Abstain from those things which are ungodly. Abstain from that which appears ungodly. Abstain from specific things scripture clearly defines as sin–gossip, talebearing, strife, pride. Abstain from foolish and unwise things. Abstain from impurity–in thought, word, or deed.
Can you manage that? Hmmmn. I tried for ten minutes and couldn’t get past the “thought” portion. For instance: while I was writing that first paragraph I thought of all the folks who’d assign particulars to each sentence. I thought of arguments it may provoke. I thought irritating thoughts about irritating people. I considered barbs and heat I might encounter. Yet, think about it. Is anything in that first paragraph I said hateful? offensive? untrue?
Some folks think that just because one person abstains from some particular action, and posits himself with reason, rationale, evidence, and biblical principle, that the “one person” condemns all those with an opposing position to eternal death. That is simply not true of all people who seek to live out the faith-walk the Lord gives.
Wonder why God had Paul tell us to abstain from even the appearance of evil. Think God meant it to make us miserable? Wonder why God tells us to love the unlovely. Think God wants us to perform the impossible? Wonder why God tells us not to become unequally yoked with the world? Think God believes we are better than the world? Abstaining.
Abstaining from things that are unseemly, or could cause another to stumble or falter in their faith, should not bother us. Should it? I figure it only bothers us when we want what we want when we want it. Our desires supercede any good God can bring about because of our obedience. Does our liberty in Christ supercede any harm that our actions or inaction could cause another seeker? I don’t think so.
Holiness isn’t all about abstaining. Holiness is living out the life of Christ within us; it separates us from the world. Holiness is the Holy Spirit within our spirit hungering and thirsting for the best of life. He seeks the newness of life for us. He seeks to transform and renew our minds to habitually walk in Christ, everyday, all day. He does not lead us in the way of any temptation…not one. He leads us away from temptation. He guides us and steers our thoughts to the purity of life. The devil has us focus on our own desires, our own enjoyments, our own pleasures and comforts. The devil doesn’t want us to suffer any inconvenience for the sake of the gospel. He tells us God will understand why we do or do not do something. He tells us we need not bother ourselves with living as Jesus lived, or is calling us to live. Do you think Satan even reminds us that God is merciful and what we do is covered in the liberty of God’s grace? I think he does. Just as he used the goodness of God to entice Eve to eat of the tree in the midst of the garden of Eden. The reminder Satan gives comes before the act, not after.
Grace fills the crevices of our faults and weaknesses, yet gives what we need to close those gaps in our walk with Christ as they are revealed to us. Grace is second chances. Grace is patience in our immaturity. Grace covers our deficiencies and creates in us a desire to correct them as we grow in it’s shadows. Grace even makes allowances for our stubborn refusal to give all to Christ. It lets us go our own way until we fall flat on our faces, and then grace is the cushion beneath the hard pavement of consequence. Grace covers our sin and picks us up. Grace cradles us in its arms till we are healed to walk again. Grace is sufficient to meet all our needs. All means all. Every single thing we need is fulfilled in the grace of God. We won’t be kicked out of the kingdom because we fail a test, or lose a battle with our flesh. We will be given more grace to meet the challenges before us. We will be given more grace to drop our nets and follow Him immediately. We will be given more grace to pick up our cross. We will be given more grace to deny ourselves and live for Him, with Him, in Him.
Well, at least that is grace as I understand it. How about you?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Good post. I’m reminded of the following passage:
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations– “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)–according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:20-23 ESV)
Thanks, Stan, ah yes..that passage comes to mind every time I consider legalizing what I find tempting. It’s nice that Paul added Colossians 3 for deeper evaluation don’t you think?:
1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Indeed the following makes for interesting consideration when evaluating how one is to walk in faith and grow in His grace to be the salt and light our Lord mentioned in a sermon Matthew recorded, do you agree?
5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
It’s kinda like laying aside every weight so we can run the race with no encumbrances. And accepting the discipline and scourging of God to develop patience, temperance, self-control, and other characteristics of regenerated faith in Him. It also has me very carefully consider the wisdom of godly admonitions, and exhortations from His gifted prophets. Ah, to die daily, yes, even moment by moment, and rise anew to a deeper regenerated walk which leads others to follow in His grace. Yet, even in this desire, I love that I can rest in God’s grace and find confidence that His Spirit works in me until the day of completion as He promises in Philippians 1:6. Such peace in knowing Him. Such peace. selahV
The point you are making here is fundamental to our approach to sanctification in our personal lives, as well as for our approach to discipleship (and thus our emphasis in preaching).
