Much of the widespread dissatisfaction with evangelism and the outworking of the Christian life has its root ultimately in us losing our grip on the biblical gospel. Without really realising it, over the years, we have bartered the gospel for a substitute product which, though similar enough in points of detail, is as a whole a different thing altogether. Hence the troubles and the perplexity, for the substitute does not answer the ends for which the biblical and authentic gospel once proved itself so mighty. Why so?
It lies in the character and content of what is presented as the gospel. It fails to make men God-centred in their thoughts and God-fearing in their hearts because this is not primarily what it tries to do.
What is presented is exclusively concerned with what is ‘helpful’ to man – to bring peace, comfort, happiness, satisfaction – and too little concerned to glorify God. The biblical gospel’s first concern was always to give glory to God – it was always and essentially a proclamation of divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good, both in nature and in grace.
Whereas the chief aim of the biblical gospel was to teach men to worship God, the concern of what is currently presented seems limited to making them feel better; the subject of the biblical gospel was God and His ways with men, the subject of the current one is man and the help God gives him.
The communication and preaching of the biblical gospel centres on:
1) The plight of man is not merely of guilt for sins, but also pollution in sin and bondage to sin – the state of being wholly dominated by an inbred attitude of enmity to God. Man has to be convinced of his utter inability to improve himself in God’s sight and the index of the soundness of a man’s faith in Christ is the genuineness of self-despair from which it springs.
2) The goal of grace is the glory and praise of God, and our salvation is a means to this end.
3) The sufficiency of Christ – He is the living Redeemer, the perfect adequacy of whose saving work they never tired of extolling and praising.
4) The condescension of Christ – He was and is never to believers less than the divine Son, and they measured His mercy by His majesty – they magnify the love of the cross by dwelling on the greatness of the glory which He left for it.
5) God is hostile toward sin, in the present as well as in the future (when sin would be utterly destroyed and condemned). Hence man, in his plight, is destined to die physically and spiritually and his is eternal condemnation, unless God intervenes.
6)The Father and the Son have promised that all who know themselves to be sinners and put faith in Christ as Saviour shall be received into favour, and none cast out. God has made repentance and faith a duty, requiring of every man and woman who hears the gospel.
The gospel today is presented as if man is doing God a favour to receive Christ; it is presented as if man has the ultimate decision and choice to respond, and that God is passively and ‘powerlessly’ waiting for his response. This is far from the gospel truth; we need to recover the true gospel and our grip on the biblical gospel!
RECOVERING OUR GRIP ON THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL (B)
We have considered how, over the years, we believers have lost our grip on the biblical gospel and have settled for a gospel with a content and character that is different from the authentic biblical gospel that is passed on from the apostles.
This “new gospel” is concerned to be helpful to man – to bring peace, happiness, comfort, satisfaction (and in some quarters to bring wealth, health, and prosperity). But the biblical gospel is God-centred – it is concerned to give glory to God, to proclaim His sovereignty, His mercy, love, and grace coming through in the salvation and redemption plan of the Trinity. It is also concerned to magnify Christ, to extol the richness, and freedom, and glory of His grace, and the perfection of His saving work; it is concerned to honour Christ to show His glory to needy men and women, to exalt this mighty Saviour.
But when what is proclaimed is man-centred, meeting the needs of man and making him the focus of the salvation plan, making his choice and decision the main focus, rather than the grace, mercy, and love of God in offering him forgiveness of sin, reconciliation to Him, and a place in God’s family. and inheritance in the new heaven and new earth, then the response and outworking of so-called conversion of the man would centre on what is due to him from God, rather than the gratitude, adoration and worship of God who has ensured his eternal well-being and destiny. There is superficial worship and a lack of appreciation of what God in Christ has done for him – from eternal condemnation, he is transferred to eternal bliss, peace and joy in His kingdom and he is apparently oblivious to this great privilege.
With such an understanding, the ‘believer’ is prone to ‘demand’ the blessings of God in his life; and when things go awry, and he did not get what he thinks he deserves, then it goes without question that he becomes ‘upset’ with God and cast doubts on the meaning of being a Christian. To him, non-Christians seem to fare better in life, and they apparently are not ‘losers’ but winners in a big way.
The biblical gospel brings the believer into ‘knowing God’; it is a knowledge which arises within a relationship. Faith is about trust in God, from which particular experiences of God have their origin. Knowledge of God is ‘more than knowing about God, although knowing about God is its foundation’.
To know God is also to know God’s relationship to us. To know God is to know ourselves; to know ourselves truly, we must know God. Knowing God is not knowing Him in isolation; it is knowing Him in His relationship to us, that relationship in which He gives Himself and His gifts to us for our enrichment. To know HIm, we need to know His gracious gifts to us, and our need for such gifts in the first place. ‘Gracious gifts’ imply we do not deserve those gifts and we certainly do not deserve His ‘giving of Himself’ to us. If we see this clearly, then there is no place to be self-centred and to be taking things for granted; instead, there is humility, deep gratitude, adoration, and wondrous worship of God.
