“As Christians we are citizens of a country, and its our business to play our part as citizens, and thereby act as salt indirectly in innumerable respects. But that is a very different thing from the Church’s doing so.
Someone may ask “Why do you draw this distinction?” Let me answer that question. The primary task of the Church is to evangelize and to preach the gospel. Look at it like this. If the Christian Church today spends most of her time in denouncing communism, it seems to me that the main result will be that communists will not be likely to listen to the preaching of the gospel. If the Church is always denouncing one particular section of society, she is shutting the evangelistic door upon that section. If we take the New Testament view of these matters we must believe that the communist has a soul to be saved in exactly the same way as everybody else. It is my business as a preacher of the gospel, and a representative of the Church, to evangelize all kinds and conditions and classes of men and women. The moment the Church begins to intervene in these political, social and economic matters, therefore, she is hampering and hindering herself in her God-appointed task of evangelism. She can no longer say that she “knows no man after the flesh”, and thereby she is sinning. Let the individual play his part as a citizen, and belong to any political part that he may chose. That is something for the individual to decide. The Church is not concerned as a Church about these things, Our business is to preach the gospel and to bring this message of salvation to all. And, thank God, communists can be converted and can be saved. The Church is to be concerned about sin in all its manifestations, and sin can be as terrible in a capitalist as in a communist: it can be as terrible in a rich man as in a poor man; it can manifest itself in all classes and in all types and in all groups.” Pg 135 Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
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