When You Win, Does the Kingdom Win?

If you hate everything about late antiquity, just skip to the end after the bit about Saul. If not, please verify that the dates/events/people are correct.

Growing up, I had the idea that if there were "Christian" leaders everywhere, they would make "Christian" rules and, as a result, the Kingdom of God would advance. I probably didn't have a grasp on the concept on the Kingdom of God, but I for sure had a similar thought process:

People Like God => Those People Make Rules => God is happy and everyone is a Christian

Below this phrase in bold italics, I am about to say perhaps the one of the most anti-Biblical and completely idolatrous statements that I can come up with. This statement is also the general consensus of most people that claim Jesus.

God wants America to be a Christian nation with Christian laws and Christian morals.

It is absolutely mind-blowing to me that anyone could look at scripture (or history) and think this is true. The result of Christian leaders and Christian laws is a nation of people who are deeply in love with the God of the universe? Hardly.

First, let's examine the case of scripture. The first human king of God's people was Saul. The scriptures describe him as super tall and athletic, a great warrior and a morally great guy. What does God think about the Israelites wanting a king like the rest of the nations? He says that by wanting a king, they have rejected Him.

So, let me get this straight... Saul, the best warrior and man in the entire nation of Israel is made king and God is sad about that? What? Okay, so maybe it was just that one guy.

There were 3 kings of Israel. Saul went nuts, David was a lying-thieving-adulterous-murderer, and Solomon was, frankly, an arrogant man whore. Then, things went south (get it? a joke about the Israel-Judah split!) and the kingdom split in half. There were 19 kings of Israel (all of which were called evil in scripture) and 20 kings and one queen in Judah, of which 6 seemed to be pretty okay. (note: think what you mean when you call someone a 'Jezebel')

None of this seemed to work that great for Israel, since they were captured by the Babylonians and were basically slaves or subjects of one sort or the until... oh yeah, there was a diaspora, so never again was Israel the free nation Israel of the Bible. Even in the few centuries before Jesus, the Maccabees and various other priestly families tried to rule Israel and gain power in the kingdom of Alexander the Great, and then in the subsequent kingdoms of the Seleucids and the Ptolemies. The result? Revolt after revolt where Israel got stomped into the ground, culminating in the ultimate sacrilege: the desolation of the Temple by the Romans. To this day, the Temple Mount has two holy sites for Islam.

But let's not stop there! The year is 313 AD. Previously, Christians had no political power and were routinely persecuted, tortured, and killed. The result? Christianity explodes in central Asia, Asia Minor, and Northern Africa. That year, Constantine signed the Edict of Milan, and soon converted to Christianity. The result? The thousand year-old Roman Empire, the greatest the world has ever seen, collapses amid catastrophe, disorder, and invasion. Christianity at large stays alive, but is wrought with trouble and darkness until almost 1200 years later. (with the Reformation and Counter-Reformation)

What about Jesus of Nazareth, who we worship? Good thing Jesus took His rightful spot as King of Israel so we have justification for trying to build a Christian nation, right? Oh, yeah... He was a carpenter that, when tried by Pilate, did not make a power grab but instead acknowledged that He had been accused of calling Himself equal with God. In fact, Philippians 2 says this: "He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point to death, even death on a cross." We worship that guy? The guy that is literally God but instead lived as a nobody?

As much as it pains me to say it, I can find absolutely zero justification in scripture for the theology of establishing a nation that makes people do "Christian" things in order to advance the Kingdom of God. Do you think you would have the guts to espouse that theology to the Church in China? What about he Church in Africa? They would laugh in your face.

Church, it is messed up to think that you or anyone else have/has the ability to pull America up by its moral bootstraps. Do you have the ability to pull yourself up by your own? America's hope is not regulating morality. The world's hope is not making laws that abide by scripture. Jesus' most harsh words were for those that took pride in their ability to keep the law.

Don't hear me saying that post-modern relativism is right. Don't hear me saying I condone sin in any way. Accepting sin shows a fundamental misunderstanding of who God is and what His character is like. I'm taking no specific political stand. But do hear me on this: our world has one hope, and it isn't you. Our world has one hope, and it is not the decisions made by politicians. If you're counting on such vacuous things as 'progress' and 'diversity' and such idolatrous things as your own righteousness to be the ways God advances His Kingdom, I just don't know what to say to you because you are totally detached from reality.

I'm not saying I have answers. My Spiritual gift is not teaching; it's probably more of the discernment/prophecy idea. I'm not saying not to vote or run for office. Do that; being passive is silly. Paul often used His Roman citizenship and knowledge of Hellenistic culture to his advantage, such as here, here, and here. But remember that man's kingdom is weak and transient, and the Kingdom of God is transcendent and eternal.

Shalom, and may your celebration of Easter leave you in awe of the glory of Jesus the Anointed One.

A Letter From Me To You About Summer

In case you are wondering, do not already know, or are but a poor stranger that has happened upon my blog, I would like to tell you that I am working at Look Up Lodge again this summer.

I can’t really think of anything in my life (so far) that has in such a short time been used by Jesus to radically transform my life and my very existence like Look Up has. For two years now, I have been able to have community that some people may never experience, participate in various and sundry shenanigans, be used by God as a tool to move and shape lives, and be challenged in ways it’s hard to emulate outside of the summer camp environment. My summers have included extreme distress, true heartbreak, and overwhelming joy. I have seen God use Look Up to move powerfully in campers, leaders, youth groups, and, perhaps most apparently to me, summer staffers.

I have personally been fortunate to have two sweet sisters that are beautiful women in every respect, a brother that has for decades (wow we’re old!) been a man that I have no problem emulating as he emulates Jesus, and a mamma and dad that have supported me, trained me, and loved me in ways I cannot even begin to thank them for. I will forever love my family and until I am married one day (if I am), I will be primarily a member of that family. Bar none.

This year, we welcome 17 new staffers into our Look Up family. By that I do not mean the kind of family that you have grown up in. I am not saying that it is superior, but that it serves a different purpose. This summer, 17 new people will be introduced to a culture of extreme challenge, extreme hardship, extreme discipleship, extreme support, and extremely silly off-day decisions. No matter what you try to do to prepare, you won’t be prepared. No matter what you think will happen this summer, you will leave a different person than the one that arrived. It’ll be my third summer and I am not prepared. It’ll be my third summer and I’m going to leave different.

All this is to say, I need to ask you a favor, reader. The thing we need this summer is for Jesus to be our focus, our prize, and our only source of life. If you follow Jesus, please consider praying consistently and powerfully for this summer. Implore Father to guide me and the eleven other guys to be men after His own heart, and for the 12 gals to be women that would love and serve faithfully. Please beg Him to use us despite our weaknesses and keep and protect us. Pray that Father would rebuke the enemy’s attacks, and that, above all, He would lead us to lay down everything we are to sacrificially love kids this summer. That, in the end, is all we are there for.

Andrew

John in Contrast with the Synoptic Gospels

Get ready, this is a bit long. But not Wayne Grudem long.

            John’s account of the Gospel is unique from the synoptic Gospel accounts in that it combines the timelessness of Mark with the deep connection to Jewish tradition of Matthew and the profundity of Luke, resulting in a work that is in many ways enigmatic and in many ways accessible, all the while carrying an undertone of a connection much deeper than Jesus being nominally Jewish. That is, John’s account of the Gospel can be characterized as a departure from the synoptic Gospels in that it shows Jesus in the role of not just being the fulfillment of the foretold of Jewish messiah but also truly divine. These contrasts are best exemplified in three ways: the people included in the narrative, the variety of miracles that John records, and Jesus’ teachings and statements in comparison and contrast to the other accounts. The problem with individually pointing out any of these aspects is that they are all deeply interwoven. So, for the sake of meaningful discussion, we will examine John’s explanation of Jesus’ identity, the nature of teachings that differ from other accounts, and John’s record of Jesus’ chronological ministry in contrast with the other accounts.

            John’s Gospel account included many scenarios in which Jesus interacts with people from many different back grounds, including Jewish authorities, lower class Jewish people, and even outsiders like the Samaritans. The other three Gospel accounts also include Jesus talking with and speaking about these different parties, but John’s account includes many examples and a much greater proportion of content dedicated to recording these interactions as opposed to various parables and teachings. Additionally, John records the interaction of Jesus, John the Baptist, and their respective disciples at length. To be sure, part of the purpose of these conversations and speeches being written down is to espouse and to teach the reader, but, perhaps more importantly, they are meant to show the reader something about Jesus’ identity by way of epitomizing parts of His character. It is clear that John is operating on the basis of Jesus being one with Elohim, evidenced by the introduction’s language about Jesus being the creative Word or Logos and incarnate God:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. …  And the Word became flesh, and ^[k]dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of ^[l]the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

-John 1, NASB (excerpts)

Following this section of scripture is the account of John’s first ‘testimony,’ in which he denies himself being the Messiah, but tells the Jews that the Christ is coming. Throughout the entire book, John either records dialogue about Jesus being God or records actual conversations in which Jesus is clearly identifying Himself as one with God. Some examples of passages include Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman, giving the teaching at Capernaum about being the ‘bread of life,’ and when he tells the Jews that ‘before Abraham was, I am.’ Clearly, John is casting Jesus as completely separate from every other person. In contrast to the suffering servant of Mark or the healer of Luke, John’s point, including setting the scene of Jesus interacting with the ‘Jews’ (of which He was one) is to make the point that He is completely separate, above human authority by the authority of God, with Whom He was and is one (also see Jesus’ discourse with the blind man in John 5). Obviously, John is not denying that Jesus is a teacher and a healer, but instead showing that He is not just that, that He is truly holy in the truest sense of the word: completely set apart.

