Part 5 (1/2)
The Pursuit of Happiness We Americans believe we have the right to do whatever we need to do to try to find happiness.
Again, this is a n.o.ble political ideal. I wouldn't prefer to live under a government that didn't grant us this right. Yet as Kingdom people we must notice the ma.s.sive negative effect this cultural value has had on people, both inside and outside the Church. Precisely because we give such emphasis to our right to pursue our own happiness, the highest authority for most Americans is their own personal preferences. Almost every decision is made solely on the basis of whether we think it will make us happy and whether we can afford it. And this simply means that, for most Americans, the pursuit of happiness-or, in starker terms, ”hedonism”-is the ultimate lord of their lives.
As Kingdom people this is obviously something we must pa.s.sionately revolt against. We are called to seek G.o.d's will above our own happiness. For Kingdom people, it's not enough to ask, ”Is this what I want?” and ”Can I afford it?” If G.o.d indeed reigns over our life, we must allow him to reign over all all the major decisions we make. Our most fundamental question, then, is not ”Is this what the major decisions we make. Our most fundamental question, then, is not ”Is this what I I want?” but ”Is this what want?” but ”Is this what G.o.d G.o.d wants?” This is what it means to seek first the Kingdom of G.o.d, as Jesus commanded. wants?” This is what it means to seek first the Kingdom of G.o.d, as Jesus commanded.
As we do this, we manifest something far more beautiful than the pursuit of earthly happiness; we manifest Kingdom joy. In Christ we can be free from the addiction to trying to find happiness. In Christ, we have access to the beautiful Life of G.o.d that is characterized by fullness of joy, even when our circ.u.mstances are unhappy.
OUR SOLE ALLEGIANCE.
A number of years ago I attended a basketball game at a Christian school. Just before the game everyone was asked to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance. So I stood, placed my hand over my heart, and began to recite our national creed. Halfway through, however, I began to wonder what I was doing. I'm called to live as a foreigner in a strange land. I'm called to be a citizen of a Kingdom that is not of this world. I'm called to live as a soldier stationed in enemy occupied territory whose job it is to carry out of the will of my enlisting officer. Yet here I was pledging allegiance not to Christ, but to the flag of this foreign land in which I happened to be stationed.
Early Christians were willing to be martyred rather than express allegiance to the Roman Empire, but here I was expressing allegiance to the American empire. This didn't seem right. I stopped and haven't said the Pledge since. I love America, but I cannot serve two masters. My allegiance must be pledged to Christ alone.
I acknowledge that people have differing opinions about this matter. Some have told me they recite the Pledge to express support for the good things America stands for, not to express their ultimate allegiance to it. Others have told me they do it out of respect for those who have sacrificed their lives to defend our rights and freedoms, but again, not to pledge their ultimate allegiance. Others have told me they do it simply because they feel like a communist if they don't. Fine. My concern isn't with this particular American ritual.
What concerns me is that it doesn't even occur to many American Christians that there might might be a conflict between their allegiance to Christ and their Pledge of Allegiance to America. Their faith has become so nationalized that they a.s.sume these dual allegiances are compatible. This is an idolatrous a.s.sumption, and it helps explain why the lives of most American Christians are indistinguishable from the lives of their pagan American neighbors. We're failing to revolt against the pagan values of our nation because the nation, with its pagan values, has our allegiance-to the point that many followers of Jesus don't even recognize the pagan values be a conflict between their allegiance to Christ and their Pledge of Allegiance to America. Their faith has become so nationalized that they a.s.sume these dual allegiances are compatible. This is an idolatrous a.s.sumption, and it helps explain why the lives of most American Christians are indistinguishable from the lives of their pagan American neighbors. We're failing to revolt against the pagan values of our nation because the nation, with its pagan values, has our allegiance-to the point that many followers of Jesus don't even recognize the pagan values as pagan as pagan. They rather think the nation, with its values, is basically ”Christian”!
We've been seduced by the Powers.
It's time for Kingdom people in America to be done with this. Our ultimate allegiance cannot be to America or any other country. It cannot be to a flag, democracy, the right to defend ourselves, the right to do what we want, the right to vote, or the right to pursue happiness however we see fit. We are Kingdom people only to the extent that G.o.d alone is King of our lives, and thus only to the extent that we revolt against the temptation to make any cultural values or ideas supreme.
THE LIFE THAT HEALS THE NATIONS.
