How the Church Turned the World Upside Down

How the Church Turned the World Upside Down.

Acts 17: 6. “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. ”

Why Did They Say Christians Were Turning The World Upside Down? . “These are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus. ”

So Jesus, the King, and His Kingdom were at the center of why Christians were ‘turning the world upside down’.

A Different Kind of Kingdom.

My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. - Jesus (John 18: 36).

How Could People Become Citizens of This Kingdom? .

“The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it. ” Matt. 21: 43.

This was not just a new kingdom. It was a new type of kingdom. It was a type of kingdom that was totally different from what anyone– Jew or Gentile–had ever heard of before. .

The test of possessing this Kingdom was to bring forth the fruits of it. .

This kingdom was not limited to any particular nation or people group.

Anybody could choose to be a citizen of the kingdom of God.

Christ excluded nobody from His Kingdom–but those who excluded themselves. .

“The kingdom of God is founded in all who bear the image of the Man from Heaven. ”. ORIGEN

But producing the fruits of the Kingdom required more than studying Jesus’ teaching and deciding to obey them. .

It required: • New birth • Christ dwelling in a person.

No Earthly Boundaries to His Kingdom.

“The Christ of God shows His superiority to all rulers by entering into their various provinces and summoning men out of them to be subject to Himself. ” Origen.

“We acknowledge one all-embracing commonwealth —the world. ” Tertullian.

No Divided Loyalties Permitted.

In this new Kingdom, there could be no divided loyalties. Jesus can not be relegated to a subservient role by anyone or anything. He required all or nothing. .

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. ” Matt. 12: 30.

The Result: Conflict and PERSECUTION.

From A. D. 100 to 313 (Edict of Milan), Christianity was an illegal religion.

Every Christian lived with a death sentence hanging over his head!.

However, instead of stopping Christianity, persecution only caused it to grow and become internally stronger.

“The more often we are cut down by you, the more in number we grow. The blood of Christians is seed. ” Tertullian.

Persecution also produced a crop of Christian apologists who explained Christianity to the pagans.

The best-known apologists: • Justin Martyr • Tertullian • Origen.

A Kingdom with Upside-Down Values.

Christians rejected wealth, power, fame, and class distinctions.

“I do not wish to be a king. I am not anxious to be rich. . . I am not impelled by an insatiable love of gain to go to sea. I do not contend for laurels. I am free from a mad thirst for fame. . If I am a slave, I endure servitude. If I am free, I do not boast about my good birth. ” Tatian.

Three Christian practices that were revolutionary: . • The agapé (love feast) • Washing each others’ feet • Treating slaves as

“The first shall be last and the last shall be first. ” Jesus.

The more power, wealth, fame, & education a person had, the less likely he was to become a Christian. .

Most new converts came from: • Poor • Slaves • Less educated • “Lower” classes.

Most likely, more women than men.

Other Upside. Down Kingdom Values.

• Loving their enemies. • Rejecting war, torture and capital punishment • Turning the other cheek • Not suing others

Christians also rejected the world’s entertainment.

1 John 3: 13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. .

Tacitus called Christians “enemies of the human race”.

In addition to contending with persecution, Christians also had to combat the destructive heresy of GNOSTICISM.

1 John 4: 2 -3 “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. ”.

Tenets of Gnosticism: • The material world was created by a different god • The God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New • The flesh is inherently debased and evil • Jesus did not come in actual flesh.

. End

How the World Turned the Church Upside Down.

Christianity had continued to spread. By A. D. 300, perhaps 10% of the Roman Empire was Christian. .

. A. D. 303 -311 The Persecution of Diocletian

This was the most widespread persecution ever—affecting Christians everywhere in the Empire. .

In the end, Diocletian couldn’t defeat the Christians. He resigned as emperor. .

In 311, the reigning Caesar issued the Edict of Toleration, officially ending the persecution. .

. Christ Had Won!!

In 313, the new emperor, Constantine, issued the Edict of Milan.

• Put Christianity on equal footing with all other religions • Required the immediate restoration of all church property confiscated. .

This appeared to be an incredible.

Next, Christianity became the favored religion of the emperor The State paid for sumptuous church buildings to be constructed.

It seemed undeniable that Christ was changing everything for the.

