Getting Ready for the Holy Days

It seems like the holiday season gets harder every year. Besides trying to shop for gifts on a budget, there are all the parties and gatherings, decorating, colder weather, travel, and attempting to remember the real reason for Christmas. And for accountants, there’s the added fun of trying to close out one year and get ready for the next. For some of us it’s just too much—too many people and too many expectations—and it makes me want to crawl into a cave and hibernate until March. I’ve often thought we ought to move the holiday observances to some other month. How about Thanksgiving in October and Christmas in February?

I wrote that first paragraph yesterday, but then couldn’t think where to go from there. Then last night I read Psalm 8:4 (ESV), “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” This was my prayer:

Lord, why do You love us when we’re so screwed up with stupidity, weakness, pride, selfishness, anger, lust, mixed motives, etc.? I don’t know why You love even one person like that, and yet You’ve loved millions over many generations—more than I can count. And you keep on loving us when we keep on being idiots! Our slight improvement over a lifetime is nothing to brag about before Your holiness.

You don’t give up and You never change Your mind, even though we are usually ungrateful and apathetic about Your love. We’re also ignorant of what it really cost You to make Your love manifest to us. We can’t begin to comprehend the heights and depths and lengths of Your love. We go blithely through Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrating a Baby in a manger without any astonishment that You would send Your Son for us, especially considering the fact that His life would end on a cross.

As we head into this holiday season, let us not be blinded by busyness and traditions, but let us be awestruck by the wonder of Your love for us that is beyond all measure. May this reality completely change our perception of the holidays this year and every year!

“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 4:9-10).

© 2015 Dawn Rutan. 

Take Heart

In my “year in Romans 8” I just made a new connection. Verse 15 (ESV) says, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry ‘Abba! Father!’” I suddenly wondered, since Paul has spent several chapters talking about flesh vs. spirit why didn’t he say “you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into sin”? Going back to 6:16-18, he wrote,

“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”

So the short answer to the question is that Christians are in fact set free from the slavery of sin. Paul reiterates this in 8:9, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.”

We also need to remember chapter 7 and Paul’s extended commentary that “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (v. 19). Even the great, miraculously converted, Apostle Paul struggled with sin. A few theologians try to say that this chapter refers to his pre-conversion struggle, but there is no evidence for this. After all, Paul wasn’t struggling when he actively participated in the persecution of Christians. He said of himself, “as to righteousness under the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:6). His wrestling with the flesh was a reality even when he understood and preached the grace of God.

So then why does Paul say “slavery to fall back into fear”? John explains that in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” If you put Paul and John together, you don’t just have half the Beatles. What you have is a reminder we all need at times:

Christians, though we are free from slavery to sin, we still wrestle with it and fall into it. The difference is that we no longer need to fear God’s punishment because we are His beloved children. His love and forgiveness are lavished upon us, and we can turn back to Him every time we fail.

I’ve started reading The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, and he had some good thoughts on the problem of temptation:

“When a man of good will is afflicted, tempted, and tormented by evil thoughts, he realizes clearly that his greatest need is God, without Whom he can do no good. Saddened by his miseries and sufferings, he laments and prays. He wearies of living longer and wishes for death that he might be dissolved and be with Christ. Then he understands fully that perfect security and complete peace cannot be found on earth.” (Twelfth Chapter)

“So long as we live in this world we cannot escape suffering and temptation... No one is so perfect or so holy but he is sometimes tempted; man cannot be altogether free from temptation... Yet temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed. The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, while those who could not resist became reprobate and fell away. There is no state so holy, no place so secret that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us—in sin we were born. When one temptation or trial passes, another comes; we shall always have something to suffer because we have lost the state of original blessedness...

“We should not despair, therefore, when we are tempted, but pray to God the more fervently that He may see fit to help us, for according to the word of Paul, He will make issue with temptation that we may be able to bear it. Let us humble our souls under the hand of God in every trial and temptation for He will save and exalt the humble in spirit...

“Some, guarded against great temptations, are frequently overcome by small ones in order that, humbled by their weakness in small trials, they may not presume on their own strength in great ones.” (Thirteenth Chapter)

We can draw encouragement even from temptation for several reasons:

1) The struggle proves we are Christians. Non-Christians don’t struggle with sin because they don’t recognize it as sin. “If it had not been for the law, I would not have know sin” (Romans 7:7).

2) The struggle shows if we are growing in Christ. Our enemy doesn’t want us to grow, and wants to cause us to despair, so he turns up the heat. “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:3-4).

