๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ โ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง: ๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐งโ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ?
(This is the sixth in a series of weekly posts that will feature the content of my book โ Here We Go Again: Biblical Insights to Counter Chronic Political Hype.)
A few years ago, I received a newsletter from one of our nationโs foremost experts in researching and studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans. This expert is a senior research fellow for Christian ethics and Biblical worldview at a prominent Christian organization in America. In his newsletter, he stated that biblical worldview and cultural transformation were the two things that he values most.
As I considered that statement, and those values, I thought about the place those two values held in my life over the years. Throughout the last couple of decades, Iโve not only attended various biblical worldview classes and programs, but Iโve also taught and led such classes as well. When it comes to cultural transformation, I dedicated more than a decade of my life to that goal, primarily as some would label a โculture warriorโ or โpolitical activist.โ Rallying people to stand up for their beliefs, to show up at the ballot box, to push to promote โbiblicalโ values while condemning any opposing ideologies, and other such initiatives was my mission for too many years.
One thing I came to realize throughout all those efforts was this. In reality, very little (if any) transformation of the culture occurred, as I hoped for. Truth be told, the culture has continued to transform, but not toward a biblical worldview. Rather, the culture has moved further and further away from biblical standards. I would posit that such moves have been seen both inside and outside the church.
Any inquiring mind would pose this question: Why?
Why is it that literally hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to transform American culture to a biblical worldview, but the exact opposite is occurring? In the financial world, if a personโs investments never yielded a return, that person would question his or her investment strategy. Yet, how often do followers of Jesus, who seek to transform culture, ever seriously question why their efforts are failing?
After many years of โstriking outโ as a โChristian political activistโ (despite some degree of โpoliticalโ successes), I began to evaluate the strategies I had learned to pursue. It was clear they werenโt working. But werenโt we taught by Jesus to make disciples, to go into all the world, to in essence take our message to a dying culture to transform it?
Could it be that what I, and so many others were trying to do (transform culture) was actually upside down? Were we trying a top-down and outside-in approach? Were we failing because we had everything absolutely backward?
To answer this question, we need to pose a different question. Thereโs an old saying that was very popular a few decades ago: WWJD or What Would Jesus Do? While itโs not a bad question, I would suggest itโs not the best question. WWJD leaves plenty of room for subjectivity and personal opinion. I prefer to ask the question WDJD as in What Did Jesus Do? When we ask this question, we can look to the life of Jesus, His actual teachings, and example to find precise answers.
As it relates to cultural transformation, what did Jesus do? Was cultural transformation a value He prioritized? Was it one of His two greatest values as the aforementioned senior research fellow declared was his? Did Jesus teach his apostles to become culture warriors? Did He lead them to become political activists? Could it be that the Son of God was focused elsewhere?
If we were to follow Jesus around, throughout His example in the gospels, we would see a man who was focused on the heart, the individual, and on personal transformation. We would see Jesus encountering people, one at a time, or as He taught them in public gatherings. However, His focus was continuously on the condition of their hearts, their treatment of others, and ultimately their love of God and others.
Jesus did not place his priority on cultural transformation but rather on personal transformation. He did not focus on outside-in transformation but rather on inside-out transformation. Jesus knew that the only way to change a community or nation was to change a person. Itโs a bottom-up strategy instead of a top-down one.
Of course, such a strategy is not nearly as glamorous, nor does it provide the pizzazz that most people prefer. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, personal transformation is the only way to change anything permanently. Any other transformation is short-lived and as permanent as the policies of any one- or two-term presidential administration.
(Come back next week for ๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ โ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ง๐ฌ, ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐)