NeoZine

Defensive Spirituality creates a small, little world which feels warm and loving, but what a tragic deception it is. It’s a well-ordered world with high fences to shut out confusion and unpredictability from aliens, but it’s a fragile fortress. This is not the power of God at work here. Rather, it’s a primitive lifestyle forming close-knit Tribes with shared views.

It’s a good life for children, because the Tribe provides security and identity. Without the Tribe, the young and vulnerable are unprotected. These simple minds perceive the world in black-and-white terms, and the Tribe is simple enough to understand. Within these confined walls, love works. The customs and quirks of tribal life provide warm and familiar memories of a place where people lived with purpose and belonging, and the Tribe is glorified in songs and dance, stories, festivals and art, so teenagers who once despised their tribal roots grow nostalgic in adulthood and try to reproduce it.

But Tribal love is also primitive and immature. The social contracts are clear, with little argument. Relationships work inside the Tribe because it’s bound together by an authority which can be quite overbearing and stifling. Its harmony and safety trigger deep feelings of love, but it’s a superficial love, not God’s love: choices are minimized, the harmony is actually conformity, and the love is extended with countless conditions attached.

When older Tribal members continue to live and love by these simplistic rules, the Tribe is in tremendous peril. It means nobody in the Tribe can interact confidently with the outside world, and so the Tribe is perpetually vulnerable and naive. Sooner or later outsiders will intrude and upset the equilibrium of the Tribe, throwing relationships into disarray and exposing the weak foundation of the community.

Christian Tribalism

American Christianity is notoriously tribal and exclusive: what Francis Schaeffer labeled a “Christian ghetto” impoverished by cultural ignorance. The latter half of the 20th century witnessed the rise of a theology new to American Evangelicalism called “Personal Peace and Prosperity” or just “Health and Wealth”, and it produced a widespread basis for Tribal love among Christians. Today Christianity is known more for its “family values” like the Mormon church than its concern and love for outsiders. “The centrality of the family to all social and political life” has pushed aside the centrality of the Kingdom of God as taught by Christ.¹

Because Tribal love is so immature and weak, it cannot effectively penetrate the non-Christian world. Is anyone surprised that 90 percent of Evangelicals have never brought a non-Christian to church? This hardly reflects the love practiced in the early Christian church:

For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. - 1 Thessalonians 1:8

Tribal Christians are just too frightened to share their faith because they’re too frightened by aliens and outsiders. Defensive Spirituality produces a flabby, overweight character unfamiliar with suffering and too preoccupied to the point of obsession with the Tribe’s welfare, but it backfires: rather than protecting the Tribe, immature Tribal love exposes the Tribe to real dangers from outsiders. Continue Reading »

Why don’t Christians make it their primary struggle, like Paul did, to understand and live this new Royal Law?

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them! - Romans 12:9

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, - Philippians 1:9

constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love - 1 Thessalonians 1:3

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; - 2 Thessalonians 1:3

What energy, what effort and drive he calls for! We’ve already seen how the Work Sub throws energy and drive into work. Throughout Paul’s writings he urges his churches again and again to throw that same Herculean effort into the Royal Law, and he sounds like a driven American capitalist, but without the cold heart:

Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more. - 1 Thessalonians 4:10

Is it possible we surpassed those churches and don’t share their struggle? I’m just kidding of course.

Here’s an interesting experiment: ask a Christian, “What is your greatest struggle right now?” You’ll get the most dazzling replies:

“To become more Christ-like…to be more holy…to stand for Him! …to mortify the flesh…quit sinning…to grow more devoted… to grow… believe more… to love Him more dearly… to become His disciple… to know Him… to learn the Bible… my ministry…”

None of which are wrong, and many are very cool, some are important. Others are vague and unattainable. Still, these aren’t unbiblical pursuits. But they are simple-minded pursuits compared to advanced Christianity. They don’t reflect God’s picture of the mature, victorious Christian life.

Unfortunately, these pursuits share a common focus we should call Defensive Spirituality. It’s me-building-me, which is woefully incomplete and will ultimately fail like Greg’s faith failed, because it’s stuck and it grows increasingly stagnant.

We all sense the need to get strengthened, which me-building-me is all about. It’s not an inconsequential need, because life in this world saps our spiritual strength. But American Christianity takes this into a strange world where Sunday morning is a pit-stop at the local Worship Service to get fueled-up and repaired for more laps in the workplace rat race. Everything in the Worship Service is geared towards building-up the individual Christian, and it’s the extent of Christian living for many. It’s a self-improvement method, like so many secular philosophies.

There’s also many less-spectacular answers for “What’s your greatest struggle?”

