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Category: Christ & Culture (Page 42 of 45)

Holy Polis

November 3, 2008 / / 2 Comments

“In baptism our citizenship is transferred from one dominion to another, and we become, in whatever culture we find ourselves, resident aliens.” ~Hauerwas

HolyPolisIn preparation for yesterday’s sermon on Church As State, I spent a lot of last week re-reading Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon. The cover of the book touts the work as “a provocative Christian assessment of culture and ministry for people who know that something is wrong.” The book reminded me again that Paul is intentionally using political language in Philippians to describe the Church and its mission. “Polis” is the root word Paul uses over and over again. It means “city” or “state” or “the citizens of a city or state.”

So, according to Paul, God’s Church is a holy polis.

(Hauerwas and Willimon don’t use that phrase. I just made it up Friday. And I was very proud of it until yesterday. I used it four or five times in the sermon and drew nothing but blank stares. Oh, well.)

God’s Church is an outpost. It’s a beachhead. It’s an island of one culture in the middle of another. God’s Church is a city of people holding on to customs and traditions and practices and a language—a story—that’s wholly unfamiliar to the cultural surroundings. Because of what God has done and is doing in Christ Jesus, we have a radically new and different vision and purpose that’s loaded with political thoughts and words that have nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans or conservatives or liberals or the United States of America.

“The Kingdom of God” is a political phrase. “Christ is Lord” is a political slogan. As subjects of God’s Kingdom, we do belong to a certain political group. We do subscribe to a particular political ideology. We do promote and campaign for a specific political platform. And that agenda and that way of life is always foreign to, and usually opposed to, the political and cultural systems all around us.

We understand that God rules the world. Not governments and nations. Not laws and decrees. Not politicians and parties. We see what’s really happening. We get it. And nobody else does. That’s what makes God’s Church so revolutionary. So radical.

But sometimes we get distracted by all the “un-reality” around us, we lose sight of what’s really going on. Especially the past few months. With presidential campaigns and debates and ads and polls and news specials, it’s very easy to get caught up in it. It’s easy for us, if we’re not careful, to even begin believing this earthly country and its politics is all very important.

Our undying attention and allegiance should be given to God’s Kingdom. Because the world needs the Church. It needs our colony, our holy polis. The only way for the world to know it’s being redeemed is for the Church to point to the Redeemer by being a redeemed people. The only way for the world to know that it needs redeeming, that it’s broken and fallen, is to show the world an alternative it can’t find anywhere else. Our claim is not that this way of life makes sense or that our beliefs and practices will make the world run more smoothly. Our claim is that it just happens to be true. This really is the way God is. This really is the way God’s world is.

“There is great demand, but also great joy, at the wonder, at the adventure of being the Church.” ~Willimon

Peace,

Allan

Church As State

October 31, 2008 / / 7 Comments

CHURCH AND AS STATE

ChurchAsState“Our citizenship is in heaven.” ~Philippians 3:20

 The apostle Paul intentionally uses political language, the very Greek words from which we get our English words “politics” and “politicians” and “policy,” to drive home a very important point to the little church in Philippi.

Our home is in heaven. Heaven is our homeland. And while we’re here on earth, we are a colony — a commonwealth — of heavenly citizens.

To confess that Jesus is Lord is to say Caesar is not. To claim citizenship in heaven is to declare our allegiance, first and foremost, to God’s Kingdom, not the Empire. To conduct ourselves politically or to behave as a citizen (Phil. 1:27) of that Kingdom and as subjects of our crucified and resurrected King is to first understand that none of it is of this world. He, nor his Kingdom, are from here. So, therefore, neither are we. The Kingdom to which we belong transcends all national borders. The Kingdom respects no geographical boundaries or distinctions of powers. And as colonists living under the rule of our Christ, we rise high above any national thought, national pride, or national agenda. The Gospel of Jesus levels all of us into an eternal and international community of those who follow the Savior. And it’s his Kingdom that deserves our undying allegiance.

If citizens of heaven do choose to engage in the politics of America or any other earthly country, we approach it, above all, from the standpoint of our relationship with God. Scripture tells us that Christians survive in a hostile environment not by legal proceedings against persecutors but by endurance; not by imposing a lifestyle on others through law but by living holy lives that compel others to watch us; not by destroying others with sound bites and emails but by respecting them even as we witness to the eternal truths of the Gospel.

