RELEVANT CHRISTIANITY

How relevant is Christian faith and practice to the world we live in? By that I don’t just mean its relevance to your life or my life, or even its relevance to the church – our church or your church. Lutheran theology has always recognized a two-kingdom approach to understanding our Christian life and responsibilities in this world. In other words we each live in two realms at the same time: one of civil authority and the other under Christ. And we owe each its proper allegiance. But under Christ what do we owe civil government? Only our civil obedience and our voice and vote when given opportunity to elect government leaders or approve certain laws or propositions, or can we go further on moral and biblical issues?

The concept of “separation of church and state” has evolved to the point in our day that Christians may feel an intimidation against their speaking out publicly on matters affecting their Christian beliefs based on Holy Scripture. This is especially true when there is conflict with publicly held dogma as in the evolution versus creation debate.

The recent passing of Reverend Jerry Falwell reminds many of the impact his “Moral Majority” had in the political concerns of the ‘80’s. His religious exuberance and appeal was offensive to “liberals” and of some concern to many “conservatives,” But in the aggregate one might recognize certain achievements in highlighting a number of Christian concerns while living in a freely elected civil state. Debate on subjects of abortion, marriage, homosexual lifestyle and others ensued, resulting in the success of some candidates favorable to a Christian worldview, despite some possible excesses that were not as helpful.

The better approach seen by the faithful is the evangelical one: preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ, testifying to our faith by our words and by our actions and raising our families in connection with a Bible based church. These are, of course, obligations to our Lord and His Kingdom done out of gratitude for the forgiveness of our sins, his spiritual gifts and our life to come. But as the relevance of the church diminishes in our culture there may also be a loss in the affect Christianity is able to have in the realm of civil affairs. Christians need to be engaged on both fronts if we are to remain relevant in a world for which Christ died for all. Indeed we must stand up for the truth of the Bible reflected in honest, but loving Christian faith, regardless of the cost, and in the public arena as much as in the religious one.

Having just studied “Christianity, the First Three Centuries,” a video series by Dr. Paul Maier, at our Wednesday night Bible Study, we were impressed with the struggle of those early believers. Many died as martyrs for the faith in the face of fierce opposition from the Roman state, but through perseverance the church flourished and prevailed. The opposition we face is nothing in comparison with theirs. Should we not just as vigorously engage our world both with the Gospel and with our citizenship as Christians in the freedom of an America still under the blessings of God?