CHRISTIANITY 101: GOD TRANSFORMS
When I was growing up in the 1960s and the 1970s, my parents – like most parents – took my brother, my sister and me to church every Sunday morning…whether we wanted to go or not. Then when we grew up and were old enough to make our own decisions, my brother and my sister drifted away from the church, while I became a minister. The irony of that is that I was the so-called black sheep of the family. Oh, I wasn’t so bad…it’s just that I had to experience everything for myself, and no one could tell me anything. If you were to ask my wife of 26 years about that last statement, she might tell you that I’ve changed very little in that regard.
In any case, my sister has absolutely nothing to do with the institutional church to this day. One time we were having a telephone conversation and the subject matter, for some strange reason, turned to the afterlife. I said, “What do you think will happen to you when you die?” She said, “Why, I’ll go to heaven, of course.” I said, “Really? Why?” To which she replied, “Because I’m a good person.” I said, “You know, I’m a minister…and I’m a vile, evil, despicable sinner.”
Now let me pause for a moment to interject something here. Garrison Keillor of A Prairie Home Companion on National Public Radio says that when the minister admits that he’s a sinner, the first thing the congregation thinks is adultery, and the second thing the congregation thinks is, “With whom?” It’s not like that at all. Truth be told, in the Reformed tradition, of which we are a part, we are taught in seminary about the total depravity of humanity. The basis of the concept of the total depravity of humanity…is that everyone is a sinner. That’s why God had to send his Son in the first place. In fact, it has been my experience that the closer one is to God, the more cognizant one tends to be of one’s own depravity. In other words, those who know God the best seem to be aware their sinfulness the most. I’m going to attempt to make the case today that that may not be the best narrative for us to have. Keep that thought in mind as we move on.
Several weeks ago, we talked about the contrast between our tendency to gratify the desires of the flesh and the Apostle Paul’s call for us to live by the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit. We noted how human will power lacks the capacity to change much of anything within us. Change happens when something else is modified. What needs to be modified? What needs to be modified is our personal narrative of who and what God is. We need to have the proper story in our minds as to who and what God is, if we’re ever going to change who and what we are, because everything about us stems from our own internal narrative.
As Jesus is God Incarnate, we determined to let Jesus establish our new internal narrative. We noted how one of the false narratives that many people have of God is that God somehow sticks it to us if we do something wrong. Citing a passage from the gospel according to John, we saw Jesus and his disciples encounter a man who was blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned – this man or his parents – that he was born blind?” In their minds, it had to be one or the other. Blindness was perceived to be punishment from a vindictive God. Thus, Jesus set out to establish a new narrative within them. He quickly replied, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. He was born blind that the works of God might be made manifest in him.” In other words: God is good; God wills the good…and the glory of God will ultimately be revealed in him. Then Jesus healed the man born blind. The point is that God wills what’s best for us. The problem is that we don’t see the big picture as God sees the big picture. Yet the narrative Jesus clearly sets out to establish here…is that God is good.
We considered how much of our experience might lead us to believe that God cannot be trusted. Why, even Jesus was not spared the agony of the cross when he begged God to do so. Thus, what we did was embark upon the process of conducting a spiritual inventory. In other words, we took the time to count our blessings. What we discovered is that while our troubles are indeed very real, they are really quite small compared to God’s widespread mercy. The more we are able to comprehend how many blessings we really have – freely given and freely received – the more we come to realize that God truly does will what’s best for us. And when that moment of revelation occurs, we cannot help but conclude that God is indeed trustworthy.
Then we explored what we called a performance-based narrative. A performance-based narrative dictates that the good are rewarded with good, while the bad are punished with bad. The problem with a performance-based narrative about God is that it completely ignores the concept of grace. Thus, while looking at the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, we encountered a landowner who gave not on the basis of what the laborers earned, but rather, on the basis of his abundant generosity. Jesus’ intent, of course, was to equate the landowner with God. We discovered that – while the way of the world may be survival of the fittest – the way of God is generosity to a fault.
Looking at another angle of the performance-based narrative, we wrestled with whether or not God loves us only when we are good. We considered the parable of the prodigal son. There we discovered that there is a difference between hating the sin and hating the sinner. God loves us unconditionally and longs for our return. He will not rest until all of his children are securely under his roof. What remains for us to decide is whether life in the Father’s house is better than life on our own. Some come to that realization later than others, and some never come to it at all. Yet the Father’s love remains undaunted, for the love of God is unconditional.
Then we contrasted the grace of God with the holiness of God. The grace of God has to do with God’s unconditional love and acceptance, while the holiness of God has to do with God’s passing judgment on sin. We compared the grace of God and the holiness of God to the two wings of a bird. How far can a bird fly by flapping only one wing? The world needs the grace of God on the one hand – and the holiness of God on the other hand – if it is ever going to fly; if it is ever going to change; if it is ever going to grow.
