When would it be proper to rebel against your own government? Well, according to the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident:
That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

So, possible rebellion is one of America’s foundational principles. What is less clear is when individuals oppose their government for sake of conscience. Especially in light of biblical passages like Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17 which speak of obedience to government.

Perhaps the best guideline is we are to follow our government’s rule unless it forces us to disobey God (Acts 5:29). If the choice is disobey God or government, we go with disobeying government, always remembering we must be willing to suffer the consequences. Paul gives an example of what this willingness might look like.

Acts 25:9-11 (NLT)
Then Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked him, “Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there?”
[10] But Paul replied, “No! This is the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well I am not guilty. [11] If I have done something worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die. But if I am innocent, neither you nor anyone else has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!”

We commonly refer to disobeying government for reasons of conscience, “civil disobedience.” There are many issues at stake.

- What if you are wrong about what you disagree with? What if you don’t have your facts straight?
- Have you exhausted legitimate means to express your opposition?
- Are you harming others in your acts of disobedience as a byproduct of your cause?

An example tomorrow.

The way a Christian community stays focused on discipleship is primarily the result of the preaching and teaching that takes place. As Dallas Willard says,

“Does the preaching and teaching of the community attract people who are choosing to become disciples or does it attract consumers of religious goods and services?”

Most churches in America would cater to the latter. The most popular mission statement (subconsciously)?

“It’s all about You”

So, where is the next Luther going to come from? A church that caters to consumers or a church that calls people to join Jesus in what he is doing in his Kingdom work now by dying to yourself and becoming the kind of person God can trust with his power?

Just asking…

When Christians gather in communities on a regular basis to worship Jesus, walk with Jesus, work with Jesus, and witness to Jesus, we call this, “church,” or “fellowship.” The biggest challenge of living in a church community has to do with commitment to the mission of Jesus to be disciples and make disciples. Metaphors are helpful in considering what is a healthy church and what is not.

Healthy
A school of life with Jesus the Master Teacher where you learn from Jesus as much as you can how to live life as he would live it if he were you in any given situation.

A training camp where you learn the plays, get strong, work as a team, and scrimmage, all for the sake of getting into the real game of life and thriving.

A hospital where you go to be healed so that you can get out into the community and serve once more.

Not so healthy
A country club where you go to relax, socialize, connect with your friends, and you are catered to by the staff and leaders of the church.

A museum where you admire worship done “correctly” (meaning what you are used to growing up), admire “real” church music (what you are used to growing up), and where you are looking to connect with experiences you remember when the church was “really” faithful.

A political action group where you decide to let society tell you what cause is important and you work for that cause rather than grow as a disciple and become the kind of person who can make a difference and bring benefit to others in the natural flow of discipleship.

You get the idea about the meaning of church. Now you can see where conflict can arise. Groups of people connected together for different reasons. With healthy churches the agenda is making disciples. With unhealthy churches the agenda is having your needs met. With unhealthy churches the challenge is all of those metaphors can appear important if you want them to be. Good fellowship, upholding our rich heritage, and working for peace and justice, who can argue with these?

I have been posting on taking a stand when family, church, or government might bring pressure on you to not follow Jesus’ way. I want to post more on raising children in the faith.

First, we need to get one huge misunderstanding out of the way. If you don’t trust that when you are a disciple you get to join Jesus and live within the work he is doing now and enjoy the eternity you are spending with him, then it might seem “bigoted” to only look to marry a disciple of Jesus. If your worldview is, “everyone can live a healthy and fulfilled life regardless of their faith,” and if you believe that “all people will live in heaven forever, or all ‘good’ people,” then why would it matter to you if your children are Christian or not, let alone who they end up marrying? Of course you would have a problem with the idea that your children should have a shared faith with their spouse or prospective spouse.

At the same time, if Jesus is really God and his words from the Bible are true, then you are going to have a different view. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me (John 14:6).” If he means this, then it would certainly be going against God’s desire for you to raise your children in such a way that you didn’t give them the best opportunity to place their trust in him, as well.

Hence, I posted earlier on teaching children to date active Christians only. This is an extremely difficult situation to comprehend, on the surface. To give one example. Christians, of all worldviews, want to make friends with potential Christians, in order to be an influence in the possibility of their coming to faith in Jesus.

