There’s a big problem in the Christian church but before we address the problem, we first need to identify what exactly the Christian church is. The church is, or should be, a couple of things.
- The Body of Christ – In a very real way, the Christian church is Jesus to the world around us. To everyone who knows that you’re a Christian, how you act and react is how they see Jesus. You are the hands and feet of Jesus in the world around you. All of the rest of the things that the church is comes from this one. Let’s look at some verses: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. – Rom 12:5 NKJV Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body—for we all partake of the one bread. – 1 Cor 10:17 TLV Now you are the body of Messiah, and members individually. – 1 Cor 12:27 TLV Now I am rejoicing while suffering for you as I complete in my flesh whatever remains of the Messiah's sufferings on behalf of his body, which is the church. – Col 1:24 ISV And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ. – Eph 4:11-12 HCSB Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also. – Heb 13:3 NKJV
- Grafted into Israel – This doesn’t mean that we have replaced Israel. This means exactly what it says: there is a tree that is Israel and we made the choice to be branches that were not part of that tree but have been grafted into the tree so that they are now connected and alive in that tree. It’s still the same tree, we’re just now a part of it. Now that we’re a part of Israel we can look back on the history of Israel and we should be able to identify as the people who were once in slavery to Egypt. We should be able to identify as the people who were exiled in Babylon. We should be able to identify as the people who were subject to Roman rule in their own homeland and still considered themselves to be exiled even though they were no longer in Babylon. That being the case, it should be really easy to empathize with the hurts and the heartaches of anyone who is facing tragedy and oppression. And, not only should it be easy to empathize with people who are facing tragedy and oppression, it is a Christian imperative that we do empathize with those facing tragedy and oppression. At the very least, if you see a Christian brother or sister being mistreated (or worse), it is your responsibility of a member of the body of Christ to look upon their mistreatment as if it were happening to you (Heb 13:3). And if our only tenderhearted responsibility were to those in the body, that would be a lot. However, our mission is to grow the Kingdom and that doesn’t happen by insularly loving your community and turning a blind eye to injustices happening outside of the community. Regardless of whether you’ve made the (hopefully) life-changing choice to be grafted into Israel, we are all created to be the imager of God (Gen 1:27). But this kind of moves into the next point…
- Ambassadors for our King – While this is kind of touched upon in the first point, overall, this speaks to that point from a different angle, and we will explore this in much greater detail in this writing. We are and have been, from the very beginning, ambassadors for God on this earth. As we have been created in the image of God, it is our job to be His representative to the world around us. The Hebrew word used here for ‘image’ is the word ‘tselem’ (צלם) and a lot of the time that you find this word used it’s referring to idols. Now, this isn’t to say that we are idols to be worshipped, you have to look at the function of the idol. Idols were a formed representation which the people could use to see their gods. Likewise, God made us as images of Himself so that, through us, the world could see Him. This is a function of the Christian church in that we are being restored to the original image bearing job all of humanity was originally given. When we take up the Name of the LORD, we agree to represent Him and His character. When we take up the Name of the LORD and we don’t bother to represent Him and His character, we have taken the Name of the LORD in vain. As ambassadors of our King it is our actual vocation to seek to do righteousness and justice to the world around us, as if we were performing the righteousness and justice of our Lord and Savior.
All of that being said, let’s get to the problem that the church has. American Evangelical Christianity is at risk of (or, already has) shifted its allegiance from King Jesus to a political party. More and more, Christians are spending more time paying attention to FoxNews (or CNN, if you’re part of the more ‘woke’ progressive Christianity) than they are reading the Bible or spending time in prayer. It’s been true for decades that most American Christian men spend more time watching football than reading the Bible, or praying, and that’s also an issue, but we need to recognize this current political gospel is a much worse problem. The problem here is that – to much of the Evangelical church – Christianity has become synonymous with the Republican party. Now, I don’t want to say that Christians aren’t allowed to be Republicans but, if you’re a Christian, your allegiance is to King Jesus and not to a political party, or even to America. Again, I’m not saying that you can’t love your country but when you’ve given your life to the Lord you’ve renounced any political system other than the policies of King Jesus. That doesn’t mean that you can’t live in harmony with the world around you but you have to remember that the world around you is exactly that… the WORLD, around you.
