Going Broke for Jesus

"For whoever will save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake will gain it." Matthew 16:25

I can not think of a more daunting thought in our modern age than the thought of sacrifice. Our hearts continuously counter its actuality from forming about our lives. We withdrawal from it, cower at its mention. Closing our eyes and cringing from it's cold touch. It is unpleasant indeed, almost the most unpleasant card placed in our deck. Yet, for some great reason, we glorify its action when it's meaning has novelty. Our culture clings to the very notion of a grand sacrifice when it is offered up with willing hands for some good in any extent. All great tales told carry a glimmering hope found on the silver lining of sacrifice. We as Christians are most notable for this, and rightfully so. Our whole theology revolves around it. And seeing that the grandest of sacrifice was made by the Author of our existence and created all of mankind to orbit around the sacrificial act of Christ, it would only make sense that sacrifice would move our inner being to great heights and terrify us simultaneously. That is most curious of our nature and of sacrifice itself. It is horrifying and majestic at the same time and we are responsive to it in that fashion.
Never-the-less we are met with sacrifice daily, as we as Christian are called to die daily. This privilege is too often all but seen as such. Yet, it is a large misunderstanding to consider our own sacrifice to suffer a prerequisite for salvation. There is only one sacrifice that was the atonement for our sins and it's not ours. Yet, this does not exclude the willful surrender of our lives. So what might we gather from such scripture as "to lose your life, is to gain it"? I would say it must, not only to God but to ourselves, seem as a gift and not a curse. Yet, we are often far from valuing sacrifice in this way.
I'm not lost on the threat of forfeiting up our lives, for even for a good man one would rarely die. But I can't help but see beauty in our foyful surrender of all that one has when one is promised so much more. To give up all that you have to gain all that He has, seems like a remarkable deal. So remarkable, I've often considered going broke for Jesus. Not in the sense that if I follow Christ with such zealously I would inevitability loose all my finances. I mean more "Francis of Assisi" style, selling all you have and giving it to the poor. Much like the parable of the man who sold all he had to buy the field where the treasure lay hidden. Its pushing all your chips to the center of the table, and saying "I'm all in." However scary it is putting our lives in as the stakes the reward is so much vastly greater than what we have to offer. But I regret making this sound too much like Pascal and his wonderful wager, for our "chips" are more counterfeit than real. We must admit, by no effort on our part do we have life, so though we do have chips to play with, they were only given to us so that we could sit at the table. So if we offer up our lives as a living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, it is not because we have earned such a glorious talent pleasing to Him, but that through the transforming power of a ransom He paid, we are able to come with our borrowed life, giving it back to the only true giver of life. In all of this, we are once again given life, yet this time it is new and it is in abundance. Not a life birthed through water, but birthed through blood,which was His sacrifice.
I can't say giving ourselves up will guarantee martyrdom or even bank accounts overflowing. But what I can say is if we, like the widow, bring our lonely mite to the alter and loose ourselves, we will, without a doubt gain eternity.
If it is even possible that we might turn away from Christ sorrowfully because we could not forfeit our possessions even though we followed the law so very well, we will inevitably be unwilling to offer up our only real possession, our life, which will eventually be robbed from us anyway. Furthermore, if our understanding of gain is so very misguided, we might want to petition for a financial blessing, which in all honesty could very well be a financial loss, for all loss is gain to those who have Christ. And maybe one day, when we discover that carrying our cross is truly a privilege, we might see what really being blessed is all about.

