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Test everything; hold fast what is good. — 1 Thess. 5:21

Here’s a hot topic — agree or disagree, let’s have a good conversation, preferably with our Bibles open.

Charlie Kirk’s sudden passing has sparked a wide discussion. If you hadn’t followed him before, you probably are now. Podcasters, pastors, and people everywhere are talking about him. His memorial service was likely the largest ever for a private citizen. In just 13 years, he became one of the most influential figures in America. It’s worth pausing to reflect on what we can learn from the life and death of Charlie Kirk.

When cultural issues heat up, I remind myself of 1 Thessalonians 5:12–24. This passage offers a helpful perspective and guidance during challenging times. I don’t want to reprint the full text here, but I strongly encourage you to pause and look it up. Now that you have it in front of you, let me offer an outline of the text. 

  1. 5:12-13a - Give credit where credit is due
  2. 5:13b-15 - How to love your neighbor through the heat
  3. 5:16-19 - How to love God through the heat
  4. 5:20-22 - Work is acknowledged AND words are tested
  5. 5:23-24 - Trust God to work in and through it all

In verse 12, Paul could be talking about church leaders/pastors/elders, or he could be talking about any brother and sister who is working hard. In the absence of Paul being specific, I lean toward the latter. Three things pop to mind in this cultural moment. First, Charlie Kirk has worked hard. He has educated himself, started a massive movement, and become an influence on so many people. We should acknowledge and honor that. Second, I believe he has acted with sincere motives to honor God and care for people. His testimony in the Lord is fervent, consistent, and bearing fruit. I am proud to call Charlie my brother in Christ. Third, I think there is an admonishment that we, Charlie’s spiritual brothers and sisters, need to hear. The Church has grown quiet and sometimes complacent about its impact on culture. We need to find our voice again and speak out for the cause of Jesus Christ.

It will keep sections 2 &3 of the text together, since Jesus tied them together. Loving God and our neighbor are at the very core of what it means to follow Jesus. This text provides clear and helpful instructions on both.

Here is where things get tough. Paul tells people to honor those who, in the context, speak out/teach/influence the people. Honor their hard work, he says. Then amid the reaction, as that work has effect, keep loving one another and God well. AND test their words. Not everything a hardworking, honestly motivated person says is good and helpful. We must discern what we should hold on to and what we need to let go of. In this politically charged conversation, this gets very challenging. Paul actually laid out a filter at the beginning of the letter. Here’s my summary of Chapter One in four filter questions, but read it for yourself and test what I’m telling you too!

  • What words have the power of the Gospel alone?
  • What words match the message of scripture, bringing unity, joy, and power to the people of God?
  • What words make us more effective in communicating transformative faith?
  • What words make us more like Jesus and help us wait well for Jesus?

With that in mind, I’ve listened to more of Kirk’s work to learn from him — and to discern what to hold on to. I find much that is good: sharp analysis of our culture, clear arguments about the issues, and inspiration for young people. I also hear words of an activist with an agenda, whose biblical claims are stretched to serve political ends, blurring the lines between Christian and nationalist perspectives. There is much to learn from Kirk, and much that is better kept separate along the way. Here are three primary examples that have stood out to me.

  1. Jeremiah 29:7 — translation and context matter. Kirk often quotes this verse to urge political engagement, rendering the Hebrew as “demand the welfare of the nation.” Taken raw, that sounds compelling. But in context, Jeremiah addresses God’s people in judgment and exile; the wording is better translated “seek” or “work for” the welfare of the place where you live. Daniel, an example Charlie often uses on the heels of the Jeremiah text, models faithful engagement in exile, but he never “demanded” power. We should engage in the common good — yes — but our ultimate hope and the best common good is the transformation of hearts by Jesus Christ. This may seem like a minor technicality, but Charlie inspired many people in general, and Christians specifically, to demand something God never asked us to demand. Charlie often suggests that if we don’t demand it, we will lose the freedom to practice our faith. That fear effectively prompts action, but it also causes us to neglect what the Gospel teaches. Our freedom is in Christ; we will always be able to live that out, no matter the government we live under. What we are being called to demand is our comfort. That doesn’t sound like Jesus. Are there ways to engage culture and government that can bring about change? Yes. In fact, Daniel, who neither demanded anything nor campaigned for political office, is a great model of them. Prayer, respectful engagement with those who disagree, courageous trust that God will show up in the needed moment, and faithfulness to God wherever God leads.

