The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
- John 10:10
In all fairness, I am probably one of the worst in this aspect, but I’ve slowly come to the conclusion that we probably ought not to treat the Gospel as a debate about Western civilization. Oh, to be sure, the last 2,000 years of Western civilization are inextricably tied to Christianity. Likewise, to the extent that the contemporary Western world is abandoning Christianity, our civilization is collapsing. I do think those things are true, and I do think it would be a shame if America imploded, which is not altogether impossible or even improbable, given our current trajectory.
But neither the truth nor the success of the Gospel depends upon the existence of our nation. Sadly for our nation, the reverse is not true. Most of the ideas on which our nation was founded were Christian or dependent upon a Christian framework. The dreams that animated our founders arose within the perspective of Christian faith and life irrespective of personal piety. For example, Benjamin Franklin, who was at best a deist, accepted the fundamental rightness of, say, the Ten Commandments. While professing little personal faith, his mind and life were shaped by Christian teaching.
By abandoning Christianity entirely (at least in the public square), our nation is being cut off from its roots. The loudest voices in our society – media, politicians, universities, and such – think the nation can move forward toward some undefined utopia without God, which is much like expecting a felled tree to continue growing. Wherever national leaders want to take us, without God, it will prove to be hellish. “Without God” is the very definition of hell. Arguing this point, however, is a bit like yelling at the dead stump of the afore-mentioned tree, which is why I think we should abandon the debate. There is nothing to be gained from debating closed minds and darkened hearts.
Remember this: Jesus was a nobody in the Roman Empire, and what He taught was utterly foreign to everything Rome held near and dear. In spite of His Crucifixion, the authorities could not stop the message of Jesus Christ. Indeed, the best effort to destroy Jesus became the springboard of the Gospel to the world. It didn’t happen quickly by our measure, but nonetheless, the direction of human history was irrevocably changed. The Roman Empire wasn’t won with arguments and debates. It was won because Jesus rose from the dead and because His Spirit was poured out and spread across the land in people born anew to God. We can and should follow that model today. Dying to self; rising with Christ; being filled with the Spirit. Some will believe. Some will not. But the future has never been ours to unfold, and the world has never been ours to save. Either we are alive in Christ with hope and joy, or we’re wasting our breath in useless debate.
As Paul wrote to Timothy, “Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2: 23-26
Trying to teach people the truth when they do not believe truth exists is an exercise in futility. Truth does not come first. Repentance comes first, and God grants repentance to people. This is not finally about a system of belief for debate. This is about the Supreme Being before Whom none can stand and by Whom all are loved. He shatters the lies that lead to death and breaks through the darkness that closes the mind. In Him, life is so obvious in contrast to death, just as light is obvious in the darkness.
People do not understand themselves as participating in darkness and death. They believe themselves to be free of external pressures and norms, and they believe that Christianity is oppressive, oppressing the “inner self” – the true being or person. Arguing that embracing Christianity sets a person free is valuable only to those who know themselves to be enslaved, and if convinced that Christianity is a cruel master, then endless entertainment and distraction, as well as medications, sex, drugs, spending, and more, will all present themselves as tokens of true freedom. As such, they will be the expression of every good and worthy pursuit until the moment they are recognized as the devil’s snare – idolatrous and life-stealing masters of the soul.
What we can do is be ready to offer Christ Himself, for He is life. In Him is joy. In Him is hope. In Him are mercy, grace, forgiveness, and most of all, truth. If we want to offer these to the world around us, they must first be real in us. While certainly transforming how we see and understand ourselves and our world, Christianity is not first and foremost a metaphysical philosophy competing with other metaphysical systems of thought. It is a relationship with the Living God Who was and is and ever shall be. Christianity is not a religion. It is life! For all its trappings, its hierarchy, and organization – and in spite of the many weaknesses thereof, the Church is the vessel that carries the wellspring of eternal water from one generation to the next, from one nation to the next, from one language to the next.
If we want to impact our world in a positive manner, then trying to convince politicians to recover the Constitution is conceivably the least likely means of effecting change. Genuine change occurs in persons, and it only occurs through the One Who can make a person new. All other changes are external – dress, hair, homes, cars, spouses, jobs, and such. If we want to be a different person, then only Jesus Christ offers new birth by water and the Spirit. This is the Good News that we have to share – this new life, new person, and endless hope in communion with Christ through His Holy Spirit. The caveat is that we cannot offer what we do not have or do not live, and we have to ask ourselves if we are living the new life God has given us by His Spirit? Do we live as the new creation shedding the old person of death?
If our past haunts us with whispers of failure and burdens us with the weight of a lifetime’s flaws, then our own lives have not been made new in Christ, and we deny the power of forgiveness and the welcoming, transforming love of our Father.
If we hold onto the past with its grudges and wounds, then we cannot be bearers of mercy to the undeserving, for we have refused the mercy of God in our own lives.
