I want to see a Revolution...
Where losing money doesn’t mean losing ministry.
Where holiness has nothing to do with what you’ve done, but where you’ve been.
Where purity, not approval, is the main concern,
And radical faith is the only acceptable kind.
I want to see a Revolution...
Where your identity doesn’t come from your or your ancestors’ birthplace.
Where your leadership doesn’t live in the White House, but whose throne is Heaven and whose footstool is earth.
Where prayer is more important than education,
And opportunity is more important than tradition.
I want to see a Revolution...
Where “brother” or “sister” precedes “Mister” or “Misses.”
Where money works for you and not the other way around.
Where Spirit is more a stronger bond than blood,
And we can disagree yet still be able to hug before departing.
I want to see a Revolution...
Where the most notable element of your ministry is the fact that GOD IS AMONG YOU NOW and not that your pastor holds four graduate and post-graduate degrees.
Where offices are offices and gifts are gifts.
Where the time of day or location of meeting does not qualify your church as a church,
And there may be real wine used for communion.
I want to see a Revolution...
Where the church has no walls.
Where the people have no masks.
Where the world has no boundaries,
And your landlord is number one on your prayer list.
I want to see a Revolution...
Where the name of Jesus is more well known than the Top 5 pop artists.
Where love trumps law.
Where life cannot go on as before,
And death is nothing to dread or fear.
I want to see a Revolution...
Where a SSN or DL won’t tell me who you really are.
Where your bank account won’t tell me what you’re really worth.
Where a lady with a torch isn’t your symbol of liberty,
And we accept that guns can’t really solve any problems OR keep peace.
I want to see a Revolution...
Where we can accept that there is salvation outside the church, though not outside Christ.
Where the workplace is a mission field and not just a paycheck.
Where we cannot save face because we have no face to save,
And strangers can be talked to.
I want to see a Revolution...
Where you’d give up your freedom to keep my conscience safe.
Where borrowing a child can make their parents’ day.
Where scripture isn’t just for character development or daily wisdom,
And the MVP of your church staff is the Holy Spirit.
I want to see a Revolution...
Where you’d rather see 10 churches of twenty, than 1 church of two hundred.
Where it isn’t abnormal to pray with tears.
Where “holidays” don’t stop you from meeting together,
And that meeting may last all day long.
I want to see a Revolution...
Where you don’t need page numbers to find Philemon.
Where discipleship time precedes tennis practice.
Where children know their parents' testimonies,
And “pro-life” doesn’t just mean “anti-abortion.”
I want to see a revolution…
But maybe that’s just me…
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Re: Christian Patriotism and Frozen Hot Chocolate
Philippians 3:20-21
20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
Ephesians 2:11-22
11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Peter 2:9-12
9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
10 “Once you had no identity as a people;
now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy;
now you have received God’s mercy.”
11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
--------------------------
To what extent are those of us claiming faith in Christ supposed to take these words? I’ve heard it many ways and in many ways, but I think as I know am rolling along in life and am currently experiencing what some have called the “real world” that a close look at my positions is in order. I see in scripture a plain and honest claim by God on me as His own. I see the words “citizenship” and “nation” used in reference to heaven and the universal Church. I see that government is not where my hope is to be put but rather a tool that God has instituted in order to maintain the lawless. In all of this I see the phrasing of Jesus, who said that His Kingdom was not of this world, in His “Sermon on the Mount” as one that uses fairly political language as if founding a standard for an organized body’s positions on morality, crime, social justice, and authority. Where does that leave us? I think it plainly leaves us in a place that stands distinct from geographical origins and loyalties. I think that it leaves us in a place that shows us that the man or woman born and raised in China who claims Jesus Christ as Lord is closer to my and more my brother/sister than the man or woman down the street who scoffs the name of Christ. I think it leaves me in a place where I cannot claim “the land of the free and home of the brave” as my truest home or greatest allegiance. You see, I believe in a Kingdom that was revealed with the incarnation of its King and that the true identity of that Kingdom as a national entity. I believe that I am more a citizen of heaven than of earth and that my patriotism is revealed on Easter Morning and not on “Independence Day.” I need to say that I have to a great extent revoked my so-called “independence” for a faith-filled dependence on a Father in Heaven who has called me to live as one belonging to a “Holy Nation” and “Royal Priesthood.” This Kingdom has no end, beginning, defeat, or civil division. It has no states of red or blue demographic, no physical boundaries, no national language, or dominant skin tone. Perhaps I’m wrestling with things out loud again and that may just get me in trouble. But perhaps I’m once more learning to take the Word of God at face value and recognizing that I also need to live it- no matter how unpatriotic that may seem. May we not forget that it was ultimately for “unpatriotism” and/or “treason” that our first brothers and sisters were persecuted for so long ago.
