For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. – 1 Corinthians 4:20
Power here is the transliterated Greek word dunamis which often refers to miracles
or the ability to do the miraculous, and it is often contrasted with another
word that gets translated into English as “power” -- exousia, which refers to authority.
In the preceding verses, Paul offers something of a validation of his
authority over the church at Corinth and a response to those in that assembly who
are dismissive of him as a leader. Paul
challenges those of impressive speech to authenticate by power.
I always take a mental step back when I read this. It causes me to wonder if there is, by Paul’s
standard, any authentic Christianity in this age. I am not denying that miracles happen in our
world of more than seven billion souls, probably somewhere on a daily
basis. The Church as a whole, though,
seems mostly content with talk.
If the kingdom of God consists of ability, mighty works, strength,
force, even violence, as the word power connotes, where do we see that? We seem more concerned with hoping that we
can slip past the gate into heaven. We
have Christian motivational speakers, lawyers, doctors, financial advisors,
bankers, politicians, etc., -- NTTAWWT, but we don’t seem to have many people
living under an open heaven, walking in truth and power, and laughing at the
rules the world would try to impose on us.
I get the feeling Paul would have understood Boondock Saints -- not approving of the celebration
of vulgarity or the depictions of the violent destruction of human lives but
understanding the underlying “holy defiance” that says we have the power and
the obligation to call out wickedness and expose it for what it is. I am tired of hearing apologies for
Christianity. I am tired of attempts to
justify the truth and our belief in truth.
It seems to me the people who are practicing and promoting evil should
be the ones trying to justify themselves and begging for forgiveness. I am
not in the business of punishing people for their sins, of decreeing sentences,
or of avenging. When Jesus said, “Judge
not”, that is what He meant. What He
most certainly did not mean is that we ought to avoid speaking and living the
truth so that those around us might not be offended.
This power of which the kingdom consists is the strength to
do all things in Christ. It is the
ability to be at peace in all situations, the force of joy, and the gift of
righteous living. Jesus came to give us
abundant life. The flesh has no
authority over us; we owe it nothing.
The only power the world has over us it that which we are willing to concede.
Concede nothing.
4 comments:
Sounds like fun. Where do I sign up?
I really despise the wimpy Christian (and I say that as a wimpy Christian).
I suppose a good bit of kenosis must occur before attempting to swing the Cluebat of Righteousness. Can't let the fallen man inside swing that bat.
Gotta swing it with love.
"Up on the tight rope. One side's hate and one is hope ..." Is that Leon Russell?
Being a Christian is hard for me in some ways. We're always walking the line between humility and false humility, among other things. We know we are so less than perfect ourselves, isn't it presumptuous to tell other people that we have the answer?
But we do have the answer, and it really is the truth.
So we say to them, "It's not that the truth of the gospel hasn't transformed my life. It's just that I personally am so hosed up you don't want to imagine me as a non-Christian. There's a really good chance that you will not only be a better Christian than I am, it's quite possible that you are better as a heathen than I am as a believer. I had a long way to go."
This is one of manyparts of scripture that blows the "Christians should be pacifists" argument out of the water!
Nice nod to Boondock Saints and apropos, I think.
Christians ought to be involved in promoting life, liberty and justice wherever and whenever they can, from politics to social interactions.
Too many Christians think that because we answer to God we can and should ignore the world, politics and culture.
We are supposed to engage not sit back and hope the enemy finds us last or overlooks us because we do nothing.
Christians oughtta be rebels at heart not going along to get along. Or worse, helping the enemy with mindless compassion like the open borders Christians do or the environmental Christians who fail to see it's not about any of that but rather the enemy seizing more power over us.
Fort Defiance indeed!
There is going to be tension and conflict because it is reality versus a delusion. We have been freed from this "reprobate" mind, as Paul says, and given the mind of Christ. We have our sanity restored, but we're walking in Bedlam.
You talk to a crazy person and what will they tell you? "You just don't understand."
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