The Holy Tribe of Light: by Tim Kernan

John 12:35-36: “Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you.”

As we enter the new year 2008, we know that the world is deep in darkness. Every one of us waits with eagerness for Christ to return so that we can finally have an end to the darkness that has overtaken the world. Darkness blinds us, makes us stumble and lose our way. Of course we are not talking about a physical darkness but a darkness of spiritual understanding.

As Christians we have the incredible privilege of being a part of the family of God. We are His children, the citizens of His nation and the members of His tribe. One of the reasons we Westerners don’t get what that means is that we live in a society without these things. We don’t understand family because in our society grandparents live in retirement homes, children are raised by TV and moms and dads work sixty hours a week and sometimes live in separate houses. We absolutely love individuality and independence despite the fact that these things don’t really give us what we want. We live in a very artificial, dark and frankly downright strange society. We yearn for respect, love and belonging yet we refuse to give respect, love or belong. There are many forces of darkness making it very difficult for us to understand the Holy Tribe to which we belong.

A lack of distinctiveness dims our understanding of the Church. We once belonged to great families and stood as great citizens and as such we could catch a glimpse of what it meant to be part of the family of God because we had the same frame of reference as the first century disciples. Indeed the Western society was founded by great citizens and great families. That being said today the state of the citizen and the family is at an all time low. The bible said there is no “…Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female…” (Galatians 3: 28) before anyone else was thinking these great thoughts. In terms of nuance and texture of the understanding of equality the bible has no peer. However, in true Satanic form the principals of equality which were championed by the bible have been shadowed and twisted into the principal of “sameness” instead. Rather than men and women, young and old being equal today, they are virtually the same. Forced into a box by the worldly pressures to conform; without distinctiveness or difference. As individuals without distinctiveness we can’t understand the church or the Kingdom of God. Only when we appreciate our differences, our roles, and the importance of others can we start to understand what we belong to in the Kingdom of God. (1 Cor 12:14)

The gloom that covers over our distinctiveness also brings confusion about our identity and prevents us from understand the Church. One of the great lines from the movie The Matrix was: “the matrix cannot tell you who you are”. Because of greed and a lack of moral character we now tell people we “are” brokers, accountants, doctors, lawyers, etc. Rather than simply having these occupations as jobs we now have them as meaning and identity. When we boast about such worldly things the darkness is heavy indeed… After we tell people what we “are” then we show them what we “have”; the car, the house, the schools are kids go to, etc. What happened to the identity that came from character and the moral force of serving what is right? If you understand your identity by what you do for a living or what you own then you cannot begin to understand the Kingdom. You are not how you fit into the economy and you are not what you own as a consumer. You are more than a human resources resume and a credit report; you are a creation of God, you have fallen by your own willful choice to sin and redeemed by grace.

In Western society we struggle to understand the church because we’ve been diverted by the murkiness created by the pursuit of happiness. When we are caught up in the pursuit of emotional happiness we lose our ability to understand the Kingdom of God. We want a nice place to live, good food every day, easy going relationships and more than anything we don’t want to think about pain and death. There is another community out there that feels the same way: farm animals. They live in happiness without a want in the world and they don’t think about the butcher’s block that they are destined for. In our society the sick and hurt are drugged or taken out of the public view so that death and pain are not a part of our daily lives. Farm animals can’t see past their own immediate needs and neither can people who covet that way of life… If I had to sum up western society in a word the word would be farm. Satan is the farmer. Many people in the west think we have discovered the cure for the worlds ills: democracy and the free market. Our governments actually think they have a missionary duty to export this way of life. The reality is that we are spiritually probably the worst off in the world. We live in bliss, in relation to many places, we don’t think about God and then we die and face Him. The western farm is one of the most deadly of Satans traps.

As Christians we have an apocalyptic world view. While others think about the accomplishments of a life time we think about the present. While others think about the beauty of life we warn about the moment of death. We deny ourselves daily and give up everything so that on that day, that spiritual morning when light will streak across the sky, we will be recognized as members of the family. We refuse to accept that we are all the same even though we believe we are all equal. We submit to one another and serve one another as only we can with the differences, roles and characteristics that God has given us. We don’t think of ourselves by what we do for a living or what we own. We don’t explain our existence by how we fit into the corporate structure as human resources and what we buy from it as consumers. We see ourselves as flawed humans who are blessed by God so that we can find purpose in serving Him and His purposes. As Christians we have fought hard to get off “the farm” of the pursuit of happiness. We no longer worry about tomorrow but we seek first the Kingdom, today, since we know that tomorrow could be judgement day.

In coming to terms with all this we can start to understand the close knit family nature of the church; instead of thinking of Christianity as a philosophy or intellectual belief as Satan wants. At a bare minimum as Christians we are taught to obey everything Jesus commanded us and in turn we teach others as well. However we know that when we really understand the call to be part of God’s family it’s more than a discipleship time, it’s a commitment to disciples as our family, our tribe. It’s difficult to understand the church from within our strange, dark and artificial society but its not impossible.

Of course the enemies of the church and God will absolutely oppose our unity and patriotism for the Kingdom. They will grit their teeth when our hymns bring tears to our eyes once again. They will scowl when we pack up and head out to start new churches to tell of the light in new places, to new people. They will get an uncomfortable feeling when we stand shoulder to shoulder with those who are persecuted. They will feel fear when they know we understand what the church is and what incredible impact in can have in showing and spreading the light all over the world.

Happy New Year from the London International Christian Church and may 2008 be a year of light, of understanding and of love for God and His Kingdom.

Tim Kernan

Encouraging Article by Chris Van Stadn, our campus leader and brother, on www.lecturehalloftyrannus.org