But friendship isn’t all that marriage is about. It is about making a lifelong covenant under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and, for most married couples, raising children. If the model of Jesus and his words from the Bible are correct, then to not give your children every opportunity to trust in Jesus is sinful. To not encourage them to be the primary influence (which a parent is) to carry on their faith to the next generations by raising their children as disciples, is sinful, as well. So, the best opportunity for your children to raise growing disciples of their own is if they are joining in this mission with a spouse who is also a disciple.

Now, obviously, Christians marry non-Christians, or come to Christ after they are married, and are able to raise their children in the faith, in part, because their spouse is open to this and encourages this. I commend these non-Christian spouses for seeing the benefit of their children trusting in Jesus. I pray that they will see the benefit of discipleship some day and see the need to seek Jesus for themselves. If Jesus is God and the words of the Bible are accurate, we want our potential Christian spouses to come to faith. Our greatest act of love for them would be to pray for this and be as much of an influence for Jesus as we can.

(More on standing up for your faith tomorrow. Have to post on recent event.)

First Antony Flew, and now Brian “Head” Welch.

Flew, if you haven’t heard, announced back in December that he believed in God. Not the God of Jesus. Yet. But coming from the world’s most prominent atheist, believing in God is a start. Flew was finally convinced at age 81 that there must be a God because of the evidence of intelligent design, in particular in DNA research.

Brian Welch is a different story. Last Tuesday, it was announced that he is leaving the heavy metal rock band, Korn. This is a very dark, very explicit lyric, very popular group. One of the most popular hard rock bands around. Well, it’s not unusual for band members to leave. So, why is this news being reported all over the world? Why is MTV freaking out?

Here is the announcement from the Korn website.

“Korn has parted ways with guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch, who has chosen Jesus Christ as his savior, and will be dedicating his musical pursuits to that end…”

This is headline news.

“Korn off the kob,” was the headline of the Miami Herald.

Welch came to Christ when he started attending Valley Bible Fellowship in Bakersfield, California. He gave his testimony Sunday to about 10,000 worshipers. It wasn’t intelligent design theory. It was getting off of “meth” that drew Welch to seek the Lord.

“I have a 6-year-old daughter, and I want her to be able to look me in the eye.”

Never say, “Never.”

To oppose your family is something that is not to be taken lightly. But there are circumstances when this might be necessary. Some are obvious, some not so obvious. An example of each.

Obviously, when a family member is physically abusing another you must take action. It must stop. Reporting them to the authorities will be part of this picture. Support for the victim is absolutely necessary.

Not so obvious are situations of faithfulness to Jesus when this stands in opposition to family harmony. Especially when you have a spouse who is not active in a faith life.

One situation would be if you have children you need to raise them Christian. You need to pass on your faith to the next generation. This is a command of God. So, many things come to mind.

Don’t marry someone who is not a seeking disciple of Jesus in the first place. As far as that goes, don’t date someone who is not a seeking disciple. There is just too much uncertainty for your future relationship and raising possible children some day to make it wise to commit your life to someone who doesn’t follow Christ. Included in this is not doing any “missionary” dating. Going out with someone and figuring you can lead them to Christ in due time isn’t helpful.

If you have become a follower of Jesus since you are married, then asking to raise the children Christian could well be a negotiation. There is so much benefit to following a Christian lifestyle that isn’t directly spiritual and a case for simple physical and emotional health can be made, if necessary. Also, being a godly spouse will have impact eventually.

Living in the Kingdom of God now and within the human institutions of family, church and country, the disciple has the tension of loyalty to the institutions subjugated to loyalty to Jesus. But how do you live as a disciple within this tension?

We are called to serve. We are called to work for the good will of others so that what God wants for them is more likely to be a reality. This is always done with the humility and graciousness. This is done knowing we could be wrong. Using the Bible as our guide, we serve and bring benefit for others best we see fit.

Do we ever work against family, church, and country? In extraordinary circumstances, yes. Loyalty to the way of Jesus always takes priority. A rule of thumb would be this. Work against that which forces you to commit sin. Be willing to suffer the human consequences for this. You need to be very clear from scripture that what family, church or country is forcing you to do is directly a violation of God’s ways. Again, this would always be done with much humility and honesty that you may be wrong in God’s big picture. What would be examples of this? I will give some in the next few days.

