Nothing clears a room faster than the word sin.
Sin. Sin. Sin. Sin. Sin. That’s all you Christians talk about and we’re sick of it. We don’t need it. We don’t want it. And we don’t believe in it anyway. So says the culture in 21st-century America.
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Theology
If you’ve been on this blog for any period of time, you’ve likely come to realize that I want to talk theology in the language of ordinary, everyday people. I’m not afraid of complex doctrine or difficult church-language, but when I communicate the ancient truths of the Scriptures, I want the 30-year old dad to understand how this theology affects the way he does his work, loves his wife, and cares for his children.
Vocation, which commonly in our culture, refers to a person’s job is actually rooted in significant theological roots. Vocation, which comes from the latin vocatio, literally refers to God’s calling.
I read a ridiculous amount of blogs and listen to a ton of sermons. While there is certainly no shortage of availability of blogs to be reading or podcasts to subscribe to, over the past year a number of new voices have really become prominent in my feeds.
rescues.jpg
Throughout the book of Judges, God keeps sending judges. It’s not a one-time occurrence, it happens over and over and over again. While Israel repeats this cycle of sin, slavery, and tragedy, God doesn’t step back and watch it grow progressively worse.
Instead of letting Israel destroy everything, God steps in. God intersects the cycle of sin with rescue. No matter how ugly things get for the Israelites, God interrupts this cycle with grace and forgiveness. And this is not a one-time thing, it’s repeated throughout the entire history of the nation of Israel.
Note: This post is an excerpt from the free eBook, Addiction: Leaving the Vomit Behind.
Psalm 106 describes this:
"Many times he delivered them,
but they were bent on rebellion
and they wasted away in their sin.
Yet he took note of their distress
when he heard their cry;
for their sake he remembered his covenant
and out of his great love he relented."
No matter how many times we repeatedly turn to the same sins over and over and over again, God says, “My grace is enough.”
And he doesn’t just say, “I forgive you,” once. He says it a second time and a third time and a hundredth time and a two-hundreth time. The depth of our sins do not dictate the mercy of God. The frequency of our sins don’t determine the grace that we receive.
God isn’t giving us more chances to “not screw it up,” but instead he provides the rescuer who stands in our place.
And that is not based on your behavior. It is not dependent on the sins you’ve committed, the pain that you’ve caused, or the tragedy that your choices have led to.
The Israelites keep committing the same sin over and over and over.
When we read this in the book of judges, I can’t help but think, “These guys are idiots.” And then Irealize I do the same thing.
We do the same things over and over again; we return to the same sins time and time and time again, yet God remembers his covenant. He says, “I love you the same.”
Guilt & Shame
As we talk about these types of struggles, we likely also will deal with feelings of great guilt and shame. Guilt says, “I’m sorry. I did something wrong.” Guilt uses judicial language; it says, “Here’s the law and here’s what I did. These don’t match up.”
And so we feel guilty. We feel guilty because when talking about our addiction, we understand that God said not to and we did it anyways. And we did it not only once, but we did it repeatedly. We feel guilt because we know that the slavery we face is a result of our own sins. We feel guilt because we see the consequences that have come from our own decisions and how it has affected others.
And guilt weighs us down.
But there’s not only guilt, there’s also shame. Where guilt says, “I’m sorry, I did something wrong,” shame says, “There’s something wrong with me.” While guilt yearns for justice, shame seeks hiding. Like Adam and Eve cover themselves in the Garden of Eden, shame runs from the spotlight because we are afraid people will see us for who we are.
Where guilt is judicial in its language, shame speaks to our identity.
Shame says:
I am an addict.
I am a shopaholic.
I am a workaholic.
I am a porn addict.
I am my job.
I am my relationships.
I am _______________________.
The Good News deals with both of these. The death and resurrection of Jesus deals with both guilt and shame. On the cross, you are declared not guilty. No matter what you’ve done or how many times you’ve done it, you are declared innocent.
Not guilty.
