What do you want — a personal BRAND, or a good REPUTATION?

We live in a time of Influencers who seek Followers, but there are not enough servant Leaders. Influencers build a personal BRAND, but Leaders want a good REPUTATION. Influencers seek a Platform. Leaders choose a Posture. You build a BRAND for yourself. But a REPUTATION is received from others. This distinction is important if you want a good Name that will last beyond social media clicks, spaces of influence, and even beyond your own lifetime.

The gold standard for REPUTATION is found in Philippians 2:1-11. Here is the One who did not cling to high position, his essential equality with God the Father, or his high status, but served others with great personal self-sacrifice, and all for the glory of God. So, “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the Name above every Name” to everlasting and universal acclaim. Jesus earned a well-deserved REPUTATION for nobility with a legacy of glory because of his humble, self-giving, costly sacrificial service.

God’s Son emptied himself of self to love others. He neither thought less of, nor more highly of himself than he truly deserved. Jesus Christ lived selflessly in the service of his Father’s glory, and the good of others.

By contrast, a BRAND name is not the same as a good REPUTATION. Recall how Mr. Trump said: “You’ve got to put your name on stuff or no one remembers you.” An obsession to build a personal BRAND is why we get Trump Steaks, Trump Accounts, Trump Gold Cards, Trump Rx, Trump Mobile Phones, Trump Center for the Arts, Trump Institute for Peace, Trump Towers, Trump Golden Fleet, Trump Bibles, Trump Casinos, Trump Resorts, Trump Bitcoin, Trump University, Trump Sneakers, Trump Hotels, Trump Golf Resorts.

BRANDS, even gilded and profitable ones, have a short shelf life and often go bankrupt. But a good REPUTATION will endure. “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.” (Proverbs 22:1)

The contrast between a BRAND and a REPUTATION is often observed in the behaviors of the “old money” aristocracy and the “new money.” Those with a secure identity can give of themselves, personally and sacrificially, to benefit the lives of others. But nouveau riche are often insecure. So they inflate themselves to project their own self-importance, and often demean the reputations of other people.

Every follower of Jesus has a God-given mandate: “Have this mindset among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:6) Those who follow and serve God in imperfect imitation of Jesus’ cruciform way of life will receive a legacy that lasts. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” (Revelation 14:13)

This New Year,
Are you building your BRAND?
Or choosing a good REPUTATION?

The Presbyterian Church in America's 2024 national meeting saw detailed deliberations over its Rules of Operations, who may distribute the elements of the Lord’s Supper, who may serve on church committees, and procedures for discipline. But a weightier matter was shelved.

The 52nd PCA General Assembly voted to indefinitely postpone Overture #50 from Chesapeake Presbytery: Encouragement to Discernment and Compassion regarding Immigrants — click to read. The vote was 706 yea / 476 nay. *With charity toward all the commissioners, I have learned (since I was not present) that Overture #50 was received late, and was the last to be docketed. The indefinite postponement may have been due to parliamentary fatigue.

I have taught and preached on Biblical hospitality for decades. Recently, this online resource. I developed and led the PCA's hospitality-based ministry for international students, one of only two denomination sponsored international student ministries. So I am compelled to offer a gentle, respectful, but firm and insistent reminder to fellow PCA Elders.

Churches can only indefinitely postpone the practice of Biblical hospitality (filoxenia: redemptive, family love for strangers and foreigners) until the great Day when all opportunities to welcome and receive the Lord Jesus will be gone … forever.

Lord, when did we see you? (Matthew 25:35)

We are commanded to both practice hospitality (Romans 12:13) and honor the emperor (1 Peter 2:17). We can support immigration reforms without being callous to asylum seekers, refugees, or legal immigrants. We can care for our legal guests, like international students and scholars (fully screened and granted legal F- and J- visas).

Our politics (left, right, or center) must never control or corrupt our fidelity to God’s Word (Hebrews 13:2, Genesis 18:1-15). We were all once foreigners, but we are now, by God's grace, citizens of God’s Kingdom (Philippians 3:20-21).

The postponed Overture #50 seeks to encourage Gospel obedience: “The PCA encourages its churches to speak and act toward the sojourner in ways shaped not by political rhetoric but by the gospel, remembering our own identity as once-strangers, now brought near by grace.” (Ephesians 2:13)

Jesus, God’s ultimate resident-foreigner, stands knocking on our church doors. (Revelation 3:20). We must not close our ears to his voice because we are consumed by worldly media or political ideology. We must not harden our hearts to the gospel.

Jesus came as our Kinsman-Redeemer. (John 1:11-12) We cannot claim to fully obey our Lord's "Great Commission" if Christian hospitality becomes our "Great Omission," indefinitely postponed until Jesus Christ returns in glory.

