Leaving and Following

Today (1-18), we started our journey with Abraham by considering his call (12.1-9).  It's a call to which all of us can relate.  

Like Abraham, we're called to be a blessing.  God has a mission, therefore, there is a church.  God has a mission to heal the world that he loves, so he calls together communities to be witnesses.  (I need to be careful with that sentence: I don't mean everyone is called to evangelize, but we're called to reflect the character of God, together).   This is what God is frequently up to--he's calling people together to be witnesses, to be a blessing.  It's our call as well.  

But to get there, God will frequently call us to leave the familiar.  God will call us to leave what we find so comfortable so that we can embrace the new.  It's a critical step that should not even need much comment.  However, this is where many struggle.  Isn't this where New Year's resolutions fail?  People make a commitment, forgetting that every commitment requires a renunciation.  If you want to read 100 books this year, you'll have to unplug the TV.  So it is for our spiritual lives.  God calls us to follow him and join him in a new adventure.  But to do that, we often--not always--are called to leave the familiar.  We must leave the sin that so easily entangles.  Or perhaps we're being called to a ministry, and we must leave the TV shows we really enjoy--moving away from the trite toward a treasure.  

Now please hear me:  I'm not trying to paint dramatic pictures of leaving the Tri-Valley area.  I'm envisioning a renunciation of a self focussed solely on comfort (or on some other idol) for a self centered on God and His will.   I'm also envisioning several tiny renunciations that keep us from getting stuck in a habit or a way of thinking which keeps us from loving others.  In short, most of us will not have to go anywhere in order to leave.  

The next part of the formula is that we're called to journey with God.  Abraham is not given a map or timeline--just a call to go with God, and God will show him the land.  It's truly a journey.

The same is true for us.  We're not called to follow some rules but to follow our savior.  It will be different for all of us.  But still we follow together.  Each person must decide whether or not he or she will respond and follow Jesus.  You won't know what it looks like.  It's a journey, but a journey well worth it.  

I pray God will continue to show the way you should go.  

Peace.

Holiness

Here are some loosely connected thoughts related to holiness, the theme of last Sunday's message:

First, holiness is both positive and negative.  As God calls us to holiness, he calls us to leave all that detracts from treating ourselves with respect and treating others with the reverence they deserve as children of God.  Examples would include the following:  pornography, lust, hatred, greed.  This is the negative aspects of holiness, we're called and empowered by God to say no to things that hurt us and others. The positive aspect of holiness is then living out of our new relationship with God through Christ in love.  Holiness is a fulfilling of the great commandment to love God and love others. 

  

Second, you can’t be holy alone.  Perhaps that statement needs to be audited.  But for now, I want to stay true to it.  Holiness is relational through and through.  Augustine believed that charity is the quintessential virtue for the Christian; and he also taught that holiness, defined by charity, leads us to others.  John Wesley believed there could be no holiness but social holiness.  Both of these men were standing on the foundation of scripture in making these statements.  When Isaiah talks about holiness he resorts to the themes of justice and mercy, as does the other prophets in the OT.  Paul speaks of love and hospitality in Romans 12-15.  Then read 1 Peter.  Peter calls the church to holiness but continues to define holiness relationally.  Holiness is personal (we all must appropriate, personally, what God has done in Christ), but holiness is not private (we can’t be holy on our own).  In short, we’re called to be holy together.  

Third, and related to everything else I've said, holiness makes us better at communal life.  Sin separates us from God, from ourselves, and from others.  That was the point of the illustration with the cardboard cutouts.  Sin keeps us from our true selves by making it very difficult to fellowship with others.  But as we grow closer to God, and as he speaks to us about our sin, we also draw closer to others.  This is the trajectory of the Law, the Prophets, Jesus, and Paul.    

Finally, holiness is a gift.  I can’t emphasize this enough.  Holiness is not something we obtain in our own strength.  We have been made alive in Christ.  In Christ we are made holy.  As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, speaking to knuckleheads no less: “But you were washed, you were sanctified (made holy), you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (6.11).  Paul believes they already have the foundation of sanctification (holiness).   Yet this does not mean we stay as we are.  Instead, we must appropriate all that God has done for us.  We must become who we are.  John Wesley believed we must strive with God’s strength to pursue a holiness of heart and life, to respond to the gift that has been given to us.  Such is our call.  

Peace!