And the cross also covers shame. It speaks to your identity.
It says, “You are a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come.” You are not your addictions. You are not who you were.
In the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul says it this way, “But when the time had fully come God sent his son born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law.” Notice the language he’s using here. It begins very judicial, “That God sent his son born of a woman, born under law,” why? Because we had been guilty of breaking the law God sent his son, who was innocent, to redeem those who were guilty.
And as he continues, there’s a shift in his language, “That we might receive the full rights of sons.” He begins speaking to our identity, “Because you are sons. God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, the spirit who calls out Abba, father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”
There’s actually a confession from 1581 that often gets used by churches even today:
O almighty God, merciful Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them, and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You, of Your boundless mercy, and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter suffering and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being. - The Lutheran Hymnal
“Poor, miserable sinner.” This is about shame.
“Justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment.” This is about guilt.
And how does Jesus respond to this confession? He declares, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Guilt removed.
Shame removed.
Your sins, forgiven.
When you attend a worship gathering, what is happening? Why do we sing the songs we do? Why do we say the prayers, creeds, and confessions? And who is the service for; is it for believers or is it for unbelievers
Core to the Reformation was a simple, profound doctrine that Luther embraced that shaped his understanding of the Gospel. This phrase describes a tension that the Christian finds himself in. It presents us with the paradox of sinful, broken people have also been rescued and redeemed. We are holy yet sinful, new yet old, saints and sinners.
There’s a latin phrase that typically gets associated with Luther’s teaching:
Simul justus et peccator.
We are simultaneously justified and sinner.
We are saints and sinners at the same time.
One blog describes the phrase well :
"Perhaps the formula that Luther used that is most famous and most telling at this point is his formula simul justus et peccator. And if any formula summarizes and captures the essence of the Reformation view, it is this little formula. Simul is the word from which we get the English word simultaneously. Or, it means ‘at the same time.’ Justus is the Latin word for just or righteous. And you all know what et is... You remember in the death scene of Caesar after he’s been stabbed by Brutus he says, “Et tu, Brute?” Then fall Caesar. And you too Brutus? It simply means and. Peccator means sinner.
And so with this formula Luther was saying, in our justification we are one and the same time righteous or just, and sinners.” - Ligonnier.org
The Christian life is found in the tension. Are we sinners or are we saints? Yes. We find ourselves simultaneously both sinners and saints at the same time. While we are identified with Christ, a battle still wages war in us as our old self battles against the new.
“Simultaneously” points to this time between the times—the co-existence of two “times” at the same time: the old age and the new creation are both present realities. - Tullian Tchividjian
This is why Paul in Romans writes, “what I want to do I do not do.” Because Paul understands that the sinner in him is constantly in tension with the saint in him. Part of him is guided by the Spirit and looks outward with love for others. And another part of him is guided by his sinful nature and looks inward at what would be best for himself.
On the one hand we are completely unrighteous. Romans 3 says, "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
But on the other hand we are completely righteous because of the work of Christ. Romans 3 also says, "This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Saint and sinner. Both at the same time. The tension between the old you and the new you. The tension between sin at work and God at work. The tension between the god you worship and the God you worship.
Embrace the tension.
I love the Christmas season. And I love all the sights, sounds, and smells that come with it. I love the Christmas music that is constantly on repeat. I love the decorations. I love the way the mall feels when it is decked out in the Christmas spirit. And because of all of these things, as soon as the decorations and the music start to come out, a spirit of anticipation begins to start within me.
Because Christmas is coming.
The Christmas cookies left out for Santa. The looks on my family’s faces as they see the presents lined up under the Christmas tree. Christmas is coming and all the preparations that come with Christmas create a sense of waiting. We are waiting for Christmas.
For many of us, myself included, waiting for Christmas is about the anticipation of friends, family, presents, and music.
