Justified Journal

“I want to build something”, one of my colleagues said to me as we walked to our cars.  He just quit his day job, and felt that after all these years of work, he didn’t have a legacy.  There was no memorial that served as a testimony to his life’s work.  It seemed like a “chasing after the wind”.

A lot of people are in this position when they reach a certain point in their lives.  They reflect, look back and wonder if it was all worth it.  But what did I achieve? This question lies at the center of their reflection.

The operative principle of our world (especially the capitalist society I live in) is, “If you work hard, you can have the American dream”.  The efforts of our hands and will working in concert can achieve amazing things when you are free.  Successful people are paraded around on television informercials as royalty.

Idealizing this puritan work ethic lulls people into believing that it will work for their Christian lives, too.  Self-improvement and personal growth are linked to a behavioral psychology model.  If we do this, then sooner or later, it will be true of our “inner man”, too.  Whether I feel it or not, I will do the right thing. 

The reformers called this “civil righteousness”.  That is, by behaving in a law-abiding way, I will garner the appreciation of my society.  I will have a good reputation, and perhaps, success.  It is ethical behavior.

If one believes that this is how Christianity operates, then they assume a Buddhist worldview.

Christianity does not truly operate on the “building of” anything.  Instead, Christ offers you death and resurrection.  And one of the first deaths we face is the death of our reason.  The Gospel tells us that God became a man.  This confronts reason and calls it a liar.  Further reading reveals a God in three persons, which truly boggles the mind.  Reason, at this point, is now struggling to keep its head above water as the storm rages and the waves grow.  The final nail in the coffin is when the Christian says that “I have a crucified God”.  The reason now blurts out in disgust, “What kind of stupidity is this?  It is a laughable religion and invalid, logically”. 

The Christian life, then, is not the building of something, but the crucifixion of the self by Christ alone through His Word.  Simultaneously, it is the creation of something new through His resurrection.  Both are accomplished through the work of material water married to Christ in Baptism (another affront to reason; “How can this be?”).

And, in another assault of reason, God gives us everything in those drowning and resurrecting waters.  All of life’s goal is fulfilled in the beginning, rather than as a reward for a life “well-lived”.  The keys to God’s kingdom are given to even a baby with no comprehension or awareness. 

How ridiculous?  No, How wonderful.

To Christ alone be the glory, now and forever, amen.

If Christ’s work on the cross was sufficient for our salvation, why isn’t His work sufficient for our sanctification?

Liberal Christians are busy saving the world; conservative Christians are busy saving themselves.  Christ is busy taking both of their “jobs” back.

First Chapter

“Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God”(Romans 3:19)

            We were hanging out at my friends’ apartment.  One guy was watching T.V. on the couch, one was in the other room, and I was talking to a friend (I’ll call him “Sam” to avoid confusion). 

            Sam was a friendly guy.  He had a good sense of humor, and we joked about things often (we were in our 20’s).  On this night, however, he began to share some of his burdens.  It was a moment etched into my mind forever.  As he was speaking, I realized that he was feeling guilty and condemned for something he had done.  He was beating himself up for his own sin.  It wasn’t the first time.  This seemed to be a repetitive occurrence for Sam.  Looking back on it now, I can clearly see it was a cry for help. 

            At that time, I knew very little about grace.  I was raised in a church, and had been through different church incarnations, but I rarely had any wisdom to dole out to those who desperately needed it.  I believe that the Holy Spirit spoke to Sam that night through me.  After he had gone on for a while heaping guilt upon himself, I said to him something like, “Why are you beating yourself up for your sins?  It’s blasphemous to think you could pay for the sins that Christ has already paid for”. 

            For the first time in the discussion, he lifted his head up, and got a smirk on his face.  You could tell he felt the relief he was looking for. 

            Sam, the other friends and I all attended a little Baptist church.  We liked the church for many reasons.  The pastor was a great teacher. He studied the Bible diligently and presented things in a clear way.  He was an authoritative leader.  You had to bring your Bible and a pencil every week, because the teaching was so thorough, you might forget what he said otherwise.

