The Road to Shalom

Is Your Bookmark Stuck?

• Fran Sciacca • Season 3 • Episode 3

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     When it comes to the One Story of the One God, unfortunately, many believers have their bookmark stuck in the wrong place. They've know some of the Story, but not the whole Story. And as a result, there are counterfeit stories that captivate some of us.
     Drawing on his metaphor of a Five Act Play from the previous two episodes, Fran explores what happens when we get stuck at the wrong spot in God's Story, and lose track of why we're still here, even though our eternal destiny is secure. What does God want us to do while we wait for the return of Jesus, anyway? Is He pleased that we spend our money, time, and resources in fellowship with one another, worshipping the One who redeemed us?
     What if there was  one thing we can do now, but can't do in eternity? And what if this "one thing" is the "very thing" that explains our presence on earth? The larger world has adopted a Choose Your Own Adventure approach to life. Deciding what's important, and then finding the most efficient and rapid way to get there.
     Are there "Christian Editions" of the Choose Your Own Adventure model of living? Fran thinks so, and exposes what they look like. Are they really an option for a follower of Jesus in the 21st century? And most of all, are they suitable for traveling the Road to Shalom.
     Fran tackles all of this in this third and final installment of his One Story series. You'll want to listen to this one more than once...and very likely return to the previous two episodes as well.
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Photo by Emily Rudolph on Unsplash

It’s been said that in an insane world, sane people eventually conclude that they are insane. I think that for anyone trying to follow Jesus into the twenty-first century, this vital axiom needs to be tattooed on their eyelids so it won’t easily be forgotten. 

I’m glad you decided to walk a while with me on the Road to Shalom, a podcast exploring what’s wrong with the world by rediscovering the way things are supposed to be, why they’re not, and what you and I can do to move the needle back in the right direction. I’m Fran Sciacca, the host of The Road to Shalom. Before we get back on the road, I wanted to let you know something pretty amazing that I discovered just last week. This tiny little podcast has listeners in 1,500 cities scattered throughout 58 countries. That’s pretty cool. Most of us are in the U.S. of course, but still…I’m humbled and profoundly encouraged. Okay, back to this idea of sane folks concluding they’re the ones who are insane…

This idea of not only being convinced, but truly grounded in what constitutes reality has always been foundational, but in a world that believes God is dead and Michael Jackson is alive, well…the waters we’re sailing our boats in have gotten pretty murky. Conspiracy theories are the new franchise, and multiple narratives about reality are on the menu, or the smorgasbord, depending on what you’re hungry for.

But, I thought that before we walk into that minefield, it would be helpful to do a quick flyover of this idea of God’s Story, His metanarrative, that I talked about last episode. If you recall, I likened the Bible, the Story of God, to a play that had five Acts in it. Act I was the commencement, the beginning, the introduction of the key players and the stage itself. Act II was conflict, the introduction of sin, or as we put it, the loss of shalom. The beginning of things not being the way they’re supposed to be. The rest of the Old Testament, we called Complication, it was Act III, the storyline deepening into many shades of shalomic loss, interspersed with pockets of prophetic hope for healing. Act IV was the Climax, the entrance of God’s solution to shalom’s absence. The incarnation. God Himself taking on skin in Yeshua, or Jesus as we call him. The four gospels in our Bible. Speaking of Yeshua, the apostle Paul said that, “He himself is our shalom…our peace.” So, Act IV launched the reversal of everything that went sideways in Act II. 

The final Act, Act V we said, had three scenes in it. Scene 1 of Act V was basically the first century, the age of apostles and expansion to the known world, the good news of God’s plan to unite all things in heaven and in earth, in the Messiah. That’s the rest of the New Testament, except one book. Act V Scene 2 is the present. This is where you and I are living…or stuck, as it feels sometimes. This is the age of the Spirit of God leading us subjectively, in concert with the Scriptures leading us objectively. And I said last episode, that this is a tough time to know exactly what to do, and an easy time to get it wrong. And let’s face the music here, beloved, God’s people have done plenty of both in the last few months.

The final scene, Scene 3 of Act V, is in the last book of our Bible, the Book of Revelation. I said last time that Scene 3 of Act V was Consummation, the end of all that’s wrong. The end of a long chapter of pain. The restoration of shalom, the death of death, the extermination of evil and the flourishing of all that’s good. It’s the total recovery of everything that was lost because of Adam and Eve in Act II, and the final fulfillment of everything that was secured by Yeshua in Act IV. This is the One Story of the One God. It is the metanarrative that provides the best explanation to life as we really see it, as long as we also admit that we “see in a mirror dimly” right now, because we’re still in Scene 2 of Act V. This is the basis of both our hope, and our humility. If we’re arrogant and proud, we’re in the wrong story.