The gospel spells out the following: God comes to us and makes Himself known in Christ; He communicates to us through His revelation in the history of mankind, in the Scripture, and it is not just presenting truth to our minds – it has to work in us in such a way in our hearts and change our nature. All these God does as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not because we deserve it, but because of His love, mercy and grace. He could have left us alone to die in our sins, and to perish eternally. “But God so loves the world that He gives HIs only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
However, man has turned away from God; sin has come in; human nature has become twisted. Man is now anti-God in his basic attitudes. He is not interested in fellowship with God. It is no longer in his nature to love God; it is no longer in his nature to respond to God. We treat ourselves as though we were God. We live for ourselves; we seek to bend everything to our own interest. In doing so, we fight God; that is, we fight the real God. We say No to Him. We push Him away from the centre of our lives.
And if the gospel message is proclaimed as to highlight the interests and needs of fallen man and not the grace, mercy and sovereignty of God, then we just provide more ‘fuel’ to light the ‘fire’ of man’s self-centredness and affirms that he is the centre of the universe, and that God is ‘begging’ him to return to Him and be saved.
Christians who live as if God needs to meet their expectations and wants consistently are surely not among those who have truly responded to the preaching of the biblical gospel.
And if we communicate less than the authentic gospel, we are not being faithful in sharing the true ‘good news’.
If, in sharing the gospel, we think we must add something, such as circumcision, to what we already have in Christ, then Christ Himself will do us no good (note the controversy in Galatians). In the face of the Corinthians’ thirst for wisdom Paul declares that he had nothing to preach but Christ, Christ crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). Like the false teachers in Corinth, if we are not careful, we may be preaching another Christ and another gospel, Christ alone is the primary motto of Paul’s theology; and he declared “anathema’ to those who preach another gospel.
RECOVERING BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR SPIRITUALITY
God’s truth is given to be practised; theology means thinking and talking about God and His creatures in the light of God’s own revelation and self-disclosure in history and Scripture; ethics means determining what actions and qualities of character please God; and spirituality means pursuing, achieving, and cultivating communion with God, which includes both public worship and private devotion, and the results of all these in actual Christian life.
Why the detailed descriptions of the meaning of theology, ethics, spirituality and how all these are intimately related to Christian life, outworking and practice of God’s truth in the life of believers and the church?
Ethics and spirituality actually should be related to the truths of theology; and theology should always have its focus on the ethical and devotional implications since the study of God and truths mean the truths are to be practised and applied. Unfortunately theology is commonly anchored in universities and bible colleges where the focus is the advancement of learning rather than the direction of life as its goal. In fact, some theologians never see ethics and spirituality as their business, and limit their interest in abstract and formal truth in such a way that ultimately trivializes theology itself. On the other hand, some exponents of spiritual life, not seeing themselves as theologians or theology as basic in their task, let their wisdom appear as comments from experience rather than a call to commune with God based on proper understanding and application from gospel truths and issues (which come forth from wholesome study of the Bible and theology). Both ‘extremes’ are not ‘healthy’ and the result is inadequate and ‘shaky’ foundations for biblical spirituality in individuals and the church.
So, arising from this, it is not surprising that what is preached and taught (by those theologians who are basically interested in advancement of learning; and by those who focus on ‘experience’ and ‘grassroot training’) is at times remote from biblical ethics and spirituality, and at times may appear ‘similar’ to what is revealed in Scripture, but is different as a ‘total package’ from the wholesome biblical point of view. And many of these ‘preachers’ and ‘teachers’ are actually dispensing these ‘teachings’ regularly to the local churches.
We need therefore to learn from the Berean Christians who checked the preaching and teaching (even from apostle Paul) whether they were consistent with the teaching of Scripture. That means Bible study, even theology (in particular that which is gleaned from godly theologians and even godly Christians in church history who ‘implemented’ the various important ‘Creeds’), and learning from one another in the church are all essential in the quest to recover biblical foundations for spirituality.
Biblical revelation is not merely to provide a ground for personal faith and guidance for individual Christian living,but also to enable the world-wide church in every age to understand itself, to interpret its history, to reform and purify its life continually, and to rebuff all assaults made upon it, whether from within, by sin and heresy, or from without, by persecution and rival ideologies. All the problems that ever faced or will face the church are in principle covered and solved in the BIble. For the Christian BIble, though a very human book, recording much sin and error, reflecting in many places the weaknesses and limitations of its authors, is yet – and this is the fundamental truth about it – a divine product whose ultimate Author is God. The BIble, then, is the revealed Word of God, in the sense that in its pages God speaks His mind – all His mind – concerning His purpose for His people. It is not merely a report of what God said: it is what He says, here and now. It is itself a link in the chain of God’s redemptive action.
The Christian who responds to the biblical gospel and has his foundations on biblical spirituality believes the following and lives by them:
He honours and proclaims the Christ of the Scriptures, who is Jesus, God-incarnate, humankind’s crucified and risen Saviour and reigning Lord, Son of the Father and the way to the Father, focus of Christian faith, hope, love, worship and service.
Jesus is the one slain Lamb of God now alive from the dead, the Master and Friend of each believer for time and eternity. The divine Redeemer, who is with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is to be adored for ever and ever. The heart of the matter is devotional and doxological commitment to the Christ of the Scriptures.
Preachers, teachers, Pastors are called to be physicians of the soul, promoting and guarding the spiritual health of God’s people, and their work requires them to understand what it means for individuals to love and enjoy God through Jesus Christ. As doctors and physicians need knowledge of physiology in order to detect and treat diseases, so pastors and preachers, and teachers, need insight into spirituality in order to teach and to advise for the furthering of spiritual health and the overcoming of sin and folly in their many forms.
Here is the call to recover biblical foundations for biblical spirituality!
May the Lord enable such foundations to be strengthened, renewed (when necessary) such that the church will not topple under an insecure foundation which is easily destroyed by the ‘storms of life’ and spiritual opposition.
RECOVERING THE ‘NATURE OF THE CHURCH’
The church of God is a subject that stands at the very heart of the Bible; the church is the object of the redemption plan of God which the Bible proclaims.
The Son of God became man and died to save the church; God purchased His church at the cost of Christ’s blood. It is also through the church that God makes known (and will make known in all fullness of His glory) His redeeming wisdom to the hosts of heaven.
Over the years however, the nature and concept of the church has been ‘lost’, not only to non-believers, but also to Christians. Para-church groups have emerged and although some are doing a good work in evangelism, they do not replace the church; there are those believers who do not wish to worship together with other believers in the church (after some bad experiences) and they think it is alright to carry on as individual Christians.
But it is within the church that the individual Christian finds the ministries of grace, the means of growth, and the primary sphere for service (Eph. 4:11-16). We cannot properly understand the purpose of God, nor the method of grace, nor the kingdom of Christ, nor the work of the Holy Spirit, nor the meaning of world history without understanding and studying the doctrine of the church.
There is a sense in which the outward form of the church disguises its true nature rather than reveals it. The church is essentially not a human organisation as such, but a divinely created fellowship of sinners who trust a common Saviour, and are one with each other because they are all one with Christ in a union realised and effected by the Holy Spirit. Hence the church’s real life, like that of its individual members, is for the present ‘hid in Christ with God’ (Col. 3:3) and will not be manifested to the world until Jesus appears in the second advent. If we understand the church’s nature, we need insight into the person and work of Christ and of the Spirit and into the meaning of the life of faith.
Take note: the church is not simply a New Testament phenomenon. The New Testament church is the historical continuation of Old Testament Israel. The New Testament word for ‘church’, ekklesia (in secular Greek a public gathering), is regularly used in the Greek Old Testament for the ‘congregation’ of Israel. Apostle Paul pictured the church in history, from the beginning to his own day as a single olive tree, from which some natural (Israelit) branches had been broken off through unbelief, to be replaced by some wild (Gentile) branches (Rom.11:16-24). Elsewhere, he tells Gentile believers that in Christ they have become ‘Abraham’s seed’, ‘the Israel of God’ (Gal. 3:29; cf. Rom.4:11-18; Gal. 6:16). Note also that in this understanding, not all from the physical nation of Israel are still branches of the olive tree, although God may bring a great awakening to them; and many from this nation may return to Him in the end times (Rom. 11:23-24), in the use of the statement “they as previous original branches can be grafted in again”. In the same vein, the wild branches can be broken off also from the olive tree because of unbelief; hence Paul warned Gentile believers not to be arrogant but to continue in God’s kindness, and faith. This indicates that not all in the New Testament church will continue to remain as branches in the olive tree; there are tares and wheat in the church today; and the tares would be broken off at the end times. The true Israel comprises true sons and daughters of Abraham, descendants based on ‘Promise’, not of physical descent; and the church consists of all children of promise from the Old Testament and New Testament (so Abraham is our father of faith based on a promise from God).
The basis of the church’s life in both Testaments is the covenant which God made with Abraham. The fundamental idea of biblical eschatology (study of end times) is of the church as the covenant people of God. A covenant is a defined relationship of promise and commitment which binds the parties concerned to perform whatever duties toward each other their relationship may involve.
By His covenant, God demands acceptance of His rule and promises enjoyment of His blessing. Both thoughts are contained in the covenant ‘slogan’, “I will be your God, and you shall be my people”; both are implied whenever a believer says ‘my (our) God’.
God expounded His covenant to Abraham in Genesis 17, a chapter of crucial importance for the doctrine of the church. The covenant was confirmed by the initiation of a ‘token’l, the initiary rite of circumcision (Gen. 17:11); later, through Moses, God gave His people a law for their lives and authorised forms of worship. Also, He spoke to them repeatedly, through His prophets, of their glorious hope which was to be realised when the Messiah came (fulfilment in the New Testament as we study the Gospels). Thus emerged the basic notion of the church as the covenant people of God, the redeemed family, worshipping and serving Him according to His revealed will, living in fellowship with Him and with each other, walking by faith in His promises, and looking for the coming glory of the messianic kingdom (which is inaugurated by the coming of the Son of God, God incarnate, the last Adam (sinless,born of the Spirit) and the Head of a new recreated humanity, as He completed His mission given by the Father).
