Losing Focus in a Pagan World
by Tim Webb
When the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in the summer of 2022, it reminded me of how the American church has lost its focus in a pagan world. Not all, but many churches have lost sight of their one true mission, which is to seek out and save sinners, and deliver the gospel to all of creation. It’s not our job as Christians to remove sin from the world. And when we become more focused on the sin rather than the sinner, we wind up hating and alienating the very people that God wants us to save. Loving sinners the way God does, doesn’t mean that we have to condone sin in the process. Our righteous anger at sin must never surpass our compassion for sinners.
In his book Not In It to Win It, pastor Andy Stanley said, “As Christians, you can’t hate people and engage them with the gospel at the same time. The moment we step into a ring that requires someone to lose in order for us to win, we are no longer followers of Jesus.”
The Bible tells us multiple times that Satan rules this world, and as long as Satan is in charge, there will always be sin and chaos. As Christians, we can’t change that fact, and we shouldn’t try. The fact that we live in a broken world has been part of God’s plan ever since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden. Society can outlaw abortion, but ten other sins will pop up in its place. It’s the very nature of the pagan world in which we live.
Dr. Bill Creacy of Logos Bible Study simplified it best by saying, “The world is like the Titanic. It’s not our job to save a sinking ship! Our job is to get as many people as we can off the Titanic and into the lifeboat of God.” At no point did God command us to remove sin from the world. It is an impossible task for us as humans. Jesus Christ is the only person who can, and who will, eradicate sin from the world at his second coming.
The last thing Jesus did before he returned to heaven was he gave his church what is known as the Great Commission. In the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20, he tells us to take the gospel to everyone. The meaning behind the Great Commission is centered on saving sinners, not removing sin. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Some may argue, how can we teach sinners to obey Jesus’ commandments if they are constantly sinning? I would simply say, our job as disciples is to deliver the gospel as God’s messengers. After that, it’s between them, God, and the Holy Spirit. We should never discount the power of the Holy Spirit to reach the unreachable or love the unlovable.
But how can we be effective in sharing the gospel with all of creation if we don’t show them love, especially when they’re not even welcome in some of our churches? As the Apostle Paul said, without love we’re reduced to noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. As Christians living in a pagan world, we’re going to have to get our hands dirty with people we don’t like or people we don’t approve of.
We need to ask ourselves, how are we going to save them? Are we pushing non-believers away from God or are we pulling them in? God commissioned us, so how effective are we being with our methods?
SEEK AND SAVEThe Bible gives us two great examples in the ministries of Christ and the Apostle Paul as to why it’s not our job to remove sin. Neither one of them engaged in the cultural wars of their time. Instead, they focused on the task at hand, which was delivering the gospel and transforming the world through its redeeming message. God never intended for Jesus to engage in cultural wars. Rather, Jesus came here to fulfill a much bigger purpose. First Timothy 1:15, reminds us that Jesus came here with one clear mission, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
And Jesus summed it up best in the closing line of the Zacchaeus story when he said in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” The importance of that scripture is that Jesus came to not only save the lost, but to seek out the lost as well. My question would be, how much seeking are we doing as the modern-day church?
We see this play out in the gospels as Jesus hung out with people who were considered social outcasts and marginalized people like tax collectors, thieves, and prostitutes, the crippled and disease-ridden, the disadvantaged, and yes, even women, at a time in history when they had very little civil rights. Jesus reminded us of our mission as Christian disciples in Matthew 9:12-13 when he said, “’Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.’ Then he added, ‘Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.’”
He knew what his mission was, and he remained focused on it and it alone. He didn’t get caught up in the politics of the day and he didn’t try to remove sin from the world. Instead, he focused on offering salvation to the lost. A great example of this happened on Palm Sunday as Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Messiah. He knew what was in front of him. He knew that he was going to die a gruesome death, and he understood the importance and necessity of his death on the cross.
But the Palm Sunday story also shows the short sightedness of his followers. The same people who were shouting Hosanna, Hosanna and accepting him as their Messiah on Sunday morning were the same ones who shouted crucify him on Friday morning. All because they were more concerned about the political issue of freeing Israel from Roman oppression. Their long-awaited Messiah didn’t live up to their expectations because he didn’t liberate them immediately. They lost sight of eternity and traded the long game in for the short game by being more concerned about Israeli nationalism than the salvation of their souls.
