Church on a Hill

Every day on my way to work I pass an intriguing little church with a name I can never get straight, but it has to do with cities and hills. Last night I checked out their web site. Near as I can tell, the pastor went on a 40 day fast, after which he determined that while there are churches on every block in our county, there are none on a hill. Blocks=bad; hills=good. I realize that this is metaphorical. At least I think so. Where I live a church on every hill is a challenge. Anyway, there was no doctrinal statement, but some rather good stuff about the state of our nation and the failure of the church to accomplish something, the something which this little church is apparently going to pull off.

I have no doubt that the church in America is facing crisis. Call me paranoid, but here at home we are moving from legal discipline for hateful acts to prosecution for hateful speech, to prosecution for hateful thoughts. "If you don't repent and believe the gospel, you're going to spend eternity in hell" is pretty dang hateful in a humanist culture. Not to mention that radical Islam is on jihad and with modern communications and weaponry our oceans are no longer a protective barrier.

But enough paranoia. Back to the church on a hill. Granted that the church is divided and weak, is this constant urge of Christian leaders to be Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem really the answer? Please understand that I'm not standing outside to criticize. I was once set in as pastor over the “church in the city,” a roll that was absolute hubris, especially considering my youth. That phase came and went, and was replaced, I hope, by some degree of not just humility, but reality. I react to the little church down the road because I’ve been there.

There seems to be what can only be called an insane desperation among those who contemplate the “state of the church” to repeat the same method that we’ve been trying for years: reject the blocks and head for the hill. Do it one better. Does anyone notice, by the way, that all the hill churches are now on blocks?

So I lay in bed last night contemplating the state of the church, and finally turned to prayer. I think I was hoping that the Lord would say something like, “Start a Bible study in your home. I will give the Word through you such power that within six months all the block Christians in the county will be sitting enthralled in your living room.” No way. All I heard was, “Get low.” How low? How ‘bout this? “No, lower.” Check this out, Father! “No, lower.”

There was only one unbearable conclusion to this: the block Christians are better than me. Pride gives me multiple reasons why I am more special to God, more enlightened. The very thought makes me less. They don’t need to be replaced; they need to be served. From below. Maybe that’s the way up the hill.

Kodak Roads

Since I have not blogged for a while, I felt I needed to catch you up with an insightful and penetrating analysis of our community, just in case you're wondering....

They've changed the road signs in my part of the county to make them readable, and also to inform me that I live on or near a Sevier County Scenic Highway. Hmm. I guess that means that the Dam Store will soon be on the National Registry of Historic Sites. The Dam Store is the last northbound place on highway 338 to get beer, cigarettes, and minnows before the boat dock at Douglas Lake.

The roads here mean what they say. Richardson's Cove and Jone's Cove Roads really do go to coves, and roads named for hollows go to real hollows. Boogertown Road goes to Boogertown, and Boogertown originally had a booger--not of the nasal variety, but a real ghost. None of this suburban nonsense where a road in the middle of Kansas is named Mountain View, or a lane in upstate New York has the moniker "Cactus Flower." I do recollect that there is a road near here on the south side of the French Broad River that is named Something or Other Beach Road. There are no beaches on the French Broad. No surf either, although there is a reasonable substitute. If you go for a swim when the dam opens the spillways, you can be in Knoxville in ten minutes.

That brings me to the name "French Broad." It means what it says. The French were in this area at one time, and the River is broad. It has nothing to do with a hefty mademoiselle named Antoinette who indulged in some questionable behavior in the vicinity of Rosman, NC, where the river originates. Only tourists snicker at the name. We know better.

But I've wandered from the topic of Sevier County roads. Douglas Dam has such a hold on the local psyche that every road north of the river is Douglas Dam Road. It covers most of Kodak. Since Sevierville has split Kodak, there is a Douglas Dam Road East and a Douglas Dam Road West, and there are Douglas Dam Roads that connect East and West Douglas Dam Roads, and intertwining them all are several Old Douglas Dam Roads. At least there are no Mountain Views or Cactus Flowers.

I know this is a bit confusing, so let me back up and give a brief geography lesson. Sevier County is about 30 miles east of Knoxville. The southern third of the county is in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which creates an interesting legal issue. A kid who is caught smoking pot in Gatlinburg will be put on county probation and help clean up the local roads (probably Douglas Dam Road). But if he walks the 25 yards into the Park he will be picked up by FEDERAL agents and his case will be heard in a FEDERAL court. None of these stories end well.

But I digress. The center of the county is a tourist Mecca down a north-south highway known as 66, 441, or just plain Parkway. Everything on either side is quiet and green, so a 200 yard drive from the mess is a different world. The northern part of the county comes to a point, and I-40 runs through the tip. The French Broad cuts this northern section off and forms a triangle. Kodak is in the middle. Actually, it used to be Henry's Crossroads, and there was kind of skirmish with the Indians there. In 1892 the local postmaster changed the name to Kodak, after the camera, because it was easy to remember and spell, which was apparently a great boon to the locals. Recently there has been a move to refer to it as "Northview," under the influence of the same kind of people who named a road in New York "Cactus Flower."

Anyway, back to the postmaster. Over a period of time Sevierville grew and began to cherry pick up highway 66 and extend the City along that road for 200 yards on either side. If you are having trouble with this concept, I refer you to a quote by Abraham Lincoln, who, when he learned that southern ports would secede with their states, cried out in a cabinet meeting, "But where then will I get my revenue?" This is not a political statement, but an attempt to dignify the decision of the Sevierville fathers with a quote from a president. You are by now wondering about the postmaster. Well, when Sevierville cherry picked, it split Kodak in half, and the Kodak post office is now in Sevierville. This is obviously some kind of sign that Kodak, postmaster and all, should not have messed with the name. Henry's Crossroads, by the way, is about a mile west of highway 66, and from the looks of it, would never have been cherry picked. But it does have a nice historic marker about the Indians.

