Grace Breaks

There is a lot of fear in our society ranging from the coronavirus to the uncertainty of our future specifically in government and politics. Social media has enabled fear-driven folks to fight battles they will never win and alienate one another into camps. It’s understandable that those who do not believe In Jesus Christ as God would be driven in such a way, but I am baffled at the rest of us who carry the name of Christ as our identity. Why are we fighting the wrong battles and why are we fighting those battles with the wrong creatures? Ephesians 6 is quite clear that the battle is for our soul, not flesh and blood. It is against the unseen evil powers of Satan and the rulers and principalities he influences. Yet, we who claim Christianity believe in bludgeoning unbelievers and believers alike with swords of morality. We use scripture, key word “use”, to swing wildly at anyone who opposes not only our claim of righteousness but even our political viewpoint. We miss out on the opportunity for scripture to be used by God as a surgeon’s scalpel (to quote Spurgeon), and instead attempt to wield it as a weapon to protect our own sense of comfort and security. When I read John’s gospel, I’m taken aback at the multitudes that follow Jesus around, but never truly follow him. They want miracles, they want bread, but they don’t want the Way, the Truth, or the Life which is Christ. If you have a hard time believing what he said about the “narrow way” to God, you only need to see it crystalized in the large crowds who gathered around Jesus in his day and the handful of people who actually sought to know him and be known by him. This seems to be where we are today as well. I hear people lament the fact that the latest generations have walked away from the church and believe it is the worst thing, but what if it is the best? What if generations are walking away from a prostitute masquerading as the church? I hear Christians lament the loss of American freedoms and believe this is the worst thing that can happen. But what if it is the best thing for the church? What if American freedom is the stumbling block to people actually believing in Christ? I’m not saying that such freedom isn’t a blessing from God. I believe all good things come from him, but I also believe in a stewardship that goes far beyond the money you tithe. God blessed this nation with freedom, but to what end? Is it really the pursuit of happiness as we know it? God doesn’t give us good gifts so that we can live happy lives to the fullest here on earth. He gifts us so that we will steward (manage) it for his Glory. But many Christians would have you believe that these freedoms are for us and our own personal comfort and security. Of course, we know that’s not true as we see the explosion of the church in China and Iran where following Christ actually gets you killed or imprisoned. Jesus challenged us not to fear what or who can kill the body…ie…covid, socialism, facism or whatever evil “ism” you can think of. He warned us to fear the one who can kill the soul.
Another thing I’m taken aback with Jesus in the gospels is how many times he looks right into the hearts of those he’s speaking to. We know in his Sermon on the Mount that the heart is where sin resides and operates before it ever becomes an outward action. But just look at how he often he reads the heart of people. The woman at the well, the Pharisees, and his own disciples are exposed time and time again. Also, the great multitudes of “followers” hearts are exposed as those who want only what blessings can be given them. Today, thanks to social media, we see the hearts of believers exposed in their posts, comments, and likes. Maybe we should fight a different battle. The one for our own souls. Don’t believe the heresy that told you if you merely repeated a prayer that your soul would escape damnation. What I mean by that is, don’t look back to that prayer as evidence of the safety of your soul, rather look to the fruit that is being produced in your soul today. Better yet, ask Godly brothers and sisters around you to identify such fruit and do the same for them. Most importantly, believe that the war has already been won and Jesus has defeated death and the grave and by the Holy Spirit, fights the battle within us until we draw our last breath. Don’t fight one another over temporal things like politics, stand alongside those as they fight their own personal battles and be prepared to lose it all to gain your own soul.

