The Fear Factor, part 3.

This is the last post on what I've called "The Fear Factor" in my church here. It's basically a repeated emphasis in church teaching and practice: an abundance of veiled or open threats, reminders of potential punishment and urging to live in fear of God; in fear of His wrath, judgement, and punishment. Somehow this is supposed to be the normal motivation for living in fellowship with God and man.

"Fear of hell is a good motivation to trust in Christ. However, once we trust in Him, we know that we will never perish (Jn 3:16), and that we never need fear hell again. To continue to fear hell is to doubt that Jesus has forgiven us.
(There are many) powerful reasons to obey God. Assurance of salvation doesn't promote sin. An earthly parent can motivate his or her children to obey without threatening them with hell. So can our Heavenly Father." (Bob Wilkin)

One of the things that amplifies and enables the Fear Factor in this church is a lack of actually studying the Bible. There is a lot of of repeating verses and passages that can be made to sound threatening - without trying to discover what is actually being taught in the passage quoted. This leads to misquoted verses like “only the pure in heart shall see God” (Mat.5:8) and "if we don't judge ourselves, God will judge us with this world!" (1Cor.11:31-32) being preached as passages on how to have assurance that you will be in heaven, and not end up in hell.

As I can, and to the extent that I can, without causing controversy, I try to teach on important distinctions made in the New Testament that are essential for healthy doctrine and practice. Last Sunday I taught a little about the difference between the Judgement Seat of Christ and the Great White Throne judgement. It might have seemed rather advanced teaching to some of our church members, but I was tired of hearing references where the two events were lumped into one horrifying event where our good works as children of God will be what determine whether we end up in heaven or hell.

As a part of that message, I read from I Jn.4, “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement: because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” (1Jn. 4:17-18)

However, during the wrap-it-all-up final message, one of the deacons summarized my message in just a few words, giving it a completely opposite twist. “Brother Will reminded us of the importance of a life of good works and keeping our hearts pure before God as what is needed to avoid judgement. Like the apostle John says: ‘If our own hearts judge us, then God does all the more!’” And so the Fear Factor was firmly re-established in the hearts and minds of those present, lest they go away confident that they are a beloved child of God, whether or not they live a perfect life.

If I adore You out of fear of Hell, burn me in Hell!
If I adore you out of desire for Paradise,
Lock me out of Paradise.
But if I adore you for Yourself alone,
Do not deny to me Your eternal beauty.
(Rabia-I-Basra)

I don’t have the answer to the dilemma I find myself in, as I minister to people while disagreeing profoundly with so much of what they cling to. Sometimes I want to stand up and shout that our problem isn’t uncovering some tiny mistake made 5 years ago that God is still punishing the church for - the true problem, the astoundingly Large problem, the Elephant In The Room that no one acknowledges - is that we are attempting to justify ourselves before God on the grounds of our works! Christ did everything needed - and HE took our punishment in full, on the cross... “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God ...who made (Christ) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ...and when (Christ) had offered for all time this one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, for by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy!” (1Pet.3:18, 2Cor.5:21,Heb.10:12-14)

However, I’m not usually given to shouting. It generally doesn’t do much good. I do wonder how much effect we are having here at this point, and how much longer I personally can continue to endorse a system of Churchianity that I am finding I object to more and more.

Let me not love Thee
From fear of wrath
Let me not see Thee
From hope for gain
Let me look on Thee
For the beauty of Thy face,
Beauty I cannot see
With my eye
Beauty I cannot know
With my mind
Beauty I can feel
Within my heart,
Where Thou hast built
Thy marble temple
Where Thou hast lain
Red-yellow flowers
Where Thou hast hid
The treasure of Thyself.
(Song of Rabia-I-Basra)

By the grace of God we are where we are, at least for now, and my hope and prayer is that we may impact this church through friendships and conversations, through believers here observing our life and family. I pray that at least the possibility of a relationship with God based on Grace and Love might begin to cross their minds. I hope and pray that God will work in their hearts - that our emphasis of Christ alone as the Source of salvation, life, hope and strength may cause them to reflect upon the question of where their own hope truly lies.