  2. “Upon this rock…” — ekklēsia and government. In a YouTube video of a debate with a Christian student, Charlie prompted the student to finish Matthew 16:18: “upon this rock I will build my…”. The student said “church,” maybe you did too. Kirk rightly corrects the student by telling him that ekklēsia, the Greek word there, refers to a government structure and therefore Christians should work to make civil governments “Christ-like.” Yet, Jesus uses this term to contrast His government and worldly government structures. Equating Jesus' use of ekklēsia directly with any earthly nation or even the refining of a nation is a leap. Jesus has established his kingdom. It has clear characteristics that have stood the test of time through many different Governments. Jesus is committed to building His kingdom — to transforming His followers into people who embody His values. Does that have an impact on a community, city, state, or nation? Yes. Yet Jesus has done this for millennia without conflating His kingdom with any particular political system or even being motivated to bring change within a government system. Jesus was not talking about the MAGA movement. He was talking about making God’s name great and living for God’s glory through self-sacrificial love for even our enemies, regardless of what happens in culture or politics. Sadly, that’s often absent from Charlie’s words.

  3. Immigration and assimilation. Kirk’s insistence on assimilation as part of immigration is another frequent argument — that new arrivals abandon foreign loyalties and embrace a single civic creed. I agree this has great merit as a civic principle. American political leaders have been too lax on this issue for years. Kirk made this point to the cheers of a Sunday morning crowd at a church in Albuquerque, NM, and later played on The Charlie Kirk Show. Charlie quoted from Numbers and Deuteronomy, but he did not consider the ramifications for believers today. It could have been a powerful and instructional sermon. When the biblical theme of assimilation is traced from the Old Testament to the New Testament, Jesus and the NT authors make a connection. Jesus calls us to abandon our foreign loyalties and radically assimilate into His Holy nation and His royal priesthood. Charlie could have made this compelling biblical connection; instead, he resorted to partisan criticism and insulting language directed at democratic leaders in and out of office, and the crowd roared with laughter and applause. Instead of helping the people of God to understand a more profound commitment to God and God’s ways, trusting the power of prayer, that God will show up in times of need, and how to respectfully engage to bring about change, he demonstrated behavior that is expressly discouraged in the New Testament and allowed the people to revel in it.

A final note: Kirk persuasively argues that Christian ideas and values shaped America’s roots. His arguments are sound, and we can learn from them. Yet, in multiple videos, he takes a step further and calls the Constitution “God-inspired”. Although he left the claim vague, I was left wondering whether he was praising its wisdom or elevating it to the level of Scripture. That ambiguity matters. While America may have Christian roots and will benefit from Christians living out our Christ-like values, Christianity is not dependent on American freedom to flourish. We can be Christ in the world, no matter the politics of the day, and that is what makes the difference. 

These examples are not exhaustive, either in the good that we can learn, or in the things we should let go of. Charlie Kirk was a brilliant debater and organizer. Some have called him an evangelist or an activist with an agenda. All of these are true simultaneously. That is what makes this situation so challenging and fraught with conflict. We desperately need wisdom to discern the good, and there is much good, from stuff to reject. Good news: God promised to give wisdom if we ask. We can find at least part of that wisdom in 1 Thess. 5:12-24. Read it again. Pray through it. Ask God to help you honor hard work, love your neighbor and God well, filter the good from the bad, and in the end, to trust that our God who created and rules all things, is at work in and through all that is going on in this moment of cultural upheaval.