            The church followed him without exception.  Many people were clone-like in their devotion to his teaching.  I was one of them.

            The pastor’s style of preaching involved: 1.reading a portion of Scripture, 2. developing principles out of it that were to be obeyed.  If you didn’t follow these principles, he (or someone just as zealous) would “call you out on the carpet” for your “sin”.  This was called accountability.

            The effect of such preaching on the hearers was never considered.  You had sermons entitled, The Seven Steps to a Better Prayer Life, and Ten Steps to Overcoming Sin.  By the end of one year, you might have a couple hundred principles that you were supposed to obey.

            The burden of these rules had a practical impact, but an impact on the conscience as well.  If you took these principles seriously, you would start to realize that you didn’t always obey.  In fact, you probably broke a principle here or there throughout the day.  Christians who were self-reflective felt guilty.  They looked for relief in the prescription from the pastor; work harder to obey.  Individuals would re-double their efforts in an attempt to find some inner peace, but things just got worse.  In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus declares that the expectations of the law go beyond the physical to the intent of the heart:

27“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; 28but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29“If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30“If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell. (NASB)

The above statement is part of The Sermon on the Mount.  In it, Jesus adds significant weight to the Law by adding the unseen dimension of heart-felt obedience to outward obedience. 

            The intent of Christ’s words is to demolish any last bastion of hidden sin.  He was not going to allow for “white-washed tombs” like the intensely religious Pharisees to escape without admitting their guilt before a Holy God.

            What is the effect on you?  Do you feel the weight of your own guilt?  Do you feel shame?  I certainly do/did.  Christ is using the Law as a launching point to cut to the heart.  Even the season Christian man would be lying to himself if he said he never looked at a woman with lust in his heart.  “Every mouth” is closed in conviction.  We are all guilty.

            And, for those young men who continued to struggle mightily with this sin, shame was an added feeling that emerged.  It became more and more prevalent as they tried to overcome the sin by application of their self-control.  And then, if they did “overcome” the temptation, they became self-righteous and conceited, judging others who lacked the same self-control.

            Personally, I went through a period where I thought I wasn’t saved.  As I “submitted” myself to the church, I also became self-righteous.  It didn’t last long.  Because of the words of Christ in Matthew, I came to realize that God judges the heart and the intentions.  I did not love God.  What’s worse is that I was troubled by this development (which I thought was strange) and went to many people to find the type of relief Sam felt as I spoke to him.

            Various members said things like, “You need to pray more,” or “You need to read the Bible more”, or “Maybe you’re not saved”.  This amplified my own anxiety and concern. 

            I voiced this concern about not loving God to another friend of mine.  He simply stated, “John, you love God 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year because Christ loves God for you.  I didn’t know it at the time, but he had just given me The Gospel.  The guilt, trouble and concern I had were lifted off my shoulders and replace by the peace of God. 

            Maybe you are in a church like the one I described above.  You feel the weight of your sin.  You know that God expects an obedience that is greater than what the pastor has required of you, as Jesus said, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).  You are troubled.

            To you Christ says,

28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11, NASB)

            It is not your faithfulness that saves you.  It is not your obedience that makes you Holy.  It is not your observance that makes your righteous.  It is Christ’s faithfulness, it is Christ’s obedience, and it is Christ’s observance that had made you righteous.  He has forgiven you for all of your sin and mine.

            He has also died for your conceit, your self-righteousness and your judgment of yourself and others. Paul declares your innocence in Romans, Chapter 8:

      1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us …

            Christian, return to the cross.  The Gospel of Christ is not the beginning point of the Christian life, He IS the Christian life.  He has come to set you free.  He has come to you who are bound in your conscience to speak the words, “I forgive you all of your sins”.  And He will repeat these words over and over and over to you.

