Our nation is on a precipice. Either it will continue toward the edge until it plummets into the canyon of secularism and socialism, or it will inch back toward the solid ground of biblical principles and republicanism. As Christians, we play an important role in building a barrier between our nation and that precipice.
We may look to our political leaders for guidance and change, but we know that our salvation will not come from politics. Politics are influenced by the culture, and the culture is influenced by the way citizens think and believe. From this chain of influence, we see that in order to influence politics, we must influence culture. In order to influence culture, we must influence the way our neighbors think and believe. As dual citizens of both an earthly and a heavenly kingdom, we have an Ultimate Leader Who has given us instructions for how to do just that.
In Luke 19, Jesus’ disciples were looking to Jesus as a political leader. Just as we may look to political leaders for change today, the disciples wanted him to overthrow the Roman government and set up His earthly kingdom right then and there! However, Jesus had a different plan—one to redeem mankind and then return to set up His earthly reign. To illustrate this truth, Jesus told the parable of a nobleman who journeyed to a far country “to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return” (v. 12). This nobleman entrusted ten of his servants with one pound each, and left them with these instructions, “Occupy till I come.” When the nobleman returned, he found that some of his servants had invested the one pound he’d given them and received large returns on their investment. To the first servant who had invested his pound, the nobleman said, “Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in very little, have thou authority over ten cities” (v. 17). Each faithful servant received a measure of authority in relation to their faithfulness to the nobleman while he had been away.
However, the nobleman also had a servant who did not invest his master’s money. This servant held on to his master’s pound and never used it for his master’s service. The servant offered an excuse for his laziness, claiming that the nobleman didn’t really need his work anyway. After all, he argued, the nobleman had already reaped where he didn’t sow. Did the nobleman really need his work too?
It wasn’t that the nobleman needed this servants work. His purposes would be accomplished anyway. But this servant missed out on all the blessings he could have experienced because he had disregarded the nobleman’s one instruction: “Occupy till I come.”
Jesus wanted His disciples (and us) to understand that He has an ultimate plan that will be accomplished. But He also wants us to experience the blessings that come with the instruction to “Occupy till I come.” According to Strong’s Concordance, to occupy means “to carry on a business” or “to busy oneself with.” So, what are we to “occupy” or busy ourselves with until King Jesus returns? Just as the nobleman’s servants, we are to carry on our Master’s business. From Luke 19:19, we can know exactly what our Master’s business is: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Our Master’s business is to win the lost with the gospel!
Just as the nobleman’s servants in the story were given an equal measure of his treasure, we have been given an equal measure of our Master’s treasure (the gospel!). In I Corinthians 15:3-4, Paul wrote, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.” In Romans 16:25-26, Paul wrote, “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” These passages use words like “delivered” and “received”, and phrases like “my gospel” and “made manifest.” In other words, the gospel has been entrusted to us in order that we may invest it in others. What we do with the gospel will not only determine our position in the Kingdom to come, but also determine what amount of change we will see in our nation’s destiny.
We often hear that we are fighting for the soul of our nation. In reality, we are fighting for the thousands of individual souls that make up this nation. If we are fighting for the soul(s) of our nation, then this fight is not primarily a political one, but a spiritual one. As Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We are fighting for the hearts and minds of our children, our family, our friends, and our neighbors. The soul of our nation will not be saved until the souls around us are saved through the power of the gospel.
The greatest deterrent we have against our nation’s downward spiral is the gospel. “Oh yes,” someone may say. “The gospel is the pat answer we use when we don’t know what else to do. It’s what we say to make ourselves feel better when we don’t have any power over the current events of our day.” The truth is that the gospel is not a cop out, a flag of truce, or a pat answer. The gospel has been our most neglected resource for radical change and hope in America. How can we expect to change people’s minds about social and political issues like abortion or socialism if we are not passionate about investing the gospel in them? What are we, as individual servants, doing with the gospel our Master has entrusted to us? Perhaps this moment in history is our wakeup call to be more passionate about our Master’s business. Just as persecution caused the early church to grow and increase in passion, the pressure we feel in our nation today (though far from persecution) is meant to increase our passion for our Master’s business.
If our neighbors’ hearts are transformed by the gospel this will influence our culture. If our neighbors’ minds are renewed with the gospel, that will also influence the way they vote. Like the disciples, we are to “busy ourselves” with our Master’s business—the gospel business. If we do, the return will be countless souls reaped for Christ! The blessings will be a change in the way people think, believe, and yes, even vote in our nation. We can build a barrier between our nation and the precipice if we will be about the gospel business. Let’s get busy!