Sunday, October 4, 2020
Way of the Cross
The way of Jesus is not only fiercely nonviolent, it’s also intrinsically non-retaliatory. In Christ, we are introduced to the God who comes and dies for his enemies, the God who absorbs the evil of his adversaries and neutralizes it within his own broken body. This radical, sacrificial love of God in Christ is the power of God unto salvation. It is the mechanism by which he recreates the world. To “believe in Jesus” is to love the cross-bearing God revealed in Christ and to trust in his counterintuitive redemptive process. We can’t even be a part of what he’s doing until we lay down the sword and follow him in taking up our cross.
Such in odd thing, in light of Christ’s teaching, that many American Christians have come to believe we can bear the cross and the sword together. As a result, we are preoccupied with our “rights” to use violence to protect what’s ours, we justify our greed, fear those who threaten our position of power and privilege, succumb to politics that validate and incite our grievances, frantically grasp for more imperial power, and gleefully relish the tears and “owning” of our ideological and tribal adversaries. I’m increasingly convinced that this fundamental misunderstanding of the mechanics of the cross—which is the confounding power of God—accounts for much of what has gone wrong within American evangelicalism. We have claimed allegiance to the cross and the kingdom while brazenly trusting in the instruments of the empire.
When we take up the sword, our actions shouldn’t merely be seen in terms of our disobedience to Christ’s clear commands (though they are that). Our reliance on the sword is nothing short of our failure to believe in the mechanism of the cross. The sword is not mildly incompatible with the cross; it is its opposite, and its use represents the outright and complete rejection of the cross and our crucified King.
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Not a Racist!
More than a few accusations of “racism” have been hurled at the president and his supporters. Even clothing items bearing the MAGA brand such as campaign t-shirts or the signature red cap have become super-charged with racial tension. Those in favor of the MAGA movement have consistently expressed disbelief and anger at how their commitment to racial equality is being questioned solely based on their political affiliations. Let’s be honest, insinuating that someone or a whole group is “racist” probably amounts to the worst sort of insult known to modern society. Even notorious white supremacists like Richard Spencer are reluctant to claim the dubious title of “racist.” It seems we’ve done a thorough job of rebuking “racism” (as an abstraction, anyway), but perhaps we haven’t done as thorough a job of defining it. If by “racist” we mean individuals who have conscious malice in their hearts toward other racial groups, then I’d agree with the sentiment that “not all of the president’s supporters are racist.” However, racism is not confined to aiming a fire-hose at a peaceful protester, turning an attack dog loose, or pouring a drink on someone’s head as they sit at a “whites only” lunch counter.
“Racism” is better understood as systems of power that work in favor of one racial group and/or against another. And while racial bias and even deep seated prejudice can be found in individuals of all sorts and shades, it's only the majority culture—white America in this case—that has the necessary collective power (in both numbers and influence) to manifest the far more harmful expressions of societal racism.
The president has consistently marketed himself as the best means to combat the hordes of “invading” brown people (whether they’re coming across our southern border, hail from Muslim majority countries—Muslim majority countries with which we don’t have strong economic ties, anyway—are already here as “Kenyan-born globalists” who have “illegitimately” held the highest public office, or are among the numerous “ungrateful” black athletes who don’t appreciate what white America has “given” them). He regularly promotes “dangerous brown man” tropes when he refers to undocumented Mexican immigrants as “rapists and murderers,” demonizes Middle Eastern refugees (while ignoring the fact that white, natural-born citizens are statistically a greater terror threat to the US public), or highlights anecdotal examples of criminal behavior carried out by immigrants (despite the data indicating that natural-born citizens commit crimes at higher rates than immigrants, documented or otherwise). Advancing the “dangerous brown man” narrative yields tremendous political utility, and it also does great harm to our brothers and sisters of color. It’s not that the president is simply a racist politician (I’m sure we have plenty of those on either side of the aisle); it’s that overt racism is at the core of his political message.
The societal scapegoat mechanism nestled within the “dangerous brown man” narrative is as old as the fall. Jesus willingly subjected himself to this twisted system as part of God's plan for him to be the final Scapegoat, and in so doing exposed the dark powers and their perverse methods to public shame. The scapegoat mechanism at the heart of racist systems has been judged on the cross and overcome by the reconciling love of God. The resurrected Christ, as the new human, is creating a new humanity in himself that will be fully submitted to his Father and suited for the new creation. When Christ-followers abandon the good news of God's better kingdom and return to a racist, scapegoat narrative it is not only perverse, it is nothing short of anti-Christ.
No doubt many of the president's supporters are conscious of his racist message, while others—perhaps most of them—are merely complicit. Should it be any consolation to our brothers and sisters of color, though, to hear that many of their white friends and neighbors are “not racist” but just too unconcerned with their well-being to recognize and resist racist propaganda? Does it improve the situation for them to know that we “don't approve” of racism, but it's not exactly a deal-breaker either? Does our ignorance about how racism actually works absolve us of our racism (especially considering that our brothers and sisters of color have been shouting it to us at the top of their lungs for generations now)? Does our “noble cause” (appointment of conservative, pro-life Supreme Court Justices, protection of religious liberties, etc.) justify the racist means by which we have attained power?
