DownshoreDrift

Christian Political Engagement as Witness and Apologetic

I've obviously been thinking a lot about politics lately, as have most Americans. I've continually made the statement that Christians are to be prophetic on issues instead of being political. We are to live from the ethic of the Kingdom of God rather than the power plays of the kingdoms of men. Being prophetic is about adhering to the truth while being political is about grasping for worldly power, something that is forbidden to Christians. That does not meant that we should not be engaged in politics. Political activity is only the way that human beings govern themselves and establish an ordered society. Christians should most definitely be involved in that. But, we should always involve ourselves in the political process on the basis of truth instead of on the basis of ideology or party affiliation. If we lean toward worldy ideology without being tied to the truth of Scripture, we end up sacrificing truth for political expediency and we become nothing more than a special interest group attempting to get our own way. It all becomes very selfish and unchristian.

That is why I brought up the issues with Sarah Palin over the past few days. I am not rejecting her as a candidate or as a person. I am a conservative, so you can probably figure out which way I will end up going in this election. But, it is important to praise the good in our candidates while also sticking to our convictions on the issues that matter to us. Sarah Palin and her husband both work very long hours and they have 5 children. She has a newborn with Down's Syndrome. Her 17 year old daughter is 5 months pregnant. I would imagine that her husband will quit his job if they move to Washington, so he will obviously be around with the children and that is a good thing. I bring all of this up because we've never had a female candidate for our highest offices who was a mother of young children. What we say about that has everything to do with the message on the family that we have been proclaiming for 3 decades now. We can't just jettison that message because we have a chance to have access to the White House and get conservative justices elected to the Supreme Court.

America Becoming More Diverse, Older

In case you haven't noticed, America is rapidly changing. According to a new report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau, America is going through a demographic shift so rapid and severe, that it will look very different in the next 40 years. Here are the highlights:

• The U.S. population is currently at 305 million. By 2050, it is projected to grow 43% to 439 million
• Minorities, which are now 1/3 of the population, will be a majority by 2042 and will reach 54% by 2050
• Hispanics, which are now 15% of the population, will reach 30% by 2050
• By 2030, 20% of Americans will be over 65. By 2050, it will be 25% - most of these are white
• Minorities will comprise more than half of all children by 2023 and 62% by 2050
• The black population is projected to increase from 41.1 million, or 14 percent of the population, to 65.7 million, or 15 percent.
• The Asian population is projected to climb from 15.5 million to 40.6 million. Its share of the nation’s population is expected to nearly double, from 5.1 percent to 9.2 percent.
• American Indians and Alaska Natives are projected to rise from 1.6 percent to 2 percent.
• The number of people who identify themselves as being of two or more races is projected to more than triple, from 5.2 million to 16.2 million.

I think that I had better learn to speak Spanish.

So, what does this mean for the Church? God is really laying on my heart the fact that we MUST understand that the Gospel is for ALL people and the Church must reflect the gospel message in its make-up (if you have read my blog lately, you understand). If we do not learn to diversify our churches, do we even have a witness in a country as ethnically diverse as America? This is not just trying to be culturally relevant. The Bible commands us to be this way. In Christ, there is neither Jew, Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, Slave, Free, Male, or Female. Christ is all and is in all (Gal. 3:26-29; Col. 3:11). In Christ, the dividing wall between races has come down (Eph. 2:11-18). There are many other passages and arguments for this.

If America's original sin is slavery and racism, we still bear the residue upon our collective soul. The sad thing is, it appears that our secular culture is trying to work this out faster than the Church is. But, we have the power of God! We have the Gospel! We have the Holy Spirit!  Think of what Heaven will look like, with all tribes, ethnicities, and languages coming before the Lord! (Rev. 7:9-10). If the evangelical church does not lead the way into this coming reality, then we have truly missed an incredible opportunity to address the sins of our past and help forge the future.

Just think: Who in America knows how to live in a multicultural world like this? Who better to figure it out and point the way than Christians that have been infected and transformed by the love of Christ? If we do not lead on this issue, any claim to care about America or to desire to see her come to God must be disregarded.

This issue of diversity and the accompanying problems of education, poverty, healthcare, and culture development is THE major issue facing our nation and the Church in the coming 40 years. How will we face it? What will it mean to be missional in this context? How can we live out and proclaim the gospel for such a time as this?

