Holiness is not enough

As a Christian I find myself caught between American and Biblical notions of what it means to be “a city on a hill”.  Certainly our predecessors borrowed their language and many good and wonderful concepts from the Bible.  However, all good things are susceptible to distortion, and the American ideal of independence and isolation is no exception.

The American Revolution teaches me that independence is the key to success.  Certain theological perspectives emphasize separation from the world as the key to holiness.  The juxtaposition seems powerful and enticing.

Build a wall.

Stronger borders.

Unfortunately, the church dies–or worse, becomes an evil, repugnant testimony to God’s name–when it seeks to create holiness through separation from the world.  Wait, what?

We are to be set apart, not separate.  The difference is substantial.

God proved that separation doesn’t work.  And he gives us centuries of persistent illustration.  Keep reading if you don’t know what I mean; dozens of generations over many centuries died in anguish proving this point.

That’s an expensive lesson for our benefit, and God spent his own son to teach us the same lesson.

The lure of the holy huddle

You’d think a holy huddle would be the best way to promote a culture of righteousness and love.  Get a group of people together with shared values and purpose, motivated by commitment to God and each other — separate them from the rest of the world — and they are now a “city on a hill”, ready to be the “light of the world” and a purifying, well-seasoned, satisfying “salt of the earth.”

Not for long…

Listening to the Bible

On my daily drive to work, I’ve been listening to The One Year Chronological Bible.  It’s a great way to make the commute go by faster.  Listening also changes how I digest the Scriptures.

This audio Bible orders all the stories chronologically, so if a story was repeated, for example in Kings, Chronicles, and one of the Prophets, or in multiple gospels, I heard the account 3-4 times back-to-back, with slight variation.  If I zoned out partially during one of the accounts, the next time through filled in what I missed.

What struck home for me recently:

More Scripture focuses on the events surrounding the Assyrian and Babylonian captivity of Israel and Judah than any other aspect of the history of God’s people.

The failure of the holy huddle

Listen and you’ll hear literally hours upon hours of God’s prophets relaying God’s message of special love poured out upon Israel, how he chose them from all of the nations and separated them to be his idealized people.

So many things were designed to keep them isolated from the surrounding nations:

• Strict rituals surrounding everything from food to cleanliness to special days of rest.
• A distinct worship system that forbade the use of idols.
• Guidelines for sexual purity and familial bonds.
• Attention to genealogical heritage, limiting importation of pagan practices through intermarriage.
• A high barrier to entry (i.e. circumcision) to welcome foreigners and bring them into the fold.

God blessed them immensely, granting the nation of Israel prosperity and military prowess far beyond their own natural capabilities, whenever they actively trusted him.

But they didn’t.  After King David and King Solomon, despite remarkable economic and military success and an equally notable reputation among nearby nations, the nation of Israel soon split based on schisms caused by the most basic sins of greed, pride, and sexual impurity.  The northern kingdom of Israel had not a single righteous king for the next 300 years.  Maybe one out of four kings of the southern nation of Judah were righteous during those centuries.  The people were just as wicked as their rulers.

Instead of being a light to the rest of the world, the people who claimed God as their leader became an embarrassment to the name of God who had shown them such loving kindness.

• Their rulers were vicious and uncaring.
• Marital unfaithfulness was commonplace.
• The wealthy brutalized the poor.
• Parents killed their own babies in ritual sacrifices.
• Even pagans in surrounding nations, where these practices were common, were shocked by the debauchery of Israel and Judah.

Then you hear hour after hour warning of God’s judgement.  Verse after verse, chapter after chapter, book after book, prophet after prophet, God recounts the failures of his people.  Judgment was coming, it was going to be brutal, and he needed to explain why.  The lesson he wanted to convey must not be lost in the course of history.

The prophet Ezekiel captured the historical moment:

The Lord’s message came to me: “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they defiled it by their behavior and their deeds…. So I poured my anger on them because of the blood they shed on the land and because of the idols with which they defiled it.

I scattered them among the nations; they were dispersed throughout foreign countries. In accordance with their behavior and their deeds I judged them.  But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name.

It was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, yet they have departed from his land.’  I was concerned for my holy reputation which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they went.”