THE PROBLEM WITH CHRISTIAN NATIONALISMThere’s nothing wrong with loving your country and having national pride, but there’s a fine line in loving your country and worshipping your national leaders as if they are God. It’s not our job as Christians to make America great or any other country great for that matter. Because when we focus our attention on nationalism, rather than saving sinners, we tend to judge others who don’t believe the way we believe, or don’t look the way we look, or don’t share the same culture and values as us. That creates a divide which erodes the gospel.
The Jews who crucified Jesus had developed tunnel vision, especially the pharisees. They knew the scriptures like the back of their hand, but yet they couldn’t see past their sense of Israeli nationalism long enough to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
In John 11:50 the Jewish high priest Caiaphas said, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” Caiaphas was willing to throw the Messiah under the bus to save his country. On the surface, that may sound like a noble sacrifice where the end justified the means, but it was shortsighted of God’s plan for humanity. Both Jesus and the truth were standing in front of Caiaphas. All he had to do was look at the Book of Isaiah. Thousands of years of prophecy was playing out right under his nose, but he allowed himself to be blinded at the hand of his own human nature. His mind was clouded by nationalism, which is one of Satan’s greatest tools. He’s been using nationalism as a tool to make Christian nations lose focus for centuries. Just look at Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. The German people were so bent on nationalism that they allowed Hitler’s regime to build into the horrific nightmare that it became.
SAVING SINNERS IS OUR ONE TRUE MISSIONThe Apostle Paul spent 18 months during his second missionary journey in the city of Corinth in Greece. Corinth was a double seaport town and was a very blue collar, decadent town with the Temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of erotic love, on a hilltop above the city. If you were a sailor who had been out to sea for several months and you were on a layover in the port at Corinth for a few days, you could spend your down time reading a book in the library or catch a play at the theater. Or you could go up on the hill and indulge yourself in cult sex. Paul didn’t waste his precious time by lobbying the Greek government or organizing a petition drive to shut down the Temple of Aphrodite. Instead, what did Paul do? He built a church! He did the one thing that Jesus intended for his disciples to do. He worked tirelessly to pull the people out of a sinful culture. He didn’t try to change the culture or do away with the sin itself. Paul didn’t try to save Corinth, or any other city where he delivered the gospel, instead he tried to save the people. We will never see a city or a country in heaven, but we will spend eternity with the many souls who live in those cities and countries.
As someone who has spent his career in the modern world of journalism, public relations, marketing, and branding, I can so relate to the words that Paul spoke in First Corinthians 9:19-23, “Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.”
Basically, Paul was saying that you can have the greatest message in the world (and the gospel is the greatest message in the world) but if no one is listening because you’re ineffective at delivering that message, then you might as well be preaching to a brick wall. The results will be the same.
Some may view this as Paul being two-faced by his statement, or lacking a backbone, but I would say it’s just the opposite. He was smart enough and bold enough to know what really mattered and he kept his eyes on the prize. It has always been about saving sinners, and he had enough sense not to alienate or hate-on the very audience that he was trying to save.
It’s amazing that Paul figured this out two thousand years ago, but many in the modern church have blatantly missed the obvious. WE’RE NOT QUALIFIED TO JUDGE It is so easy for us to judge other people because it’s part of our human nature, and Satan loves to tempt us into committing self-righteous judgement. When we do that, there’s a good chance that we alienate those souls and turn them away from Christ altogether.
Nowhere in the Bible does God ask us to judge our fellow humans. That’s his job, not ours! As a matter of fact, God tells us multiple times in the Bible to leave judgement to him. Matthew 7:1-6 says, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own. How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.’”