            You might think He doesn’t know your sin.  The truth is that He knows it intimately because your sin and mine were placed on Him just before the Father poured out His wrath on Jesus.  As the Scriptures say, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

            My friends, This is  the Gospel for you.

CPR class (Photo credit: chrisspurgeon)

Over the years, I have seen many different “-isms” crop up in Christian circles.  Some of them have existed for centuries, while others are innovations which have been created in the past 150 years.  Most of them serve as a defense mechanism against Christian spirituality.  I will focus on two here.

The first “ism” is Rationalism.  Rationalism is not all that new, but it has become extremely influential.  It permeates what is known as “Lordship Salvation”, but can also be found in other divisions of Christianity.  Basically, the idea is to focus on those parts of Scripture which tell me to do something.  If that is not presented, then the people of Scripture are turned into moral examples to be emulated and followed.  All of this effort is called “sanctification”.

Theologians of this order interpret the Bible literalistically rather than literally.  That means, they take the parts of Scripture which are not commands or demands and make them into laws, commands or demands.  This effectively erases the need for God as the individual becomes self-sanctifier.  An example of this is when Jesus is talking with the rich young ruler.

When Jesus speaks with this man, He is asked what one must do to inherit eternal life.  Based on the question (in economic terms), Christ answers with the need to fulfill the law as payment.  When the self-deceived young man answers that “I have kept all of these from my youth”, Christ then tells him to sell all he has, give it to the poor, and follow me.  At this, the man walked away sad.

Was the point of this to say that the Law is the prescription for the disease of death?  If I fulfill these commandments, will I “buy” eternal life?  That is the literalistic approach.  It reducse the intent and expression of Christ’s words to an activity which earns something else.

A literal (if not truly evangelical) approach would interpret Christ’s words differently.  Christ is trying to put up a mirror from which the young man would be able to see his sin, which would lead him to repent and ask Christ to save him.  Because of his utter blindness, Christ amplifies the effect of the law by setting a much higher requirement which was clearly impossible for this young man.  Even the disciples, who had actually done some of these things, were troubled because of the effects of the Law.

The Law is not a prescription for salvation (or, for that matter, sanctification), but is a true mirror in which to see one’s hopeless condition.  The literalist is more interested in minimizing the effect of law than declaring it in its full wrath.  This is precisely the position of the rich young ruler.

Ultimately, the attempt to turn God’s word into a “how-to-book” of Sanctification is an attempt to revive a God who is not seen as “working” today.  Rather than look to the right preaching of the Scripture (using the Law and Gospel, declaring Justification through Christ alone, etc.), and the sacraments as the source of God’s living action in this world, Rationalist attempt to “revive” God by reducing the Word to do’s and don’t which do little more than bind the conscience.

May God damn this theology.

People seek a remedy to guilt and judgment, but when they find a law-based church, the guilt and judgment becomes amplified. 

Another thought:  The “Guilt-Grace-Gratitude” model is predicated on a legal scheme.  It is a Law sandwich.  It starts with “guilt”, which is most definitely not the work of the Holy Spirit.  Guilt and conviction are not the same concept.  One is human sorrow, the other is godly sorrow. 2 Corinthians “10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death”.

The Law binds the conscience …

Turning to the Law to overcome sin actually exacerbates the problem.

Turning to the Law to overcome sin is the outworking of human sinfulness.

Hearing Christ has died for me sets the conscience free.  This Gospel of total and complete forgiveness brings about true repentance.  It is not the Law that brings repentance, but God’s kindness.  And, who is “God’s kindness”?  None other than Jesus, our savior.

Christ, Our Genesis

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The opening section of John recalls the opening portion of all of Scripture in the Book of Genesis.  It is a book of beginnings, including mankind, God’s creation and the fall into sin and death.  It is also the book that gives the first promise of a savior in Genesis 3.

