Truth with Consequences

A few weeks ago I had the unfortunate opportunity to spend the night in a swing state. If what I saw and heard on television that night is indicative of the over two billion dollars this presidential election has cost, one can only wonder about tomorrow and the days that follow. Jesus might have been thinking about our times when He said, “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)

If you listen to the conversation among those engaged in the politics of this season, the common thread you hear is something like “If my candidate doesn’t win, America is doomed.”  It’s amazing that diehards on both sides can say pretty much the same thing with such conviction. The fact that the polls at the moment seem pretty evenly split makes that kind of passion even more interesting. Apparently, after the election, regardless of how it turns out, half of the voting population of the United States will believe that our nation is doomed!

To borrow a phrase from the current political debate in the area of foreign policy, as a follower of Jesus, it isn’t so much about nation building as it is kingdom building. The kingdom we are called to build will still be here after the election, and in that kingdom, Jesus is never on the ballot – He is King!

We aren’t, of course, the first generation of believers to struggle with frustration over kingdoms, powers, governments, and the like. More than a few of the epistles of the New Testament seem to acknowledge that reality, and none better than the opening sentence of Hebrews 12.

Therefore,

since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,

let us throw off

everything that hinders

and the sin that so easily entangles,

and let us run

with perseverance

the race marked out for us.

The writer of this great epistle goes on to remind us that we do that only by fixing our eyes on Jesus – who suffered greatly, including death on a cross, endured and now sits at the right hand of God. The polling data from “the great cloud of witnesses” is unanimous – no matter what, sticking with Jesus is always worth the cost. The encouragement from the great cloud of witnesses is clear: persevere. The advice is direct and to the point: get rid of the “stuff” that weighs you down. Some of that “stuff” in our day and time is, without doubt, the fretting we do (“Take no thought for tomorrow,” Matthew 6:34)   over who is going to win or lose some election.

The text in Hebrews 12:1-3 reminds us of “truth with consequences.”  Those kinds of consequences are eternal in nature and place all the other “stuff” somewhere in a place of less significance.

By the way, in case you’re wondering, I voted early and hope the person I voted for wins. But if that person doesn’t win, Jesus is still Lord and I am still His.  Talk about consequences!

Justice

It was one of the go-to camp choruses not too many years ago when “contemporary” meant that you had put the words of a biblical text to a tune that was easy to sing. The text in this particular case was Micah 6:8 – “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (NIV)

Fast forward a few centuries and the Epistle of James seems to reflect that Christians don’t always live up to “what the Lord requires” of us. “Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.” (James 5:4,5, NIV)

At whatever level it might be appropriate to place these two texts beside each other, there seems to be some reason to think that failing to pay fair wages and living in luxury and self-indulgence are contradictory to the prophetic call “to act justly.”  To live in that way is akin to fattening an animal in preparation for the day of slaughter. Like the animal who doesn’t likely think about what will happen when it is “fat enough to slaughter,” is it possible that the alluring nature of things so enthralls us that we become unconscious of our failure “to act justly?”

We are often quick to be critical of pastors and religious leaders who get too close to politicians and find themselves unable to speak too plainly about justice. But what about the church that often gets too close the corporate board room and depends too heavily on the financial support that we can’t speak too plainly about justice? Or to the average believer who, in his or her pursuit of stuff, finds it difficult to be too critical of the values of the company who makes the things I desperately want to have?

Just to think a moment about what James is saying – what makes a company “just?” A million questions can easily come to mind here? What are fair wages? What is the right level of return on investment risked? When do I know the return has become “luxury and self-indulgence?” Does a generous charitable contribution alleviate the potential of exorbitant rates of return? If I’m leading a mission trip is it ok to charge a little extra to those going so I don’t have to pay for my own trip, though I could? Is it “just” to hoard billions rather than create new opportunities for people called jobs, when I’m not sure about how the federal government will regulate those jobs?

There is definitely a flip-side to those questions as well. How is it “just” for my hard earned salary to be taken away and given to someone who doesn’t work? If I am going to take what I have worked hard for and saved over the years and invest it, isn’t it “just” that I get a great return on my investment because of the risk I’m willing to take? If I can afford an iPad but you can’t adequately take care of your family, is it “just” if I go ahead and get it? I can afford to send my kids to a very prestigious private school, but you can’t and live in a neighborhood with a very poor public school system, is it “just” for me to send my kids to get great educations while your kids are stuck in a dead-end school system?

If I had the answer to these kinds of questions, I would probably be struggling with whether or not it was “just” for me to live in the fine Caribbean home I built from the proceeds of my book!

For thoughtful  followers of Jesus, life will be spent struggling with questions like these. It surely is a part of what is involved in “denying self, taking up our cross, and following Jesus.”  How that idea intersects with daily living – where we are called upon to “walk worthy of our calling” (Eph. 4:1) – will take a life time of thinking, and perhaps then some.

But if the church is to have a valid prophetic voice in the modern culture in which we live – it must be courageous enough to speak with clarity about justice. But before we can do that, we must take Micah seriously and commit ourselves “to acting justly.”

Don't Bend

By now he has spent somewhere in the neighborhood of four years in prison. He wasn’t in jail for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” but for little more than allowing himself to be entrapped by religious leaders looking for an opportunity to rid themselves of one who had once been a hero but now was viewed as a traitor.

Oddly, when he was their hero, it was okay for him to go out arresting people who believed in Jesus as Messiah and at least approving of, if not inflicting the death penalty. But once he became a believer, then some manufactured sense of disrespect to the Law and Temple had landed him in jail.  It’s a funny thing how easily religious people can be swayed when it comes to right and wrong by our sense of who is on our side and who isn’t. 

Four years is a long time to be in jail for what at best can be described as petty, trumped up charges. Certainly those four years have served to confirm for Paul that our trust can’t be in government – the Romans haven’t been overly helpful so far; and our trust can’t be in individuals who are a bit presumptuous about their standing with God – that’s what landed him in jail.

To the believers at Philippi Paul is writing to people who, like was true for him, were citizens of the Roman Empire.  It surely isn’t by accident that at the end of chapter three, Paul reminds them “but our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (3:20, NRSV) And then, in the same literary context in 4:1, he tells them, “stand firm in the Lord in this way.” 

It appears that for every believer, regardless of the cultural circumstances in which he or she may be found, there is this inherent conflict between the Christian gospel and the culture in which we live.  When I think about Paul’s circumstances – religious people had put him in jail and Roman officials have kept him in jail – it isn’t hard to realize just how clearly he would have understood the reality of standing firm when it comes to knowing where our trust must be placed.

The world will corrupt us – at least that is how Paul views things (3:17-19) thus we must, without hesitation, remind ourselves that our citizenship is in heaven – and from heaven we anticipate in confident assurance the coming of our Savior. Thus the Jewish officials who manipulated the Roman officials to arrest him are, when all is said and done, irrelevant. In that picture, only the Savior has the final word on our lives. If Paul can “stand firm” on that in view of his life story at the moment, where does that leave you and me?

In that context, Paul says, “don’t bend.” I find nothing in Paul’s writings to make me think I should pretend like the world doesn’t exist or that I am not called by God to bring about renewal and restoration.  But neither do I find a word that makes me think my future is somehow wrapped up in my worldly citizenship. 

The Christian gospel is not a “the sky is falling, the sky is falling” way of viewing the world. Rather it is a “a Savior is coming who will redeem the universe” way of viewing the world. When it comes to that kind of gospel, Paul’s word to the Philippians is “don’t bend!”

That’s not a bad way of looking at life – especially from the vantage point of one who understands how religion focused on self not God always fails and how government can never do what God has called His people to do. 

The sky can’t fall – from there we await a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Until that day, He calls us to be salt and light to a world ever tasteless and dark.