Blog on the Lillypad
Friday, October 29, 2004
Sanctification and Being Right with God
Intellectual Defenestration offers comments on Dietrich Bonhoeffer about Christian Community. I'm not as interested in the Christian Community observations as I am in what Bonheoffer accepts as a given for Christian sanctification: " Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature."
ID's blog reminds me of a recent blog about trying to outdo the Pharisees by at least equaling their righteousness. As the writer observed and commended the pretentious righteousness of the Pharisees, I was positively revolted. And then today I received another e-mail from a HAC survivor lamenting the estate of being a "second class Christian".
I dont think there are any e-mails sadder than these. Nor are there any proclamations any more infuriating than the IFBx preachers who proclaim themselves as "Men of God" while they are shamelessly and remorselessly violating the sacredness of the office of elder. The sheep starve and these shepherds shear them, drive them off, berate them, and abuse them. And they invite thieves in to steal them away. And all the while they claim they have the right to be incompetent and idolatrous, putting themselves and their colleagues in high esteem while bringing the flock to grief. It is a given to them that their position makes them right with God.
So what is it to be right with God? We heard it all the time at BJU: "If you don't do such and such young people, then (thwack on pulpit or even on Bible), "you're not right with God!"
Hockey Pucks! What makes me right with God is the atoning work of Jesus Christ. What sanctifies me is also the work of Jesus Christ. And my life is to be evaluated, not by my works for Him, but by His work in me.
In her book, THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR, Shirley Nelson writes of the one Bible teacher whose brief sermon on the victorious Christian life really nails what the Christian life is. Here is an excerpt:
We want to be like Christ,....free from the tyranny of self,
flesh crucified, all in our places, with sunshiny faces....
[But] to be a Christian ... may mean to live on the edge...
shocked and dismayed at our own weaknesses, failure, and
evil....Only God can keep us safe on that wild frontier....
[So] how will I know?... How can I tell when I'm filled with
the Holy Spirit? I don't think we will know. I don't think
we'll even ask, or give it much thought. We won't say, "I've
got it!" or ...."At last I am godly!" That will never occur
to us. [197-198]
The point that victory may not mean deliverance, and that success itself in the spiritual life will keep a person too concerned for others to reflect on his own powerful stature, is lost on most of the student body in the story. As young people usually do, they run after easy answers, clear decisions, and instant victories. The fact that their glib self-assurances keep blowing up in their faces does not deter the students, regrettably.
And that's how it often is with us. We try and fail, exert every effort and yet still find sin delightful in the moment of temptation, pray and agonize because we have failed, and experience genuine shock and frustration at a condition that never has changed and never will change. The flesh is enmity against the Spirit. The flesh opposes faith.
To walk by faith is to walk on that tight rope. Anyway, that's how it feels to us. It's to be Peter on the waves, daring to go forward, but so easily distracted by the peril and terror all around us. And so we cry to Christ for help, and He keeps us from sinking. Walking by faith is usually not a stroll. We see our peril every minute. We have to keep our eyes fixed on Christ, and on that perilous walk we learn of Him, but not without some serious dips in the deep that prompt us to cry out and may get us a few rebukes from the One who, nevertheless, pulls us out again.
That's the Christian life. If anybody ever told you it's a points game, or if you have assumed it, just forget about that. You have no points. You have grace instead. You have a kingdom. You have Sonship. Points are for people who can lose the game, and you can't lose if you have Christ. Christ won, and we win in Him. So walk by faith.
Intellectual Defenestration offers comments on Dietrich Bonhoeffer about Christian Community. I'm not as interested in the Christian Community observations as I am in what Bonheoffer accepts as a given for Christian sanctification: " Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature."
ID's blog reminds me of a recent blog about trying to outdo the Pharisees by at least equaling their righteousness. As the writer observed and commended the pretentious righteousness of the Pharisees, I was positively revolted. And then today I received another e-mail from a HAC survivor lamenting the estate of being a "second class Christian".
I dont think there are any e-mails sadder than these. Nor are there any proclamations any more infuriating than the IFBx preachers who proclaim themselves as "Men of God" while they are shamelessly and remorselessly violating the sacredness of the office of elder. The sheep starve and these shepherds shear them, drive them off, berate them, and abuse them. And they invite thieves in to steal them away. And all the while they claim they have the right to be incompetent and idolatrous, putting themselves and their colleagues in high esteem while bringing the flock to grief. It is a given to them that their position makes them right with God.
So what is it to be right with God? We heard it all the time at BJU: "If you don't do such and such young people, then (thwack on pulpit or even on Bible), "you're not right with God!"
Hockey Pucks! What makes me right with God is the atoning work of Jesus Christ. What sanctifies me is also the work of Jesus Christ. And my life is to be evaluated, not by my works for Him, but by His work in me.
In her book, THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR, Shirley Nelson writes of the one Bible teacher whose brief sermon on the victorious Christian life really nails what the Christian life is. Here is an excerpt:
We want to be like Christ,....free from the tyranny of self,
flesh crucified, all in our places, with sunshiny faces....
[But] to be a Christian ... may mean to live on the edge...
shocked and dismayed at our own weaknesses, failure, and
evil....Only God can keep us safe on that wild frontier....
[So] how will I know?... How can I tell when I'm filled with
the Holy Spirit? I don't think we will know. I don't think
we'll even ask, or give it much thought. We won't say, "I've
got it!" or ...."At last I am godly!" That will never occur
to us. [197-198]
The point that victory may not mean deliverance, and that success itself in the spiritual life will keep a person too concerned for others to reflect on his own powerful stature, is lost on most of the student body in the story. As young people usually do, they run after easy answers, clear decisions, and instant victories. The fact that their glib self-assurances keep blowing up in their faces does not deter the students, regrettably.
And that's how it often is with us. We try and fail, exert every effort and yet still find sin delightful in the moment of temptation, pray and agonize because we have failed, and experience genuine shock and frustration at a condition that never has changed and never will change. The flesh is enmity against the Spirit. The flesh opposes faith.
To walk by faith is to walk on that tight rope. Anyway, that's how it feels to us. It's to be Peter on the waves, daring to go forward, but so easily distracted by the peril and terror all around us. And so we cry to Christ for help, and He keeps us from sinking. Walking by faith is usually not a stroll. We see our peril every minute. We have to keep our eyes fixed on Christ, and on that perilous walk we learn of Him, but not without some serious dips in the deep that prompt us to cry out and may get us a few rebukes from the One who, nevertheless, pulls us out again.
That's the Christian life. If anybody ever told you it's a points game, or if you have assumed it, just forget about that. You have no points. You have grace instead. You have a kingdom. You have Sonship. Points are for people who can lose the game, and you can't lose if you have Christ. Christ won, and we win in Him. So walk by faith.
