Nuturing a Spirit of Resistance

As Christians our primary allegiance is to God, our Creator, Sustainer and Saviour. As the Apostle Paul says, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). Our allegiance is an acknowledgment that we are creatures in relationship with the Creator, and to stay in harmony we need to know our Creator's will for our lives, His desire for our life and how we are to live our lives. In Paul's descriptor of an athlete pressing to the mark, we can envision the discipline, sacrifice and commitment needed to achieve the desired goal. Distractions are impediments to an athlete's training program and to winning the final prize. Olympians need incredible discipline and sacrifice to achieve their dream of competing in the games let alone standing on the podium. Manitoba's Cindy Klassen is a shining example of that achievement. No doubt she would have had her distractions and moments of weakness yet her resistance to letting her focus slip paid off in Olympic gold. I am reminded of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress where Christian enroute to the Celestial City is distracted and tempted by numerous enticements, trying to draw him away from his ultimate destination. As his resistance fails, so does his chance of reaching his goal, when he focuses on his goal it is his resistance that enables him to reach the goal.

Our topic for this morning is "Nurturing a Spirit of Resistance". Please follow along as I read the Focus Statement found in your bulletin:

"As God's people, we owe our primary allegiance to God. Therefore, in changing times we are called to nurture a discerning spirit of resistance to the world."

As a result of our allegiance to God, inevitably will come the hindrances that seek to weaken our relationship with God. Webster defines resistance as an opposing force. All of us are prone to the emotion of resistance. I am reminded of the story about the little boy who after his mother's chiding and under much protest finds himself sitting in a chair in a corner. His response to the situation he finds himself in is to tell his mom "I may be sitting on the outside but on the inside I am standing up". Definitely an attitude of resistance there! Our response to our allegiance to God has to be one of resistance to distractions not accommodation. As Christians our living is not to be one of accommodation - that is making our personal lives harmonize with the rest of society and its values. In his letter to the Romans, Paul states "Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds".  Jesus said "Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me". These words from Scripture are not words of synchrony but of sacrifice and transformation. Accommodation is the easy way, the path of least resistance or perhaps shall I say "the comfortable pew" or closer to home for some of us "dem Stille in Lande" (the quiet in the land).  Best not to rock the boat or make waves, best to lay low and mind your own business and blend in. Accommodation is in fact what our culture and its economic structures strive for. The common good, you deserve it, you have earned it, reaching for the American dream beckon us on a daily basis.

Accommodation can often be a compromise of our values and standards. Christ's way, however, is to swim upstream not drifting downstream with the flow. It is a struggle against values, priorities and passions which would sweep us away into the whirlpool of meaninglessness and despair. Christ's way was in fact the way of resistance. His was the upside down kingdom. There is a type of resistance that is deceptive, however, one that many of us have experienced having grown up in conservative, ethnic-centred churches. It is the observance of "boundary markers" as author John Ortberg calls them - the codes, the limits, the do's and the don't's that define a group or a church body. Boundary markers not a new concept. They were exactly what Jesus held against the religious officials of His day. The boundary markers held dear at that time were circumcision, dietary laws and Sabbath observance. But why were these attended to so religiously when rabbis knew, as noted by James Dunn, that these observances were not the heart of the law.  The heart of the law was this: "love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:4).  As Ortberg notes, a tremendous amount of energy is spent on keeping these boundary markers. We polish them and hold they high for all to see, we remind ourselves of them, we preach about them and we hold all accountable - still today the boundary markers tell us who is in and who is out. Or do they? What happens when boundary markers fall, go out of fashion, become acceptable in everyday life? What happens, is that our identity, which has become wrapped up in the boundary markers themselves, is threatened or put into question. Quoting Ortberg:

"A boundary oriented approach to spirituality focuses on people's position: Are you inside or outside the group? A great deal of energy is spent clarifying what counts as a boundary marker. Jesus consistently focused on people's center: Are they oriented and moving toward the center of spiritual life (love of God and people), or are they moving away from it? This is why he shocked people by saying that many religious leaders--who observed all the recognized boundary markers--were in fact outside the kingdom of God. They were…increasingly dead to love. And this is why Jesus could say that "the tax collectors and the prostitutes" who were a million miles away from the religious subculture, but who had turned, converted, and oriented themselves toward God and love, were already in the kingdom. This was the great irony of his day: The "righteous" were more damaged by their righteousness than the sinners were by their sin."

