Why Christians Must Give Up the Fight

The church finds itself in a world still filled with many whose hearts are turned away from God. God has won our hearts. But there are still many who have not yet fallen for God. As a result, God has enlisted us to help. He partners with the church to woo the rest of the world.

But it’s one thing for God to romance the world. It’s another for the church. How does the church win the hearts of humans? What posture does the church take so that it can have the greatest impact on a world still filled with hearts that don’t yet belong to God?

We could take lessons from religion. In Jesus’ day, religion offered four answers to that question. Like us, the Jews living in Jerusalem found themselves in a culture filled with people who were increasingly turned from the one true God. They were ruled by Romans who had no place in their pantheon for the biblical God and His ways. The Romans had hearts that were turned toward all kinds of pagan gods and all kinds of pagan ways. How should the Jews respond? How could they win those hard hearts? In the religion of Jesus’ day there were four answers to that question.^[i]

First, a group known as the Zealots answered that question in this way: “I will fight against you.” The Zealots were the ones calling for a military overthrow of the Roman government.  They were the ones most longing for the Jewish Messiah to come, because when he came (they believed) he would use divine military power to drive out the pagans.

Today some churches take this same stance. Recent research finds that 59% of Christians say “Christians are losing the culture war” and 11% say “Christians have lost the culture war.”^[ii] Some churches and Christians feel so attacked by the non-Christian culture that their natural response is to fight.

• They fight Hollywood because of its movies.
• They fight Nashville because of its music.
• They fight Washington because of its laws.

The hope is for the church to regain power. They respond in way that says, “I will fight against you.”

Popular columnist Jonathan Merritt records how churches and Christian leaders often “bully” the surrounding culture. One mega-church pastor called secular liberals “godless, immoral infidels who hate God.” When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died of cancer a religious commentator on a widely-watched news network tweeted, “Hugo dead. The good news is now Saddam, Osama and Adolf have a fourth for Canasta,” and “Hell is burning a little bit brighter tonight.” Merritt cites a 2010 Barna Research survey which found that one in five Americans and 35 percent of those associated with non-Christian faiths said that Christians’ most negative contribution to society was “violence or hatred incited in the name of Jesus Christ.”[iii]

In his book Unapologetic Francis Spufford writes this:^[iv] “When Christians try to exercise power as if it were God doing it, cruelty and suffering and tyranny follow swiftly. In short order, we get the steely-eyed monks of the Inquisition trying to drag the Moors and Jews of Spain into perfect orthodoxy, one fingernail at a time; we get the theocrats of Protestant New England hanging Quakers and dispensing scarlet letters; we get holy war, with weapons of ever-increasing sophistication.” If our posture toward the world is to use power to fight the world, we, and the world, end up losing.

Professor and author Richard Beck explains why it’s so critical for Christians to understand the true nature of our “battle.”^[v] He points us back to Paul who writes that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the dark powers of Satan (Eph. 6:12) Military language and symbolism is not wrong in Christianity. We are in the midst of a battle. We have been called to fight. But sometimes we forget who we are fighting. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. Our battle is against Satan and his dark powers. We have not been called to fight against people. That is not the kind of power we have been called to wield. And attempting to use that power will not win the hearts of the world.