Posted in Different Scriptures

Life-Giving Holiness: Romans 8:12-17

Posted on by Wick

It’s no surprise the concept of “Holiness” has been misused and misunderstood. In many places, it has referred to what we turn away from or don’t do. But turning away from _____ doesn’t give us life. What gives life is who we turn to. In the very first sentence of Romans 8:12-17, we find a powerful truth about what has happened to us as we turn to receive what God has done in Jesus by the Holy Spirit. It’s not just about being called “family”. Paul believed being set apart in this new identity also meant we are transformed and no longer live according to the flesh. We declare holiness includes deliverance from the destructive power of sin. It may be easy to see how God delivers us from the impact of others’ sin. We can be healed from the hurt they caused us, etc. God enables us to forgive and even be reconciled where we never thought possible, and it’s miraculous. But what about being delivered from the destructive power of sin in our own hearts?

It’s probably important to define “sin” at this point, before moving forward. In his sermon on the “First-Fruits of the Spirit”, John Wesley offers 5 categories of what we mean by “sin”:
1. Past Sin (guilt)
2. Present Sin (outward sin)
3. Inward Sin (corruption of nature)
4. Infirmity (involuntary failings by ignorance, omission, etc.)
5. Sins of Surprise (impulsive/reactive responses)

As a church with deep roots in the Holiness movement, we believe in God’s desire to set us free from sin as described in 1-2, and possibly even 3 & 5, completely. This is an important part of our testimony to the world. Paul declares to us the truth of what God offers in Romans 8. In verse 11, Paul had just finished telling them, “If the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is in you, He will make you alive by dwelling in you.” In contrast to this literal living New Creation, we find two other extremes:

  1. Sin Will Always Be There. There are some followers of Jesus, because we’ve never examined the specifics before, who believe sin must and will always be a part of our lives. Some Bible verses from the Old Testament are discouraging, talking about how evil our hearts are. Yet the Bible calls us to “be holy” over and over again, so how does this group make sense of it all?

First, it’s important to remember “holy” means “set apart”. In this case, “set apart for the purposes of God.” Keith Drury talks about different approaches to Holiness in his book “Holiness for Ordinary People”. Of this first group, he writes, “When the Father looks our way, Christ is between so that the almighty can’t see our sinfulness; he sees only the holiness of Christ. Christ is holy, not me. Seeking holiness in daily life is futile and might even lead to more sinfulness, like pride and boasting in my own holiness, instead of focusing on the holiness of Christ. All I can do is confess my constant sinfulness and trust the holiness of Christ.” Whew. Sounds like a tough and pessimistic view of what God offers us.

On the other end of the extreme are those who do exactly what this group wants to avoid. I’ll confess this next group is one that shaped some of my earliest years in theology. Aspects of it clung to me even for years in ministry, blinding me to my own weaknesses.

2. Sin is Fully Eradicated. This is a group that tries hard to put a “date on the calendar” for when entire sanctification happened, and believes it involves all 5 areas of sin we talked about. After that date, those who have achieved or claimed such a moment must continue to deny or dismiss any signs of any form of sin in their life. This encourages hypocrisy, prevents us from being fully known by others, and eventually even ourselves. On this path, we can be rotting away on the inside without even allowing ourselves to become aware of it, without God’s intervention.

Drury writes, “The whole business calcifies into legalism when a people come to believe these outward test issues are the price and proof of the inward work. This is the way outward signs can gradually replace the real work of the Holy Spirit in legalism. When a group reaches this final step, people begin to trust the rules for their holiness instead of trusting Christ.”

Hopefully you’ve concluded that if we don’t pretend God only sees Jesus, and we don’t pretend sin is no longer a concern, there’s got to be a third “middle” way.

3. Sin is Continually Cleansed. Our vocabulary isn’t always helpful when it comes to salvation. We ask each other, “When were you saved?” or “Have you been saved yet?” Even if we ask “Have you become a Christian?” or “Have you been baptized?”, they are helpful but fall short. When two people get married, they don’t celebrate their wedding day and then assume the rest of their lives will be automatically a “married life” on autopilot. There will never be a day when we don’t need to depend on both the initial saving work of God’s grace in Jesus and also the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as those who live in a healing relationship with God.