Some people say that diverse cultures cannot come together. It is impossible because we are too different. So, they promote multiculturalism, which is the idea that disparate cultures will exist alongside one another in America holding onto their traditional customs. I think that this will happen, to an extent. But, I also believe that Christians are one in Christ and we must learn to submit our culture to Christ so that He can express Himself through us in many different ways. America needs that kind of witness. Instead of seeing the Church as a refuge for each individual culture to be alone and with people just like themselves, my prayer is that the Church would be the one place in this nation where people come together over something bigger than themselves, Someone greater than their cultures, races, and economic backgrounds.

We are one in Christ.

The Righteousness of Christ

I write a lot about social justice issues, missions, and reforming culture. But, it is only possible for the Christian to engage in any of that because we have first and foremost been set free from our sin, death, Satan, and Hell by the blood of Jesus and His sacrifice and victory on the Cross and through His resurrection. Because "it is finished" we no longer need to make striving for our own righteousness before God our all consuming focus. We are free to serve God and others!  We can entrust ourselves to God and truly believe that we are righteous with the imputed righteousness of Christ! What a great salvation!

I first ran across Dr. Rod Rosenbladt a few years ago when a friend of mine passed me a little booklet called Christ Alone. It was gold. I happened to see a link to a Dr. Rosenbladt mp3 on The Gospel for those Broken By the Church. I have not listened to this yet, but a couple of excerpts are printed that I found helpful:

If the Ten Commandments were not impossible enough, the preaching of Christian behavior, of Christian ethics, of Christian living, can drive a Christian into despairing unbelief. Not happy unbelief. Tragic, despairing, sad unbelief. (It is not unlike the [unhappy] Christian equivalent of "Jack Mormons" - those who finally admit to themselves and others that they can't live up to the demands of this non-Christian cult's laws, and excuse themselves from the whole sheebang.) A diet of this stuff from pulpit, from curriculum, from a Christian reading list, can do a work on a Christian that is (at least over the long haul) "faith destroying."

He goes on:

A God-Sized Vision For Our Communities and Our World

Jesus taught us to pray to God that His Kingdom would come and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:9). Would He teach us to pray that if He did not have some intention of it being carried out?

God's Kingdom

What is God's Kingdom? I have been talking about this a lot lately because the Kingdom is the template through which Jesus wants us to understand His purposes for this world. He brought the Kingdom of God into our midst. The Kingdom is nothing less than the reign and rule of God. So, Jesus wants us to pray that His reign and rule would be established on earth as it is in heaven. Prayer here means that we are asking God for His supernatural intervention in the affairs of men. But, since God uses us to do His will, we can also assume that He wants us to be agents of His Kingdom so that we may cooperate with Him in the establishment of His reign and rule. His Kingdom is here and it is forcefully advancing. It is for us to lay hold of it forcefully (Matt. 11:12).

God's Will

What is God's will? It seems that there have been a thousand books written about how we can know God's will for our lives. Does God want me to marry this person? Does He want me to take this job? Does He want me to move to this city? These are valid questions and surely God guides us throughout out our lives, but I find it interesting that we continually pray to know God's personal will for our lives (which is valid), while forgetting to pray for God's will for our communities and our world. Are we only able to think of ourselves? What does God think about the broken homes in your community? What does He think about fatherlessness and poverty? Does Isaiah 1:17 have anything to say to us about our stance regarding fatherlessness?  Jeremiah 29:7 says something amazing to the Israelites in exile in Babylon: "Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."  But, weren't the people of God in exile in pagan Babylon? How could they pray for the prosperity of Babylon?  Because God told them to. They were to represent His reign and rule even in the midst of exile. Should we do any less?

On Earth As It Is In Heaven

If we want to know what God's will is, we need look no further than His character. As we get to know God better, we should be reflecting His character in our lives. If we are not displaying compassion for those in need, then we are not reflecting God's character. If we are not living holy lives, then His character is not shining through. God wants to supernaturally transform our lives, our families, our environment, and our communities so that every place that we go we are bringing His Kingdom - His reign and rule. When we see sin, depravity, and brokenness in our cities, how can we run away? How can we harbor dreams of escaping people in need and believe that we are dreaming God's dreams? Does God not love people? Did He not die for the broken, harrassed, and helpless? Is there racial division in heaven? Is there crime and poverty? Are there broken homes, abused people, and people struggling with all types of bondages? Until we begin to understand that we are Christ's ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20), then much of the beauty of the Christian life will be withheld from us because we did not have the faith or awareness to step into God's plan for this world.  God actually wants us to pray that Heaven will break into earth through our influence, be it through our personal witness, our work, our creativity, our families, or our general impact on society.

