by Tom Johnston
When the Emperor Constantine won the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 A.D. the emerging Christian Church in the Western world entered into a new central role in society and culture. While preparing for the battle, Constantine, who was not a follower of Christ, had a vision from the Christian God in which he saw the Cross – with the words written over it - in hoc signo vinces — "In this sign you will conquer." This was a pivotal point for the Western Church.
Painting a cross on the shields of his solders as a talisman, Constantine wins the battle. One year later he issues the Edict of Milan, legitimizing the Christian faith, ending persecution and restoring the property rights of Christians. This paves the way for the Emperor Theodosius I to make Christianity the official state religion of Roman Empire in 391 A.D. The rest is, as they say, history.
From the Fourth Century on we begin to see the emergence of something we have come to call Christendom – a geo-socio-political reality in which the Church became the central influence in politics, government, culture and everyday life. For more than a millennium this order grew in geographic scope and temporal power. The Christian Church became the central pole of the fabric of the life in the West, for nobles and commoners alike. Culture is a system of customs, values and beliefs, and for centuries the Church was the major influencer in all of things.
This began to change during the Enlightenment and the Protestant Reformation, where the power of the Church was questioned by empiricists and ultimately fractured by reformers, with its political role weakened along with the monarchies it supported – and which had supported it.
Even within Protestantism, the concept of Christendom lived on, now empowered by the new concept of democracy. This was all brought to the shores of the New World by the Pilgrims in their vision for a new social order based in their views of Scripture and a new awareness of their own political power, and embodied in John Winthrop’s City on a Hill. So, the Church in the U.S. is an inheritor of the concept of Christendom, which continued to exert influence in our nation into the Twentieth Century. Since the 1960’s the perceived division between the Church and the rest of society has grown, culminating in what is now termed “The Culture War.”
Many in the Church seek to fight to maintain the last vestiges of Christendom, seeking to re-exert cultural influence through political means. Those who seek to limit what they consider to be the archaic beliefs and restrictive rules of Christian faith push back – with both vaguely defined groups becoming “pro”-something while acting very “anti” in their words and behaviors.
But here is the truth – Christendom is dead. Let’s face it, the culture war has been lost – even the “sin stats” of the Church in America look like those of the non-professing segment of our society. The Church is no longer calling the shots, morally, culturally or politically. Statistics indicate that we aren’t even reaching a percentage of the population equivalent to our own children. So, what do we do? Give up? Run away? Turn inward? Many have responded in such ways, and many more will do so. Yet we have a great opportunity ahead of us, one which could see a rebirth of the Church in the West. But it will require yet another pivot point.
With the Church no longer being the center pole of the Western world, we must shift our thinking. No longer the cultural driver or universal center, we must become the resource of our society. We live in the midst of so much tremendous need in all areas, and we have the opportunity to bring the resources of the living Christ to bear on those issues. We must serve others – even those who we may consider to be like “Samaritans.” We must love our neighbors – unconditionally – just as God has first loved us – “while we were yet sinners.” We must be willing to resource local community needs, working alongside governmental and “secular” agencies. We must stop trying to compete for the “marketshare” of the American heart and minds, and bring the wholeness of Christ to those with broken hearts and troubled minds. We should not compromise our prophetic mandate to point out sin in the culture, but before we talk about their speck we have to first remove our log. We have to call sin what it is – sin, but words flowing from a heart full of God’s grace – which will be received when we do our own repentance. When we do this, and someone asks us why, it is then we can share the love and life of Christ with them, giving a defense for the hope that is within us.
So Christendom is dead, but the Church is very much alive. We have before us a great opportunity, but to take advantage of this we must no longer try to dominate and be the center, but rather we must serve and become the resource Christ would have us be to our society.
What are your thoughts?
