A Christian Insurrection
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INTRODUCTION
Tomorrow will mark the 1 year anniversary of one of the most fascinating, frustrating, and polarizing events to happen in American history. And while there was certainly more going on in this country and in the world than just the events unfolding on Capitol Hill, it was that event that will live on in “Infamy” no matter which viewpoint or side you tend to fall on. In fact, the toxicity surrounding that day is more pronounced now than ever. Like an infiltration of black mold festering behind a wet spot in the wall, the rot seems to be spreading.
One year ago tomorrow, if you were on one side of the aisle , you were watching national level politicians exclaiming, how: “This was the worst attack on American soil since pearl harbor”, “even worse than 911” they were saying, some bravely and defiantly describing the harrowing tale of life and limb from the safety of an Instagram story that same evening. This mayhem was also coupled with around the clock newstickers brandishing headlines like: “A highly coordinated coup d'etat”, “an act of domestic terrorism”, or most commonly the title given was simply “insurrection”.
Yet, if you were on the other side of the aisle, you were likely seeing an entirely different narrative unfolding. Instead of angry white supremacists scaling the walls of love, tolerance, and white shame to enact their empire of racial hatred and fear, you watched as unassuming quilt knitting grannies were posing for selfies, you spied with your two little eyes Capitol Hill police all but welcoming the crowds in with open doors, and a happy deranged antler wearing shaman leading the charge into the sanctorum of American politics. It may be needless to say, but this was hardly the kind of well trained militia one would need to overthrow world history's most deadly and well-equipped nation. But, at that point I digress.
While the actual events of January 6th will likely remain shrouded in mystery, one obvious point rises from the ashes of that day. That is, human beings will always desire more power whenever they can have it and they will stop at nothing to take that power away from opposing sides or factions. Today, that struggle is between the left and the right waging a sophisticated war of words and propaganda for political supremacy in twenty first century America. In yesteryears it was the Brits versus the Yanks in open and guerrilla warfare. Before that it was vikings versus the Saxons, the Romans versus the Carthagenans and on and on it goes. Essentially, all of human history is the drawn out, protracted, drama of wars and rumors of wars, insurrections and high stakes defections, coup d’etats and violent revolutions meant to seize more and more land, resources, and power.
Now, my goal in bringing all of this up is not to pick at any leaking scabs or to get into a long discourse on which side was right on January 6th. Those conversations may be interesting, and I do have opinions on the matter, but that is not my purpose. My goal today, as a minister of the Gospel, is simply to point out that sinful people have always found ways to splinter themselves into warring factions that fight for more and more power, more resources, and more land. And the irony is that none of it belongs to them anyway! Let’s dive in.
THE FIGHT OVER SOMEONE ELSE'S STUFF
In the case of January 6th, everyone involved felt like “their” country was slipping away from them. Almost, like they think they own the place. The marxists felt that their progressive fantasies were being thwarted by a rather large basket of deplorables holding them back from their great evolutionary gains. The conservatives felt their front porch swing life, with an unencumbered second amendment, and a world where men do not wear dresses and only women have periods was equally in jeopardy and slipping away by the second. Both sides seemed to be emotionally invested in territory that was not theirs, but God’s.
It would be like watching two complete strangers fighting over your property. Perhaps you are in the house, and all of a sudden you hear the calamitous banging and commotion of two men in the throes of fighting. At this point, you go outside to observe the awful scene. Upon arrival, you find the two nimrods beating themselves senseless in hopes that the victor will finally get the land and have the authority to shape it according to their vision. The problem is that neither of them own the deed; you do! And their trivial travail with one another looks about as senseless and as fruitful to you as the current left-right culture war going on today ought to look to a Christian. This world is not their world. It belongs to God.
This is where we have to recover a Biblical worldview if we want to understand how to navigate such crazy today. The Bible is clear that God began space and time by fashioning a world from materials that He, Himself, made. This means that He owns the place. Every square inch of this planet belongs to Him. And when He completed it, He installed the humans that He made, to simply manage the world that He created, which teaches us that our only purpose is to steward His property. He is the Master and we are His servants. We own nothing.
GOD GIVES THE WORLD TO CHRIST
As the drama of Biblical revelation continues, we see human beings not only rebelling against their creator, but also falling headlong into sin and idolatry, forgetting their role as faithful slaves. From Genesis 3 onward, we see that sin so spoiled and tainted the mind of man that in his confusion, he forgot Yahweh already owns all things. Even today, we forget that every millimeter of matter that our feet malignantly strikes, every bit of territory we add to our portfolio, all resources in our bank accounts are really His own possessions, for His own usage, instead of ours to do with as we please. You see, from the great fall of man until today, humans have been ignorantly fighting never ending, vicious, and bloody wars to try and claim materials that are already His.
This is why God the Father sent His one and only Son! First and foremost, to redeem His fallen people out of their curse and sin. To save His people and give them new life in Christ! We absolutely believe and affirm that! But, God also sent His Son, because He intended to put the management of this world back into the hands of humans, beginning with Jesus, who gained the world as a gift for His obedience!
