Volunteer Recruitment Tips

1.  You can (almost) never have too many volunteers so make recruiting an ongoing activity instead of just doing it when you are scrambling for people.  Encourage others in your ministry to be recruiters, although make sure they know to run it through you as the leader.

2.  Recruit through relationships.  Invite people to join with you in what God is doing in and through your ministry.

3.  When you invite, give them an opportunity to say no.  Don’t pressure them.  If they do say no, offer to help them find a better fit.  If they are interested, let them observe before making a commitment.  Try to defuse their fears.

4.  Be on the lookout for people who are not currently plugged in.  You can check with the office or use CCB to see who is a member and where they are serving.

5.  When you recruit, be able to cast a vision for your ministry and how it connects to the overall mission of the church.  In other words, be able to explain to them the spiritual contribution they will be making by investing their time in this ministry.

6.  Try to match people up with their passion and gifts. 

7.  Give them a trial period and an honorable way to exit the ministry.

8.  Have a training plan in place that fits your ministry to take new people through.

9.  Have written documents spelling out roles, requirements, and accountability.

10.  Continue to check on them and encourage them.  Encourage the people in your ministry to minister to each other in times of need.

Leadership Lessons From Acts 6:1-7

1.  Anybody can notice and complain about problems, but leaders take action to solve the problems.  Problems are opportunities in disguise.

2.  As we grow, the leaders become the lid unless we develop teams to do the ministry because a few individuals can only do so much.

3.  Leaders don’t do everything, but they are responsible to make sure everything that needs to get done is done.

4.  Leadership is about developing leaders who develop other leaders.

5.  Think about who you can develop more than what you can do by yourself.

6.  We are to do everything we can to make sure that people we put in positions of leadership are biblically qualified.

7.  If we only delegate tasks, we are developing followers, but if we delegate authority, we are developing leaders.

8.  Growth requires change.  What works in one season and one size will not work at another season and size.  The mission is fixed but the structure is flexible within biblical parameters.  We adjust the structure to better fulfill the mission and meet needs.

9.  A follower’s response is what do I need to do to solve a problem while a leader’s response is who can I get to solve a problem.

10.  Everybody only has the time and gifts to do so much.  However, all of us together have all the time and talents to do everything Jesus wants us to do if we are obedient.

11.  Ministry is multiplied through the multiplication of servants and leaders so leadership development is vital for us to continue to move forward as a church.

Takeaway:  Focus on recruiting and training within the various ministries!

The question presented as the title is one of the central questions of Christianity.  1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  The heart of evangelical Christian doctrine regarding what Jesus accomplished on the cross is penal substitutionary atonement.  This means that Jesus paid the penalty that we owed God by dying the death we deserved to die in our place as our substitute in order to bring human beings separated from God by sin back into a relationship with God.  There are various theories of the atonement that are debated by theologians, but I believe it is better to see penal substitutionary atonement as the heart of the cross but see also that Jesus accomplished several other wonderful things for us through His death.  My desire in writing this is to help us see biblically that penal substitutionary atonement is true, see several things that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, and see what this means to our lives.  I believe that understanding what Jesus did for us on the cross will radically change our lives.

So, why am I writing this now?  One reason is that tomorrow (April 14, 2017) is good Friday so this is a spiritual exercise for me that I hope will be helpful to others also.  However, it was also prompted by an article entitled, “It’s time to end the hands-off attitude to substitutionary atonement,’ written by Chuck Queen and originally published by Baptist News Global.  In this article, Mr. Queen asserts, “It [substitutionary atonement] is such a staple in many Baptist churches that pastors, even though they don’t believe it themselves; refuse to touch it.  I believe, however, we have to try.  There are serious flaws with the theory.”  Also, shortly after this, a college student in our church came to me and asked me a question about something one of her professors had taught them that was essentially the same position as is being espoused in the aforementioned article.  So to some degree, this is my response to Mr. Queen’s article and the denial of substitutionary atonement in general.  I hope it is a helpful service to our church and also the larger body of Christ.  In the first paragraph, Mr. Queen says, “Most members in most Baptist churches across the country don’t know it as theory; they believe it as gospel.” This is true because it is the gospel.  1 Corinthians 15:1-4 says, “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”  This is not about debating theological theories, disputing over gray areas, or arguing about secondary matters.  This issue is a matter of salvation so it is of eternal importance.

