner wholeness that Jesus taught. In other words, we need to learn to make disciples. If our congregation is not succeeding in that then we need to change our conceptions and strategies.
Jesus said that the gates of Hell will not stand up to his nation (Matt. 16:18). This doesn’t mean that the majority will ever be followers of Jesus; rather, the gate is narrow that leads to life and few walk through it. But it does mean that we will continue to have victories for God’s transcendent nation of love as we abide in Christ.
