Control

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ESV)

One of the great hindrances to acceptance of God’s free gift of grace is the idea that without fear, guilt and reward (all three of which do not exist in the gospel truth) we are out of control. If I can do nothing to please God then I assume that I will do whatever I want or nothing at all. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

When we are motivated by guilt, fear and reward we are bound up in stress all the time. We do things because we ‘have to’. We go to church, give, witness and behave kindly toward others because we ‘have to’. The problem is that human beings are not designed to live life on the basis of ‘have to’ and as a result, we end up burned out and exhausted at best and physically ill at worst. Through all of this we seldom realize that the reason we do these things is to gain acceptance either from God or our fellow man. We can work ourselves into the grave seeking to be loved and accepted.

Paul says that it is the love of Christ that controls those who have concluded that he died for them. In Christ, we find the love and acceptance that we yearn for given as a gift without condition – not only do we not have to earn it, but we can’t. Our search for those things ends, and we stop living for ourselves (seeking love and acceptance by any and all means) and begin to live as free creatures in him. In him we find what we are longing for, so our longing stops and living truly begins.

Be certain that Paul is speaking here of his love for us, not ours for him. Our love is incredibly faulty and fickle – it will love someone else (even God) so long as that someone else is making us happy. It is the knowledge of how much he loves us that controls us, and that knowledge comes in the form of the gospel. It is good news that announces “one has died for all, therefore all have died…” We are dead to ‘have to’ and rose again to live in Christ; our compelling desire for acceptance does not change, but in Christ it is totally satiated. The trick is to come to the conclusion that God accepts you constantly – to expose yourself to and preach the gospel to yourself daily and hourly. When we fail to do so, we quickly forget his acceptance and fall back into our old ways.

If you are afraid that letting go of the law will lead you to lawlessness – that being outside the law is scary because there seems to be no mechanism which controls you – rest assured. Christ controls those who live according to the gospel truth not through fear, guilt or reward but by completely acceptancing and loving us despite our many flaws.

God Bless

I Should vs. I Can

As so often happens with scripture, I was reading along minding my own business this morning (meaning my mind was drifting all over the place – partially because my reading included the portion of Leviticus dealing with infectious skin diseases) when I had to do a double-take. In the last verse of the first chapter of 2 Thessalonians, Paul said something incredible:

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 ESV)

Right there, Paul summed up how the gospel actually works through us. If the gospel is the power of God to us who are being saved (Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 1:18) then here is that power in action: it makes us worthy of our calling and fulfills every resolve for good and every work of faith, it glorifies the name of Jesus in us and us in him. All of this is done according to the grace of God. Paul says he is praying for the Thessalonians that they are enabled by God to do these things, not that they ought to do them out of a sense of repayment.

In a nutshell, there are at least two perspectives on our relationship with God. One says that because of all that the Lord has done for us, we should bow to him and obey his commandments. The operative word is should. The other side would say that because of what Christ has done for us, we can bow to him and obey his commandments. The operative word is can. I cringe more and more at the message that we should be motivated to love and good works by what was accomplished at Calvary, and here is the reason why; because ‘should’ relies on us. Should is running under our own steam.

As Christians, we all know what we should do, and if we don’t know we won’t have any problem finding someone who can tell us. But what does ‘should’ appeal to? Is it not an appeal to the flesh to ‘do better’, to ‘straighten up and fly right’? Should implies that we are able do the things that God requires and causes us to try to love harder, to live better, to repent more sincerely, to sin less. In short, should means that we must, by works, please God. Even if the work is loving God more.

In Paul’s theology, it is clear that “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13 ESV) Lest we think that this is Paul’s theology alone, it seems to be Christ’s stance as well: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 ESV) This statement has no ‘should’ in it. If apart from him we can do nothing, then in him we can do everything. He will fulfill every resolve for good (which God has placed in us according to Philippians 2:13) and every work of faith in us, just as the branch produces fruit because it is supplied by the vine.

Most importantly we must remember that it is the gospel truth, the announcement of Christ’s victory on our behalf, which enables us to do anything for God. If we feel that we should do or not do certain things, we are leaning on the arm of the flesh. God may have changed my will to where I want to do certain things or don’t want to do certain things (and if so He will fulfill those desires in us) but there is nothing that I should do for Him. There are only things that I can do only because of him.

God Bless

Sin Free

I've been struggling with a question in my own mind that was brought to a head Sunday in the church services. What part does the Holy Spirit play in our sanctification?

The statement was made in church on Sunday evening that a believer can be sin free; that because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we can simply choose not to sin. I think that is erroneous on several counts, not the least of which is 1 John 1:8 - "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." The scripture makes it pretty clear that as long as we are in the flesh we will deal with sin. Sin is alive and well in the flesh, and none of us who still wear skin will ever be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

This leads to a larger issue. Because we as believers are to live life according the grace that God provides, is grace (the unconditional favor of God) negated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Are we magically transformed (even potentially) into sinless beings when the Spirit dwells within us? Paul tells us that we are a new creation - that the old has passed away (2 Cor 5:17). Does that mean that we now possess the ability to always say no to sin? Experience would tell us that that is not the case. Paul tells us as much in Romans chapter 7. No matter how spiritual I am, I will find areas of my life in which "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Romans 7:15 ESV) Paul says that if anyone is “in Christ” he is a new creation. I would maintain that simply imagining ourselves to be in the Spirit and so be ‘beyond’ the need for the gospel is the opposite of being ‘in Christ’. It is, in fact, being saved apart from Christ.

To say that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit empirically allows us to live in perfection is to deny the grace of God in our lives. It is to say that we needed Grace to be saved, but we now live on a higher plane in which we can attain God's favor through something other than the propitiation provided at Calvary. In effect, to teach this is not significantly different than to teach that we can attain favor by keeping the law. It is to say that we can, with the proper help and motivation, redeem ourselves before God outside of the redemption which He provided (this stuff is hard to express properly, and I don’t mean to minimize the work of the Spirit – keep reading).

So what part does the Spirit play? In John 14, Jesus refers to the Spirit as ‘the Helper’. He intimates that the Helper has a specific purpose: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26 ESV) The Spirit does not allow us to attain perfection, but points us back to that which is perfect; Jesus Christ. In 1 John we read, “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.” (1 John 2:27 ESV) What is the anointing that we received from him? The Holy Spirit, of course. So the work of the anointing of Christ is to teach us to abide in Christ, to trust in the grace he purchased alone. The Holy Spirit was sent that we might not forget who we are; sinners saved by grace. His constant recollection of the gospel truth to our minds is what allows us to live according to that truth. This is in keeping with Paul’s statements that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Rom 1:16) and the power of God to us who are being saved (1 Cor 1:18). To walk in the Spirit is to allow the Spirit to continually lead you back to the cross, and more importantly, to Him who died on the cross.

There is still much study that needs to be done here. My heart was burning with this stuff though, so I had to spill it out. Please feel free to leave comments and give me your two cents. I value it!

God Bless