What’s Love Got to Do With It?

It is not uncommon these days to hear calls for tolerance and acceptance that say, in essence, “If you love me, you’ll let me do whatever makes me happy.” Although this isn’t a new idea, the voices are much louder than they used to be. Often this comes from a misconception of the biblical idea that “God is love.” C.S. Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain:

“By the goodness of God we mean nowadays almost exclusively His lovingness… And by Love, in this context, most of us mean kindness… What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter so long as they are contented?’ …whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all’ …I should very much like to live in a universe which was governed on such lines. But since it is abundantly clear that I don’t, and since I have reason to believe, nevertheless, that God is Love, I conclude that my conception of love needs correction… If God is Love, He is, by definition, something more than mere kindness. And it appears, from all the records, that though He has often rebuked us and condemned us, He has never regarded us with contempt” (35-37).

David Powlison wrote something similar in Good and Angry:

“[God’s] mercy is not niceness. His mercy is not blanket acceptance of any and all. Mercy to us costs him—the blood of the Lamb. And mercy comes to us at the cost of our sins and pride. His kindness is an open invitation to turn to him in repentance and faith, to come to him in our need for mercies freely offered, and our trust in mercies freely given” (as quoted in Take Heart, Jan. 13).

God’s love is not benign approval of whatever we may love and enjoy. His perfect love means He puts divine boundaries on what is acceptable, because He knows what is best for us. We, in our sinful nature, often choose what is less than best—what is convenient, comfortable, and even corrupt. It is for this reason that we have His written Word to guide us, to help us understand what has been true from eternity, as opposed to what may appear true in our culture today.

The Apostle John wrote, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:8-10).

God didn’t create the world so He could just smile down on whatever His creation wanted to do. He created us to be brought into relationship with Him. Because of our sin that relationship was broken, and so God sent Jesus to pay our debts, redeem us from sin, and make us right with God again. God’s love for us meant that He gave the ultimate sacrifice, not to simply make us happy, but to make us more like Himself, in the perfect righteousness that we’ll experience for eternity if we follow Him as Lord in this life.

So when we look to God’s model of love to guide us, we don’t choose indiscriminate niceness and acceptance of anything and everything our culture comes up with. It doesn’t matter whether the demand is from a child asking for unlimited cookies, or an adult wanting unlimited sex, or anything in between. In love, we should recognize that many things are off limits if we truly want what is best for one another. And we need to look at it from an eternal perspective—will today’s choices lead to ‘fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore at God’s right hand’ (Psalm 16:11), or will they lead to “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:42 & 50)? True love should make us do all that we can to point people to eternal life, not eternal death.

“For 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).

 

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Amateurs!

According to Dictionary.com, amateur originates from the Latin word for lover and means:

1. a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons.
2. an athlete who has never competed for payment or for a monetary prize.
3. a person inexperienced or unskilled in a particular activity.
4. a person who admires something; devotee; fan.

In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee for dinner. The Pharisees were the religious “professionals,” who worked hard to keep all the commandments and added more commandments just to be on the safe side. During the meal a woman who was known to be a sinner (often assumed to be a prostitute, but the Bible doesn’t say that) comes and washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and wipes them with her hair. Jesus uses her example to point out, “her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little” (v. 47). This woman, who was considered a religious amateur because of her lack of obedience to the law, was held up as an example to the professionals because of her love.

Growing up in churches of various denominations (because we moved frequently), I got the impression that Christianity was about obeying the laws of the Old Testament, especially the Ten Commandments. I knew from a young age that I was a sinner in need of repentance. I don’t remember ever hearing a clear presentation of the Gospel message—that we can never perfectly obey God’s standards and that is why Jesus came to die for us, so that by believing in Him we could be made right with God and considered holy in God’s eyes. Up until college, as far as I knew it was all up to me to be as good as I could and to confess my sins and hope that God would let me off the hook one more time.

I worked hard to be a professional Christian, not knowing that Jesus Christ is more interested in amateurs—those who know they can’t live up to the perfect standard but follow Him out of love. Even years later I find myself thinking “I should be better than this by now.” To paraphrase Brennan Manning’s words, “God expects more failure from you than you expect from yourself.”

In 1 John 4:19 we learn that “We love because He first loved us.” Working backward in that chapter, His love casts out fear of punishment (v. 18), we can have confidence before God (v. 17), we abide with Him daily (v. 16), and we love others with the same kind of love (vv. 7-12). When Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment, He responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37-40). Christian faith is not about trying harder to be perfect, but about loving the One who first loved us and letting His love flow in and through us.

