Of goals and gifts

Of goals and gifts. An essay on the substance and practice of the Christian life.

The work and ways of Christ are wonderful. It is with good reason that the angles burst forth in praise at the coming of Christ¹. Yet there is much theology and I have found myself confused as to what God wants and how to live. Through His work and guidance I have approached some understanding of the beauty of the substance and practice of His call. So please let me praise God in detail to you. Hopefully this will invite you to rest a little more in the beauty and goodness of Him.

When discussing the practice of Chrisian life often holiness, service, sacrifice and repentance come up. In addition the church heirachy and theology take up space. And often the Christial life somehow includes living for the glory of God. In this essay I want to show how all of these are beautiful gifts. However, for some calling these beautiful is a horribly offensive statement. I was there. Indeed in a previous incarnation tis essay started out as an exposition on how these things had become oppresive to me. I may include the details of that as an appendix to this essay. Nonetheless I want to show that, in their right place, these things – holiness, service, sacrifice, repentance, systems and living for the glory of God – are beautiful gifts.

Others might be offended at me calling them gifts: “Are they not central to the Christian life?” I don’t think so. Rather I want to show how these thing emerge as gifts from the goals and substance of the Christain life.

I think that the goals and substance of our salvation is lift to the full, intimacy with God and each other, rest and hope. I hold that God cares about people and that the glory of God is beautiful and compelling. Here i argue that starting with these things (life, intimacy, rest, hope and the beauty of God’s glory) the gifts (holiness, service, sacrifice, repentance, systems and living for the glory of God) find their rightful place and become beautiful, useful and joyous.

Life

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who laid donw His life so that we, the sheep, may live, and live to the full². Again, Christ came to set us free from the works of the law. He set us free from sin so that me may be free³. We are made slaves so that we may live⁴. We see that we are saved so that we may live.

What is this life? a full life? I think it is a life like Jesus’ that wells up in fruit. Indeed He is the vine and we are the branch’s⁵. So what fruit? “Love, joy, peace…”⁶. Thus Jesus came that we might live, loving deeply and full of joy. A church I was a part of had a lovely way of describing this. As a part of our communion litergy we said:

we remember that your promise of abundant life is not a promise that we will lead sheltered lives, free from all harm, but the promise that we will live intricate, rich and extraordinary lives, full of hope, grace and love.

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This life of love and joy is broad and free. Yet there are things that may cripple us as we live. Chief among them (though not exclusive) is selfishness, especially selfishness that leads to the harm of others. Thus one of the gifts that God gives us is the call to holiness. THe call to live in a way that does not harm ourselves or others. This gift of holiness comes though sanctification in which we particupate. It is often written as a call: “Be holy as I, [God], am holy”⁸. Yet even this call is predicated on intimacy and the fullness of life. So holiness is a gift given to us so that we may live fully. But holiness in not the only gift given to us for this purpose. The goal is that we would live.

Intimacy

Jesus is making us into His Bride, the object of His great love and affection⁹. Jesus faced the cross to redeem His beloved. His great work is to draw us back into intimacy with Himself. Indeed this was the pattern in the Garden when He walked with us and talked with us¹⁰. Jesus says to His disciples “I don’t call you servants, I call you friends.”¹¹.

What is this intimacy? How can we taste it? Well, first the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and prayer. But we are given more. To some extent intimacy begets imitation, and certainly intimacy leads to shared activity. So what activity may we share with Jesus? Well all of our activities for He was here and knowns us¹². Secondly we may join in His activity.

Jesus serves others. This is His primary activity. It is by Him that all things were made ¹³ and by Him all things are sustained ¹⁴. Moreover He serves us directly in our salvation and in the daily provision of food¹⁵.

Would it not belie Jesus’ own expressed desires if He told us to merely stand back and be spectators to His work? Indeed if He desired spectators He would be proud, not humble and loving. But He is humble and loving¹⁶. Therefore He invites us to take part in His primary activity. He invites us to serve others, even as He serves them. He serves us and invites us to serve Him back. Jesus desires intimacy with us, so He gives us the gift¹⁷ of service for the pursuit and expression of intimacy. Moreover, this goal of intimacy is not only us with God, but also us with each other; even as Father, Son and Spirit share intimacy with each other. One gift given to us in the pursuit and expression of intimacy with God and each other is joyful, creative service to each other.