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death ...what, then, shall we say in response to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

(Rom.8:1-2,31)

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” 1Jn. 4:18

The Fear Factor

(This is meant to be a continuation of my thoughts and observations on Grace, or the lack thereof, in the local church that we are currently ministering in, with, and to.)




The Christmas season is a bit drawn out for us here, and in general, the holiday season is seen as continuing through Jan. 14^th. Therefore we get to talk about Christmas for longer than you might. I like that.

Christmas is usually a time of warm and reassuring messages from churches across the land reminding us of how Eternal God became mortal man out of love for His creation and the desire to finally restore the fellowship which had been lost in Eden. That is the emphasis here in our little church as well, at least to a large extent. However, I have been wryly amused and quite disenchanted to hear The Fear Factor creeping into messages at church even during the holiday season.

"The Fear Factor" is what I’ve called the emphasis that is so thoroughly insinuated into the teaching and practice of the church here. That is, there are an abundance of veiled or open threats, reminders of potential punishment and urging to live in fear of God. This is presented as THE normal motivation for living in fellowship with God and leading a godly life. This is so prevalent that I often am unsettled, disquieted and just frustrated for hours after church meetings.

For example, an excerpt from an average Sunday morning service: “The Law of Moses didn’t bring anything to perfection, but then Jesus was born and now we can fulfill the Law with His help. ...We will only be blessed by God if we are constantly abiding in His commandments, like Israel when they were first given the Law. We must fulfill His Law worthily so as to be able to enter those heavenly dwellings He has prepared for us.”

Sound a bit confused? It is. This church is. What the Apostle Paul called “the Ministry of Condemnation that brings Death” is held up as the standard to strive for, the fulfilling of which brings blessings and at least some hope that a believer will actually make it to heaven.

“All who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.'” (Paul the Apostle)

So what does this 'Fear Factor' look like?

(That is, aside from the foundational ideas of “Be Afraid, be Very Afraid,” and “Fulfill the Law in any way that is defined or be Punished here and eternally...”)

Some tendencies or local manifestations of The Fear Factor:

-There is an overarching motivation, especially among our church leadership of trying to avoid ‘spiritual responsibility’ so as not to be punished by God for some slight misstep.

-This is often related to avoiding ‘getting blood on our hands’ in any way.

For example: Not giving the communion cup to church members who we ‘know have sin in their lives,’ so as not to be 'partakers in their sins' and be punished for that by God. (Communion here has been literally called ‘the Scary-Good Commandment, by which we prove our worthiness not to be judged with this world.’)

-Along the same lines, when greetings from other churches/individuals are verbally passed along to our church on Sundays, we must warn the church not to say “We accept the greetings” if the person who conveyed them happens to be under church discipline or has sin in their life. If we say “I greet you,” or “We accept the greetings” from such a person, we become 'partakers of their sin' and expose ourselves to the judgement and punishment of God. (...Magic words, anyone?)

It's like walking a tightrope...

This is a quote I found in a slightly different context – but it could've been written down verbatim from one of the church leaders here:

“There is no more frightening reality in the life of any Christian than the reality of being held responsible for the souls of others. That we, by our negligence, can be guilty of a kind of spiritual homicide - that our hands can be stained with blood because of indifference... what an awesome truth!”

I could literally go on for pages, but maybe I’ve made my point? The thing is, the overall message of the New Testament seems to be pretty much the opposite of what I hear every Sunday. Sometimes I wonder if we’re reading the same book. (I won’t even bring up being on the same page.)

The New Testament letters to Christians speak eloquently and insistently on the themes of Christ Himself and God’s promises to us in Christ being THE Foundation of our Christian life. To make fear of punishment (temporal, physical, spiritual and eternal) the foundational and overwhelming motivation in and for the Christian life is quite simply to make our ‘Christianity’ an absurd and appalling travesty of what God intended to be a display of the riches of His grace to us in Christ Jesus.

