Plant and Build

Jesus was non-compliant. He did not live His life along the lines drawn by the religious leaders or even the civil leaders of His day. He lived His life along the lines laid out for Him by God and taught His disciples to do likewise. This did not require rebellion. It required honour to whom honour was due. An honour, we might add, not demanded or determined by the rulers of His day, but by God.

The Jews of Jesus day were in the midst of great upheaval. Wars were frequent as men sought to rebel against Rome through direct conflict.

The destruction of Jerusalem would occur within one generation and in the midst of a sinful culture, Jesus taught His disciples to neither escape the wrath to come by fighting against the predominant religious or civil rulers, nor retreat into despair.

He didn’t instruct His disciples to dust and polish the Old Jerusalem, but urged them to enter a New Jerusalem in which righteousness dwells.

He taught His followers to build and plant, trusting in future grace.

The easiest way to understand this response to times of tribulation is to contrast it with the two alternatives: Resignation and the duck and run option.

Resignation entails numbing the mind to reality through drugs, alcohol, casual porn or by zoning out in front of screens for hours on end.

Resignation might provide short-term relief to anxiety, depression and boredom, but the more we rely on such activities the more our mental health deteriorates. Moreover, this option does nothing to prevent the rise of tyranny and control since it promotes passivity, and apathy, all traits that make people easier to manipulate.

And so, rather than ensure liberty, our resignation actually sets the stage for greater enslavement.

The other option during times of social and civil upheaval is to duck and run.

The purpose of ducking and running is to relocate to a place that offers more freedom. This form of escape has many benefits and at least has the merit of being proactive instead of passive. But there are still significant problems with this form of escape.

Firstly, for many people, it is not practical to pack up and move. Furthermore, if we live in a time when the rise of tyranny is a global phenomenon the practicality of a physical escape diminishes as the pockets of freedom become increasingly harder to find.

The plant and build option, by contrast, does not depend on geography, or mind numbing retreat.

What does this response to tyranny look like? To answer this question we need to dispel with the idea that the terrors and control of an ungodly government can be defeated through compliance.

Many people cave in to the demands of an ungodly government because they believe that it will be the quickest means of returning to normality and freedom. But this is an ignorant and often cowardly way to act.

History teaches us that compliance only increases the ungodliness. This was a point emphasised by the political philosopher, Hannah Arendt in her book, The Origins of Totalitarianism, who said that the most characteristic aspect of totalitarian terror was that the more compliant the people became, the more the ungodly were emboldened to increase the terror.

Stalin didn’t start his massacre in 1928 when he declared, “We have internal enemies,”, but in 1934 when all former opponents had caved in and become compliant. It was then that the genocidal bloodshed started.

Compliance is the food that feeds a wicked ruler. But compliance with tyranny is not, and never will be, the path to liberty. As Milton Mayer, in his book, “They Thought They Were Free”, writes of life under Hitler’s rule,

You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow… But the one great shocking occasion never comes.

If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked. But of course, this isn’t the way it happens. In between comes all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next.

…and one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you and you see that everything – everything – has changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves, for when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed.

Instead of waiting in vain for liberty to come through compliance, true liberty is achieved through the construction of a parallel society built on the foundation of a new, gospel-driven community.

This is what we see going on in the days of Israel’s captivity in Babylon. They were not to revolt but, as in the days of their slavery in Egypt, they were to form productive and faithful communities within an ungodly culture (Jeremiah 29:4-5).

A parallel society serves two main purposes: First, it offers pockets of freedom to those rejected or hunted down by an ungodly society and for those who refuse to participate in it.

Secondly, it forms the foundation for a new society that can grow out of the ashes of the destruction wrought by an ungodly regime. This is one of the most obvious effects and promises of the gospel (Matthew 16:18). It creates a new community. An outpost of heaven right in the midst of wickedness.

Christianity was illegal for the first 300 years after the Lord’s resurrection. As outcasts, they began to build a new society within a society. They had their own economy, welfare, family support, courts of justice, agriculture and marketplace of buying, sharing and exchanging, according to each one’s gift.

It cost many lives and like yeast through a batch of dough, it was often imperceptible. But when Rome finally collapsed, Christianity was left standing.

There are innumerable ways to contribute to the construction of a parallel society. Some will build new technologies, others will promote liberty through new economic structures that allow for free and voluntary trade and exchange.

For some, it will mean starting a business that resists implementing unjust laws or mandates. It might mean creating new media or education that counter the lies and evil of those in power. It will mean creating new music, literature or artwork that counters that of the stale and ugly culture around it.

The act of building a parallel social structure also reveals that not everyone will just roll over and submit to wicked kings. This in turn nurtures real hope in other believers as well as being a witnesses to the unbelieving neighbour in search of salvation (Deuteronomy 4:7).

Practically, it also serves as a healthy way to escape the day-to-day feelings of anxiety, boredom and depression that accompany living in a world riddled with sinful decay. For when we adopt the gospel work of planting and building in a disciplined manner, we are participating in the construction of a kingdom society that brings meaning, purpose and joy.

In place of wishful thinking or despair, the emergence of a parallel society brings with it courageous action, purpose, fellowship and, alongside the suffering and grief, the joyous hope and sure blessings of the Gospel.