May I Never Boast, Except...

May I Never Boast...

One famous verse that many have memorized, stenciled on walls, made into refrigerator magnets, and posters and more is this one: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).

The Greek construction makes the English translation, though accurate, seem weak. First, Paul makes a strong contrast between himself and his opponents in the Galatian churches who were trying to force gentile Christians to follow the law of Moses. He accuses them (Galatians 6:12-13) of being motivated by their "flesh," a realm that is in opposition to the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). He emphasizes that his motives are far from "fleshly," that is, not at all self centered. They might, but not me at all!

The "May I never..." part is also weaker in English. It would be more accurate (though more wordy) to translate it like this: "May I never ever, even a little, boast at all or in any way..." In Greek it's just two words" me genoito (μή γένοιτο), but the force of these two words is much, much stronger than "May I never." J.B. Philips puts it this way (Philips translation): "God forbid that..." Not literal, since "God" isn't in the Greek text, but it has the right force, and means basically the same thing in English that Paul was saying in Greek. My point: Paul is speaking forcefully and decisively here, and inviting us into his viewpoint.

So, what are some things Paul might have boasted about, other than the cross of Jesus? Well, he could have boasted about his faithfulness despite persecution (see Galatians 6:17). He might have boasted about his biological and theological heritage (Philippians 3:5-6). He might have boasted in the revelation he received first-hand from God through dreams and visions (2Corinthians 12:2-4). Or about a hundred other things.

Instead he says this:

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8–11)  

What about us, what might we boast about? Maybe we have also had dreams, visions and other revelation from God. Maybe we have also been mistreated because of Jesus and are still faithful. Maybe we have an excellent Christian pedigree: children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren of a Christian family - an excellent heritage! Maybe we are part of a Christian movement or denomination that has changed and/or is changing the world - that's great too! Maybe we have a great prayer-life, or have a keen understanding of the fine points of theology, or know the Bible better, and read it more than most people we meet. Maybe we tithe faithfully, or go far beyond the tithe in our giving, attend worship regularly, or go looking for mid-week worship as well. Maybe we have taken courses, or gotten degrees, or attended conferences, or had hands laid on us by anointed leaders, or write books or blogs, or poems, or songs. Maybe we've become recognized for our accomplishments by others - perhaps in our local setting, perhaps far beyond. Maybe we have children who have done great things for God. Maybe we are personal friends with someone who is known by much of the Christian world. Maybe we're a pastor, or elder, or deacon, or worship leader, or nursery attendant, or Sunday School teacher, or Bible Study leader, or small group leader, or volunteer at the food bank, or for Love INC, or Habitat for Humanity, or... Maybe...

The list goes on and on, doesn't it? I see myself uncomfortably reflected in some of those potential boasts in the paragraph above. I have a big desire to be both known and admired. I suppose that's not all bad, since Paul says just a few verses earlier: "Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else" (Galatians 6:4). It's not totally wrong to find within oneself the "gold" God is producing, and be pleased to find it there. But how did it get there, if not as a result of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross?

...Except in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ

If we're gonna brag, we're gonna have to brag on Jesus!

He did what I couldn't; what we couldn't. When we were dead in sin, He saved us (Ephesians 2:4-5). He became a curse for us who were under the curse (Galatians 3:13). And in doing that He totally rearranged the religious landscape by putting the old covenant on the cross and creating a new one in His blood (Colossians 2:14; Luke 22:20). In fact, He created a whole new reality in which Jew and gentile are no longer significant distinctions (Galatians 3:28), or for that matter neither is social status (slave nor free), or even one's sex (male nor female). What He did was to reconcile everything to God (Colossians 1:20), and erase the boundaries of Israelite exclusivity (Ephesians 2:15). This has the qualities of a whole new creation (2Corinthians 5:17), where the Kingdom of God is breaking into our lives changing both us and our world.  We ourselves are recreated in Christ to do and be all God wants (Ephesians 2:10), and continue to be transformed by the continuing glory of His presence in our lives (2Corinthians 3:18). And that's just a beginning! Look at what He did!

What have I done, or what have you done that's worthwhile that doesn't depend on what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross? If we're gonna brag, we're gonna have to brag on Jesus!

Because of the cross, the resurrection was possible. Because of the cross and resurrection, the ascension was possible. Because Jesus is crucified, resurrected and ascended, He now reigns at the right hand of the Father. Because He is crucified, resurrected and ascended, the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, and continues to be poured out over His people. Because of the cross, all this is possible. If we're gonna brag...

If we were left to fend for ourselves in our relationship with God, even if we had the whole rule-book (as Israel did), we wouldn't be able to do it either. We'd all be ruined. Left to ourselves we humans have an innate ability to mess things up, and to keep finding more grand and wonderful ways of doing so. I live in a culture that is so manic in it's busyness and noise, that one can only conclude that it is an a state of panicked avoidance of something. As I understand it, we are avoiding coming to grips with the depth of our own emptiness. We have it all, and yet the black hole of inner need keeps demanding more, pulling in even the light around it. This is what life without God is like.

We can't even live "the Christian life" apart from God. We try though, don't we? We try to live for Him, more than we try to live with Him. What are we thinking!? We couldn't do it without Him before we got saved, why do we think we can do it without Him now? Why would we even want to try?! Yet we sometimes do anyway. We like to be independent, even independent of God, and on some level we think we're supposed to be. But we're not created for that. We're not created for independence from God or from each other. We need each other, even as maturing believers. We need God, even as maturing believers. In fact, the more mature we are, the more we recognize that "doing it myself" is a desire of my immature self.

