[293 words]
What impact should you as a Christian have on society? Should you be passive or active in the lives of the people around you? How do we help people become better? How can we help the sinner become a saint? We are sometimes reluctant to become involved in social change. We would rather let our acquaintances “discover” that we are Christians than to talk to them about Christianity. We prefer to coexist with rather than to confront sinners. And we often ignore sin rather than to expose it even though we would never engage in it. The early church got involved. They changed lives by exposing sin wherever it was found, even among politicians (Acts 24:24, 25). They confronted sinners “head on,” even sinners in the church (Acts 5:1-11 [lying]; 1 Corinthians 5: 1-13 [sexual sins, covetousness, revilers, drunkards, etc.]). They lived exemplary lives and proclaimed the gospel plainly to those living in sin.
The result was that people left idolatry and began to worship the true and living God (Acts 19:24-28); sinful people burned their books of magic and became people of The Book (Acts 17:18,19); and lives changed so dramatically that their old friends “thought it strange” that the Christians “no longer ran with them” to riotous living (1 Peter 4:4). In a word, the early Christians “turned the world upside down” and changed the culture in which they lived (Acts 17:6).
Christianity is all about social change and if we really seek to restore New Testament Christianity we must get involved (expose sin; confront sinners; talk about Jesus and His way of life)! If each member of the church will do these things we will also turn our world upside down.
Alton Norman
Owingsville church of Christ
Owingsville, KY