Sinful Silence--When Christians Neglect Their Civic Duty by John Revell & Connor Ken

Author:John Revell & Connor, Ken [John Revell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ginosko Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2011-03-09T16:00:00+00:00

Barbara Stevens’ question may be on the hearts of many believers across the nation. On one hand, we see the immorality in our government and legal system and we’re certain that it angers God. From what we saw in the last chapter, the U.S. isn’t far from the corruption of Judah during Isaiah’s day, and it probably wouldn’t surprise us if God poured out His wrath on the nation.

At the same time, some of us may be uncomfortable with the thought of being “politically active.” For years many of us have observed the clear distinction between the Kingdom of God and all earthly kingdoms. Like Jimmy Perkins, we’ve devoted ourselves to seeking first His Kingdom, and we’ve separated that sincere and noble pursuit from involvement in earthly kingdoms. We have genuinely joined our hearts with Paul and are resolved to know nothing … except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).

Furthermore, some of us can’t relate to those religious political groups. Their motives may be pure, but their activities and agendas strike some as irrelevant to Jesus’ primary emphasis on making disciples. We struggle to find strong biblical support (especially in the New Testament) for Christians speaking up and leading out in the civil and political arena. And we cry out for some sense of balance on the whole issue.

Once again, we are drawn back to God’s Word through Isaiah. So far we’ve seen His passionate indictment of both the leaders and the people of Judah, His emotional rejection of their worship, and His clear commands related to the civil arena. But we still haven’t dealt with the key question that ties all of these together: Why was God so passionate in His expectations of justice, relief for the oppressed, and protection for the defenseless?

What was there about God and these expectations that would lead Him to identify the people of Judah with Sodom and Gomorrah? Why would failure in these civil expectations result in the absolute rejection of their worship? Why would He label this civil failure evil? What stirred the fire of God’s passion as He evaluated Judah’s civil status and found them desperately lacking? And does His response have any bearing on us today? The answers, again, are in God’s Word. As we consider these answers, we’ll be another step closer to answering Barbara Stevens’ question, a question shared by so many of us.

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