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"A life… devoted unto God, looking wholly unto Him in all our actions, and doing all things suitably to His glory, is so far from being dull and uncomfortable, that it creates new comforts in everything that we do." William Law
A Serious Call to a Devout & Holy Life 1729
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When we typically think of "evangelism"—of the commission we hold to tell everyone, everywhere, all the time, of the Gospel of Jesus—it's been my observation that we tend to then get strategic, carried away by logistics, and sometimes end up hamstringing our potential best efforts. It reminds me of a particular moment from history.
After the French Revolution had (mostly) solidified and was starting to find its legs, the other European nations began to want to fight France to ensure its revolution didn't spread further. And, for the most part, the revolutionary French army did fairly well. But then, as stronger, more strident French voices started calling for further outward battles of conquest, a gentleman named Vergniaud—a Girondist—said this: "Citizens, let us profit from the lessons of experience. We can overturn empires by victories but we can only make revolutions for other peoples by the spectacle of our own happiness." My friends, that is what we're after! To so enjoy the glory, honor and peace that Jesus so readily provides that we spark off revolutions "by the spectacle of our own happiness." That the look of the joy of our experience of abiding in Him is intoxicating, overwhelming, and eminently inviting. That everyone would want what we have. Because we actually have what we actually have. "You ought to know by this time that Christ is in you, unless you are not real Christians at all. And when you have applied your test, I am confident that you will soon find that I myself am a genuine Christian. I pray God that you may find the right answer to your test, not because I have any need of your approval, but because I earnestly want you to find the right answer, even if that should make me no real Christian." 2 Corinthians 13:6,7
And, having read that, I want you to internalize this eternal, internal truth from this section: according to Paul of Tarsus, the "real Christian" is he or she with verifiable, inward experience of the life of Jesus living within them. (Let me type that again: the "real Christian" is he or she with verifiable, inward experience of the life of Jesus living within them.) Not just having all the rote Christian knowledges. Nor a perfect record of faithful Sunday attendances. Or, even, a reputation for doing nice "Christian" things. The "real Christian" is he or she with verifiable, inward experience of the life of Jesus living within them. "Verifiable" by who? You and the Holy Spirit. "Inward" meaning what? This all works from the inside out. The "life of Jesus living"--how? To the fullest, full extent of His own heavenly-earthly power and glory--to the degree that you'll abide in Him and let Him. It's interesting: where Phillips translates verse 6 as "unless you are not real Christians at all," the simple Greek says, "if you are not unapproved"--ἀδόκιμοι. The meanings of that word are: "discredited, not approved, unsatisfactory, unconvincing, and (to me, the most interesting) not legal tender." So let's flip this on its head, shall we? As we choose to engage more and more with the inward reality of the indwelling of Jesus within us, what will we become--and be? Creditable with His words and witness; approved by Him for the purposes of His Kingdom; utterly, meaningfully satisfactory to His very own heart; mightily convincing--to Him and others--in the devotion of our lives; and (and, again, my favorite) legal tender of the heavenly economy, ready to spend and be spent, unable to be counterfeited because our weights and measures are GLORY. One last time: the "real Christian" is he or she with verifiable, inward experience of the life of Jesus living within them. My friends, let us never stop moving in the direction of greater and greater encounter with Him, right here within! At the end of 2 Corinthians 12, Paul, writing from a position of remove, writes the following of his potential upcoming visit to Corinth:
Are you thinking that I am trying to justify myself in your eyes? Actually I am speaking in Christ before God himself, and my only reason for so doing is to help you in your spiritual life. For I must confess that I am afraid that when I come I shall not perhaps find you as I should like to find you, and that you will not find me coming quite as you would like me to come. I am afraid of finding arguments, jealousy, ill-feeling, divided loyalties, slander, whispering, pride and disharmony. When I come, will God make me feel ashamed of you as I stand among you? Shall I have to grieve over many who have sinned already and are not yet sorry for the impurity, the immorality and the lustfulness of which they are guilty? (2 Corinthians 12:19-21) Reading this, in its clearly negative tone, made me think of where we've been, in the (relatively) much more positive, as we've transited through these last few strange months. In all this time, rather than being together—at places like Anchor, church, out to coffee, out to lunch, etc.—we have all been living in varying degrees of isolation and remove. And I remember saying to Jenny, about the middle of the first full week of the shutdown: "Well, now begins the battle of the inner life." Is that how you've found it to be, too? As a battle to win the battlefield of your heart and mind? As a time to fight the feelings of desperation and, instead, to present your inner life as a ready place for communion with Jesus? Indeed, reading through this Chapter 12 conclusion this week, I've been hearing Paul's words in a different way: All this time, we have had ample opportunity to dig down deep into the realities of our forever-finished justification. Christ Himself, God Himself, has been leaning forward to speak to us personally; His only reason for so doing is to establish His spiritual life in us. For He professes that He’s always delighted to come to us and to make us into the people He should like to find us being, and I guarantee that, when His presence is fully manifest, we will find Him even better than we'd hoped He could be. He will come to end all argument, all human need for comparison, hatred, division, lying speech, rumor-milling, pride and disharmony--within us. And when He comes, He will be so proud of our inviting Him to come! He will wipe the every tear from our eyes, remind us of our perfect freedom from sin—eradicating all guilt and shame—and He will teach us of the glory of His Way and of the righteousness He’s already imputed to us. Friends, isn’t Jesus wonderful? |
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