Written on request and featured on The Reviver. TheReviver.wordpress.com

Who Is Truth; The Ultimate Concern for The Ultimate Reality

                Truth plays a key underlying part in evangelism and is of extreme importance, not just with the context of truth within the message we preach, but how it affects even our ability to properly evangelize.  As Pontius Pilate expressed in the New Testament - “What is truth?”- we must also ask the same question. Not only that but also, of what power does truth have in our very play through existence?  Yet we must start somewhere so let us ask ourselves honestly, what is essence of truth?  What we come to know as truth is what we can securely deem “Ultimate reality”.  Ultimate reality is a term used in philosophy to indicate the underlying nature of reality, ultimate truth.  Where most would find Ultimate reality being much different than others’ beliefs of what Ultimate reality is, there is no change in the actuality of it because it is “ultimate”- it is the underlying reality which makes it out of our reach to morph or change according to human will.   For Christians, the Ultimate Reality is not a concept but a Person.  It is the Person of God- He is the Ultimate Reality.  This is what truth has determined for us, that God is the Ultimate Reality, and out of our reach to alter according to our own will.  Yet Ultimate reality has made a choice to expose Himself to us through His Word (John 14:9; Philippians 1:4-9; 1 John 1:2). This is an exaggerated point that could easily be stated as God holds truth and determines Ultimate Reality because He is Ultimate Reality. He is Truth.

                Ultimate reality will inadvertently have the greatest affect on our faith, or more precisely, what we put our faith in.  Paul Tillich describes faith as essentially our “ultimate concern” towards what we deem as Ultimate reality. 

He says, "Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned: the dynamics of faith are the dynamics of man’s ultimate concern.”   In this concept, to have faith is to have an ultimate concern, whether it is success, family, nation, or God, etc.  This ultimate concern is shaped by what the person deems as the true Ultimate reality.  For a Christian, ultimate concern is centered on God, from who we are even given this faith [ultimate concern] (Romans 12:3).  So not only is the Ultimate reality established in us but the ultimate concern by which we live is established as well. 

This ultimate concern proves itself manifestly through our desire for fulfillment.  The reason we concern ourselves so highly on an Ultimate reality is that because in it we believe we will find ultimate fulfillment, which can only be assumed through faith in the Ultimate reality.  Tillich continues to explain this- “But it is not the unconditional demand made by which is one’s ultimate concern, it is also the promise of ultimate fulfillment which is accepted in the act of faith.”  Where our ultimate concern is demanded by our Ultimate reality, it has also been promised of ultimate fulfillment.  If anyone believes that ultimate fulfillment can be found in an Ultimate reality, they will find themselves required to give their ultimate concern in the process.

So what does this all have to do with evangelism?  Since evangelism is essentially expressing our faith in the God of the bible by sharing it with others, we can conclude that ultimate concern for the Ultimate reality will inevitably be the core reason of why we evangelize.  Yet, not only is our ultimate concern for the Ultimate reality the reason for our evangelism, it is also responsible for how we evangelize.  If the focus of our entire being is on God, we must conclude that our entire being will be focused on the Truth of the Gospel, the Love of Christ, and the Actuality of God.  All of our evangelistic endeavors will essentially stem from this core concept of faith in God.  If our faith [ultimate concern] lacks, then our evangelism will lack.  If our understanding of God [Ultimate reality] lacks, then our faith will lack.  If our relationship with God lacks, then our understanding of Him will lack more so.  If our ultimate concern [faith] comes from hearing and understanding the Word of God, then not only what we evangelize but how we evangelize stems from it was well. (Romans 10:17)

If the faith that is expressed by works has the ability to rescue us into Salvation, then it also has the ability to evangelize this process to others.  To have a deep, powerful faith is to have a deep, powerful evangelism.  Not because we strive so deeply to evangelize, but because we strive to know God more deeply, to become closer to Him, and in an essence to ultimately be concerned for which we are ultimately concerned.  To love more of what we already love, to seek after what we've already found.  Our faith is not only in the hope to ultimately be fulfilled, but is, in itself the ultimate fulfillment of our being.  This can only be said for the one who believes in Christ Jesus, as I have said in a previous essay, for one can not seek to find God if he does not recognize God seeking to find Him first.  There is no other religion that fulfills our human desire to be one with the Eternal creator such as Christianity.  For Christianity portrays not only the human desire to be with God, but a God that desires to be with His creation, thus our faith [ultimate concern] grows as God fulfills our ultimate desire, which is to be with Him.  Our evangelism stems from this fulfillment, for there is only one common desire found in all human beings, a desire to be fulfilled, a desire put there by God who is the only one who has the ability to fulfill it.