“In love God the Father predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious GRACE, which he has freely given us in the One he loves!” Eph.1:4-6

I simply cannot find this God of love and grace who was revealed through Jesus Christ amongst all the fear. At church leader's meetings, I often end up biting my tongue more than actually contributing to discussions - because we may be speaking the same language in one sense, but theologically, we're on different planets. As I lead youth meetings and preach and teach I find myself repeating the same themes over and over and over:

God's undeserved goodness to us in Christ Jesus is THE total of our hope - both for regeneration AND for sanctification. Fear was never meant to be the main motivation for either, but the Love of God and his Grace.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” 1Jn. 4:18

...to be continued.

(ps. all pictures from random internet image searches - not my own, unfortunately.)

Grace Life

As I have already mentioned, again and again, I find myself pondering this:

how can I communicate and demonstrate Christ as our only hope, our foundation and guarantee of both salvation and sanctification?

Living by grace is counter-intuitive, it goes against all our natural instincts, I know that - but it is also what we are created for in Christ. “Perhaps the most difficult task for us to perform is to rely on God's grace and God's grace alone for our salvation. It is difficult for our pride to rest on grace. Grace is for other people - for beggars. We don't want to live by a heavenly welfare system. We want to earn our own way and atone for our own sins. We like to think that we will go to heaven because we deserve to be there.” (R.C. Sproul)

What can I do?

I'm expected to preach and teach, so I teach on the grace/works, faith/law contrasts in the New Testament. I try to emphasize the focus of not self, but Christ, the Christ-centeredness of true christianity vs. man-centered religion. I preach the Gospel of Grace vs. the False Gospel of the insufficiency of Christ.

...I do so because I know the true gospel is powerful and more than able to transform minds and hearts saturated with legalism and religion. I am confident that the gospel of Jesus Christ can and will turn hearts from law-keeping to Himself as sufficient for both eternal salvation and daily living, by his grace.

“The Gospel supposes that, good and holy and perfect as the law of God is, it is entirely powerless either to justify OR sanctify. It cannot in any way make the old nature better, neither is it the rule of life for the new nature. The old man is not subject to the law, and the new man does not need it. The new creature has Another object before it, and another power acts upon it, in order to produce what is lovely and acceptable to God - Christ the object, realized by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (William Kelly)

How can I make this real for the people I minister to and with in this church?

This is all I can do:

Lift up again and again Christ as the object of our adoration, the focus of our lives, the essence of our Christianity; emphasize and re-emphasize the Holy Spirit through the grace of God as the only power capable of producing in our hearts: love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness.

I can only live by grace myself, daily dependent upon, hungry for God's grace in my own heart, in my own life, in my own family.

I can only act in grace as I attempt to serve these believers in this church, so that my interactions with them are grace-based and motivated by grace.

I can only speak of the Grace of God so abundantly poured out upon us in and through Christ Jesus, letting my words always be centered in and flowing from grace.

When at times I find it a challenge to see the point of this ministry, when I don't know if anything I do or say is even registering - that is when I can, more than ever, revel in the wonderful assurance that His grace is sufficient.

His grace is sufficient for my heart, and for the hearts of those who may catch a glimpse of that all-sufficient grace through me, through Phyllis, as we live here and minister the best we know how...

by, in and through the grace of God.

“Our righteousness is in Christ, and our hope depends, not upon the exercise of grace in us, but upon the fullness of grace and love in Him...” (John Newton)

Grace Plus...?

As I sat in church this past Sunday, I found myself thinking, for the thousandth time, it seems:

how can people so thoroughly entwine and confuse grace and works, especially concerning salvation, when the New Testament seems so clearly to make an either/or distinction? Without that distinction, the gift of eternal life, good works we do as Christians, the forgiveness of sins and a life of discipleship just get hopelessly entangled.

Martin Luther says simply, “Centering ones attention on oneself and determining what condition I am in and what I must do, I lose sight of Christ, who alone is my Righteousness and my Life.”

It seems so clear that all is by Grace, all due to Christ. Yet somehow, we preach a message of salvation received by 'grace through faith,' but then teach believers that “we will only be blessed if we are constantly abiding in God's commandments, like Israel when Moses gave them the Law. We must keep all His commandments worthily so as to one day enter into those heavenly dwellings that god has prepared for us.”

