Americans, more than any other culture, are obsessed with independence.
We tell ourselves we can do what we want. We cherish individual freedom over everything else, to the point that we would rather be self-destructive than submit to someone else’s idea of how we should live. But our selfish obsession with “liberty,” “self-actualization,” “self-care,” or whatever you choose to call it is a mistake. Like I said—no other people on earth elevate the “KINGDOM OF SELF”[1] the way we do.
Most of us are so focused on being “independent” we don’t have a word for any other way of living. Some good words are “family,” or “brotherhood,” or simply “team.” The Bible takes it further: we are ONE BODY.
Teams and families are great. But a body is a single unit–with a single blood supply. When oxygen comes in, it will nourish the whole body. On the other hand, bacteria from an infected tooth can enter the bloodstream, travel through the body, and lodge in a heart valve, eventually leading to death. THAT is what it means to be ONE BODY–we are connected to everyone in our society. Bad choices create CORPORATE SIN.
“Corporate” comes from the Latin root “corpus” which means “body.” As children of God, we are part of a body. Christians often think of the New Testament term “Body of Christ,” but the notion of a body did not begin with the New Testament. Old Testament prophets understood that God’s people are interconnected. What one person does will affect other people. What several people do will affect many people. Good people create a good influence that reaches further than they know. That positive influence travels through space geographically, but it also travels through time—into the future. People long dead are still influencing our world today, some in good ways, some bad. People in your family—people you have never met—continue to wield an influence through the way they raised their children, and the way those children raised their children, and the way those children raise you.
It’s not about you.
Your life is not about you. Your choices are not about you. Every choice you make influences your friends, your family, your church, your students, and especially—your self. And those choices will influence your future, thus touching the future of your children. Imagine that: your choices today have an influence on children you have not even met.
The Bible’s message is that we are all connected. If people in my city engage in crime, that harms me. If people in my city feed the hungry, that benefits me. And if my church, my denomination, or my political party brings shame to the cause of Christ, I am part of that. I am shamed—and I am guilty.
When Isaiah saw the Lord’s throne he said, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” Isaiah 6:5. Isaiah was a good and righteous man. But he knew he had the stain of his neighbor’s sin on him. I remember twice being so moved by America’s sins that I quoted Isaiah on Facebook: I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.
What our people do affects us, infects us, INCLUDES us.
We cannot insulate ourselves. All of the prophets understood this: Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, and others. When they confessed sins to God, they lumped themselves among the guilty.
“Lord, public shame belongs on us, our kings, our leaders, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You…. We have rebelled against You and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God” Daniel 9:8-9.
God, remind us that we are part of this world. America’s sins are OUR sins. The sins of our church, or our friends, or our family members affect us. They infect us. Teach us not to think of ourselves as independent, but interdependent. The unchurched, the godless, the atheists, the progressives, the openly pagan—their lives and their choices DO touch us. We are part of this world, as in the Incarnational View of Ministry. Show us how to join them. Show us our mission. Show us how to stop fighting “sinners” long enough to serve them. To minister to them.
ΑΩ
[1] See THE KINGDOM OF SELF, by Earl Jabay.
Household Words: 