“Our Nation is Built on Freedom From Religion”

Last updated on: May 16, 2018 at 4:07 pm by Mark Driscoll

“Our Nation is Built on Freedom From Religion” 2018-05-16T16:07:01-04:00 Mark Driscoll

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Christians politicians will continue to engage the political process as they should. Christian lawyers will keep fighting legal battles as they should. But unless God made you a politician or a lawyer, you likely have a different role to play. For the average believer, the real goal is to serve your neighbor, care about your city, live your life openly, and as opportunity arises, engage the conversation about Christ and Christianity. You can learn to disagree agreeably, because your tone matters as much as your truth. You can answer questions and objections and lovingly endure with people, so even if they do come off a little intense you hang in there. God does that with us.

God doesn’t ask you to do something you are not in a position to do. But he implores you to take care of the people he puts in front of you. Faithfulness in that task is important right now. In fact, faithfulness is the victory. As you lovingly engage others in a winsome way, the results are out of your hands. The people you care about might be like Saul of the New Testament. They might have scales fall from their eyes and go forth to be a missionary and plant a churches around the national and world. Or you might just be able say, “I loved them. I extended my hand. I answered their questions. I was there to walk forward in relationship.”

Propose Not Impose

People outside the church have an impression of Christianity as a religion of imposition. But apart from a few loud exceptions who tend to make the news, few followers of Jesus think that imposing spirituality or morality is a good thing. Christianity is about proposition not imposition.

At the heart of our faith is a loving relationship between God and people made possible through Jesus Christ the Mediator and Savior. Like any loving relationship, a bond with God requires freedom to choose or not choose. It takes time to get to know and win the heart of the other person. In this way, Christianity is like marriage. In fact, one way to read the Bible is as a magnificent love story. It opens with a wedding officiated by God. In the Old Testament God’s people are referred to as his bride. In the New Testament Jesus’ relationship with his people is likened to a husband who loves his wife. And the Bible closes with a massive wedding feast where Jesus welcomes his people into his eternal heavenly home to live forever with him in loving community.

That kind of relationship cannot be imposed, but like marriage it can be proposed. For all of us everyday Christians, our job is to keep loving people, to keep relationships alive, so we can keep announcing that proposal.

(1)Nancy Pearcey. Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008). Kindle Edition.

(2)Ibid.

(3)https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/the-restriction-of-political-campaign-intervention-by-section-501c3-tax-exempt-organizations

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