In the recent Dobbs decision, the United States Supreme Court not only ruled in favor of Dobbs, but overturned Roe v. Wade by reminding us that abortion is not a Constitutional right and by returning the question to the States.
The decision, first leaked in May, is the most significant ruling by the Court in our generation. Not only due to its practical implications on this issue, but also due to the posture of the Court toward the Constitution itself. While one take is to see the Court as moralizing on the practice of abortion, a more accurate understanding is that the Court actually moved away from moralizing, and instead gave that responsibility back to the people.
A Civics Summary
In the United States, our national, state, and local governments are representative governments. The people elect representatives who establish laws according to the values and aspirations of the people. This is why the Dobbs decision will have limited impact in states where the people overwhelming affirm abortion.
The people elect representatives who represent their values, and those representatives pass laws accordingly. The responsibility of the courts (national, state, and local), then, is to rule that the will of the people, as articulated by the laws passed by representative governments, is honored.
What does this basic civics lesson have to do with flourishing communities?
Before we work through that question, the Court’s ruling gives Christians an important opportunity to ask a more personal question. It’s a question of love. That may sound squishy in this moment, but Jesus said that if we love him, we keep his commandments (John 14:15).
A lot of wise Bible teachers have helped us understand just what Jesus meant by that. Most recently, I was with a group of leaders from around the nation, and it was framed with these three pillars:
The Great Commandment (Matthew 22)
The Great Compassion (Matthew 25)
The Great Commission (Matthew 28)
The Great Commandment
Trying to trap Jesus, a Jewish lawyer asked him to name the greatest commandment. He assumed it would be hard for Jesus to pick the greatest without neglecting the others. But Jesus, quoting from the sacred text, answered:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” -- Matthew 22:37-40
The Great Compassion
On another occasion, Jesus taught that a distinguishing mark of a true follower was the way we care for the least among us. In this story of the sheep and goats, Jesus said,
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you? ’40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ -- Matthew 25:37-40
The inverse is also true for the unrighteous. Neglecting the most vulnerable among us reveals a heart that is separated from God.
The Great Commandment
Finally, after Jesus’ resurrection and just before he ascended to heaven, Jesus gave these last words to his disciples:
“All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” -- Matthew 28:18-20
Motivated by the Great Commandment and the Great Compassion, Jesus commissioned his followers to make disciples of every nation, tongue, and tribe. This disciple-making mission includes finding all kinds of people where they are, inviting them to follow Jesus with us, baptizing them as a symbol of new life in Christ and new life in the Christian community, and then teaching them to observe (or obey, there it is again) everything (emphasis mine) Jesus taught.
Do You Love Jesus?
Now back to that personal question for the Christian. It’s the same one Jesus asked of Peter at the lakeside breakfast after the resurrection: “Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love?”
Jesus could have asked Peter, in whom he would soon place enormous trust and responsibility, many other questions. But he asked, “Do you love me?”
If we want our communities to flourish, that’s the first question Christians must answer. Do you, do I, do we love Jesus?
Three Graces for Flourishing Communities
Let me now ask the first question again, “What does a basic civics lesson have to do with flourishing communities?” Consider these three graces of God:
Influence
By God’s grace, we possess everything we need to join Jesus’ kingdom work to turn fractured communities into flourishing ones. When Jesus told his disciples that if they loved him they would obey him, his next statement was a promise of the Counselor, the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus began the Great Commission by ensuring his authority, and he ended it by ensuring his presence. We are not gods and Jesus is not on earth, but God does indwell us through his Spirit and has empowered us to live as preserving salt and illuminating light in the world.
We are not on our heels. We are not on a sinking ship. Jesus has defeated sin, death, and the grave, and we are sons and daughters of the Most High God. We have been seated in heavenly places, and we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Opportunity
God has established governments, and by his good pleasure, he placed us in a nation that is free. There are no compelling constraints upon Christians that prevents us from living out our faith in private or in public.
Pastors and churches should teach Christians how to frame a biblical worldview and then to engage in the public square through political involvement and activism.
As Abraham Kuyper now famously said,
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
But political engagement alone cannot create flourishing communities. Basic civics teaches us that politics is downstream from culture, and the Bible teaches us that culture is downstream from Christian disciple-making.
Obedience
Although we bristle at the word, Jesus used it, and we should too. Loving Jesus means obeying him. We lay aside our autonomy, and voluntarily yield to him. We obey him not just because he is Lord, although that is enough. We obey him because his commandments are good. His commandments announce hope and give life.
Ironically, the God who could have legislated the obedience of every created being chose instead to redeem the world through the sacrifice of his Son. He loved us first. That’s why we love him. And because we love him, we choose to obey him by loving and giving ourselves to others.
Because we love others, we serve them. We care for the vulnerable, whether that’s the unborn child, the fearful mother, the aging parent, or the obscure tribe with no access to clean water. And because we love people and care for their flourishing, we share Jesus, ask them to trust him as Lord, just as we have, and invite them to follow him with us. Discipleship is the divine seedbed for spiritual and social flourishing.
No Short Cut
God created everyone in his image, so everyone is worthy of respect and dignity. Sin and sinfulness have wreaked havoc on creation and created all sorts of brokenness among the human race. We find that brokenness in the souls of men, women, boys, and girls, and we find it in the social structures of the culture.
But there is no short cut to the flourishing we want everyone to experience. Only as we obey Jesus, go upstream, meet people where they are, and make disciples will lives be transformed and communities thrive.
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