And being in the right metanarrative is vital for the long haul, not just peace of mind in the midst of a pandemic. But because when it comes to going the distance—and by that I mean finishing well—dying without regret or shame, if you and I are not surrounded by people of shared values and vision we will slowly but surely conclude that our zeal is misplaced or at least misappropriated. We will allow our convictions to soften, and slowly accommodate ourselves to the prevailing narrative of those around us. In short, for those of us in the faith community we’ll become more like Christian “tourists” on vacation, than subjects in a Kingdom. Thinking more on where we are, rather than where we’re headed. And like real tourists, we won’t care much about the lives of those around us, because our focus will be on maximizing our visit. And also like real tourists, those around us will know we really don’t care. And beloved, this is like spiritual dementia. We won’t recognize or sense this slow disintegration. And part of the reason we won’t is that we will have surrounded ourselves with other “tourist Christians,” rather than Story-driven believers, who collectively remind each other of who we are, why we’re here, and what we’re to be about until the final curtain falls on the Story. Sanity, after all, is living in a manner that corresponds with what’s real. Feelings are important. But sincerity is not proof of anything. I can tell you that I’ve found profound meaning and purpose for my life since I put a stewed tomato in my right shoe. You can laugh all you want, but you can’t tell me I’m wrong. At least if feelings are the final frontier, you can’t.

For those who claim kinship to Jesus, and fealty to him as King, sanity is owning an identity, a purpose, and a mission that are rooted firmly in the One Story of the One God that we looked at in the last episode. In short, we need a mental model that consistently reminds us where we are at all times. A sort of existential GPS—a reality check—something that will always make sense of what we’re seeing and experiencing, simultaneously providing hope and direction. It will likely be more unconscious than conscious, unless I’m around other “sane” people and we begin to talk about life, and keep telling ourselves the truth. It will also typically be unsystematic because it involves the world of humanity, and we tend to be that way! And, if left unattended, it may deteriorate, or worse, be hijacked. Yet it operates at the deep motivational levels of our lives. So unlike a worldview, which may or may not have anything to do with how one actually lives, this mental model does. 

As Christians, we all need this. A story to be in. I think Paul alluded to something like this when he told the believers in Colossae how to live in Scene 2, while they were waiting for Scene 3, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” 

But what happens if you don’t know the One Story of the One God? What if you think there isn’t an “adventure” you are supposed to choose? Well, the short answer is, we’ll simply choose our own.

The Choose Your Own Adventure gene in our Adamic residue is dominant, like brown eyes. It trumps pretty much everything, especially among believers who don’t know the One Story of the One God. As a result, in a biblically illiterate world, which unfortunately characterizes a growing percentage of American Evangelicalism, “Christian” versions of a Choose Your Own Adventure have sprung up and spread like Bermuda grass. Counterfeit mental models of what the “Christian life” is, and what it should look like, are as populous and popular as conspiracy theories. In fact, some of them are conspiracy theories. And because bad theology is incestuous by nature, a variety of step-cousins exist as well. And the reason they’re so attractive, and have so much suction, is because they simultaneously massage our Adamic nature, and use language connected to the five Acts of God’s Story. They sound and feel like good theology. And unfortunately among many American Evangelicals, good theology is theology that makes you feel good. It fits the ultimate reality test of our era. There are a couple Christian versions of a Choose Your Own Adventure approach to life that have the most traction within American Evangelicalism.

The first Choose Your Own Adventure-Christian Edition we could call, “Stuck in Scene Two—Longing for Scene Three.” Now there are varieties of this edition, but the best-known one has been present since the nineteenth century. A few years ago, it was popularized and given near viral status by the sixteen-book Left Behind series, which even spawned several movies and video games. Theological argumentation aside, the most unfortunate yet inevitable byproduct of this neutered version of the Story which orbits more around the future than the present through its myopic preoccupation with the book of Revelation, is what it does to the psyche of the believer. It puts his body here, because Act V Scene 2 is where he lives, but his mind and heart “there,” in Scene 3, the end of the Story.

I need to take just a minute and lay something on the table of our conversation that is vital. And that’s the purpose of what’s called predictive prophecy, in the Bible. Those passages that speak of the future. I like to think of them like movie “trailers.” Tempting snippets of what’s to come, that give enough information for you to have an idea of what’s coming, but not enough to be sure. And, contrary to popular opinion, “trailers” are always for the present, not the future. Predictive prophecy’s place in the Story is to be the ground of hope in the midst of painful obedience, or grueling shalom-restoring ministry, in our present life. God understands this. His people always need to know the certainty of the future, in order to stay faithful in the present. Especially when their present is painful, confusing, and long.

