Believe it or not, October 31 is more than just an opportunity to dress up as a character from Squid Game, or to eat so much candy you never want to see a Snickers again (at least for a few more days anyway). It is the opportunity to reflect on a much more significant occasion… Reformation Day!

For those who might not be too familiar with church history, it was on October 31, 1517, that the great church reformer, Martin Luther, nailed his famous Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg church in Germany. This event came to be seen as a watershed moment for the emergence of what would later be called “Protestantism.”

At the time, Luther intended to ignite a much-needed debate within the church of Rome. He had hoped this would lead to the inward reform of the church in both doctrine and practice. And while Luther was certainly a flawed human being (especially by modern standards), it does not seem to be the case that he was a schismatic bent on dividing the church. And in fact, some prominent Catholics, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, were in substantial agreement with a number of Luther’s critiques. Nevertheless, history tells us that things didn’t quite work out as he had planned. And, over time, a mass movement emerged, aided by the recent invention of the printing press.

One cannot underestimate the significance the Reformation had for reshaping the cultural landscape of Europe. European countries began breaking away from the Roman church and established their own variations of what came to be known later as “Protestant” churches. And of course, it was members of Protestant churches who first set sail for the New World. And so quite uniquely, the United States was not simply a nation influenced by Christianity in a generic sense, but was uniquely marked from its inception by a Protestant ethos.

So, in light of Reformation Day, I’d like to offer three things we can learn from the Reformation in retrospect:

1. WE MUST ALWAYS KEEP THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL AT THE CENTER OF THE CHURCH.

While I personally lament the rampant divisions so often seen in the church today (a sentiment grounded in Scripture, see 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; 3:1-4), there are in fact times when it is necessary to make hard decisions to separate ourselves from “professing” Christians who in fact deny the Gospel.

While Luther had numerous complaints against the Catholic church, at the heart of the matter was the concern about how, and in what way, sinners were made right with God. This was no secondary issue. And I believe what Luther was defending was the very doctrine of the Apostle Paul who taught, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Though it is true that the newly developed Protestant churches each held various distinctives, they were united by, what one of my professors has called, “mere Protestant Christianity.”¹ In other words, there was a historical, Protestant core that positively set forth the essence of the Gospel. These have also been referred to as the five solas (“Scripture alone,” “Faith alone,” “Grace alone,” “Christ alone,” “to the Glory of God alone”). And I believe it is urgent that we reclaim and celebrate these core beliefs lest our churches be washed out to sea by the seeker-friendly tide.

Moreover, if we do not keep the Gospel at the center of our churches, then something else will take its place. And when the Gospel is de-centered, Christians will more easily join the ranks of other social groups who also don’t have the Gospel as their center. And worse still, many more may sever their ties from genuine Christians with whom they disagree on non-Gospel issues.

But Protestantism should not be an excuse to divide over foolish things, but a clarion call to remain steadfast in the essential things.

2. WE SHOULD RENEW OUR COMMITMENT TO THE LOCAL CHURCH.

Reformation Day reminds us that we wouldn’t be where we are today, if it weren’t for those who long ago fully committed their lives for the spread of the Gospel through the church.

While COVID and the many issues related to it have certainly complicated and challenged local church ministry in numerous ways, yet God’s plan to form disciples in the image of Christ through the church has not changed. But what would it look like for us to renew our commitment to the local church at this particular moment?

For obvious reasons, physical attendance in church was highlighted over the past year and a half. But what about the vital areas of giving and serving? If we are truly committed to the flourishing of the local church, then we must not mislead people into believing that being a church member is reducible to “parking your carcass” (as my high school math teacher would say) in an auditorium once a week.

The word “fellowship” in Greek κοινωνίᾳ refers to “joint participation in a shared pursuit.” It means to be equally invested in something. Think of The Lord of the Rings for a moment. The Fellowship of the Ring didn’t mean Gandalf, Gimli, Legolas, and others sat around and clapped while Frodo went into Mordor by himself. Fellowship meant they gave and served, not merely attended.

Perhaps renewal today would result in a paradigm shift in which churchgoers ask, if I may paraphrase the late President John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your church can do for you, ask what you can do for your church.”

3. WE SHOULD CULTIVATE A GREATER SENSE OF APPRECIATION FOR CHRISTIAN HISTORY.

As American Christians, it is easy to forget that at one time it was a foregone conclusion that if you lived in the West, and you were a Christian, you could only be a Roman Catholic. At one time, you could not own a Bible or read it in your own language. And there was a time when an individual could not worship according to their conscience, but rather, the forms of worship would be legally prescribed by a state-controlled church for all.

Forgetting the past is the surest way to repeat its errors. I pray our churches would all do a better job of cultivating awareness of, and practicing gratitude for, all those brothers and sisters who have gone before us and made our understanding of the Gospel possible.

So, wherever you are this October 31, take a moment and thank the Lord both that we have had the Gospel of grace preached to us, and for the faithful saints of old who have made our religious freedom possible. And let us also consider what we can do to show our love for Christ by solidifying our commitment to His church today.

_{Article Updated: Originally published on October 31, 2019}

_Notes:

_{¹ Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Biblical Authority After Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2016.}

Last Thursday the city of Philadelphia welcomed home, for the first time ever, their Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. Somewhere between 700,000 and 2,000,000 people showed up to celebrate the Eagles’ historic upset with a champions’ parade downtown.¹ And a big part of that remarkable win was due to the stellar play of Philly quarterback, Nick Foles. While Tom Brady has dominated football headlines for more than a decade, it was the unlikely back-up quarterback, Foles, who helped his team bring home the Lombardi trophy.

And as it turns out, Foles’ personal story also speaks out about the human quest to find our deepest purpose.