There is no call for religious professionals in the Kingdom of God. We are all called to be amateurs—for the love of God. The Apostle Paul threw away his religious credentials “because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8). Religiosity will tend to make us (like the Pharisees) think of ourselves more highly than we ought. But remembering that we are only saved because of God’s grace should make us grateful recipients and loving followers.

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that One has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Breaking the Rules

Soon after the Israelites came out of Egypt, they were given the Ten Commandments. God told them through Moses:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).

Forty years later, they were entering the Promised Land and God gave Joshua instructions on how Jericho was to be conquered.

“You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days… On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat” (Joshua 6:3-5).

Wait, didn’t God say no work on the seventh day? And yet He then gave them instructions for seven consecutive days of marching around the city. In the thousands of sermons I’ve heard in my lifetime, I’ve never heard anyone address this apparent exception to the command to keep the seventh day holy by not working.

The text doesn’t specifically say this, but I think a case can be made that the seventh day of marching around the city was probably the Sabbath day. One big clue is the fact that God was the One who brought down the wall of Jericho. Marching around the city and blowing trumpets didn’t accomplish that. (Some might argue for the resonance frequency of synchronized marching, but when have thousands of untrained men ever marched in unison?) The lesson for the Israelites was “The Lord has given you the city” (v. 16). It was not their work but God’s work on that day.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had no room for subtleties of interpretation when it came to the Sabbath. They added rules upon rules to avoid the risk of accidentally breaking the commandment. Jesus chastised them: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28). God showed His authority at Jericho, and Jesus retained that authority during His life on earth.

The Pharisees and many other Jews (and even some Christian groups) missed the whole point of the Mosaic Law. It was never about man’s perfect obedience, but about God’s work on our behalf. “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ… because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16). Faith is not about trying harder to obey the law, but trusting in the One who has all authority over heaven and earth.

“Come and see what God has done: He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man” (Psalm 66:5).

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

For Jesus' Sake

This week I’ve been listening to the audio book of The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, by Nik Ripken, about the stories of believers in other countries who are regularly persecuted for their faith. One person in particular urged, “Don’t give up in freedom what we have not given up under persecution” —the right to share our faith. Dr. Ripken goes on to say that sharing our faith is not a matter of religious freedoms, but the choice of whether we will be obedient to God’s commands. It doesn’t matter whether we will be thrown in jail, tortured, mocked, or just slightly embarrassed for what we believe, God has commanded every believer to be His witnesses wherever we go (see Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:18-20).

Hearing those words today built on the Good Friday message from our pastor on 2 Corinthians 5:11-15 that the logical response to the cross is to live for Jesus instead of ourselves. It also goes along with the meditations on Romans 12:1-8 that we were urged to dwell on today. Are we really willing to be living sacrifices? Is Jesus worth living for, worth dying for, worth giving up our freedom and family for? Missionary Charles T. Studd said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” I think many of us want to believe those words, but when it comes down to our daily choices we can’t quite justify giving up our comfort, our habits, our pride, our self-sufficiency.

This morning I was trying to find a Christian song lyric that was running through my mind. The first CD I looked at was one produced by a person who later embraced a sinful lifestyle. Whenever I think of him I pray that God will convict him and bring him to repentance. He reminds me of 1 Corinthians 3:15 (ESV), “If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” There will be many at the judgment who see all their “good” works burned up. There will be many more who will be told, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23). The question is, will you or I be in one of those groups or will we be among those who hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 26:21)?

As it turns out, the song stuck in my mind was from Chonda Pierce’s A Mother’s Prayer: “If I die before they wake, they’ll know I’ve lived for Jesus’ sake.” I hope that is the clear message of my life, and it’s one of the reasons I write my blogs. I may not be good at sharing my faith in conversations with people, but I have to share it in some way. It is not just obedience to a command (though it is that), but the love of Christ compels me to do so (2 Cor. 5:14). I wasn’t planning to write anything today, but my thoughts needed an outlet. It is not always easy, and I’m certain there are people who immediately turn away because they don’t want to read what I have to say. But I believe that in Christ I am a new creation and that He has entrusted me with this particular ministry (2 Cor. 5:17, 19). Therefore I will offer myself as a living sacrifice to God, using the gifts He has given me to serve His body for as long as He enables me to do so. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).

Will you join me in living for Jesus’ sake?

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).

