Abba, Living Life, and the Third Use of the Law

There are two theories of life--one is much more prevalent than the other and insidiously wrong.  The first is what is theologically termed the "third use of the law."  Some examples: "God helps those who help themselves."  "Run the good race."  "Fight the good fight."  (By the way, I'm not denigrating St. Paul.  I just think his words are very often mis-taught.)  These are religious affirmations that I grew up with.  These are American ideals that I grew up with.  "Now that you are a Christian, live the holy, pious, upstanding life."  What an unbelievable burden!  This is how we control others, or attempt to control others.  This is how most preachers try to make their congregations look "just and upright." Jesus chastised the religious folks of his day for heaping burdens on others.  According to Jesus, the antithesis of this is love.

These affirmations are fundamentally flawed, flawed to the core (at least in the way that they are customarily taught).  If you have any doubt about the fallacy of these statements, consider death, the grim reaper, the cessation of your life, and the fact that no one will remember your "good deeds" for long after your death.  Think about it--by the time of your great, great grandchildren, most memories of you will be gone.  No one will remember whether you "fought the good fight" or not.  In other words, our "good deeds" are but chaff in the wind (at their best.)  More importantly, at their worst, our good deeds and our efforts to have our loved ones live "good lives" are strangling, murderous impediments to love.  What will be known, if not remembered, is the extent that you loved and passed along love.  Your grandchildren will either be the victims of your living "the third use of the law" or the beneficiaries of your living a life of love.

My grandchildren, if I'm fortunate enough to have any, won't be discussing whether I was a successful lawyer.  They won't be ruminating over whether I had a vibrant Sunday School class or was a church leader.  What they will be considering--if anything--is the degree to which I have passed along generational curses.  To the extent that our lives are filled with achievement, or efforts to achieve, that is the extent to which we will pass along generational curses.  To the degree that our lives are filled with love and grace, that's the degree to which we can defeat generational curses.  Our capacity to love arises only when we truly suffer defeat, when we lose rather than win by this world's standards.

The second theory of life was expressed by Abba in its wonderful song, "Waterloo."  Thanks once again to PZ for prompting many of these thoughts with his recent Podcast about Abba.  He discusses the lyric from Waterloo--"I feel like I'm winning when I lose."  Loss in this life turns us from the  baubles, glamor, and promises of this world to something higher and more real--the eternal love of our Creator.  Of course, some people simply become embittered by loss.  But, if you recognize the value of loss, recognize that it diverts our attention from seeking the pleasure and recognition of this world, it frees us to pursue and find what is truly eternal.  Fortunately for mankind, God has revealed his true nature through his Son.  He has revealed his eternal, unchanging character.  He loves the sinner (which is all of us), while he upbraids those who are religious--those who think they are living righteous lives.  This is such wonderful news--it truly is "Good News."  (Jesus and St. Paul both lived lives which reflected this second theory.)

Our knowledge of God's character frees us from our efforts to be good.  It causes us to fall on our knees, to lift up our voices, in thankfulness to God.  It causes us to experience joy that was once incomprehensible.  When we experience this thankfulness, our failures at work, in parenting, in relating to our wives become opportunities to repent and love more.  When we are working to be good, we either ignore our failures or we become despondent rather than thankful.  For years, I ignored my sins, and their impact on my wife and children, because I thought that I was a "good person," living an otherwise "good life."  Since I was a "good person," I expected my wife and children to be "good people."  What burdens I was heaping on them!  My wife wasn't free to live or to love, because she thought that she wasn't a "good person."  (She couldn't measure up to my expectations.) This caused her to live just as shallow of a life that I was living.  This is how we pass along generational curses--by placing expectations on one another and thereby stifling love.  Once liberated from having to do good, I was free to confess my sins, to repent, and to seek forgiveness.  More importantly, I was free to love.  I was free to love my wife and children whether they were "good people" or not.  Once liberated from having to do good, my wife was freed from shame and guilt and able to express love more deeply and truly.

