“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.†(Matthew 28:18-20)
J. Vernon McGee, the famous radio Bible teacher, was once asked why he did not run for political office. He answered, “God did not call me to clean up the pond, but to fish in it.†I’m afraid a lot of Christians today, unlike the late Dr. McGee, are more committed to politics than they are to preaching.
Today’s Christians need to learn that our country will never be changed through the political process. Our nation will never change until men change. Although politics may change public policy, it is powerless to change people. It is only the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has the power to transform men. This means that the church alone, as the sole steward of the gospel, has the power to change America.
This awesome power, solely possessed by the church, is only wielded by us when we are preaching the gospel. When we exchange preaching for political activism the church becomes powerless to effect change in America. Is there any wonder then that the devil is working so diligently today to deceive the church into cleaning up the pond as an alternative to fishing in it?
Now, this is not to say that the church’s voice should not be heard in the political arena or that Christians should be politically inactive. We are, after all, “the light of the world†and “the salt of the earth†(Matthew 5:13-16). By standing for the right and against the wrong, the church serves as the conscience of the country and the preserver of society. If the church fails to fulfill this God-given role the country will become morally rudderless and our society will soon reek with the stench of moral decay.
While I’m not saying that Christians should be politically inactive, I am saying that our political activism should never be seen as our primary responsibility. Instead, it should always be considered a secondary concern. Our primary responsibility is, as it has ever been and will ever be, the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. Unfortunately, far too many Christians today are majoring on the minor (politics) and minoring on the major (preaching). Consequently, the contemporary church is becoming more and more irrelevant and today’s America more and more unchristian.
Pray that the church will stop minoring on preaching and majoring on politics and start minoring on politics and majoring on preaching.