                Now this begs for further explanation.  It is true that all human beings desire fulfillment.  It is why we long for movement, adventure, progression, promotion, experience, wealth, immortality, and love.  The only person who does not seek fulfillment is the one who believes they can never be fulfilled (yet, even most find themselves looking for which they have no intention of finding).It is not a question of desire for them; it is a question of actuality.  It is hard for some to believe that this world holds the key to their fulfillment, and they are half right- the world does not hold this.  Yet, if even we Christians find ourselves feeling unfulfilled it could only be for two reasons:  (1) we either have found our anticipation for the reunion of Christ and His bride so uncontrollable we only consider value in His return or our death.  Those in this situation unfortunately cannot see the beauty in what Christ has already done, but only, what He will do.  Or (2) we lack the faith to find our Ultimate reality fulfilling, furthermore, the fulfillment of God’s Spirit in union with Man. 

                Though we as Christians have earthy desires, even noble and honest ones, our complete being should not be weighed in the balance of these successes.  Our faith must be grounded in the actual fulfillment of our being through Christ, not simply in feeling, but in knowing that what God has done is witness to what He wills to do.  If we lack faith in God, than we lack faith in His ability, essentially His ability to keep a promise, the promise of fulfillment.  With this lack of faith we will inevitably seek fulfillment outside of God, placing our faith [ultimate concern] else where other than Him.  The completeness we find in Christ is our ultimate testimony to the world, it is the validation of life and life more abundantly (John 10:10).

                Now, it does no good to say that because our ultimate concern is fulfilled through our faith in God, then there is no reason for us as Christians to concern ourselves with evangelism.  On the contrary, we should concern ourselves with evangelism when our ultimate reality is God, even more so now that we have found fulfillment in Him.

                If we strive for this faith, we will undoubtedly find it has become our ultimate concern- a concept that moves beyond emotion and intellect into our will, which is the production of fulfillment.  All this is found in the Gospel of Christ, our complete being brought into union with God, relieving our search for Him outside of Him.  We have found what the world is still looking for, better yet, it has found us. 

                We evangelize because we have found ultimate fulfillment in the Ultimate reality [God] through our ultimate concern [faith].   Now we seek to tell others of what has found us because we have found it useless to continue seeking else where.  We desire others to find fulfillment as we have found it.  It should be of no question why Jesus ask for all the weary and broken people to take upon His yoke ad burden, because not only is it light, it is fulfilling not only is it life, it is life more abundantly.  The essences of the relief from Christ, is that we no longer are concern with the weight of searching for fulfillment, purpose, and Love because we have found it.

                The question that Pilate asked “What is truth” was meant to be rhetorical, but Jesus answered Him before he even asked in his statement previous to his.  “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”(John 18:37)For those who have found ultimate fulfillment will know where they found it, in the Ultimate reality, in Truth, in God Himself.  Therefore, not only is truth the context in which we preach, it also is the reason we do so.

The Death of a Salesman/The Resurrection of a Messenger

                                                                            

The following is an essay over my thoughts of Christian Evangelism. The first of many in a complete series titled "I Know Something You Should Know"...


                        Essay #1

The key to evangelism is, simply put - first experience Salvation and then share that experience.  To be rescued from death and given life so that the world may come to know the One who gives life.  Yet, if you do not know the Gospel nor have received Salvation that is given to you by Christ, then you have no business or purpose in evangelizing.  Even if you do believe the Gospel to be true, you do not really believe it to be Truth.  Only those who have tasted of the Glory of God can truly know it to be true.  Furthermore - to have “tasted” is to partake, and you can only partake through faith in Christ for none comes to the Father but through Christ.  Yet speaking apologetically, to partake in the experiencing of God you must have faith not only that He exists, but that He is who He says He is and is trustworthy.  Additionally, you cannot know if He is trustworthy unless you trust Him enough to find out.  Thus, only those who have faith in Christ can be certain of the truthfulness of the Gospel.  All other thought is that of a salesman, and we are not salesmen.  We are not in the business of sales, nor are we in any kind of business at all.  We are fishermen and we are messengers.  This is a very important aspect that is often overlooked, and not without a cost.  If we look at evangelism as a business of sales, we will inevitably look for new ways to present the product, and over time, look for new improvements to the product, for our mind is set on making a sale, not sharing truth. 