We’re not qualified to judge others, because as Romans 3:23 tells us, “We are all sinners, and we all fall short of the glory of God.” Isaiah 64:6 drives home this point home with very sobering language when it says that even on our best day, our most righteous acts are the equivalent of a filthy, bloody rag before God. As Christians, we have to remember, the only reason we have salvation to begin with is because of God’s love. We certainly didn’t do anything to earn it. As Romans 5:8 reminds us, “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
THE KIM DAVIS SAGAWe don’t have to go to a foreign country to be good missionaries. Good mission work begins in our own back yard. And I’m not talking about standing on a street corner evangelizing with a sign and a bullhorn. I’m talking about evangelizing by living out the Golden Rule and living by example. We are more effective when we love our neighbor than when we judge our neighbor. Jesus condensed 613 Jewish laws into two simple laws when he said in Matthew 22:37-40, Love God. Love people. He didn’t say love some people, or love the people who look like you and act like you. He meant all people. And he wrapped it up by saying that all of the law and prophets hang on these two commandments. In the summer of 2015, I photographed the Kim Davis saga in Morehead, Kentucky, for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Davis was the Rowan County Clerk who refused to issue a marriage license to the LGBTQ+ community after the supreme court legalized same-sex marriage in the landmark case of Obergefell vs. Hodges in June of the same year. I was able to maintain journalistic objectivity with my photos by giving each side equal play, as did the Courier-Journal as the issue became the center of national attention.
As a disciple who is concerned about saving nonbelievers, my overall impression after it was over was that Christianity came away with a huge black eye. I couldn’t help but think that no non-believer would look at the events surrounding Kim Davis that summer and say, “I want to be like those people!”
I witnessed the Christian nation descend upon the little town of Morehead to defend God and Kim Davis. In their minds, they travelled from all over the country to stand up for what was right, but what they did in reality was alienate the pagan world even further away from God, with their hateful rhetoric and actions. It reminded me of the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. Jesus said of the Pharisees in Matthew 15:8, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
Remember what I said earlier about public relations, marketing, branding? With Kim Davis, the church branded itself in the national spotlight as modern-day pharisees who were self-righteous, exclusive, and intolerant. Their approach to the solution undoubtedly caused irreparable damage with the millions of non-believers who were watching. The problem with what Kim Davis did was she made it about herself instead of the sinner. As disciples, we don’t have to like them to save them.
LIVING IN A PAGAN WORLDSimply put, the church has a public relations problem. They have become so focused on sin itself that they have abandoned the sinner for social reasons. Jesus never taught us to do that!
You will rarely ever hear a minister preach on the two witnesses of Revelation Chapter 11. To view it in a nutshell, God is going to send two of his greatest prophets back to Earth to evangelize during the great tribulation. Think of it as God sending in his all-star team. The level of paganism and denial of God’s sovereignty will be the worst that the world has ever seen during great tribulation, a time when the Antichrist will be ruling the world. This prophecy should be an example to all of us, of how God will continue to seek and save sinners, even in humanity’s darkest hour. It goes to show, that while humans may give up on other humans, God will never give up on us until the very end.
The Bible also tells us in Revelation Chapter 20 that God will even give Satan one last chance in the End Times before he is thrown into the lake of fire. If God is willing to give Satan himself that many chances, what does that say about us? In the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15, Jesus said, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not repent.”
I’m often reminded of what Jesus said in John Chapter 8 when the religious leaders were going to stone a woman to death for committing adultery, Jesus said, “Let anyone of you who is without sin throw the first stone.”
I understand. It's hard to live as a Christian in a pagan world. But, it has always been that way. We have always lived in a pagan world. It’s absolutely nothing new and God designed it that way. Every aspect of the world we live in is part of his beautiful and intricate plan for us. As the world continues to decay in this downward spiral, we have to realize that it’s playing out exactly the way the Bible said it would.
Paul said in First Timothy 4:1, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” Paul goes on to say in Second Timothy 3:1-5, “You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.”
In my opinion, Paul nailed our current society when he penned Second Timothy 4:3 which says, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” All we have to do to see this being played out is ask someone which news program they prefer, Fox or CNN. There is very little objectivity left in journalism today because everyone wants a pundit and a medium that will tell them what they want to hear.
