Enemy-occupied territory - that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed...and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going.
~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p46
The story of Christmas is the tale of the coming of a king. As outlandish or mythic as it may seem, that is the origins. Advent means coming: we believe that in Christmas the rightful king of the land re-entered his realm to take it back from those that were wreaking havoc. The sabotage campaign resulted in a recruitment operation: setting up a subversive organization that would undermine the work of those that exploit and enslave.
The Church is a rebel organization! Makes you laugh - a pretty incredulous statement, isn't it? But the head of the church, who happens to be the king of the world, initiated a campaign of sabotage. The Gospel is a subversive message rooted in switching of allegiances, freedom from oppression, power to love, and relentless insistence on the truth. God is in the work of destroying the works of the evil ones who spread darkness and death. We are to rebel against the devil and his minions in the finance industry, the prison-industrial complex, the military-industrial complex, the agribusiness monopolies, and so on.
The messages you hear on a Sunday ought to be potentially explosive pieces of truth. When the Gospel is proclaimed, when the teachings of Jesus are unpacked, when the truth of Scripture is unveiled, it ought to provoke in you a spirit of rebellion. It ought to spark a movement to take up arms against our oppressors. The revolution that was sparked at Christmas ought to result in a movement against the prevailing powers of our day.
Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Ephesians 6v10-11 (NIV)
There is no room for violence in the campaign of sabotage. Our weapons are truth and grace, spoken and lived with conviction and clarity. We subvert the powers that be through our obstinate refusal to deny Jesus as our King, through our work to answer the prayers of the poor, through our enduring effort to forgive those that sin against us.
We undermine the power of sin in others when we help them figure out how to receive forgiveness of their sins through the work of Jesus; and in this we help them figure out how to forgive those that sin against them.
Be strong in the Lord, and in his mighty sabotaging power.
Merry Christmas!
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