This past week I continued my series on Luke. I was in chapter 20 verses 20-26 (if you want to check it out).
I said some things that are not very popular with our American christian culture. And I wanted to reflect a little on that, and clarify some things.
One of the comments I said was that America is just another man-made empire… just like Egypt, Rome, or any other empire. I’m sure that did not sit well with most people. Americans are very proud of our nation (as we should be), and we don’t like it when we are told that we might be wrong or we might be evil. Here’s the deal… I get that we are “better” than Hitler’s Germany, or Hussain’s Iraq. No arguement there. But that really isn’t my point. My point is that we as Christians and Church people should be willing to go beyond our patriotism and recognize we have a single citzenship – in Heaven, not a dual citizenship- Heaven and America.
In Luke 20 it describes Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. He immediately went to the Temple and cleaned up! Literally! He brought the serious smack and told them “You have turned a house of prayer into a house of profit!”
My question is this.
Where did the cheif priests and leaders of the Jewish nation learn to “turn a profit”? Where did they learn how to weasel people out of their money? Was it from the Scriptures? Was it from the law of Moses? NO! They learned it from the Romans! In fact, the Jewish leaders of Jesus day were in bed with Caesar and Rome MUCH more than they would care to admit.
So, this is my point… the religious leaders of that day LOOKED more like Rome than Heaven. They acted more like Caesar than God. They had allowed the culture to dictate their behavior. They had dual allegiances. They were not set apart anymore. There was nothing distinguishing them from the world.
That is our problem in America. Our churches are run just like an American business. Our church government looks like the American government. Our values and actions are much more American than Christian. When the church begins to look like the society in which it is found, then we are lost! If we are honest – and I’m not stupid enough to think we will be- we will notice that our churches are a reflection of America and not of Heaven. Where has the church learned to behave the way it behaves? From watching the American way of life! We are saturated with the culture. We are called to be IN the world but not OF it. I fear we have failed miserably.
America might be great. You may think America is the greatest nation in history. But we are not called to be American. We are called to be the Holy Nation, set apart, set aside, for the purposes of God and Heaven! IN the world not OF it!
So let’s quit defending the American way of life and start having only ONE allegiance… to GOD and GOD alone!
peace.out.