Because Kodak (we're stuck with the name) was north of the river it was isolated from the rest of the county. Before cars and bridges, people in Kodak had to use one of two ferries to get to Sevierville. I think they were considered as outsiders or weird cousins by the residents south of the river, because the attitude still exists. In fact, it is more widespread. You will not find our name in the Bell South phone book. Knoxville, yes; Sevierville, yes; but not a soul in Kodak. The local Smoky Mountain phone book carried us for a while, but no longer. I don't think this is deliberate; they just don't remember that we're here at all. Until billing time. Kodak has been saved from total isolation from the rest of the world by e-mail and social media.

Oh, back to the Kodak post office which is really in Sevierville. This is not an unusual phenomenon in Sevier County. The Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge airport is in Sevierville, the Gatlinburg golf course is in Pigeon Forge, and the greatest attraction in a temperate forest environment replete with bears and other wildlife, is a salt water aquarium. Not to mention that the straightest, flattest boulevard in the county is named after Dolly Parton. Well, it does have scenic highways.

Agape Love

"...make every effort to supplement...brotherly affection with love ('agape')...." 2 Peter 1: 5, 7

In the last devotional we looked at Brotherly Love. This week we will finish up Peter's list of Christian virtues in 2 Peter 1: 5-7 with an analysis of "agape" love.

While we might expect a definition of "agape" to encompass a deeply emotional, personal kind of love, the classical meaning of "agape" is based not on emotion, but on reason. It means a reasonable attachment, choice, and commitment to a worthy object. To the Greeks, it often meant the respect we show to a man's office or reputation. If that is the correct definition, then it is possible to love someone we don't like. Matthew describes this possibility in chapter 5 when he says, "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven."

Christian writers have attempted definitions of "agape," such as self-sacrificial love, selfless commitment to the well-being of another, the "love that consumes," or the "highest form of love." But these fall short. If we take the classical meaning, we have to say that "agape" love is based on seeing something greater or higher than a person himself: something that defines him and gives him worth outside himself. That means that love is a mandatory principle or reality (1 John 4: 20: "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar." Love for the higher includes the lower.)

The "higher" is of course the love of God in the gospel. If God loves me and my brother, and we both love God, then I have no choice but to love my brother. Or to use gospel language, if you are chosen by the same God, washed in the same blood, and indwelt by the same Spirit, I must manifest the same love for you that God does for me. At an even deeper level, I must look past your faults and mine to what God intends us both to be. CS Lewis somewhere stated that if I could see a fellow Christian as he will be ten thousand years from now, I would be tempted to worship him. In light of the future, and the glory of God, our unwillingness to love one another is trite and meaningless.

In what directions does "agape" love manifest itself? The most obvious direction is our love for God (see Deuteronomy 6:5). That is because God is His own higher principle. God by His nature as Creator and Sovereign is worthy of love, not to mention His role as Redeemer. The unredeemed are incapable of this love; only those with changed hearts both make peace with God, and find that they love Him.

Another direction of "agape" is God's love for us. One hard question with which theologians have occupied themselves is whether or not God is in some sense obligated to love us. On one hand, we have to reject the idea that we are innately lovable. The Bible portrays us as depraved rebels under God's just condemnation. Any love that God shows us is unmerited and gracious.

On the other hand, Genesis 1:26 teaches that we are made in God's image. That passage, taken with Colossians 1:15, defines that image as the Son of God Himself. The Son is the model that God used when He created humanity. While God does not necessarily have a stake in us as beings, He does have a stake in the Son whom He loves, and no doubt desires to renew the broken and marred image of that which He loves most.

The fact that we are in the image of God (the Son) affects our love for one another, and beyond that, compels us to love the unbeliever. Even though sin has distorted the image of God, it is the source of value in every human being and calls for our respect and love. God's image in that case is the "higher principle."

This is the last in a series I've done for devotionals at work. Hope they've been helpful. At present I'm working on a book on spiritual discernment with David Keyser that's taking up a lot of time, so I may be scarce for a while, at least in blogdom. More later. -Rick

Brotherly Affection

"Make every effort to supplement...godliness with brotherly affection...." -2 Peter 1:7

"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor." -Romans 12: 9-10

The term "brotherly affection" is a combination of two Greek words. One is "phileo," which comes from the word for "friend," and means love at a friendship level. The other is "adelphos," meaning simply, "brother." Together they form the Greek word "philadelphia." When William Penn named the city he founded in Pennsylvania, he hoped it would always manifest that attribute.

"Philadelphia" therefore means brotherly, friendly, familial affection. This is the kind of love that the sisters of Lazarus had in mind when they sent word to Jesus, "Lord he whom you love is ill." The term is often used as the love the Father has for the Son (John 5:20), but is rarely used of the Father's love for us (see Revelation 3:19). We are never commanded to love God with "phileo," with one exception (1 Corinthians 16:22). "Agape" is the preferred New Testament word for love between God and man (we will look at that later).

"Philadelphia," as CS Lewis pointed out, is usually based on a common interest. In the Christian church, the togetherness of brotherly love centers around worship, prayer, study, and caring for one another's hurts and joys. It presupposes transparency and openness to one another with a degree of honesty--with Christ Himself as the focus that holds us together.

Brotherly love is most often warm, cozy, and familiar. It seeks out those who hold things in common with us, and is intensely comfortable. As an aside, we need to remember that there is a higher love, one that dies for the unlovely and cares for the uncomfortable--but I am spilling over into a discussion of "agape."