I want to share Mr. Queen’s position, primarily by quoting from his article, and then attempt to present what I believe is the true Scriptural teaching as I outlined in the first paragraph.  To his credit, he does a good job of accurately presenting the evangelical doctrine of the atonement before disagreeing with it.  Of course, I encourage you to read his article for yourself.  Here are what I see as the key points of his disagreement with penal substitutionary atonement and then the idea he presents in its place.  So, he says,

-“Many Christians believe this to be the gospel truth. To deny this truth is to deny Christ. But this theory of the redemptive significance of Jesus’ death is seriously flawed. The major problem with substitutionary atonement is the way it imagines God. This interpretation of Jesus’ death makes God the source of redemptive violence. God required/demanded a violent death for atonement to be made. God required the death of an innocent victim in order to satisfy God’s offended sense of honor or pay off a penalty that God imposed. What kind of justice or God is this? Would a loving parent make forgiveness for the child conditioned upon a violent act?”

-“Another problem with substitutionary atonement is that it reduces salvation to a legal transaction that has nothing to do with the actual transformation of the individual. When a person “believes” in this arrangement (accepts Christ as personal savior) the believer is forgiven all sin and justified (acquitted and declared righteous) before God.”

-“Perhaps the first step in dethroning such a terrible doctrine is to help Christians realize that the  sacrificial language utilized in the New Testament are symbols and metaphors, not to be taken in any literal sense.”

-“God offered Jesus up only in the sense that he sent Jesus to be his agent for mercy and justice in the world. We (human powers) killed Jesus.  Jesus bore our sins on the cross in the sense that he, as the Son of Man, as the representative human being, bore the hate and animosity of the world in his service to God. He became a scapegoat to end scapegoating, to expose the folly and evil of scapegoating any human being. He became the lightning rod where the pent up oppositional energy of the powers that be (the world) became focused. In bearing the sin — the hate, evil and animosity of the world — he exposed it and exhausted it, thus overcoming it.”

-“Paul’s sacrificial metaphors took preference over Jesus’ life and teachings because Paul’s sacrificial metaphors could more easily be adapted to the interests of the empire. The Abba of Jesus, the loving, caring, merciful Father/Mother was replaced as the dominant image of God with a God of wrath who demanded the violent death of a sinless substitute as a ransom for sinners.  The nonviolent God of Jesus, however, is incompatible with a God who makes a horrendous act of violence a divinely required act of atonement. Jesus didn’t die because God needed a sacrifice. Jesus died because the powers that be had him killed. But in a symbolic way, he bore the suffering, hate and evil of the world. We are called to do the same.”

Is this true or does the Bible actually teach substitutionary atonement?  Let’s do a brief survey of the Scriptures, beginning with the Old Testament.  Jesus said, “These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me” (Luke 24:44).  In various ways in the Old Testament, Jesus is foreshadowed and prophesied to be the sacrifice for our sins.

1.  After the Fall as recorded in Genesis 3, God killed an innocent animal to clothe the guilty (3:21).  This is a picture of the cross.

2.  The Passover (Exodus 11-13):  Let me quote from John Stott’s classic book, The Cross Of Christ, to explain this point.  He writes, “The Passover story is a self-disclosure of the God of Israel in three roles.  First, Yahweh revealed himself as the Judge….Second, Yahweh revealed himself as the Redeemer….Third, Yahweh revealed himself as Israel’s covenant God.  He had redeemed them to make them his own people.”  We clearly see this as fulfilled in Jesus because John the Baptist said, “”Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).  Paul wrote, “For indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7b).  Stott goes on to write, “…It is equally clear to us who see the fulfillment of the Passover in the sacrifice of Christ.  First, the Judge and Savior are the same person.  It was the God who ‘passed through’ Egypt to judge the firstborn, who ‘passed over’ Israelite homes to protect them.  We must never characterize the Father as Judge and the Son as Savior.  It is one and the same God who through Christ saves us from himself.  Second, salvation was (and is) by substitution.  The only firstborn males who were spared were those in whose families a firstborn lamb had died instead.  Third, the lamb’s blood had to be sprinkled after it had been shed.  There had to be an individual appropriation of the divine provision.  God had to ‘see the blood’ before he would save the family.  Fourth, each family rescued by God was thereby purchased for God.  Their whole life now belonged to him.  So does ours.  And consecration leads to celebration.”

3.  The Sacrificial System:  Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”  John Stott writes of this, “Three important affirmations about blood are made in this text.  First, blood is the symbol of life…Second, blood makes atonement, and the reason for its atoning significance is given in the repetition of the word life…T.J. Crawford expressed it well:  ‘The text, then, according to its plain and obvious import, teaches the vicarious nature of the rite of sacrifice.  Life was given for life, the life of the victim for the life of the offerer, indeed the life of the innocent victim for the life of the sinful offerer.’  Third, blood was given by God for this atoning purpose.  ‘I have given it to you, he says, ‘to make atonement for yourselves on the altar.’  So we are to think of the sacrificial system as God-given, not of human origin, and of the individual sacrifices not as a human device to placate God but as a means of atonement provided by God himself.  This Old Testament background helps us to understand two crucial texts in the letter to the Hebrews.  The first is that ‘without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’ (Hebrews 9:22), and the second that ‘it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins’ (Hebrews 10:4).  No forgiveness without blood meant no atonement without substitution.  There had to be life for life or blood for blood.  But the Old Testament blood sacrifices were only shadows, the substance was Christ.”

4.  Psalm 22:  The 22nd Psalm is a Messianic psalm that presents several specific prophecies regarding the crucifixion of Christ (and crucifixion had not even been invented yet).  Jesus quoted the first part of verse 1 from the cross when He said, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”  This shows us that Jesus was not only forsaken by people, but He was also forsaken by His Father for our sakes.  The only reason that the Father would have forsaken Him is that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

5.  Isaiah 53:  Verses 4-6 say, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”  This is as clear an expression of penal substitutionary atonement as can be found in the Bible.

What about the New Testament?  Here is a brief overview of the explicit New Testament teaching regarding penal substitutionary atonement. 

1 Peter 2:24a says, “Who Himself [Jesus] bore our sins in His own body on the tree.”  Hebrews 10:28a says, “So Christ was offered once [meaning ‘once for all’] to bear the sins of many.”  Ephesians 5:2 says, “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”  1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”  Romans 5:6-8 says, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die, but God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  In Wuest’s Word Studies From The Greek New Testament, Kenneth Wuest writes of these verses, “Paul now speaks of a demonstration of God’s love for mankind in that Christ died for the ungodly.  When sinners were in the condition in which they were powerless for good, He died for (huper) them.  The preposition huper means ‘for the sake of, in behalf of, instead of.’  In John 11:50, we have, ‘It is expedient for you that one man should die (huper) instead of the people and not that the whole nation should perish,’ and in Galatians 3:13, ‘Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse (huper) instead of us.’  Dana and Mantey in their Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament say, ‘In both of these passages the context clearly indicates that substitution is meant.’  Thus our Lord died instead of us, taking our penalty, and in behalf of us, in that His death was in our interest.”  These are just a few examples that show the clear New Testament teaching of penal substitutionary atonement.  This had to happen for atonement to occur because Genesis 2:16-17 says, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’.”  Romans 6:23a says, “For the wages of sin is death.”  Death is the just penalty for sin against a holy God.  In order to be holy, righteous, just, and true to His Word, God the Creator and righteous Judge of the universe, had to impose the sentence.  But because He is also loving, merciful, gracious, and kind; God took on humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, the God-Man, and died as our personal substitute making atonement for our sins so God can justly justify sinners.  Therefore, we worship our great God and King as perfectly and simultaneously just, holy, loving, merciful, and gracious!

