A critique during the winsome movement was “we need to keep our powder dry to protect our prophetic voice.” The winsome movement correctly delved into the issue being discerning in how we engage culture. Acting in wisdom is a strong theme in Scripture. The problem with the winsome movement is that our prophetic voice was set aside, not protected. It missed the climate that the church started in. This is likely because we star the Gospel with “God has a wonderful plan for your life.” Instead of “save yourselves from this crooked generation.” The Gospels starts the Gospel with a call to repent.

Where do we turn to

The Bible and the Gospel is not a self help statue we place on a shelf in our life. We do not add Jesus to our life. In offering our bodies as living sacrifices, we are to be all in. Our focus and purpose then is to be transformed into the image of Jesus. The Bible makes the best case for human flourishing, but in its case we need to turn from our prior course of life. In doing so “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” Our politics, sexuality, life purpose, family, work ethic, etc. all belong to Jesus. As we sing, “all to Jesus, I surrender, all to him I freely give.”

Where do we turn from

The Gospel calls us to repent (turn from). Peter was pointed in the first sermon of the church to repent from a crooked generation. John the Baptist in preparing people for Jesus called governing officials to repent from their corruption. Paul calls people to repent from legalism, selfishness, idols, sexual immorality, stinginess, etc. From kings down to the lowliest person, the Bible call us to turn from our sin. Often that sin is given a name and not just a general concept.

What turning to Jesus and from sin looks like

The story of Zacchaeus illustrates beautifully what change looks like. A governing official turns from his sin of corruption to being generous as the Bible teaches. From being a sinner to more like Jesus. We do not know the full content of Jesus’ conversation, but we know his message was “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus engaged the full extent of the human experience, as did his disciples after him. While Jesus focused on heart matters, the externals were not unimportant. Hence when Zacchaeus started to reconcile with those he wronged, Jesus said “today salvation has come to this house.”

Critiquing winsomeness

The biggest critique of the winsomeness movement is simply the question: What are you calling people, which includes governing officials, to repent from? For one example: John MacArthur in his interview with Ben Shapiro stated the church deals with abortion because life is a moral issue, but in that interview he casts aside economics. Yet, the Bible speaks massively on economics as a moral issue. The Bible deals with taxation, unjust scales, monetary exchanges, theft, and stewardship. Many of Jesus’ parables argue explicitly against a collectivist mindset. Other examples could be the Bible’s discussions on war, sexuality, bitterness vs forgiveness, speech, justice, truth, intellectualism. We cannot engage our cities without a call for repentance. Nor do we see passiveness in doing so.

Love’s aim to overcome evil politics

Romans 13 is often misguided as we treat government as the “divine right of kings” instead of the prescription Paul is giving the church. Discernment is needed when under  tyrannical politics to save people and point towards healthy politics. Paul is not calling for blind obedience to government, but to overcome tyrannical governments by overcoming evil with good. What do we do when a government is not following the prescription Romans 13 gives? We overcome evil with good. Why? Cause Jesus is Lord, and vengeance is his, he will repay. But even in this context, submission does not mean silence. For earlier Paul states “and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” And earlier, do you “not know God’s kindness is means to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath…”

Responding to the winsome movement

The best response to the winsomeness movement is to call people to repent from this crooked generation and to demonstrate overcoming evil with good. That is, we need to use our prophetic voice, not protect it. We must not react to the winsomeness movement with foolish venting, nor should we repeat the problems of the winsomeness movement by being being silent about certain matters. God’s instructions to Joshua is pertinent: “Do not turn to the right or the left.” We must do what the Bible calls us to do. Paul was wise, not winsome. He was bold, not silent. He was submissive, but not weak. Paul spoke boldly as he ought to speak.