…………………………….
Matthew 5-7
John 18:36-37
Romans 13
20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
Ephesians 2:11-22
11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Peter 2:9-12
9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
10 “Once you had no identity as a people;
now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy;
now you have received God’s mercy.”
11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
--------------------------
To what extent are those of us claiming faith in Christ supposed to take these words? I’ve heard it many ways and in many ways, but I think as I know am rolling along in life and am currently experiencing what some have called the “real world” that a close look at my positions is in order. I see in scripture a plain and honest claim by God on me as His own. I see the words “citizenship” and “nation” used in reference to heaven and the universal Church. I see that government is not where my hope is to be put but rather a tool that God has instituted in order to maintain the lawless. In all of this I see the phrasing of Jesus, who said that His Kingdom was not of this world, in His “Sermon on the Mount” as one that uses fairly political language as if founding a standard for an organized body’s positions on morality, crime, social justice, and authority. Where does that leave us? I think it plainly leaves us in a place that stands distinct from geographical origins and loyalties. I think that it leaves us in a place that shows us that the man or woman born and raised in China who claims Jesus Christ as Lord is closer to my and more my brother/sister than the man or woman down the street who scoffs the name of Christ. I think it leaves me in a place where I cannot claim “the land of the free and home of the brave” as my truest home or greatest allegiance. You see, I believe in a Kingdom that was revealed with the incarnation of its King and that the true identity of that Kingdom as a national entity. I believe that I am more a citizen of heaven than of earth and that my patriotism is revealed on Easter Morning and not on “Independence Day.” I need to say that I have to a great extent revoked my so-called “independence” for a faith-filled dependence on a Father in Heaven who has called me to live as one belonging to a “Holy Nation” and “Royal Priesthood.” This Kingdom has no end, beginning, defeat, or civil division. It has no states of red or blue demographic, no physical boundaries, no national language, or dominant skin tone. Perhaps I’m wrestling with things out loud again and that may just get me in trouble. But perhaps I’m once more learning to take the Word of God at face value and recognizing that I also need to live it- no matter how unpatriotic that may seem. May we not forget that it was ultimately for “unpatriotism” and/or “treason” that our first brothers and sisters were persecuted for so long ago.
…………………………….
Matthew 5-7
John 18:36-37
Romans 13
Nations are Bigger than Churches
Introduction
Building on the theme of intimacy and relationships that has permeated my thoughts as of late I would now like to draw on the implications of such a thing as a Biblical Theology that allows the text to dictate the belief (rather than the ever so popular vice versa approach). We know that personability is required for intimacy and that personability is not necessarily a characteristic of ink and paper. Instead, what we have is a text that has been recorded with direct intention by an eternal being- this means that the Author is always accessible and, if willing, capable of explaining the meaning and intent behind the words. This means that the text becomes a medium, or catalyst, for building and knowing the Author, because He is alive and the text is infused with His breath. As people in search of intimacy with the Author approach His words, there must be an understanding in the forefront of their minds that accepts or at the very least acknowledges that God has a purpose and mission expressed throughout the text. I believe there certainly is a vision and telos in the Scripture. Not only so, but I believe that is it clearly expressed and explained.
The Old Testament: this is my Father’s world
In reading through the Old Testament, one cannot help but accept that the central figure is God. Now, God’s role and identity is primarily expressed in a relationship to people, initially Adam and his descendants, then Noah and his, and finally Abraham and his also. Abraham is responsible for the life of Isaac, and Isaac for the life of Jacob. Jacob bears twelve sons, who are the tribes of Israel. God is active and personal throughout this entire process of setting the stage for His initial people. His promise to Abraham is one of blessing and multiplication. His words indicate that Abraham’s line will significantly affect the rest of the world in a blessed way. We here see God’s initial endeavor to create for Himself a people. The phrase declared throughout the Old Testament is simply that “They will be my people and I will be their God .” We understand the explicit phrasing to mean exactly this: God desires a people to claim Him and that He may claim. That God is in any way concerned with any interaction with humanity immediately indicates that He is in fact relational. It means that He is relational as well as purposeful with His creation. He expresses His desire for relationship with His people in many ways.