                If we are truly messengers, then tampering with the message changes everything.  No longer is it what the message originally said, but now it even has a new sender.  If we begin to give a message we ourselves fabricated(even if the theme is the same) it is now not the gospel, only a shadow of it.  And no longer are people being saved by Truth, but are now mislead to thinking salvation is what you say it is.  In this case we can honestly presume that we did not believe The Author and Finisher of our faith is a good author at all, and that we, his new editors, needed to make some adjustments to improve the message.  With the analogy of being fishermen, we can see this same concept applied - if we adjust our bait we will catch a different fish altogether.

                Secondly, when it comes to evangelism, it is most important to obtain the heart of God.  This means feeling what He feels, willing what He wills.  If we cannot attempt to begin to think as He thinks than we cannot truly understand the most important commandments - to love God with all that we are, and to love all others as ourselves.  Let me explain further, if you evangelize for the sake of completing a duty in which we are all called, you have not begun to even comprehend the reason you obey any commandments.  We do not love because we are told to love; we love because we are loved. (1John 4;19)  To evangelize is to share the love which you are loved by, not speak the gospel to complete a requirement.  If we operate only in “duty” we will treat God as a “duty” as well, not as our King but our boss, not as our Savior but as a tyrant.  To be sure that we do not fall into the routine of doing things for the sake of themselves but for the sake of truth and love, we must continually look to Christ.  For in Him is the river of living water.  If we desire to feel what He feels, and to will what He wills, we need only ask and seek.  Yet, even this desire can also be taken to the very opposite spectrum and fool us with our own zealousness to see salvation come to the lost.  This, of course, is dangerous; it is a zealous salesman who believes the product to be a means to all ends, and the answer to life.  The Gospel is the answer to life; that is not the problem.  Zealousness is not the problem either; the problem lies in the salesman, who should be a messenger.  A question should then be raised, at what cost are we willing to convert lost souls?

                This is why salesmanship is so dangerous in evangelism.  A salesman is not concerned in delivering the truth of the product, but that the product is purchased.  He is not thinking beyond the sale into application of the product, but only the sale itself.  We must not allow ourselves to think of the sale alone, (or even the sale at all) we must focus on the product, the message.  Our focus on the Message will inevitably pour out in our presentation of the Gospel.  If our focus is on the Cross we will find beauty only in it, and not the sale.   If the Cross of Christ is truly beautiful to us, than to tamper with it would be a grave injustice to the receiver.  We would not be sharing a powerful work of art but a sloppy sketch of our own design, even if we believe the sketch to be more affordable that the painting of the Gospel itself.  We have a responsibility to share what Christ has done - not our smeared, pencil scratched version of it.  Truly we have come to a contradiction if this becomes somewhat of a difficulty.  For only those who have seen the Cross transform their life believe that the Cross of a battered, cursed, mocked Christ is beautiful.  For it is not the Cross itself that is our message but the relief that comes from the One who was hung on it; not to die, but to be raised and live eternally.  I speak of the Cross this way because it is our inevitable fate as Christians.  Not a physical cross, but to care that our own Salvation given to us is beautiful and bloody at the very same time.  This is why I believe we sometimes fall so far from sharing the true Gospel to unbelievers.  I believe that we can be ashamed at the brutality of sin and thus ashamed of the price that had to be paid for it.  No salesman could sell a thing like a cross -but a messenger doesn’t have to.  He only needs to give the message, the dirty, harsh, bloody, beautiful, transcendent, transforming message of the Cross of Christ.  The plight of a salesman who looks to sell something like the true Cross is to rely heavily on fear; to persuade only on the concept that one should accept forgiveness lest the outcome be eternal damnation.  Not for the sake of salvation from ourselves and death, or for the love of God, or the restoration of man, or the joy of the will of God, or the inspiration of a King who wants to adopt street peasants, but only for the far off comfort of a peaceful afterlife where God has no part but only to watch us divulge our desires to be with loved ones from the past in a heavenly place designed by our own imaginations.  It sounds harsh, but here, in fear, we find our first experience in what is now known in the Christian community as “fire insurance”, which can only be sold by an insurance agent - a salesman.  But we know, as believers, that perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4;18), and that if we wish people to truly understand the Cross, we must also speak of the reason for the Cross, not just the outcome of its non-acceptance.  [Now, for those whom are nervous of seeker friendly messages as I am, it should be understood that hell should, in every case of evangelism, not be void of mention (or even expanded upon).  But we covered the dangers of altering the content of the Gospel previously.] 