So, in his penal substitutionary atonement, what did Jesus actually accomplish for us on the cross?  Remember these are not competing theories but complementary pictures of the accomplishment of the atonement.  They are all true.

1.  Jesus is our new-covenant sacrifice:  1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”  Hebrews 9:11-12 says, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.  Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”  Hebrews 8-10 teach us that Jesus is the head of a New Covenant and the promises, prophecies, and pictures of the Old Covenant are fulfilled in Him.  Under the New Covenant, we do not need a priest because Jesus is our Great High Priest.  We no longer need to offer blood sacrifices because Jesus is our once for all perfect sacrifice.  We do not need a temple because Jesus is our Temple.  We do not need to celebrate the Passover because Jesus is our Passover. 

2.  Jesus is our propitiation:  Scripture repeatedly tells us that God hates sin and is righteously angry with sinners on whom He pours out His wrath. John MacArthur explains the various aspects of God’s wrath in this way:

A. Eternal wrath-hell

B. Eschatological wrath-final Day of the Lord

C. Cataclysmic wrath-flood, Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

D. Consequential wrath-principal of sowing and reaping

E. The wrath of abandonment-removing restraint and letting people go in their sins

Propitiation is the fact that the wrath of God was diverted from us to Jesus when He died as our sacrifice on the cross (Romans 3:23-25, Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:10).  For example, 1 John 2:2 says, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”  Romans 5:9 says, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”  Therefore, we are now beloved children of the Father (Romans 8:14-17) who do not have to live in fear of God being angry with us because “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).  All of the wrath and condemnation that was destined for us and deserved by us was absorbed by Jesus on the cross.

3. Jesus is our justifier:  Romans 3:26 says, “To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” God is totally just and cannot overlook sin.  Sin must be punished, and the punishment for sin is death.  Thankfully, God is also patient, merciful, gracious, and forgiving.  Therefore, the way that He justly justifies sinners is through the finished work of Jesus Christ.  Justify means to declare righteous.  It is an instantaneous judicial act.  It is our standing before God.  He forgives us of all sin; past, present, and future in Christ.

4. Jesus is our righteousness:  This is a righteousness that is given by grace as a gift.  It is an imputed righteousness (see Romans 4) and not an infused righteousness.  On the cross what Martin Luther liked to call the “great exchange” occurred.  Jesus took our sin and gave us his righteousness.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be in for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  In other words, on the cross, our sin was transferred to Jesus and his righteousness was transferred to us.  Therefore, we do not have to live in guilt and shame any more because “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

5.  Jesus is our redemption:  We are enslaved by sin, but Jesus died to buy us back and bring us back to God (Galatians 4:1-7) and enable us to live as new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).  1 Timothy 2:5-6 says, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”  Titus 2:14 says, “Who [Jesus] gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”  We can now live in freedom because “if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

6.  Jesus is our victory:  Colossians 2:13-15 says, “You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.  He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”  Through his atoning death and glorious resurrection; Jesus defeated Satan, death, and hell.  We can now live out of His victory.

7.  Jesus is our expiation:  This is pictured by the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16.  It is the reality that God not only forgives our sins, but He also cleanses us from the defilement of our sins and the sins which are committed against us.

8.  Jesus is our example:  Jesus is our example, both in His life and His death.  He repeatedly invites us to follow Him.  As disciples, we are to grow to be more and more like Him.  He is our example in times of blessing and times of hardship.  A prosperity gospel cannot be reconciled with the cross.  Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

9.  Jesus is our reconciler.  Sin separates us from God our Creator (Isaiah 59:2).  In his atonement, Jesus brings us back to God and enables us to be in relationship with Him again.  Atonement as been expressed as at-one-ment.  2 Corinthians 5:18 says, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”  Romans 5:10 says, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

10.  Jesus is the revelation of God’s love:  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 5:8 tells us that God “demonstrates,” which means proves, His love for us because Jesus died for us while we were sinners.  John Stott writes, “I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross.  The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as ‘God on the cross’.”

