Behind the Christian Cliché: "In the world, but not of it."

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
(John 17:14-21)

In the Christian circles I run in, the buzz words I hear all the time are missional, evangelical, and relevant. While I do not think that these terms are harmful, I am unsure of their effectiveness in relaying the message of the Christian lifestyle to the pew sitter. I think 21st century Christianity (at least in the United States) works like this:

1. The Pastor decides what he wants to talk about.
2. The Pastor then waters down his topic enough to make himself comfortable with it.
3. The Pastor additionally waters down his topic enough to not offend his Congregation (maintain job security).
4. The Pastor preaches to the Congregation
5. The Congregation hears and understands about 50% of the sermon, mostly the funny parts.
6. The Congregation then waters down the message so they don't have to change their lifestyle.
7. Christianity continues to look more and more like the surrounding secular culture.

While this is a sweeping generalization of Christian churches, I am afraid it is not too far off. Christians do however, maintain some clichés that help us to feel like we are really God's people living in a fallen world. One of these clichés is the idea that Christians should be "in the world, but not of it." When people say this, what they mean is that Christians are supposed to live in the midst of the world, but not live in the same way as the world. You can be a Christian and a businessman, because you can be in the business world, but not of it.

I worry that the we have watered down this concept so far as to make it unrecognizable. We have turned "in the world, but not of it" into a dualism between Christianity and so-called "everyday life." Here's an example: We think to ourselves, I can be rich, live in a big house, drive expensive cars, buy my wife expensive jewelry, and give my kids expensive playthings as long as I have the right set of beliefs (a la the Trinity and salvation by grace through faith). Here's another example: I can promote patriotism and nationalism, as long as I remember that we are "One nation under God." My last example: It's okay that I only associate with people exactly like me, as long as I remember that everyone is made in the image of God. These examples make me sick to my stomach, mostly because I can see myself in each of them.

Christians must stop ascribing to what the world considers normal. I have been challenged by people who say, "Why resist the way things are going? If we live differently it won't change anything." I think this is exactly the wrong attitude and such a perspective comes from Satan. We do not follow Jesus because it is a means to an end (i.e. the Christianization of the United States). We are to follow Christ because he offers the only true way. In Luke 12, Jesus is telling his followers to not worry about food, clothing or storing up goods and then he says:

For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
(Luke 12:30-33)

I believe that Christians don't live the way Jesus called us to live because they have a nagging doubt in the back of their mind that the Kingdom Jesus speaks of isn't real. It is much easier to ascribe to the ongoing systems in this world that we can see operating everyday. I believe this is the major calling of the Gospel that we have forgotten: Follow Jesus and believe that what he said is true, even if it seems contrary to the way things appear. It is easy to put our hope in Capitalism, political parties, or lifestyles of the rich and famous because we can see them happening everyday. As followers of Jesus we have a higher calling to be members of a better Kingdom. We do not have to be afraid to sell our possessions and give to the needy, or to turn the other cheek and pray for those who persecute us. Jesus says that is our Father's good pleasure to give us that Kingdom, because that is taking "hold of that which is truly life" (1 Timothy 6:19).

In C.S. Lewis' masterful work The Silver Chair, the story climaxes with the characters being trapped in the underworld of an evil witch. Her plan is to trap them in the underworld by convincing them that their world is not real. One of the characters answers her with this statement:

One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things - trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a playworld which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia.

This is what it means to be in the world, but not of it. Satan is trying to deceive us into believing that this world, this kingdom is all there is. We are to trust Jesus' call to live in the Kingdom of God. We do not need to hold onto the worldly status quo (politics, economics, materialism, greed, apathy, violence, etc..), we need simply to live as though the Gospel is True.

Why pluralism is a good thing...

If you know me well, or have ever spent more than four minutes with me, you probably understand that I have opinions. I have strong opinions on theology, music, books, sports, regions of the United States, and various other subject areas. More than that, I love sharing my opinions; and when I say sharing my opinions, I really mean trying to convince you that my opinions are in fact, correct.