Thy Kingdom Come

I don't want to rest until my life is aligned to bring God's Kingdom everywhere I go. Christians should be MORE involved in our communities, not less. We should move into neighborhoods that are struggling and reclaim them. We should rebuild our schools, our neighborhoods, and our workplaces. We should be about the task of rebuilding lives. Isn't this what Isaiah 61:4 says, "They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations." And, Isaiah 58:12 says, "Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." That should not be a revolutionary thought, but the norm. Instead, we tend to run away when problems arise or we turn our attention inward to our own families or our churches, thinking that if we can fix ourselves, then everything else will take care of itself. God wants us to turn our hearts toward Him and toward others, I believe.

It Is Too Small a Thing . . .

Isaiah 49:6 says, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." Paul and Barnabas repeat this in Acts 13:47 in proclaiming the Gospel to the Gentiles.  We must move past just a personal vision for happiness in our own lives, or just a vision for our families or even for our church. Our vision must extend as far as God's does - to our communities, our nation, and our world. If we would open our eyes and allow Him to pour His life through us, we would be amazed at how our capacity for life, creativity, and restoration will grow. God will use us to be the light of the world, as Jesus calls us in Matthew 5:14.

What does the world look like without light? Dark, indeed. Perhaps we will stop running and complaining when we begin to see that God wants to use His Church to address the problems in this world. May we plant our feet in our communities and develop a God-sized vision for our world. How can we practically do this, you ask?

I'll get into specifics on this in the next post. But, it is likely that you already know the answer to that question.  It has probably been staring you in the face for some time and you have either not seen it because you did not have eyes to see it, or you saw it and chose to look away and do nothing. Hint: Think about the very thing that you have been complaining about the most and then ask what God might have you do about it. There is a reason that it has been bothering you.  More later.

If We Want to Follow Jesus . . .

Americans are clustering more and more into cultural, social, economic, religious, and political enclaves according to Bill Bishop in his new book, The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. Basically, our affluence has led us to the place that most Americans want to live, work, and play with people just like them. The Homogenous Unit Principle that I spoke of a few posts ago, seems to be alive and well in an increasingly multicultural America. But, instead of becoming a melting pot, we look more like a salad bowl of Balkanized special interests. Of course, we have seen this for years with white-flight and the rise of the suburb, but it is now apparently happening across other areas of life and it has profound social, political, and religious implicatoins.

Beyond the Homogenous Unit Principle (HUP) to a More Holistic Gospel Witness

When I started seminary at Golden Gate in 1997, I took a preaching class my first semester. One day, a representative from Lifeway came in and began sharing with us principles on church growth. One of those principles was the Homogenous Unit Principle, articulated by Donald McGavran.  I had never heard this before, but it explained a lot. The HUP basically says that people most naturally congregate with people who are like them, therefore, church growth should take place among these affinity groups. The boundaries to evangelism are often more sociological than they are theological.  Those boundaries can be removed if the gospel is contextualized to each sub-culture and if churches are formed that affirm those sub-cultures. For example, if I am a middle class white man, then under this way of thinking, I would prefer to congregate with other middle class whites. Therefore, the best way to engage me with the gospel is to tailor ministry toward me in a way that is attractive to a middle class white male.

I was only 22 years old when I heard this principle shared by the man from Lifeway. This made some sense among groups with language barriers in places like India, but it did not really seem to fit what should be happening in a country like America. It sounded strange to me then because I did not see where it was biblical. Even though I was just a young white man from Mississippi, I didn't understand why church was supposed to be all about me. I remember asking a question of the man from Lifeway and my concerns were quickly dismissed as being uninformed. The HUP was presented to us as just the way of things, but for me, it did not seem right.  Wouldn't this perspective actually reinforce negative issues like racism, consumerism, and selfishness?

Is the IMB Axing "New Directions?"

I've been hearing rumblings for a couple of months that New Directions, the strategy adopted by the IMB in 1998 that pushed all of their mission work through the concept of Church Planting Movements (CPMs) is effectively dead.  Apparently this has been in the works for some time now and during the most recent trustee meeting, a task force has been developed to "Renew the Vision" and assess the IMB's structure, strategies and plans for the future.  In the aforementioned article, Dr. Rankin points to "a time of 'unprecedented global advance,' with 609,000 people baptized and 25,497 new churches reported overseas last year through the work of Southern Baptist missionaries and partners."

