Christian Culture Wars: When Winning Replaces Following Jesus

Satan is smarter than us. He’s not… what’s the popular phrase right now? “Low IQ”?

The Bible certainly never portrays him as stupid. Scripture calls Satan a liar, a great deceiver, and someone capable of disguising himself as something good.

Paul even warns that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14)

Which means if you’re expecting evil to always walk through the front door wearing devil horns, carrying a pitchfork, and introducing itself as evil, you may have learned more theology from cartoons than Scripture.

Deception works because it doesn’t look like deception.

It looks reasonable.

It feels justified.

Sometimes it even looks righteous.

And that’s why I think one of the greatest dangers facing the Church today isn’t Christians abandoning their faith. It’s Christians passionately practicing something else and still calling it Christianity.

When the distraction looks righteous

Christian culture wars can feel incredibly important.

Political power.

Winning elections.

Fighting the “other side.”

Policing everyone else’s morality.

Being outraged by whatever we’ve been told threatens Christianity this week.

And some of those conversations absolutely involve legitimate moral questions.

This isn’t an argument that Christians should have no convictions about abortion, sexuality, politics, justice, family, ethics, or anything else happening in our culture.

We should.

But Christians can care deeply about an issue without turning that issue into the Gospel. We can hold convictions without making those convictions the center of our discipleship.

Because Jesus already told us what belongs at the center.

Love God.

Love your neighbor.

Love your enemy.

Make disciples.

Follow Me.

And make sure the world recognizes My followers by the way they love one another.

That mission is not particularly mysterious.

We’ve just become remarkably talented at adding footnotes to it.

What if the culture war becomes the mission?

Here’s the thought I can’t shake:

If Satan wanted to cripple the Church, he wouldn’t need Christians to abandon Christianity. He’d just need to convince them that fighting culture wars is the same thing as following Jesus.

Think about how effective that would be.

Christians could remain passionate.

They could attend church.

Read their Bibles.

Quote Scripture.

Donate money.

Vote.

Post Christian content.

Wear Christian T-shirts.

Argue passionately about “biblical values.”

And never notice that Jesus has slowly moved from the center of their faith to somewhere in the supporting cast.

Because the danger isn’t always losing our religion. Sometimes the danger is keeping the religion while losing the point.

Satan probably doesn’t need a pitchfork

If deception is really Satan’s game, why would he tempt Christians with something obviously anti-Christian? That seems like a terrible marketing strategy.

Why not offer us something that feels holy?

Something that gives us enemies to fight.

Something that makes us feel courageous.

Something that convinces us our anger is righteous, our political power is necessary, and our opponents are threats to God Himself.

Maybe even throw in some Bible verses.

Context optional.

Because a verse can be "biblical" while the way we use it is anything but Christlike.

And when Scripture becomes ammunition for fighting people rather than a mirror forcing us to examine ourselves, something has gone badly wrong.

Paul wrote something fascinating to the Corinthian church:

“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?” (1 Corinthians 5:12)

That verse doesn’t get nearly the merchandise opportunities of some others.

Neither does this one:

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17)

John 3:16 gets invited everywhere.

Football games. Church signs.

Coffee mugs. Christian tattoos.

John 3:17 apparently got left in the church parking lot.

But that next sentence matters.

Because God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn it.

So I’m having a hard time believing He sent you or me to do it for Him.

We may be fighting the wrong enemy

There’s another verse Christians love when talking about spiritual warfare:

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood…” (Ephesians 6:12)

And then sometimes we close our Bibles and immediately get back to struggling against flesh and blood.

Democrats. Republicans.

Immigrants. LGBTQ people.

Liberals. Conservatives.

Atheists. Evangelicals.

Whoever our algorithm has placed in the villain slot today.

But our neighbor is not the Enemy.

The person voting differently from you is not the Enemy.

The gay couple down the street is not the Enemy.

The woman facing an unexpected pregnancy is not the Enemy.

The person who has completely rejected Christianity because Christians hurt them is not the Enemy.

These are people Jesus told us to love.

Even our actual enemies didn’t make the exemption list.

Jesus said to love them too.

That makes Christian culture wars especially dangerous when they train us to view the people Jesus told us to love as opponents we need to defeat.

Because eventually, winning becomes more important than loving.

Power becomes more important than service.

Being right becomes more important than being Christlike.

And we can convince ourselves the whole time that we’re defending Jesus.

Jesus already gave us the mission

There really isn’t much mystery here.

Jesus was asked for the greatest commandment.

Love God.

And the second?

Love your neighbor as yourself.

He told His followers to love their enemies.

He washed feet. He welcomed outsiders.

He touched people respectable religion avoided.

He ate with people religious leaders complained about.

He told His disciples the world would recognize them by their love.

And before leaving them, He told them to go make disciples.

Not win culture wars.

Not seize political power.

Not force outsiders to behave like insiders.

Not create a Christian nation.

Make disciples.

That doesn’t mean truth disappears.

It doesn’t mean sin suddenly doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t mean Christians abandon discernment, conviction, justice, or moral courage.

It means we handle all of those things while following Jesus.

Because Christianity without Jesus at the center eventually becomes something else.

Even if we keep His name on the sign.

Maybe the deception is working

This is the part Christians should probably sit with for a minute.:

• What if Satan doesn’t need to convince us that Jesus is wrong?

• What if he only needs to keep us distracted from actually following Him?

• What if he can convince Christians that outrage is courage?

• That political influence is Kingdom influence?

• That condemnation is discernment?

• That winning an argument is the same thing as making a disciple?

• That treating people as enemies is justified because we’re fighting for God?

• And what if he can get Christians fighting people Jesus told us to love while convincing us we’re defending Him?

He doesn’t need us to abandon Christianity.

He just needs us to redefine it.

That’s why the question worth asking isn’t simply:

What do I believe?

It’s:

What is my faith producing in me?

Am I becoming more loving?

More gracious? More humble?

More patient?

More willing to serve?

More capable of loving someone who disagrees with me?

More like Jesus?

Or am I simply becoming angrier, more suspicious, more tribal, and more certain that the people outside my group are the problem?

Because we can win every culture war we choose to fight and still lose sight of Jesus.

And I can’t imagine a more effective deception than convincing Christians that those two things are the same.

The question isn’t whether our side is winning.

The question is whether Jesus is still leading.