As a lover of music, books, sports, the southeastern United States, and a multitude of other frivolities, I am fully alright with the fact that people with disagree with me. Not everyone has my taste in everything, and while I may still try to convert you love the books of Kurt Vonnegut, I am still able to sleep at night knowing that some do not. However, when it comes to religion, I am far more apprehensive about saying that I am right and you are right. Some of my more conservative friends would indeed say that it is a critical point of the Christian faith that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life" and the sole path to God. While I do not disagree with that fact, I am constantly trying to understand how such a reality is properly lived out in the world.

For instance, you have your classic evangelical apologist who insists that the only logical stance is to believe in God. "Look at the trees and the mountains and the stars: they all prove the existence of a creator," they say. On the other hand, you have your militant evolutionary biology touting atheist. "God is a delusion and to believe otherwise is to spit in the face of all that science has taught us," they exclaim with much the same insistence as a revival preacher. I am confused by both of these people. I believe God exists and I believe that science explains much of how the world came to be. It is not the scientific debate that concerns me, it is the foundation behind the argument.

I hear Christians quoting Psalm 14: "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" I believe in scripture, but I am not sure that all the atheists in the world are simply not smart enough to assent to some theological assertions. Does not Jeremiah 17:9 say, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" I want people to know and love God, but anyone will be convinced to follow Jesus by theological propositions. Furthermore, I think most Christians understand more theological facts than they do existential realities of following Jesus. More "believers" can tell you that God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent than can tell you the names of the widows or impoverished in their church (if there even are any).

I have spent much of my time trying to know as much as I can about Christianity: the Bible, church history, Hebrew, systematic theology, hermeneutics, apologetics, and the works of C.S. Lewis. Often times, everything I know leaves me feeling cold, confused and further from God than I want to be. This is not a confession of doubt in God, but rather a deep doubt in what we are able to know. I am certain about my faith, but I am uncertain about life. Pluralism is a good thing because it reminds me that I am not the only person that does not know everything. I think some of my beliefs are more correct than those of others (sometimes much more and sometimes not so much).

As a Religious Studies major, I often see my colleagues becoming interested in or involved in the Interfaith movement. I am not so interested in this movement. My experience has been that many in the Interfaith movement want to tell me why even though I am a Christian, I am also a Jew, Buddhist, and Hindu. I grow very frustrated with these people because I do not understand why I would want to be all of those things. Such a life would seem to me to be riddled with contradictions. Can I eat pork or beef? Am I only to eat vegetables? Are there many gods who are a manifestation of one or is there only one god, or none? No, I definitely cannot and do not want to be a member of multiple religions. The "all paths lead to the same place idea" is nonsensical to me.

However, pluralism in its cultural sense is fantastic because it allows us to live together. That's a start, I think.

Grieving the Holy Spirit (Part 1)

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

(Ephesians 4:30)

Lately, I have spent much time meditating and reflecting on the enormous gravity of my sin. While this is not the most entertaining and lighthearted pastime, it has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. When we think of sin, we tend to think of specific actions such as lying, stealing, adultery, murder, and other deplorable deeds. The problem with such a view of sin is that we usually fail to bring the conviction we need. We Christians are usually far too easy on ourselves when it comes to the places where sin is present in our lives.

I have this theory that there has been a shift in evangelical Christianity over the past 100 or so years. The discussion of sin has moved from the sins of the congregations to the sins of the pagans. The major moral issues that evangelicalism has taken on have been twofold: Homosexuality and abortion. The problem with this very narrow-minded moral view is that it requires nothing from the churchgoer. The preacher tells his congregation, "Do not be a homosexual!" And they respond, "Thank you Jesus for not making me a homosexual!" The preacher says, "Do not have abortions!" The men respond, "Well there's nothing I can do about that." The women respond, "I haven't had an abortion, so I must be perfect." Meanwhile, the sin that the church is not addressing is running rampant in the congregation.

