“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).
I’ve been thrust into some real introspection recently. It’s been said that though we have been saved by grace, we can’t just live by grace. There are too many imperatives in the Bible. So, we need to live by “grace, BUT…., here is what we have today DO to live the Christian life.” Well, more than that, we should be aiming to live “like Christ.”
First of all, can you hear yourself right now? “Like-Christ”?! Like the perfect, only Holy One, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Perfect Sacrifice? That Christ? Well, good luck with that!
For 10 years now I’ve tried to describe what God so painfully taught me about Himself and His relationship of grace with me. But it often falls on deaf ears. Because once they think they have the Christian life figured out, their formulas work, or what they believe is God’s formula works for them, they feel like they’re getting better, and sinning less. What these people often say is that it works because the Holy Spirit living in them helps them NOT sin. This is assumption! Why? Because they feel pretty good about where they are right now in their Christian experience.
I push back against that? Why? Because where they say the Holy Spirit is doing the work, they can’t prove that. (I know! I can’t disprove that, but stay with me.) Do you know why I make this statement? Because this was MY life! This was MY formula! This is what I taught as God’s formula. And you know what? My Christianity worked under this paradigm! Because, I could make it work.
What is the real reason? I was a Pharisee. It worked because if you knew me 20 years ago, my life was filled with rules! With standards! With high convictions! No, I wasn’t sinless, but I felt if I disciplined myself to read the Bible, the Holy Spirit would transform me. So, I read thru the Bible. If I disciplined myself to pray daily and fervently, God would commune with me and I would please Him. So, I’d pray for hours. Once I got started, there was so many things that came to my mind and I didn’t want to forget one of them. Then, my list of standards and convictions started to grow; these strict convictions, I believed, would keep me away from the edge. Then, I’d be less likely to sin.
But here’s the real reason I thought that the formula worked. Because I could beat my body and will into submission and keep myself from at least major sin. You see, while I would say it was the Holy Spirit at work in me, the truth was it was MY effort and MY strength and MY discipline and MY doggedness. That is why my Christian life “looked” like it had Holy Spirit infused power. So, I looked at my life, and though I would never say it, I thought I was living right.
But when God graciously removed MY effort, My strength, MY discipline and every scrap of self-will, by giving me the most horrific mental illness that left me incapacitated, my Christianity failed me! This is why I see so many preaching effort and self will. They call it HS power, but the truth is that while Jesus did all that needed to be done to rescue me from my sinfulness, my Christian life still needed ME to bring the team over the finish line. The Holy Spirit wasn’t enough to perfect me; to make my life look “like Christ,” and to be honest, I don’t think that is why Jesus sent Him to be my advocate and helper.
So, when I got depressed, I got angry at God! He was a bait and switch God. He gave me a formula to get Holy Spirit improvement for my behavior, and then He denied me the ability to become “better.” That formula didn’t work anymore. So, I began asking questions about God. Would the God I loved, served, sacrificed for, laid down my life for, gave up so much for, REALLY call me to a Christian faith that I could no longer live up to to please God? Would He REALLY deny me the very thing He called me to do- to stop sinning and continue improving in the good works department!? Why would He take away my ability to live up to the highest of standards, you know, works that prove my faith?
You know what He was doing? Revealing my self-righteous heart. So I had to ask myself, what if that formula and that paradigm was never what God wanted of me and it was not the Christian life He was calling me to. I discovered that there was so much of my effort and my works in my Christian life that I didn’t even know it. I always thought it was Holy Spirit power. But in truth, it was necessary by living right to bring the whole team over the line with MY discipline and MY self control.
My problem now is that millions of Christians don’t realize that what they call Holy Spirit power might just be a strong constitution. A disciplined life (health, wealth, fitness, etc). A moral compass, morality. And they feel so good about their good life that they sacrifice to live out. And do you know what? They will NEVER see that they feel morally superior because they DO have the strength and doggedness to keep living that good life. And until God pulls the rug out from under their strength and their own “can-do religion,” they will keep looking down on the weak among them, and justify it by saying it is the Holy Spirit helping them live and maintain that better life..
Does the Holy Spirit work in our hearts and minds to call us into obedience? Yes, of course! But I think a lot of Christians are walking around just like Islamists and Buddhists and all other faiths who are trying to work to please their God, and after beating their body into submission by being deliberate and strong and disciplined, they are calling it “God’s blessing of improved behavior/living.”
And the church of today is going to keep preaching this good behavior via good disciplinary habits of right living is a work of the Holy Spirit. So, walk it back, church? If your behavior doesn’t improve, then you’re not living right. You’re not walking in the Spirit! Because the formula always works IF you are self-controlled. Well, and if it doesn’t, you dig down deep and try harder, despise yourself, beat yourself up, and sit in ashes.
The truth is that IF those in the church try hard enough, they can achieve better behavior. But you know what? It just makes them a “whitewashed tomb.” There has been no heart change. And this is what God is after. A heart in love with Him and an embrace of “grace only” living because of all Jesus did for us. Better behavior can be a sham, and there is no person who would be most surprised that than you. The heart is deceitful and it wants the glory. What if better behavior isn’t what God is after, after all? Just something to think about.
Matt 23:27-28 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
God's Grace For The Journey 