We are close to the end of this
series on the list of essential tenets adopted by the Session of First
Presbyterian Church of Douglasville. They are adapted from the Theology Project of the Fellowship of Presbyterians. Together, they convey to ourselves and to
the world the framework of our theological identity, which is important when so
many forces of culture are pressuring us to accommodate to culture rather than remain
faithful to our historic Christian orthodoxy.
In this series, we have reflected
on the sin of humanity and God’s work of grace to redeem us from sin. We’ve
been reminded that we were saved by grace through faith, that we were
regenerated from spiritual death that came with the corruption of sin, and that
we were secured for life eternal in the Kingdom of Heaven. We’ve seen that the
salvation history of God is an amazing act of mercy and love that we do not
merit, but are so glad to receive it. One might wonder, “Is there anything more
that God has in store for us?” We have no grounds to expect or demand more,
but, remarkably, God offers more.
Not only are we saved by grace,
but by grace he also offers us the chance to become people formed into the
image of Jesus. This comes through the pursuit of holiness. Holiness means,
“set apart, unique, and distinct,” and holiness in humans ordinarily refers to
their being set apart for service to God. Progress in holiness means the
lifelong pursuit of becoming transformed – day-by-day, bit-by-bit – into the
image of Jesus Christ, or what C. S. Lewis calls, “little Christs.” Progress in
holiness is a clear expectation of Scripture.
- “For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:45 ESV)
- "Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness." (Romans 6:13 ESV)
- "[We are taught in Jesus] to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV)
- "For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you." (1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 ESV)
Out of his goodness, God not
only saves us, but he has a beautiful, optimistic, expansive vision of our
humble lives. In a helpful article on holiness published by Christianity Today
online, called “Do American Christians Need the Message of Grace or a Call to
Holiness (December 2012)”, Will Willimon writes, “Grace is more than some
benign, sweet syrup poured over us by a God who only says, ‘I love you just as
you are; promise me you won't change a thing.’” In the same article, Margaret
Feinburg writes, “Holiness reminds us that though God loves us just as we are,
right where we are, his love does not end there. God's love wants to transform
us and take us to higher places.” Like a great sculptor, God wants to chip away
at the residue of our old self until the very image of his own Son, our
Redeemer, emerges. The end product is more beautiful and breathtaking than
anything Rodin could imagine.
The prescription for progress in
holiness is simple: avoid sin, and pursue right living. The question often
follows, “How do you define what is sin and what is right living?” The way we
don’t define it is too measure our heart’s desire. As John Calvin said, “The
heart is a factory of idols.” It will quickly lead us to false definitions of
sin and right living. Instead, we allow Scripture to define what is right and
what is wrong. Scripture is the authoritative guide for these matters of faith
and life. If Scripture calls something sin, we avoid it. Likewise, we pursue
what Scripture defines as righteous living.
Don’t think for a minute that
this is an easy task. We live in difficult days. Many of the things that the
church has always considered to be right are now considered wrong in society,
and so many of the things we thought were wrong are now considered right.
Issues related to sexuality and marriage definition are two of the very public
ways that we see this played out. Cohabitation and single mothers are at an all-time
high. Pre-marital sex is almost normalized. There is a massive push to change
marriage definition and to normalize homosexual relationships.
Our denomination’s accommodation
to culture on these issues is one of the reasons our heart breaks for our
denomination. Throughout her long history, the church has understood that the
only appropriate context for sexual activity is in the bond of marriage between
one man and one woman. Our denomination recently opened the door to ordain
practicing homosexuals. Judging from the votes at our last General Assembly,
the denomination is very close to changing the definition of marriage from a
covenant bond between one man and one woman to a bond between two people.
I often hear the proponents of
this accommodation say, “The world is changing, and we have to change with it.”
I disagree. The way of holiness has always been unpopular. The Christians of
the New Testament seemed as out of step with the prevailing winds of culture
then as we seem today for adhering to the teachings of Scripture on these
issues.
Lest, we think that this is only
about sex, understand that it is not. Sexual permissiveness is the sin de jour.
Tomorrow it will be something different. The culture will always challenge us
to accept what its collective heart thinks is appropriate, but what the Bible
calls sin. That will always be the call of culture. While God has a large,
optimistic, and beautiful vision of the people we can become through the work
of holiness, the vision of culture is small and pessimistic. The culture has no
great hope for us as people of virtue. The one great hope it encourages is the
freedom to remain where we are and to be okay with that as long as it doesn’t
hurt anyone else. The problem is that from a spiritual standpoint this pathway
may not hurt anyone else, which is very debatable, but it certainly hurts us.
The Word of God defines for us
what it means to be a Jesus follower. Our identity and our reason for existence
are found within its words. If we normalize any practice that the Bible calls
sin, we are unfaithful to our identity and we place an obstacle between God and
us that will prevent our growth in Christ. I think we lack integrity if we say,
“I want to be a Christian, but I do not intend to strive to follow the way of
Scripture.” It makes me wonder why someone would want to be a Christian, but not
trust or respect what the Bible says makes up the Christian life. No doubt, we
will always fall short of it, but we at least acknowledge we are doing our best
to follow Scripture’s description of that life. Do we want to be people who
take both the name Christian and follow the way of Christ as best we can so
that God can continue the work of holiness in us? I do, and I hope you do, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment