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Capitol Conditions

Monday, October 04th, 2010 | Author:

Hate evil, love good and establish justice in the gate; . . . Amos 5:15

Gate – In the ancient near east, the city was protected by walls and a gate.  The elders of the city sat in the gate, watching for strangers or circumstances that might be dangerous.  As a result, political and social issues were settled where the elders sat – at the gate.  The idiom “in the gate” (vasha’ar) means “where the politically and socially powerful conduct human affairs.”  The modern equivalent is the congress and the capitol.  “In the gate” is wherever men (and women) determine the policies that govern the populace.

Amos’ declaration poses immediate problems for our version of religion.  In this Western culture, religion is a “personal” matter.  From television pundits to famous preachers, we are taught that our experience with God is private.  We believe in personal salvation, a relationship between the adherent and God Himself.  We espouse the separation of Church and State.  Amos’ declaration falls outside the scope of religious consideration.  Amos talks about politics, social policy and economic affairs, not about a heart-relationship with God.  His suggestions are ruled illicit.  In our world, preachers need to stay in the pulpit.  Politicians sit in the gate.

Of course, it doesn’t take very much reflection to evaluate what happens when men of God don’t sit in the gate.  Just look around.  Is this what we really wanted?  We have the “great society,” but in every corner there is evil, rejection of the good and injustice.  The nightly news is full of stories of corruption.  The civilization practices immorality, idolatry and crimes against humanity without consequence.  Who is responsible for this collapse?  We are!  We were supposed to be sitting in the gate.  We were supposed to be guiding the community and the civilization from God’s perspective.  Amos doesn’t say, “Now those who are believers should set up their own society.”  He says that we who are followers must enter into this society and take positions of power in order to bring God’s order to the world.  We are salt – the preservative of the moral order – and light – the beacon of justice.  At least that is the intention.  But we have opted for privacy.  We have decided to abdicate the throne to those who seek it.  We have retired from guidance and wisdom in order to protect our own castles.  We have failed.  We are guilty.

Now we face an enormous task.  We must stand up and stand fast.  We must take back the gate.  Many will decry the effort claiming we have no right or authority.  We have every right and all the authority.  In fact, we have an obligation to sit in the gate because it is God’s city.  Cloistered environments and retired living are not God’s objectives.  We are here to redeem this world.  The job won’t be done until the gate belongs to the King.

If your life is circumscribed by your own castle walls, if you have barricaded yourself from the evil of the world, if you are afraid of the gate, then something is wrong.  Amos calls you to change.  Get up.  Get out.  Get going.  Our faith is lived in the world where God is at work establishing justice.

Topical Index:  gate, sha’ar, politics, Amos 5:15

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The Politics of God

Thursday, August 12th, 2010 | Author:

And YHWH was gracious to them, and pitied them, and turned toward them, for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and was not willing to destroy them not to cast them out from His presence as yet. 2 Kings 13:23

Gracious – God’s keeps His promises even when circumstances might warrant refusal to do so.  God made a promise to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.  Centuries later those promises still determine God’s behavior in spite of the fact that the behavior of the descendants no longer justifies grace.  Over and over we see the same unwavering commitment and the same miserable pattern.  Time and again God would have been perfectly justified in destroying Israel or casting them away.  But He doesn’t.  He stays married to His people no matter what.  This gives rise to a very important question.  If the wicked of centuries of rebellion were not enough for God to renege on His covenant with Abraham, what allows replacement theology to suggest that the death of Yeshua was enough to change God’s mind?  And if God changed His mind about His promise to Abraham and Israel, what prevents Him from doing so again?

The answer is found in the very nature of God.  He does not waver.  He does not relent.  He does not lie.  He does not walk away.  Much to our relief, God is gracious.  The Hebrew verb is hanan (to be gracious toward, to favor, to have mercy on).  Outside of the Wisdom literature, this word most often describes God’s actions toward men.  It’s a very good word.  It gives us hope in spite of our mistakes, doubts and falls.  We are not excused, of course, but we find this Hebrew idea echoed in John’s reassurance that He is faithful to forgive and restore.  God is not an umpire.  It is never, “Three strikes and you’re out.”

