God has in himself all power to defend you, all wisdom to direct you, all mercy to pardon you, all grace to enrich you, all righteousness to clothe you, all goodness to supply you, and all happiness to crown you.
Brooks, Thomas
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Thoughts On American Christianity, Part 2
This past Sunday, the pastor of our church, Rev. Ken Pierce, gave a wonderful sermon that helped me think through and organize some of my thoughts on American Christianity. As he preached, I wrote down my thoughts about what he was saying and I am largely indebted to him for the following.
One of my favorite verses in the entire Bible is the parable of the hidden treasure. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44). Human beings are kingdom builders. The question that we, as Christians, need to ask ourselves is, “Whose kingdom are we building?” Jesus commands us to be in the business of building God’s kingdom, not our own. Yet, the American culture that we have so deeply embraced is fundamentally about building our own kingdoms and rarely do we notice the difference. Why does God command us to build His kingdom rather than our own? Why did Jesus tell the rich young ruler to sell all that he had and follow Jesus?
It seems to me that the answer is clear in Matthew 13 (and quite a few other places in Scripture). The kingdom of God is infinitely valuable, unstoppable, and ultimately the only source of true joy for us. As Americans, we have simply adopted the American Dream and said that you can build up your own personal kingdom here on Earth while, at the same time, building up God’s kingdom throughout the world. If this were possible, why did Jesus say that the man who found the treasure went out and joyfully sold all that he had to buy that field? Why did Jesus, similarly, tell the rich young ruler to sell all that he had to follow Jesus? Why is it necessary to give up so much to have the treasure?
Sin tells us that happiness is found in building our own kingdoms. It is so ingrained in us that we usually don’t see anything wrong at all with the American Dream. That is why we see pastors living luxurious lifestyles well above the average American family and even above the average church member (and I don’t mean just in the Health, Wealth and Prosperity movement which is so obviously sinful, but in some very conservative, reformed denominations) and we see presidents of mission agencies (mission agencies, for crying out loud!) making well over six figures while the missionaries out in the field (building God's kingdom, mind you) are struggling to stay on the field because part of their support is going to pay the salaries of the mission agency’s “executives”. Ridiculous.
I firmly believe that we are very much out of touch with real Christianity of the first century. Just look at the apostle Paul. His entire life after encountering Jesus was all about spreading a passion for the kingdom of God. He gave up his own personal kingdom of wealth, power and prestige (calling it “rubbish”) to pursue God’s kingdom, no matter the cost, and he is clearly one of the most joyful people in the Bible!
My biggest fear is that we are missing out on so much of what Christ has to offer. “There is far more in Christ than we have yet apprehended” (Dr. Raymond C. “L.L. Cool Ray” Ortlund, Jr.) American Christianity is so safe, watered down and ineffective to change the world that it would be barely recognizable to the apostle Paul if he showed up at a modern American church, I am afraid. We wonder why we don’t see God moving more in our communities and among our non-believing friends. We are far too preoccupied with our own kingdoms.
One of my favorite verses in the entire Bible is the parable of the hidden treasure. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44). Human beings are kingdom builders. The question that we, as Christians, need to ask ourselves is, “Whose kingdom are we building?” Jesus commands us to be in the business of building God’s kingdom, not our own. Yet, the American culture that we have so deeply embraced is fundamentally about building our own kingdoms and rarely do we notice the difference. Why does God command us to build His kingdom rather than our own? Why did Jesus tell the rich young ruler to sell all that he had and follow Jesus?
It seems to me that the answer is clear in Matthew 13 (and quite a few other places in Scripture). The kingdom of God is infinitely valuable, unstoppable, and ultimately the only source of true joy for us. As Americans, we have simply adopted the American Dream and said that you can build up your own personal kingdom here on Earth while, at the same time, building up God’s kingdom throughout the world. If this were possible, why did Jesus say that the man who found the treasure went out and joyfully sold all that he had to buy that field? Why did Jesus, similarly, tell the rich young ruler to sell all that he had to follow Jesus? Why is it necessary to give up so much to have the treasure?
Sin tells us that happiness is found in building our own kingdoms. It is so ingrained in us that we usually don’t see anything wrong at all with the American Dream. That is why we see pastors living luxurious lifestyles well above the average American family and even above the average church member (and I don’t mean just in the Health, Wealth and Prosperity movement which is so obviously sinful, but in some very conservative, reformed denominations) and we see presidents of mission agencies (mission agencies, for crying out loud!) making well over six figures while the missionaries out in the field (building God's kingdom, mind you) are struggling to stay on the field because part of their support is going to pay the salaries of the mission agency’s “executives”. Ridiculous.