My confidence - my boasting - is not in what I can do, or believe I'm supposed to do, or in my tenacity to keep trying, despite my failures. My confidence - my boasting - is in what Jesus accomplished for me, and is continuing to accomplish in me through the cross and all that the cross made possible. My confidence is in Him--the one at work in me through His Spirit, making me a son of my True Father in heaven. The most I can do is co-operate with what He is doing in me, through me, and around me.

If we're gonna brag, we're gonna have to brag on Jesus!

And He will Lift You Up

Humble yourself... Part One

Most of us know the verse (James 4:10), and some of us know the old youth-camp song:

Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, (echo & repeat)

And He will lift you up, higher and higher, and He will lift you up.

(by Bob Hudson; © 1978 Maranatha! Music)

They fit with a spiritual posture that pursues humility and is always critical of pride. We sang the song, and recite the verse to remind us that before God we cannot stand on our own. Both the song and the verse remind us that in this world where self-promotion is the key to success, that the Kingdom of God doesn't work that way.

God sees us and knows us. No matter how well we might fool others with how amazing we are--at least at certain things--God knows our hearts; He knows all the ways we fall short. The only honest way to go to God is in humility. 

From our side, we recognize God's majesty, His holiness, His awesome power, His perfect justice. We see that He is "wholly other:" beyond our full comprehension, more than we can ever know or imagine. In the presence of His infinite greatness, our finitude and brokenness properly bows in humility before Him. 

Such a posture, such humility is foreign to North American culture, where we bow to no one. We stand on our own two feet and look in the eye whomever might cross our path. We take pride in ourselves, in our achievements, our accomplishments, and even if we have no notable achievements or accomplishments, we still consider ourselves great people of infinite value, and don't you dare make me believe any different. Lack of self-worth is often considered a direct cause of so many psychological and relational problems; believe in yourself and your life will be better.

But from Jesus (see Luke 14:11, for example), and from James, and from Peter (1Peter 5:6), as well as from the Psalms (Psalm 18:27), Proverbs (Proverbs 29:23),  and elsewhere, that God prefers the humble to the arrogant. "God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble" (James 4:6).

So far, so good.

The Second Half of the Verse

In our zeal to pursue humility, and perhaps in reaction to our culture, we really prefer the first half of the verse (James 4:10), to the second. Those of us who have been in the faith for a while, have been acculturated to humble ourselves, but not to let Him lift us up - and if He does, to make sure we get back down as quickly as possible.

Did you get that?

The verse has two parts, as do the other verses I cited above. The first part is that we humble ourselves, the second part is that He lifts us up. Let me suggest that not only do we prefer the first part of the verse, we often actually resist God's efforts to do the second part: lift us up.

As I was preaching on Galatians 6:4 this week, I brought up that point. This verse is really shocking, if we are of a mind to focus exclusively on humbling ourselves before God. The verse says this: "Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else."  

Many of us would read the first part of that verse and understand that by testing our own actions, we ought to be looking for more ways to humble ourselves before God by finding all those things that fell short. Interestingly this particular word for test in the Greek New Testament (δοκιμάζω: dokimazo) is almost always used to find out what is right or good about something, not what's wrong with it! I find that fascinating all by itself. How often do we look at ourselves to find out what's going right. How do we look at others, the church, our denomination or movement that way?

What is even more shocking to the "humility-minded" is what Paul says the outcome of such testing will be: "Then they can take pride in themselves alone..." Huh? Did Paul just say that? 

Yep.

It's true that in context Paul is saying more than that. He's talking about not comparing ourselves with others, and probably the temptation (in verse 1) to prideful comparison when restoring a fallen member. Yet, Paul's suggested remedy to prideful comparison is not to remind the Galatians to be more humble, but to find their pride elsewhere--namely in themselves. (Does this seems strange to you too?) He did say "Don't think you're something, you're not" (my paraphrase of Galatians 4:3), but then he goes on to tell us to take pride in who we are. 

Let's unpack that a bit.

If we are of the sort that pursues humility before God as a high value (as we should, IMHO), we would also need to be the sort that would receive without questioning God's response to us, and what God is doing in and among us. True humility would not try to wrestle the "lifting up" part out of God's hands, but rather humbly accept being lifted up. If we kneel as we go before God and He takes our hand and lifts us to our feet, I would assume that He intends for us to stand. True humility would not refuse the honor God gives us.

If you have been a believer for a while and therefore have the Holy Spirit in you, He has been working on producing His fruit in you (Galatians 5:22-23), and has been in the process of sanctifying you from day one. Has He made any progress in you? I trust that He has. He's good at His job! But do you see what He's done in you? Can you see how you are a better, more fruitful, more holy person than you used to be? If not, there's something wrong: stop refusing to cooperate with the Spirit's work in you! On the other hand, if there is progress, praise the Lord! Celebrate what He has done! No matter how much farther you have to go, you've come a long way already! Find satisfaction in that. Find pleasure in that. 

Conceit or arrogance compares itself to others. The Pharisee praying in Jesus' parable, prays arrogantly, comparing himself to tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). But don't forget the tax collector, who humbled himself, went away exalted (v.14). Paul says in this verse don't compare yourselves to others, but look at yourself; compare yourself to yourself and take pride in how far God has taken you! He has lifted you up so stand proudly where He is standing you!

Self-hatred also compares itself to others. If we're more prone to feeling bad about ourselves, or self-degradation has become the accent of our spiritual life, then we're more likely to compare ourselves with others negatively. It's not hard to find people who are better than we are at certain things - particularly things we think are important. Someone prays more, or more fervently; reads their Bible more, or more knowledgeably; has more self-control; is more loving; seems to have more faith through difficulties - and so on. I have two words for such a practice: Stop it!

