Why are American Christians so afraid these days?

I hear a lot of fear and fear-mongering coming from people who call themselves Christians these days. I read it in "official" pronouncements and I hear fear in day to day conversations where "responsible" talk of self-preservation is thinly veiled worry. I overhear fear on Facebook, in emails and in the middle of daily transactions. They tend to attach their fear to the coming Fall elections, prophesying doom if we reelect the Muslim instead of the Mormon. Brainless, yes, but "fear is the mind killer," says a warrior in that memorable line from Dune. 

Why are Christians so fearful these days? I ask you that question with a open heart. Why do you think? Here are some of my answers: 
(1) They say the words but don't really trust or understand that "Jesus is Lord" means we can remain in full serenity because the Good Shepherd has it all in hand, and His kingdom cannot be shaken. 
(2) They have confused the two kingdoms. Because they believe their well-being is tied to the fortunes of THIS kingdom, they cannot see the forest through the trees. They are convinced that their geopolitical worry and material-economic analysis is rational and crucial and determines their future happiness. In their confusion they have lost their peace, the "peace that is way beyond all comprehension," as the Good Book calls it. 
(3) They are being manipulated by false shepherds who use the shears of fear to keep fleecing them for personal gain. Fear is the stick these battered sheep are driven with. "If you don't vote for ______, all hell will break loose." "If you don't give more money, the sky or roof or something bad is going to fall and hit you." "If you don't seclude yourself and put up a wall around yourself, bad things are coming..." Whatever happened to confidence in the saving power and loving care of Jesus? Whatever happened to, "Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world?" 

The fear-focus of contemporary Christians is in stark contrast to the example the first Christians set for us. When the first Christians confessed, "Jesus is Lord!" they were making a radical claim that was politically confrontational. They were confronting and denying Roman power and the control of Caesar who demanded all confess, "Caesaris Kurios!" -- Caesar is Lord. Roman regional leaders knew the moment they heard these upstart losers call Jesus "Lord" that this was political treason and these traitors had to be killed. The Romans even believed they were atheists, because they denied the divinity of the true and living god, Caesar. They were usually given a chance to confess Caesar is Lord and deny Jesus. It became so common to be executed for "witnessing to Jesus" this way that the word "witness" had its meaning changed to "die for Jesus" (martyr, matures in Greek).

You would have thought that would have been the end of Christianity. But the opposite was true. The more they killed these followers of Jesus, the more others came to believe, too, that the real king is Jesus and that Caesar's power was fake, temporary and fading. "The blood of the martyrs is the seedbed of the church" they realized, as they saw the Christian movement rapidly expand like dandelions in the spring wind.

Why did watching Christians get killed make other people want to become Christians too? The answer is straightforward, I think. In the face of withering and crushing Roman violence and intimidation there was something very obvious about these Christians: they had clarity and were unafraid. They did not fear what any person could do to them because Jesus the king of all time and space had kicked death in the teeth. He showed them that life is not about just wearing a meat suit. He demonstrated that the second death is what we should be worried about, not the first death. For them, there was a clarity that life on planet earth is a tale of two kingdoms: THIS kingdom (which is dust and chaff before the winds of time) and God's Kingdom (which is solid, stable and cannot be shaken). Through this lens they could see past the shimmering materialistic mirage that keeps so many in bondage and fear, and they would say things like, "Do not focus on what you can see but on what you can't see. What you see is temporary and fading, but what you don't see is permanent and everlasting" (2 Corinthians 4:18). They said it because they felt it deeply and were convinced it was true. They were filled with a strange peace and strong love from following Jesus. Hard to argue with strong feelings, I have found.

One of the Tricksters cons pulled regularly on Christians is to make them swallow that there is such a thing as "being so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good." The opposite is the case on the ground right now. We are so earthly minded we are no earthly good. We have gone native. We somehow think the King and the Kingdom hinge precariously upon which party and puppet control the government of the United States. This petty fearfulness is small-minded, and reflects that we do not know the voice of the Good Shepherd, His character of trustworthiness and His rule (that allows for this temporary but soon to end rebellion).