Perhaps the return of Christ was at hand.

Rome had always paid the salaries of the public priests, making them officers of the state. Constantine now began paying salaries to church leaders—making them officers of the state. Church leaders were also exempt from taxation. .

. You would think that the church leaders would have said “No” to this.

. But it seemed to everyone that the rules had now changed.

. The Battle Was Over!!

. Christ was victorious!!! The Kingdom of God had defeated the Kingdom of Satan!

The Donatist Controversy This should have alerted everyone to the danger at hand. If the state was going to pay salaries to the official church leaders in every city, it meant the state would have to determine who those leaders were. .

• Many of the Christians in Carthage believed that Caecilian, the bishop at the time the persecution began, had compromised with the persecutors. Therefore, they appointed a rival bishop. . • So when the persecution ended, in Carthage there were, two rival bishops, two sets of elders, and two bodies of believers. And each claimed to be the legitimate church of Carthage.

The Roman government paid salaries to Caecilian and his set of leaders. The rival church, now led by a bishop named Donatus, petitioned Constantine to rectify the matter. .

Council of Arles – 314. Constantine asked for a council of bishops to decide the issue. They decided for Caecilian, and the Donatists started a church schism.

. Arian Controversy

A person can’t understand the Arian controversy without grasping what Christians had always believed about Father and Son.

1. The Father and Son are two different Persons. 2. The Son is of the same nature or substance as the Father. .

1. The Son is begotten from the Father. Yet, the Son is eternal, because: 2. His begetting is in the manner that light is begotten from the sun, or a stream is begotten from a spring. .

Although the Father and Son are equal in nature, the Father is the head of Christ. .

Arius, an elder in the church in Alexandria, taught the following errors: . 1. 2. 3. The Son was created from nothing He was not eternally with the Father In contrast to the Father, the Son is not inherently unchangeable

Soon the controversy spread from Alexandria throughout the Church. .

Council of Nicaea: 325 1. Called by Constantine 2. First worldwide church council ever 3. Constantine presided.

NICENE CREED. 1. An accurate statement of the historic faith. 2. But it made orthodoxy turn on a word not found in Scripture: homoousios.

SIGNIFICANCE OF NICAEA. 1. 2. Set the precedent for all of the socalled Ecumenical Councils in that all of them were convened by Emperors Changed the Creed that had hitherto been unchanged for 200 years

• Orthodoxy now turned on acceptance of the word homoousios —a word found nowhere in the Bible • Both the Nicene Creed and the Nicene Council were promoted as being “inspired of God”—on the same level as Scripture.

• Beginning of the de facto state church. • Beginning of Christians persecuting other Christians • Beginning of book burning by “Christians”

• Marks a dividing line between the primitive church and the “Catholic/Orthodox” churches. • All other Christian churches and sects—other than the state Church —became illegal

All of this represents an utter failure on the part of the Church’s shepherds.

Not a single church leader objected to any of this. None of them spoke out against persecuting others. .

Some men, like Augustine, actually defended it, and gave the Emperor rationalizations for persecuting heretics. .

. The Rise of Church Fathers

They all started out with good intentions: to defend the historic faith.

. BUT…

In their zeal to silence “heretics, ” they all ended up changing the historic faith.

The Church Fathers all thought they knew more than the Christians who lived before Nicaea.

The result was that the “orthodox” Christian faith in A. D. 400 was different from the orthodox faith in A. D. 300.

Even worse, while these Church Fathers were squabbling about theology, the spiritual state of the Church was plummeting rapidly.

Most Christians now identified the Kingdom of God with the Roman Empire.

. Christ’s Kingdom was now very much “of this world”

The best way to advance one’s career was to become a Christian.

The Church became bloated with “Christianized” pagans.

. 1. Christians now went to war against each other 2. Christians tortured others 3. Christians ran the government

. 1. Class distinctions came into the Church 2. The Church looked the “other way” at sins of the Emperors

In 380, Theodosius officially made Christianity the state religion.

. Now, the entire Roman Empire was “Christian” (except for the Jews)

There was very little difference between most “Christians” in A. D. 400 and most pagans of A. D. 300—except in theology.

. The world had indeed turned the Church upside-down