                To evangelize with the sole technique of fear, is to become the most dangerous of Christian evangelist.  For if we use the analogy of being fishermen we know that one cannot scare the fish into the boat, but only scare them away from the boat, into much darker water.  In the extreme case we can show that fear of damnation can lead into pluralism or universalism (the assumption of truth in all religions and beliefs), or the broader version of the two - agnosticism.  The reason for this is simple; for those whom find security to be their most prominent motivator will find that they are afraid of the risk of being wrong; they fear getting it wrong by choosing a particular view point.  For if they choose the belief that ends up not being true they will find themselves in a most unsavory place.  Thus, the option of not choosing holds hope for them for their greatest fear is choosing wrong.  The problem, of course, with this is the fear of being wrong now elects you as opting out of any devotion to anything particular…making you wrong by default, (by not putting in your wager, you have opted out of participating, and thus opted out of choosing truth)  an unfortunate circumstance for someone because they were scared into it - which is now blood on our evangelistic hands.

                It is my understanding, that when it comes to evangelizing, most of us, have an easy time explaining the “What” and “How” of the Gospel.  Meaning, we tend to rely so much on what the Gospel saves us from and how the Gospel saves us from it, yet give no in depth explanation as to why.  Aside from eternal damnation and the acceptance of the Savior from this eternal damnation, the question should be raised as to why even save us?  What’s the point of heaven if we tend not care about why we’re there in the first place?  And the “How Christ saves us”, albeit important, does not quite testify to the magnificent reason of “Why”?  See, to ask why the Gospel even exists is not solely found in the fact of heaven or hell, but in the fact of Love.  Our greatest challenge as Christians in not to convince unbelievers that hell is a bad destination or that heaven is a good one, but to share the fact that even before they considered heaven or hell, God loved them(even we were sinners (Romans 5;8)).  It has been my experience that most people find it hard to believe that Christ died on the Cross, much less died on the cross for them.  See, the challenge is not in selling them heaven, but telling them they are actually loved in spite of their wretchedness, and that heaven is, in fact, a gift - a truth most have a huge problem with.  The reason “why” Christ died and rose again for our atonement is the root to “how” and “what”. 

                We as Christian Evangelists must not make the mistake of being salesman.  We were born and raised to think as the “world” does, and the “world” thinks business.  We think of Love.  It’s hard to sell something that has been freely given out of Love.  So I speak of an old simple truth that is most applicable to this topic of Christian Evangelism.  “Caring is sharing”, so if you care, then share. 

Making Sense of the World

 (I understand that some of you will believe this essay to be bias, and you are correct in that thought.  For those who believe 2+2=4 are bias in believing that mathematics are correct.)

You see in every “Christian” community, people trying to make sense of world  in the context of the Gospel, and it becomes remarkably hard to cope with. The reason behind this, I believe, is because we are attempting to make sense of the world like we [Christians] make sense of the Gospel.  To an eye that has been opened, it is easy to see how the Gospel makes perfect sense, but to those who “see” and those who “do not see”, the world does not.  Yet this is to be easily understood…

                First we must look at why some might not choose to see the Gospel as truth, yet look to the world’s concept of truth.  My personal belief is that those whom have a hard time relating to the Gospel in a worldly view is because the Gospel is a world view of its own, very much unlike the common world view today.  For if we could use religion to make sense of the world we could be come God Himself; knowing all, seeing all.  To some, this is the ultimate dream, to be God.  To the Christian this is a worthless desire…

“If I were God, we would all be dead”-Byron Ellis

                So the reason we Christians find comfort in not being God is because it relinquishes the requirements of God.  It allows us to search for God, with results portioned (but not exclusive) for the individual. 

