The Way of Christ and His Kingdom

Every once in a while someone will say or write something that really gets my attention, or reflects what I am feeling or thinking. It happens to me quite often and has played an important role in helping me clarify my ideas and my thoughts.

Such was the case recently as I reread Stuart Murray’s wonderful little book, The Naked Anabaptist. In the introduction Murray quotes several folks who discovered the Anabaptist way of life and offered brief testimonies of their discovery.

One in particular leapt off the page at me. It was the testimony of a lady in London who wrote:

I’d always felt uncomfortable with all forms of “civic religion.” I felt instinctively that Christians should not be ruling society but should be witnesses to it, and alternative society with different values . . . the church to me is not the glue of the establishment, but an outpost of the radical changes the kingdom brings.

I have experienced similar discomfort for a long time now. It was not easy identifying or even admitting the mental dissonance (conflict) that I felt over the active involvement of so many Christians in American politics these days. 

Equally disturbing was the entanglement of a large portion of the church in American politics. I sensed that we had lost our true identity; more tragically we had lost our “first love” similar to the church at Ephesus, as reported in John's Revelation.

In my last post I discussed the meaning of the word Ecclesia. I suggested that I believed it to be, as used in its original New Testament context, a very dangerous and provocative word. Yet historically it has been domesticated or tamed by its translation as “church." We all know the negative baggage that the word church holds for many today.

The root meaning of this Greek word is “called out ones.” Christians are called out by Christ to be his ambassadors to the world—representing Him and the values of His Kingdom.

Now the BIG question is: “What are we Christians called out from?”

Some will say we are called out from a life of sin or from darkness. Though there may be elements of truth in this understanding I believe it means that we are called out to live separately from those greedy, unjust and violent systems that rule this world and certainly one could include corrupt political systems into this category (2 Corinthians 2:17). At least this is how the early Christians understood the meaning of Ecclesia (before the era of Constantine that is).

Of course the issue then becomes: “What does it mean to live a “called out life” for Christ?

I have come to believe that a serious disentanglement of Christianity from American politics (nationalism) needs to occur in America before the church as a whole can reclaim its called out identity as ambassadors of Christ. I say ambassadors as opposed to legislators for whatever that’s worth.

The primary goal of the Moral Majority of the 1980s was to transform the American political system from within, once it obtained seats of power. Elect a Christian President or Congressperson who supported Evangelical (Fundamentalist) ideas and issues then America would be transformed into a nation under God, once and for all.

In fact this was about the time that I began to feel really uncomfortable with the church’s involvement in American politics.

Well it didn’t happen and quite frankly it won’t happen. America has not been turned back to God and perhaps never will. Just consider today's divisive and toxic political atmosphere. America will never be a carbon copy of the Kingdom of God no matter how many so-called Evangelical Presidents or elected officials there are in Washington or the State Houses.

So how might we Christians, who choose to live faithfully as Christ’s Ambassadors, live in Christ-following outposts of the American experience and effectuate any change at all on the political level?

Well the first thing that must happen is to recognize that we are called to be “witnesses” to Christ’s Kingdom first and foremost. In fact Jesus very clearly instructed his followers to “seek first the Kingdom of God.” Seeking “first” means just that, “seeking first.”

We must realize that we are called out to be active citizens of Christ’s Kingdom, first and foremost. Our allegiance is to Christ the King above all other rulers. As citizens of the Kingdom we live in obedience to our own Constitution: The Sermon on the Mount. 

I plan to offer subsequent posts that will explain how Christians might witness to this nation in which we live, witness in ways that disentangle us from the political system itself.  

I do encourage helpful and kind responses to these posts, responses that will further the conversation constructively beyond the hateful and toxic rhetoric that has exhausted us all. My goal is to offer an alternative way to live the Christian life in America, a way that is radical to be sure but joyful nonetheless.