© 2020 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

I Surrender

In her book Brokenness, Surrender, Holiness (a compilation of three books), Nancy Leigh DeMoss writes,

“Our will was opposed to [God’s] will. We were intent on going our own independent way, and as a result, were estranged from the God of the universe. Even when the Spirit opened our eyes to recognize our rebellious condition, we may have sought a way to bring about peace apart from surrender. We did not want to continue suffering the unpleasant consequences of our resistance, but neither did we want to lay down our arms. Then the message was sent to our hearts: There can be no peace until you are willing to accept My terms—unconditional surrender.”

And yet even when we have made a decision to surrender to Christ’s lordship, we often try to take it back later. We still desire to have control over our own lives. “I’ll surrender the parts I don’t like, but this part is still mine to do with as I please!” DeMoss shared what Josef Tson identified as a “shift from the call to full surrender, to the call to commitment.”

“Christian surrender means that a person lifts his or her hands and says to God, ‘Here I am; I surrender; You take over; I belong to You; You dispose of me!’ But this is America, the country of the independent people! This is the place of ‘Nobody should command me! … I belong only to myself! A call to surrender, and even more, to full surrender, simply doesn’t go well with such people. Therefore, the preachers… hit on the word ‘commitment.’ You see, commitment means ‘I engage myself to do something for you.’ or, even lighter, ‘I promise to do something for you,’ but I remain myself and I may keep my promises or not...

“[Bible translators] did not like the term ‘bondslave’ to be applied to people. Who wants to be somebody else’s slave? Therefore, they replaced it with ‘servant.’ Again, a reflection and demand of the independent spirit! In the Greek, ‘slave’ is doulos; ‘servant’ is diakonos. In the Greek Bible one never, never diakoneo to God—one never serves God; one only douleo to God—that is, one slaves to God.”

Many people have made some commitment to God, but their absence of any meaningful participation in the Body of Christ is one indication that they never surrendered to Him. And all of us need to surrender again and again as God reveals areas in our lives that we’re still holding on to. Just today I was reminded that if I want to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29), I must surrender my all rights over my life and my choices. I am no longer my own, for I was bought with the blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Therefore anything that stands in opposition to His lordship must be given over to His control. “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and… put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22, 24 ESV).

Tson is correct that we in America don’t want to surrender to anyone. July 4th is known as Independence Day, but no one who belongs to Christ is truly independent. Actually, every living being is dependent on God, but Christians are the only ones who acknowledge our dependence on Him and willingly surrender to His control. Will we do so again today and tomorrow and every day to come?

“Father, I abandon myself into Your hands; do with me what You will. Whatever You may do, I thank You: I am ready for all, I accept all. Only let Your will be done in me, and in all Your creatures—I wish no more than this, O Lord” (Charles de Foucauld).

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

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© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Walk with Me

Lately it seems like quotes from Fred Rogers pop up on Facebook every week. Perhaps that’s because there have been some new biographies released in the past couple years. In the past few months I’ve read The Good Neighbor by Maxwell King, as well as an older biography, The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers by Amy Hollingsworth. One comment he made often in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was “I like you just the way you are.” I have a lot of respect for Fred Rogers and his legacy, and I remember watching him when I was little (and not-so-little).

However, I have to wonder about what I call the “Mister Rogers’ mentality” that seems prevalent among many Christians. By that I mean the idea that God loves us just the way we are and does not ask us to change. Some sectors of the church have drifted into a kind of universalism that accepts any kind of lifestyle and refuses to call anything sinful. There are those who cling to John 3:16, “God so loved the world…” and yet ignore the context:

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God… Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (19-21, 36 ESV).

God sent Jesus to proclaim His love and redeem us out of sin, not to leave us in our sinful ways. As someone said (and has been attributed to various people), “God loves us the way we are, but too much to leave us that way.” The Apostle Paul wrote:

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5).

“Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).

God loves us unconditionally, but He also expects us to change. By His grace and mercy we can turn from sin and learn to overcome temptation. This sanctifying process will not be finished in this lifetime, but if we are not seeing any progress over time we should be concerned. That’s one of the main reasons we are to be active members of a church that recognizes its responsibility to the Body of Christ. We need those in our lives who will “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).

We all need people who will remind us that they love us no matter what stupid thing we’ve said or what sinful thing we’ve done. But if they truly love us, they should also be willing to admonish us for the patterns of sin they see in our lives. Some have said that love which is not expressed is not love. I would expand that to say that love which does not confront is not love. You may tell me, “I like you just the way you are,” but I hope there are some who will also say, “I love you too much to not point out this sin.” And ideally those same people will say, “Let me point you to the Savior and walk beside you as we both grow in faith and obedience to Him.” I know a few people like that, do you?