A LESSON FROM JONAHOne of the best examples of the type of spiritual apathy that I’m talking about is the Biblical story of Jonah. Even most non-believers have heard of the story of Jonah and the whale, which, just for the record, the Bible never said it was a whale, it only says that it was a big fish. But what seems to get lost in the story, and what is really the true meaning of Jonah’s story, is that Jonah didn’t want to save the Ninevites, who were the pagan people that God sent him to save. Because of his disdain for this particular group of people he decided for himself that they didn’t deserve God’s forgiveness, mercy, and grace. He knew that if he preached to the Ninevites, that God was a God of mercy and that he would not destroy them, which is exactly what Jonah wanted to happen. So, Jonah went completely rogue and against God’s plan, simply because he didn’t like a certain group of people. And worse, he thought his will was greater than the will of God. But God taught him a subtle lesson.
In Jonah chapters 3:10-4:1-4 God calls Jonah out on his decision-making, “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, ‘Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ But the Lord replied, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’”
“Is it right for you to be angry?” Here, God questions Jonah, the same as he questioned Job in the Book of Job, and basically asks, who are you to tell me what to do and who to save? In the last three chapters of the Book of Job, God has a drop-the-mic-moment when he basically asked Job, who are you to argue with the creator of the universe? Job 40:1-5 says, “Then the Lord said to Job, ‘Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?’ Then Job replied to the Lord, ‘I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.’” In the Jonah story, God went on to teach him a simple lesson about his judgment of others by killing a leafy plant that Jonah was using for shade. It’s not hard to pick up on Jonah’s selfishness and shortsightedness in this story.
Jonah 4:7-11 reads, “But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, ‘It would be better for me to die than to live.’ But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?’ ‘It is,’ he said. ‘And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.’ But the Lord said, ‘You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?’”
To sum it up, God saw the big picture of eternity and was concerned for the sinners of Nineveh, but Jonah wasn’t. Jonah was seeing things through an earthly lens rather than a heavenly lens and was only concerned about his personal feelings against the Ninevites.
WE DON’T BELONG TO THIS WORLDJesus told us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, but he didn’t tell us to pick and choose which neighbors we want to love. On the night before he was crucified, Jesus tweaked the Golden Rule by commanding in John 13:34-35 that we as disciples should not only love others, but love others the way he loved us.
The Great Commission commands us to take the gospel to all of creation, not just the ones we like and accept. As Christians, we must accept the fact that the world is broken, and we can’t change that. In so many ways, the Golden Rule is the driving force behind the Great Commission, which sets the tone for how we treat non-believers. We also must accept the fact that not everyone will be saved. Jesus described the road and gate to heaven as small and narrow. But we must be shrewd managers and give it our best effort. After that, all we can do is place it at the foot of the cross.
Jesus told us several times that we don’t belong to this world. “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth,” John 17:13-19.
In John 16:33 he said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” God makes it abundantly clear that in the end he will restore us and the universe back to its proper place. Revelation 20:10 says, “Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
It goes on to say in chapter 21:1-5, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.’ And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’”
As Christians, we have to discipline ourselves to not get hung up on this world because we don’t belong here. We’re aliens in this world who belong with God in eternity. JESUS WINS IN THE ENDThe modern church can learn so much from the simple story of Jonah, and the art of spiritual apathy. It’s hard as a Christian to not push back on the pagan world that we live in, but we have to remember these four things:
1. It’s not our mission to fix a broken world that belongs to Satan. Our mission is to save the sinners of this world and focus on eternity.
2. It’s not our job to judge sinners. That is God’s job and he tells us multiple times in the Bible not to judge others because we’re simply not qualified. 3. This life is temporary, and we don’t belong to this world. We’re forced to live in it, but we shouldn’t get hung up on its brokenness. Because when we do, we lose focus of the true gospel.
4. Ask yourself…are you pushing non-believers away from God, or are you pulling them into God? Are your methods effective? And finally, how are you going to save them?
We have to remember that God promised us that in the end, once all of this has played out, he will destroy Satan and return the world back to perfection. Only he can do that.