If we've bought into the president's “dangerous brown man” narrative—a narrative that is not only factually untrue, it's an offense against the Imago Dei—then we've empowered racism in America. If we've merely tolerated the president's narrative in support of his candidacy, then we've likewise actively given power to racism. If we've hidden behind an insufficient definition of racism, one which only describes individual conscious prejudice, then we've ignored and therefore empowered the widespread observable inequities of systemic societal racism. It should be noted, I think, that it's this inadequate yet popular definition of racism that sustains numerous white delusions regarding race and America. One of which is that it's impossible to be both “racist” and also happily working, recreating, and worshiping with people of color. It's an unfortunate truth, however, that we can be both pleasantly disposed toward individuals of a racial group and at the same time actively harming them by way of our “politics” and shared societal perceptions.
I'm fully aware that calling the president's supporters—including several of my friends and family—“racist” is considered by many to be inflammatory and unkind. And I should make clear that I’m not suggesting that jumping on the MAGA train is the only way to actively or passively empower racism (the various permutations of the “dangerous brown man” narrative certainly predate the president, and they will almost certainly outlive him). Reducing “racism” exclusively to pouring a drink on someone’s head or wearing a red MAGA cap is to avoid the more complex and implicating questions of how racialized systems of power form and manifest throughout our society. At the end of the day, it's tragic that we're more upset by accusations of “racism” than we are by actual racism. We're more concerned with exonerating ourselves than acknowledging and addressing our contributions to unjust and racist systems of power. And is it a surprise to any of us that it's always the powerful and the privileged—the folks for whom the system works—who insist that we hold our tongues, that we avoid “divisiveness” in order to “keep the peace?” It's with such sensitivity, over-the-top politeness, and measured diplomacy that we regularly handle our fragile white brothers and sisters. But what of our brothers and sisters of color? What of their feelings? And what of their Maker? Do we also consider how they will be offended by our “polite” silence?
I’m not writing this for those who are already set against the president and his supporters. For many of them it would only serve as a hearty source of self-gratification, further smug confirmation that the monsters all reside on the other side of the aisle (after all, hashtags and virtue signaling are more about announcing that “I am not a racist” than actually addressing racism in any meaningful way). Likewise, I wouldn’t waste my time on the committed MAGA disciple who would zealously stay the course even after being rebuked by Jesus himself in a road-to-Damascus type encounter. It’s the people of “genuine good will” that Dr. King identified in his letter from a Birmingham jail that I’m addressing. Those who seek God’s kingdom and would genuinely want to know if they were mistaken. Peter, friend of Jesus, was once cowed by a racially prejudiced majority into compromising the gospel. In response, Paul "opposed him to his face" in a public setting. I take no pleasure in pointing out our racism, but it has to be done. There's no way out until we name it, no future wholeness without genuine repentance, and no hope for reconciliation without justice. Shame on the numerous shepherds who in an effort to spare their white parishioners’ feelings fail to clearly and publicly identify the racism at the core of the MAGA movement. Their cowardice on this topic is helpful to no one (least of all themselves). The “to each his own” approach to politics within the church, as if politics are morally neutral, is reckless and wrong. As is the tunnel vision of party-driven theology. We mustn’t see the three-fifths compromise, state sanctioned genocide of westward expansion and manifest destiny, legal wholesale murder of the unborn, the corporate destruction of God’s good creation for economic gain, or the dehumanization of an “other” to catalyze a political base as merely “politics.” To quote the prophet Bonhoeffer, "God will not hold us guiltless."
He (or she) who has ears to hear, let them hear.
“An
open rebuke is better than hidden love! Wounds from a sincere friend
are better than many kisses from an enemy.” - Proverbs 27:5-6
Friday, December 29, 2017
Taking Back His Rebel World
In many
Christian circles, we've reduced the gospel to a simple pitch about
the afterlife. Saving souls (i.e. trading hell for heaven upon one's
death) is often seen as God's primary objective—the meat of the
gospel, so to speak. Consequently, signing people up for the sweet
hereafter becomes our exclusive agenda (with everything else seen as
either a distraction or an optional add-on). Jesus’ version of the
gospel, however, had a noticeably different focus than our popular
afterlife-insurance spiel. Jesus, for example, was preoccupied with
announcing the coming of God’s subversive counter kingdom (arriving
off the grid and under the noses of the present powers it was
undermining, like yeast spreading through dough or a germinated seed
slowly growing into a mighty tree). He invited his followers to
experience this radical kingdom-life today as we’re reborn
into him and subsequently transformed from enemies into agents of his
sweeping new creation project. He described a new humanity and a new
world that is even now crashing into and supplanting the old by way
of his incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and eminent
return. In God’s kingdom, the hungry, forgotten, and
marginalized—the “last”—are given priority and the “first,”
the powerful and privileged, are sent away empty handed. Jesus’
story crescendos with his physical return, the resurrection of the
dead (and the end of death), his final confrontation of evil, a
restored creation, and the total reunification of heaven and earth in
himself, through the power of his Spirit and to the glory of his
Father. Far from an evacuation to heaven, the gospel is more
accurately describing the invasion and “colonization,” as N.T.
Wright would say, of earth by heaven (a proposition that is
either wonderful or terrifying—maybe both at the same
time—depending on one's perception of the King and attachment to
the present system that he means to overthrow). In short, God is now
taking back his rebel world through the person and work of Jesus.