Peace,

Allan

Every Nation, Tribe, People, & Language

August 26, 2008 / / 8 Comments

“The mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.'” ~Isaiah 2:2-3

“There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb…And they cried out in a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'” ~Revelation 7:9-10

You know my dream is to ultimately see our church body at Legacy accurately reflect the uniting force of the Gospel. My vision is that all our Spanish-speaking members and all our deaf members come together to worship our Lord in the same assembly on Sundays. Full integration. Not segregation. The birth, life, teachings, ministry, death, burial, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus breaks down all the barriers between us. It destroys the things that separate us. In Christ there are no divisions, no walls. We’re one. We’re equal. We’re all in the same family. And the family should model that.

So, how do we do this? Is it impossible? Do we keep our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters out in the fellowship hall or tucked away in an upstairs classroom? Or do we sacrifice and bend and give and do whatever it takes to bring them fully into the family?

One of the cover stories in the July Christian Chronicle, “Are Churches Reaching New Americans?” chronicles the efforts of several churches to unite their English and Spanish speaking members into one united body. The trick, it seems, is to realize that language is not a barrier. It’s not easy. It presents challenges. But it’s not impossible.

Daniel Rodriguez, a professor of religion and Hispanic studies at Pepperdine, puts his finger on the fallacy of the language issue. “The fastest growing churches have realized that language is not a barrier. They have recognized how to reach the grandmother who speaks only Spanish and her grandchildren who speak English.”

The Inland Valley Church of Christ in California has about 120 members, 50 of whom speak primarily Spanish. But most everything they do in their assemblies is in English. They provide headsets and live translation. The lyrics to the songs appear on the screens in both languages. One of the Inland Valley ministers, Tom Allen, says, “As we interact, we come to care for each other. When people love each other, they’ll accommodate.”

Wow. That’s the key, right? Instead of focusing on the little differences among us, zeroing in on the huge eternal things we have in common through the blood of Christ Jesus.

I know at the North Davis Church in Arlington, our Lord’s Supper time was bilingual. A prayer and/or Scripture reading in English and in Spanish. Both. Every time. Worshiping together around the common table. Yes.

The foreign-born population in the U.S. is reaching 15-percent. More than one million legal immigrants earn U.S. citizenship every year. Most Hispanic people in Texas my age or younger, and virtually all people the age of my children and younger, speak both English and Spanish. Language is not the barrier.

Is it custom? Is it culture? Is it fear? What is it? I hate to think our schools and our government buildings and our restaurants and our soccer teams and our Wal-Marts and our media can integrate and bring people together better than our Gospel.

Peace,

Allan

The Church's First Prayer

July 21, 2008 / / 0 Comments

“Enable your servants to speak your Word with great boldness.” ~Acts 4:29

 In Acts 4 we find the very first ever prayer recorded in Scripture after the establishment of God’s Church on the Day of Pentecost. Acts 4:24-30 is the Church’s first prayer. It was worded by an assembly of God’s people, all raising their voices together in united and passionate petition to the “Sovereign Lord” of the universe in the midst of government oppression against the teaching and preaching of Christ Jesus.

The prayer occurs in the immediate aftermath of Peter and John being arrested and jailed and questioned by the authorities and commanded to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. It’s important to note that this group of baptized disciples didn’t ask God for relief from the oppression or for judgment on the oppressors. They request only two things.

1) They ask for strength to obey during the oppression, to have the nerve and the guts and the faith to continue to speak boldly about the Christ even though it had been outlawed.

2) They ask for God to act in his mighty power to do what he needs to do to advance the Kingdom of Heaven and bring glory to Jesus.

In the face of tremendous opposition, when the persecution and government resistance to Christianity was escalating and getting worse, the Church didn’t pray for wisdom or protection or for favor with the authorities. They didn’t pray that the next election would go their way so their situation would change. And I’m not saying those are inappropriate things for which to pray. But this prayer during this crisis was for the ability to be obedient to Christ’s command to continue to teach the Gospel. The concern here is not for safety or deliverance from persecution. It’s for the Word to go forth and for Christ to be glorified.

What an amazing response! What a counter-cultural, Christ-like response! This prayer as a response to the problem is so totally opposite of what was happening in their world. This prayer goes so against the prevailing thought. And John used to be caught up in that culture. When Jesus and the apostles faced opposition in a Samaritan village, it was John and his brother James who said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?” Scripture says Jesus turned and rebuked them. Peter used to be caught up in the culture. He had actually pulled out a sword in the garden the night his Lord was betrayed. He tried to chop a guy’s head off! But Jesus rebuked him and actually healed the man who’d been injured.