When Christ came, the Old Testament conception was not destroyed, but fulfilled. Christ, the Mediator of the covenant, was Himself the link between the Mosaic and the Christian dispensation of it. The New Testament depicts Him as the true Israel, the servant of God in whom the nation’s God guided history is recapitulated and brought to completion, and also the seed of Abraham in whom all nations of the earth find blessing (note the cosmic element in this blessing, not just limited to a particular nation). Through His atoning death which did away with the typical sacrificial services for ever, believing Jews and Gentiles become in Him the people of God on earth. Baptism the New Testament initiatory sign corresponding to circumcision, represents primarily union with Christ in His death and resurrection, which is the sole way of entry into the church.
We shall share, God willing, the New Testament idea and notion of the covenant people of God in the nature and concept of the church in the next sharing.
RECOVERING THE ‘NATURE OF THE CHURCH’ (B)
As the individual believer is a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), raised with Him out of death into life (Eph. 2:1), possessed of and led by the life-giving Holy Spirit, so also is the church as a whole. Its life springs from its union with Christ, crucified and risen. Paul, in Ephesians, pictures the church successively as Christ’s building, now growing unto ‘a holy temple in the Lord’ (Eph. 2:21); His body, now growing toward a state of full edification (Rom. 12:1); and His bride, now being sanctified and cleansed in readiness for the marriage supper of the Lamb (Eph. 5:25; Rev, 19:7).
MINISTRY IN THE CHURCH
The New Testament conceives of all ministry in the church as Christ’s ministry to and through the church. As the church is a priestly people, all its members having direct access to God through Christ’s mediation, so it is a ministering people, all its members holding in trust from Christ gifts of ministry for the edifying of the one body.
Christ calls some specifically to minister the gospel, giving them strength and skill for their task and blessing their labours. As spokesmen and representatives of Christ, teaching and applying His Word, church officers exercise His authority; yet they need to remember that as individuals, they belong to the church as its servants, not the church to them as their empire. The church is Christ’s kingdom, not theirs (2 Cor. 4:5). This is a basic point which Martin Luther accused the papacy of forgetting. Even in the protestant churches, there is a great danger that one ‘domineering leader’ makes all the decisions and plans for the congregation, even though ‘on paper’ there is pleural leadership, and pride with self-centredness may lead the church onto the wrong path that leads to ‘the building of one’s own empire’ instead of the edification of God’s church. Every member has a responsibility to ensure that Christ is indeed the head of the church and not any ‘charismatic individual’; pastors and leaders are servants (ministers) of God who are entrusted with the task of guiding the church. As Paul puts it: “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip His people for work of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up..(Eph. 4:11-12). ‘To equip the church’ is used here not to describe the work of pastors but rather the work of the laity, that is, of all God’s people without exception. Ministry is not the prerogative of a clerical elite but is the privileged calling of all the people of God. Although there is a distinctive ministry for the clergy, the New Testament concept of the pastor is not of a person who jealously guards all ministry in his own hands, and successfully squashes all lay initiatives, but of one who encourages all God’s people to discover, develop and exercise their gifts. His teaching and training are directed to this end, to enable the people of God to be a servant people, ministering actively but humbly according to their gifts in a world of alienation and pain. Thus, instead of monopolizing all ministry himself, he actually multiplies ministries. For the whole body to grow, all its members are to use their God-given gifts.
In the purposes of God, the church is glorious; yet on earth it remains a little flock in a largely hostile environment. Often its state and prospect seem to us precarious, but we need not fear – Christ Himself the King who reigns is its Saviour, its Head, the Builder, its Keeper. He has given His promise: ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’. And He is not accustomed to break His word.
RECOVERING THE ‘NATURE OF THE CHURCH’ (C)
Failing to understand the nature of the church can lead to a number of problems. Defining the church functionally – in terms of what it does – can shift our perspective away from understanding the church as a unique community of God’s people – the church then tends to become a series of ministry functions such as worship, education, service, and witness.
Defining the church organisationally – in terms of its structure – can shift our perspective away from the spiritual reality of the church as a social community. The church becomes a patterned set of human behaviours to be structured and managed. These approaches reduce the church to a set of ministries administered through management skills to maintain effectiveness, or to an organisation designed to accomplish certain goals. These functional and organisational approaches can seduce leaders to put too much confidence in their managerial skills or in their use of organisational techniques.
The church is not just another human organisation that happens to have a different mandate for its life and ministry. The church is about human behaviour that is transformed through God’s redeeming power, and about patterns of life that reflect redemptive purposes. The church’s nature is unique, and this unique nature is the result of the work of God’s Spirit in the world; the church lives in the world as a human enterprise, but it is also the called and redeemed people of God. It is a people of God who are created by the Spirit to live as a missionary community; as such, it is both a social organisation (i.e. a human community of persons in relationship with one another) as well as a spiritual community. The church is God’s personal presence in the world through the Spirit; and if the church does not manifest this, it has basically failed in its existence and mission as a spiritual ‘signpost’ of God’s witness in this world through a people, and it is no better than just an ordinary social organisation.
The concepts of church and missions are two important ways of thinking about God’s work in the world. We have looked at how the church emerged with the covenant God made with Abraham in the Old Testament and continued to develop progressively; the New Testament church is the historical continuation of Old Testament Israel – the church thus consists of all children of Promise – so Abraham is the father of faith of the true Israel (comprising believers from both Old and New Testaments), the church thus is the spiritual Israel and the seed of Abraham based on promise, as contrasted with physical Israel based on the physical descendants of Abraham.
