This is going to be unpopular. This is going to feel backwards. In a world where everything is mixed up and such a mess, maybe it's time to look at things from a different angle though. It struck me today as I was pondering all of the anger and protests and sliding scales of "righteousness" that move the standard of "right" depending on the cause. This world is in constant flux- one day condemning those who don't practice social isolation as being selfish and unloving, and the next day lauding those who cram together sweaty shoulder to sweaty shoulder shouting their infected droplets of virus and (understandable) anger and (rightful) hurt into the lungs, hearts, and souls of their neighbors. The issues of love, of valued life, of respect, have been highlighted for our nation over the last few months, but I'm not sure that we've got the "wherefore" right. And that matters I think.
So the thought that struck me this morning was this: the truth is not that "all men should be free" but rather that I am a slave. 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20 kept running through my mind, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." Those are unpopular words today, even among many Christians. Especially among Americans. You are not your own- you have been bought with a price. But it gains a richer meaning than the world of human trafficking and barbarous slaver labor when we look at Romans 6: 16-23.
"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
See, the question is not "slave or free" "oppressed or privileged", the question is, "slave to sin or slave to righteousness". And today, as we live in the reality of the Now But Not Yet tension (Romans 6:5 for example or Romans 7:25) the gauge for how we ought to treat one another-not looking at job title or skin color, uniform or family lineage- should be that I AM NOT MY OWN, but
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother?
"we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,
'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.'
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God." Romans 14:10-12
So then, the greatest reason that I have to treat others with respect, with love, with mercy, is not that all men are made free, but that I am a slave who will give an account. I who was once a slave of sin, who bears in my person-hood the scars of that old "master" ought only to be a slave now of righteousness, to lead others to the good master who would set us free from sin.
I recognize that this doesn't specifically address racism. It doesn't address the horrific occurrences of and opportunity for violence afforded to positions of authority wearing a badge. But, if all who have been bought by the blood of Christ began to live as those who will give an account, who are to have the mind of Christ, who indeed are not free themselves, I wonder how it would change the way we treat one another. How would it change the way we deal with the fallout of real sin in a world where many of us are slaves to sin still (even many that have been bought by Christ are still wrestling with the slavery of sin in their bodies)? Oh, the immeasurable value that Christ gave to life the moment he became incarnate! How much higher that estimation rose each day he lived in perfectly righteous obedience on our behalf. How incalculable the value life acquired that day he gave his life to pay the ransom price to buy us back from slavery to sin! How could we not value life likewise?
Sunday, June 7, 2020
Friday, April 17, 2020
The Better You Get the Harder it is.
I was talking with a student the other day in our zoom classroom (these are strange times) about how much harder dance gets the farther you advance in it. She had been telling her friend how many classes she took each week and her friend postulated that it was easy for her because she had been training for so long. Immediately I saw a picture of sanctification -what my children's catechism book describes as "the process by which God makes sinners Holy in heart and conduct."
I look at my children struggle with such obvious sins daily: failing to love one another as themselves when required to share toys or play pretend to the other's specifications for example. It makes me think of the baby students in pre-ballet who's hands inadvertently rotate out when they try to turn out their toe; who struggle to conquer the basics of bending their knees in a turned out plie without their bottom sticking out behind them. This is the beginning stages. It all seems so hard, so impossible. How could that little person develop the coordination and self-possession required to master the movements of even a supporting dancer in the corps de ballet? And yet, time after time, it happens. Over years, through sweat, blood, tears, and a huge amount of brain development that only time can allow, a tiny dreamer becomes a full fledged ballerina. And truly, there is very little doubt in my mind as I look at those tiny dancers that some day, if they are willing to make the sacrifice and commitment, they will become a ballerina. I wish I had that same confidence when I consider sanctification, yet, that's exactly how it works!
Years ago when I was caught in some glaring besetting sins I thought, "if only I could work free of this I'd be doing just fine," I think I even had the audacity to make a similar comment to a friend of mine. But the thing about walking alongside Jesus is the "farther" you go, the more your realize the depths of your brokenness and helplessness; you might say the "better" you get (“you are made” is a truer statement) the harder it gets. I wonder sometimes as I observe the lives of a rare shining example in the faith how it can be so easy for them to exude the love and joy of a life lived in Christ. How effortless it looks! How natural! So much like the effortless grace displayed by a ballerina as she executes even the most challenging steps.