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Two Gardens

The following was influenced by this coming week’s Sunday school lesson from The Gospel Project.

It started in a garden: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17 ESV). Adam and Eve knew the ground rules and the consequences.

But along came a question: “[The serpent] said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”? …You will not surely die…’ She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:1-6). Doubt and disobedience entered into the picture.

The result was separation from fellowship with God: “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord… But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:8-9). The consequences still impact us today.

But years later in another garden, another man made a different decision. Jesus knew what was coming: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and He will be raised on the third day” (Matthew 20:18-19).

He faced the same choice—to trust God’s plan or to seek His own way: “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). His choice also created separation from the Father, but it was temporary. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34). Through His death, He reversed the consequences that came out of the first garden. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:14-15). He made the way for us to be restored to the original relationship God desires with His children.

In our natural, fleshly way we’ve all chosen the strategy of the first garden, seeking something more than what God has promised. But in Christ we are enabled to choose obedience even when it is hard. “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).

We can often get the idea that the Christian life is supposed to be easy. I wish it were easier, but Jesus said it was a daily choice to pick up the cross, not a daily picnic. Because of that first garden experience, life has been filled with toil, conflict, and pain. That part won’t be relieved in this lifetime, but we have the choice to do it God’s way or our own way each day. Which way will you choose today?

“Choose this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Listen and Obey

The following is more or less what I shared with my church family today:

Lately in Sunday school and church we’ve been talking about how the apostles and the early church in the book of Acts were available and obedient to what God called them to do through the Spirit’s prompting. I wanted to share a couple small opportunities that came my way this week.

As you know, Lawrence Efird’s body has been failing for quite some time. I had visited him at the rehab center, but hadn’t gone to see him in the hospital. I kept finding excuses not to go—first the holidays, then the busyness of work, and so on. And the worse he got, the easier it was to find reasons not to go. It’s not that I didn’t want to see him and Shirley, but I didn’t want to see him in that condition, for that to be my last memory of him. If you were at Dulin’s Grove last Sunday you heard Matt pointedly urging anyone who’d been thinking about it to go visit Lawrence, and then he preached on God’s authority and how we can’t call Jesus “Lord” if we won’t do what He says.

So I told God, “I get the message, I’ll go see Lawrence and Shirley.” But after church I started thinking, “Well, I can go Monday since I don’t have to work and will have more time,” trying to put it off again. But as the day wore on I kept hearing, “No, you need to go today.” So I finally got in the car and drove up there. I was nervous wondering who else might be there that I may or may not know. I arrived just as the girls were leaving, so it was just Lawrence and Shirley and Amy there. Shirley and I chatted for an hour or so, shared some tears, and prayed together before I left. When I got the word that Lawrence passed Sunday night, I wasn’t surprised, because I knew that God had a reason for me to go up there and not put it off one more day. I was glad that I had listened to His promptings when I did.

Then Tuesday after Phyllis Hord’s funeral, I went over to Burger King to grab some lunch before returning to work. While I was waiting in line, I heard the cashier asking the man in front of me, “Have you heard anything? Is he okay?” And the man answered, “No, he passed away Sunday.” Now I knew that couldn’t be a coincidence, but if you know me, you know that I don’t generally talk to people I don’t know. In fact, I often don’t talk to people I do know. But I felt compelled to ask, “Are you talking about Lawrence Efird?” And he said yes. It turns out it was Paul, who had often sat with Lawrence and Shirley and Pat for lunch at Burger King on Sundays. As I was talking to him and telling him how to get to the church, the manager came out and asked about Lawrence. I was able to write down the details on the arrangements for him. And I was glad to have the chance to be in the right place at the right time.

Thinking later about the fact that these “strangers” knew Lawrence well enough to want information about his funeral, I knew that it wasn’t just because he was a frequent customer, but because Lawrence never met a stranger. He would talk to anyone, and I’m sure that the conversations often turned to his faith, because that was what was most important to him. He wasn’t one to shirk opportunities that came his way.

I’ll be honest, when we started the Sunday school series on Acts and when I heard Matt was going to be preaching on Acts, I was less than enthusiastic. In my mind, Acts is a nice narrative of how God worked through the Apostles, but it doesn’t have a lot of theological meat to chew on, and I’m not sure how to apply it to “real” life. So I had reluctantly prayed that God would help me figure out what to do with this study. It turns out that God answers even reluctant prayers! He provides opportunities to apply His Word if we’ll just pay attention. It may be small things, but God still speaks and we have to choose whether to listen and obey. So my prayer for all of us is that we’ll learn to listen to the Spirit’s promptings and to obey Him all the time, not just when it is convenient or comfortable.

