I apologize in advance to Christian brother Jason Helopoulos writing on Kevin DeYoung’s “Gospel” Coalition blog. I am confident he is a righteous dude.
But his post yesterday is bugging me and it makes me not regret at all my incorrigible use of quotation marks around the “Gospel” Coalition. They’re reading the same Bible I am, but we diverge on our conclusions from said reading. I hope he takes this treatise as an exhortation rather than a rebuke.
One could accuse me of picking nits, but it’s an insidious and important nit:
Christianity is not about power displays or promoting itself.
Here’s the I-assume-intented-to-be-encouraging post that Helopoulos wrote yesterday:
Christians, don’t get too worked up about that new best-seller, popular philosophy, misguided ethic, or latest government action. Christ reigns and no enemy can thwart the Church or the Christian faith.
The Powerful may scheme, but cannot crush Christianity.
Philosophers may pontificate, but cannot “out-truth” Christianity.
World Religions may spread, but cannot overcome Christianity.
Professors may lecture, but cannot unravel Christianity.
Persecution may kill, but cannot annihilate Christianity.
Bad preaching may undermine, but cannot undo Christianity.
Politicians may legislate, but cannot reduce Christianity.
Riches may seduce, but cannot outlive Christianity.
Empires may consolidate, but cannot subjugate Christianity.
Lies may confuse, but cannot unravel Christianity.
Fear may disquiet, but cannot destroy Christianity.
Heresy may darken, but cannot untruth Christianity.
News outlets may ignore, but cannot dismiss Christianity.
Moralists may mislead, but cannot proxy for Christianity.
Rulers may outlaw, but cannot vanquish Christianity.
Sin may instigate, but cannot overpower Christianity.
Satan may tempt, but cannot unseat Christianity.No empire, no country, no sin, no spirit, no lie, no religion, no philosophy, no thought, no school, no law, no edict, no emotion, no sentiment, no feeling, no ruler, no emperor, no king, no politician, no initiative, no discrimination, no nothing and no one can unravel Christianity. Every enemy of Christianity shall fail. Every foe is left undone.
It is guaranteed. It is secured. Because we have a Risen Savior, who reigns over all. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. No matter what apparent setbacks we see, hear, feel, or think. He has secured the victory, reigns in victory, and shall consummate the victory. This is His world. Dear Christian, though surrounded by enemies on every side, you can rest at peace in a Savior, who reigns now and forevermore. Onward Christian soldiers!
What’s so bad about that? Just a typical ‘Let’s go!’ treatise from a liberation theologian–Christianity the liberator, giving power to the powerless. But I don’t think the “Gospel” Coalition is all about liberation theology, and here comes the part where I make wild assumptions about Helopoulos and the “Gospel” Coalition.
There’s nothing in the Pauline-esque hymn that is untrue–but I declare that there is much that is unhelpful. Actually, it’s pretty simple–the prominent us/them mentality, the friends/enemies duality that I think the Gospel shouts down. While certainly the powers and principalities ruled by the satan are evil, working against the good of the Kingdom of God, the human themselves aligned with those powers and principalities are certainly not worth writing off as ‘enemies.’
When we say things like “politicians” or “professors” or “philosophers” that disavow Christ or Christianity, we write people off as ‘evil.’ Writing people off as good or bad is antithetical to the Gospel story. Again, though there is tangible evil afflicting this world, it does not help to separate ourselves as aligned with ‘Christianity’ from those who are perpetrating, participating or promoting this evil.
Wait–what? I mean, what?
That’s exactly what Christianity is about. Preserving ourselves and our way of life from cultural corruption. Circling the wagons and defending our faith. Not being ashamed of our holiness in the face of the great evil of the world–especially the sneaky and pernicious advancements of evil that only the wise can perceive in culture, the mainstream media, seeping liberalism and the like.
No, it’s not. It’s just…just…just…not.
It’s not the job of the Christianity to dominate and rule the culture. It is the job of the church to be salt and light to the culture, just as Jesus did. In fact, to follow Jesus’ example, the Church should never attempt to dominate or rule the culture, but to subvert it to God’s kingdom principles. Christianity is about the Gospel and the Gospel is not anything like that.
Jesus came to set the captives free. He came to usher in the reign of God. He came to seek and save the lost. He did not come for the well, but the sick. He instructed a selfless, ever-forgiving love–even and especially for ‘enemies.’ He demonstrated this love by dying and indeed praying for forgiveness for the very people who were currently torturing him. He instructs us to do the same.
That right there is the Gospel. When Jesus had his penultimate moment on the cross, there was no cocky high-fiving right before he died. He died without a smirk or a McArthur-like reminder that he said he’d be back. When he emptied the tomb, he didn’t run to the religious leaders and do the line from The Shining.
He was meek–but not at all beaten down.
Have you ever seen a football player score a dominating touchdown and not celebrate? It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes, they just flip the ball back to the ref and trot to the sideline accepting fist bounds and chest bumps while the crowd goes wild. Sports fan call it “acting like they’ve been there before.”
When we accept Jesus’ free gift of grace, why use it to show up those that haven’t? We have no (human) enemies to whom we can flaunt our secured/eventual victory.
The Church should spreading the Gospel and the Church should be meeting the myriad of needs the culture cannot, as the underlying gist of Helopoulos’ hymn surely agrees. However, the Church should always do this from a position of loving servitude, Christ-like and seemingly powerlessness, not from a choreographed, look-at-us written gyration in the religious end zone of a Christian blog post.
We know the ending but we need to act like we’ve been there before. Let’s chill with the jersey-popping Christianity, and get on with the ‘enemy’-loving, we’re-all-in-this-together business of evangelism, service and discipleship.
In fact, if every one of the “-ianity”s was taken out of the post, I think it would adhere quite closely to offering our Savior his due praise while still promoting Christianity’s special blend of meek power or strong powerlessness.
That’s a Gospel around which all of us can coalesce.
