Teach / Preach on the Theological Mandate of Cultural Engagement.
Several years ago I decided I was going to preach through the book of Acts expositionally. Take my time and go verse by verse, chapter by chapter and get the whole book into our spiritual system. I originally did that because I wanted to underscore our local church roots as a Pentecostal people. What happened? I was blown away by the evidence of a church that consistently engaged the culture with the Gospel and the repercussions that took place with regards to liberty and litigation. To say the early church was not political is to ignore the entire book of Acts.
I do not have the time to dig deep in a blog, but suffice it to say that both Jesus and the early Church were far more “politically” active than many would lead you to believe. Allow me to give you some food for thought…
Many maintain that Jesus and the early disciples never worked to challenge the Roman Empire or it’s laws; therefore, the Church was never nor should ever be involved in politics. Let’s set the record straight…
Rome was an “occupying” nation. What that meant was they certainly had a role of oversight as a conquering force, but an occupier by necessity allows the nation being occupied to maintain many, if not most, of their civil laws and ordinances. Take for example, the role of America in Germany and Japan after World War 2. As the victorious nation we occupied both nations as they rebuilt. There were certainly legal boundaries which we instituted in both nations during this time period, but we ostensibly allowed the structure of government and democracy to continue as was established in both of these nations. We may argue over the degree of impact that structure had, but there is no argument that it existed.
Rome occupied Palestine (Israel) and while having boundaries on the nation of Israel it did allow the civic rulers a continued influence and authority. Who were those rulers and what was the government? The Sanhedrin…
Yes, the Sanhedrin had religious authority within the nation and they can rightly be described as the “religious system”, but they were not limited to that. The Sanhedrin had authority to do many things that indicated it’s civil authority. For example:
Arrest people
Issue Warrants for Arrest
Hold Trials
Assign Lawyers
Incarcerate
Apply Punitive Punishments
Set Laws for the Culture
This short list more than illustrates that the Sanhedrin had real civil authority as well as religious authority. This means that every time Jesus or the disciples interacted, challenged, or rebuked these rulers they were in fact…engaging the political realm.
I have on occasion used the story of the adulterous woman thrown at the feet of Jesus by the religious (civil) rulers as an example of Jesus challenging the judicial system. Their intent was to snag Jesus on a matter of the law which had to do with “stoning” the adulterer. The problem was, in this instance, that while they were ready to stone the woman, her partner was nowhere to be found (Last time I checked it took two to tango.). When Jesus kneels down and writes in the sand it is speculated that He was writing the name of the man with whom she had the liaison. The Old Testament law is clear in this regard that if indeed a death penalty sentence was to be carried out that the man would have to be stoned as well. The greater point of the story (along with the mercy and compassion which was shown) was that Jesus was stepping into a “justice” issue and revealing their inconsistencies and hypocrisies. He challenge the judicial system and its corrupt sense of justice with regards to both the punishment and the application.
I could go on but suffice it to say that there is a massive amount of Scripture to preach and teach from which is easily applied to the Church engaging the “political” realm. The pulpit is an incredible point of authority and influence with regards to leading the people into the arena. A pastor does not have to stretch any point to make this applicable to our current day and time. Preach the correct context and it will be impossible to avoid the practical application. And remember…Paul wrote most of his letters in a jail cell which were provided to him by a civil authority which he engaged with the Gospel.
Come on Pastor…take some easy steps…and lead your people to “salting” this important arena of life!
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