As I was getting ready to post this, I thought of the song “The Voice of Truth” and its reminder that we can step out in faith and not be afraid of whatever God calls us to do.

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

A Timely Prod

I’m reading a book that presents a clear and convicting picture of the church in America today. Following are a few paraphrased quotes:

On raising children- “Every parent wants their child to be fully educated and prepared for the world he is entering, but he is left to collect his religion on his own. The study of Christianity has formed no part of his education, and any attachment he may have to Christianity is merely the result of his place of birth and the church membership of his parents. When such is the hereditary religion handed down from generation to generation, it cannot surprise us to observe young men of sense and spirit beginning to doubt altogether the truth of the system in which they have been brought up, and ready to abandon a faith they are unable to defend.”

On spiritual knowledge- “What is more important than our eternal destiny? When God, by grace, has granted us such abundant means of instruction, how great must be the guilt and how awful the punishment of voluntary ignorance! …Yet we expect to be Christians without labor, study, or inquiry… And when finally summoned to the judgment seat of God to give an account of our lives, what plea can we have in our defense if we remain willingly and obstinately ignorant of the way which leads to life?”

On human corruption- “Endeavoring to justify what he cannot deny, ‘Whatever I am,’ he contends, ‘I am what my Creator made me. I inherited a nature depraved and prone to evil: how then can I withstand the temptation to sin?’”

On self-evaluation- “It seems in our days to be the common opinion that a man can admit in general terms the truth of Christianity without knowing much of the details, and if he is not habitually guilty of any of the grosser sins against others, we have no great reason to question the validity of his claim to the name of Christian.”

On stewardship- “They assume religion can claim only a stated proportion of their thoughts, and time, and fortune, and influence… the rest is their own to do what they will with. They have paid their tithes, the demands of the Church are satisfied, and they may surely be permitted to enjoy the rest without molestation or interference.”

On sanctification- “Instead of keeping at a distance from all sin, in which alone is our safety, they do not care how near they approach what they believe to be the boundary line. If they have not actually passed it, there is no harm done… They will of course be constantly, and almost insensibly, pressing the limits and moving farther and farther toward forbidden ground… ‘Mortify the flesh with its affections and lusts’ is the Christian principle, but a luxurious course of habitual indulgence is the practice of the bulk of modern Christians.”

On wasted time- “Life rolls away with too many of us in a path of ‘shapeless idleness.’ Its recreations constitute its chief business… amusements are multiplied… year after year wears away in unprofitable vacancy… Meanwhile, knowing that we are not giving in to any flagrant vice and are not neglecting the basics of religion, we persuade ourselves that we need not be uneasy. We don’t fall below the general standard of morals, so we therefore allow ourselves to glide down the stream without realizing its consequences.”

I think many will recognize these traits within our churches and perhaps in our own lives. Now here’s the kicker—this was written by William Wilberforce in England in 1798 under the title, A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Middle and Higher Classes in this Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity. The more things change, the more they stay the same. It illustrates the fact that we must be highly intentional about preaching, teaching, and living out the truths of Scripture. “Unless the affections of the soul be supremely fixed on God; unless it be the leading and governing desire and primary purpose to possess His favor and promote His glory, we are considered as having transferred our fealty to a usurper, and as being in fact revolters from our lawful Sovereign.”

It’s not enough to go to church regularly or to bear the name of Christian if we are not in fact seeking to follow Christ wholeheartedly. The enticements, distractions, and habits of this world will surely cause us to drift away from our faith if we are not actively working against them. May we not get complacent about the pursuit of God and the path of life.  

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14 ESV).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Be First

There are preachers who quote 1 Peter 1:15-16 (ESV), “...Be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy,’” as a basis for works righteousness. God is holy so He wants us to live holy lives, or so the argument goes. However, that little word “since” makes a big difference in these two verses, meaning that verse 16 is the reason for verse 15. The Greek word translated “You shall be” in 16 is not a command, but future indicative tense. In essence Peter is saying, “Because you will have the holiness of God, therefore you can live holy lives now.

We also can’t ignore the greater context of Peter’s letters, as well as the rest of the New Testament. Peter started his first letter by stating who we are in Christ. “According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1:3b, 5). On the basis of our identity, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded... As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance” (13-14). Peter uses a similar format in his second letter, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence... For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue...” (2 Pet. 1:3, 5). Only because of who we are in Christ and all the blessings we have received from Him can we then pursue holy living.

