Because I Follow Jesus

I am absolutely miserable! Is there anyone who will deliver me from this body where sin and death reign so supremely? I am thankful to God for the freedom that comes through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One! (Romans 7:24-25, The Voice)

Belonging

The "wretched man" (ESV) that Paul expounds on in Romans 7 is his effort to identify with his "brothers and sisters well versed in the law" in verse 1. It reflects some of Paul's experience from his past and present in his struggle against self-justification.

Paul begins by explaining that a person may either belong to the law or belong to Christ (vv. 1-4).  A person who belongs to the law justifies his life by the law. The law is his reason for doing or not doing certain things in his life. When asked why he has certain habits or practices he will cite the law. His ability to explain the law will prove whether his action is for God or not.

A person who belongs to Jesus seeks to follow him, to remain as close to Jesus as possible. Following Jesus is the reason for her actions and his intentions. Jesus justifies her rather than her ability to explain the law. Her actions will be supported by her Lord or not. By his voice she stands or falls. She will probably also have reasons from the law, but these are supportive to her interactive relationship with Christ.

We cannot belong to both law and Christ. In the end we will seek our justification from one or the other. One is based in prayer and living with Jesus. The other is based on having the correct views about God and being able to defend a viewpoint. One of them is at the bottom of our hearts. That is our justification. When we belong to Jesus we not longer seek our justification through the law: "my brothers and sisters, in the same way, you have died when it comes to the law because of your connections with the body of the Anointed One. His death - and your death with Him - frees you to belong to the One who was raised from the dead so we can bear fruit for God." (v.4, The Voice)

Flesh and Spirit

A person who belongs to self-justification will find themselves "living in the flesh," that is, by their own wits and abilities. (vv.4-12) The law arouses self-defensiveness, which only increases worry and fear. Such motivations only lead to evil (Psalm 35, Matthew 6). Sin gets the upper hand and seems like the only way out, since it is so natural for us to do. We find in the face of law, we pretend or even lie about ourselves in order to escape what the law requires and yet seem like we are justified in our actions. This is the inevitable outcome of living in the flesh, by our own wits and abilities.

Jesus justifies and releases from the law anyone who belongs to him. The law's requirements are still before them, but instead of generating worry and fear, they bring hope and anticipation. The law no longer imprisons him because he knows he cannot obey it without Jesus, so he "dies" to such an obedience to the law. Instead he serves in a "new Spirit-empowered life." Jesus gives grace so that obedience is possible by asking him for help instead of trying to manage on our own.

The bad fruit generated through trying to obeying the law is pretense and disobedience to God. The good fruit grown for God is real obedience to him through following Jesus and depending on him every step of the way. The law becomes a promise of what God will do in those who follow Jesus rather than a punishment for those who cannot keep it. Those who follow Jesus can truly see "the law is holy; and its commandments are holy, right, and good" (v.12) instead of suspecting that the law is sin or that that God sent the law to destroy people. (v.7, 13)

The Role of Trials

The heart of this problem is that the law is spiritual, that is, from the Spirit and that we are on the flesh, which is enslaved to sin, that is, a life without God (vv.13-20) This is like oil and water. As long as the law is spiritual and I am not, the two will always come apart. So when I try to obey the law with my own wits and abilities, I will always find myself compelled to disobey it for some very good reason. It will just make sense to lie or pretend or just do it this one time. The natural abilities of humanity are not enough for the law. In the end they will separate just like oil and water. Good intentions are not enough. We need more powerful that comes from outside of us into our hearts.

Sin lives in us as long as we live by our own abilities. Sin is resistance to God. The flesh cannot be used to get to God. It cannot be removed. It must be sacrificed. Our natural abilities find their place when they are surrendered to God. They are put to death when we refuse to rely on them. We rely on Jesus instead. Our natural abilities are meant to serve, not rule.

The war inside each person is the war of temptation (vv.21-25). Temptations are the law of the flesh on its own. Inevitable as gravity. Mere human ability is enslaved to wrong-doing because it is powerless to resist. Temptation is the door for Jesus to enter our lives. In trials we realize our inability and can rest in his ability. This is the law of God. We serve God's law by being delivered from a body that cannot save itself by Jesus, who saves us from all trials and temptations.

