Kingdom Over Empire: Following Jesus In the American Empire

By Chris Kaufman

Today the American evangelical church is in a crisis. Evangelical Christians make up only 25% of the population and that number is dropping all the time. Movements like the "Exvangelical" are becoming more popular in what used to be the dominant vein of Christianity. Those outside the Evangelical church see us as judgmental, hypocritical, and angry and not without good reason. Many Christians can quote John 3:16 from memory, but few are as familiar with the rest of Jesus' life and teachings. Amidst an ever-growing political divide in the country and the church, we need to again ask ourselves, what does it mean to follow the Jesus revealed in the Gospels in this Empire? Join Chris on this journey through the life of Jesus in the first century. Uncover with him the responsibilities of modern Christians in America. Sit in the tension of life in the Empire and the Kingdom and laugh at the terrible jokes along the way. What you learn may just surprise you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781678186784

Book preview

Kingdom Over Empire: Following Jesus In the American Empire

Kingdom Over Empire: Following Jesus In the American Empire

By: Chris Kaufman

Copyright

Kingdom Over Empire: Following Jesus in the American Empire

© 2020 Chris Kaufman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, except brief quotations in reviews and articles, without express consent from the author.

All quotes from other works are used by permission of each publisher.

All illustrated work done by Liquud.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture notations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, by Bilica, Inc, used by permission, all rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN: 978-1-67818-678-4

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my students who I have had the privilege of shepherding over the years. I hope I have pushed you towards love as you have pushed me there. May you continue to grow in Christ and seek first His Kingdom.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to thank those who have worked on this work with me. No man is an island, and this work though it bears my name is a collaboration of a community I’ve grown to love. To my lovely wife, who endured the highs and lows of this process with me, thank you. To my brother and father, who endured early drafts of this work, thank you for your criticism and care. To Luke Fabricatore, who brilliantly designed the cover and promotional material for this work, thank you (If you’d like an incredible designer to do your work, I can’t recommend Liquud enough, visit www.liquud.com). To Dante Stack, whom without this book would be a wildly different goose chase, thank you.

Introduction

7:00 AM.

I WANT TO BE THE VERY BEST--LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS! My brand new Pokeball alarm clock startled me awake. My father came into the room, helping me mute the alarm so as not to wake my younger brother down the hall.

Hey, buddy! Are you excited for your first day of kindergarten? Dad said, while pulling the half-awake me out of bed.

It was the end of the summer of 2000 and the start of a new school year. We had just moved from Oregon to Michigan,and I wasn’t super eager about the change. Dad got me ready for the big day and dropped me off.

While I can’t recall too much information about my days in kindergarten; like my teacher’s name, the activities we did, or even what I looked like, I do remember the first few minutes of that first class. Consequently, I remember the first few minutes of every class that year. That day began a tradition in our classroom that I imagine happened simultaneously in every other classroom back then too. Our teacher asked us to stand, look at the flag in the center of the room, place our right hands over our hearts, and repeat after them;

"I pledge allegiance to the flag,

Of the United States of America,

And to the republic for which it stands,

One nation, under God, indivisible,

With liberty and justice for all..."

The Empire had captured my allegiance.

By the time kindergarten was over, things were looking up. I had made friends. Summer had been great! Now, I was officially a grader. First graders were cool. They could cut out full circles in paper and got more recess time. 

My first week of first grade was excellent, and it looked like this year would be better than the last. That is until about 8:50 AM on our second Tuesday back at the school. The day was September 11, 2001.The announcement speaker came on interrupting the class. Our principal quickly told all teachers to turn off all T.V.s in the room and wait for further instructions because something terrible had happened.

But teachers are human too, and ours was overwhelmed by curiosity. The T.V. turned on in our room just in time to watch the second plane hit the South Tower. Unsure of what was happening, we watched silently as men and women jumped from the towers to escape the flames. Our teacher hung her head and quietly sobbed. America the beautiful was under attack.

Soon after we were told to gather all of our things. School had been canceled, and our parents were on their way to pick us up. My dad showed up at the school and hugged me. We went home, gathered as a family, and began to pray.

The days after were marked with stories of heroes. Ordinary men and women who that Tuesday became legends in the face of unspeakable tragedy. But there was also a lot of talk about our enemies too. Our teachers looked for every opportunity for us to help. In fact, several weeks after the attack, we were given the assignment to draw pictures of hope and write encouraging notes to the first responders. Those assignments would be compiled into a book and sent to the first responders and people affected by the tragedy. I drew a picture of a sun with a big smiley face rising over a broken city with the words God loves you above it.

The Empire was its most vulnerable then, and yet also the strongest it had ever been.

