The Story of the World – Part 6
Years ago, I and some friends joined a new gym that had opened up in the area. I remember the first time we all went together; We spent the afternoon trying to ‘out-lift’ each other with the various weight sets. I did quite well – it turns out that I have the strongest legs of that social circle, and my arms didn’t do a bad job either. The next day however, was pure torture. I woke up feeling a little stiff, and soon came to realise the perils of peer competitive weight lifting; I couldn’t move my arms. Not only could I not move them, I couldn’t hold them flat against my body. I had to press my arms against the wall to straighten them out. Instead, they arched out to the side, giving me the look of Popeye’s nemesis Bluto for the next few days.
Why, oh why, did I allow myself to be drawn into such competition? And why do I still often catch myself trying to out compete others around me? In the final few chapters of Keller’s book, we get a glimpse of the reason that I and the rest of the world all fall into this trap in one way or another.
Keller describes the values of the Kingdom of God that Jesus spoke of and ushered in as the antithesis of the values of this world. He points to the Beatitudes in Luke 6:20-26, where Jesus describes everything that we so often value as most important in this world as actually being of least value in reality, in the Kingdom of God. We favour strength, power, money etc and we like to display these wherever possible (in weightlifting competitions, for example). Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God favours weakness, poverty, and servility.
It’s something that I often find myself wrestling with when I come to tackle the subject of pacifism. Whilst I find myself moving back and forth on the issue, I cannot escape the fact that the one act that changed the world more than any other in the entire course of human history was the submission of an innocent man when a riotous crowd came with clubs and swords to arrest and kill him.
The revolution of the Kingdom of God isn’t like all the other revolutions of civilizations past, Keller says; it expands in weakness, in truly caring for others more than the self, in loving its enemies.
People may respond to this Kingdom’s ideas as unobtainable idealism at best, and masochistic madness at worst. This, says Keller is where we see the supernatural element of the Kingdom of God;
Jesus Christ as only an example will crush you; you will never live up to it. But Jesus Christ as the Lamb will save you. (p191)
The idea that Jesus was just a good teacher is horrendously flawed. He asked us to do what human history has shown to be impossible; for individuals to start living to serve everyone else ahead of themselves. Yet in his supernaturally life-changing sacrifice that brings a new heart to those that believe, living the way of this new Kingdom suddenly starts to make sense – it starts to become more natural. Reality becomes clearer.
How does this turn around of lives occur? Fittingly, Keller points to not only the Crucifixion of Christ as important to our salvation, but the resurrection also.
Today, we celebrate the day that the crucified Son of God rose from the dead, defeating death as an enemy for us. In the final chapter of the book, Keller goes to great lengths to stress the truth of the resurrection as presented in the Gospels. I thought his explanation of how the resurrection alters the life that Christians live now was great;
Why is it so hard to face suffering? Why is it so hard to face a disability and a disease? Why is it so hard to do the right thing if you know it’s going to cost you money, reputation, maybe even your life? Why is it so hard to face your own death or the death of loved ones? It’s so hard because we think that this broken world is the only world we’re ever going to have. It’s easy to feel as if this money is the only wealth we’ll ever have, as if this body is the only body we’ll ever have. But if Jesus is risen, then your future is so much more beautiful, so much more certain, than that. (p222)
The death and resurrection of Jesus not only frees us from the judgement of God that hangs over us because of sin, it frees us from being enslaved to the fear of death; the fear that death is the end of all this and so we must grab onto everything we can lay our hands on in the short time we have.
Because of the Grace of God, the death of His Son on the Cross, and the power of His Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead and works powerfully in me, I will live forever.
Christian, you will live forever.
The resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate today is the start of all that.
This truth calls me to hold less tightly onto the things that will surely pass away in this world, and hold on more tightly to the God who remains forever, and with whom I will live forever.
Keller ends the book with a short epilogue, dealing with the nature of stories with happy endings, or ‘fairy tales’. He points out that this type of story seems to have fallen out of favour in recent years, as if there is some expectation that must be fulfilled that everything around is meaningless and chaotic, and that this should be reflected in the stories we hear and watch. Keller goes on to state that whilst unfashionable, the happy ending is what everyone longs for.
Why is this? Simply, because it is the story that God is writing. He is bringing things to an end, to resolution – and all things will be renewed. Those who are his will live forever with him in a new and perfect world. He has made a way for us to be forgiven of our sins and offers out that forgiveness and new life to all who repent and believe.
This is the ultimate reality. This is the reality reflected and actioned in the the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
This is the story of the world.
Phill Marsh
This post is part of a series of posts that have taken place in the run up to Easter, recording various Firwood members’ reflections as they read through Timothy Keller’s ‘King’s Cross’. Please feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments below. For more information, click here