About a year or so prior to his MVP performance in the Super Bowl, Foles was seriously considering leaving the game of football behind. He had been let go by the Rams in 2016 and could no longer see the purpose in playing football anymore. In fact, in one interview he revealed that he had simply lost all joy in playing the game. As he later recounted, “I think as people, we deal with struggles. And that was a moment in my life where I thought about it, and I prayed about it.”²

As a follower of Jesus, Foles knew he had a big decision to make, and he didn’t want to do it without his family and without the leading of the Lord. Ironically, what he prayed about specifically was whether to quit football and whether to become a pastor. He had been taking seminary courses and preparing for the day he would leave football, but the question of whether or not that moment had yet come was unclear. As a Christian, which would be the right call?

Some would answer that only a fool would give up a pro-football career to, of all things, be a pastor. Others might say the more glorifying thing to God would be to quit football and do “God’s work.” But as it turned out, Foles’ theology was, in my opinion, better than many. He saw that it is not so much a matter of which is more important, football or pastoring, but of glorifying God. As it turns out, the answer to how best glorify God was to keep playing football. After praying about it, Foles explained, “It took a lot more faith to come back and play than it would’ve to go in the other direction…Either way would’ve been fine. Either way, I would’ve trusted in God. I would’ve done something else and glorified God in that instance.”³

Foles’ example of understanding the call to glorify God in all of life, wherever we are, in any vocation, is vital to the church’s ability to be “salt and light” to the watching world.

Christianity is not supposed to be a retreat from the world, but an advancement as God’s people into it. As the Apostle Paul said, “And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father” (Colossians 3:17). Any job becomes a calling, when we let Jesus speak and work through us.

As a pastor over the last 10 years, I have watched men and women come alive when it finally clicks with them that their jobs are not less spiritual than my job (or any other “ministry” position for that matter). But rather, when the reality that the place to which God calls you (which for most people will not be church employment) is the most spiritual place you can be, people become reinvigorated about their jobs. And why shouldn’t they, the average person spends more time at work each week than any other place, including sleep!⁴ We need people at work both in the church and in the world in order to fulfill our calling collectively as the body of Christ. It will be crucial in the years to come to see whether Christians in America will, once again, integrate their faith and their work. In addition to a great game of football, Nick Foles’ personal story becomes an illustration about how we can find our deepest purpose by following Jesus wherever He leads, especially to our places of work.

¹ “Eagles’ Parade Crowd Estimate Riles Disbelieving Fans”– The Inquirer
² “Nick Foles Went from Thinking About Retirement to Super Bowl MVP in Just Two Years”– WGN 9
³ “Nick Foles Plans to Become a Pastor After Football”– ABC NEWS
⁴ Weisman, Michael and Beth Jusino, Choosing Higher Ground: Working and Living in the Values Economy, Santa Ana, CA: Nortia, 2016. Print.

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Last Sunday’s game was, by many accounts, either one of the best Super Bowls in recent memory, or perhaps the best ever (hard to argue with the latter if you are an Eagles’ fan). In any case, such an enormous public platform as the Super Bowl (an estimated 103.4 million tuned in for the game) becomes a medium not only for the athletic skills of the various players, but for their respective personal stories as well. Two of the main stories going into the game were the personal stories of New England quarterback Tom Brady and Philadelphia quarterback Nick Foles. As interesting as these stories are in their own right, from a Christian perspective, they are interesting for the ways in which they compare and contrast with a Christian worldview, and for how they might both help God’s people to compete in the arena of life.

Going into the game, the Patriots were the odds makers’ favorite to win the Super Bowl by a 4.5 margin, and the biggest reason for that was New England’s Tom Brady. Brady is without question one of the greatest, if not the greatest quarterback of all time (I did grow up in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Joe Montana era, so I understand the argument for him as well). Under his leadership, New England has established itself as one of the most dominant franchises in NFL history. Tom, himself, is smashing past records left and right. And to add to that, he is playing at 40 years old and still playing at the highest level (he passed for 505 yards, a new Super Bowl record). His commitment to the game, his willingness to learn, to change his diet, to explore alternative training and therapy, are inspiring as we all realize that while age really can slow us down, many times it is because we let it.

As a Christian, and a man who is about the same age as Tom Brady, I have become more and more convinced that our best years could be, and perhaps should be, in front of us.

One of the things that motivates Brady to continue playing and challenging himself is the belief that because he has seen so much more of his opponents’ formation and plays over the years, he ought to be able to respond even better now than ever before. Simply put, he has become much wiser. As Christians, as we grow in the Lord, and we see the many looks or temptations the Devil throws our way, we too ought to be learning, growing and responding better than ever before. Our spiritual life should be thriving, and perhaps, it is in our later years where we are meant to do even more for God than in our younger years. While it is true that we have to take our limits seriously, it is equally true that we must not impose false limitations on ourselves that keep us from pursuing God’s call on our lives.

At the beginning of episode five of his “Tom vs.Time” videos, Brady says, “Spirituality means a lot of different things to different people, for me, it’s your deepest purpose.” While one could critique this statement biblically and theologically, I find it quite useful. For Tom, his deepest purpose is to be the most he can be, not just on the field, but also at home with his family. This is admirable, and I could certainly think of worse purposes. But from a Christian perspective, something is missing. Christianity wants to say, yes, spirituality is your deepest purpose, but it is not something you decide for yourself. And as great as sports or family may be, they are ultimately not our greatest purpose. One of the great fathers of the early church, St. Augustine, summarized the mystery of life’s purpose this way, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” Our deepest purpose is to know the only true and living God, and Jesus Christ whom God has sent (John 17:3). So if we are truly finding our purpose, we will be constantly learning, growing and attempting great things for the kingdom. May what was said of Job be true of us, may our latter years be more blessed than the first (Job 42:12).

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

The Grinch’s Epiphany:

But the sound wasn’t sad!
Why, this sound was merry!
It couldn’t be so!
But it WAS merry! Very!

