I have been mystified as to why American Evangelicals seem to cling to the “Sinner’s Prayer” as a get-out-of-hell-free card while committing our personal welfare to the American Dream ethic of prosperity and success. I had assumed that what we have in common as evangelical Christians is the desire to seek the Truth of the Gospel, which would suggest a belief in the sovereign rule of God as our prevailing worldview.
A theological conundrum known as “free will”, manifesting itself as rebellion against God, has gotten in the way. We want the free gift of God, yes, but we want command over our own lives that only the American Dream can guarantee for the moment. The bottom line is that while God may move history, He moves far too slowly for our comfort.
“You Cannot Serve God and Wealth”:
Jesus calls us to a relationship with Him that detaches us from our hope resting in the Dream. He attacks the idea that one can fight for primacy in this world and still be a child of God: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matt 6:24).
If the Kingdom of God is a wholly-future reward for repeating a few words of repentance and getting dunked in the baptismal tank, we will have denigrated the person and work of Jesus and recast His sacrifice as both optional and auxiliary to becoming somebodies here on earth under the power of free will.
Seeking After the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness Now:
In our weekly Bible Studies, we have been examining the nature of the present, dynamic, triumphant Kingdom of God as a welcome alternative to the futile morass of allegiance to a pseudo kingdom of God on earth. Buddy Spaulding, one of our contributors, has written a relevant post on Facebook that caught my eye.
Buddy Spaulding:
Here's the specific problem. We evangelicals mostly have not the slightest clue as to what the Kingdom of God is. As Randal Rauser pointed out recently, American fundamentalism/evangelicalism doesn't seem even to understand the gospel at all! All kinds of garbage has been dragged in to divert us from the Truth.
Traditional conservative Christianity in the US sees the Kingdom of God as wholly future. Voices coming from a more recent extreme are advocating for bringing the Kingdom in by force. Either way, the space in the middle is left empty of the presence and power of God with and through His people, the Confessing Church.
Too much emphasis on "futurism" has resulted in lip service to the power of the cross in a COSMIC redemption. Salvation is reduced to personal conversion – escape from hell. Let's not worry about doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8). Those are seen as impediments to the gospel. Worse, trying to bring a Christian perspective to such virtues is derided as "being liberal" or "woke." By acquiescing to the status quo, we impede the good news.
Thoughtful but suffering people will question what the good news really is if we have to die before we can experience its transforming power. Republican and Democratic platforms that promise money and power as the solution to all social ills seem these days to supersede the beauty and holiness of the Creator.
Violent Christians are working overtime trying to maneuver their way into a Utopian society under the pretense of obedience to God. Many openly talk of forcing obedience to select moral precepts. We are to single out enemies and declare culture war on select sins, creating a hell-on-earth. We have become blind guides leading each other into a pit. Our blindness is opting us out of having to deal with the mess inside the Church. Where is love of neighbor in all of this focus on OPS – Other People’s Sin instead of our own?
The Kingdom of God is led by a peaceable servant King! The righteousness of God is not satisfied through forced morality but is the divinely-inspired wellspring of morality. As Christians, we are called not to the role of master but as servant to others. We must, with repentant hearts, confess and detach from the power and mayhem of political influence.
These attitudes are not reserved just for our futures. Jesus has come and has shown us in the flesh how we are to live in the now, regardless of the cost. His resurrection enables us to begin living in the Kingdom now, separate and distinct from the political world of folks proud of their power. His life as Lord and King stands as a living example of what it means to prioritize the will of God on earth TODAY as it is being carried out in heaven.
Which Kingdom Has Captured Our Allegiance – God’s or Caesar’s?
Democracy has indeed been preserved for the moment! Our people have freely made their choices. Failure of our republic equally to have dispensed “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” has ushered in a class of multi-billionaires employing their business skills over a nation replete with diversity unacceptable in corporate circles.
How this turns out for America will be one for the history books. How the Confessing Church reacts and responds as it all unfolds, however, will be the test of which kingdom has captured our allegiance.
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