Living as Expatriates

As Christians, our place in the culture has changed, and there has been a lot of talk recently about how we should proceed from here. I like what Tom Gilson has to say about how we should view ourselves:

Claiming that we are exiles mistakes our mission. For if an exile has any mission at all, it’s to get back to the homeland, and do what needs to be done back there…. “Exile” does not accurately describe who we are, nor does it identify what we’re about, as we live our lives in a postmodern culture…. We are not exiles from Christendom. We are expatriates from heaven.

An expatriate is a person living for a time outside his own country to accomplish some plan or purpose. The term encompasses students and businessmen, diplomats and missionaries.

Our country indeed seems less like home than it once did. It’s becoming foreign to us. But that fact does not make us exiles, waiting here for the chance to return home — that is, to a more Christian-friendly America — so that we can get to work once we’re safely there. Instead, like expatriate students or diplomats, we’re here on mission right here and now. We long for no other home; none but heaven, and when [we] get there our mission will have been accomplished. For now we are exactly where we belong, at the time and place where God put us.

“Expatriate” evokes…a quiet, patient sense of duty. You are far from home for a season with a job to do. It will demand discomfort and sacrifice. You might never be recognized for it, at least in this life. All this is true….

Let’s discuss what it means to be expatriates, here on purpose and on a mission, for as long as God leaves us here. We may not be at home, but we’re right where He wants us. And we’ve got work to do.

Read the rest of Gilson’s article.

Comments

[John Moore]

You know what they say - "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." As expatriates, we must be careful to obey all the local laws and respect the local culture. After all, we don't want them to think we're invaders! We come in peace.

[DGFischer]

Pity. The "closet" from which the gay has emerged is the "closet" they wish to confine the Christian. The Benedict Option (sequestering in our own little worlds, like monastic communities) is hardly the answer.

I like Gilson's vision of a "Christian-friendly America." This entails truly understanding the Christian mindset, that simply writing them off as "hypocritical haters" is not just simply misapplied, but evasive of facts and intellectually lazy.

Who deserves the "closet?"

In a truly free America, no one.

[Lane]

I found the following comments from a recent podcast by William Lane Craig to be very helpful as to 'where do we go from here?', in regards to the post-Christian culture in which we now live:

KEVIN HARRIS: Dr. Craig, where do we go from here? What do we need to do?

DR. CRAIG: I’ve suggested that there are two things that we, as a Christian church, must do. First I think we have to be resolutely counter-cultural. Like Roe v. Wade, Obergefell v. Hodges has changed American culture in a way that runs contrary to Christian teaching. I think more than ever we as Christians need to be ready to stand up and live counter-culturally and to recognize that we are living in a culture that is increasingly hostile to Christian values. I am afraid that the church may not be up to this task. I already talk with young Christians who are quite ready to compromise on this issue and to say that same-sex marriage is perfectly alright and thereby compromise scriptural teaching on this issue. I think as never before we need to be resolutely counter-cultural. I think that also implies Christian activism. We need to be involved as citizens in voting for candidates and in running for office if we feel called to do so to try to stand up for the rights of Christians in this increasingly hostile society. That is the first thing I think – to be resolutely counter-cultural and politically engaged.

Second, I think we need to continue our efforts to evangelize the American population. It has been rightly said that America is a nation whose people are as religious as the people of India but whose government is as secular as the government of Sweden. I think that is very true. We need to increasingly be involved in evangelizing the American people so as to change American culture in this way. I am encouraged when I see the results, for example, of the recent Pew survey on religious affiliation which shows that the mainline denominations are declining but evangelical Christianity is holding its own as a percentage of the American population, and it is even increasing in terms of absolute numbers as more and more people come to faith in Christ.[3] I think we need to redouble our efforts to be salt and light in the culture and to be evangelizing people.

Read more: http://www.reasonablefaith.org/the-supreme-court-redefines-marriage-part-2#ixzz3i2t51n8Z

Blessings,
Lane
existenceofgod.org

[Mo]

"Our country indeed seems less like home than it once did. It’s becoming foreign to us."

Our country was never home to us. Feeling at home here was our first mistake. It should ALWAYS have felt "foreign" to us.

The fact that it did not says more about us as Christians than it does about any changes in the culture.

[Julianna]

Rebuild, Renew, Reverse.
Rebuild: People need help recognizing that society functions best - with the least amount of harm to "human flourishing" - when that society values Christian principles.
Renew: Twenty-five years ago a friend named Kelley played a significant role in my becoming a Christian. She not only knew how to give a cogent, nonreligious argument against abortion, she also unabashedly shared the gospel with me when I came to her with spiritual questions.
Reverse: Wilberforce and his colleagues did not accept slavery as the new normal. They worked tirelessly to rebuild, renew, and ultimately reverse the culture.

[Julianna]

Just a note of clarification: I don't mean to imply, of course, that any human could renew a heart. Simply that we should be faithful to speak God's words of renewal whenever those opportunities occur.