By Ife J. Ibitayo
There once was a nation that dominated the world financially, militarily, and culturally. It was the heart of trade, the brain of technology, and the soul of deep spirituality. But within a couple decades, a revolt split the country in two. A few years later, it was conquered by another military juggernaut. Then a few short generations after that, it ceased to exist as a country at all. Who was this nation, you ask?
This nation was ancient Israel, an upstart people that overcame geopolitical turmoil to dominate the Ancient Near East for nearly a century.
The Purpose of Israel
From the time God led the Israelites out of Egypt, He had a specific calling for them. He commanded them, “‘If you obey me fully, then out of all the nations you will be My treasured possession. And although the whole earth is mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’” (Exodus 19:5-6). God called His people to be His representatives here on earth. And by obeying His commands, they would both be blessed and be a blessing.
The Problem with Israel
But from the moment Israel stepped foot into the Promised Land, they were hellbent on turning their backs on God. From the sun and stars above (Acts 7:42) to the rocks and trees below (2 Kings 17:10), the Israelites worshiped everything in the universe except its Creator. And as they slid into idolatry, their morality unraveled.
Speaking on their great wickedness, the prophet Amos lamented on behalf of God, “They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane My holy name” (Amos 2:6-7).
Through their depravity, the ancient Israelites rejected their calling. Instead of being a blessing to the nations, they were a curse—a people so corrupt even the most depraved of nations could learn from their wicked ways.
The Purpose of the Church
Which brings us to the modern-day church. We are the Israelites! As the Apostle Peter said, “we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9)! Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God extended His family to include not only those biologically descended from Abraham but also those who share in his same faith (Galatians 3:6).
And Jesus Christ commissioned us with a purpose: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). And chief among these commandments is loving God and loving others (Matthew 22:36-40).
From inventing hospitals to founding universities, the church has powerfully catalyzed positive social change for thousands of years.
The Problem with the Church
But the church’s history is also a checkered tale filled with tremendous stumbles and egregious moral lapses. Under the guise of spreading Christendom “to the heathen”, Britain and the rest of Europe rapaciously plundered Africa, America, and much of the rest of the known world. Looking a little closer to home, the church in America played an active role in prolonging slavery and segregation rather than ending them. And the rise of evangelical purity culture in the past couple decades has succeeded not in ending premarital sex but traumatizing a whole generation of young women. Just as ancient Israel ultimately failed to live up to the standard God set for it, so have we as the church today.
Conclusion
We can be all too easily tempted to delineate the line between the good and the evil as those inside the church versus those outside of it. But as the late Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once said, “the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either– but right through every human heart.”
Many Christians would be shocked to learn that the most moral person they know may not be their church’s head pastor but their irreligious boss. Or that their drinking, smoking, cursing coworker is a better husband than their clean-cut small group leader. Or that their gossipy neighbor is more righteous than they are.
But that’s the irony of grace. It’s not the reward we earn for being good people but the gift we humbly accept for being bad.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
(Ephesians 2:8)