There is some pretty tense stuff going on in our world right now - while still dealing with our COVID-19 crisis, we've seen a wave of racial tension and unrest, heated debate over governmental authority and ethics, and all in a culture drastically divided over most major issues (not just those listed above). A clear pastoral voice can be so refreshing for a Christian in times like these, as we weather the storms of culture while trying to love our neighbor and engage with kindness and gentleness. We hope our own church leadership communicates biblical clarity and ministers with the peace of the gospel; but other voices can be a great help in times like these, too.
One of the best books we've seen in recent years is most-definitely How the Nations Rage by Jonathan Leeman (Leeman is the Editorial Director at 9Marks). This book will be very helpful to you, to frame the tension and divisions in our culture within the purposes of God. And perhaps most helpfully, it will clarify and refresh the call of the church to deliver gospel hope to our culture.
Listen to these quotes by Leeman:
"Joining the new-covenant community [the church] means we can be done using our various groups in the grand project of self-justification. We no longer need to prove we’re insiders to anyone, least of all to ourselves. It allows us to hold all those memberships with a loose grip. We can use them for good where we can, but let them go where we cannot. We are no longer slaves to any of our groups. Remarkably, the doctrine of justification by faith alone is history’s grand source of political unity" (66).
And,
"The church’s most powerful political word is the gospel. And the church’s most powerful political testimony is being the church. There is more political power in the gospel and in being the church than there is in electing a president, installing a Supreme Court justice, or even changing a constitution" (146).
Please read this book - it's very, very timely and will give you much encouragement!
BONUS RECOMMENDATION: For a shorter, simpler, pure explanation from Scripture of the church's (and individual Christian's) relationship should be to government and politics, read The Gospel and the Citizen by Florent Varak and Philippe Viguier. These men happen to be good friends of our church, and they've written a fantastic little guide to these issues. Read it, and give it away to others!
