MISCELLANEOUS MONDAY: Boycotting Christians - Stephen

boycott = a withdraw from commercial or social relations with a country, organization, or person as a punishment or protest 

(Definition from Oxford Languages)

 

Once upon a time there was this man. For some reason everyone around him tried to get him to boycott things. 

 

One day he was taking a trip with his friends. Around the middle of the day, they got tired and thirsty. They came upon this lady who happened to have some drinking water. His friends told him not to talk with her and certainly not ask her for a drink. You see his friends didn’t like this woman not because they knew her but because they knew where she was from. “Stay away from her.” “Ignore her.” “Boycott her.” “Surely she’s used to people like us treating people like her that way anyway,” they said. In the end he didn’t boycott her, he boycotted the prejudice of his friends instead.

 

On another day he was eating a meal with some people in town. Other guys in that same town who took their religion very seriously saw this man eating and more importantly who he was eating with.  “Why would someone like you eat with people like them?” “Stay away from those cheats, those thieves, those people we refuse to even talk about in front of our kids.” “Ignore them.” “Boycott them.” “Surely people like those are used to people like us treating them that way anyway,” they said. Instead of boycotting those with whom he was eating, he boycotted the pride of those with whom he was not.  

 

On a third day this man decided to walk around town and teach the people some things that he knew. Surrounded by his countrymen, one of them started questioning about having to pay taxes. They didn’t pay taxes to their country but to a people they despised. “We just want to stay away from this group of people that hate us, persecute us, and rule us,” they said. “Ignore them.” “Boycott them.” “Surely people like them are used to people like us treating them that way anyway,” they said. Instead of boycotting the people who ruled, he instead boycotted making the issue at hand much of an issue at all. 

 

At the end of the story this man didn’t really boycott all that much. He didn’t stay away from many people or groups of people. Truth be told, the only people he ever truly boycotted in his life were the ones who claimed to be one thing but turned out to be another—especially when the name of his father was involved. 

 

Because he didn’t boycott the woman when his friends wanted him to, she carried on a conversation with him and ended up changed by the meeting. Because he didn’t boycott those he was eating lunch with many of them became his eternal friends. And because he didn’t boycott those to whom his country paid their taxes, everyone understood his purpose in life was about something more. 

 

So WWJB—what would Jesus boycott? It would seem very little from what was expected.

Redefining Success - Ron

The Bible uses the word success a grand total of one time, so I am naturally psyched about getting to be the last one to post on the topic! Whether as a teacher or student, I've been in education for 27 of the last 31 years. Since success is difficult to quantify, I asked my sixty-one Christian school students to write out a description of what success looks like.

The answers that I received were not very surprising, especially considering that the students run the board from lifelong attendees familiar with a Biblical worldview all the way to those hearing the Gospel for the first time at age seventeen. In the end, three pictures rose prominently from the tangle of results. Students thought success was happiness, money, and reaching your goals.

So what can we learn from my little experiment? I learned that though the ideas of success may vary, what is consistent is the temporal focus of the definition. Simply put, even amongst Christians, the focus was not God-centered, heaven-minded, or eternally significant. As someone who follows research and statistics regarding society and Christianity, I feel that these results would generally hold true if the experiment was expanded.

In large part, we have mistaken what it means to be successful. There is victory and riches and glory to be had, but we settle for things as common as money and fleeting as influence. It may be that we view Biblical success as far-distant and too otherworldly to grasp in our daily lives. It could be that we know we chase after wood, hay, and stubble that must disappoint, and we just don’t care. Let us together presume that we, and the vast majority of Christ-followers, desperately want to be successful in the eyes of God. How do we get Heavenly scenes of crowns and “well dones” into our everyday lives?

First, understand your purpose.