God, as
the Creator, has exclusive rights to his creation. In Genesis we read
how God created humans in his image and assigned them the task of
tending to his creation as his administrators. The original human vocation, then, is to reflect the goodness of God to creation and to
lead creation in worship of the Creator. It should be noted, however,
that despite humanity's extensive, delegated authority over creation,
Scripture is always clear that humans are tenants and not owners.
When his vast and finely-tuned temple is operating correctly it
harmoniously tells a true story about the One who made it. The
resulting music is spectacular for everyone involved. But what
happens when the middle management refuses to play their part? What
damage is done if the conductors won't lead the orchestra to perform
the symphony as the Composer has written?
Jesus
once told a story about some presumptuous tenants who thought they
could deny their landlord access to his own vineyard (the specific
context of this story is relating to 1st Century Jewish leaders, but
there are intended parallels throughout the biblical narrative
between the Israelites/Canaan and humanity/creation). The tenants
behaved as if the vineyard was their own, managed it as they saw fit,
tried to keep the harvest for themselves, and ultimately murdered the
owner's only heir in their attempts to retain power. It didn't go
well for them in the end.
Seeing
ourselves rightly as created beings who are indebted to our Creator
is an important first step in recognizing the severity of our
collective offense. If we wrongly conclude that God has created us
with no particular purpose in mind, we may assume that we're free to
do whatever we want so long as we're generally nice, decent
creatures. Judging whether or not we've been successful at this
ambiguous endeavor is itself an extremely subjective task (leading
many to falsely conclude they are basically “good people”). We'll
undoubtedly have differing ideas, for example, about what is or isn't
nice and decent human behavior. If, however, we rightly understand
that God has made us to be something like a mirror, to reflect his
beauty, his justice, and his mercy, then the question isn't whether
or not I'm being the best me that I can be. All of our
opinions at this point are irrelevant. The real question is whether
or not I'm accurately reflecting a specific person, namely my
Creator, as he intends (It should be noted here that billions of
finite image-bearers could potentially reflect an infinite Creator,
with no two of them being the same, and yet the cumulative sum
wouldn't even come close to fully describing him). He alone is qualified to determine my success at this. If it turns out
I'm not accurately reflecting him (perhaps, like a shattered mirror,
I'm no longer even capable of accurately reflecting him) then I'm
essentially lying about him by way of the distorted image my life is
projecting. Even worse, all of humanity (a tragic collection of
broken mirrors that only produce more broken mirrors) is systemically
and perpetually misrepresenting the Creator to each other, the rest
of creation, and—most importantly—to the Creator himself. Whether
we realize it or not, the exploitative and materialistic ways in
which we typically view and abuse our fellow image-bearers and the
rest of what God has made is nothing short of blasphemy. And the
resulting dissonant music, if we can even call it that, is ravaging
his creation.
At this
point in the story, God has a decision to make (a decision he
mysteriously settled in his own mind before even creating). Will he
wipe the board clean and begin again (it seems creating is a simple
thing for him, after all), or will he undergo the long and painful
process of repairing and reinstating the undeserving rebels and
undoing the damage they've caused to his creation? (It should be
noted that simply ignoring the hell his wayward image-bearers have
birthed was never an option for the Creator, as he is intrinsically
incapable of apathy). His restrained approach to human rebellion,
however, speaks volumes about how he views and wields the infinite
power at his disposal. He hasn't abandoned the creation he dearly
loves to its usurpers; he has subjected it (as an act of his
permissive will) to bondage “in hope” (Romans chapter 8).
The
Creator has a unique knot to untangle if he wants to have his
creation restored to him as the temple it was meant to be. As already
mentioned, an essential component of his interconnected design calls
for humans to be willing participants, submitted to his sheet music
as an act of their own volition, functioning as conduits of his grace
and administrative justice (this willing submission to God by humans
is the essence of his kingdom). This delegation of his power is
certainly not out of necessity. He could easily conduct his
composition himself, play all of the individual instruments, and so
on, but this clearly isn't what he's after. The specific structuring
of his orchestra, including the vital role assigned to its human
conductors, has as much to say about the generous Composer as the
actual symphony it was all meant to perform. Jesus, the servant King,
once contrasted God's shockingly reserved methodology with typical
human rulers' heavy handedness (as seen in our predictable tendency
to lord it over each other). Human rulers have historically used
violence or propaganda to coerce or manipulate their subjects into
submission. But this simply won't produce the sort of kingdom that
the Creator is after. He naturally won't bypass or extinguish human
volition in his efforts to restore it. The kind of submission he's
after can never come as the result of brute force or deception. But
how does one convince one's enemies, pitiful creatures who are now
inherently rebellious, to willingly, without coercion, submit once
again to their rightful King? The complexity of the Creator's dilemma
can hardly be overstated, but fortunately for us his ingenuity is
boundless.
If human
rebellion is the epicenter of creation's trouble, then the remedy can
only come as the result of a humanity back on track, reflecting God's
glory, and tending to his temple as the priests we were created to
be. Here in lies the problem. Every one of us, according to
Scripture, has become disqualified. There's an incredible scene in
Revelation chapter 5, involving an important, symbolic scroll that
sat unopened. An angel shouted out, “'who is worthy to open the
scroll and break its seal?' And no one in heaven or on earth or under
the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.” John,
the author of Revelation, at this point broke down and wept
uncontrollably over the hopelessness surrounding this unopened
scroll. It seemed as though the original human vocation would
tragically go unclaimed and unfulfilled.
