The Church as Champion of a New Vision

Earlier this week I wrote about the price the church has paid for continuing to walk hand-in-hand with the culture. In the world of Richard Land, the Southern Baptists' ethics czar, Christianity’s struggle with American culture shrinks down to one word: Sex. I’m not Richard Land. Which is not to say I’m untroubled by the crass sexuality our culture peddles, but that’s more a symptom that the root of America’s lost vision.

More at the heart of our confusion is our simultaneous practice of two religions so different that there’s really no room for them to co-exist. Jesus acknowledged this when he said “no man can serve two masters.” Many Christians choke on these passages in Matthew’s 7th chapter, especially when Jesus goes on to say, “You cannot serve both God and wealth, You’ll either hate one and love the other.“ Even to discuss these words risks whispers of “socialist!” and accusations of being un-American. But the point isn’t that we should all take a vow of poverty, or that having wealth is ungodly. Later in the same chapter Jesus says, “God knows you need these (material) things.” Christians who care enough to explore these “two masters” admonitions are often eager for a way to make serving God compatible with our acquisitive society. A first step might be to admit the essential difference between the universal laws of an infinite God and finite economic systems that are man-made and subject to human manipulation.

Princeton economist Paul Krugman wrote recently of how a religious belief “in the perfection of free markets” facilitated the sub-prime mortgage collapse that now threatens the entire economy. Krugman described federal regulators as “blinded by ideology,” noting then Fed chairman Alan Greenspan’s allegiance to the principles of Ayn Rand, the “high priestess of unfettered capitalism.” At the heart of their faith system is the belief that each individual’s pursuit their own self interest will inevitably benefit society in general. As Greenspan wrote in an article for Rand’s newsletter, “it is in the self-interest of every businessman to have a reputation for honest dealings and a quality product.”

That sounds logical, but apparently you can’t count on it working every time, like for instance God’s love and compassion. What would a free enterprise system based on God’s values look like? The answer is laid out in the books of Moses. It’s a society that balances the interests of the many, especially of the most vulnerable, with the self-interest of the powerful few. In fact it was for the exact purpose of establishing such a caring culture that God supplanted the Canaanite oligarchy with the covenant people of Israel. Jesus continued the fight by challenging the spirituality of religious leaders who prospered financially by throwing in with the Romans while their people suffered in poverty.

Our challenge as an American church is to champion a vision that puts God’s values first, a vision with clear priorities whenever we see God‘s intentions at odds with human self-interest. It will give us authenticity we have lost. No man can serve two masters.