You Must Choose A Side
Are we called to a battle that began in first-century Israel more than two thousand years ago? Is this what Jesus meant when he said he came to bring “fire on the earth?” Is it the same battle the early church experienced with the religious institutions out of which they, in time, left? The same battle that has raged throughout the centuries?
A battle against the adulteress relationship between the power-hungry, institutionalized church and the here-today-gone-tomorrow empires of this world?
To be clear: we can and should commit ourselves to be peacemakers and mercy givers. Together with meekness and purity of heart, these things are meant to shield us from the poison darts that would ensnare us in bitterness and rage. But this doesn’t change the fact that we are prophets. We see beyond the surface. Through the distractions. We recognize that the gospel really is good news. For all people. Whosoever will.
As we embrace this gospel, we can be certain that we will be insulted. That all manner of evil will be spoken against us falsely. Isn’t that what Jesus promised? “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.”
The “they” weren’t the sinners. The “they” were those who derogatorily designated him as a “friend of sinners.” The “they” were the religious power brokers who used their political influence to pull the levers of power that led to his crucifixion by the empire of his day.
Those religious power brokers haven’t disappeared. They are found, and will always be found, where there is money, power, prestige, and the praise of others. And these things are rarely found outside the institution.
But his disciples are called to follow Jesus outside the camp, to join him in what one man of God describes as “The Divine Conspiracy.”1
We are to join our Lord in the same battle that he fought. The battle that claimed his life. But in so doing, it ushered in an eternal kingdom that the gates of hades - found everywhere in this dying world - cannot stand against.
Not that it doesn’t feel like it. Those gates are strong, and the stench of death behind them is noxious.
So, we choose to die another death. Death to self. We choose this death because we believe what Jesus says - those who seek to save their lives in this world will lose them, but those who lose their lives will find them. We willingly die, knowing that through Jesus, death has lost its sting. We die knowing that the cross comes before the crown. Knowing that unless a seed falls into the earth and dies, there can be no harvest.
The apostle Paul called it “the good fight.” He spent his life battling those who would turn the Kingdom of God into an exclusivist club. “Here,” he boldly declared, “there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”*
How can we do anything less? How can we declare, instruct, and model before a divided world and a corrupt church anything less?
You can go home and bury the dead, or you can let the dead bury themselves. You can cling to your hole in the ground or your nest in the tree. Or you can “go to him, outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore,” and courageously choose to walk behind the one who said, “Follow me.”
A few thoughts from my Bible reading in Luke today.
In Christ,
Dan
*Scriptures referenced - Luke 12:49-56, Matthew 5:1-12, Luke 2:10, Revelation 22:17, John 15:20, John 12:43, Luke 11:39, Luke 12:15, Luke 9:58-60. Luke 7:34, I Corinthians 15:55, Matthew 16:18, John 12:24, I Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 4:7, John 24:22)
“The Divine Conspiracy. Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God,” by Dallas Willard.