3) The struggle reminds us of our weakness and humility. While we don’t know if Paul was specifically referring to sin as his thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:9, it is still true that “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”

4) The struggle reminds us to turn to God. If there were no battles, we would not need Him as our Defender and our Refuge. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

5) The struggle spreads God’s comfort to us, and through us to others. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). [I wouldn’t be writing this blog if I had not recently experienced it.]

6) The struggle reminds us of what is truly important. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

7) And one day the struggles will be over and God will be glorified. “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever” (1 Peter 5:10-11).

So take heart, brothers and sisters in Christ, in the world we will have tribulation, but He has overcome the world (John 16:33).

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:16-17).


© 2015 Dawn Rutan.

True to God

Since Sunday’s sermon on hypocrisy from Mark 7:1-13 I’ve been thinking about some of the evidence of hypocrisy in our world. This week it’s Starbucks cups, glaciers in the malls, and “Merry Christmas” being debated by many who honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. I’m not going to get into that discussion, because I think there are more important issues closer to home, like within our own hearts. It’s so easy to go through the motions and act like a Christian when Christ is the furthest thing from our minds. On an average Sunday, I wonder how many church-goers tune out in the middle of the announcements and don’t tune back in until the benediction? I’m sure we all have occasional mental lapses, though for some that is a weekly occurrence.

It’s also easy to give others the wrong impression by what we say and do. We arrive at church dressed decently and smiling even though we’ve just been fighting in the car, lost a job, or got drunk last night. We may know all the Sunday school answers and can quote chapter and verse but struggle to find a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

We are all careful to edit what we say to fit the proper social expectations of the church, small group, friendship, or work environment. Sometimes that’s okay because some things just don’t need to be shared outside a select few relationships. James said “confess your sins to one another,” not to the whole church. Jesus’ guidelines for confrontation in Matthew 18:15-17 don’t go immediately to the whole church either. However, we do need to give careful thought to whether we are being hypocritical by misleading others either intentionally or unintentionally. Gossip usually arises because someone is found to be hiding something that is inconsistent with their public character.

Discerning what to say in what contexts makes for a hard path to follow. I can think of plenty of things that I would not want revealed to the vast majority of people. And as a result, I know I probably give false impressions by the things I choose not to say. I think where the distinction of true hypocrisy comes in is whether we’re trying to put on an act for God. For myself, I am very much aware that God knows my every thought and word, and He understands my conflicting motivations and desires far better than I do. I know that nothing is hidden from His sight. I want to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, but I know that I often fail in many ways.

While there are times when I wish I could be more transparent in certain areas, I know that would not be wise at this point. One day all things will be made known, and we’ll all be surprised at what we learn. Thankfully, God’s mercy and grace are abundant for those who trust in Him. As David told Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28:9 (ESV), “Know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.”

The true hypocrites are those who think they can deceive God with their words and deeds while their hearts are focused on self rather than God. They may be deceiving others, and they definitely are deceiving themselves if they think that God can be influenced by outward actions without the heart motivation.

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:1-3).

© 2015 Dawn Rutan.

Inside Out and Upside Down

I came across the following quote from Dennis Jernigan, an author and songwriter I respect:

“Temptation does not equal identity. Feelings do not equal identity. Jesus was tempted in every manner - EVERY MANNER - just as we are, yet without sinning! That tells me temptation does not define me. Temptation compels me toward Jesus! It has been through seeking Jesus and finding out Who He says He is that I have discovered who He says I am. In other words, I simply put off the lies of who I thought I was and put on the truth of who Father God says I am. …In the process, I changed the way I thought. As my thoughts changed, so did my attitude. As my attitude changed, so did the way I feel. As my feelings and attitudes and thoughts changed, so did my behavior! Why? Because I act according to who I think I am! God changed my identity, making me a new creation!”

I’ve found that he echoes some of the same thoughts the Apostle Paul shared in Colossians:

“These [outward rules] 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. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (2:23-3:2 ESV).

Too often we approach the Christian life as if it is all about sin management. We make rules to try to protect ourselves from temptation, but we never get to the level of heart change. While it’s great to have accountability and to avoid places and things that might lead to temptation, that can only go so far in managing “the indulgence of the flesh.”

Although we’re told that God will “provide the way of escape” from temptation, that is not His primary method of enabling us to change. God works from the inside out. He starts by making us new creations, and as we come to believe what He has said is true, then our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors begin to change to align with that truth. Christianity isn’t about behavior modification, but heart transformation. As God said through Ezekiel, “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (36:26).

Theologian Dallas Willard contends that managing sin is only one small part of the work of God:

“History has brought us to the point where the Christian message is thought to be essentially concerned only with how we deal with sin: with wrongdoing or wrong-being and its effects. Life, our actual existence, is not included in what is now presented as the heart of the Christian message, or it is included only marginally” (The Divine Conspiracy, 41).