He stared down at Who-ville!
The Grinch popped his eyes!
Then he shook!
What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!

He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?
“It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
“It came without packages, boxes or bags!”
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
“Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!” – Dr. Suess

As the Grinch acknowledged, Christmas has meaning beyond the mere gifts and celebratory rituals that it often involves.

But what is that meaning?

Christmas often becomes a time when we all slow down, but only after we’ve first sped up. We might receive some time off work, reflect on the present state of our relationships, and in general, take an inventory of our lives. And quite often, perhaps in the vast majority of cases, we reflect on our temporal circumstances. We reflect even more deeply on our singleness if we are unmarried or our marriage if married. The pain and difficulty of estranged children, parents and other relatives intensifies. We reflect on the current state of our profession and what it means to adequately or inadequately provide for our families through it, and whether or not our current vocations truly suits our God-given gifts. We reflect on the loved ones we have lost and can no longer share a Christmas with. As parents, we may reflect on the gifts we are able or unable to give to our children. But none of this is what Christmas is truly about.

There are, in fact, different levels of meaning to Christmas. The first level of meaning is the materialistic one. It says that meaning is found in the buying and receiving of stuff. The second level, which is a little bit closer, which the Grinch was onto, is the relational one. This says that meaning is found in my relationships to other people, family and friends in particular. But the third level is the one that we are called to receive, guard and pass on as Christians, and that is the spiritual one. This says that meaning is found in my relationship to God, who is, in fact, the source of both relationships and material gifts.

The Good News of Christmas is not about our outward circumstances. In fact, the Christmas story itself is set within the kind of outward circumstances that one might call “a bad Christmas experience.” Think for a moment. On the eve of Christmas, Jesus’ parents were about to get a divorce. They had to move while Mary was nine months pregnant to a place where they had no home and ended up staying and giving birth in an animal shelter. There was no midwife or doctor. Hardly anyone celebrated Jesus’ birth, save for some strangers. And almost immediately, they had to pack up and flee for their lives, as the ruling political authority wanted to kill their Child, thus forcing them to migrate to a foreign country to avoid persecution.

Outwardly, there is nothing in this story that we could envy for ourselves. And yet, this is THE Christmas story. A “good Christmas” is not defined by our singleness or our marriages, it is not measured by the presence or loss of family members, it is not measured by how much money we make, or how much we like our jobs, it is not defined by our friends, or our enemies, nor how many presents are under the tree.

Rather, a “good Christmas” is defined by our capacity to grasp the nearness of God in our lives.

Not despite difficult circumstances, but because of them. A “good Christmas” is one that is formed by and conformed to the story of Jesus Christ. A “good Christmas” is defined by our actual practice of focusing on the fact that the God who made the world, the God who made you, loves you, lived for you and died for you, has come as close as close could be into our world. A “good Christmas” is defined by our recognition that God is not only our distant creator, but our present sustainer and precious redeemer.

What you do, how you do it and why you do it, all contribute to forming who you are as a human being, who you are as a family, who we are as a church and who we are as a nation.

So, receive the Gift of Meaning this Christmas, and pass it on as a gift to someone else.

“I don’t know how, but by the glory of God, he shoots at my head but hits my hand.” –Angel Colon, survivor of the Orlando nightclub massacre.

“So God created human beings in his own image.”

“In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them… And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image” (Genesis 1:27, 9:5-6 NLT)

Last Sunday morning, just after 2am, a man named Omar Mateen entered the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where over 300 men and women were celebrating Gay Pride week and opened fire on the crowd. In all, Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 53 more before the local S.W.A.T. team shot him dead. Since that time, stories have emerged about the horrors that occurred inside the club during the shooting. Some barricaded themselves in bathrooms, frantically texting loved ones, begging them to call the police for help. Others prayed out to God, begging Him to spare their lives. Some saw deliverance. Too many never made it out alive. In the aftermath, the Internet and social media have been buzzing with information, with countless people weighing in on the situation and sharing their thoughts.

One of the interesting streams of thought I have seen in the last few days is the idea that Christians can’t have compassion on the victims and the victims’ families, because Christians do not support the practice of homosexuality.

In fact, even though Mateen was a Muslim who claimed to commit his atrocity for ISIS (and ISIS has since acknowledged that Mateen was one of their soldiers), some have said Christians are to blame for this kind of violence against the LGBT community.

So, how should Christians respond to such an accusation?

In this article, I hope to clear the air about the basic premise of Christian ethics, apologize if Christ has been misrepresented by some and share the hope of the Gospel for the LGBT community (and everyone else as well).

The starting point for Christian ethics must begin with what theologians have referred to as the imago Dei, the image of God. It appears first in the Genesis passages cited above. While on the surface this seems to be a fairly simple subject, it has caused all kinds of speculation, which has subsequently led to speculative ethical systems. One main idea that may be found under the label of “Christian” is the idea that the image of God is not an inherent quality in all human beings in our world today. Some would say that it has been completely erased and now is only found in a select few, namely, Christians. However, against this idea you will notice first that human beings as represented in Adam and Eve are all made in the image of God, which means that all of their descendants, regardless of gender, color, class, sexual orientation, etc. are created in the image of God. But some will object and say, “Well, that was true before sin entered the world, but now that it has, unless you are a Christian, you no longer bear the image of God.” This faulty and potentially dangerous idea is refuted by the latter citation above from Genesis 9:5-6.

While it is certainly true that sin has distorted the image of God in all human beings, we must be sure to affirm that this sinful condition is true of all human beings, not just some.

All human beings are tainted.

