Today’s Scripture Reading (November
30, 2014): Acts 19
While many
people around me seem to be mourning the demise of Christendom, I have to admit
that I think it is about time for Christendom to finally die. By the term Christendom
I mean the dominance of Christianity within a given culture. Christendom began
when Constantine rose to power in Rome and made Christianity the official
religion of the Roman Empire. But it has been suffering a slow and agonizing
death in many areas over the past couple of centuries. Now it lives, at least
in North America, in the small, isolated pockets we often refer to as the Bible
Belts in our countries. But it is okay to let Christendom die. In fact, it is
long past time.
The problem
with the existence of Christendom is that it invites a form of spiritual abuse.
People pretend to be Christians, and act out life as Christians solely because
of the political power that proclaiming yourself to be a Christian brings.
There are still places in the world where being a professing Christian is
necessary if you want to advance yourself in your position. And the result is
that people claim Christ who have never experienced him. People claim to be
saved who have never known the love or grace of Jesus. Often they begin to
really fool themselves, coming to the point where even they believe the lie that
they are following Christ. As a result of Christendom, people begin to be
socialized and politicized into the faith rather than basing their faith on an encounter
with the person of Christ. Then the Christian message gets changed and warped.
Often one of the evidences of this false gospel is a gospel that seems to be
based on hate rather than love, or on power instead of service.
The Sons of
Sceva saw the wonderful things that the Apostle Paul and other Christians were
doing. And they saw the opportunity for power themselves and so they began to
go around proclaiming that they moved with the power of, and in the name of,
Jesus. The only problem was that they had no idea who Jesus was – the Sons of
Sceva had never really been in search of true spirituality, only what they perceived
as a kind of Spiritual power.
But the evil
spirit that they were dealing with called their bluff. Jesus and Paul they
knew, but the Sons of Sceva were no one, because the power of Christ was not
found just in a name, but in a relationship. The Sons of Sceva had missed the
relationship, and so they had no right to use the name. It is a warning that
those who long for the return of Christendom need to heed. The beauty of the
end of Christendom is that there is the possibility that if there is no
advantage to being Christian, then maybe a more genuine version of the faith,
built on a relationship with Jesus Christ, might emerge.
But then
again, the Sons of Sceva prove that there will always be someone who finds it
advantageous to pretend to have a relationship with Christ, rather than
actually pursuing such a relationship.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1
Corinthians 1
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