Our anticipation can be summed with words like:
Just hear those sleigh bells jingling
Ring ting tingling too
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you
Outside the snow is falling
And friends are calling "Yoo hoo"
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you
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And while these things are great things to anticipate, the waiting that comes in the holiday season is much more than that. In more traditional church language, there’s a name for this season, Advent. Advent comes from the latin word Adventus which means simply, “coming.”
Churches have historically used the weeks leading up to Christmas to prepare and anticipate the coming of Christ. There is an anticipation leading up to the Christmas celebration and specifically the gifts that we celebrate Christ bringing, but there is also an anticipation to when Christ reappears.
Christmas is coming. Chris is coming.
We wait with anticipation the birth of a King. We wait knowing that a baby has been born and it changes everything. And we wait for when the King is coming again.
As we approach Christmas, what gifts of Jesus are you longing for? What are the gifts that you wait for with anticipation knowing that there are some things that only Jesus can give to you? As you anxiously wait for the fact that a baby has been born, what is the hope that you need?
We wait. We anticipate the birth of a King. We anticipate the coming of the King who has rescued us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. We anticipate his return and the hope of his new creation. We long for the peace that He brings in the midst of this broken, dark, and hurting world.
Come Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free
From our fears and sins release us
Let us find our rest in Thee
[tentblogger-youtube bnxBax26qGQ]
In the book The Permanent Revolution, Alan Hirsch references a work by William Ocasio in which he describes the Columbia space shuttle disaster. On February 1, 2003, when Columbia reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, it disintegrated and killed all seven crew members. In analyzing the disaster, Ocasio realized that the problem was ultimately not about individual errors but instead about language.
Hirsch describes it when he writes, "Essentially a vocabulary of organizing plays a significant role in determining what practices will be considered normative and what practices are literally unheard of. Thus, the linguistic categories that an organization uses can shape how it conceives of core tasks."
Because of a problem of language, the Columbia space shuttle disaster happened. There was a lacking in categories and vocabularies and articulation, which left NASA blind to the problems they faced.
How often does the message of the Gospel encounter this same problem?
How often do we get so caught up in our own church-speak that the Gospel gets lost in translation? Think about it the next time you go to church or hang out around church people. Do they use the same language as ordinary people? It’s okay if there is some different language, but when we try to share the Gospel, do we too often assume that people just know the language and the categories?
If we do not consider the language barriers and our issues of translation, the Church will face a huge problem. A disaster is waiting to happen for those who don’t know the Gospel. And many of the truths that we trust are “simply unheard of” not because we don’t talk about them, but because they have no idea what we are talking about when we do.
Central to the work of a missionary is always translation. That doesn’t mean we abandon key doctrinal language like justification, the Gospel, or vocation. But it does mean that as missionaries we find ways to teach and to explain them in the language of the people. It means we don’t just assume that everybody knows what we are talking about. And we make sure that the message of Jesus doesn’t get lost in translation; we do whatever it takes to make sure that we translate the ancient message of the Gospel into the context of the culture we are trying to reach.
It has long be said that God’s Word is made up of two words. God’s first word of the law, which reminds us of our inability to save ourselves. And God’s word of the Gospel, which makes clear that are only hope is found in Christ alone.
The law often automatically gets categorized as bad.
While in some senses the law does deconstruct and even kill, the law is in fact good. Because even when the law functions for the purpose of showing our sin, it sets us up for the Gospel. This sense of the law is not the only way of course that the law functions, but it is hugely important in our understanding of God’s Word.
There are two descriptions of the law that I find helpful when thinking about the way in which the law shows our sin. These are the descriptions of hammer and mirror. In Preaching Law and Gospel by Herman Stuempfle he describes these two understandings of the Law.
The Hammer
The hammer functions for accusation. It targets the conscience with the goal of accountability. Guilt is evidence that the hammer of the law has done its work. The hammer swings with the goal of convicting the sinner.
The hammer bangs the gavel as a judge. It makes it clear to us that we are guilty. It destroys our self-justifying desires in the face of our own inability to do what the law demands. The hammer shatters the notions that the Gospel can be found in what we do.
