Christ is full and sufficient for all his people. He is bread, wine, milk, living waters, to feed them; he is a garment of righteousness to cover and adorn them; a Physician to heal them; a Counselor to advise them; a Captain to defend them; a Prince to rule; a Prophet to teach; a Priest to make atonement for them; a Husband to protect; a Father to provide; a Brother to relieve; a Foundation to support; a Root to quicken; a Head to guide; a Treasure to enrich; a Sun to enlighten; and a Fountain to cleanse.
~John Spencer (1630-1693)
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His angel to show His servants what must soon take place.” “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
~ John, the Beloved Disciple, in Revelation 22
Oh beloved, it is true. There is a darkness in the false brightness of the world around us. All the signs and gadgets and sounds and smells work to pull us out of character. They work to draw us towards a life back in the mind and the flesh.
The higher order signals draw us to live lives as patriots and intellectuals and scholars and businessmen. And these are not so horrible a signal, except they miss the point as to what is truly important altogether. And more insidiously, they work to deify the soulish mind of a man over the spirit which is the actual substance of who we are.
And further signals along the spectrum, tease at our feelings of longing and pity and fear and wishing and care and career and hobby and burden and interest and the desire to be entertained. It is this onslaught of the daily and mundane and mildly interesting that can really distract us from the real game of life.
The baser signals are a bit easier to recognize, but often a bit more difficult to ignore. Everything around us is wrapped and packaged in such a way as to sparkle and crinkle and shine and curve just right – so that the incredible brains in our heads do the math – and in recognizing the symmetry and shapes of beauty, we mistake these things for treasure and that which would fulfill.
And for the believer, the fight seems as though it is still on. But it’s not. For, our battle is no longer against flesh – or even blood. We battle only those forces that try to push us back onto their field of battle: The world.
However, there is a profound truth we simply do not reckon true most of the time. We are no longer citizens of this world. We are the citizens and rulers of an age to come which will never (read not ever) end. We are citizens of heaven.
We are knights and damsels.
We are princesses and princes.
We are heirs apparent.
We are the dauphin of heaven.
And as astounding as this is. It is true. It is more true than gravity.
Can we see it? We, who no longer have to play by the world’s rules, are attempting to live out a faith that still plays itself out on old and enemy territory. And it is truly in this world that we must – for now – operate brightly. However, our problem is, that instead of calling and attracting people away from the dark of the old life – we are living lives (and building ministries) that become more like the dark than The Light.
We have made our lives (and our churches) look so much like the hollow malls and beer halls and entertainment venues of the world, that we are becoming indistinguishable from the real thing. And in imitating the fallen, we become so like them that they begin to actually extinguish our ability to carry out our real mission.
Instead of showing ourselves to be the lovers of the Beloved and His beloved children, the warriors of Light, and princes and princesses of the kingdom, we have – instead – become court jesters who try to titillate the interests of those looking in on business of the courts of the Kingdom of Heaven. So, instead of attracting people into His courts to stay, we have people swing by for some entertainment before they move on to something else. It is like the funny trained animal acts one can see on the side of a busy road in my part of the third world; mildly interesting – but nothing to stop for and stay.
What if, yeah this fool of a writer is gonna say it, we just acted like who we are? What if we simply took on the mantle already given to us? What if we, by His Grace, simply began to act like real men, and real women of G_d?
What if our lives and actions were simply saturated in the milieu of the Kingdom and we allowed His precepts to flow in us and through us? What if we were people who strove only to live in the rest He has provided, and set our minds on that which is true and noble and just and pure and lovely and of good report and virtuous and honorable and worthy of praise? How then, might the actual actions of our lives have an impact on the darkness falling around us in the postmodern world?
Here is but a guess from this fool of a writer… We would attract oceans more people to Jesus than we are now. If people were to see that the Church was something wholly other than the falling dark around them, those in need could better find an exit from the world. Instead of continuing to mill around in some mushy darkness, they would be directed to the exits by the emergency lighting shining from and through the hearts of those who channel the Light towards them. And then, upon arriving at the exit, they would enter into the courts anyone can – by grace through faith in the Light who guided them there – dwell forever.
Perhaps this is truly foolishness, but so is the rest of the gospel. What if, perchance, we simply tried it out? The “emergent-goo” we have been pumping out over the past 15 years seems to be nothing but that. What if we simply called people out of darkness into light? What if we just loved them so much, that they felt Jesus touch when we called them, or cried with them, or shook their hand, or helped them in whatever area of need they had?
What if, when that child of darkness looked up, they saw a princess – or a knight in shining armor – looking lovingly at them, and with a hand out, courageously proclaiming The Way of salvation, and who stayed with that child until the Rescue was accomplished. Then, upon the completion of the rescue, the member of the royal court, would simply accompany the rescued child into the courts of the King where he or she could receive all he or she needed?
Would you accept such a foolish commission?
