Be Zealous for What’s Good

Kenneth Scott Latourette was a professor of history at Yale Divinity School during the early part of the 20th century. He wrote a couple of large volumes on why the Christian church survived the Roman empire. The book series, entitled A History of the Expansion of Christianity (It's 7 volumes!) seeks to answer the question, “How did Christianity win the Roman empire?” Caesar, and the Roman Government, had all the power, resources, and money in the first several centuries. How did this relatively small group of people known as The Church of Jesus Christ, actually flourish so that by the third century things had flipped, so that the church had the influence? Keep in mind, in today’s thinking the early church would be considered an oppressed minority. In fact, from that perspective, every letter of the New Testament was written by an oppressed person to an oppressed people who, in many cases, were regarded as an enemy of Rome! What happened? 

Latourette argues it was a vast release of energy, a zeal, and a fanaticism about certain things that pushed the church to the top. Pastor Scott Sauls, in a sermon I listened to a while back, detailed Latourette’s conclusions. It’s instructive for us as we help churches thrive by cultivating clarity, purpose and hope. 

1. First, there was zeal about absolute truth. There had been a loss of absolute truth in Rome. People were starved for an anchor. People were starved for a moral compass. They were starved for something bigger than themselves around which to arrange their lives, their communities and mission. Christianity offered that. Rome did not. 

2. Second, they were zealous about inclusiveness. In Rome to be in proper social circles you had to be into philosophy. To be into philosophy you had to have a higher education. To have a higher education you had to have money. As a result, most people were cut out. Then along comes Christianity and says “Everyone’s welcome…Jesus saves you. He’s the God of the rich and the poor.” This thinking was unheard of in Rome. In Rome the sick, lepers and paralytics were tossed out to die. The Christians took them in. Rome was a male centered, paternalistic empire built to serve the needs of a male class. If you protested this, you were destroyed. Women were objects, treated as things. Baby girls were exposed to the elements and left to die by fathers who wanted boys. It was perfectly legal. Christians would find the little girls and adopt them into their families. If women were widowed, they’d have to turn to prostitution or die of starvation. The Christian community took care of widows, in fact they exalted them. They conferred on women the same status as men. There was an other-worldly, radical inclusion, that the Romans just didn't have.

3. Third, there was a zeal and manifest willingness to suffer for their beliefs because of historical reality of the resurrection. The early Christians would rather die than deny Christ. In fact, to be a martyr was considered honorable. To be persecuted was considered normal for the early church. 

4. Finally, they were zealous for kindness, as a contrast to the barbarism of Rome. There was a sense of generosity in contrast to the greed, and consumerism, of ancient Rome. The Christians became known as of people who loved Rome’s poor better than Rome themselves. They were zealous to love and forgive in the same way they were loved and forgiven by Jesus Christ. 

Saul concludes by saying something like this, “Have you noticed in the New Testament letters that there is no bitterness towards the government? There’s not standing up for our rights. There is no gorilla-warfare movement. There’s no 'let’s stick it to them.' There’s no cynicism; just an urgent call to live faithfully. So as Jeremiah called the nation of Israel to seek the peace and flourishing of Babylon to which they’d been exiled, so the early Christians also become known seeking the peace of Rome; for loving Rome. There were no partisan politics for Christians. They did not see power as the means for the world to become better, more beautiful and bright, unless of course your talking about the power of the resurrection! That’s how they won Rome.”

Think about it!