What
John witnessed next in Revelation 5 parallels the incredible Daniel 7
prophecy, in which a mysterious human character (a “son of man”)
ascends to heaven, walks boldly into the throne room of the “Ancient
of Days,” and is “given dominion (see Genesis 1:28) and glory and
a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” John sees this
same epic “son of man” moment in his vision, when the despair
surrounding the unopened scroll is suddenly shattered with the
arrival of the “Lion” who is also a “slain Lamb.” Pin-drop
silence falls over the crowd as this mysterious figure emerges. This
somehow worthy human walks right up to “him who was seated on the
throne” and claims the scroll on our behalf. The onlookers erupt
into song, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its
seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for
God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have
made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on
the earth.”
His
solution to the human dilemma is elegant and unexpected. Ironically,
God himself, as an authentic human, fulfilled the original human
vocation, and, by doing so, he is reclaiming all that was lost. The
only begotten Son, the eternal Word of God, who spoke the universe
into existence, became the human we were all meant to be, the true
“image of the invisible God.” As the Creator, God's authority
over his creation and subsequent rights to it are uncontested. But in
the incarnation, God reclaims, on our behalf, a uniquely human
authority. Suppose for a minute that the person who invented American
football also established and presided over the National Football
League, built all the stadiums, owned all the teams, and held
lifelong contracts with every player. Despite this person's vast
authority over the sport they created and maintain, they would still
need to take to the field as an athlete if their intention was to
fairly win the league's most valuable player award. And that's
exactly what he did. God took to the field in the form of a 1st
Century, penniless, Galilean from backwoods Nazareth, and he conquered
the world without firing a shot.
The
unique mission of the Christ could only be fulfilled by a human
character (that he was also by necessity God, on account of universal
human failing, is a fantastic twist in the story but not the main
point of this chapter—as we often make it). In other words, Jesus
wasn't just pretending to be human in the incarnation; he was human
(John claims that denying this fact is “antichrist” - 2 John
1:7). And though his divinity is firmly established in Scripture,
proving it wasn't the drum Jesus was beating during his earthly
ministry (You might remember that “son of man” was his favorite
term for himself). He silenced demonic beings who recognized who he
really was, and he frequently made it clear that he didn't speak or
act on his own authority (Philippians chapter 2 describes his
behavior in the incarnation as a humble emptying of himself in order
to faithfully fulfill his mission). He operated with borrowed
authority, given to him by God, authority reserved for an untarnished
human, the promised King, God's chosen representative, on whom his
divine favor rests (The term “Messiah/Christ” sums this up
nicely). The call to accept Jesus as God's chosen human
representative, the exclusive conduit through which his grace would
flow, and the means by which he would reclaim his rebel world is what
we see primarily promoted in Scripture (John 5:37-38, 6:29, Acts
4:10-12). Jesus lived his life as a perfect image-bearer, fully
relying on the Holy Spirit, and in complete submission to his Father
(he “learned obedience” on our behalf - Hebrews 5). Receiving
Jesus as the Christ is equated with submitting to God's plan for
humanity. If we miss this, if we instead see Jesus as something of a
superman, then we miss the point of the incarnation (As an
untarnished human, he was a superman of sorts, but not the way we
often think). Don't misunderstand me; defending the deity of Christ
is an important task from which the Church should never shrink back.
But in doing so, we must also realize that there's much more going on
in the incarnation than simply, “surprise—Jesus is God.” The
man Jesus isn't meant to be seen as a perpetual singularity but the
extraordinary means by which God is producing many more sons and
daughters of a similar kind (Hebrews 2:9-18). We've unfortunately
allowed the heretics to define the parameters of this conversation
(especially the misguided ideological descendants of Arius). As a
result, we're spending so much energy defending Jesus' divinity that
we're left with little time to recognize and accurately describe the
implications of his humanity.
Just as
the first Adam's rebellion infected all of humanity, so the second
Adam's obedience makes him patient zero for a new pandemic, what C.S.
Lewis calls the “good infection.” Jesus is something of a Trojan
horse, in this way, an unassuming Antidote for the human condition.
He is the first of many Spirit-filled and fully submitted humans, the
King and the kingdom rolled into one, the person where heaven and
earth intersect, and the divine image-bearer who sacrificially
resolves the human conflict with God in his own broken body. He
alone, through restored conductors, will direct the orchestra to
properly perform the Composer's magnum opus. Jesus is the prototype
for a restored humanity and the catalyst for the new creation. He is
the invasion we never saw coming.
Of
course not everyone is celebrating Jesus' enthronement. There are
plenty of people who don't want God to reclaim his rebel world
(plenty of tenants who think they are owners). God is patient, but he
won't wait forever. His rescue plan will go forward as scheduled
(It's his universe, after all). When Jesus returns, he will
personally confront those who resist his legitimate authority, those
who love their rebellion more than their coming King. Participation
in God's kingdom as citizen sons is voluntary, however, and all those
who foolishly opt out of God's new creation project will eventually
have their decision ratified for all eternity. God values and even
honors human volition, but he won't allow these dissenters to wreak
havoc in his new creation. Sin spreads like cancer. The only perfect
human, he who was obedient to God unto death—even death on a
cross—will stand in judgment of their defiance. He will banish them
from God's restored universe. “There are only two kinds of people
in the end,” says Lewis, “those who say to God, 'Thy will be
done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'”
Their subsequent existence, forever separated from the Author of
Life, is described in Scripture as a “second death.” Jesus,
himself, compares this eternal quarantine to being locked out of the
city, thrown on a burning heap of decaying filth, or set adrift in a
lake of perpetual fire. He passionately warns whoever will listen
that this tragic fate is to be avoided at all costs.