To all the Freddy Fear-mongers I say, The Lord is my shepherd--I shall not want. The Lord is my king, I shall not fear. America is not the light to the nations--Jesus is. All my hope is in Him--I shall not fear, and my hope will not be disappointed.

What Does Your Faith Rest Upon?

My friend, Gabe Landes, a State Farm agent in Ohio and former religious professional, has urged me to tell the story of what happened to me in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet satellite, and what I learned from it (okay, truth be told, what I un-learned from it). If you don't like long stories, skip to the bottom and read 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 and you'll get the moral of the story. But, Gabe thinks you should read this comedy of errors first.

In the middle of the three hurricanes that swept over our Florida home in the summer of 2004, I went as a member of a mission team to Central Asia with a small group of Swiss and German Christians that I hardly knew. I also had never heard of Kyrgyzstan, did not know the language (languages, as it turned out), had no understanding of the culture and history, and daily pretty much didn't know where we were going or who we would be meeting with. I had led a few mission trips myself (and had been a church pastor and seminary professor), so believe me when I tell you that this is not how I believed "it should be done." Yet, here I was.

By the time we got to the historic city of Osh in the South (down near Afghanistan and Tajikistan, West of China), I was in full bumbling stumbling idiot mode, merely along for the ride. I enjoyed the sensations of tasting new food, seeing new people, hearing new music and languages, and the people were kind and friendly. But I was a cliche for what experienced missionaries know: "short term" missions do the short term missionaries the most good, not the people they came to "help." But God is not restricted to our limitations.

So sheep-like I walked with our team and some locals one morning through the Osh market along the river running through the city to the town hall where the city leaders met. Along the way I was jolted by loud wailing coming from the nearby hill, and was told that it was an ancient high place where they worshipped idols (note to self: open idolatry in a 97% Muslim country?). We came into the city hall around 10 a.m., a 40 x 50 meeting room with large pictures of Khrushchev, Gorbachev and all the former Soviet rulers lining the walls. When I asked why all the pictures were still there after the collapse of the Soviet Union I was told the city fathers were afraid the Soviets would come back and didn't want to offend them (note to self: huh?). The group of fifty people gathered that morning were raging humanity-- women, men, elderly, lame--and a strong smell of vodka pervaded the room.

I had no idea why they had come, but the team leader decided they were the wrong sort and told me he was going to "train the leaders," which meant leaving with the handful of Jesus-followers who were there to train them in a different location. (Isn't that what we Westerners think? "If we train the leaders, we'll get more fruit." This was one lesson I was unlearning.) He told me that I was supposed to stay and speak to the group. Then he and the other Christians left.

Venera, my young translator, said to me, "Brother Brian, shall we begin?" I had heard her story the night before. When she decided to follow Jesus, her father took her to the center of their village and had beat her unconscious. When she came to, he was standing over her and she said to him, "I love you, father. But I will always follow Jesus." She was 20 years old and stood 5 feet on her tiptoes, but towered over me in courage. I asked for a moment, prayed a desperate prayer (something eloquent like, "Help!"), and then a sense of peace came over me as I felt prompted to open my Bible to Acts chapter 2 as I stood to address the group.

As I began to speak, a woman in the front started yelling and then she stopped. As she shouted out in a language I did not recognize I thought, "This isn't the weirdest thing that is happening today," as I stared at Khrushchev's ominous portrait, heard the idol worshippers wailing, and smelled the vodka. I didn't understand how important her yelling was until several days later, but they all knew what it meant. Immediately the whole group became quiet and focused on my every word.

I spoke to them about Jesus, and how he was wrongly sentenced to death for crimes He did not commit and was crucified on a cross. At that moment, in walked Davilet, late to the meeting. He had become a follower of Jesus in a Tajik prison, and I had heard his story the night before. He came to understand that Jesus had died for his crimes and sins, and paid the penalty Davilet could never fully pay himself. I felt prompted to ask Davilet to come and tell his story, which he did.

