It lords over every magistrate and worldly power, over every culture and civilization. In the affairs of men, death claims final authority. This assertion is expressed with special force in the proposition central to Christian faith: God, the Father, has raised the crucified Jesus from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit. God is one, and as Creator of the world, he exercises transcendent authority. And, as a way of life, Christianity fiercely denies their final authority: вЂњYou shall have no other gods before meвЂќ (Exod. Christianity encourages critical assessments of all worldly authorities. They rule and exercise their authority in the normal course of life, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill. In our time, worldly authorities have other names: experts, therapists, managers, bureaucrats, and more. Those who follow him are to have no other lord.Д¬hristвЂ™s lordship gives the Christian way an indomitable character that can turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6).В As finite beings, we live in a world ruled by many вЂњsatraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, justices, and officials of the provincesвЂќ (Dan. In the power of the Holy Spirit who searches all things, the Lord Jesus reigns supreme over the Christian way and over all creatures. Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, sharing in the divine life of the Father, the one true God. That holds for our otherwise healthy sense of familial responsibility, just as it is true for career, pleasure, and other gifts that can become idols that pervert and distort our lives. Neither spiritual principalities nor worldly powers override JesusвЂ™s call. He does so not for the sake of destroying or undermining them, but in order to manifest his transcendent authority. He speaks with authority over the natural ties that bind us together. Jesus reiterates GodвЂ™s call to Abraham when he tells his disciples, вЂњIf any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my discipleвЂќ (Luke 14:26). We possess a natural religious sense, but the good news that God is love and desires to bring us to himself comes as an unexpected gift and amazing grace.В We cannot lift ourselves up to the divine God comes and lifts us to himself.В The Christian way is transcendent and supernatural, based in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Just as God calls Abraham out of his fatherвЂ™s house and homeland, so Christ calls his followers to live in accord with a new reality. Yet Christianity does not arise out of natural human impulses, desires, or instincts, not even of a religious sort. Religious beliefs and rites are found in all cultures.

G o from your country and your kindred and your fatherвЂ™s house. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselvesвЂќ (Gen. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. It begins with GodвЂ™s gracious promise to Abraham: вЂњGo from your country and your kindred and your fatherвЂ™s house to the land that I will show you. Christians share with Jews a common heritage reaching back to a time well before the age in which Jesus of Nazareth lived and preached. The Christian way of life is rooted in the people of Israel. Within this community of faith, we come to know and enjoy the presence of God.Д¬hristianity is not a religion, if by that we mean one among many expressions of the natural human impulse to encounter the divine. Christianity is a community of faith shaped by the Holy Spirit, by worship and proclamation, by prayer and spiritual discipline, by ancient rites and teachings that are received from those who have gone before. As the Psalmist says, вЂњWalk about Zion, go round about her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever.

To be a Christian means being a citizen of a city that has a rich inheritance and glorious future. Following him requires conversion, which leads to membership in the Church, the Body of Christ. вЂњCome,вЂќ he beckons, вЂњfollow me.вЂќ Being a Christian requires more than intellectual or moral agreement with Christian teachings. Christians freely obey Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.

Christian ways of life