As the years went on, I grew into a proud patriot. In third grade, I asked my parents if I could join the Presidential Prayer Team. I had seen an ad on T.V. where someone could fill out a paper and get monthly letters from The President, telling us how we could pray for him. It felt like my Christian duty to join. Plus, I got a cool coin in the mail that signified my participation in the program. I read the newsletters and prayed every month for the president.

In Fourth and Fifth grade, I became heavily involved in Cub Scouts, specifically the Webelos.[1] At the end of the year, I received my Citizen merit badge, and I got The Arrow of Light, the highest award a Cub Scout can get before moving on to the Boy Scouts.

In middle school, I learned about the term separation of church and state and was shocked that there were people who believed the Scripture shouldn’t inform our law-makers and politicians. I picked up the talking points of atheists and prided myself on how well I could refute them. In seventh grade, my dad bought me a birthday present of Bob Dutko’s[2] 6-part CD series Top Ten Proofs: Creation vs. Evolution. Eighth grade was characterized by the bitter defeat of Senator John McCain over a man who I was convinced wasn’t even an American citizen!

Throughout high school, I spent my time interweaving my faith and politics. I believed every word the Republicans spoke to be gospel. I would even joke that perhaps Obama was the Anti-Christ to come.[3] Like most teen guys, I also had thoughts of joining the military, but those dreams never materialized.

Alas, during my senior year, the time finally came for me to have a real voice in the political process, AND it was an election year too! You couldn’t convince me that wasn’t God’s timing. Finally, the Christians would unite under a man who sure wasn’t really Christian, but hey-- Mormons are close enough, right? Pobody’s Nerfect! So, you can imagine the weight that hit me on Wednesday morning that year.

Our Empire, my Empire, was facing dark days...

What’s the Difference?

While there is nothing innately wrong with my story throughout school, it wasn’t until after I left high school that I began to feel a tension between the teachings of Jesus and the patriotism that categorized my life before it. My story is certainly not unique, either. I am sure any number of those living in the U.S. today can tell similar stories. As I studied the Scriptures for myself, especially the life of Jesus, I began to find myself in a struggle between two masters; the American Empire, and the Kingdom of God.

Christianity and world governments are no strangers to each other. Ever since 313 CE, when Constantine declared Christianity legal in Rome, faith and the authorities have gone together hand in hand. In fact, just ten years after that declaration, Christianity became the state religion! So, it should come as no surprise to us that ever since its founding America and the Kingdom of God have been closely tied together. Heck, it’s even mentioned in our pledge of allegiance!

Today, the American evangelical church is facing what could be called a crisis. Evangelical Christians make up only 25% of the population, and that number is dropping all the time. Movements like the Exvangelical[4] are becoming more popular in what used to be the dominant vein of Christianity. Those outside the Evangelical church see us as judgmental, hypocritical, and angry, and not without good reason.

Many Christians can quote John 3:16 from memory, but few are as familiar with the rest of Jesus’ life and teachings. Amidst an ever-growing political divide in the country and the church, we need to again ask ourselves, what does it mean to follow the Jesus revealed in the Gospels in this Empire? I believe the answers to this question are the reasons this crisis has reached such a critical point in the American church.

Radical Reformation[5] father Ulrich Zwingli said, To be a Christian is not to talk about Christ but to walk as He walked.[6] Perhaps like me, you have felt a tension in your life between the American Empire and the Kingdom of God that this Jesus professed.

What is the difference between Empire and Kingdom anyways? While we could get caught up in definitions and semantics, for the sake of this work, Empire refers to the governing authorities of this world. Kingdom will refer to the society that holds Christ as its head. In Biblical times, the word Empire was used to describe the occupying force of the Romans over the Jews. It held Caesar as the ruler and saw no other god’s gods who didn’t bend to him. While the term Kingdom hearkened back to the Israel of old. The Israel that was to have no God before me.[7]

Israel was supposed to look different than the other nations around them. God even gives them a concession on having a king, but then gives strict rules for that king to follow. An examination of Deuteronomy 17:14-20 gives us a clear picture of a pretty wimpy king. He can’t have the biggest and best weapons. He can’t acquire wealth. He has to treat every Israelite as an equal. What’s even the point of being king if you have to follow these rules?!?! Surely no other nation would call that a king!

The Kingdom of God functions with Christ as its king, while the Empire of Rome functioned with Caesar as its god. There existed an obvious tension in the time of Jesus between these two words. Today, it seems we have lost that tension. We speak of the Empire of America as being under God, but I fear it may bear a striking resemblance to Rome more than we’d like to admit.

What I am not arguing in this work is that we need to overthrow America. I am not making a case for remodeling this country in the shape of a Christian Nation.[8] I am not even arguing that Christians should not participate in the ways the Empire allows us, such as voting and protesting. But we need to do these things, not in the interest of America, but The Kingdom. We need to understand that our allegiance is to King Jesus first, and there is no second place.

