Good News About America
Written by Ed Allen
Sunday, 03 July 2005 05:00
{This sermon is inspired throughout by another. Please see footnote for details.}
Christianity's influence in the early Roman Empire
Early Roman society, like all ancient societies, was a harsh place to live. Death came early usually. Cities were dirty and often disease-ridden. Travel was difficult. Abortions were frequent and even when babies were born male babies were favored. So female babies were often abandoned and left to die of exposure.
Into this kind of society, Nero introduced pervasive corruption and rampant persecution especially of Christians. They were routinely rounded up and taken to the Coliseum to face either gladiators or wild animals. Sometimes they were dipped in pitch and impaled on stakes where Nero would have them set on fire to light Rome by night.
This persecution was at its height in 64 AD. In response to the great fire of Rome, Nero blamed it on Christians. About three years after this fire Peter wrote this:
1 Peter 2:9-12
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
So how did the early Christians live in the midst of a pervasively corrupt society, a society that sometimes persecuted them? Christian husbands and wives were faithful to each other. They avoided divorce. Women were treated with dignity and respect. They didn?t end their pregnancies. They kept and loved girl babies. They would even look for abandoned girls in the forest and along the seashore, and they would bring them into their homes and raise them as their own. In that culture, especially with the growing shortage of women, pagans married younger and younger. Many girls were never allowed out of their homes their entire lives because they?d be kidnapped. They would be forced to be with a man. They would become child brides. Some of them were married as young as 11 or 12 years old. But the church was different. The church insisted that the women not marry until they were 18 to 20 years old, and they were to be pure at the time of their wedding.
An astonishing change came within the empire because increasingly it became evident that the church had cornered the market on females. That is, they had a disproportionate supply of marriageable women. As a result, single men in the Roman Empire by the tens of thousands started coming to church. The churches insisted they could not marry their women unless they converted to Christianity themselves. Again, by the tens of thousands, young Roman men converted in order that they could have wives.
When the plagues hit the cities, the standard public health approach was to leave town, even if you left the disabled, your children, and the elderly behind. The Christians, often at risk of loss to their own lives, would stay behind and take care of those that were abandoned. They would feed them, they would love them. What their family members discovered when they returned in three to six months is that after the plagued had subsided the survivors had converted because of the courage and compassion of the Christians. When slaves and others were forced to repopulate the cities, it was the Christians who offered them places to stay and helped them find jobs. It was the Christians who taught them the language they needed to know for commerce. They lived constantly in a holy manner that was astonishingly transforming.
Perhaps when you studied ancient civilizations in high school or college, you learned that in the 4th Century A.D. the Roman Empire changed to become a predominantly Christian empire. You may have heard, as I did, that this happened because the emperor Constantine had a vision of a cross in the sky inscribed with the Latin words in hoc signo vinces ? which means ?in this sign conquer.? So Constantine put the first two letters of the phrase Christ the Lord on his banners and went into battle. He was victorious, and so in the year 313 A.D. Constantine declared Christianity as the official religion of the Empire. This is what we?ve heard and no doubt there is truth in it.
However, there are those who have a different take on what happened. Rodney Starke, a professor at UW, writing for the Princeton University Press in his book The Rise of Christianity suggests that the change happened for more pragmatic reasons. Professor Starke beginning with a baseline year of 40 A.D., estimates there were 1,000 Christians in the Roman Empire. We believe this is an underestimate, but let?s allow him his number. That represents 17/1000 of one percent of the population ? virtually no one.
But through consistent holy living, the church made its presence felt throughout the empire. In fact, Christians lived such good lives in front of the pagan world that they saw their good deeds and came to glorify God in remarkable numbers. So much so, that within 160 years, that is the year 200 A.D., there were 218,000 Christians in the Roman Empire. By the year 350 A.D. there were an estimated 33.9 million Christians throughout the empire, representing 56.5 percent of the population. Constantine had a Christian majority. Professor Starke has suggested that Constantine simply did the politically expedient thing. He officially Christianized the nation because Christianity had already exercised powerful influence over it. The argument can be made that it was not Constantine that made the Empire Christian. It was holy living over the course of centuries that won the day, and it was Constantine who merely recognized what the Spirit of God had done through the church of Jesus Christ.
So what about now?
So what about now? Does that still work? If so, what is wrong with us? We often hear complaints about America, especially from Christians. We hear how vile our culture has become, how unwholesome and worldly we are as a nation. There are usually 2 things hidden behind that complaint. Either the speaker is suggesting that the church of America is impotent and cowardly, or sometimes the complainer is despairing that the gospel does not seem to work anymore. Holy living, it seems, has lost its power.
And, if we are honest, we have to acknowledge that American culture does seem to be ?going to hell in a hand basket? as my mother would say. We have seen rampant dishonesty and lack of integrity in the highest offices of America?s corporations. You can?t go anywhere without seeing the effects of our obsession with physical beauty and the abuse of that beauty. Abortions, divorces, drug use, etc., etc. What has happened to us, we wonder? Has holy living lost its power or have we lost the habit of holy living?
I think neither.
