I make it sound so pleasurable and fun, don't I? Problem is, when Holy Spirit began whispering this to me on Sunday, I sort of put it on the back burner because this was a lot to swallow. But God is persistent and I'm so thankful He is. While this isn't a fully formed idea yet...and I don't think I'll ever completely reach the depth of what He's saying...no...what He's asking, this is a lesson I need to grasp and I need to grasp quickly and wholeheartedly.
Just look back over that last paragraph at all of the emphases. I told you this was a ride, didn't I?
Here goes!
Sunday, I finished marking the book of Galatians for the inductive Bible study that I'm doing on my own. In my Previous Post of the same name, I mentioned Paul's theme of works versus grace or Law versus faith in Jesus as the only way by which we are redeemed. If you're new to some of this lingo, the simplest way to think of redemption or to be redeemed is exactly what the dictionary says: "to buy or pay off; clear by payment". The death of Jesus the Messiah paid for me, you and everyone that has ever lived. It was a one-time-for-all purchase.
The word grace is a little trickier. There are a lot of definitions for this one, but the two applicable ones are these: "a manifestation of favor, especially by a superior" and "mercy; clemency; pardon". The reason I say this word is "trickier" is because this is the one word that I have seen trip up grown men and children alike. This is the word that our finite, limited human brains, truly cannot grasp. After all, why would the Creator of the universe, put on a lowly human form, come to Earth, take on all of the sin that ever did and ever will exist and die a criminal's death so that all we have to do is say that we "believe" (remember, that means to "put our trust with" Him!) and then everything is washed away so now we can go live with Him forever in Heaven? Only He can answer that one. Then again, maybe we are making this message too simple? [Stay with me!]
Here's where I got stuck in Galatians: "Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ." (Galatians 6:12)
Now, I know most non-Jewish people in the Western world think of circumcision more as just something you do or have done because your doctor told you so, it's more hygienic or because that's just the accepted practice. So don't get hung up on the word circumcised. Please allow me a little leeway to try to bring this into the context of our churches in the American culture. Here's a few possibilities:
"Those who desire to make a good showing (to their church boards) (general superintendents) (missionary board) (church growth subcommittee) try to compel you to (wear certain clothing) (observe certain rules about appearance) (never drink alcohol) (quit smoking the minute you become a Christian) (badger your non-believing husband into coming to church with you) (knock on doors and pass out tracts with steps for salvation) (serve on 6 committees/boards/special programs) (never miss a day of church) (give "sacrificially" to a new multi-million dollar facility) so they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ."
Have I stepped on anyone else's toes besides mine yet? If you don't hate me now...keep reading!
I am thankful for an amazing God who doesn't just leave me hanging there!!! As I'm chewing on this for two days, He prompts a friend to return a book to me that I haven't had for awhile. He then prompts me on Monday to pick it up and start re-reading it (I think for about the fifth time now...it's that good!). Tuesday morning, in Radical by David Platt, here's what I read:
"The gospel reveals eternal realities about God that we would sometimes rather not face. We prefer to sit back, enjoy our cliches, and picture God as a Father who might help us, all the while ignoring God as a Judge who might damn us. Maybe this is why we fill our lives with the constant drivel of entertainment in our culture--and in our church. We are afraid that if we stop and really look at God in his Word, we might discover that He evokes greater awe and demands deeper worship than we are ready to give Him."
Yes, I wrote in the margin "Ouch!"
Platt goes on: "But this is just the point. We are not ready to give Him what He asks for because our hearts are set against Him. God's revelation in the gospel not only reveals who He is, but it also reveals who we are."
After I read through the next section entitled "Who We Really Are", I wrote this: "Warning! This is raw stuff". I wish I could reprint it all here...but to do so is most likely illegal and would therefore fly in the face of any credibility I'm attempting to have in regard to this topic. I'll attempt to summarize, but by no means can do justice to this message. There are some hard-hitting, yet Biblical realities that I'm not sure we're all ready to hear. Maybe the more accurate observation is that we can't hear them...because to listen to the true Jesus of the Bible is just as scandalous in our American churches today as it was over 2000 years ago in the Middle East. But these are some of the things Platt writes that had me in tears by the end of the section:
"We are each born with an evil, God-hating heart." (reference Genesis 8:21 and Luke 11:13)
"Many people say, "Well, I have always loved God," but the reality is, no one has. We may have loved a god that we made up in our minds, but the God of the Bible, we hate."
"Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator...until we get to you and me. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, 'No.'"
