Can the Church Regain Its Prophetic Voice? by Michael L. Brown for Ask Dr Brown
“You are the salt of the earth.” Most of us are familiar with these words. They were spoken by Jesus to His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, pointing to our calling to be a moral conscience as well as a holy preservative to a society in decay. But are we as familiar with the Lord’s warning that followed?
Jesus continued, “but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” (Matthew 5:13)
This is exactly what has happened to the Church of America in recent years. Because we have lost our saltiness, we have been scorned, discarded, and ridiculed, almost literally “trampled under people’s feet.”
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We who were called to be shining lights in the darkness failed to shine.
We who were called to be prophetic voices to the world failed to preach to ourselves.
We who were supposed to be different proved to be just as corrupt and carnal and compromised as the rest.
We who were supposed to bring heaven’s values down to earth became as earthly as everyone else.
We were rocked by one major scandal after another.
We got caught up in partisan politics.
We were known better for our acrimony than for our love, for our division rather than our unity, for our hypocrisy rather than our holiness.
As a result, the name of our Lord has been mocked and many have left the church.
The good news is that God gives grace to the humble, and if we will get low before Him, confessing our sins, turning from the compromise and carnality in our own lives, and seeking Him earnestly, He will answer from heaven.
He will have mercy. He will forgive. And He will restore.
By His grace and mercy, we can regain our prophetic voice, but it will take patience. It will take perseverance. And it will take a real demonstration of our faith on a day by day, grassroots level.
In other words, it will take Christians living as Christians.
As Jesus said in the verses that immediately followed His words quoted above, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14–16)