Take a look at yourself today. Get a good mirror, not one that merely exposes your flaws, but one that shows you what God has done and is doing in you. Then you can take pride in yourself with no need to compare yourself to anyone else.

Don't deny it; celebrate it! God is at work doing amazing things in you! Me too!

Fulfilling the Law

As I've been preaching through Galatians--that letter of Paul in which he draws a thick, dark line between Gospel and law--I've been pondering a question: Why didn't God send His Spirit to us to make us exemplary law-keepers, rather than to set us free from the law (as Paul states in Galatians). In fact, he says, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law" (Galatians 5:18).

It's a little shocking, really. Isn't it? It sounds a lot like Paul just said a very big part of the Bible (specifically what we call the Old Testament) no longer applies. Weren't all those laws, and regulations inspired to be written by the Spirit? Wouldn't setting them all aside constitute breaking a basic rule of listening to God in our day: "If it contradicts Scripture, it's not from the Holy Spirit"?

What's the Law For?

Setting aside Old Testament law for a moment, let's ask ourselves what civic laws are for. Why are there speed limits? A cynical answer might be: to raise money for local coffers. But that's not why legislators make speed limits; they make them for our safety - the safety of the one driving, and of those around the driver. In residential areas speed limits are slower because there are more people walking, including children. Speed limits on freeways are set based on the limitations of cars, expected traffic, and how the roads themselves are designed.

We make laws to restrain evil, and promote good. Old Testament law does the same, though the scope of Old Testament law includes not only human interaction, but also our relationship with God.

One other thing that laws do for us is tell us which side of the road to drive on. It's not that one side is better or worse than the other, but a convention is necessary for all of us to be safe. The same is true for standards of currency, measurement and even the voltage of an electrical outlet. In this case, laws are more cultural than anything else--they aren't about restraining evil or promoting good, they simply state what our culture needs to function efficiently. Other nations do things differently. We would never say that the British are immoral for driving on the left side of the road, or that Canadians are evil for using the metric system, or that Australia is in danger of God's judgment for sending 230V, 50Hz power into people's homes. Of course not. But each nation, each culture has to decide on it's own internal standards for such things.

I would suggest one purpose of Old Testament law was to create Israelite culture. Israel had just come out of slavery in Egypt, which had a pagan culture. God intended to establish a distinct people, distinguished from their Egyptian past, but also from the peoples that would be surrounding them in Canaan. What I'm suggesting is that much of the Old Testament laws governing diet and clothing are there in part (at least) to create a culture (not because pork is bad for you, or because blending cotton and linen is immoral, e.g.). It's not wrong per se to eat catfish (it has no scales, and is considered "unclean" by Old Testament law), it's just something Israelites weren't supposed to do. It's not better to eat locusts (as John the Baptist did - they are not considered unclean by Old Testament law), no matter how "gross" it may seem to most North Americans.

Love Fulfills the Purpose of the Law

How is it Paul can say "Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law?" (Romans 13:10), or "the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Galatians 5:14)? For example, how does loving my neighbor fulfill the command to stone to death a bull that has gored someone to death (Exodus 21:28)?

One could, at this point, suggest all sorts of ways that would link stoning such a bull, along with the other regulations about this that follow in that passage, with being loving toward ones neighbor. This would establish bull-stoning as a loving thing to do in such situations. Would shooting it, instead of stoning it count? Is that what Paul is saying?

No.

What hit me in the middle of preaching on the last half of Galatians 5 last Sunday, when I got to the passage that says "if you are led by the Spirit you are not under law" (Galatians 5:18), is that the Spirit leads us to fulfill all the purposes the law was intended for. No law exists simply to be a law; laws exist for a reason. This includes both human law and God's law. God didn't make the Old Testament laws simply to have laws; the laws were intended to restrain evil, promote the good and create a culture distinct from the world around them. The Holy Spirit is doing the very same things within us and among us.

Paul's answer to the problem of restraining the flesh through the law (the presumptive message of the Judiaizers Paul combats in Galatians), is that faithfully following the Spirit does a much better job of this than following the Old Testament law. He's not saying just do whatever you want, you're under grace (as some "hyper-grace" teachers in our day are saying). He's saying, if you live by the flesh you cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21). He's also saying, if we live by the Spirit we won't be living by our flesh (Galatians 5:16).

The Spirit is producing fruit in us: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These things are not opposed to the law (see v.23b), rather these things fulfill the purpose of the law. Everyone of these fruit have both a personal and a relational aspect. We aren't just supposed to be loving, we're supposed to love others, not just be joyful, but share our joys (etc.).

This is why when we are led by the Spirit we are not under law (v.18). Where does the Spirit lead us, but into the ways of God Himself, into the character we need to live in the Kingdom, into lives that always seek what is good for ourselves and others, and into the culture of Heaven itself? I'd also suggest that if we are always and only living for the good (for ourselves and others), we simply won't have time for evil, and so we need not worry about restraining something we have no interest in.

When we live by the flesh (out of our mere humanness), often the best we can do is a little better than we used to. This is because our flesh can never overcome itself. It always has a bent to operate apart from God. Romans 7 explains this: the harder I try the worser I get. Trying harder doesn't work. This is also why legalism fails: it relies on our humanness to do (or not do) things on a list. We either need a manageable list, or we need to live in hypocrisy--pretending we're better than we are.

Living by the Spirit means living in joyful dependence on the Spirit's leading and empowerment to follow Him. We can't do it without Him. Our flesh thinks we can, but even that thought is rebellion against His work within us.

