Monday, June 30, 2014

"To do" versus "done" religion

So often, we act as if there is still something for us to do for God.  Regardless of how much we talk about grace, regardless of how much we refer to Christ's finished work on the Cross, we still feel like we need "to do something for God."  We are inveterate "do'ers."  We want to earn our salvation.

THIS IS HERETICAL.

Most divisions in the church have to do with whether we still have to "do something for God."  Just yesterday, a friend at church told me that one of his dear friends from seminary had fallen away from the faith.  Yes, he still claims to be a Christian, but he has fallen in with a group of "Christians" who have come up with another theological title for earning, or at least keeping, our salvation.

But this fellow is not unique.  Sadly, given my 43 years in church, this is what 99% of all "Christians" believe.  We may be saved by grace, but now we need to get on with God's work.  Our salvation is assured, but if our lives don't look "Christian" enough, then maybe we were never saved.  Or some say that you can lose your salvation.

Each of these beliefs puts the burden of the law, of doing, of working for God right back on our shoulders.  When we are subject to these burdens, a couple of things happen.  First, it destroys our rest.  We are not able to simply be in "communion" with God--we have to work at it.  When we have to work at it, we either avoid God, or we throw ourselves into boundless "Christian merit badge" projects--short-term mission trips, soup kitchens, Bible studies, prayer, etc.  These may be good things, but only when they flow out of thankfulness for what God has done, not out of our thinking we have things to do for God.

Second, it either creates in us self-righteousness (because we are getting it done for God) or despair (because we aren't getting it done for God).  And how do we decide whether we are getting it done for God--we compare ourselves to others.  This is DEATH.  Jesus railed against this.

I'm not saying that work is bad--work should be good.  But it all depends upon where our hearts are vis a vis work.  Does work define us?  Does it define our relationship with God?  Or is our work an outpouring of thankfulness to God? Are we grateful to be able to provide for our families?  Are we grateful that our status with God is one of being able to rest since Christ has already done the heavy lifting?

WHEN WE THINK THAT WE STILL HAVE TO DO SOMETHING FOR GOD, WE ARE DENIGRATING CHRIST'S WORK ON THE CROSS.  TALK ABOUT BLASPHEMING GOD!

As David Zahl said in a recent sermon:

"We are not employees of God;  we are His children."

And perhaps even more poignantly:

"Jesus only had three years to get His ministry done.  He sure seems to have taken too many vacation days."

One of my favorite stories about Adam & Eve has to do with the "thorns and thistles."  Some say that God cursed us with work--that work was a punishment for sin.  But they're wrong.  Work pre-dated the fall.  Adam & Eve tended the garden, but they did so when they were in an unmediated relationship with God--they walked with Him in the cool of the garden.  So, God did not curse them with work.

Instead, God cursed the work with "thorns and thistles."  This sounds like God is being retributive, but He's actually being gracious.  God knows that, left to ourselves, we make work our god!  We value ourselves by how much we work (whether for man or ostensibly for God).  But God didn't want us to value ourselves this way.  He wants us to value ourselves as He does, as beloved children, not employees, "worker-bees," or slaves.  So, God cursed work so that we wouldn't make it God, it wouldn't be our ultimate joy, it wouldn't be our god.

All praise to the God who has done it all so that now our days can be filled with not only rest, but work that is borne out of thankfulness.


Thursday, June 26, 2014

From death to life--how true Christianity brings liberty.

"I'm plotting my escape from you."--Debbie's words 14 years ago.

"I love you with all of my heart.  You're my best friend."--Debbie's words now.

Thanks be to God--correct theology when combined with the actions of God can liberate you from sin.

In 1998, I began attending Paul Zahl's Bible Study at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham.  I didn't understand anything he was saying, but it was intellectually challenging so I continued going.  It wasn't just Zahl's teaching that saved me, it was God's "awful" work in my life.  About 2001, God attacked my family, my job, and my health.  I finally understood that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't control my wife, my work, and certainly not my health.  Zahl's teachings finally made sense.  Finally, God was able to extricate my life from my clutching hands.  Finally, I was able to say "over to God."

Three of the hallmarks of Zahl's teaching (which are three hallmarks of Christianity) were directly contrary to what I had been taught in a Southern Baptist church (and contrary to what is taught in most churches):

Free Will? Not.

Strength in Weakness.

Grace, not Law.

Baptists are big on teaching "free will."  You tell your congregants that they have "free will" and can make correct choices.  This is because the preacher is trying to get his congregation to live right, to look right for the rest of the world.  THIS IS HERETICAL.

We now belong to a Presbyterian church which is theologically sound and life-giving (and there are a couple of others in B'ham, but not many).  But most Presbyterian churches get it wrong as well.  They teach that you are saved by God's grace, but sanctification is something we need to work at.  THIS IS HERETICAL.

We are all bound to deep-down libidinal urges--anger and lust for Ellis.  For Debbie, it was garnering the approval of others by serving them and never saying no to helping someone--even when helping them was not in the other person's best interest.

One of Martin Luther's most important books is entitled "The Bondage of the Will."  It describes how we are dead in our trespasses and powerless to change without the intervention of God.  And it's not that we just need a little help from God, God must go the whole way--it all lies with him.

I read "The Bondage of the Will" and thought it was theologically profound.  Debbie went much further.  She read "The Bondage of the Will" and said:  "Now I can love _____"--a particularly difficult person in her life.  After reading the book, Debbie could love this person and give them grace, because that person's will was bound.  As Debbie has done this over the years, that person has blossomed.  When true grace, not just servile obedience is directed towards someone, God's work can be done.

The idea that God's strength is revealed in our weakness is antithetical to our desire to be our own savior.  It is also antithetical to the teaching in most churches that we can be good people.  If I can be a good person in my own strength, then I don't need God (or maybe I just need him as a co-pilot).  If I can be a good person on my own, then I have to compare myself to others to confirm that I'm good.  In people like me, this leads to self-righteousness, which is death.  For people like Debbie, it causes her to find that she is always lacking when she compares herself to others.  God doesn't want us to be self-righteous or despondent.

Jesus didn't say "compare yourself to others."  Instead, Jesus said "be perfect."  And when you're being perfect, you better be doing it for the right reason, with a pure heart!  This means that it is impossible to live a Christian life!  Our only hope is grace.  We find this when we get in touch with our weakness, not our strength.

And it's grace all the way.  Not just grace for salvation, but grace for sanctification as well.  This is why many Christians withdraw from church.  Most churches teach that we can make ourselves better.  But this just reignites our comparing ourselves to others.  It diverts us from Jesus' teaching--"be perfect"--to trying to do what the pastor says: 1)tithe, 2)go on short term mission trips, 3)be truthful, 4)live a righteous life so that others will be drawn to Jesus.  This was death for me.

In stark contrast, grace was life.  Debbie went from "plotting her escape" from me to "planning on growing old together."  I can't ever thank Zahl enough for his seemingly boundless energy and courage for proclaiming the Gospel.  Every now and then, a prophet comes along--Zahl was one, and Tullian appears to be one.  But, it's not about Zahl or Tullian, it's about the grace of God as manifested in their lives and proclaimed by them.  It's about the God/man who desired to have a direct (non-mediated) relationship with his children.  So, He came and lived among us, died for us, and rose that we might live.