                See, most, if not all, truly desire the existence of God, not only that, but desire to either be that “god” or to have what ever “god” affirm with them. (To agree with what they believe to be true)  The true desire of all of humanity, is of course, affirmation.

                (I understand I have lost some of you at this point, but please bare with me, we are going somewhere)

                Affirmation, we Christians believe, is to be found in Christ, not because He agrees with us, but because He is truth whether we choose to believe in Him or not.

                [Yet, it needs to be said that affirmation is not found in the theory of idea or even teaching of God, but the Person of God Himself.  The sole reason behind this is because a theory or idea or teaching of God does not require God to be alive. (In many cases those who have theories or such of “God” have already concluded, in their hearts, that He is dead.)  Yet, those whom affirmation resided in the Person of God must, for logical reason, conclude that He is alive.]

Now back to the original question of making sense of the world…

                There is one fact clearly expressed in the world and which might not make complete sense to us, but does answer a lot of questions and seems to fall into agreement with the biblical explanation.

                                -The world is a fallen, broken, disfigured place.

                If you were to disagree with this you must make either of two assumptions…

1) There are no defining terms to label the worlds current state of existence, fall or not fallen are a matter of opinion based on how the world should be.  Whereas since you agree that the state of the world is naturally correct you could never logically prove that any of your complaints ever are reasonable.

2) That you are, in fact (not opinion), a blind moron.  To which I would wish “good luck.” For I believe, luck might be more important to you than you think.

                So since the world is in fact broken, to make sense of it, is not only to seek what cause it to be broken but also to fix it’s brokenness.

                Now, we run into our first conundrum; if the world is in fact broken, than so are we.  So, for us to fix something broken, we ourselves must not be broken (For if the tool itself is broken how is it to work in fixing the problem).  So we find the most common secular view in action, by fixing the world around us we fix ourselves in the process.  Yet our efforts are futile for we see this in the history of Human Kind in the example of every revolution ever taken place for the efforts to fix the world (Christ did not come to fix the world, but to save it from itself){Matt 10;34}.  For, even if our efforts are honest, they are ruined by our nature to be selfish, complacent, and comfortable.

                So, we create things to cover up our brokenness by changing the bar of standard.  No longer are virtues important but functionality in society, yet, since society is broken our ability to function in it must be a distorting of virtue. (If we are virtuous than we would find it hard to fit in)  So our endeavors are no longer to correct society, but to fit to its mold and make it work. 

[How unfortunate the generations after us.  For if it is difficult to live virtuous now, it will be much more difficult to live virtuous in the future.]

                Since correcting ourselves is far beyond our own ability, the world will always look to correcting the issues outside our current state of unrighteousness.  So, we find the common thought of society more complaint than solutions, especially to those outside our individualistic train of thought.

                Since fitting into the mold is the new social standard, there is no confusion to why scripture is contrary to society.  Scripture points to the solution to the problems and does not attempt to cover them up.  This is also why we have difficulty sorting through the correct interpretation of scripture, because it does not logically fit into molding us for society, but rather leans on the transformation of character, something society has abolished for the simple reason that the majority thought determines truth, not logic.

                This is why Christ is deemed as a revolutionary to humanity.  He is something we all want to believe in, but runs a close second to what the world says is desirable truth.

                It is important we pray for ourselves and future generations because it is naturally to not “want the pain of the scab, but to want the scar.” (Iron and Wine)

                It is a dangerous game, to enter into this world; to breathe its air, to feel the warmth of it’s sun, to see the untimely death of those innocent and the flourishing of those guilty, to be hurt by those you love, and to participate in retaliation.  (It is good to have a sympathetic God, who has breathed the same air and felt the same feelings, who has suffered the same betrayal.)

                I can not comprehend the logic of molding to the common thought of the world but I do cringe at the thought of fighting against it for truth.  And, if we refuse to fight for truth than we are encouraging a society who finds delight in the brokenness of the world.