Ezekiel 36:16-21

Why did God do that?  Why did he allow his people to go through such a lesson?

God gave us the history of his people’s failure for our benefit, when we have so much more to lose and so much more to gain.

Today, we’re not talking tens or hundreds of thousands of people whose lives and blessing are at stake — we’re talking billions.  God was thinking of us today.  And the lessons are as relevant as ever.

The success of dispersion

Today, Jews are the only people who have survived as a distinct people after being scattered among the nations, not even having their own country for centuries.  And they learned their lesson, just as God predicted.

“I will display my majesty among the nations. All the nations will witness the judgment I have executed, and the power I have exhibited among them.  Then the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile due to their iniquity, for they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies; all of them died by the sword.  According to their uncleanness and rebellion I have dealt with them, and I hid my face from them.

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have mercy on the entire house of Israel. I will be zealous for my holy name. They will bear their shame for all their unfaithful acts against me, when they live securely on their land with no one to make them afraid.  When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will magnify myself among them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will not leave any of them in exile any longer.  I will no longer hide my face from them, when I pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Ezekiel 39:21-29

(By the way, Jesus clearly loved the book of Ezekiel when he was on earth; he used so much of the language from that book in his teachings, like being a good shepherd.)

Dispersion into the nations taught the people of Judah something they had failed to embrace before:  how to be zealous for their God.

Living out one’s faith, parsing the light and darkness of one’s own heart, is often easier to do when faced with intermingled light and darkness in the surrounding culture.

A monoculture, especially one that claims to be righteous, often fails to see its own flaws, and condemns that which is different far more than that which is wrong.

Since the Babylonian captivity, Jews have been known throughout history as notable people, exceptional people.  On an earthly level, they have been exceptional in three ways:

• They don’t work on the Sabbath.
• They won’t pay a temple tax to a pagan god.
• You can trust them with your money.

Greek and Roman leaders–and astute rulers since then–found the first two principles more than balanced by the third.

When you’re at the top of the pyramid, it’s tough to discern who you can trust and who will try to knock you off.  Like Pharaoh with Joseph, Nebuchadnezzar with Daniel, and Cyrus with Nehemiah, countless rulers from ancient to modern times have found they can find a trustworthy steward among Jewish people.

“No problem, but two caveats,” the Jew says.

“Deal!” says the ruler.  (“Small price to pay for someone literate who takes seriously ‘you shall not steal’ and ‘you shall not covet’ and ‘you shall not commit adultery’ around my wife and daughter.”)

Oh, did this make other nationalities irritated:  “Why do the Jews get a day off every week and don’t have to pay all their taxes?”

It was captivity, dispersion, that made the Jews distinct.  They have never been the same since.  As the Jews’ spiritual descendants, Christians should take notice.

 

The church is sent into the world

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

John 3:17

Not only was Jesus sent into the world to create a beautiful blend of righteousness and love, goodness and truth; he sent us into the world with exactly the same mission.

When Jesus prayed for his disciples, that his Father would keep them safe and set apart, notice how he did it.

Holy Father, keep them safe in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I kept them safe and watched over them in your name that you have given me. Not one of them was lost except the one destined for destruction, so that the scripture could be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience my joy completed in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world.

Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth.

Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.

And I set myself apart on their behalf, so that they too may be truly set apart.

John 17:11b-19

Jesus did not call his disciples to be separate, he called them to set apart in how they interacted with the world around them.

Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

We usually think of commands as optional.  However, Jesus indicated that dispersion of his followers is not optional.  It will happen.

It’s the last thing Jesus said before ascending into heaven.  Better take notice:

So when they had gathered together, they began to ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He told them, “You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”

After he had said this, while they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud hid him from their sight.  As they were still staring into the sky while he was going, suddenly two men in white clothing stood near them and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”

Acts 1:6-11

After three years with Jesus, some of his disciples still thought the Kingdom of God was about consolidation.

Nope.  Not in a millennia near you.

The Kingdom of God is about dispersion.  Jesus didn’t say “go be my witnesses”; he said “you will be my witnesses”.  Go voluntarily as missionaries or go by force of persecution — you will be scattered, because that’s how goodness spreads.

As if to put a punctuation mark on the sentence, the Holy Spirit then introduced the church to Saul of Tarsus.