On Not Being Dictators--July 26, 2022

On Not Being Dictators--July 26, 2022

"For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? God will judge those outside. 'Drive out the wicked person from among you'." [1 Corinthians 5:12-13]

I don't get to dictate when my neighbors mow their grass, or how frequently they vacuum their living room carpets.  I don't get a vote on when the parents of my children's friends set for bedtime in their houses, or what TV shows their children are allowed to watch.  And I don't have veto power on questions of whether the other household on my block lie profusely or cuss like sailors, or how frequently they shoot fireworks in their own back yards.  I might have opinions on all of those subjects [in fact, I do--especially on that fireworks one...].  I can even offer my input to those neighbors if that would be helpful.  But what I don't get to do is dictate how those other families raise their kids, keep their house, or maintain their yard.  I get to help set policy in my own house, but I don't get to be the boss of what happens under other roofs.  That's just how it is.

To be sure, I have both the ability and the responsibility to keep things running wisely and well under my own roof.  I do have the obligation to set reasonable bedtimes for my kids [and the grown-ups] in my family.  I do have the authority to determine when to mow my own grass.  And it does fall to me to teach my kids not to lie or be crude with their language, regardless of whether anybody else in the neighborhood does the same, and regardless of whether it is or is not a crime to lie, cuss, or speak hatefully.  With my own children, I can say, "That's now how we do things in this family," or, "This is the way we treat people in this house."  But I don't get to force others outside of my household to do things my way--in fact, I really have pretty limited power in "forcing" even the ones inside my own household.  

Well, to hear the apostle Paul tell it, things are not much different when it comes to the Christian community.  Within the community of Jesus' followers, we absolutely do have the mutual obligation to hold one another accountable, to shape one another in the likeness of Christ, and to let others shape us as well in his same image.  We do have the ability to set policy for how we lead our lives, and we can say things like, "Belonging among the followers of Jesus means we are committed to the way of love--that's not negotiable."  We can say things like, "Abusing others, or objectifying other people, or treating others like they are disposable--that is not our way of life.  That is not what Jesus has called us to be about; it's not how we do things in this household."  But when someone removes themselves from that community [whether officially and explicitly renouncing their faith, or by refusing even to listen to the guidance of the rest of the community, we don't get to keep control over them.  We can say, "We'll be here, ready with the door and our arms open, if you decide you are ready to come back for our shared life together," but we don't get to boss them around once they have left the community of faith.

And even more to the point for Paul, we don't get to set policy for the world outside the Christian community.  Let me say that again, louder and clearer for the people in the back row:  to hear the New Testament writers themselves tell it, Christians do not get to dictate the rules or set ourselves up as judges over the rest of the world.   We do not get to impose "our" way of life on those who do not share our faith in Jesus.  Period.  And note: this is not merely the opinion of some modern secular politician with an ax to grind--this is the position of the apostle Paul.

This is one of those wake-up calls that a lot of us Respectable People in the church need to hear again--or maybe have never heard before or realized was in the Bible.  It is all too easy for us to decide, because we are convinced we have found the truth in Jesus, that we have the power and authority to make everybody else do as we want... in the name of King Jesus.  We may well be certain that our ways of doing things are right and good and wise [of course we do, otherwise we wouldn't think or act the way we do, right?].  But we don't get to enforce how others do things beyond the bounds of our community in Christ.  And even among those who do share our faith in Christ, you'll notice that Paul doesn't think any leaders in the church get to use violence or oppression to punish people they think are out of line.  The most we can do, as we saw last week, is to confront people with the truth of how their actions are affecting us and others, like an intervention, and to hold in front of them the example of Jesus.  That's our power.  That's our authority.  Nothing more and nothing less.

If I can understand [even if I don't like it] that I don't get to be the boss of how my neighbors raise their kids or run their households, then this point of Paul's really shouldn't be controversial at all.  Again, we may or may not like the choices others make outside the community of Jesus.  And we may well have brilliant ideas for alternative ways to do things, how to live our lives, or how to raise up the next generation.  But our way of exerting any influence has to be by example rather than by edict--the world has to see that there is something compelling in the ways we live with one another and for one another, rather than only hearing us complain that we don't think Christians are in charge enough.  Like Emanuel Cardinal Suhard put it so well, "To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda or even stirring people up, but in being a living mystery.  It means to live in such a way that one's life would not make sense if God did not exist."  Or, as Jesus insisted among his closest friends and followers on his last night with them, "By this, all people will know that you are my disciples--if you have love for one another."  When we are faithful to our calling, the world will know we are Christians by the ways we love, not by our constantly grabbing for power to tell others what to do.  The Bible itself here is directing us NOT to impose our ways on the wider world.

Today, then, our calling is two-fold: with other followers of Jesus, we continue as we always have to keep holding each other accountable and challenging one another to live in the ways of Jesus more and more fully.  Where we are clear on that, we will have a powerful witness that will draw others to want to know Jesus and his way more fully themselves.  When we aren't really sure what the way of Jesus might look like in a particular situation, we need to give each other grace and allow for some difference--just like there's some flexibility on bedtime in our household depending on whether it's a school night and whether people have been acting cranky or not.  And with regards to the wider world that does not share our faith in Jesus, we cannot expect them automatically to do what we think they should do, just on our say-so.  We can offer input, we can make our case for why we think a particular course of action is right and wise and good, and we can embody our convictions in our own lives to back our words up with substance. But we don't have permission, at least not from the actual New Testament, to presume that because we are Christians that we get to dictate how others do things, or that it is our job primarily to seek positions of power where we can enforce our particular agenda.  That ain't Jesus, and it isn't Paul here in this passage, either.

It really all does come back to the ways we embody the way of Jesus with integrity in our own lives and community.  Where we are authentically in line with the way of Jesus, we have a compelling witness for the world.  Where we are just grasping at power like a demagogue or dictator, we are showing the world that we aren't worthy of the power we are clutching at, and that we shouldn't be trusted with it if we get it.  

Live like Jesus.  Love like Jesus.  Let that be enough to make us living mysteries for the world to see.  And let's see where that takes us.

Lord Jesus, enable us to give up on the misguided project of seeking to put ourselves in positions of power to dictate over others, rather than simply walking the way of Jesus and letting that be compelling enough as it is.