                                The question becomes this.  Do we desire truth more than Comfort?  For, truth would not be truth if it did not make you uncomfortable in a fallen world.  Virtue would not be virtuous if it fit well into a world that has fallen away from righteousness.

And so I end with a quote, “their worldly wisdom a false jewel, skillfully and deceptively composed, and their sacred freedom itself too often and too easily serves self-interest.  They are never earnest with anything that goes beyond palpable utility.  All knowledge they have robbed of life and use only as dead woods to make mast and helms for their life’s voyage in pursuit of gain.”

                                                                -Friedreich Schleiermacher

How shall we make sense of this?

Father's Day @ White Couch, Albany

I was given the honor of speaking on Father's Day at White Couch Albany.  We were in the middle of a five week series titled "The Holiness of God."  And since it was Father's Day, I tackled God's holiness through His role as a Father.  The key scripture I spoke of was Psalms 8:3-4.   Hope you enjoy...

Jesus and The Velvet Underground

An essay on the comparison of Christianity and anarchism


Anarchism has always been looked at as a ridiculous ideology by most Christians.  I do not detest that train of thought, yet I think at a closer look we can discover some cries of the heart within anarchy, which Christianity answers.  Being a pseudo-anarchist turned Christian I found the comparison between the two ideologies interesting.  This is a comparative essay built from my knowledge and experience of both.

-My Understanding of Anarchism
Anarchism as a theory has been defined, yet as a practiced ideology, there is still some debate even between anarchists.  In this consideration, the following is my understanding, as it would be, of anarchism that may be practiced.
Anarchism is meant as a personal philosophy that should produce a utopian society through the absence of all order and replaced with chaos.  Yet chaos cannot be achieved in a reality already establish in order.  What I mean is that through human effort we can not change the rotation of the seasons, revolution of the solar system, or even time itself.  All of these things are considered Nature and none of them can be manipulated into chaos by human hands or thought. (If however, we were to change the rotations of the seasons to “shuffle” they would eventually find a pattern in what chaos they existed thus creating order)
So, If anarchy induced by mankind, It could only exist within Human Nature.  Yet even then order must be established in the functionality of human perspective. (For example: Do I take four hits of acid, or five to produce a state of anarchy?)  This, in itself, is a decision based off of conscience and consequence which inadvertently denounces anarchism.  For pure anarchy to extend to the utmost essence of the human mind, none could function on the point of making any decision because it invokes governing oneself through decision making.  So, for anarchy to be logically possible, order must extend to at least ones own self.  This would bring anarchy from simple theory to a somewhat able practiced state and how, I assume, most now-a-days anarchist practice it themselves.

-Christianity( in surface comparison)
Christianity, in a condensed paraphrased comparison, believes in a God of order, whom created the order of the universe and time.  Whereas one can govern his or her own self, under the governing of God, through absolute truth, and that order exists for the benefit of humanity by a God who wishes humanity to benefit.  There is much more to be said, but I feel no need since much will be discovered from the rest of the essay.

-Corruption of Human Nature (aka the Fall of Man)
Anarchism proves, through is own absence and desire, that Human Nature is ideally corrupt; greed, power, control, etc.  Whereas Christianity explains this corruption through the “fall of man”; Adam and Eve, the forbidden fruit and the snake, and what have you. (Genesis ch.3)  Through this occurrence, sin was introduced into the genetics of mankind, aka Human Nature, which not only corrupted humans but also Nature.  And if humans have dominion over creation established by God, then man’s sin might also be responsible for natural disasters along with those created by their own hands, but that’s for another time.  Overall, Christianity and anarchism both agree that there is something wrong within human state of mind, and/or heart.

-Authority Destroys Humility
One of the biggest ideologies of anarchism is built off the fact that in most cases authority destroys humility, thus anarchy would relinquish all authority over any society and base it only in oneself (even to the point that authority could not even be established in ones household over their own family).  Anarchy hangs on the hope that with the absence of authority, humility will be created and through it, the establishment of a pure utopian society.
Christianity also persuades that Human Authority is easily corrupt and destroys ones sense of humility. (See Old Testament)  But it does not believe the absence of authority creates humility, on the other hand, it believes through the truth of Sin, pure humility should produce pure authority.  This brings us to our next point.

