What does God care about, and have we learned to care about those things, too?

Perhaps before we critique the culture around us, we should have the courage to examine the culture that has formed within us. We need to tell ourselves the truth: we have often allowed the culture to disciple the Church.

Politics can become identity. Ideology has become conviction, and social media has become a pulpit. We know the latest controversy, outrage, and talking points, yet too often we are less acquainted with the Word that is supposed to govern us. We have become experts at repeating what everybody else is saying while neglecting what God has already said.

That is not cultural engagement; that is spiritual drift.

Perhaps the clearest evidence is found in what now shapes our conversations, our convictions, and sometimes even our pulpits. CNN, NBC, FOX, MSNBC, and the endless stream of commentators and influencers can sometimes have more influence in the Church than Scripture itself.

When the voices of the culture become louder in the Church than the voice of God, something has gone wrong.

We can quote the news more readily than we can quote the Word, defend a commentator more passionately than we defend biblical truth, and allow a television personality to frame our worldview before we ever allow God to frame it. When the voices of the culture become louder in the Church than the voice of God, something has gone wrong.

The concern, then, is not that the Church has convictions. The concern is whether our convictions have been formed by Christ or merely reinforced by culture. It is not wrong for the Church to speak about abortion, the family, sexuality, or the moral questions confronting our society. These matters deserve thoughtful, biblical engagement. But we must also remember that God’s moral concern is not exhausted by the issues that dominate our preferred political conversations.

God is not selectively concerned. The same God who cares about the unborn cares about the poor; the same God who established the family condemns racism; the same God who calls us to sexual holiness also calls us to confront exploitation; the same God who demands personal righteousness also demands public justice.

His moral authority does not stop where our political preferences begin. Scripture gives us no permission to champion the sanctity of life in the womb while remaining indifferent to the dignity of life outside of it, to defend the institution of family while tolerating the dehumanization of people created in God’s image, or to denounce personal sin while overlooking systems and practices that crush the vulnerable.

God’s moral vision is comprehensive, and we should be careful not to embrace only those portions that reinforce what we already believe.

The question for the Church is not simply, “What issues do we oppose?” The deeper question is, “What does God care about, and have we learned to care about those things, too?”

We cannot faithfully defend one portion of God’s moral vision while deliberately ignoring another.

Scripture will not permit us to construct a Christianity around the subjects that are most comfortable for us. The God who commands us to defend life also commands us to pursue justice. The God who calls us to holiness also calls us to mercy. The God who condemns unrighteousness also condemns partiality. We cannot faithfully defend one portion of God’s moral vision while deliberately ignoring another.

The Church does not need to become less biblical to become more compassionate, nor less courageous to become more just. We need a fuller biblical vision, one in which truth and justice are not competitors, holiness and mercy are not enemies, and conviction and compassion are not opposites.

Our calling is not to echo the loudest voice in the culture. Our calling is to hear the voice of God clearly enough that we can speak when the culture is right, speak when the culture is wrong, and remain faithful when neither side applauds us.

Let the world be the world. Let the Church be the Church. And let us have the courage to be who God called us to be.

The Rev. Dr. Lonnie E. Anderson, Jr., has served as the Senior Pastor of Mount Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church in Kokomo, Indiana, since 2002. He completed his Doctorate of Ministry at Grace Theological Seminary, where he also serves as an adjunct professor. For more information about his ministry and the church, visit https://www.themountkokomo.org/