Scripture tells us, unequivocally, that we were made for a purpose and on purpose. This is shown in Revelation 4:11 thusly: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” If the revelatory surroundings are too ethereal for you, check out Colossians 1:16-17, where Paul writes: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

You were made for Him. For His pleasure. For His glory. For His plan. End of story, discussion, conjecture. The preacher writing in Ecclesiastes searched for success in “everything under the sun.” He found that the entirety of man could be summed up: “Fear God, and keep his commandments (Ecc. 12:13).”

Can you sing from the heart (along with Building 429, the recording artists) the hearty refrain, “Take me as I am, I am Yours to use. I have lifted empty hands 'Cause I was made for You”? A life lived in defiance of this most basic principle has no hope of finding God-defined success. By definition, we are living outside of our created purpose. Such a life must be a fantastic failure; regardless of fortune, fame, family, or friends. Augustine of Hippo wrote, “Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” If you have not, bow the knee of your present and future to the purpose for which you were made. You will be restless until you do.

Second, live on purpose.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” So, even when viewed from our perspective, life is still about God and His glory. If our very purpose for existence is God-centric, how can we live each day in that purpose? In Romans, Paul tells us that believers will be conformed to the image of Christ (8:29). And in Ephesians, he says that believers are created unto good works and ordained to walk in them (2:10). When it comes to success in the daily life of a Christian, I feel like these are the two foundational things.

Am I more like Jesus? This isn’t the blog post to detail what a Jesus-life looks like exactly; but in general, Christ did the will of His Father and went around doing good. The wonderful thing about looking at each day through this lens, is that it makes sense of not only the good in my life, but also the bad. Overlooked for a promotion at work, but accepted it with grace and dignity? That’s like Jesus and is only failure if your purpose is something other than looking like and pleasing Him. Did your kid hit you in the actual eyeball with a NERF rocket leaving you roaring around like a bear and sending your wife to hide the young assassin in his bedroom? That is actually not a Christlike reaction, but is only a failure if you don’t allow it to conform you to His image a bit more for the next time.

I’d encourage you to look at the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, and the principle found in Philippians 4:8. Is God growing you in any of these areas? Success. He is the potter. Your life is the clay. For a believer, the only way to success is to live within and on purpose. This does not mean that worldly success is out of reach, but it does mean that worldly success alone is failure every time.

From my survey of over sixty students, and statistical data on the health of the church in America, it would appear that many are failing. It need not be so. May it not be so with us.

Redefining Success – Ben

We live in a world of affluence. From cars to planes, from cell phones to computers, and from grocery stores to hospitals, everywhere we look we find that for every want there is a product. And because of the marriage between capitalism and consumerism all we need is money to get it (whatever it may be). It no longer matters if you are born a prince or pauper. As long as you have cash or credit, no pleasure is outside one’s reach. 

Money is the key to everything you see. Get enough of it and your neighbors, friends, and family will begin to think you're successful. Get enough of it and even your own heart will start to believe that you're finally living the "good" life. And, eventually, you may even say to yourself, “It’s finally time to rest and enjoy the fruit of my labor.” (Technically, no one talks or thinks like this; but you get the point.)

But then as you finally rest from your toil an unwelcomed guest appears at your door. You do not know who invited them… and you do not care. All you want is for them to go away. You won’t even open the door for fear that they may force their way in. Yet, despite your feeble attempts at a delay, Death comes anyway. 

You begin to fear. All of a sudden you are no longer the “you” you worked so hard to make. In an instant, all of your stuff is stripped away leaving nothing. How vulnerable and helpless you begin to feel. You even wonder to yourself, “Where are we going?” Death seems to take notice of your unspoken question and so replies, “To a Kingdom without borders. To a King without end.”

Death ushers you before this never-ending King of this borderless Kingdom. The King speaks first, “Who have you brought me, Death?” She replies, “One who was rich in that world but poor in this one.” “Shame.” The King says and then muses to himself, “Why do my image-bearers persist in pursuits which do not last?” 

Before anyone can answer, the King’s eyes full of white fire bore into you. And right before it hits you the last words you hear are, "Foolish child."

And then there is nothing. 

