living out one’s baptism

We are told in Romans 6 and in another place in Paul’s writings (see here, as well) that to be baptized (I take this as water baptism) is to be identified with Christ, to put on Christ. More specifically we are baptized into his death so that we may share in his death and resurrection in this life. Romans 6 goes on to tell us that we’re therefore not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, that sin shall not have dominion over us, since we are not under the law, but under grace. And that in light of this we’re to present our bodies to God as those who have been brought from death to life.

I find this helpful for me in my off and on ongoing struggle especially with anxiety. Or whatever other struggle I may be having. God is at work through our baptism into Christ so that our old self is being done away with, and our new self, or person in Christ is coming to the fore. This process can be quite painful. Although it may be more painful to live where we’ve been living. On the other hand we can become quite settled in our ways so that any change is unwelcome.

Perhaps my own biggest problem is my own propensity to solve my problems myself. Yes, with reference to scripture and God’s revelation in Jesus I imagine, but I can solve it. When in reality I’m not solving it at all, but just managing my sin. What Dallas Willard calls “the gospels of sin management.” Really no gospel at all, at least not the gospel of God in Christ. The funny thing is that after I resolve it, it sooner or later will bob its head up again, and I have to deal with the same issue again. And again and again.

But God’s death dealing through Christ is the only way that sin can begin to fall off of us. As we change and become a different person, really the renewed us in and through Jesus.

I don’t mean to dig at weaknesses and always bash them as sin. For example, in my case my propensity toward anxiety is indeed a weakness and has its grounding somewhere in my personality and past I would suppose. God understands our frame, that we are dust, and he has compassion on us. At the same time we don’t want to live as those dictated by our weaknesses. Rather we want to live the new life in Christ, which presses on regardless of what trials we face. We want to be changed, to become new people in and through Christ.

There may be some weaknesses which we can’t get rid of in this life. Like Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Through which he learned to delight in weaknesses, so that Christ’s power might rest on him. But that’s another matter altogether. And living in that way is certainly again on the basis of one’s baptism and identity with Christ.

This is positional truth I would call it, to be sure. Grounded in our baptism into Christ. But it is also intimate, part of God’s working in love. And yet it will often be uncomfortable, like an inner purging which seems to leave one unsettled. But the groundwork has been laid for the new life to be lived, a life in the Spirit, and in the love poured out by God in Jesus through the Spirit. A resurrection life in us, together for the world.

distraction

One of the most troubling problems followers of Jesus encounter is the problem of distraction from attentiveness to the Lord. Of course the story of Mary and Martha is a prime example in scripture. Martha was burdened over the many preparations that had to be made, while Mary was content simply to sit at the Lord’s feet to hear his teaching. Martha let Jesus know about it, and he gently- I’m sure rebuked her, telling her that she was worried and upset over many things. That only a few things, actually one is needed. That Mary had chosen what is better, which would not be taken from her.

Distraction can be acute as in falling head over heels into some problem. In which we need prayer and help from God just to get through it, and out of it on the other side, back into the light of day. Oftentimes distraction is low grade and chronic, spanning our lives over lesser matters which keep us from the one thing that does matter.

Ironically distractions can help us by awakening us to our need to give our full attention to the Lord. We may feel up against it, so that it is hard to focus, which can help bring that awareness. Or we might realize that our lives are taken up with what doesn’t matter, in other words we’ve given our full attention to lesser matters, perhaps asking for the Lord’s help along the way, but not attentive to him.

No matter what our distraction we need to keep Jesus front and center. We need to give him our full attention. In fact if we’re facing an awareness of either acute or chronic distraction, that is an occasion for us to turn to the Lord, and endeavor to listen to him. We need to bring what distracts us to him. When we do, he can help us by giving us discernment so that what we do, the many things we need to do, can be done out of love for God, and for our neighbor. And he can give us needed wisdom for an especially acute distraction, or temptation toward such. As well as wisdom for the long haul.

I hate the sense of distraction away from God and his work in Jesus. And yet I often can be distracted in ways which seem innocent or even important, even when I may know that the distraction isn’t the best. Often this involves weakness and even struggling over sin such as in our attitudes.

We can be thankful to God that we long for something better. In Jesus is the way to learn to listen and give our full attention to God. Like Mary we want to choose what is best, sitting at the Lord’s feet, with others of his followers. Together in the way of Jesus for the world.

