Recovering Post-Christian Christians

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:15

Hallway © chrisvick // Flickr

But even if we could elect St. Paul or St. Augustine as our new president what impact would that have on a very un-Christian, post-Christian population without some massive spiritual awakening taking place first?

It’s one thing for Christians to be living in a post-modern, post-Christian society, but it’s quite another for our churches to be packed with “post-Christian Christians.” What I mean is that unless and until we as Christians finally commit ourselves to live our lives as Jesus intended, it really won’t matter who occupies the White House or the seats of Congress, or leads any other nation in different parts of the world.

Even if we can’t generate another predominantly Christian nation here in the USA, we can create a great number of Christian societies in the midst of it through our churches. But the church would have to be very different from what we see right now. By “different.” I don’t mean in terms of the usual religious externals—clothing, appearance, and all of that—but in the way we act, what we value, and particularly how we treat one another.

“How they love one another!” and “With what great joy they live!” was what the pagan world said of the earliest Christians. Who says that about the church today? Virtually every poll that has come out in the last decade or so has simply confirmed the continuous dismal slide of the church toward a complete unity with the culture. We’re no longer distinguishable from the secular world.

Okay, so most of us have heard this before. Continuing to wring our hands about it won’t make any difference. Here’s what we can do about it. We can humble ourselves, turn from our own sin and selfishness (yes, you read that right!), and give ourselves to prayer, real prayer, fervent prayer—continuing to ask, seek, and knock—until God hears from heaven, forgives our sin, and heals our land (2 Chron. 7:14). For churches to have any impact on society, change has to begin in us and our families first, and then move to the church. We need to clean up our act, ensure that our family is centered on Christ, and then become healthy contributing members of the church.

It’s been said of nations at one time influenced by Christian faith (but no longer), that their social problems are primarily the fault of the church. In other words, when the church really is the church—when the word “Christian” means a person in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells—things happen. The medicine of the Gospel works only when taken full strength.

Few doubt that the world is at one of its most critical points in all its history. We can’t make a mistake here. We’re faced with a full-blown call to arms, not with the weapons of the world, but with unrelenting prayer and the power of the Spirit, manifest in sacrificial love and steadfast obedience to whatever God calls each one of us to do.