I just recently finished a fairly in-depth study of the book of Isaiah and there is one passage that I continue to think about again and again:

Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O LORD; we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

(Isaiah 26:17-18)

This passage resonates in my heart in such a profound way it is almost breathtaking. I look back at my life as a Christian -- my purportedly "new life" -- and I see how much God has done. I recollect about the times when I have been brought to tears by the beauty of Christ's death and resurrection. I remember missions trips, specific instances of intercessory prayer, and every great sermon I have ever heard. I see all the ways in which I have been moved by the Holy Spirit, but still allow sin to have its way with me. I think about Paul's words to the Ephesians where he says, "we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10), but I feel more like I am grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).

I am convinced that I cannot continue living my life this way. I recently read a fascinating quote from Jacques Cousteau (who actually is paraphrasing Gandhi):

“If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed [and] if we are not willing [to change], we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect.”

As a Christian, I have long thought that my sin was a personal issue between God and myself. When I am angry, I owe God an apology for not being loving. When I am greedy, I ought to ask God for forgiveness for my lack of generosity. While I still think that sin is between us and God, I think that Satan has fed us lies that our sins does not have an effect outside of ourselves. Obviously, if I murdered someone this would effect the person I murdered, that person's family, and probably other people as well. But we don't tend to think about other sins in this way. When I am being greedy, I am preventing myself from being generous. Therefore, I am sinning against those in need around me. When I am angry, I am not loving my neighbor, so I probably need to ask for forgiveness from whoever my neighbor happens to be at the time.

Sin prevents us from living as a fruitful citizens of the Kingdom. The message of the Gospel is not only (or even primarily) about what we receive from Jesus, but rather what Jesus enables us to give back (see 2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Christians are not called to become rulers, but servants. Maybe when Paul tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit, he is reminding us that our sin inhibits the Holy Spirit from working in us "to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). For the rest of this "Grieving the Holy Spirit" series, I am going to talk about some sins I think are prevalent among the church (because I know they are in my own heart) and what good works they are keeping us from.

It's Not Easy Being A Pharaoh

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

(Romans 9:17)

This morning I was meditating on the story of the Exodus. Obviously, this is a well known story for Jews and Christians alike, but I have been thinking about it in a new light recently. There are some basics of the story that I find to be devastating when I apply them to my own life. For instance:

• God's people are slaves in a foreign land
• God uses an exile (from two groups of people) to free His people
• God's speech to the powerful goes ignored
• 9 plagues aren't enough to get Pharaoh's attention
• It takes the death of the Pharaoh's firstborn to break him

As much as I wish that I could write about how I can relate to the oppression and yearning for freedom of the Hebrews, I have more in common with another character in the story. Unfortunately, that character is the Pharaoh. Pharaoh believes that he has power over the world, and his own nation's religion tells him that he is the most important. Pharaoh has a very clear message spoken to him by God's appointed messenger, but his response is very much like my own. I make excuses, I justify myself, and then I refuse to listen. Pharaoh's whole existence is built around preserving the status quo, if he can just keep going about his normal business and just ignore God's voice, everything will be fine.

Unfortunately, this is not the reality God has in mind. God's plan is to turn the status quo upside down. Things cannot continue as normal because only God is allowed to dictate what is normal. We would prefer for God to comfort us and love us for "who we are," but that is not the message of the Bible. Instead we hear:

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thought.

(Isaiah 55:6-9)

People like reading the second part of this passage as encouragement that God has a plan for their life and it will all work out well. While this may in fact be the case, they need heed the first part. We are called to forsake our wicked thoughts and ways. Just because we are forgiven by God does not mean we may continue living in open rebellion to him. If our sin is a sword of destruction, we must begin beating it into a plowshare of obedience (Isaiah 2:4).

When Jesus says, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39), he is not being poetic. God made demands of Pharaoh and unfortunately Pharaoh refused to comply. I do not want to live like Pharaoh refusing to listen to God's clear commands on my life. Jesus, save me from the plagues of disobedience to your will.

