This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.
This once again I beleive is a parable of the sad state of the modern church, at least here in the United States. We have been given one overall arching basic task to do and it has been dubbed over the centuries as “The Great Commission”
- Mark 16:15 NASB – 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
- Matthew 28:19-20 NASB – 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
We are simply to preach and teach and make disciples. God even does the heavy lifting as He is the one who saves.
- Psalm 7:10 NASB – 10 My shield is with God, Who saves the upright in heart.
- Psalm 34:18 NASB – 18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
- John 14:6 NASB – 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
As we saw in our last post, God moves when we get involved.
We have abandoned getting involved with people by trying to legislate through politicians to do what we are supposed to do. We as the church have the call to reach people to change their hearts so they will live moral, upright ways. Should we encourage all governments to pass morally good laws, absolutely. But the legal system is actually meaningless when it comes to changing hearts.
Let’s take in the United States, Roe vs Wade for example. Suppose you have 10 pregnant women who want an abortion and it is illegal. If they really want an abortion they will find a way. It may stop someone who is hesitant, but they are not hesitant because of the law, but because their heart knows it is not right. Now suppose abortion is completely without any legal consequences and there are 10 women who are pregnant but all know in their heart it is not right. Even though it is legal, the law becomes irrelevant as they will all choose life.
The unspoken theology is that electing Godly leaders and passing Moral Laws will change the hearts of people. The reality it is through preaching and teaching that God Saves and hearts are changed.
Am I suggesting that we stop caring about passing upright laws, absolutely not! We need people of faith in government. But instead of forcing people to be what we feel they should be through legal consequences, why not get involved so they will not want to be ungodly. A far more harder and daunting task. It is the one job that has been entrusted to us as the church, not the political system we live under, and it is the one job we are not doing. If we chose to ask who is our neighbor and then love our neighbor as ourselves with the same fervor we use to get out the vote, we will change the world on an eternal level instead of just until the next election.
Unspoken Theology 