October 24th, 2025
by Matt Davis
by Matt Davis
This is an important article about the current political climate in our nation and the church's need for wisdom in responding in this moment.
Shenvi offers a helpful summary and constructive criticism of Tim Keller's "Third Way" approach to cultural and political engagement/ "Third Wayism" is the idea that both political parties are deeply flawed and we have to avoid any identification with either one. You've heard me talk about positive, neutral, and negative world and "Third Wayism" was a way many engaged in neutral world.
There is no doubt though that the political climate is not that of yesteryear when party differences weren't so reflective of ontological (the nature of being, especially what it means to be human/male/female) struggles. To take biblical stands on issues of morality and human flourishing now will be inherently political because of how progressivism has decided to attack God's creation order on every front. Third Wayism doesn't really work if you say there aren't really big differences between the parties (there are) or we hold ourselves above the fray and refuse to label evil what is evil because someone might think we're being too political.
We need to understand that the political will ALWAYS war for our affections and loyalty, even over our loyalty to Christ. It is the very nature of political parties to get your undying and uncritical loyalty. And this is where we have to be careful because there are Christians and Christian adjacent people who are advocating for a NETTR (no enemies to the right) posture. Politics is so absolutizing that some actually say we can't criticize anyone to our right because it could undermine the cause. But this is an abdication of our responsibility to call sin sin wherever it pops up and is addressed by God's word. The radical right is very ugly and we can't be afraid to call their evil, well, evil. Political causes and wining every political battle aren't primary because our earthly citizenship isn't primary for us.
Here's the tricky thing that requires us to walk with great wisdom: If you walk faithfully in the scripture you will be hated by elements of both political parties. We have to be okay with that. There will be people who want you (and even our church) to become hyper-political with passionate statements like, "this is an existential crisis for our country and if you don't talk about ____________ you're not pastoring or living faithfully". Progressives will think your morality is radical and bigoted and the hyper-political very online pot stirrers on the right will label you as a liberal squish or coward because you don't routinely address the cultural outrage of the day. This does not mean the parties are equal in their thinking and embrace of sin. Progressivism's war on reality means it is not even close as to which party is overall friendly toward what we believe and is working to provide cultural atmosphere where we are left alone and have freedom to openly worship and contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. There is a new openness among many on the right to the truth that undergirds what they have come to believe about reality. Praise God for this cultural moment!
But here's what I have found - the normal, faithful, exposition of God's Word is sufficient for the moment. Just think back to what we've covered in Ephesians the past few months. We've seen the very nature of transformation in Christ from darkness to light, including its radical difference in the way we live our lives when it comes to morality. That change is so strong that Paul says you can't go to heaven if you live in unrepentant sexual sin (Ephesians 5:5). We've looked at the husband and wife relationship and the call to wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to love and serve their wives. Talk about standing against the spirit of the age! I am seriously considering preaching through Judges in the new year. Don't you think that a book that focuses on "people doing what is right in their own eyes" will go hard against a culture that lives by the same mantra? I don't have to give you my opinions on what to think about the culture every week because God's Word does that for us.
May God help us to be a people who have backbones of steel in proclaiming the truth and who live neither for the praise of progressives because we're "reasonable Christians" or who live in fear of the far right because they want us to become like the cable news channels that peddle the outrage of the day.
Shenvi offers a helpful summary and constructive criticism of Tim Keller's "Third Way" approach to cultural and political engagement/ "Third Wayism" is the idea that both political parties are deeply flawed and we have to avoid any identification with either one. You've heard me talk about positive, neutral, and negative world and "Third Wayism" was a way many engaged in neutral world.
There is no doubt though that the political climate is not that of yesteryear when party differences weren't so reflective of ontological (the nature of being, especially what it means to be human/male/female) struggles. To take biblical stands on issues of morality and human flourishing now will be inherently political because of how progressivism has decided to attack God's creation order on every front. Third Wayism doesn't really work if you say there aren't really big differences between the parties (there are) or we hold ourselves above the fray and refuse to label evil what is evil because someone might think we're being too political.
We need to understand that the political will ALWAYS war for our affections and loyalty, even over our loyalty to Christ. It is the very nature of political parties to get your undying and uncritical loyalty. And this is where we have to be careful because there are Christians and Christian adjacent people who are advocating for a NETTR (no enemies to the right) posture. Politics is so absolutizing that some actually say we can't criticize anyone to our right because it could undermine the cause. But this is an abdication of our responsibility to call sin sin wherever it pops up and is addressed by God's word. The radical right is very ugly and we can't be afraid to call their evil, well, evil. Political causes and wining every political battle aren't primary because our earthly citizenship isn't primary for us.
Here's the tricky thing that requires us to walk with great wisdom: If you walk faithfully in the scripture you will be hated by elements of both political parties. We have to be okay with that. There will be people who want you (and even our church) to become hyper-political with passionate statements like, "this is an existential crisis for our country and if you don't talk about ____________ you're not pastoring or living faithfully". Progressives will think your morality is radical and bigoted and the hyper-political very online pot stirrers on the right will label you as a liberal squish or coward because you don't routinely address the cultural outrage of the day. This does not mean the parties are equal in their thinking and embrace of sin. Progressivism's war on reality means it is not even close as to which party is overall friendly toward what we believe and is working to provide cultural atmosphere where we are left alone and have freedom to openly worship and contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. There is a new openness among many on the right to the truth that undergirds what they have come to believe about reality. Praise God for this cultural moment!
But here's what I have found - the normal, faithful, exposition of God's Word is sufficient for the moment. Just think back to what we've covered in Ephesians the past few months. We've seen the very nature of transformation in Christ from darkness to light, including its radical difference in the way we live our lives when it comes to morality. That change is so strong that Paul says you can't go to heaven if you live in unrepentant sexual sin (Ephesians 5:5). We've looked at the husband and wife relationship and the call to wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to love and serve their wives. Talk about standing against the spirit of the age! I am seriously considering preaching through Judges in the new year. Don't you think that a book that focuses on "people doing what is right in their own eyes" will go hard against a culture that lives by the same mantra? I don't have to give you my opinions on what to think about the culture every week because God's Word does that for us.
May God help us to be a people who have backbones of steel in proclaiming the truth and who live neither for the praise of progressives because we're "reasonable Christians" or who live in fear of the far right because they want us to become like the cable news channels that peddle the outrage of the day.
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