As I have been doing, let's ask how this virtue affects the one before. What would godliness be without brotherly love? This is a very important question, because at this point in Peter's list of virtues, a shift occurs. Up till now the virtues are inner, personal, and subjective. Godliness can exist in an isolated Christian heart. But with brotherly love, the emphasis becomes corporate. Brotherly love cannot exist outside a broader community. So simply put, godliness without brotherly love would remain a subjective matter that could not express the life of God outside self.

What about the reverse? What happens when a Christian attempts brotherly love without first learning godliness (humility)? Obviously, such a Christian enjoys the affection of others without the capacity to return it, and remains self-centered. He can enjoy the warm fuzzies of fellowship, but isn't equipped to deal with the situation if love is challenged or disturbed.

Next: Agape love.

Godliness

(From devotionals at work)

"The vision of God is the source of patience, because it imparts a moral inspiration. Moses endured, not because he had an ideal of right and duty, but because he had a vision of God." -Oswald Chambers

"... make every effort to supplement your...steadfastness with godliness..." 2 Peter 1: 5-6

The next word in Peter's series of Christian virtues is godliness. The Greek word is "eusebeia," a combination of the word that means "well" and a word that means the correct worship of a deity, as opposed to false or hypocritical worship (see 1 Timothy 6:3-8). In classical Greek it could mean reverence, piety, loyalty, or religion, and in that culture could be addressed to parents and those in authority as well as to the gods.

In the New Testament it is best translated "proper reverential awe and fear" (see Hebrews 12:25-29). It is our response to both His raw power in creation and in nature (His "bigness"), and the fear of His displeasure (His judgment and wrath). Eusebeia comes from the realization of who God is, and of His sovereign control over our lives. The immediate result of godliness in our lives is humility. Its posture is to bow and confess two simple things: "You are God." "I am not."

Proverbs 14: 27 says "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death." 1 Timothy 4:8 states, "For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." These verses point out that godliness is not purely negative, but is also a source of life--on the premise that the more we fear and humble ourselves before God, the more He responds to us and exercises His life in us.

Godliness follows patience in Peter's series, so we have to ask what patience would be without it. This amounts to asking if the processes God puts us through to grow us would ever bear fruit if not culminating in humility. To experience those things that produce patience without ever bowing our heads before the majesty and plan of God would only produce bitterness. We might say with Job, "I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock." Note, by the way, that Job's response was entirely different when he encountered the power and love of God at the end of the book.

Lastly, let's reverse this. What would it be like to pursue godliness without first learning patience? If patience produces character, without it we would be offering God a fake and hypocritical worship, an artificial spirituality not based on suffering or experience.

Next time: brotherly love.

Steadfastness (2)

(From devotionals at work)

"...and make every effort to supplement your self-control with steadfastness...." -2 Peter 1:5-6

"I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. " -Psalm 40:1

Last week we defined steadfastness, or patience. Remember that Peter did not list the characteristics in these verses arbitrarily. Each builds on the other in such a way that the former is the foundation of the next, and the next after provides a vision. With that in mind, let's think about the relationship of self-control and patience.

What happens when we try to practice self-control without patience? Simply put, the struggle against temptation becomes purposeless, because the character that patience produces is not a goal, and our lives become a series of battles with sin, and more often than not, a series of failures. Because the end of patience is hope, without an awareness that God is trying to work patience in us, our struggle as Christians seems hopeless. Paul was encouraging the Corinthians to patience when he said, "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison...."

What about the reverse? What happens when we attempt to learn patience without first learning self-control? In short, we are trying to fulfill a vision without the proper tools. If we can't overcome short-term, we certainly can't learn to hang on to a vision long-term.

Without a foundation of self-control, the attempt to be patient will cause us to give up in frustration, complain, or try to shortcut the circumstances. Remember that Christ's greatest temptation was to by-pass the will of the Father (which included the cross), and take His legitimate Lordship without suffering.

Next week: godliness.

Steadfastness (1)

(From devotionals at work)

...and make every effort to supplement your self-control with steadfastness.... -2 Peter 1:5-6

"To trust in spite of the look of being forsaken; to keep crying out into the vast, whence comes no returning voice, and where seems to be no hearing; to see the machinery of the world pauselessly grinding on as if self-moved, caring for no life, nor shifting a hairsbreath for all entreaty, and yet believe that God is awake and utterly loving; to desire nothing but what comes meant for us from His hand; to wait patiently, ready to die of hunger, fearing only that faith should fail--such is the victory that overcometh the world, such is faith indeed." -George McDonald

Steadfastness can also be translated "patience." The Greek work is hupomone, and is literally translated to "abide or remain under," and is in some sense self-control in extended form. Self-control is short term and for the moment; patience is long term. If we lose our temper, we often say we have lost "patience." Actually, what we have lost is self-control. To lose it is to give in to temptation. To lose patience is to lose the capacity to get up when we fall and give in to despondency and despair.

The Bible sometimes contrasts patience with longsuffering (macrothumia). Longsuffering is active; that is, it can usually control the source of temptation or irritation, and it is usually a response to other people rather than to circumstances (especially if they are persecuting us). The loss of longsuffering, or its opposite is to reject others and withdraw from them. The best example in the Old Testament is David and his response to Saul's pursuit of him.

Patience, on the other hand, is generally passive, dealing with circumstances that are out of our control (finances, sickness, unfulfilled expectations). Rather than rejection, the negative response under circumstantial pressure is to give up hope. The best Old Testament example is Job.

Romans 5:3-4 points out a couple of things about patience. One is that is produces a positive hardness that comes from being tested and holding on to hope, similar to the process of assaying metal. Most versions call this result "character." The other thing is that patience is born out of suffering--a fact that American Christians go out of their way to avoid, and have even theologized away. But faith and hope that are never tested always remain spongy and have no real strength.

