Power of Christ is found in our weakness
Published 8:30 am Friday, June 28, 2019
BY HUNTER GREENE
I came across a beautiful quote by N.T. Wright this week that says, “Part of Christian belief is to find out what’s true about Jesus and let that challenge our culture.” Although I certainly find much truth in this statement, my fear is that we have done the opposite. I think there is enough evidence in our American church culture to suggest that we have allowed our American values, politics, and dreams to set the agenda of what we do in “church.” While I think God has still accomplished good in and through us, I think it would do us well to evaluate just how different we actually are from the culture around us.
Here is the question: if you were to take away our Christian words (sermons, song lyrics, etc.) in a church setting, would we look any different than the average concert, football game, or movie theater on a Friday night? These weekend venues have no doubt accepted our culture’s definition of success, which tells us that we’ve only made it when we can fill seats, excite crowds, and attract people to come again and again. Our culture rewards those who successfully pattern this business model, and it disposes of those who do not. If you will, it is a survival of the fittest.
Thus, I think we should hesitate to celebrate that our churches are “fit” enough for our culture. Again, my goal is not to critique you or your home church, but I want us to ask hard questions and give honest answers. If we are determined to become the biggest, fastest, and strongest congregation around, are we following the ways of Jesus or the ways of our culture?
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.”
I can’t speak for you…but this has never been my experience as a Christian. I can’t say that I have tried to bear the broken, dying body of Jesus every day. But before we be too quick to say it is because we have been given extraordinary religious freedom, perhaps we have escaped trouble and persecution because our lives don’t make our culture uncomfortable. Our light is not penetrating the darkness. We have made our bed in the American church by seeking the most efficient and convenient ways to live in the world, and now one could certainly argue that we are no different than some sort of spiritualized business.
In following Christ, we are invited to live a life where God’s power, which is perceived to be weakness and vulnerability to the world, can and will transform the darkness of our world. As Paul said, we live in ways that the world perceives as death, but in doing so, we are actually bringing forth light into our communities. In other words, we go about enlightening the world by living in ways they do not understand nor accept, which is the precise reason that Jesus was crucified by the Roman Empire and some Pharisees who thought they knew God.
May we never get to the place where our God can look like anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ. When we think of who God is and what God does and who God is about, look at Jesus. Anything short of this is simply idolatry. As we engage the world around us, we can’t follow Christ if we are being big spenders, attracting large crowds, and producing big shows…the pinnacle of accomplishing the American Dream. We may only follow Christ when we follow Him on His terms: through weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 reads, “And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
The power of Christ is not found in what puts us in a state of awe and wonder, like when we watch a massive jet take off a runway. Rather, the power of Christ is found in what the world calls cowardice, weakness, vulnerability, foolishness, and stupidity. The Roman Empire scoffed at a radicalized man who chose to be executed on a cross…but that empire has fallen and confessed that Jesus is Lord. May we be brave enough to see that the American Empire has and will continue to scoff at a Jesus who desires a cross over the Oval Office…and that one day our empire too will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord.
(The Solution Column is provided by Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church and Hunter Greene.)