While praying for His disciples (and I will take a slight leap and say that this applies to all other Christians) Jesus said the following:
“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
Read that again, it’s important. Even though we are living in the world (and Jesus didn’t even want for us to be taken out of the world) we need to remember that our allegiance is to something greater. America, no matter how much we try, will never be the Kingdom of God. It’s time that we stop trying to spread the gospel of America and start spreading the good news of the Kingdom of God.
But, because of this relatively newfound allegiance to the Republican party, Evangelical Christians will side with the Republican party because they feel like that’s what they have to do to support Christianity. Let me say this as matter-of-factly as possible: That is patently false. Too often, Evangelical Christians believe that they must disagree with a Democrat because if they agree with the Democrat then they’ll be weakening the position of the Republican. Let me say this as matter-of-factly as possible: If a Democrat says something sensible, they’re allowed to be right, even if the Republicans disagree.
Let’s explore this further.
Righteousness and Justice
And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him." (Gen 18:17-19 NKJV)
There’s a Biblical model for Kingdom living that goes all the way back to the times of Abraham. If you live in the Kingdom and you want to act according to the will of the Lord your job is to go out and promote, and do, righteousness and justice. That is the way of the Lord. It seems that the political parties have taken sides and, in doing so, Evangelical Christianity has chosen a side, too. The Republican party has chosen to focus on promoting righteousness (just don’t look at their leaders…) and the Democrat party has chosen to focus on promoting justice (just don’t look at their actual track record…). The Christian’s job is to focus on both righteousness and justice. You can’t do this if your too busy defending your political party. Sadly, the Democrats don’t seem to care about Biblical righteousness and the Republicans don’t seem to care about Biblical justice. The problem comes when the Christian is presented with a situation where the Democrats are calling for social justice (or the Republicans are calling for social righteousness) and they’ve aligned so extremely with their political party that they’re willing to disagree with the opposing party just because they don’t want them to be right. The Christian’s responsibility is to stand for truth and do both righteousness and justice, their allegiance to their King needs to take priority over their allegiance to their party, even if that means admitting that their political party of choice is going the wrong way.
When a Christian sees someone suffering (especially if that someone is a brother in Christ) their response should be to do everything in their power to effect change for the person suffering. Presently, we live in a society where the Evangelical Christian aligns predominately with the Republican party and we’re willing to justify evil because they don’t want the Democrats to be right. When the President says something despicable (pick your poison on this one…) Republicans, who in every other walk of their life are practicing Christians, make excuses for why it’s OK that he acts that way.
“We elected a Commander in Chief, not a Preacher in Chief”
“We all have our flaws, but…”
This ‘but’ is usually followed up by an example of how terrible the Democrats are. Evangelical Christians stand for social righteousness unless it’s one of their own who are acting unrighteous. Righteousness is important to the Lord and the church is standing on solid ground when it speaks out, demanding righteousness to all who can hear. We need to not be scared of calling out people we might otherwise agree with when they do or say something reprehensible just because we don’t want to appear to be agreeing with people who we normally disagree with.
We are the Church. The Body of Christ. The ambassadors of the King. The very hands and feet of our Lord and Savior, marching out into the world around us to effect change and grow the Kingdom (not the Republican party).
So why am I talking about this?
The truth is that there’s an even bigger issue than conservative Christians making excuses for immoral leaders.