If it ever gets confusing all we have to do is stand still and be patient with God. Isaiah 55:8 teaches us that God’s thoughts and ways are so much higher than ours. We need to be more like Christ, and less like Jonah. The world is playing out just like God said it would. We can’t fight against the will of God for a world that is already doomed. But we can fight like hell for the sinners of this world. And that’s all we can do. After that it’s between them and God.
And always remember that in the end, Jesus wins!
In his book Not In It to Win It, pastor Andy Stanley said, “As Christians, you can’t hate people and engage them with the gospel at the same time. The moment we step into a ring that requires someone to lose in order for us to win, we are no longer followers of Jesus.”
The Bible tells us multiple times that Satan rules this world, and as long as Satan is in charge, there will always be sin and chaos. As Christians, we can’t change that fact, and we shouldn’t try. The fact that we live in a broken world has been part of God’s plan ever since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden. Society can outlaw abortion, but ten other sins will pop up in its place. It’s the very nature of the pagan world in which we live.
Dr. Bill Creacy of Logos Bible Study simplified it best by saying, “The world is like the Titanic. It’s not our job to save a sinking ship! Our job is to get as many people as we can off the Titanic and into the lifeboat of God.” At no point did God command us to remove sin from the world. It is an impossible task for us as humans. Jesus Christ is the only person who can, and who will, eradicate sin from the world at his second coming.
The last thing Jesus did before he returned to heaven was he gave his church what is known as the Great Commission. In the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20, he tells us to take the gospel to everyone. The meaning behind the Great Commission is centered on saving sinners, not removing sin. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Some may argue, how can we teach sinners to obey Jesus’ commandments if they are constantly sinning? I would simply say, our job as disciples is to deliver the gospel as God’s messengers. After that, it’s between them, God, and the Holy Spirit. We should never discount the power of the Holy Spirit to reach the unreachable or love the unlovable.
But how can we be effective in sharing the gospel with all of creation if we don’t show them love, especially when they’re not even welcome in some of our churches? As the Apostle Paul said, without love we’re reduced to noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. As Christians living in a pagan world, we’re going to have to get our hands dirty with people we don’t like or people we don’t approve of.
We need to ask ourselves, how are we going to save them? Are we pushing non-believers away from God or are we pulling them in? God commissioned us, so how effective are we being with our methods?
SEEK AND SAVEThe Bible gives us two great examples in the ministries of Christ and the Apostle Paul as to why it’s not our job to remove sin. Neither one of them engaged in the cultural wars of their time. Instead, they focused on the task at hand, which was delivering the gospel and transforming the world through its redeeming message. God never intended for Jesus to engage in cultural wars. Rather, Jesus came here to fulfill a much bigger purpose. First Timothy 1:15, reminds us that Jesus came here with one clear mission, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
And Jesus summed it up best in the closing line of the Zacchaeus story when he said in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” The importance of that scripture is that Jesus came to not only save the lost, but to seek out the lost as well. My question would be, how much seeking are we doing as the modern-day church?
We see this play out in the gospels as Jesus hung out with people who were considered social outcasts and marginalized people like tax collectors, thieves, and prostitutes, the crippled and disease-ridden, the disadvantaged, and yes, even women, at a time in history when they had very little civil rights. Jesus reminded us of our mission as Christian disciples in Matthew 9:12-13 when he said, “’Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.’ Then he added, ‘Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.’”
He knew what his mission was, and he remained focused on it and it alone. He didn’t get caught up in the politics of the day and he didn’t try to remove sin from the world. Instead, he focused on offering salvation to the lost. A great example of this happened on Palm Sunday as Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Messiah. He knew what was in front of him. He knew that he was going to die a gruesome death, and he understood the importance and necessity of his death on the cross.
But the Palm Sunday story also shows the short sightedness of his followers. The same people who were shouting Hosanna, Hosanna and accepting him as their Messiah on Sunday morning were the same ones who shouted crucify him on Friday morning. All because they were more concerned about the political issue of freeing Israel from Roman oppression. Their long-awaited Messiah didn’t live up to their expectations because he didn’t liberate them immediately. They lost sight of eternity and traded the long game in for the short game by being more concerned about Israeli nationalism than the salvation of their souls.
