“Will you speak for us on some aspect of public Christianity?"

I knew what the questioner meant, but his choice of words was striking. He was asking for a talk about how Christians might influence the political, economic and social arena in our secular age. The request was several years ago, and the speech has long since been delivered. Yet, I've come back to these words many times. What does "public Christianity" really mean? Is there such a thing as "private Christianity?"

Some might answer yes. Isn't faith a personal matter? It must be experienced individually, in the deepest being of my heart, through the working of the Holy Spirit. Each individual will personally stand before his Maker.

But to emphasize the personal nature of faith is dif­ferent than to say that faith is private. In fact, Scripture clearly tells us that faith cannot be a private matter. "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid" (Matthew 5:14). What does this mean? Living piously, being open about our faith, and not compromising our principles in secular settings are the sort of answers one usually hears — and we will all readily admit that our witness falls pitifully short in these matters. But God's call goes beyond this. These matters might be characterized as being public about our personal faith. This is essential, but it does not begin to address the breadth of God's calling.

Our faith is not just about what we believe about religious things. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). We worship God when we use the gifts of creation and our talents for the purpose for which God gave them. A job well-done, the image on an artist's canvass, the embrace between a husband and wife — when they are done in the way for which God has created them, they give God glory and pleasure. That is the purpose of the creation. The effects of sin are such that we never fulfill this purpose of creation perfectly (remember, as a result of Adam's fall even the ground was cursed, and thorns and thistles grow), but just as God is glorified by the imperfect prayers of His people, so He is also glorified by their obedience to His law and design for them.

This is totally foreign to the secular ideology of our day. It has divided the world into private and public parts. History students will recognize that the philosophy of the French Revolution, which place the indi­vidual at the centre of society, with delegated rights granted to the state through social contract theory, is still the dominant framework for our society. The danger is that this philosophy affects our thinking and we limit our Christianity so that it doesn't amount to more than a public expression of what is personal.

Public expressions of personal faith are still tolerated in our society, because they are interpreted to be private. You are free to evangelize your neighbours (as they are free to not listen to you); you are free to live moral upright lives (as others are free to live immoral lives and adopt different ethics, as long as they do not hurt others); and you are free to hold your religious meetings with others of like mind (as others are free not to participate in your religious meetings). The modern liberal mind grants you this protection because these activities are private in character. But the minute that your expression of faith has any impact on the lives of others, the secular mind rebels.

But God demands more.

When we confess that "He is Lord," the extent of His rule is not only over the lives of those who acknowledge Him. All of humanity, the creation, the entire cosmos is under His domain. This is not only a matter to be left for God to resolve in the final judgment; it is a calling to which all who bear Christ's name are called.

A word of caution is in order here. We should learn from those who have misapplied these teachings and made the reformation of this earth their sole focus. In their zeal to claim the earth for their King, they neglect the spiritual nature of man's problem and reduce the Saviour to a moral example, cheapening God's Word to a social gospel which provides no hope beyond the betterment of the here and now. Others, in their zeal to fight the battle on Christ's behalf, adopt the methods of the world as their own. They use force and tyrannically impose what is offered by God as a free gift to a lost mankind.

But such a misuse of these teachings by others who call themselves Christians is not an excuse for us to narrow God's calling to us. The redemption provided by Christ is a complete redemption. It has profound implications for how those who are called by His Name ought to live their lives and bear witness of him.

The salvation of an individual is a matter of eternal consequence, but also effects their total existence already here and now. The Westminster Catechism says it so clearly: "What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Forever starts now. The salvation of a sinner means that their life is redirected to acknowledging God as their Creator and Redeemer. All the energy of their being must give God the glory due His Name.

This affects how we view our neighbours — also our unbelieving neighbours. The Christian knows that the value of a person is not based on their intelligence, earning powers, or leadership skills — it comes from the stamp of the Creator on their being. That is why abortion is such an offence — it is the willful destruction of an image-bearer of God. That is why there is just as much value in the life of the disheveled psychiatric patient, who asks for our spare change as we enter the restaurant, as there is in our brightest young people who graduate from university with honours and whose acumen and prospects for business success impress us all. At their best, they both bear the stamp of their Creator. Both are clay vessels the divine pattern has stamped for His glory. Both are also broken vessels, who in their depravity and restlessness rebel against their Creator. The one may express it with a "Why hast thou made me thus?" while the other may say, "I thank thee that I am not as other men" — but both are lost without the saving grace that can only be found in Christ Jesus. As the Christian looks at the world around him through the lens of God's revelation, he sees a very different world than does his neighbour.

But it isn't just what we see; it is also what we do. The Christian does not just go to a job in order to put bread on the table and earn an income so he can support the church, Christian school, and his family. The Christian has a vocation — a calling — and realizes that his talents and circumstances in life are not an accident, but part of the divine plan. True, God has not revealed to us exactly how that plan will be carried out. We don't know if the Lord wants to use us as He did the Midianites who carried Joseph into Egypt, or as the prison keeper under whom Joseph was trained, or as Joseph himself. Each was part of God's plan in saving Israel from famine. Whatever our calling, we must use our talents as part of the body of Christ. Whether we are a hand, a foot, or an eye, we are to work in that body, seeking not our own glory. "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Psalm 84:10).