 

justifying one’s self

There’s an interesting passage in which one answers Jesus correctly on what one must do to inherit eternal life. But the man then wanted to justify himself. Asking Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus then tells him the parable of the good Samaritan. And that the point is not who is my neighbor, but am I a neighbor to those in need by helping them. We read in another place that some Pharisees justified themselves, but were not justified before God.

What ground am I standing on, is a good question when considering whether or not I’m justifying myself in any given situation or time. Justifying one’s self has the idea of defending one’s position as right. When we do this there are two fundamental problems which means we’re invariably wrong.

First, we are sinners through and through. Even as those who are followers of Jesus, we still do sin as John’s first letter makes clear. And when we’re justifying ourselves, we’re invariably sinning, failing to see our own sin, as we contrast ourselves with others. Love does not think in terms of justifying one’s self or insisting “I am right.” Love is willing to be considered a failure in the eyes of some who might cast that judgment and in so doing likely be justifying themselves.

The only ground we have to stand on is Jesus Christ and the good news of God’s coming and work in him. And that reminds me of the second problem when we justify ourselves. We are unwittingly suggesting that we are not in need of God’s grace in a given matter. When in reality it is only by the grace of God in Jesus that we are anything at all. It is grace alone in Jesus through which we stand. If we happen to be right on anything it is sheer grace, a gift from God through Christ.

We do well to humble ourselves before God and acknowledge our failure, always open to our sins, wanting to take care of the beam in our eye, before we might help someone with the speck of dust in their own eye. What we want to avoid for sure is the sin of justifying ourselves or insisting that we are in the right so that it’s a matter of defending ourselves. This is not easy at times, especially among those who want to justify themselves at our expense.

But again our justification is in Jesus alone. He is the ground on which we stand, not ourselves or us being “right.” So that any defense of ourselves would be only for Jesus and the gospel, not for our own sake or justification, even as Paul had to do in his second letter to the Corinthian church.

Yes, we have this responsibility ourselves, to by grace get rid of the heavy yoke of self-justification. We are all free in Jesus and we’re to live in that freedom in grace. And in that grace to serve one another in love. Together in Jesus and for the world.

wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove

It’s sad we live in a world where we need to be wise as a serpent, and harmless as a dove. This is because we live in a world in which relationships are broken. Enemies are in place. Sad to say, even among the faithful, people sometimes live like enemies.

How do we navigate these waters? In the places in which there are no easy answers. When we’re in between a rock and a hard place. It’s not easy.

Jesus said there is a time to flee. Maybe an application of that would be to lay low as in dialing down meaning being quiet and removing one’s self from the problem as much as possible. A kind of fast (not a real fast, which biblically is about abstaining from food and sometimes water).

During that time we can confess our sins to God, asking God to search us, to search our hearts. It is nearly inevitable that when we’re sinned against we sin in return even if only in the heart. And sadly at times we may have started the cycle ourselves even if with nothing more than an attitude that was not loving in one instance.

Wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove. Both need to be kept in mind. And lived out. Of course the original context is about those proclaiming the gospel. But our lives are indeed to be a proclamation of this gospel in that we are to live out Jesus. Which means living out his death, burial and resurrection (see Rodney Reeves’ insightful book, Spirituality According to Paul: Imitating the Apostle of Christ). And indeed these hard places can be used by God to conform us to the image of Christ. As we wait for our change to come, together with others in Jesus, and for the world.

the sin of disunity

Christian Smith in his book, The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture, clearly and compelling presents a sound case to demonstrate how “biblicism,” which is a staple of Protestant evangelicalism and fundamentalism fosters “the sin of disunity.”

In a nutshell we might call biblicism the belief that the Bible is the word of God by which we order our lives. An inerrant word from which we can draw knowledge in regard to everything including dating, marriage, child care, etc., etc. The failure of biblicism in a nutshell, I might say, is that it fails to take seriously just what the point of the Bible is. Scripture points us to Christ, the Word of God. Scripture is the written word of God in both a human and divine way in doing this, in the telling of God’s story. Protestant evangelical and fundamentalism is noted for its thousands of splits, many of these groups isolated to themselves. I would highly recommend the book, by the way.

But the sin of disunity among Christians is not relegated to just one part of Christendom. The Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox are split. Due to the dogma of the real presence in the Eucharist, no one who does not believe that the bread becomes Christ’s body, and the wine is blood can partake with Roman Catholics.

