October 22, 2013
Self-Made
I’m still chewing on the newly established
Community Spirit Church. This congregation purports to have a wide embrace
where it is OK to bring your whole self and be real, implying that people are
closeted in their worship. Their spokesperson said, “This church is still growing and developing its identity, something it
will continue to do over the next few years.” Fascinating…I can only
imagine what these folks will look like once they have come up with a fully
developed spiritual identity. For believers, our identity is in Christ, we are created to
be like God. “You were taught, with
regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being
corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the
attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self,
created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph 4-22-24
NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----These expressions have a place in the face of God. When Paul told the Romans to each be convinced in his own mind, He was very much talking about having a wide embrace. For if that man thinks it is not ok to eat meat, and this one thinks it is, and God tells each to be fully convinced, He is telling them the error of one or the other of their thinking is less important than their approach to Him together. One or the other must be erroneous, because two opposites can not both be true in the same sense. But both are bringing their whole selves and being real.
-----So, there necessarily must be a “closeting” about their worship. But it is not a closeting of their worship, or of their whole selves. It is a closeting of their differences, as Paul said later in Romans 14:22, “The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God,” and I Cor 8:13, “Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother’s falling, I will never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to fall.” That is the ultimate keeping of faith between yourself and God. The closeting is then not you worshipping in solitude, it is placing your freedom on hold to avoid injuring a brother so you can worship with him. That in a way is a sacrifice of yourself, a little slice of dying to yourself so that you can please your neighbor to edify him (Rom 15:2). It doesn’t mean you’ve changed your mind for your brother; it merely means that you behave considerately when with your brother.
-----For we each have an individual identity that is ours alone. If our identities were enemies of God, then Christ would not have died for us to be made whole, He would have simply put us to death. It isn’t, then, that our identities must be wiped out so we each can become another, millionth, digital copy of Jesus. This concept not only runs counter to the free-will God gives His creatures, but it sucks everything into a vapid Nirvana of the Eastern religions. “To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.” (Rev 2:17b) In the complete solitude of that new name is God’s blessing upon individual identity. That we put off our old selves and put on Christ is that we each shape our identities into His nature. But we can no more become His identity than I can become yours. We are to become like Him, not to become Him. So our identities remain important to God for transforming, not for replacing.
-----Then, while our perfection is yet limited by our flesh, we are all somewhat erroneous and somewhat righteous. There are two concepts about our identities which exhibit true life. One is that we form church to benefit and edify the true needs of people. Being faulty, we are not going to do that without error, but our righteousness is in our volition to do it the best we know God defines it. So we do it with wider embrace. The other is that we form church out of our individual sincerity to approach God according to His real terms and definitions. This brings whole, real selves to church, which effects its identity. We humble ourselves to learn who He is from Him, not to teach Him who He is. One way develops identity in humility unto life, and the other in arrogance unto death.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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