Thursday, May 17, 2007
People of the Treasure
by Mike Chong Perkinson
“God chooses agents who will make it evident that the power which brings the ‘dead’ to ‘life’ is not theirs but His. The minister is like an ‘earthen pot’: cheap, fragile, expendable, unrepairable.” - Jerome Murphy-O’Connor
Strained relationships and disappointments are not only a part of the life of the church in the 21st century it was clearly evident in the life of the early church. After a careful reading of the letters to the church in Corinth, one discovers that the Spirit-people at Corinth were not at all impressed with the apostle Paul. They wanted a leader with more charisma and in whose power and presence they could take pride. He, however, exhibited none of the qualities they desired. In addition to his unimpressive personality and mediocre preaching, his life was characterized by setbacks and failures and suffering. A resume that one would not want for a life of Spirit-empowered person, at least that was what Corinth thought. How could such a weak and fragile person be God’s agent in the salvation of humanity?
This apparently weak apostle utilizes the imagery of clay vessels or “earthen pots” to paint a picture of our walk with Jesus. What comes to mind from the first century context is the imagery of a wrestler who is in the grips with a more skilled opponent. Before a bout, wrestlers would oil their bodies. As they would begin to perspire, sweat now mixed with oil and after a few falls on the soft floor of the ring their bodies became encrusted with clay to the point where they looked like clay statues. Men made of the material that cheap household vessels were crafted.
We live in a world full of clay pots and vessels. The church often finds itself highlighting the clay pot (the wineskin - vessel) more than the treasure that lies within it. The problem is not our worship styles necessarily (although some our outdated) or how we do church. Leith Anderson makes this bold assertion:
While the New Testament speaks often about churches, it is surprisingly silent about many matters that we associate with church structure and life. There is no mention of architecture, pulpits, lengths of typical sermons [or sermons!], rules for having a Sunday school. Little is said about style of music, order of worship, or times of church gatherings. There were no Bibles, denominations, camps, pastor’s conferences, or board meeting minutes. Those who strive to be New Testament churches must seek to live its principles and absolutes, not reproduce the details. (Quoted in Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard, p. 235)
We, as a church, have successfully turned the focus to the vessel and away from the treasure that gives life. We are good at reproducing details without principles. Time and time again in our history, we see major movements begin and then fade. That’s why we use the description of “early” (Dominicans, Quakers, Methodists, etc.) when describing a movement. The vessel that emerged in the outbreak of a radical move of God gradually overwhelmed the treasure it initially served to convey. Eventually we add the new movement to our list of movements to be showcased in our museum of Christian history. There is a vast difference between people of the vessel and people of the treasure.
CHARACTERISTICS OF VESSEL PEOPLE AND TREASURE PEOPLE
LIVING AS PEOPLE OF THE TREASURE
If a revolution is going to take place then we must return to the simplicity of our faith, the Irreducible Core of loving God, loving others, and making disciples as we live life. We can live as people of the treasure by living out the following.
“God chooses agents who will make it evident that the power which brings the ‘dead’ to ‘life’ is not theirs but His. The minister is like an ‘earthen pot’: cheap, fragile, expendable, unrepairable.” - Jerome Murphy-O’Connor
Strained relationships and disappointments are not only a part of the life of the church in the 21st century it was clearly evident in the life of the early church. After a careful reading of the letters to the church in Corinth, one discovers that the Spirit-people at Corinth were not at all impressed with the apostle Paul. They wanted a leader with more charisma and in whose power and presence they could take pride. He, however, exhibited none of the qualities they desired. In addition to his unimpressive personality and mediocre preaching, his life was characterized by setbacks and failures and suffering. A resume that one would not want for a life of Spirit-empowered person, at least that was what Corinth thought. How could such a weak and fragile person be God’s agent in the salvation of humanity?
This apparently weak apostle utilizes the imagery of clay vessels or “earthen pots” to paint a picture of our walk with Jesus. What comes to mind from the first century context is the imagery of a wrestler who is in the grips with a more skilled opponent. Before a bout, wrestlers would oil their bodies. As they would begin to perspire, sweat now mixed with oil and after a few falls on the soft floor of the ring their bodies became encrusted with clay to the point where they looked like clay statues. Men made of the material that cheap household vessels were crafted.