Now, most of us learn how to follow the Spirit over time. We don't hear clear and specific messages from Him about what to do, or how to do it -- at least not at first. Some may, many don't. That's okay. Like an infant learns to identify sounds and then words and then meanings, so we too learn the Spirit's language a bit at a time. Being in His presence is the important thing. We'll catch on after a while. He's a patient but also a good teacher.

Living by the Spirit

Last week I wrote about the deception of legalism and moralism, since they rely on the flesh to either establish or maintain our relationship with God. Paul is telling us in Galatians that what really is important is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6). If you missed it you can read that whole blog here: The Only Thing that Counts.

This week I want to write about following our flesh as opposed to following the Spirit

First [Cityname] Church of the Flesh

While no one would really name their church, "Church of the Flesh," what we find in many churches are activities and ministries that are primarily driven by the flesh rather than the Spirit. I suppose I'll need to explain.

What is "the flesh?" 

What does Paul mean by "the flesh" (Greek: σάρξ; sarx) when he says things like "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love." (Galatians 5:13)

In the old NIV (© 1984), we find the term "the flesh" (NIV 2011) translated here as "the sinful nature." Is that right? I don't believe so. As I said last week, as Paul uses the story of Hagar and Sarah to illustrate his point, he describes the birth of Ishmael as "according to the flesh" (Galatians 4:23). In the story Abram takes Hagar as a wife in order for him and Sarai to have a family. The story as originally written and as recounted by Paul does not emphasize that this was sinful as much as it emphasizes how it was merely human. I believe this is what we find throughout Paul's epistles when He uses the term. Whether believers even have a "sinful nature" is very debatable, and I believe it would be difficult to defend Biblically (if our old nature is dead (Rom.6:6), how can it still be operating?), but we certainly have a tendency to do things out of our mere humanness. (I'm glad the new NIV has reverted to a more literal translation here.)

Acting out of the flesh is not necessarily to do something that is sinful in itself. We can even be doing something with the best of intentions. However, we're operating in the flesh, if we're doing it on our own, apart from God's help, direction and without a need for His presence--that is, out of our mere humanness. Our flesh wants to do what it wants, in the way it wants, when it wants, and all to make the flesh feel good about itself--whether doing "good" things or bad things.

So, if acting according to the flesh means to act out of our mere humanness--without a need for God's wisdom, power or presence--then we have a lot of Christians and a lot of churches who are ministering in the name of God, but out of the flesh.

Why is ministry so hard?

I heard someone with a healing ministry once say "Healing ministry is only hard, if you think you're the one doing the healing." What if we substituted "preaching ministry" for healing ministry, or "pastoral care," "administration," "leadership," etc.? What if all the ministry is supposed to be simply God working through us, instead of us trying to do it for Him?

It seems to me that a lot of ministry is actually done out of mere humanness. This is how I was trained: to excel in ministry competencies more than in prayer (particularly "listening prayer"). Great books are written on how to do the different aspects of ministry in ways that get results. My church's mailbox is often full of offers for programs that will reach the lost, feed the hungry, care for the sick, etc., etc. Few use as much ink telling us how to pray as they tell us what to do. In other words, they tell us how to be more effective in living out of our flesh. Is this why we're so burnt out, so depressed, why we see so little fruit, etc.?

A recipe for hypocrisy

Living by the law, by moral rules, by competence, by what has been proven to be effective elsewhere, are all recipes for hypocrisy. All of the above tell us that it's not what's in our hearts that really matters, what matters are behavior, numbers, outcomes, and so forth--what matters is what can be seen and is measurable. We will be quick to say that we really care about what's in our hearts, but over and over again we see outwardly successful ministries fall when the hypocrisy is exposed. Let's just admit it: we don't need to be transformed by the power of Jesus to build a big ministry, or a big church. Womanizers, control freaks, abusers, and sex addicts (among others) have been doing it in our day, and we never would have known, unless someone spoke out the ugly truths. How many more are out there?

There are many causes for such behavior among leaders, but one of the biggest contributing factors is that we're running our ministries out of our flesh--out of our mere humanness. And as long as it's looking good on the outside, we're happy, we're good with that.

By the way, it's not just non-charismatic or non-Pentecostal churches that minister out of the flesh. To my surprise, I have found many charismatics and Pentecostals have taken on ministry techniques and strategies that rely simply on our mere humanness (AKA the flesh). Such churches have a theology of empowerment, but a practice that doesn't rely on it. This itself speaks to the how we are attracted to living out of our flesh--doing it ourselves. At least this gives us the idea that we are in charge and in control.

First [Cityname] Church of the Spirit

Paul gives us very clear instructions: "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want." (Galatians 5:16–17). He's saying this in the context of showing why law-keeping is anti-Christian (cf. Galatians 5:4). He's not been talking about how to keep sin in check, but how law-keeping is trying to get right with God by means of the flesh (Galatians 3:3). Living by the law is quite the opposite of living licentiously, but it's still living by means of the flesh!

What Paul is saying here is much more than "if you're follow the Spirit, you won't sin so much." What he's telling us is that if we walk by the Spirit, we won't be walking by our flesh--we won't be doing it out of our mere humanness. He's telling us to live by the Spirit (NIV84), to go through our day-to-day lives, taking each step guided by, empowered by and accompanied by the Spirit.

The Dynamic of Divine Dialog

In the Church of the Spirit, all life and ministry are how that church is walking by the Spirit. Notice that I didn't say that their life and ministry are born out of that walk, but their life and ministry is that walk. We don't go to the Spirit for a while and then leave Him to go do what He told us to do. That would be returning to the flesh--doing it out of our mere humanness (even if He told us specifically what to do!), No. We must walk with the Spirit all the time, doing what He's telling us, in the empowerment He's giving us, and in His presence.

