Hearing the Music

The Gospel is Political

As mid-term elections loom in less than 2 weeks, it is time to think about exactly how the Gospel is political, though it may not exactly be in the way that you think. Unfortunately, for many people, when they think of the church and politics they think of candidates coming to address the congregation, specific candidates or proposals being touted or denounced from the pulpit, or mailboxes being stuffed with propaganda or voter's guides. If you have been around Christ Church at all you know that we have not chosen to go in those directions.

However, the Gospel is political. Jesus came proclaiming a kingdom (Matt. 4:17, 5:3,10, and many more ...) and fashioned himself a King (Jn. 18:37). We spent time earlier this year pouring through what is ultimately his kingdom manifesto, also know as the Sermon on the Mount, where he lays out a comprehensive kingdom ethic that speaks to issues of truth, persecution, life, death, sexuality, anger, etc... Our current study in Ephesians also proclaims Jesus as supreme potentate seated in the place of rule at the right hand of the Father, "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come", with all things under his feet and with Christ as the head of all things. (Ephesians 1: 20-22). The Gospel is political. But as Jesus said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world." (Jn. 18:36). And therein lies the rub, and ultimately the hope. As believers we have a King who transcends all earthly powers and all earthly allegiances, but his interests in not in an earthly kingdom. His rule is world wide, but is not manifest in places of power, but in the hearts of the humblest of believers and the ministry of the church. 

So as we go to the polls in the next couple of weeks (which we should make every effort to do) our voter guide is the manifesto of our King. We make every effort to support candidates and policies that reflect his heart and his kingdom values. This is really difficult and may not align perfectly with American partisan politics. What is God's heart for the poor? The refugee? What does God have to say about life and its sanctity? How do we think about foreign policy and the positioning of our nation vs. other nations? On these questions and many more, our job is to scour the whole of God's revelation to us, the scriptures, seeking the heart of our King, and go into the polls allegiant to him and him alone!

This is a challenge in the midst of a secular society and if we look merely at institutions and politicians we will be depressed, but the fact that Jesus is our King is ultimately our hope. For though the nations rage and peoples plot, our King ultimately laughs and holds them in derision. And for those who have kissed the Son, blessing and refuge abound! (cf. Psalm 2).

 Photo by Katie Moum on Unsplash

Text and Framework

Over the last several Wednesday nights, we have been wrestling with some of the big questions that are facing Americans in our particular cultural moment: abortion, euthanasia, gender confusion, homosexuality (this coming week), etc... Our challenge, as people who seek to follow Jesus, is to sort through the cultural noise surrounding these issues and discern the voice of our Shepherd as he leads us in the way of life, as opposed to the "...way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Proverbs 14:12)".

Crucial to discerning the way of life as opposed to the way of death is having a right relationship with the Word of God (which is how he primarily speaks to us), especially as it relates to the various messages that bombard us from other sources. One way to speak of the relationship of the word and alternate messages is to speak of the relationship between the text and our frameworks*. The text, of course, is the Word of God. What does it say? What does it mean? What might it mean for me in my particular circumstance? These are all fair and good questions that we bring to text, questions that are influenced by our framework.  Our frameworks are the various ways that we understand the way things are and how they work. 

Everyone has multiple frameworks that converge to form an overarching framework. Frameworks are necessary for organizing and expressing our thoughts. They develop over time through what we are taught, what we experience, and through our place in history, etc .... As new information comes to us, we decide to reject it or allow it to reshape our frameworks. Our frameworks affect how we read the Bible. When we sit down to study a text, our frameworks influence the way we think about God, man, sin, salvation, suffering, our view of life and death, how we think about sexuality and many other things. 

Some frameworks are thought out and consistent with God’s Word. Others are not. Regardless, we must learn to recognize the frameworks that are giving shape to our thinking, or as the following illustrates, the lenses which we are seeing through:

Note in the first diagram, the framework is setting the tone in the relationship between text and framework signified by its superior position. The hard lines going from framework to text, especially when the framework is given priority, signify the baggage that we bring to the text which ends up shaping how we read it. The result is a fragmented and colored understanding of reality, signified by the tinted lenses of differing colors. In contrast, the second picture shows that the text is in the driver's seat in the relationship between text and framework. It is the text that is shaping the way that we see the world (note the hard line from text to framework) while the framework questions of our culture are brought to the text humbly, and with the acknowledgement that the text is king (indicated by the dotted line). The result is a more cohesive and clear (note the glasses) way of viewing the world, informed by the sweet voice of the Shepherd.

*The language of text and framework, along with some of the attendant explanation, comes from Word Partners Dig and Discover Principles by way of Proclamation Trust. 

Down the Rabbit Hole with Anselm

This past week, I participated in a two day workshop with a group of local pastors aimed at sharpening one another, both in spirit and in our skill in handling the Word. Along the way, I was remind of a quote by Anselm, a monk in the mid 11th century A.D., who wrote a famous work entitled Cur Deus Homo, i.e. Why God Became Man. Throughout the book, Anselm dialogues with a fictional character he calls Boso seeking to highlight the theological truths of substitutionary atonement. At one point, Boso questions the necessity of God sending Jesus to die, to which Anselm rather famously replies, "You have not yet discovered the weight of your sin."

While Cur Deus Homo is Anselm's best known work it is not his only work. And with my curiosity tickled, I sought out his Meditations and found some other gems. In Meditation 1, Anselm says, “I am afraid of my life. For when I examine myself carefully, it seems to me that my whole life is either sinful or sterile.” He continues with sentiments like a “foul smelling sinner” and “worse than a corpse.” “I blush to be alive, I am afraid to die.” Anselm, like another monk a few centuries later named Martin Luther, had a very developed sense of his own sinfulness before the Lord. Reading this gave me pause to wonder if I have truly discovered the weight of my own sin?

But lest you think this sensitivity to sin leads to moroseness, consider these words from Anslem, also from Meditation 1. “But it is he himself, he himself is Jesus. The same is my judge, between whose hands I tremble. Take heart, sinner, and do not despair. Hope in him whom you fear, flee to him from whom you have fled…. Jesus, Jesus, forget the pride which provoked you, see only the wretchedness that invokes you. Dear name, name of delight, name of comfort to the sinner, name of blessed hope. For what is Jesus except to say Savior? So, Jesus, for your own sake, be to me Jesus.” Awareness of sin can be answered with despair or denial, or it can lead to the cross. Clearly Anselm found himself at the foot of the cross, drinking deeply from the wells of grace. In Luther's case, his awareness of sin led him to a fresh draught of the righteousness that comes from God and sparked a Reformation.

We will be dealing with our own "consideration of the weight of sin" this week as we turn to the first 10 verses of Ephesians 2. In it we are reminded that we are DEAD in our transgressions and sins. But Paul doesn't leave us there as he traces a path for all of us to those fountains of grace, a path that begins with these two blessed words, "But God..."

Photo by Andrea Tummons on Unsplash