Does our church transcend our sub-culture?

With inter-Republican bickering about to give way to partisan lampooning, it will be tempting for us to take sides during 2012 and want the church to take sides. In light of that, consider this trenchant observation by Tim Keller:

"Secular people have a strong belief that religion is really just about social power. There is a need to place every church somewhere on the ideological spectrum, from liberal left-wing to conservative right wing. But the gospel makes the true church impossible to categorize. Justification by faith brings deep, powerful psychological changes: 'Though I am sinful, I am accepted based on the good of Another.' This truth converts people. On the other hand, the gospel of the Cross and Kingdom brings deep, powerful social changes. It defies the values of the world: power, status, recognition and wealth. The gospel is triumph through weakness, wealth through poverty, power through service. This changes our attitude toward the poor and toward our own status, wealth and careers. A gospel-centered church should combine zeals that are ordinarily never seen together in the same church. This is one of the main ways we make people look twice and take our message seriously."

- Redeemer Church Planting Handbook, p. 225