Patience is rooted in the finished work of Christ, believing that "He who began a good work in you will perform it to the end." (Also see 2 Thessalonians 1:2-3.) Patience believes that His plan for our lives is perfect, and He will bring us into perfect fellowship with us in the next world because He desires us more passionately than we do Him.

2 Thessalonians 3:5 offers this prayer: "May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ." Jesus is the greatest example of longsuffering and patience is history; in fact, He IS patience. When He comes by His Spirit to live is us, He brings His patience with Him. He is our source and character as we wait for the fulfillment of His purposes in our lives.

Next: Relating self-control and steadfastness.

Self-control (2)

(From devotionals at work)

"...make every effort to supplement your...knowledge with self-control..." 2 Peter 1: 6

"But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil." -Hebrews 5:14

Last time we looked at the concept of self-control in 2 Peter 1:6. Now we want to look at how it relates to the foundational knowledge that precedes it.

First, how can knowledge become distorted if it is not balanced and contained by self-control? Perhaps a military analogy will help. Simply put, knowledge is training; the use of self-control is war. Without the practical experience of overcoming deceit and temptations, knowledge is powerless, immature, and untested.

Let's push the analogy a bit further. There are three Greek words that relate to maturity and experience. One is holos, meaning "whole," or "entire." A raw recruit meets this qualification; he is relatively healthy and has all his parts. This corresponds to what we've said about faith and virtue in the Christian. Another word is artios, meaning "prepared" or "trained." This corresponds to the Christian's study and growth in knowledge. And finally, there is the Greek word teleios, which means "mature" in the sense of fulfilling one's purpose. Using the military analogy, this word describes a battle-hardened veteran.

Another way to say this is that knowledge that is not tested does not fulfill the purpose--in this case, the ability to withstand sin and temptation.

Lastly, there is a reverse problem. To attempt to overcome the assaults of the enemy without learning from the Scriptures and from other Christians can produce a fruitless asceticism, and worse, the deep discouragement that comes from failure in Christian warfare. Failure should drive us back to the Bible, to prayer, and to the counsel of the church.

Self-Control (1)

(From devotionals at work)

"...make every effort to supplement ...knowledge with self-control..." -2 Peter 1:8

"...in order to pass to the divine union of love of God (for not all pass habitually thereto, but only the smallest number), it is wont to be accompanied by formidable trials and temptations of sense, which last for a long time, albeit longer in some than in others." -St. John of the Cross

So far we have looked at faith, virtue, and knowledge, and their interdependence and support of one another in sequence. Today we consider "self-control." The English term is unfortunate, though it is hard to find an equivalent to the Greek enkrateia in our language. The fact is, there is nothing of "self" in it. Literally, it means "strength within." In classical Greek it dealt mostly with overcoming the temptation of sexual sin, but in the New Testament it covers a broader range, including sins like rage and pride. Its emphasis is on the moment--the capacity to reject a temptation when it immediately occurs. So we can best translate it as "the Spirit given inner strength to withstand a temptation on the spot."

In The Dark Night of the Soul, St. John of the cross spends some time dealing with the seven sins of the flesh: lust, greed, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride; and with an interesting twist, reveals that each of the seven are "spiritual" temptations as well. It is possible to turn valid spiritual experiences into self-centered gluttony, and spiritual gifts into reasons for prideful boasting. It is possible to envy a more "spiritual" Christian, etc. The point is that temptation is remorseless and comes in all forms. Here are some suggestions about how to overcome temptation:

First, the goal of Satan's assaults on us is to get us off our "default" position in Christ, to make us think there are things more fulfilling than He Himself, that we must protect ourselves, or seize what we feel He is withholding from us. That is why knowledge precedes enkrateia in Peter's list. God gives us times of rest in order to settle who we are and what Christ has done for us and in us before the chaos of temptation and testing.

Second, 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God always provides a way out of temptation. The Greek term can be translated "up and out," meaning that looking to Christ and to the power of the Spirit brings a "cure by diversion."

Third, be aware of situations in your life that engender weakness in our default position. That position belongs to the finished work of Christ, and is immovable. But the enemy wants to shake our faith in that finished work. Prosperity can be a trap that creates false security (Hezekiah). Adversity can create discontent, irritation, and the desire to run away (Jonah). A wrong perception of what is doing in the church at large can bring discouragement (Nehemiah). An awareness that God uses suffering to sanctify us can bring bitterness (Jacob). Fourth, remember that the power to overcome temptation is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Next week we will relate self-control and knowledge.

Virtue and Knowledge (2)

(From devotionals at work)

"...make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge..." -2 Peter 1:5

"For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." -Romans 10:2

Just as virtue sets goals and boundaries for faith, so knowledge delivers the believer from converting virtue into self-centered pride and perfectionism. It does this in three ways.

First, knowledge (both of the Bible and theology) informs us that moral change (sanctification) is synergistic: that is, God and man work together in the transformation of the Christian's life. Knowledge keeps us in the balance of the two. To believe that change occurs in our lives by our work alone leads to legalism, life lived by a set of laws. On the other hand, to stress that change is only God's work creates spiritual passivity and irresponsibility. "Let go and let God" is not a biblical concept.

Second, biblical knowledge teaches us that change is a process, and that it often involves suffering ("It's through many tribulations that we enter the kingdom of God"). While that knowledge may be disappointing to some, it delivers us from perfectionist theologies: "manifested sons," total sanctification, and extreme faith walk teaching included.

Third, biblical knowledge helps us understand God's goal and purpose in our lives, which act like a fence to keep us from wandering into spiritual pride because we are growing as Christians. Remember that God's purpose for all of us is to be made into the image of Jesus. We're kidding ourselves if we think the process that gets us there will be easy. Another goal is love within the context of a community, which means that we both help each other and irritate each other into constant change. And, finally, the ultimate goal of lives, and that of all creation, is the glory of God, not of ourselves.

