That Word

That Word above all earthly powers
no thanks to them abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours
through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever!

Luther, A Mighty Fortress

Martin Luther captured so much with this verse. I think it’s a wonderful exposition of Holy Scripture in regards to the Christian life. In such a tiny span of words, cultures, empires, nations, and political phenomena all fade to a dull, institutional grey.

When Christians get all worked up about who’s in charge of what, and worry about the fate of the institutions and movements they’ve baptized in the name of their (un) Biblical convictions, they certainly can’t sing this verse with any sort of intellectual honesty.

I’m all for “democracy” and making a difference in the world (inasmuch as it’s possible for little ol’ me) and even for aligning with like-minded groups. I’m not all for branding these movements I’m interested in as “Christian” or representative of my church’s political views. Like Luther here, I’m politically agnostic as a Christian. Sorry, folks, yon conspiracy theories about losing the culture war is not a Biblical sticking point. And, more importantly, the nation thing is right out.

For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 

Eph 2:14 NASB

I read Ephesians 2:14-15 as not simply a homogenization of Jewish and Gentile Christians, but as a strong statement about political alignment. God made one new country, and it’s not affiliated with any other in the history of creation. It’s also not aligned with another culture or political scheme. Christianity is counter-cultural in essence. It is Not of this World, period. Not making a New World out of this World. Not bringing back an Old World into this World.

All that will happen, should Christians succeed in either of the two is…
Another wreck, just like the rest of ’em. You can’t bring back Christendom, and you can’t usher in the Age of Aquarius. Hasn’t happened once in history, and it won’t happen again. Personal opinion and bad Bible-reading are the source of the foolish ideas that Christians are destined to do any such things. I suggest that when such ideas arise, they are primarily functional as distractions from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The church is to make disciples and worship God as he has instructed in Scripture. It is not a new superpower as of zero-AD or 70-AD. The true Church is neither dispensational, nor reconstructional. The world will advance or retreat as God designs, and only the church (read the Luther verse again) will maintain in history, for it is the Word that sustains. Let go this mortal life and seek the Kingdom that is eternal; seek the glory of God and fellowship with the Lord Jesus.

Do politics and moral reform on your own time, but don’t sweat it. If you are martyred, let that not be because you were a jerk, trying to “win the war.” Suffer for boasting in Christ, for being true to the Gospel, not by beating someone over the head with laws and your own fear. John didn’t, nor did Paul, or Peter, three prominent prophets (apostles, unlike us, dear reader) of the Last Days. They wrote for the comfort and assurance, the preservation, of the church through the ages – not so she would triumph and rule what we have now, but that she would endure all that happens in the ages before Christ comes in judgement, and then (only then) join him in his rule in the New Heavens and New Earth.

For those who are banging on about taking over this, that, and the other thing for God, or about how some nation or culture is totally the only Christian thing to support (e.g. USA or that one Middle East Place that once had a bunch of Hebrews and a Temple in), Please Don’t Steal the rest that your fellow Christians have in Christ. Give them Jesus instead of another cultural/political agenda that will only worry and gnaw at their faith. That is what the church and her members are given – faith, hope, and love. Not fear, hatred, and lust.