I am not sure what he said because he spoke in one language and Venera translated it into another for the next 20 minutes. But as he was finishing he got tears in his eyes. I looked around the room and many of them had tears, too. I looked back to Davilet, and he was passing the ball back to me. Not knowing what to do, I looked down at my Bible and there in Acts 2 I read silently that Peter's message had cut his hearers to the heart, and they asked him "What must we do to be saved?" Without knowing what Davilet had said, I supposed that it had cut many to the heart. I asked them, "Do you want to know what you must do to be saved?" Many of them nodded their heads (actually, it seemed like all of them did but I can't say that for sure).

So I told them about receiving Jesus' death as a gift of payment for their wrongdoings, trusting that He rose from the dead and was with them now through His Holy Spirit. They needed now to devote themselves to do whatever Jesus, their daily boss, directed, and trust Him in all things in life, death and salvation. I glanced down at my Bible. Acts 2 said that many were baptized that day. So, I looked up and said, "Everyone who wants to be saved by Jesus, follow me to be baptized."

I began walking outside with Davilet and Venera and asked Davilet if he had ever baptized anyone and he said no. I explained to him that if anyone came, I would baptized the first one or two so he could see, and then I would help him baptize any others, if they came. At the same time I caught a strange look in Venera's eye so I asked her, "Is this okay?" She smiled and said, "If we die, we die!" I didn't really register what she meant, nor did I realize the physical violence Jesus-followers here could face. (It wasn't that I was brave like Venera. I just didn't know what I didn't know). Many of the people were baptized that day, most of them by Davilet. How many? 25 or 40? I am not sure since I wasn't counting. There were 25-40 who came the next day to the town hall to be taught more about Jesus.

One final comment. I found out later what everyone in the room new about the woman who had made the outburst. She had been beaten so severely by her husband that she was mute and paralyzed on half her body. The moment she began yelling everyone there knew they were witnessing a tender miracle from God. The next day, again at the beginning of the meeting, she began flailing her arm and stood up. I still didn't know what had happened the day before, so I just ignored it. They all knew that God had just healed her paralysis. It was God's personal message to let them all know He was able and powerful to heal their wounds, cleanse their filth, forgive their sins, empower their lives and bring them safely to heaven. A couple years later, their faith was solid, they were sharing Christ, and multiplying disciples in the nearby villages.

"And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power." (1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV)

Does your faith rest on head knowledge and polished and persuasive speakers, or on the power of God that raised the crucified Jesus to life?

brian.dodd@yahoo.com

Our Presidential People Problem

How important is picking a president? It all depends on who you are:

1. For some people, picking a president is a moral mission to get the right ethical enforcer in the White House. Because the president is right, the nation will be right.

2. For some people, it is a money matter. Their puppet for president is going to do things that will put more money in their pocket (and/or take less out through taxes).

3. For too many people, it is a tribal thing. Because my family/coworkers/church/neighbors vote elephant or donkey, so do I. How else do you explain the ubiquitous, mindless signs and bumper stickers? They seem to me to be tribal markings to keep people in line by saying, "Stick with the group!"

Followers of Jesus should not be found in any of these trance-like pack of zombies. We obey a King, and "our citizenship is in heaven." Our savior-king is coming from there, not from some November ballot (Philippians 2:20).

But here is what I lament: why do so many thoughtful, churched, trained Christians follow the pack instead of Jesus? There is only one explanation that makes sense to me anymore. It is this. Their thoughts, churches and training have been overrun by culture, and they no longer think the thoughts of the Holy One, nor do they read His Book. When they do, the god of this age has blinded their eyes from seeing what is so clearly written. How else do we explain how materialism has colonized church leaders and church priorities? How else do we explain moral superiority when the Good Book teaches us the humility and equalization of our sinful selves? "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God"--we all need a savior.

If your hope is in keeping or changing Obama, you are an idolator. In the days of the Hebrew prophet Hosea, the people were pining for human solutions and visible answers and tangible gods they could trust in. Idolatry. That's what Hosea called it. That’s what it was. That’s what it is.