A Renewed Opportunity

The PCA's next General Assembly is in June 2026, in Louisville, KY. The host committee has announced the theme for the week: “The Welcome of God.” My prayer: that our Welcoming God will make the PCA an increasingly Welcoming People.

GOD'S EXILES BLESS BABYLON.

Civil Religion tries to enlist religion and the church to support the State’s agenda, but Public Theology urges God’s people to return to God’s Word, and then sends them into the public square to pursue the common good of all society — not just your own religious tribe. I treasure a gift from Chinese students in the USA — an object of calligraphy that may be translated, Honor God and Bless People — a good summary of the Great Commandments and Public Theology!

God expelled the people of Israel from their land because they were unfaithful, serving idols. Deported to Babylon, they were told to not be nostalgic for their failed theocracy, but repent of their idolatry, then bless the pagan empire, Babylon. Repent > Be Refined > Bless.

This is the way forward for American Christians and churches. We must first recognize the bad consequences of our trust in politicians. The path ahead is not to go back to some golden age. We must rediscover our identity as God's foreigners. To invert an old phrase, we must learn to live as a moral minority in a foreign land. Or, in John Stott's words: to be spiritually distinct, but not socially segregated. Only when Jesus’ followers and church are spiritually distinct, salt and light, can we bless our nation.

David Brooks, who converted to Christ from Judaism, has noted that the Jews in Babylon are the only case when a people retained and did not lose its cultural-religious distinctives through assimilation. Only the people who belong to God, and who live as God's foreigners, will bless the world. To learn to live as Exiles, God’s people have guidance from God's Word, the Bible. Three examples:

From the Old Testament: Jeremiah’s letter to the Jewish Exiles: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons … give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare [Shalom, complete well being] of the city where I have sent you into exile … pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare [Shalom] you will find your welfare [Shalom]. (Jeremiah 29:4-7)

From the New Testament: the Apostle Paul to the Philippians: our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20). The cultural context: Philippi was a colony of Rome in the heart of Greek Macedonia. But, rather than exercise their rights and social status as Roman citizens, they must do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind … which is yours in Christ Jesus … (Philippians 2:3-5)

Again, from the New Testament: the Apostle Peter writes to Christians in Asia Minor, a power center of the Caesar cult: to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia … I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh … Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1:1, 2:11-12).

Like the Jews in imperial Babylon, or the early Christians under imperial Rome, American Christians now live under an authoritarian regime. Journalist David French notes that this is typical in history, but we live in one of the few times when Christians democratically voted themselves for such a regime (the 1930’s “good Germans” also come to mind). When we confess and follow Jesus Christ under the thumb of a Caesar in a decaying empire, that is the more typical historical norm.

Now, if we live in such circumstances and serve counter-culturally (protecting unwanted lives, redeeming and not disposing of them, or welcoming foreigners to take refuge in our embassies), we may be maligned as “backward conservatives” or “woke progressives.” But, in truth, we will become glimpses of the Kingdom of God, a new world coming, filled with righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)

From his distant vantage point in North Africa, Augustine witnessed the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. The “eternal city” on earth was overrun and sacked by the Visigoths in AD 410. But Augustine also glimpsed and wrote about the true Eternal City, The City of God.

Now, as 80 years of a Pax Americana degenerates to an inevitable end, may the good news of God’s Kingdom spread rapidly through the lives of people who live as Jesus Christ's Ambassadors, and through local churches that serve their communities as Embassies of God’s Kingdom — the only Empire that cannot be shaken!

YOUR FALSE GODS WILL HARM YOU.

A series of essays on Public Theology. In contrast with Civil Religion that accommodates Religion to support the State's agenda, Public Theology starts with the Bible and God’s People to seek the welfare [Shalom] of the State, the commonwealth, and the common good. What the Bible says about Idolatry exposes partisan delusions.

King David asked, How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? (Psalm 4:2) Trust in falsehoods turns delusional. Devotion to false gods generates a force field of lies, empty promises, false hopes, and pretensions to power. Like any addiction, idols appear to offer you control but end up controlling and harming you.

You can correct falsehoods by fact-checking. But delusions are not open to change when presented with contrary evidence. Those who love delusions will defend their cults and double down, in spite of all the evidence, even if it leads to self-harm.

A dramatic Bible example is King Ahab and his court prophets. Facing an economic crisis of drought and famine, the king and people turned to baals, fertility gods. God’s true prophet Elijah was labeled a troubler of Israel. (1 Kings 18:17) Elijah exposed the impotence of false gods, and publicly shamed the prophets of false promises. But the false prophets at court shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. (1 Kings 18:28)

When your devotion to a false god becomes delusional, it leads to personal and social harm. In our time, uncritical loyalty to MAGA ideology has started to turn delusional and also socially harmful.

