Trust and Obey?

It is because of him [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:30-31

 

 

There is a classic Action/Consequence sermon which I grew up hearing and often hear today.  The pastor usually begins with a self-deprecating story, making a point to let us know he is not perfect.  Whatever character flaw is involved in the tale will be the theme of the sermon.  After we have all laughed and identified with how impatient, unloving or ungrateful he is, he proceeds to tell us that God really wants and expects us to be patient or loving or grateful, etc., and then gives us practical tips on how we can become better.  Finally, we are encouraged to have faith that one day we will possess these lacking traits.  We are advised not to become discouraged and exhorted to keep hoping and trusting as we strive to obey.

When I was young and heard this sermon, I recognized my lack of the chosen virtue and took to heart the challenge to try and be better.  When my efforts met with a measure of success, I patted myself on the back.  When I failed, I admonished myself to have faith and I tried harder.

As I grew a little older and heard this sermon, I acknowledged my continued lack of whatever the virtue of the week was, vowed to try again and began to suspect that I might be a particularly hard nut to crack.  I worried that God was disappointed in my lack of progress. 

Later, I grew a bit more cynical about the sermon.  I would imagine asking, ‘How’s that working out for you, Pastor?  You’re getting up in age and you’re telling us you aren’t better yet, but you’re full of advice on what to do about it.  Don’t you see that as a problem?’  But, still, I felt guilty and tried to step up my game.

Finally, I learned about grace.  I learned that the Good News isn’t about my being “well mannered” or “nice”.  In fact, it isn’t about what I do at all.  When the focus is on me and what I do, it is always Bad News.  The Good News is always and only about what God did for me by sending Jesus to perfectly fulfill every virtue on my behalf, and to take the punishment for every instance of my failure to be patient, loving, grateful, etc.

I learned that ‘having faith’, doesn’t mean faith that I will one day become a better person.  It means having faith in Christ’s blood which washed away the very real condemnation for all of my imperfect conduct.  I discovered to my relief that my ‘hope’ is not based on my progress, but on what Christ accomplished once and for all at the cross and credited to my account.  I learned that ‘trusting’ means being able to count on God’s acceptance of me because of Jesus’ obedience, not my own.  Jesus was the only one who truly trusted and obeyed.

It is grace, not guilt, which motivates me.  I am still far from perfect and in constant need of a savior; but, it is that very realization, of how much grace has been and is being given to me daily, which prompts in me a desire to extend that same grace to others.  And, when I do manage to respond out of grace instead of reacting with selfishness, I am well aware that I have nothing for which to pat myself on the back, because the ability to respond in that manner is also a gift. 

Now when I hear that sermon, I want to shout the good news to both the pastor and the congregation: ‘It’s okay, God isn’t disappointed in you; because everything God wanted us to be Jesus already was!’

It Goes So Quickly

Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.  Psalm 90:12

A friend sent me a link to the photo montage of his beloved wife which was played at her recent memorial service.  I only met her once or twice, but she was my age, and as the montage began to play it was like watching my own life unfolding.  With music from my era playing in the background, I looked at baby and toddler photographs where everyone was wearing the style of clothing I remember from my childhood.  The elementary school class pictures showcased the classic hairstyles of the times. These were followed by high school yearbook shots of a delightful teen whose exuberance and love of life showed in her wide smile and mischievous eyes.  I knew the year and remembered my own hopes and dreams at that very same time, which seems like such a short while ago.  Next came the photos of a young woman embarking on her adulthood journey; and a gawky young man, the one with whom she would spend the rest of her life, entered the scene.  There were touching wedding shots followed in quick succession by pictures of their children, pets and family life.  And, finally, there were the heartbreakingly poignant pictures of this same beautiful woman, ravaged by cancer, taken at her daughter’s wedding, which had been hastily put together just weeks before her life came to an end.  The impact of watching a whole life, so much like mine, from beginning to end, in the space of a few short minutes, was overwhelming.  I wept.

This week also marks the anniversary of the deaths of two of my very dear friends.  I wept for them as well, and for those they left behind.  I wept for all of their unfulfilled hopes and dreams; for their surprised disappointment that life gave them so little of what they had expected.  I wept for us all.

And I thought about Jesus weeping at the tomb of Lazarus.  People have been puzzled as to why he wept when he was about to bring Lazarus back to life.  I think I understand.  God was experiencing the pain of human existence from the inside out; all of the heartbreak of life's broken promises.  How could he not weep?  The happy ending of a story doesn’t negate the pain of the journey.  He wept with and for us all, then resolutely turned his face toward Jerusalem and died for us, so that one day we could have the life God always wanted us to have; where sorrow and sighing will forever flee away and death will be no more.

Are You My Mother?

Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law?  For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman.  One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise.  Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery.  Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.  But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. Galatians 4:21-26

If you have children or grandchildren you are probably familiar with P.D. Eastman’s classic children’s book entitled Are You My Mother?  It is the story of a baby bird who hatched while his mother was away, fell from the nest and sets out on a quest to find his mother by asking everyone he meets, including a dog, a cow and a steam shovel, this all important question.  In the end he finds her in one glorious moment of recognition.

My spiritual journey has been similar to that of the baby bird.  I was raised in a church which had, at the heart of its unique doctrine, the belief that Jesus is currently in heaven carefully reviewing the lives of those who profess to be Christians to see whether their profession is borne out by their behavior.  If so, they will be allowed into heaven; if not, they will be consigned to punishment with the devil and his minions. Consequently, this church also taught that no one should be so bold as to say “I am saved”, because our behavior changes from one day to the next.  The fear of complacency allowed no room for assurance.

I was a conscientious child and wanted more than anything to show Jesus that I was worthy.  I tried hard to do all the right things and not do the wrong things; but I was aware of my continued failures.  This led to my answering altar call after altar call where I would confess and promise once more to do better, only to fail again.  Literally by the grace of God I did not give up and walk away, but I lived in insecurity and fear until I was in my early thirties when God opened my ears to the proclamation of the Good News by a friend.  

Once I understood and accepted the fact that Jesus was actually in heaven applying his worthiness to my account in place of my unworthiness, my life was transformed!  I went from the status of being dead in my transgressions and sins to being alive with Christ!  I had nothing to prove because Jesus had proved it all on my behalf!  I was free!

Although I stayed awhile longer in the church of my childhood, I ultimately ventured out to find “my mother”, which in my mind was a church that would nurture me in my newfound faith in Christ.  I began my search with the faulty assumption that every other church but mine understood and taught the good news as I had come to understand it from scripture.  As a result, I found a church where the minister preached grace, and I joined.  Shortly thereafter that particular pastor was transferred and a new one arrived who did not share my love of the gospel.  However, because I had become quite active in that church and my young children were involved, I stayed.  I decided that, because the original preacher had taught grace, the church as a whole must not be opposed to it, so I felt free to share it in my own sphere.  I taught it in Children’s Church and I shared it in small groups; but mine was the only voice I heard proclaiming the good news. 

Since this was in a time before personal computers were common, I searched Christian radio for some water in my desert.  To my dismay, all I found was program after program proclaiming the bad news of how we should try harder to be better because we weren’t measuring up to what God expected of us.  Finally, I found Steve Brown’s Key Life broadcast which provided me with thirst quenching good news, so I immediately signed up for his free tapes and newsletter which were soon the only contact I had when his show was taken off the air in my area. Oh, how I looked forward to those tapes from Steve!

   

About the time my children began entering their teens, my oldest daughter was invited to a friend’s Youth Group.  After she had attended for several months, she said that she thought I would really like the church, especially the pastor.  So, on one Sunday when I wasn’t scheduled to do anything in my church, I attended a worship service.  Everything about that service touched my heart and fed my soul, especially the sermon, which was pure grace.  I was so moved that I decided to finish out the remainder of the year as far as my responsibilities in my church, and then to begin attending this church; which I did.  I thought I had found my mother at last! Of course, within a couple of years, that pastor moved on and a succession of ministers, whose understanding of the good news varied, came and went.  I stayed and shared with the teens what God was teaching me.

I have often wondered over the years why I seemed to be separated from others who believed and taught what I had found in scripture.  Recently, thanks to all of the available technology, I have discovered that there are and have been many over the centuries who have shared the same understanding of grace which has thrilled my heart for all of these years.  I am now eagerly broadening and deepening my understanding as I study their words.  But, I have come to an appreciation of why God, knowing me as he does, wanted me to confirm my beliefs through scripture alone before he showed me the vast number of people who believed in the same things. 

I was raised to accept what I was taught by those “in authority”.  The way the clergy interpreted scripture was what I assumed to be true.  When my friend initially told me the story of the gospel, I wanted desperately to believe it, but I was terrified I was in danger of believing a lie which would lead to my eternal destruction.  I couldn’t take anyone else's word for something that important, because I didn't know whose word to trust, so the Holy Spirit and I wrestled together through the book of Romans until he confirmed for me the truth of the good news. Then, and only then, I dared to believe. 

Through all of my years with no particular earthly mentor, the same Spirit opened scripture to me until I knew that I knew that I knew what I believed, as one of my pastors used to say.  As a result, my beliefs are mine.  Because of the way God made me, he knew it was important for me to know that what I believe is what I found in scripture and not what someone else found and told me to accept.  I am grateful for the people, like Steve Brown, which God allowed me to glimpse over the years to let me know that I wasn’t alone, but I’m also grateful that God directed my path in such a way that I would know for myself the reason for the hope that is in me.