This doesn't happen by mere study of Scripture, though the Church of the Spirit had better be solidly in the Word! This happens in a dynamic relationship with God that includes listening prayer and hearing His voice. Is God calling us to help at the homeless shelter, or the food bank? How do we know? We have to ask Him.

Some church teachers will balk at this, saying it elevates experience over Scripture. This is actually just a cop-out.  Scripture tells us to seek God and to seek His wisdom. The Old Testament is full of examples of kings and others seeking a word from God on how to proceed. This is a totally Biblical practice, even if it's not a practice in some Bible-thumping churches. The objection is that we might get it wrong. Let me just make this clear: we are likely to get it wrong (at least from time to time)! Seeking God's will for a specific ministry situation or opportunity, and getting it wrong, is no worse than not seeking His will at all!

If Paul is telling us to live by the Spirit (Rom. 8:5), and to be led by the Spirit (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:18), and to keep in step with the Spirit (Gal, 5:25), what we can expect is a dynamic relationship characterized by dialog: a conversation that includes listening and speaking on both sides of the conversation.

Living Inside-Out

Living and walking by the Spirit also means that we are being transformed all the time. He is producing in us and among us the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 6:22-23). But the main point, the main ministry of the Spirit is not to fix people, but to restore their relationship with God. A by-product of people restored to God is that everything in us that needs fixing gets remade into something beautiful.

This means we live inside-out. Where the law only addresses what can be observed: externals, the Spirit addresses primarily what cannot be observed: the heart. When our inner life is transformed, what we do is a reflection of who we are, rather than what we wish we were, or are pretending to be. The one who loves, loves because he or she knows the loving of God (1John 4:7-8). In fact, Paul sums up what the Christian life is supposed to look like by reminding us that if we are loving people, we are doing what the law was all about anyway (Galatians 5:14). 

The moment we begin living by our flesh--out of our mere humanness, the moment we rely more on our own experience, competence, judgment and abilities than on God, we are living in opposition to the Spirit (see Galatians 5:17). As we live led by the Spirit, we are not under any law (Galatians 5:18), because the Spirit will never lead us to a place that is illegal for us to go!

Living by the law means keeping our attention on the law. Living by the Spirit means keeping our attention on the Spirit.

Progress Report:

I admit, we're on our way. We're learning to be Church of the Spirit, and not Church of the Flesh. We're not perfect in it. We sometimes revert to the flesh (often disguised as "wisdom") to make our decisions. Sometimes we really don't trust the Spirit as much as He can be trusted - or maybe it's our ability to know what the Spirit wants that we don't trust. But we are on the way, we're on the journey, we're getting there, we're farther down the path than we were. What's more we are seeing evidence of just how great the Holy One is among us (cf. Isaiah 12:6).

The Only Thing that Counts

I've been preaching through Galatians since the first Sunday of the year (with a break for vacation, Palm Sunday, Easter & a guest missionary preacher). We're up to the first part of chapter 5 (vv.1-15) for next Sunday.

The last few sections I've been preaching on have really challenged me, and I believe our congregation, in our understanding of what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a follower of Jesus. The point that Paul makes over and over again, in different ways is that it is not possible to be a follower of Jesus and follower the law at the same time. He is telling us that we can't be under both the new covenant and the old covenant. There is no compromise between them. As soon as we try to add a little bit of Old Testament law to grace, it stops being grace.

This is really shocking. I'll tell you why.

The Deception of Legalism and Moralism 

In many in the North American churches (and in many churches far outside North America) there is a tacit assumption that the way we make people more moral is to make sure they understand and follow the will of God as expressed in the Bible. That is to say a central purpose of Christianity, after "getting people saved," is to make them behave by teaching them rules.

So we tell them: no sex outside of marriage, don't do drugs, dress modestly, use decent language, etc. We're also told to read our Bibles, pray, go to church, be nice to each other, tithe and give money to good causes, and try to help people in need (among other things). For many, many people this is what it means to be a Christian: doing all the right things and not doing any of the wrong things.

Here's the problem: This is not what Jesus taught, nor not what the New Testament teaches. Here's another problem with that approach to making people behave: it doesn't work.

Legalism and moralism are immensely appealing to people - especially to religious people (I'm not using the word "religious" in a merely pejorative sense.). People who want to get right with God and stay right with God, want to know what to do to achieve that goal. So they either take on this legalistic/moralistic approach themselves, or they are taught this by those who have some skill in linking this impulse with selected Biblical passages. The more sophisticated ones will say that they are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, but still live as if it's still all up to them!

Paul refers to following the Old Covenant (the law of Moses) as slavery under the elemental spiritual forces* of the world (Galatians 4:3). What does he mean by that? Taking this in context in Galatians and in Colossians where the term is also used, Paul is (basically--sort of) telling us that the law of Moses is based on the way this world works. The law of Moses is structured to take into account the spiritual nature and the spiritual powers of this world, to restrain evil and promote goodness. (It would take a whole other and quite technical blog-length post to explain that in greater detail.)

The problem with the law of Moses, particularly the way the Judiaizers were teaching it in the Galatian churches, and the way the Pharisees were teaching it in Judea at the time of Christ, is that law-keeping is all about what people can do in their own strength. Legalism and moralism are no different, even if they don't hang specifically on the law given through Moses: it's still all about following the rules to get right or stay right with God.

