JFK, The Apostles and the Church!

Most of us are familiar with the famous words of John F. Kennedy. Pushing back against a culture of entitlement he challenged the American people to think different when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!”

At his inauguration, Kennedy was celebrating what he thought was the beginning of a renewal. He was trying to inspire a love of country so great that the people of this great nation would (his words), “pay any price, bear any burden, [and] meet any hardship.” Wow, how the value system in America has changed in the last 50 years. 

We feel that the Declaration of Independence guarantees me the right to pursue happiness… therefore (in my subjective reasoning), my happiness must be the most important thing. Paying a price that comes at great personal cost does not make me happy. Bearing any burden suggests work that infringes on my happiness and I certainly do not want to engage in any hardship that causes discomfort in any way.  This culture of entitlement has not produced love for our country; rather it has heightened the love of self over the love of country as we seek how the government can best serve me. Likewise our politics has become subject to this consumer-driven mentality that seeks to please the individual in hopes of inoculating self-serving constituents from pain, suffering, unnecessary burden and the sacrificial commitment of love for country. 

Imagine if the Apostles lived to see this day.  Wow, how the value system of the church has changed just over the last 50 years. Sharing DNA, the church in America today has fallen into the same trap. Hoping to please fickle consumers we have worked hard to please the individual in hopes of inoculation them from any unnecessary suffering, sacrifice or hardship. Consistent with our American values we have pushed down love for self over love for God and love for the institution that Jesus died for – His Church! “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph 5:25); purchased at the great cost of His own blood(Acts 20:28).  

The Apostles loved Christ and loved His church. Each of them gave their lives over to it and their lives up for it! Pushing back against a culture of entitlement they might challenge the believers here in the United States to think different like John F. Kennedy did. The beginning of a renewal will require new thinking that challenges the creeping influence of our consumer value-system that continues to elevates self, over love for Christ and His church.

Peter might say, “Ask not what your church can do for you, but what you can sacrificially do for His church!” Being part of the church is a glorious and high calling from God (Eph 3:21). God’s love to us and His mission for us has never change. It is a mission worth dying for – the Apostles did. It is a glorious unchanging mission from Genesis to Revelation of making Him known, Exalting His Name and extending His Glory. We must come together in unity and rally for the gospel and the purposes for which we are called no matter the cost! (Rom 21:5; 1 Cor 12:20).

“Stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel” (Phil 2:27). 

As JFK said, “Divided there is little we can do–for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.”

Painting above of Peter being crucified upside down in Rome under Nero.  Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy