The Radical Christian: Being the Gospel
Stanley Hauerwas, professor at Duke University and America’s “best theologian” (TIME Magazine, 2001), makes the following profound statement: “The work of Jesus was not a new set of ideals or principals for reforming or even revolutionizing society, but the establishment of a new community, a people that embodied forgiveness, sharing and self sacrificing love in its rituals and disciple. In that sense, the visible church is not to be the bearer of Christ’s message; but to be the message.”
As a religion, I believe we focus too much on life after death. The comfortable knowledge that we are “saved” keeps us chained to the pews until eventually this life ends and the next one begins. However, I believe God is just as interested in revolutionising life before death as he is in providing life after it. I’m not talking about prosperity; I am talking about a life that is in stark contrast to the culture surrounding it. A life filled with love, a life lived in humility, a life where pain is healed and treasure is built up in heaven – and sacrificed on earth. This revolution requires us to forcefully abandon the ideology of this world and embrace another.
The “Me” Complex
Self Centeredness, or pride, is at the core of every Sin. Adam and Eve were deceived by possibility of becoming “like God” – an entirely self focused motivation. Ever since humans have forgotten just how infinitely incomparable we are with God and have continued to place ourselves first. We wouldn’t sin if we truly placed God above our own desire to do wrong. We could never hurt others if we cared for them more than what ever we would gain my doing so. This self centeredness is having a debilitating effect on Western Culture – and the Church.
Many Christians claim to place God as a priority (a minority actually – 15%) yet when you challenge them to express that through their actions – to volunteer for the poor, reach the hurting people, or even spend more time with God – it rapidly becomes apparent that other priorities get in the way. The reality is this: they place their salvation first (which is placing themselves first), then they place there other priorities second, then they get to the work of actually serving God in the community if it is convenient.
Christians in Western Societies are never required to make a sacrifice for our faith. We aren’t persecuted. But in order to solve the deep pride (sin) problem we need to learn to place others and God first in our lives. Because Christianity is easy in the west Christians never have to make this move, thus they never deal with the ‘me’ complex.
There comes a point where a Christian has to decide: how much is God worth? How much will they hold back? Will they drop everything – everything – and follow Christ? No more “buts”; no more compromise. No more convenience. God wants to fix the greatest problem you will ever have, but it will not be easy.
Cheap and Dear Grace
We’ve often heard the definition “Mercy is not getting what you deserve (i.e. punishment), Grace is getting what you don’t deserve (i.e. eternal life etc)”. But only recently did I realise there is another element to grace – grace costs. Think about how much God’s grace cost him. It cost him the life of his son. If you really want to make a difference for God in this world you need to learn to show that type of grace.
Plenty of Christians are willing to show “cheap grace”. This is grace that costs nothing. We’ll spread the good news if someone brings it up; we will provide a shoulder if someone needs one; we’ll give some money for a cause if we have change. What the world really needs though is “dear grace”. We need more people who are willing to purposefully go out of their way to show God’s love to someone. We need people who are willing to give away more than they can afford for someone. We need more people who will sleep with the homeless. This type of grace changes the world – and it changes you. This is sacrifice and it will cure you. The world sees this and they say, “There is something different about that man/woman.”
Crucify Yourself
Similarly we must learn to be ruthless in our pursuit to place God first in our lives. Christ died for us and it is time to us to “take up our cross” and follow him. As we crucified Christ, so we must let him crucify ourselves. That picture above isn’t just Jesus – it is our old flesh and way of life. Some of the “nails” are as follows:
- Obedience – do what ever God tells you to do (no “buts”, no hesitation)
- Dedication – pre-commit to sticking with this journey even when it is hard. Follow God all the time.
- Discipline – Make your time with God a habit. Say “no” to temptation.
- Sacrifice – Be prepared to give up everything. Hold nothing back.
- Authenticity – place following God and being “real” above being accepted by others
- Accountability – be honest with others. Have them keep you on track.
- Service – Place others and God first. Go out of you way to serve them.
- Evangelism – Be proactive in spreading God’s grace right where you are.
- Contagiousness –Replicate yourself by showing and sharing your life with others.
- Righteousness – Hunt down and destroy sin in your life.
- Ruthlessness – You’re at war with the ways of this world.
- Courageousness – Take risks, have faith.
- Humility – Give the glory to God.
- Teaching – Share with others what you have learned.
- Learning – Commit yourself to learning more from God and others.
- Compassion – Judge sin, but don’t condemn a sinner. Love is the solution to sin.
- Change – Commit yourself to continual change.
To be honest, I’m not there yet. But I am on the way. It’s a much more vigorous form of Christianity than you may be used to. God is worth it.
The Radical Christian: An Overview
The Radical Christian: Revolutionising Society