THE PROBLEM WITH CHRISTIAN NATIONALISMThere’s nothing wrong with loving your country and having national pride, but there’s a fine line in loving your country and worshipping your national leaders as if they are God. It’s not our job as Christians to make America great or any other country great for that matter. Because when we focus our attention on nationalism, rather than saving sinners, we tend to judge others who don’t believe the way we believe, or don’t look the way we look, or don’t share the same culture and values as us. That creates a divide which erodes the gospel.
The Jews who crucified Jesus had developed tunnel vision, especially the pharisees. They knew the scriptures like the back of their hand, but yet they couldn’t see past their sense of Israeli nationalism long enough to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
In John 11:50 the Jewish high priest Caiaphas said, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” Caiaphas was willing to throw the Messiah under the bus to save his country. On the surface, that may sound like a noble sacrifice where the end justified the means, but it was shortsighted of God’s plan for humanity. Both Jesus and the truth were standing in front of Caiaphas. All he had to do was look at the Book of Isaiah. Thousands of years of prophecy was playing out right under his nose, but he allowed himself to be blinded at the hand of his own human nature. His mind was clouded by nationalism, which is one of Satan’s greatest tools. He’s been using nationalism as a tool to make Christian nations lose focus for centuries. Just look at Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. The German people were so bent on nationalism that they allowed Hitler’s regime to build into the horrific nightmare that it became.
SAVING SINNERS IS OUR ONE TRUE MISSIONThe Apostle Paul spent 18 months during his second missionary journey in the city of Corinth in Greece. Corinth was a double seaport town and was a very blue collar, decadent town with the Temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of erotic love, on a hilltop above the city. If you were a sailor who had been out to sea for several months and you were on a layover in the port at Corinth for a few days, you could spend your down time reading a book in the library or catch a play at the theater. Or you could go up on the hill and indulge yourself in cult sex. Paul didn’t waste his precious time by lobbying the Greek government or organizing a petition drive to shut down the Temple of Aphrodite. Instead, what did Paul do? He built a church! He did the one thing that Jesus intended for his disciples to do. He worked tirelessly to pull the people out of a sinful culture. He didn’t try to change the culture or do away with the sin itself. Paul didn’t try to save Corinth, or any other city where he delivered the gospel, instead he tried to save the people. We will never see a city or a country in heaven, but we will spend eternity with the many souls who live in those cities and countries.
As someone who has spent his career in the modern world of journalism, public relations, marketing, and branding, I can so relate to the words that Paul spoke in First Corinthians 9:19-23, “Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.”
Basically, Paul was saying that you can have the greatest message in the world (and the gospel is the greatest message in the world) but if no one is listening because you’re ineffective at delivering that message, then you might as well be preaching to a brick wall. The results will be the same.
Some may view this as Paul being two-faced by his statement, or lacking a backbone, but I would say it’s just the opposite. He was smart enough and bold enough to know what really mattered and he kept his eyes on the prize. It has always been about saving sinners, and he had enough sense not to alienate or hate-on the very audience that he was trying to save.
It’s amazing that Paul figured this out two thousand years ago, but many in the modern church have blatantly missed the obvious. WE’RE NOT QUALIFIED TO JUDGE It is so easy for us to judge other people because it’s part of our human nature, and Satan loves to tempt us into committing self-righteous judgement. When we do that, there’s a good chance that we alienate those souls and turn them away from Christ altogether.
Nowhere in the Bible does God ask us to judge our fellow humans. That’s his job, not ours! As a matter of fact, God tells us multiple times in the Bible to leave judgement to him. Matthew 7:1-6 says, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own. How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.’”