Sinfulness is, ironically, a universal quality that binds all human beings together regardless of gender, color, class, sexual orientation, etc. Sin does not discriminate (Neither is death a respecter of persons). However, despite this truth, it is quite clear that throughout Christian history there have been some sins that have been overlooked or even approved of by the church, while others are condemned. In fact, it is often those that decry a particular sin the most that are most guilty of sins of a similar kind. Self-justification is an ugly reality that depends upon an “us versus them” mentality created through false dichotomies between different groups of sinners. This false dichotomy, in service of self-justification, is seen clearly in the story Jesus told about the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14. The church must repent of any such hypocrisy, pretending that some are sinners while others aren’t. The church has all kinds of heterosexual sin going on (and host of sins of a non-sexual nature I might add), and it seems all too convenient to place their own blame and shame onto the LGBT community. All people are united in that we bear the image of God as creatures, and we are also united as inheritors of rebellion against the God who made us in His image.

Additionally, while the image of God in humanity is not what it should be, it is not altogether lost either. The biblical tradition recorded by Moses here in Genesis 9:5-6 clearly states that even after the Fall, the reality of fallen human beings still bearing the marks of God’s hand (to some extent or another) is the very basis for the prohibition against murder. It is universally wrong to murder another human being in cold-blood because all human beings, Christian or otherwise, retain something of the image of God. In other words, the Christian interpretation of the events at Orlando are thus: “A man made in God’s image (I’m still wrestling with what it means to love enemies like this-Matthew 5:44) chose to terminate the lives of 49 human beings made in God’s image.” It doesn’t matter where the victims were, what they did, what they believed, or where they came from; they each had value, worth and dignity; and thus, they ought also to have in the sight of those who claim to know God. A person that cannot condemn these attacks and cannot seriously grieve with those who are grieving does not have the love of God.

But if all human beings have inherent value, worth and dignity, then what place does the Gospel of Jesus Christ have?

Another mistaken notion about the imago Dei is that human beings are not fallen (I see this partly as an overreaction to those that erase the image of God and dignity of others). Some would say that not only are all human beings made in the image of God, but also everything that comes natural to us is a clear, unadulterated reflection of the divine. While this was true for the first human pair, it has never been true for a single person since. Beginning in Genesis 3, the human story is one of banishment from the God in whose image we were made. There is a brokenness, a disconnect, a disorienting of our moral and spiritual compass. Sin is the refusal to be fully human, to be who we really are, to accept Jesus as the center of our identity. The Gospel is not about bestowing worth on human beings, but about renewing all the aspects of our being; so that we reflect the image of God we were originally designed for. Jesus is the only human being since the first human pair to be born without sin. And unlike our ancient ancestors, Jesus lived a life that fully reflects what the image of God is meant to look like in all of us. God is reorienting all of us around Jesus. Jesus is God’s plan for humanity.

Our hope and prayer after this tragic event should be for unity, redemption and hope.

Unity, because we are all human. Redemption, because we are all sinners. Hope, because one day God “…Will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (Revelation 21:4, NLT)

Even if you are not a big sports fan, this last Wednesday night (April 13th) was a momentous night.

I don’t keep up with sports the way I used to, but when I heard that Kobe Bryant’s legendary career with the Lakers was coming to an end, I just had to watch. I was torn, because just three clicks away on my satellite remote, I could’ve watched the Warriors beat the ’95-’96 Chicago Bulls (led by the legendary Michael Jordan, no less!) record of 72 wins in a season, which they did. But I chose to watch Kobe’s final game instead.

This is no surprise if you are a Lakers fan, what else would you do?! But I’m not. I never hated the Lakers, but I’ve never been a fan either (truth be told, I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and was a Warriors fan, go Dubs!). No, I chose to watch the game, because I wanted to see history happen. Or should I say more precisely, I wanted to watch the present BECOME history.

At this stage of my own life, I couldn’t help but be in a sense of awe and melancholy throughout the game, not just at Kobe’s final performance of 60 points (which, incidentally, set a new points record for a final game by an NBA player), but at slowly absorbing the fact that even the best, the brightest and the once youngest, fade from TV screen to memory. Everyone fades.

I asked myself, what is Kobe going to do after basketball? How is he going to handle the new reality that what he is most known for, and has come to identify himself as, will no longer be a living reality?

Of course, I’m not suggesting he will be forgotten tomorrow. He will be spoken of as long as the sport of basketball is around. But he cannot be watched as he once was. He will no longer compete against basketball’s greatest and tower over them. He will no longer receive the familiar shouts and applause and praise heaped upon week after week during the basketball season. No. Last night, in a moment, his career suddenly became a past tense.

It made me think about what any of us do with our lives, and what we do when we get to a certain point where we realize the best may be behind us.

Truth is, most of us never have, nor will be the very best in the world at what we do (this is why people love sports, they get to feel that somehow they too were the best, living vicariously through their favorite athletes). The hope for many is to keep on trying to be the best, hoping that if one day it becomes true, then perhaps we’d be secure in our identity forever. But Kobe’s final performance proved that that is not true. Not even for the best in the world. Even stars fade.

The moment Wednesday night’s game came to end, Kobe made the transition in memory from “he is the best” to “he was the best.” I actually think people like him may have a harder time dealing with transition in life than the average person. After all, how do you top off a career like that? You can’t. You simply try to enjoy things you were not able to along the way. Maybe spend more time with his family. I heard he’s starting a story company; using his money to try to secure a new meaningful identity and contribute to society in some other way. But make no mistake, he is not going to work because he needs the income (he has a net worth of $350 million!)… he needs the significance.

In the end, every human being, whether small or great, longs for significance. In the end, we will all realize that nothing we do lasts forever.

Before I suggest that what Kobe Bryant and every other human being needs is Christ, let me first say that becoming a Christian does not automatically cure, or fix, or meet or satisfy our need for significance. Becoming a Christian is not the end but only the beginning of living a life that lasts, a life of eternal significance. The truth is that in every believer, there is a struggle, a battle, between the flesh and the spirit. And we ought not to assume that because we DO a “Christian” activity, that that guarantees our identity and significance. It doesn’t.

