Reformation Goals v. Reformation Process

I’ve been noticing lately a whole lot of tension between “Christian” people with regards to how this nation’s ills are going to be addressed. I put the quotation marks around the word “Christian” because there is a broad definition at work as to what that truly means and how one is defined. My purpose, at the moment, is not to untangle the use of the word “Christian”, but rather speak to the tension of how a Christian is to go about reforming a nation and engaging a culture. Let me give some quick illustrations as to what I mean…

Take, for example, the abortion issue. The goal is to eradicate abortion. There seems to be broad acceptance of that goal amongst numerous pro-life groups. The process as to how that gets done is another story. Some believe that incremental legislation and regulation is the means to reach the goal. Others maintain that larger, immediate steps is the better strategy forward. It has caused no small debate. Or let’s take the conflict over religious liberty and sexual anarchy. The goal is to love and bring a sexually confused generation to the transforming power of Christ. Again, there seems to be broad acceptance of that goal. The process as to how we do that is polarizing. Some advocate tolerance and acceptance of such individuals by serving their needs and demonstrating some type of “loving, compassion”. Others maintain that truth needs to be adhered to and a conscientious objection to participate in their event is a better path of witnessing which ultimately sets people free. Finally, there is the current election. Many people accept the broad goal that America is in trouble and needs solid Christian leadership at the helm of the ship. The process has boiled down to electing a questionable conservative whom we hope will do the right thing and keep who we know to be the bad one from the office -or- empower a qualified third candidate to office or perhaps even “write-in” a candidate that better represents our views and concerns. Take it from me…this one has caused an uproar in the Christian community.

What’s going on?

Answer…

It’s revealing the extent pragmatism has been assimilated into our worldview as believers. It’s the battle of reformation goals versus reformation process. It’s recognizing that many of us desire to see the same things, but how we see getting there is world’s apart.

I have wrestled with this battle and candidly still wrestle to some extent with how the church should move forward in reformation activity. I will not presume to have all the answers, but I do think I can ask some questions in this regard and lay out on this blog post the mental processing we need to embrace to move forward. Let me suggest these FOUR:

1. Is it time to consider a new strategy and tactic in reformation activity?

For me, the answer is “yes”. God, of course, never changes. This is why the goals of reformation are set. God has a standard that He calls us to live by. Strategy and tactics do and should change. All through the Scripture we see battles fought by God’s people. Almost without exception, every time the people of God went into a battle the Lord gave them a different strategy. It appears to me the Lord did that in order to keep the people dependent upon Him and not trusting in their cleverness or pragmatism.

America has been facing challenges for over a generation. The great social issues and elections of our day are rooted in decades of disobedience and rebellion. I cannot fault many of the cultural warriors of previous decades who did their best to honor God in the culture and find ways of halting what seemed to be the tsunami of change which has been thrown at this nation. Many of those strategies worked for that season. However, the time has come to consider a new path forward in effecting righteous change. We cannot keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. That is insanity. So, I would suggest that we embrace the notion that the time has come to try a new tactic. In my opinion, the abortion battle needs some new tactics. The same-sex/transgender revolt needs more than a loving hug. The continual acceptance of voting a lesser of two evil philosophy will not change the landscape morally or substantively. Every arena of challenge needs a fresh strategy if we hope to win the culture.

2. If the Bible is the authority for reformation goals, should it not also be for the reformation process?

There has always been a subtle sense in the reformation arena of needing to “help God out”. There has been an acquiescence to the thought that God is somehow bound to work within the conventional systems of government and law and therefore we cannot think beyond courts, precedents, two-party systems, and only two candidates. We refuse to seek God for a fresh (biblical) approach that may be staring us in the eyes. I have people regularly telling me that if I don’t vote for candidate “A” the sky will fall, the apocalypse will occur, and I’ll be in jail the following day. Candidate “A” may not be all that we hoped, but candidate “B” is the antichrist. I simply shake my head.

Have we ever thought for a moment that the Scriptures may teach us HOW to select our leaders and what qualifications need to be in place for those leaders? Why do we think God is bound to democrats and republicans? The Lord pulled David out of a sheep field in spite of all the conventional candidates that Jesse lined up for Samuel. We think that we don’t have any other choice and that God MUST be at work in those two parties. Sorry, I don’t believe that anymore. I believe God is at work in the obedience of His people to His Word and when they implement His ways in ALL THINGS, they will see righteousness unleashed from the heavens once more. It’s a matter of trust. Do you trust God’s ways or do you trust political machinery?

3. Reformation thinking will demand a renewed mind.

A Christian is not simply a person with a new heart, but a person who is developing a renewed mind. Old thinking patterns are broken and restored with a new, Biblical patterns of thinking. We do not drag into the kingdom our old ways of evaluation and prioritizing. We begin to think as the Lord thinks. We begin to see and respond as He sees. This is true concerning our personal piety AND our personal obedience. We are not praying prayers that simply drag God into our agenda, but rather we seek God’s Will and ways in order to step into HIS AGENDA. He has goals that He wants accomplished, but He accomplishes them, “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord”.

Unfortunately, much reformation activity is done in the arm of flesh with neither a sense of the Spirit’s direction or the template of the Word of God. We do what the world does, think like the world thinks, and work like the world works believing that God does it just like them. Oh, we may sprinkle our activity with a prayer, but our strategy is no different than a carnal or worldly person. Until we renew our mind to think biblically about abortion, sexuality, and elections, we will continue to suffer losses.

4. Awakening the Church to again think Biblically will be challenging.

Currently, much of the church treats Scripture like a lottery bin twirling with numbers to be pulled out at will. We find a verse and paste it on our circumstance believing that we can make it work in a context for which it may not apply. We venerate impressions, visions, prophecies, and dreams over the clear teaching of the Scripture and it is our Achilles heel in approaching cultural issues. The church needs discipled in cultural reformation before we can ever disciple the nation. However, to challenge pastors that their own thinking may need to be renewed is a tall order. No one wants to believe that they have thought wrong for years, but the trajectory of success for the church in this area has been less than stellar. Something needs to change and it starts in the mind.

If you have read through my blog site you will find some of my ideas (a few hijacked from others as well) with regards to reformation process. This blog is dedicated to getting these ideas out there and influencing believers to engage in meaningful and effective ways.

We all have the same goals…

It’s time to work together in the process to see them come to pass.