In a stunning and unprecedented move this week, a local Ft Worth Texas Baptist church sent their church members reminders to set their clocks “back” one hour for time change. Pastor J.W. Colvin, when interviewed about the church wide email, said, “We are taking a huge leap of faith in our people. Historically, we’ve only sent reminders to set clocks ‘forward’ in the spring time to hedge against church members showing up late or God forbid not at all due to sleeping too late. It’s our normal tendency to refrain from the fall reminder because we absolutely love it when, by God’s supreme sovereignty and our ingenuity, he uses the extra hour of sleep to fool people into coming to church an hour before start time. Sure, they’re mad as heck-fire, but at least we know we’ll have a decent crowd for my sermon. Now that our congregation has exhibited increased spiritual maturity, we felt the fall back one hour reminder is a bit of a reward for them in this life as well as the next.“

Recently, I shared a song I recorded to Facebook for my wife as we celebrated our 28^th wedding anniversary. Along the way, I was humbled by comments from viewers who remarked about how we demonstrated our love for one another and kudos for being married so long. I say humbled because I don’t really feel I have done anything extraordinary. I believe my wife would say the same thing (although I have been the beneficiary of many her extraordinary acts of love).

Just a vessel, and a broken one at that.

For every time a person complimented me for singing a song for my wife, I could point to dozens of requests by my wife to record many songs over the years. Whether due to laziness or an exaggerated sense of perfectionism, I didn’t fulfill my promise to her to record many songs. In reality, a successful marriage can hardly be defined by the utter volume of broken or unfulfilled promises on my part… unless…..unless there is a greater husband than me…unless there is a greater promise-keeper than me….unless there is a greater promise than all of those wrapped up in the marriage vows.

When asked what the secret of a long marriage is, you often hear the stock answer “it’s not us, it’s by the grace of God” or “it’s because of our faith”. Those are correct responses, but they don’t mean very much until you know how utterly weak we are as vessels. I will not speak for Tina, but as for myself I confess that I’m extremely lacking as a husband. I’m self-absorbed, insecure, prone to anger and lust, and as the classic hymn would say, prone to wander.

In light of the modern day celebrity examples of males who use and abuse women, I can’t point fingers. Though I haven’t egregiously acted out in some of the ways that many of these men have, I confess that my heart is every bit as bent toward these behaviors apart from God’s grace. So when we say, “but for the grace of God”, it must be prefaced with the acceptance that we are creatures who are inherently doomed to fail without it.

Glory unfolded

God created the institution of marriage to bring glory (or put on display) the redemptive characteristics of his covenant between Himself and his people. It is a covenant that only He has fulfilled as his people repeatedly fail to live up to their requirements much like spouses fail at living up to vows they made to each other. But God is the perfect spouse. He is a good God, so he calls on spouses to show His goodness to each other. He is a forgiving God, so he calls on spouses to forgive each other. He is a merciful God, so he calls on spouses to show mercy to each other. He is a longsuffering God, so he calls on spouses to suffer one another until death parts us. He is a loving God, so he calls on spouses to love each other. He loved us by humbly serving us, so he calls us as spouses to serve one another. He loved us by dying for us, so he calls us to die to ourselves and our selfish pursuits.

So, while the mountains, oceans, stars, and galaxies effectively speak of his majestic power, God was not satisfied to be seen as mere impersonal abstract force. We are all doomed to annihilation if God isn’t a person. However, if God is indeed the Person behind all of creation, we will not survive his righteous wrath and thrive in His perfect holiness apart from an intimate knowledge of the person of God. How is that even possible? If he is perfect as we are imperfect, how could we ever get close enough in order to truly know Him? It was made possible because at a particular time in history, He condescended to us, that is, the Son of God who is the perfect embodiment of all these personal characteristics came to us to fulfill the Father’s righteous demands in both his life on earth and death on a cross. He resurrected bodily to complete the transaction of forever clothing us in his righteousness cleansing us of our sin with its guilt and shame. Finally, he sustains his promise by His Spirit whose work is to point our gaze to Christ and upon his finished work all the while empowering us to properly bear his image before a world that is willfully blinded to His beauty. Marriage is one such vehicle where by His power we bear his image to one another and to the world which enables us to rightfully say, “But for His grace.”