There has been much debate in recent years over how Christians should engage the current culture war within our nation. On one hand, many Christians believe such engagement should be primarily political, establishing activist groups, electing professing Christians to office, and passing explicitly Christian legislation. Other Christians believe that the church should not be participating in politics at all; rather, it should only focus on the proclamation of the gospel and making disciples. This does not represent the only positions within the church; in fact, Christians encompass a wide range of thought and practice in between. However, these two positions are the most vocal, especially with one another. The reality is that Christians need not choose between the two extremes. Instead, as Christians engage the culture through various sociopolitical means, it should always be with the primary intent of bringing the culture to the foot of the cross.

As we look at the culture of the nation today, we must remember first and foremost that it is populated by people who are enslaved to sin (see Rom. 6:20). Regardless of each person’s political leanings and behavior, they are at war with God through the deadness of their heart and wicked deeds (Col. 1:21). While some people might find themselves more aligned with biblical principles in practice (such as sexual practice, marriage, family, etc), they will still think, speak, and act as those shackled to sin. Their lifestyle preferences are not motivated out of a deep love for God and His word, but out of their own sense of self-satisfaction. The moment that God’s word demands anything of them that contradicts their selfish motives, they will reveal themselves as haters of Christ who would pull Him off the throne given the opportunity. Whether a person be of the most conservative nature or the most openly depraved heathen, all will reject the commands of God because the natural man cannot, indeed will not, receive the spiritual truths of God (1 Cor. 2:14). In their current state, conservative and progressive alike will not only continue to rebel against God, they will one day face His righteous wrath.  They require a new heart, a new mind, and a new spirit to make the motivation of their heart to please God.

Therefore, as Christians engage the culture on sociopolitical matters, the primary intent should be that all such engagement is for the express purpose of revealing the wickedness of their hearts and their desperate need for Jesus Christ. For example, one of the greatest debates today is on issues of sexual practice and identity. From a purely political standpoint, it is easy to argue that the proliferation of sexual debauchery and gender confusion targets the backbone of any culture, the family. As the family is systematically destroyed – by undermining marriage (erasing any meaningful definition of what it is), by removing the authority of parents over children (children being taught they have autonomy over their sexual identity and gender without parental oversight), and turning sexual intimacy into a matter of entertainment instead of the product of a loving marriage – the culture is turned into a collection of emotional and hormone-driven animals that are easily led by whomever allows them to feed their base animal desires. Such argumentation is accurate and plays well in the secular arena. It addresses genuine issues without having to engage in the sometimes sticky realm of competing religious views. It may even succeed by moving society to enact laws that preserve and protect the family, inasmuch as the culture sees a benefit to itself in doing so.

What is lacking in this particular mode of engagement is the reason why any of it matters at all. Why should a society care about family, sexual purity, and a stable culture? If people can live enjoyable lives as brute beasts led by their animalistic desires, why should they not be allowed to do so? This is why Christians cannot simply be satisfied with cultural warfare that seeks to achieve the external trappings of godliness. What people can be argued into, they can be argued out of. Only by bringing the gospel to bear can sin-hardened hearts be changed to desire godly living. Why should society reject sexual depravity and gender confusion? Because it is a sin against the God who made people man and woman (Gen 1:27) and gave them marriage as a symbol of His relationship with them (Eph. 5:32). When people engage in sexual promiscuity outside God’s institution of marriage, they are refusing His purpose and design for them. When they claim they can determine their own gender, they are seeking to tear God from His throne and set themselves up as deity of their own lives. All of this is rebellion and lawlessness for which God will pour out further judgment (see Rom. 1:18-32). Only through repentance from these sins and turning to Christ can any person or culture avoid God’s righteous judgment.

Christians cannot be so blinded by their desire to bring about external change to the culture that they forget culture’s greatest problem is not political but spiritual. Even if the church could successfully create a society that obeys laws based on Christian principles, most people living in that society would not ultimately benefit from it because they would still be at war with God in their hearts. Yes, the culture would be better behaved, women and children would be safer, and Christians would not face open persecution. There would be temporal benefits, but apart from the spiritual heart transplant that is only brought about by the Holy Spirit, sin would still reign in the hearts of the people, and judgment would be their final reward.

The church must seek to expose the wickedness of sin and how it places the people at odds with God. While arguing for the establishment of just and righteous laws, Christians must articulate that such laws are for the intended purpose of keeping society from receiving greater judgment from God. The church must make the salvation of souls the forefront of its cultural mission in all its protests, activism, and political punditry. Whether the culture embraces biblically based laws and government or utterly rejects them, the people will always see that Christians are engaging purposely to win them to Christ. If this is how the church engages the culture, then it will always be successful in its mission because it has sought to honor its first and most important calling from God.

Note: This article was also published on X.com.