Average
JI Joe Christian: "No worries mate, God's in control of Everything!"
Or
. . . .
JI
1 John 5:19b (ESV): "...and the whole world lies in the power of the evil
one."
Hmmm
. . . Which is it? Somebody's lying. Somebody’s been given propaganda or just
bad intel.
There
are many promises of God. The question has been asked "How many do you
know" and does your life look like you trust them? They all fit under the
canopy of "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have
it more abundantly." John 10:10b (KJV).
Conversely,
there are many, many lies of the devil and his minions. How many do you know,
how well do you recognize and understand them and is your life helping to bust
the myths? They all fit under the canopy of "The thief cometh not, but for
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy" John 10:10a (KJV).
By
my observation, it's good a lot of good folk, Christian or not, are
"...harmless as doves" but it's very unfortunate that too many have
dismissed the other part; that being "...wise as serpents". It's also
very unfortunate that too many folks, Christian or not, whether we like or
believe it or not, do not acknowledge we are in the midst of wolves. Matthew
10:16 (KJV) The price for being harmless but not wise has been high and, by and
large as of this writing, continues to rise with little impediment.
Up
until about a year or two ago I’d always considered the desert temptations of
Jesus recorded in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 as something to admire how Jesus didn’t
cave to any of that and to be thankful he didn’t. Indeed it is admirable and
something to be thankful for regarding the Lord but, I don’t really think
that’s the lesson there. I think the bigger consideration is how do these same
temptations confront us personally and have we bought? I’d say we’re naive if
we think these same temptations haven’t confronted us in some way and that, at
least to some degree, most of us haven’t been deceived and bought. I’d also say
it’s naive to think that others, some people who are rulers or hold positions
of authority and influence, have not been tempted with the same things recorded
in Matthew and Luke 4 and, either wittingly or unwittingly, bought. For
example: There are plenty of governmental agencies, and even church programs
that, when examined closely, merely promote socialism. This looks good but,
we’re not called to socialism. We’re created and called to live and promote
liberty!
I
suppose there’s lots of dots to connect in my musings here – they do all
connect – but, if you’re curious, I’ll let you consider this stuff and you can
go on your own ‘mini journey’ to make your own connections so all this can
become the most meaningful it can for you. With that, I’ll come to the
conclusion with two things that have arrested my attention in all this . . . .
One,
in our conversations, we can wrestle with what’s what but what’s going to be
most beneficial is discovering and understanding that “…we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Ephesians 6:12 (KJV) Our wrestling is not against groups or types of people.
Whether we're black or white, fat or skinny, Democrat or Republican, one who
receives welfare or one who provides it by your taxes, Lutheran or Jehovah's
Witness, or bird, it doesn't help to beat the hell out of each other or try to
put them under our thumb to get them to line up with the way we think they
should live. Jesus never phwacked a Pharisee. Instead, what he mostly did and what
we should do looks like Ephesians 6:13-18,19. If you haven't read it and
considered it lately, I'd bet it'd probably be good if you did.
Two,
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in
authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who
will have all men to be saved, and to come unto THE knowledge of THE truth.” 1
Timothy 2:1-4 (KJV) If we haven’t, we need to take this section of scripture
very seriously. I believe this section is more important and can have larger
ramifications than exercising our civic duties but, I also believe this in no
way excuses us from those duties.
To
hopefully communicate more clarity from this section, here’s some of what I’ve
been able to glean out of this section and its context after spending some worthwhile
time with it: Paul was being urgent when he wrote this. That urgency has not
changed. Paul urges Timothy to be sure he becomes informed and that his prayers
reflect that. That's a great lesson for us too. Our concern and prayers aren’t
just in the context of our own local, state and national rulers (here in the
USA, mayor, governor and president, for example) but worldwide. Authorities are
those who are able to exercise any kind of influence over societies whether it
be in the form of lobbyists, governmental agencies, education, the sciences and
arts or the corporate world like finance, entertainment, food, sports, etc.
These are things that have significant influence on our cultural environment
and well-being. If you’re a Christian, it’s one thing to be ‘saved’ (and that’s
certainly a good thing) but, without coming to a knowledge of the truth, the
way things REALLY are in both scripture and in the world around us today, our
salvation will be of little relevance to us in our thoughts and actions in this
life. I think we see that a lot – too much anyway. As seems evident, we’re not
going to have a very good shot at a culture that’s “quiet and peaceable” but it
will likely be more full of at least frustration and despair if we’re not in
the know and respond appropriately according to how scripture teaches we’re
equipped. I say a lot of that looks like 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 "But the
manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal . . .
."
A
good analogy for all this could go like this (and actually, I don’t think this
is too far, if at all, from the truth – the way it REALLY is if we could easily
see ‘behind the curtain’…): Spiritually speaking, we’re in a war and we’re
behind enemy lines. Our mission is primarily a rescue operation. That’s
important to know because our mission should not look like the Roman Catholic
inquisitions laced through history nor, in our present day, should it look like
the Ku Klux Klan, the stupid military funeral protests and gay bashing
demonstrated by the likes of the Westboro Baptist Church community, or any
other such aggressive, evil nonsense. We’re to gather intelligence and report
to our Commander In Chief – that’d be Jesus – along with petitioning help for
the mission. As any commander would, He may give us specific marching orders
or, He may simply command us to stand by for a time. But rest assured, Jesus is
not a pacifist. If He’s telling us to keep praying and to keep giving
intelligence (…and He is - those are standing orders.) but also telling us to
stand by for the time being, I’m betting He’s strategizing and orchestrating
something according to our reports and petitions. Let’s not forget, along with
us, He also has two thirds of the angels at His disposal and I’m sure they’re
equipped a little better than with just hymnals and harps.
On
the other hand, we need to be alert and if He gives marching orders, we need to
follow them or, it’s likely that battle will be lost. It happens. Still, in
those instances, we can take comfort in knowing, when all is said and done,
those who have joined and marched well (or even not so well) in the Lord’s
corps will ultimately share some part in the Lord’s promised victory of the war
and our spiritual enemy and his minions will finally be destroyed.
In
the meantime, just like in any battle or war, when propaganda or bad intel is
embraced, there are going to be painful consequences. The notion of Average JI
Joe Christian I cited at the beginning of this post is one example of
propaganda and bad intel posing as good practical theology. There are others
but this is one that is particularly damaging on many levels. On one level it
clouds how the Lord has spiritually equipped all Christians and made them meet
to do their part in the fight in the mission. The Lord is not in control of
Everything as if He does not really need our co-operation. He does need it or,
as I said, battles that affect our own lives and the lives of others will be
needlessly lost. Take a look around - if the Lord is really in control of
everything and doesn't need us then I’d expect at least a lot of things would
look different in the world, i.e. better. That's obviously not what we see
though. You and what you do does matter! Jesus died, rose and ascended and,
because of those three things, you can and are meant co-operate with Him. With
Him, go matter to a desperate world! . . . .