Disciples of Jesus live in God’s Kingdom now. Though it has not been fully revealed to us, there are certainly glimpses he favors us with. In 1 Peter, we are called a “kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation.” We all have access to God and are citizen’s of his kingdom forever. Then we read this.

1 Peter 2:11 (NLT)
Dear brothers and sisters, you are foreigners and aliens here. So I warn you to keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls.

Here lies the tension. I am a disciple of Jesus who lives in a foreign land, America. But it is more than this. I am a disciple of Jesus who lives in a foreign land, my family. I am a disciple of Jesus who lives in a foreign land, my church. Do you see what Peter is getting at?

We are God’s and wherever we attach our allegiances, we are living in his Kingdom in the midst of that attachment. Whether family, church, or country, we remain Kingdom citizens first. What is the privilege and responsibility of a disciple in God’s Kingdom while living on earth? Work with Jesus and be an influence to reach others for Christ. Be a “Kingdom recruiter,” as it were.

I have been placed in the reality of family and country. These are ordained by God as social structures to keep sin in check and to be the place where I live out my discipleship. Church is where I connect with other disciples and potential disciples to join together in our Kingdom work.

Each of these social structures is precious to me. Each is an institution where sinful human beings gather. Each is fraught with hardship and struggle. And each is a venue for my loyalty. Just as I work for the benefit of my family and church, I work for the benefit of America. Just as I give my family wide boundaries of graciousness in our life together, I give my country and my church the same. When I am being an effective witness for Jesus, I don’t “bash” my family, church, or country. I also am not so attached that I allow any of these entities to overpower my loyalty to Jesus first.

This is where a balance God’s Kingdom already come and yet not fully revealed becomes the place where I live.

2 Chron. 7:14 (NLT)
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.

The United States is a sovereign nation made up of citizens of many religions, including atheism. It is not like the nation of Israel in Old Testament time where God’s people had their own country. When the Bible is speaking of the “land,” it is speaking of the gathered community of Jews in the Holy Land.

So why is it that some Christians treat the scriptures that speak of Israel as if it means any place where people live? The verse quoted above is a good example of this. Ever since we were attacked on September 11th this scripture has been referred to as an antidote for what ails us as a nation. But is that an accurate biblical interpretation?

Oh, believe me, Christians need to prayer for America. We need a lot of help. All Christians are called to pray for the nation they reside in, as well as other nations. But where is the connection to make an equivalence of “my people” and “Americans” or “their land” and “America”? In the passage cited, is it Christians who humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from wickedness? Then do other citizens who don’t do these things get a free pass on the forgiveness and healing? Just wondering.

Perhaps it is more likely that God’s people are called to humble themselves etc. and the influence we will have as we die to ourselves and live to benefit our neighbor will bring blessings to our country. Maybe I am just quibbling over language, but I think it is more than that. Treating America like it were Israel of old invites some fuzzy thinking. More tomorrow.

One of the most basic spiritual disciplines is generosity. No area touches home with the action that is involved quite like this. Giving money for the mission of Kingdom Work is the only investment we have that has eternal potential.

God gives the guideline of a tithe (10 % of income) as a place to start in giving back to his work what he has already given us. Generosity moves there and beyond. There is no more life-changing act than this and most Christians are reluctant to pursue it. Wouldn’t that just be the case?

The reason Christians are hesitant to tithe is simple. Insecurity. I don’t think it is selfishness. The lack of tithing and beyond is a trust issue. I can practice all other disciplines, worship on a weekly basis, and have a ministry, all marks of a disciple, but they all cost me only time. Time I would be spending on something else anyway. Christians understand this eventually.

I wonder why we don’t have the same viewpoint when it comes to money? I am moving toward a tithe and beyond. I would only be spending the money on something else anyway.

Tithing and beyond will not automatically turn someone into a strong disciple. But until you address that core issue of security/ insecurity, there will be little growth. Nothing keeps a Christian from becoming a disciple more than hoarding what’s not ours in the first place.