While visiting my parents in North Carolina, I got into a conversation with my father about the habits of church-goers. We talked about how churches conduct ministries and how individuals approached their responsibilities to serve or volunteer. We had areas where we disagreed, but one area where we were in alignment was on the decline of the "Christian society". As my father put it, there is a certain Christian philosophy floating around out there that goes something like this: if we could just get our country back to a place where it followed God more, we would be so prosperous! It's a philosophy that hinges on the so-called Christian society and yearns to see our American culture return to church-centric operations. Put God back in the schools, prayer back in public places, and maybe pass a law or two that upholds traditional Christian morals... then God will be pleased!
Where my father and I agreed was in stating that we both celebrate the downfall of Christian society. How could we say this? As good little Christians, don't we want everyone else "acting Christian"? Not necessarily. I would ask you this: Is God more interested in someone who performs all of the correct actions with a compromised heart, or someone who struggles to do the right things their entire life but has a truly repentant heart?
[...] In this way, you have nullified the word of God because of your tradition. Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.” (Matthew 15:6b-9)
Christ points out that the Pharisees had created a sub-culture that celebrated adherence to the law, but neglected what the law was all about. They were all of the action without any of the heart. As a result, Christ was disgusted.
In decades-gone-by, when the church seemed a much larger part of society, it was easy to makes things appear "Christian". We could have Christian social functions, begin our schools and sports events with Christian prayer, and we could focus our community gatherings around Christian locations/celebrations. What this did was allow many people to "play Christian" without actually challenging their hearts to determine if they were really dedicated to a new life in Christ. With the fall of Christian society, the mask is removed and there is no longer motivation for someone uninterested in Christ to waste their time attending church.
So what does this do for us? It gives us a chance to take a fresh look at who remains and better assess our mission fields. Now, we can see what spiritual and physical needs exist. We can see who is overlooked or disregarded by society. We can clear our vision of all the "cultural Christianity" that plagued the Christian society and instead just see what God has laid before us. When the motivation to masquerade as a Christian is removed, all you're left with is the narrow-path to a life dedicated to Christ. Removing the noise of society helps up avoid getting distracted by cheap impersonations of holiness, and instead lets us focus on the much more glorious (even if less socially acceptable) work God has laid right in front of us.
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