Is your church a thermometer or thermostat?

I have been reading the book by John Piper "Bloodlines."  I can't review a book that I haven't yet finished, but I have thoroughly appreciated the book thus far.  I have wept.  I have been convicted.  I have been challenged to understand things I have never considered.  I can't recommend this book highly enough...for having not finished it yet.  Early on in the book Piper begins with a representation of Martin Luther King Jr.  The book is dealing with race and the gospel...where else would you start?  Piper squishes these two quotes by Martin Luther King together and I think the point is clear.  

"There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed in. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society."


"If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will."


Turns out to be a pretty prophetic voice.  Many churches today are obsesses with developing the best techniques to know what will be the least offensive message to bring and the most inoffensive way to present it.  MLK was right.  The gospel transforms societies.  The church that stands on the gospel will stand against those who would disregard God and his standard for purity and holiness.  When the church wants to befriend these people they forget the words of James "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?"  


God has not been unclear in His declarations for our modern day.  Emperor worship and infanticide, were acceptable and popular in the days of the early church.  The early Christians died, standing against it.  Racism was clearly wrong even though some churches argued for its institutions.  Whatever argument is made today trying to validate abortion, homosexuality, or a myriad of other issues, the church is called to stand (and keep standing) for truth!  


If your church is a thermometer that is just reflecting back the values that are popular in our society, it may be big and popular...but it is not really a church.  It has become a social club that has lost moral authority.  That authority is grounded in Gods word...depart from it, and there is nothing left.  But it is not enough to simply refuse to mimic the values of a godless society.  We must strive to engage and change.  I am convinced this change will not be accomplished in the voting booth.  It will come by Jesus Christ and his glorious gospel.  that is why the church must be bringing the message.  A thermostat works to understand the temperature of society...and then works to bring it where it needs to be.