Finally, just as virtue ( or change) can get off its biblical base without knowledge, we need to remember that the opposite is also a danger. It is possible for the Christian to become proud of knowledge, or pursue it without grounding it first in virtue, which is its support. What evolves, in that case, is a cold intellectualism or faith in what one knows instead of faith in the finished work of Christ.

Next: Knowledge and Self-control.

Knowledge (1)

(From a devotional study of 2 Peter 1:5-7)

"...make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge..." 2 Peter 1:5

"...Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." -Colossians 2:3

The New testament word "knowledge" that is used here is roughly equivalent to its English usage. It means to perceive something intellectually, and to ascertain facts. It can also be relational to its object; in that case we call in "understanding." A simple definition would be "the comprehension of facts."

But knowledge is not static. Because God is infinite, our knowledge of Him continues to grow, and that knowledge often increases through crises and the stresses of change. Theologian Jim Jordan once referred to these shifts as "stage conversions." A child may have a true knowledge of Jesus, but as he hits his teen years he enters into a spiritual crisis, both because he is encountering emotional and physical change, but also because he is jettisoning anything he considers childish, including a child's God. The emotional teen-age phase evolves into the intellectual consciousness of the late teens and early twenties (this is the age at which members often turn away from the church), and the college age phase moves into the "I have a job and 2.5 children and too many responsibilities to either feel or think" phase. This process renews about every ten years in the American Christian, who only moves safely through these crises by allowing his knowledge of God to grow and match his own inner expansion.

Aside from the secret, inner work of the Holy Spirit, there are two ways that knowledge of God increases in the Christian. They both require a certain amount of self-discipline. The first is the study of the Scriptures. There is some controversy about this today because of the multiplicity of interpretations about what the Bible says. I would suggest a couple of starting points. One is the practice of contextualization, answering the questions, "Why did the author write this?" "How did his readers understand it?" "How does it apply to contemporary life?" The problem for most of us is that contextualization requires work. The other is the practice of humility. Ultimately God has to open our minds to His Word, and we cannot approach the Bible without a sense of wonder and an awareness of our own capacity to misunderstand. The writer of Psalm 119 said, "I will run in the way of Thy commandments when Thou enlargest my understanding." Bible study is more like mining for gold with an experienced mentor. The Word plus the Spirit equals Life.

The second way that our knowledge of God increases is through other people, primarily the local church. The study of the Bible is a group effort. People with different gifts will bring different perspectives. Don't forget to include old dead guys either. Most biblical truth has been exposited in the past, and stated better and more accurately than modern writers do. This includes reading Christians from other traditions. This of course, requires work.

Next time: how knowledge and virtue relate.

Virtue

"...make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue..." 2 Peter 1:5

"The greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion, is to keep the heart with God." -John Flavel

The term "virtue" (arete') was important to the ancient Greeks. It meant goodness, prowess, dignity, beauty, and the fulfillment of one's purpose or function. In the New Testament it means moral power (see Philippians 4:8), and can apply to God Himself in reference to His perfection and excellence. But where we are concerned, it is best translated "the power of God in us that produces moral change." What Peter is saying here is that real faith will bring change in us, and that change is itself a proof that faith is present.

Consider these Scriptures: "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith." (2 Corinthians 13:5). "And you, who were once alienated and hostile in mind...he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast...." (Colossians 1:21-23). "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:17). So change, or "virtue," is a result of faith, and proves its power. Moral change is the greatest evidence of true faith and the new birth.

But of course there are dangerous pitfalls in that statement. Moral change does not mean instant perfection. In fact, the person who sees failure and sin in his life, and grieves over them, is probably more full of true faith than someone who believes he has achieved some awesome level of spirituality. The testimony of the church fathers was that the older they grew, the more imperfect they felt. Moral change is also slow. God works change in us over time through His Word and through circumstances, especially difficult ones. Calvin stated that the proof of a man's conversion was that he persevered in the faith until the end of his life.

If, however, we find that our Christian life is not producing fruit, the answer is not to try harder, but to go back to our foundation and make sure we understood the gospel--to review the facts of who Jesus was and what He did. Reviewing the gospel automatically builds faith.

Another problem we face is unreal expectations. Many converts come to Christ after being promised a bed of roses and a mansion in heaven. When the Holy Spirit begins to shape and mold us (usually with some pain), we are shocked by the seriousness with which God moves to change us. Part of hearing and receiving the gospel is being real about the costs. Reviewing the gospel means reassessing our utopian expectations. After all, God is molding us into the image of Jesus. He has His work cut out for him.

A "convert" who refuses to review the gospel and persists in living a "moral" life will move in one of several directions. He may become a legalist--he will live his life by a set of rules (which he also applies to everyone else), and will be self-righteous, cranky, and judgmental. Or he will suffer from faith in his conversion rather than faith in Christ--his faith is in his one time walk down the aisle, and he believes his decision saved him, in spite of how he lives. Both cases can be cured by a return to the basics of the gospel.

Next time: Knowledge.

Faith (2)

(From devotionals at work)

"For without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." -Hebrews 11:6

Q: "How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ? A: "...by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling." -Westminster Shorter Catechism

In the last devotional we looked at the process that leads us to faith: calling, regeneration, and repentance. In this one we will briefly look at faith itself. Remember that faith is the first virtue that the Apostle Peter lists in 2 Peter 1:5. Faith has three sequential parts:

The first is Knowledge. The means that faith rests in certain doctrinal propositions that we believe to be true. On one hand, this does not mean that the believer has to have an intricate knowledge of theology. But it does require an understanding of sin, of Christ's Person as God and man, as God's perfect sacrifice for sin, and His requirements of us as Lord of creation. Faith is not merely a good feeling around the campfire or a spooky belief in some kind of cosmic goodness. It is rooted in a historic reality with real facts. Simply put, faith begins with hearing the Word of God.

