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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Polarized
In both Canada
and the United States
social and political polarization is now the cultural norm.
From my Biblical perspective, this all started when Adam and Eve
walked away from God's plans, making mankind and God polar opposites.
That, in turn began to polarize human relationships as was first seen with
Cain and Abel. Paul addressed systemic
polarization as it relates to church in his letter to the Galatians.
Some in Galatia
and elsewhere were being seduced into believing that personal salvation
required obedience to the Law of Moses, which Paul opposed.
This polarized the church into two opposing factions.
A brief reading of
Galatians might suggest to you that this polarization was a religious
matter, but it was more than that. Jewish
Nationalism, that is, Jews believing in one distinct theocratic Israeli
nation under God, with the Law of Moses as its constitution, was the
foundation to the Jewish cultural consensus.
Any Gentile, then, converting to Jesus, the Son of the Jewish God,
must become a Jew and obey the Law in order to be saved and enter God's
kingdom.
Paul was a Jew, but he
insisted that salvation and thus entrance into God's New Testament kingdom
was solely a matter of faith in Jesus and nothing else.
Everyone everywhere, whether male or female, slave or free, Jew or
Gentile can be a citizen of the Kingdom
of God. Jewish Nationalists claiming
to be Christians did not support Paul's teaching, resulting in a polarized
church. Paul's primary
allegiance was to Jesus and His kingdom.
Like Paul, my primary allegiance is to the Kingdom
of Jesus, despite being Canadian. I
live in an earthly city but in my spirit I am seated with Jesus (Ephesians
2:6) in the Jerusalem
that is above (Galatians 4:26). Paul
taught that God has "rescued us from the dominion of darkness and
brought us into the kingdom of the Son" (Colossians 1:13). This
reminds me of Hebrews 13:14 that I quote from the Christian Standard
Bible. "For we do not have
an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come." My residency in a
Canadian city is temporary. I
seek the heavenly Jerusalem's arrival on earth (Revelation 3:12, 21:2). Until
then I ask the question posed by Francis Schaeffer's 1976 book entitled,
"How Shall We Then Live?" I
offer a few answers to how we, the church, should live in the midst of a
polarized world.
We insist that our
heavenly citizenship takes priority over our earthly citizenship. We are
careful not to be entangled in any form of polarization.
We exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22 - 23)
within our Christian relationships. We
acknowledge a divided kingdom will fall in ruins (Luke 11:17).
We view our cultural polarization from our heavenly and eternal
perspective. We anticipate the
day all cultures collapse in defeat at the feet of Jesus (Revelation 17
and 18). Until then, like
Jesus, we seek and pray for church unity (John 17).
Scripture
References Ephesians 2:6 "And God raised us
up with Christ and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms in Christ Jesus," Galatians 4:26 "But the Jerusalem
that is above is free, and she is our mother." Colossians 1:13 "For he has rescued
us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the
Son he loves," Revelation 3:12 "The
one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never
again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the
name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of
heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name". Revelation 21:2 "I saw the Holy Luke 11:17 "Jesus knew their
thoughts and said to them: 'Any kingdom divided
against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will
fall.'" Galatians 5:22 - 23 "But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no
law."
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