In the Old Testament, we have God revealing Himself to His people in somewhat impersonal ways. For example, He sends other people to speak in His Name. This may be troubling to think that a God who desires relationship would remain veiled and unseen by those He desires to know Him. This is the characteristic of God simply referred to as humility. God would rather woo than ravish, as C.S. Lewis puts it . If God were to reveal Himself fully, no holds barred, it is then probable that there would be no such thing as a faith response to Him. There would be no choice in the matter. There would be no desire motivating the participation in the relationship. Is anyone satisfied with a relationship that has no personal motivation behind it, but is instead the only option given a particular circumstance? I do not believe this to be anthropomorphizing too greatly, for if God has declared what He has in desiring a people of His own, yet He has not simply declared Himself and reaped the undoubted harvest of believers, then there must be a conceivable reason why this would be less than perfect. Nevertheless, we do see that God does not always reveal His presence impersonally. An example of God simply stating His presence is in the cloud that led the Israelites from Egypt . This cloud was unmistakably the direct work of God, yet it was still a veiled revelation. In closing, the Old Testament is the foundation for God’s people. It is a formation of a physical, literal, geocentric nation that has been promised the ruler who will make them “the head, not the tail ” of the world.
The New Testament: the greatest trick ever
In the New Testament we now have a different dilemma. God is perfectly personal. In fact, He has become a human person! The movie The Prestige attempts to draw out the reason why people have been, for centuries, enthralled with magic and illusion. In it, one character makes the assertion that “The crowd will never look too closely at the act, because they don’t really want to know the truth. They want to be fooled.” This may be the case, but in the instance of one of the greatest masquerades of all time, the foils certainly did not wish to play along. The incarnation is indeed what I am referring to here, and the taking on of flesh and bone by God Himself is not only an act of humility but in some senses a slight of hand or hidden event. God Himself is walking in flesh, bound, to an extent, by space and time. He becomes ultimately relational, and this is, as our theology should assert, the way He always has presented Himself. He becomes as relationally functional as possible in becoming human. Nevertheless, the other members of His race are not pleased with His words or life. This is indicative of the many kinds of relationships that human beings are capable of participating in. In reality, animosity is a manifestation of a relationship. Enmity is as well. So too is friendship and romance. These are all expressions of interaction and relationship. The point is that God not only wants us to acknowledge His existence, as animosity or enmity do, but to praise His existence and celebrate it! God has created us to be in a right relationship with Him, and the incarnation makes evident each profound way that a human being can participate in a relationship with God.
The New Testament is the record of the significant events that set in motion the formation for the people of God as ones spiritual, literal, and Heaven-focused. These people are of all races of the world, thus fulfilling the promise to Abraham. In fact, that promise is remembered so clearly that emphasis is laid on the nations being ministered to immediately following the Spirit’s empowerment of the disciples . The promise to bless the nations through the seed of Abraham is fulfilled in Christ , and the nation of God is now being formed. The New Testament is not unlike a record of events occurring in America’s history from 1765-1800 as time of national formation and foundational importance. In the end this is the important thing- in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, Slave nor Free, not even Male or Female . Christ is the Reconciliation of every form of animosity. There is no such thing as racial tension in the Kingdom of God because there is no such thing as earthly race in the Kingdom of God!
Now, it would be of the greatest benefit that I explain what I mean in referring to the incarnation as a “trick.” I do not mean such as if God were deceptive or intentionally malicious. However, as we look at the climax of the incarnation, that is the point of time that proves indubitably that this person who claimed divine rights and status was in fact mortal, we see that there was something beyond just His hope to be recognized as God in flesh. In proclaiming that Jesus should die, the people of that crowd were ultimately saying that they preferred a world where God did not walk around in flesh to a world where He did. The trick is this- that in killing the incarnate Son of God and ridding the world of His presence, they released the possibility for His presence to transcend space and time and yet still be immediately present! He who was once bound by space and time is no longer so, but His Spirit is freed to the entire world and there is no place He does not fill. That is the trick, that in His death, what they hated the most was multiplied, and that Spirit is still present.
