For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. | 2 Corinthians 10:3–6
After the service last Sunday, a church member asked me if fighting the culture war was ever justified. The context is: I preached the last two sermons about Israel at war and Israel at peace. In these two stories, we not only see varied responses of the parties involved, but different expectations from God. In 2 Samuel 17, it tells us:
For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom (4).
God Himself is against the wannabe king and expects His chosen king, David, to eliminate the threat. In chapter 18, we see Joab rebuking David for not standing with God against the evil of Absalom as he should. Then in chapter 19, we see David rightly setting aside harsh judgment for the sake of unity. The conclusion that I drew was that understanding the moment was important. As Ecclesiastes 3 tells us, there is:
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace (8).
There are times when it is wrong to be aggressive and times when it is wrong to be a pacifist. It is important to be leaning into God’s guidance (through prayer) and to be discerning (with the help of others) so that you can know how to respond. There is no easy rubric to run this through, it is a matter of weighing the issues against the Word of God and doing our best to live lives that express His character to the world.
Let’s get back to the original question, because the person who asked it agreed to all of this. The question that I was asked was: Is there ever a time when we should take this fight outside of the people of God? This story (2 Samuel) is about purifying the nation of God. In the gospels, Jesus seems primarily concerned with cleansing the temple, clearing up misunderstandings about the law, and calling out the Jewish leaders. Just after rebuking Peter for trying to fight off the soldiers that cam to wrongfully arrest Him, Jesus told Pilate:
“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36).
In all of this, we can see that God’s primary goal is preparing for Himself a people who will fight for purity. Who will organize their lives, not to win the petty culture battles, but who will be shaped and formed for eternity. This is what Jesus prayed for them in the High Priestly prayer, saying:
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. | John 17:14–17
Our primary ‘fight’ should be against our own sinful flesh and for the purity of the church. With this, we should live in the world, by God’s standard, as salt and light. At times this will mean standing up against injustice for the sake of those who are being abused. This is less about picking a fight and more about acting in love and compassion.
We shouldn’t go out looking for battles in the culture, but we should be ready for them. Living like Christ will cause us to be caught up in struggles for power that we did not initiate (just like He was). We should not shirk from representing God’s truth when it is attacked. If we are living out the whole way of Christ, we will be known as much for our grace as we are for our holiness. We will be seen as people of honor, even when people hate what we stand for. I have always loved the identification of elect exiles that Peter lays out for us and think he summarizes this well in 1 Peter 2:11–12:
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
As members of the culture we should do our part to live in a manner worthy of our calling, using our vote to promote justice, and the political process to bring God’s order to bear on His creation. As for fights, they are usually a waste of time and energy that could be used for promoting grace and peace. Do your best to promote love, sometimes this will require fighting, but this should be the exception not the norm.