I consider too the idea of the temptation of Christ (bear with me, this is a less developed thought). I have been struggling with the reality that Christ was "tempted in every way as we are, yet was without sin". How could very God be tempted by sin? Doesn't God hate sin? If I hate something (like black jelly beans) are they actually a temptation to me? But I have heard it said that Christ was tempted far beyond any temptation we could ever experience simply by the nature of the truth that at no point did He give in, so it continued to mount against Him. He was completely sanctified (though for Him it was never a process of becoming but one of proving) and so His road was the hardest possible. This is a comfort. Wherever I am in my process of being made holy in heart and conduct, however stilted my soul movement quality (like a dancer in the pre-ballet class of life) when God the Father looks at me, He has full confidence that some day, through blood (primarily that of Christ's), sweat, and tears, because He will make me willing to make the sacrifice and commitment required (Phil 2:13), I will be made like Christ (if only, finally at the day of His appearing Phil 1:6) just as that pre-ballet dancer may turn into a ballerina. And amazingly, in the meantime, as my heart still struggles to become fluent in this language of obedience, when the Father looks at me, He sees superimposed over my failures the perfect obedience of Christ who was tempted far beyond anything I can ever expect to encounter in life yet without sin (Rom 5:21).
Now my task is self-forgetfulness as I fix my eyes on the author and perfecter of my faith and strain toward the goal trusting that He will enable me to lay aside every sin that clings so closely and would hinder my growth. Be encouraged with me, if we are in Christ, then in the end, perfection is guaranteed. Keep digging in. It won't get easier, but it will get better!
I look at my children struggle with such obvious sins daily: failing to love one another as themselves when required to share toys or play pretend to the other's specifications for example. It makes me think of the baby students in pre-ballet who's hands inadvertently rotate out when they try to turn out their toe; who struggle to conquer the basics of bending their knees in a turned out plie without their bottom sticking out behind them. This is the beginning stages. It all seems so hard, so impossible. How could that little person develop the coordination and self-possession required to master the movements of even a supporting dancer in the corps de ballet? And yet, time after time, it happens. Over years, through sweat, blood, tears, and a huge amount of brain development that only time can allow, a tiny dreamer becomes a full fledged ballerina. And truly, there is very little doubt in my mind as I look at those tiny dancers that some day, if they are willing to make the sacrifice and commitment, they will become a ballerina. I wish I had that same confidence when I consider sanctification, yet, that's exactly how it works!
Years ago when I was caught in some glaring besetting sins I thought, "if only I could work free of this I'd be doing just fine," I think I even had the audacity to make a similar comment to a friend of mine. But the thing about walking alongside Jesus is the "farther" you go, the more your realize the depths of your brokenness and helplessness; you might say the "better" you get (“you are made” is a truer statement) the harder it gets. I wonder sometimes as I observe the lives of a rare shining example in the faith how it can be so easy for them to exude the love and joy of a life lived in Christ. How effortless it looks! How natural! So much like the effortless grace displayed by a ballerina as she executes even the most challenging steps.
I consider too the idea of the temptation of Christ (bear with me, this is a less developed thought). I have been struggling with the reality that Christ was "tempted in every way as we are, yet was without sin". How could very God be tempted by sin? Doesn't God hate sin? If I hate something (like black jelly beans) are they actually a temptation to me? But I have heard it said that Christ was tempted far beyond any temptation we could ever experience simply by the nature of the truth that at no point did He give in, so it continued to mount against Him. He was completely sanctified (though for Him it was never a process of becoming but one of proving) and so His road was the hardest possible. This is a comfort. Wherever I am in my process of being made holy in heart and conduct, however stilted my soul movement quality (like a dancer in the pre-ballet class of life) when God the Father looks at me, He has full confidence that some day, through blood (primarily that of Christ's), sweat, and tears, because He will make me willing to make the sacrifice and commitment required (Phil 2:13), I will be made like Christ (if only, finally at the day of His appearing Phil 1:6) just as that pre-ballet dancer may turn into a ballerina. And amazingly, in the meantime, as my heart still struggles to become fluent in this language of obedience, when the Father looks at me, He sees superimposed over my failures the perfect obedience of Christ who was tempted far beyond anything I can ever expect to encounter in life yet without sin (Rom 5:21).
Now my task is self-forgetfulness as I fix my eyes on the author and perfecter of my faith and strain toward the goal trusting that He will enable me to lay aside every sin that clings so closely and would hinder my growth. Be encouraged with me, if we are in Christ, then in the end, perfection is guaranteed. Keep digging in. It won't get easier, but it will get better!
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