I like to put it like this when I teach on mortification: You don’t avoid adultery by merely avoiding wrong actions (e.g. going out with some women to lunch by yourselves, flirting with female coworkers, entertaining thoughts in your mind, etc.). The best way to avoid adultery is not by merely avoiding the wrong actions that would lead to such a sin, but to invest more time and energy cultivating your relationship with your wife. The more you love your wife, the less power the adulterous woman has over you to tempt you. Our relationship with Christ is analogous to this. How to avoid sin? By spending more time cultivating and strengthening our relationship with Christ.
Bradley, thanks for helping me to figure out the “point” of my post. LOL. just kidding. Hey, you’ve said a mouthful with your analogy. Let’s go a step further. You have specific things you do to show your wife you love her. You have specific things you say to her. You find out what she likes and what she appreciates you doing. You do as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13 and then the first verse of 14…you practice love because love is not a feeling but a commitment and an action that proves love without expecting a thing in return. And sometimes it ain’t easy to love.
Do we do the same kind of thing to build our relationship with Jesus? What specifics do you do to build your relationship with Him so you do not find yourself an adulterer, and losing your first love in Him?
Sometimes I think we are more casual in our relationship with Jesus than any other relationship in the world. We come to Him with an air of such confidence in His grace and mercy, we fail to fear Him and stand in awe of Him, and recognize His glory and majesty and power, and holiness. And we act like it is just fine to say whatever we want in His presence, act anyway we want in His presence, and treat others as rudely as we feel in His presence. Instead of bringing Him the absolute best we can, we settle for less because, well, He understands. We expect Him to fix all our problems, cure all our ills, and deliver us from all our bungled decisions. We expect to live as we want without one whit of consequence for what we choose to do. I wonder. If we did that with our spouses, how well would that go over? If our children did that with us, how well would that set in our minds?
I agree it’s all about sanctification. My post is about living with a mind set above the ways of the world and seeking the only way to accomplish it–in His grace, by His grace, and with His grace. Gosh I feel good thinking about all Jesus is, don’t you? I think so often about how He died for me and I am just a speck on a grain of sand in the vast expanse of this universe. A speck! And Jesus gave up heaven, was dumped on, ridiculed, rejected, spat upon, lived in poverty, was beaten, hated, stripped of all his clothes and hung naked on a cross to die an excruciating, humiliating, death. For me! A speck in the scheme of things. Wow…and I have trouble being nice to the snotty clerk at Wal-Mart in return? how little we are…yet sometimes we think we are doing such big things.
Bradley, I appreciate your comment. I got a bit carried away. I just used it as an opportunity to high-light how lax we become in our walk sometimes when Christ died to give us everything and we live to give Him as little as possible. Don’t believe we’ve ever met. I’ll go check your blog. God Bless you in your process. It gets sweeter for me the older I get. selahV
Yes! Hariette,
You’ve said a mouthful.
I would say, on the basis of linguistic and contextual research (e.g. Matthew Elliot, Faithful Feelings), that love does in fact include emotion (although it certainly includes action also, without which it would not be true love). Just imagine if you had no “feelings” for your wife, but begrudgingly and ritually followed all the “actions” you knew were your duty as a husband. Would she feel honored? I also defer to John Piper on this same point.
I also defer to Paul, who, for example, implied that God cares whether we give “cheerfully” or not. This assumes that our feelings matter when we give. I could multiply examples of this, but I’ve written a great deal about it in several posts on my blog if you care to look into it (search: emotion).
On the one hand, Jesus is our friend (the Bible uses the word “friend” both for Yahweh and for Jesus). Thus, we have to understand God as more than just our King or ruler who speaks with authority. On the other hand, this “friend” (whether we refer to Yahweh or Jesus) is not to be understood as anything LESS THAN our King and ruler with absolute authority. This is a fine line, and well-meaning Christians differ on how the tightrope should be approached.
But certainly, all Christians should agree that treating our sin lightly and approaching God without due consideration of his holiness is a colossal mistake.
Great thoughts! Great post!
Bradley
My apologies for using exclusively male analogies, suggesting that you think of what “your wife” would think. After visiting your blogs, I realize that I should’ve turned that around.
Bradley, no offense taken here. I understood what you meant when using them. I can think genderless. ha. selahV