Chapter
IV
On
the prevailing inadequate conceptions concerning the nature
and the strictness of practical Christianity
Sect.
I (B)
“It
is the grand essential practical characteristic of true Christians,
that relying on the promises to repenting sinners of acceptance
through the Redeemer, they have renounced and abjured all other
masters, and have fervently and unreservedly devoted themselves to
God. … Christians are become the sworn enemies of sin; they will
henceforth hold no parley with it, they will allow it in no shape,
they will admit it in no composition; the war they have denounced
against it is fervent, universal, irreconcilable.”
Christians
give themselves without reserve to please Christ: they are not their
own; all they are and all they have now belong to Jesus. None of this
is now for their own gratification. Everything – abilities, skills,
money, time, authority, influence – all is now consecrated to the
honour of God and dedicated to the service of God.
Their
minds belong to Christ: “we take captive
every thought to make it obedient to Christ”
Their
lives: “He died for all that those who live
should no longer live for themselves but for him who dies for them
and was raised again”
True
in this life for all our efforts we fail to live up to this. But it
remains our fixed desire to daily improve in all holiness. We know
that: “without holiness no one will see the
Lord” This is the description of true Christian: “We
are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
It
is not just about fear of misery or desire for happiness. These do
have their place – but a lower one: the main thing is a passionate
desire to please God. As a creature to please its Creator certainly,
but more than that: Love. “We love God because he first loved us”.
We love God because we have glimpsed the infinite beauty of his
nature. We love God as “Our Father”.
“This
is the Christian love of God! A love compounded of admiration, of
preference, of hope, of trust, of joy; chastised by reverential awe,
and wakeful with continual gratitude.”
I
don't want to wound any weak but sincere believer. You may not
exactly fit this pattern. We are all different and different aspects
of what I described may come to the fore in different people. The
bottom line is this: a) determination to serve God, b) desire for
growth in holiness, c) confessing how unworthy and how fallible we
are.
Now
my objector may say: “Very good, but you are describing “Super
Christian”! Ordinary Christians don't need to aim that high!”
Yes,
they do! The Bible casts its precepts in the broadest and most
general terms. It never suggests anyone is “above the law”. Think
about it. You wouldn't get far with that plea in a human court: why
do you think God would fall for such a weak excuse.
Look
at the uncompromising language of the Bible; “You
are not your own, you were bought at a price”. We are
commanded to do the most difficult things “That
you may be children of you Father who is in heaven”. Which
can only be achieved by complete transformation: “No
one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” …
“you must be born again.”
There
is plenty more in the Bible: Everywhere Christians are described as
children and servants of God with the requirement of obedient service
that those close relationships entail.
Look
at the well known passage: “Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your
strength.” No amount of fast talking can make that sound as
though ordinary Christians only have to meet some mediocre standard!
Idolatry.
It is the number one sin in the Old Testament. The sin that really
got up God's nose and the one his people were most prone to. They
always tried to have God and their idols. God said
firmly and repeatedly: “No way!” God won't have anything in our
lives compete with wholehearted devotion to him. We are not just
talking figurines of wood stone and metal here: we are talking
whatever in our minds and hearts competes with God. All those
self-centred desires we nurture and feed have to go. Even proper
duties and affections have to come second to God: “Whoever
loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me”.
God
will have nothing less than wholehearted zeal: “because
you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my
mouth”
“It
is not in bowing the knee to idols that idolatry consists so much as
as in the internal homage of the heart – as in the feeling towards
them any of that supreme love, or reverence, or gratitude which God
preserves to himself as his own exclusive prerogative. On the same
principle, whatever draws off the heart from him, engrosses our prime
regard, and holds chief place in our esteem and affections, that …
is no less an idol to us than an image of wood or stone would be
before which we should fall down and worship.”
So:
stop trying to water down what God requires! Nothing less than
fervent unreserved devotion to him and to serving his glory will do!
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