But knowledge alone is not saving faith. It must lead to, secondly, Approval. That means that the facts of the gospel move from the brain to the will, and a man says "I really believe that for myself." This is the point when faith becomes a commitment, not just a knowledge of doctrine. It is the realization that what I recognize as general doctrine applies to me specifically.

Knowledge and Approval, though, remain mental concepts that fall short of a committed reliance on a Person. Faith is not full until it becomes Trust. In fact, I sometimes think that is a better translation than "faith." It is one thing to think you can drive me home on a snowy highway; it is another thing to get in the car with you! We are all familiar with the phrase in John 3:16: "...that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life...." The word translated "in" actually means "into." It means more than believing that Jesus is the Son of God who saves; it means that I personally trust Him to cover all my sin, to order everything in my life according to His plan, to place me when and where He wills, to be the light that makes sense of what appears to me to be darkness, and to carry me through death and into the next life in spite of my own helplessness. That kind of faith is entirely and intensely personal.

One last word about faith: evangelicals tend to see faith as the beginning of the Christian life, to be followed by a "deeper life." Actually, the deeper life is nothing more than pressing further and further into faith, or more precisely, into trusting Jesus to complete all His work in us.

Faith (1)

(From devotionals at work)

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." -Hebrews 11:1

"Q: Why do you say that by faith alone you are right with God? A: It is not because of any value my faith has that God is pleased with me. Only Christ's satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness make me right with God. And I receive this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than by faith alone." -Heidelberg Catechism

In 2 Peter 1:5, the apostle begins his list of Christian virtues with "faith." Faith is foundational to Christianity, and yet is difficult to define. Any definition that is less than relational falls short. For instance, Christians sometimes say that "Christ is the answer," a term that implies that there is a question of some sort, and our minds need to be satisfied. Or we say, "Christ will meet your needs," implying that we lack something in our lives that He can supply. But the Bible does not speak of Christ as either answer or need meeter. It speaks of Him as Savior, a term that tells me right away that I am in deep trouble--that my worst enemy is not the devil, or cosmic evil, or the world around me, but myself. I do not need intellectual satisfaction or a lack made up primarily; I need to be rescued.

Faith, therefore, is much more akin to our English word "trust." It means that I rely both on the finished work of Christ to save me, and on His capacity to manage my life to change me. It is not rooted in an idea, or a set of moral values, but in a Person. Faith throws itself totally on the work and good intentions of another.

There is debate among Christians as to whether faith is something resident in us that responds to God, or is itself a gift of God. I hold the latter view because I don't believe we have anything within us to offer God before He works His own change in us. If that is true, conversion follows this sequence:

1) An outward calling. This is a summons from God that brings a response, usually through the preaching of the Word or some form of individual evangelism or, in some cases, personal reading. A good example of outward calling is Lydia. Acts 16:14 says, "The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul."

2) Regeneration. We know this term better as the "new birth." Regeneration is a secret work of the Holy Spirit in the heart that makes a dead man or woman alive. It allows the believer to repent and believe. Often believers are not aware of the time of regeneration; its existence is proven by subsequent awareness. Others remember the time of regeneration as a dramatic and obvious change. Either way, it is the point in the stages of conversion when a human soul crosses from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

3) Repentance. There is confusion about this word today because it is often confused with its manifestations: sorrow, weeping, relief, etc. The word in Greek means simply, "to change your mind," in the sense of admitting that what God says about sin applies to us, and we quit making excuses. It is essentially negative. It is the result of seeing the horror of rebellion against God, and His judgment against it. Frankly, it is the weak point in a lot of evangelical preaching today. It is easier to preach Christ as our buddy, our healer, our therapist, or even as the poor weak Christ who needs to get into our hearts to get warm, instead of our only hope against the inevitable judgment of God.

4) Faith. Faith is the positive turning to Christ following repentance. Next time we will look at faith in more detail.

Quality Supplements

(From devotionals at work)

"...make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brother affection, and brotherly affection with love." -2 Peter 1: 5-7

In the previous devotionals, we've been looking at concepts that go under the heading "imputation," meaning the work that God has done for us in Christ outside our own inner spiritual experience. Peter begins his second letter with terms that come under that heading: "divine power," "knowledge," and "promises." But in the middle of verse 4, the Apostle states that the result of God's objective work on our behalf is that we "may become partakes of the divine nature." At this point Peter has moved from God's work "outside" us to his work "inside" us.

Peter lists eight virtues, or values, or character traits that grow out of the work of the Spirit in us, and which require our self-discipline and cooperation. They are ultimately proofs of our calling and election of God (see vs. 10). Without them we do not move into a deeper knowledge of Christ, and remain ineffective in His Kingdom (vs. 8). We'll be looking at these individually over the next few weeks.

It's important to analyze how we think about these virtues before we look at them, however. These are not monolithic blocks of Christian experience--we cannot break up our lives into a decade of faith, two years of steadfastness, and three months of brotherly love. We do not graduate from one and move into another without ever looking back. Instead of thinking in "blocks," I think a gardening analogy is better. These virtues are like plants that need to be watered and tended if they are to grow. Sometimes one will need more attention than another, depending on circumstances in our lives. At times our faith needs nurturing, or our steadfastness (patience) is wilting. It is best to check on them one at a time on a periodic basis.

Having said that, Peter does not put these virtues in an arbitrary order. One follows another in a logical sequence. The logic depends to some extent on how the main verb is translated. Some use "supplement" (ESV), others use "add" or "support," but however it is taken, Peter teaches a relationship among all of these, and no one can stand alone. Faith, for instance, has no power unless it produces virtue, and virtue will wilt if it does not grow out of the soil of faith. Likewise, virtue has no vision or sense of direction without knowledge, and knowledge without virtue falls into arrogance.