Only darkness. 

And then pain.

The end without end.  

Would you say this man was a success? No. Of course you wouldn't.

True success comes when a life treasures things that cannot be stolen, cannot be corrupted, and cannot be lost. Jesus says, "Where you treasure is, there is your heart also." When Death comes for you, as it will for us all, will she rip you from your treasures or usher you into them?

Redefining Success - Stephen

 “Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin: complete self- confidence is a weakness.”

G.K. Chesterton

 
How does that quote sit with you? If you’re like me the quote itself is initially pretty jarring. Let me give you some context: the early 20^th century theologian and author G.K. Chesterton was speaking with a publisher of his who had made much money, held much notoriety, and thought much of his own ability to reach for the stars, take hold of the moon, and achieve his dreams (my words, not his). The quote above was Chesterton’s reply to this man’s way of thinking. Not to belabor the story but the conversation ended with this publisher concluding to Chesterton: “If a man is not to believe in himself, in what is he to believe?” 
 
Going back to our response to the beginning quote, why did you and I find it unsettling? (I apologize if my assumption here is wrong and you just accepted some guy you’ve never heard of telling you outright you shouldn’t be confident in yourself. If this is you please keep reading anyways.) I think we found it disturbing because our idea of success is strictly tied to one’s self-confidence. Think about who you believe to be the most successful people in the world—a president who makes confident decisions regarding national defense on a regular basis, a CEO who makes confident financial decisions regarding his company, or a parent who must make confident decisions regarding the welfare of their family each and every day. Do you see the common denominator of confidence undergirding our thoughts of those we deem most successful?
 
Success is an interesting topic because our world and our culture are very much interested in it. On the other hand, the Word of God written by the Creator and Sustainer of our lives, the One who has eternal plans for us in this life and the life to come surprisingly only uses this word a sum total of once (and that’s even rounding to the nearest whole number). Which leads us to this question—did God mention it only once because success wasn’t important to Him or because He trusted us as a culture to rightly define it ourselves?
 
Let’s look at that one verse for the answer—

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”  Joshua 1:8

After reading this verse it would seem God was telling Joshua that success would be found by meditating on His Word. In our world and culture that has a seemingly unquenchable thirst and desire for all things promising and promoting success, God tells one of His leaders in Joshua to meditate on other things, other words, and other traits besides success as we typically define it (for once again the word is only used once).
 
Surely, I’m wrong and surely God wants us to be successful according to our world and culture’s standards, right? For as I’m prone to believe a more successful Christian provides a greater spotlight for God to be glorified, right? What God will tell those who He deems successful as they enter eternity gives us our answer—

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Matthew 25:21

 
Had our culture written this verse it would most certainly read “good and successful servant”, but this verse redefines the word altogether and centers it around something entirely different. Success in the eyes of God does not seem to be intrinsically wrapped up in money, notoriety, or one’s confidence to achieve one’s dreams but in mere faithfulness to Him. I say mere not because it is something easy and cheap but because success seems to be found in something simple to define and measure and, with God’s help, achievable by everyone no matter their lot in life. 
 
With this redefined standard of success think of who we can now claim as truly successful: missionaries who have left dear family and friends to tell others of the Gospel, business owners who have lined the pockets of the homeless more than their own to show the love of Christ, and people in every tribe, tongue, and nation who have “counted the cost” and have chosen to be faithful to God’s calling for salvation and life-long servanthood. I might also add my grandmother who just passed away last week with not much to claim as her own, yet the legacy left for her family & friends was one of consistent love and joy for others and her Lord. These are those God labels successful and now we can too—all because they have chosen to be faithful. 
 
So, while you’re eating your leftover black-eyed peas and greens from this New Year’s Day consider the question the publisher left Chesterton with that day regarding what one is to believe in if not in one’s self. The answer is simply this—believe that God can define success better than we ever could or ever will. If we do that, we may just find out He was right the day we step into eternity. 
 
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE AND WELCOME 2021.