At times the hammer swings in hard destroying what needs to be killed in order that life may come. And at other times the hammer is more like a mallet, gently exposing our sins and failures.
“Rather, our role is more that of surgeons who know they must cut in order to heal, or of therapists who understand the necessity of leading clients to insight which holds simultaneously the prospect of pain and the promise of renewal.” - Stuempfle
The Mirror
The mirror functions in a more descriptive role. It targets the consciousness seeking to make the hearer aware of the problems. The mirror is like the doctor who makes a diagnosis. The doctor describes the problems and points out the problem so you can get the right treatment.
The mirror reveals to us what we really look like. When we look in the mirror, we find out what we really look like. Our self-made images are shattered, when we find we aren’t as great as we think we are. We find that we cannot save ourselves and are left with a harsh diagnosis about our state of sin.
The law is good even when it makes us feel bad. But, in the words of Stuempfle, “the Law is never terminal.” It always exist for the sake of the word that follows. It is always for the sake that once the diagnosis has been made, that the surgeon would come in and heal the disease.
Paul writes in Timothy, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” Another translation translates sound teaching as “healthy doctrine.”
A time is coming when people will not endure healthy doctrine.
There’s a doctrine, or teaching, that is healthy. And then there’s one that isn’t healthy. There’s the stuff that’s good for you and feeds your soul. And there’s the stuff that just makes you fat, lazy, and on the verge of a heart attack.
You are what you eat.
This is easily understood when we talk about our food. There’s certain foods that are good for you and need to be a part of a well-balanced diet. There’s other food that isn’t as good for you but won’t necessarily kill you unless you eat too much of it. And then there’s junk food which really has no nutritional value, but it sure tastes good. And then of course, there’s food that’s poisonous and will absolutely kill you.
Teaching should be considered the same way.
Healthy.
Healthy doctrine is simple; it’s correct teaching. This is what Paul is referring to when he suggests that people “will not endure sound teaching.” Paul understands that there is a time when people aren’t going to find the healthy stuff very appealing; it may be exactly what people need for life, but they won’t have the appetite for it.
Our people need a healthy dose of the law, they need to be reminded what the will of God looks like. And they need the life-giving Gospel, which puts their hope in the finished work of Christ. People need the true and healthy teachings of the Scriptures because they keep us healthy as we fulfill our callings as believers, as workers, and as family members.
Less Healthy.
Some food isn’t really healthy, but it isn’t going to kill you either. You can eat a burger and it’s not awful, but if you only eat burgers it will kill you. Some teachings are like this.
You go to that conference and learn from the rockstar pastor who is selling all kinds of books. His teachings might not be in complete agreement with yours. Too much buying into everything he says will probably eat away at your soul, but enjoying the good teaching of another pastor from another tribe is sometimes helpful. It will help you think in a way you haven’t before and it will challenge you think about why you believe what you believe.
Junk Food.
So the healthy needs to be a part of your diet, the less healthy food will be part of your diet but cautiously. And then there’s junk food. We all love the junk food, but know that we have to be careful. The junk food is fun, but it is bad for us.
I could easily eat my sons entire bag of Halloween candy, and I will eat a lot of it. But it’s definitely not good for me.
Some teaching is like this. It’s not only less than healthy, it’s definitely bad for you. Because it’s junk food and not poison, it’s not completely off limits… but you have to know what works for you. If one candy bar will send you spiraling towards a heart attack, then you need to stay away from even one. But if a Snickers once and a while isn’t a big deal, then go for it.
I’d compare the junk food in doctrine to the teachings that you know are not only in disagreement, but the ones that disagree significantly with you. But even though they disagree, you find something fascinating or compelling about them that makes you want to listen every know and then.
Poison.
Poison kills. A little bit of poison will kill you, a lot of poison will kill you. So if we are talking food, I don’t find many people that are suggesting that we are just cautious to only eat poisonous foods once a year. We don’t ever eat poisonous food… because we will die no matter how healthy we were.
