Stan Moody:
Sometime in the 2nd or 3rd Century, a letter was written by a young apostle to a person of high rank by the name of Diognetus. Referred to as the “Letter to Diognetus”[1], it is an exposition of the distinction between the life hidden in Jesus Christ and what the Apostle Peter would refer to as the “…futile way of life inherited from your forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18). I continue to press that distinction as a path forward for citizens of the Kingdom of God while inhabitants within national boundaries.
A number of points below from the Letter to Diognetus speak to the struggle we American Evangelicals face in seeking politically to right our national ship through select moral absolutes. Peter’s “futile way of life” inherited from our founding fathers, rather than through faith in Christ alone, seems sadly to be the means by which most American Evangelicals hope to preserve their vision of America. Yet, we Christians are called to an infinitely higher ground:
1. Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.
2. Yet, there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through.
3. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country.
4. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult.
5. To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world.
6. Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body's hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together.
Political Implications:
At various times in American history, Christians have tended to judge political parties as good or evil, depending on how closely one or the other complies with select moral precepts common to the defining character of true Christianity. That this is variable from generation to generation and tending toward radical fear-based changes in the law, there can be no question.
Over the past 100 or so years, American Christians have been instrumental in initiating a number of fear-based reactions. Most notorious may be the 1920’s/30’s 14-year Prohibition of alcohol, reversed as crime became more “organized” and government tax revenues plunged. Another example was the communist fear of the 1950’s, parlayed into the simplistic salvation invitational market by the Billy Graham Crusade. Most recently have been the preborn “pro-life” movement and the anti-LGBTQ+ crusade that offer self-discipline and prohibition as the primary relief.
One might say that we Evangelical Christians have tired of waiting for God and have subscribed to the strategies of the “futile way of life inherited from our fathers”. This is enhanced by the Kingdom of God being shoved off into the ether as wholly future and the Sermon on the Mount becoming a prescription for life in a future eschaton.
Spiritual Implications:
Two well-known Scriptures are overlooked in this simplistic belief in salvation through Christ but life through the American Dream. The first is from Romans 10:9,10, which describes what it means to be “saved”. It divides salvation into 2 components, the 1st being confessing Jesus as Lord, and the 2nd being a heart-held belief that God raised Him from the dead. Paul suggests that, while belief in the resurrection of Jesus is heartfelt, salvation is dependent on confessing Him as Lord. The lordship of Christ ascribes to Him deity but also sovereign reign, a lifetime journey that assures salvation as both a present and future process – you ARE saved, and you WILL be saved.
The 2nd Scripture is from Romans 12:1,2. The Christian is to “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.” The Christian is called to avoid living in conformity to the world (“futile way of life inherited from our fathers”). We are to be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Why? So that we might truly know the will of God!
The citizenship of the Kingdom, then, is that of strangers and aliens intent on making the daily distinction between the strategies of the “futile way of life” and the Lordship of Christ.
Kingdom Implications:
Transformation by the “renewing of your mind” suggests a process of being weaned away from a popular “futile way of life” into allegiance to the Lordship of Christ. Through process, we become more and more committed to a life that retains segments of political structure, such as voting and paying taxes, but launches the Christian into an eternal citizenship beginning now.
The so-called Lord’s Prayer, outlined by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount (Matt 6:9-13) focuses on that process – hallowed honor to the name of God; petition for His kingdom to come on earth; petition for His will to be done on earth; progressive supply of needs, forgiveness, love of other, deliverance from evil; “...for Thine IS the KINGDOM, the POWER, and the GLORY forever and ever”.
Amen?
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