The Holy Spirit as the mark of citizenship
That presence that was loosed on the world with the ascension of Christ at the end of the Gospels and the beginning of Acts is indeed the Holy Spirit. He is present in the world and not only that, but active . He actively reconciles people to Christ and expands the Kingdom of God here on earth . The Holy Spirit is the binding force of the nation of God . As God Himself is the nation’s founder, His Son is our King, and the Spirit is the unifying presence for us all we see that His original plans are indeed being fulfilled. The New Testament consistently asserts that those who are Christ are a new creation . This subsequently means that the former identities associated with their life are nullified. I am convinced that in Heaven, there will be no such thing as a German, a Greek, a Roman, a Russian, a Canadian, a Brazilian, a Jew, or an American, but instead there would be only former people of these former races. People who would much sooner claim their nation as something beyond the sky and more expansive than the ocean. The Holy Spirit is the citizen maker of our time, just as He has always been. He is the power behind the people of God and the leader of individuals to greater intimacy with Christ their King. It is by the presence of the Holy Spirit that we are presented the privilege of being the people of God. It is by the will of the Father, the obedience of the Son, and the power of the Spirit that this nation is a reality at all.
Conclusion: nations are bigger than churches
In the end, there comes a new understanding of the teleology of the Lord. We cannot move along in a simple-minded way of thinking that suggests that praying a prayer or entering a building is the hope and pleasure of God. Nations are bigger than churches, and in fact, the Universal Church itself is more a nation than it is comparable to any other earthly thing. Jesus asserted that the Kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing in this world from the time of John the Baptist . Paul declares that we are now citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household . Peter writes that we ought to consider ourselves strangers to this planet . The writer of Hebrews tells us that even our faith’s ancestors in the Old Testament, who had not seen what was promised to them, understood that they were not to claim this world as their home ! God’s desires are to claim a people and to be claimed in turn by them . If we are going to claim to own a Biblical Theology, then the text must dictate belief, and the text unanimously declares that God wants a nation to be His own just as He is their only God! May we all learn to live as citizens of a nation rather than just members of a church. May we all learn to claim our King in faith that He would also claim us. I am convinced of the theme of scripture. In light of the implications, I can only hope that as a citizen I might be an agent of reconciliation (thus expanding the nation) and a participant and agent of intimacy with the King (thus fulfilling His creative purposes and experiencing the joy of real life). This is my conclusion, that the text of Scripture speaks explicitly to the emphatic hope of God’s forming a people to call His own. His formation of that people includes their consciously and intentionally claiming Him as their God and thus trusting His leading and authority over their lives.
..............................................
Genesis 17:8, Exodus 6:7, Leviticus 26:12, Deuteronomy 7:6, Psalm 135:4, Jeremiah 24:7, Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 11:20, Zechariah 8:8, Malachi 3:17
The Screwtape Letters, letter viii
Exodus 13:21-22
Deuteronomy 28:13
Philippians 2:8-10
Acts 1:8
Galatians 3:16
Galatians 3:28
Acts 2:23
2 Corinthians 5:17-20
Ephesians 4:3
2 Corinthians 5:17
Matthew 11:12
Ephesians 2:19
1 Peter 1:17
Hebrews 11:13
Titus 2:13-14
Building on the theme of intimacy and relationships that has permeated my thoughts as of late I would now like to draw on the implications of such a thing as a Biblical Theology that allows the text to dictate the belief (rather than the ever so popular vice versa approach). We know that personability is required for intimacy and that personability is not necessarily a characteristic of ink and paper. Instead, what we have is a text that has been recorded with direct intention by an eternal being- this means that the Author is always accessible and, if willing, capable of explaining the meaning and intent behind the words. This means that the text becomes a medium, or catalyst, for building and knowing the Author, because He is alive and the text is infused with His breath. As people in search of intimacy with the Author approach His words, there must be an understanding in the forefront of their minds that accepts or at the very least acknowledges that God has a purpose and mission expressed throughout the text. I believe there certainly is a vision and telos in the Scripture. Not only so, but I believe that is it clearly expressed and explained.