I firmly believe that we are very much out of touch with real Christianity of the first century. Just look at the apostle Paul. His entire life after encountering Jesus was all about spreading a passion for the kingdom of God. He gave up his own personal kingdom of wealth, power and prestige (calling it “rubbish”) to pursue God’s kingdom, no matter the cost, and he is clearly one of the most joyful people in the Bible!
My biggest fear is that we are missing out on so much of what Christ has to offer. “There is far more in Christ than we have yet apprehended” (Dr. Raymond C. “L.L. Cool Ray” Ortlund, Jr.) American Christianity is so safe, watered down and ineffective to change the world that it would be barely recognizable to the apostle Paul if he showed up at a modern American church, I am afraid. We wonder why we don’t see God moving more in our communities and among our non-believing friends. We are far too preoccupied with our own kingdoms.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thoughts on American Christianity, Part 1
One of the great blessings of living abroad is the gift of being outside of the American culture and being able to see it differently than from within. I lived in Spain for four months and in Mexico for a grand total of about five years. Both experiences were incredibly enlightening for me and some of my greatest spiritual growth took place in those times. In fact, I had a much harder time re-adjusting to life back in the States than I did learning a new culture. I had heard missionaries saying the same thing for years at various mission conferences, but I never quite believed them fully. I mean, how hard can it be to become re-acclimated to your own culture, especially one that has virtually anything you could want?
I think that is part of the problem. We are so used to having so many of life’s conveniences, that we spend our days trying to make sure that we, and our families, are as safe and comfortable as possible. Many of us work to make
money to purchase things that either entertain us, make us feel good about ourselves, or meet basic needs in extravagant ways (spending a great deal in regular visits to our favorite restaurants or buying houses far above the average need), among many other things. I am certainly guilty of doing or desiring to do all of these things! Having these things is the American Dream, isn’t it? And isn’t the U.S. a country founded on Christian principles? How bad can it be?
The problem that I am having is that I don’t see the American Dream anywhere in the Bible. In fact, I see something quite opposed to it, but we tend to try to make the gospel fit with our own culture rather than the other way around.
One of the reasons that we love John Piper is that he is so passionate for the spread of the gospel and decidedly un-American (but not anti-American). Some time ago, I was at a Christian fellowship group with some wonderful, Godly people, most of whom I didn’t know all that well. The group was reading through Don’t Waste Your Life by Piper and the chapter (4, maybe?) had to do with laying up treasures. I found it ironic that we were meeting in the house of a family that was clearly very wealthy. What Piper teaches in his books is very difficult for us to actually put in to practice precisely because it is so un-American. After a brief discussion in which we sort of all agreed that Piper is right and we are all convicted, the leader of the discussion said that yes, he has some very expensive things in his very nice house, but he feels thoroughy blessed to have those things and if God took them away, he wouldn’t mind at all. He then said, “Besides, God needs rich Christians. He needs rich Christians to be able to reach out to other rich people.”
Nobody questioned that conclusion at the meeting, but something certainly felt a little off to me, although I didn’t feel like speaking up at the time. I thought about it a lot afterwards and realized that we (as a Christian community, not just those at that particular meeting) have so many things backwards. I wondered, how does all of this square with Jesus’ teachings to the rich young ruler to sell what he owned and give to the poor as a prerequisite to following Jesus? Was Jesus only saying it to him or is there a principle that we are supposed to apply to our lives? And what about the apostle Paul? His life, it seems to me, was exactly the opposite of the American Dream. He gave up riches and stature and power to radically love others in Jesus’ name. The more he followed Jesus, the more he gave up his wealth and comfort and stature in his Jewish community, and the more joyful he became. Jesus was everything! And Paul, even after giving up his wealth, was still able to preach to and show the love of Christ to the wealthy and prominent of the ancient Roman world, as well as the poorest of the poor. It seems to me that precisely because he gave up his worldly possessions that he was so powerful a witness to those that had so much.
It seems to me that most of us think that we can (and should) have both, even if we don’t ever say it clearly. We don’t fall for the “health, wealth and prosperity gospel” because it is clearly evil, unbiblical and no gospel at all. But are we really all that different? It is certainly a good thing to recognize that all that we have in terms of worldly goods could be taken away by God at any time. But for most of us, that is about as far as we get. We still go on storing up treasures for ourselves here on earth and it is largely encouraged and even admired by the Christian church.