But God gave Hosea a crystal-ball picture of the solution to the plight of his countrymen—and ours. There will come a time when we find ourselves leaderless and rudderless. But hear this. This is not a part of the problem. This is the beginning of God's solution (Hosea 3:4). Because, as a result of our disillusionment, we will turn our hearts again to our real homeland, and find our security and prosperity there: "In the last days they will turn in fear to the Lord, and he will bless them" (verse 5).

Our hope is in heaven alone. If Jesus doesn't show up, we are lost in space.

"There are Christians in Myanmar, they meet underground. In Syria, they're killed when they're found. And in Iran the Christians meet up in the hills because it's not safe in the town. So I ask you America where do you stand? Your people are starving, they're killed and their raped, and they're dying in jail cells, so what are your plans? I'm not talking to congress or you politicians, or SuperPacs, lobbyists, or Grover Norquist. I'm addressing this thought to the church" (adapted from Brother Larry)

the end of the world after party

So, my friend Joey pointed out to me the billboard on a major road in Orlando advertising the end of the world on May 21. I went to the website, and it URL proclaims its unbiblical claim: Jesus is coming May 21 AND we can know it for sure (www.wecanknow.com). Never mind that Jesus said, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36).

So, I loved Stoney's counter billboard. You are all invited for lunch--my treat.

Faithful obedience or consistent theology?

I have listened to the followers of a lot of -isms and -ics in my 35 years as a follower of Jesus. CharismatIC, WesleyanISM, CalvinISM, CatholicISM, EvangelicalISM, House-churchianity, and so on. I would like to share something that I have observed, and I share it in hope to encourage someone, somewhere to focus in on the simpler, more faithful life of following Christ, living under the kingship of the Lord Jesus.

These -ics and -isms have one thing in common: they develop a system of thought that elevates consistency with itself above conformity to Christ’s commands, and reads Scripture in light of its system. Conservative or liberal doesn’t make a difference. In each case, the focus is on understanding God (at its best), or feeling no cognitive tension (understandable human drive), or intellectual pride in one’s superior system (at its most tribal worst).

So what’s wrong with seeking to understand God, that is, pursue a systematic theology? At least two things: (1) On the surface, it is hubris expressing itself. Really? Understand God? The pot comprehending the Potter? The finite grasping the infinite? We do not really “see as through a glass darkly” because of our broken minds and world? (2) More crippling for us as Christians is this: in my observation, those who primarily focus on understanding God and on developing a consistent, cognitive system about God do not realize how that actually works against standing-under the direction of the Lord, submitting and following regardless of ability to conceptualize or rationalize the thing He commands to be done. The focus on understanding means that, across the board, there is a point where the system is held above the Lord.

An example. If your ic or ism teaches you that grace is unconditional (sounds right, doesn’t it?), that means that being forgiven by God has no conditions at all. Freely given, freely received. Now, there is a true aspect of that (that is, grace is always a gift and never earned), but I have heard unconditionalists (made up word) reject the clear teaching of Jesus because of their system. If I say to them, even though it is a gift, forgiveness IS conditional, according to Jesus. I have had them say “nuh uh.” So then I just read to them what Jesus said. At the end of the Lord’s teaching on how to pray in Matthew 6 (the Lord’s Prayer, as it is called) Jesus takes pains to explain only this part of the prayer: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). Pretty clear. And, to underline its importance, it is the punch line of his extended teaching on forgiveness in Matthew 18: “And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Matthew 18:34-35).

Ah, you say, well that is just because they don’t understand/articulate clearly. If they had MY -ism, they wouldn’t be so -ic-ky. (Couldn’t resist the pun, sorry). This is the steam for so much denominationalsm and the reason for existence for so many Christian colleges, seminaries and Bible schools. “If you can teach ‘em right, they’ll be right and prevail over wrong.” These institutions have trained us to believe we need educated leaders to be healthy. That tree has not borne fruit in keeping with the kingdom. The Bible teaches us to follow leaders who are faithful, that is, those who consistently obey Jesus over a long time. It says nothing about needing a college education. Jesus commanded us to “teach them to obey all that I have commanded.” Nowhere does He say, “Teach them to understand everything in the Bible, or about God.”

