A World Apart – Sanctification

This is the second of two posts on fundamental doctrines to the Christian. The first is justification, the second sanctification. If justification is the gift of freedom, then salvation is opening the package. It is a process, sometimes a very long one (if any one of you have played the party game Hot Potato, you’ll know what I mean!) and it leads ultimately to satisfaction, though sometimes through frustration.

Sanctification is not an immediate thing, by any means. We are not transformed in thinking, in heart, in mind overnight. And we are certainly not intended to be that way. Generations of sin are not easily broken as we live our lives, nor are the patterns of sinfulness that work back through our culture overtaken in one go. I’m going to spend a post, maybe two, on types and means of sin, and what they mean for both Christians and non-Christians, but for now, I’m simply going to look at the means whereby we are enabled to overcome. This is sanctification.

Just as it takes time to accomplish the work of learning to play an instrument, it takes time for sanctification to transform the lives of justified, born-again believers. I do not want to suggest that we have to work at our own sanctification exclusively – Biblically, see Philippians 2:1-12, which is reproduced in part below – but that it is a process, one which we can’t expect to see completed in our lifetimes, until we come before the Lord after death. We are not perfect. We are not complete. But we are on our way there.

Philippians 2 gives an eye-opening example of what the process of sanctification is meant to lead towards. I’m going to include vv. 5-12 for context:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”

Blessings;

Christ-bearer.

Sufficiency III – Institution

What’s happened to the church as an institution? What’s happened to good doctrine taught and practiced in the lives and in the worship gatherings of the congregants in this culture? These are the questions fueling this post, building towards the observations of the insufficiency of community within the body of Christ and its effects on those trying to follow the path of the cross. It’s within many communities of believers that these failures really show, leaving so many adrift and wanting more than an hour each Sunday to shut the world out, close the doors and sing praises to each other (but not finding it). I’ve been blessed with a great community, but it’s found not within the institution, rather it’s shown outside.

So what am I trying to say?

I believe that the church as an institution has become a lost and wayward child, somewhere along the way. I believe that in its anxiety to work towards the mission field ‘out there’ overseas or trans-culturally, it’s forsaken its roots, it doesn’t know its own heart, and it has not equipped itself to deal with the men, women and children who come through its doors cursed under Romans 1. I believe that central to this failure is the lack of conviction in preaching the Gospel, the lack of reflection and meditation in the lives of the hurried and anxious masses, and the lack of faith in the power of God to uphold His Word in the body of believers that call themselves ‘the church’.

Insufficient.

Forgetting what it means to be the ‘bride of Christ’ in church-ese as an institution leads, without fail, to the forgetting of the power and the importance of community. Just today I was listening to some teaching on prayer, and in it was mentioned Matthew 18-18-21

“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Next post, I’ll get into some detail on the nature of a failed Christian community and the necessity for a regroup and redeployment of gospel truths, intentional lives and resting in His sufficiency, but for now I’m going to leave it.

Blessings;

Christ-bearer.

Sufficiency II – Doctrine

Fundamentally, the truth of Jesus Christ comes from assurance. Assurance comes from the gospel, and the gospel comes from God. Yet so many churches neglect to preach the doctrines central to the Gospel, assuming knowledge that is simply not present any more, and as a result congregants fall away and non-Christians turn away. You will notice that this entry in the series will correspond closely to the Institution entry, with some details expanded upon and others newly introduced when I get to that one. At the root of it all is doctrine, however.

The Bible contains everything that one needs to understand about who Christ is, why He came to die, what the effects of his death and resurrection were and are, and what that means for His church. These truths are expanded upon throughout the letters of Paul, which compose the majority of the New Testament. The problem lies in the poor or neglected teaching and understanding of these things, and the unwillingness of many to ask questions of faith and seek answers in strong teaching on those questions. I am a firm believer in the fact that if we ask the right questions, we will be given the right answers. I take an illustration from the recent film adaptation of I, Robot, reminding you that in order to proceed, Detective Spooner had to ask the right questions to lead him down the right trail. I do have assurance in the fact that the Lord does answer questions as we ask them, and sometimes in great detail. And as we ask them, we grow in knowledge and understanding. But, we are still faced with the insufficiency, in many cases, of the teaching of doctrine in those churches that claim the name Christian.