Now step back and look at this bigger picture.  God is King of all creation.  The political affairs of men are truly under His authority (so Paul, in Romans 13).  Righteous men in political positions operate as His servants, carrying out His moral government among the people.  Unrighteous men who usurp the political scene in order to gain control are actually at war with God Himself.  They are idolaters.  They will not succeed.  But even when we were at war with God, He was gracious toward us.  In God’s politics, grace wins.  It might take a very long time because men are continuously wicked, but God still wins.  No government will survive His government.  All nations will become His footstool and eventually seek His face.  But in the meanwhile, He refuses to break His promise.

If we learn anything from God’s history with Israel, we learn commitment.  The world is in rebellion.  Followers of the Way will find it a very hostile place.  But there is nothing to fear.  God is committed.  He is committed to care, to protect, to provide and to bring about justice.  Our temporal horizon might not be able to see the end result of hanan, but we are assured of its reliability.  After all, we have the politics of God in the history of Israel.

Topical Index:  politics, hanan, gracious, 2 Kings 13:23

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Political Idolatry

Monday, August 09th, 2010 | Author:

For you have said in your heart, “I will go up to the heavens. I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit in the mount of meeting, in the side of the north.  I will rise over the heights of the clouds; I will be compared to the Most High.” Isaiah 14:13-14

Compared – Isaiah speaks about the attitudes of Babylon.  Isaiah’s condemnation reveals the hubris of Babylon and Babylon’s attempt to usurp the place of God in the affairs of men.  Don’t read this too quickly.  There is something here that is very familiar, perhaps far too familiar.  But we need to take a step backward in order to see the application of Isaiah’s proclamation.

We need to notice that Isaiah condemns the political idolatry of Babylon.  What is political idolatry?  It is the assumption of roles and rituals by the State that rightly belong only to God.  In the Hebrew worldview, only God is King.  He may grant others the permission to act as His representatives (earthly kings), but He is Lord of all creation.  Any attempt by any person or power to displace His ultimate authority over all the affairs of men is a despicable sin because it is war against God’s reign and rule.  Babylon epitomizes this arrogant attempted coup d’etat by claiming that it is entitled to the highest throne.  What does that mean for Babylon’s citizenry?

When the State commits idolatry, it generally assumes roles that stretch beyond the political bounds.  In other words, the State begins to think and act like it is God.  It begins telling its citizens how they should conduct their ordinary affairs.  It starts regulating all economic transactions.  It takes control of education.  It provides alternative “religious” practices designed to glorify the State.  It demands deification of the nation and the leaders of the nation.  It grasps for more and more power.  It seeks control wherever possible.  It determines what is justice.  It decides what is good.  Each of these behaviors are direct confrontations with the authority of God, for He alone is the Lawgiver over life.  Whenever the State ceases to act as the Lord’s servant, whenever the State rejects or ignores the strict limitations placed upon it by biblical authority, it acts idolatrously.  Babylon is but one historical example of a constant threat to the sovereignty of YHWH by men who believe themselves worthy of worship.  A State that assumes the role of regulator, economic engine, educator, judge, jury, provider, protector and possessor is a political entity at war with God.

In this kind of war, there are no non-combatants.  As citizens of the State, we become endorsers of its unholy program whenever we adopt its offer to replace the roles rightfully belonging to God.  The State is not my mother, father and brother.  It is not my provider, promoter or priest.  It must never become my hope, my only help or my highest good.  If I allow any of these roles to become functions of the State, I mount the tower of Babel with the rest of the insurgents.

The Hebrew verb damah means “to make oneself like, to resemble.”  The pictograph, “behold, the door of chaos,” is an apt image.  It is possible to make an image of God without producing a single artifact.  All that is needed is to usurp His role.  All that is necessary is to attempt to replace Him.

Topical Index: idolatry, Isaiah 14:13-14, State, politics, damah

BACKORDERED: The inventory of Jesus Said To Her is sold out.  Thank you all for ordering.  I will have more books to ship in about a week, so don’t worry, you will get your copy.  I am traveling to Honduras but as soon as I return, the books will be mailed to you.

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The Delusion of Freedom

Saturday, July 04th, 2009 | Author:

Then stand firm in the freedom with which Christ made us free, and do not again be held with a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Freedom – Are you free? Don’t be too quick to answer. It depends on your concept of freedom. In order to understand what Paul says about freedom in Christ, we first have to realize that Paul is not talking about our usual idea of freedom.

The Greek and Hebrew ideas of freedom are radically different. Our society and world culture have adopted the Greek view. Therefore, when we think about the meaning of Paul’s words, we often import this Greek concept of freedom into Paul’s thought. That leads to some very serious theological and practical mistakes. So, let’s start by examining the contrast.

For the Greeks, freedom is ultimately a matter of politics. Plato defines freedom as the ability to be at one’s own disposal. In contrast to the bondage of slavery, freedom is independence from the will of others. Of course, the limiting factor in any discussion of freedom must be the state because the political reality is that I live in community and am not able to do whatever I please whenever I wish. If freedom is defined as my choice to do anything I want, it is really anarchy. My “freedom” is always limited and determined by the needs of the society. In other words, the scope of my freedom is determined by the state. In Greek thought, it is the role of the state to operate in such a way that every individual is granted as much freedom as possible without jeopardizing the freedom of others. This requires a rule of law for where there is no rule of law, there is only individual power and the ensuing chaos that comes with the rule of the most powerful. If you want to see what happens when freedom is unrestrained, take a good look at Somalia. For the Greeks, freedom is always freedom under the law, never freedom from the law.

Of course, this immediately raises the question, “Whose law?” The Greek answer is once again a political one. The law is determined by the will of the people (actually, the citizenry). Therefore, the control of individual freedom is handed over to the will of the majority. Our concept of democracy is based on this Greek idea. Nearly all of the political furor today is heated discussion about who will determine the rule of the majority. It’s pretty clear that the simple addition of the will of the people is no longer considered the rule of the majority. Multi-culturalism and tolerance are attempts to give more weight to some factions of the society than to others. So, majority rule is deliberately skewed to fit what is politically correct. Under the guise of “empathy,” the summation of the choices of individuals is altered so that the rule of the majority is now the rule of those who speak for what they consider the majority.

Now notice what Paul says. Does Paul suggest that if we are free under Christ we are no longer subject to the rules of the state? Of course not! That would be a declaration that Christians are anarchists. Do you see that Paul is not using the term eleutheros (freedom) in the same way that the Greeks use it? He is not talking about a political reality at all – at least not in the way the Greeks understood freedom within a political reality. Yeshua did not set you free from consideration of the political reality of community. Far from it! Yeshua endorsed community (“love one another”). So, if freedom under Christ is not freedom from the law, then what is it? It is freedom to be a slave to the King. You and I are no longer restrained in our relationship to the Holy One of Israel. We are no longer withheld from His presence. Why? Because we have been set free from the required punishment that inevitably follows from our sins. Now we are free to obey!

For the Greeks, freedom is individual self-will governed by rationality (therefore, it is not law of the jungle). But in the New Testament, the lack of freedom is not result of inadequate controls or laws but rather no control within the heart of man. Therefore, we cannot fix the problems associated with freedom in a society by enacting better laws. What is required is a change of heart, and that cannot be accomplished on our own since we are the very ones who oppose any restraints on personal liberty. In this sense, existence threatens itself. The real issue of freedom is not my ability to take whatever actions I wish. That is an external problem, constrained by the state. The real issue of freedom is internal. To be free I must be set free from myself. This can never be an act of self-determination since self-determination is the problem.

From a biblical perspective, the problem is sin, not politics. The Greek concept of freedom is set in the framework of the polis, but the Hebrew idea is set in the framework of righteousness (tsedik). In the Hebrew view, the law does not restrict. It enables. It enables me to know what it means to act with righteousness. It provides the definitive guideline for what it means to love others. It points away from me toward community.

What is freedom from the Law? It is freedom from the required punishment that the law brings. It is deliverance from what I deserve. The Bible recognizes that self-rule is blindness. Self-rule denies the sovereignty of God. Self-seeking existence leads to death. So, submission to God’s rule leads to life. To surrender to God is freedom – freedom from the tyranny of self, from the futility of self-seeking and from the penalty associated with a life bent on its own control. There is no idea of self-determination in Hebrew thinking. There is only submission or rebellion.

Now, ask yourself, do you really want to be free?

Topical Index: freedom, eleutheros, politics, law, self, sin, Galatians 5:1

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Kingdom Politics

Thursday, June 11th, 2009 | Author:

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ  Philippians 1:27 

Conduct Yourselves – What is the Kingdom of God on earth?  If you listen to most teaching and preaching, you soon discover that the Kingdom is “within you,” that is, it is an internal religious attitude that should, but doesn’t always, result in outward moral behavior.  In this view, the Kingdom is the opposite of the public arena, the State.  Faith is all about our spiritual life as opposed to our physical, social and economic well-being.  If you have been subject to that kind of thinking, you need to read this verse in Greek.

Nothing is further from the truth than the assertion that God’s Kingdom is a private, inner state of the heart.  God’s Kingdom is a kingdom.  That means it competes with other entities that demand allegiance, citizenship and governance.  That means it competes with democracy, republics, royalty and dictators.  If we read this verse in Greek, we would have seen the startling truth jump off the page.  In Greek, the word for “conduct yourselves” is politeuesthe.  Do you see something in this word that is obvious in Greek but disappears in the translation?  It is this:  the word is about politics!  The word is about the Kingdom of God as a present-reality political entity – a kingdom that demands obedience from its citizens no matter where they happen to be in the world – a kingdom that intends to replace all other political enterprises with its form of world domination and government.  The Body is a political body, intent on disrupting, displacing and dispatching all idolatrous forms of social-political living.

Peter Leithart’s fine exposé of the religious cooperation between the “inner state of belief” crowd and the idolatrous external world says, “We are all ill served by translators that render politeuo as “conduct yourselves.”  By suppressing the political dimensions of such terms, translators betray themselves:  they are thoroughly in the grip of Christianity.”  Leithart is not attacking the Body.  He is pointing out that our contemporary view of Christianity is nothing like the Biblical view.  What he demonstrates is that “Christianity” is a set of beliefs that endorse and encourage the separation of Church and State, the privatization of religion and the removal of Biblical demands from the marketplace.  Christianity is institutionalized worldliness, a system of theological constructs that attempt to fit religion into the culture instead of seeing that the Kingdom of the Most High is a competing culture of its own.  Now we see why Paul said that we Gentiles who come to believe that Yeshua is the Messiah are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.  We join Israel’s community, culture and destiny.  We become part of a Kingdom that has been in place since the time of Moses.  To think (and act) otherwise, is to separate God’s Kingdom from its earthly impact.  To think otherwise is to consider “Christianity” as one more viewpoint about culture instead of a radical call to a competing culture.

When Paul says “conduct yourself,” he is not asking you to be nice little moral members of society.  He is calling you to stand up for the Kingdom, to claim its divine right as God’s action on earth and to fight against any version of religion that does not embrace elimination of the surrounding idolatry, even if that idolatry is filled with “Christian” beliefs.

Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this earth, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t found here.  It means that its source and power do not reside here, but it nevertheless intends to remove all other kingdoms in its glorification of the Father.

Now what are you going to do about your church, your politics and your culture?

Topical Index:  politics, conduct yourselves, politeuo, Christianity, Philippians 1:27

One of our community, James Watkins, has an interesting post about liberty.  If you want to see the implications of a competing kingdom, look at this.

Peter Leithart, Against Christianity (Canon Press, Moscow, ID, 2003), p. 30.

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Wilderness Politics

Thursday, February 08th, 2007 | Author:

I just can’t stand it anymore.  Aren’t you sick and tired of the constant accusations, lies, finger pointing and platitudes in this election?  I can’t remember when it was so vitriolic and so insistent.  Maybe there is a point to it all, but as far as I can see, the only purpose is power.  And that raises an interesting (and perhaps ominous) theological point about living in the wilderness.

Exodus is a book about the wilderness.  It begins with God’s miraculous demonstration of redemption, the removal of His chosen people from bondage in Egypt.  It doesn’t take a theological degree to see that this historical event mirrors a deeper spiritual event, the day when each of us experienced God’s personal redemption from the prisons of self-sufficient bondage.  God wrecks havoc on the slave masters, eventually overthrowing them with the greatest symbol of substitutionary sacrifice in the Old Testament – the Passover Lamb.

But once the people leave Egypt, their true character begins to shown itself.  God marches them to the edge of the Red Sea.  As Pharaoh’s army approaches, they reproach Moses, saying, “Why did you bring us to this place to die?  Weren’t there enough graves in Egypt?”  Had they forgotten the mighty hand of God so quickly?  Unfortunately, yes.  God’s mercy overrides their ungrateful lack of faith.  He parts the Sea and brings them across.  The physical slave masters are exterminated, but not the mental and spiritual ones, for time after time, whenever the wilderness becomes a threatening place, they complain to God, demanding that God do what they want and insisting that it is His fault that they are in such a terrible mess.

The wilderness becomes God’s schoolroom of obedience.

Now the wilderness is not a very nice place.  The first fact about the wilderness is this:  it is dangerous, hostile and completely unresponsive to human manipulation.  That, by the way, is why we build cities.  We don’t like living in the wilderness.  We want to live in places where we are in control.  We want water when we want it, lights when we want them, food when we feel like it, ease and comfort when we deem it appropriate.  And the wilderness doesn’t give us any of that control.  So, we bulldoze over the wilderness and make concrete highways, steel buildings and tile roofs.  And in the process, we unlearn the fact that Man is not in control.  We begin to think that life should be the way we want it to be, not the way it is under the hand of a sovereign God.  We feed our self-delusional fantasy that we are self-sufficient.

Of course, a hurricane or a terrorist attack causes attitude adjustment.  Suddenly the nature of evil confronts our blind assumptions about control and we are thrown into a chaotic state of recalibration.  With tremendous effort, we struggle to pull the world back into conformity with our expectations.  Sometimes we seem to be successful.  It’s a tragic mistake.

You see, the wilderness is God’s home.  When we attempt to reconstruct it in our image, we lose a lot more than a hostile environment.  We lose the opportunity to trust in the sovereignty of the Creator.

The children of Israel were kept in the wilderness for forty years.  During that time, they encountered God in the giving of the Law, the punishment of sin, the mercy of provision, the shelter from enemies, the healing of disease and the training in worship.  The wilderness is harsh because it takes harsh reality to strip us of self-sufficiency.  And without the utter loss of self-sufficiency, we will not encounter God.  But when we encounter the God Who is at home in the wilderness, we discover that we are tenderly cared for, intimately loved and prized.  We discover that the circumstances of our lives are irrelevant to living.  We discover the if God comes first, everything else falls into place even if we are living in the wilderness.

There is one other very important element about the wilderness that changes us.  The wilderness is that place where God deals with sin.  The wilderness is that part of our journey where God takes us to task about sin and where God provides the solution.  In the wilderness, God lets us confront our true selves.  We see the standard of holiness, in all its terror and majesty, and we realize that we are not holy.  Not by a long shot.  When we are surrounded by the city, that human construction of false security, we are led to believe in the inevitability of human destiny.  We stop depending and start defending.  But when we look around (if we have the spiritual eyes to see), we discover that God is not there.  What is there are all the powers found in the values of this world, all the vices turned into virtues, all the possessions turned into principles, all the rationalizations turned into rules.  It is not accident that Jesus sought time in the wilderness or that the Spirit drove him into the wilderness.  That’s where God’s care becomes reality.

The politics of the election should remind us that we have forgotten the wilderness.  On every side, self-sufficiency, independence, power and self-determination are vaunted as the highest good of Man.  These are precisely the sins that God intended to eradicate from His people in their wilderness journey.

We need a major re-location policy.  We do not need better health care, stronger defense, better intelligence, tougher judges, more jobs and cheaper drugs.  We need a new address.  We need to remember that Christians are called to live as resident aliens in the world of the city.  They are citizens of the wilderness, the place where God is completely in charge, provides daily and is worshipped as the King of kings.  Christians do not belong here.  Oh, we have been assigned here, that’s true.  But the city is not our home.  We don’t live according to the values of the city.  We are held accountable to the values of the Kingdom.

Does that mean we are to abandon the “city-world” for monastic sanctuaries?  No.  It means that we must view living as an expression of wilderness witness in the midst of city chaos.  We must live by God’s provision, not our own.  We must work under God’s direction, not the company’s.  We must enter in to the hurting world with a clear understanding that salt and light only work in bland and dark.

Politics are not Christian if it is not salt and light in the wilderness.  The Christian is involved in the politics of God, not in the politics of power, preference and privilege.  Politics of this world is an accommodation to the city’s need for cooperation and protection at the price of authority.  This kind of politics ignores God’s ability and desire to act as Provider.  The world system of politics demands prophetic voices, crying from the wilderness, “Make straight a pathway for your God”.  Politics without prophets is a hopeless exercise in rationalizing human sufficiency.  The Christian is called to be the prophet, to stand against all forms of power, privilege and preference that are not based entirely on the holiness of God.  When the Christian accommodates the message to the politics of society, darkness spreads over the land.

I long for the voice of the prophet.  The clarion call of God.  Pray for that prophet.  The city is in dire need.

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