The concept of missions has a different heritage. Its role in the New Testament church is clear from the story of the expansion of the Christian movements in the first century world. Mission activity also took place through the church during different periods of the church’s history as the Christian movement spread into new areas. However, a special meaning became associated with this concept during the past two hundred years – this period witnessed the rise of the modern missionary movement, with scores of mission societies coming into existence that worked alongside the church.
It is important to distinguish between the terms ‘mission’ and ‘missions’. The term ‘missions’ describes the structures and activities that grew up during the modern missions movement. The use of the term ‘mission’, just like the plural form missions, refers to one of many functions of the church.
After the fall, God’s missionary character is again expressed in the work of redemption. God sent Jesus into the world to restore right relationship with all that was lost in the fall. God’s missionary character is also expressed in the work of consummation. God will act in history to bring all creation to a new fullness and to completion.
From this perspective, the church, as the people of God in the world, is inherently a missionary church. It is to participate fully in the Son’s redemptive work as the Spirit creates, leads, and teaches the church to live as the distinctive people of God. With this understanding, mission shifts from naming a function of the church to describing its essential nature. Church and mission are not two distinct entities; they speak about the same reality. They start at the same point, with the Triune God in mission to all of creation. The church is to participate fully in God’s mission to all of creation.
Understanding the church as being missionary by nature represents a more holistic way of thinking about mission. In this view, the Spirit-created church lives as the very body of Christ in the world. Its existence declares that the full power of God’s redemptive work is already active in the world through the Spirit. It lives as a demonstration that heaven has already begun for God’s people. This Spirit-led community possesses all the power of God’s presence, even while it awaits the final judgment of evil that will lead to the creation of the new heavens and new earth.
The redemptive reign of God as inaugurated by Jesus was integrated with an understanding of the Triune God seeking to redeem all of creation. The mission of God to all of creation was being carried out through the church in the power of the Spirit. The entire Godhead – Father, Son, and Spirit – are dynamically involved in the mission of God within creation, re-creation, and the final consummation. Mission is related to the sending work of God. The Son is sent by the Father. The Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. The church is missionary by nature because God has sent it on a mission in the world under the leading of the Spirit. It is to bear witness to God’s redemptive reign. Just as God is a missionary “God, so the church is to be a missionary church. It is to live fully within the active, redemptive, kingdom reign of God in the world as it is led by and taught by the Spirit. It is to be a new community that expresses both the intent of creation design and the aspirations of re-creation as it anticipates the new heavens and new earth. The new community is to live as a sign to the world that the full redemption reign of God is present in the world. Being a sign means that the very presence of the church in the world is a missionary statement by God. This new community is to live as a foretaste of this redemption, making available to everyone the fruit of grace-filled living. Being a foretaste means that every aspect of the life and ministry of the church in the world represents missionary activity. And this new community is to serve as an instrument to convey this Good News to others. It expresses this both in what it is and in what it does, both through its presence and intentional acts.
As we survey and look at the church in what it is and in what it does, do we see the Good News conveyed through its presence and activity? Or does it just exist as a worldly organisation in what it is, and does what it does intentionally reflect its presence as God’s people and community, manifesting God’s character, goodness, kindness, mercy and love? If it does in both aspects, it truly refects the fruit of grace-filled living and the fruit of the Spirit which in themselves, coupled with the preaching of the gospel, are manifestations of a missionary spirit that make the ‘world’ wonder what is so attractive about this people and their message to the world. In one sense, it is not accurate to say that the church must be involved in missions or the church must send missionaries….rather the church is inherently a missionary church; its very wholesome presence and acts reflect this missionary spirit, and as the Spirit leads, various ones maybe equipped and empowered by the Spirit to go forth to other areas of need (overseas or otherwise) as those sent by the church (just as Paul and Barnabas were sent by the church in Acts to go forth). The church which ‘remains behind, as it were’, continues to fulfill its role by its presence and acts as God’s people and community, which constitutes its mission. Ecclesiology and Missiology need not be separated.
RECOVERING AND RENEWING OUR PERSPECTIVES AND CONVICTIONS
I have been sharing on recovering the biblical Gospel, biblical spirituality, the nature of the church of God; all these, with my limited understanding that certain aspects of these realities have been lost over the years, and need to be recovered and renewed. The burdens centre on the need for faithfulness to the Lord God; on the pursuit of the honour and glory of the Triune God, and for us His people to do all for His sake and pleasure.
In that light, as we approach the end of a year, and the beginning of another year, I take this liberty to share on recovering and renewing our perspectives and convictions as God’s children, living in the last days; so that we may be receive His “well done, you good and faithful servant” at the end of our pilgrimage on earth.
One conviction so dear is the biblical witness to the sovereignty and particularity of Christ’s redeeming love (which is also the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit). We must not forget the implications of “He loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25). God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). And in the light of all these, my life no longer belongs to me. but I ought to live for Him who died for me and rose again. No longer should I dwell on self-pity, complaints, and murmurings – I need to learn well from the example of the children of Israel in the wilderness, after the great Exodus, and not keep looking back at “Egypt” (the world and its bondage) and ended up dying in the wilderness, and not entering the ‘promised land’.