Finally, we considered the self-sacrifice of God. We determined through considered examination of Trinitarian theology that God did not casually send his Son to die on a cross to save us from our sin. It was God himself who went to the cross that day. Why did God have to die? Maybe the answer is that God did not have to die. Maybe the answer is that God chose to die. Why? For God so loved the world.
Today our goal is to establish the narrative that God transforms. Earlier we considered the total depravity of humanity. The basis of the concept of the total depravity of humanity is that everyone is a sinner. As I mentioned a moment ago, it has been my experience that the closer one is to God, the more cognizant one tends to be of one’s own depravity. Those who know God the best tend to be aware of their sinfulness the most. The question now is: “Is that really the best narrative for us to have?” Should we be primarily focused on our own sinfulness?
Martin Luther is referred to by many as the father of the Reformation. In formulating his famous slogan of the Reformation, Martin Luther coined the Latin phrase, “simul justus et peccator.” It literally means, “simultaneously righteous and a sinner.” I suspect this was Luther’s way of arguing against the idea that our own efforts play any role in our salvation. We are reconciled to God by the grace of God and the grace of God alone…and all the while remaining the miserable, wretched sinners that we are.
Though the idea that even the best Christians are sinners seems true – and has been articulated by theologians for the past 2000 years – maybe it’s not the best way for us to look at ourselves. Dr. David C. Needham is the author of a book entitled, Birthright: Christian, Do You Know Who You Are? In it, he poses this question: “What could be more frustrating than being a Christian who thinks himself to be primarily a self-centered sinner, yet whose purpose in life is to produce God-centered holiness?” Again, “What could be more frustrating than being a Christian who thinks himself to be primarily a self-centered sinner, yet whose purpose in life is to produce God-centered holiness?” Perhaps it’s time we devised a new narrative about ourselves.
Try this one on for size. Maybe Christ did not go to the cross primarily to do for us wretched sinners what we could not do for ourselves. Maybe Christ went to the cross primarily because he loved us enough to want something better for us. Again, maybe Christ did not go to the cross primarily to do for us wretched sinners what we could not do for ourselves. Maybe Christ went to the cross primarily because he loved us enough to want something better for us.
My wife and I have three children, and let me tell you…they are expensive. Our oldest son is in graduate school, and our daughter and our youngest son are in college. If anyone wants to adopt one of them for the next couple of years, please see me after church. Like I said, my wife and I have three children, and they are very expensive.
For example, our oldest son drives a Jeep Grand Cherokee that is nearing 100,000 miles. Just last week, the rear differential went out on it. It’s going to cost anywhere between 1500 and 2000 dollars to fix. Our oldest son is perfectly content to let me pay for it. What upsets him the most is that he’s not going to have a vehicle for a couple of days.
Our daughter is a junior at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. Her student loan for the coming semester will not be finalized until the middle of February. Yet the rent for her apartment is due by the end of January. So, guess who’s paying that. Now she feels bad about that and promises to pay us back, and maybe she will. Then again, maybe she won’t.
Our youngest son is studying to become a pilot at the University of Dubuque in Dubuque, Iowa. The aviation program at the University of Dubuque costs about $10,000.00 a year more than the regular school tuition, and we took that into account when we worked out his student loans. The problem is that the University of Dubuque grossly underestimated how much the program was going to cost his first semester. His flight account was empty by the end of October, and it costs $200.00 every time he flies…and he normally flies three times a week. I’ll let you do the math yourselves. Unlike his older brother, however, our youngest son feels terrible about that, and recently took a part-time job selling shoes.
My point here is not to bemoan my financial predicament. My point is that my wife and I – like any one of you – will do whatever it takes to help our children. Do we do it because they cannot do it for themselves? No, we do it because we love them enough to want something better for them. Parents will make whatever sacrifices are necessary…for the benefit of their children.
Why would the same not be true of God? Maybe Christ did not go to the cross primarily to do for us wretched sinners what we could not do for ourselves. Maybe Christ went to the cross primarily because he loved us enough to want something better for us. What he wants for us is eternal life in heaven…and a transformed life on earth. The question now is, “Are we grateful enough to want that for ourselves?”
Our spiritual lives are shaped by three basic things: our narratives, our practices, and our communities. Our narratives tend to frame our understanding of God and of ourselves. Our practices are the things that we do on a regular basis that help to form who we are. Our communities are the places we go where we are surrounded by – and influenced by – other people…for better or for worse.
We’ve worked hard over the last couple of months to establish a new narrative about God. We have determined that God is good, God is trustworthy, God is generous, God is love, God is holy, God is self-sacrificing and God transforms. Yet in order to be fully transformed, we need to examine our spiritual practices and our communities, as well. Thus, can anyone guess where we’re going to be headed over the course of the next few months? Amen.
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