The Gospel of Inactivity

"Like a pregnant woman

who writhes and cries out in her pangs

when she is near to giving birth,

so we were because of you, O Lord;

we were pregnant, we writhed,

but we have given birth to wind.

We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,

and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen."

- Isaiah 26:17-18

I have been reflecting on Isaiah recently, and these verses really stuck out to me. Isaiah is lamenting over Israel, God's agents of deliverance in the world, who are a people who cry out for God, but accomplish nothing. Israel as a people sought God when they were in distress and God continued to deliver. This however, made no change in the way God's people lived.

What is so striking to me personally about Isaiah's bemoaning is what actually is to saddening him. Most of the time when people are mourning, they are mourning the loss of a person, a possession, or maybe a place. Isaiah is clearly mourning over his nation's sins. He wishes that his people had done more to change the world acting as God's emissaries. His last line there is convicting, "We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen."

I believe the church needs to consider Isaiah's words. Sometimes I fear that Stephen's words to the Sanhedrin are coming to true for Jesus' church:

"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."

(Acts 7:51-53)

We Christians claim that the ultimate miracle of miracles happened in the form of the incarnation: God came to earth. Jesus' ministry on earth was not neither ambiguous nor deceiving. He taught, he healed, and he made it possible that people would come into a right relationship with God. If it weren't enough to have God on earth, Jesus called apostles to preach and teach the word for years after his ascension to heaven. There has never been an absence of God's word to the world, there has only been an absence of hearing.

Nowadays the church (particularly in the United States), spends it's time largely ignoring Jesus. We relegate him to Lord of Heaven and Earth, but not of our houses, businesses, families, political parties or lifestyles. Jesus is a means to an end, namely salvation. He is a tool in the divine toolbox of our comfort. This ethos of passivity that I too am so guilty of cannot stand in light of the true Jesus. Christ does not speak words of comfort and rest to us. He says, "Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matthew 3:10).

I need to have the same spirit of Isaiah, one that compels him to action and sacrifice. I do not want to look back at my life and mourn over my failures for the world. I want to celebrate the beautiful ways God has worked in my life to further the Kingdom. When I look at the world around me I see people striving after some ounce of power or control in their life. I think this lust for power is actually a good sign. As Thomas Traherne puts it:

The noble inclination whereby man thirsteth after riches and dominion, is his highest virtue, when rightly guided; and carries him as in a triumphant chariot, to his sovereign happiness. Men are made miserable only by abusing it. Taking a false way to satisfy it, they pursue the wind: nay, labour in the very fire, and after all reap but vanity.

All of our life's desires for power, control and authority are but misguided aspirations for our life's true calling. I hear many people say that they do not want their lives to be boring or meaningless. People who have no relationship with Jesus pursue philanthropy because they want to connect with some greater purpose. The Body of Christ needs to preach and live the fact that following Christ is neither boring nor idle. True salvation as Stanley Hauerwas puts it is coming into the middle of God's story. A story that "began without us, as a story of the peculiar way God is redeeming the world, a story that invites us to come forth and be saved by sharing in the work of a new people who God has created in Israel and Jesus."

Things I need and other things...

Things I Don't Need:

• 10 pairs of shoes
• multiple jackets and sweaters (it isn't even cold in Phoenix)
• the box of random electronics that sits idle in my closet
• four tennis racquets...i'm not as Roger Federer as I think I am

Things I Think I Need, But I Really Don't Need:

• my giant book collection
• my car...walking+bicycle+bus+light rail= getting to 99% of the places I need to go
• my snow skis and boots...they get used once or twice a year at this point
• two longboards (skateboards not surfboards)...anyone want a free longboard?
• In'N'Out Burger, Chipotle or Hungry Howie's pizza at least once a week

Things I Need:

• enough clothes to get me through about a week and a half in a couple seasons
• my bicycle
• my Bible...I think I have too many of these in fact
• my guitar...as much as I talking about wanting a new one, I just need this one
• simplicity in lifestyle and in mind
• to meet the people and remember the names of the people in my apartment complex
• to find ways to serve the poor around me
• to eat healthy, but not too healthy
• the church
• to figure out what I really need and what I really don't
• to follow Jesus as closely as possible...i see this as the only viable option

A burr under their saddles...

