Well, this week we had a whopper of a text, and it sparked some great questions and discussion!
Paul urges his readers to shed their former way of life, their old nature, and to put on their new nature, created to be like God. And he illustrates this change in terms of vices to avoid and virtues to pursue. Such lists were common in letters of this type (inside the Bible and elsewhere in the Greek/Roman world). In this case, the lists serve to illustrate practically the kind of life described by Paul up to this point: what it looks like to live as the people of God.
The behaviors and attitudes to avoid are: controlling anger, harmful speech, sexual immorality, greed, and anything that would induce unnecessary division. The attitudes and behaviors to substitute in their place are kindness, forgiveness, helpful speech, etc.
One of the points we talked about the most was the off-putting nature of a list of do's and don'ts like this. We commented that our friends who aren't Christians would be nonplussed by a list like this (and maybe we are too)--that it would confirm their suspicion that Christianity is, after all, all about what you can and can't do.
But it's important to see this list (and the ones like it) in the context of the rest of the letter, and the rest of the Bible. When you look at the big picture like that, one of the things that immediately sheds light on this issue is that these commands are "back-end" commands, not "front-end" commands. They are not the behaviors we must conform to in order to be accepted by God, or to earn a spot in heaven, or to achieve the status of "good people". They just aren't! God accepts us by grace while we are still embroiled in rebellious behavior. It's only AFTER he saves us, and AFTER he gives us a whole new identity as his own children, making us heirs of his kingdom, that he says: "Now here's how to live consistently with your new identity." So the whole appeal here is for Christians to live and behave consistently with who they really are. It's a call to stop living a hypocritical life!
So the people we are afraid will be offended by the existence of such a list of do's and don'ts, often find themselves on Paul's side, saying to Christians: "Stop being hypocrites!"
The fear, of course, is that Christians will use such lists to point at non-believers and say, "You need to do these things to become like us!" But that's an abuse of the principle, because it turns them into "front-end" expectations. No, our message to "outsiders" is that God has shown grace to the world, and that they can enter into that grace by embracing Jesus as their Savior and the leader of their lives. Only after they have been welcomed into the community of faith, and have themselves entered into lives of following Jesus, do these commands apply directly.
I gave a few thoughts for reflection:
1. Where do you recognize inconsistency in your life between what you say you believe and what your actions reflect? Did one of the areas Paul mentioned (deception, dishonesty, anger, impurity, greed) highlight something you struggle with? These things show us how we haven’t taken to heart our true identity in Jesus. How can we strengthen our grasp of that identity? Or maybe we’ve never received that identity. Maybe a response for some of us is to receive Jesus as the undisputed leader of our lives. Where are you at?
2. What do you think about “doing good”? Is it worth it in light of our mixed motives? Is it possible to do good out of gratitude to Jesus, living in light of the identity he’s given us, and not end up with holier-than-thou attitudes, etc? How do we sort these motives out?
Okay, two-cents-ers. Pile on the pennies! Your thoughts? Your questions?
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An Interview About My Book "Entering The Fray"
11 years ago
I do believe it is possible to "do good" and not develop a holier-than-thou attitude. However, I don't believe it's easy by any stretch of the imagination and I'd say that most of us probably fail at it most of the time. We are in constant struggle with our flesh and sin, as Paul illustrates in Romans 7:
ReplyDeleteWe know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."
Still, even amidst our struggle with the flesh, we have the Holy Spirit's power dwelling in us. The same power that conquered DEATH on Easter morning. The more we rely on the Spirit to work through us, the more Christ is glorified and our own selves are humbled. This is the only way we can do good without ourselves getting in the way. I think the test of whether we can do good without being holier-than-thou really comes down to how much we lean into the Holy Spirit. In all honesty, that is something that is easier said than done. In our ordinary, everyday, mundane lives...to lean into the Spirit in complete faith and live in His leading is nothing short of terrifying at times. But that's true faith. Believing in what we cannot see.