Next time: Faith. . .

Confident Assurance

(From devotionals at work)

"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." 1 John 5:13

"To the question: what must I do to be saved? the old gospel replies: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To the further question: what does it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? its reply is: it means knowing oneself to be a sinner, and Christ to have died for sinners; abandoning all self-righteousness and self-confidence, and casting oneself wholly upon him for pardon and peace...." -JI Packer

Life is full of uncertainty, and it often invades the Christian at the heart of his faith, causing him to ask if he really belongs to Christ. Let me point out some responses to such doubts. They are simple, but we need to repeat them to ourselves often.

First, God Himself says that He will not turn away those who come to Him (see the passage above). Isaiah 55:3 says, "Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant." God says in Joel 2:32 (also Romans 10:13), "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." These passages show that God desires to draw us to Himself more than we desire Him. And we can rest in that.

Second, we shouldn't get hung up on analyzing our faith. Faith is a means to and end, which God accomplished in Christ. Therefore our question should not be, "Do I have enough faith?'' but, "Do I believe the promises of God?" Faith only operates when it is beholding its object.

Thirdly, we shouldn't forget that we have an enemy. The name "Satan" in Hebrew means "the accuser." He will use every hint and suggestion to make us doubt we are loved by God, or maneuver us into thinking that our salvation depends on us. We can't stand up to him by boasting in our faith; our strength is in repeating to him what Christ has accomplished on the cross. Our best defense against Satan is to preach the gospel at him. (See Zechariah 3:2).

The point of this devotional and the ones that have preceded it is that the finished work of Christ for us is fixed, perfect, irrefutable, based on a plan the Trinity developed for our salvation before the world began. That plan is objective. That is, it exists and functions outside ourselves, and for that reason cannot be shaken even when we are. The imputed righteousness of Christ to His people is the rock on which we stand.

Next week we will shift gears and take a look at what God does IN us. If you have time, read 2 Peter 1: 1-15. We'll be spending some time there.

Paul's Great Exchange

(From devotionals where I work)

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." -Philippians 3: 7-8

An English judge found himself kneeling at Communion beside a man he had once sentenced for a crime. When asked if he recognized the man, he said, "Yes. That was a miracle of grace." He was asked again, "You mean that such a man should be kneeling beside you?" "Not at all," he said. The miracle is that I should be kneeling beside him. I was brought up in a good, religious, moral home, and served my community. It is much more difficult for someone like me to recognize his need for a Savior. I am the miracle of grace." -Jerry Bridges (paraphrased)

The apostle Paul before his conversion would have made a great church member. He was dedicated to God as an infant, had a long family religious heritage, went to the best school and studied under well known professors, was devoted to the faith, a zealous church worker, above reproach, and a model citizen.

Yet in this passage in Philippians, he called it all "loss." The word for loss was a word rarely used in the New Testament. It meant to throw something overboard--to jettison even a valuable cargo to save lives on a sinking ship. Paul regarded all his "religious" attainments as worth nothing, because he had found something more valuable.

That which he prized more than his own reputation was "knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." It is important to point out here that he is not speaking of a mere intellectual knowing, or a moral knowing, or grasping a set of doctrines. The knowing he exalts here is intimate, relational knowledge of a Person. And Paul's knowledge was not only the apprehension of who Christ was and what He had done for Him. Paul had been invaded by the Life of God that flows through Christ, the life that brought the world forth, and that was revealed to humanity when that Life became human Himself. The knowledge was not something he pursued; it was something that pursued him.

Paul exchanged his own self-righteousness for the righteousness and life of another, and never looked back. We need to do the same. Moral self-righteousness is more dangerous than gross and blatant sin. It is sneaky and gives us a sense of false confidence that strangles the work of the gospel in us. Paul firmly believed that he was saved on the basis of the finished work of Christ alone. He was so convinced of this that he even publicly rebuked Peter when he began to drift into legalism from fear of what his Jewish Christian friends would think of him for hanging out and eating with gentiles.

Our salvation is based on the infinite merit of Christ, not on our actions. Our tendency is to drift back into performance based acceptance (PBA), dragging back up from the bottom of the sea what we've thrown overboard. But shouldn't we do good works? Of course. But true good works are the result of the presence of Christ living in us, not actions that we perform on our own apart from him.

Reconciliation

(From a series of devotionals where I work)

"...we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation." Romans 5:11

"When two parties are at enmity a reconciliation may be effected by a change in either or in both. When, therefore, it is said that we are reconciled to God, it only means that peace is restored between Him and us." -Charles Hodge

The term reconciliation, and our need for it in our relationship to God, implies that there is a break between God and man. In order to understand the term, we have to first examine some other terms. Romans 3:10 states that "None is righteous, no, not one." If that is the case, then reconciliation has something to do with our becoming righteous before God. Martin Luther struggled, like most of us would, with self-imposed disciplines to help him achieve what he felt was the righteous standard that would finally reconcile him to God. His constant failure led him to despair. But one day as he was studying the book of Romans, he realized that the term "righteousness of God," as Paul used it, meant a righteousness that comes from God as a gift, a righteousness imputed to us on the basis of the work of Christ. According to 2 Corinthians 5:21, God "reckoned" sin to Christ, and righteousness to us.

Another theological term related to reconciliation is "justification." Protestants believe that "to be declared just" is not a position to be gained through increased holiness, but a determination in the heart of God to see us as just before Him. It is based solely on the work of Christ, and not our own. It is not just a matter of God changing His mind about us; it is based on Christ's action on the cross as our substitute.

The point of these words is that all our salvation, acceptance by God, and future life in Him are based, not on our striving to become righteous, but on the finished work of Christ in His birth, life, death, resurrection, and present rule of the universe.

