February 11, 2010 – 5:14 pm
At the beginning of volume four of Philip Schaff’s classic, History of the Christian Church, he describes the transition period between the Roman empire and the Medieval age. One of the key pieces of this transition was the Barbarian’s plunder of Christian Europe.
Europe was peopled by a warlike emigration of heathen barbarians from Asia as America is peopled by a peaceful emigration from civilized and Christian Europe.1
Many European Christians wrung their hands in fear. “Who will carry on the Christian tradition? Who will preserve the teaching and morals of the Christian society?” was their concern.
In this state of bewilderment and uncertainty, a few men rose up to point people beyond the dismal present to future prospects. Schaff highlights two of them, Augustine and his pupil Orosius:
St Augustin [...] intimates in his great work on the City of God, the possibility of the rise of a new and better civilization from the ruins of the old Roman empire; and his pupil, Orosius, clearly expresses this hopeful view.
“Men assert,” he says, “that the barbarians are enemies of the State. I reply that all the East thought the same of the great Alexander; the Romans also seemed no better than the enemies of all society to the nations afar off, whose repose they troubled. But the Greeks, you say, established empires; the Germans overthrow them.
“Well, the Macedonians began by subduing the nations which afterwards they civilized. The Germans are now upsetting all this world; but if, which Heaven avert, they finish by continuing to be its masters, peradventure some day posterity will salute with the title of great princes those in whom we at this day can see nothing but enemies.”2 (italics added for emphasis)
God did use the Germans in a profound way, particularly one young monk in the 16th century. The heathen Angles, Saxons, and Normans were used by God to establish a society in which the Scriptures would thrive and extend to the utter reaches of the earth. Extended from these societies is our own country, which enjoys the privilege of access to the Scriptures largely due to the labor of Germanic and English men.
Who are our “enemies of the state?” I don’t have in mind actual, convicted criminals and terrorists (though the same principle would hold true). Rather, my thoughts are on normal, everyday people who migrate to this country. What about the influx from our neighbors to the south? What is your reaction to their status as the largest minority group in the land?
How do you view your foreign-born gas station attendant? Or fast food cashier? Or other service employees? Are they America’s twenty-first century “enemies of the State” in your mind?
Based on comments I have overheard and sensational email forwards I have received recently, it is evident that many of us - yes even Bible-believing, conservative Christians - harbor racism in our hearts.3 I confess my frequent lack of love toward these types of people who don’t seem to have anything to offer back to me.
We would do well to remember what James said to the scattered churches (who were immigrants in various regions, by the way):
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality [cf. vv.1-7], you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
-James 2:8-10
We cannot allow our political ideology (conservative and constitutional as it may be) to infringe upon our ultimate trust that God is at work in our communities, our country, and around the world and that He will accomplish His purposes for His glory.
Operation Desert Storm occurred when I was just five years old (August 1990-February 1991). I recall a prayer request being offered for the US troops at a prayer meeting during the time of the conflict. As the pastor prayed for the circumstances, he attached the phrase “and we pray for the ground forces who will be heading into Kuwait in approximately six hours according to CNN.”
What struck me odd (more through my dad’s retelling of the incident than my feeble memory of it) is the irony of informing an omniscient God of the battle plans that CNN reported. This prayer, offered with innocent intention I am sure, is illustrative of the perspective many believer’s have regarding God’s sovereign control of all things political, personal or otherwise.
In a little over a week I plan to attend a conservative political convention in Washington DC with my two younger brothers. Though my main role will be chauffeur and supervisor for them, I do hope to learn more about the political process and how I can be involved in the shaping of our country. I am not advocating a “que sera sera” perspective on political and social issues. Just that we keep our priorities and affections in order.
So watch CNN (or, better yet, a slightly more conservative network!), be informed about and involved in our government, and positively influence society as the Lord gives opportunity. But don’t fail to see the “smiling face” of God behind a “frowning providence” of immigrants, down-and-outers, and “problem people.” God is at work in this world for reasons behind our comprehension. Our task is to joyfully worship Him, while we edify the church and make disciples of the lost.
- Tim Aynes
1Schaff, Philip.
History of the Christian Church:
Volume 4. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1985, p. 5.
View the text in Google Books.
2Ibid., pp. 6-7. View the text in Google Books.
3Comments like “they’re taking over our jobs” or “why do we have to write everything in so many languages?” or “America will never be the same with them here.”
Posted in Strategy in Missions, culture | Posted by taynes | Print This Post
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Some would say our church is located in “Fordlandia,” and in some ways that would be correct. However, “Fordlandia” was the name of Henry Ford’s “Quixotic attempt to re-create small-town America in the heart of the Amazon,” and it is also the title of a book about this attempt by Greg Grandin called 
Interesting article on the National Geographic’s Travel website about 
