Building Outposts in Exile

“Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. (Hebrews 13:13-14)

As fathers, we need to have a clear vision for our end game.

What mission has our Lord given our families?

We must be careful not to aim at a target beyond or in a different direction than the one assigned to us.

And what is that target?

First, let’s talk about what it is not.

I’ve heard an increasing rallying cry for us to take dominion. 

Genesis 1 makes clear that human families were made to rule.

Many have made the logical jump from our mandate to rule creation to a mandate to rule over other families. This includes a call to extend political power over as much political territory as we can. 

Is this our assignment at this time in salvation history?

Remember that even if you don’t acquire political power through violence it will always require the threat and the eventual use of violence to keep it.

I’d like to set against this call for ever-expanding dominion over our fellow humans to a different vision I feel is more in keeping with our current assignment. 

This does not contradict the Genesis 1 mandate but brings it within the proper scope of our new covenant mission. I’ll call the assignment building outposts in exile.

Why exile?

Because we are aliens and strangers on the Earth (1 Peter 2:11).

Because we are commanded to flee persecution not slay our persecutors (Matthew 10:23).

Because we are citizens of another Kingdom that is not of this Earth (Philippians 3:20).

Because we are invited to join Jesus outside the camp “and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” (Hebrews 13:13-14).

What this means is we gravitate away from the centers of political power.

We are called to be salt to preserve an ever-decaying culture and to be light in ever-darkening world. (Matthew 5:13-16)

What about the Genesis 1 call to dominion?

Let’s be clear about what is actually said in Genesis 1.

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)

The dominion mandate is a call to steward creation not to dominate unwilling humans outside of our household.

Also, notice this was not given to a single ruler but to a multigenerational family, 

“So God created man in his own image,

    in the image of God he created him;

    male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28)

Ever since this mandate was given to humanity we’ve been tempted to read into this command a call to rule over other families.

But remember how the Kingdom in its fullness is described. Jesus alone is given the scepter to rule but notice how even he chooses to rule.

“He shall judge between many peoples,

    and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

    and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

    neither shall they learn war anymore;

but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,

    and no one shall make them afraid” (Micah 4:3-4)

In other words, even when Jesus comes to rule, the normal citizens of his Kingdom get to enjoy their own dominion over their pocket of the created order without the fear that it will be suddenly seized by a tyrant seeking to extend his dominion over your family.

And yes this will be after a great battle where Jesus conquers the rebels because he alone is worthy to rule the nations. (Psalm 2)

So what chapter of the Story do we live in today?

We live under both the Genesis 1 and the Matthew 28 mandates.

We build families that work as multigenerational teams to establish pockets of order over creation. In other words, we build outposts.

Those outposts sit at the fringes of society as salt and light, making disciples of those tired of the endless destructive cycles of rule by fallen humanity. That means our outposts exist in a state of exile until the return of the King.

We raise sons and daughters of the Kingdom and launch rescue missions into enemy-held territory. 

We disciple household leaders to multiply outposts as their homes, “shine like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.” (Philippians 2:15)

As the darkness grows the light blazes all the brighter.

Don’t seek power that results in increasing dominion over others.

We seek a future city.

“For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.” (Romans 8:19)

Remember that “if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.” (Romans 8:25)

Don’t lose the plot.

Ruling is a future inheritance, not a present right.

Church history is full of the dark fruit of Christians who sought dominion in advance of Christ’s return whether you look at the Catholic Inquisition, Calvin’s burning of Servetus, Puritan witch hunts, or Pat Robertson. 

We’ve tried this hundreds of times before and it doesn’t end well.

We have plenty of work to do in building and multiplying outposts in exile.

Political dominion always requires the constant threat of force.

Outposts limit their dominion to their immediate household domain to serve those who voluntarily ask for our help.

Build Rivendell, not the Death Star.

(Stay tuned for a podcast episode on this essay with Michael Foster)