RFRC: We're not there yet

For so many believers there are remarkable stories of when they met Christ, when He became a real savior to them. I don't happen to think mine is terribly dramatic, but that moment still stands out to me as something life-giving and transforming. It was also something that had nothing to do with me doing enough good and right things, pleasing God by praying or giving enough, or achieving anything special. On the contrary, if anything I was at my weakest--God had systematically kicked away the idolatrous and prideful supports I had used to sustain my self- and worldview: academically, musically, financially. He didn't do it out of spite or anger, but life-giving love:

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.--Hebrews 12:7-11

And of course, such discipline did not end when I was baptized in the Spirit. It continues and I continue, pressing on towards the goal. There is so much to encourage me, in the Word and in the support from my brothers and sisters, but always the enemy works to trip up and discourage.

Being in Christ is a complex thing, and so it seems as Jesus uses so many different analogies to explain what He was establishing on earth. In Matthew 13 He compares the kingdom to a mustard seed and leaven, both things which start out so small as to be insignificant yet have a great impact: the mustard seed growing into a mighty tree, leaven growing and moving throughout a jar of flour until all the flour is leavened and ready to make bread. He compares the kingdom of God with a hidden treasure, one so valuable that when a man finds it, he'll rush off to sell everything he has so that he can afford it--and in the same moment, to a net that is thrown into the sea and drawn out bearing many fish, keeping the good ones and throwing the bad back into the sea. And yet each parable only shows a single facet of the mighty glory of the kingdom of God, slowly rotating the diamond before our eyes; it is here among us, growing and saving and granting life, yet at the same time those of us drawn into it are unsatisfied, longing and aching for the day that our King will return and set all things right. We pray that the eyes of our heart may be on Christ so that when the day comes that all eyes will see His return, we will rejoice at His coming, not fear in the unworthiness of our sin.

But the way to that day of culmination is not a complete mystery, as we see it plotted in the life and works of Jesus Christ. We follow Him in daily life, as we strive to love the people around us whether friend, neighbor, co-worker, stranger, or the guy who just cut us off on the highway. We follow Him in our roles in life, those proscribed by the Scriptures and what we are led to in the Spirit. What weighs most heavily on my mind is what Paul talks about in Ephesians 5:

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.--Ephesians 5:25-33

I'm not married, yet the imperative of preparing my heart for this hangs before me--and yet knowing that the best way to prepare myself for that is to simply continue, walking daily with Him and trusting that He will provide each measure of faith necessary to see through. Loving my wife as Christ loves the church...a tremendously tall order. That is not simply following Christ in the way that I interact with the guy at the lunch counter, though certainly that is a part of it. That is giving myself, all of myself with nothing held back, for her sake. Western Christians scarcely can wrap our minds around such a sacrifice except perhaps in theoretical or symbolic terms; perhaps, for example, a man gives up all of his pride for the sake of lifting up his wife and protecting her, showing her deepest love and yet following behind Christ in putting her before myself.

Jesus led out by giving all of himself. He gave up His pride and dignity, descending to the level of a servant, allowing Himself to be turned over to wicked and violent men, men whose very beings were held together because He willed it so, and was mocked, savagely beaten, humiliated, and murdered. And yet He did it out of joy. He continued on the journey set before Him because there was something so much bigger and more beautiful at the end. And it is into that we are called to follow. How can I, a man proven to be wicked, selfish, lustful and arrogant, possibly be able to lead anyone on such a journey?

Only by the grace of God, by the blood of Jesus and the immeasurable joy that He has displayed before the eyes of my heart; I have seen it, and glimpse it in the distance before me. And so there is no room for arrogance. There is no time to stop and show off to all the other people around me, though I will joyfully call to others around me, "Can't you see! Look--there is life, there is the fulfillment of all things before us! Run with me!" There's no arrogance there! To believers who find themselves where I was, holding their beliefs like a weapon against other men...put it down. Look to Christ, and see life, and know that you are called to pray and work for the salvation of your "enemy."

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.--Romans 8:18-25

Rules for radical Christians

Some years ago I used to run my own website and a blog that was attached to it. Inspired by a lot of other writers of both the web and dead tree worlds, I was inspired to take to the Internet in defense and promotion of my conservative political beliefs. I was never any kind of "mover and shaker;" I wasn't saying anything new, I was no one of even remote consequence, and I was no better a writer than anyone who was already prominent. I was more a place for me to get on and vent about things that aggravated me in the news. And in the course of doing so, I said a lot of stupid, insulting, and nasty things that these days I regret. Thanks be to God, then, that His grace is bigger than my stupidity.

And I'll take just a second to reach out to my friends, to random readers, to people who find themselves in the position I did. Liberals: your enemy is not George W. Bush. It's not Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck. Conservatives: your enemy is not Barack Obama. It's not Keith Olbermann or Jon Stewart. Our enemy, is the enemy, as well as our own sinful hearts that are so "deceitful and desperately sick" that we cannot truly understand them.

At any rate, there are still a couple of blogs I have read since back then, like Instapundit and a couple others. They're good roundups of news and interesting commentary, and it's been a habit for me like the morning paper is for others. I was scanning one of them and saw a link to a blog that was discussing Saul Alinski's book Rules for Radicals. The idea of people in power being the brain children of such thinking and desires is vexing to a great many people for reasons both good and bad, but it's not my purpose here to discuss that, nor is it my desire to make any sort of political case. My reaction is to the notion floated there that conservatives' response to liberal actions should be to use those rules against them, turn them back on those who have gained power through their execution. The entire notion is rooted in the idea that those who oppose me politically are not simply people with different viewpoints, different notions of how the world ought to work, but rather they are my enemy and it is my moral imperative to strike them down.

