Righteousness Exalts a Nation: The Church's Answer to Unrest
Pastor Wesley Sing, 28 June 2026, 60 min
Sermon outline
In a time of unrest the church must respond rather than react: listen first, reject hatred, violence and lawlessness, honour God's order of government, choose the kingdom over politics, and stay connected to the Word so that changed hearts can change a nation.
Main text
- Proverbs 14:34
- Romans 12:21
Opening
After a member's testimony, he sets aside the planned continuation of his message on a godly father to address what has been happening over the previous six weeks. People look to the church for its response, especially now that it is meeting on three campuses, and leaders have a responsibility to respond and not react, neither cowering in a corner nor retaliating in an ungodly way, to the immigration tensions in KwaZulu-Natal.
Number one: the church must listen before it speaks
Many South Africans are hurting from unemployment, crime, corruption, weak border management, strained public services and economic hardship, and those concerns are real. The church must hear its community's cries with compassion and shepherd people with wisdom. But pain must never become prejudice, fear must never become hatred, and frustration must never become sin.
“While we acknowledge people's pain, we must never allow pain to become prejudice.”
- Proverbs 18:13
- James 1:19
The church must reject hatred and violence
There is no Black and white in the kingdom. Every person, whatever their nationality or ethnicity, is created in God's image and carries God-given dignity. No grievance permits assault, threats to families, destruction of property or the taking of innocent life. The church rejects xenophobia, vigilantism and every form of violence, because Jesus called us to love our neighbour, protect the vulnerable and overcome evil with good.
“We never solve a problem by returning evil for evil.”
- Genesis 1:27
- Luke 10:27
- Romans 12:21
Respect God's order of government
Believers live under a theocracy, the governance of God's word, and God is a God of order. Scripture entrusts law and order, borders, immigration law, fighting crime and prosecuting offenders to the state. Citizens may speak, petition, organise peaceably and march lawfully, but no citizen is called to be the police, the immigration officer, the labour inspector or the judge. The church encourages lawful conduct, calls on government to do its God-given job, and prays that it will.
“No citizen has been called to be the police.”
- Romans 13:1-4
- 1 Peter 2:13-14
Choose the kingdom over politics, and speak the whole truth
The church's only political party is the word of God; its loyalty belongs not to the left or the right but to the King of Kings. Its calling is to defend truth, justice, mercy and righteousness, even when that makes everyone uncomfortable. One of the greatest dangers in conflict is believing that only one side has all the truth: communities have legitimate concerns, and innocent foreign nationals must never become scapegoats. Biblical wisdom refuses simplistic answers.
Illustration: Anyone who has been to court knows that the first person to plead his cause always sounds right, until the other side is examined.
“Our loyalty does not belong to the left or to the right. Our loyalty belongs to the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.”
- Micah 6:8
- Matthew 6:33
- John 18:36
- Proverbs 18:17
- James 3:17
Reject lawlessness and deal with the root cause
Whenever lawlessness is tolerated, even for a seemingly just cause, criminals hijack legitimate concerns and violence spreads beyond its target, as neighbouring nations have shown. Migration is not the root problem, since we are all migrants; it is a symptom of deeper national challenges. The church must pray and labour for seven things: honest and accountable leadership, effective law enforcement, secure borders, economic growth and jobs, justice for all, the end of corruption, and strong families and flourishing communities. It all starts at home.
Illustration: An Italian saying, little acts of kindness go a long way: what you do in every interaction in your own neighbourhood carries weight long after you are gone.
“Show me a nation that is one under the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall see peace.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:7
- Isaiah 32:17
- Proverbs 14:34
- 2 Chronicles 7:14
- Proverbs 29:2
- Jeremiah 29:7
When society divides, the church must become the place of peace
Where there is fear, bring faith; where there is anger, compassion; where there is confusion, truth; where there is hatred, the love of Christ. An angry man becomes cynical and cannot be compassionate until he is delivered through the Word, prayer and the Holy Spirit. The highest calling is not only to reconcile people to each other but to reconcile them to God, because changed hearts, not systems, change a nation. Be prophetic without becoming political, courageous without anger, and compassionate without compromising truth.
Illustration: Live peaceably with all men, even the neighbour who plays loud music at 2am or whose dog keeps doing its business in your yard.
“The transformation of the heart becomes the transformation of the nation.”
