Embassy Christianity

When living abroad, a person is bound by the laws of the country in which he lives. But when he enters the American embassy located in that country, he is bound to obey the laws of the United States for as long as he is in the embassy compound. This makes sense when living in a foreign country. But it is dangerous when we take the same approach in our religious life. There are many in our secular world today who believe that religion is a private personal matter which shouldn’t affect the rest of our lives. While we can live for God on Sunday, we should not let our religious faith affect the rest of the week. They expect us to live as embassy Christians: following the laws of God while at church but following the laws of society when outside of church. This view has even led some to desire to replace freedom of religion with freedom of worship. We can worship as we want, but make sure to keep our religion on the sidelines, where it is ineffective in our daily life. The results of such thinking, as noted in various surveys, show that the lifestyles of many Christians are practically the same as society at large. The only real difference is that Christians may attend church on Sunday.

I wonder how many of us have succumbed to this approach in our relationship with God. Do we order our lives after the pattern of the world for the majority of our lives? But then for one hour on Sunday (0.6% of our week), we switch to following God? This attitude can be called embassy living. Others have coined it as “living for God on Sunday and for the Devil the rest of the week.”

While it is true that as the Apostle Peter says, we are strangers and aliens here on earth, God does not want us to have an embassy mentality. He wants our total allegiance 24 / 7. He calls us to holiness. As citizens of his kingdom, we are bound by his laws and commands. He calls us to be a part of a redemptive community that lives in and reaches out to a fallen world. We are to be, as the Apostle Paul says, ambassadors for Christ.
An ambassador is the representative of the government whom he serves. In effect, he is an extension of that government. He has the responsibility to faithfully serve those he represents. He doesn’t represent his country only when on the embassy grounds. Wherever he goes, whatever he does, he represents his country. His every action is governed by his reflection upon its effect on the country he serves.

As Christians, we are to have the same type of attitude. Wherever we go, whatever we do, God expects us to be his ambassadors. All of our actions should be governed by the question of how aligned they are with the desires of our King. As representatives of His kingdom, we are to represent Christ to the world. We are to be incarnational Christians, living Christ-like lives. Anyone who sees us should see Christ. He expects us to live this way day in and day out. It is only through incarnational living that we will have an impact upon the world. God does not want us to be embassy Christians. He wants us to fully represent Him here on earth. How do you live your life? Do you live your life as an ambassador or as an embassy Christian?

Muscular Christianity

I believe that God would have us live muscular Christianity. But what does this entail? Jesus said we should “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30). How do we develop the muscles of our heart, soul and mind? We do so by putting Christ first in everything, by making every thought captive to Christ, and by diligently studying God’s word. Paul prays for the church at Colosse “asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” (Col 1:9b-10) In Philippians 1:9-11 he says “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.” The active verbs in these verses describe a process and growth. It is not something instantaneous.

Muscular Christianity can be defined as incarnational living. Our lives become so transformed that we exhibit Christ-like tendencies in our daily life and practice. We demonstrate fruitful love and discernment, demonstrating godly wisdom to all we come into contact with. We think God’s thoughts after him.

But developing muscles takes time and practice. They can’t be developed in a day. It requires discipline. It requires commitment and regular work. Without them, the task will fail. The same is true in our spiritual lives. Without a disciplined commitment and work our spiritual muscles will never grow. They require constant practice. This is a continual process. We never reach the goal this side of heaven. Paul never stops praying for continued growth and development. We shouldn’t either. Do we pray these two prayers of his for ourselves, for our spouses and children? For that matter, do we pray them for the neighbor or co-worker or fellow church member with whom we have trouble getting along?

Just as a physical exercise program can have several components, so also does a spiritual one. Some of the components are Bible study, prayer, reading of Christian literature, small group involvement and mentoring. Dallas Willard, in his book The Spirit of the Disciplines lists fifteen disciplines that aid us in drawing closer to Christ and his kingdom. Acknowledging that this list is incomplete, he never-the-less sees things like prayer, fasting, solitude, worship, service, confession, etc. as assisting one in developing a healthy spiritual life. He cautions that it is better to practice several of the disciplines than to focus on a limited number. Otherwise our spiritual life can become unbalanced, similar to a person who only exercises and develops his left arm and leg at the expense of his right. We must seek to live a balanced life.

Our physical muscles atrophy if we are not using them; so also do our spiritual muscles. Without constant exercise, they will become weaker and weaker, eventually becoming so weak that we are unable to discern the difference between things that are either good or evil. When temptations come, we will then be unable to resist. How well rounded is your spiritual exercise program? To what extent are your spiritual muscles becoming stronger? Or are they atrophying?

The Desire for Knowledge

Tenney Frank, in his book Life and Literature in the Roman Republic describes how the quality of literature decreased in the late Roman Republic. He notes that the literary writers acquiesced to the wishes of the audience. He writes “It is not surprising, therefore, that these audiences – eager for entertainment which might exclude all possibility of having to exercise the intellect – finally demanded an extravaganza that appealed solely to eye and ear.” We see much the same when we look at the current state of the entertainment industry in our days. Much of prime time television tends to be sit-coms which titillatingly appeal to the eye and ear. Very little intellect is required when viewing these programs. The purpose of many movies appears to be to provide a visual spectacle. As in the times of the late Roman Republic, the entertainment fare available caters to the whims of the audience.

Outside of documentaries, which tend to engage one’s mind, most programs on television offer mindless entertainment. Our minds are never exercised. These programs erode our desire-for-intellect IQ and it begins to atrophy. The mindless drivel of their content tends to stultify our minds, resulting in a paralyzing dullness. This dullness has become so pervasive that it has not only affected our homes, but also our schools and society at large. In many inner city schools the desire-for-intellect IQ is virtually non-existent. The depth to which we have devolved can be seen in an assignment given by a law professor to his first year law students. The students complained that the papers they were to read were almost incomprehensible. The professor retorted that they must understand for whom these papers were originally published – New England farmers. They were the Federalist Papers, written when our nation was in the process of being born. This example shows how far down we have sunk. When the intellect of modern day graduate students is inferior to that of less educated farmers of former days, we are in desperate straits.

God desires that we have a high desire-for-intellect IQ. Many passages in Scripture speak of the necessity of our studying God’s word. The prophet Hosea states that without knowledge the people perish. The Apostle Paul says we should study to be approved to God. Many passages in the Old and New Testaments speak of the studying of God’s laws and his word as having a high priority. They all imply that we must have a desire to know God. We are to love God with our minds as well as our hearts.

When the intellectual malaise which we observe in our society infects the church, it also is in trouble. Dallas Willard, in The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives, notes that while we would reject an analyst or surgeon with shallow thinking, we easily put our minds away when it comes to religion. The focus of many church youth programs appears to have more interest in keeping their young people entertained than in a serious study of God’s word and the deepening of their spiritual lives. Many church services contain little more than pabulum which does not engage the mind. The author of Hebrews has sharp words for the Christian who constantly has a need for milk instead of solid food, noting that solid food is for the mature individual who can discern good from evil (Heb 5:11-14). By implication, those on milk cannot make such discernment.

The desire to know God requires a decision on our part. We have to make it a priority. Where is your desire-for-intellect IQ? Is it in the 150s or in the low 70s?

The Benefits of Silence

Walking into the store, the echoes of musak tickle my mind, enticing me to buy, buy, buy, since the tunes projecting from the sound system are not merely for my enjoyment alone. We are caught up in a world where silence and solitude are foreign to both our hearts and our ears. One would think we thrive on noise; it constantly is entering our ears, whether it is from the radio, television or our ipod. If nothing else, the whoosh of automobiles on the not to distant expressway as they travel to and fro invades our ears. There are even machines that will produce white noise. White noise consists of sound from all of the frequencies that the human ear can hear, drowning out other voices, making it difficult to hear them. Noise is now so commonplace that when it is absent we suffer in the silence, frantically seeking the comfort of sound. Just as the quietness of solitude makes us feel guilty, so also does the sound of silence make us feel uncomfortable.

Yet both silence and solitude are keys to being able to listen to the still small voice of God when he speaks to us. Perhaps the rarity with which we hear his voice is due in part to the discordant noise that is all around us. The cacophony of white noise that Satan uses to invade our ears is designed to prevent our listening to God’s still small voice, for he knows that in many languages “to listen” and “to obey” have the same root. He fears that if we actually listen to God’s voice, we might obey it, carrying out his will.

Throughout the history of Christendom, those men and women having been considered saints and giants in the faith by their peers have found solitude and silence to be beneficial to their faith walk. Thomas à Kempis says of them that “in silence and quiet the devout soul profiteth and learneth the secrets of the scriptures”. Henri Nouwen notes that “silence is the way to make solitude a reality”. In silence and solitude men and women of faith were able to focus deeply upon their relationship with the God they adored.