However,
forgiveness of sins is never an end in itself. The popular afterlife
pitch frequently divorces Jesus' debt-canceling work on the cross
from God's ultimate purpose of restoring the original human vocation.
In a truncated gospel, the “why?” behind the cross is often
answered with, “...so we can go to heaven after we die.” While
it's certainly true that God knows and loves each and every one of us
(and his ambitious new creation project naturally involves our
individual repentance and willing submission to his Christ), it's a
mistake to view our “personal salvation” apart from the good news
of God's kingdom (Even Jesus' well known conversation with Nicodemus,
in which he articulates an individual's desperate need to become
“born again,” takes place within the context of his larger
kingdom message – John 3:3). Ultimately, we're made clean as a
prerequisite for service. Our great offense is mercifully removed on
the cross so that we're finally able to get back to that for
which we were originally created. Scripture frequently ties
forgiveness of sins to reinstatement in God's service (Titus 2:11-14,
Ephesians 2:8-10, Hebrews 9:14). God's reason for releasing Abraham's descendants from the bondage of Egypt, for example, was so they would
be free to “serve” him (Exodus 4:22-23). Keep in mind, it's
exceedingly good to be in his service. He means to make us kings and
queens. Ultimately, a heart of stone has no interest in fulfilling
the original human vocation (which is why the strictly
punishment-avoidance-pitch is very popular), but a restored heart of
flesh leaps with indescribable gratitude at the opportunity to be
reinstated as a priest in God's temple. Many of our notions of
heaven, salvation, and God's endgame need to be rethought in light of
Jesus' kingdom message.
When we
lose sight of the larger narrative, we'll often view sanctification
(i.e. becoming like Jesus) as an add-on to the gospel instead of the
point of it all. Growing into the image of Christ isn't merely a
private endeavor that we undertake for our own personal edification
(i.e. approaching the fruit of the Spirit as a self-help buffet that
promises to unlock our best life now). Our personal transformation is
an integral part of his wide-scale terraforming project. He's making
ready a now-inhospitable environment for his glorious, unveiled
presence. He's bringing all things under the lordship of Jesus, and
incrementally answering the Lord's Prayer for heaven to be reunited
with earth. As we submit to the indwelling Spirit of Christ, we
become kingdom-pockets of heaven on earth. There are still many areas
of his world—many corners of our own hearts—that haven't yet
fully submitted to his reign. There's much work to be done, but
fortunately his kingdom will continually increase (Isaiah 9:7). Jesus
claims he is “making all things new.” If we truly are “new
creations” in Christ, then we should see the obvious continuity
between what he is now doing in us and the final restoration of all
things at the eschaton (described most vividly in Revelation chapters
21 and 22).
I know a
brother-in-Christ who ministers in his hometown of Machilipatnam,
India. He's used mightily by God to clothe the naked and feed the
hungry, to sometimes rescue women and children from sex-trafficking
rings run by murderous gangsters. I've heard stories of children sold
into prostitution for a bag of rice, whole families that have laid
down together on train tracks in a time of total desperation. Some of
the children have witnessed their own father savagely murder their
mother before their eyes, while others have been intentionally maimed
by organized crime syndicates that use them as professional beggars
(little ones that have seen evil so cruel they're still unable to
even speak it). To anyone paying attention, the world is still
obviously full of profound brokenness. And yet the darkness is
passing away (1 John 2:8). One of my sister-in-laws works as an
advocate for victims of human trafficking. She could tell you that in
virtually every city across the US there are image-bearers of God
being exploited by other image-bearers in numerous, horrific and
dehumanizing ways (some of whom you and I have almost definitely met
in passing without even knowing). And yet the Light has come. Even
among our own communities and churches, those who are being
transformed into the image of Christ, ministers of the gospel, our
friends and family, may succumb to hidden sexual sin, vile hypocrisy,
corruption, greed, racism, addictions, emotional and physical
abuse... and yet... a new Day is dawning. As I look within, I've felt
at times defeated and ashamed at what my own mouth has said, the lies
my sin-stricken heart has believed, and the evil my hands have done.
But we mustn't lose heart; our King is on the move. “For he has
rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the
kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13).
It takes
faith to believe that God, even now in the midst of our broken world,
is actively bringing all things under the lordship of King Jesus.
Likewise, it takes faith to trust Jesus when he assures us that “all
authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to him. And
it takes faith to know that when his massive restoration project is
complete—a rebel world returned to its Creator—he'll one day
present the kingdom to his proud Father. The Creator will then dwell
among us on a restored earth. We'll see his face, he'll be our God,
and we'll be his people. This is his incredible endgame. This is the
story the Bible is telling. And it's into this exciting endeavor that
he's inviting “whosoever” to join him.