Before we become too smug in adding an Amen or saying I know what you mean, that is, how boundary markers of the church or other Christians have hurt me, let us do some self-examination and see if we are guilty of erecting our own boundary-markers and becoming victims of the same pitfalls. Our resistance is not to be defined by boundary markers, church mores and rules but should be birthed out of our love and allegiance to God. In a sense, resistance should be an automatic response for the Christian, a reaction against what is counter to God' best for His creatures and His creation. Tragedies like violence, war, injustice, poverty, pornography and abuse are boundary markers of another kingdom. Our resistance should initiate a response which promotes or implements the Kingdom of God. To violence and war - our response is to demonstrate God's will for peace on earth, for injustice, it is to expose it and seek justice, for poverty, pornography and abuse - to show the value of each human being through God's love and our service. Listen to the words of the prophet Micah (6:4): "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?". Christ's approach and life was to love God and love people. This is discipleship, to follow Christ in word, deed and in our heart of hearts.

Dan Epp-Thiessen who has put together this worship series we are doing in church notes that as "Christians we need to nurture a discerning spirit of resistance". We also need to be aware of the costs of resistance. Epp-Thiessen continues "opposition to the reign of God can take the form of persecution, but in our context it is more likely to take the form of seduction." What are the seductions we as God's people are vulnerable to in the public realm or in our personal lives? Christians in China, parts of India and some middle eastern countries face the brunt of religious persecution or political agendas. In North America, this severe opposition is not as evident but seductions are real - our individual and corporate attention is wooed by a myriad of voices seeking our attention for monetary consumerism, political advantage , exploitive motives and fashionable trends. Our reliance on technology may today be one of our greatest distractions. Never in prior history has a generation bowed its head so purposefully as the current one, not in prayer, but in obeisance and fascination of the power of the pixel held in the palm of its hand.

In Scripture, we have many examples of people who are faithful to God and resist policies and directives at the peril of their own lives. Let's look at a few.

1. The Egyptian fears of Israel's population growth prompted Pharaoh to order Hebrew midwives to kill all Hebrew male babies at birth but spare the female babies. No doubt in fear the midwives defied this directive and chose to follow God, sparing the life of all Hebrew babies from the rule of Pharaoh.
   
   
2. A second example is Daniel who defied the King of Babylon's orders to eat his food and drink his wine which he thought would benefit the youth he wanted to have assist  him with his kingdom rule. Again, when jealous politicians tried to get rid of Daniel by appealing to the King to pass a law that only the King should be petitioned, Daniel resisted and stayed faithful in allegiance to the LORD.
   
   
3. Another example - the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ was not always warmly accepted. The high priest and the Sadducees were particularly irked by the gospel. Their response was to imprison apostles and tell them not to talk about Jesus. But for the apostles their bottom line was their allegiance to God. Their response was "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).

These people were able to resist not on their own strength but because they ultimately really believed and trusted in the LORD.

Anabaptist forefathers and mothers also faced the restraining hand of a church not willing to accept freedom of worship. Many paid with their lives.

What is it then that we as Christians are to resist? Scripture tells us it is "the world" that is at loggerheads with God. In James were read "Friendship with the world is enmity with God". 1 John 2:15 tells "Do not love the world or the things in the world". So what in the world is "the world"? Often the Greek word "Kosmos" is translated as "the world". The word "Kosmos" can have up to 8 different meanings depending on how it is interpreted and its context in a Scriptural passage. It can mean the universe, the inhabitants of earth, world affairs, or order.

What does it mean then to resist the world when it is implies "ungodly people" and "world affairs". Perhaps simply put, it means submission to God and implementation of His values. The fruits of the Spirit come to mind - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and to paraphrase the Apostle Paul "against such are no boundary markers". 

Resistance for the sake of resistance has no ultimate gain. Defiance coupled with resistance leaves love behind. The chief end of resistance to glorify God. True resistance is not for the faint of heart - it is not about one's own agenda but rather it is about God's agenda. May our lives this week exhibit a growing and deeper relationship to God and may our resistance to worldly agendas be enveloped with loving and discerning hearts.
Amen.

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