(***I want to put in a parenthesis here because I feel like I need to clarify where we're going in these weekly comments, especially since we're dealing with something as serious as the Christian's understanding of his salvation. Along those lines, it has helped me to remember the two "imp" words. One is "imputation." Imputation is something that happens outside me. It is something that God says or declares about me that is based on His own plan and actions and purposes. It is something I accept by faith, but nothing to which I contribute.

The other "imp" word is "impartation." Impartation is what happens inside me as I grow in God and move towards final salvation when I die. Words like "life," "light," "sanctification," "divinization," "Spirit," etc. are all impartation words. They have to do with the gradual change towards holiness that occurs in the believer, and includes anything that has to do with our warfare against "the world, the flesh, and the devil."

Large portions of the Church argue which of the imps is the most important, and if one or the other of them is even theologically sound. I personally believe they are both true, and should be kept in balance. To believe in imputation without impartation means that I confess the work of Christ, but experience no inner change--a biblical impossibility. Folks who hold this position are generally very intellectual, but since they have no inner life, define Christian growth by a list of rules. They are sometimes referred to as "brains on a stick." Folks who stress impartation over imputation live with a sense of failure and insecurity, since the proof of their salvation is in their own experience rather than in the declaration of God. Both must work together: that which is imputed is the foundation of our lives; that which is imparted is the temple built upon it.

So, to clarify where we are: these studies for the last few months have dealt with imputation. I am concerned about imputation because I find a tendency among evangelicals to walk the aisle and never get a firm grasp on exactly what they have done, or, more precisely, what Christ did for them. It never hurts to go back and strengthen the foundation. I will continue on this track for a few more weeks. Then we will shift gears and study the stages of internal Christian growth. ***)

Chesterton's Aquinas

I just finished Chesterton's biography of Thomas Aquinas. I did so because Chesterton's style is always entertaining, and because I have a desire to go places I've been warned not to go, like a 70 year old out of shape man who decides to wrestle alligators, just for the bragging rights. Aquinas can be appreciated and contextualized by a Protestant. But Chesterton himself is a different story. He doesn't mask his contempt for Protestantism in this work. "Alligator" is not a bad analogy.

Chesterton defends Aquinas as the father of Common Sense philosophy and theology, beginning as Aristotle did with "real things" as opposed to the abstract forms of Plato. Aquinas observed the changeableness of things, and the potentiality of things, but instead of lapsing into existentialism or nihilism like many 20th Century philosophers, chose to reason "up" instead of "down." Changeableness meant all things were moving towards the Unchangeable, and had their origins in it (Him). Potentiality meant Purpose. Purpose meant Personality. Changeableness, however, did not mean that any idea or object is fleeting or to be belittled. On the contrary, every object expressed the mind of God in its individuality and special place in the world.

Aquinas turned to Aristotle as an antidote to the dualism of Manichaeism. There was also contact in the 13th Century with Islam in the East. A Number of Moslem scholars were perverting Aristotle's philosophy into a type of pantheism, and (according to Chesterton), Aquinas was concerned to recover Aristotle for the Church and deliver him from Islamic distortion. This brings up the topic of Chesterton's perception of the place of Aquinas in the history of Christianity.

Aquinas' work was approved of by the authorities of the Catholic church in his lifetime. But not everyone in the Church at large agreed. Chesterton referred to his opponents as "Augustinians." I could not tell if he meant the Order, or a wider theological company. At any rate, they were the "conservatives" of their day, mildly deterministic in their views on the nature of salvation (following Augustine). Chesterton accuses them of being neo-Platonists. (Whether or not Augustine was a Platonist is beyond my knowledge. Chesterton associates Platonism with Logos Christology, which would draw the whole Eastern Church under the shadow of Plato.) At any rate, Aquinas became the victor in these debates, and his Summa is the heart of Roman Catholic theology down to the present.

But, back to Chesterton's view of history: When Aquinas won a permanent victory in Catholic thought, "Conservative" Augustinianism went underground, where it bubbled and crackled until it exploded in an Augustinian monastery in northern Germany @300 years later. Luther, Chesterton tells us, represented the counter-revolution against Aquinas' revolution of Common Sense, and carried its followers back into the murky waters of determinism and pessimism. In addition, Luther cheated. He used the force of his personality to back his theology, a thing Aquinas would never have done because he felt that asserting personality obscured the power of pure reason. (Why don't you tell us how you really feel, GK?)

Since then everything has pretty much gone downhill in Christendom, except for the fact that the Protestant descendents of the magisterial reformers have rejected the monergistic soteriology of their fathers, and returned to the synergism of Common Sense. I personally have considered this a weakness that grows out of inconsistency: An Evangelical is someone who holds to the 5 solos of the Reformation but rejects the 5 points, creating the odd stance of a man who boasts in his family name but refuses to be seen with his parents. But I digress.

No doubt this view of Church history was a bit of a shock. It reverses how every good Protestant interprets the events. But it is not the reversal of interpretation that troubles me. It is simply that it is one more interpretation to add to the multiplicity of views surrounding what I've come to call the "Story" (maybe that overlaps Aquinas' Ens?).

Perhaps Aquinas himself can help--all changeable things are moving through their potential to the Unchangeable. I wonder if in Paradise I will come to a grove of trees on a grassy knoll. Under it sit Athanasius, Aquinas, and Augustine (is it an accident that the three representatives of the divisions in Christendom start with "A"?), all giving their attention to an old lady, who is delightedly telling the story of how her prayers in a small Russian church moved the heart of God to drop winter on the Grande Armee. It is obvious that these prayers and this woman are as much at the center of the heart of God as the accomplishments of the three, and they are as enthralled with her story as with their own. Because God is at the center, all things are at the center. "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things."