Justice
As referenced before, Christians who have aligned themselves with the Republican party have, by and large, neglected their responsibility to promote and do justice. As most of American Christianity aligns with the Republican party, it is not the intent of this writing to focus on the negligence of the Democrat party to promote and do righteousness. It is very rare that the unrighteousness being promoted in the Democrat party (or even progressive Christianity, specifically) is being promoted in the name of the Christian faith. That being the case, we’re going to go head-on into the Evangelical church’s ambivalence toward promoting and doing justice.
First of all, I want to say that, as a whole, I don’t believe that the Evangelical church is intentionally seeking to do injustice. I think, in part, the fact that justice is not being done for those in need of it is not even seen by much of the Evangelical church because they don’t see what they’re doing (or, in this case, not doing.) Unfortunately, when an Evangelical Christian (read: Republican) hears the term “social justice” they automatically hear, “liberal”. They hear, “Social Justice Warrior”. They hear, “snowflake”. They have a visceral reaction to the words because the Democrats have been the ones promoting social justice, and if the Democrats are promoting it then they feel like they have to disagree with it, because they’ve aligned so tightly with the Republican party. This should be maddening to anyone who loves the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Early in the ministry of Jesus, He went up in front of the synagogue during the normal time of Sabbath teaching and read a passage from the book of Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” – Luke 4:18-19 ESV
This was the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. This was His intended purpose. We, as followers of the Messiah, who have given our allegiance over to Him, are responsible for continuing to pursue these goals in His name. If we are to act as Jesus acted it is the duty of every Christian to not only proclaim liberty to captives and restore sight to the blind (you can read that in a physical or spiritual sense, it’s your choice), but we are also to be actively going about setting at liberty those who are oppressed. I can’t, in good conscience, look at the treatment of minorities in general (and black people specifically) in this country and say that they’re not oppressed. I’ve heard all of the arguments from (sometimes well intentioned) white people as to why black people are not being oppressed. I’ve even heard the arguments from very well educated African-Americans why systemic racism is not a problem. But all of those arguments can’t change the truth that I’ve seen around me.
I’ve seen black people pulled over while walking and detained in handcuffs because they fit the provided description of “black”. Imagine if police were able to detain and handcuff you just because you were walking down the street and you just so happened to be the same color as some white person who committed a crime. I have friends who have talked to me about being accosted by an excessive amount of police over a minor traffic violation (which didn’t even happen). I’ll say it, as a white man, if I forget to use my turn signal, I have no fear that eight cop cars are gonna show up and that a cop will shine a flashlight down my pants because while frisking me they felt something in my groin area (underneath my pants) that they thought “might be a weapon”, all while my 8 year old son and asthmatic nephew (who’s having an asthma attack) are sitting in the back seat. That’s not police work, that’s targeted humiliation and this doesn’t happen to white people. I won’t deny having been what I would consider to be harassed by the police. But, in the specific example I’m thinking of I was definitely stoned, and that cop was at least right in assuming that I’d done something illegal. That being said, I’ve also been let go with a warning when I ran a stop sign and told the officer that I did it because I was late for a party. If you don’t think there are differences between how black and white folk are treated by the police, talk to your black friends (respectfully) and learn some of their stories.
Speaking of black friends, when was the last time you reached out and invited one of your black friends to church with you? How white is your church? The church is more segregated than any other part of America. Do you think it’s right that there’s no denying that there are white churches and black churches? Yes, there are black people who go to white churches, but how many white people do you know who go to black churches? If you’re the one who’s unwilling to integrate, it’s probably you that has the problem, not the black folk.
Speaking of Churches, how many times has the issue of race been preached from the pulpit of your church? We can talk about abortion from the pulpit but has your preacher ever talked about the responsibility of believers to set at liberty the oppressed? I bet your pastor has used the parable of the good Samaritan as a preaching point but have they ever once related it to the injustice going on in the world around you, or has it just been a general “be good to everyone” sermon? Now, some of you will have heard their pastor’s preach that sermon about injustice, so my question to you is, what did you do with it? Did you hear the message and promise yourself that you were going to help out at the soup kitchen? That’s a start, but did you ever even call the soup kitchen to see how you could help? Did you hear that message and say you were gonna hang out with your black friends more because it pricked you just enough to make you realize that you don’t even have any black people in your life that you spend time with? Have you hung out with them lately? And, let’s be real, none of those things are even gonna do anything to actually effect change. But why should it be us that has to make a change?