Rest

Jesus says “Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”¹⁸. One of the goals of our salvation is that we may rest. This is further shown through the days and years of rest, the Sabbaths¹⁹. God rescues Israel out of oppressive slavery and into rest²⁰. These rests were images of a coming greater rest that also applies to us²¹. Now rest is built on trust. See, for example, the Sabbath year: God says trust me, there will be enough. Or again consider the call to rest from anxiety by trusting God: do not worry, saying ’what shall we eat?’ …or ’what shall we wear?’ But trust your heavenly Father, for He knows you need these things.²². Indeed this call to trust and rest in God is a key theme of the whole sermon on the mount²³.

But how do we trust? We remember the character of God. He has shown Himself faithful, His plans wise, His strength boundless and His every inclination towards us is only love. He points out that we give good gifts to our children, even though we are evil. How much more will He, who is good, give good gifts to us, His beloved? Moreover He is able to give the best gifts for He is wise and powerful²⁴. So we trust and find rest in God’s love, wisdom and power.

Trust in this God, loving, powerful and wise, brings rest. This rest allows us to loose anxiety and to change our priorities. Because we are secure we no longer need to fret about money. Because we are loved we no linger need to fret about fame²⁵.

Moreover, because we rest in His love and wisdom, we are able to give up what we see as good when He calls it bad. He sees further and deeper and He knows and loves us, so He can truly call it bad.

This giving up is sacrifice. This sacrifice then can be a gift of life when God asks us to trust Him for provision and give up something that He sees is destructive for use, even if we see it as good. Thus trust and rest are the foundation for forsaking sin.

In addition, rest enables us to enter deeply into intimacy with Him and each other. Trust and rest in this God enables us to take on His love for others. He provides for me so I may share my wealth with you. He loves and secures my name so I may freely associate with the outcast.

The goal is rest. This means is trust in the Loving, Wise and Powerful God. This allows us to sacrifice to live and to share, making sacrifice into gifts of life and intimacy.

Hope

“Now these three remain, faith, hope and love.”²⁶. We have discussed intimacy and seen how it is present now and will only become fuller into eternity. This is also true of trust resulting in rest. But our trust and rest, our faith, is build on remembering what God has done, throughout history, ancient and personal. Hope is like faith, but forwards. We remember God’s acts backward into the past, and we look forward to the fulfilment of God’s promises into the future. These promises are sure so the act of looking forward to them is not like wishing. Rather looking forward to the promises is like remembering, but forwards. We remember what will be. And we eagerly await it, along with all creation²⁷. The practice of hoping, remembering what will be, is a core practice in the Christian life.

But what is the substance of our hope? There is much to say and much space for imagination and wonder! But briefly our hope is for a full life of intimacy and trust with God and each other. Our hope is for a world in which we work in harmony with God, with each other and with everything else to bring out ever increasing flourishing and joy.

The practice of remembering backward and forward that fills out our trust and rest. A keen hope and stable trust wells up, though intimacy, into joy and perseverance. Joy as we look at the good in the present and in the future with God and each other. Perseverance as we endure, with God and each other, what is not yet good, knowing it will be overcome and we are not alone.

But as we rely on these promises and look forward to them we become more keenly aware of ourselves and the world around us. I do not love as want to, I am more drawn to selfishness and self-destruction that I care to admit and the world around me is full of abuse, oppression and pain. If I’m honest I take part in these things, or at least don’t oppose them as I would like.

In this God gives us two gifts founded on hope. Regarding this world around us: lament. He cried real tears and suffered greatly. So we can share His tears and anguish over this world. Yet our lament does not turn to despair for we have sure promises. We know it will indeed be alright and that He has acted to save. So we can fully share His lament knowing that it is real but finite (even if huge).

The second gift, founded on hope, is repentance. When we see our shortcomings and lament He invites us to bring the things we see to Him, to call them what they are: bad, and to turn away from them, with the promises of forgiveness, rescue and change. Thus we do not have to find a way to be content with our failings, and yet we may live now with peace and acceptance. He lets us acknowledge them even while holding us securely and promising our heart’s desire: better things and a better us.

Thus repentance, out of hope and in trust, becomes liberating. Our disappointments, regrets and perceived (or real) failings can be acknowledged and defeated without any loss of safety or love. Moreover, if repentance or lament start in hope, and are walked through in trust they are inclined to yield in us greater intimacy, trust, joy and a surer, keener, hope.

Hope is a core practice of the Christian life. We remember backwards and forwards to fill out our trust and rest and intimacy. Yet we are broken and the world around us is not all good. So we are given the gifts of repentance and lament to make sense of the world and to set us free, even while drawing ever deeper into rest and intimacy.