The second conviction has to do with the deep realistic realisation about my continuing sinfulness (as righteous sinner), and the need for discipline of continual objective daily self-examination before God (not introspection) with the desire to right whatever is wrong, and to practice continual repentance before the holy God; to put to death the wrongful desires of the flesh in mortification, and to put on the ‘new man’ in Christ. Herein also includes the perspective and conviction of humility, meekness and teachability before the Holy Spirit who continues to put His finger on negative areas in my life, with love and mercy, so that I can continue to be transformed into the image of my Lord and Master.
There needs to be the constant reminder for the necessary regular discursive meditation, opening my mind and heart to the living Word of God in applying spiritual truth to myself, as well as turning that truth into praise and thanksgivings – a vital discipline for spiritual health.
In our pilgrimage on earth, I must not forget that I need to see and feel the transitoriness of this life, to think of it, with all its richness, as essentially the preparation and dressing-room for my journey end in the new heavens and new earth; and to regard readiness to die as the first step in learning to live. There ought to be the conviction that in the midst of life, we are in death, just one step from eternity; hence the required seriousness, calmness, and yet passion, with regard to the business of living the Christian life. I need to live daily on the edge of eternity; as a doctor, in my fifty years of practice after graduation, I have seen many of my dear patients passing away, and the age at which they expire varies from as young as little children to senior individuals. Some died suddenly; some through a period of illness and pain; even for myself, I experienced many near-death situations in my practice.
Reckoning with death brought appreciation of each day’s continued life, and the knowledge that God would eventually decide, without consulting us, when our work on earth is done – this brings energy for the work itself while we are still given time to get on with it.
Another conviction is to be aware that all theology and teachings from the Bible is also spiritual, in the sense that it has an influence, good or bad, positive or negative, on our relationship with God. If our theology and learning does not quicken our conscience and soften the heart, it actually hardens both; if it does not encourage commitment of faith, it reinforces the detachment of unbelief; it it fails to promote humility, it inevitably feeds pride.
There is also the conviction, though unpleasant at times, to speak up for the truth and to defend the truth that God reveals to us, even at the cost of being unpopular or even being persecuted, in accordance with the warning given by our Master. If they persecute the Lord, we need to be prepared to suffer for Him, and with Him here on earth (with the perspective that our sufferings here are not worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits when we finish the ‘race’).
Hence, with these, let us go on into 2025 and God willing, into many more years, with the convictions, perspectives, and boldness given to us by the Triune God, not just for us as individual believers, but for the church and His people.
Praise be to God!
RECOVERING BIBLICAL SPIRITUALITY (B)
As we consider recovering biblical spirituality, it might be helpful to examine two groups which have strayed from the biblical virtues and values of biblical Christianity; they are active in our world today, but their straying away may not be so obvious to many believers and hence the need to consider them from the biblical perspective.
The first group pursues after novelties, entertainments and ‘highs’, and it values strong feelings and emotions above deep thoughts. They have little taste for solid study, humble examination, disciplined meditation, and unspectacular hard work in their callings and prayers. They look åt the Christian life as one of extraordinary experiences rather than of resolute rational righteousness.
In this group, we come across individuals who attend one meeting after another to seek their ‘highs’ and they demonstrate much enthusiasm for what they learn from each meeting, but soon enough, they feel ‘deflated’ and needs another meeting which is coloured by emotional experiences and intense feelings to ‘bring them up’ again from their low point, and the cycle goes on.
They dwell continually on the themes of joy, peace, happiness, satisfaction and rest of soul without any reference to the divine discontent of Romans 7, the fight of faith in Psalm 73, or the ‘lows’ of Psalms r2. 88 and 102. In their restlessness, these exuberant ones become uncritically credulour, reasoning that the more odd and striking an experience the more divine, supernatural, and spiritual it must be, and they scarcely give the scriptural virtue of steadiness a thought.
Such ones need to recognise that spiritual life is fostered, and spiritual maturity is developed not by techniques but by truth, and if our techniques have been formed in terms of a defective notion of the truth, then we cannot make us better believers. They also need to understand that the Christian life is not a thrill-seeking ego-trip, seeking one emotional ‘high’ after another, pandering to a form of worldliness and individualism.
To counter the negative aspects of this group, we need to stress on God-centredness as a divine requirement that is central to the discipline of self-denial. They also need to cultivate the primacy of the mind, and the impossibility of obeying biblical truth that one has not yet understood. Such individuals must acknowledge that the Holy Spirit’s main ministry is not to give thrills but to create in us Christlkie character. Feelings do go up and down, and God does try us by leading us through waters of emotional flatness; but worship is life’s primary activity whatever the feelings and circumstances.
Sanctified suffering is part of God’s plan for His children to grow in grace.
We will go on to share on the second group, God-willing.
Biblical spirituality is marvellously strong, resilient and enduring, and it does not bend with every wrong wind of doctrine or is easily overwhelmed by emotional ‘downturns’.
RECOVERING BIBLICAL SPIRITUALITY (C)
We have looked at one group which emphasises novelties, emotional ‘highs’. and values strong feelings above deep thoughts. Some term them experientialists.
