Stan Moody
We Evangelical Christians seem to have lost the battle over whether the Christian life is directed from above or from below. Unable to decide, we succumb to victimhood at the expense of walking in the present, dynamic, victorious Kingdom of God now. Jesus’ formula for righteous living: “…whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt 16:25) may sound like victimhood but is the formula for active discipleship in the Kingdom. Are we “Christofacists”, or are we just coasting our way out!
If I am correct, there are at least two types of Christians – those who use their faith as an excuse to isolate themselves from the rest of the “evil” world and those who are engaged in activity to force the “evil” world conform to their moral precepts.
What is common to these two groups? Both groups are really saying that the Kingdom is something we can create on earth – one within the organized church, and the other within our political framework. What would it take to turn this all around, truly to live fully for Christ? Gotta wonder, huh?
The Death Rattle of Biblioatry:
Biblioatry, or hanging our hopes on select verses of Scripture, has secured for ourselves a wholly-future citizenship of an eternal spiritual Kingdom just in case the person and work of Jesus is not enough to seal the deal. Is the Gospel really about the Kingdom of God as a vaguely-defined wholly-future hope? Why, then, did Jesus announce His arrival in terms of the Kingdom of God now/already “at hand” (Matt 4:17)? Do we dare trust God to “abide with us” now?
We want to defend our status quo of church, but we also want to avoid the cost of sticking our necks out by loving the very people the status quo has programmed us to avoid. The result becomes either isolationism from politics or aggressive attempts to bend the political system to mirror the Church. So, let’s congratulate ourselves on our humility in following Jesus instead of succumbing to “the world!” Huh?
Wait a minute! Let’s follow Jesus a little bit further to measure the cost, shall we?
The Theology of John 3:17:
If you’ve read this far, you now have to be thinking that I’ve skipped over your anchor hope in Scripture, John 3:16b, “…whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” So, this is it, huh? This is our path to another option someday, somewhere, somehow, because of what we professed to believe at age 5? Stay tuned! There’s more!
You believe, then, that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?” (James 2:19, 20).
How did we Evangelicals ever get to the place where following Jesus demands that we fiercely protect the comfort of the status quo in the Christian life by attacking what everyone else is or is not doing? I have referred to this from the pulpit as majoring in OPS – “Other Peoples’ Sin”, rather than our own.
Victimhood, the Mask Over Fear:
Victimhood is very simply the mask that covers over a fear of our own failure of faith in the power and glory of God!
If we truly are intent on following Jesus by distinguishing ourselves from all those “demons” out there, the verse from John 3 that we studiously avoid defines the cost of discipleship to Christ:
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through Him” (v. 17).
So, here we are, congratulating ourselves for saving the world by condemning it and imposing on it our select moral codes, not quite believing that God paid the ultimate price of sacrificing His only Son to save the world without condemning it!
Biblically, I wonder if we professing Christians will be held accountable on the other side of this veil of tears, either for our passivity or our political activism, both masquerading as holiness?
Carpe diem! Time to seize the day, repent, and turn to the present, dynamic, triumphant Kingdom of God?
