Introduction:
We have already considered one aspect of this issue, which is the question of law. The claim of the law reveals the god of the system, and reveals the nature of the god. If the god is an idol, then the law will be idolatrous. If the God is the triune God of Scripture, then the law will embody the characteristics of the true and living God. That society will have a balance of form and freedom because Christians worship the God who harmonizes.
The Text:
“And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go” (Acts 17:1-9).
Overview:
The early Christians were slandered in many ways. Our task is not to become guilty of that which they were accused of being, but unless we are not provoking the same slander, we are not living up to our calling. If we are not accused of saying there is “another king, one Jesus,” then we are missing something important. What do we see here in this passage? The apostle Paul came to Thessalonica (v. 1). Paul, according to his custom, went into the synagogue and reasoned with them for three sabbath days (v. 2). What he demonstrated from Scripture was that the Christ, who was Jesus, had been crucified and had arisen (v. 3). The impact of his teaching was not insignificant (v. 4). But the Jews who refused to believe rounded up certain men “of the baser sort,” and set the town in an uproar (v. 5). The first charge they made was that the Christians had turned the world upside down (v. 6), which is an interesting accusation. The second charge was that this was contrary to the decrees of Caesar, because Jesus was considered a king (v. 7). This unsettled everybody (v. 8), and when Jason and the others had posted bond, they were released (v. 9).
Two Kinds of Empire:
In this passage St. Paul has come up against the Roman Empire. But if we are to apply his circumstances to ours in wisdom, we have to distinguish two different kinds of empire. One is ideological—we might call this the strict monotheistic empire. There is one god, an idol. The communist attempts at empire were like this, as are the dreams of empire that militant Muslims entertain.
The second kind of empire is pragmatic empire, and this is the kind of empire that Rome was. It is also the same kind of empire that we see forming with the new American role in the world today. When it comes to religious questions, this kind of America is like Walmart. Can you imagine Walmart sponsoring a religious appreciation week? Monday is Buddhist day, Tuesday is Muslim day, Wednesday is Christian day, and so on? Now most Christians in the West are so accustomed to this kind of thing that we would be excited that we got Wednesday, and we would be grateful to Walmart for including us. In this setting, it would be easy for us to continue blithely on, assuming that the over-arching structure is not religious. But it is religious—every day is Money day. In the service of Mammon, the managers of the Great Emporium don’t want fights and squabbles to break out among their customers. Everyone, for the sake of Money, is urged to “get along.”
Those who want to say that Mammon cannot function in the place of an idol or the High God, just like Allah, or Zeus, or the Father of the Lord Jesus, are arguing against a great deal of biblical evidence. Greed, St. Paul teaches us, is idolatry (Col. 3:5). “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24). Is is possible, do you think, that these words might have some relevance to a society (as a society) which is the richest the world has ever known?
Refusing the Pantheon:
Once the Christian faith attracted the notice of Rome, the initial reaction was one of vicious persecution. These people, after all, turned the world upside down. They said that there was an authority whose decrees, in principle, outranked those of Caesar. They would obey Caesar in many respects, but this was intolerable because they would not do this because Caesar required it, but rather because Jesus required it. They would render to Caesar the things that were Caesar’s, and to God the things that were God’s. And the one who drew the boundary line between these renderings is God, not Caesar.
But another common move was the attempt to buy the Christians off, to provide them with a place at the table. Include Jesus in the pantheon of gods, everyone gets to worship the lesser god of his choice, and the world of Commerce can continue unimpeded.
The Nature of Monotheism:
Muslims claim (falsely) that Allah is the true God, and that he takes back seat to no one. By making this (false) claim, they are disrupting the pluralistic truce. Suppose there was a man who had a wife who was unfaithful, a woman who had taken many lovers. This man was a wimp, and put up with it, but he was legally her husband. But one day, one of her many boyfriends stopped talking like a boyfriend and started talking (falsely) as though he were the husband. And he demanded that his “wife” put away all others, and be faithful to him alone. Do you think this strange behavior by a false husband might have the effect of shaming the true husband? Why is this “boy toy” acting more consistently than the husband is?
Christians have drifted into a secularist compromise, and have allowed Jesus to be placed on a “god shelf” alongside all the others. But one day, a group of idolaters announces that their god made the heavens and earth, and will not share his glory with another. And the Christians sit there silently, staring at the floor. The forehead reddens to think of it.
Worship Turns the World Upside Down:
We have gathered here to worship God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. He is not the “maker of private devotional nooks and crannies in our hearts.” Jesus Christ is either the Lord of all, or He is not the Lord at all. If Baal is God, serve him. But if Yahweh is God, serve Him. And by service, we mean worship—worship that flows out from the presence of God, over the threshold, and toward the waiting world.