Should Christians Partner with Non-Christians on Social Issues?
00:00:00.000 | A question comes in from podcast listener Peter.
00:00:07.880 | "Pastor John, being created in the image of God, many non-Christians have moral instincts
00:00:12.760 | on issues such as homosexuality and gender identity that reflect Christian morals.
00:00:18.260 | They can express that homosexuality is wrong, for example, but not that it's wrong because
00:00:22.680 | it contradicts God's created design.
00:00:26.340 | So is it possible to partner with non-Christians in the public fight over moral issues?"
00:00:31.400 | It's interesting.
00:00:32.400 | I was just asked a question almost like this yesterday when I was over Bethlehem College
00:00:37.800 | and Seminary by a seminary student.
00:00:40.960 | So I had just been thinking about it and so my answer is informed by that conversation.
00:00:48.480 | And it seems to me that I should summarize it something.
00:00:52.600 | It's a massive issue.
00:00:53.600 | I mean, you could write whole books on this issue.
00:00:55.160 | So I'm going to put my answer in two yes buts.
00:01:01.520 | So yes but, yes but.
00:01:03.080 | Okay, first yes but.
00:01:05.240 | So yes, Christians in society should care about the advancement of laws and policies
00:01:13.120 | and behaviors that do good to people and put restraints on destructive immoral behaviors.
00:01:22.080 | And of course, there are great complex issues as to what morality can be legislated.
00:01:30.560 | Like don't murder.
00:01:32.280 | Everybody agrees that moral conviction should be legislated.
00:01:36.000 | Well, what about the moral conviction don't covet, don't lust?
00:01:41.280 | Well, no, probably not.
00:01:44.000 | And a whole array in between.
00:01:45.520 | You can't make a crime out of coveting, but you can out of murder.
00:01:49.560 | And who knows what all criteria need to go into thinking through that.
00:01:54.480 | But what I'm saying is, yes, it is right and good to pursue obedience to Galatians 610,
00:02:03.880 | which says, "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially those
00:02:13.560 | of the household of faith."
00:02:15.000 | Doing good to everyone would include encouraging lots of people not to kill unborn babies and
00:02:22.640 | putting restraints upon people who think they should kill unborn babies, just like we put
00:02:27.040 | restraints on people who kill born babies.
00:02:30.320 | It would include, I mean, caring about doing good for everyone would include not saddling
00:02:35.240 | the next generation with unbearable debt by selfish spending in this generation with a
00:02:42.160 | "Go to hell as far as I'm concerned, you know, 30, 40 years from now.
00:02:46.120 | I don't care.
00:02:47.120 | I'm getting what I want.
00:02:48.120 | That's sinful."
00:02:49.120 | Christians ought to speak against those kinds of attitudes and policies.
00:02:54.640 | Another example would be to do good to everybody would surely be to put restraint on abuses
00:03:00.440 | of power and wealth and influence, police issues and military issues and rich, white-collar
00:03:09.400 | crime issues.
00:03:11.320 | Christians ought to care about the oppression and abuses that come from the misuse of power.
00:03:16.520 | We should be talking about that, so we should care.
00:03:20.600 | Yes, so that's my yes.
00:03:22.360 | Yes, we should obey Galatians 6:10 and try to publicly do good for everybody, but—so
00:03:28.200 | here's my first but—in your public involvement, don't conceal the roots of your convictions
00:03:37.960 | about what's right and wrong.
00:03:40.320 | Don't try to get a better hearing through downplaying your dependence on Christ and
00:03:46.840 | his Word and the gospel.
00:03:49.020 | This is where many Christians, it seems to me, lose their saltiness and their light.
00:03:57.160 | Advocating for behaviors that are Christian is not the light of the world.
00:04:05.200 | Advocating for restraining behaviors is not the light of the world.
00:04:10.280 | There's nothing gospel in it.
00:04:13.760 | The light of the world is Christ and all that God is for us in him, all his gospel and all
00:04:21.800 | his promises.