The Old Testament: this is my Father’s world
In reading through the Old Testament, one cannot help but accept that the central figure is God. Now, God’s role and identity is primarily expressed in a relationship to people, initially Adam and his descendants, then Noah and his, and finally Abraham and his also. Abraham is responsible for the life of Isaac, and Isaac for the life of Jacob. Jacob bears twelve sons, who are the tribes of Israel. God is active and personal throughout this entire process of setting the stage for His initial people. His promise to Abraham is one of blessing and multiplication. His words indicate that Abraham’s line will significantly affect the rest of the world in a blessed way. We here see God’s initial endeavor to create for Himself a people. The phrase declared throughout the Old Testament is simply that “They will be my people and I will be their God .” We understand the explicit phrasing to mean exactly this: God desires a people to claim Him and that He may claim. That God is in any way concerned with any interaction with humanity immediately indicates that He is in fact relational. It means that He is relational as well as purposeful with His creation. He expresses His desire for relationship with His people in many ways.
In the Old Testament, we have God revealing Himself to His people in somewhat impersonal ways. For example, He sends other people to speak in His Name. This may be troubling to think that a God who desires relationship would remain veiled and unseen by those He desires to know Him. This is the characteristic of God simply referred to as humility. God would rather woo than ravish, as C.S. Lewis puts it . If God were to reveal Himself fully, no holds barred, it is then probable that there would be no such thing as a faith response to Him. There would be no choice in the matter. There would be no desire motivating the participation in the relationship. Is anyone satisfied with a relationship that has no personal motivation behind it, but is instead the only option given a particular circumstance? I do not believe this to be anthropomorphizing too greatly, for if God has declared what He has in desiring a people of His own, yet He has not simply declared Himself and reaped the undoubted harvest of believers, then there must be a conceivable reason why this would be less than perfect. Nevertheless, we do see that God does not always reveal His presence impersonally. An example of God simply stating His presence is in the cloud that led the Israelites from Egypt . This cloud was unmistakably the direct work of God, yet it was still a veiled revelation. In closing, the Old Testament is the foundation for God’s people. It is a formation of a physical, literal, geocentric nation that has been promised the ruler who will make them “the head, not the tail ” of the world.
The New Testament: the greatest trick ever
In the New Testament we now have a different dilemma. God is perfectly personal. In fact, He has become a human person! The movie The Prestige attempts to draw out the reason why people have been, for centuries, enthralled with magic and illusion. In it, one character makes the assertion that “The crowd will never look too closely at the act, because they don’t really want to know the truth. They want to be fooled.” This may be the case, but in the instance of one of the greatest masquerades of all time, the foils certainly did not wish to play along. The incarnation is indeed what I am referring to here, and the taking on of flesh and bone by God Himself is not only an act of humility but in some senses a slight of hand or hidden event. God Himself is walking in flesh, bound, to an extent, by space and time. He becomes ultimately relational, and this is, as our theology should assert, the way He always has presented Himself. He becomes as relationally functional as possible in becoming human. Nevertheless, the other members of His race are not pleased with His words or life. This is indicative of the many kinds of relationships that human beings are capable of participating in. In reality, animosity is a manifestation of a relationship. Enmity is as well. So too is friendship and romance. These are all expressions of interaction and relationship. The point is that God not only wants us to acknowledge His existence, as animosity or enmity do, but to praise His existence and celebrate it! God has created us to be in a right relationship with Him, and the incarnation makes evident each profound way that a human being can participate in a relationship with God.
The New Testament is the record of the significant events that set in motion the formation for the people of God as ones spiritual, literal, and Heaven-focused. These people are of all races of the world, thus fulfilling the promise to Abraham. In fact, that promise is remembered so clearly that emphasis is laid on the nations being ministered to immediately following the Spirit’s empowerment of the disciples . The promise to bless the nations through the seed of Abraham is fulfilled in Christ , and the nation of God is now being formed. The New Testament is not unlike a record of events occurring in America’s history from 1765-1800 as time of national formation and foundational importance. In the end this is the important thing- in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, Slave nor Free, not even Male or Female . Christ is the Reconciliation of every form of animosity. There is no such thing as racial tension in the Kingdom of God because there is no such thing as earthly race in the Kingdom of God!