“For
the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be
revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its
own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that
the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know
that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we
ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as
we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our
bodies. For in this hope we were saved.” - Romans 8:19-24a
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” - Revelation 1:5b-6
“Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” - 1 Corinthians 15:24-26
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” - Revelation 1:5b-6
“Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” - 1 Corinthians 15:24-26
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Great Commission (Remixed)
"All authority in heaven and on earth
will be given to me at some future millennial kingdom.
Nevertheless, go (two-week, short term trips ought to do it) and make
converts of all nations (mostly just the ones who look and think like
you), teaching them to raise their hands (with all heads bowed and
all eyes closed, of course), recite the sinner's prayer, and assuring
them of their super-awesome afterlife. And surely I am with you
always as you hunker down, buy a bunch of crap, form dubious
political alliances, ignore injustices against your fellow
image-bearers, and wait for the rapture."
- Said Jesus never
(Check out Matthew 28 for the actual Great Commission)
(Check out Matthew 28 for the actual Great Commission)
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Ears to Hear
Jesus
would sometimes interject his teaching with, “if anyone has ears to
hear, let them hear” (Mark 4:23 NIV). In saying this, he
acknowledged that some of his followers would perhaps listen without
really hearing. There is often a vast chasm between a person's
capacity to hear and understand and their actual willingness to
hear and understand. In John 9, Jesus rebuked a group of Pharisees
who, despite their functioning eyes and keen minds, refused to see
what was vividly clear to even a recently-blind man. When an
“expert in the law” asked him “what must I do to inherit
eternal life?” Jesus, true to form, responded with a question:
“What is written in the law?” But it's Jesus' followup question,
“how do you read it?” that I find most intriguing (Luke 10:25-26
NIV). The world's greatest communicator was not only interested in
what was said but also what this man heard. Are we
prone to hear what the Word of God is saying, I wonder, or do we like
many of Jesus' 1st Century friends and foes merely listen for what we
wanted him to say?
Jesus
knows all too well how our selective listening works—our human
propensity toward confirmation bias. And there's times where he's
almost purposely elusive when responding to a disingenuous question.
He seemed to even let some folks walk away with the wrong idea, if
that's what they had already set out to do from the beginning.
Despite what he actually said, for example, some of his listeners
heard the familiar voice of a nationalist messiah who promised to
lead Zion's armies to victory over her Roman oppressors. Others, who
were listening without the rich Jewish history of the long-promised
coming of God's kingdom rooted in their hopes and dreams, might have
heard a Gnostic who was always advocating for some ethereal life in
the glorious hereafter. Even today, many hear in Jesus' teachings a
justification for—or at least a compatibility with—moralism,
Marxism, white nationalism/nativism, consumerism/economic greed (what
we often rebrand as “prosperity” or “trickle-down economics”),
or militarism, as well as a myriad of other “isms” that are
clearly at odds (clearly to anyone who is actually listening,
that is) with the historical Jesus of Nazareth's teachings.
It's not
that Jesus wants to be misunderstood or that he's just careless in
how he conveys his ideas. But maybe he can't, or won't, force people
to understand against their hardened will (not at this particular
juncture anyway). Perhaps this is one of many dignities God bestows
on his image bearers: the ability to stop up our ears, close our
minds, and shut our eyes to our Creator if we so choose (the ability
to “resist” the whispers of his Spirit). Naturally, God will not
bypass human volition as he carries out his sweeping project to
restore our desire and ability to willingly submit to our Creator via
the person and work of the new man, Jesus the Christ. Since Eden, the
ability to choose has always been a noticeable facet of his plan for
humanity. Many of the stories Jesus told about God's kingdom were
crafted in such a way as to leave the hearer with a choice—a choice
to believe or to doubt, to comprehend or to confuse, to seek Truth or
to run from him. I maintain that Jesus' parables are most often
simple and direct. However, the parable format allows lazy or
intellectually dishonest hearers to impose their alternate meanings.
I want to be clear that it's ultimately not Jesus' ambiguity but our
own pride, preferences, preconceptions, and sin-stricken hearts that
lead us astray.
As a
confirmed skeptic (who has now been won over by Jesus and his good
news), I've often wondered why God didn't eliminate any opportunity
for doubt or confusion. Sure we have the
Scriptures, numerous miracles, compelling prophecies, and Jesus' own
resurrection, but the skeptic in me always wants more. How have so
many of his misguided followers managed to become crusaders, inquisitors, slave
holders, advocates for apartheid, and purveyors of the alt-right? How
could they possibly hear approval in the words of Christ and
veer so far off course? Why have others heard nothing at all? How is
it that so many of his friends and foes alike mishear or misrepresent
him? Why couldn't God shout even louder, so to speak, so that
everyone, even those with the hardest hearts, couldn't help but hear
him? Well, one day he will. Jesus promises “there is nothing hidden
that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be
known or brought out into the open” (Luke 8:17 NIV). “Every knee”
will eventually bow to him (Phil 2:10). But he wants us to be
“hungry” and “thirsty” for him now, and we can't claim to be
listening, as an act of our own volition, when at his return we have
no choice but to hear. Paul explained to the Athenians how God had
orchestrated human history “so that [we] would seek him and perhaps
reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of
us” (Acts 17:27 NIV). Maybe he presently speaks in a “gentle
whisper” so that we will have to stop and truly listen in order to
hear him (1 Kings 19:12 NIV). I like how the New Living Translation
renders Luke 8:18: “...pay attention to how you hear,” says
Jesus. “To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will
be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think
they understand will be taken away from them.”