We are in the wilderness, Oh church. We don’t need any more educated fools. We need wise followers who know the path by heart and by practice.

Paul put it this way: Knowledge makes arrogant; love edifies. The pursuit of knowledge and understanding actually results in holding your head above the commands, and the result is pride and not Christlikeness. Instead, we must begin with the basic commitment: if your ideas don’t fit with Scripture, too bad for your ideas.

That is the consistent speck I have observed in others’ eyes, peering past the log in my own eye. But as a “we,” as the church of Jesus, we sadly present to the world a strangely consistent phenomenon with our bumper stickers, politics and priorities: we have elevated something above following His every command and hanging on His every word, and we have pushed out love as the greatest thing. At our best, we have been educated out of our obedience. At our worst, we appear to be controlled by the “flesh,” the self-will, through our self-deceived intellectual hubris. The world sees the log we display, and so yawns when we say what we see.

A hopeful alternative. This, too, I have observed: those who focus on standing-under the Lordship of Jesus by doing and teaching to do all He commands end up understanding way more about the Bible than those whose mantra is a paralytic-analytic of “if and only if and when I understand, will I radically follow and fanatically obey my Lord.”

tentmaking today

“Tent-making” is the missionary concept that comes from the apostle Paul’s practice of supporting himself by working with his own hands. He was probably a leather worker (what tents were usually made from), whose biggest customer was the Roman military (the greatest user of tents throughout the Empire), that meant he could get work anywhere. He undoubtedly learned this skill as a Pharisee, since it was the common practice for Pharisees to learn a trade and the law at the same time. They were “lay lawyers” of biblical law. But, Paul made this his practice and example for CHRISTIAN reasons all the way through to the very end of his third and final missionary journey:

“You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:34-35)

Paul, in this final meeting with the Ephesian elders, connected self-support to the highest Christian calling of loving care for the weak, and the blessing of giving (which, in this citation, is linked to self-support, not giving financial offerings!). In this basic practice, Paul identifies with most Christians everywhere who have to work to feed themselves and fund their witness to their friends, neighbors and co-workers.

The question for this post is this: According to Paul’s teaching and example, what is the place of the practice of self-support for CHRISTIAN ministries today? Tent-making is a strategy that has no good press in the church-as-we-know-it. Tent-making is what second-rate ministers do so they can do their “real” ministry on Sunday, or what the missionaries do until they get enough support to be a “full time missionary.” On the one hand, a lot of the feeling we have about tent-making comes from the current model of leader as CEO (and therefore powerful, in control and well-financed). Tent-makers are powerless, without control and poorly financed and so—we somehow feel—they must be on Plan B for those not quite good enough to be a “real” leader. On the other hand, ask any tent-maker. It can really suck. We struggle with feelings of shame (“How come more people don’t support me?”). We struggle with feelings of self-pity (“I’m so tired. If only I had financial support, I could devote my full time to ministry!”). We struggle with feelings of inadequacy, since we are not fully-funded like “real” ministers and “valuable” ministries.

For the remainder of this post I will assume that just because we are used to things being done a certain way does not make that way the best way to do them. I will assume that shame may be well part of God’s plan for authentic ministry, as God puts His son’s shame on the cross at the center of that plan, and Paul affirms again and again the necessity for apostolic leaders to experience shame and humiliation (“working with hands” would be considered shameful for the high society in his day; 1 Corinthians 4; 2 Corinthians 4). I will assume that the Scriptural pattern is more important that our contemporary patterns or long-term traditions or “common sense.”

In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, Paul said he sweat and bled “not to be a burden.” This was not only HIS missionary strategy, he makes it theirs: “Work with your hands so that you win the respect of outsiders!” (1 Thess 4:11). By the time of his second letter to them, some of them had come up with “spiritual” reasons why they shouldn’t have to work, and he makes his own practice of self-support the ethical foundation of his charge to them: if THEY won’t work (like Paul), don’t give them food (2 Thess 3:6-10).

