Have we co-opted our faith?
So, I was listening to a sermon this morning as I was working out at the gym. Go ahead, say it; I’m a nerd. Anyway, as I listened I had a bit of an epiphany. I don’t know about you, but often as I listen to someone else speak, my mind leaps away from what they are saying and begins to connect dots along a different line. The speaker may give me the passage or thought that sparks it, but quickly I travel away from his point along my own line of thinking. I believe this is neither good nor bad, just a fact of how my mind works. I’m sure others do the same with my talks and I’m fine with that.
Today I found myself listening to someone talking about the interaction between Pilate and Jesus in John 18, and off I went. In vs. 36 Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
He says his kingdom is not of and from this world. Is it possible that we have allowed, over time, a misinterpretation of that scripture to pervert it into ‘My kingdom is not for this world.’
For some time now I have been dismayed by the apparent disconnect in my life and from what I can see of those around me between what I say I believe and how I actually live. I have written about this numerous times over the past few years, if you are interested have a look! I’m coming to understand that this concept may be at the heart of that disconnect.
If I look carefully at myself and sometimes others around me, I would be led to believe that Jesus’ kingdom presides over my moral behavior (and my attitudes towards others’ behavior), my doctrinal stances, and the heaven I long to go to. Otherwise, I live the way I want to live. I obsess over distractions and material concerns, all the while feeling ‘justified by faith’.
I am guilty of bowing before Jesus and saying, ‘King of my life I crown you now!’, and spending the rest of the week running to the Praetorium to scream out, ‘I have no king but Caesar!’ This is unacceptable.
Just because Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, does not mean that it is not for this world!! God sent His Son to herald this coming kingdom that would bring the work of the Lord to earth. Now that the kingdom is come, ‘Thy will be done’ is possible here just as it is in heaven. It’s possible, if I am willing to totally crucify eddie and allow Christ to rule in my life.
What does that mean exactly? It can’t mean that I take just enough Jesus into my life to feel superior to everyone around me, meanwhile being just as focused on the trivialities of this life as everyone else. It can’t mean that my job is to be the morality police, running around judging everyone around me in an effort to ‘bring people to Christ’. It can’t mean that I allow doctrinal obsessions to create blind spots for my hypocrisy to bloom.
It better mean, that I view my life through the lense of the Cross. So what does that mean? We’ll talk about that later…
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This might be your best writing yet, Eddie. True and relevant and powerful thoughts.
Great thoughts Ed. You have had a couple of posts circling around this in the last year or so! Mind wondering- Man this gets me as well. In sermons I’m with ya ….neither bad nor good, but I gotta fight that urge during conversations. We have hung out enough to know Im doing SUMthin while talking. Couple that mind wondering based on points the other party is talking about…..man that is no good.
I remember writing a journal entry about this in high school. I can’t remember why, just that at church that Sunday I had heard the phrase “my kingdom is not of this world” and had related it to whatever I was writing about. (Probably about how different and unique I was and what an outsider I was.
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I think about this in relation to government. In the past few years as the christian movement (at least in the public eye) has grown and become more powerful in America, those Christians talk about how the nation needs to be more Christian and how that needs to be codified in law. I find that while that works fine for Leviticus and the OT, Jesus was more about the individual heart. By this I mean: laws don’t change hearts. Laws don’t make Christians. The Word of God does. Jesus entering someone’s heart does. You can’t *legislate* Christianity (Church of England, anyone?).
The other thing that strikes me about this idea is the inherent contradiction is poses. If - as has been publicized greatly in the past ten years - people believe that the Revelation will happen as it is written, that means that the most powerful man on Earth will be A) the anti-Christ and B) a false prophet. Well since America is considered “the most powerful nation on Earth,” it would seem to follow that the leader of that nation would be the most powerful man. And if he is a false prophet, he will probably be doing things that make him *seem* to be a Christian and possibly even performing miracles. So if people want the nation to be a “theocracy,” we’re going to end up being headed by the anti-Christ.
It’s the INDIVIDUAL that must push the message and try to change society. If everyone agreed on something from a grass roots level, it would be easy to pass it through government. Therefore if we align all the hearts, the change will be global regardless of the governments that stand.
I meant to say that whenever I hear this phrase, I think of it meaning: whatever this world values, God doesn’t. Whatever power this world holds, holds no power in God’s Kingdom. I think this has been explicitly stated throughout the Bible again and again. I don’t see how people miss it. I understand that it’s very hard to reach out and sacrifice for the lowest among us (I don’t know that I’m doing a whole lot of it) but I think that’s the hard mission that Jesus is asking of us. As a small example, imagine we were all assigned a homeless person to look after. Maybe not by ourselves but as part of a group. (Christians! ha ha) No, really - imagine you were part of a 20-person group that was responsible for a homeless person, either in your town or in your country. It would put you in personal touch with poverty and struggle and could enrich your life in hope and grace in ways you couldn’t imagine. (I’m sure it would enlarge your frustration and crossness, as well.:)) But that kind of personal putting out is the harder job that could bring us closer to understanding what Jesus was talking about. Seeing and feeling how people hurt so that we are filled with compassion and *want* to be shepherds for them.
Lost my point again! As I said before, I usally apply this to government. Whatever government you want in power will not be in power before God. What ever army you build up will be useless before God. Did you ever consider the possibility that if America was over-run and destroyed that would be fine as long as you faced the destroyer with God in your heart and His name on your lips? The Word is supposed to be the most potent weapon in the universe.
Be realistic? No! That’s exactly what Jesus taught us NOT to be! Turning the other cheek is not logical and it’s not strategic - it’s *stupid* in terms of the human mind. But it is one of the things people seize on in Jesus’ teachings again and again. The first shall be last. The last shall be first.
Food for thought.