Certain doctrine is poisonous. There are teachings that are wrong and dangerous and that we should not give ourselves to. There are false teachers that disguise themselves and teach people what they want to hear all the while feeding them poison on a silver platter.
The poison is what we must absolutely avoid at all costs. As pastors and preachers, we might need to study and learn the poison so we can protect our people from it, but we must also do whatever we can to make sure people know how to discern and avoid the poison.
It does take much living to realize that life is hard. And no matter the strength of our faith, we would be liars if we said that life doesn’t have intense seasons of pain and difficulty. We have the struggles of everyday life and we have the life-altering kind of struggles like a diagnosis, a betrayal, divorce papers, an accident, or something else.
And often times in Christian circles, these situations get turned into something that they aren’t. It is easy to lie about the pain in our suffering and minimize.
One way to understand this dynamic is to look at the ways people talk about painful experiences. If someone has just undergone an ugly, protracted divorce, for example, he or she might say something like, “Well, it was never a good marriage anyway,” or “But I’ve really learned a lot from this whole experience.” This kind of rationalization tries to make something bad sound like it is good. It is a strategy to avoid looking pain and grief directly in the face, to avoid acknowledging that we wish life were different but are powerless to change it. - Tullian Tchividjian
Others go the other direction and instead of minimizing the pain and suffering, they turn the pain and suffering into evidence of God’s anger at them.
Or worse, even others go looking for pain and suffering, somehow believing that they need to find suffering in order for God to his work in their lives.
Suffering is hard. No matter what age or stage of life, no matter what family situations you come from, and no matter how good your career, you will face suffering. The reality is that in our life when we face suffering, we often find ourselves completely powerless and having no idea what do.
Martin Luther suggested, "He who does not know Christ does not know God hidden in suffering.” Rabbi Lawrence Kushner said, “When you look closely and for a very long time, you discover things that are invisible to others.”
Perhaps in the midst of the pain and hurt, God is hidden yet at work. In the pain, when we are completely powerless we have no other option but to rely on the one who has power over our situation. In the pain and hurt when we can’t see anything good, there is one who “works all things for the good of those who love him.”
Martin Luther called this suffering, “soul struggle":
“[These terrors] so much like hell that no tongue could adequately express them. . . . In such a situation, God appears terribly angry, along with all creation. At such a time, there is no flight, no comfort—inside or out—only accusation of everything. . . . All that remains is the stark-naked desire for help and a terrible groaning, but [the soul] does not know where to turn for help. . . . Nor is every corner in the soul not filled with the greatest bitterness, with dread, trembling, and sorrow.” - Martin Luther
In the face of the soul struggle, the great pain, God is hidden at work. When we are driven to our knees, the God who seems distant is actually present with us. When it seems like the world has turned against us, God is fighting for us. When it seems like the accuser wants to destroy us, Christ himself stands in our place.
We may not see God in those moments, but he is there. And when the moment passes, we can look back and see it. God is there, even when it appears he is hidden.
You are a missionary. As a Christian, part of your calling as a disciple is a mission assignment. You are given a mission to be a missionary in the places that God has placed you. Charles Spurgeon actually suggested, "Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor."
Because if you are a Christian; you are a missionary.
And as a missionary, you’re either on the mission of God or you’re on some self-proclaimed mission that you made for yourself.
I’m not suggesting that this means you need to go overseas, although we certainly need missionaries that travel across the world. Instead, I want you to embrace the ordinary, everyday mission trips that you go on.
When you go to work, you go into a mission field with the message of the Gospel. In your own homes as you disciple your kids and raise them up in the faith, you are on a mission assignment from God to be a missionary in your own home. When you go into your community and connect with unbelievers, you are a missionary seeking to serve, earn the right to be heard, and ultimately share the Gospel with those you come in contact with.
Know the people you’ve been sent to.
Missionaries know the people they serve. They become students of the cultural practices, beliefs, and values in order that they might speak the Gospel into the context of the culture they serve. As missionaries, we need to not only seek to share the Gospel but we need to share the Gospel in the language of the people.