It Wasn’t Me
One of the things we say to justify our inaction toward the injustice that we see is, “why should I apologize for racism? I’m not racist. I mean, I’ve never owned a slave…” I get it. I’ve said it. The problem is, that’s not a Biblical response to corporate wrongdoing. In the book, Be the Bridge: Pursuing God’s Heart for Racial Reconciliation, LaTasha Morrison points out that both Ezra and Daniel prayed prayers to God and repented of the corporate sin of Israel, even though they, themselves, were not guilty of the things they were repenting for.[1] We love to quote 2 Chron 7:14 in saying how we can turn our nation back to God, but we usually focus on the “pray” part and fly right past the “humble themselves” part. The history of America (and, no doubt, Christian America) is riddled with much guilt. And, more pertinent to this conversation it brings great shame when we talk about it. None of us like feeling shame so we have natural defenses.
For me, the biggest defense I had was deflection. Somebody would say something about somebody doing something to a black person and my response would be something like, “this non-black person over here had something terrible done to them, too!” Truth is, just because something bad happened to somebody else, it doesn’t make it OK that it happened to the black person. I’ve seen a lot of Facebook posts and memes responding to white on black violence by saying, “yeah, but, statistics show that blacks kill more blacks than whites do.” I’ll be honest, I’ve said those words in the past. But what point does saying it have other than to mask the white on black crime. I’m skirting around saying things like “your people” and “my people” because I don’t really agree with us being separate peoples, but there’s a subconscious thing that your mind does when you cover for “your people” and you’re not even realizing that’s what you’re doing. It’s not right, but we rarely even look at it that way because we know that it’s not right. And this speaks to the white mindset that we’re not white, we just are. We don’t really think of ourselves as a race (at least those of us who aren’t white supremacists), but we have no problem talking about the black population as a race. I don’t really want to get into the psychology of all of this (it’s pretty obvious if you want to take a minute to think about it) but white people (me) have been trying to prove to themselves and others for so long that they’re not racist that they’ve divorced themselves from their situation and, because of this, are sometimes unable to see what their race has to do with what’s going on around them.
Honestly, I think part of the reason we’ve divorced ourselves from our whiteness is for a good reason. It’s possible for someone to see embracing your whiteness as ‘white pride’, and we’ve learned that this is not something you’re allowed to be associated with. Because of this we have created a pride in something totally different: We don’t even acknowledge that we’re racial so we obviously can’t be racist.[2] Truthfully, I don’t see myself as white. I haven’t decided yet whether this is emblematic of the problem. I don’t identify as ‘white’ because I identify as ‘Christian’. At this point, I’m alright with this, but the second I stop acting like Jesus my whiteness will be showing.
What about when we find out that a cop shot a young black man and the first thing we wanna do is look into his criminal record? Why are we deflecting? Who cares if “he had been arrested three times”? Was he created in the image of God, just like you? If your kid had some run-ins with the law, and then unrelatedly, he was murdered, would you think the murder was justified just because he had a record? This is not Christ in you, speaking to the world around you. The Christian’s job is to do righteousness and justice, and to seek reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18). If an image bearer is murdered, don’t say, “yeah, but…”; go out and do righteousness and justice. Go out and seek to reconcile. Deflecting away from one atrocity by showing another is human but, as Christians, we need to step above that. We should be able to step away from, “yeah, but…” and step into, “yes, and…”.