First of all, let?s remember that what we are seeing is nothing new. I think, for instance, of the deism of Thomas Jefferson, who, I have read, cut out sections of the Bible that he admired and created his own holy book made out of passages that he liked and passages that agreed with his understanding of God. It was not a Christian understanding of God. I also think of the many sermons I?ve read dating from the 18th and 19th centuries that denounce the culture for its debauchery and unholiness. Leith Anderson mentions two books Undaunted Courage about Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the biography of Theodore Roosevelt called Theodore Rex. In reading those books, Anderson says he was ?appalled at the immorality, appalled by the drug abuse, appalled by the business and political corruption that permeated generations 100 and 200 years ago.? Anderson continues saying, ?I was rereading articles published in the 1930s decrying the terrible state of American you7th, the problems of drugs and sex and laziness. In fact,? Anderson adds, ?Tom Brokaw wrote a book about these people. He called it The Greatest Generation.? If we?re looking for the good old days ? days where the church was mighty and her witness was uncompromised, days where holy living ruled the day and everybody universally admired it ? then we have to go back to the Garden of Eden to find those days.
So what kind of lives are Christians in America living today and what kind of influence have Christians had on our country? 150 years ago slavery was legal in America. It is true that churches throughout the South ignorantly supported slavery oftentimes distorting the Bible to support their claims. But it is also true that abolitionist Christians put their lives on the line for human freedom and helped end slavery. And the Civil Rights movement of the 60?s which extended the work of racial equality in America was a movement that got its inspiration and its leadership exclusively from black Christians. In other words, it was not a movement of America?s political liberal establishment ? it was a Christian movement.
One hundred years ago, the highly addictive drug laudanum was so pervasive in its abuse that it is estimated that as much as half of the population of America used it on any given day. In fact, 100 years ago the Sears and Roebuck catalogue sold heroine in syringes through the mail. Today, we have declared war on drugs. Sure we can debate how effectively we have waged that war, but don?t ignore the fact that we are warring against it. What kind of culture would declare war on drugs? I believe this is the direct influence of Christian holy living.
Fifty years ago, theological liberalism dominated the religious landscape of America ? so much so that it was laughable to really believe the Bible and in some quarters to even believe in God. Born again Christians were clearly on the margins of society. Today, those who publicly state that they are born again Christians include the President of the U.S., the attorney general, the national security advisor, governors of states, many members of Congress, CEOs of our largest corporations, best-selling authors like John Grishim, rock stars and so forth.
In fact, well over 90 percent of Americans describe themselves as Christians. Churches where the Bible is taught and holiness lived are multiplying and flourishing. There are fewer R-rated movies now than there were 10 years ago. And one of the most successful r-rated films of all time is The Passion of the Christ. The bestselling books in America in recent years have been The Prayer of Jabez and The Purpose Driven Life.
It is true that a San Francisco judge ruled that ?under God? was unconstitutional in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. But it is also true that there was such a broad public outcry that the same judge stayed his own order.
I remember when horrible magazines were sold at almost all magazine racks in convenient stores throughout America. Today you cannot find them at most stores.
Leith Anderson quoted a New York Times editorial that lamented that evangelical Christians in America were shaping U.S. foreign policy. This is in the most powerful country in the world. How about the rest of the world? According to what Maggie told us last week, if this is a typical day in China, 15,000 people will become a Christian. 20,000 will become Christians in sub-Sahara Africa and 10,000 will become a Christian today in South America. There are some who are saying that future generations will look back at this period in history as one of the greatest periods of Christian spiritual awakening in all of history.
As we look at all of that, it seems to me that Christians are still doing it. Christians are still living holy lives in spite of unparalleled temptations, in spite of persecutions and in spite of personal and national tragedy. Christians are living holy lives and those around us are seeing it and are turning their hearts toward God. Do you remember how the people of Littleton Colorado responded to the shootings in Columbine High School? They came in droves to the churches in the area looking for answers. And by all accounts, the churches responded beautifully. Do you remember how America responded after 9/11? There was a huge swell in church attendance in the following weeks. Some are quick to point out that the swell was short-lived ? and this is true ? but what does it tell us about the character of our nation and specifically about the kind of lives that American Christians are living that in the greatest hour of crisis and need, American turns to her churches for comfort and for answers?
Leith Anderson told the story of a shooting in Minneapolis last September 29th at the court house. He says, ?a man lay bleeding to death on the floor of the courthouse hallway. The Minneapolis Star Tribune in it front-page story told about the woman who knelt down in front of the man who had been shot. She took her navy blue suit jacket and pressed it hard against the wound on his neck until her arm shook. ?Jesus, please save this man,? she prayed over and over again. ?Jesus don?t let this man die.? It?s front page news.?
We often hear cynics condemn American Christianity; sometimes we hear American Christians condemn American Christianity. Leith Anderson counters that with a quote from Justin Webb, a real cynic. He is the BBC correspondent in Washington and this is what he wrote last year. This is his assessment of what is going on in America.
We often don?t hear the good news, but there is very good news. The way Christians in America have lived their lives is quite impressive.
The message for us is to keep it up. Don?t grow weary in doing good, but God in His time, will bring our good deeds to harvest. Holy living over the long run wins the day. Remember, in the war between the Romans and the Christians the side without the swords won! So in our day. Holy living still works. It still brings the world to glorify God. We have seen it in our lifetime through our lives! God is still in charge and still at work ? even in America ? especially in America.
This sermon is inspired by ?Good News in America? preached by Pastor Leith Anderson at Woodale Church in Eden Prairie, MN. I have followed Pastor Anderson argument, have used his examples and have nearly quoted him at times. The original sermon can be heard and purchased at Preachingtoday.com.