Regarding this way, Drury writes, “This is continual cleansing. It’s being connected to Christ in a daily, obedient walk of submission and cleansing. Such a life commences with a once-and-for-all yielding to His will. But it continues as we keep connected to Jesus Christ and walk in daily submission to his leading…The sanctified life is a practical daily life of love and obedience, lived by continual consecration and faith and continually receiving Christ’s ongoing filling and cleansing.”

This is why we pursue ongoing relationships of vulnerability with both God and one another (see Discipleship Bands). We aren’t called to become Holy as isolated individuals. John Wesley wrote: ““Holy Solitaries” is a phrase no more consistent with the gospel than Holy Adulterers. The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness. Faith working by love, is the length and breadth and depth and height of Christian perfection.”

We believe God has given us one another in family as a potential “means of grace” by which we can experience knowing fully and being known fully. We join the work of Love and forgiveness by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, calling forward New Creation life in one another, and speaking challenging words of Truth when needed as well. Not as members of an organization, but as members of a family. This is a path of Holiness so deeply rooted in love (God IS Love), it naturally bears (gives) genuine life as a fruit of responding to this invitation. Both eternal life with God one day, but also a transformed and empowered depth of flourishing life even now.

But Paul doesn’t leave them thinking about sin management. He points to this New Creation reality as they’ve become family again in verse 14 when he says, “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God,” and verse 16 “it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

Paul uses two distinctly different words here, making sure we understand this new reality. Being led by the Spirit in verse 14, Paul calls these “huioi” (hwee-oy), which refers to children with the full right of legally representing and acting on behalf of their family/household. Paul specifically talks about our “Spirit of adoption” into this status. But he also doesn’t want us to think it’s all about becoming legal representatives of God’s family. The Spirit bearing witness with our spirit, Paul refers to us here as “tekna”, which conveys more of a dependency and relationship of tender care. I believe he purposefully weaves in both of these words, because as New Creations we have become both. We are brought together as a family of God by the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus Christ. We are empowered and authorized to live according to this New Family reality, as those who are also deeply loved and cared for as His children.

Will we spend some time this week, drawing near to our Father’s Love? Here, there is life (of the age to come)…

Posted in Different Moments, Different Scriptures, Uncategorized

swimming in it.

Posted on by Wick

Recently, we were able to take one of our daughters to the zoo. Never mind the tears threatening to well up when I remember all the trips to zoos when they were little, filled with awe and wonder. I remember the gasps, the giggles, and the excitement of getting an animal to look your way or respond to any noise you make. I confess, I’m still that kid. The glances I share with my wife and daughters at the zoo tell me they’ve still got that kid within them as well.

It’s easy to experience the wonder and grace of nature when watching an animal swim deep underwater. Gazing through thick glass that somehow holds back an entire environment from crashing through, it’s inspiring to watch their eyes close in what feels like delight as their body does what it was made so naturally to do. Smooth bodies sailing through cosmic flows of H20 with little resistance to hinder, as if one flipper can send them soaring to distant oceans (were it not for the size of their tank).

In such a moment, it strikes me as an apropos reminder of our local church (yours too – really any local church where the Spirit of Jesus is present) in our best moments. Here is an environment where a New Creation (see 2 Cor. 5:17) can swim undaunted through waters of loving and being loved, forgiving as a knee-jerk reaction, seeing all that happens in the context of His glory. We gather each week, soaring through baptism waters of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s inspiring to look around, seeing one another do what we (as New Creations) were re-made so supernaturally to do. Worshiping and loving with little resistance to hinder, as if one raised hand or “Amen” can send us soaring to new experiences of the Kingdom of Jesus (or at least to meet Him at the altar).

Have you seen that same seal as it unceremoniously flops out of the water onto dry land? It scoots as best it can across the hard ground, obviously struggling to accomplish what it needs until it can, in sweet relief, flop back into the water – once again transformed into the graceful creature we love to observe.

Some of us feel the same way as we leave the sanctuary each Sunday around noon (hopefully in time for _______). The ease of movement in His Spirit falls quickly away, and we find ourselves scooting uncomfortably across the pavement, with our journey seeming about as natural as….well, a seal out of water. Forgiveness scrapes our hides. Hurry dries our eyes. Anxiety chafes our once baptism-moist skin cells, and we bark at one another until we can drop off the edge and into the waters once more.

Some of us can’t make it to next Sunday, so we’ll join on Wednesdays. Some of us can’t even make it until then, so we have been thankful to discover our ability to swim through pools of personal times in prayer and devotion.