If you aren't shocked enough yet by this total rejection of the Old Testament laws (along with legalism and moralism), a little later in the same chapter, Paul says that following these laws is no better than paganism! In verse Galatians 4:8, Paul reminds them that the Galatian Christians used to be pagans, and then asks them in the next vers why they are turning back to those weak and miserable forces (Galatians 4:9 - same Greek term here as in verse 3), by turning to the Old Testament law! This is jaw-dropping to anyone with any sort of theological awareness.

How are paganism and legalism the same? They're the same in this: both put humans in charge of creating and maintaining our relationship with God.

Who's Your Mommy?

There's this sort of strange passage at the end of chapter 4 that has had many people scratching their heads - and for lots of reasons! Paul uses allegory to reinforce his point that the way of the law and the way of grace are diametrically opposed to each other. Let's be clear that Paul is not claiming to have "the correct way" of understanding the stories of Hagar and Sarah. He's using the story as a sort of symbol of what he's talking about.

Paul's message here is clear (even if his methodology isn't): we have an "either/or" situation here, not a "both/and" situation.

Paul has already talked about the law of Moses as something that enslaves (Galatians 3:23; 4:1, 7). He uses the story of Ishmael and Isaac's birth to point out the differences between following the law and following the Holy Spirit (a point he develops more in chapter 5).

The son of the slave woman was born according to the flesh (Galatians 4:23). If you know the story in Genesis 16 you know what Paul is talking about. (In fact, I think it's why Paul uses this story to make his point.) Abram and Sarai were sitting around the camp fire one night and Sarai suggests to Abram that he should sleep with her slave girl Hagar so she could have a family through her. Abram, being the selfless husband he is [clears throat], agrees and Ishmael is born. They saw their problem, looked at their resources and created a solution (that turned out to be another problem later). They didn't consult the Lord, they just acted. (To be fair, the Lord had not yet told Abram that Sarai would be the one through whom He would fulfill His promise to make him a great nation.)

The point Paul is making is that Abram and Sarai acted according to the flesh: they did it themselves, in their own strength, without God's help. If we want to know what Paul means by "the flesh" this is a key passage to help us understand that.

Whenever I do something on my own, because I have the skills, resources and strength to do it, and do it in a way that I don't need God to do it, I'm living out of the flesh. The flesh is that part of me that acts without God. I might do good things, I might even do those things for God, but if I do it without His help, His strength, His guidance and away from (or just not needing) His presence, I'm acting out of the flesh.

In 1Peter 4:11 Peter says ...if anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides. We not supposed to serve in our own strength, even if we know how to do it, and know it's something God wants us to do. No, we are only to serve with the strength God provides. We sometimes serve merely in "yesterday's strength," (competence) and like the Israelites in the desert find that yesterday's manna has gone bad. (It's okay. God will help us fix it later.)

What Paul is telling us is that law-keeping, legalism and moralism are all living according to the flesh - that is, in our own strength and without God's help.  Even if all our rules come straight out of the Bible, it is a deadly form of spirituality, because it puts us in charge of creating or maintaining our relationship with God. We have to do it ourselves, and whenever we fail we believe that we are automatically out of God's favor. Theologically speaking, we see ourselves as being in Christ only if we can "keep up the good work," and separated from Him every time we sin. This, my friends is a lie from hell.

In contrast to the child born out of, and into slavery, is the one born of the free woman and into freedom.  Paul identifies her as the Jerusalem that is above (Galatians 4:26). That is, our mother is heaven, and we are born, not according to the flesh, but through the Spirit (Galatians 4:29). If we are children of the free woman, then we are free just by who we are. We don't have to try to be children of heaven, because we already are (see also Galatians 4:6-7). If we are sons and daughters of heaven--sons and daughters of God--we are always in God's favor, because our sins are all covered by the blood of Jesus. They're covered all the time, not just when we're doing "better than average" in our wak with God.

The slave woman and her offspring are opposed to the free woman and her offspring (Galatians 4:29), and so we who are free are to get rid of the slave woman and her son (Galatians 4:30). I take this to mean rejecting legalism as a way of life, not the people who were teaching or following it. There are legalists and moralists who oppose living by the Spirit, and see it as dangerous. I've heard them say so. But there's also a legalist and moralist inside me that thinks so too: it's my flesh trying to look spiritual without giving up being my flesh.

So, How Do We Live Christian Lives, If Not by Rules?

Paul answers this question in many ways throughout Galatians, and I'm not going to recount all of them here. One of those answers is in Galatians 2:20 ...it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Another is something Paul says of us who are in Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27). And there are other answers he gives to this question, though a legalist or moralist would pass them over as not being a real answer.

I want to take a look at this astounding statement by Paul in Galatians 5:6 - The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Really? The only thing that counts?

In Romans 13:10 Paul says, Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. What he tells us there is what Jesus told us: all law-keeping boils down to loving God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. If we simply love God and people, we're in the will of God. To follow the law means we have to stay focused on the hundreds of rules. To follow the way of Jesus, the way of love means we focus on God and people.

Paul will go on to explain further how to do this: ...walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Through the Spirit we are made more loving toward God and each other. Through the Spirit, all in us that legalism and moralism seeks to restrain is instead transformed.

In as much as we are following the Holy Spirit (who we receive by grace, not by being perfect!), we are not under the law of Moses, or any other religious rules (Galatians 5:18). This is because the Spirit only leads us to good places and in good ways. So pay attention to the Spirit Who already lives in us!

As we live by faith in and in faithfulness to the three Persons of the Godhead, and express that in our love relationship with them and the people in our lives, we are living the Christian life. It's not always easy, but it really is this simple.

The question this all turns on is this: Do we trust the Spirit to do His job in us - including helping us know how to keep in step with Him?