Even as believers, as spouses, as parents, as workers, as artists, as evangelists, as pastors or church staff, we attempt to justify our own significance, as though significance is something we can achieve ourselves.

The secret to significance is to bathe in the reality that we can never achieve it. Significance is a gift. It is a gift, because Jesus was God’s gift to us. Significance is something that we were all given, when we first believed.

The perennial struggle for the Christian is that, after we first believe, we are tempted to believe that now, if we just do the right things, we can contribute to our significance. But we can’t believe that, and we mustn’t. Paul sternly warned the Christians at Galatia about this very thing. He declared, “How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” (Gal. 3:3).

From my time investing twenty hours per week into pastoral counseling at one of the largest churches in Orange County, over the period of five years (2007-2012), I can assure you that this is a problem that many, many Christians deal with. In fact, I would say that it is also the source of much sin in the church, though many would never diagnose it in this way. Whether its turning to drug and alcohol abuse, or adultery or just drowning one’s sense of insignificance in an escapism of some sort, many Christians (pastors included) have succumbed to the belief that significance comes through what you do.

This is how even church ministry itself can become the alluring mistress, tempting its workers to believe that their significance is in their ministry. But it is not. Even church ministers fade.

The moment you sense the pain and disappointment of your “best years” being behind, is the moment you should realize that things have been wrong for quite some time.

It is, and forever will be, God’s ministry to you and for you that bestows the significance you crave. And I would say, that the very place where we can experience this most, is not in public, but in private. It is not in your busyness for God, but in the quietness and stillness of God’s presence. It is experienced as you meditate and reflect on the presence of God’s love. It comes as you recognize the whole point of what observing Sabbath was supposed to communicate to the ancient Hebrews; and that is that ultimately nothing in all of Creation has come about by your doing.

Significance comes through resting in God’s work. Weariness and the sense of insignificance come through resting in your own work.

I would encourage you to take time every day, for a moment of silence and reflection on the Gospel. A time focused not about what you are doing for the Lord, or for anyone else. Take the time to welcome these words from the Lord as a life-giving word to you: “Come to me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” In other words, present yourselves to the Lord, you who are laboring to earn significance, and He will give it to you as a free gift.

It is not enough to be a star, even stars fade. It is the gift of God alone to shine with significance forever. But if we want true significance, we must receive the wisdom to know that only the Creator of the stars causes them to last forever. “Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever” (Daniel 12:3).

This article is Part 3 of a 3 part series. You can find Part 1 & 2 here: Part 1 Part 2

Part 1 in this series began with the overall question of what does faith have to do with politics? A portion of the article was dedicated towards the early years of the Church and its involvement with politics. Part 2 continues on this focus of the Church’s history, from Emperor Constantine’s reign throughout the latter part of the 300’s A.D. In this last part of the series, the final focus is on the development of the Church-State ideologies that have affected America since its birth as a nation. As a conclusion to the series, the hope is to provide a more solidified understanding of how a Christian should balance their role in society within the political and ideological world we live in.

The Road Leads Here: An American Christian Perspective

America is in some ways (perhaps many) a reaction against the things that have gone on in Europe over the last millennia. For our purposes, here are two of those main things: (1) kings, queens, and dictators have been replaced by the Constitution [which establishes the 3 branches of government] and popular opinion. The American founders wanted neither a tyrannical dictator, nor a tyranny of the majority, hence the political structure of our country as a federal republic. You will notice there is a deliberate attempt to separate religion from politics (i.e. the state) in America due to the long history of religious wars in Europe. Now some Christians might be quick to refute such a notion by saying, “Ah, but the Constitution does not use the word separation,” and then they may go on about how the word ‘separation’ is attributed to Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, or something like it.

While I agree that some people (e.g. secularists) certainly misrepresent the conception of separation in this way, on the other hand, we ought to avoid such a hasty generalization in the opposite direction that completely ignores the historical context of the Constitution. Arguing that no ‘separation’ of any kind was envisioned by the Founding Fathers for the Church-State relationship in America has no historical support. For example, Richard Howland Maxwell, of the Pilgrim Hall Museum, explains the basic, historical context behind the language used in the First Amendment. He wrote:

“The Church of England was the official and only church in England. Everybody belonged to it, whether they wanted to or not. Every resident of a given community was automatically a member of the parish in that community…

Because it was an extension of the government, the English church was as subject to political abuse and favoritism as any other governmental agency. One result was that the office of the parish priest became a sinecure given as an expression of the favor of the hierarchy; many of the clergy were assigned to parishes but never went near them! The church members had nothing to say about all of this; they were expected to quietly accept whatever the hierarchy of the church thrust upon them.”[1]

As you can see, it was imperative that some kind of ‘separation’ of Church and State be established in order to avoid repeating the past situation in England.

Granted, my personal feeling is that the language of the Constitution aimed to keep the state out of the church, more than the other way around. But to argue this way presupposes a “conservative” reading of the Constitution as opposed to a “progressive” reading and is not necessarily based on a biblical principle, from which I can argue for personal opinion as a Christian.[2] In either case, American Christians would do well to remember that the Constitution is not Scripture. We do not have the Constitution in common with our spiritual ancestors, but rather the Bible in a changing world. I say this because we must remember that our way of doing things in America (at least conceptually) vastly differs from the way it was done in ancient Israel, Israel’s Ancient Near Eastern neighbors, and the Church for over 1,700 years.

So where are we getting our opinions from? How much of our political convictions are culturally conditioned rather than scripturally based? Which biblical texts can we use and/or not use to address current political issues? To what extent are the Old Testament and New Testament in agreement and/or disagreement about the role of faith as it relates to politics? How political should Christian individuals be or not be? How political should a local church as an entity be or not be? Can a loyal Christian be a loyal political party member? Where is the line on compromise? I leave these questions for your consideration and hope to address some of them in a future article.