Friday, June 2, 2017
Traditions of Men
Jesus
rebuked the Pharisees of his day for elevating their traditions above
God’s word. He cited several examples of how their time-honored
customs had subtly undermined, perverted, and even outright
contradicted many of God’s commands. The Pharisees were, of course,
deeply offended by this accusation. In their own estimation and by
all outward indicators, they held God’s word in the highest regard.
I think the poison that Jesus noted in the Pharisees' twisted
traditions, however, often manifested without them even being aware.
It’s easy enough to see the Pharisees as a group of men who simply
set out to twist the word of God with their traditions, but I think
this is a dangerous oversimplification of who they were (and, by
extension, who we are). It’s truly astounding how self-deluded our
sin-stricken human hearts can be, even effectively keeping us in the
dark when it comes to our own deepest motivations and intents.
I
want to be clear from the start that traditions alone aren’t the
problem here. Jesus wasn’t waging a war against the human practice
of making and keeping traditions (On the contrary, he utilized
several existing traditions and even instituted a few of his own).
I'm not with the overzealous crowd of Christians who dogmatically
reject any tradition unless it’s explicitly outlined in Scripture
(ultimately out sola scriptura-ing even Luther himself).
That’s certainly not the drum I’m beating. There are numerous
extra-biblical traditions that have been crafted by the Church with
the intent of magnifying God, declaring his good news, and edifying
his people. And in many cases they accomplish just that. Our Catholic
and Orthodox brothers and sisters, as examples, rely heavily on
tradition within their particular expressions of the Christian faith.
Protestants, despite our reputation as being anti-tradition, hold
fast to numerous extra-biblical traditions as well. And though
tradition doesn’t carry the same weight as Scripture in our dogma,
it certainly does at times in our actual practice. That’s where the
problem lies. But if we can’t even distinguish between our human
traditions and the word of God, we’re likely to cross this
dangerous line without even realizing it.
Many
Christ-followers, I think, fail to see the prevalence of identity
politics and extreme nationalism, which have long found a home within
the American Church (especially among evangelicals), as potentially
the same sort of Scripture-stifling traditions that angered Jesus.
It’s as American as apple pie, for example, for “Old Glory” and
the “Old Rugged Cross” to share the same space in our church
gatherings. So long have the two narratives (the story of our
nation and the story of God) been made to walk together
that many Christians can now no longer separate the two (and both get
warped as a result). It’s easy to see how our pro-slavery,
Christian ancestors blatantly misrepresented Scripture in their
attempts to defend their traditions (just as the Pharisees had a
mountain of proof-texts for their hypocritical nonsense), but
hindsight is 20/20. It’s infinitely more difficult to see how our
current Christian traditions, which inevitably intersect with notions
of patriotism, individualism, economic theory, self-defense,
immigration, race, gender and sexuality, healthcare, foreign policy,
and environmental conservationism, are often at odds with God’s
heart for kingdom loyalty, community, generosity, sacrificial
non-violence, hospitality, justice and reconciliation, grace and
truth, compassion, mercy, and responsible stewardship. Sociopolitical
allegiances often come with deep seated traditions. If we’re not
careful, these partisan values will skew the way we read Scripture,
and our stubborn hearts will willingly devise all kinds of
Pharisaical “explanations” for why the sacred text condones our
present course.
Every
church community (no matter how fresh and contemporary) will inherit,
and likely create, traditions. As mentioned, this is to be expected
and perfectly fine to a point. But we need to be able to properly
name our traditions as such so that they don’t inappropriately find
their way into the wrong category. No doubt there are some explicit
biblical instructions regarding church structure and practice, but
our traditions often come in just where the command leaves off. It
can become understandably difficult to distinguish between the two.
The
“sinner’s prayer” is a good example of a cherished, and
somewhat recent, tradition that has become in many Christian
communities the exclusive way in which one is ushered into the
kingdom of God. I’m not saying that the common practice of leading
someone in a prayer, as their first response to the Gospel, in which
the new believer is encouraged to acknowledge their sin and ask for
God’s forgiveness on account of Jesus’ death and resurrection is
a bad thing or that it should be abandoned. The tradition is after
all rooted implicitly in passages like Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:9-10.
But I think we’re hard pressed to find the contemporary practice of
what we now know as the “sinner’s prayer” explicitly modeled in Scripture.
Let me reiterate: That doesn’t mean it’s a problem, but it
probably means that it’s one of our traditions, and it
should be treated accordingly. We don’t see Peter, after preaching
the Gospel to the Pentecost crowd, saying “now with all heads
bowed, and with every eye closed, can I get a show of hands for who
would like to accept Jesus into their hearts as their personal Lord
and Savior?” Likewise, Phillip, after declaring the Gospel to the
Ethiopian eunuch, didn’t lead him in a prayer to “get saved.”
And Paul, after preaching the Gospel to the Philippian jailer and his
family, didn’t have them come to the front and repeat after him to
receive Jesus.