We’re not qualified to judge others, because as Romans 3:23 tells us, “We are all sinners, and we all fall short of the glory of God.” Isaiah 64:6 drives home this point home with very sobering language when it says that even on our best day, our most righteous acts are the equivalent of a filthy, bloody rag before God. As Christians, we have to remember, the only reason we have salvation to begin with is because of God’s love. We certainly didn’t do anything to earn it. As Romans 5:8 reminds us, “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
THE KIM DAVIS SAGAWe don’t have to go to a foreign country to be good missionaries. Good mission work begins in our own back yard. And I’m not talking about standing on a street corner evangelizing with a sign and a bullhorn. I’m talking about evangelizing by living out the Golden Rule and living by example. We are more effective when we love our neighbor than when we judge our neighbor. Jesus condensed 613 Jewish laws into two simple laws when he said in Matthew 22:37-40, Love God. Love people. He didn’t say love some people, or love the people who look like you and act like you. He meant all people. And he wrapped it up by saying that all of the law and prophets hang on these two commandments. In the summer of 2015, I photographed the Kim Davis saga in Morehead, Kentucky, for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Davis was the Rowan County Clerk who refused to issue a marriage license to the LGBTQ+ community after the supreme court legalized same-sex marriage in the landmark case of Obergefell vs. Hodges in June of the same year. I was able to maintain journalistic objectivity with my photos by giving each side equal play, as did the Courier-Journal as the issue became the center of national attention.
As a disciple who is concerned about saving nonbelievers, my overall impression after it was over was that Christianity came away with a huge black eye. I couldn’t help but think that no non-believer would look at the events surrounding Kim Davis that summer and say, “I want to be like those people!”
I witnessed the Christian nation descend upon the little town of Morehead to defend God and Kim Davis. In their minds, they travelled from all over the country to stand up for what was right, but what they did in reality was alienate the pagan world even further away from God, with their hateful rhetoric and actions. It reminded me of the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. Jesus said of the Pharisees in Matthew 15:8, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
Remember what I said earlier about public relations, marketing, branding? With Kim Davis, the church branded itself in the national spotlight as modern-day pharisees who were self-righteous, exclusive, and intolerant. Their approach to the solution undoubtedly caused irreparable damage with the millions of non-believers who were watching. The problem with what Kim Davis did was she made it about herself instead of the sinner. As disciples, we don’t have to like them to save them.
LIVING IN A PAGAN WORLDSimply put, the church has a public relations problem. They have become so focused on sin itself that they have abandoned the sinner for social reasons. Jesus never taught us to do that!
You will rarely ever hear a minister preach on the two witnesses of Revelation Chapter 11. To view it in a nutshell, God is going to send two of his greatest prophets back to Earth to evangelize during the great tribulation. Think of it as God sending in his all-star team. The level of paganism and denial of God’s sovereignty will be the worst that the world has ever seen during great tribulation, a time when the Antichrist will be ruling the world. This prophecy should be an example to all of us, of how God will continue to seek and save sinners, even in humanity’s darkest hour. It goes to show, that while humans may give up on other humans, God will never give up on us until the very end.
The Bible also tells us in Revelation Chapter 20 that God will even give Satan one last chance in the End Times before he is thrown into the lake of fire. If God is willing to give Satan himself that many chances, what does that say about us? In the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15, Jesus said, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not repent.”
I’m often reminded of what Jesus said in John Chapter 8 when the religious leaders were going to stone a woman to death for committing adultery, Jesus said, “Let anyone of you who is without sin throw the first stone.”
I understand. It's hard to live as a Christian in a pagan world. But, it has always been that way. We have always lived in a pagan world. It’s absolutely nothing new and God designed it that way. Every aspect of the world we live in is part of his beautiful and intricate plan for us. As the world continues to decay in this downward spiral, we have to realize that it’s playing out exactly the way the Bible said it would.
Paul said in First Timothy 4:1, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” Paul goes on to say in Second Timothy 3:1-5, “You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.”
In my opinion, Paul nailed our current society when he penned Second Timothy 4:3 which says, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” All we have to do to see this being played out is ask someone which news program they prefer, Fox or CNN. There is very little objectivity left in journalism today because everyone wants a pundit and a medium that will tell them what they want to hear.
