What We Have On Our Side

An increasing number of persons in the Western world consider the story of Jesus to be nothing but foolishness. The cross is perceived as nothing but representative of powerlessness, and the resurrection as reflective of a pre-scientific worldview.

The Protestant churches have responded to this growing perception in two ways. The first way is to stress the relevance and utility of discipleship and the imitation of Christ. That is, the Churches have argued that Christ should be imitated because imitating Christ will give us fulfillment in our lives. For example, any brief perusal of a mainstream Christian bookstore reveals title after title dealing with how imitating Christ can lead to financial success, cancellation of our debt, success in our workplace, and how our nation can be made stronger. The message is clear--what the Church has on its side is relevance and utility. We should follow Jesus because by doing so, we will lead fulfilling lives.

The second answer to the challenge of the growing secularization of Western culture is made in terms of comfort and security: practice discipleship because it will give you comfort and hope. This is also a dominant message in mainstream Christian literature and in the pulpit.

In John's gospel, 14:15-21, Jesus tells the disciples that when Jesus is no longer with them, God will bring the disciples another "advocate" who will be us always. The "advocate" is the Spirit of Truth. Jesus made sure that the disciples understood that their lives were not going to be easy. This is also reflected in the epistle lesson for this Sunday from 1 Peter 3:13-22, where the author assumes that those who imitate Christ will undergo sufferings, and provides instruction about how the Church should conceptualize its own suffering and respond.

The greatest tool of those who imitate Christ--what we have on our side, is the truth. God was revealed in Jesus, and in the empty tomb and the cross we have a vision of the God who reigns for ever and ever. What is on our side is not relevance, comfort, or security. To take Paul's story as an example, the fact that Paul lived out his discipleship with authenticity led to everything but financial fulfillment, vocational fulfillment, comfort, or security. The gospels reveal that if we imitate Christ, we will very likely be confronted by danger, adversity, and trial.

If the gospel is framed in terms of its utility to bring about self fulfillment, financial security, national security, comfort, or safety, then the gospel becomes nothing more than an instrument to bring us these things. And then these things become our gospel. So what do we do? Simply seek the truth of the gospel with all our hearts, and follow the guidance of God's Spirit. Seek to know the truth of the cross and the empty tomb. And then structure your life around the message and the story.