Epiphany… As a Baptist growing up I never gave the day much thought. As a rule we’re not big on following the liturgical calendar. Much too Catholic. Start down that path and the next thing you know you’ll be burning incense and fingering rosary beads.
Epiphany... As a Christian holy day it’s a distant also ran, far back in the pack when compared to Christmas, Easter, or Good Friday. It commemorates the coming of the magi to honor and adore the Christ child. And it marks the traditional end of the Christmas season. For millions this is the day that your Christmas tree is supposed to come down.
But beyond recognizing the magi, Epiphany is a celebration of a much bigger truth, the increase of God’s blessing to include the Gentile world by extending salvation beyond the people of Israel. The coming of the magi was but the opening scene of the fulfillment of a promise first made to Abraham long ago, “…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3b)
The light of the star that led the magi to Bethlehem can be seen as symbolizing a greater truth, a truth spelled out in the opening verses of John’s gospel: “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:9)
It was a promise reiterated through the words of the prophets:
In one of his prophecies about the coming messiah, Isaiah
wrote:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a
light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)
The babe upon whom the magi showered their precious gifts would satisfy that promise in full. This was the hallmark of the Paul’s missionary career to spread the good news of salvation to the Gentile world of his day. He was the apostle to the Gentiles. As he wrote in Romans 11:13, “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles…”
In this apostolic role Paul pointed back to God’s promise to Abraham, proclaiming that his new converts were living proof of its fulfillment:
In Galatians 3:8-9 we read: 8And the
Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached
the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be
blessed.” 9So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with
Abraham, the man of faith.
So Epiphany is really a pretty big deal! Without the truth that it celebrates Christianity would never have grown beyond an obscure Jewish sect. Without it I’d be lost. So thank God for Epiphany.
January 6 was Epiphany. Since this lifelong Baptist finds himself temporarily leading a Methodist congregation, I thought it appropriate to take some time that morning to ponder the meaning of this ancient Christian holy day.
But to tell you the truth, I found it hard to stay focused. For by unhappy coincidence January 6 has taken on a new meaning for the citizens of this, the oldest republic on earth. As we all well remember, it was last year on January 6 that a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, intent on disrupting Congress as they sought to fulfilled their constitutional duty of formally counting the electors and certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. For those of us who watched those images…
Images of people scaling the walls and battering down the doors of the seat of our democracy…
Images of people assault uniformed police officers …
Images of the capitol dome framed by a makeshift gallows
accompanied by cries of “Hang Mike Pence!”…
Images of a bare chested man dressed like some pagan priest howling like a banshee in the well of the senate…
But it did.
So my meditations on Epiphany were disturbed as the media replayed those images and I found myself thinking back to what happened a year ago.
Now let me make one thing perfectly clear. This post is not a about politics. It’s not my role to offer political advice to anyone. I am not easily disappointed by politicians because frankly, my expectations aren’t all that high. Men and women from both parties seem to believe that to get elected to high office they must place loyalty to party above any personal convictions. The spectacle of politicians reversing themselves on any number of issues because their polling shows that the reversal would win them more votes is so commonplace that it no longer merits comment by the media. Democrats pontificate about Republican gerrymandering while ignoring their own party’s gerrymandering. And Republicans do precisely the same thing. You need look no further than a comparison of the congressional map of my own state of Missouri with that of our neighbor across the Mississippi, Illinois. Both maps look like they were drawn by drunken chimpanzees, but chimps working for opposing parties.
No, this post is not about party politics. It’s about Christian conduct, especially Christian conduct in the public square.
You know what offended me most about the events of January
6, 2021? It was the display of those big yellow banners that read, “Jesus Saves”
in the hands of people breaking into the capitol. It was the image of people
carrying Bibles as they strode proudly through those broken doors.
It was the actions of people like Jenna Ryan, currently in prison for her role in the attack, who filmed herself as she entered the Capitol through one of those battered doors chanting, “USA! USA! Here we are, in the name of Jesus! In the name above all names!”
Another of the insurrectionists said, “Hey, guys, let’s pray! Father God, thank you. Thank you for each other. Thank you for letting us stand up for our country and what we believe in. Guide us so we may do your will. I pray for that, and I pray for these brothers that stand beside me. In the name of Jesus, Amen.”
It was the sheer audacity of some of these criminals—including Jacob Chansley, the self-proclaimed Q Shaman—that guy with the horns on his head—to offer up a prayer in the well of the senate, thanking God for being their inspiration and for blessing their actions that day.
One striking photograph captured him holding a sign which read, “HOLD THE LINE PATRIOTS, GOD WINS.”
