Putting the World at Risk

"The Christian is a witness to a new reality that is entirely counter to culture. The Christian faith is a proclamation that God's kingdom has arrived in Jesus, a proclamation that puts the world at risk. What Jesus himself proclaimed and we bear witness to is the truth that the sin-soaked, self-centered world is doomed.
Pastors are in charge of keeping the distinction between the world's lies and the gospel's truth clear. No one else occupies this exact niche that looks so inoffensive but is in fact so dangerous to the status quo. We are committed to keeping the proclamation alive and to looking after souls in a soul-denying, soul-trivializing age."
--Eugene Peterson, Unnecessary Pastor

There are three propositions in this short exerpt that jump off of the page and into my world here. First: the Christian is a witness to a new reality that is entirely counter to culture. Second: pastors are in charge of keeping this message distinct from the world in the way that it is by nature distinct from the world. And third: in so doing, we are caring for souls in a world that seeks to deny and trivialize it.

If we don't understand the first proposition, we can not possibly keep our charge to the second and third. Too few of us can apprehend and articulate exactly how the Christian message is entirely counter to our culture. We immediately jump to how the Christian message can fit into our culture, mostly in the name of relevancy. However, the fact of the matter is this: the gospel is relevant, apart from our packaging, by its very nature. We need Jesus. We needed him to die. We need him for his life. This is objectively true, and it is objectively true for all of us and apart from any of us. We don't "make" it true for us; it simply and already "is" true for us.

Yes, but how do we make it true for those who don't yet believe that?

By living it out. By living lives that demonstrate that we recognize this reality. By being people who are present to this reality at all times, whether at work, at play, in conversation, in devotion, in service, in planning... whatever. By living as people who are ever aware that they simply need Jesus, and then watching as the Spirit brings forth His fruit out of that realization, moving us to cooperate with his leading and guiding in our every day, earthy lives.

All of which flies in the face of what the above question presupposes: that it's our job to somehow "make God true" for others, perhaps in the name of "relevancy." However, God is already true for everyone; he is already present and already initiating. He actively desires for everyone to come to a personal knowledge of his saving intentions. For someone to not believe and accept that truth does not make it "not true" for them; it simply means that they are denying objective reality. Denying the truth does not make the truth "the truth no longer." It simply means that the person is in a state of denial.

Again, it's not our job to get someone to quit their denying by using all of the cultural bells and whistles with which they are all too familiar. Our job is simply to be reflections of the reality of a life that is infused by Christ's life and Spirit. It's amazing what the Spirit can do with a life that is simply a good reflection; a life that is very much a Jesus-image.

Perhaps that is one way in which the gospel is so counter to our culture--it proclaims a reality that is apart from our creating, apart from our effort, apart from our striving. It proclaims a kingdom we could never establish, much less build. This message alone is so fear- and anxiety-producing to us as self-made, driven, independent, capitalist, democratic people that even those of us who claim allegiance to or membership in this kingdom fail to comprehend its true nature and full message. And so we fail to comprehend: how can I gather my identity from something I didn't do? What place can I have in something that doesn't depend on me?

Implicit in almost all models that champion relevancy or business strategy is this temptation: it all comes down to me. We fail or succeed because of me, because of my ability to execute, because of my finger on the pulse, because of my anticipation, because of my plan, because of our facility, because of... etc. This is the world's message, and the church has believed and accepted it. And yet, we stand as people who need and will forever need Jesus--who have supposedly believed and accepted him and his message.

The schizophrenia of this state of being--of being people who have accepted and believed two mutually exclusive messages--is alarming. You don't know what to expect from day to day--will we be people who walk, talk, act, work, breathe, relate, pray, preach, sing, strategize, plan, review, and evaluate as people who know first and foremost that they simply need Jesus? Or, will we walk, talk, act, work, breath, relate, pray, preach, sing, strategize, plan, review, and evaluate as people who need to succeed at Jesus' mission for him? Or even still, will we be people who think that the two--simply needing Jesus, and needing to succeed by the world's means--are compatible, and not at all mutually exclusive?

The means of the world deny and trivialize the soul. Performance reviews apart from relationship trivialize the soul. Technology above authenticity denies the soul. Process above people denies the soul. And an unwillingness to wrestle with how these tensions play out in practice--whether it is in the name of busyness, personality, or priorities--trivializes the soul.

There are plenty of "ministry means" that are actually wolves in sheep's clothing.