Final Thoughts

I hope I have succeeded in showing that rightly conceiving of “faith and politics” is not a simple matter. In no way am I suggesting that we shouldn’t be involved in the political process, but I do want to caution against such polarizing statements as “This IS the Christian position on… (fill in the blank),” when in fact it may be the case that the Bible does not address the matter at all, or there has been no historical consensus amongst Christians on the matter.[3] I also want to caution against the false belief that “real power” is in politics rather than the Gospel; I can assure you that is a lie from The Enemy. To engage in politics as Christians we must study Scripture, glean from history, and practice Christian virtue. Among the many virtues, we desperately need are humility, respect, hard work (i.e. deep thinking), and love. We must acknowledge that we are in some ways in a unique position in which Scripture is silent on certain details related to our position as Americans. At stake in all this is our Christian witness.

It is my belief that we are either helping or hindering others from seeing Christ vis-à-vis our engagement (or the lack thereof) in politics. And since only King Jesus can set all earthly matters straight, let us affirm with our ancient brothers and sisters, that prayer and personal lifestyle are powerful tools that may affect public opinion and policy. On the exact nature of American political engagement, let’s commit ourselves to the sanctification of our views. Let us “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). And in our public discourse on political matters, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Col. 4:6).

[1] https://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/pdf/Pilgrim_Puritan_A_Delicate_Distinction.pdf

[2] A few years back, I attended a lecture given by the head of the law school at the University of Texas at Austin who explained the important presuppositions behind Constitutional hermeneutics. While I disagreed with his presuppositions, it did help to explain a lot of the differences that exist between political groups. The Bible is unchangeable, the Constitution is changeable.

[3] In case anyone misunderstands my position and intent as arguing for political agnosticism, I will take the opportunity to say that some political issues are quit clear. For example, issues related to sexuality and abortion are both strongly addressed in both the Bible and by Church history so that I would argue that there are in fact “Christian positions” on such matters.

This article is part 2 of a 3 part series written by Michael Chaddick. You can find part 1 here: calvarychapel.flywheelsites.com

In our previous article, we explored the fact that for the first 300 years or so of Christian history, the Church had no official place or say in politics. But even so, Christians through the power of prayer, personal influence, and the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, began to influence the world around them, including the emperor of Rome! But as we will see in this week’s article, for better or worse, things would never be the same.

The Road Our People Have Traveled: The Middle Years

In 313 A.D., the Roman Emperor Constantine issued the edict of Milan, which granted Christianity a legitimate social status for the first time in the Church’s history. And later, in 380 A.D. the Roman Emperor Theodosius went so far as to make Christianity the state religion. This meant that for the first time in history, a faith that had little or no say in the temporal, political processes suddenly became an integral part of that process. This set the stage for the major doctrinal controversies in church history. One reason that many theological points were argued with such vigor was not simply because of the spiritual significance of those points (which is still a partially valid reason I think), but also because those points now represented political persons or entities, and thus religious belief became almost equal to political opinion in some cases. [For example, one of Constantine’s three sons, Constantius, might have supported the Arian belief system, not simply due to sincere theological belief that the Son was a created being, but also because he ruled the East where there just so happened to be a large constituency of Arians. It is no accident that his two brothers were what we would call “orthodox” in their Christology, and would soon go to war with each other over consolidation of the Empire.¹]

Christian opinion within the Church differed as to whether or not this new political development was a good thing. Some believed that by becoming political, the church had stopped being an otherworldly institution, and became just another worldly political institution–albeit with better morals. (In fact, this is what caused some to seek refuge in monasticism. Monasticism became a viable alternative to a Church perceived to be infiltrated by the world.) In fact, it has become quite fashionable in academic circles to blame the downfall of the Church on Constantine. In particular, there are a number of scholars who assume a Marxist-sociological approach to the study of Christian history and theology in which Church .vs. Empire becomes the controlling paradigm for them. While there is definitely some truth to such a conception, it is quite obvious that it is also a political ideology, which presupposes the validity of a certain conception of what “this-worldly” government ought to be.

Other results of this church-state fusion were that the “pomp and pageantry” of the Roman state, previously foreign to the Christian Church, radically transformed its worship. And then came the practice of “simony”, which was the buying and selling of church offices for money! As strange as this sounds, the only reason anyone would pay money to work for the Church was that it essentially became a political office. Lastly, many Protestants would say that the corruption of doctrine in the Roman Church was at least partly the result of the ungodly alliance of Church and state. On the other hand, there were great reasons to believe that this joining, or fusion of Church-state was nothing less than a gift from above.

Listen to this story from Church history:

Not only this, but some Catholics would point out that what appeared as the church bowing to the state, was in some cases, the opposite. The state sometimes bowed to the Church! The most vivid example of this was when Bishop Ambrose of Milan (340-397 AD) refused to serve Emperor Theodosius the Eucharist until he had publicly repented of his role in slaughtering thousands of villagers in revenge for a riot. In this case, the Emperor conceded to the Bishop. The state bowed to the church. While it is not difficult to admit that the Constantinian era invited compromise, it is also easy to see why some viewed this positive relationship between the Church and state as a gift from God. After all, did Paul the Apostle not say, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:18)?

So what have we learned that would help us frame the modern Church-state discussion? First, when Christians had no power, they were persecuted. And while it may be glorious to choose to suffer for Christ’s sake, it would be much harder to watch your spouse, children, and fellow believers hauled away to prison and death. Being politically engaged helped avert such atrocities. Second, we saw how political allegiance with the state altered the Church in such a way that the Church was changed significantly. While seeking to influence the state, Christians ought be very wary about the fact that political engagement often involves compromise. Next week, we will look at the unique position we Christians find ourselves in the United States of America.

¹See Justo L. Gonzalez’s excellent book The Story of Christianity, vol.1.
²Taken from: www.christianhistoryproject.org

Introduction

This article is based on the positive response that has come out of our men’s group, month-long “faith and politics” series at our church.