Swiss theologian Emil Brunner observed, For every civilization, for every period of history, it is true to say: show me what kind of gods you have, and I will tell you what kind of humanity you possess.

MAGA's distrust of federal agencies (or "the deep state") has brought massive cuts in public health, the National Institutes of Health, and the Communicable Disease Centers. Vaccine skepticism has led to a resurgence of measles. Losing scientific researchers, the ability to regulate and test new medications, and vulnerability to new pandemics are social consequences.

Cuts to the FAA have sown doubts about air traffic safety. The dismantling, not reforming, of domestic or international disaster relief agencies like FEMA or USAID, makes us less able to show compassion to our own citizens or world neighbors. USAID deployed three staff to the Myanmar earthquake zone. But China has flooded relief workers to aid earthquake victims.

If you make sweeping deportations, incarcerate a legal refugee, admit you ignored his Constitutional due process, but still claim — with no evidence — that the victim is a gang member? When asked, “Why do you claim this man is a gang member with no proof?” The MAGA answer: “Why do you defend a known gang member by asking that question?”

What if, contrary to most conservative economists, you start global trade wars, violate your own trade agreements? As the Economist notes: “Almost everything [potus] said … on history, economics and the technicalities of trade … was utterly deluded.” But cult leaders offer a “prosperity” gospel: “you'll get rich — just believe enough.”

David Kelly, the chief global strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management says, “The trouble with tariffs, to be succinct, is that they raise prices, slow economic growth, cut profits, increase unemployment, worsen inequality, diminish productivity and increase global tensions. Other than that, they're fine.”

But who cares if the stock markets tank? If families spend $1,000's more? Trust potus! He knows what he’s doing. Uncritical devotion becomes delusional, leading to personal and societal harm. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame? (Jeremiah 7:19)

FALSE GODS WILL DISFIGURE YOU.

I have long studied the topic of Idolatry. In this cultural moment, biblical insights on Idolatry apply to Public Theology, the dialogue between those inside and outside the church. Public Theology identifies common interests, to build a good and just society to benefit all citizens, not just Christians. As God’s exiles, Christ’s Ambassadors, and local churches as Kingdom Embassies, how can we pursue the common good (“commonweal”) of American society?

The Bible warns: idols distort and disfigure you. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them. (Psalm 135:18) What you revere, you will resemble. Trust in false gods turns you into something corrosive, not preservative, to society.

To worship One who is worthy is positively transforming. God’s Son came to earth, was incarnate, embodied in Jesus. We all are broken creatures, bent images of God, but Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:3). Only Jesus is the perfectly righteous Hero (royal Lion King) and the only worthy Victim (God’s sacrificial Lamb).

Devotion to Jesus transforms us into Christ-likeness: beholding the glory of the Lord [we will be] transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. (2 Corinthians 3:18) Devotion to the only One worthy of worship ultimately leads to bodily resurrection. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:49).

But what happens if we give our hearts to a ruler or a political idol? When our idol acts cruelly or inhumanely, we ourselves become dehumanized. Those who trust in them become like them.

Idolizing rulers both disfigures people and distorts societies. When Babylon’s Nebuchadnezzar made absolute claims, he became beastly. The Bible does not reveal the identity of the final anti-Christ, the beast. But when any unworthy ruler claims to be “savior of the world” (like Augustus, the “revered one”), he becomes bestial. Counterfeits to God’s Lion-Lamb justify themselves as heroes who never do wrong, but are mistreated as victims.

Idolizing rulers produces cults. The Augustus cult persecuted early Christians. When politicians demand cult loyalty, their devotees are disfigured. Society becomes paranoid, brutal, coercive, and cruel. Respectful civil discourse is replaced by anger and grievance.

When professing Christians are seduced by beastly idols, they may begin to condone or excuse anti-Christian behavior, like inhumane treatment of refugees, prisoners, the weak, unhealthy, the poor, and people of color. Xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia, and racism are not the marks of a good society or a great nation.

Probably writing from Ephesus, a center of the imperial cult, the apostle John urged Jesus' followers to reflect God’s Light and Love. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you … many antichrists have come … they went out from us, but they were not of us. (1 John 2:18-19, 26)

Jesus' followers must not be corrosive, but preserving Salt, truthful Light, even blessing our imperial Babylon. Let us follow God's Lamb and not marvel at beastly counterfeits (Revelation 17:8). And, as God's children, let us keep ourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)