By Acts 4, as evidenced by this beautiful prayer, we see how Peter and John have grown. We see how they’ve changed. We see how the Holy Spirit inside them was transforming them into the image of Jesus. In the face of opposition and persecution, they lash out in unified prayer together with all the saints and they ask for boldness to obey and to continue to speak about their risen Lord and they ask that God be glorified.

If resistance to the Kingdom and opposition to the Kingdom gets worse in our land—or I should say WHEN it gets worse—may we find our comfort and strength with each other, may we be bold to continue speaking about Jesus, and may our Father act in powerful ways to bring glory to his holy servant Jesus.

 Peace,

Allan

All Of It: Holy, Holy, Holy

July 17, 2008 / / 1 Comment

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
                                                     ~Isaiah 6:3

HolyHolyHolyWe think and talk in terms of “secular” and “spiritual.” Our conversations and our decision-making are tainted by distorted views of “real world” and “church world.” For some reason(s) we see a big difference between things that are “secular” and things that are “holy.” We talk about something so-and-so does at his “secular job” as opposed to the things he does in his “church job.” Or, worse, we talk about how life is in the “real world” as opposed to how life is “at church.”

The secular has become more or less what we’re in charge of: our jobs, our time, our money, our opinions, our government, our entertainment, our house, our family. The holy is what God’s in charge of: worship and the Bible, prayers and songs, Heaven and Hell.

Scripture will have none of that. Scripture holds that everything, absolutely everything, takes place on holy ground. God has something to say about every aspect of our lives: the way we feel, the way we act, the way we make our money and the way we spend it, the politics we embrace, the wars we fight, the tragedies we endure, the people we know. Nothing is hidden from the sight of our God. Nothing is exempt from his rule. The ground is holy. The people are holy. The words are holy.

As God’s people today we are not to be defined by the times in which we live. Our government does not have control over how we live our lives. Technology does not define our existence. Postmodernism does not define how we think. News and entertainment do not account for who we are. Just like Isaiah in the temple we are plunged head-first into “holy.” We are given a holy vision, we are given a holy glimpse of what’s really real: the Lord ruling in holiness, the songs of the holy angels filling the holy air with holy sounds.

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
  the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Hurst is full of his glory! Bedford is full of his glory! Richland High School is full of his glory! The Southlake Wal-Mart is full of his glory! The North Richland Hills Post Office is full of his glory! The Northeast Mall is full of his glory! The intersection of Precinct Line and 183 is full of his glory! The whole earth!

And, yes, our government does this horrible thing and our schools do these awful things and our friends say this and our neighbor says that. And, yes, poverty and disease and violence and sex and greed and lust. Yes.

But the whole earth is full of his glory!

We’ve been given the vision. We see the way things really are. Not just in our church buildings, but everywhere we walk is holy ground. Everywhere you go is a sacred space. Everybody you meet is a holy opportunity. Everything you do is a sacred activity. All of it is governed and ruled by our sovereign God who consecrates it and makes it holy for his purposes.

Peace,

Allan

Tell Them Some Stories

June 16, 2008 / / 1 Comment

I’ve stolen this quote from Jim Gardner’s Father’s Day sermon out at the Woodward Park Church in Fresno. It’s from a June 9 USA Today article by Oliver Thomas.

“One of the more pernicious myths in America today is that in order to be a good father, you must provide your children with a surplus of material things. For the three-fourths of us who identify ourselves as Christian or Jewish, there’s nothing biblical about this way of thinking. To the contrary, the Bible warns against an excessive devotion to material things. Fathers must compete for their children’s attention with iPods, cell phones, cable TV, and Game Boys. As a result, fathers feel tempted to sacrifice their role as dad in order to win their children’s affection.”

Yesterday in George’s class here at Legacy we talked about sharing the stories with our children, the Deuteronomy 6 principle of passing on the faith through our stories of salvation from God. We don’t tell stories anymore because we’re watching TV or surfing the web or texting on our cell phones. Good gravy, I don’t even know if we look anybody in the eye anymore, much less tell and listen to stories. We’re all glued to our personal screens, in our own little worlds, oblivious to the bigger picture of history and the universe and the linear way we’re impacted by things that happened before we arrived on the scene and how the things we do now directly bear on what happens later.

Putting two and two together is becoming increasingly more difficult as we feed on more and more bits of unrelated information in shorter and shorter bites.

It adversely affects our way of thinking, our worldview, and our relationships.

Dads, turn off the TV. Get off the computer. Take a car trip without headphones and DVD players. Tell your kids some stories. Give them a sense of what’s happened before and how it impacts them today. Give them a sense of being connected to something much bigger than themselves, something much more important than themselves. Show them how it all fits. Tell them some stories.

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