In the face of trials and temptations, then, the law is spiritual. It points the way. We are unspiritual and of the flesh if we merely try to figure how to do what the law says on our own. Jesus died so we can become spiritual, born from above, immersed in the Spirit, saved by him, and then train to the law with Jesus as our Teacher, submit to the law with Jesus as our Lord, and delight in the law with Jesus as our dear Friend.

Justification

Self-justification comes from a person who belongs to a law or religion rather than a living Lord. It grows a disposition of resistance to God evidenced by hidden vices and contempt for other people as one struggles to obey by her own power. Self-justification fails in trials and temptations, ending up with a person doing what she does not really think is right. Justifying oneself is a temptation in itself, because it ignores the reality and presence of God.

Justification from Jesus comes to those who belong to him and have abandoned self-justification based on the law or religion. It grows a disposition of loving surrender to God. When one justifies his life by saying, "It's because I follow Jesus," usually the outcomes will not be disputable. The fruit of that person's life will indicate who or what they are following. A life of virtue and compassion flow from Jesus. Trials are the place of salvation for a person who belongs to Jesus, one sure place where he will discover a truly Spirit-empowered life, one of mercy and grace, one full of light - love, truth, and power from God.

God Wants Sons, Not Slaves

Now in putting everything in subjection to [man], he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to [man.] But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. (Hebrews 2:8-11)

Wages or Gift?

Our pastor preached that true Christianity differs from all other beliefs in that they are all about law-keeping and true belief in Christ is about grace. Assuming he is correct and the gospel is about grace as opposed to law-keeping, what kind of god(s) do people believe in that would demand law-keeping? What kind of person would want to serve such a god?

Another way Paul talks about such a law-keeping faith is one that works for wages. Wages are what is given for valued work. More work, more wages. This is not a bad thing in itself. It is only right that a person who works harder and better deserves more wages for their work. But the kind of god who gives wages for work is one that wants workers or slaves. If God gave us wages for our work, it would show that he made people to be his slaves.

Also, wages are one way to make work valuable. Indirectly, they also make a person feel valued. It is natural to feel this way. Significance is tied to work. It can be tied in a healthy way. Work builds the value of one's self. This is a good thing and part of how we are made. Work builds self-worth, but work is not the worth of one's self. It is what comes from a person who values the life they live with God and with others. People mistake work as the source of such value rather than the course of it. In relation to God, humanity warps their self-worth into selfish ambition, trying to prove to God and themselves their worth before him and others through work. Any wages earned from such work ultimately become self-justification of our worth before God. Jesus points out such a mentality in his parable about unfair wages. (Matthew 20:1-16)

But what if God does not want slaves, but sons and daughters? Perhaps this is why he gave life with him as a gift rather than wages. Wages are for valued work, gifts are for valued people. A god who merely wants slaves makes sense to us. It is an old idea and plays into our general idea that powerful people want to get work out of the sweat of someone else's brow.  What we have in Jesus is a God who loves and values people and works for us. "For God so loved the world, he gave his only Son." Gift. He values these people.

Now God did not need to love people. He is love. He does not love by necessity, but by nature. In order to make sons and daughters, God had to do more than love them. They had to become more than objects of his love; they had to become recipients. He had to enable them to love him. And even more: he had to enable them to love as he loves. People cannot do this without his direct action on them. No amount of convincing, begging, threatening, pushing, or pounding will bring such a love into a person. That is because this kind of love is what the life of God is. And no one has life in themselves but God alone. So if they are to live, he must give this life that is love to them.

Problems with God's Love

Two problems. The first is that such love can only be accepted, not forced. In making people as they are and having the kind of love he has, God could not force people to have such love. It needs to be freely given and freely received. So God has had a continuing conversation with persons and with humanity called his "revelation" in order to find those who would freely receive such love. It is not a mystery to God who those people are. They are chosen by grace, that is, they are drawn by his free gift of life and love with himself.