The lively faith of a Christian will affect those around him, even without him ever quoting a Bible verse or sharing the Gospel (as necessary as they are in their place). It is self-evident how a God who demands to be loved and served with "all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength" cannot divide the Christian's being as the secularists ask of us.

But our motivation in emphasizing these aspects of public Christianity ought not only to be negative ones. It is not just because the bad secular world is attacking us that these matters ought to be on our priority list. It is of the essence of Biblical religion, and God blesses obedience to His Word with spiritual benefits.

A consciousness of the public character of our Christian calling helps us learn more about the character and attributes of God. The Belgic Confession (Article 2) clearly summarizes for us the teaching how the created things in this world lead us "to contemplate the invisible things of God, namely His power and divinity." The psalmist describes how the heavens declare God's glory, the earth his handiwork, the day's speech and the night's knowledge (Psalm 19:1-2). There is much to be learned of the character of God, His forbearance and gracious love, the purposes of His providences and nature of His governance through the history books and in our own times. God is not an abstraction, a distant subject of theorizing or author of doctrinal assertions. He is a personal God who has made His creation for his pleasure. "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass: I have purposed it, I will also do it" (Isaiah 46:10).

We ought not to think that somehow the things of this earth are of lesser value, and that it is so much more spiritual to be occupied only with spiritual matters. Biblical religion is when things natural become spiritual and things spiritual become natural. He is Lord of all, and there is much that the child of God can learn about His Maker through the book of nature.

A consciousness of the public character of our Christian calling can be used to deepen our experience and knowledge of sin. It is so easy, especially for orthodox Reformed Christians living in our times, to become self-confident in our affirmation of Scriptural truths and to exude a holier-than-others attitude to those around us. After all, we believe we are being faithful to God's Word. Ours is an age when many are prepared to reject their consciences, calling evil good and good evil. There are church leaders who mas­querade heresy as Christianity, unsure whether Jesus is really the Son of God, and unaware why this really even matters. It is tempting for us to raise protective walls around us, teach our children the old paths which God has graciously preserved among us, and fight tenaciously against any hint of deviation. "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." (1 Cor. 10:12).

Who of us, whatever our doctrinal soundness, can bend the knee at night without confessing how far short we fall in glorifying God with all our being? Did those who observed us at work observe that we were doing our Master's business? Were we stewardly with our Father's gifts when we disposed of our chemicals or animal manure in a manner that has destructive effects on the creation? Did we speak with thankfulness about those whom the Lord has placed in authority over us, since rulers are given by God as instruments of grace, to restrain evil and promote the good? Was this sentiment also evident as we filled out our income tax form?

How pervasive sin is! Paul writes to the Romans of the extent of sin, even as it is experienced by those who know grace. "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:22-23). As we learn more of the grandeur and glory for which God has purposed His creation, we increasingly see the depth to which sin has plunged us, and the guilt we bear in daily adding to this. And try as we may, to live in the consciousness of God's total claims over us, we inevitably fall far short. How in need we are of sovereign grace which only He can give!

A consciousness of the public character of our Christian calling can stir us to look forward to the return of Christ. We know it as a biblical truth that we are to look forward to Christ's second coming. But do we not have to confess that this easily becomes a prayer of duty? We know we ought to look forward to Christ's coming, but how we love this world! Much of this is our worldliness, against which we must fight. But there is also a proper love for this world. We are created for the world, just as a fish is created for water. Our salvation is not complete until our bodies are resurrected. The church confesses that in the Apostles' Creed. Our physical bodies will be raised and "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Cor. 2:10).

It is beyond our grandest imagination, but there is something about this reflection on the purpose of creation and our calling of life which stirs our hearts. It did Paul's. He speaks in the Romans 8 passage, quoted earlier, of looking forward to the redemption of our bodies. There is a new heaven and a new earth coming, in which we will live without sin, perfectly in the purpose for which we have been created. Every knee will bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Thinking about the phrase "public Christianity" helps us focus on aspects of our calling which otherwise can be overlooked. However, there is a sense in which the term is an inappropriate one. God does not save us in parts — our "personal" part and then our "public" part. No, God saves His people totally and completely. The death of Christ on the cross undid the curse of sin. He overcame the wages of sin, which is death. He defeated the curse of sin on this world, the sweat in labour, the pain in childbirth, the thorns and the thistles. He redeemed His people. He crushed the serpent's head.

True, the full experience of this will not be realized until His second coming, but even now we can begin to experience in part the magnitude of His glorious salvation. Hallelujah, what a Saviour! Maranatha; come quickly Lord Jesus.