I Want to Be in that Number

I’ve made some assertions lately, that in every age of history God will have a people to give witness to God’s design and purposes for creation.  There have been times in human history when that body of people has been numerous, and other times, witnessed in scripture, when there have been fewer - a righteous remnant - a missional outpost of the kingdom of God.  I have also described the transition Christianity seems to be experiencing this century, in which traditional embodiments of the faith seem to be waning while new expressions are forming.  I have tried to avoid making judgments about these new expressions, but it stands to reason that some are more faithful than others in embodying the essence of the gospel - the good news of Jesus Christ and his kingdom.  If so, which of these expressions of Christian community are the “righteous remnant”?  

This is a question history has answered with its 20/20 hindsight.  There has been a tug-of-war between true belief and heresy.  Many heresies which have been cast on the waste piles of Christian history - heresies that at one time seemed like valid expressions of faith - Gnosticism,  Arianism, Marcionism, Docetism, Donatism - and the list goes on.

In more recent history, the church has been less prone to brand “heresies” but there are certainly irregular and flawed expressions of Christianity in modern times.  To name a few:  

Darbyism, with its dispensationalist sensationalism. 

Nazi Germany’s coopting of Christianity as a facade for its horrors. 

The Prosperity Gospel’s “name it, claim it,” theology.

The appropriation of Christian language and symbols by white supremicists.

The profiteering of TV evangelists.

I could name more examples but the question remains, how do we recognize the righteous remnant?  How easy it is to fall into the self-deluding belief that we are among the righteous, when more often than not we are actually being self-righteous. How pleasing it is to think, “I am among the few who are right!”  Even when we could not be more wrong!

And while I may be as guilty as anyone in assuming that my opinions are the right ones, the history of orthodoxy leads us not to absolutes but to certain consensual conclusions.  While there are sects and tangential religious movements, some of which have offered helpful, and even needful, lessons for the Church, there  is a core of beliefs and a witness of practices which, over time, have offered a foundation upon which any expression of Christian faith may be judged.  We call that orthodoxy (“straight teaching”).

However, I prefer to focus on orthopraxy (“straight practice”) - instead of being overly concerned with right belief, should we not be looking at right, or fitting, actions?  While Protestantism has been built on “salvation by faith,” perhaps we should not discount the importance of “works.”  John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, insisted that Christianity was based on faith manifested by works.  Our practice of faith, and not simply our creedal beliefs, reveal who we are as Christians.  I am known as a Christian, not only by what I profess, but also by what I do, perhaps principally so.  Jesus, as Savior, calls me to be a disciple, which means “follower.”  Following is an action.  Jesus, as Lord, calls me to obey.  Obeying is an action.  Orthopraxy is as valid a measure of Christian faith as is orthodoxy.  Both are important, together.    

Are there beliefs and practices which are marks of authentic Christianity?  As Christianity evolves into different expressions, is it unfair of us to ask which of these expressions is most authentic - most Christlike in word and deed (orthodoxy and orthopraxy)?  In the end, all that really matters is Christlikeness.  I want to be considering what that Christlikeness looks like in the coming weeks, and what a community looks like which practices such Christlikeness.  I want to be a part of that kind of community - that righteous remnant.  I want to be in that number.  

Christlike Christianity

          I know.  The title seems redundant but bear with me a moment.  The word Christian is a time-honored reference to followers of Jesus.  But through the years it has taken on some, shall we say, excess baggage: Charlemagne having the Saxon’s baptized at the point of a sword in the late 8^th Century; the Crusaders in their campaign to annihilate the Muslims in Jerusalem in the 11^th and 12^th Centuries; the long history of Jewish persecution by Christians; the Inquisition in Spain; the persecution of witches in Salem; the sad affairs of TV evangelists, prosperity gospel preachers, and the list could go on . . .

          Why is it that in these days when I think Jesus has never been more desperately needed by the world, I feel a certain embarrassment at being identified as a “Christian”?  I suppose it’s because the name can so easily be misunderstood. Has the word lost its meaning?  Like the word “love,” which we use to express the heights of passion for another person, and the most casual of pleasures (“I love what you’ve done with your hair!”), perhaps the word “Christian” needs an adjective.