If we are not living daily in gratitude for the grace of God, then we have rejected God’s freely given grace and have no grace to offer others, much less are we visible witnesses to God’s abundant grace.
If our days are filled with worry about the future – our own or that of others or even of our nation – we refute the sovereignty and providence of our God and assume the problems and plans of mortals are greater than our God and can thwart Him.
I could go on, but you get the point. We cannot stand in the presence of our Father and hold onto the person we once were. All our plans and all our angst fade away before the majesty, power, and goodness of God. We are invited to abide in that – in Him. Our life is to come from the abundance of His life, the essence of who we are defined by the One Who called us into being. There is freedom in obedience – a counterintuitive thought if ever there was one. But we are free because our God chooses the best for us. His will leads us to blessing and life, whereas our will leads us to emptiness and death. When we obey Him, our Lord leads us to all that is good and rich and worthy of human life and devotion. He teaches us who we ought to be and who we can be in Him and by His Spirit.
When we live this way, the world can see Christ in us, for we are people of light and life in the middle of darkness and death. Sure, there will be plenty who mock, but there will be more who hunger for life because they also are created by God for fellowship with Him. Our message to the world around us has to be the lives we live in Christ, the evidence of hope regardless of circumstances, the visible joy, grace, and humility arising from time spent with God – day by day, minute by minute.
The question for each of us is whether we actually live out of our new life or cling to our old life. Are we truly new creations in Christ, so much so that others cannot help but see Him in us? Do we experience the peace that passes all understanding, and are we content in every circumstance, trusting in God's providence? Do we rejoice when we sit quietly with Christ and are filled with His Spirit? Can we face the worst of days confident that we can crawl into our Father’s lap and be consoled by His love?
We want to become comfortable again in the presence of Jesus Christ – not the sort of cavalier superficiality of the unserious and flippant, but the easy comfortability of a cherished child trusting with certainty that we are loved. When we are so confident of our Father’s love that we can boldly approach the throne of grace, then we are prepared to live with humility and compassion among the least and the lost. It’s contrary to what we think, I know, but it’s still true. Only when we are alive like this in Christ will we be able to be light and life to darkness and death.
I’m not suggesting we never mention Jesus. To the contrary, I think we should speak of Him as we do of everyone we love. There is something jarring about putting one’s whole trust in Christ but never mentioning Him to anyone else. I can’t imagine not praising a friend or family member when they have done me a favor. How much more should we praise God for giving us life?
Even so, there is no point in debating with those who have been taught that wrong is right and evil is good. That’s not a debate anyone wins because it’s the proverbial ‘throwing pearls before swine’ and mocks the beauty and wonder of God’s infinite love. What we can do is love the difficult, forgive the arrogant, be compassionate with the shameful, and never, ever compromise or dilute the Gospel. Our lives can become a testimony to the goodness of God’s love, a witness to the joy born of forgiveness, and an example of authentic life amid deadly choices.
Our hope of having a Christian nation is admirable but misplaced. If we want to have a Christian nation, then we must become a nation of Christians. More importantly, without Jesus Christ, people are easy prey for the one who “comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” The more a person’s life is diminished – stolen away, killed internally, and destroyed by dreams turned into heartache – the more that person will need hope. Just because people don’t believe the Gospel revealed in the Scriptures doesn’t mean the Gospel isn’t true, and nothing or no one sees human nature more clearly than does our God. He created us and can see all we are, all we are not, and all we can become. When a person cries for hope, you want to be able to share the living God with that person – the living God you know.
To that end, the Church needs to become the alternative to the barren society in which we live. We must join in larger community of worship and the smaller group for Christian nurture and encouragement. Our life in Christ will be fed if recover the great disciplines passed over the ages for living a full Christian life – praying together, waiting for the Spirit together, fasting together, serving the world for Christ together, confessing our sins and weaknesses to one another. In both large and small manifestations of Christ’s Body, together we can trust in God’s provision, invest in ministries, and depend upon our fellowship in Christ as we carry one another’s burdens. If we do these things, our own life in Christ will grow, for He will nurture us with His Spirit. At the same time, He will become more visible to our world because He is more fully present in us.
Begin looking around you at the Christians you know. Who else wants to grow in Christ? Who among your friends is pursuing virtue and godliness? Who do you know that wants to be in deeper fellowship with Christ and live more fully a life born of the Spirit? Find these people by asking. You’re not looking for playmates, as if we were children. We’re looking for those friends and family members with whom we can be more authentically Christian by drawing closer to Christ together. Begin forming a miniature community within the larger Body of Christ where you are. In the weeks ahead, I’m going to write on building depth of trust in Christ and one another, as well as ways in which we can grow in holiness and virtue, reflecting Christ Himself.
In Christ –
Rev. Elizabeth Moreau
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