We now turn to another group: they are the entrenched intellectualists. Some in this group seem to be victims of an inaccurate temperament and inferiority feelings; others to be reacting out of pride or pain against those who champion experientialism.
Their behaviour pattern: they present themselves as rigid, argumentative, critical Christians, champions of God’s truth for whom orthodoxy is all. Upholding and defending their own view (whatever it may be in various Çhristian circles) is their leading interest.
There is little warmth about them; relationally they are remote (try in vain to get near to them); experiences do not mean much to them; winning the battle for mental correctness is their great purpose and pursuit. Ironically, many who belong to the experientialism group are more ‘warm’ and ‘friendly’, and they are willing to share their lives.
However, they may be right in seeking to right what is lop-sided – i.e. the instant gratification, feeling-oriented, anti-rational concepts and ‘knowledge’ of divine things; they also understand the priority of the intellect well. However, the trouble is that intellectualism ‘overlooks’ the fact that true religion claims the affections as well as the intellect; conceptual knowledge kills if one does not move on from knowing notions to knowing realities to which they refer to.
Faith and repentance, resulting in a life of goodwill and good works, are explicitly called for in the gospel. The Holy Spirit is given to lead us into close companionship with others in Christ. It is ungodly to practice legalism, concentrating on the minute ‘rules’ and ‘regulations, causing hurt and division in the church; nothing is more reputable than spiritual pride in its intellectual form that leads various ones to create parties and splits (recall the Corinthian church).
Note that spiritual gifts are given in Christ for edification and enrichment of His people (1 Cor. 12; 1 Cor. 14:3-5,12,17,26; Eph. 4:12,16). It is only through Christ, in Christ, and by responding to Christ that anyone is ever edified. For edification is precisely a matter of growing in the depth and fullness of one’s understanding of Christ and all else in relation to Him, and in the quality of one’s personal relationship with Him, and it is not anything else. Such a relationship does not exclude affections; and it invariably overflows to love relationship with the brethren and the neighbours.
RECOVERING BIBLICAL SANCTIFICATION
We may define sanctification as the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit involving our responsible participation, by which He delivers us from the pollution of sin, renews our entire nature according to the image of God, and enables us to live lives that are pleasing to Him.
Sanctification effects a renewal of our nature – it brings about a change of direction rather than a change in substance. In sanctifying us, God does not equip us with powers or capacities which are totally different from those we had before; rather, He enables us to use the gifts He gave us in the right way instead of in sinful ways. It empowers us to think, will, and love in a way that glorifies God; to think God’s thoughts after Him and to do what is in harmony with His will. Sanctification enables us to live lives which are pleasing to God – emphasis repeated.
Note first that we are sanctified in union with Christ. We are made holy through being united with Christ in His death and resurrection. We died to sin in union with Christ, who died for us on the cross. Sanctification must be understood as a dying to sin in Christ and with Christ, who also died to sin (Rom. 6:4,6,10). We are being sanctified through growing into a fuller and richer union with Christ (Eph. 4:15) – it involves not simply individuals in isolation from each other but the entire community of God’s people (v. 16). As we grow closer to Christ, we grow closer to each other. We are sanctified through fellowship with those who are in Christ with us.
In other words, we are united with one another because we are in Christ; our close relationship with one another as believers is because we grow closer to Christ. It is not that we can be united with one another because we are told to do so – it is only because we are all already in Christ, in His body, and the union and unity in Christ is already a reality when we are born again – we are a new creation related to one another and to the head, the Lord Jesus.
In the same way, sanctification is only possible for those already in Christ, who are born again, being a new creation with a new nature (the seed of God has been planted in). Although Christians have a new nature (one that has the potential to be like Christ), Christians still have the indwelling sin, i.e. Christians can behave in a fleshly and carnal manner despite having a new nature in Christ. But in the depths of his heart, the Christian, with a new nature in God, desires to please God; this desire grows as he grows in Christ, and when he fails, he is unsettled and discouraged. However, he must know that God can enable him to overcome the pollution of sin; and He is keen and able to renew his entire nature into the image of Christ and empower him to please God increasingly in his life, albeit there is no perfection here on earth until Christ comes again. In sanctification God brings about a change of direction in the Christian’s life but not a change in substance – the Christian is already a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) and he needs to live according to his new nature and substance in Christ.
But as stated earlier, sanctification involves our responsible participation. Sanctification means that we are being renewed in accordance with the image of God – we are becoming more like God, or more like Christ, who is the perfect image of God (Rom. 8:29). Our renewal in this image, however, may be viewed from two perspectives: as the work of God in us and as a process in which we are actively involved. The transformation is brought about in us by the Lord, who is also the Spirit (first perspective); we also have a responsibility in this matter – to seek to become more like Christ by following His example (Eph. 5:1). Hence Paul told the believers to put off their old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires (the indwelling sin, influenced by the world), and put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph.4:22-23). Note that the Christian is a righteous sinner; in Christ, he is justified, made right with God, declared righteous, but he still sins and he needs to repent (as a way of life), and renew his right relationship with God each time he fails, not remaining in ‘darkness’ but coming back quickly to the ‘light’ and seeks to continue to put off the old self and put on the new self as long as he lives on earth until he is perfected when he reaches the new heaven and new earth.