But what if?

What if becoming a follower of Jesus, and receiving new life by His Holy Spirit, was about discovering God’s Kingdom now flooding all of time and space? What if we were those who could love unhindered by what previously held us back? What if one moment of prayer could supernaturally propel us into New Creation experiences of His presence and peace? What if we could rest in His Holiness, safe and securely attached in our identity as His beloved, rather than attempting to attain/prove/or defend success by our own efforts? What if we joined on Sundays, Wednesdays, and even in our personal moments – not desperately parched – but gratefully aware of His continuously available presence and love?

I’m guessing we’d want to close our eyes and smile a bit. Or open them wider in wonder. (Thankfully, I’m guessing we’d have the little clear eye-flappy thing to protect our eyes so they could stay open.)

Posted in Different Scriptures

Resurrection Life (from John 20:1-18)

Posted on by Wick
  1. Resurrection life comes even while it is still dark.  Mary had waited to come and prepare the body of Jesus fully for burial because Jewish law forbade doing such work on the sabbath.  We see that in John 19:42. Whether she didn’t know about the preparation done to Jesus’ body already, or knew it was incomplete, we know both Mark and Luke state Mary and possibly others came to anoint the body for burial.  

Even though she waited for the Sabbath to pass, she came while it was still dark outside.  We know it was not always safe for people to travel in the dark, especially for women in that era.  She was probably exhausted from her tears as well. Have you ever spent hours – crying with others?  Can you imagine how tired she may have been from such mourning?  Yet even here is where our story of resurrection life begins.

Early Christians believed the day of resurrection was so incredibly important and transformational that it was an “8th Day” of creation.  The beginning of a New Creation account.  Because of that, we’re going to match each truth about Resurrection with a scripture from creation itself.  How did the original account of creation begin?  Genesis 1:2-3 includes “..darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.  Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” 

  • Where is the darkness in your life in this season?  Are you overwhelmed by the shadows of pain?  Is there a source of suffering?  It may be personal, or it may be communal.  We live in a community that has experienced suffering – whether in gun violence, or young people growing up in broken homes, or marriages where worldly ways and pursuits of “happiness” have pushed out serving one another in mutual submission.
  • Mary didn’t know what to expect in the darkness and discovered light beginning to shine.  We know the character of our resurrected Savior now.  We understand the redemptive story He’s invited us to join.  Will you look for Him in the darkness, trusting it’s His desire to bring New Life there this year? What does it look like for you to trust God’s desires there?

So here in John’s account, Mary runs to tell Simon Peter and (the Beloved Disciple) that the tomb was empty.  You can hear her voice urgently accusing Rome of doing something to the body, because resurrection was not on their immediate radar.  In response, Peter and (probably John) run to the tomb to learn more.

  1. Resurrection life inspires us to do something unexpected.  As Peter and the other disciple arrived at the tomb, the other disciple remained outside.  By this point in the story, we’ve heard about Peter before. He’s impulsive. He often does something without thinking.  He’s the one who asked Jesus to invite him to walk on water.  He’s the one who sliced the ear off the guard when they came to arrest Jesus. Unfortunately, he’s also the one who denied Jesus 3 times.  But here, we see his impulsivity leveraged for the purposes of the Kingdom.  How excited are you to discover more about what Jesus is up to?  What would happen if we gathered for worship or opened our Bibles or entered into longer times of prayer with this same enthusiasm to discover more about the heart and activity of Jesus?

But for today’s purposes, I want to focus on this concept of doing something unexpected.  John arrives first, which is often a tool of rhetoric to elevate one person without denigrating another.  (Josephus outswims others in his writing.)  But he doesn’t enter the tomb.  Maybe out of respect for the dead?  What if it’s a trap set by Rome? What if____?  Anything could have prevented him in those moments.    But Peter wants to know what has happened with Jesus.  We’ve seen that his entire life – this curiosity that steps forward even without all the answers, if it means joining Jesus.

I’m not just talking about being spontaneous in general. I mean, what does the world expect from us right now?  The world we’re in each day expects us to gripe about workdays.  Our media expects us to consume our feeds endlessly, getting angry and anxious, and responding as those who need to keep scrolling until we find enough dopamine to counteract the lack of control we may feel.  The world expects us to seek profit, to pursue power, to build up influence, and to conquer those in our way of doing each of these.  So in that world, what does it look like to do the unexpected?   

