Today we spoke with David Platt, bestselling author and president of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board. His latest book Counter Culture: A Compassionate Call to Counter Culture in a World of Poverty, Same-Sex Marriage, Racism, Sex Slavery, Immigration, Abortion, Persecution, Orphans and Pornography tackles how the church can approach the culture of the world and speak life into it.
1) You've served as seminary professor, a pastor, and are now president of a large missions organization. What about these experiences motivated you to address the cultural issues you discuss in this book?
In each of these avenues in which I’ve served, I’ve seen massive spiritual and physical need around me in the world. Simultaneously, I’ve seen clear calls from God in the Word about what to believe and how to live in light of issues like poverty or slavery, abortion or homosexuality. I’ve also seen in myself and in other Christians a subtle yet strong temptation to either turn a blind eye to needs in the world, or to sit back and do nothing when it comes to clear commands from God’s Word.
I know this shouldn’t be so—in my life or in the church. The gospel compels us to live differently in a world of desperate poverty. The gospel constrains us to speak boldly in a culture that is increasingly confused about gender and marriage. The gospel moves us to act on these issues, knowing that such action will be costly, but believing that Christ is worth it. God has not called us to sit quietly and watch evolving cultural trends. Nor has he called us to subtly shift our views amid changing cultural tides. God has called us to courageously share and show our convictions through what we say and how we live, even (or especially) when those convictions contradict the popular positions of our day.
2) Most of your emphasis has been on reaching the nations with the gospel. Some might wonder why you're taking a closer look at cultural issues here in America. Are these two related?
They are absolutely related. First, these cultural issues in America are certainly not confined to America. Poverty, abortion, sex slavery, racism, religious liberty, and so on are all global issues. Further, the ultimate answer for addressing all of these issues is the same, whether in America or anywhere else. That answer is the gospel. All of these social issues come back to the core problem of sin and evil in the world. That evil is not limited to certain types of sin or select groups of sinners. Evil is unfortunately inherent in all of us and therefore unavoidably a part of any culture we create (in America or elsewhere). The only remedy for sin and evil is the cross of Christ. Therefore, the more we are equipped to apply the gospel to the most pressing issues of our culture, the more we will be equipped to spread the gospel amidst the same issues in other cultures.
God has called us to courageously share and show our convictions through what we say and how we live, even when those convictions contradict the popular positions of our day.
3) How would you encourage church leaders to think through both reaching the nations and also thinking through their responsibility here in America?
We are always tempted to turn a both/and into an either/or when it comes to the local and global components of the Great Commission. But the beauty of this commission is that we don’t have to choose between reaching our communities and reaching the nations. Instead, we lead the church to reach our communities and the nations. As we make disciples where we live, teaching them to obey everything Christ has commanded us, we realize that he has commanded us to spread the gospel to every people group on the planet. Therefore, a fundamental part of our local disciple-making must be a focus on global disciple-making. Pastors and church leaders, then, have a responsibility to fan a flame for God’s global glory in every local church.
4) You talk about religious liberty both here in the United States, but also around the world. Why should this issue be on the radar of American Christians?
Scores of men and women from many faiths, including many of our brothers and sisters in Christ, live today without religious liberty. Millions upon millions of people are presently denied the opportunity to even explore truth that will affect their lives on earth and for eternity, and this must not be so. We want to work so that all people everywhere have an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. Further, every month, over a hundred Christians are killed because of their faith in Christ.
When one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers (see 1 Corinthians 12). So in a land of religious liberty, we have a biblical responsibility to stand up and speak out on their behalf. Additionally, in a country where even our own religious liberty is increasingly limited, our suffering brothers and sisters around the world beckon us not to let the cost of following Christ in our culture silence our faith.
God has spoken clearly on each of these issues, and we don’t have the option of picking and choosing which parts of his Word we are going to speak and which parts we are going to ignore…
5) A lot of pastors might be tempted to downplay cultural issues because they are so controversial. How would you advise them to faithfully address them and yet not become overly partisan in the pulpit?
If you ask practically any popular Christian leader in the public square to make a statement on poverty, sex trafficking, or the orphan crisis, that leader will gladly, boldly, and clearly share his or her convictions. However, if you ask the same Christian leader in the same public setting to make a statement on homosexuality or abortion, that leader will respond with either nervous hesitancy or virtual heresy, if he or she responds at all. The practical effect of this is evident across the contemporary Christian landscape. All sorts of younger evangelicals write blogs, take pictures, send tweets, and attend conferences where they fight to alleviate poverty and end slavery. Other evangelicals care for foster children in the United States and adopt orphans from around the world. These efforts are good, and we should continue in them. What is problematic, however, is when these same evangelicals stay silent in conversations about more culturally controversial issues like abortion or so-called same-sex marriage.
In the middle of all this, we’ve missed the main issue. It’s not poverty or sex trafficking, homosexuality or abortion. The main issue is God—and what he has said about each of these issues. As leaders in the church, we must realize that these issues are biblical far before they are political. My aim in Counter Cultureis to show that God has spoken—clearly—on each of these issues, and we don’t have the option of picking and choosing which parts of his Word we are going to speak and which parts we are going to ignore when it comes to the most pressing social issues of our day. We must speak what he has spoken with conviction and courage while shepherding churches to love as he loves with selfless compassion in the culture around us.
Daniel Darling is vice-president of communications for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. He is the author of several books, including his latest, Activist Faith.