Smith distinguishes between dogma, doctrine and opinion. Dogma are matters the church has determined are essential. This was hammered out in the early centuries in church councils. Doctrine are more or less important matters which divide Christians yet are not necessary for the orthodox faith, or to have a living faith in Christ. And opinions are opinions, for whatever they’re worth. Smith suggests that the less baggage we have, or the more streamlined our dogma is, the better. His concern is that we don’t fall into theological liberalism, while at the same time we don’t divide over nonessential matters, however important they may be. For me a Christian pacifist stand is an important outworking of the gospel. Smith leaves the door open, wisely I would add, to the church learning more and more, which can be demonstrated. And perhaps there will be a consensus someday adopting at least something of a pacifist stance, should Jesus tarry.

The sin of disunity is not just a matter of failing to make the gospel of Christ front and center. In Galatians we see that it is of the flesh, which means it arises from humanity’s fallen, sinful weakness and evil. We divide over this and that, often because we dislike someone. Or we want to be in control. But Christ will have none of that. The way of Jesus is a completely different way, which takes everyone by the Spirit into the love of the Father in the faith that is in Christ.

We shouldn’t pretend like our differences don’t exist. Yet we should hold onto our unity in Christ as one of those matters (as dogma) of first importance. So that we should go out of our way to acknowledge and live out our oneness with anyone who names the name of Christ in the faith. Even when we may disagree over some serious matters.

When we pray the Lord’s/Our Father prayer, we implicitly and clearly reject disunity. We are all one through Jesus as family by the Spirit. Let us live in and out of that love before and for the world. That all might see this “one great fellowship of love, throughout the whole wide earth.” And believe.

contrition

a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

from Psalm 51

It is interesting, and actually rather disconcerting when one can be sailing along with little care (of course there are always deep concerns in this world) only to be hit by something unexpected which challenges one’s sense of well being in grace, I mean even one’s holiness, to the core. You’re left shaking inside, not at all reconciled to the development, realizing that you’re lost on this count. And apparently not as holy as you thought. Not that we should think that anything at all is anymore than a gift to us. But character transformation is to be occurring in Christ.

That is when it’s good to bring the matter to God in prayer and then just leave it sit. We can’t change ourselves. It is God who changes us. Of course we do change then, but that takes a working of God, nonetheless. Surely God wants us to sit with our sin, to realize our weakness and failure, indeed lostness at a certain point. And this may go on for a time. Before God gives us a certain sense in thought, conviction and movement by the Spirit toward new growth in Christ.

This all normally takes place in the context of relationships. God is interested in building up his people together because community and relationships are inherent in the God who is Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

So instead of “kicking against the goads”, I want to be willing to lay low, and be still during such times. Knowing that whatever I’m kicking against involves something that is not right nor holy in me. And that I need whatever change would come from God through Jesus in this. This can involve intervals of change, or a longer, drawn out process we’re working through. As we do so, we have this sense of God’s grace active and at work in our lives.

God does not despise a broken and contrite (or crushed, repentant) heart. Neither should we, and we should submit to God in this, and let him do his good work in our lives. In and through Jesus, together for the world.

 

love your enemies

The kind of love which Jesus taught and lived out to the end was a love that embraced all. A love like the Father in heaven, who sends his blessings of earth on everyone. We are told to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us. To pray for them. To not resist evil with evil, but resist it with good. To be merciful even as our Father in heaven is merciful. That would seem to give this a salvation bent. In other words we do this with the hope of winning them over to the faith. And we do it out of love for Christ in our following him.

It becomes apparent sometimes that those we count as friends or even brothers or sisters in Jesus can seem to have become enemies, opposed to us in every direction. I’m not sure how to look at this. I remember the passage that talks about how we’re to correct an erring member of the family in Jesus. We’re not to count them as enemies, but to warn them as fellow believers. Of course we must do so in love.

And the passage where Jesus tells us what to do when a fellow believer sins, or sins against us. How we’re to confront them with the truth so as to bring them to repentance, they and we alone. And if they don’t respond take one or two others along with us to try to win them over. But if they still don’t, then it’s to be told to the church and if they don’t listen to the church, then they are excommunicated. Then we can begin to try to befriend and win them over as those who need to be converted. Even if the relationship may render that difficult. Jesus doesn’t mention this latter part, but I think it’s a correct application of his teaching and of scripture.

It is true, however that we’re told not to eat or associate with one who claims to be a believer, but who is living in sin. This is seen in that passage as a form of judgment. The church is to impose that judgment so that the leaven of sin won’t grow and corrupt the church.