Now normally, we don’t talk politics. But one particular night, as the early birds were sitting around sipping coffee and talking about the events of the day, the topic of politics was brought up. It seemed as though a sort of light went on, and it was obvious that even though we don’t discuss it often, it obviously matters, and everyone obviously has an opinion (or two, or three).

At that moment I thought, “Why not take that space and connect their political preferences consciously to a Christian framework?”

To be perfectly transparent, I’ve really gone back-and-forth in my thinking over the years between “We are too political,” and “We are not political enough.” I confess, I still don’t have it worked out just right. But I do believe that it is possible to arrive at an overall conception and disposition that we Christians ought to have toward the American, political landscape. At the very least, I believe there is a scriptural mandate to do so, “… Take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5b).

While I do believe it is possible to have spiritually ambiguous political views, some are quite obviously related to spiritual truths or lies. Thus, I think it is worthwhile to take a step back and understand the political landscape from a Christian worldview.

What hath Faith to do with Politics?

In Christian theology, it is said that faith’s object-subject is God. But, faith’s purpose is to glorify God. To glorify God with one’s life means to diffuse the knowledge of God into every sphere of life on earth. This means that the arts, the humanities, the sciences, the workplace, recreation, neighborhood, country, and world are all arenas in which God’s glory is to be seen; and it is seen uniquely in-and-through the people who have been called-out by Jesus, the Messiah. And since politics has some effect on all of those things, politics matter to faith.

More specifically, faith aims to call sinners to repentance and to make disciples fit for the kingdom of God. So, the tricky part of the question is: How do we call sinners to repentance and make disciples fit for the kingdom of God, amidst the reality of being citizens in a democratic republic? Before we answer that question, it is important to consider how the church has responded to this basic challenge throughout history.

As it turns out, our spiritual ancestors have had quite an up-and-down experience.

The Road Our People Have Traveled: The Earliest Years

For the early Christians, from the time of Christ until the time of Constantine, this matter of faith and politics was quite simple. They had no official, political voice. They had no vote. They had very little rights. They were a minuscule minority in a vast, totalitarian empire.

They were at best tolerated and at worst persecuted, often cut-out from profits in the business world, became social and religious outcasts, sometimes imprisoned, sometimes tortured, and even executed. And so it is important to consider the relationship between faith and politics, as well as the value of politics itself, in a historically Christian worldview. It is important to remember that all of the writings in the New Testament took place in this context, where Christians had no political power or say.

Yet, the Early Christians believed that even the ruthless, corrupt leaders were under the authority of the Judeo-Christian God. For three hundred years, prayer and personal influence (i.e. alternative lifestyle as indirect political protest) were the only say that Christian faith had in politics.

Listen to what the apostle Paul wrote to the young pastor Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:1-7: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”

Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Interestingly, while we may think that their hands were politically tied (How did they survive in a world without a vote?!), that’s not how the apostles’ viewed the situation. Listen to what Paul said to Timothy just before the passage I quoted above on prayer: “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19a having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected…” Paul, along with the rest of the authors of the Bible, believed that the source of our present warfare is NOT what you can see on the surface, but the spiritual realities that lie behind them. The political drama, while real, is not the source of true conflict, but rather a medium of it. Hence, prayer deals with political problems at their source.

Human life is full of rituals, practices, and liturgies. Whether religious or irreligious, these things form us into certain kinds of people. Perhaps we would not use these exact terms, but the realities represented by them are inescapable. Many people cannot fathom the idea of Christmas without decorating a Christmas tree or hanging a stocking above the fireplace. While Christians may often debate whether it’s right or wrong to perform individual acts, it is also important that we look at how the repetition of certain traditions over a period of years reinforces implicit assumptions about what ultimately matters. In this article, I want to suggest that how you celebrate Christmas has a role in shaping whom you and your family will become.

Let me begin by briefly defining the three terms used above.* The word ritual, as I’m using it here, refers loosely to personal habits that are not always performed consciously and that do not necessarily have any great goal in mind. A practice is a step beyond a ritual. A practice is a habit that is often consciously done, and for a specific goal. Lastly, a liturgy is a practice or set of practices that ought to be consciously done, and not just done for any goal, but for the ultimate goal of life, which for the Christian is the worship of God. As an exercise in application, ask yourself these questions, “Which of these three categories does my experience of Christmas best fit into? Which should it fit into, and why?”

Is it possible that snuggling next to the man or woman of your dreams by a fireplace and drinking hot chocolate is the ultimate aim, and Jesus is just a means of finding that or coping without it?

Since most of us celebrate Christmas, it is important that we dig down into why we do what we do, and ask what values am I reinforcing or negating. For example, is it possible that the celebration of Christmas does not reinforce the meaning of Christ’s birth in the lives of those who celebrate it? Is it possible that consumerism is the ultimate value in a person’s life, and that Jesus just becomes the means of getting what I really want? Is it possible that family is the ultimate good and Jesus is a means that serves the ends of those relationships? Is it possible that snuggling next to the man or woman of your dreams by a fireplace and drinking hot chocolate is the ultimate aim, and Jesus is just a means of finding that or coping without it? Let’s dig a little deeper and find out.

It is well known that the Christmas season can be quite depressing for many people. Perhaps this even includes you or someone close to you. In any case, how do we account for this phenomenon? I want to suggest that the Christmas season, for many of us, functions as a time for evaluation of our deepest desires and sense of fulfillment (or the lack thereof). [Note: I am aware that some suggest that the “holiday blues” has to do with the weather and/or shortened days/time change. While this suggestion may account for some of the reports of people “feeling” depressed, it does not account for the kind of deep existential “thinking” that goes on at the same time]. While most of the year we are functioning in ritual or practice mode, there are key events during the year (birthdays and weddings as well) that cause us to pause and think about liturgies, or the things which ultimately matter and how we relate to those things.