We live in a world full of clay pots and vessels. The church often finds itself highlighting the clay pot (the wineskin - vessel) more than the treasure that lies within it. The problem is not our worship styles necessarily (although some our outdated) or how we do church. Leith Anderson makes this bold assertion:
While the New Testament speaks often about churches, it is surprisingly silent about many matters that we associate with church structure and life. There is no mention of architecture, pulpits, lengths of typical sermons [or sermons!], rules for having a Sunday school. Little is said about style of music, order of worship, or times of church gatherings. There were no Bibles, denominations, camps, pastor’s conferences, or board meeting minutes. Those who strive to be New Testament churches must seek to live its principles and absolutes, not reproduce the details. (Quoted in Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard, p. 235)
We, as a church, have successfully turned the focus to the vessel and away from the treasure that gives life. We are good at reproducing details without principles. Time and time again in our history, we see major movements begin and then fade. That’s why we use the description of “early” (Dominicans, Quakers, Methodists, etc.) when describing a movement. The vessel that emerged in the outbreak of a radical move of God gradually overwhelmed the treasure it initially served to convey. Eventually we add the new movement to our list of movements to be showcased in our museum of Christian history. There is a vast difference between people of the vessel and people of the treasure.
CHARACTERISTICS OF VESSEL PEOPLE AND TREASURE PEOPLE
LIVING AS PEOPLE OF THE TREASURE
If a revolution is going to take place then we must return to the simplicity of our faith, the Irreducible Core of loving God, loving others, and making disciples as we live life. We can live as people of the treasure by living out the following.
- Give up your life and live as Jesus lived in every venue. There is no distinction between sacred and secular. Focus on the principles and absolutes of Scripture – the treasure—don’t major on the minors or details.
- Make disciples – we are all apprentices of Jesus. The church is to be a place where people are shown and taught how to be disciples of Christ, becoming lights in a darkened world (Philippians 2:15).
- Immerse yourself in the presence of God. That is, seek out God’s presence in every situation of life. The psalmist cried out, “The nearness of God is good.” (Psalm 73:28).
- Transformed: Living lives that do not focus only on behaviors, but the heart. The natural outcome or side effect of a transformed life it to live like Jesus lived and love like Jesus loved. This is a revolution of “peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). We are most like God when we seek to make peace. We invite you into a revolution that seeks to…
- Be genuinely kind to hostile people, returning a blessing for a curse.
- Be kind to everyone and especially to your family (Galatians 6:10).
- Find someone to disciple you and find someone to disciple.
Go and live your life based in and around the King and the Kingdom of God, loving all He loves, and seeking to make disciples of all who submit their lives to the King!
Tell me what you think. Let’s talk about it.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
A Gospel That Retreats And Isolates
by Mike Chong Perkinson
April 2007
“Christians in the postmodern world will succeed, not by watering down the faith, but by being a counter-cultural community that invites people to be shaped by the story of Israel and Jesus.” (Dr. Robert Webber)
Being counter-cultural is no easy matter. It is hard to be a person who loves those who are full of hate and evil. The choice of retreat and building a Christian culture that lives in protected isolation is much easier. After all, it’s so hard to keep pure in this world. How do we keep our children from engaging in evil without allowing them the safety of retreat? What does it mean to be in the world but not of it? Aren’t we supposed to hate sin? Hard questions and this article will not provide an adequate answer. Instead of providing an answer, I wish to pose some questions.
There is so much talk in our Christian culture about “avoiding the appearance of evil,” which translated often means staying away from anything and anyone that is evil. The definition of evil is subjective and interpreted individually by each believer and the verse is oddly utilized in situations that seem to be nothing more than a statement of preference.
Exactly what is evil? If we are applying the biblical definition, the entire world is. After all, it is anti-God, full of self and engaged in a conspiracy that is led by Lucifer himself. If we are going to avoid the appearance of evil, then maybe we should pack up and retreat? Maybe, this is the time to ask the U.S.S. Enterprise to beam us up?
