4 Things the Church in America Must Remove to Recapture Its Influence
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Recently I woke up and I sat on my sofa where I usually pray. For this morning, my intention was to pray for our nation. As I sat there, I became a little miffed because for that moment in prayer, I had no idea how to pray. For many of you that might seem strange, but as I have observed what has been happening in our country – and especially in the church over the last few years – maybe that’s not so strange after all. As I sat and thought some more, my heart began to break not just over the direction of our country, but because it feels like the church in America has lost its impact.
The easy road to take would be to blame it on persecution, religious liberty being under attack, or even cancel culture; these must be the reasons the church is not as impactful as it used to be. While these things may play a role, they are only symptoms – they are not the real cause. To get to the heart of the matter, I had to remember something Jesus said in Matthew 7.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).
I think recently we have spent a lot of time looking at the specks and we have ignored the planks. I believe, and maybe I am just too simple to not believe this, if we look at the planks in the eyes of the church and remove them, we will see clearly to be the salt and light Jesus has called us to be, and regain our influence in the culture.
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4 Planks the Church Must Remove from Its Eyes
1. The Plank of Isolation
Someone recently sent me a website of a person who was promoting that Christians should form their own communities and live together, separated from those who don’t believe, and wait for Jesus to return. When I read this, I thought this is about as far from what Jesus taught us and modeled for us as we can get. Remember this command.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
We have been charged with making disciples of all nations. The last time I checked, making disciples doesn’t happen in isolation, it happens with engagement. When Jesus walked the earth, he was constantly engaging with sinners. Here is one example.
“Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Mark 2:13-17).
I hope you see what Jesus did. He chose to eat with sinners, and what many people thought were the worst of sinners – the tax collectors. I will ask you point blank. When was the last time you sat down at a “sinners” house and had a meal or engaged them? Let me ask you another question. When was the last time you complained about them?
We are far more prone to act like the Pharisees than to act like Jesus. When we do, we lose our impact. We must be willing to engage those who don’t know Jesus and meet them where they are. Our goal should not be to demonize but to evangelize and make disciples. After all, as Jesus said right after this, it is not the healthy who need a doctor but the ones who are sick.
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2. The Plank of Political Hypocrisy
Political hypocrisy has nothing to do with who you voted for or which party you belong to. The truth of politics in America is that regardless of which party you are affiliated with, we don’t hold all political candidates to the same standard. The even sadder part is the church has fallen into this line. It is the difference between law and grace. For the ones we like and voted for, we treat them with grace. They are allowed to make mistakes because they are human and are prone to error. For the ones we don’t like or didn’t vote for, we throw the law at them. You see what they did, they should know better, they don’t deserve to be in office, remove them.
Jesus has a word for this type of thinking; it is called hypocrisy. If we are going to have real impact in our culture, we must hold all candidates to the same level of accountability. This applies whether you voted for them or not and whether you like them or not. If they do good, recognize it. If they don’t, acknowledge it. But either way hold them accountable to the same standard.
If we are going to be people of character and integrity, then our standards of accountability cannot change based on who is in office. Everyone must be held to the same standard. When we don’t do this, our faith looks shallow and weak and that type of faith will not impact or transform anyone.
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3. The Plank of Hating Your Enemy
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-45a).
It doesn’t take much effort to hear the complaints and the frustrations of those who are fighting against what is happening in our society. Between the various forms of media, podcasts, conferences, and conventions, the lines on each side are clearly drawn marking who is friend and who is foe.
Strangely missing from those in the church, at least I haven’t heard it much, is this command from Jesus. How about praying for those who you disagree with or the ones who you feel are leading the persecution? Isn’t it interesting Jesus didn’t say pray against them, he said pray for them. The problem is we have taken a spiritual foe, put a human face on it and made the person the enemy. As long as we keep attacking “those” people on the other side (which is opposite of whatever side you are on), our ability to declare the message of the gospel becomes less and less effective.
I am not saying we don’t address issues in our society, because we should, but we must do so realizing our first allegiance is to Jesus Christ and his mission of making disciples. As believers everything else must come after that.
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4. The Plank of Not Loving Each Other
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
If there has been one plank sticking out of the eye of the church, this is it. By far the biggest witness we can have as believers is that we would love each other. Unfortunately, this has become the most difficult thing for us to do. Before you say I love my neighbor, let me remind you what love is.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
For a moment, think of all the fights Christians have had in the public arena over the last few years. Fights in media and social media over political candidates, Covid, a myriad of other issues and the list goes on and on. These are the fights we are having with each other. Does this look like love to you?
What is so fascinating about what Jesus said is he declared the world will know we are his disciples not by how we vote, not by which candidate we support, not by which side of the argument we take, but by how we love each other. Differences of opinion are going to be baked into any group of people because we are individuals who may not always see things the same way. This is true of social issues, political issues and believe it or not even Biblical issues. There are absolutes in Scripture which are black and white, but there are some grey areas that leave room for differing points of view.
Regardless these things should not cause us to fight and argue and devour each other. When we behave in this manner, we are doing exactly the opposite of what Jesus commanded us to do, and guess who’s watching? The world is watching, and when they see Christians behaving like this, it becomes obvious why our witness is losing its impact.
Final Thought
I will close with this. We are called to be salt and light. Regardless of what happens in our culture, no one can make you lose your saltiness, and no one can turn your light out. The only one who can allow that to happen is you, so don’t let it happen. Keep letting your light shine, just do it in a way that looks like Jesus. When we become people that look and act like Jesus then regardless of what is happening in our society, or what anyone tries to do, you will always be able to impact those around you.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
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