If not, we'll take charge of our own spiritual walk through rules. If we do, we'll seek to deepen our understanding of Him and our relationship with Him so that our life in Christ tomorrow will be better than our life today, and our life the day after, better than tomorrow.

Legalism would have us walk a tightrope. Living by faith expressing itself in love is walking a path wider than our feet. If we stumble on the tightrope, we're doomed. If we stumble on the path, we get up, dust ourselves off, and follow the Spirit in taking our next step.

We're already loved. Stop living as if we still have to earn it.

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*elemental spiritual forces: NIV 2011. NIV 1984 has "basic principles" (see also Galatians 4:9 and Colossians 2:8, 20). There is a great deal of difficulty in handling the Greek phrase here (τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου - ta stoichea tou kosmou). The term "stoichea" had a wide range of meaning at the time Paul wrote this, and so there is a wide range of understand about precisely what Paul meant in using the term, and what the Galatians would have understood him to mean. I encourage you to do your own research, if you're led to do so. I explain how I understand that phrase as I continue.

Trees

There are (at least) two ways people are like trees. The first way is pretty simple: 

Trees are always growing, unless they're dying. 

[The person whose delight is in God's ways, and who is constantly thinking about His ways] is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither--whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:3)

People are always growing, unless they're dying. Obviously, I'm not talking about getting taller or growing around the middle (although we could have some fun with that, I suppose). I mean that we keep growing as people, as believers, as friends, as a married couple, as parents, and in every other part of who we are.

As I was thinking about that this morning, I also thought about Bonsai trees. Bonsai trees can be alive but are kept small by constant and careful pruning. Their growth is continually being cut off. Abuse does this to people: it keeps cutting them down, cutting them off, refusing to let them flourish. When it's spiritual abuse it keeps us from growing in our relationship with God, because the spiritual abuser's primary goal is to have people around that make them look good. Bonsai trees are ornamental. They serve no other purpose than to display the skill of the cultivator.

For people to grow we need the stability of a place to be planted and the water of the Holy Spirit in constant supply. We also need to be free to grow, in the ways trees grow.

We have a lot of trees around our house: firs, spruce, cedar, alder, maple and a some vine maple (plus a few other varieties). No two trees look the same. Some have similarities; alder all look like alder, etc.. But not a single tree is perfectly symmetrical, free of scars, or has branches that all grow straight and true. Every tree grows and finds its way as it grows. Someone once said, "No tree is perfect, but every tree is beautiful."

People are like that too. Their lives have had some strange twists and turns, they grow more on one side than another. Some have been hit by storms that missed others and though bent, still turn toward the light. Every person (like ever tree) is unique and has its own strengths, it's own vulnerabilities, it's own story, it's own unique sort of beauty.

The second way people are like trees is this:

At least half of the tree can't be seen.

Honor one another above yourselves. (from Romans 12:10)

If you know anything about trees, you know they have roots. Some trees have shallower roots, some trees push their roots deep into the ground. The kind of soil has everything to do with the root system. Essentially the tree is held up, supported and largely nourished by its roots - something we can't directly observe (at least those of us who don't have the specialized training and equipment of a botanist).

When you meet someone, even someone you think you know well, remember that there is more to this person than meets the eye. The "above ground" part may look like a person is supposed to look, or that part may look to be not quite right somehow. Yet what we have to remember about that person is that their root system may be wrapped around jagged rocks, dry or hard-packed soil, and tangled up with other roots that may be pulling on them from below in ways that are not healthy. Too often families that look good in their "Sunday best" behavior are hiding ugly secrets at home, and people who appear confident and at ease, are in inner turmoil about something in their past.

People, like trees, are really good at surviving wherever they're planted and no matter what has assaulted them. Some of them are good at hiding their "challenges," others not so much. Some of them you or I may have hurt, completely unaware of how our words, or actions (or neglect of either), have done some of the hurting.

One really rotten thing about people is that we tend to judge the actions of others, based on what sort of thing would make us do something like that. That is, we judge others based on our root system. Guessing others motives is actually a violent sport, that violates one of the ten commandments--the one about not giving false testimony (Exodus 20:16). The falseness is in implying, assuming motives that are hidden from all of us who can't read minds. One could also say that this violates the command against murder, since this is a form of character assassination.

To honor one another above ourselves means that we get in the habit of assuming the best in people, assuming that God is already at work in them. It means always giving the benefit of the doubt, when trying to understand what a person has done and why. Sometimes people are mean and bitter because they've been beaten up so many times that it's become their best defense against being beaten up again. Sometimes people volunteer because they want someone - anyone - to like them. Sometimes people ignore you because they don't know how to handle the pain you're going through, and don't want to hurt you by saying something they shouldn't.

(If someone has already violated our trust, through gossip or other abuse, we will find this more difficult, and I would not suggest that giving someone the benefit of the doubt means that we put ourselves back into a place of vulnerability where trust is still broken. That's actually violating ourselves and poor self-stewardship. To say much more would require a whole other blog entry.)

The thing is, you and I really can't see into someone's heart. We don't know the burdens they carry, the sharp rocks that cut into their roots. We don't know their desperation for friendship, for being known, for connection; the hard, dry soil their roots have found themselves in, or the tangle of other roots around theirs that are strangling theirs. We don't know where and how the Spirit is working in them. We have to consider that He is working on other areas of their life than the one(s) we would be working on, if we were the Holy Spirit. ;-)

Trees and people need to be planted by a stream, where the soil is constantly being fed with water, which symbolizes the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit works in the "underground" part of us, not just the visible part. Let's just assume that when we meet one of God's people, that the Spirit is at work in them and honor both what God is doing in them and that He is doing something.