Christ alone is full of Grace and Truth. How is it that we so easily forget that, and focus more on our efforts? Again, the words of Luther come to mind, “if Christ is pushed aside, and I look only to myself, then I am finished... because this thought immediately springs to mind: 'Christ is in heaven, and you are upon the earth. How are you ever going to reach Him?' and the answer is thus: 'I will lead a holy life and do what the Law requires, and so will eventually attain eternal life.'

Luther unequivocally calls this what it is - abandoning Grace, abandoning Christ.

The narrow way, the long and weary road...

I know all to well that this habit of abandoning Grace is common, whether one lives in America, Russia, Africa or Ukraine. Still, even in the Russian Baptist churches that I've attended over the years, I've seldom heard it so clearly and consistently preached and taught as The Way for Christians to live and hope to gain eternal life.

On Sunday after Sunday, I've heard salvation presented as: “Jesus died to give us the hope of salvation, the hope of eternal life someday, which is eventually gained through a life of striving for holiness, because we know that 'there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean!”

Correspondingly, sanctification and the Christian life is seen as being all about our efforts: “victory over sin is our responsibility, our battle, our striving – finding our strength in Christ of course, but we must gain this victory on our own...”

The problem is this. “Grace stands in direct opposition to any supposed worthiness on our part. To say it another way: Grace and works are mutually exclusive. Our relationship with God is based on either works or grace. There is never a works-plus-grace relationship with Him.” (Jerry Bridges)

How can I, in this setting, best convey that “where Christ resides, there is no place for the Law, sin, wrath and death. Instead, now there is nothing but Grace, righteousness, joy, life, and the confidence of a son in his Father, who is now appeased, compassionate, and reconciled.” (Martin Luther)

This is the heart of Grace, where Christ resides. I find myself daily asking Him to display His Grace, first and foremost - but in that Grace, His life, hope, joy, confidence and so much more through this flawed child of His.

This is where I live, what my heart is preoccupied with these days.

Grace.

(...to be continued)

Questions about Grace

The grace of God. I know that my life would have no hope or light without it. I know that His grace to me in Jesus Christ is the foundation my life is built on. Grace for daily life, for salvation and sanctification is His gift, freely given.

It's also what often seems is most lacking in my church.

How can I be a conduit of His grace?

What can I do? Sometimes I feel like protesting - I'm only one person, after all. How can I convey the absolute vitality, the centrality of Grace in our lives as Christians, how can I get across this Grace that I am so utterly dependent upon, so constantly aware of and grateful for...

I don't want to cause confusion or argument by teaching too much that is radically different from what they've been taught for years. I don't want to seem to set myself up as “The Spiritual One.” I don't want a “grace revolution” on my hands here, even if it were possible – which I doubt.

I'm here to serve these people, not divide them.

Still, when works/performance/'doing my part' is such a pervasive focus, how can I best re-direct the attention of these people I love to Christ as the only source of life and righteousness? “The apostle Paul argues that Christian righteousness is a righteousness of Christ living in us, and not our own righteousness. However, Christ and my conscience must merge so that in my field of view there is nothing left but the Crucified and Risen Christ.

For if Christ is pushed aside, and I look only to myself, then I am finished - because this thought immediately springs to mind: 'Christ is in heaven, and you are upon the earth. How are you ever going to reach Him?' and the answer is thus: 'I will lead a holy life and do what the Law requires, and so will eventually attain eternal life.'

"Centering ones attention on oneself and determining what condition I am in and what I must do, I lose sight of Christ, who alone is my Righteousness and my Life.

"Without Him there is no help, no counsel, but only despair and destruction.

"This evil is very common, because such is human weakness that in time of temptation or in the face of death, we will immediately abandon Christ and turn again to our own works.” (Martin Luther)

Lord, I desperately need your grace, more than anything else, as I attempt to bring more grace, more understanding and compassion into our interactions with one another as your children here in this place.

Thinking about Grace, cont'd.

Grace has been on my mind a lot lately...


Grace in general, and in particular, the Grace of God as the essence of, the foundation and means of the Christian life.


