There is a debate in Battle Ground (shocking, I know) about prayer at city council meetings. It seems we have to fight about everything these days. But it’s got me thinking. Why do we feel such a strong need to force our beliefs on others? Whether it’s from the left or the right, Christians or atheists, why do we feel so compelled to try to “make” others believe what we believe?
I do a lot of thinking about what needs to happen in our community to get us back on the same page, working and thinking together for the good of our town instead of individuals and groups thinking solely about their own interests.
Prayer specifically.
Jesus actually warned against turning prayer into a public performance (Matt 6). Our goal in prayer is NOT to draw attention to ourselves, instead it is to communicate with our Father.
“But,” some might say, “Jesus prayed before meals, before he broke the bread that fed thousands, doesn’t that mean we should pray in public?” While this is a public setting, these are also people who were explicitly there to see Jesus. These were not people gathering in the public square for city business, this was not a group of local magistrates making decisions about taxes. This was a large crowd of people who were following Jesus around.
Should Christians pray in public? Sure. We should pray at all times in all places. But, we aren’t supposed to make a show of it. If we’re doing it for attention, we’re doing it for the wrong reasons. If we’re praying at Wendy’s because we want to make sure people there know we are Christians, that’s the wrong reason.
Christians should pray for their leaders, from school leaders to city leaders, county commissioners to state representatives, leaders in congress to the president. We should ask God to give them wisdom and help them to lead with selflessness and humility.
Why would I speak about this as a pastor? It’s pretty simple. I feel we Christians have gotten way off track lately. For some reason we have adopted the belief that we are in a cultural war and it’s our job to fight for cultural dominance.
But, that has never been true Christianity. When Christianity has gotten OFF-track, it has gotten deeply invested in things like power, authority, and control. But, in its truest forms, when it has been at its most authentic version, Christianity has been about something entirely different than domination – personal sacrifice.
Jesus was the only person who had no guilt, and he surrendered his life to be executed for the sins of others. He had every right as the only sinless human and the son of God to NOT be crucified, but he “…became obedient to death, even death on a cross.”
Not only, does the pursuit of power and authority go against the truest form of Christianity, it’s unwise. Research shows us that when people feel that their freedom to think or make their own choices is being threatened, they INSTINCTIVELY resist and often double down on their opposition to that position.
A lot of this came from the belief that liberalism was being forced down America’s throats, so we needed to fight back. But somewhere along the way, some Christians in America have shifted from defending religious freedom to expecting public institutions to reflect specific Christian practices.
Strong, healthy communities aren’t built because one person or side has all the control and ideas. They’re built when we work together to find ideas that support the majority of citizens, not just my neighbors who agree with me. Some people call it compromise, I call it sharpening. Good ideas come from a place of humility, refinement, and discernment. No, we don’t have to suspend our morality to help sharpen one another’s ideas. But we do need to suspend our pride.
The Proverb says, “As iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another.” (Prov. 27:17) As you probably know, there is no “context” with proverbs like there is with the New Testament. It does have a historical and literary context, but it’s mainly a collection of wise sayings that were collected by Solomon, who did a lot of business (He was the wealthiest man who ever lived). He may have been talking about two believers, he also might have been talking about two people in general.
Things like wisdom, humility, mutual submission, peacemaking, and discernment often require others to sharpen us instead of dominate us. The lessons we remember best in life are the ones that someone helped us discover, not the ones that were forced on us.
What if, as Christians, we started living lives of sacrificial love like Jesus modeled for us? And what if by living that kind of life people saw our lives and wanted to know why we are the way we are?
It’s not special for one person to try to exert power over another. That’s been happening since time immemorial. But, someone who sacrifices themselves for others, that’s different. It’s what Jesus did for us. It’s what he commanded us to do for others.
No, I’m not advocating for some kind of silent faith. I’m advocating for a faith that is lived out according to the New Testament. A faith that is seen and felt long before it is ever heard. A faith that comes from personal sacrifice, no coercion, domination, outrage or performative power. We need to follow in the way of Jesus who never sought to dominate secular or religious society, but instead laid down his life.
What if we spent time in private praying for our neighbors? What if we spent time praying for our leaders? What if we spent time praying for God to mold and shape our own hearts to be people who lay down our lives for others, who loved and prayed for our enemies…who, instead of being motivated by our selfish ambitions, we treated others are more important than ourselves. If we could do these things, we would be a lot closer to having the same attitude toward one another that Christ had toward us.