Noise becomes a great distraction, prohibiting us from concentrating upon that which we desire. I remember a time when I found myself being very unproductive while writing some computer programs. Upon analysis, I discovered I was handling sixty phone calls a day. The constant distractions made it impossible to concentrate on the work at hand. Noise, music and words blaring from the radio or TV all cause us to lose our concentration upon God. They invade our reflections and thoughts. God can not get our attention long enough to get through to our souls.

Silence and solitude bring us face to face with God alone. Cornelius Plantinga Jr. in his book Engaging God’s WorldEngaging God's World (A Reformed Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living) says ”Silences may fill us with longing for goodness and listening for God. Silence lets us brood over things that make us deep.” Perhaps the reason we reach for the ipod, television or radio at such times is due to the fact that the relationship we have with God is very shallow. Since the encounter is somewhat frightening, we seek the comfort of noise. In this way we can avoid the awkwardness that silence brings – the silence that tells us that we are alone with God.

The extent to which we welcome silence and solitude may tell us much about the nature of our faith. Do we welcome them, or try to avoid them?

Cultural Christianity

Slavoj Zizek, the international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities wrote an article about culture. He stated that “’Culture’ has commonly become the name for all those things we practice without really taking seriously. And this is why we dismiss fundamentalist believers as ‘barbarians’ with a ‘medieval mindset’: they dare to take their beliefs seriously.” This viewpoint has heavily influenced American thought and life for the past half century. The meaning of the term “fundamentalist” has acquired a derogatory sense. When we hear the term, our first thoughts are not about the fundamental beliefs that define a particular viewpoint. Instead our first thoughts are more likely to be about quaint, narrow, bigoted beliefs held by such individuals. Zizek is correct in assessing how we tend to view fundamentalism.

Unfortunately, we have so closely identified ourselves with this view of culture that it has also affected our religious lives as well. This results in faith becoming something we practice without really taking it seriously. We easily go through the motions – go to church, read the Bible, and pray – without really thinking about them that much. Once they are over for the day we forget them and move on. Dallas Willard, in The Spirit of the DisciplinesThe Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives notes that many Christians believe that being a Christian has nothing to do with actually following Jesus or being like him as long as we believe the proper things about Jesus. With this worldview, the major difference between good Christians and good non-Christians is that one attends church on Sunday and the other doesn’t. It explains why many of the problems, such as divorce rates, among Christians and non-Christians are virtually identical. We can actually find ourselves uncomfortable if we are around people who really do take their faith seriously. I personally ran into this in high school when my liberal pastor was upset with me because I was quietly reading my New Testament on the hour long school bus ride to school. He also threatened to kick my mother out of the church because she was involved in child evangelism. According to him it was OK to be Christian, only don’t let it affect your life too much. It was fine to be a cultural Christian, just not a committed one.

When we look at the men and women highlighted in the Bible, we see a much different picture. As a cultural Christian, Daniel would have eaten the king’s food and prayed behind closed doors. Instead he refused the king’s diet and prayed in front of the open window, knowing that it would likely get him in trouble. As cultural Christians his three friends would have bowed down, saying to themselves that they weren’t really worshipping the king. Instead they resolutely refused. Queen Esther went before the king, even though it might mean her death. Peter and John, when commanded to cease preaching about Jesus, replied that the Jewish leaders would have to judge whether it was better to obey them or God. Each one refused to go along with the culture. Each one took their faith very seriously.

We can’t escape our culture. Living in culture is part of being human. But we can intentionally decide that we will refuse to let it control our lives. We can model our lives after Jesus and live incarnational lives. We can pattern our lives after Jesus, living out his commands. As you examine your life, do you find yourself a cultural Christian or someone who is totally sold out to Jesus Christ?

God's Paparazzi

I once saw an internet headline that read “Paris Hilton's Dogs Alive, Well and Very Pampered “. My immediate reaction was “who cares? Who would click on that headline to read an article about Paris Hilton’s dogs?” But then I thought of all the similar type headlines over the past few years detailing Britney Spear’s escapades. Obviously, since these headlines keep cropping up, someone must be reading them. If there was no interest, they would stop printing those types of articles. In the sports world, kids will often emulate the moves of those they idolize. Our society seems to have a fixation on celebrities, whether in the area of sports, entertainment or politics. Why is it that we have more attraction to and fascination with Tom Brady or Britney Spears or American Idol than we do with St Paul, St Augustine, Mother Teresa or Jesus? I wonder what this says about the society in which we live? Does it suggest that our priorities are out of whack? Sadly, I think it does. Celebrities have obtained an almost cult-like status. They are practically worshipped by their adoring fans. The frenzied attempts by the paparazzi to follow and report on their every movement points to this worshipful fixation our society has upon its celebrities. The paparazzi seek to discover every possible thing they can about the celebrity they want to know – what they eat, who they associate with, what they wear, what they say and think, etc. They go to great lengths to obtain this information, at times even risking their own lives or the lives of those they follow.