-King or No King
The concept of no governing authority such as a monarchy, democracy, King or President is not a thick dividing line between anarchism and Christianity.  Where anarchism beckons society to function through peace and humility without an established human authority is something we find in the Old Testament (Samuel ch.8) God wished his people to have Him as their governing authority, yet Israel wish to be like the other nations and have a King.  God, after warning them of the corruption to come through this human King, did as they asked.  The rest of the Old Testament reads God basically saying over and over again. “I told you so” and “I warned you.”
Eventually, Christ, incapable of corruption, came to claim God’s authority on earth.  But, because God’s plan to bring salvation to the world and not just Israel, they rejected Jesus (Hence Christ came to save the world through the payment for sin by the Cross).  So, biblically speaking, God wished to be the Divine Authority over the earth which would relinquish any human governing authority.
As Christians, we believe Christ to be our governing authority and working through our “Christian Constitution” aka the Scriptures, we know this.  We have his command to follow who ever is in earthly authority to preserve peace and unity as long as the Word of God is not forsaken in doing so. (Romans ch.13, Matt 5;9, John 18;36)  Christ is the authority over Christians and he beckons to keep peace as much as possible. (Eph 4;3, Mark 9;50)

-Personal God or Personal Intellect
In anarchism we have to assume our only authority is ourselves hanging our understanding off of our intellect and what we deem as true or false, justice or injustice.  Since anarchy commonly follows suit with atheism, we must believe that our moral understanding can not be cooperative unless established as authority, yet since that is contradictory to anarchism, morality, in this case, would have to be relative and we could not act on absolute truth.  This would create the most opposing idea to a utopia where all is well through the same understanding.  It could not be proved that killing an innocent person is wrong for our measure of morality would not always be the same. (Note: Science in no way can prove morality, making moral law a theory by which our conscience suggests)
So because morality, in this case, would be relative, this makes a utopian society only possible through absolute agreement between all parties.  Yet, since this is highly unlikely because of the corruptibility of human nature (Fall of Man), an elimination of society must occur because no law or boundaries could be established or enforced.  For anarchy to be possible without morality, we literally could not be aware of the existence of others.
In Christianity, we find that our intellect is not the highest authority, but instead a God who has created moral law, and through it established justice.  Since we know humanity is corrupt and we believe God is not, we establish Him over our own intellectual thoughts on morality.  And while morality proves corruption exists, it does not fix it.  Yet, as Christians, we believe in Christ who alone has paid for sin and offered the world of corruption justification through faith in his death and resurrection.  Through faith, we cooperatively agree, and though morality we cooperatively exist.

-Utopia aka Kingdom of God
Through the concept of human corruption and moral law, anarchism states “utopia” as a dream by which none can obtain (because corruption can not be annihilated or justified).  Christianity is persuaded on the Kingdom of God in which corruption has already been defeated by the only One who has not been corrupted.  The concepts of these two ideas are not far apart, yet how we think to achieve them is. (That is even if you can achieve “utopia”, while the “Kingdom of God” stands out as something not to be achieved, but accepted)  However we deem these two “paradises” we know that the desire for a world absent from corruption is buried deep inside of mankind.

"Where mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other."                      -Psalms 85;10

                  In conclusion, though anarchism desires the existence of purity, in my understanding, Christianity is the only logical theory that suggests it.  Where anarchism begins to ask questions, Christianity answers.  Yet only through the belief that Christ being 100% God (incorruptible) and 100% Human (face to face with corruption) would prove him applicable payment for sin, thus the only solution for corruption.  And only through this would a utopian society exist, not through pure chaos, but through pure order.  Not achieved, but accepted.
When we step back and look at these two ideologies in comparison it is at least interesting.  It is, however most interesting to see that though these concepts are flip sides of a coin, they are apart of the same coin.  The coin is there common understanding, the acknowledgement that humanity is not at its best left alone.  We see desire of the absence of pain, suffering, injustice the common song between the two, and I would suspect the same with most ideologies.

"Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in Love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back."  –Isaiah 38:17