Okay back to the first version of a Christian, Choose Your Own Adventure. This  version—“Living in Scene 2, but longing for Scene 3,” hijacks Scene 3 from being a “trailer,” and twists it into something pointing to the future, instead of a source of hope in the present, as God intended it to be. And, when someone’s gaze is directed away from the present, it is unlikely that there will be much passion or interest in restoring shalom in the present. And to complicate matters, typically in this scenario the gospel is reduced to getting people “saved” to avoid God’s coming wrath, which will be poured out on those who’ve been “left behind.” This Choose Your Own Adventure-Christian Edition essentially cuts the heart out of mission, by taking the restoration of shalom completely out of the picture.

The second model of the Choose Your Own Adventure-Christian Edition has its bookmark stuck in the wrong place. We could call this version, Living Gratefully in Scene Two. This perversion of the One Story rewrites the script so that Yahweh has a supporting role, but humanity is the star. We are told that He wants it this way. This is the Instagram version of the One Story. No shalom here because there’s no mission here. There’s also no purpose because there’s no plot. This is pure, unadulterated Choose Your Own Adventure, dressed up and ready for church. Health and wealth theology has its own version of it, in which the “good news” of the gospel is that Jesus suffered so you won’t have to, and was poor so you won’t have to be. Upon close examination, we discover God works for us. It transforms the adoption aspect of identity into an excuse for excess and privilege instead of submission and responsibility. Books like Your Best Life Now and, It’s Your Time, make no excuses about where a Christian’s real focus should be. Humanity—not the glory of God and the restoration of all things—becomes the center of the gospel. Gratitude becomes the banner and banter for this counterfeit. Listen carefully, and you’ll hear plenty of “I thank the Lord” being pronounced. As if God is pleased by what we’ve done to His Story by putting ourselves into it, like a proud father watching his son play ball! 

“Getting saved” in this model is important, because it’s all about “getting in.” Going out, giving away, giving up—these aren’t on the agenda because they’re not in the script. I suspect that the reason this Choose Your Own Adventure is so popular is that it focuses on the present only. And Scene 2 is the one part of the Story for which we have absolutely no handbook. Scene 2 is Spirit-led improvisation; this Choose Your Own Adventure is improvisation without the Spirit. There’s probably a spirit in this, but it ain’t God’s.

I realize this sounds cynical and critical. It is. But, I think it’s better to come from me than Saturday Night Live. Plus, we’re talking about the Story here, not baptismal modes or tithing! Folks died in the Old Testament for getting this wrong. In fact, folks died in the New Testament for this very thing, turning the gospel into a means for personal advancement.

I’ve saved the best for last. Seriously. We must have a model that is big enough to accommodate the entire Story, provide answers to life as we see it, and instill hope and perseverance for shalom restoration. And, I do not believe this one is a Choose Your Own Adventure. This third option is, Choose The One Adventure. And we’re gonna call it, “Living in Scene 2, Longing for Scene 3, but Driven by Acts II and IV.” And beloved, this is not just a long name; it’s an expansive and highly nuanced model. Biblical-literacy-based, it demands a firsthand, constantly maturing, understanding of the One Story. It requires a mature appreciation for sin, understanding it as an explanation for what we see around us that isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. It values people not because of what they believe or how they behave but because they are image-bearers. It champions the centrality of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ as the essential and instrumental turning point in the One Story. It engenders responsibility for the restoration of shalom as the birthright and mission of every adopted and justified son of Adam and daughter of Eve. And it values the hope provided by Scene 3, but it refuses to focus on the future to the neglect of the present.

This model embodies a realistic optimism about just how much we can restore shalom in this life, convinced of its full flowering in the life to come. It sees all of life through the pages of the One Story of the One God and His plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. This model is a raging torrent of grace God has drawn us into, and it flows only in this life, on this earth. 

Beloved, too many of us spend our time focusing on fellowship and worship. There’s been law suits about that, for crying out loud. Let me say this slowly and carefully. We’ve got this backwards, beloved, focusing our time, money and resources now, on things we’re going to do forever—fellowship and worship. You’re going to have fellowship and worship for eternity, beloved, on the new earth. And it’s gonna be the real thing. I don’t care how good the fellowship and worship is—or was before COVID—at your church. The new earth will make it seem like a funeral. For real. But, I think we’re spending time, money, and resources now, on things we’re gonna do forever. And neglecting time, money, and resources now, for the one thing that we can’t do on the new earth. What’s that? Beloved, it’s ministry. It’s the restoration of shalom. There’s no ministry on the new earth because there’s no sin. Maybe it’s time we started living like we’re “Living in Scene 2, Longing for Scene 3, but Driven by Acts II and IV.”

Think about it. See ya next time…shalom.