Feeling Failure
Beyond Catastrophe
Praying recently, I had a clear picture of what God is doing in our crisis ridden world. I saw a patch of blackened and completely razed ground, as if through bushfire. Then green shoots came up, first from the ground then from other vegetation. This was a picture of where God’s kingdom is moving all things. Jesus prophesied, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging….” (Matt 19:28). Whilst other translations have something like, “renewal of all things/in the new world”, Jesus is testifying that the regeneration/“born again” that has happened to us at a personal level (John 3:3, 7; 1 Pet 1:3, 23) will certainly be accomplished on a cosmic level. We (mostly) fail to see this because we are depressed by evil spirits and their mantra that the world is getting worse, while the Spirit is testifying that the grimmer the global state of affairs the closer we are to the glorious consummation of all things in Christ (Acts 3:20-21).
Introduction
In a time of global disturbance, I grieve that the Church is not prayerfully attuned to God’s greater purposes. As Jesus is Lord of every pandemic (Rev 6:8), he is likewise Master of all perceived catastrophes, natural or human in origin (Rev 16:8-9). We need to discern that a way is being opened across the globe for the gospel by the sovereign Lamb in his handing lost and broken humanity over to the impact of catastrophes (Rom 1:24 etc.). This is clearest in the case of the potent social impact of climate change. For example, the media behemoth News Corp (Fox news, The Australian etc.) has been shamed/intimidated by advertisers into changing its editorial policy about global warming. Like the Roman roads so familiar to the apostles, I see the stressors of today as signs of an opportune time (kairos) to preach the gospel.
Climate Conscience
Leaving aside the reliability of scientific reports about climate change, I want to focus on the impact of these reports on the psyche of the young. A recent major global survey of youth between 16 and 25, 10,000 respondents across10 nations, 75% found the future to be frightening, 60% felt very/extremely worried, 2/3rds reported feeling sad, afraid, anxious, or ashamed. 56% say they think humanity is doomed. We have retreated greatly from the time when under gospel impact Western culture believed that a “sacred canopy” of divine providence existed over human history protecting, stabilising and moving all things until its divinely appointed End. This was the Second Coming of Christ. With the advance of secular thinking and its stripping nature of God’s rule, the world has become “disenchanted” and left in the hands of humanity. In a godless world “anthropogenic” (human originated) global warming is catastrophic to young consciences. Everything is coming to an end with extinction being imminent and our “kind” is responsible and all alone. We are destroying our planetary home and its getting too late to save it. A whole generation is being indoctrinated into feeling like it is a part of a vast failed evolutionary experiment. This tragic state of the heart opens up massive missional opportunities. Christians can lead this generation out of the pit, not by telling them where they are wrong, but through redemptive identification. Let me illustrate personally.
An Overwhelmed Heart
When the burden of omnipresent human ills feels overwhelming, I feel I am going to have a meltdown. Importantly, these painful episodes are shameless and guiltless. A friend helpfully referred me recently to the experience of the psalmist, “Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Ps 61:1-2). Traditionally, Christians have seen Jesus as this lofty rock. True, but we must also see Jesus on the cross bearing the responsibility for all the sin of the world, even anthropogenic climate change, or, if you prefer, the pain of believing in it! Christ’s crisis of dereliction (Mark 15:34) embraced all God’s wrath on sin as the handing over of humanity to the crushing consequences of its godless choices. Walking in the way of the bottomless abyss of cross we must accept the Lord will lead us into places where our hearts are so devastated that we turn to him in new depths to enter in resurrection life (2 Cor 4:8-12). The psalmist must pass through “the overwhelming flood” (69:2), in Asia Paul must be “so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.” (2 Cor 1:8). The Lord will lead you through one eucatastrophe (good catastrophe) after another for ever deeper submission and deliverance.
Luther profoundly understood our small thinking about atonement was a great sin. “No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meagre sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.” How miniscule are pandemics, global warming and all social upheaval in the light of the cross! We need to see all history through this lens.
Melted Hearts
When God melted the Canaanites hearts through his fear (Ex 15:15-16; Josh 2:11; 5:1), Israel became arrogant about her assured victory and fell under divine judgement (Deut 1:41ff; Josh 7:2-5). In not seeking the Lord’s holy direction, he handed them over to a divine visitation that caused their own hearts to “melt” in fear (Josh 7:5). Likewise, the many defeats endured by the Western Church in recent generations reflect the dealings of the enthroned Lamb and are designed to overwhelm our hearts so we turn to Jesus alone as our Rock, not to politics, money, or numbers. Such sensitised consciences will live out the promises of scripture extending the Christ’s kingdom to all dimensions of life and culture by enacting Jesus’ victory over all evil powers (Luke 10:19; Rom 16:20; Heb 2:14-15; 1John 3:8).
Conclusion
If spiritual warfare is like natural warfare, sometimes the devil gives ground to attain a greater victory. Far more potently God the Warrior hands a presumptive Church over to repeated defeats to bring her to her senses so that he might manifest more vastly the victory of his Son. Today, the Lord is speaking to us about our failure, in mission and morality, to live out the triumphs of Christ crucified and risen. This is to induce guilt or shame but to melt our hearts with holy fear (Isa 6:5; Luke 5:8; Rev 1:17) so that from our meltdown before the Lord we may speak words of faith to an emerging generation whose consciences are testifying to total human failure. A testimony that, more than anything else, denies the all victorious humanity of the Son of God! He says, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.” (Isa 65:17)