On more than a few occasions, I've read or heard people say something to the effect of, "We need a new kind of Christianity." The saying has always irked me largely because I see it as being incredibly arrogant. As I've studied church history, I often feel like we are not in need of a new Christianity, but rather an old one. That aside, when people declare a desire for new Christianities, I generally become very skeptical. However, if you're like me than I think we can all agree that there is something wrong with the church at large.

Without hitting too many specific issues, I'd like to voice my opinion that the church is losing its voice in society, but not for the reasons we think. Evangelicals have made claims that the world is losing respect for Christians because they have a low view the Bible, morals, traditional families, or all of the above. It would be convenient for us to claim that the world has turned on us because we are different, but I am not so sure that is the case. Right wing, ultra-conservative Christians have tried to claim that there is a war against Christians (and Christmas for that matter), but I think this may be a major overstatement.

I would offer that the reason Christians are losing their voice is because far from being different than the world, we have become all too similar. Our families look more or less the same as non-Christian families, our spending habits and business practices are almost no different from our secular counterparts, our views on most moral issues (except abortion and gay rights obviously) are no different than the general populations. We drive the same cars, live in the same neighborhoods, go to the same gyms and watch the same movies.

Now some of those similarities are innocuous enough (heaven forbid if all Christians all move into one neighborhood together), but we are a far cry from what I believe Jesus calls us to. In Matthew 5:16, Christ calls us to "let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Furthermore, the Apostle Paul exhorts the Philippians saying,

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:14-15)

I would offer that there is a major problem when Christ's ambassadors to the world appear just like the "crooked and twisted generation"? If such a unique and supernatural thing as conversion has occurred in the lives of believers, than why does nothing appear different? I think if we examine the context of Paul's letter to the Philippians, we might find some help.

We must remember that Paul is writing this epistle during the time of Roman Imperialism. Rome has occupied nearly all of the Mediterranean world, and thus the church at Philippi would have well known the distinction between a Roman citizen and a native person living in a territory conquered by Rome. These citizens had certain privileges and rights that were endowed to them by the government. Though he himself was a Roman citizen, Paul writes:

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27)

Translators have never been able to capture the full meaning of the phrase they translate as "manner of life." The Greek word used here is politeuomai (πολιτεύομαι), which means to behave as a citizen. I think this beautifully captures a truth that Christians then needed to understand, and we today are in need of reminding.

I think Paul is great a turning his readers' worlds upside down. For instance here, he is no doubt reminding people that among them are Roman citizens. They are endowed certain rights by Rome (whether by birth or by purchase), and these rights accord to them luxuries and esteem. But for Christians, Paul says, your citizenship is not of any nation or country, but of a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36). Unlike Roman citizens, this citizenship doesn't afford us luxuries, but calls us to a new life. Christ calls us not become his followers who will serve and not be served. Or as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 9:8, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work."

If you're an American you need to understand that your first pledge is to him who says, "To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance" (Isaiah 45:23). If you're British your primary service is not to the Crown, but to him who "is crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9).

We have assimilated our souls to cultures that do not value the things of God. We have become so immersed in these dark places that we forget just how much Jesus stands in opposition to the ways of this world. We've traded the Fruit of the Spirit for consumerism, materialism, greed, violence, egotism and indifference. We fail to remember that Paul writes:

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; (1 Corinthians 1:27).

As Christians, our lives should be such that we confound the ways of this world. When Christians heed the words of Christ and begin loving their enemies, our war torn world will come to us to learn about peace. When followers of Jesus denounce their treasures on earth in favor of their heavenly treasures, the world will come to us to learn generosity. Christians should be a burr under the saddles of the world, so irritating and extraordinary that their only response would be "give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven." Christians need to stop masquerading as citizens of this world with redeemed Sunday mornings. I pray that God would not judge us too harshly for the ways we have forgotten our first love.