This story, as told in Mere Discipleship, is chilling, to say the least. It hit me square between the eyes.
I fear we are like fish who swim in a polluted stream that is cloudy and murky. It is all the fish have ever known so it is their “normal”.
A homeless MIDDLE EASTERN man who would not smell good to us and and used every opportunity to provocatively point out that our ways and systems are severely flawed has been turned into a caucasion capitalist. (I wince at Shane Claiborne’s story of being in the Middle East and the kids their telling him they needed him to play the part of Jesus in their play because Shane is an American.)
As Camp aptly points out Prince of Peace has been replaced by God, Guns, and Country!

The Americanized capiotalist Christ would never say a word abou the fact that (at least here in the Brentwood/Franklin/Forest Hills/Oak Hill/Green Hills bubble)our McMansions could house small villages from and we throw away more food than half the world has to eat and we will spend 20 hours in a weekend watching half a dozen sporting events and feel good because we spend 3 ours “at Church”.
We fully participate in financial systems where CEOs make 400 times the average worker in their factories and we wear clothes made by laborers who made pennies for making them.
I don’t think most of us in the Western church are brave enough to blow up the materialism and all the goodies that come with Empire. I fear even the bravest of our preachers will not confront the fact that most of the men in our pews are addicted to wealth or spend much more time discussing Alabama/UT/Titans Football AT CHURCH than we do discussing the Kingdom.
So my question is not whether we are disciples or admirers…my questions is have we even begun to remove the aptly titled cataracts that Camp mentions to even begin confronting who exaclty this Christ is. I don’t think we’re touching the hem of the garment yet.

Tim,

Wow. You have a great deal of passion. I am the person(s) you described in this comment. How are you living differently in light of your passions?

Tim,

Yes, you are passionate, and passion can be good. However, it can be misdirected too.

There is some truth in what you are saying. However, you refer in a negative manner to certain things (Capitalism, wealth, sports, “our system”, guns, country) that are not inherently bad, yet never get at the real root of the problem.

The real problem is sin, and specifically the sin of idolatry–placing these things above God. We all do it, even you. When we idolize money, we become greedy. When we idolize material things, we covet or steal. When we idolize sex, we lust and commit adultery in our hearts or bodies.

The fact is, you find similar problems in all other political, economic, and social systems that exist or have ever existed. This is because of the presence of humans who are fallen and sinful. If you could only talk to my Chinese friend from mainland China, he would tell you that elitism and merciless greed predominate even in non-Western Socialist and Communist systems.

So…I think it misses the point to rail against Capitalism or consumerism. What we need to do is hold up the righteous standard of God’s law and expose the fact that we are all sinners who fail to meet the standard that God requires of us. The only conclusion we can then come to is that we need a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ. He died in our place and bore the punishment for our sins, freeing us to love God and do good, not to earn our way into the kingdom but out of joy at already having entered it. In other words, look to the cross and tell others about it. That’s far better than trying to shoo them away from Capitalism.

@Rjohns….I did a poor job of clarifying, my references were meant as IDOLS although I do think American Capitalism has come at least dangerously close to being exploitave (I don’t know if I go as far as Brian McLaren does on this issue but I am probably approaching it). I agree with Frances Chan when he says that after years of study he has determined that what Jesus meant when he said it is hard for a Rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven what he really meant was tht it is hard for a Rich man to enter the Kingdom. I think Chan and Shane Claiborne “live it”….they live far beneath their means and they take none of the money from their best selling books. I hope that trend continues. I have had a nagging fear that if Jesus were here now he wouldn’t be in one of our Suburban church complexes that cost millions of dollars…I really don’t mean for that to be harsh, but everytime I share that with a friend they look down and say I think you are right.

To read an incredibly insightful article that was in Time Magazine a year ago check this out. For a secular article I think it aptly sums up the shift in America (and the American Church) that occurred over the past generation in regards to our consumerisism.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1887728,00.html

@Josh…I am the person I am describing as well. The first step in addiction recovery is awareness…correct?
I would say my baby steps are trying to intentionally stop some of these behaviors in even the smallest of ways. For instance, I LOVE sports. Played em, coached em, love the drama and the passion. BUT I really fear that the typical American man (and maybe even a lot of typical American Christians) have made an idol here.
Check this article below out that was in Christianity Today last month. It is hard hitting…I would love to see it preached from our pulpits.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/february/3.20.html?start=1

Richard Hughes wrote something in one of his books years ago that really hit me. He said that one of the biggest shifts experienced in Church history has been our loss that Christ’s eminent return. I think he is right. Believing (and more importantly) hopring and praying “Maranatha” would solve a lot of these issues. As all this other baggage would fade into the background if if we are living in anxious anticipation.
I have found it extremely difficult and frustrating to try and expand my Kingdom as well as Christ’s. Just hope I can be in the liquidation business going forward as in liquidating MY Kingdom.

Just my 2 cents worth.
Check out the two links and let me know what you guys think.

Tim,

I believe that some American Capitalists exploit others. I believe that Cuban, Vietnamese, and Chinese Communists, as well as Chinese Capitalists exploit others. Capitalism is not the problem, sin is.

I know that Abraham and Job will one day walk the new heavens/earth in resurrection bodies even though they were filthy rich–far richer than any of their servants. They’ll be there not because they managed to squeeze through the eye of a needle by their own power, but because “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” God saved them by granting them grace (unmerited favor) because they had faith in the promises he made, which pointed forward to Jesus.