I thought that my “mother” would turn out to be a nurturing denomination or local church; but, in one glorious moment of recognition I understood that, as Paul says in the verses above where he contrasts law and grace, I am a child of the free woman, born of a promise; the promise of a savior who offered me his worthiness for my unworthiness.  No matter where I go, grace will always be my mother.

Love: Listen and Do, or Done?

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:9-11

“And I will show you a still more excellent way”, Paul says at the end of 1 Corinthians 12 where he has been speaking of the different gifts which the Holy Spirit gives believers for the one purpose of proclaiming that Jesus is Lord.  He then launches into “The Love Chapter”, which is how we often refer to 1 Corinthians 13.  This chapter, often read at weddings and presented in sermons with the idea that the bride and groom and all of us should listen and do, gives us a daunting standard if we view it as an expectation to fulfill.  Let’s take a look at the first three verses:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Paul basically goes down the list of the spiritual gifts he has just been speaking of in chapter 12 and says that, unless our underlying motive for the use of those gifts is love, our actions serve no purpose. No matter how eloquent I am in the proclamation of God’s word, I am just a lot of empty noise if I don’t have love.  And, regardless of how profound my grasp of Scripture may be or whether my faith has accomplished incredible feats, if I don’t have love, I am nothing. That is harsh!  “I am nothing”!  And finally, if I sacrifice everything, including my life—allowing myself to be burned at the stake, unless I did it from love, it was a pointless sacrifice!  In other words, it does not matter how much you say, how much you know or how much you give up, if you don’t have love, it is meaningless as far as God is concerned.

In light of that, it seems important to know how Paul defines this love which is so essential.  Let’s keep going:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.” (verses 4-first part of 8)

I don’t know about you (well, I do know about you, but it’s arrogant and rude to say so), but if I’m honest, I have to admit that I am frequently impatient and unkind. I am often envious of what others have that I do not. I like for people to notice things that I do, so I try to bring attention to those things. I think I know best in many situations, and sometimes have been known to rudely let people know that they need to do it my way. I admit to being happy sometimes when ‘what goes around comes around’ and someone ‘gets what’s coming to them’, which is Karma and not Christianity! There are plenty of situations where I’m not willing to bear ALL things, or believe everything I’m being asked to believe.  When it comes to continued hope regarding some situations, I do have my limits; and there have been many times that I have been pushed beyond what I thought was my ability to endure.  In my experience, and if you’re honest, in yours as well, love has been known to end. So where does that leave us if these verses are telling us what God requires in order for anything we do to have meaning?

The remainder of the chapter goes on to say that one day the gifts which the Holy Spirit gave us for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel will no longer have a point; the thing we, as Christians, have spent our lives talking about and looking forward to—will have happened; everything given to us will have served its purpose, which was simply a temporary, earthly purpose.

At that time, even the knowledge we were given about God will turn out to have been only a partial understanding, or a dim awareness of the truth.  Paul says, the way we view things on earth versus the way we will understand them in eternity is comparable to the way we view things as children versus the way we understand them as adults.  What we thought we understood will one day give way to what really is. 

Paul says, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  The reality is, every gift but one will pass away. Even faith and hope will come to an end; there will be no more need for them because we will finally see God face to face, and know him fully, in the same way he has always fully known us. Only love will remain; this is why Paul says it is the greatest gift.

But, we still have the dilemma: if this chapter has been about how useless we and our works are without this great gift of love, yet we see that, compared to the definition of love given, we have no hope of reaching the standard, are we left with nothing?  Fortunately, that is not the case.

Paul is not telling us that we must conjure up a flawless love as the motive for our actions. We have no ability to be anything but noisy gongs and clanging cymbals; we will always be nothing and gain nothing regardless of what we do if we are depending on our love, because, even at our very best, we do not remotely begin to possess the kind of love that is required.  Only Christ possessed that love; and he gave it to us at the cross. The gift of love is not power given to us so that we can love; it is Christ’s love for us.

The love described in this chapter is the love of God, and “the more excellent way” Paul speaks of is our recognizing and resting in that love which has already been poured out for us. Action/Consequence wants us to think that God gave us gifts simply so that we could do good works for him, but that is just our way of striving for our own meaning with determination and gritted teeth. Death/Resurrection tells us that the gifts have been given to us for the purpose of sharing what Christ has already done for us; everything we do will flow from our gratitude for his love. We are called to love with joyful abandonment because he loved us; but it is Christ’s love alone, not our poor imitation of it, which infuses and gives true meaning to whatever we do.