GOD wins??? What could make these people believe for one
second that God would bless their actions that day? How does one square
participating in what was at its very least a riot, and what was arguably an
insurrection against the government of the United States, with the teachings of
Jesus? Have they never actually read those Bibles that they proudly displayed?
If you have one of those red letter Bibles, you will find
all the following words printed in red:
·
Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
·
Do not
resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to
him the other also.
·
Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
·
So
whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the
Law and the Prophets.
·
If anyone
would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
·
You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all
the Law and the Prophets.”
·
The good
person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person
out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart
his mouth speaks.
·
A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you,
you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another.
·
Therefore
render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are
God's.
·
My kingdom
is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have
been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom
is not from the world.
In Matthew 7 Jesus warned his listeners:
21“Not
everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that
day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and
cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And
then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of
lawlessness.’
I fear that on Judgment Day there will be some who will argue, “Lord, Lord, did we not condemn same-sex marriage in your name, and cast out liberal judges in your name, and fight to end abortion in your name?” falsely believing that this will be their ticket into heaven.
As I continued my Epiphany meditations a friend forwarded to
me an article, The ‘Europeanisation’ of the
United States. It was posted on the website Evangelical Focus Europe, and reported that the United States is
following Europe’s example in rapidly becoming a more secular society. Citing a
recent study by Pew Research, they reported that, “Self-identified Christians
were 73% of the population in 2011 – they are now 63%...” At this rate every
year America becomes 1% less Christian. Meanwhile those identifying as “nones”
(atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular”) has grown to 29% of the
population. Protestants were hit by the steepest drop, declining from 50% to
40% of the population. In 2007 Christians outnumbered ‘nones’ by a ratio of
5:1. That ratio is now just over 2:1. Since Evangelicals represent 60% of all
Protestants, this means that ‘nones’ now outnumber Evangelicals as a percentage
of the total population 29% to 24%.
What this means, quite simply, is that American culture is becoming increasingly secular, increasingly pagan. We are living in what has been described as a post-Christian culture.
But according to some, the situation is actually far worse. Dr. Russell Moore, writing for Christianity Today says that the problem is not a post-Christian culture but rather, a post-Christian Church.
He writes:
·
Of “…the increasing numbers of people who
identify as ‘evangelical’—many of whom don’t even attend church—because they
assume that this is the religious designation for their political movement.”
·
Of “…people who can ridicule the very words of
Jesus Christ about turning the other cheek as naïve and weak.”
· Of those who claim that our country is in a state of emergency where we “…can’t worry about constitutional norms or about Christian character. The reasoning goes that the Sermon on the Mount isn’t a suicide pact and the way of Jesus only works with enemies more reasonable than these, like, I suppose, the Roman empire that crucified the one who gave us such teaching.”
The heart of the problem is not the secularization of society but the paganization of the church. It may well be that the QAnon Shaman was the most appropriately dressed person in the capitol that day. A pagan priest of a paganized church.
The challenge in reaching pagans with the gospel, as Paul had to confront repeatedly over the course of his life, was to get them to renounce their paganism completely—not just in part. And having renounced it, to resist the temptation to return to their old ways and beliefs.
There are aspects of paganism that are quite tempting. Paul had to persuade his Corinthian converts to not only accept a new God but to abandon their old ones. And when “going to church” as it were, includes having sex with the temple priestess—as it did for the Corinthians, that’s a tough sell. True, the paganism that is creeping into the church today is not as flagrant as that, but it is no less dangerous. For the essential nature of paganism in any form is idolatry. It is the worship of the creation instead of the Creator. It comes in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes. A pagan idol can be as base and sordid as perverted sex or as lofty and noble as love of country. In short, it is anything that you put ahead of God.
There have always been traces of Greek and Roman paganism in American culture. Some are pretty benign. Things like Christmas trees, mistletoe, and Easter eggs all have half-forgotten origins in the pagan religions of pre-Christian Europe. It is not by chance that the architecture of many of the public buildings in Washington, D.C. would fit right in on Rome’s Palatine Hill or the acropolis in Athens. It is also true that much of what passed for Christianity in our country’s past was merely a thin veneer of cultural Christianity—faith that is a mile wide and an inch deep. But there is no disputing the fact that things have deteriorated mightily during our lifetimes.