In his marvelous vision of the New Jerusalem-a symbol for the fully established Kingdom of G.o.d at the end of the age-John says he saw: a great mult.i.tude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ”Salvation belongs to our G.o.d,who sits on the throne,and to the Lamb”Revelation 7:910 What a magnificent vision! John sees that when the Kingdom is fully manifested, Satan will be defeated and Christ will reign as ”King of the nations.” Then people from all the scattered tribes and divided nations will be brought back together to wors.h.i.+p him. The kingdom of the world will then become ”the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah.”
When all people are reconnected with the one true source of Life, they'll no longer need to feast on their tribal version of the forbidden tree, and so the nations will be healed. The unique ”glory” of each nation will contribute to the global display of the multifaceted glory of G.o.d.
The full manifestation of this beautiful, transnational Kingdom lies in the future. But the job of Kingdom people is to put this beauty on display now now. If all nations will be reconciled when the Kingdom comes, we're to manifest national reconciliation now. Since the distinctions among nations, governments, and militaries mean ”nothing” to G.o.d (Isaiah 40:15, 17), they are to mean nothing to us who live under his reign.
As we individually and collectively do this, we manifest the beauty of a Life that has a freedom no government can grant or take away. We manifest the beauty of G.o.d's universal love and revolt against the ugly idol of nationalism.
Viva la revolution!
CHAPTER 8.
THE REVOLT REVOLT.
AGAINST VIOLENCE VIOLENCE.
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarreled with him?
BLAISE PASCAL.
On the battlefields of ypres, belgium, during the winter of 1914, British and French troops had for weeks been engaged in a fierce battle with the Germans. 1 1 The two sides were lined up for miles in trenches a mere sixty to eighty yards apart. Both sides had already suffered heavy casualties. The two sides were lined up for miles in trenches a mere sixty to eighty yards apart. Both sides had already suffered heavy casualties.
On Christmas Eve, several German troops put small candle-lit Christmas trees outside their trenches and began singing carols. Then, remarkably, some British and French troops began to sing along in their own language. Before long, up and down the miles of opposing lines the enemy soldiers were singing carols together. The miracle of the moment, contrasting so sharply with the hateful killing that had gone on just hours before, brought tears to some men's eyes.
But the real miracle happened next. At some point, soldiers on both sides began raising signs in the enemy's native language wis.h.i.+ng them a Merry Christmas and, in some cases, calling for a Christmas reprieve from fighting. After a while, soldiers on both sides slowly began to put down their weapons and venture out of their cold, muddy trenches to greet one another in ”No Man's Land,” the s.p.a.ce between the two sides. Combatants shook hands and began exchanging gifts-tobacco, cognac, newspapers, chocolate, and whatever else they had. There are even reports of enemy soldiers trading spare guns for soccer b.a.l.l.s and other items.
With such an informal truce in place, soldiers first buried the decomposing corpses of their fallen comrades. There are several accounts of combatants helping each other bury their dead and holding joint Christian burial services. Then, for the next week, the two sides enjoyed the Christmas season together. Soldiers played soccer. They shared family photos. Where the language barrier could be overcome, friends.h.i.+ps were formed (many Germans had gone to school or worked in Britain before the war). There are accounts of certain combatants laughing hysterically (possibly inebriated) as they lay on the ground together at night and used their pistols to shoot at stars rather than at each other.
Unfortunately, when word of the truce got back to the generals on both sides, they were furious. Orders were issued to resume fighting immediately. On January 1, 1915, the killing picked up where it had left off a week earlier. It wouldn't end until another eight million lives had been wasted.
I've sometimes wondered what it must have been like for these soldiers to resume fighting. The night before the young man in the trench across from you was a friend with whom you laughed and shared stories. Now you have to try to kill him. Why? Because he had been born in a different country-something neither of you had any control over.
All countries try to justify their wars with n.o.ble sounding slogans: our soldiers fight for G.o.d and country, the motherland, honor, justice, truth, equality, freedom, and so on. But these slogans don't alleviate the arbitrariness of who we befriend and who we slaughter. Soldiers almost always fight for the slogan they were indoctrinated to believe and for the country they happened to be born in.
If these soldiers were like the vast majority of tribal warriors throughout history, they believed what they were told by their superiors and a.s.sumed it was their sacred, patriotic duty to kill whomever they were told to kill. This mindless obedience is why human history is largely a history of carnage. And it's not as if humanity is outgrowing this trend. It's estimated that 86 million million people lost their lives in wars between 1900 and 1989. This is more than the combined fatalities of all previous wars of history. people lost their lives in wars between 1900 and 1989. This is more than the combined fatalities of all previous wars of history.
This is madness. Tragically, it's a madness we've grown accustomed to. It seems normal to us. Yet the madness of this ”normal” is exposed when our enemies become friends-as happened on that magical Christmas Eve of 1914. As the soldiers bonded, they couldn't help but realize that, had they been born in the same country, they might have become best friends instead of mortal enemies.