            Perhaps the easiest difference to recognize between John and the Synoptic Gospels is the nature of Jesus’ teachings. Even on the surface level, John’s account of Jesus’ teachings differs radically from the others in that John contains almost no moral teachings, but instead contains teachings on the Kingdom of God, the nature of God, and the relationship of men to God each other, in the individual and corporate sense. Additionally, John records many more teachings about Himself than are present in the other Gospels. That is, it seems that Jesus is not interested in instructing people how to treat one another (such as in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew or the parable of the prodigal son in Luke), but instead how to think about God, calling them to literally repent (change their minds) about their notions of God by directly challenging them and saying some things that are incredibly difficult to accept and to understand. The situational epitome of this idea is the passage in chapter 6 where the ‘crowd,’ wanting more bread after Jesus had just fed them, had pursued Jesus around the Sea of Galilee because they wanted more bread. Jesus responded to their request not by telling them yes or no, but that they had missed the point. In teaching that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood, He puts so many of them off that they don’t want anything to do with following Him any longer. Interestingly, John casts Jesus not in the role of correcting or rebuking behavior as a normative practice, but instead as the a teacher that is offering teachings that no one understands, presumably on the premise of no one being right in heart in such a way that they could comprehend what He was saying. As a note, it is because John is so lacking in moral teachings that passages such as 7:53-8:11 (the story of the women caught in adultery) only make sense in the light of Jesus not saying something about the woman’s sin, but about the nature of people.

            Lastly, and perhaps the least significant of the three I have pointed out, there seems to be a different variety of timescale in John’s Gospel account. Unlike Mark, who makes Jesus’ ministry seem outside of a real time and also unlike Matthew and Luke, who put Jesus in a very specific place in history, John seems to show Jesus’ ministry to not be about the time, but about setting it inside the Jewish world and its history. That is, John portrays Jesus living in real time around in a Jewish culture (in that He attends festivals and events that any good Jew would), but also as an eternal being stepping into time and living, but somehow being transcendent of it. This is of course a natural progression of thought when John first describes Jesus as the creator and then describes Him stepping into His own creation. In keeping with the rest of the theme of the Gospel, John is in this respect revealing another aspect of how Jesus is truly divine and truly God incarnate.

A Brief Discourse on the Cross

The following is something I've been thinking on for some time. I'm not sure if it's articulated well or not (or even biblical/correct, for that matter). What do you think?

Whether or not you follow Jesus, I am sure you have taken notice of someone wearing a cross before. Perhaps it's on a necklace or in the form of a sticker. Some way, some how, you have almost certainly seen a cross being worn as jewelry or an identifying mark.

If you're confused as to why someone would wear a cross, I am too. I just think we might be confused for slightly different reasons.

At least in theory, Christians wear crosses as a symbol of them following Jesus of Nazareth and their celebration of His Gospel. That Gospel, or good news, is this: In the beginning, God created everything, including man. He was in perfect relationship with man, and man was pure before God. After some time, man was tempted and broke God's only given command to them, acting as rebels against the ruler of literally everything and thus introducing sin and death in the world and separating man eternally from a perfect God. There was no way and is no way man can fix this problem, so God, knowing from the beginning that He would have to save man, prepared a way. 

He began by showing His people that death by the shedding of perfect blood is the only payment He can accept for the debt of sin. This began with animal sacrifices. After some time, God became manifest, fully God and fully man, in the form of Jesus, son of God the Father. Jesus was and is the complete revelation of God's character. In order to atone for sins once and for all for those who would and will depend on Him, Father allowed Son to be murdered unjustly, but without sin. This death was carried out in the gruesome death of crucifixion on a cross of wood. Three days after He died, Jesus resurrected, thus proving Himself to be King over everything and proving His defeat of death. Any who would depend on Jesus are adopted into God's family again and are at peace with God. 

That's a very crude and simple explanation, but that is the literal truth about the deepest reality that exists. It's not a detached moral philosophy. It's what the world is like and it's what all of creation points to.

My confusion is this: the cross is not a gilded or happy thing. It's tough to swallow. Sure, the cross represents God's willingness to save us of His own accord. But think about this: we murdered God. Let that sit on you. God allowed us to murder Him so that we could be in relationship with Him again. Obviously, praise Him for His seeking us out. And praise Him for the atoning death of Christ. What pride do you really have in the fact that you and I are the reason that God suffered a humiliating  death for our sake? How much sense does it make to take pride in your sin being epitomized? Would you brag about how nice your cross is when in fact it's an execution device?

If you wear a cross, please don't hear me saying you're wrong to do so. It may be a beautiful expression of how you remember what God has done for you. In fact, it may be something worth doing for me. I'm not sure. Furthermore, Jesus told us to carry our crosses. That almost certainly doesn't mean that we should necessarily wear jewelry around our neck, but it's worth considering what He means.

The most beautiful of crosses is that which reminds us of our unrighteousness and calls us to repentance. All I'm saying is this: the cross is not our own victory, but ours through God. It's tough. Embrace it.