- Matthew 5:9
- 2 Corinthians 5:18
- Romans 12:18
Stay connected to the source and protect your thought life
You cannot fill yourself with junk and expect a godly result. The Word must come in daily, not only on Sunday, or you stay spiritually deficient and foggy, unsure how to pray and overwhelmed by circumstances. David at Ziklag, threatened by his own men, strengthened himself in the Lord and received the strategy to recover everything. Anything that takes your peace is of the devil, so let the peace of God guard your heart and mind, deal with root causes at home, and make small daily changes.
Illustration: Diesel in a petrol car may still drive for a while, but it is destroying the engine. And crash dieting can still put on weight because the body is starved of the right nutrition; one encouraging word on Sunday is not enough nourishment for the week. His grandmother never missed her six o'clock soap opera, but drama does not bring the righteousness of God.
“We can't have the junk going in and expect the engine to be functioning correctly.”
- 1 Samuel 30:6
- Psalm 1:2
- Philippians 4:6-7
- Proverbs 23:7
- Genesis 3:11
Putting it into practice
- Listen to people's pain with compassion before you speak, but do not let it turn into prejudice
- Reject every form of xenophobia, vigilantism and violence, and use only lawful means to raise concerns
- Pray for the nation, your city, schools and universities, and for government to fulfil its mandate
- Be a peacemaker in every interaction, starting at home
- Feed on the Word every day and guard your thought life from the junk of entertainment and drama
- Young people: choose what you listen to, watch, join and say
Closing
He calls the young people to choose to be different and to stand like David before the Philistine. He then leads the church, who answer amen, in a long set of declarations over South Africa, its leaders, its communities and the church, prays a blessing over them that they would be the change and the voice the nation needs, and pleads the blood of Jesus over them and their families.
Declarations to say aloud
- It's not about me and mine.
- Swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
- Truth, justice, mercy, righteousness.
- Today, we declare that South Africa belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. We declare over our nation a spirit of love and reconciliation. We declare a heart of compassion, truth, and mercy. We declare that pain will not become prejudice, that fear will not become hatred, that frustration will not become sin. We declare healing over broken communities. We declare that the spirit of xenophobia, hatred, violence, and revenge will be broken over our nation in the name of Jesus.
- We declare that love will triumph over fear, that mercy will triumph over judgment, that good will overcome evil. We declare peace over our streets, over our communities, and over our homes in the name of Jesus.
- We declare that the Church of Jesus Christ will not bow to political pressure. It will not bow to ideological agendas. Our loyalty belongs to Christ and Christ alone. We declare that truth will never be sacrificed over popularity. We declare that justice will never be separated from mercy. We declare that righteousness will never be compromised for political convenience. We declare that Jesus Christ is Lord over South Africa.
- We declare that righteousness will exalt our nation, that justice will flourish, that peace will increase, that order will replace disorder, that hope will overcome fear in the name of Jesus.
- We declare that South Africa will be saved in Jesus' name. We declare that South Africa will prosper in Jesus' name. We declare that South Africa shall know the peace and righteousness of God in Jesus' name.
Worth remembering
- “We must never allow the fear of uncertainty to become hatred, nor should we allow our frustration to become sin.”
- “There's no Black and white in the kingdom.”
- “Citizens may speak, they may petition, they may organize peaceably and march lawfully, but no citizen has been called to be the police.”
- “We've got to be prophetic without becoming political.”
- “The transformation of the heart becomes the transformation of the nation.”
Every scripture in this message
- Revelation 12:11
- Proverbs 18:13
- James 1:19
- Genesis 1:27
- Luke 10:27
- Romans 12:21
- Romans 13:1-4
- 1 Peter 2:13-14
- Micah 6:8
- Matthew 6:33
- John 18:36
- Proverbs 18:17
- James 3:17
- 2 Thessalonians 2:7
- Isaiah 32:17
- Proverbs 14:34
- 2 Chronicles 7:14
- Proverbs 29:2
- Jeremiah 29:7
- Matthew 5:9
- 2 Corinthians 5:18
- Romans 12:18
- 1 Samuel 30:6
- Psalm 1:2
- Philippians 4:6-7
- Proverbs 23:7
- Genesis 3:11
- 1 Samuel 17:26
- 2 Corinthians 13:14
- Psalm 23:6
- Psalm 34:7
In this message
Main text
- Romans 12:21