Who do we boycott? What do we allow or not allow? Just how tight do we close our eyes and ears to the cries of the world? Is it wrong to have friends who do not know Christ? If we are to avoid everything that is evil, then should we stop reading the Bible because it contains scenes of rape, drunkenness, witchcraft, murder, lust and sex? How far do we take this? Are we even asking the right questions? If so, then Jesus violated this very command of Paul by associating with those who were evil. As a result, He was indicted as being a drunkard and a glutton (Matthew 11:19). I am grateful He hung out with sinners and loved them. As far as I recall, I am one of those evil sinners He was willing to sit with. The pure Son of God was so pure that He could love someone like me. Maybe that is the question we should be asking. Are we so pure with our lives that we look nothing like Jesus? We worry far too much about how much sin might get in and not enough about how much love might get out.
Maybe the question is not how do we avoid evil or how much evil do we avoid? Rather, how do we love and serve an evil and lost generation? Evangelical Christianity is far too concerned about power: how to get it and how to use it for personal gain. I somehow think that is the opposite of what Jesus is all about. The primary question believers should be asking is “What can I do to serve you?”
The gospel is not about getting “saved” and isolating. It is about a God who came to a sinful world. No matter how hard you try to be neat, changing diapers is a messy business. I suspect, dealing with sin and sinful people is no different. The wise sage of Proverbs tells us that “Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest” (Proverbs 14:4, NLT). There is no question that life is much more defined, predictable and even safe when we disallow sinners into the mix. Scripture does not tell us to keep the stable clean, but to keep our hearts pure. And one of the characteristics of a pure heart is its willingness to change diapers. We can’t transform culture until we find ourselves transformed. Jesus said it this way: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matthew 23:25-26, NIV).
The life of faith is not about judgment and withdrawal from an evil society. It is about engagement and sacrifice – something like taking up your cross and letting your light shine in such a way that all might see your good deeds and give praise to our Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16). As I write this article, I don’t hear too many people giving praise to God because of the good deeds of the church. God have mercy on us!
The revolution will come by way of incarnation, living out the reality of Jesus.
Tell me what you think. Let’s talk about it.
April 2007
“Christians in the postmodern world will succeed, not by watering down the faith, but by being a counter-cultural community that invites people to be shaped by the story of Israel and Jesus.” (Dr. Robert Webber)
Being counter-cultural is no easy matter. It is hard to be a person who loves those who are full of hate and evil. The choice of retreat and building a Christian culture that lives in protected isolation is much easier. After all, it’s so hard to keep pure in this world. How do we keep our children from engaging in evil without allowing them the safety of retreat? What does it mean to be in the world but not of it? Aren’t we supposed to hate sin? Hard questions and this article will not provide an adequate answer. Instead of providing an answer, I wish to pose some questions.
There is so much talk in our Christian culture about “avoiding the appearance of evil,” which translated often means staying away from anything and anyone that is evil. The definition of evil is subjective and interpreted individually by each believer and the verse is oddly utilized in situations that seem to be nothing more than a statement of preference.
Exactly what is evil? If we are applying the biblical definition, the entire world is. After all, it is anti-God, full of self and engaged in a conspiracy that is led by Lucifer himself. If we are going to avoid the appearance of evil, then maybe we should pack up and retreat? Maybe, this is the time to ask the U.S.S. Enterprise to beam us up?
Who do we boycott? What do we allow or not allow? Just how tight do we close our eyes and ears to the cries of the world? Is it wrong to have friends who do not know Christ? If we are to avoid everything that is evil, then should we stop reading the Bible because it contains scenes of rape, drunkenness, witchcraft, murder, lust and sex? How far do we take this? Are we even asking the right questions? If so, then Jesus violated this very command of Paul by associating with those who were evil. As a result, He was indicted as being a drunkard and a glutton (Matthew 11:19). I am grateful He hung out with sinners and loved them. As far as I recall, I am one of those evil sinners He was willing to sit with. The pure Son of God was so pure that He could love someone like me. Maybe that is the question we should be asking. Are we so pure with our lives that we look nothing like Jesus? We worry far too much about how much sin might get in and not enough about how much love might get out.