Finally, we deflect when we hear someone say, “black lives matter,” and our instant reaction is, “all lives matter.” I’ve even seen people posting things saying that Jesus died for all sinners, not just the black ones. This response, though potentially well intentioned, misses the point. Yes, all lives matter. Yes, Jesus died for everyone, not just the black people. But in a teaching which most of us know[3], Jesus explained how, even though all of the sheep matter, the good shepherd will leave those who are secure to reconcile the life of the one who was in trouble. So, while all sheep lives mattered, the good shepherd calls out the life of the one sheep who needed attention. Or, in another teaching[4] which even more of us know, Jesus taught a much bigger teaching about the prodigal son but, when that son comes home, his father throws a party because of how much the life of his son means to him. Well, the older brother gets upset and basically says, “all lives matter!” The father, who still loves his oldest son and believes that his life does matter, tells this son that it’s worthwhile to call-out the life of the youngest son because he was the one who needed attention at that moment. I understand that there’s much more to that teaching than this piece of it, but I don’t think that I’m wrestling the meaning away from this portion of the parable.
So, do all lives matter? Absolutely! But, when there is a serious issue of injustice which is happening to black people, we can believe that all lives matter and still call out to those who seem to not care about the lives of black people and scream at them, saying, “BLACK LIVES MATTER!” This is the call of the Christian. This is the call of those who follow the Messiah. Actually, while this is definitely the responsibility of an ambassador for our King, there is more to the responsibility than to just say three words, but I want to take this opportunity to personally repent of being the person who has, in the past, deflected and replied with, “all lives matter.” Black Lives Matter. Right now, and forever. This is me, Aaron Baker, affirming that Black Lives Matter. I don’t care what you think about the BLM organization, the movement to affirm the value of black lives is bigger than an organization, and 99% of the people marching in the streets are doing it because they believe the lives of black people matter, not the BLM organization. Black Lives Matter!
What Now?
Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful. – Titus 3:14
Though the focus of the gospel of Jesus the Messiah has largely been on His death, burial and resurrection, this is not the entirety of the gospel. The good news is the message that God has come to rule and reign among His people, establishing a kingdom where righteousness and justice are the rule for all. This kingdom was accomplished through the enthronement of Jesus the King, by way of His death, burial and resurrection. Now, as citizens of this kingdom, our mission is to proclaim and promote the righteousness and justice of our great King. So, when in the Scripture provided above, Paul says that we need to devote ourselves to good works for pressing needs, he’s not saying that we should focus on all needs at the same time, he’s calling out the pressing needs. He’s also saying that if we don’t devote ourselves to these good works for pressing needs, we are being unfruitful. In the book Woke Church, Eric Mason discusses this verse and says, “We do not substitute proclaiming for action; and we don’t proclaim and neglect action. We proclaim and engage in activism that flows from the gospel.”[5] So how do we do it? What can we do to devote ourselves to doing good works for the pressing needs of the culture around us?
First and foremost, don’t be silent. In Martin Luther King, Jr’s letter from the Birmingham jail he says the following:
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action.”
MLK has long been the go-to for us white folk who want to show how we stand against racism but we don’t want it to get all messy. MLK was a pacifist. He believed and peaceful protests. He’s the one we like to go to. He has quotes that make us feel good about ourselves. He had a dream that his children would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. He’s a Christian (don’t take this opportunity to say, “yeah, but…” and talk about his failings, now that you feel called out). MLK is saying that you, the white person who loves all people (including black people) may be a greater stumbling block to the equality of the black man than someone who’s in the KKK. Why? Because you see it, and you don’t act. You see it, and you play mental games to try to figure out the cleanest way to make things right. The problem is that in order to undo centuries of walls being built up, some walls are going to have to fall. It can’t not get messy. Don’t watch someone die, and not do anything because you were trying to figure out the best way to stop him from dying.
Let’s get 100% real here, if you were one of the people who were filming the murder of George Floyd, would you have done anything. Is filming enough? As a Christian, what do you think Jesus would’ve done? Would He have merely kept recording? What Would Jesus Do? But, don’t worry, not all action needs to put your life in danger.[6] What are some things you can do?