Similarly, Christ has freed us from God's expectations.  God doesn't expect us to "run the good race" or to "fight the good fight."  God expects us to sin, and to sin, and to sin.  This is why He sent His son--to liberate us, not just in the after-life but in this life as well, from the sin that He knew we would commit.  Christ spoke in no uncertain terms of His expectations if we tried to be good--we must be "perfect" if we try to be good.  Or, we can simply acknowledge our fallenness, give up on being good, and embrace His overwhelming, life-altering love.  This frees us from expectations.  This allows us to actually love others, without expecting anything in return.  This allows us to live lives that actually look "better."  This is how we "win when we lose."  This is how we "run the race" of life.  This is how our lives can live on, probably not in memory, but in our impact on the generations to come.

Easter--"Die, Die, Die," Reality, and the Kingdom of God

This Easter morning, I was listening to a podcast from my favorite philosopher/theologian/counsellor which dealt with the problem of life.  He said that he once believed that the greatest problem of life was dealing with the guilt that is inherent in our human nature.  We are by nature sinners, and we are always struggling to deal with the problem of guilt and shame.  He said that Christianity has an answer to guilt and shame—forgiveness—an idea which is most uniquely and profoundly expressed in Christianity.  Okay, I agree with all of that.  First, all of scripture speaks of our bondage to sin and our need for forgiveness.  Second, this has played out existentially in my life.  When my wife forgave me for significant transgressions against her, it produced a freedom from guilt which liberated me from my need, my drive, to be perfect.  This gave me freedom from trying to control everything in my life. What a life-giving moment!  It was a huge step forward for our marriage and for my relationships with everyone in my life.  

So, forgiveness is huge—it can change our lives in dramatic fashion.  But, there is something more important than forgiveness (dealing with the guilt problem).  According to my friend, the greater problem is dealing with reality—the fact that the world always wins.  We will always run into issues that are not solvable (whether they are personal or public)—if we live on the world's terms.  Whether the problem is an impossible elderly parent, a difficult boss, a child that flees to the opposite coast to live, the Debt Crisis, the present political acrimony and polarization in the U.S., the schism in the Anglican church,  or the ultimate victory of the world over man (death).

After listening to this podcast, I switched to music to finish my walk—“Die, Die, Die” by the Avett Brothers.  “She’s fighting with the sky,  she thinks she can.  Livin' within a lie, —she thinks she can.   But nobody knows what lies behind the days before the day we die.”  What does lie behind those days?  Ultimate reality.  Reality is the ultimate problem.  We proceed through life fighting against obstacles—the loss of a job, a difficult spouse, etc.  We think we can come up with a way to defeat whatever problems assail us—whether it be political mechanations, working harder, or appealing to a higher authority.  But, thankfully, ultimately, we run up against a problem that we cannot solve.  We run up against the harsh reality of the world.   Only when we do will we begin to realize what “lies behind the days before the day we die.”

Holy Scripture has a remarkable answer to the problem of shame and guilt—forgiveness and absolution from the creator of the universe—“Grace”—the most beautiful word in Scripture to a thirsty sinner.  But does forgiveness solve the defeat that we receive at the hands of the world?  If not, does Holy Scripture provide an answer to reality?

Yes, Yes, Yes!  The Kingdom of God has been ushered into the world through the life and death of Christ.  For years, I have wondered two things about Jesus’ ministry:  a)what did He mean when he talked about the Kingdom of God;  and b)why did He talk so much about Hell.  Both of these questions are answered when we realize that there is a greater reality (which “lies behind the days before the day we die”).  This greater reality is the Kingdom of God.  Why did Jesus talk so much about Hell?  Jesus wanted to alert us to the fact that our focus on conquering reality is misplaced and unachievable.  First, reality is Hellish—any victory over it leads only to a temporary reprieve from the hellish effects of reality.  Second, we can’t conquer reality—even if we live lives relatively free from cancer, death of loved ones, poverty, etc., we will ultimately die.  (When I was young, I thought that 90% of people lived fairly comfortable lives—it is just the opposite.  What’s more, the unlucky ones are the ones that lead fairly comfortable lives, because they may never come to grips with the ultimately futility of our efforts to conquer reality.)

Christ wanted us to realize this—the ultimate futility of trying to have victory over this world.  Christ wanted us to realize that there is a greater reality—the Kingdom of God.   If you look for it, you can see it.  The victory over reality comes when our egos are conquered, and we become one with the Creator through the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit.  What does this look like?  What sort of experiences does one have when one becomes a citizen of the Kingdom of God?