Remember, it's not our job to prune them, but help them find the Water. If there is pruning to be done, it's the Father that's supposed to do it, not a fellow tree (cf. John 15:1-2).

From Confusion to Clarity

As I was soaking today, thinking about writing another blog, it seemed to me that the Lord wanted me to write about confusion. Why write on confusion? That was confusing to me.

So I got out Logos and started looking at the word confusion in the Bible. This is the result of a rather quick word study and some reflections on it.

Understanding Confusion

The first time we find the world “confusion” in the English Bible is in Genesis 11:7-9, when God comes to confuse the languages of the people so that they would fill the earth (Genesis 1:28; 9:1), as God had originally intended. Interestingly, the same word translated confusion here (Hebrew: בלל - balal), is also used in some of the “recipes” in Leviticus (Lev. 2:4, for example) where the oil is poured in and mixed with flour to make different kinds of breads.

The first time we find the word “confusion” in the English New Testament varies by translation (sometimes synonyms are used), but in Acts 2:6 we read about the crowd at Pentecost that came together in "confusion" (NRSV) or "bewilderment" (NIV) (Greek: συγχέω - suncheo). In this case as well the term originally meant to pour together, to mix. (It would be really interesting to explore the reversal of the role of confusion in both the Babel and Pentecost stories – in the first confusion disperses them, in the second confusion brings them together – but that would be a whole other blog post.)

Interestingly the English word “confusion” comes to us from French, where it is derived from the past participle of the Latin word “confundere” (from where we also get the word “confound”), which means to pour together. Sometimes in English when we are confused we might say that we are “mixed up.” The connection between mixing and confusion is common to all three languages!

Confusion happens when things are poured together and mixed. Generally speaking, confusion happens not when we don’t have enough information, but when we have information we can’t sort out properly.

What Confusion Looks Like

In Galatians 1:7 and 5:10 Paul addresses a problem in the churches in the province of Galatia saying that some were throwing them into confusion by trying to stir into the mix what didn’t belong. They were trying to mix Christianity with traditional Jewish practices, which was based on a traditional Jewish way of understanding how our relationship with God works.

Paul has a very strong term for describing this enemy of Christianity. He calls it the basic principles of this world (NIV84), or the elemental spiritual forces of the world (NIV11). [The Greek term is stoichea (στοιχεῖα).] According to Paul what’s going on is that unchristian spirits are bringing in foreign spiritual principles, and trying to mix them with the Gospel.

In Colossians he names some of these things these elemental spirits are trying to do. They bring in judgment about what people eat, religious festivals, new moon celebrations and Sabbath observance (Col.2:16) – all of which were Jewish religious practices. More specifically, he describes these elemental spirits as enforcing rules about what people should hold, or taste, or even touch. Apparently these things were being taught there and in the Galatian churches as ways to restrain the flesh. Paul knows it doesn’t work that way (Col. 2:23, see also Romans 7:7-25).

Out of Confusion

Paul’s remedy for this confusion is to remind us of who we are, and how we are supposed to live.

We are God’s sons and daughters (Gal. 3:26-27; 4:6-7). Specifically, we are not God’s slaves (see also Romans 8:15-16). That means that God is more like a Father to us than a task master. As a Father, He is a good Father who gives good gifts to His children (for example, see Matt.7:11). Our heavenly Father loves those people who are His enemies (Matt.5:44-45). He gives good and perfect gifts to His children (James 1:17). Our relationship with Him is not to be governed by fear of punishment (Rom. 8:15; 1John 4:18).

If we already are God’s children, His very own sons and daughters, we do not have to position ourselves for blessing by doing certain things in a certain way, probably using certain words, accompanied by certain gestures. Those who suggest that we can only approach God that way, are promoting a false Christianity. That is what Paul is saying in Galatians and Colossians. Through Jesus, the unapproachable God becomes approachable; we can approach the throne of grace with confidence and boldness, without a need to hide anything of who we are (Heb 4:16).

But what about behavior? Aren’t Christians supposed to do certain things and not do others?

  

How are Christians supposed to live, if we aren’t afraid of being punished for doing something wrong? The answer is simple: love God; love people. I don’t mean that as a parody of an answer. That really is the answer. It's simple, but it's not easy.

In Romans 13:8-10 Paul says three times in three verses that living in a way that loves others, is actually what the Old Testament law was really all about. In fact, he says something astounding: “Love does no harm to its neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:10). In Galatians he says something that is just as shocking: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal. 5:6).

To follow Jesus means we know who we are, as He did (two of the three temptations by the devil had to do with his identity: “If you are the Son of God…”), and love people as He loved them (John 13:34).

As long as we don’t allow anything to be added to these two things, as long as we don’t let anything get mixed in with our identity as sons and daughters, and the simple call to love God and people, we at least won’t be confused about what it means to be a Christian. Yes, working that all out takes time and there is a maturing process that goes on. For example, loving people living a life of sin, while not enabling them in their sin, isn’t always a simple thing for us to figure out. We can get it wrong from time to time and probably will, but if we know who we are, and if we’re following Jesus in applying that, what else is there?

Our identity is sons and daughters, our assignment is: love God and people.

Empowered for Freedom

Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit to help us remember who we are, and empower us to love as Jesus loved. We couldn’t do it without Him, and aren’t even supposed to try. Only legalists and those live by other forms of religiosity believe it’s really all up to them to “get right with God.” Christians know that Jesus already made us right with God, and as Paul said, the only thing that counts now is faith expressing itself in love.