Paul’s letters are also full of reminders of who we are in Christ. “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God... [He] who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him... Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:11b, 17, 19-20). Because of who you are in Christ you can glorify God. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come... Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ” (1 Cor. 5:17, 20a). As a new creation you can represent Christ to the world.

It’s so easy to get it all backward and think that we have to live holy lives in order to be made right with God, that we must behave a certain way so that we can one day be accepted into His kingdom. But Scripture says that being precedes doing. We are made able to obey because of who God says we already are. This is a truth that I never knew until was an adult. The preachers and teachers I heard in many different churches while growing up never bothered to tell me who I was in Christ. All they seemed to care about was how people acted, and for many of us it was truly an act. We tried to look good so that people would believe we were saved. It created a lot of fear, wondering “How good is good enough?”

This world we live in today is even more confused. Identity gets tied to education, career, sexuality, family role, economic status, etc. Christians need to remind one another of who we are in Christ, because that is the only thing that will last. Everything else will pass away. In the Kingdom, we won’t be known as doctor, lawyer, gay, married, wealthy, or anything else like that. We will be—and already are—children of God, loved, accepted, new creations, righteous, redeemed, free, heirs, brothers and sisters, made alive, faithful, reconciled with God, saints and overcomers. That alone is our motivation for how we should live. If we are living out of any other identity, we have to constantly perform a certain way in order to maintain it.

Sam Allberry said, 

“I’m defined by who I am before God the Father in Jesus Christ... Who I most truly, ultimately, and fundamentally am is someone who is in Christ. And therefore when I’m striving to be holy, when I’m striving to be Christlike, I’m not going against the grain of who I really am, I’m going with it. As someone who is in Christ I am most being me when I am pursuing godliness, not when I am pursuing sin.”

For the person who is in Christ, sin is no longer “natural,” regardless of how it may feel. Instead, righteousness is our new nature and the life we are meant to pursue. Yes, it takes effort, but it is an effort that is guaranteed to pay off as we become more and more like God made us to be.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Faith or Fear

Last night I read Genesis 20, where Abraham passes Sarah off as his sister (for the second time!). He tells Abimelech, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’” It’s ironic that he says they don’t fear God, and yet he was the one who deceived them instead of trusting God to protect him. It was the fear of God that caused Abimelech to return Sarah to him untouched. Abraham appears to have feared men more than he feared God.

Don’t we all do that at times? We judge the beliefs of others, but we don’t realize how we are failing to live up to what we say we believe ourselves. We label others as unbelievers or baby Christians, yet our own actions reveal our lack of faith.

The Desiring God blog just posted an article by Jon Bloom, “Lay Aside the Fear of Man.” He writes, “We all experience this fear, and most of us don’t want to admit how serious its tyranny can be… we obey the one we fear.” If we truly believe God is in control and that He loves us more than we can imagine, there’s no real reason to fear anything people can say or do. Men can insult us, fire us, or even kill us, but they cannot separate us from the love of God and eternal life with Him. Perhaps the real problem is that we value this life and its comforts more than we ought. It is enjoyable to be well-liked, gainfully employed, and free from difficulties, but that may not line up with a life of obedience to God.

Abraham had been told he would be the father of many nations (Gen. 15:5) and would live to old age (15:16), yet he didn’t trust that God would protect him in his journeys. It is amusing how many times he felt he had to take matters into his own hands. Yet in spite of their failures, Abraham and Sarah both made it into the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. The other people listed in that chapter had their own mistakes and faults as well. That makes them even better witnesses to God’s grace, mercy, and faithfulness.

It’s good to know that our faith doesn’t have to be perfect all the time. It may ebb and flow, and circumstances may cause us to doubt, but God knows our weakness and desire to trust Him more fully. It’s no coincidence that Hebrews 12 starts out with a reminder to keep looking to Jesus for encouragement and endurance. Only when we keep our eyes in the right place can we trust Him to do all that He has promised. When we start looking for man’s approval, or we see the storms raging around us, we are sure to lose heart and make the wrong choices.

As usual, I’m preaching first to myself. In this week of meetings and frustrations, it was easy to get focused on the wrong things and get bogged down in the details. But as I was reminded by the Sidewalk Prophets song, “You love me anyway.” Ultimately, God’s love is more important than any plans we can make, any budget we can write, or any policies we can pass. His love means more than a comfortable job, a happy home, or civil liberties. Faith in His love and His promises gives us reason to endure, to follow, and to obey.

