Most Christians through history have been outsiders to their homeland. They same is true of most Christians today. This is the feeling of not really belonging in a world that has the operating system of another religion or ideology.
This feeling of being outsiders is increasingly common in Australia as the vestiges of Christian influence fade, and we see a new paganism. We struggle to keep up with legislation which enshrines anti-life values in matters such as abortion and euthanasia. Christian teachings on sexuality and family life are mocked and sidelined. Churches are excluded from renting public premises because our message is offensive to ‘modern’ values. Government regulations reach deep inside how we go about God’s business in God’s church. Preaching of the gospel becomes ‘hate speech’ as we talk of there being only one way, one truth and one life in the one and only God and his Son.
None of this should surprise us. Jesus warned his followers that we would be hated just as he was (Jn 15:18-21). We are told that to be friends with the world is to be an enemy of God (Jas 4:4). The world turns on the people of God because it has turned on God.
The Bible gives us language for this feeling of being outsiders. It lies in words like ‘stranger, ‘exile’, ‘alien’, ‘sojourner (Heb 11:13; 1 Pet 1:1; 2:11). It is also there in the prayer of Christ that his followers are to be ‘in’ but not ‘of’ the world (Jn 17:15-16).
What does this mean in modern Australia?
On the one hand there are texts calling Christians to be compliant to the prevailing order. We are called to obey civil laws (Rom 13:1-7, 1 Pet 2:13-14). We are to ‘honour the emperor’ (1 Pet 2:17). We are to pay our taxes (Mrk 13:13-17). We are to pray for those in authority (1 Tim 2:1-2). These calls to civil compliance are even more forceful when we remember that they were said of the worst of Roman emperors such as Nero. However much we complain about Australian governments they are not (yet) in the same league as ancient Rome.
Is that all? Is the Christian’s calling simply to roll over and accept wherever comes our way from oppressive regimes and ideologies?
Another set of Bible texts give a complement to the call for compliance.
The Christian has a dual citizenship. We carry the passport and birth certificate of an earthly land and are to be compliant in the ways noted above. However, our prime citizenship is heavenly, and we are called to live by its values as we await the return of Jesus (Phil 3:21). That should make us non-conformists in the best sense of the word (Rom 12:2). We should stand out for Christ and show the Christian difference (Matt 5:16; 1 Pet 2:12, 15-16).
That dual citizenship creates a tension between the ‘in’ but ‘not of’ that Jesus refers to. The early apostles give an example of this when they were commanded to stop preaching Jesus. They famously declared that ‘we must obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29). They submitted to an extra-judicial beating (Acts 5:40). However, they ‘did not cease preaching Jesus as the Christ’ (Acts 5:42). Following Christ sometimes means disobeying civil authority and accepting the civil consequences.
That’s us in Australia! Let’s be ready to be uncomfortable in our homeland. Let’s embrace non-conformity in, and for, Christ.
David Burke,
Moderator-General
July 2025