Here are some questions: If all is going so well within the IMB and it's mission, then why the reorganization? Why dump New Directions if it has doubled the number of baptisms within the past ten years? Why kill the strategy behind CPM's?  The article states that a task force will meet a few times before the next board meeting in September to do some work on the reorganization. Does anyone really believe that a task force can get anything done in a few meetings with something of this magnitude? No, I would confidently say that these plans have been in the works for some time now.

Also, those two little words, "and partners" are much more powerful that most Southern Baptists realize. The truth is, the vast majority of baptisms and church plants are the work of indigenous believers throughout the world that are connected in various ways with IMB missionaries. Still, the question remains: Why reorganize if things are going as well as we have been told again and again?

Where might we be headed? Some are speculating that we are going to see more church supported and initiated mission work with missionaries reporting directly to churches. Others are speculating that NAMB is going to be reorganized as well and the two entities will be combined. That is strongly opposed by IMB leadership, but with the rumblings coming out of NAMB regarding problems with leadership, the future does not look bright for that organization.

I had also heard that we would see a revisitation of some sort of the IMB guidelines regarding ppl and baptism at this board meeting.  Surprising no one, we find out that nothing happened.

And the beat goes on . . . 

Alan Hirsch Conference pt. 3 - Middle Class Consumerism and the Gospel

After talking about our views of Christ and calling us to discipleship to Jesus, Alan Hirsch began to talk about one of the major hurdles to discipleship in the West today: Pursuit of the Middle Class lifestyle and Consumerism. Hirsch said that the major issues in Middle Class living are safety and security. In the realm of Consumerism, it is comfort and convenience.

Hirsch said that the Market dominates our lives. It is the metanarrative of Western Capitalism and defines our identity and purpose in life through thousands of messages. Brands offer meaning, identity, purpose, and belonging. This has taken the place of religion in our society. This is the Matrix - the church has bought deeply into this. The Church Growth Movement has bought into this as well. We use entertainment to try and bring people into the Kingdom, but we cannot entertain people into discipleship. Our churches do not disciple people as they should - they primarily affirm our present lifestyles.

We buy more stuff and bigger houses to find our security against the dangers of the universe and to secure our status. We are experiencing status anxiety all throughout our culture. Status anxiety is defined by what others think of us and our rank in society. If everyone is below the line and we are all in the same boat, we are happy. If one person rises above the line by having success in some way, then everyone else is upset. We become unhappy when others move past us, not because our situation has changed, but because we feel less than because we constantly compare ourselves to others. We live in a meritocracy - our worth is based on merit.

All religions offer meaning, identity, purpose, and belonging. Consumerism is spirituality. It offers all of these things. Do we buy into a Consumerist spirituality, or do we follow Jesus? If we follow Jesus, then we have to die to this life. We have remade Jesus to provide a pleasant, middle class, consumerist lifestyle for us. As Christians, we have to live from an alternative story - the story of Jesus.

In our culture, our identity comes from what we look like. This destroys our soul.

The best way to change society is to tell a different story. We ahve to live a qualitatively different life. It must take place in community.

The traditional church is a dembodied message - Sermon is separated from life and people.

Contemporary church keeps the spectator perspective (disembodyment), but makes it entertainment oriented.

Emerging church shakes things up, but it still focuses on the presentaton. While creative, it still creates passivity.

Family has become an idol for many people. Instead of being a small community of faith that represents Christ to a hurting world, the family has become a place of withdrawal and protection. The gospel is a threat to this. In the name of the family, we attenuate (cut down) the real gospel. Jesus must becme mediocre to support this lifestyle.

All of our pietism must end up doing something.

Consumerism co-opts everything. Even our social causes and religion gets co-opted and sold back to us in trinkets and symbols. We buy good feelings.

Rodney Stark - How did Christianity grow in the Roman Empire? During the plagues, the Christians cared for the sick. They were different.

If we don't embody the gospel, then we cannot effectively transmit the gospel.

Live Jesus' dream for America instead of America's Dream for itself. What would the American Dream Redeemed look like? 

Alan Hirsch Conference, Pt. 2: Who Do We Say Jesus Is?

This is the continuation of my notes on the conference that I attended in New Orleans last Saturday with Alan Hirsch.   Alan continued his presentation with a discussion on the views of Jesus that we have developed in our lives. He said that we will never become missional if our discipleship does not flow out of a correct Christology. We do not live missional lifestyles because we are not disciples of Christ. We are not disciples of the real Jesus because we have often replaced Him with a false Christ of our own making. He used a series of pictures with each view that I will try and replicate here. He said that our view of Jesus becomes heretical when we place our own image of who Jesus is upon the biblical Jesus. We must come to Him as He is related to us in Scripture, instead of as who we want Him to be.  Please note that all of these views of Jesus have some truth to them, but they are just not the whole story. We must take Jesus for all that He is, not just for the parts that we want of Him.

Spooky Jesus is the Jesus that is so otherworldly that his approachability and humanity are gone. We have so mystified Jesus that we forget that He took on flesh and made His dwelling among us. We forget that he suffered every temptation that we did, yet was without sin. If we lose the humanity of Jesus, then we lose the truth of the Incarnation and we also lose the truth of the Resurrection.  Jesus put on flesh. He humbled Himself and became a man. We must not forget that. If we do, we lose the Savior. We are not able to relate to Him or approach Him.

The other extreme is the Buddy Jesus.  Jesus is my buddy and he takes care of me. He is my co-pilot, the Big Guy upstairs. This is also heresy. In this view, there is no reverence and no submission to the Lordship of Christ. He continually meets us on our terms.  He does not transcend our human existence and instead of being Lord of Lords and King of Kings, He exists to take care of me.

The next faulty image of Jesus that we hold is the Sunday School Jesus. We see flannelgraphs of Jesus and the little children in pastoral scenes. Of course this is a partially true representation of who Jesus is, but it is not the whole story. The Sunday School Jesus is a sanitized version of Jesus for middle class people who like to have their lives neat and tidy. It leaves off all of the offensive edges and presents Jesus in a way that is very safe and secure. Jesus does love the little children, no doubt. But, he does not just love them by securing for them a safe lifestyle. As Mr. Beaver in C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe said when asked if Aslan was safe, "Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good."

Hirsch went on to say, "If you want a nice, middle class life for your children, then hide the gospels from them. We have made Jesus into the teacher of middle class mediocrity."  Ouch. I think that many of the conference attenders began to squirm at this point. But, Hirsch went on, "It is easy for us to identity with the Pharisees. They created a manageable religion." He then asked us to list the good qualities of the Pharisees. We came up with this list:

• Kept theology pure - Anti idolatry
• Engaged in spiritual disciplines
• Defended Scripture
• Zealous, passionate
• Well-respected - custodians of the identity of Israel
• Holy
• Believed in miracles, the Resurrection, angels, were Messianic
• Tithed
• Leaders

These are the people who put Jesus on the Cross. Then he said that this is how Evangelical conservatives live today. Jesus affirms all of the actions of the Pharisees, but he told them that they had lost the heart of God in the midst of all of their good-doing.  God wants them to keep doing the former good things while not forgetting justice, mercy, sacrifice, and love. He said that it is easy for Evangelicals to do lots of good things, yet lose the heart of Jesus in the midst of it all.

Jesus surprises us. Everyone gets it wrong, even the religious experts. In Revelation 3, Jesus is knocking at the door of the Church at Laodicea to come in. Why? The Laodiceans have locked Jesus out. They love their wealth and oppulence.  But, you can't serve both God and money.  It is hard to live with Jesus. He demands everything of you.

Micah-the-Pastoral-Intern's Book Reviews

We have a brilliant pastoral intern this summer named Micah. He will be a senior in college this year and he is praying about going into vocational ministry. So as a formative experience, we developed a learning internship for him this summer. He has shadowed me to meetings and events and he went with me to the Alan Hirsch conference this past weekend in New Orleans. We've spent a lot of time together, and even though Micah's been a part of our church since he was 13, my respect for his heart for God and intellect has grown exponentially in the few weeks that we have been doing this.

I've given Micah quite a few books to read as the internship has begun and have asked him to write a short reflection on each book. We sit down and talk through it together, exploring different issues that emerge. Initially, we are looking at issues that might frame his perspective on ministry in the 21st Century. Where and how can he most faithfully represent Christ to a dying world?  He has posted his reviews online at http://collegerambling.blogspot.com/ .  You seriously need to check out his reviews from writers like Eugene Peterson, Ron Sider, Bob Roberts, Alan Hirsch, George Grant, Watchmen Nee, and Marty Duren (Micah is going to spend some time at Marty's church in North Georgia this weekend).  Micah will be interning with us through the summer and his experiences and learning have just begun. Keep him in your prayers, especially if you are a part of Gateway and you are reading this.  If you have any advice or encouragement for a young man trying to discern whether or not to enter vocational ministry, I'm sure that it would be appreciated.