Realizing the arbitrariness of such national violence makes it harder to partic.i.p.ate in it. Which, of course, is precisely why the generals were outraged by the truce. It's why the British military leaders commanded that artillery fire be increased increased on each subsequent Christmas Eve during the war and why leaders on both sides created policies that called for the regular relocation of soldiers when they were involved in prolonged fighting in close proximity with an enemy. on each subsequent Christmas Eve during the war and why leaders on both sides created policies that called for the regular relocation of soldiers when they were involved in prolonged fighting in close proximity with an enemy.
They had to ensure that friends.h.i.+ps could not be forged. They could not afford to have the arbitrariness and madness of war exposed.
You simply can't sustain an effective war unless soldiers remain confident that something more than chance decided who they should kill. To be willing to kill, soldiers must believe they are the good guys who are righteously fighting the bad guys-to defend G.o.d, country, truth, justice, equality, freedom, or whatever.
The soldiers of World War I commemorated the Savior's birth by rising above the madness, laying down their arms, and befriending enemies. In this chapter we'll see that followers of Jesus are to commemorate our Savior's birth by living just like that every day of our lives.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF POWER.
Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, when, suddenly, a group of temple guards showed up to arrest him. Peter immediately drew his sword and started swinging it, cutting off a guard's ear.
From the world's point of view, this violence was justified. Peter was simply defending himself and his master. Yet Jesus rebuked him, reminding him that ”all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Jesus then pointed out to Peter that if he was interested in force, Jesus himself could have called on more than twelve legions of warring angels. But this, clearly, was not the kind of power Jesus was interested in employing.
Jesus then proceeded to demonstrate the kind of power he was was interested in-by revealing G.o.d's love for his aggressor and healing the man's severed ear. Through his actions, Jesus showed that the Kingdom of G.o.d relies not on the power of the sword, but the power of love that seeks to serve and heal enemies. It's the same power he demonstrated several hours earlier when he washed the feet of his disciples, one of whom he knew would bet ray him, Judas, and one of whom he knew would deny him, Peter. interested in-by revealing G.o.d's love for his aggressor and healing the man's severed ear. Through his actions, Jesus showed that the Kingdom of G.o.d relies not on the power of the sword, but the power of love that seeks to serve and heal enemies. It's the same power he demonstrated several hours earlier when he washed the feet of his disciples, one of whom he knew would bet ray him, Judas, and one of whom he knew would deny him, Peter.
After this, Jesus was questioned by Pilate, who asked him if he was the king of the Jews. Jesus responded, ”My kingdom is not of this world.” And then he pointed to his followers' refusal to fight as proof that his Kingdom ”is from another place” (John 18:36). While all the kingdoms of the world use violence to fight enemies who threaten them, Jesus commands his followers to refuse violence and serve enemies-regardless of how justified the use of violence might seem by ”normal” standards.
After his encounter with Pilate, Jesus was tortured, mocked, and crucified. He had the power to avoid all this, but he chose not to use it. Why? Because he knew that using violence to protect himself, while justified by worldly standards, would not have benefited his enemies, nor would it have manifested G.o.d's universal and unconditional love. It would not have manifested what it looks like when G.o.d reigns in someone's life.
Had Jesus defeated his foes by asking his followers to fight for him or by calling on legions of angels, he would have manifested a high-powered version of the kingdom of the world, but he would not have manifested the Kingdom of G.o.d. Had Jesus conquered his foes by force, he would have locked them into their rebellious stance against him and his Father instead of offering them the possibility of reconciliation. Had Jesus engaged in a ”just war” against his foes, he would have legitimized violence rather than defeating it.
By voluntarily giving his life for his enemies-which includes you and me-Jesus made it possible for us to be transformed by the beauty of his love and to be reconciled to G.o.d. And the clearest evidence that we are being transformed by G.o.d's love and partic.i.p.ating in the Kingdom that is not ”of this world” is that we adopt the same nonviolent, self-sacrificial stance toward enemies that Jesus had.
PURGING VIOLENCE FROM OUR MINDS.
When most people think of violence, they think of physical violence. But the truth is that our actions are only violent because our hearts and minds are violent first.
For this reason, Jesus emphasizes purging violence from our minds as much as from our physical behavior. In Matthew 5:21 26, he reminds people of the Old Testament command not to murder, for ”anyone who murders will be subject to judgment” (v. 21). But he goes on to stress that hostile thoughts and emotions against others are as inconsistent with G.o.d's reign as actual murder: ”I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment” (v. 22).