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28 ESV).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan. 

To Obey or Not To Obey

Earlier this year here in NC there was a big hoopla about the announced crackdown on speeding. Some drivers were worried that they'd be ticketed for driving 1 mph over the speed limit. It didn't seem to slow anyone down for long though. Apparently people think that "buffer zone" of several mph over the limit is their inalienable right. 

Aside from the enforcement nightmare, can you imagine what would happen if every law were enforced to the letter, with no mercy extended for any reason? How many citations would each person receive in a year? If Adam and Eve couldn't even resist breaking the only rule that was on the books, what chance would we have? Makes you appreciate grace and mercy, doesn't it? According to God's law, even one violation makes you deserving of death and eternal separation from Him. And yet in Christ every sin we have committed or will commit has been forgiven. 

For many people, the rule of thumb is "How much can I get away with," or "What does the law require." The question we should be asking is whether this choice is helpful for me or for the Body of Christ. As Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 6:12 (ESV), "All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but I will not be dominated by anything." And in 1 Corinthians 14:12, "So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church."

At its root, sin comes from a heart that is intent on getting its own way rather than looking out for the best interests of others. It's no coincidence that the humility of Christ as outlined in Philippians 2 is the same path by which He demonstrated His love for us (1 John 4). Loving others well requires setting aside our own interests and agendas and submitting to God's design for life. And submitting to God includes submitting to the authorities and laws He has established, not to earn salvation, but for the good of society. 

"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment" (Romans 13:1-2).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan. 

Right Praying?

Lately I’ve been reading The Necessity of Prayer, by E.M. Bounds. He has some good things to say, but a couple chapters on obedience raised questions for me. He states:

“Prayer is obedience. It is founded on the adamantine rock of obedience to God. Only those who obey have the right to pray. Behind the praying must be the doing; and it is the constant doing of God’s will in daily life which gives prayer its potency” (ch. 10).

He makes other comments that give the impression that complete victory over sin is not only possible in this life but is required for anyone who wants to pray.

“He who would pray, must obey. He who would get anything out of his prayers, must be in perfect harmony with God… [A]n obedient life is a necessity to prayer, to the sort which accomplishes things. The absence of an obedient life makes prayer an empty performance, a mere misnomer… (ch. 9).

I don’t want to discount the importance of obedience and making every effort to overcome sin in our lives—Samuel did say “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22 ESV)—but I think Bounds overstates the case. Even the Apostle Paul said, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Romans 7:18), and I don’t think that anyone would say Paul was ineffective in prayer.

Certainly, outright rebellion and excusing sin are hindrances to prayer and to any kind of spiritual growth, but for those who endeavoring to pursue obedience grace abounds. A stumble into sin or a sin that has not yet come to our awareness is not reason for despair. If we always had to be “confessed up” before we could pray, we could spend all our time scouring our conscience for any possible offenses and never get around to any other prayers. (And if we did get that far, there would be pride to deal with!)

The author of Hebrews wrote, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (4:15-16). I see nothing there that indicates God is waiting for us to clean ourselves up before we can come into His presence. He knows our weaknesses, sin, and blind spots, and He loves us anyway. He wants to hear from His children at any and all times. His grace and mercy far exceed our ability to obey perfectly.

One might bring up James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” It is true that confession will always be a recurring part of our prayer times, but it does not need to be so meticulous and detailed that we have time for nothing else. However, it is also true that the believer is clothed in Jesus’ righteousness and therefore does not need to fear the condemnation due to sinners. “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness…” (Isaiah 61:10). It is because of Christ’s righteousness that we can draw near with confidence, not because of any righteousness we have in ourselves. In Him, “we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him” (Ephesians 3:13). I have difficulty singing a certain familiar hymn that downplays faith in God’s redeeming work and stresses obedience as the source of blessing.

Prayer should be something that brings joy and encouragement, not a sense of dread and obligation to do it just right. We should delight in spending time with our Heavenly Father, communing with Him, learning from Him, and receiving correction and strength from Him.

“Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.

Does It Ever End?

I’ve been realizing anew one of the challenges of growing in Christ in this life: sin. (Big surprise, right?) The thing is, it’s a constant cycle of recognizing sin, repenting, and growing in obedience. When one sin is conquered, another seems to pop up in its place. It’s a bit like peeling the layers of an onion, but the onion never seems to get any smaller. This was the analogy that C.S. Lewis drew on for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in describing Eustace’s efforts to remove his dragon skin:

“But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before. Oh, that’s all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I’ll have to get out of it too. So I scratched and tore again and this underskin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe.

“Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off?”

He learned that he had to let the Lion cut through to the deepest layers to get rid of his dragon nature. While the same is true for us, we won’t realize complete freedom from sin in this lifetime. Only the resurrection to new life will make us as we were meant to be.

It’s amazing how easily we deceive ourselves about sin. I know there have been times when I was not conscious of any current sin, but I’m pretty certain that I was just not looking very far. Some sins are subtle enough to slip in without our awareness, but others get adopted as permanent members of the family. We may subconsciously decide they aren’t worth fighting, particularly if they aren’t seen to be hurting anyone else—a little pride here, a little envy there, a bit of judgmentalism, along with a lot of failures to love one another.

Seventeenth century theologian John Owens had many good quotes on the subject:

“Do you mortify [sin]? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

“Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or gentle strokes. He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow not on his blow until it be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. And so he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pursues it not constantly to the death.”

The Apostle Paul made some similar comments: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13 ESV). “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). I’ll be the first to say that that’s easier said than done. Sin doesn’t want to die, and the enemy doesn’t want us to conquer it. Failure is sure to bring discouragement, and success only changes the field of battle, but we don’t have the option of giving up the fight.

As I’ve been endeavoring to memorize Romans 8 this year, I have needed the frequent reminders that although we’re still waiting for creation to “be set free from its bondage to corruption” (v. 21), we are on the side of ultimate victory. We have God as our Father (v. 15); we have the righteousness of Jesus (v. 4); and we have the Spirit interceding for us (v. 26). Though the battle seems unending, “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (v. 37).

The familiar song “Day by Day” from Godspell borrows a prayer ascribed to the 13th-century English bishop Saint Richard of Chichester, and that is my prayer as well:

“May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly.”

© 2015 Dawn Rutan.

Sacrificial Living

“Cheap worship is an oxymoron. It doesn’t exist” (Good to Great in God’s Eyes, by Chip Ingram). This comment, along with his discussion of Romans 12:1, got me thinking about sacrifice. Paul wrote “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (ESV). I have to admit that when I’ve read that verse in the past, I’ve unconsciously read “present your bodies, which is your spiritual worship,” and left out the part about sacrifice.

So I wondered, what have I really sacrificed? I’ve given time, but not sacrificially. I’ve given money, but it’s not a sacrifice when I have plenty. I’ve given up certain forms of entertainment, but it’s no sacrifice. Most of us will never be called to sacrifice our lives in martyrdom, but we are called to sacrifice our priorities for the love of God.

As I considered further, it occurred to me that sacrifice is a matter of perspective. If you’d told me 20 or 30 years ago how I’d be using my time, money, and energy today, I would have thought myself crazy to be giving up so much for the call of God—working for a Christian organization, giving x amount to the church, using time in study and service. But because it has been a gradual shift in my priorities, I’ve never considered it a real sacrifice. God has been kind to lead me one small step at a time. Many others have had to dive right into the deep end of faithful living. I’ve seen more significant changes in the past year, so I wonder if there is some bigger step of faith on the horizon that God is nudging me toward.

Ingram uses the analogy of a blank check, signing our lives over to God to use as He desires. He writes:

“It’s true that the sacrifices involved are very real, but it’s also true that the benefits are worth the costs. Jesus promised great rewards, both in this age and the age to come, for those who surrender everything to him (Mark 10:29-30). God never uses a blank check selfishly. He always takes care of the one who signed it.”

The sacrifices we are called to make are going to look different for each believer. For some it may mean going to an unknown land; for others it means staying home. For some it may mean giving up a job; for others it means staying in the same job. For some it may mean remaining single and celibate; for others it means raising a family. For some it may mean giving money to support a ministry need; for others it may mean giving time and energy. What is a sacrifice for me may not look like a sacrifice to someone else, and vice versa. We are in no position to judge what others should or shouldn’t do to follow God’s call.

I would challenge each of us to think through what we are doing or not doing in response to our love for God and our desire to worship Him with our whole being. Is there some piece we’re holding back out of fear, pride, or selfishness?

• Fear says “I might not have enough.” Faith says “God will provide.” (Philippians 4:19)
• Pride says “My time is too valuable to do that.” Humility says “I delight to do Your will, O Lord.” (Psalm 40:8)
• Selfishness says “I have the right to use my things as I want.” Generosity says “What do I have that didn’t come from God?” (1 Chronicles 29:14)

May God be gracious in leading us in steps of obedience, and merciful when we find it hard to follow!