The
sinner’s prayer has risen to prominence within evangelical circles
in the last few centuries and seems to initially have been adopted
for the sake of well-intentioned expediency (particularly so that
large crowds of people could be readily welcomed into God’s kingdom
at big tent revivals). However, baptism, the new believer’s
Scriptural first response to the Gospel, has been somewhat sidelined
or even replaced by the rise of the sinner’s prayer. Baptism almost
feels redundant within this new arrangement. We usually get around to
it (Jesus commanded baptism after all), but it’s something like an
afterthought, especially in many non-denominational, evangelical
traditions. We sometimes have a waiting period on baptism (as if
you’re buying a gun or something), maybe even with a prerequisite
class before getting in the water (to be sure you understand what
you’re doing, I suppose). I’m all for knowing what you’re
getting into (“counting the cost” and so on), but you should have
already been brought up to speed with an accurate presentation of the
Gospel. If it wasn’t the invitation to be united with Christ in his
death so that we may partake in his resurrection (as illustrated in
baptism) then it wasn’t the Gospel we heard to begin with.
If
someone insists they’re “Heaven bound” simply because they
raised their hand or repeated a prayer—even though there’s no
evidence they’ve been born of God, truly repented, are filled with
God’s Spirit, and Jesus is now their King—then their faith is not
actually in Christ and his “new creation” project but in a human
tradition. Traditions are best used to point us to God, to magnify
Christ in our lives and in others. Only a fool would put their faith
in a human tradition, expecting it to act as a golden ticket, lucky
charm, or a magical incantation, as if it could undo or supersede the
word of God. That’s the backwards thinking of the self-deceived men
who conspired to murder the Author of Life.
It’s
difficult to really even know how many human traditions we each, and
collectively, subscribe to. As I’ve suggested, many of our human
traditions are intertwined with Scriptural traditions (i.e. the
specifics of how we observe baptism and the Lord’s Supper, organize
our Family gatherings, carry out communal worship, and structure
church leadership). I think there’s room in the diverse body of
Christ for our various distinct traditions (so long as our traditions
know their place). When our human traditions become divisive or
elevated above God’s word, we've gone too far.
We’re
following dangerously in the Pharisees’ footsteps, then, when our
preferred traditions become dogma. Many Christians take dogmatic
stances on everything from teaching styles to carpet colors (growing
up in the church, I feel like I’ve heard it all, every arbitrary
position declared with the same zealous conviction as Stephen the
Martyr). It’s perfectly normal to have opinions, but recognize that
many of our subjective preferences are simply rooted in human
traditions and not Scripture.
The
main objective of this post is to encourage the reader to faithfully
examine all dearly held human traditions. We must be ready to
reject—with extreme prejudice—any traditions that undermine or
contradict the commands of Christ (or he simply isn’t our King).
It’s shocking how many of our political and religious traditions
attempt to render Jesus’ commands to love our enemies, care for the
poor, and take up our cross (as only a few examples) completely
meaningless.
Our
next step is to critically examine the traditions we hold to that
don’t directly oppose the word of God (This can be the more
difficult task of the two). Are these traditions ultimately helpful
in achieving what they’re designed to accomplish (In other words,
do they draw us and others closer or further away from Jesus)? Is
there perhaps a better more effective way to pursue the same goal?
Has our tradition in its current form outlived its usefulness? In
this category, the conversation revolves around how helpful or
unhelpful a given tradition is rather than declaring its
inherent “wrongness” or “rightness.” Cross-cultural ministers
of the Gospel are often more attune to this important process (with
perhaps a clearer vantage point of typical American syncretism) as
they seek to plant a pure seed in a foreign context. I’ve raised
some of these questions elsewhere regarding the widely accepted
building-centric nature of our gatherings. These are hard questions
that we should have the courage to passionately discuss in
Spirit-filled community (with grace and humility). If our goal is
truly to glorify God by sharing the good news of Jesus (and not
simply to maintain our own preferences) then our traditions should
readily bend to that aim. None of our human traditions should be
beyond the possibility of the chopping block. And if we feel that
they are, then we know for sure that our traditions have become idols
to us.
“You
have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human
traditions. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition” —Jesus (from Mark 7:8,
13a)
Friday, May 26, 2017
Winner Takes All
I've heard people cite Jesus' instruction to "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" as an example of Christ delineating between the secular and the sacred. The popular American ideology that springs from this divides our lives into two categories: God is only after "spiritual things" like my saved soul, sincere heart, regular Scripture reading, solemn meditation/prayer, charity, and church attendance, we often think. He is not concerned—and neither should clergy be, if they know what's good for them—with 90% of my finances, my political outlook, and most everything else that falls within the sweeping "practical" or "secular things" category.
I don't think this is what Christ was saying at all when he held up the Roman denarius with Caesar's image imprinted upon it (Matthew 22). This is, however, what the Herodians, the Gentiles, and other earthly minded passers by would hear (Jesus' words were often multifaceted and intentionally layered). "This man is harmless," they'd think. Those attempting to ferret out Jesus' politics, would likely conclude, "He is something of a Gnostic who cares only for the unseen world." To Jesus' Jewish audience, however, they would instantly recall the "Imago Dei," how God has made humanity in his image. Jesus is saying that Caesar, shortsighted as he is, can have the metal with his imprint. God, however, lays claim to the person, body and soul. This should not be seen as a dividing of the spoils between God and Caesar. Any fool knows that if you get the man—his body, his mind, his heart, his soul, his ambitions and dreams, everything he is—you get everything else too. There is no aspect of life, of art, conflict, politics, economics, human sexuality, race, etc. that will not be affected (or "redeemed," to use biblical vernacular) by a reborn kingdom citizen.
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