Mission to the Culture

As our meetings progress, I wonder what a broader goal for our group could be. It seems as if the message of "come to Christ and you'll be successful" has taken over the airwaves, overshadowing some real problems in our culture. As we strive to change the church from within, perhaps we should focus on anti-Christian problems in the culture as well. This isn't a call to legislate morality or to get people to act like Christians when they are unable to. I am simply stating that when anti-Christian behavior is accepted as normal and even promoted as a right, we need to clearly oppose those practices and work towards the practices that we know God is pleased with. There are many issues that this idea touches, but none as overlooked by Christians today as the issue of abortion.

The slaughtering of millions of babies each year seems to be a casualty of spiritual warfare that Christians are content to surrender to. We don't fight against it. We don't preach about it (with a few notable exceptions). We certainly don't put ourselves at risk to defend these unborn children. There is something very wrong about that. As we continue reading through Calvin, we are reminded again and again that God has an order and a purpose for how things are to run in this world. He cares deeply about His laws being carried out and His desires being followed. When that doesn't happen, judgment comes. I shudder to think how much wrath is being generated and held in abeyance for those who participate in abortion on a daily basis.

So what can we do? I'm not sure. I hope this will occupy some of your time as you think and discuss your next weeks topics. This group is all about taking the precious truths of the reformation and changing culture with them. The abortion problem is a great place to focus some of our attention. In the time it takes Joel Osteen to preach about success coming your way any day now and getting that big fat raise and having a betting life now, 2,625 children have had their lives snuffed out by parents who feel inconvenienced by an unwanted child. Don't sweep this truth under the rug. Don't forget how God can use individuals to change cultural norms like this. Don't forget William Wilberforce's one voice that silenced the slave-trade in England. Will you be the next Wilberforce God uses to end legal abortion in America? Perhaps...