Some are not drawn to this gift and refuse it. Why? This is the second problem. Sin. In making people who can freely receive his gift, he made people who could freely refuse it as well. It is beyond understanding how God can make a person who can freely refuse him. And yet we see that played out in the life of Jesus, who "came to that which was his own and his own did not receive him." God made people who could reject him. It seems he did this mostly for the sake of those who would receive him. He did not want people to reject him, but was willing to have it that way so that he might have those who would receive him and become his children.

Sin proves to be a greater problem that just some refusing God. Everyone resists and refuses him. It is now human nature to do so. This does not mean that God makes us that way, but that we grow up knowing no other way. Even good homes and churches produce people broken by their sin. Better parenting and education are good, but they cannot fix this. Only new life from above takes care of this problem, but how does God get past our resistance without forcing us to love him? Conversation. Revelation. Gospel. In the end he has sent his final Word in Jesus. The Word of love, the Word of command, the Word of judgment, the Word of grace and mercy. His conversation with humanity and with each person. "Who do you say that I am?" In conversing, God finds those who would and can receive his life of love.

Beyond Forgiveness

The conversation comes to utter conversion. In the X-men world, Wolverine has his skeleton changed from bone to impervious metal, his skin and organs changed from ones easily broken and hurt, to ones supernatural in strength and healing. The process is agonizing. It nearly kills him. Repentance unto conversion is like that. The body bent on sinning is put to death and converted into another body. The heart, mind, and soul also become something else and something more.

Conversion leading to discipleship is like a seed being planted. The seed dissolves and gives way to the plant. So these bodies will dissolve and be transfigured into lasting, supernatural bodies that will "shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (Matthew 13:43) This body is used up in the journey to God as the inner self is renewed day by day. The promise of God is in this process of growth which is called discipleship. We learn some agonizing lessons. God's mercy continually reminds us in our struggles that his desire is for our growth in our new life, not for punishment. Punishment only comes to those who go through pain with no hope. God's grace supplies us with supernatural strength in our times of need and request, and is not just for our forgiveness. Forgiveness is needed, but also transcended.

Whatever work we may do, then, is not what brings us to God, but what God brings to us. Like Adam naming the animals in the Garden of Eden, we name our experiences before God. In our sin, we name them as opportunities to grab and take, to push and force, to come out on top and look good. As we learn from God, we find we can name our experiences places where we see God's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, and self-control. As we name them correctly, we learn to live them as well. That is thankfulness, naming life rightly and living it well. The only life worth being thankful for is the one that God gives by giving himself to us.

And so our slavery opens up into adoption. We become like our master by his gift to us and end up as his daughters and sons. We find that we are not significant because of what we do, but what we do comes out of our significant life with God. It is like being Esther who was brought into the Persian court. We find that God has placed us in this world and in this life we have, and we can ask ourselves,  "Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14) We are significant because of the one who places us and gives us being. Perhaps we can also learn from Esther in realizing our greatest work is in bringing our requests and intercessions before the King. We are placed to pray, to praise, to labor, to be thankful in the life God has given us. That is our significance and our value. We are not trying to overcome our lives, but have overcoming lives. That is our heritage as God's children.

Under New Managment

The sermon on Sunday got me thinking about Jesus talk about prayer in Matthew 6.

I would outline it as follows:

1. Prayer is not for managing people.
2. Prayer is not for managing God.
3. Prayer is for getting under new management.
4. Which shows up by becoming a forgiving person.

Jesus says that hypocrites pray so that others might see them. The heart of this is not public/private prayer, but the use of prayer to manage others. Prayer can be on the top of manipulative language. We are tempted to use it to get people to do what we want. We may want them to honor us or avoid us. It may be so that other people will line up and shut up. This is not about God, but about us.

Our desires play a role in prayer. Jesus would not have it otherwise. They can't play the biggest role, however. Otherwise we end up using prayer to manage other people.

