The Power of the Cross or the Power of the Sword?

Released in the HJC Bulletin on 12.6.09.

The worst thing to ever happen to “the Faith,” as the earliest disciples called it {Acts 6:7; 13:8; 14:22; 16:5}, was when it became the ‘official religion’ of the Roman Empire… sanctioned by the sword and all that that implies. As one writer puts it: when “Constantine claimed to convert to Christianity in the early 4th century the Christian faith had gone from being an unknown religion to a misunderstood religion, to a persecuted religion, to a tolerated religion, to a favored religion, to the official religion of the Roman Empire.”1 

Do you see what’s happening here? It’s a stroke of genius by the enemy, a masterful countermove: can’t conquer it by persecution, can’t destroy it from within by falsehood and Gnostic fables, give it green-light status in the Empire’s arena and seduce it with wealth and luxury, prestige and power. We moved from faith in the power of the Cross to faith in the power of the sword. Why concern yourself with the Resurrection when you’ve already ascended the imperial throne? It’s a heady thing to finally have real, raw power in your hands, as any teenage boy in a Trans-Am will tell you. But the lust for power and prestige in the eyes of the world is a dangerous deception— one deadly to the Kingdom Christ told Pilate was “not of this world” and which He instructed His disciples did not operate like the kingdoms of this world.

In this Kingdom the only authority that counts is that exercised by the King, which supersedes all other authority. In this Kingdom, the only power that matters is the power of love: love for Abba with everything we are, love for others because of how He loves us, and love for our enemies because our Father is more merciful than we can ever imagine and in a world overflowing with petty conflicts, quarrels, hatreds and grievances, He is infinitely forgiving. In this Kingdom, the only example to follow is the Master’s Way of Humility; in His Kingdom, the last are first, the servants are the leaders, those who sacrifice— time, money, attention, affection, respect, compassion, mercy, tenderness in the Cause— may lose some things in Time but will gain all things in Eternity {Mk. 8:34-35; Lk. 18:29-30}.

“‘I tell you the Truth,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this Age and, in the Age to Come, Eternal Life,’” Luke 18:29-30 {NIV}. “Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after Me [this is what a disciple does, an apprentice to a master, he ‘comes after,’ he follows in the footsteps], he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the Gospel will save it,’” Mark 8:34-35 {NIV}. …Amen.