11.  Jesus is the Head of the Church:  This is what Colossians 1:18 tells us.  Acts 20:28 says, “Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”  Jesus did not just die for us as individuals but also to create the Church, the family of God.  We are brothers and sisters in Christ.  Ephesians 2:16 says, “And that He might reconcile them both [Jews and Gentiles] to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”

The cross is our only hope for salvation.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  The cross is humbling because it exposes our spiritual bankruptcy.  Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit [those who admit their spiritual bankruptcy]; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).  Philippians 3:3 says, “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”  We trust Jesus and not ourselves.  We worship Him.  The glory belongs to Him and not us.  1 Corinthians 1:30-31 says, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord’.”  The cross is also the basis of our sanctification (see Romans 6).  We are set free from sin-not to sin.  When we are saved, we are regenerated, given new hearts, and indwelled by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5-6).  The gospel enables us to change and live new lives from the inside out.

Let me conclude with this quotation from the Apostle Paul.  In Galatians 6:14, he wrote, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

I hear many Christians, particularly pastors, say things like, “We need to turn America back into a Christian nation,” “we need to restore Christian values in America,” “America needs to return to its Judeo-Christian heritage,” “America needs to put God first,” and other similar statements. Is this really the biblical mandate of the church? I want to make the case that it is not. In fact, I want to go so far as to say that I believe that this focus, while well intentioned, is hurting the church and the nation more than it is helping it because it undercuts our witness. In a nutshell, I am advocating that the church is not called to make America a Christian nation but to make America a nation of Christians. I believe these are mutually exclusive positions because the first is based on moralism, and the second is based on the gospel. I am saying that the church is the missionary with the mandate of making disciples and advancing the Kingdom of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am going to proceed by clarifying some things I am not advocating, telling you why I believe this is true biblically, and giving some suggestions as to how we can make the right kind of difference in our nation.

Here are some things I am not advocating:
1. I am not advocating that America does not have a Judeo-Christian heritage. Historically speaking, at the beginning and moving forward, our nation has been significantly affected by this heritage. The reality of the influence of this heritage is not the same as us being a Christian nation though.

2. I am not advocating that government is unimportant or unbiblical. In fact, Romans 13:1 says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”

3. I am not advocating being unpatriotic. I believe the United States is the greatest nation in the world and we should be thankful for the blessings and freedoms of living here. I am not a pacifist. I believe that war is an unfortunate reality in a fallen world and a strong military is a necessity. I greatly appreciate all those who have and are serving and sacrificing to protect our freedoms. I believe in capital punishment (Romans 13:4) and the right to self-defense. Romans 13 teaches that the primary purpose of government is protecting its citizens from evildoers. However, I do believe that for a follower of Jesus that allegiance to Him and His Kingdom takes precedence over allegiance to any nation.

4. I am not advocating that Christians should not speak in the public square or not be involved in politics. I believe the opposite. We need to get as far upstream as possible to make as big of a difference as possible. However, I believe our goal is the advancement of the Kingdom of God instead of the restoring of a Christian nation. In addition, I am appalled by the partisan politics within the church where it seems like a lot of people believe that a party or candidate is in effect our functional savior. I am also appalled by the lack of love, anger, and negativity spewing forth from Christians. It’s like we think that the biblical commands about love and how we are to speak do not apply during election season.

5. I am not advocating that Christians should not vote and not vote their Christian conscience. There are political issues that are hills to die on for me. For example, I would never knowingly vote for a pro-abortion candidate. I am certainly not against Christians speaking out on biblical issues, but I do believe we are to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) instead of a derogatory type way.