People

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners²⁸. He came to save you, personally, and us, corporately. He cares a great deal, indeed fully, for each of us, and for us together. His thoughts towards you are more numerous that the sand on the sea shore, and precious and sweat (that is, they are good)²⁹. I think this applies to us as communities too³⁰ God’s care for us individually validates our personal uniqueness. God planned for me to be unique in this way, for my family to be unique in that way, and for this particular congregation to be unique in it own way. So much so that if I, or my community, try to emulate someone else too much there is loss. There is less of God’s intended diversity showing out the richness of who He is. His “image” is dulled.

How glorious! We may embrace being ourselves and delighting in each other and all of God’s creation! Forsaking the need to compare ourselves to each other, and resting in God’s wisdom that I, in all my oddity, and made to add to the rich tapestry of His image.

Again let me say it: God cares about people, individuals and communities. Yet as we live we find that life is complicated. The psalms show up the complication of our inner lives, and in Acts we see how even a new community gets complicated quickly³¹. Therefore, God, out of His care for people, gives us gifts to live well. One set of gifts are systems to serve us.

The example in Acts shows how leaders help a community operate fairly to the benefit of everyone involved. A good hierarchy helps people know who is responsible for what so that they can operate well together. A good hierarchy can enable us to be more as a community, and individuals in community, than if we pretended to have no leaders. Hierarchy is a gift to serve us, not to oppress us³².

Likewise once we are loved by God and beginning to love back³³ theology can help enrich our love. Theology serves us by expanding our knowledge of God’s love for us, teaching us His character (slow to anger and, abounding in love³⁴.) Theology gives us abundant case studies of His trustworthiness and allows us to better see His vision for the future. Indeed, this essay is a work of theology for this very purpose! In addition, theology serves us by helping us see how God is working now, and by providing structures for navigating important moments in life: birth, death, marriage, coming to Jesus, suffering and joy.

God cares about people. He gives us many gifts for our good. One type of gift is the gift of systems. Systems, like hierarchy and theology, are given to serve us, God’s people, individuals and communities.

Glory

“[God] was pleased to have His glory shine through Jesus.”³⁵ Is see the glory of God we need look no further than Jesus. We have been discussing what Jesus wants from us, and it is wonderful: we are called to live in intimacy and rest through trust and hope. But who is Jesus and how does He show God’s glory? Jesus is the One who is excellent³⁶, yet gave up everything to bring us back to God. And because of Jesus’ humility and love God was pleased to raise Him up and give Him the name that is above every other name³⁷. Here the character that God exalts is that of humble love. God celebrates humility and love. And God acts humbly and lovingly. The character of Christ Jesus, the glory of God, is power and excellence serving and supporting the weaker beings, to bring forth life and beauty and to invite into love.

But there is more! God invites us to join in His grand vision. He invites us to work closely with Him to bring forth wonder and plenty, first by rescuing and restoring us, then by inviting us to join Him in restoring all things and then on to greater heights, that no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind has yet conceived³⁸. Indeed, within the glory of God are all achievements and grandeur, (like getting to the moon or building a giant telescope), all achievements of justice (the obliteration of poverty and oppression and the cultivation of a flourishing society) and all the achievements of art (the great music and theatre and wonderful imitation of flowers, mountains and sea.)

Yet the height of God glory is humility, so the glory of God encompasses all these grand achievements through the simple means of a beautiful character in each person working together in love and joy. Thus the grand is achieved thought the simple solid day to day.

It is to this cause and this way that God invites us to take part when He says: glorify Me. For when I begin to understand some of the substance of this glory it becomes for me a privilege to be allowed to take part in something so grand, like being invited to pilot the rocket to the moon or play in the orchestra for the queen’s coronation.

The substance of the glory, love, shapes how we live for that glory. We love as He has loved us³⁹. We are invited to be the images of God. To love, to live, to rest, to serve, to sac rife, to work. To be like Him and participate in His glory by doing the things of His glory.

“Do all things for the glory of God.”⁴⁰ is a beautiful gift of a command, as is “Love God, love others.”⁴¹ He has loved us, what more could we desire to do than to love Him back and join Him in loving others, working together for the good of all things?

What now?

So what now? How do we actually go about living? By daily deciding to live fully. We do this by remembering backwards and forwards His great love and plans. We learn to trust and rest, as ourselves and in community. We move towards Him and each other by joining Him in His grand work of love. We do each day with Him as He has given us to do it, in ordinary ways radically founded on Him, and we rejoice! This is the Christian life, the grand infused ordinary. Not bazaar practices or complex rituals, but ordinary life infused with love, peace and hope, welling up in joy and community.

This is what I have found reflecting on the Father, Son and Spirit. I have found, like so many before me, that it is indeed wonderful to be a Christian. I have been praying that you may find that too. Perhaps a little thought this writing, but also in your own ways uncovering your own treasures. I look forward to sharing these with you, one day.