Churches exist in
societies, and the changes that happen in these societies tend to affect the church. Since
our world is subjected to the
effects of the fall described in Genesis
3 and illustrated in chapter 4, and indeed
in the rest of the Bible, the pull is sadly ‘downward’.
Society, contrary to popular opinion, unaided by the gospel
and left to itself does not evolve nor
improve with time. If it were not for
the continuous preaching of the Bible in the pulpits of the world, and if it were not for heaven–sent reformation and revival movements given by God from time to time, and if it were not for the common grace and the patience of God, and were it not for the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ, acting as
salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16) in all ages, the self-destructive nature of fallen men
would have brought about the total demise
of this world far sooner.
Many people are not sure as to what the role of the
church ought to be in our
ever changing society. On the one hand there are those who
maintain that the church ought to
accommodate herself to the times. Their representatives call the church to adapt her message to suit the
times. On the other extreme there are those (they are
not too many these days) who
believe that the church ought to resist the times, to the point of becoming
isolationist and non- interactive. Therefore, since they do not intersect with their society, they
have no influence upon their society,
and for all intents and purposes, they are irrelevant.
Jesus never
intended His church to be an uncritical follower of
culture or societal norms. Jesus Himself was not afraid to take on religious and cultural establishments in His day. What mattered to Him was that
the truth of God’s plain Word should
be applied to man’s thinking, thus correcting the continuous
drift of society into evil and falsehood. The church must do likewise.
The church is not a cultural
phenomenon. The church is not an
institution designed by man. The church
is not an uncritical rubberstamp
of her society. She is a
creation of God. She is the ‘ekklesia’[1] of God. She is the people of God, purchased by the death of Christ on the cross. She represents the people
that are ‘called out’
of the world , and called to belong to God.[2] She
is ‘God’s new society‘[3].
She is called by God to be God’s alternative society. She
is called to proclaim the gospel to this corrupt society, declaring the
good news that God has made a way
for sinners[4] to be reconciled with God
through believing in Christ and to be changed by Christ once more into a God fearing, godly people. So, the gospel
is not only an announcement concerning how sinners may be reconciled with their Creator. The
gospel is also an announcement regarding
‘how we should live’.
SECULAR VERSUS BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
In this regard one of
the greatest challenges in our day has become
the matter of biblical anthropology
(i.e. the doctrine of man) severely clashing with an
aggressive secular and atheistic anthropology that is challenging
the way in which we have traditionally and biblically looked at God and man.
I consider how the landscape has changed even within my life
time. I find that the greatest challenge
started when society began
to abandon the biblical
distinction concerning the
different roles of men and women in favour of an ‘egalitarian view‘. The biblical view is ‘complementarian’, meaning
that men and women have been created by
God to complement one another, rather
than to compete with one another. The
egalitarian world view recognises no functional difference between
men and women, and therefore men and
women are now competing with one another, rather than completing one another. The gender wars
have become not only a feature
of the international community, but
indeed also of Namibian society.
This ongoing gender war has
opened a proverbial can of worms.
If we
challenge the biblical view of the unique design of men and women in terms of their unique design in terms of
their differing roles, and their different sex, then
we must not be surprised
that, following the abolishment of these
biblical distinctions, further cracks
appear. The little crack in the pipe has now become a serious water – leak. Lack of gender distinction has now become
gender confusion. And all of a sudden, and at a dizzying speed, the gay, lesbian and transgender agenda has appeared with an astonishing force and strength,
challenging everything sacred: marriage, biblical sexuality, child raising
principles, education.
In the church the prevailing trend in Namibia has
been to almost uncritically endorse
the prevailing culture, even to
the point to which
the plain meaning of the
Bible, the Word
is of God is challenged and
re-interpreted to suit the
culture. For instance, the Bible
knows nothing of women elders and pastors leading the church, and yet it is true that more and
more women take over the leadership
roles of the Namibian church. The Bible would firmly challenge this development. People would call this a fundamentalistic position, when in truth it has everything to do with the authority of Scripture which is being plainly ignored.
It is this tendency to rebel against biblical authority in the church which ultimately gives way to the great spiritual apostasy of the church and thus ultimately to the disassembly of society.
Namibian churches and
pulpits must be prepared to see this and
to pray, preach and obey the gospel, rather than pandering to our society's whims and fancies.
[1]
From the Greek word ‘ek’ & ‘kaleo’
- literally, ‘ to be called out’. The
church is the people of God called out
of this world and called to belong to God . She is God’s
new society
[2] 1
Peter 2:9-10
[3]
John Stott : Commentary of Ephesians , BST Series (IVP) , p.26
[4]
The Bible makes it clear every man is a sinner : “ All
have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God.” ( Rom 3:9-26)
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