John’s purpose, then, is to declare the connection that Jesus is the Divine Creator.  If that were all, it is a pretty significant declaration.  But, that isn’t all.  It means that Jesus’ role is to create from nothing (theologians call this “Ex Nihilo”), or from very little.  The activity of creation happens all through the New Testament Gospel accounts.  Whether it’s a man born blind, or a cripple given the ability to walk, Jesus is a Creating God.

Jesus declared himself to be God in His creative works.  Giving someone the ability to see or walk is an incredible work.  They are dramatic demonstrations of God’s power.  But, they are not the greatest demonstrations of His creative activity.  The crowning achievement of His creative activity is the creation of faith in those who are dead in sin and trespasses.

While the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is truly amazing, the creation of faith in men born spiritually dead is astounding.  He performs this act by speaking audible words to the crowds, disciples and individuals.  The words He speaks create something that doesn’t exist in the person.  It is His ongoing work.

Think of doubting Thomas.  Although he believed once he saw the resurrected Christ, Jesus told him, “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe”.  This includes those who follow Jesus today.  How did they come to believe, if they haven’t seen the resurrected Christ?

Colossians 1:

15The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

We live subjective lives.  That is to say, we live lives where we believe what our perceptions and thinking are true.  Based on this belief, we judge things as good and bad, or better and worse.  If there is no intervention, we never get outside of our own thoughts or the impulses or the prejudices of the culture/time we live in.

Most addicts don’t want an intervention.  They get emotional, storm out of the room, and walk away.  Maybe they return to hear the effect that their addiction has had on others, or maybe they hear the words but don’t truly listen.  They want to maintain their own delusion.  It’s more comfortable to remain the same.

On the other hand, addicts who go through rehab often have a “moment of clarity” after getting sober.  They realize they’ve hurt many people and feel the full emotions of the damage they’ve caused.  They become both repentant, and human again.  Their hearts become tender.

This is exactly the case with humanity.  We are hopelessly addicted to our own thoughts and beliefs.  And, these can change with the winds of the culture and the times.  They become convictions which are impossible to shake.  Relativism is our God.

Christians can read the portion of Scripture above and heartily agree with it.  We affirm with our mouths that the Son of God became a human being.  We buy nativities by the truckload at Christmas time.  It is another thing, though to consider the meaning.

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him”. This means that the eternal, Holy, Righteous, Omniscient God Almighty became a temporal, flesh-and-blood human being to live briefly and die for us.  The Sacred collided with the lowly.  Jesus is the God-man.  Not the God + man.  He is the “both, and”. 

It took this radical intervention by God to save us. Judges17 states, ^{6 “}In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  The same is true today.  Even Christians have gotten caught up in excusing their own sin by relativizing its impact.  Worse yet, the incarnation has taken on a mythical quality.  It is not a reality for the church.

When Christians prefer books on how to make direct contact with God through prayer or other methods, they sideline the continued incarnation of Christ through the Church.  This includes minimizing preaching, the reading of the Word, baptism and communion.

Even worse, some theologies  minimize the continued incarnational work of God through these means of grace, calling them, “memorial,” “seal,” or “sign”.  We are addicts to the earthly thinking of human reason.

Thus, the need for God’s intervention.

He has become the earthly in order to make us godly.  This is not a one-time intrusion into our subjective lives.  It is the ongoing work of the Spirit to bring the Grace of Christ’s to us.  It is Spiritual rehab. 

And, just as it takes being sober for a while to come to a moment of clarity, for those willing to go through rehab (found in the church), it may take a lot of gospel to realize “Christ has died for me”.  That is why the job of the church is to repeat that “one note chord” every Sunday.

And the effects can be significant.  The objective Gospel brings about a repentance that circumcises the heart.  It gives the Christian a capacity for love and forgiveness that are heaven-born, just as we are in Christ alone. 

It is easy to return to the subjectivity of our thinking, theology and spiritual impulse to climb the ladder to God.  It is much harder to hear the words, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8)”.  This is most certainly true.