Slaying the gods: A Believer’s hidden duty revealed
For as long as I can remember, I have been a huge fan of the fantasy genre. The idea of gods, dungeons, dragons, knights, maidens, and mages always appealed to me, and it still does. C.S Lewis, the Oxford literary genius, once famously said
“Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again”.
But why am I talking about fantasy and fairy tales, and what does this have to do with Jesus Christ and our discipleship of Him?
Fantasy is more faithful to the biblical worldview of reality than most other genres. It highlights a significant but neglected part of your discipleship to Jesus Christ. The slaying of “gods and monsters”. To which your Lord will say to you, after your successful exploits, “ I saw Satan fall as lightning” and “Well, done, you good and faithful servant.”
Understanding The gods of Our Time
There are three powerful gods that you and I face every day. These mighty gods are the primary shapers of life outside of Jesus Christ in the Western Hemisphere. They are Power, Money, and Sex.
This trio shapes every aspect of our culture; they are interwoven into every dimension of our civilisation, from business to the arts, thus inadvertently shaping and corrupting the human heart.
In doing so, these gods have made us worshippers and slaves to themselves. At the same time, they deceive us and tell us we are “free” and with our “freedom”, we should pursue all the power, money and sex we can, with whomever we can and in whatever way we can and in doing so we will be “happy and satisfied”.
The church is meant to be an alternative society that lives among these three gods and yet utterly embarrasses them by not offering them the worship they crave. Boldly calling them liars; because we know only Christ utterly satisfies the human heart.
So we offer our worship to Jesus Christ, intentionally and thoughtfully orienting our lives around Him and His Word. We lift our sword in holy protest and drive it into the belly of these beasts until they breathe no more.
Slaying the god of Sex
I need not spend too much time describing how sexualised our culture has become, just to say, it has grown bolder and darker. However, instead of seeing sex as purely a way for self-pleasure or to exploit others, as the King`s god slayers, we throw our rope around that unruly beast of sexual desire, keeping it in the boundaries of marriage between a biological man and a biological woman so it can roar and breathe fire as an expression of passion, love and service between a husband and a wife to the glory of God. All the while shouting, ” Marriage is to be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.!” (Heb 13:4)
Confronting the Power god
Jesus called them (disciples) together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” (Matthew 20:25-26)
Our King tells us the nature of this beast (it lords over and tyrannizes citizens, subordinates, church members and children), but He also tells us how to slay it. We all exercise varying degrees of power in our relationships and associations. So instead of seeking power and lording it over people, you and I, as god slayers, take the form of servants, “wash people’s feet,” serve people, serve our communities and the nation, and give power away by empowering others, especially the powerless and poor. (You can read more about our use of power here)
Challenging the god of Money
21 Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But he [a]was deeply dismayed by [b]these words, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. (Mark 10:21-22)
Looking at this scripture, one may assume that Jesus doesn’t want you to have any wealth or possessions. But that`s not the issue.
He doesn’t want the beast of wealth and money to have us, so instead of loving money and living for it, we slay the beast by intentionally practising generosity, even when it hurts, especially to the poor and those who have no capacity to pay us back, and showing that our “heart happiness” is not tied to our “bank balance.” We must guard our hearts from the desire to buy everything we see, especially if there is no real need for it and if it hinders our capacity to be generous. This is a difficult god to slay, but it is possible through the grace of the Lord Jesus.
The Call to Counter-Cultural Living
We are all called by Jesus to live in the world, but not according to the gods of this world; on the contrary, we are to be transformed by renewing our minds. Saints, if we don’t take the time to come together as a Jesus communities and intentionally think about how we slay these beasts in our own lives, it will be us who are slain, conformed to the world, and limited in our usefulness to the Lord.
Some of us may be already slain by rogue sexual desires, lust for power or materialism and consumerism even as we read this…but take heart ….Jesus has overcome the world, and He will overcome the power of this world`s gods in us as well. We live by faith. He will overcome, but we must humble ourselves and come to Him in repentance and faith.
Face to Face With Myself
- What things can you do to manage your sexual desires if you are single? Can I do this in community?
- How can you facilitate a healthy sexual life in the midst of busy lives if you are married? How do I ward off distractions?
- Ask those under your authority to share their experience of what it is like being under your authority.
- Do I spend my money with the Lord, brothers and sisters, and the poor in mind? If not, why not? What does that reveal about how I view my relationship with money?
Face To Face With Jesus Christ
- Spend a few minutes bringing these three gods to the Lord. Ask for wisdom, power, and grace to slay them in your life and to help others do the same.
Lord, cause your people to walk in their holy calling as an alternative society whose highest love is not power, money or sex but the matchless beauty of Jesus Christ.
