The church of the Rear View Mirror

The Kingdom of God is concerned with today not the past.

You may remember when Jesus asked a man to follow Him, the man replied that he had to bury his father. Jesus replied ” Let the dead bury the dead”. Not only does that sound insensitive, it sounds dismissive and not very Christian.  He actually makes a few statements like this in regards to following Him and the Kingdom of God. He speaks to a rich ruler who can’t leave his stuff behind, another man who has to take care of his sheep. A farmer who plows looking backwards is not a good candidate to usher in Christs Kingdom. These he says will have a difficult time following Him.

None of these things are all that bad in my mind. ( except for the plowing because that would make for really crooked rows for planting the seeds) Why does He come off so harsh to these potential disciples? I believe he uses them as examples to teach us some broader points about the Kingdom of God.

If you have ever had to bury a parent, you know how many memories of the past are involved, it is extremely difficult. I think he was not trying to be rude but simply pointing out that the Kingdom of God is not about the dead but the living. He mentions in another place that God is not the God of the dead but the living. ( There are no dead people to God, every person who has ever lived or died is in some sense alive to God ) For us, down here, the dead are only alive to us in our memory.

The rich ruler and the man who had to take care of his sheep, even those who love their mother and father more than Christ all have an emotional attachment to the past through those things. That is not a bad thing. Again I don’t think the Lords’ point is to dehumanize or invalidate our emotions. He is using hyperbolic language as he often does to teach us that being “handcuffed” to the past will hinder the Kingdom of God in us and through us. Scripture teaches us to honor our mother and father.  When Jesus was his mother and brothers wanted to speak to Him, he was dismissive again saying, “Who are my mother and my brothers but they that do the will of God”.  Family connects us to the past and points us to our future, hopefully but not always in a good way.

Why is plowing while looking backward such a bad thing for the Kingdom of God? For one thing, the past is not where the Kingdom of God is going. The Kingdom of God has already moved past yesterday and is continuing its mission today. The past is safe, today is not. The past is comforting and nostalgic, today is not. When I look back to the past i notice something strange… It’s all about me. That for sure will hinder the Kingdom of God in my life to flow out to the world.

Because Americhurch is an earthly institution politically well heeled, she is very concerned about the past as it relates to the future.  Sadly for Joe public he looks at Americhurch and see’s no difference between her values and the Republican party. Lucky for us, Americhurch does not speak for the Body of Christ.

Our country has an incredible Christian history

Now What? The past will not be repeated.

Americhurch is obsessed with the past and how our country was founded by Christians. She feels the cure for her lack of relevance is to return and recapture the good old days. How many pointless arguments I have read about Jefferson, Washington and our Christian founding. Is that where Gods Kingdom is going? Is Jesus working on overturning Roe vs. Wade today?  Is He trying to get the latest “Bible believing” Republicans elected to preserve American values?

When the we think of what it means to be “worldly” we may think, secular music, R rated movies and the like. Do we every think of “worldly” as striving for political power or pushing through more laws that favor our beliefs? Is that what the Kingdom of God looks like down here?

For people of faith who attend Americhurch, these cultural trappings can lead to burnout. Because this church has put so much energy in politics and trying to preserve the past, her people are tired, tired of losing, tired of watching the culture they love so much crumble. This is one reason, I think many have decided to follow Christ outside of the visible church. I’m sure we agree that God is in and outside of His church, however for thousands of believers God has led them out of the “box” of that visible brick and mortar church. For many that is a scary thing.

One of the reasons for this blog is to encourage believers to do what God is asking them to do, even though it is not comfortable, scary and others may not  approve. You are His…. now go ride that wave.