"The gospel confronts us with the hopelessness of our sinful condition. But we don't like what we see of ourselves in the gospel so we shrink back from it. We live in a land of self-improvement. Certainly there are steps we can take to make ourselves better. So we modify what the gospel says about us." (emphasis mine)
"We are not evil, we think, and certainly not spiritually dead. Haven't you heard of the power of positive thinking? I can become a better me and experience my best life now. That's why God is there--to make that happen. My life is not going right, but God loves me and has a plan to fix my life. I simply need to follow certain steps, think certain things, and check off certain boxes, and then I am good."
I have to stop quoting before I get sued! But I desperately want to print more. As "in your face" as this is, this book is flying off of bookshelves, being studied and preached about in hundreds of congregations all over the country...can we assume that people are finally exasperatedly exhausted of our American version of "do-it-yourself" religion?
Platt continues that our diagnosis and our conclusion to actually "do-it-yourself" fits in very nicely with a culture where self-sufficiency, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-discipline...self, self, self...are highly praised, rewarded and even exalted. Isn't this why the poor are looked down upon? After all, in America...we all have the same opportunities for education, working hard, living right and pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps so anyone can be successful if they just set their mind to it. If you believe that, then you're not going to like me very much when I tell you that's a bunch of hooey! Why?
Platt puts it best: "Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, "You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do." (obviously, emphasis mine!)
Chew on this! Please!
- Do you see that that person who's only ever known abuse and neglect can't possibly get out of that awful relationship because they do not even see that they need life, much less deserve it?
- Do we fully grasp that the drug, alcohol, gossip. slander or sex addict can't possibly stop on their own no matter how many steps they complete without a God who reminds them that they are loved with a boundless love so they are worth giving up that addiction and letting Him satisfy all of the voids they're trying to fill.
- Do we "get" that the chronic welfare recipient doesn't understand that there is another way of life because not only were the educational and financial opportunities unavailable and welfare is all they know...but no one has ever introduced them to the God who says, "You are worth a price more valuable than any government program could ever offer you. You were worth my very life."
- And last, do we trust the Holy Spirit of the God who created everything and everyone to grow them in His time and in His way? Yes, they will stumble...as do we all. Yes, they will return to the comfort of what they know...as do we all. Yes, they may take steps more slowly than our agenda would allow...but growing at God's speed, instead of ours...is the only way they'll even make it to the finish line.
I would add...Now we're getting to where there is true freedom in Christ...not some pasted on smile while you're dying inside kind of freedom...but the kind of freedom where you're so downright giddy, people wonder what you've been drinking...the kind of freedom that leaves you breathless when God disciplines (remember, it means simply "to teach") and brings you face-to-face with the ugliness and depravity of your heart and yet, lovingly He says, "C'mon Angela...let Me show you how to change this...you've been trying on your own long enough!"...the kind of freedom that leaves you standing (or sometimes sprawled out on the floor) in awe of a Creator that was nailed to a cross and drank the entire cup of God's wrath so that I can be weightless, "soar on wings like eagles" and "run and not grow weary" (Isaiah 40:31) Isn't that a gospel that's worth becoming radical about?!
And here's where we come back to what He's asking. You see, if all we have to do is "believe" then is there really any cost? But Jesus said we have to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 10:38) so He must have thought it was going to cost us something. That's why I said previously, "maybe we are making the gospel too easy". I guess, the gospel is easy because Jesus does all the work...but it will cost us everything. To teach anything less is not teaching the Truth of who Jesus is and what He demands of us. Now ask yourself, is that the kind of gospel we routinely hear in America today? Something else for you to chew on!
As if Platt's book weren't enough, today in Jesus Calling, I read: "This is the age of self-help. Bookstores abound with books about "taking care of number one,"making oneself the center of all things. The main goal of these methodologies is to become self-sufficient and confident. You, however, have been called to take a "road less traveled": continual dependence on Me. True confidence comes from knowing you are complete in My Presence. Everything you need has its counterpart in Me."
Do you think He's trying to remind me of something? I pray I say this humbly and it is received that way: this time...I don't think I'm the only one He's talking to.
What are you trying to fix yourself? What plans are you trying to make happen? What 5 year goal are you striving for that may never have been God's plan for you to begin with? What joy, love, hope, freedom, sanity and peace have you sacrificed because you've bought into this American lie that YOU are the master of your fate?
Yeah, I've had some people look at me funny when I say I have no "goals" for Boundless Minstries, or that I'm leaving a situation in God's hands so that the Holy Spirit can lead me in His perfect timing to say exactly what needs to be said. But the awareness that "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me," (yet another great Galatians verse, 2:20a) is worth everything to me...no matter how "Radical" I seem!
Amen!
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