Now, it would be of the greatest benefit that I explain what I mean in referring to the incarnation as a “trick.” I do not mean such as if God were deceptive or intentionally malicious. However, as we look at the climax of the incarnation, that is the point of time that proves indubitably that this person who claimed divine rights and status was in fact mortal, we see that there was something beyond just His hope to be recognized as God in flesh. In proclaiming that Jesus should die, the people of that crowd were ultimately saying that they preferred a world where God did not walk around in flesh to a world where He did. The trick is this- that in killing the incarnate Son of God and ridding the world of His presence, they released the possibility for His presence to transcend space and time and yet still be immediately present! He who was once bound by space and time is no longer so, but His Spirit is freed to the entire world and there is no place He does not fill. That is the trick, that in His death, what they hated the most was multiplied, and that Spirit is still present.
The Holy Spirit as the mark of citizenship
That presence that was loosed on the world with the ascension of Christ at the end of the Gospels and the beginning of Acts is indeed the Holy Spirit. He is present in the world and not only that, but active . He actively reconciles people to Christ and expands the Kingdom of God here on earth . The Holy Spirit is the binding force of the nation of God . As God Himself is the nation’s founder, His Son is our King, and the Spirit is the unifying presence for us all we see that His original plans are indeed being fulfilled. The New Testament consistently asserts that those who are Christ are a new creation . This subsequently means that the former identities associated with their life are nullified. I am convinced that in Heaven, there will be no such thing as a German, a Greek, a Roman, a Russian, a Canadian, a Brazilian, a Jew, or an American, but instead there would be only former people of these former races. People who would much sooner claim their nation as something beyond the sky and more expansive than the ocean. The Holy Spirit is the citizen maker of our time, just as He has always been. He is the power behind the people of God and the leader of individuals to greater intimacy with Christ their King. It is by the presence of the Holy Spirit that we are presented the privilege of being the people of God. It is by the will of the Father, the obedience of the Son, and the power of the Spirit that this nation is a reality at all.
Conclusion: nations are bigger than churches
In the end, there comes a new understanding of the teleology of the Lord. We cannot move along in a simple-minded way of thinking that suggests that praying a prayer or entering a building is the hope and pleasure of God. Nations are bigger than churches, and in fact, the Universal Church itself is more a nation than it is comparable to any other earthly thing. Jesus asserted that the Kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing in this world from the time of John the Baptist . Paul declares that we are now citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household . Peter writes that we ought to consider ourselves strangers to this planet . The writer of Hebrews tells us that even our faith’s ancestors in the Old Testament, who had not seen what was promised to them, understood that they were not to claim this world as their home ! God’s desires are to claim a people and to be claimed in turn by them . If we are going to claim to own a Biblical Theology, then the text must dictate belief, and the text unanimously declares that God wants a nation to be His own just as He is their only God! May we all learn to live as citizens of a nation rather than just members of a church. May we all learn to claim our King in faith that He would also claim us. I am convinced of the theme of scripture. In light of the implications, I can only hope that as a citizen I might be an agent of reconciliation (thus expanding the nation) and a participant and agent of intimacy with the King (thus fulfilling His creative purposes and experiencing the joy of real life). This is my conclusion, that the text of Scripture speaks explicitly to the emphatic hope of God’s forming a people to call His own. His formation of that people includes their consciously and intentionally claiming Him as their God and thus trusting His leading and authority over their lives.
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Genesis 17:8, Exodus 6:7, Leviticus 26:12, Deuteronomy 7:6, Psalm 135:4, Jeremiah 24:7, Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 11:20, Zechariah 8:8, Malachi 3:17
The Screwtape Letters, letter viii
Exodus 13:21-22
Deuteronomy 28:13
Philippians 2:8-10
Acts 1:8
Galatians 3:16
Galatians 3:28
Acts 2:23
2 Corinthians 5:17-20
Ephesians 4:3
2 Corinthians 5:17
Matthew 11:12
Ephesians 2:19
1 Peter 1:17
Hebrews 11:13
Titus 2:13-14
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