00:04:23.280 | If Christians become practical atheists in public by simply advocating for behaviors
00:04:31.720 | that correspond to Christian ethics, they may see a little more political acceptance
00:04:39.560 | and affirmation in the short run, but they will lose the larger battle for the eternal
00:04:45.120 | good.
00:04:46.720 | Do we really want to invest in a society whose outward behaviors are moral while everybody
00:04:53.400 | goes to hell?
00:04:54.400 | Let's call that love.
00:04:55.400 | Well, a lot of people would call it love.
00:04:56.760 | It isn't.
00:04:57.760 | So there's my first yes, do good to everybody, but don't put your light under a bushel to
00:05:04.200 | get a hearing.
00:05:05.680 | Second, yes, we may partner with—in fact, I think we inevitably must partner with unbelievers
00:05:15.020 | wherever the external behavior we are advocating or restraining overlaps with their convictions
00:05:23.880 | about that external behavior.
00:05:26.040 | The reason I focus on external behavior is because as a Christian, I will always desire
00:05:33.080 | and pray that people do the right thing out of faith in Jesus, not just because it's
00:05:42.680 | legal or illegal.
00:05:44.920 | Who cares about that in the long run?
00:05:47.120 | If they don't do it because they're a Christian, they go to hell, and I've done a not very
00:05:53.320 | good thing for them.
00:05:54.640 | So yes, partner with unbelievers in the pursuit of behaviors, policies, laws that you think
00:06:02.680 | are good for everybody.
00:06:04.920 | Here's my last but.
00:06:08.320 | But there are some associations with unbelievers that would be damaging and unadvisable.
00:06:15.680 | The principle, I think, of associating with unbelievers in any project would be we may
00:06:24.220 | partner with unbelievers in ways that do not compromise our beliefs or do not send the
00:06:33.720 | message to others that our beliefs in Christ are negligible.
00:06:40.120 | So for example, you might march in a pro-life demonstration alongside a Muslim because—I
00:06:49.640 | would—because no one would seriously see that as an undermining of his or your faith
00:07:03.280 | and salvation or whatever you believe, because the conviction that you shouldn't kill unborn
00:07:10.440 | babies doesn't have a necessary attachment to one or the other, so that it looks like
00:07:16.120 | somebody's sacrificing his beliefs to march in this demonstration.
00:07:20.160 | However, would you—I wouldn't—join in a prayer meeting, a public prayer gathering,
00:07:28.120 | where everybody is assuming—and it's been publicly stated—we're all praying to the
00:07:33.240 | same God.
00:07:34.240 | Buddhists and Muslims and Jews and Christians, we're all praying to the same God, and it
00:07:40.080 | doesn't matter whether you pray in Jesus' name or not, because he's going to hear this
00:07:45.000 | generic God.
00:07:46.000 | I wouldn't participate in that, because it is sending the message.
00:07:49.080 | It doesn't matter if you pray in Jesus' name.
00:07:51.240 | It doesn't matter if you believe that all gods are true gods.
00:07:55.400 | So summing up, yes but, yes but.
00:07:58.520 | Yes, publicly seek the good of all the people by advocating laws and policies and behaviors
00:08:06.480 | that do good to most people, the most people, and lessen harm and destruction, but don't
00:08:14.960 | silence the roots of your convictions and put Christ to naught and become a practical
00:08:21.920 | atheist in your public life as a simple public do-gooder rather than a prophetic witness
00:08:29.260 | to the King of Kings.
00:08:31.680 | And lastly, yes but, yes, partner with unbelievers in those processes, but not if it compromises
00:08:38.900 | your faith or gives the impression that Jesus is negligible.
00:08:42.160 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:08:44.120 | That is complicated indeed, but thank you for the excellent question, Peter.
00:08:48.140 | We're going to return tomorrow and look at one core reason why Jesus Christ was incarnate,
00:08:54.280 | why he had a body, why he wasn't fleshed.
00:08:57.440 | And it has to do with us, and it has to do with our redemption.
00:09:00.480 | John Piper will explain tomorrow as we linger over why Jesus had a body.
00:09:04.520 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.
00:09:06.080 | I'll see you then.
00:09:07.000 | [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:09:15.360 | you