The Influence of a Faithful Presence

VIDEO TRANSCRPT:

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone, and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, right before we started recording this podcast, you were telling me about how you are rereading a book that came out a decade ago by James Davison Hunter called To Change the World. And you had some thoughts about that. Talk to us.

Mark Prater:

I just finished rereading the book. It was published in 2010. I think I read it in 2011, Spring of 2011. I think if I remember right. And it's fascinating to read a decade or so later now by the way, James Davison Hunter is a professor of religion culture and social theory at the University of Virginia. He's clearly a believer when you read this book and essentially what he's observing certainly in the American culture (and there may be some application to this in countries outside the United States), but there's this trend historically where everything now seems to be politicized. He wrote that in 2010. Is that more true today? I don't know. It could be, but certainly we feel the effects of things being so political and the members of our churches who sit in our seats in our churches each week, they feel the effects of that. They might even say we're more polarized as a nation than ever before. And so he just walks through a history of how evangelicalism has responded, and speaks to the Christian right and to the Christian left and to the Neo-Baptist, as he calls them, which would be the Mennonites, and is asking the question, "have they really been able to change the world?" to go to the title of the book, and he then offers an alternative way, which he calls faithful presence and develops what he calls a theology of faithful presence.

And he says on page 243: "at root, a theology of faithful presence begins with an acknowledgement of God's faithful presence to us. And that his call upon us is that we be faithfully present to him in return." So that's pretty basic. And that's pretty clear in scripture that God has been faithful to us, not only in saving us but in filling us with the spirit and continuing to sanctify us. And what we're called to do is to live in relationship with him, by being faithful to his word. And as we're faithful to his word, then we have a presence in each of the spheres of influence that we have in our lives: our home, our church, our community, the workplace, the college campus. And his point is that if we will live faithfully to God in his word, that faithful presence over time will have a larger impact than what we might see in the day-to-day.

And I really like what he talks about, I think certainly it calls you to obedience, to God's word, but the fact that any Christian can have an impact on their sphere of influence each and every day is something we have to be reminded of. And in a day when things do feel so polarized, a faithful presence, I think, is going to shine brighter in the days that we live in. So that's basically the theme of the book, and I found it very helpful. And the reread in this present climate was fascinating.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah, that's excellent and instructive, especially for us as pastors, as we encounter each week church members who are living in a politically charged environment at all times, it seems like, and oftentimes struggling with anxiety and what can I do and feeling helpless in that, to be able to tell our people here's what you can do. You can be faithful to God in the various roles that he's called you to. We can all pursue faithfulness. We can't necessarily change the structures, political environment, but we can all be faithful. So I do love that, but how do you see that working out in churches, in Sovereign Grace?

Mark Prater:

Yeah, I think for an individual church in Sovereign Grace, how a pastor leads his church through political issues, I think is a very localized issue because different churches and different locations are going to have a different mix of people that may hold different political perspectives, or you may be in an area where the political perspective is fairly monolithic. So there's not one size fits all in terms of how a church or how a pastor leads his church to think about politics and political engagement. I think what is consistent for us as pastors throughout Sovereign Grace is to be faithful, to preach God's word and call our people, certainly ourselves in that, to be faithful in living out how God calls us to live according to his word.

So let's take an example. Right now we're living in a nation where currently same-sex marriage is legal. Obviously we believe that scripture teaches that marriage, biblical marriage, is between one man and one woman. And we're going to stand on that truth and call our folks to thrive in their marriage and grow in their marriage, not in an arrogant defiance against the culture, but more, a humble submission to God's word, right? And that humble submission to God's word affects the way we engage the culture.

Another example would just be that in the workplace what we've gotta make sure to remind our people of is not to disconnect creation theology with the great commission. So the creation mandate that we've been given is something that we're fulfilling each and every day, both in our homes and in the workplace. And so that means we're gonna work alongside of unbelievers who are also accomplishing the creation mandate, whether they know it or not. And hopefully that leads to the good of society and the flourishing of humanity. But when we, as Christians, work alongside non-Christians with a faithful presence doing our work well, that's going to connect to the great commission. That's going to have an impact on them as they see us doing our work well; faithfully, and it will open doors to have gospel conversations. So it's a good way to connect the creation mandate to the great commission and doing that each and every day. It does over time have a wonderful impact and potentially leads to gospel conversations.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah, absolutely. It reminds me of 1Timothy 2, when Paul says, "First of all, then, I urge that supplications prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions," ( there's a political element to that) "that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." And so to be able to help our folks see that the peaceful and quiet and godly and dignified life that they seek to live, and being faithful, pleases God. And actually is connected, as Paul says, to the reality of God saving sinners throughout the world in the middle of all of that, because he desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So I love how that dignifies seemingly ordinary mundane faithfulness in the every day, because God is pleased in it. And he, somehow, his plan of filling the earth with his glory and the advance of the gospel, is using ordinary faithfulness from faithful Christians.

So, thanks for your thoughts, Mark. And thank you for watching or reading. We'll see you here, Lord willing, next week. Bye for now.