A LESSON FROM JONAHOne of the best examples of the type of spiritual apathy that I’m talking about is the Biblical story of Jonah. Even most non-believers have heard of the story of Jonah and the whale, which, just for the record, the Bible never said it was a whale, it only says that it was a big fish. But what seems to get lost in the story, and what is really the true meaning of Jonah’s story, is that Jonah didn’t want to save the Ninevites, who were the pagan people that God sent him to save. Because of his disdain for this particular group of people he decided for himself that they didn’t deserve God’s forgiveness, mercy, and grace. He knew that if he preached to the Ninevites, that God was a God of mercy and that he would not destroy them, which is exactly what Jonah wanted to happen. So, Jonah went completely rogue and against God’s plan, simply because he didn’t like a certain group of people. And worse, he thought his will was greater than the will of God. But God taught him a subtle lesson.
In Jonah chapters 3:10-4:1-4 God calls Jonah out on his decision-making, “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, ‘Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ But the Lord replied, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’”
“Is it right for you to be angry?” Here, God questions Jonah, the same as he questioned Job in the Book of Job, and basically asks, who are you to tell me what to do and who to save? In the last three chapters of the Book of Job, God has a drop-the-mic-moment when he basically asked Job, who are you to argue with the creator of the universe? Job 40:1-5 says, “Then the Lord said to Job, ‘Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?’ Then Job replied to the Lord, ‘I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.’” In the Jonah story, God went on to teach him a simple lesson about his judgment of others by killing a leafy plant that Jonah was using for shade. It’s not hard to pick up on Jonah’s selfishness and shortsightedness in this story.
Jonah 4:7-11 reads, “But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, ‘It would be better for me to die than to live.’ But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?’ ‘It is,’ he said. ‘And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.’ But the Lord said, ‘You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?’”
To sum it up, God saw the big picture of eternity and was concerned for the sinners of Nineveh, but Jonah wasn’t. Jonah was seeing things through an earthly lens rather than a heavenly lens and was only concerned about his personal feelings against the Ninevites.
WE DON’T BELONG TO THIS WORLDJesus told us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, but he didn’t tell us to pick and choose which neighbors we want to love. On the night before he was crucified, Jesus tweaked the Golden Rule by commanding in John 13:34-35 that we as disciples should not only love others, but love others the way he loved us.
The Great Commission commands us to take the gospel to all of creation, not just the ones we like and accept. As Christians, we must accept the fact that the world is broken, and we can’t change that. In so many ways, the Golden Rule is the driving force behind the Great Commission, which sets the tone for how we treat non-believers. We also must accept the fact that not everyone will be saved. Jesus described the road and gate to heaven as small and narrow. But we must be shrewd managers and give it our best effort. After that, all we can do is place it at the foot of the cross.
Jesus told us several times that we don’t belong to this world. “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth,” John 17:13-19.
In John 16:33 he said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” God makes it abundantly clear that in the end he will restore us and the universe back to its proper place. Revelation 20:10 says, “Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
It goes on to say in chapter 21:1-5, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.’ And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’”
As Christians, we have to discipline ourselves to not get hung up on this world because we don’t belong here. We’re aliens in this world who belong with God in eternity. JESUS WINS IN THE ENDThe modern church can learn so much from the simple story of Jonah, and the art of spiritual apathy. It’s hard as a Christian to not push back on the pagan world that we live in, but we have to remember these four things:
1. It’s not our mission to fix a broken world that belongs to Satan. Our mission is to save the sinners of this world and focus on eternity.
2. It’s not our job to judge sinners. That is God’s job and he tells us multiple times in the Bible not to judge others because we’re simply not qualified. 3. This life is temporary, and we don’t belong to this world. We’re forced to live in it, but we shouldn’t get hung up on its brokenness. Because when we do, we lose focus of the true gospel.
4. Ask yourself…are you pushing non-believers away from God, or are you pulling them into God? Are your methods effective? And finally, how are you going to save them?
We have to remember that God promised us that in the end, once all of this has played out, he will destroy Satan and return the world back to perfection. Only he can do that.
If it ever gets confusing all we have to do is stand still and be patient with God. Isaiah 55:8 teaches us that God’s thoughts and ways are so much higher than ours. We need to be more like Christ, and less like Jonah. The world is playing out just like God said it would. We can’t fight against the will of God for a world that is already doomed. But we can fight like hell for the sinners of this world. And that’s all we can do. After that it’s between them and God.
And always remember that in the end, Jesus wins!