This means we know the people we serve. It means we get to know the people we work with. It means we might need to talk to our neighbors. It means we need to look around at our communities and look for the hurt, the pain, and the struggles.
"God is not a tribal God, but the God of the world; that the gospel is for everyone; and that the church is one body that breaks down the walls of ethnicity, class, and nationalism that divide humans into warring camps. At the same time, there has been a growing awareness in the social sciences, particularly in anthropology, of the need to understand people in their cultural settings. Out of this has come the growing realization that missionaries today need not only a solid understanding of the Scriptures, but also a deep knowledge of the people they serve.” - Paul G. Hiebert. Anthropological Insights for Missionaries
Actually share the Gospel.
St. Francis of Assisi allegedly said, “Preach the Gospel; use words if necessary.” This is ridiculous. As a missionary, we need to find opportunities to use our words and share the Gospel. This might not happen immediately and it will likely not be easy.
But if we want people to be rescued by the message of the Gospel, they need to hear the Gospel.
As Christians, God has given us the message of the Gospel. As Dr. David Peter wrote, "We are the object of God's redemption as well as agents of His mission.” You are a missionary. Realize the importance of the relationships you build and the words you share. And then rest knowing it is only God that changes a person’s heart and it’s not up to you and your persuasion abilities.
When we are little we are asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And rightfully so, we are encouraged in whatever that might be, whether that be a dream to become a famous movie star, a successful athlete, and entrepreneur, or a police officer.
As kids, we are told, “You can be whatever you want when you grow up.”
But is this really true?
I’m not suggesting that we don’t encourage dreaming about being anything imaginable, but it’s not as true as it might seem. In some sense, the doors are wide open. When you are little, nothing is off limits for your dreams. But is it because the options are really limitless?
If you have no gifts or abilities in engineering, you probably can’t be an engineer.
If you don’t know how to play an instrument, you can’t be a musician.
If you can’t dribble a basketball, you can’t play in the NBA.
If you don't have any patience for junior high students, you can’t teach junior high students.
If you have no competency in budgeting, you probably won’t be a Chief Financial Officer.
You can’t really be anything you want to be. But you can try anything in the pursuit to discover your gifts. I’m not going to suggest that we stop telling kids they can be whatever they want. That statement for a child is more about permission to dream big and try anything. The exploration and imagination of possible future jobs is helpful and important.
But eventually we need to face the reality that we can’t be anything.
The problem for many of us is not that we were told that we could be anything we want to be. But we still think that and ignore the unique ways that God has gifted us and created us.
Realizing that you can’t be anything may sound like bad news, but I would suggest that in realizing that you were not given every gift you are freed to do the things that you do best or are needed to support your family.
You can be anything that God calls you to be.
Because when God calls you be something, he gifts you with what is necessary to be that thing and gives you the opportunities to fulfill that calling.
The temptation for many people, especially when they find themselves in college preparing for a future career or when they are in a job they dislike, is to ignore the present while dreaming about the future. God may certainly be training and preparing you for a future calling, this is an important part of schooling.
But school or an unsatisfying job is not a “lesser calling.” God calls you to be a student. He calls you to study, to work, to serve on your campus, to be a missionary, and to simply love your neighbors. This might be your calling at this very moment while God is also preparing you for another calling that you have not yet discovered.
Perhaps you have a job that makes you want to pull out your hair, but for the sake of your family you have to keep working and cannot pursue something else. Don’t ignore that your job is still a calling from God (while not necessarily a forever calling). It allows you to love and care for your family. For many people, the 9 to 5 grind is less about passionately using their gifts and more about providing for their family. This too is a sacred, holy calling that shouldn’t be ignored.
Learn and discover your gifts for the sake of using those in your callings. God has gifted you to be the person he created you to be and to do the work that he has prepared for you to do. You might not have any ability to be a professional athlete or to run a fortune 500 company, but you are perfectly wired for the work that God has called you to.