6. I am not advocating either political party. While there is a party that I generally vote for because its platform better fits my convictions, I don’t think either one is the ultimate answer. There’s a great text in the Old Testament (Joshua 5:13-15) where Jesus appears to Joshua in pre-incarnate form to prepare him for the campaign to take the Promised Land. When Joshua saw him, he said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” Jesus replied, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” In other words, Jesus did not come to take sides but to take over.

7. I am not advocating compromising Scripture. In fact, I am basing my case on Scripture.

So, the preceding seven statements are some things I am not advocating. Let me repeat what I am advocating and then make a case for why. In a nutshell, I am advocating that the church is not called to make America a Christian nation but to make America a nation of Christians. I believe these are mutually exclusive positions because the first is based on moralism, and the second is based on the gospel. I am saying that the church is the missionary with the mandate of making disciples and advancing the Kingdom of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here are ten biblical (and there are other reasons, but I have decided to restrict my case to biblical reasons) reasons why:

1. The whole idea of the nation being a Christian nation is just simply contradicted by Scripture. 1 Peter 2:9-10 says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” This clearly is produced by the saving work of Jesus. Verses 4-5 say, “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” This is obviously talking about the church instead of the United States of America.

2. While the last point referred to the church spiritually being the people of God, I want to build on it by showing you in Scripture that Israel is the only nation that has ever truly belonged to God. I am not disputing that the United States has certainly been blessed by God, but look at what King David said in response to God making a covenant with him. As recorded in 2 Samuel 7:23-24, he said, “And who is like Your people, like Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make for Himself a name-and to do for Yourself great and awesome deeds for Your land-before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, the nations, and their gods? For You have made Your people Israel Your very own people forever; and you, Lord, have become their God.”

3. The church’s mandate is telling as many people as possible about Jesus and making disciples of all the nations. This is what Jesus told us to do. He said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). He also said, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20).

4. We are commissioned to be missionaries. Jesus said, “As You [the Father] sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 18:36). “Sent” is the Greek word, “apostello,” and it means, “to send forth on a certain mission.” Therefore, Jesus was sent into the world by the Father as a missionary, and in the same way, He sends His followers into the world as missionaries. Jesus was known as the friend of sinners. Does the world see the church in America that way? Or does it see us as judgmental and condemning? Are we going to focus on lifting up Jesus or tearing down politicians? Missionaries have to meet people where they are instead of living with an us vs. them mentality.

5. We cannot expect non-Christians to think and live as Christians. This is moralism instead of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 says, “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person’.” This is telling us to confront sins in the church instead of in the world. Our message is not live a new lifestyle but let God give you a new heart through Jesus so you can then live a new life.

6. Christianity is about heart change from the inside out through the gospel while religious moralism focuses on the outside in. Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27). 2 Corinthians 3 is clear that the Law condemns instead of giving life. The chapter concludes with verses 17 and 18 saying, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Transformation comes from looking to Jesus by faith. People often say that we cannot legislate morality. I concur with Adrian Rogers who stated in a sermon his agreement with that statement but added that we make laws to legislate against immorality because we cannot make people act in moral ways. He said that only God can make people good. The way God makes people righteous, both positionally (justification) and practically (sanctification) is through the gospel. We obviously need good laws, and Christian citizens need to have a voice in the law-making process so, once again, get as far upstream as possible to have as much influence as possible. However, I believe the church’s primary focus must be on proclaiming the gospel so people can be saved and receive the righteousness of Christ. If we expect people who don’t believe in Jesus or the Bible to agree with and practice biblical morality, we are acting like religious moralists instead of gospel-believing Christians (Ephesians 2:1-10). If the message that our society constantly hears from the church is act right, how can we expect them to believe when we proclaim the gospel and tell them they are not right with God, cannot get right with God by their own efforts, and cannot live righteously apart from the grace of God?