The Kingdom of God is like my relationship with my wonderfully disparate group of FB friends—from all manner of religious beliefs (Protestantism, Catholicism, Agnosticism, Atheism, Buddhism, and there may be others), to all regions of the country, to all different segments of society.  The Kingdom of Heaven is like my wonderful Life Group at church—a group of believers from an array of all types of religious backgrounds  (Baptists, Methodists, Anglicans, Atheists, Wickens, etc.), different ages, different jobs—all drawn together by the Holy Spirit.  The Kingdom of Heaven is ruled by a God who loved us enough to give His life for us.

The Kingdom of Heaven is free from sin—it is a place where our relationships with God and man are expressed in perfect love.   The Kingdom of God is available now, in part, but not fully.  When parents and children are honest about past hurts, and reconciliation occurs, the Kingdom is present.  When siblings forgive one another, the Kingdom is present.  When spouses behave unselfishly towards one another, the Kingdom is present.  When we reconcile with those who have broken our trust, the Kingdom is present.  Finally, when the Kingdom is fully manifested,  we will live in perfect harmony with others and with the world.  No more hurricanes, tornadoes, diseases, genocide, infant death, poverty, famine—it will all go away. The Kingdom of Heaven will find its ultimate expression in the remaking of our reality—from a world where death and sin have great sway to a world without sin and death.  What a glorious day that will be!

Don't Pole Vault over Good Friday

In Bible Belt Christianity, we historically do not hold Good Friday services.  We go directly to Easter.  I don't know why, but I think it has to do with a revolt against anything deemed Catholic.  So, before 1998, although having been in an institutional church since age 6, I had never attended a Good Friday service.  Then, I began attending an Anglican bible study, and attended a Good Friday service at that church.  What I found was that a Good Friday service can be one of the most profound moments of one's year and life.  But it must be done correctly.  As the former rector at that church said: "You can't pole vault over Calvary."  In other words, you must absorb and reflect upon Good Friday and what the crucifixion tells us about mankind, ourselves, and our God.

What does Good Friday tell us about mankind?  It confirms the fallen nature of man.  A man performing miracles (restoring sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk, resurrecting a little girl, casting out demons) was killed, because he spoke out against the religious establishment.  This tells us that, as Christians, we must be cautious about our defense of our religious views.  As members of religious institutions, we need to recognize the sinful nature of such institutions.  Otherwise, our institutions will "crucify" people just like Jesus was crucified.  Who has not seen a church "crucify" someone, rather than offer grace?  We are no different from the Pharisees who cried for Christ's death.  We believe that our version of Christianity is correct, and we are deeply offended when someone challenges it.  Who are we to take offense when other's challenge our religious views, when Christ suffered the greatest offense--death at the hands of his religious accusers?  That is not to say that we shouldn't hold to our beliefs.  But we can either be condemning or gracious in holding to our beliefs.  Which way is ultimately going to demonstrate Christ to the world?  

What does Good Friday tell us about ourselves?  A good friend recently told me that Jesus died for sinners, not our sins.  Jesus didn't die to clean us up--to make us more appealing to ourselves or the world.  Jesus died to rescue us from the false comfort of self-righteousness, and from the rapacious jaws of self-condemnation.  Jesus died to divert us from our paths of self-destruction, to a new life of love and peace.  The result is that we receive some freedom in this life from our sins, but the aim was to divert us from our chosen paths, to the path which God desires for us.

What does Good Friday tell us about God?  It demonstrates that God recognizes that life on earth is difficult and even hellish.  It is difficult whether one is a Christian or not.  It is hellish because we are bent on having our own way and seeking happiness through our own means.  It reflects God's solidarity and empathy with us in our suffering.  It demonstrates that God will put an end to our suffering if we will let Him--both eternally and in the here and now.  God has walked the path of loneliness, rejection by friends, homelessness, physical suffering, familial discord, and death.  He did not have to walk that path for Himself.  He walked that path for us.

May this Good Friday be both an indictment of our self-centeredness (both corporate and individual) and a confirmation of the Creator's love for us in the midst of our self-centeredness.  May we find freedom through this knowledge and pass on to others the grace which God has shown to us.