You make a good point about our multi-million dollar churches. Some of them are unnecessarily lavish, and the “worship” services in them seem more like carnivals to me. However, remember that Jesus spent plenty of time in a temple that cost the equivalent of many millions of dollars, and he never once criticized the cost–only the use the building was being put to at times and the hearts of those who used it. So maybe the cost of our buildings is not really the issue.

I read the Time article. Of course I don’t disagree with everything in it, but I generally disagreed. The real problem over the last few decades (I think) has been that our nation has put a great deal of faith in ourselves, our wealth, our form of government, etc., while decreasing its faith in, reliance on, and acknowledgment of God. That’s still our problem, and the author doesn’t seem to recognize this. He (or she, I didn’t note the author’s name) seems to think that, while the last generation failed us with their excesses, this current generation is ready to turn it all around and form a wiser, less selfish, altruistic society–all without any mention of God or reliance on him. That’s not going to happen, because this generation is just as sinful as all generations.

I read the sports article too, and I agreed with it.

I also strongly agree with your point about focusing on Christ’s imminent return. That is something I need to be reminded of more frequently, so thanks for doing so! Note though that one of the writers you seem to mention in a positive manner above (i.e. Brian McLaren) does not apparently believe in Christ’s imminent return at all. I am a bit surprised that you would refer to him, yet also believe firmly in Christ’s second coming.

@rjohn.
My point on McLaren was about his beliefs about econmics systems…that I don’t go as far as he does on that. I haven’t read a lot of McLaren’s work but I have heard a few things that make me question his “orthodoxy” (belief in a literal hell.) That being said I think he makes some good points about
economic exploitation here.
I comment on the US because that’s the fishbowl I live in (if I was in China or Viet Nam hopefully I would do the same there, obviously at a little more peril to my well being)….and you are right, all systems can be and are flawed to varying degrees. I do think the Time Article (which is a SECULAR article) does address the shift that took place from the early 80s till now, but a secular writer isn’t going to unpeel the onion and look at why this happened and he sure isn’t going to agree with you and I and taking one’s eyes off the cross creates lots of false idols to worship….wealth, work, sports, sex, appearance, etc.

One question I wonder (maybe too much?)about is how much should I/we divest from “systems” that thrive on injustice. For example, I recently watched the documentary Food Inc.(highly recommened it). You cannot watch that movie or read Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and not see that the Industrial Food companies (the Tysons/Cargills/Monsantos) seriously abuse immigrant workers (many of them undocumented) to create products for you and me at a very cheap price BUT it is borne on the backs of a class of people who
cannot and will not speak out against the injustice they are enduring. Would Jesus speak out against it? From my reading of the NT that’s how he spent a huge amount of his time. He laid the poor’s plight at the feet of their rich oppressors, am I wrong?

Josh, don’t know if this relates to this discussion but what are your thoughts on Glenn Becks comments this week about churches and social justice? Is this a topic you would address from the pulpit (I’m not a OCer so I have no dog in this hunt..hah)

If we know that someone is being abused, I think we should definitely speak up or abstain from buying a product. I guess Jesus might have spoken out about such things, although I don’t think it is true that he spent a huge amount of time laying “the poor’s plight at the feet of their rich oppressors.” He seemed more concerned with people’s inner spiritual state (i.e. whether or not they were repentant and put God first) and with training his immediate disciples. I don’t get the impression from reading the NT that Jesus was a social justice crusader.

Also, from what I can recall, most of the people he called out were people who were spiritually (not necessarily economically) oppressing others, namely the Pharisees, scribes, etc. There are *some* examples of people being economically oppressed, but it seems there’s usually other spiritual issues at stake there too. One example I can think of is the money-changers in the temple. They were forcing people to pay temple fees with special coinage, and thus people had to have their currency converted, and in the process they would gouge them. Also, I’ve heard some say the area of the temple they were using was supposed to be an outer court for the Gentiles to worship in, and they were unable to do so because of the presence of the money-changers.

Maybe I’ve missed some. Give me some scripture examples of what you mean and we could discuss them.

Tim,

Also…you are not an OC’er? Just wondering…are you CoC? I am formerly CoC but not now.

Yes on c of C.

Off the top of my head I would say Matt. 25 and the judgement scene. I know we tend to parable-ize this story. I’m not saying that Christ’s #1 reason for coming to earth wasn’t to seek and save the lost but his METHOD seemed to be to serve those who were most on the fringes, and in doing that, he won their hearts, and souls! I do think our job is to bring the Kingdom of God HERE as much as we can, but I realize this world is BROKEN and a poor copy of the original.
There is a tension between these issues, but I no longer believe that the NT is simply about my personal salvation and believing that God has little concern for the Justice we enact here and now.

Hi Tim,

A few questions, because I don’t want to misunderstand you:

(1) What do you mean by “Justice?”

and

(2) How do we go about bringing the Kingdom of God here?

And finally:

(3) Aren’t there enough examples of Jesus serving (or dining with) those who were not poor and not on the fringes to conclude that his method was not to seek out the fringe-dwellers? For example, Zacchaeus, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Levi, Saul or Tarsus, the rich young man, etc.?

Somehow, I totally missed this entire conversation happening on the blog. Wow. I will read through and comment. Love the energy and passion.

PS I think Glenn Beck is dead wrong. I think if he met Jesus he’d be really really really surprised.

Too many comments have passed. Wow. I appreciate the good diaolog, especially when it is spirited. I would address Beck’s comments if the text assigned that week called for it. OC is a place that does not trust overtly gestures to either party. That is, if you are going to make a comment politically, you’d better come strong, with strong logic/evidence.