Part Five
From the moment of our birth, our association with the tangible world around us comes through input from our five senses. We learn to rely on the information our senses give us in order to relate to the physical world. Thus: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell all serve as tools we use to interact with our environment. When we process our contact with the physical through our five senses, we make a distinction between what is real and what is not, as it relates to these senses.However, our senses are not the only determining factor of what is real. Emotions are real. Love is real, hate is real, anger is real and yet they are not physical. We do not deny their existence, because we relate to the evidence of feelings. One cannot hold joy in their hand, or put sadness in their pocket, but no one denies emotions are real experiences.
Is reality then, dependent only on our acceptance of its existence based on these sensory factors? Is the physical world real only because we relate to it, and are the emotions real only because of our experiences? Is the Spiritual world only real if we believe it exists? Is reality based only on perception, and personal experience?
If we say one situation is more real than another, then by implication we are saying there are degrees of reality. Either something is real, or it is not. One thing cannot be more real than another. It is not a question of degree; it is not more, or less; it is a matter of reality in different realms. In as much as each realm is real but different, we can say one realm is greater than another. Just as the physical is greater than the shadow it casts; so also the Spiritual is greater than the shadow of the natural. Not more real -- just greater.
As Christians, we know both the physical, and the Spiritual worlds are real. Just as we have been born into this physical world, so also we must be born into the Spiritual world. As Christians, we live in contact with these two realms; or Kingdoms. Faith in Christ’s substitutional atonement on our behalf is that which "bridges the gap" between these two real Kingdom worlds; the physical, and the Spiritual. As Christians we have entered into, and now live within the existence of that Spiritual realm. We have encountered the reality of the existence of that which is beyond our five senses with which we relate to this natural world. We now have a point of contact with two levels of reality. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolish unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (I Cor. 2:14)
This is not just some future event; as so many in the Church suppose. We do not have to physically die to get to heaven before we can live in this spiritual kingdom. We live within this reality now. "We are seated with Christ in heavenly places." It is not a matter of "holding on", "hanging in there", or "fake it till you make it!" Our assurance and security of life in this spiritual reality does not depend on our being good enough to earn it. It is not about our living up to some sort of standard. It is not about what we do, what we have done, or what we are going to do. It is all about what Christ has already done on our behalf. It has nothing to do with us at all; it is not about us! It is all about HIM!
It’s not about who we are in Christ, so much as it is who Christ is within us. It is not that we become anything, but rather we must die to ourselves that Christ becomes everything. Paul confirms this when he says, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20.
The message of Grace has long been the subject of great controversy, even since Paul first introduced us to it in the first century. Many who fear that teaching on Grace would lead to unrestrained sin, or passive inactivity, will present the teaching of Grace along with works of the flesh, and or, obedience to the Law. However the message of Grace is one of liberty from the weight, and the bondage, and the penalty of sin. It is a message of the freedom we have from the penalty of not having kept the Law. God forbid that our liberty would give us license. It is unthinkable that our freedom from the penalty of sin, by Grace is opportunity to sin. It is not freedom to sin, but freedom from sin! "How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? ...even so we should walk in the newness of life." Romans 6:2-4.
When Grace is not fully taught, or understood, it will usually lead to one of two responses. As a result, the counselor might find one of these two cases presented by a counselee in his office. For one: the counselee might consider that the perfect life we have in Christ is an excuse to be inactive in their Christian life, or to be free to live an unchristian lifestyle. They may feel that because they did not deserve it, neither did they earn it, that neither do they have to live a changed life because of it. It is the kind of thinking that says, "Since Christ accepts me just the way I am, and I am already perfect in Him, and since there is nothing I need to do that can earn His love, or acceptance, and since my salvation is secure, and not dependent on my works of righteousness, or my keeping of the law, I can live my life any way I want."
In such a case they must be encouraged to walk in the newness of their life in Christ. They must be made to see that they have been bought with a price; the precious blood of the lamb. They must see that their free gift, cost Jesus Christ His life on the cross. They must come to know, they have been "called out of darkness into His marvelous light", and they are to "walk worthy of their calling" in Him. No one has understood the fullness of the meaning of Grace as much as Paul did, and yet there are few that can match the fervor with which he was active in doing works as a response to the Grace he was given in his life.
The second, and more typical response to an incomplete teaching of Grace, is that of the counselee’s thinking that Grace is incomplete. That somehow they must add to Grace to pay for their present sins committed since they became a Christian. They never feel worthy to receive all that Grace has accomplished in their life. They become discouraged that they cannot measure up to the standard of perfection in Christ, and do not see that they are truly forgiven. They may understand that their past sins have been forgiven when they became a Christian, but do not see that they are living in a state of forgiveness now. They try to live by the standard of perfection set forth for a sinless life in Christ, but somehow always manage to fail, and to fall short of perfection in their flesh. They become chained to their present sins, and the past mistakes of their old man Adam. They do not see that Grace for their forgiveness is fully met for all sins: past, present, and future, in Christ’s atoning death on the cross. As a result they live in a constant state of guilt, and self condemnation. It is this sense of guilt, and condemnation, that paralyzes them against progress in the freedom of their life in Christ. Such are the ones who constantly feel the need to go forward during altar calls to re-dedicate their life to Christ.
In either situation, the counselor must counsel with a balanced understanding of our salvation, and sanctification by Grace. A Grace where love and gratefulness to God inspire good works, not duty, and law. To the first; presenting a Grace where the expression of fruits are an expected visible result of what Christ has done in their heart. To the second; presenting a salvation by Grace that is complete, and gives the ever present assurance of acceptance in Christ, laying aside the past, and encouragement to; "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14. What shall I say then, about the saying: we are C.U.C.s (Christians Under Construction)? It is cute for a bumper sticker, but not necessarily biblically sound. I know what is meant when it is said, and as such I would not argue with anyone who chooses to use it, but I think there can be a subtle danger in its application within the framework of a counseling setting.
Christianity is not a lifestyle that we adopt. It is not a membership to which we join, and agree to follow all the creeds and rules. When we call upon the Name of the Lord, we are saved. We become a newly created being called a Christian. As such, we begin a process of developing into mature believers.
I have never heard the saying, we are Christians Under Construction, along with the like minded saying; "Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven" used as a motivation to mature growth. It is always in the context of providing a stumbling block excuse to immature behavior. It is to subtly imply we are not expected to behave as Christians until the construction is complete. Since most do not expect to be complete or perfect in this life, we have a perpetual excuse to live a double minded life.
We are the Temple of the Lord; we are not being constructed into the Temple of the Lord. A child is not a person under construction. He is a person in the process of growing to maturity. We have been given all that pertains to life, and Godliness. We are admonished in the Scripture to walk in the newness of that life. Better that we should counsel toward mature growth in the Lord, and to not provide excuses for the flesh.
AMEN.