Jesus says people who don't know God pray with many words so that God might hear them. The God who is absent - whether because he does not exist, or is just far away - is a source of fear. Prayer to such a God is more often a way of keeping him away rather than drawing near to him. We need such a God at times, but we don't really want him around. Instead of talking to him, we talk at him. So we might hope that our many words will somehow keep him distant while getting us what we want.

Asking is so important in prayer. But when we assume that God does not care or is not listening, we heap up "empty phrases" rather than talk with him. Asking becomes either conjuring or just a formality.

We must let go of managing other people or managing God in order to really pray. In prayer we adopt new management.

• Our Father in heaven: It's a family business. We are learning the trades of the heavens from our Father who works there.
• Hallowed be your name: The business of God has a name. We have a name under it. We long for the name of this work and the One who works to be honored, respected, and loved by all. When people hear the name of our business with God, we long for it to be a joy and relief to them.
• Your kingdom come. . . : Things on earth are not like they are in the heavens. The work and message we bring is how business is done in the heavens with our Father. The kingdom is not absent nor is it limited. There are just other kingdoms allowed to compete with God's work and Christ's business. We work to bring his "goods" to all people.
• Give us today our daily bread: Not wages. Our needs and wants fulfilled each day as we seek God and his work. We ask not because he is unwilling to give to us, but because we are often unwilling to receive from him.
• Forgive us. . . : The heart of our business on earth is our character. We come to offer forgiveness even as it has been offered to us. Forgiveness is central because all other goods from heaven come with it. Grudges destroy whatever good we hope to bring or to receive.
• Lead us not into temptation: The "competition" leads people into temptation and delivers them into evil in order to get what they want. To follow God and learn his work is to leave temptation behind and be delivered from the evil it will take us into.

I believe that basically the joining God in his business can be boiled down to one part of the prayer: "Hallowed be your name." On this all the other requests stand or fall. No other name can be sweeter than "Father." Where His name is not hallowed, there are other kingdoms which compete with his. His name is hallowed because he daily provides, forgives, and leads us.His name is hallowed because he teaches us to provide, forgive, and lead others as he would.

The final indication that we are in God's business is whether we are forgiving people. We forgive when we have the resources to forgive from our Father. We are under his management when we know his provision, his forgiveness, and his deliverance from temptation and evil. Without these we will not be forgiving, but hold grudges.

Perhaps the most obvious evidence of our lack of forgiveness is our anger and contempt for other people. A forgiving person is not an angry person. Nearly all of our reasons for anger do not have anything to do with forgiveness. They are self-justifying. Our anger indicates that we are not in God's business, but on our own, needing to "make it happen." This is why unforgiving, angry people are not praying people.

Learning to Be Astonished

Here is a spiritual exercise in the way of sacred living: "Go in your backyard, or a park, and simply observe. As you look at these living creatures (trees, grass, stones) think of what Chesterton said, that each blade and leaf and pebble is what it is because God made it. The leaf is not green by necessity; God tells it to be, and keeps telling it to be. Practice seeing the world in this way."

Before you dismiss this as "too imaginative" think about this scripture: "All things were created through Christ and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17)

O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom you have made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord rejoice in his works. 

(Psalm 104:24,31)

Consider this poem by Mary Oliver:

Messenger

My work is loving the world.

Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird -

  equal seekers of sweetness.

Here is quickening yeast; there the blue plums.

Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?

Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me

  keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be

  astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
  and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
  to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
  that we live forever.

Perhaps we can practice "learning to be astonished." This is not all that we need to know, but I think she is pointing to how we need to live. Knowing what and Who we know, it seems that we should find ourselves free to practice seeing the world differently, learning to be astonished.

Guidelines for Seeking Deeper Relationships

In thinking about friendships, I was reminded about qualities that I enjoy about my marriage. I think that in seeking both good relationships with people both in friendship and eventually in marriage, you will find certain qualities will show up. First, here are some of my assumptions:

1. God does not send us into confusion. He is a God of peace.Although we may be unclear about many things and may have our troubles and struggles, his voice is a calming and centering, making clear the next step.
2. Ultimately, God is not interested in what we accomplish, but in the sort of person we are becoming.  As we go through difficulties and ask our questions, he will lead us in such a way that we become more like Jesus internally as well as externally. This means he leads us into a path where we will confidently trust him.
3. I believe we can determine the "rightness" of external circumstances by the "rightness" of internal leadings and outcomes.  In short, the way of righteousness will be governed by hearing God's voice and will bring about more love for him and others.