For Christians in this country the point of danger for drifting into paganism has always been placing love of country on an equal footing with love of God. Patriotism is a powerful emotion that wells up from an important loyalty. Politics is the way we give expression to those loyalties in a democratic republic such as our own. But give those loyalties unrestrained expression and all kinds of evil can be the result. Some of those people now facing criminal charges for their actions on January 6, 2021 were uttering prayers one moment and shouting “Hang Mike Pence” the next. As Russell Moore put it, “One cannot carry Good News to people you might, if things get bad enough, have to beat up or kill. One cannot bring about good by doing evil. One cannot “stand for truth” by employing lies.”
Now some of you may argue that the seriousness of what happened that day has been exaggerated. I’ll not argue the point. But just let this sink in. The National Association of Evangelicals describes evangelicals as people who “…take the Bible seriously and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The term “evangelical” comes from the Greek word euangelion, meaning “the good news” or the “gospel.” Thus, the evangelical faith focuses on the “good news” of salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ.” I proudly identify as an evangelical on these terms.
That said, there are millions of my fellow Americans who today regard us evangelicals with fear and loathing. They see us as a threat to their liberties and their very lives. They fear that we are actively trying to deny them their civic rights. Those fears may well be greatly exaggerated. I hope and pray they are. But that makes the fears no less real. Our evangelical identity has become so politicized that for half the population of this country we have lost all credibility as Christian witnesses. Too many of us have wallowed in the filth of no-holds-barred bare knuckle politics, abandoning any pretense of conducting ourselves in the public square in a manner that reflects our Lord’s teaching. Is it any wonder that our churches are losing members at alarming rates? Is it any wonder that adult conversions growth, the kind of church growth that only happens when through our personal witness we lead unbelieving adults to faith in Christ Jesus, has become so rare as to be almost unheard of? You can’t lead others out of paganism when you behave like a pagan yourself.
In Exodus 19:6 God instructed Moses to tell the people of Israel, “…you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” This was the true purpose behind God choosing the descendants of Abraham to be his chosen people—as a vehicle through whom all the world might be saved. They grabbed hold of that chosen people part. The nation of priests concept they never really embraced.That role has since fallen to the Church. As John wrote in the prologue to the Revelation, “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to all the peoples of the earth is what we are about. The role of the priest is that of an intercessor between people and God—one who works on their behalf to bring about reconciliation.
As Paul described our task in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20:
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
The ministry of reconciliation
When it comes to leading unbelievers to faith in Jesus Christ there is one rule that is without exception. The initiative to bridge that gap between the Christian and the non-Christian—and ultimately between the non-Christian and Christ—ALWAYS rests with the Christian. Satan isn’t going to help his followers understand the truth of the gospel. He isn’t going to show them how Jesus Christ can change their lives. He isn’t going to demonstrate self-sacrificing love. He isn’t going to model Christlikeness nor is he going to point them to people who do. That’s the job of the Church. And for us to succeed in that task—otherwise known as the Great Commission—then our lives must be different. Our lives must reflect the teachings of the gospel if we are to be any use whatsoever to God in spreading the gospel. If we don’t clean up our act—if we don’t demonstrate to our unbelieving neighbors that we are not their enemies—then we invite the judgment of Almighty God not only on our nation, but on our church.
In our national pride some of us have been deluded into thinking that God can’t get along without us; that America must have an essential central role to play in God’s plans. Others have thought that in the past. For the first few years of Christian history Jerusalem was the center from which the gospel spread. But within a few decades the center moved to Syrian Antioch. That was the sending church that sent out Paul. But it wasn’t long before the center moved again, this time to Rome. And there is stayed for many centuries. But in time the Christian witness from Rome became so corrupted that God once again moved the center of missionary outreach, this time to England. English Christians were behind the great missionary outreach of the 18th and early 19th Centuries. It was from England that John Wesley came to America. It was from England the David Livingstone went to Africa and William Carey to India. But when the fire of evangelical zeal began to wane in England, God once again moved the center, this time to America. For the last 150 years or so it has been America that has sent out largest numbers of missionaries and evangelists. But that will continue to be the case only so long as the church remains faithful to its calling. In fact, there is growing evidence that the center is already moving to places like Latin America, Africa, and China. The first sentence in Rick Warren’s best-selling book on personal discipleship, The Purpose Driven Life, is “It’s not about you.” When it comes to what God wants to do with his creation, American Christianity would do well to contemplate those words as well.
A debate has raged for generations in theological circles regarding whether or not the church must endure the Great Tribulation spoken of in the New Testament. I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But if the Bride of Christ is to wear white, she certainly needs cleaning up. Sometime dirt gets so ground in that mere soap and water won’t cut it. Sometime a scouring with a stiff brush is required. Painful, but necessary. My fear is that it may take a tribulation before the Church is fit to dress for the wedding.