“My finances… job… girlfriend… my credit cards… school… my budget… the car…”

Again, not inconsequential issues, but again, what’s the difference here with secular society? Isn’t it the same for everyone at work? Sometimes Christians don’t consider themselves materialists, even though their greatest concerns are secular concerns. Ok, fine: maybe it isn’t a purely materialistic life, but a Christian consumed with secular concerns is certainly drifting into spiritual carnality, Jesus says:

“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. - Matthew 6:31–33

A Christian in Defensive Spirituality may begin with spiritual quests like the first set of answers above, and will certainly experience the joy of Christian growth. But the growth will not continue. If left unchecked, the me-building-me focus degenerates into an unspiritual lifestyle, and joy fades away.

Here’s the point: we should hear more often, “I’m struggling to learn what love means!”

Continue Reading »

The book of James was probably the first book written in the New Testament, and it’s fascinating to see how the earliest Christian community also struggled to understand God’s Love Ethic. Even more fascinating is the close association between spiritual immaturity and immature love:If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. - James 2:8–9

The distinction between maturity and immaturity is clear, and it’s still true today. “If you show partiality,” you just don’t get it, James said. To “show partiality” is a key factor in immaturity, and it explains why so many relationships fail.

Indifference

But a more foundational problem lay festering beneath the immaturity in that young Christian church, and it was their spiritual immaturity. They were Jewish Christians steeped in harmful religious traditions, and James had to expose their false assumptions before they could understand mature love. Their spiritual background was so dead Jesus called it “Full of dead men’s bones!” He told the teachers of contemporary Judaism, “You neither know the scriptures nor the power of God!”

American Christians are different, but not very much. Such terrible misunderstandings creep in and plague Christian lives! Our own cultural Christianity is likewise seeded with traditions that smother the simple joy of victorious love which previous Christian generations knew, and a vacancy of love is emptying churches.

Spiritual immaturity is so fatal to relationships! It’s astounding how Christians with glaring spiritual problems plunge headlong into emotional turmoil, then repeat it. Immature love springs from immature spirituality because love itself is rooted in our spirits. It’s so typically modern to think, “I want it, so I deserve it, and it must work!” without considering, “Do I even know what it is?” We live in an era of great cluelessness which only increases as Postmodern rejection of truth continues.

It should be obvious that love springs from our spiritual nature, but we’re so spiritually dense and apathetic we disregard the obvious. If humans were only biological machines, love would be a biological function and little more. We know, however, that love reaches beyond simple biology. Human sexuality combined with love is the apex of fulfillment, but sexuality without love is the pit of depression. Love paints human life in rich color, and without that color life is stark and unlivable. Death is such a dark tragedy because love exists and love places value on lost lives. Our thirst for love never diminishes over time like other biological functions. It springs from the core of our human nature “made in the image of God.”

Do you realize it’s possible to love without having any body, but not without a spirit? It’s true: the human spirit is capable of loving and being loved with another spirit, and that occurs first and foremost with God’s Holy Spirit.

Our spirit carries a phenomenal drive to love and be loved, but it’s also a dark and fallen spirit, barely able to love anymore. People give up trying to love because they quickly reach the extent of their damaged ability to love, and still the thirst for love remains unquenched. Resignation or unquenched thirst typify the love lives of most, and the rest are quickly headed there. This alone proves we don’t understand how love works! Where is the sobriety of the naive Christian who flings into the arms of another romance?

Thankfully, God provides a marvelous remedy to heal our broken persons, as Paul describes it:

Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. - Ephesians 3:17–19

The presence of God awakens a capacity in our broken spirits we always longed for: to know love that wont’ betray and break us further. This is a new experience and it fills us with deep inner strength that echoes throughout our lives. Younger Christians experience it, but older Christians might not. The difference is one of spiritual health. Unhealthy Christians greatly hinder God’s love and delay His healing work inside our damaged spirits.

James was so wise, we must follow his lead. A drowning man has to stop thrashing before a lifeguard can bring him back to safety, and Christians likewise have to quit thrashing in exhausting and useless spiritual activity before God’s Word can break into the busy, driven lifestyle of spiritual immaturity.

Anti-Spiritual Life

Christians struggle with issues far removed from the ”Royal Law” James talks about. Secular concerns and minor spiritual concerns which shouldn’t be concerns, or concerns guaranteed to increase concerns get all the attention. In the end, after years of exhausting activity, Christians degenerate into self-focused, socially withdrawn and alienated worlds. It is possible, in fact, that __Christians can become more loveless than non-Christians__ and then, “They are worse off than before,” as 2 Peter 2:20 says. Is this possible if Christianity is the real deal? “Yes!” Peter says:

“It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then ”reject the command they were given” to live a holy life.” 2 Peter 2:21

The self-focused Christian by necessity must “reject the command they were given” to “love one another just as I have loved you,” What Christ called “A New Commandment I give unto you” is what Peter calls “the commandment they were given to live a holy life.” Christians who “reject the command they were given” are those who live in isolated, irrelevant worlds. This kind of Christian becomes the scorn of the Kosmos: “Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?” (James 2:7) Spiritual rebellion causes the impotency of Christianity today. ”How destructive it is to ignore the Royal Law!”