We must look at our culture and our Christian faith and see that they are largely opposed to each other. We need to spend far more time in the Word and see how far we have strayed from what Jesus and others clearly taught about wealth. We are far too comfortable with the idea that we can be pursuing Jesus wholeheartedly while at the same time we are gaining wealth far beyond what is needed. American Christianity has fallen for this lie. If we really want to change our communities and our world, then we must stop looking like our hope is in the same things that everyone else hopes in, namely wealth, comfort and ease. Once we, as the body of Christ, start joyfully sacrificing ourselves and our possessions to be able to radically show the love of Christ to the world, we will be an unstoppable, happy witness to a lost and dying world.
More thoughts on American Christianity to come…
I think that is part of the problem. We are so used to having so many of life’s conveniences, that we spend our days trying to make sure that we, and our families, are as safe and comfortable as possible. Many of us work to make
money to purchase things that either entertain us, make us feel good about ourselves, or meet basic needs in extravagant ways (spending a great deal in regular visits to our favorite restaurants or buying houses far above the average need), among many other things. I am certainly guilty of doing or desiring to do all of these things! Having these things is the American Dream, isn’t it? And isn’t the U.S. a country founded on Christian principles? How bad can it be?The problem that I am having is that I don’t see the American Dream anywhere in the Bible. In fact, I see something quite opposed to it, but we tend to try to make the gospel fit with our own culture rather than the other way around.
One of the reasons that we love John Piper is that he is so passionate for the spread of the gospel and decidedly un-American (but not anti-American). Some time ago, I was at a Christian fellowship group with some wonderful, Godly people, most of whom I didn’t know all that well. The group was reading through Don’t Waste Your Life by Piper and the chapter (4, maybe?) had to do with laying up treasures. I found it ironic that we were meeting in the house of a family that was clearly very wealthy. What Piper teaches in his books is very difficult for us to actually put in to practice precisely because it is so un-American. After a brief discussion in which we sort of all agreed that Piper is right and we are all convicted, the leader of the discussion said that yes, he has some very expensive things in his very nice house, but he feels thoroughy blessed to have those things and if God took them away, he wouldn’t mind at all. He then said, “Besides, God needs rich Christians. He needs rich Christians to be able to reach out to other rich people.”
Nobody questioned that conclusion at the meeting, but something certainly felt a little off to me, although I didn’t feel like speaking up at the time. I thought about it a lot afterwards and realized that we (as a Christian community, not just those at that particular meeting) have so many things backwards. I wondered, how does all of this square with Jesus’ teachings to the rich young ruler to sell what he owned and give to the poor as a prerequisite to following Jesus? Was Jesus only saying it to him or is there a principle that we are supposed to apply to our lives? And what about the apostle Paul? His life, it seems to me, was exactly the opposite of the American Dream. He gave up riches and stature and power to radically love others in Jesus’ name. The more he followed Jesus, the more he gave up his wealth and comfort and stature in his Jewish community, and the more joyful he became. Jesus was everything! And Paul, even after giving up his wealth, was still able to preach to and show the love of Christ to the wealthy and prominent of the ancient Roman world, as well as the poorest of the poor. It seems to me that precisely because he gave up his worldly possessions that he was so powerful a witness to those that had so much.
It seems to me that most of us think that we can (and should) have both, even if we don’t ever say it clearly. We don’t fall for the “health, wealth and prosperity gospel” because it is clearly evil, unbiblical and no gospel at all. But are we really all that different? It is certainly a good thing to recognize that all that we have in terms of worldly goods could be taken away by God at any time. But for most of us, that is about as far as we get. We still go on storing up treasures for ourselves here on earth and it is largely encouraged and even admired by the Christian church.
We must look at our culture and our Christian faith and see that they are largely opposed to each other. We need to spend far more time in the Word and see how far we have strayed from what Jesus and others clearly taught about wealth. We are far too comfortable with the idea that we can be pursuing Jesus wholeheartedly while at the same time we are gaining wealth far beyond what is needed. American Christianity has fallen for this lie. If we really want to change our communities and our world, then we must stop looking like our hope is in the same things that everyone else hopes in, namely wealth, comfort and ease. Once we, as the body of Christ, start joyfully sacrificing ourselves and our possessions to be able to radically show the love of Christ to the world, we will be an unstoppable, happy witness to a lost and dying world.
More thoughts on American Christianity to come…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)