7. We need to get our own house in order. Judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). Of course, this is not judgment in a punitive sense because Jesus absorbed all the wrath of God on the cross but discipline for beloved children. Jesus told us to get the plank out of our eyes before we try to get a splinter out of somebody else’s eye or we are a hypocrite (Matthew 7:5). Don’t you see that the world sees us as hypocrites when we condemn people who don’t yet believe in Jesus for not acting, believing, or maybe even voting like Christians and then excuse or sweep under the rug sin within the church? Don’t you see that the world sees us as hypocrites when we condemn character flaws in the candidate of the party we don’t like and excuse them in the candidate we are for by saying things like it’s about the platform instead of the person? The world needs to see a holy church (1 Peter 1:15).

8. The idea of a Christian nation is based on Old Covenant thinking instead of New Covenant thinking. I think this is true in two ways. Let me say in the way of background information so there is no confusion on this point that I believe the church and Israel are distinct in the plan of God and replacement theology is a heresy. The first way this represents Old Covenant thinking is because it applies things said to God’s people, Israel, to our nation instead of to God’s people, the church. Second and primarily, it is Old Covenant thinking because it emphasizes the conditional promises of the Old Covenant based on our obedience instead of the unconditional promises of the New Covenant based on the grace of Jesus (Hebrews 8:7-13) because those who talk about turning America back to God consistently talk about God blessing us if we do certain things and don’t do other things.

9. God raises up and brings down leaders. This includes Him raising up ungodly leaders for purposes that we sometimes do not understand. Here are three biblical examples of this fact: Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2:37), Pharaoh (Romans 9:17), and Pilate (John 19:11).

10. We can make the greatest impact by loving and serving people instead of arguing with people. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:25-37). We show our faith by our works (James 2:18). Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp-stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16). As we love people, meet human needs, and share the gospel; people’s lives will be eternally impacted. Our society will be changed one life at a time as people are saved, marriages are repaired, families are restored, and addicts are delivered. The gospel can accomplish this!

A Christian world view teaches that God ordained the spheres of the family, government, and the church. Each have vital roles to play within their sphere. We need Christians within the sphere of government living out their faith and making a difference, but the church needs to primarily focus on its calling to be gospel-centered missionaries making disciples. This is how we can make the greatest impact. How can we accomplish this? Here are ten suggestions:

1. Be a city within the city that is here for the good of our communities (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

2. Equip Christians, especially young people, to get as far upstream as possible to make a difference for the Kingdom of God in every sphere of life for the good of all people. Biblical examples of this principle include Joseph, Nehemiah, and Daniel.

3. Stay focused on lifting up Jesus, proclaiming the gospel, and living as missionaries. The early church turned the world upside down by doing this (Acts 17:6), and the gospel is still “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

4. Abandon our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:24) and live with radical boldness (Acts 4).

5. Pray fervently and in faith for God to transform lives, families, communities, and ultimately our nation. Acts 4:31 says, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” I think we all want to see this kind of transformation take place. I am just saying that it will come through the gospel and not moralism.

6. Christians must individually and corporately repent of sin and consistently live lives that are marked by repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10).

7. Churches must lovingly and consistently practice biblical church discipline with the purposes of restoring sinners and protecting the church (Galatians 6:1, Matthew 18:15-18, 1 Corinthians 5, Romans 16:17-18, Titus 3:9-11) instead of condemning sinners for acting like sinners if we are going to have any credibility.

8. Follow the example of Jesus by serving each other and serving the world. Jesus said, “You know that the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant….just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-26, 28).

9. We have to do everything we can to reach, disciple, and equip men to fulfill their God-given roles. In my opinion, this is how we can make the greatest impact on our nation because large amounts of research show that fatherlessness is the primary root of the social pathologies in America.

10. The universal church must unite around the essentials of the gospel and stop fighting and dividing over secondary matters, including politics. The more hostile the world is to Jesus, the more we have to be united and love each other. Maybe something Benjamin Franklin said about the American Revolution applies to the church today. He said, “If we don’t hang together, we shall all hang separately.”

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you will prayerfully consider whether or not it is true and how it applies to your life and church.