Jesus Revolution

Titus 3 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

Titus 3

Doing What is Good

1Remind the people to be subject to rulers and

authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do

whatever is good, 2to slander no one, to be

peaceable and considerate, and to show true

humility toward all men.

3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient,

deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions

and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being

hated and hating one another. 4But when the

kindness and love of G-d our Savior appeared, 5he

saved us, not because of righteous things we had

done, but because of his mercy. He saved us

through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the

Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously

through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having

been justified by his grace, we might become

heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8This is a

trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress

these things, so that those who have trusted in

G-d may be careful to devote themselves to doing

what is good. These things are excellent and

profitable for everyone.


Right now it's early Saturday morning, and I'm

reading over blogs in the quiet of the early

morning. One that gets my attention this morning

is a blog I just found in the past couple days.

They claim that there's a revolution, and talk

alot about politics. OK, boys and girls, I'll be

the first to admit that I'm sceptical. There

isn't going to be a revolution. There may be a

revelation in the works, but we don't really need

a revolution. A reformation, maybe. A

revolution, not. At least not now, while it's

still early and quiet. I'll grant them one

compliment by way of having the courage to label

their effort a revolution, rather than an evolution.


Look, politics never saved the world from

anything. And as I look out the window of the

Jesus Bus, I don't see any reason to be hopeful

about current politics. It's a parallel universe

of fraud, deception and false hopes. Not much

has changed in all recorded history as far as

politics is concerned. The simple reason that

politics isn't the path toward enlightenment is

obvious. Politics is concerned with money and

'power', not saving the world.


The powerful and the wealthy are not, and never

have been, keen about sharing these commodities

with anyone. That's what made the founders of

our republic unique in history. They were

willing and eager to place power and wealth in

the hands of common citizens. You have to

recognize the revolutionary nature of that

intent. They were men who were able to see

clearly that the greatest potential for politics

was not the concentration of power and wealth

into the hands of the few, but to distribute this

opportunity among common citizens. They knew

that the concentration of money and influence

will never produce an optimal outcome. They knew

that powerful and wealthy men were preoccupied

with gaining only greater amounts of wealth and

influence.


That's why they didn't want things like a federal

tax and a federal bank. They didn't want a

powerful central government. They wanted

powerful local government. They wanted people to

solve their own problems, locally. Given that

the constitution has been almost completely

shredded by central government, there is no way

that politics, as it is today, will produce

anything but more of the same fraud, deception

and false hopes. Central government will only

operate to take more for itself. Because it can,

by way of taxation and banking ( currency

regulation ).


Some say that the Federal Reserve should be

abolished. I say that the Supreme Court should

be abolished. Nobody, except congress, should be

able to tamper with the constitution. The state

supreme courts should be able to fight it out,

within their own jurisdictions, as to how they

wish to implement the U.S. Constitution. At

least then, the people would have a fighting

chance to reject judicial tyranny. As it is,

forget about it. The federal government is run

by political hacks. You can take that to the

bank.


In simple terms, the political process is not

working well for the average citizen, and to

believe otherwise is pure fairy tale. That's why

I believe that the church is badly mistaken to

entice believers with the myth that they will

accomplish christian ends by political means.

That's not to say that they should have no

concern about political means and ends. Only

that the two, christianity and politics, are

mostly at odds with each other, because of the

fact that politics have been diverted to the goal

of serving the interests of the wealthy and

powerful. I can't blame them for self serving

interests. But I do blame the church for their

total inability to wake up and smell the coffee.

Oh, the means are an end in themselves. Remember

that important point. Forget about the fairy

tales.


No, the answer is not going to emerge from some

kind of a misguided political 'revolution'.

Supposedly, we already had one of those just a

few short years ago -- the Reagan Revolution.

What did that get us? It bought us a little time

maybe. But it didn't deliver on it's promise to

reduce government. As our founders knew, central

government is not the solution, it's the problem.

People are best served by solving their own

problems. That's another reason that a

'revolution' ain't gonna' work. The central

government can't help you fix your problems.

Only you can help solve your problems. That's

what the church ought to be doing, instead of

raising false hopes. They ought to be engaged in

serving the needs of their local community, first

and foremost, with their time and their treasure,

as they say. That's the sort of action that will

bring about a 'revolution'.


Politics, on the other hand, is the means to

exploit every situation to the greatest advantage

for personal gain. It's at odds with the effort

to exploit every situation for the gain of

others, which is the goal of the Golden Rule.

They are at odds with each other. In my own

case, it was during the Reagan Revolution or

shortly thereafter that I read David Stockman's

book, The Triumph of Politics. It pretty much

tempered my personal hope of ever seeing a

constructive end for modern politics. The

central government establishment has held the

power to exploit everything to its own advantage.

Then there is the entrenched habit, that is

almost without exception, that christianity

suffers attack from detractors based on the

personal weaknesses of it's followers. I, like

every other christian, struggle each and every

day with my own personal demons. It doesn't make

me any less christian, in my faith, but it does

produce a genuine struggle in practice. Yes,

like anyone else, I am prone to vanity and pride

and lust. You would be hard pressed to read

about any of the pillars of the christian faith

who did not struggle with personal demons. They

all did, except for one. That one exception

would be the one that this blog is about --

Jesus. That's why we look to his teachings and

examples recorded in the text of scripture as the

pattern for faith and practice.


People are quick to say, Well, nobodys perfect.

Yes, but that avoids the issue. The issue is,

Jesus WAS perfect, and offers to us our ONLY hope

of perfection, by our faith in his righeousness.

It's called imputed righteousness, if I'm not

mistaken. And is acheived, not by our own

perfection, but by the simple admission of

exactly the opposite; by our own admission that

we are sinners in need of a saviour. It's more

than admitting that nobodys perfect, it's an

admission of the fact that we are sinners, that

we stand guilty of having offended a holy G-d,

and that our only hope of salvation lies in

seeking his forgiveness, in the realm of Divine

grace.


So what about 'revolution'? I just wish that

within the christian community, there would be

less talk about things related to politics and

the exploitation of others for personal gain, and

more action related to exploiting politics, and

the resources of the christian community for the

gain of others. That would be a revolution.


I'm not holding my breath. I won't be

disappointed or encouarged by the outcome of the

Jesus Revolution movement. What needs to happen

is that christians need to begin a revolutionary

effort to change the way that they practice their

faith. A revolution has to begin with the way

that church business is conducted. And as far as

I can tell, that's not about to happen. It won't

happen until there is a geunine interest in

exploiting our own wealth and power for the

benefit of others, especially those most in need.

It has to begin right there in your community.

There isn't much interest in that, as far as I

can tell.


If I had a plan to bring about positive change,

I'd be the first to make it public. The best

plan that I've seen is revealed in the pages of

scripture. It hasn't gained much popularity

since the beginning of time, since it goes

against the grain of political exploitation in

the interest of wealth and infuence. My guess is

that it never will take hold of the public

imagination.


In summary, this week has been spent circling the

swamp of politics and marriage, again. It's

another look at the misguided impulse that has

captured the modern mood. We never seem to have

enough of the distractions that flow from the

demands of this moment. Rather than, as the

opening passage proclaims, to be busy about doing

good. Now that would be revolutionary.


There are other topics that came to my attention

over the past week. Maybe, I can move along and

take a look at something besides politics and

marriage in the days ahead. One of those

subjects is another attempt by the evolutionistas

to revise, again, the pre-history of man. I'd

like to take a look at it this week, and see if

we can find enough information to prove the error

of the more recent speculation.