He goes on to say:

“The issue… is whether we are alive to God or dead to him. Do we walk in an interactive relationship with him that constitutes a new kind of life, life ‘from above’? As the apostle John says in his first letter, ‘God has given undying life to us, and that life is in his Son, Those who have the Son have life’ (1 John 5:11-12).

“What must be emphasized in all of this is the difference between trusting Christ, the real person Jesus, with all that that naturally involves, versus trusting some arrangement for sin-remission set up through him—trusting only his role as guilt remover. To trust the real person Jesus is to have confidence in him in every dimension of our real life, to believe that he is right about and adequate to everything” (48-49).

Although sin is a hindrance to our relationship with God and is often the thing we are most conscious of, that may not be our greatest need as we learn to walk in our new identity in Christ. He has already dealt with sin and its consequences on the cross for us. Now we are being conformed to His image day by day. That will result in growing freedom from sin and temptation, but that’s not the main emphasis. That should be encouraging news. Our struggle is not with combating sin and the flesh so much as it is recognizing Christ’s work for us and in us. It’s not about the negatives, but the positives. It’s not just turning from sin, but it is pursuing God and taking hold of every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus.

“Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).

© 2015 Dawn Rutan. 

Enough

Thinking about Sunday’s sermon on Jesus as the Bread of Life and how often we think that He is not enough…

When I’m alone,

Feeling forgotten,

Wondering what matters,

Your love is enough.

You say, “Child, I’m here,”

You draw me so near,

I’m not alone,

Your love is enough.

When I’m tempted,

Falling in sin,

Unable to look up,

Your blood is enough.

You cleanse every stain,

You forgive me again,

Never turning away,

Your blood is enough.

When I forget,

Not sure who I am,

Wandering, confused,

You are enough.

You call me by name,

Erase all the shame,

Bring me back home where

You are enough.

I don’t want to turn away,

Or ever forget,

Your grace is sufficient,

You are enough.

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69 ESV).

© 2015 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.

Rest Area

Sunday’s sermon from Mark 6:30-44 on Jesus as our caring Shepherd reinforced some things I’ve read lately in taking care of ourselves. One point from the sermon was that Jesus restores His sheep. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus invites us to come to Him for rest. The difficulty is that everyone has conflicting expectations placed on them by family, friends, coworkers, church members, and themselves. And as I mentioned recently, we tend to judge ourselves and others by our level of productivity. When it comes to periods of change or stress, we have to know what our priorities are so we can use our time wisely. In You’re Going to Be Okay, Holley Gerth suggests three questions we need to ask:

1) What does God want me to do?
2) What’s the best use of my emotions and energy?
3) What do I need most right now?

At times it seems like the church excels at adding to our stress. You can’t stop teaching Sunday school because you’ve always done it. You can’t get off the church board because no one else will fill that position. You have to help with the church dinner, nursery, bulletins, etc. There is a perception in the church, and even among pastors, that everything related to the church takes priority over personal time, family, career, and anything else we may want to do. Sometimes it’s hard to say no to church activities because “You’re serving God,” but we often don’t differentiate between the many types of activities churches promote. It’s ironic that the building that contains a sanctuary may be the last place we’d come for rest.

But Jesus (and the pastor!) said it’s okay to rest when you need to rest. If we don’t set our own limits, no one else is going to do it for us. Gerth puts it this way:

“It’s like we have internal emotional and energy bank accounts. We’ve budgeted well and can cover all our expenses. Then someone runs the family car into a pole, and suddenly we need to buy a new vehicle. So what do we do? For the next few months, we change our spending. That’s also what we do when we face change. We temporarily alter how we spend our emotions and energy. This can be difficult because often the many things we do are part of our self-worth. That means when we slow down or switch things up, we feel like a failure. But the opposite is true. Sustainable life success is only possible when we can adjust in times of change to avoid going into life overdraft” (159-160).

Communicating that change can be a challenge. Little children and teens aren’t the only ones who don’t like the words “No” or “Later.” If we don’t know what our priorities are, we can’t say no to anything, and we will end up too burnt out to say yes to the things that really matter. If we let our identity be defined by what we do, we can’t stop doing anything. My identity is not teacher, leader, board member, or treasurer. My identity is beloved daughter of the King and servant of God. There is only one Lord, and only He has the authority to tell me what I should or should not do in His service. His approval is all that matters. Guilt has no place in God’s agenda for me. Even if I accomplish nothing today, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 ESV). Even if I never help with another church function, my future is secure.

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24).

© 2015 Dawn Rutan.