City on Our Knees (by Toby Mac w/ Todd Hafer & Rick Killian)

The City of God: A City on Its Knees

In the early fifth century, as the Roman Empire was crumbling and Europe was fading into the shadows of the Dark Ages, Christianity was under attack, much as it is today. Many pointed to Christianity, which had become Rome’s official state religion under Constantine the Great roughly a century before, as the cause of Rome’s collapse. These critics contended that Christian bigotry undermined people’s freedom to practice other religions—or to be subject to the dictates of their consciences. They pointed to the Christian faith as divisive and claimed that its lack of widespread acceptance created the crack that divided the empire and made it vulnerable to barbarian attacks.

In response to this criticism, Christian leader Augustine of Hippo wrote The City of God. This book made two major main points:

(1) Immorality and corruption, not Christianity, led to Rome’s collapse.

(2) All the world was defined, in essence, by the laws and culture of two metaphorical “cities”: the city of man and the city of God. Augustine explained how, from the time of Adam, the city of God had worked to rescue and prosper all humankind. It worked to transform selfishness, exploitation, and greed—“itself ruled by its lust of rule”—into peace, justice, and joyful communion.

Augustine pointed to the city of God as a place that transcends time and space, culture, ethnicity, and nationality. It is not defined by adherence to a certain set of practices and regulations, a particular way of dressing, or even belonging to the right organization or hanging with the right crowd. Instead, Augustine wrote, the city was defined by an inner pursuit of goodness and outward demonstrations of generosity. The inhabitants of the city of God are those who bow their knees to Jesus and join hands with any others willing to do the same.

Further, Augustine proclaimed that citizens of this city would focus their prayers and actions on dismantling a world of sickness, exploitation, violence, abuse, and poverty—replacing it with a world of freedom, peace, and dignity. The city of God is marked by pursuit of knowing God and living in His ways.

He wrote, “These two cities were made by two loves: the earthly city by the love of self unto the contempt of God, and the heavenly city by the love of God unto the contempt of self.”

The city of God, a city on its knees, is a diverse city, stronger for the differences of its individual inhabitants, but united in its pursuit to establish God’s goodness upon the earth for all of humanity. It is a city of prayer, a city of mission and purpose, a city of hope, a city of healing, and a city of transformation. It is as small as two friends meeting together to pray about a private concern and as large as organizations and churches that stand against the ills of our communities and continents.

Augustine had the right idea—it is not about the things that are falling apart, but about our coming together as citizens of this universal city with one King.

I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. (John 17:22–23 NLT)

 Copyright © 2010 by Bethany House Publishers. Used with permission.