restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Followers of Jesus

 David Alan Black 

The fact that modern evangelicalism has embraced non-biblical models of ministry is more than a curiosity. Somewhere along the way we have lost our biblical moorings. Human models based on anthropology and psychology are now all the vogue. The world and its “boastful pride of life” have never lost their allure.

All I can hope to have learned from the 53 years I have spent in this world is that the world itself only becomes dear and habitable when we who inhabit it know we are but migrants. Rather than following the world, we are called to be followers of Jesus. By “followers of Jesus” I do not mean mere admirers of Jesus, but people radically committed to following His example and teachings – a minority group, if you will, within a culture created by Christian majority groups.

When I wrote in my 1984 book Paul, Apostle of Weakness that power is weakness and weakness strength I meant to promote not otherworldly mysticism but the deepest reality of all: that the way up is down, that weakness wins, that the Lamb who was slain is worthy to receive power and might and glory and honor. Had Paul lived four centuries later he no doubt would have been appalled that the persecuted church had entered into an unholy alliance with the dominant political and economic power of the world. Nor do I think he would have found any pleasure in the evolution of Christianity into sacerdotal clericalism at the expense of every-member ministry. Paul called his followers to imitate him – and Christ – in renouncing dominion and in favor of servanthood.

Does this mean that followers of Christ – that this Christian minority within a Christian majority – has nothing to say to the rest of society? Hardly. If I understand the New Testament aright, the church is to take on a nonconformist and prophetic identity over against the structure of “the world.” This is not to say that I am not concerned about politics or about the improvement of society through legislation (e.g., against aborticide). Such improvements are however questionable if they proceed from an assumption that they will issue in a Christian America. My concern is that the church be the church, and to do that she must proclaim victory not through a political agenda but through the Christian gospel. The Christianity of the New Testament presents not simply a more demanding ethic but rather a cross that means the death of our desire for prosperity and power. I therefore view my participation in the culture wars not in terms of calling for a macro-political utopia but in terms of the church’s calling to be the conscience and critic of culture.

When, then, does it mean to be “followers of Jesus” in today’s world? What it does not mean is that we are free from responsibility in the world – free to sit around and stew, free to be passive sheep, free to be blind to the sins of nationalism, or statism, or militarism, or any of the other -isms that plague us. Nor does it mean that we adopt the stratagem of the Herodians and the Sadducees of Jesus’ day – doing the best we can under the circumstances, compromising our religious convictions for political advantage, going along to get along. Neither passive withdrawal nor pro-establishment politicking will do. It all comes down to this: if we are to be followers of Jesus we must be salt and light, we must preach the good news to the poor, we must be God’s people in the world, putting into practice the different quality of life that is promised to all who follow Him in obedience and love.

It means, perhaps above all, reserving allegiance to Christ and not to any worldly Caesar. “We reject the false doctrine that the Church can and must acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, beside and in addition to this one Word of God, other elements, powers, forms and truths as the revelation of God” (Barmen Declaration Article 1). Barmen is still valid today. Those who are followers of Jesus are set apart from others by their confession of Jesus as Lord (a political title) and their adherence to the one Word of God as their infallible guide.

August 24, 2005

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. If you would like to know more about becoming a follower of King Jesus, please feel free to write Dave.

Back to daveblackonline

   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

A Christmas Reminder

 David Alan Black 

Been pouring over According to Mark lately. Mark 8 is the key turning point in that Gospel. That observation is not unique with me. All agree that the focus of Mark’s Gospel is on the cross. It will climax in Jesus’ pronouncement in chapter 10 that he did not come to be served but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many (10:45). But it is in chapter 8 where Jesus first reveals to his follows that his Messiahship is not going to be a warrior kind of rule that would defeat the Romans and establish God’s rule on earth. No, Jesus came to conquer much greater foes than Roman soldiers. He came to defeat sin and death itself. “The Son of Man must suffer,” he said, “and be rejected and be killed and after three days be raised.” Peter then rebuked Jesus because he couldn’t understand how Jesus’ death could be part of God’s sovereign purpose and plan. So Jesus rebukes Peter and adds: “If you truly want to be my disciple, Peter, you have to deny yourself and take up your cross as I must take up mine, and you must keep on following me.”

The cross is at the very heart of Jesus’ Messiahship, and it is to be at the heart of our discipleship. That’s the message of Mark’s Gospel in a nutshell. It’s the very essence of Jesus’ teaching. Bonhoeffer puts it beautifully this way: “When God calls a man or a woman, he bids them die.” There is a cross at the center of our Christian life. Moreover, it is only in denying ourselves, our self-centeredness, that we can discover ourselves. If you are determined to live a selfish life, you will lose yourself, says Jesus. But if you’re willing to lose yourself, to give yourself away in the service of God and of others, then you will find yourself.

It might be that some of us need this reminder at Christmas time. Some of us are asking for a Christianity without a cross. But there is no Christianity without the cross. And what I need constantly to do is to read and reread Mark’s (that is, Peter’s) portrayal of Jesus’ life, at the very heart of which is the cross. For both Christ and us, the very same principle operates: Self-denial is the only way to self-fulfillment. There will be no reign without pain, no crown without a cross, for suffering is the path to glory. Without Christ’s suffering, and without ours, the salvation of humankind will not be accomplished.

Are you familiar with the name Calvin Stowe?

He was a professor of Greek at Dartmouth College. But he was best known for being the husband of Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose Uncle Tom’s Cabin became one of the most poignant denunciations of slavery ever written. Once, when his wife was touring England, he preached to a large crowd on Anti-Slavery Day. He rebuked his listeners for being hypocrites. You are proud, he told them, because although you abolished slavery years ago, 80 percent of the cotton picked in America is bought by you English. Slavery would die out, he said, if only you would boycott its cotton. He concluded his message by asking his audience a simple question: “Are you willing to sacrifice one penny of your profits to do away with slavery?” The crowd booed.

You’ve heard me say this a thousand times before, but I believe with all my heart that unless we in America divert the majority of our resources directly to the 10/40 window, selflessly partnering with local churches there and encouraging indigenous missionary movements, another year will come and go and nothing will have changed. My mind boggles. How could we possibly fail such a calling. The most unreached areas already have a host of missionaries recruited and trained for evangelism and church planting. They are ready to do this work intercultural, near-culturally, and cross-culturally. Yet the majority of work is yet to be done. This Christmas, I am determined to move forward as never before, believing the Lord will enable me to send out many more workers into the ripe harvest fields of Asia.

At this season of the year, might I encourage you to seek the Lord and see if he’s asking you to help support one or more of these native missionaries. With as little as $30 per month you can begin to help support one of them, sending them to an unreached village that’s waiting to hear the gospel — the “Wonderful News” that Mark mentions in the opening verse of his Gospel. What better way to obey Jesus Christ’s directive to evangelize all the world (Mark 16:15)?

Messiah, Son God,

Break me of the need to busy myself pursuing a life of ease and a sense of self-worth based on my accomplishments. Make me secure in who you are and who you have made me to be. Teach me what it means to truly follow you, to take up my cross, and to deny myself. I desire to be characterized by generosity. Give me the grace to see the needs of the lost billions and to share with them the many good gifts you’ve given me.

In your holy name, amen.

December 20, 2020

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

Back to daveblackonline