In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul argues from his practice of self-support as an example of why the Corinthians should not use their right/freedom to eat idol meat (see 1 Corinthians 8—10). He bends over backwards to demonstrate why he should be financially supported, but only to make it clear: “I have not made use of that right, and neither should you make use of your ‘right’ to eat idol meat.” It is very poignant that Paul calls self-support his right/freedom/authority (he uses the word exousia which can be translated as either right, freedom or authority). He says this after presenting many reasons why Christian workers and their spouses should be supported in their missionary journeys (I may be wrong, but I think 9:5 specifically makes this passage not about stationed or stationary “professional” ministry). He says he would rather die than have anyone deprive him of this “boast” by financially supporting him (1 Cor 9:15—in typical Pauline irony, he calls a practice that would bring him shame in Corinth something to boast about). Paul calls it a “reward” to support himself (again, rich in irony for those who might think “paid ministry” is “real” ministry). His self-support is an exousia, a source of freedom and authority to live, decide, move and speak as God leads and provides, and not to wait for the approval of others. For those of us who have followed his pattern, we learn there is great freedom and authority to speak when we are not financially beholden to someone else, worrying about what will happen to our livelihood if we address needed issues. Paul, I think, envisioned that this was how we would keep a prophetic-apostolic edge on the church’s proclamation.

Paul’s practice of self-support was essential to blessed mission work he lived. His tent-making took him to the center of the market place where women, slaves, Cynic philosophers, and all sorts of “normal” people spent their time. He had a natural hearing because he was incarnational like Jesus, walking among those he was sent to speak to. Paul didn’t work in the market place so he could merely speak in the synagogue on the weekend. Paul’s tent-making took him to the center of the mission target God gave him that day (just like getting thrown in jail took him to the Philippian jailer). His pattern was apostolic, mobile and multipliable. He could focus on discipling those who were faithful and not worry about what was “fundable.” Geography is mission, is it not? Where does God have me? THIS is where God wants me to be in mission, whether in jail or in the center of the market place.

Some of you reading this may have significant “noise” that may drown out what I am saying here. Many people will say that “church ministry” needs to be paid so the CEO can speak in the worship event on Sunday and run the organization throughout the week. Of course, this reflects our tragically consistent misconception of what “church,” “ministry” and “worship” are. We weaken the fiber of the Body of Christ when we continue the false teaching that “worship” means attending a lecture/concert each week. Paul’s pattern is much closer: true worship is a whole life, one’s whole self, one’s every waking moment and activity (including the work-a-day stuff) offered up to God (Romans 12:1ff). It is certainly how Paul understood his own “offering” of working to support himself (Acts 20:34-35).

That is all to say that I think apostles* and tent-making are still God’s main, blessed missionary strategy in church-as-God-wants-it, and mission-as-God-wants-it. The main problem we have for the salvation of the world is not funding or fundraising, since the main scriptural plan is the Body of Christ spread like salt and positioned like lamps strategically throughout the neighborhoods and workplaces of the world. The problem is mostly our misconception of church, and our misguided reliance on clericalism and the paid priesthood. It is a poor pattern, especially when we hear so many committed disciples talk about “quitting their jobs so they can go into full-time ministry.” Get thee behind me! EVERY Christian already IS in full-time ministry! Paul’s pattern already directly relates to most Christians’ experience of the tension of a working life and a call to full obedience and availability to God. It fits with the needs for mobile missionaries to share Jesus and proclaim His kingdom in new mission fields and pockets. This awareness helps us focus on the people in front of us, rather than the funding we don’t yet have or might lose in the future. Today each of us should remember to work hard “so that we can win the respect of outsiders.” With their respect we have their ear. With their ear, they can hear the indispensable good news about Jesus.

(Personal note: this thinking flows out of my Ph.D. studies at the University of Sheffield, England, focusing on Paul’s style of leadership. Ingrid and I consider ourselves to be obeying this scriptural teaching by being self-employed missionary workers. I was formerly a paid church-as-we-know-it professional for over 20 years.)