Right now you are exploring, evaluating, and enjoying a shared social existence with other people. Your social context is part of your soul. In sharing it you create relationships, places where your souls are interacting. As you relate, you will find these relationships will generally aid or distract you from your life in Christ.

As intimacy increases, the sharing has begun to include other parts of your life as well: your bodies, your minds, and your hearts. As a relationship grows, it begins to have a life of its own. The way you are when you're together. The kinds of things you do. The kinds of plans you make. That life consists of experiences.

As you continue to look at your experiences, if you are following God's calling individually as well as together, I think you will find yourselves:

• Seeking to know Christ as he is particularly through Bible reading/study/meditation.
• Seeking to know Christ's voice as he speaks to you in prayer.
• Living a sacred life together, where all things are from God, with God, and for God.
• Living a supernatural life, where you sense and rely on the Spirit regularly.
• The outcome (not the goal) of such living is a blameless, moral life of holiness.
• Another outcome of such living is a compassionate life of caring for other people.

Of course all these things don't come all at once, but you should sense their growth in God-honoring and God-led relationships.

As far as for deeper relationships in particular, I think three areas are good to note:

1. In your spiritual life you can pray together, and worship together with others.
2. In your intimacy, you enjoy deep conversations and find each other delightful and attractive or interesting.
3. In everyday life, you laugh and play together, and can work well together.

In searching for deeper friendships, I think you may be able to use these areas to discover people you really can connect with. You can seek one area in a group or event and pay extra attention to people you have further connections with.

For instance, you may seek a church or small group where you can pray with individuals and worship well corporately.  In the midst of such a group, you might look for connections with people in everyday life, like playing, laughing, and working together.  Or you may find someone particularly attractive or interesting in conversation. You may go to an event that you find to be fun and then look for people that you connect with with spiritually or in intimacy.  Or you may meet someone in a place that you can connect with rather easily in intimacy and you have further times with them to find out if you connect in everyday life and in your spirituality.

How this works out varies, but basically I think you put make yourself present at various occasions or in various groups where you share an interest spiritually or in everyday life. In the context of the group you look further for people you can share with in other ways. I think you can find special people this way.

Search out spiritual groups where you can pray or worship.  Look for a group that shares your laughter, your play, or your work.  Pay attention if someone grabs your interest in conversation or as interesting or attractive. Then as you go, look for other connections with those people.  Many times you will not find more connections, but you may still want to be in a group or keep good conversation going with certain people anyway. Not every friendship has to be a deep one. However, don't give up looking for really good friendships or anticipating meeting your future spouse. It will happen and it will be something that is both a "revelation" and a discovery.

The Long Ad

Commercials and ads have found their way onto YouTube and Facebook so that whatever is free isn't exactly free anymore.  Media seems to always drift into advertising as its primary goal.  When I have subjected myself to these ads, I find that the bottom line is my attention.  The advertiser does not care what I think of the product, but only that I think of the product.  Whatever silliness, lies, sexual innuendo, or supposed seriousness will get my attention is what must be pushed onto the screen before my eyes and ears in order to occupy some of my mental landscape.  Fill the mind, get the heart.  This is a good picture of how the world works.  One big, long ad.