Let’s look at Genesis again – in Genesis 2:7, “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”  What makes humanity a living being?  Receiving the breath of life God gives. This is the literal meaning of “inspire”: to breathe into.  We do not become what God desires of us by achieving.  We become what God desires of us by receiving.

When Jesus and His resurrection life have entered, we have all we need, not just for this life, but for eternity.  That doesn’t mean we sit on the bench, sidelined.  But it does set us free to join Jesus and trust Him with all we bring to the table.  We don’t seek profit as a foundation; we seek Jesus and living out the ways that are eternally profitable.  We don’t pursue power; we pursue the presence of His Spirit and living in ways that trust in His infinite power.  We don’t build up influence itself by selling out, but we are willing to steward our gifts and leverage who we are in ways that might be used by God. Whether He wants to influence the world through us, or just the quiet neighbor next door.  Either way, we are content, trusting His ability to be Lord over all things.

So they discover the graveclothes, as if the body just “disappeared”.  Some have asked – if the resurrected Jesus (physical) can somehow pass through graveclothes and later even walls and closed doors – why roll the stone away?  Hopefully, it’s clear – he didn’t need the stone rolled away for Himself.  We needed it rolled away to discover He has risen.  Jesus has removed obstacles for you that you may not even realize, in order for you to hear the words of His Love and Lordship for your life this morning.  Will you discover more?

So the other disciple (John) entered and believed.  Not that Jesus had gone to heaven, but that Jesus was alive again.  The disciples returned to their homes, but not Mary.  She stood weeping.  What would happen next?  What does this mean for their hopes?  The other disciples seem to have abandoned her in her time of grief, which is a sermon for another time.  But John is telling his story in a way that highlights something beautiful that happens next…

  1. Resurrection life sends us from isolation to relation. For whatever reason, Mary was left alone after the disciples returned home in John’s account.  She bends over to look once again into the tomb, only this time there are two angels.  They ask her why she’s weeping, and she responds.  It’s almost comical the way she sees two angels in white, talks to them as if it’s no big deal, and turns away.  In the context of the resurrection, John tells us, even other supernatural occurrences are really no big deal.  As Mary turns away from the angels, she sees Jesus but assumes He’s the gardener.  Maybe He prevents her from recognizing Him, maybe her tears have blurred her vision, or maybe she just doesn’t look up into His eyes.  Jesus asks her the same question as the angels – “Why are you weeping?”  She’s tired of trying to figure things out on her own at this point.  You can hear her sigh heavily… “Sir, if you’ve taken him, tell me where and I’ll bring him back”.  Seeing her standing there, with a tear-stained face and hearing her tired sigh of desperation, we can hear the love and excitement of Jesus for her to realize who He is.  “Mary!”  She turned to Him and declared, “Rabbi!”  I’m sure she hugged Him tightly, and He actually says to her, “Don’t cling to me…”  He had a lot to do before He went to be with the Father fully.

But Jesus sends the woman, Mary, as the first ever apostle (sent one) to share the good news of our resurrected Savior.  The resurrection life of Jesus will always nudge us out of our isolation and into redemptive relationships that further the purposes of His Kingdom.  

Not only does He send her, but He reveals something powerful about the change that has happened.  Up until now in John, Jesus has often said “My Father” or “the Father”. Here is says “Go and say to my brothers and sisters – I am going up to my father and your father, to my God and your God.”  In one quick instruction, Mary becomes the first one to be healed relationally to God and offered a healing relationship to humanity as well.  

Where in our world do we see the need for relational healing?  Of course, there are nations in need of peace.  We pray for peace to arrive in all areas of conflict.  But there are also workplaces with misunderstandings.  There are friendships with divisive differences. There are families with wounds and brokenness.  There are marriages with heels digging in with demands, instead of mutual submission that reflects the Love of Christ for His church.
In Genesis 2:18, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”  We were created for relationships that invite us to be fully known and fully loved.  Not just in marriage, either, as we remember Jesus never married and yet lived a full life, enjoying intimacy with God and intimacy with others.  So what does intimacy look like in relationships? That’s a great question to seek the answer to with your local body of believers! (See www.discipleshipbands.com for more!)

How will we respond to the invitation of His resurrection life today?