I just watched a Facebook video from a pastor lamenting about the deep division across America. He had never seen such a divide and opined that our differences stemmed from differing worldviews of individuals and parties. On the one side was a Biblical worldview marked by patriotism with a love of God, country and the sanctity of life. This worldview stemmed from sacred values, important to us because of the Word of God and who we are at believers.
On the other side was the Democratic party, especially those views arising from the “hard left.” Consternation was mentioned and then mentioned again because this election battle was “really hard for people who have been brought up with a “certain morality, a biblical understanding and, even a biblical worldview. It’s tearing at people, people who believe the bible, and who become conflicted when asked to embrace values that are not theirs.”
He saw the church as a suffering church beset by the secularization of the sacred. By “accepting the world’s values, thinking its thoughts and adopting its ways, we have dimmed the glory that shines overhead.
The rest of the message was centered around Jesus. We cannot separate the sacred from the secular as we are first citizens of the Kingdom. Peace in the midst of turmoil comes from abiding in Christ and by keeping our focus on Him. True spirituality is living life in the presence of God, through an attitude of thanksgiving. Perspective is the key and our interior life makes the difference through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now is the time for believers to thrive. We just need to keep our attitudes right with God and our hearts right with one another as we remove the separation between the sacred and the secular.
Yet, as you step back from this message, something odd becomes clear. Two distinct worldviews were presented despite the call for an integrated Kingdom perspective. One worldview addressed one’s interior life and was all about Jesus. The other worldview addressed the public square and was all about loving God, country, patriotism, and the sanctity of life.
I doubt this division was intentional, nor ever consciously considered. But the message was clear. Our interior life may be all about Jesus, but life in the public square marches to a different type of drummer called “biblical values” with Jesus never mentioned at all.
Christian Values => Gospel Values => Jesus Values
We are followers of Christ, called to re-present him wherever we go, in whatever we do and say, and however we act and think. We die to self, abide in Him, and are empowered by Spirit, adopting a posture of humility so that we can demonstrate a practice of love, transforming our world through our, attitude, actions, and stories that reflect His goodness. Because at the center of all of this is Jesus. He is the beginning and end of our faith where “we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Loving God and loving our neighbor are the goal posts for our lives with our neighbor as the other – those of a different tribe, race or culture. Such neighborly love when mixed with unity are the two marks of a Christian. Visibly wearing those marks is the vocation for all kingdom people. Through a love that heals and a unity born of humility, we show off the gospel as lift up Jesus to a watching world.
An unconditional love for those outside of our tribe or political party provides an incredible test of gospel faithfulness. Altruism is normal between those with common genes. As relations become more distant there is a diminishing effect. Yet as long as you’re in the tribe, altruism stays in play through the long reach of reciprocity, fostered through personal or reputational needs.
The call to love encompasses everything in our lives: our homes, families, relationships, work, activities, engagements as well as our beliefs, opinions, and desires. And wherever we go, like Peter at the temple gate, we say “such as I have give I thee,” as we impart a healing and life-changing message from the Jesus that resides within.
The values we bring are seamlessly woven into a garment embodying our Savior. When we “put on” that garment as we “put off” our selfish desires, a miraculous transformation begins. That “everything” encompasses the public square too, so we wear the same garment there. It creates biblical values” from a purity of heart that honors love and unity above all else. Those biblical values embody the fruits of the spirit, Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, and Micah’s call to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. That “biblical love” is a radical love, a love that is patient, kind, and not envious, boastful or proud. It’s a love not dishonoring, nor self-seeking or easily angered, as it keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth as it protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres.
Jesus Values in the Public Square
The public square is a messy place with our political leaders flawed and public policies hopelessly complex, rife with tradeoffs with unintended consequences. We end up balancing a daunting list of issues where leadership character, national unity, bipartisan initiatives, health care, climate change, environmental policies, foreign affairs, the unborn, the judicial system, minimum wage, tax policies, care for the marginalized, and small business all matter.
Those issues are important and how we address them tests our heart, our values, and our gospel understandings. Will we choose the “biblical worldview” that informs the interior of our life to be the same “biblical worldview” in the public square? To wit: will our assessments of leaders and policies be subject to the same constraining benchmarks which rule our interior life? Will we seek politicians who shun divisions as they seek unity, promoting “biblical values” centered in love and humility? Will we look for those with a Jesus heart for the poor, the stranger, the immigrant, the substance abuser, and the homeless: the genderly different, the racially different, the mentally different, and the theologically different?
The complexities and tradeoffs make our assessments really hard as the benchmarks must be consistently applied across all issues. Our assessments might differ but our gospel-centric benchmarks cannot, no matter what side of the fence we are on. When we narrow our focus to just one or more specific issues, our benchmarks then pivot to second order issues that reside downstream of core gospel values.
It’s Time to Repeal and Replace
Ryan Burge of Eastern Illinois University has presented some fascinating data showing identical beliefs between the Republican party and white evangelicals. This lack of separation between the evangelical faithful and political party is unique compared to all other religious groups. Hence, although we all lament about our hyper-polarized society, nowhere is it more pronounced than within the white evangelical religious tradition in America.
Dr. Burge concludes: “I think what happened was, over time, white evangelical orthodoxy on politics sort of just melded into Republican orthodoxy, and there’s no difference anymore…We used to always believe that religion was the first cause and then politics was downstream of religion,” but newer studies suggest that “those two lenses have switched places now and that partisanship is the first cause and now religion is downstream of partisanship.”
Such partisan allegiances “blind and bind” as they change our identity and alter our perspective. This exchange of identity leads to an exchange of priorities through our incorporation of beliefs, attitudes and practices independent of the gospel. We end up serving two masters, confessing allegiance to the sensibilities of both our groups and God. We then take this mixture and call it our biblical worldview as we build a new wall between our interior and the public. Then once the wall’s built, we start calling the other side blind and unbiblical when the blindness actually resides in us.
“C. S. Lewis observed that almost all crimes of Christian history have come about when religion is confused with politics. Politics, which always runs by the rules of ungrace, allures us to trade away grace for power, a temptation the church has often been unable to resist.”
It’s time to change the script of a church trapped in a cultural war that Jesus is losing. We must repeal the confused and politically weaponized “biblical worldview” built on a mixture of sacred and secular passions which are then relabeled as “biblical values” by the church in the public square. Let’s then replace them with a “Gospel Worldview” based on “Jesus Values” infused with the promise “if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.”
Mark Twain once said that “There has been only one Christian. They caught him and crucified him–early.” Nice sarcasm and most likely exaggerated to make a point, but I do think he is wrong. True Christianity has occasionally surfaced with great impact throughout the ages and can do so again through Christ-followers engaged in the public square that have refused to be assimilated into a political party, but are instead centered in Jesus and imitators of Him wherever life takes them each day.