The World Is Changing: Why the Church Needs Revolution, Not Just Reform
Part of The Abundant Faith Team
The world as we know it is changing in ways many never imagined and at a pace that is difficult to track.
Recently, we have been navigating through such a time of change that even the Oxford English Dictionary found itself at a loss for words. The OED announced that it was unable to name its traditional word of the year for 2020.
“It quickly became apparent that 2020 is not a year that could neatly be accommodated in one single ‘word of the year’,” the OED said, with the language adapting “rapidly and repeatedly.” The report was titled, “Words of an Unprecedented Year.”
The word “unprecedented” saw a spike in usage as the world around us seemed to shift in ever more unpredictable ways. You can easily identify many of the consequential events (starting with a global pandemic) and changes we have experienced in the last 6 years. Overall, these changes have affected every facet of society and have presented new challenges for the church.
A House Divided: How the Church Views Modern Change
Some in the church have been hoping and praying for things to return to “normal” and tend to view all the changes taking place as bad. While others embrace every change as if they are all good.
One reality has become increasingly clear to many in the church… Something has to change. But what?
If ever there was a person with the potential to be a powerful force for change, during a time when people were crying for it, Jesus was the guy.
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Imagine the reformer Jesus could have been!
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Who better to gather people and motivate a crowd than Jesus?
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Who would have been better at organizing the people and demanding change?
He would have been a force to be reckoned with. And with His increasing fame and the size of His crowds, that is what Rome, Herod, and the Pharisees feared He would be.
Jesus Was a Revolutionary, Not a Political Reformer
However, Jesus did not try to reform the Roman Government, Herod’s Court, or the Sanhedrin Council. His message was not one of reformation. Jesus called for revolution.
Jesus never encouraged people to rise up and come together so they could affect positive change in the political establishment. He did not spend His time working to address the very real systemic inequalities of Rome.
His message was not “bring change to the kingdom you are in” but rather “change kingdoms.”
He called for a different government completely. He did not come to reform the kingdom of darkness… He came to overthrow it.
Jesus was a revolutionary. Not the kind that rioted in the streets for the overthrow of Roman rule. Jesus was not trying to burn the system down. Jesus was not trying to reform it either. His revolutionary cry was for repentance. He was calling people to come into the Kingdom that was greater than any other and whose dominion would never end.
Reformation vs. Revolution: What Is God’s Highest Goal?
For years, it seems the church has worked harder trying to reform the kingdom of darkness than advancing the Kingdom of God. And we have done so with the best of intentions. To be clear, reformation is not a bad thing. Trying to make the world a better place is good but is it God’s highest goal?
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Reformation is about enhancing the human experience.
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Revolution is about advancing the Kingdom of God.
Just because something enhances the human experience, does not mean it advances the Kingdom of God. In our efforts to bring positive change, we can miss the big picture and fail to accomplish God’s intended goal. We may even place a higher priority on American ideals than the principles of the Kingdom.
It is not that the church stopped caring about advancing the Kingdom of God. In fact, many would argue that they are advancing the Kingdom of God and fighting the kingdom of darkness by engaging in the cultural battle for the soul of the nation. They see themselves as trying to save America from becoming a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah.
However, we are not called to fight for the soul of our nation, but the hearts of its people.
We are not called to fight for the America we have known but the Kingdom we are to make known to others. We are not called to fight a culture war. We are called to fight a spiritual war against the kingdom of darkness. We have been more concerned with winning the argument than winning hearts. The church has been more concerned with being right than being righteous and the effects of that could not be clearer.
Lessons from Sodom and Gomorrah: Finding the Righteous
It is worth noting that Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed because of how sinful they were. They were not destroyed because everyone there refused to change. It is true, they were judged because of the presence of sin. However, it was the absence of the righteous that brought their destruction.
God did not say, “I found sin therefore I will destroy.” He said, “If I can find the righteous, I will spare the city.”
It seems as if everyone is busy pointing out the sin in our nation. But God is not trying to find sin. He is searching for the righteous.
Being Right vs. Being Righteous
Being right and being righteous are not the same. Consider this: Adam and Eve were not moral people.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines moral as “concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character.”
Adam and Eve had no knowledge of right or wrong, good or evil. The tree they were commanded not to eat from was in fact the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was not the good tree. It was not the evil tree. It was not the tree of knowledge of evil. It was the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
You cannot know what good is without knowing its counterpart. Adam and Eve did not know good or bad. All they knew was God.
When the serpent entered the garden and made his appeal to Eve, he told the woman something that was true. He said:
“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5 NLT)
Eating Fruit from the Wrong Tree
You were never designed to decide what was right or wrong. That is above your pay grade. That authority belonged to God alone. Any time you find yourself deciding what you think is right or wrong, you are eating fruit from the wrong tree.
We each develop our own personal sense of right and wrong—our own personal morality. In our quest for truth, we cultivate our own tree of knowledge of good and evil in our mind. And we try to do what God forbid Adam and Eve from doing.
We want to eat from the tree of life and live by the knowledge of good and evil. We want the life of God while trusting in the wisdom of man.
We want to be children of God, but we disagree with Him and are convinced we are right. We want spiritual life, but we want it on our terms. Until we learn how to walk in righteousness, we cannot successfully carry out our God-given purpose.
Resource Links & Upcoming Events
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For information or inquiries on Right or Righteous:
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