By far the most pervasive and also the most poisonous lifestyle is Christian materialism with its many worries. Those first century Christian Jews struggled with similar misguided concerns. Their culture’s religion was hopelessly entangled in material wealth, and their traditions taught riches were God’s reward for righteous living. Unlike America, however, few were wealthy, but the religious elite certainly were, and this doctrine fortified their power and prestige.

Jesus collided with the health-and-wealth doctrine of His day:

Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven!” When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” - Matthew 19:23,25

This mistaken allegiance to wealth is precisely what James raised with his audience:

“If a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?” - James 2:2–4

They extolled material success and praised the wealthy, but James renounced their traditions:

Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? - James 2:5

Just in case they didn’t get the picture, he later says:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. - James 5:1–2

James was no diplomat! Yet he is so right to shout like this: materialism triggers a whirlwind of activity that keeps its victims distracted long enough to ignore the realities of life.

Here’s the point: to be engrossed in the American Dream and its phenomenal allure is to get trapped in a world far removed from spiritual maturity. The American Christian landscape is overgrown with the weeds and thorns of prosperity:

“The one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” - Matthew 13:22

“It becomes unfruitful” is true indeed. The life choked by the “worry of the world” is especially unfruitful relationally, as we’ll see next. Continue Reading »

We are compiling discussion questions useful for further consideration and study about these articles. For those interested, click this link and add your own questions! We will soon publish a full bibliography for those interested in the source materials used, and we’ll make some of the Xenos teachings from the 1970’s available online.

What is important is faith expressing itself in love. - Galatians 5:6b

Younger Christians like the Galatians foolishly think they need to practice more religious exercises when they come to Christ through faith. After all, as faith grows it begins itching to do something with this new spiritual life.

One popular teaching called “The Spiritual Disciplines” reinforce this fruitless religious exercise, and it often involves rigorous exercises leading (supposedly) to maturity, but it strays far from biblical wisdom. Paul is clear: “What is important is faith expressing itself in love.”

It surprises too many Christians to learn that spiritual maturity is summed up in one word: “love.” The “Love Ethic” is spread across the entire New Testament; it’s in so many passages, it’s impossible to list them here. But one thing is certain: spiritual growth—or holiness, as we also call it—means becoming someone who learns and lives God’s principles of love.

Good Versus Evil

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21

The verse above is often-quoted as a rule of behavior for Christians, but that’s a misunderstanding. First, it isn’t a rule, and second, it’s not merely a behavior, as if through clenched teeth you’re determined to be good no matter what. Growing up in a Christian home, I understood this and many other similar passages to mean if you’re good, you’ll be kept safe from evil. Or, if you’re tempted to do evil, then try and “overcome evil with good” by doing good things instead, which drives the evil temptations away.

Christians have so many silly interpretations of “good”, and they all share a common fault: a naive and shallow understanding of the world we live in and the Bible itself.

I discovered in the seventh grade how my naive “good behavior” ethic is great recipe for failure. I was surprised and almost terrified to discover so many evil kids with cruel intentions filling the school halls. I was always “such a nice boy” and that worked great until this point, when I discovered my niceness only aggravated and energized the taunts and cruelty of all those evil kids.

There’s so many Bible verses with the same message as Romans 12:21. It’s hard to reconcile these with the real world:

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. - Romans 12:17

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, - Matthew 5:44

“But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” - Matthew 5:39–42

“Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.” - Luke 6:30

All these passages I knew well from Sunday School, and they were utterly useless in seventh grade for me. The nicer I was, the more they picked on me! My entire framework was shattered! I finally decided halfway through the year to join them, because I sure couldn’t beat ‘em, and then I become a world-expert in “evil kid” behavior. The change shocked everyone. Almost overnight I was transformed from a model Christian kid into a juvenile delinquent hoodlum.

I wish somebody had taught me what I know now, but of course that’s always the regret of old age, isn’t it? What I know today is not very complicated: my Christian “faith” was shallow and it couldn’t handle the big, bad world of high school.

A Good Weakling

Today I know that all my “niceness” was only polite behavior my parents taught me, and what I classified as “evil kids” were actually kids just like me, but from different backgrounds I didn’t understand and therefore classified as evil. Truthfully, I was just as evil, but I didn’t realize it. Continue Reading »