More specifically, how can I convey the absolute vitality, the centrality of Grace in our lives as Christians. How can I most clearly communicate Grace as the only grounds for our relating to God, the only basis for building relationships with other Christians and the only foundation for relating to those within our own families?

As Jerry Bridges has observed: “We are brought into God's kingdom by grace; we are sanctified by grace; we receive both temporal and spiritual blessings by grace; we are motivated to obedience by grace; we are called to serve by grace and, finally, we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God's grace.”



This is what keeps running through my mind, percolating in my heart, keeping me awake at night — As I attempt to serve this church, how can I teach and demonstrate, speak and act so that Grace becomes more of an essential paradigm for living for people who have largely only known the opposite: conditional acceptance, assurance and approval; love, forgiveness and mercy that is limited or earned; relationships that are manipulated to produce 'Godly behavior'; in other words, performance-based Christianity, Legalism, and Churchianity.




I am aware that I may be over-sensitive on this topic. Still, it sometimes seems that this church is simply saturated in all that I just listed, that it is thoroughly entrenched in believers minds and hearts. So much so that whatever I say or do in an effort to re-orient the church toward Grace and Faith seems only the tiniest firefly of grace-light in a murky swamp of Legalism and Performance-based Christianity.

...I say “God's unconditional love”, they reply “God is an All-Consuming Fire!” I teach on Assurance in the Promises of God, they reply by preaching on “God's faithfulness to His Threats — Fear God, or else!!” I seek to encourage relationships based on Grace and Freedom in Christ, and they reply with Conditional forgiveness and fellowship ... it's like we're speaking different languages.

Not that this is anything horribly unusual, unheard of, or even peculiar to this small Ukrainian Independent Baptist Church we're in here. It's not, sadly enough to say.

Almost 50 years ago, C.I. Scofield said that "Most of us have been reared and now live under the influence of Galatianism. Protestant theology is for the most part thoroughly Galatianized, in that neither the Law nor Grace is given its distinct and separate place in the counsels of God, but they are mingled together in one incoherent system . The Law is no longer, as in the divine intent, a ministration of death (2 Cor.3:7), of cursing (Gal.3:10), or of conviction (Rom.3:19), because we are taught that we must try to keep it, and that by divine help we may.
Nor does Grace, on the other hand, bring us blessed deliverance from the dominion of sin, for we are kept under the law as a rule of life, despite the plain declaration of Romans 6:14 - «sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace!"


This is a malady that has afflicted the church and detracted from the glory of God's grace in Jesus Christ from its very first days, so I'm not complaining about this church being a special case.


I'm not even complaining. This is where God has us for now, and these are the questions I struggle with.




How can I most glorify Christ? How can I live out Grace in a way that is simple and comprehensible?



How can I convey this, that “Our righteousness is in Him, and our hope depends, not upon the exercise of grace in us, but upon the fullness of Grace and Love in Him, and upon His obedience unto death. (John Newton)

Thinking about Grace

(Phyllis asked that I write a bit and contribute to the overall picture of our life that this blog gives. A couple of days later, I sat down and began to write. I have a hard time being brief, but I wanted to share thoughts, challenges for me in this particular place in life, so I wrote out a few pages over a few days. =) We decided to parcel out what I wrote, so please accept this as intended, in a spirit of 'to be continued...')

Thinking about Grace...

How important — how intrinsic of a part does Grace have in my life?

Grace as a foundational concept, a paradigm for living, a daily reality like fresh-brewed coffee in the morning...

I sometimes wonder how well I convey, visibly, in words and actions just how vital Grace is to this heart and mind. Does my wife see and hear grace in my words to her, in how I choose to spend time with her(or not)? Do my children sense any grace in my attitude toward them, my interaction with them?

I ask myself these questions because of this:

how is it that when Grace is the very ground I stand on, the air that I breathe, when I am so utterly dependent upon, so constantly aware of and grateful for Grace...

that I often somehow forget to actually put this into words, to consciously seek to convey the sense of the one thing I truly could not live without?!

Hmmm...

I guess Grace is always worth thinking about.