A serious study of the life of Christ, a walkthrough of His time on earth, will show us how we are to live in this Empire. If we claim to follow Christ, it no longer profits us to turn a blind eye to the differences of God’s Kingdom. We must return. America cannot serve as a stand in for The Kingdom. We must take a hard look at our King’s teachings and evaluate honestly which master we claim to serve.  Maybe there is no compelling reason to continue to read this, but maybe there is some madness to my method. Maybe that madness, that tension, is every reason you need to take a closer look at the life of Jesus.

---

[1] A nonsensical word made to sound like the phrase We’ll be loyal.

[2] Bob Dutko was an extremely popular Christian radio talk show host in the Metro Detroit area when I was growing up. My dad and I used to listen religiously to his broadcasts on the way to school and afterward. Think of him like a Christian Rush Limbaugh if that makes things any clearer.

[3] What a fantastic thing for a coin carrying member of the Presidential Prayer team to say about the sitting president!

[4] A movement of various people leaving the evangelical church and either disavowing God, or choosing to participate in a nonevangelical church. The Empty The Pews movement is also closely tied to this.

[5] The Radical Reformation is the lesser known reformation from the 16th century. A few years after Martin Lurther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Vatican some men decided that even Lurther hadn’t taken the call of the gospel seriously enough and they began what is now the modern day Mennonite and Ana-Baptists traditions.Thus they are deemed the Radical Reformers.

[6] Ulrich Zwingli circa 1526 CE.

[7] Exodus 3:20.

[8] I am doubtful such a thing could exist.

Prologue: The Coming Kingdom

In professional wrestling, there are a few things that can make or break your popularity. Sure, it helps to be a good athlete. But I think the most important thing happens before anyone even enters the ring. It’s called the intro song. The weirder and crazier the song, the bigger the personality. Where would John Cena be today without My Time Is Now? Would we ever see him anywhere?[9] Or what about The Sandman, would he ever have been popular without Metallica lending him a helping hand? I think by far though, no one captures the essence of a vital intro song better than the legend himself: Macho Man Randy Savage.

While most professional wrestlers choose a high energy metal or hip-hop track to explode onto the ring with, Savage was different. Instead, when his theme track came on, it would almost bring WrestleMania to a standstill before igniting the passion and excitement of fans everywhere. Savage chose to burst into the ring to the familiar graduation tune Pomp and Circumstance. While it seems like an odd choice to enter a strength cage match to the classic stylings of Edward Elgar, it really fit Randy’s personality. The pro-wrestler was an oddball himself and often wore extravagant costumes during his intro.

What Savage was able to accomplish with his intro song has made him one of the most recognizable names in wrestling history, because it subverts our expectations. We expect jacked men to enter a fight like a gorilla on crack. While Macho Man’s intro was loud, it was also extravagant. He held a presence and respect that other wrestlers rarely did. It was all because we never knew what he was going to do next. A man who walks out to classical music dressed in long flowing robes wearing striped ski goggles is not a predictable ordinary man. He was a king in his own right.

All major kings throughout history, be they monarchs or wrestlers, have a pronouncement of their coming. The Romans used to hold large-scale festivals called Adventus before the Caesars would enter cities. Though Jesus is far different from the Macho Man, He was similar in one way: His introduction was unorthodox.

Instead of a song, Jesus’ introduction was made by a guy named John the Baptist. John was the cousin of Jesus, born just six months before He was. All four Gospels give us a pretty good picture of who John the Baptist was and what he spent his time doing. Mark and Matthew both tell us John lived out in the wilderness and ate wild locusts as his primary source of protein.[10] Not exactly the American dream. John wore camel hair clothes, which would have looked rather odd among his contemporaries. Wealthy Jews wore flashy multi-colored robes, and poor Jews wore single-colored sheep or goat skin tunics. John didn’t look much like the people around him, and he certainly didn’t eat like those people either.

So what gives? Why is John so weird? Well, in Biblical times, John would have borne a striking resemblance to the prophets of old who wore camel skin clothes. Specifically, he would have looked a lot like the prophet Elijah.[11] If you don’t remember Elijah or didn’t grow up reading about him, allow me to remind you that he was considered the most crucial prophet in Israel’s history. Not only that, but the Jews were actively waiting for him to come back! God told another prophet named Malachi  almost 400 years before this: Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.[12]

So the Jews knew that when Elijah showed up, stuff was going to get serious. Their hope was for God to come back, destroy the rule of the Empire that oppressed them and usher in a new Kingdom. It should be no surprise then that Jews started flocking to John en masse. They were excited! This was the first sign they were waiting for before God would set everything right!

Leave The Empire

In Luke 3, we see John is baptizing people left and right, but his message was a hard pill to swallow. John tells the crowds that come to him that the ax is at the root of the tree, and anyone who doesn’t produce good