August 2018
"Christians
are entitled to believe what they like, but they shouldn’t expect their views
to be taken into account by those who create laws or run our country. The Christian faith should return to its
simple origins when it was about one brilliant teacher and those who chose to
listen to him.”
It is true
that the early Christians had a very simple statement of what they believed: ‘Jesus
is Lord!’ but that was never a private belief that didn’t ‘interfere’ in public
life. The resurrection of Jesus was
proof that God had made Jesus Lord of all, and therefore that the Jewish
authorities should not have killed him; that claim didn’t go down well! Before long the Romans realised that ‘Jesus is Lord’ was a
direct challenge to the official line that Caesar was Lord, and the imperial
lions were called to deal with the problem.
And in the centuries since, many Christians have discovered that this
simple declaration has been enough to deprive them of their property, their
employment, their family and even their life.
So too
today. Christian faith is a direct
challenge to any authority or power that tries to ignore the risen Lord
Jesus. If ‘Jesus is Lord’ over this
world then everything is under his command, including the leaders of the
nations, my health and the weather. If
‘Jesus is Lord’ then his words must determine what my family believes and how
we use our time. Jesus gets to declare what
the church must teach and who can be its leaders. And, in the state, Jesus has the right to say
when tax is legitimate, what marriage can be and what constitutes a crime.
That’s the
simple and original Christian faith, the real McCoy, the genuine article:
“ … if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans
10:9)
Sincerely
Graham
Burrows