Hebrews 1:2 tells us that God has made Christ the heir over all things because He was perfectly obedient to God in all things. That means Jesus now owns the world. Further, Jesus Himself even tells us that He now rules over everything, in Matthew 28:18, when He says
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Jesus is saying that this world is His to do with as He pleases. He has all authority to reign and rule over it. He will hold the squatters who pretend it belongs to them to a strict account. He is saying that there is no authority outside of Him, which has massive implications for the church as well!
THE CHURCH’S SURE INHERITANCE
When we think about America, it does not belong to the left, it does not belong to the right, and it does not belong to “We the people”. Every square inch of this country and this world has been given over to Jesus Christ, who has appointed His Church as His stewards.
In the same Gospel of Matthew, the One who claims all authority over heaven and earth, also appoints His Church to exercise His authority, to act in His name, and to rule over His Kingdom until He returns. Please do not miss this point. Jesus owns the world and has put His Church in charge of it. That means that pastors have more authority in Christ on this planet than presidents. Deacons have more authority than dignitaries. And even the lowliest congregants have more say over this world, in Christ, than the most powerful dictators, kings, or potentates. Jesus says:
“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” - Mt. 16:18-19
This verse, despite poor exegesis from both the Catholics and the Protestants, means that Jesus has given His authority to the church. Secular governments still exist and still exercise some measure of authority on earth, but the lionshare of His authority has been given to the Church. The Church is the one who will continue to stand when all pagan nations crumble back into dust. His Church will continue to advance when all other nations wane into oblivion. And as Christians we need to remember that this world, because of Christ, already belongs to us!
HOW THAT INFORMS OUR LIVING
A Christian does not live like presidents, parties, or governments have limitless authority. We do not behave like we are trying to win a culture war. We do not angle ourselves into politics to try and win this generation's battle. We live with the quiet confidence that this world already is ours because of Christ!
We are not hapless tender hearted lap dogs waiting for big daddy government to pet us in between our beatings. We are not scared little orphans hoping and praying the world would take us in. We are the true insurrectionists.
Sure, we are to be humble, meek, and are commanded to live quiet and peaceable lives (1 Tim 2:2). But that does not mean we are weak, impotent, docile, and fearful cowards. In fact, the cowards portion will also be in the lake of fire right along with the murders and sexually immoral (Rv. 21:8). So, can we as Christians stop glamorizing docility and timidity? Please?
We are not quiet because we are nervous or afraid. Far from it! We are quiet because we are the victors. Think about it, you really have no reason to gloat when you know you the differential in score is insurmountable. In fact, we are peaceable among dying men because we know we are the ones who will live forever. We have a kind of composed and quiet confidence, a mature strength, that propels us to call for others to join us in building Jesus' Kingdom. Right here. Right now.
Remember, you only set about building things when you think you own the place. We build God's Kingdom, because our Father really does own this place, and we know that He has set His Church in charge of building His Kingdom that will never end (Dn. 2:44). Because of this, we want all the secular squatters, regardless of which side they are on, either conservative or liberal, to either join the effort or to get off the land. If they join us, then this becomes a part of their inheritance too. If they fight for something that clearly belongs to God, well, they will get nothing… Remember, God gives the earth to us! Their portion will be hell.
So follow me, these kind of beliefs and this kind of work will always render us as enemies of the human secular state. Our faith explicitly teaches that we serve a better King than the one who sits on their throne and they hate us for saying that. Our faith teaches that we belong to a better nation than the one we get our mail in, which infuriates the utopian progressives who think they have all the answers, but it also infuriates the nationalists who want us to sing kumbaya about the good old days and invest our efforts in rebuilding a secular nation. Our faith teaches us to actively work (and we will do so If we honor Christ) so that His Kingdom will remake the world. We do not live for the advantage and growth of America. We live for the Kingdom of God! We serve a better King! We are the true insurrectionists!
The goal of Christianity is not just to save us and remove us from the world. If Jesus wanted to do that He would not have left us here to build!. If all Jesus wanted to give us was a harp and our own personal cloud, He would have! But He didn’t because that vision is stupid. It is rooted in medieval thought. And, most importantly, that was not His vision!
He saved us so that we would do the work He wanted us to do. That work is being a steward over His Kingdom. His Kingdom began on this earth and will continue on into eternity. That means we labor, and we exercise authority on this planet, so that citizens and kings would lay down their petty claims to authority and bow the knee to the all-powerful Jesus. We labor so squatters and thieves become family members with Christ and get to live alongside us in His never ending Kingdom.
Understand this. We are the true insurrectionists. Our weapons are not flash bangs, picket signs, and molotov cocktails... Our weapons are the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word we declare, and the Prayers we pray are so His Kingdom will come on earth as it already has in heaven. We labor, in a posture of submission, to see Jesus overthrow nations, governments and kings, so that they will bow to Him and worship Him!
That is our role in the world. Embrace that identity,
