"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. - Matthew 5: 14-16 (ESV)
We hear it all the time in church circles. We see it everyday posted on Facebook and Twitter from well intended Christians. America needs to repent. America needs God. The usual Christianism that follows involves some generic call to prayer so we can all feel we have done our Christian duty and move on to the next display of public pseudo-piety we have to offer. Churches across this land routinely gather in prayer for the country. The usual exhortations that follow display more of our political biases than a firm understanding of God's word. There are some truths that we continue to miss as Christians and as the church. America is not under covenant with God and never has been. This country was founded by a mixture of people, mostly Deists, not Biblical Christians. This country has a long a bloody history of not behaving as if they were a "Christian" nation. Is it still the greatest hope for freedom in the world? Yes but that is a secular hope beloved. Has it been a source of global good amidst the incidences of global bad? Sure but those are secular issues. Christians need to remember where our true citizenship is:
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. - Philippians 3: 20-21 (ESV)
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. - 1Peter 2: 11-12 (ESV)
We are supposed to be sojourners and pilgrims in this world - and in this country! We are supposed to live as citizens of heaven! My emotions range from amusement to sadness when I see Christians post vile untruths about their most hated politician and think they are somehow doing the Lord's work in doing so. The Bible says that it is God who selects all the leaders of earth - God. Our job is not to turn America into a theocracy. Our job is to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a fallen world so that some might be saved before Jesus comes again. Ultimately when you sift through the moral decay and the decline of America from prominence there is only one place to look to cast blame - the church. Nineteenth Century revivalist Charles Finney once said:
"If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it."
Oh beloved - Finney was so right. If you want to know why we are in the state we are, we need look no further than a mirror. The key verses are from Jesus and His Sermon on the Mount. We are supposed to be the light of this world because we have Jesus inside of us. Yet what does the world see when they cast their gaze upon the church? Do they see money grubbing televangelists that we all nod and wink at because we like their "encouraging" words? Do they see preachers with five private planes and 6 million dollar mansions preaching to the poor about sacrifice? Do they see charlatans cheapening the grace of God as a license to sin? Do they see the brash wave of young gun pastors who have made their churches so relevant and hip the lost world cannot tell the difference between what is supposed to be holy and the sin that currently has them captive? Do they attend churches that never challenge their need to repent? My fear is far too many see nothing different when they cast their eyes upon the Church of Jesus Christ. My fear is they do not see the shining city on a hill. Instead they see the same present darkness that surrounds their lives.
"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! - Matthew 6: 22-23 (ESV)
The eye of the church has grown diseased. It is no longer healthy at all. The worst part of it though is that the vast majority of the church that sits in darkness has convinced themselves it is light. As Jesus says here, how deep is that darkness! How deep is your darkness when you think you can discard the Word of God every Sunday and then get together once a year to pray for this nation. Let us reason and deal with the realities.
America is not going to undergo revival. The inherent flaw in this line of thinking is that it can "return" to a position with God it never actually held. This was never a righteous nation nor a Christian nation. Yes it behaved more righteously in the past and yes we had more Christians amongst us in the past but that does not change the overall truth. God does not save "nations." He saves people. The more people that are truly saved - not merely churched - the more the nation will take on a real Christian image. We need to stop reacting to a fallen world behaving like a fallen world. We need to stop thinking that people will get saved if we had the right politicians or the right laws passed. God was not kicked out of the schools! He is God! God was not removed from the courthouses! He is God! When we band together to speak Christian outrage to worldly behavior do we really think anyone is going to listen? They are walking in darkness and the things we speak of are utter foolishness to them! Then when you add in the overall hypocrisy of the church exactly who do we think is going to come to Christ? The first lesson I was taught when I entered human services decades ago was - you can't save everyone. The same applies for us as believers. We present the Gospel with our mouths, with our lives and with our churches. Then it is up to the world to decide if they want to mock God or tap into what they see we have. That is how it is supposed to work. That is the only real American revival we can expect - one soul at a time. Drop the silly political talking points. Drop the hatred of people you do not even know. Drop the picket signs and protest petitions. Pick up the Gospel. Preach the Gospel. Repeat. I can guarantee you this beloved. One day we will all stand before Christ and our lives will be laid bare before Him. He will not want to know who you boycotted in His name. He is not going to want to know who you voted for in His name. He is not going to want to know how many hate filled Facebook posts you had per day. He is not going to want to know how you railed against homosexuality or abortion. He is going to want to know what you did with the Gospel He gave you. Did you speak it and live it or did you bury it?
By the way - did you speak and live it correctly; will be the issue. Going to church does not make you obedient. Being churched does not make you saved. The greasy grace preachers would have you believe that once you place your faith in Jesus it's all kitten and rainbows but the Bible I read says to pick up your cross daily and to truly follow Him we must give up our lives! The church is enamored with the word revival but they have lost what it truly means. First of all, it means that you have somehow fallen yourself. One does not need to be revived unless they are unconscious or dead. That is where the church is today. So the first step in true revival is understanding your true condition. Secondly however, true revival must deal with one thing only and that is a return to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ because nothing else has the power unto the salvation of men. It means a personal return to righteousness. A personal return to wanting to live like a shining city on a hill so that the world can see Christ in me and some might be saved. To recognize the darkness living in me and say no more!
Revival starts inside of us and spreads out from there to our families and then our churches. From there the world may finally look upon the church as the difference maker Jesus intended it to be. Not a business with a CEO but rather the light of the world run by a shepherd. When they see that we are different from the death they are surrounded by they will want what we have. Not all of them. Heck, probably not even the majority of them. But all of heaven will rejoice when only one repents. That should be all the revival we ever need.
Rev. Anthony.