Sometimes we do the same in the church. We can become fixed on a particular pastor, TV evangelist or popular Christian musician. They can almost become an object of worship. In its extreme form such fixation becomes almost cult-like. Yet we often don’t have the same focus on God. The singleness of purpose which we have in other areas of life is never transferred to our relationship with God.

Why is it that we don’t have the same fixation on God? He is certainly more important than the celebrities. Yet he is often ignored or thought about only on Sundays. Why aren’t we Christians looked upon as the paparazzi who follow after God, seeking to know his every thought, word and deed? What does the existence of only a sparse number of Christian paparazzi say about our relationship with Him? Do we identify with them or do we find them uncomfortable? Are we willing to put forward as much risk in our pursuit of God as the paparazzi sometimes do in following the celebrities?

God desires that we be part of his paparazzi, sold out to knowing everything we can about him. He wants us to diligently study each of his attributes so that we can live like him. He seeks for us to live holy lives because he himself is holy. He calls us to have an intimate relationship with him. He wants us to live incarnationally, living Christ-like lives. But this requires that we have an in-depth acquaintance with him. We must have a paparazzi-like attitude, sold out to discovering who Jesus is and identifying with him. Unless we do this, we will not be able to live incarnationally.

What is your attitude? Is your attitude towards God similar to that of the paparazzi who follow after the celebrities? Are you sold out to God? Are you as excited about God as they are towards the celebrities they follow? Are you one of God’s paparazzi?

Crushed Violets

In his fanciful play Ivan & Adolf: The Last Man in Hell Stephen Vicchio portrays Ivan Karamazov and Adolf Hitler as the last two denizens of Hell. The play follows the dialogue between them and their maid Sophie. Sophie makes the daily journey from Heaven to Hell over the course of several millennia to wait on them. The play deals with Ivan’s anger against Hitler for his atrocities. It also deals with his hatred of God which prevents him from being able to forgive. It also looks at Hitler’s being so wrapped up in himself that he has no feeling for those whose lives he destroyed, or for anyone else. Through their interchanges, Sophie attempts to help each man deal with love, forgiveness and compassion. At one point she tells Ivan about experiencing a sweet smell all day, later to discover that it was the smell of a violet which she had stepped on that stuck to her shoe. With each step its fragrance was released. She tells him “Forgiveness happens when the violet lends sweet fragrance to the heel that crushed it.” She also tells Adolf that “Revenge is the natural, automatic reaction to being deeply hurt. Forgiveness is an entirely creative art. It comes out of nowhere. It is completely unpredictable. For most humans it is incomprehensible.” Throughout the course of the play, Ivan learns to forgive and Adolf to show compassion towards Ivan. At the end, when Adolf is to be released from Hell, he declines, deciding to wait in Hell with Ivan until he is released.

While we might not overtly seek revenge for something done against us, we might still inwardly smile with satisfaction if a person who harmed us receives retribution from another’s hand. It can be difficult for us to love and forgive when we are affected personally. And yet such forgiveness and love, in God’s eyes, are not only possible, but are expected. As Jesus hung dying on the cross, looking out at the mass of humanity in front of him, he said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The sweet smell of forgiveness that exuded from the cross that day still has the same effect today. Stephen demonstrated this when he asked that the sin of those stoning him wouldn’t be held against them. Many of those martyred for their faith have said the same during their martyrdom. In more recent times we have seen the process that Sophie talks about at work in the forgiveness shown by the Amish towards the family of the man who murdered their children in their Amish school. For many people, the compassion they showered upon this family seemed incomprehensible. How could they do such a thing? Their forgiveness was created out of their love of God, for as Sophie tells Ivan “For you to love God, Ivan, you need God to have a human face.” Jesus saw the face of God in those who surrounded him as he hung on the cross and he loved them. Stephen saw God’s face in those throwing stones at him. And the Amish saw God’s face in the suffering of the wife and children of the man who murdered their own children and welcomed them in love. They opened the sweet smell of forgiveness to the heel that had crushed them. As we look out at the faces around us, can we say the same? In whose face do we see God? Are we willing to be bruised violets, lending God’s fragrance to the world?