Maybe the question is not how do we avoid evil or how much evil do we avoid? Rather, how do we love and serve an evil and lost generation? Evangelical Christianity is far too concerned about power: how to get it and how to use it for personal gain. I somehow think that is the opposite of what Jesus is all about. The primary question believers should be asking is “What can I do to serve you?”
The gospel is not about getting “saved” and isolating. It is about a God who came to a sinful world. No matter how hard you try to be neat, changing diapers is a messy business. I suspect, dealing with sin and sinful people is no different. The wise sage of Proverbs tells us that “Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest” (Proverbs 14:4, NLT). There is no question that life is much more defined, predictable and even safe when we disallow sinners into the mix. Scripture does not tell us to keep the stable clean, but to keep our hearts pure. And one of the characteristics of a pure heart is its willingness to change diapers. We can’t transform culture until we find ourselves transformed. Jesus said it this way: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matthew 23:25-26, NIV).
The life of faith is not about judgment and withdrawal from an evil society. It is about engagement and sacrifice – something like taking up your cross and letting your light shine in such a way that all might see your good deeds and give praise to our Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16). As I write this article, I don’t hear too many people giving praise to God because of the good deeds of the church. God have mercy on us!
The revolution will come by way of incarnation, living out the reality of Jesus.
Tell me what you think. Let’s talk about it.
There Is No Box
by Tom Johnston
April 2007
Quite often, when I discuss the spiritual revolution the Lord is fomenting in the West, people consider the ideas and concepts around the issue to be “outside-the-box” thinking. (Some have actually said “Tom, get back in the box!”) In reality, it is simply a journey of radical rediscovery of the basic, orthodox truths of the New Testament scriptures. The core principles of loving God, loving others and making disciples for Christ everywhere all the time are actually the simple heart of Jesus’ teaching. It just seems revolutionary to some, because of their framework, their worldview, their box.
In the 1999 smash movie hit The Matrix, the hero Neo, on one of his journeys into the computer-generated reality of the Matrix encounters a child who is, apparently, bending a spoon with his mind. Neo sees this, and knowing this is impossible, asks how the child is bending the spoon. The child replies – “there is no spoon” – the child knows that the spoon doesn’t really exist, as it is just part of the Matrix sim-world. He is not altering the spoon; having been freed from the superimposed reality of the Matrix, he is willfully altering his perception of reality. Neo, having been recently released from the machine imposed domination of the Matrix, is still having trouble comprehending his reality. In an earlier scene, another character explains the Matrix to Neo, as the “world having been pulled over our eyes.” (Sounds like the first couple chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans to me!)
Many in the Western Church live in a virtual reality, a sim-world of their own making, the First Church of the Matrix, if you will. Not a box of orthodoxy, but a self-imposed box of orthopraxy – how we apply right belief to life and ministry. We have so compartmentalized our Christian existence, so boxed it in, labeled it sacred and secular, right and wrong, proper and improper – that we have marginalized ourselves in the culture. Indeed, even the word orthodoxy used to mean “right worship” – not as an event, but as a way of life lived unto God. We have changed it to mean “right belief,” as doctrine has become our focus. Our doctrine and theology might be O.K. (we all know in part, no stream has it all right - sorry), but our ecclesiology – our understanding of what the Church is, is so fundamentally flawed in the West that we live ineffective lives inside our Matrix-like box.
But the truth is – there is no box. The cultural (and sometimes doctrinal) definitions of “Church” which we hold create the limitations on our worldview, preventing the fullness of the knowledge of Christ to come to us, and ultimately through us to others (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). For His eternal perspective, beyond time and space, God sees no limits on His Church. We are the ones inside the box, inside our Matrix. He only sees His people – He sees sons and daughters, not the programs, budgets, buildings, crusades, outreach events, services or revival meetings. Embracing the simplicity of the Gospel is freeing to the soul, embracing the Church being simply the people of God is freeing to the Gospel.
