One of the most stimulating spiritual writers of our time is an American philosophy professor called Dallas Willard. He has written a number of books (such as The Divine Conspiracy) about Christian discipleship, which means, essentially, the process of actually learning from Jesus, and letting our lives be transformed by practising his teachings. Willard comments on the sad fact that “Very few people today find Jesus interesting as a person or of vital relevance to the course of their lives.” For many people, Jesus has come to be seen as a more or less magical figure, who fits only into the categories of dogma - what we have to believe, whether we believe it or not - and law - what we have to do, whether it is good for us or not.
If this is true, it is a monumental tragedy which indicates more clearly than anything else the extent to which modern society and culture have lost their way. The truth is that Jesus is an intensely real and important figure, who has something very worthwhile to say. Something which is interesting, relevant, and supremely important in teaching us the good way to live. In an age in which ‘self-help’ books fill shelf after shelf in the bookshops, it is astonishing that people are not giving Jesus a hearing; and one of the challenges for us as Christians is to try to commend our Teacher in such a way as to gain that hearing.
The heart of the Good News can be summed up in the words of Jesus’ initial and constant message: “The Kingdom of God has come near: repent, and believe in the good news.” It was an invitation to all people to come under the rule of God, to turn around, believe it, and enter this new way of life which was life indeed. Those who accepted his invitation found that they were indeed children of a loving God, who faithfully provided for them, and gave them all the help and guidance they needed to live their lives in the most satisfying and fulfilling way, so as to be a blessing to themselves and others. An important part of this involves accepting the wisdom that was enshrined in the holy books that God’s people read; not only the Law of Moses, but also such collections of traditional sayings as the Book of Proverbs. Again and again, those proverbs remind their hearers that actions have consequences: if we follow God’s way, it leads to life and blessing; but if we wilfully go some other way, it will lead to disaster and ruin.
It doesn’t take much study of the news headlines, to find illustrations of this from real life. It might be the furore about Government ministers having experimented with cannabis when they were students. Most people will surely think, “So what? They were young and foolish then, as we all have been. The important thing is whether they’ve learned anything from it, to make them wiser now that they’re older. That’s what we need some guarantee of.” How much better it would be, though, if the young would listen to older people and save themselves the trouble of making exactly the same mistakes themselves.
Again, one of the most heartbreaking features of modern life in many of our cities, is the spate of violent deaths of young people, from stabbings or shootings. These seem to be an unavoidable outworking of the gang culture that exists in many deprived urban areas, and is all too often associated with drugs and other forms of crime. Whenever another family is stricken by the tragic death of one of its sons or daughters, there is hand-wringing in the media, and questions about what the authorities can do about the situation. You hardly ever hear anyone seriously making the suggestion that what’s needed is for people to return to the traditional wisdom taught by Christianity. This in spite of the fact that many of the families profess to be Christians, and yet it seems to make far too little practical difference to their lives.
A key part of the wisdom I’m talking about, as taught in Proverbs, is the responsibility of parents to teach their children by word and example, and to bring them up in the right way. Far too many of the young people in gangs have fathers who have selfishly abandoned them and their mothers, leaving them without any male role model to give that teaching. The actions of those generations of men who have betrayed their children have consequences. The converse of parental teaching, is that children are required to have respect for their parents and elders, and for other authority figures; yet this is another unfashionable attitude. Ever since the 1960s we have learned to reject authority figures; and this is another action that has inevitable consequences.
Proverbs agrees that folly is essentially a moral failing, which follows naturally from turning away from God. True wisdom is found in believing in and obeying God, for “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practise it have a good understanding.” (Psalm 111.10)
Published in the Marston Times, September 2007