All of this will require much prayer. We often need a change of heart ourselves, because we can react bitterly against those who hurt us. Or we can lash out at them, and become hard in our hearts. Anything less than love to them no matter what is unacceptable, not being in the way of Jesus.

We do need to act with wisdom. To be wise as serpents, yet harmless as doves. To lay low when need be, perhaps even to flee. To perhaps withdraw so as to be sure our own heart is right, as well as to bathe the matter in prayer.

In all of this our desire should be to follow Jesus. And to do so together. As the light of the world and the salt of the earth in Jesus. That others might see our good works, and praise our Father in heaven.

falling short

Blogging for me has the nature of thinking out loud sometimes, and testing words. Most likely we all change in some ways over time in how we express things as we hopefully gain a more full and mature understanding of life and of truth. The thought here today I am especially aware of fitting into this category.

When one looks at the characters of scripture, as a rule it seems that over and over again they fall short of what they could have been. David is a classic point in case. Of course there are notable exceptions to the rule. Though little is said of Enoch, he would seem to stand as such an exception. Then of course there is Paul. God went to great lengths to keep him from becoming conceited, though Paul had a calling in which such was necessary for him. And perhaps the Lord was honoring Paul’s commitment. In the end all is a gift, and as Paul himself exclaimed, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” But are we faithful stewards of God’s gift to us?

Israel fell short, even into sin and captivity. Jesus comes and fulfills all Israel was called to be. He is the one for sure that never fell short for a moment, even if he did fall short time and time again in the eyes of the people. Expectations that are out of line with God’s will are common. We have this and that in mind as the ideal, and if people don’t measure up, they let us down, we think. But our ideal is almost certainly not God’s. And only God knows the ideal inside and out.

I don’t believe in sinless perfection, or even in a Wesleyan version of that, which I think can come much closer to the truth. We will sin, we do sin. Therefore because of that alone, we all fall short of God’s will. Yet as we walk in the light as God is in the light, we experience cleansing through Christ’s blood, and ongoing repentance in our lives as we confess our sins to God.

Jesus is the one who did not fall short. And as we continue in him individually and together, we too will be carried as well as protected, blessed to be a blessing to all. Yes, we do fall short. It is not us, but Jesus who we point others to. As we tell his story, and seek to live in his ongoing story, one that helps sinners like you and I go on and grow together in and through Jesus.

the blame game

Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. And we’ve all been blaming someone or something else ever since.

We have to learn to take full responsibility for our sin. We can’t take responsibility for another’s sin, except in love to pray for them for God’s mercy and grace.

Don’t we all have our share of blame? The key for us is to be open to seeing that and learn to acknowledge what blame we have. To God and when appropriate to another.

In Christ we are all part of one Body. If we blame someone of that Body, in a sense we’re blaming Christ, or we’re blaming ourselves because of the unity and reality of the mystery of Christ and the church. It is self-defeating.

What we need to do is gently confront the one who has sinned against us, or offended us, as Jesus taught us. Remember too that the love we’re called to have for each other in Jesus covers over a multitude of sins. What we are not to do is sin because someone sinned against us. And when we do so sin, we must confess it to God and nip it in the bud, before it becomes the fast growing ugly weed which chokes out the plants in our lives bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

And of course we are not to blame anyone for our sin. At the same time we may need to get help from a pastor or counselor because of the wounds we carry from being sinned against.

Jesus did take the blame for us, for the world. So we need to bring temptations to blame others for our struggles to God through Jesus. That is where blame stops. In this love of God through Jesus by the Spirit.

what holds you?

Facebook. Or the person who dislikes us, or regularly finds fault with us. Our own thoughts of discouragement and despair. Maybe a vice which has its grip on us, something we can’t shake. Maybe something that was said about us long ago as a child, words that haunted us ever after, and that ended up defining us, because we thought such a person must know what they are talking about, or at least there was truth in what they were saying. There are all sorts of things which can hold us.

These things might be good in their place, or might not, as we see from the list above. The point is that we need to be coming at these things in freedom of heart, so that we can have proper discernment concerning them. Not easy. And really a byproduct of something else.

The key is learning more and more to follow Jesus in this life. Which surely means putting the good things aside at times. What holds us is what we hold on to. We sometimes need to drop it for a time.  Other things we need to reject. Rejection might involve a process of working through a matter, forgiving the person who has wronged us, moving on to what is good and true.

What holds us? A good question to ask. And one that ends up with a good outcome as we learn instead to follow Jesus together for the world.