          Ah, that’s right!  Someone has already come up with one, as in “born again Christian.”  Still, that phrase has become as divisive as modern politics.  Others argue for “biblical Christianity,” as if there is any other kind.

          Let me cut to the chase.  What if we came back to Jesus, who we are supposed to be following?  What if, instead of being biblical Christians, we became Christlike Christians?  After all, wiping out tribes of Ammonites and Philistines might be biblical, but it is hardly Christlike. 

          What if, instead of being born again Christians, we were simply Christians who were trying to be more Christlike in our actions?  After all, Jesus said you must be born again to only one person – Nicodemus; but he said to all those who were attracted to him, “take up your cross and follow me.”  

          My argument is articulated with greater style and depth by many theologians in the emerging church – writers such as Brian McLaren.  But I am convinced that our identity as Christians is significant not because of what we believe but because of how our beliefs are manifested in our practice.  Some would argue that what we believe will be seen in our actions.  I would argue that it is our actions that reveal what we believe. 

          The way ahead for the people of God will not be shaped by theologians who articulate the faith, but by Jesus-followers who actually live it.  And I share this quote, from an unknown source.  May it be a guide for all who follow Jesus:

          “The answer to every life test you’ll ever face is the same.  The answer to every test is this; Christlikeness.”

                        

Belief: It's Not What You Know

          Early Christianity was not without its controversies and divisions, no less than today.  The apostle Paul’s writings to the Corinthians make this clear.  The disagreements continued into the centuries to come.  One early school of Christian thought came to be known as the “gnostics.”  Among their teachings was the notion that only a select few had access to the necessary knowledge, or “gnosis,” that would gain them salvation or escape from this physical world.

          In time, the gnostics were considered a sect that did not represent the core of Christian teaching, or “orthodoxy.”  However, there are remnants of Gnosticism that linger on.  One of the values of learning the disputes in ancient church history is the way those same issues arise among the people of God even today.  What’s new is old.

          There is a version of Christianity that suggests that you have to believe in certain precepts in order to attain salvation.  They may be the four spiritual laws, or twelve abiding principles, or seven habits, etc., but what they have in common is a presumption that agreement with these precepts leads to salvation.  Salvation becomes a head game, a matter of what you know, or what you think.  And if you don’t think like I do, or know what I know, then you are lost.

          Those last few sentences should sound familiar because they describe the practice of many contemporary Christians; and it is a modern manifestation of Gnosticism.  Almost every church has a few gnostics.  And some of them can be rather virulent. 

          There are passages in the New Testament of the Bible that seem to lean in a gnostic direction, as Paul’s words to the church at Colossae:  “I became [the church’s] servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints (Colossians 1:25).”   However, in context, the mystery that Paul is revealing is never intended for a select few but for all the world.  Paul is constantly crossing both geographical and socio-ethnic boundaries to reveal this mystery to all.  And the “mystery” is not so much a body of knowledge as it is a witness to the living presence of Christ available to every believer.

          Belief, then, is not about WHAT you know, but WHO you know.  Or rather, the assurance that you are KNOWN by a God who loves you enough to be with you in your darkest hour, even in the midst of suffering and death.  The essence of Christian belief is not a body of knowledge that sets you apart from everyone else, but the revelation that God loves the world so much that God enters into the worst aspects of the human condition in order to redeem, reconcile, and make new.

          The problem with modern versions of Gnosticism is that they still make salvation into something that believer has to do (or think).  But in orthodox Christianity, the source of salvation is always in what God has already done.  So, salvation is not about thinking the right thoughts, or even believing the right things.  Salvation is about trusting the love God has for us.  The apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church, " if I understand all mysteries and all knowledge . . . but do not have love, I am nothing (1 Cor. 13:2)."

          I am reminded of the words spoken by priest, Blackie Ryan, in a novel by Andrew Greeley.  Father Ryan says that he doesn’t believe everything the church teaches but what he does believe in, he does so with all his heart.  I invite you not so much to agree with every doctrine of the church (though don’t be so hasty to dismiss it all), but to trust with all your heart the love that God has for all humanity, and thus, for you.  It’s not what you know, it’s Who knows you.