My intent with these three first posts is to establish a claim for insufficiency in man and sufficiency in Christ and His teaching, and in careful prayer and meditation on what it means for each of us that He is sufficient. As I have said, the teaching I’ve had as I’ve grown up is only now appearing inadequate, and I want to share my examinations of what really is adequate. I’m coming at this with the intent of demonstrating sufficiency, so look forward, dear pilgrims.

Blessings;

Christ-bearer.

[In] doctrin(e) ation

Weird words are back, folks. This is the start of something new and exciting. I’m looking forward to listening to the new stuff coming out of Mars Hill, but I’m looking even more forward to the Bethlehem Baptist stuff.

Podcasts are wonderful things.

Without ‘em, I wouldn’t be where I am now.

The title is also meant to incorporate some of the Westminster stuff, as I begin to go through it. It’s got a lot to say to the world of January 3, 2008. I can only imagine the things I’ll be learning this time ’round the track.

Lord, keep me excited, indeed!

Christ : Supernatural 1 – Holy Spirit

Unpredictable. Dangerous. Powerful.

This is the Holy Spirit, and when it comes upon one in power, watch out.

There are precedents for it, certainly. Samson, Elijah, Moses. All were men filled with the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit.

And then there was the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers gathered in Jerusalem.

This is the Counselor promised by Christ, the Helper who will attend to the believers after His ascension.

Here’s where the ground gets tricky, because this is probably the most unsettling experience of the believer’s supernatural. The Holy Spirit cannot be predicted, and it will not be stopped in its course. It has also been the most abused of the charismatic doctrines, in my opinion, and has led to more exclusionary tactics than any other. At the same time, it’s also a part of any true revival ( a fraught term), in various ways.

The heart of the matter is, however, that I believe the Holy Spirit does still work in power, and that it does do wondrous things. It is also very dangerous ground to base a theology on, because if you allow a prevailing belief in the primacy of the Spirit in worship or in defining what makes one ‘Christian’, you are throwing wide the door to experiential theology, removing Christ from its center and allowing a great latitude in what is defined as spiritual, and as Christian. And that, my dear readers, is heresy in the making.

Remember: In C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, Aslan is never SAFE to take for granted; oh no, not that.

But he’s GOOD.

Blessings;

Christ-bearer

Obedience – Representatives Series III

When you look at what the structures of law, government and community stand for, the essential fact of them all is simply this: Obedience. This one’s going to be a difficult topic to look at, because it’s [dis]obedience that gets us to where we stand now.

One of the major problems people have with the church as a institution is that it seems to require obedience to what many consider arcane and limiting rules. This is the gospel of law, not the gospel of mercy. Furthermore, those who see this underlying difficulty with the institution turn towards a form of spirituality that is ultimately meaningless. Thus you have extreme charismatic positions, mysticism, paganism – all represent the removal of the rule of law, freeing oneself to act in whatever manner seems to be most limitless.

This is the essence of Satanism.

But Biblically, the rule of law [or of the Law] was fulfilled in Jesus to open the door to the gospel of grace and mercy, the freedom that exits in servanthood and in the finished fulfillment of the law. Entire sections of New Testament letters expound on this in different ways. Obedience to one’s calling, to authority, to the kingship of Christ Jesus, to the teaching of the Good News of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, and to the gift of sacrifice…these are what the Gospels preach. Not that we are able our best lives now, or that we are going to be rewarded for keeping directives and rules, but that we are given satisfaction in having them kept for us. We are relieved of the burden of an impossible life.

This is the essence of Christianity.

Stay tuned. This one’s much bigger than one post.

Christ-bearer.