For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’  (Matthew 11:13)

I think of Jesus sitting and eating with tax collectors and prostitutes.  He must have seen and heard all kinds of things, many not particularly good.  It did not seem to matter to him what he saw, but what he sought.  Looking would not make him sin, but what he was looking for.  In this I see how he had mastered being in the world, but not of it.  What we see does not matter much, only what we seek.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!  (Matthew 6:22-23)

I think of Jesus listening to all sorts of questions and accusations concerning himself and his work.  Not only were people skeptical, they were trying to trip him up in his words and catch him doing something wrong.  He heard them, but he did not listen to them.  Many voices came to him, but the only one he heeded was the voice of his Father speaking to him and through others.  What we hear does not matter much, only what we take to heart.  "Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away."  (Luke 8:18)

For some people every comment, question, or statement has to do with some theological controversy, some political bend, or some new diet or health trend.  Certain words or favorite quotes or songs or hobbies will indicate whether the person is "for us or against us."  People with minds consumed with such ideas lie and wait for something to prove whether a person is reliable and right or untrustworthy and wrong by their use or misuse of certain "code words."  The burning question in their minds is "Are you for us or against us?"  Then they know how to deal with you.  Such a life has been filled up with reactions so there is not any room left for any real actions.  "They preach, but do not practice. . . .  They do all their deeds to be seen by others."  (Matthew 23:2-3)

When we are in the world but not of it, we see, hear, and react to all sorts of things, many of them not of God.  But those many things that come pounding down upon us do not necessarily decide in themselves what we will seek, what we will take to heart, or what our actions will be.  What will make the difference is what we look for, what we listen for, and how we act when no one else cares.

Jesus looked for the Father at work and joined him there.  Jesus listened for his Father's voice for comfort and direction and authority.  Jesus acted when the time was ripe and right, both personally and in his whole earthly vocation.  It is not what we look at, but what we look for.  It is not what we listen to, but what we listen for.  It is not how we react to people and events, but what we do when no one else cares what we are doing.  When our attention is on Jesus and his Father, then we can be in the world, but not of it.  "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  (Matthew 6:19-20)

The Curse of Superficiality

Superficiality is the curse of our age.  The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem.  The desperate need today is not for a great number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.  (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline)

I have glossed over this introductory statement in Foster's book many times.  I am afraid that I have usually thought of it in superficial ways.  I have thought of it mostly individualistically, as a way to my own deeper growth.  I have looked at it with hurry, scanning over the ideas so I can get deeper quickly.  Ironic, isn't it?  I can be superficial about getting deeper.

The last couple of times I have found that first phrase rather poignant.  When I think of the blessings and curses pronounced in Deuteronomy 28, I see that this "curse of our age" seems to explain a lot of things.  Curses are the opposite of blessings.  When something is blessed, a lot of good comes from relatively little effort.  That's grace.  With a curse, very little good comes from inordinate amounts of effort.   That's the flesh at work.  Superficiality is a whole lot of work generating very little good.

The particular face of of our curse, according to Foster, is superficiality.  It is a resistance to the depths of life.  As another modern writer puts it,

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

 The curse is that we find our desire too weak to carry us beyond the shallows of human existence.  We long for more than what we are given in life, but cannot obtain it, because the superficiality takes us to the wrong places in the wrong ways.

The Primary Doctrine

The primary teaching that supports the curse is one of "instant gratification."  The teaching is that instant gratification is the ideal circumstance, the best outcome, the only real goal. We want answers now.  We want things fixed yesterday.  The bigger, faster, more intense it can be, the better it must be.  Unfortunately the first part of the doctrine, "instant," flies in the face of one of the most basic rules in a deeper life: "Love is patient."  Love and the deeper life may be patient and only comes through patience, but we see impatience is the current road to "happiness and fulfillment."

Another problem with the current prevalent doctrine is that of gratification.  Life is gratification and nothing else in our current culture.  "What do you really feel like?  What do you really want?"  These questions are often the deepest ones asked when dealing with marriage, vocation, and even morality.  Unfortunately they happen to be the same questions asked at the front of a fast food line as well.  When life comes to a halt, we often find ourselves wondering, "What do I want now?" Questions from our depths are shunned because they require self-denial and perseverance.

Although some of us are willing to forgo the "instant" part of "instant gratification," we find gratification hard to ignore.  One of the primary reasons is not so much our hedonism, but our desperation.  It is pain that drives us more than pleasure.  It is emptiness that scares us more than just missing out on something fun.  Unfortunately gratification only puts off pain and emptiness and then intensifies them, only to make us go back to gratification once again.

The Real Need

Instant gratification reveals our fear of the depths.  We may flock to intelligent people and gifted people, hoping to find some way out of superficiality.  We want answers.  We want wonders.  These do not pull us out of our tailspin, however.  Intelligence without depth only justifies our empty superficiality.  Wonders without depth dazzle the eyes and ears, but do not touch the soul.  This is not a new problem:

Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  (1 Corinthians 1:22-24, ESV)

The depravity we face today is one of superficiality.  It is the sign of our inward decay, our corruption.  This is one mode of perishing.  "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."  (John 3:16)  The life we are meant to live is a deep life, a life like God's.  The apostle Paul describes such life: "We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day."  (2 Corinthians 4:16)  Instead of inward decay and corruption, we can find continual inward renewal.

The Celebration of Discipline, then, is the celebration of a deeper life, one of continual renewal.  The disciplines described are the ways in which Jesus and his followers live a deeper life.  We may approach them wrongly and superficially, as I have, and find them wanting.  But we will not be able to approach a deeper life without them.  Disciplines go beyond deep thinking and deep feeling and "meaningful" action into deep living.  Deep people are people who live from the depths of themselves and of God.  Disciplines are the practice and enjoyment of that deeper life.

Circumcision: Cutting Away the Old You

I heard a sermon from Romans on circumcision yesterday.  It was a good analysis of the passage.  Mark does a good job with that.

I believe Paul was addressing believers in Rome and not Jews in the second chapter.  He is using the argument to prevent believers, particularly Jewish ones, from falling into the pitfalls of self-righteousness.  I don't think he is so concerned with Jews as with Judiazers, those who would weaken or dismantle trust in Christ with the traditions and rules of Judaism.

In verses 25-29 Paul says:

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.  No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

 I like the contrasts Paul uses in 28-29 to talk about being a Jew inwardly versus being one outwardly.  Three things mark a real Jew (and by extension, a real follower of God in Christ), circumcision of the heart, circumcision by the Spirit, and receiving praise from God.  Paul explains circumcision for the believer even more clearly in Colossians 2:

In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. (vv. 11-12)

Circumcision is the putting off, the cutting off of the flesh in the life of the believer.  This happens at through regeneration ("you were raised with him") which starts a process that continues throughout the life of a believer ("through your faith") as the old, dead part of their life is removed and replaced with a new, glorious life ("the working of God").

Roughly speaking, Christ's circumcision was performed in his death.  The flesh was removed from him.  He received a new body no longer affected by the flesh - mere temporary human effort and ability.  The circumcised life is one lived without dependence on the flesh, but dependence on God.  The fleshly life is cut away leaving a mark of God's work on that life.

This dependence on God, then is characterized by the three things above.  First, it operates from the center of one's being rather than merely on the surface.  The circumcision must cut deeply enough to bring about a change of heart rather than just a change of behavior.  It works from the inside out.

Second, it is surrounded by things that cannot be explained with normal behavior or circumstances.  Circumcision by the written code or letter is one of mere agreement and profession, but only brings obligation and shame.  Such circumcision ends up cutting again and again, trying to make sure it is proved and real.  Circumcision by the Spirit is a changed and changing life, operating with confidence and power evident through the work of the Spirit.  It defies explanation and brings healing and a salvation without regret.

Third, this dependence on God runs on the affirmation from God himself over and against the approval or disapproval of people.  Circumcision that brings the praise of people is based on behavior and credentials.  It must be done the "right way" to count and receive the right praise and approval.  Circumcision that brings God's praise and approval is simply indicated by a changed heart, that is, one that is joyfully obedient and loving toward God.  It may or may not have the right credentials or behaviors with it.

This circumcised life which brings each person into the community of Christ is not done by the person themselves, but is accepted by the person.  The old way of life must be cut off and the new life in Christ must be accepted and lived.  Otherwise, it will be as with the Jews that Paul spoke of: "You have become as though you had not been circumcised."  This new life must be met with a trust that matches it.  It must be embraced and lived from the heart, by the Spirit, and to the praise of God.