Obviously, no one has ever completely mastered this but Christ himself. But God does look at the motives of our hearts and I can only believe that He sees us as we do our best to re-focus and re-focus and re-focus on Him and the power of His Spirit to work through us.
Leaders that must use many people to execute their plans often are of one of two types. The first carefully chooses those that will suit his plan and then gives them relative freedom. This leader trusts that the nature of his select group will steer the outcome to the desired end. The second type chooses whomever, perhaps even chooses badly, then forces each piece of clay to fit the desired end. This type is usually more violent and requires greater submission.
ReplyDeleteGod chooses his followers without regard to their works, their good deeds. He doesn't require up front worthiness. Does he therefore fit the mold of the second type of leader? Does he force his followers to do their bit to further his plan, require submission and conformity to a certain way of being? Dictate strict adherence to hard rules? (People who project a punitive nature on God probbly think the answer is yes. "We will all stand before God and be judged" Others may respond, "We will all stand before God and be forgiven.")
Or does God fit the mold of the first type of leader? Allow his people the freedom to veer toward the goal, list in a general way toward the good, by means of feeble intention and half grasped morality?
I see no evidence that God chooses his people based upon their aptitude for following paths of kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, gratitude, patience.
If God, as it seems to me, accepts us as his tools, despite our temperments and shortcomings, and lets us muddle along toward the kingdom, with only an example and some general behavioral principles (not rules) to stand for guidance, then God, in human terms, is very inefficient.
Those are some interesting thoughts, Matt. I am going to think about them more today. Something you said sparked a memory from our Pastor's sermon this week (I live in Bloomington, IN and used to go to church with Tim and Elisabeth) - it's kind of off the topic of what you were saying, but I thought it was really intersesting to think about.
ReplyDeleteThis past week, we talked about the passage where Peter denies Jesus three times (Luke 22: 54-61).
Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him." But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said.
A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied.
About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean."
Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.
The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times."
My Pastor brought something out of this that I had never thought of before. If you look at the last part of that story, when Jesus looks directly at Peter - what do you see on Jesus' face?
Interestingly, the expression that you see on His face is a very good indicator of how you view God in general. If you think that Jesus looked at Peter with anger, you probably think of God as angry and judmental. If you see His face as disappointed, you probably have trouble believing that you could ever please God. However, if you see a look of compassion and empathy, even pain for Peter (which is probably more what it actually was), then you might actually have a right view of God and His infinite mercy and compassion and tenderness towards us.
I don't know what I saw in His face in my mind's eye...but I thought it was a VERY interesting thought.
Tim asks- "Where do you recognize inconsistency in your life between what you say you believe and what your actions reflect?"
ReplyDeleteChristian doctrine holds that original sin sops our souls like piping hot water in a tea bag steeping. It flavors us.
Is is a stain washed away in the regenerate? No. It is an inseperable infusion, innate, and the natural state of man.
Can we overcome our sinful nature? No. It inures in our flesh, despite our Christian belief in forgiveness.
Certainly Christians believe that the Spirit may plant new impulses, that the flavor of the regenerate somehow is the salt of the earth and not the putrefaction of sin, yet at its most basic level human nature remains sinful through and through.
So as for the question- Where do you recognize inconsistency in your life between what you say you believe and what your actions reflect?
I say that I believe that I am utterly wretched with sin and am confined by its chains, only freed by grace. But my actions occasionally show empathy, love, kindness, generosity, etc. Moreover, the actions of most everyone I have ever known are more good than bad (acknowledging the subjectivity in determining what is good and bad). Regardless of their spiritual orientation, the folks I have met are by and large pretty nice.
The logic of Christianity, the reason for our need for God, for his grace, is, in part, explained by the doctrine of original sin. But, surveys say, most people, Christians included, believe that people are basically good.
Is there an inconsistency between what we say we believe and how we act?