I remember sitting in Dave’s office discussing whether we should preach on what the Bible says about abortion. Dave thought it was important that we help the congregation see this sensitive topic through the lens of Scripture not just the culture war. I was hesitant. While I was confident that the Bible had much to say about the beginning of life, I was afraid of turning off people who might not be open to having their beliefs challenged.
We’d both met Doug and Helen, who were new to Columbia and who’d been attending The Crossing for a few months. They were involved in local politics and were publicly on record as being pro-choice. “Do we want to risk turning off Doug and Helen and others like them?” I asked. “Or should we just keep the focus on Jesus and not talk about controversial social issues even if the Bible says something about them?”
Years later, on the Sunday after the nation watched officer Derek Chauvin kill George Floyd on the streets of Minneapolis, we lamented his death in the name of the Lamb not the Donkey or the Elephant. That week, I received an email from a sincere Christian who expressed concern that The Crossing was becoming political. After exchanging a few emails, I understood that he had come to that conclusion because our liturgy that Sunday morning (and other Sunday mornings) had included prayers about justice and oppression.
If you were a Christian in the 1960s, would you have wanted your church to speak out on behalf of the Civil Rights movement? Or would you have urged the church to focus on Jesus and remain silent about social issues like racial justice?
These are complex topics that belie simple solutions. In a world characterized by political tribalism, it’s difficult for anyone, including the church, to speak without being accused of partisanship. It feels safer to focus on spiritual issues.
But it’s unchristian to stay silent when the Bible clearly speaks. It’s unbiblical to divide the world into the spiritual things God cares about and the social things that he doesn’t.
On Easter we celebrate Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. While that gives us great hope that, one day, we will be with him forever, that’s not what the Bible emphasizes about the resurrection. The stories of the resurrection in the gospels aren’t about going to heaven after we die. Rather, they are about God’s kingdom coming to earth.
Luke tells us about two of Jesus’s followers dejectedly leaving Jerusalem after Jesus had been killed by the Roman state. While they walked along the road discussing the crucifixion, the resurrected Jesus joined the conversation “but they were kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16). These two disciples unknowingly explained to Jesus all they had witnessed in Jerusalem and how they were disappointed because they “had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21).
They hoped Jesus was the Messiah—God’s anointed King—who was going to overthrow the Romans, fix all that was wrong with the world, and usher in God’s kingdom. They were right and wrong. Jesus intends to do exactly that but not when or how they expected him to.
Jesus’s resurrection launched God’s plan to bring his kingdom to earth, not to take people to heaven.That’s why he teaches us to pray, “May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
On the final pages of the Bible, we see that God’s kingdom comes to earth, the curse is reversed, the nation’s experience healing, and the garden of Eden is restored (Revelation 21:1-5; 22:1-5).
When Peter preached the gospel in Jerusalem, he told the crowds that Jesus “must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21).
The resurrection shows that God doesn’t reject his creation but renews and restores it. That means Christians must work toward the same end. It turns out that, for the Christian, justice and oppression are gospel issues before they are social issues.
It’s simply impossible to wholeheartedly follow Jesus and avoid cultural and political issues. Jesus’s kingdom ethic requires the church to wisely and judiciously speak up for the voiceless (Proverbs 31:8-9) and call the governing authorities to righteousness (Proverbs 14:34). You can’t seek the “peace and prosperity of the city” (Jeremiah 29:7) without getting involved in some uncomfortable situations.
The reason I was hesitant about a sermon addressing abortion is that I didn’t want to offend Doug, Helen, and others like them. I think that’s the same reason many other people want to keep the church’s focus only on spiritual issues. I agree that we don’t want to be offensive, but that’s very different than people being offended by biblical teaching.
Jesus was never offensive, but people were often offended by him.
He didn’t back down from taking on sensitive social issues or pointing out people’s personal sins. Addressing racial and ethnic tensions almost got him killed (Luke 4). He publicly called Herod Antipas “that fox” (Luke 13:31-33), which insulted the king’s competence and character. And he called out the personal sins of the woman at the well (John 4) and the rich young ruler (Mark 10). The woman humbled herself and believed, while the ruler walked away with his pride intact.
The bodily resurrection of Jesus means that God hasn’t given up on this world so neither should we. This isn’t the time to shrink back from difficult issues but to love our neighbor by working for a more just world.
Don't let Easter come and go without spending time reflecting on what the resurrection means for you. Read more about how to prepare your heart for Easter.