This inspired me to stop and take stock of where I was and where God has brought me in my heart. A mere five or six years ago I would have been right there, angry, full of self-righteousness and the belief that if "the enemy" wins the country is lost. The truth of Christ's victory rendered such thinking foolish to me. The enemy is no human, nor will any man turn aside the will of God. And even with an active enemy that is real, our victory is already won.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.--Ephesians 6:12

And so, the idea of writing this as the beginning of a series of posts came to mind. Not because I feel like I have the authority to dictate "rules" to other believers, but it is more of a time for me to outline, clarify and seek for myself more and deeper truth about the way God has called me to lead my life, inspired by what I wrote last week on the subject of living in such a way that my treasure is in Christ and not on Earth and what I can get here.

The word "radical" is bandied about a lot--as an epithet for beliefs another finds troubling as well as a badge of pride worn by those who consider themselves outside the bounds of normal society. It is, therefore, a good descriptor of the way the Bible calls us to be as Christians, though it is decidedly limited at the same time. Does living "radically for Christ" mean that you sell all you have and move to a remote island to spread the gospel to unreached people groups? It might...if that's the call God puts on you. Or it might mean that instead of just associating yourself with the people you work with, you spend time praying for them, seeking ways to love them and sharing the gospel with people around you just as needy and, in many cases, just as unreached as those who are far away.

That brings me to the first "rule:"

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
This comes from 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." Paul here is speaking directly about the issue of sexual immorality, but it descends from a word at the beginning of the chapter on the wrongness of believers suing one another. The entire chapter speaks to the greater point, that what we have and who are are is not to honor or glorify either ourselves, or anything else on earth, but is intended to honor God and point all glory to Him.

In this day of overhyped fear the driving urge is to dig in, or to fight--or, to shut it all out and just roll through life trying to ease the way as best we can. Yet we are again faced with a truth that apparently the writer of the Proverbs felt was important enough to mention twice, in 14:12 and 16:25: "There is a way that seems right to a man,but its end is the way to death." So no matter who is in office, no matter who sits on a nation's throne or in a governor's mansion, no matter how much we gather together for ourselves in terms of money or power or comfort, as long as we are relying on our own wisdom it will have only one, tragic ending. This is the struggle to comprehend the true weight of our inability to be good enough:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.--Ephesians 2:1-10

Or as Isaiah put it:

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
--Isaiah 64:6

So what does this have to do with your life not being your own? If God has moved to purchase us, to adopt us, and make us His own by the blood of Jesus, what is there to be afraid of? God has established his sovereignty over all things, including rulers and authorities, so there is no profit in doing politics as if you are fighting an enemy rather than ministering to a friend, to a brother. There is no value in being dishonest or unscrupulous in business to gain extra profit or get ahead because God provides everything, and everything is for the glory of Christ.

If you would pick up Jesus and use Him as a tool to achieve an end, then as the kids would say, you're doing it wrong. Jesus came to save, to give life,and to do the only work that truly matters: giving glory to the Father. To honor Him is to worship Him as Lord. If you are a believer you push to build communities that love and honor Christ as Lord through loving discipleship and giving to fill what is needed, not to build a self-righteous community of moralists. And that charge goes in all directions, whether your particular moral issue is, well, declining moral standards, or whether it's the felt needs of your community, or a political and social end you believe will better the city, nation or world. Christ is the beginning, the end, and the means by which we travel from one to the other; as soon as something else becomes the end we arrive at idolatry and things go very wrong.

And so, since we regularly flee this truth due to our fractured nature, we try to soothe our souls through accomplishment and addiction. For me this takes two main forms: building myself up through the use of my musical talent, and my struggle against lust and the idolatry that drives it. Everyone has something, unique in specifics but uniform in end, that draws us away from God. We either make that thing God or we are set free to worship the true God.

And the most vexing of all, even those of us who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, who have been saved by grace through faith as a gift of God, we still struggle with hearts that remain broken and heavy-laid with the scars of sin. We still struggle against desires to run back to the sins that destroyed us, the old ways of pursuing meaning and pleasure when we have already known a far, far greater joy. It's why Paul can write in Romans both:

Let not sin therefore reign in your moral body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present yourselves to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.--Romans 6:12-14

and a chapter later:

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. --Romans 7:21-25

There is no disagreement, no conflict here in the Scripture, except in that we see the conflict that is the new self, the life granted by God, conflicting with the old, dead self that is perfectly happy in its death, because in that death it got to rest and be comfortable in its own twisted ways on the trip to hell. We call the world to life, true life and real, lasting joy in Christ! This is not a list of rules. This is not a social cause. This is being called into our real identities, like coming to see clearly when before all things were fuzzy and learning the beauty of a sunset over a lake when before it was just growing darkness and water.

Our life is not our own, it was bought with a price, and that price was paid by Jesus on the cross. Because it is not our own, because of the river of life that is flowing to feed and strengthen us, we move in ways that make no sense to an earthly thinker. We give away our possessions and move to the darkest corners of the world to help and love and preach. We love our neighbors because Christ loved us. And we submit each day to Him that He might be glorified in it.