Unfortunately, for those who think such simplicity is too far outside the box, the only other alternative is to try to “bend the spoon,” or in our case bend the box. Drawing on Jesus’ metaphor, these people have a focus on embellishing the wineskin, rather than focusing on producing some really good, mature spiritual wine (Luke 5:37-39). It is the heart of American marketing and consumerism to accentuate the packaging to sell a marginal or inferior product. Tweak the box all you want – you're still trapped inside it.
Join us in the revolution. Be free from your box. Cast your religious inhibitions aside and pursue Christ and His mission with reckless abandon.
What are your thoughts?
April 2007
Quite often, when I discuss the spiritual revolution the Lord is fomenting in the West, people consider the ideas and concepts around the issue to be “outside-the-box” thinking. (Some have actually said “Tom, get back in the box!”) In reality, it is simply a journey of radical rediscovery of the basic, orthodox truths of the New Testament scriptures. The core principles of loving God, loving others and making disciples for Christ everywhere all the time are actually the simple heart of Jesus’ teaching. It just seems revolutionary to some, because of their framework, their worldview, their box.
In the 1999 smash movie hit The Matrix, the hero Neo, on one of his journeys into the computer-generated reality of the Matrix encounters a child who is, apparently, bending a spoon with his mind. Neo sees this, and knowing this is impossible, asks how the child is bending the spoon. The child replies – “there is no spoon” – the child knows that the spoon doesn’t really exist, as it is just part of the Matrix sim-world. He is not altering the spoon; having been freed from the superimposed reality of the Matrix, he is willfully altering his perception of reality. Neo, having been recently released from the machine imposed domination of the Matrix, is still having trouble comprehending his reality. In an earlier scene, another character explains the Matrix to Neo, as the “world having been pulled over our eyes.” (Sounds like the first couple chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans to me!)
Many in the Western Church live in a virtual reality, a sim-world of their own making, the First Church of the Matrix, if you will. Not a box of orthodoxy, but a self-imposed box of orthopraxy – how we apply right belief to life and ministry. We have so compartmentalized our Christian existence, so boxed it in, labeled it sacred and secular, right and wrong, proper and improper – that we have marginalized ourselves in the culture. Indeed, even the word orthodoxy used to mean “right worship” – not as an event, but as a way of life lived unto God. We have changed it to mean “right belief,” as doctrine has become our focus. Our doctrine and theology might be O.K. (we all know in part, no stream has it all right - sorry), but our ecclesiology – our understanding of what the Church is, is so fundamentally flawed in the West that we live ineffective lives inside our Matrix-like box.
But the truth is – there is no box. The cultural (and sometimes doctrinal) definitions of “Church” which we hold create the limitations on our worldview, preventing the fullness of the knowledge of Christ to come to us, and ultimately through us to others (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). For His eternal perspective, beyond time and space, God sees no limits on His Church. We are the ones inside the box, inside our Matrix. He only sees His people – He sees sons and daughters, not the programs, budgets, buildings, crusades, outreach events, services or revival meetings. Embracing the simplicity of the Gospel is freeing to the soul, embracing the Church being simply the people of God is freeing to the Gospel.
Unfortunately, for those who think such simplicity is too far outside the box, the only other alternative is to try to “bend the spoon,” or in our case bend the box. Drawing on Jesus’ metaphor, these people have a focus on embellishing the wineskin, rather than focusing on producing some really good, mature spiritual wine (Luke 5:37-39). It is the heart of American marketing and consumerism to accentuate the packaging to sell a marginal or inferior product. Tweak the box all you want – you're still trapped inside it.
Join us in the revolution. Be free from your box. Cast your religious inhibitions aside and pursue Christ and His mission with reckless abandon.
What are your thoughts?
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