Last month I wrote that the problem in America is not the president like so many seem to think, but the people. The people voted him in. The government represents America. So if the government is a problem, it's because Americans are a problem. I concluded, "America needs Christ."
The other day I wrote about the problem of aiming at the wrong target. We tend to compare ourselves among ourselves and, when we do, "I'm not doing so bad." The standard, however, is not "ourselves", but God. Jesus said, "You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48). If that's not enough, Paul's standard was the same. He said, "Only let us hold true to what we have attained" (Phil 3:16). What is that? "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own" (Phil 3:12). Perfection.
In both of these cases the complaint was that it was too ... legalistic. Jesus wasn't about making bad people into good people. The Gospel is not "saved by works" (because, in truth, that would not be good news at all). Jesus is about making dead people into live people. And I agree with all of this. Christianity is unique in that it is not a morality religion, but a relationship one in which Christ reconciles us to God by becoming sin for us so that we can become His righteousness. A trade, so to speak, but one unheard of anywhere else. And that is good news.
So what's the big deal? What's all this about the problem in America and the standard of perfection? Why make these kinds of things an issue? Am I trying to set up a theocracy in America or turn Christianity into a system of being good? I would respond with a resounding, "No!" Okay, so what's the big deal here?
Here's the deal. Americans need Christ. No, not America. America is a nation. No nation is going to heaven. Only people have a relationship with God. So what makes me say that Americans need Christ? It's because of that pesky standard -- perfection. You see, if we allow a lower standard (like, "that wife-beater" or "Have you heard what a gossip she is??"), we miss the point. The standard is perfection and we can't make that standard. That is why Americans need Christ. That is why I need Christ. Oh, sure, you too. But it is only when we see the distance between what we are and what we are supposed to be that we can begin to see the magnitude of the problem. And when we see that, it is either Christ or complete failure because "good enough" doesn't exist.
Now, of course, Christians are a different matter. Being in Christ, we, like Paul, should be pressing on to make God's perfection our own. No, not for merit; for gratitude. Not to gain brownie points with God. Because we want to. Because changed hearts make changed lives. Because "indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Phil 3:8). And because, when we live as obedient children of God, "they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt 5:16). And glorifying your Father who is in heaven is the highest thing we can do.
I don't expect unbelievers to attain to perfection. Not going to happen. Neither do I expect Americans to start voting better. That, too, requires a relationship with Christ that produces a heart of flesh out of a heart of stone. No moralizing or urging is going to accomplish that. Not from me. But I'll hold it out there for believers to see and follow and for unbelievers to hear and possibly, God willing, recognize. It is a big deal ... for both believers and unbelievers.
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`Change yourself,' some say, `and then your circumstances will also change.' The kingdom of God and of freedom is supposed to have to do only with persons. Unfortunately the circumstances will not oblige. Capitalism, racism and inhuman technocracy quietly develop in their own way. The causes of misery are no longer to be found in the inner attitudes of men, but have long been institutionalized.
'Change the circumstances,' others say, 'and men will change with them.' The kingdom of God and of freedom is supposed to be a matter only of circumstances and structures. Unfortunately, however, men will not oblige. Breakdowns in marriage, drug addiction, suicide and alcoholism continue undisturbed. Structures which make people unhappy can be broken down, but no guarantee is attached that men will be happy.
Thus both must be done at the same time. Personal, inner change without a change in circumstances and structures is an idealist illusion, as though man were only a soul and not a body as well. But a change in external circumstances without inner renewal is a materialist illusion, as though man were only a product of his social circumstances and nothing else.
~Jurgen Moltmann. The Crucified God
Who's supposed to administrate and bring about all of this changing I wonder? Man? Through government?
If man could glean from his fallenness the ability to do that, but all he needed was Jurgen Moltmann to point the way, the Church has perhaps been following the wrong messiah.
It's just a recognition that it not solely the domain of *individual* or *community* -- circumstances and environment can be altered for good, but yet hearts of humankind can still be infected. OTOH, ascribing change solely to the individual is misguided too, as evil is embedded in structures and systems too, and individuals can't, just by themselves, bring about Kingdom ethics.
It would appear that what I'm saying is still not being understood. I'm not trying to change the world. I'm not trying to fix the problems of society. I'm simply saying that people -- individuals ... you, me, those around us, all of us as individuals -- need Christ. I'm not saying that any given individual, being in Christ, will find his/her life "fixed" or that any society with such an individual will find their problems solved.
People need Christ. It's important. That's my point.
People need Christ. It's important.
Amen! :)
People don't just need Christ, they need the real Christ. Not a Christ created in their own vain imaginations.
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