The Politics of The Spiritual Life
by
Terry Schlossberg
History is filled with accounts of Christians planted in the midst of
paganism in order to bring Light into the darkness. And the accounts often
demonstrate the effectual integration of piety and politics.
When I was in college the deaths of missionaries killed by the Aucas of
South America was a world shocking event. One of the wives, Elizabeth
Elliott, wrote the history of that event in a book called Through Gates of
Splendor. And she did more. She went herself to live among those murderers
and win them to a new way of life in Christ. She never questioned the call
of God to live among those who rebelled against God.
It is not far-fetched to compare our calling in the Church to the calling of
mis-sionaries. There is ample biblical support for confronting the darkness
with the Light both in pagan societies and in places where the salt has lost
its saltiness and those identified as the people of God have become
rebellious. That is the calling of those who pledge faithfulness to Jesus
Christ in the mainline Protestant denominations today. We are not exempt
from the respon-sibility for bringing in the Light. We share the guilt if we
do not work zealously and persistently for the renewal of biblical
faithfulness in our denomination.
The need for a commitment to renewal because of the evils that have befallen
the Church is nothing new in history
John Calvin wrote a lengthy tract called “The Necessity of Reforming the
Church.” His list of “evils” which had overtaken the Church of the 16th
century involved the very heart of the life of the Church. Nothing less than
that could have led to the radical action that became the Reformation.
Calvin’s tract focuses on three principal areas: the need to restore
biblical doctrine and practice regarding the proper means of worship, the
correct ad-ministration of the sacraments, and the government of the Church.
Calvin clearly
understood the necessity of the reform of Church government for the proper
living out of the Gospel. He had none of the aversion to the Church’s
political life that has turned so many of us into passive pietists.
William Wilberforce, convert to Christianity shortly after his election to
the English Parliament in the 18th century, became a leader in ending
slavery in his country through legislative action. He was also a major
evangelical influence on England. He was so effective in propagat-ing the
gospel among his own country-men and teaching its application to the living
out of their lives that at the time of his death he was called “The
conscience of the nation.” He, like Calvin, understood the importance of the
transformation of both souls and institutions.
Both Jesus and Paul warned about false shepherds and told the disciples to
guard the flock and defend the Truth.
Discipline and legislation as fidelity
It may be much more difficult to understand our spiritual responsibility to
win a denomination back to faithfulness through disciplinary action and use
of the legislative process of the Church than through preaching and teaching
and ministries of love and acceptance. But both approaches must be used if
we are to see justice restored, lives committed to Christ, and Christians
become faithful dis-ciples who in tam are carriers of the Light.
Do not faint at the prospect of taking proper disciplinary action. Do not
shrink from the resistance you expect to encoun-ter by putting forth an
overture in your presbytery. These are acts of faithfulness that are a
necessary part of living as dis-ciples in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
(Reprinted with permission from t_he Presbyterian Pro-Life News_)