- Listen – This may seem trivial, or easy, but it’s not either of those things. We, as a culture, spend a lot of time telling people what our viewpoints are; be willing to listen to the voices of people who are not like you and accept that their experiences have meaning. You’re going to hear some stuff that isn’t going to be easy to hear. You’re going to hear some stuff that will anger you. You’re even going to hear some stuff that you’re going to disagree with. Just listen. Don’t respond before you hear them out. Put yourself, as much as you can, in their shoes, and try to empathize, but don’t tell them you get it, because you don’t. I guess it should also be added to be respectful. Just like you don’t want to be your black friends representative for all white people, you shouldn’t assume that your black friend wants to be “Your Black Friend”.
- Actively Admit More Black Voices Into Your Life – Again, this may seem trivial but that just makes it all the easier to do. You have an Instagram account, or Twitter, or Facebook. Follow more people of color. Allow their voices to become a part of the building blocks that make up your day. Listen to a few podcasts that you wouldn’t normally listen to which speak to these issues. This doesn’t have to be all of your day, but it also shouldn’t be none of your day. Years ago, I moved from a city that had quite a bit of diversity to a place that had almost no diversity. After a few years I realized that I was noticing when a black person walked by. Don’t let your life get to a place where it’s so rare that you see a black person that you notice that something is out of the ordinary. And, if you’re in that place, acknowledge it and choose to do something about it. If this is you, that doesn’t make you a bad person, but you could be a better person if you branch out and grow your cultural IQ.
- Don’t Accept Discriminatory Language Among Your Friends – This is the hardest one yet. As you grow your cultural intelligence you may start seeing your friends say some things which you know are insensitive and hurtful. Don’t be silent. As a Christian, let the light that’s inside of you shine to those around you. The more people who let those around them know that hateful language isn’t acceptable around them, the less that language is going to happen. Of course, this doesn’t deal with the heart issues behind why your friends are saying those things but the light shining out from inside of you (the gospel of Jesus the Christ) is also able to change hearts, too. Don’t just tell them that what they said is wrong, let them know why that matters to you.
- Be A Friend – This could end up being the hardest of all of the things you can do. Jesus said, ” This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you (John 15:12-14). Now, 99.9% of the time being a friend isn’t going to entail getting in the middle of a situation where George Floyd is being killed in front of you. But we need to understand that if saving the life of my brother and friend means intervening and stopping it from happening, that’s what it means. Most of the time, being a friend is just going to include being the shoulder for someone, or the ear for them to speak to. I want to say that I’m super thankful for the people who recorded and documented the murder of George Floyd. I honestly don’t know that I would’ve been brave enough to do even that much, when the police were telling me to get lost. But… a man still died. Are you willing to lay down your life for a friend (you can look up who Jesus says is your friend)?
Look For Other Ways To Help – This isn’t an all-inclusive list. Look for more ways to help. Look for more ways to seek to do righteousness and justice. Look for more ways to participate in your ministry of reconciliation. Don’t let the conversation end here. As a branch of the olive tree that is Israel, look back on the history of the Israelite people and see the oppression that your people have gone through and be willing to look at the world around you and see oppression happening. See inequality happening. See hate happening. See these things and remember what has happened to the people in your Biblical heritage, and then remember the words spoken by Jesus concerning how we should treat our neighbor. If you don't see these things, at least be willing to listen to the voices saying it's happening to them. Listen to them and don't tell them that they're wrong. Listen to them in love.
Don't let your allegiance to a political party be greater than your allegiance to your King and His mission.
[1] P.67
[2] This topic is covered in much greater depth in the book White Fragility, by Robin DeAngelo. I don’t agree with a lot of the ways subjects are viewed in this book, but this topic is a real eye-opener.
[3] Matthew 18:12-14
[4] Luke 15:11-32
[5] P.31-32
[6] John 15:12-13