The truth is that we may have idols in our lives. Christmas should be the ideal time to expose them, but many times, it may be idol business as usual. Rather than saying, “Thanks, Jesus, for giving me a family, friends, husband/wife, kids, presents, a tree, weather, hot chocolate, movies,” or “Thank You, Jesus, but I don’t have the things I really want this Christmas,” we should aspire to say “Jesus, You are my greatest gift and greatest desire. Everything else pales in comparison to You. These many good things are only gifts, but You are the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). Jesus, even if I have nothing, but still have You, then I have everything.” If we choose to celebrate Christmas at all, we should be zealous for God’s glory.

If we are honest, this kind of evaluation means that all of us will probably need to confess some sin. The truth is that even the best of us are capable of making idols out of anything. We should use the Christmas season to allow ourselves to be evaluated by God, instead of evaluating God based on what we have or don’t have.

As we think through these things, we should then move to apply them to our particular traditions at Christmas. You may want to rethink your church attendance, your gift giving and receiving, how you decorate, how you incorporate Scripture and prayer into the Advent season, who you spend Christmas with and who you don’t, where you go and where you don’t go, what thoughts you dwell on and what you don’t. Think about the implicit values of Christmas as you grew up with it, as well as what should they be, ask what the alternate narratives and meanings of Christmas in modern American culture are, and compare and contrast them with the narrative and meaning of the Bible story.

While I certainly don’t want to be the proverbial ‘party-pooper’, I do want to make sure we are clear about whose party it actually is. In fact, this is the gift at the heart of the Christmas story. And here it is, are you ready for it? Christmas is not about you. It is about Christ. The history of the world is one in which all humans try to make saviors out of people and things that cannot save. Christmas is the story that rescues us from the story of idolatry that crushes the human spirit. I love this line from “O Little Town of Bethlehem – The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight”. Let your observance of the Christmas season teach you to give both your hopes and your fears as gifts to the babe in the manger, Who came as the Father’s gift to you.

* I borrowed these terms from James K.A. Smith’s book “Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation”. As mentioned above, one may or may not want to adopt his terminology. The value of adopting his terminology is that it opens the eyes to the fact that many of the so-called “irreligious” practices of the world really do function “religiously”. But if those terms are unwelcome ones from past experience, feel free to change them, so long as you understand changing the terms does not change the reality of the concepts that have been described.

One of the most meaningful, worthwhile things in the world is on the verge of extinction. If it were a rare breed of bird, many of us might start up a petition and even raise funds to save these animals. If it were an issue related to the environment, such as clean water or preserving trees in a precious rainforest, we would sound the alarm. But since the thing about which I speak is not an object, we may have already given it up to extinction. It is an invisible phenomenon that used to commonly take place between human beings known as the art of conversation.

Some of you may react against such an assertion. “Why I just spoke with someone yesterday! How silly! I speak with people all the time.” In one sense, of course, such a reaction is quite right. I’m sure most of us have talked to someone recently, although some more than others. But I need to make myself clear at this point that I am not suggesting for a moment that people are in danger of not using words to communicate, nor am I suggesting that people won’t always talk. What I am saying is that conversation as a connecting activity between human persons for the purpose of revealing ourselves and exploring the deep matters of life most certainly is on the verge of extinction.

If I still haven’t convinced you that conversation is on the verge of extinction, let me push the point home by asking you a series of questions:

When was the last time you talked to someone about the meaning of life? Did they listen to you? Did they respond to you from deep within themselves?

When was the last time you questioned culturally accepted norms and explored how they have conditioned you and me what to believe, disbelieve and reject?

When was the last time someone listened to all of your problems, pains, doubts, and fears and did not charge you an hourly fee?

When did you last share your dormant dreams from long ago that may now seem trite to some, but still mean the world to you?

While some of us may be fortunate enough to engage in such soul-deepening conversations regularly, most of us normally just engage in small talk.

Small talk, as I’m using it here, refers to the use of prepared slogans and canned answers designed to keep relationships right where they are. Small talk is like a debit card that we swipe quickly through machine-like relationships in order to get things done. Small talk is a dialogue whose outcome has been predetermined. There is no mystery or adventure to the outcome; it is not allowed. Sadly, parents often do this with their children, and Christians sometimes do it when they are “witnessing” to non-believers. Questions are not asked for the primary purpose of knowing and understanding the person they are talking with, but rather to move them, like pieces on a chessboard, in order to win. Not only does such an approach kill the kind of conversation I’m talking about, it dishonors the reality that God knows each person intimately. To God, each of us is worth knowing, so why don’t we think it’s worth conversing with someone to get to know each other?

One disturbing reality to me is that small talk can even take place while discussing things about the Bible and Christian living. In fact, for some people (perhaps many) talking about the Bible is a way of deflecting conversation away from themselves and their personal problems and toward a shared interested or concern outside of themselves, which in a church community, may quite naturally involve the Bible. While the Bible in no way encourages this (I am going to argue in a future article that it does the opposite), it happens nevertheless, and we are often ignorant of it and its negative side effects.

So to conclude this introduction on Recovering the Lost Art of Conversation, my main point is that most of us in modern American culture are in danger of killing off the kinds of conversations that become vehicles for personal transformation, the kind of thing the Bible refers to as “iron sharpening iron.”

I am by no means trying to pick on Christians here, I am simply aware of the fact that this piece is going to appear on a church website. If my audience were going to be different, I could have just as easily directed it toward non-Christians with many similar critiques. Whether Christian or non-Christian, as Americans living in the 21st century, I believe that our country and culture would be a better place if we recovered this lost art.

In part 2 of this article, I want to explore (1) reasons why we are losing the art of conversation, (2) what the Bible has to say (or show us) about such conversation, and (3) practical ways by which we may recover the lost art of conversation.