What if the solution to our polarized world isn't politics but the gospel itself? Lecrae shares why surrendering our empires for Christ’s Kingdom is the only way forward.



Grammy Award–winning artist Lecrae says the answer to society's polarization -- both inside and outside the church -- is one simple truth: the gospel. The hip-hop artist last week released Reconstruction, his first studio album in three years. The 19-track project recounts how he nearly abandoned Christianity and the church before sensing God's call to return.

Lecrae's music has found listeners on both the Left and the Right, and he believes the heart of Christianity holds the key to disagreeing without being disagreeable -- particularly in a culture where controversy drives clicks.

"It goes back to the simple word gospel, right?" he said when asked about the antidote to polarization.

"When we say gospel, oftentimes we're just thinking of a message of 'Jesus came, died, and resurrected.' But that word gospel was a word that was used even prior to Christ. It was good news. It was the good news of a new king. They would herald, 'Hey, a new king is here.' And what a new king meant is that there would be kind of a new way of living -- things will be better."

Jesus, he said, is a king who offers a better way of living in a world where people are regularly tempted to serve their own empires instead of God's Kingdom.

"What Jesus is bringing is a completely new Kingdom -- and that new Kingdom is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, goodness. And if we can be ambassadors of this Kingdom and not be so focused on our empire, whether that is a national empire, whether that's a local, congregational, or denominational empire -- we've got to let the empire go for the sake of the Kingdom. And I think once we can begin to do that and see each other as siblings in this Kingdom and learn how to work together, we'll be a healthier place."

Lecrae acknowledged the tension Christians feel while living in both earthly and heavenly kingdoms, but said he believes the tension can be resolved in Jesus' words from Mark 12:17: "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."

"Simplistically, pay your taxes, be involved, care about what's going on in your society. But what belongs to God, give to God."

In other words, Lecrae said, it is healthy to engage in civic life, but don't confuse it with the ultimate Kingdom -- and treat others on the other side as Jesus would do.

"Whose image is on you? The image of God, right? So give Him you -- your wholeness," he said. "There are things under the sun that are societal. We play our role, we play our part, but they don't supersede what belongs to God. And so I think as long as we can hold that intention in a healthy tension, we're good."

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