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I was listening to the podcast, Apollos Watered hosted by Travis Michael Fleming, recently when NT Wright made a very simple, but poignant, statement:

“One of the most fundamental things about Christianity is that it is for everyone.”

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The context in which he made this comment was a discussion on Christian nationalism. Christian nationalism is currently a hot topic in the United States, though we are hardly the first nation that has religious, nationalist tendencies. England had such a period in its history.

The nation of Israel had arguably the most provenance to think that way. After all, Israel was a nation of “God’s chosen people”. God became incarnate in Jesus in the 1st Century, and He “came to His own” – His chosen people. Before moving on to the point I am inspired to write about today, I want to focus on how God’s chosen people reacted to God becoming flesh and walking among them.

The Apostle, John, tells us in the first chapter of his Gospel that they, tragically, “did not receive him!” (John 1:1-11) They did not recognize God who had become flesh and was standing right in front of them!

That stunning fact should cause us to ask, “Why?” How is it that God became flesh, and He walked among the very people He chose, and they didn’t recognize Him?

We might excuse them on the basis that we have the Holy Spirit, and they didn’t. We might be tempted to think that we would respond differently today because of that advantage. But then again, they had God in human flesh!

We might assume that having the Holy Spirit makes us different than them. Perhaps, that is true. Theoretically, a person who actually has the Holy Spirit and who actually lives by and listens to the Holy Spirit does seem to have advantage.

Of those who have the Holy Spirit, do we actually live by and listen to the Holy Spirit? All of the time? Even most of the time? I can’t answer that question for you, but I think it is a question worth asking ourselves.

NT Wright is a prolific and influential theologian. He has written key works on Paul and Romans. His insights are particularly relevant and poignant as such an expert who has no dog in the political and cultural “war” that rages in the United States of America.

Such a simple statement: “Christianity is for everyone.” Who would not agree with that statement? Jesus said he came for everyone who believes. Paul said there is no Jew nor Gentile; and we are all one in Christ.

In the 1st Century Jewish world, only two groups of people existed: Jews and everyone else. The Jews called everyone else Gentiles. What Paul means, therefore, is that everyone in the world is unified in Jesus Christ. This should be our reality as Christians, right?

Paul said that Jesus tore down the wall that divided the two groups of people in the world, and he made the two groups one. He reconciled all people to himself through the cross. (Ephesians 2:14-16)

The danger of Christian nationalism in the United States (or anywhere) is that some Christians may see themselves as uniquely Christian, uniquely privileged by God, and they may conclude that their own nation that they consider to be Christian is uniquely, divinely authorized by God. That attitude can lead to us to see other people as less uniquely blessed and less divinely privileged.

This is dangerous because we are tempted to view ourselves as better than others. We may even excuse some of our ungodly behavior because we are a Christian nation that has divine authority in the world.

This attitude can hinder us from seeing our own faults and weaknesses that are unique to our culture. We are apt not to see the planks in our own eyes while we focus our attention on the specs in others’ eyes, assuming ourselves to be better than others.

We might also tend to focus on maintaining our privileged position we believe God has given us to the exclusion of other people. We might be tempted to focus on our own good while we should be focusing on helping our neighbors, including our foreign neighbors – and even our enemies.

Jewish people in the 1st Century had this kind of attitude, and it blinded them from seeing who Jesus was – the Messiah they had been waiting for – because they thought he was only their Messiah, and he would liberate only them. They weren’t prepared for a Messiah who came to liberate the whole world!

Though “God’s own” didn’t receive Him, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God….” (John 1:12) We might be so familiar with the following verse that we miss the scope of God’s focus:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

John 3:16-17

God’s focus is the world – the whole world. He even gives us a sneak peak at His end game through the same Apostle, John:

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”

Revelation 7:9

With Christian nationalism, however we might define it, our perspective is too narrow. The danger is that we focus too much on us when God is focused on the world.

Religious people wanted to kill Jesus in his hometown because he challenged their views as God’s privileged people. They became angry with Jesus when he talked about Elijah visiting and blessing the Canaanite woman in Sidon to the exclusion of all the widows in Israel. They were enraged when Jesus said that Elisha healed the Samaritan war general of leprosy rather than people in Israel who had leprosy. They were so incensed by Jesus pointing these things out that they tried to throw him off a cliff! (Luke 4:24-29)

Christian nationalism of any kind flirts with unhealthy pride in national identity. Pride and identity associated with anything other than Christ has a tendency to warp us inwardly and to diminish our sense of primary identity in Christ. Thus, Christian nationalism can lead us to diminish our love for God, as well as our love for our neighbors.

When we think too highly of ourselves, we value our own culture and ways of looking at and doing things more than we should.  When we think too highly of ourselves and value our own ways too much, we also tend to devalue others and the ways of other people. Thus, Christian nationalism can lead us to diminish our love for others.

As finite human beings, we all have a deficiency of perspective. Each individual and cultural perspective is limited, which is why Isaiah said:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

In short, we do not have the perspective of God. His perspective is far greater than ours. This is true individually, of course, but it’s also true of humankind. It is equally true of people groups, cultures, and nations.

We in the United States tend to be more steeped in our own cultural milieu, perhaps, than most of the people on this planet. Americans tend to know far less about other countries than people in other countries know about us. Most people keep up with the trends in the US, but we pay little attention comparatively to trends outside our borders (unless they directly affect us).

This is not to say that nationalism in other countries does not exist. That is not my point. My point is simply that we all have limited perspectives, individually, collectively, as a nation, and even as one humanity.

The main point is that God has His purposes, and He designed His world for His purposes. God is working out His purposes in the world with or without us – whether we are helping or are hurting his plans.

Shouldn’t we want to be working with God, rather than against Him? Too often we go our own ways, and unhealthy nationalism is one of those ways we can push and pull against God’s greater purposes.

I am not saying that we cannot or should not appreciate and be thankful about our own nation, but we should be careful to recognize the value in all nations, tribes, people groups and languages. God cares for and is focused on all people in all the world – not just us.

The Kingdom of God has been a continual focus for me for several years now as I read through scripture from beginning to end (in most years). I am continually impressed with the need to understand and get in line with God’s purposes and the Kingdom of God.

Jesus was very clear that the kingdom of God is not of this world. The Jews knew the Messiah would come from the line of David, as prophecies foretold, but they assumed that this “Davidic kingdom” that was to come was exclusively for them. Those prophecies help us identify Jesus as the long expected Messiah, but they do not mean that the Messiah came exclusively for the descendants of David.

We see this in the very last words Jesus spoke on earth. In the Great Commission Jesus told his followers to go to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

This is the purpose, the great purpose of God. The kingdom of God is meant to be spread around the world and into every culture and country and people group. It is not meant to reside in any one particular nation to the detriment of any other nation or people group. We need to see beyond our national borders.

Indeed, if the descendants of Abraham had not become so “nationalistic” in their theology, politics and cultural attitudes, they would have recalled that the blessing to Abraham and his descendants was promised to all the nations of the earth. (Genesis 22:18)

I dare say these thoughts give us a completely different perspective on some of the most pressing matters of our day. One of the problems of Christian nationalism is the attitude that we need to fight to protect ourselves. The people we seek to protect ourselves from, however, are the very people Jesus came into the world to save and the people to whom Jesus commanded us to go.

If you want to hear the whole conversation with NT Wright, I am linking the two episodes below. I also highly commend the Apollos Watered website and the Apollos Watered podcast, generally.

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Below are the two episodes with NT Wright, which I recommend for more insight into these things from two men who are much more learned than me.