Take note: Jesus Christ Himself is our sanctification or holiness (1 Cor. 1:30); and it is through union with Christ that sanctification is accomplished in us. Jesus is the author of our sanctification, in the sense that He creates it for us, but He is also its ‘pioneer’ because He does so out of His own incarnate life, death and resurrection. He is the pioneer because as the unique hero of faith He has endured the cross, despising its shame and the opposition of sinners, and is now seated at God’s right hand. He is the first and only fully sanctified person. He not only died for us to remove the penalty of our sin by taking it Himself; He has lived, died, risen again, and been exalted in order to sanctify our human nature in Himself for our sake.
Having sanctified His human nature from the moment of conception by the Spirit, Jesus lived His life of perfect holiness in our frail flesh set in a world of sin, temptation, evil, and Satan. In our human nature, He grew in wisdom, in stature and in His capacity to obey the will of His Father (recall the study of Luke Gospel).
He was the first person to have lived a life of perfect obedience and sanctification. In His resurrection His sanctified human life was divinely transformed into ‘the power of an indestructible life (Heb. 7:16). Because this has taken place first in Christ our representative, it is possible for it to take place also in us through the Holy Spirit. Christ Himself is the only adequate resource we have for the development of sanctification in our lives. The whole of Christ’s life, death, resurrection and exaltation have, by God’s gracious design, provided the living deposit of His sanctified life, from which all our needs can be supplied. Because of our union with Him we come to share His resources. That is why He can ‘become for us’ sanctification, just as He is also our wisdom, righteousness and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30);
If we understand this clearly, we can understand why we cannot choose to be saved or converted; neither can we choose to be sanctified – we need first to have God drawing us to Himself by His grace and we need HIm to redeem us and to regenerate us through the Holy Spirit -then we are redeemed, regenerated, and placed in union with Christ and in Christ. In the same way, we must first be united with Christ and in Christ before we can cooperate with God’s Spirit (our responsibility) to grow in Christ, in holiness and sanctification. God is the One who initiates our salvation plan (even before the creation of the world); He is the One who sent Christ to carry out this plan and it is the Holy Spirit who effected this plan in each of our lives. When we are asked to choose salvation, to choose Christ, to commit ourselves to holiness, know that it is not in ourselves and in our power and choice – it is first and foremost God’s working in our lives and putting us in Christ and to inherit all the resources and inheritance in HIm. We can say that because we are in Christ (union with Him by God’s grace and mercy) and Christ is in us (dwelling in us through the Spirit with His empowerment and enabling) that we can choose, by His working in us (to will and to do) to follow Him and to persevere and grow in holiness and to be conformed to the image of our Master. From first to last, it is Christ; from first to last, it is for His sake and for His honour and glory! Hence there is no room for pride, no room to boast, but there is much room to praise, to adore and to worship!!
RECOVERING BIBLICAL SANCTIFICATION (B)
We have considered that we are sanctified in union with Christ (1 Cor. 1:30).
We are also sanctified by means of the truth. In John 17, Jesus prays for His disciples, “Sanctify them by (or ‘in’) the truth” (John 17:17). Christ, who came to bear witness to the saving truth of God, prays that the Father may keep His disciples in the sphere of this redemptive truth. Once Christ was no longer on the earth this truth would be found in God’s Word. He therefore adds, “Your word is truth.” We must grow in sanctification through the Bible, which is God’s Word. That the Bible is one of the chief means whereby God sanctifies His people is clearly taught in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The BIble also taught that we are sanctified by faith; faith is a means of sanctification. By faith, we continue to grasp our union with Christ, which is the heart of sanctification (elaborated in the previous sharing). In regeneration, which is totally a work of God, we are made one with Christ and enabled to believe in Him but we continue to live in union with Christ through the exercise of that faith. We learn from Ephesians 3:17 that Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. The apostle Paul himself expressed this truth in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
By faith we accept the fact that in Christ sin no longer has the mastery over us. Believers must not only recognise intellectually but embrace in full belief the truth that “our old self was crucified with HIm (Christ) so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Rom. 6:6) and that sin is no longer our master because we are not under law but under grace (v. 14).
By faith we grasp the power of the Holy Spirit, which enables us to overcome sin and live for God. Through faith we must appropriate the encouraging truth that by the Spirit we are able to put to death the misdeeds of the body (Rom. 8:13 i.e. mortification) and that if we live by the Spirit we will receive strength to cease gratifying the desires of the flesh (indwelling sin) and to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 22-23). Faith, in fact, is the shield with which we ‘can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one’ (Eph. 6:16).
Finally, faith is not only a receptive organ but also an operative power. True faith by its very nature produces spiritual fruit. “In Christ, Paul affirms, “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal. 56). Faith produces work (1 Thess. 1:3); the goal of God’s command to us is love, “which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5). So not only is justification by faith but also sanctification is by faith – indeed, the just shall live by faith. “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).
Hence we see the importance of truth (from the revelation of God), faith (a gift of God), the Holy Spirit (sent by the Father and the Son) and Christ (in His redemption, and fulfilment of HIs mission on earth as well as His resurrection and exaltation, and union with HIs people) – all these in operation in the process of regeneration and sanctification, and all made possible through God’s mercy, grace and love extended to humankind.