What the World Needs Most

A couple of years ago, at a Bible Study, I was asked by a member, "How can we make the world a better place?"

That's a big question and needs a big answer. I thought for a moment and said to myself, "what does the world need most?"

The answer, as I see it, is that the world needs Christians to be...well...Christians. When we analyze it, we don't need big social programs, we don't need a new cause to rally behind, we don't need a new army.

We need the church to be the church.

It may be hard to believe, but we don't need a new megachurch or a new parachurch. We don't need a new Bible study, a new program, or even a new book (the one we've got is pretty good).

We need Christians to be full followers, totally committed, completely entranced followers of Jesus Christ.

Jesus calls us to a new way of life. John Piper excellently describes the choice in his book Don't Waste Your Life (www.desiringgod.org). We can live a me-centered life, which is sadly what many people, including believers choose, or we can live a Christ-centered life. Jesus calls us out of the world, to send us back into the world, to love sinners and walk with those who are dying, to visit those who are in prison, to care for the widows and the orphans and to give our lives completely to enjoying God through giving our life completely over to Him.

Imagine for a second a world in which Christians live like Christians. Again, I am not talking about a large movement. I am talking about individual Christians living like individual Christians.

When Jesus walked on the earth, He did not call countries to follow after Him. He did not talk about structures of society. He did not tell us to get involved in political action groups. He called people...individuals to come and follow him (Mark 1:16-20). He was issuing a call to Israel, to be sure, but Israel as it was composed of individuals. The same is true for the Hebrew prophets. When the prophets confronted sin like Amos confronted the impoverished conditions of Israel (Amos 4:1-3), he did not suggest that they form a committee. Rather his call was to "seek me and live" (Am 5:5). His call was for individuals to live by God's commands, and in this way the world would be changed.

Let's take an example, racism. Racism is a pervasive problem in ours and most cultures. Racism has led to genocide, war, slavery, rape, and murder. The issue is spiritual, as all issues are (Romans 3:9ff). I hate people who are different than me because I've set up myself as my own God. But when I begin to understand and love and follow God more, who created all types of people and for whom there is neither "Jew nor Greek..." (Gal 3:28). The more Christians live up to this idea, the less the problem becomes for society as a whole. Imagine if individual Hutus and Tutsis could live under this ideal. When the cries of hate came, they could be silenced by love. Or imagine if the church in the United States had given itself over to this idea of love, Sunday might not be the most segregated day of the week.

The same is true for a whole host of issues: poverty, AIDS, cancer, abortion. If Christians would stand and be Christians, then these issues would not be as great as they are.

The problem with this is that's hard. The type of life Jesus calls his disciples to a life of disicpleship, to growing in the faith and to putting Him above all. This is hard. It was Charles Spurgeon who warned us that "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried." It's meant to be hard. Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned a generation about 'Costly Grace.' Can you imagine how different Germany's history would have been if the majority of individuals in the church had lived up to God's ways.

When I settled my answer, the person who asked the question was completely aghast. How could I suggest a thing when all they wanted was a simple program or thing they could be involved with.

I wonder if I have the courage to give the world what it needs the most?